TANSTAAFL

I apologize at the very beginning of this post. I might miss some words here and there as I write on a half empty stomach. What is worse than an empty stomach? Half an empty stomach! It is akin to taking a scoop of chocolate cake, placing it in your mouth and unable to bite it. I wonder how Swami Vivekananda survived a sugar cube on his tongue. May be he was diabetic. Ok! I digress.  

There ain’t no such thing as a Free Lunch.

Let me give you some background. Today morning I took laziness to a whole new height. I did not make my breakfast, which was take cornflakes out of the box, place it into a container and pour milk. No couldn’t do sire! I walked into office a tad bit late, and it took me about an hour to cajole myself to getting a cup of coffee from the pantry, which is diagonally opposite to my bay. So, you get the general picture right? Moreover, I realized that I did not keep cash inside my purse today. My friend generously offered to pay for my lunch. To which I said, “I don’t taking money from people.”

Of course, that was not a cue for wanting a free lunch! But again, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Anyway, I walk downstairs to the canteen. Oh! I need to tell you this - my office is situated in a God forgotten place. There is a “mall” near by, but has no food court - at least not a good one. The nearest restaurant is a Kerela house, which we soon realized that our stomachs cannot handle the food. The fat boiled rice isn’t for most North Indians and the South Indian me! Getting back to the canteen, I order the simplest meal – chapatti lunch and what do I find in it after eating half of the plate? A cockroach! Yuck and unhygienic, but what do I do? Gag? Not really! Then the questions flew across the table. Was it a small cockroach? (Yes and the portions wasn’t enough) Was it dead? (It sure was. DOA! Likely cause of death? Steam, heat and Indian spices)

Sigh. I repeat! There ain’t no such thing as a Free Lunch.