NandiniSpeaks™@©OfficialBlog: FOOD TALES WITH TINY OWL

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"I'm invincible. I want to conquer the world.
I want to live a life independent. Be answerable to none.
I'm an adult. You can't keep me chained anymore.
This is my life; no one but I, rule it on my own.
My path I choose. My decision I make.
My destiny I carve. Freedom is my birthright;
my salvation.
If I don't get it,
Rebel, I definitely will!
Snatch it, I definitely will!"

These were my over-dramatic words to my somewhat conservative parents, when I made a declaration to live my life independently and on my own terms. When just out of college they had busy begun groom-hunting for me, this declaration of mine done solely to preserve my freedom shocked the hell out of them. Although traditional, my family was progressive; and while education and career for the girl was still okay ( perhaps in contrast to many other cultures ), leaving home however and moving away to another city completely on my own was totally indigestible to them. So, naturally, being very protective about their youngest daughter, they resisted all my war-calls for independence. But, stubborn as I was, in the end I did have them saying - Ja Ji Le Apni Zindagi...

Woohoo... what a triumphant moment it was for me. So relieved I was, that, unlike other girls in my locality, I'd not be destined to do a chulha-choki my whole life or be a baby-making machine as was mostly expected of girls, my age. I won't be a door-mate to anyone. I'll be my own master. I was granted what I wanted the most. To live free..... Oh..how I cherished that.

Main Nikla, O Gaddi Leke
O Raste Par, O Sadak Mein
Yamma Yamma yamma yamma,
Kitna khubsurat sama,
Yuhi chala chal raahi
yuhi chala chal raahi.....

Humming positive songs on starting life anew... I made my way to the city of dreams..Bombay; which I lovingly called 'Bambaai Nagri'. I took on a new job, got my own place; everything was exactly as I dreamt of. Well until...

The true food-fix story of my life... ( Sketch is mine )
It always made me nervous. It was an important part of the house. But I dreaded going in. It was my Enemy Number.1 and my nightmare was only just beginning. It gave me the creeps, I'd have a cold sweat at the very thought of having to go in there, every morning. It was The Kitchen ~ my sole enemy, my hell. Well..living independent and all was fine, but how does one deal with it when one doesn't even know a crap about cooking. I had never thought of this handicap of mine when I set out to taste freedom. Oh Yes...I got to 'taste' freedom alright....but the other taste ~ i.e for food, was deeply wanting. As such, all my myself, I was in a constant food-fix situation. The things I cooked ( with my very limited or zero cooking skills ) turned out horrible and I'd have to run to the nearest restaurant to feed me in order to survive another day. Forget having any guest over ever. The excuses and lies I made, just to avoid any colleagues drop in at my place still makes me go all red-faced. I'd be paranoid - when I can't cook myself anything decent, what on earth am I going to feed them. This was the time when internet or even mobile phones hadn't caught on big time, like it has now. I had the oldest version of mobile those days that had only call options, that too at a whopping price. Home Delivery was unheard off. I was too embarrassed to even think of calling my parents for help, cos' I feared they'd give a smug 'we told you so'!

Freedom was not as hunky-dory as I imagined it to be anymore. Because, reality had struck and how! While the normal week-days still went by pretty okay, with me getting food mainly from outside, those sudden holidays however like bandhs/
strikes etc or even the national holidays would make my life go upside down. Everything would be closed then and I'd have to go literally hungry, the whole day. Thankfully, Maggi wasn't banned then and it and the bread were my only saviours. Yes, Maggi indeed saved my life then ~ O' Maggi ko ban karne walon...

My ultimate Food-Fix ~ the infamous Maggi
With internet very soon creeping into our lives, suddenly the snail-paced world was moving at a galloping-speed. I was shopping online - left, right & centre from the tonnes of emerging e-commerce sites that popped up by their hordes, all over internet. While I was still to find 'food' in any of these online shops ( that mostly sold gadgets, apparels etc ), my food-fix woes were somewhat replaced by the emergence of home-deliveries too in the neighbourhood and I thanked the mighty heavens for such mercies ~ also those the genius minds who thought of such services. I however knew only a handful of the nearby restaurants so something was still missing. What...you'd think. Well, why was no one selling food online yet? When I could buy everything else online, this became my next big worry ~ my biggest desire. Atleast, someone start it puhleeeze, I'd pray. And as though my prayers were slowly getting answered, this wish too of mine was getting fulfilled. More and more restaurants had tied up with amazing Apps like Tiny Owl, thus, making lives of kitchen-phobic people like mine, so much smoother. Indeed, freedom had finally arrived. Freedom from the worrisome Food-Fixes!! Now, it was freedom instead of searching ( from the many options available in the App ) and getting exactly the food I wanted, delivered, right at my doorsteps, without a hitch. Life was finally the freedom-song I could sing aloud, bindaas.

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And...Voila ~ this is me now :-)

From springing up surprises in a tap,
to making food-search easy, in effortless swipe;
Ordering, processing as smooth as a cake,
While, delivery too is prompt, almost instant;
TinyOwl is one such useful App,
Keeping the hunger of my soul, forever in check.
How I wish, I had TinyOwl back then,
when my Kitchen had become my battle-field :|

Now, do I need to worry anymore, when I have TinyOwl to rescue me from my food-fix moments ;-)