Food, Food Food

Chicken Biryani was never in my diet before 2009. Had never had thoughts of cooking too. Below is a pot of chicken biryani I've cooked and it is not the first pot, neither it is any less than the tenth pot. Naturally, for close friends who have known me enough would know my stint in India had changed my life in a positive and negative way. And, I would say, for diet, it has expanded my food choices and awakened my latent desire to cook food, and not only edible food, but delectable food.

As my work was held solely at the slum environment, eating food from there regularly was inhibited. We were all encouraged to bring our own lunch, and indeed, it is a common practice there to bring lunch to work. That led me to having prepare and cook lunch in the morning. It was such a hassle and irritant for me since I never have had to cook in the morning, as it was not my practice in my home country to do so. It was a struggle and laborious toil that weighed heavily upon me as a missionary in India amidst all other adjustments I was coming to terms with.

The Lord made a good habit out of me through this initial unwelcome ordeal. Over time, I learned and picked up this now-treasured discipline of preparing and cooking my lunch in the morning and bringing home-cooked yummy and healthy food for lunch to work on a regular basis.

Besides this treasured routine, the stint awakened my awareness about communication skills, both spoken and written communication. Lots of people communicate in a super indirect way. This is a practice foreign to me with my 'straight to the heart of the matter' family communication background. It was difficult for me to be conscious and cautious to hear what is not said. In fact, it was stressful to me to be alert to inferred/ implied messages presented to me.

However, God is good, He helped me along as I reflected and deciphered on some information given to me that required beyond the superficial understanding. The learning process is still ongoing as I came to reconcile with the reality that many people tend to communicate in implied and reserved manner.