An Epicurean Life
The following day after a sumptuaous breakfast of 'Sevayi' mom had specially made for her grandson, my wife and son left for Mangalore by bus.
'Sevayi ' made of rice and coconut milk.
My wife was keen to be with her mother for a few days. I suspected her urgency was as much to dig into some spicy curry made with freshly caught fish in it. Like most Mangalorean konkanis, depriving her of fish for more than 48 hours results in extreme mood swings and she hadn't had any in the past four or five days days. She called me a couple of hours later to inform me that they had reached. As soon as they got off the bus, they had first paid a visit to the Kadri fish market, suitcase et al, before taking an autorickshaw to go home.
Sonny went with her inspite of my mom pleading with him to stay back. He has half a dozen friends of his age in the apartment block where my mother-in-law lives. He was looking forward to having a ball of a time playing cricket all day long and go for a
'Gadbad' Ice Cream with them at Pabbas or Ideal as frequently as his mom allowed him to.
No confusion about that!
We had performed his 'Upanayana'( Brahmopadesham) earlier this year and his boyhood days are about to get over in another 6 months. As he goes to 10th Standard will begin a long gruelling grind of several years to score the highest marks possible in every subject so that in step with the current trend, he can go to a reputed engineering college, study IT, and join only Infosys,Microsoft, Oracle, Wipro, Cisco,Google or Accenture; the scale by which a young man is measured in the Konkani community these days. Banks are passé.
Groomed for '
Upanayana'
At a game of cricket with his mangalorean friends.
Thankfully, for now Sonny is blissfully happy at play and the present extent of his ambition is to open a departmental store or a big furniture shop. We know the owners of two such businesses and Sonny has been quick to take note that they hosted grand parties and went about parading their swanky cars such as BMW 5 series and Land Rover; IT professionals can't and besides they work too hard. As far as my knowledge goes, Sonny is yet read any of Kiyosaki's books.
It rained most of the day and I found myself under house arrest. I spent time chatting with my parents about this, that and the other. Mom told me that her brother (i.e my uncle who built a house in Moodubidri) had come for a visit a few weeks ago. She said he still looked too young for his age. He will soon be 70 and still carried jet black,longish hair which he parted in the centre. Most of his brothers and sisters had little appreciation for his outlook and way of life. I had observed him closely during my two visits to Moodubidri. He seemed to be unknowingly practising the teachings of Epicurus, the greek Philosopher.
The expression
'to lead an Epicurean Life' conjures up these types of images in our minds.
This is also the understanding I carried till an erudite lecturer in college enlightened us on the some of the finer points of epicurean philosophy. The greek savant emphatically advocated that 'Pursuit of Pleasure' should be the main focus of life. Since not many bother to pursue a study in philosopy as the greeks did, the expression has gained wide acceptance in its present day meaning. I recall there was even a restaurant on M.G.Road in Bangalore in the 90s called 'Epicurus' which advertised a buffet lunch for Rs.45. A few of my friends often frequented it to gorge a bellyfull. A search on the net will throw up umpteen websites promising an 'Epicurean Life' or an 'Epicurean Dinner' or an 'Epicurean Holiday'.
Epicurus. But my uncle looks a lot better.
Our lecturer explained what Epicurus meant by 'pleasure' was 'absence of pain', both physical and emotional. This state, the ancient savant elaborated, could be achieved only by 'Moderation in all things'; not through excess and over indulgence in anything which would eventually lead to pain. Epicurus and his disciples lived simply eating bread and drinking water; a little wine and a few bites of cheese was their feast on festival days.
My uncle as you would have read, went a step further: he drank no wine and cheese is not to be found in Moodubidri. In addition, it was long since he kicked the habit of reading newspapers saying they mostly brought us bad and depressing tidings from far and wide reading which only cultivates negative thoughts in the mind. The mind was like a garden and had to be kept clean and nurtured with care. In fact, he hardly read any books except for stories and articles from outdated editions of Reader's Digest of which he had a good collection stacked on a shelf in his living room. His whole effort seemed to be to strain his body only to a point such as to maintain good health, and not to overly strain his mind by involving it too much in any kind of deep thought process. I deduced that Gardening and Singing were the means he employed to 'avoid pain' of any sort.
The rain abated for a while late in the afternoon and I lost no time in calling my cousin. We headed straight for 'Mitra Samaj' in the vicinity of the Sri Krishna Mutt complex for a few plates of their renowned
'Goli baje' with coconut chutney. We then went to Diana to delve into a tall and deliciously sinful looking
Gadbad icecream.
I seriously wonder if Epicurus could have resisted either. Burp!
Goli Baje