The Picnic Potluck

Illustration credits: Chhavi Mathur

Babbi's class was going for a picnic to Lodhi Garden on Friday and their teacher was explaining what she wanted the children to do for that day.

The picnic was a potluck and the children had to get food from home that everyone could share and eat in the garden. The forty children in the class were divided into five groups of eight each. Each group was assigned one parent to supervise them.

Each group had to get only one item. Ma'am wanted the kids to get some traditional food. There was an immediate eruption of suggestions on what they could bring.

The list grew quickly with options such as idlis, siddu, dhoklas, littis, kachoris, parathas, pulav, kheer, and laddus, which could be made at home or purchased from the market. "Please do not get too much food," she told the kids. "Each group should get enough for only eight people."

Babbi's group was supposed to get idlis. It was decided that Babbi's mother would prepare them at home and Neenu would get the coconut chutney. Bobby would bring some dry chutney powders.

The second group was more adventurous and two of the kids volunteered that they would get siddu. Jojo, who was from Himachal Pradesh, explained that this was steamed bread prepared with fermented wheat dough and stuffed with a lentil mix. Jojo praised the dish and the accompanying walnut chutney so much that the rest of the class could not wait to eat it at the picnic.

Saru's grandmother was visiting from Bihar and she was getting littis. These too were prepared from wheat flour dough which was filled with a spicy chickpea mixture. The children already had a taste of the littis a week back when Saru had bought these for lunch. These had tasted fabulous with the chokha prepared from boiled potatoes. Of the remaining two groups, one was getting parathas, curd, and pickles, while the other was getting rice with a choice of chole and rajma. Ma'am was getting the munchies, fruits, and water.

The kids were already salivating discussing the food. While they had often heard about the different foods that were served at their friends' homes, this would be the first time they would get to taste many of these. The picnic, though just next week, seemed too far away.

Finally the day arrived. Two teachers and two volunteer parents brought the children to the park. The children had to spread the durries on the ground before joining the group activities that the parents had organised. After an hour of running around, the children were both tired and famished.

The teachers requested the gardener to allow the children to wash their hands with the hosepipe he was using to water the plants. The parents quickly served the food on the plates, ensuring each child got to taste the wide variety of food that their friends had got from home.

The children sat down on the durries to savour the food. There were exclamations that the food was extremely tasty.Each kid quickly polished off the food on the plate. The parents were surprised to see the children eat everything without a fuss.

The group sang some songs after the lunch and soon, it was time to go back home.

“This is the way to live life,” Babbi declared philosophically as her dad picked her up from the park. Her dad could not agree with Babbi more.

(This story is also featured in On A Good Food Hunt (2024), published by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.)