You may look at this list and say,
“But Gayle, these are 19 reasons why your Indian kitchen is not so awesome!”
To you, I would say, you are missing a valuable life lesson.
One of my favorite letters from Seneca to Lucilius (written around 63 AD) is letter 18 on festivals and fasting, where he recommends practicing an austere life and learning to be happy with less, because then “…you will understand that a man’s peace of mind does not depend upon Fortune; for, even when angry she grants enough for our needs.”
Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?”
1. My kitchen sink water is gravity fed. When the cistern on top of the roof runs out, I need to pump more water to the rooftop.
2. If there is no electricity, there is no pump, and therefore no pumping water to the cistern holding tank on the rooftop.
3. My kitchen water is always ambient temperature – hot in the summer; cold in the winter.
4. My kitchen water is about as salty as the Dead Sea. Any dishes left to dry overnight will have a crusty film of salt on them in the morning.1
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
5. I cook on a two-burner, propane tank feed stovetop. That’s it! No oven, no microwave. Just two propane burners.
6. My stovetop is fed with a 10-liter propane tank that I keep under the kitchen counter. When it runs out – in the middle of cooking, usually – I have to run out to the propane exchange shop and have someone schlep a full tank back to my house for an exchange.
7. No exhaust fans, just open the window.
8. There are several hours each day when there is no electricity. So if I run out of water then, too bad! The water pump does not work without electricity. The good news – there’s a neighborhood hand pump about 20 feet away if things get desperate.
11. No garbage disposal, nope! All organic scrapes are set aside and brought outside for the street animals. Some days, they get a really great feast!
12. One corner of my kitchen is reserved for God. The ladies wouldn’t dream of starting their day without thanking God for everything.
13. Any food cooked and served is always offered to God first. I really like this – be thankful for what we have and thank the universe for providing!
9. I have five cooking pots: two saucepans, one large spaghetti pot, and two kadai pans. Love my kadai pans. One large and one extra-large. Oh, and I have a stainless steel pressure cook which is a great pot to have in the kitchen, and saves on energy.
10. All my storage containers are stainless steel tiffins.
14. There are no smoke detectors anywhere, so that sudden panic when things start to smoke & burn…quickly abates.
Nothing fancy nor frivolous. I am thankful for every little thing in my kitchen and the lessons learned from living a minimalist lifestyle focused on gratitude, frugality, and perceived hardships.
- The well water is salty from Gopi’s tears crying for loss of Krishna. [↩]
