i miss you....... my dabba : D

everyone i am sure can still remember those last few minutes of class at school which seemed to pass wretchedly slowly ( or well, get extended if ma'am was in one of her devilish moods ). and then came the jarring yet lovely sound of freedom a.k.a the recess bell. less than halfway through, it was drowned out by the hullabaloo of students storming outta their classrooms to the cherished half an hour or something of freedom. although outside play was must and somebody still remaining back was branded a "rotten egg" , play time didn't come before everyone huddled around around the bench-cum- temp dining tables to wolf down our beloved "dabbas". yes "wolfing down" because every time the flavors on  the palate were varied and irresistible. the most unfortunate ones during the recess times were actually those who happened to have their moms in an extra good mood that morning and ended up with something special . an eye blink , swift swoop down of hands, and almost as if Mr. H. Potter had uttered the vanishing charm, whooosh!!! empty and extra clean interiors of the tiffin stuck out their tongue back.
the "dabba" actually held quite an important position in the school life of anybody. it was the tool for gelling in of the newcomer with the others, deciding the group hierarchy in class based on its deliciousness ( all very versed with the bully n li'll kid's ad for 'Everest masalas' ) , or branding of the class's teacher's pet as the one who regularly brought that extra something for the teacher. it fuelled a new challenge for mums everyday as the kid brought home tales of something or other exotic in his classmate's dabba and she was hell bent to improvise and and win the title of "the best dabba" in class.
 
for the schools with long hours, everyone without fail was actually handed down a basket that had the dabba and its accomplice , the undisputed symbol of hygiene, a napkin. the child who never failed to spread it out before lunch was sure to get that "special star" from the teacher and made an example before others. so hence the dabba evolved but we didn't. from smart tucked in shirts or pulled up socks, we became the dudes n dudies with hanging ties and improvised uniforms fashioned to be trendy. the one still carrying a basket and a napkin was termed "dorky" and it was cool to actually bring a dabba in the 'minimalist style' so as to hang out in the canteens more often. the thrill as to 'what mum must've packed 2day' was still there but it was the height of uncool to express it out loud. ( trust me people all this was the absolute true experience but as sidney white goes "we all are dorks"..... so wth!!)
as a gal i actually had some of my friends suffering from the "we-want-to-be-hep-coz-we-are-seniors-now" syndrome chucking away the already little food with a view of dieting ( n yet could be spotted hogging in the canteen later!!!) . in this sense guys held my full respect as they stuck to the tradition of finishing off the dabba first and then gorging on outside food ( well probably their huge appetites called but anyways!!). so the transition from middle to high school made the center of attraction shift from the humble dabbas to the canteen.
but as the saying goes "life comes in a full circle". one day having a long hearty talk wid my best friend who is a day scholar in an engineering college back home, she casually said that i had "somethin something" in tiffin today. i doubled up laughing my head off and could barely get the words out "what- u -  still - get - a - dabba -  for college???" we both laughed away. and yet some days later when i came back from my grandparent's place back to the hostel, i could still see those hands in class swooping down to gobble up my nani's paranthas leaving me none. it hit me then, i was also among those hands which reached out for any homemade stuff we could lay our hands on in the hostel. that is simply because any dabba brings with it , a sense of  being home, of standing and seeing mum in the kitchen filling every single of those containers with love and warmth. in a world of egoistic and intellectual divsions..." the dabba" unites all. and well yes , there is no universe in my knowledge where addabazi over a "ghar ka dabba" isn't one of coolest and best hangouts ever.

(P.S : stanley ka dabba is one of the cutest movies i have ever come across...give that a try for more on "the dabba".. )