Diet another day

Our veggie netas carrying their own food abroad may not be palatable to foreign security officials.

Our netas could come under the security scanner in airports with greater frequency for their dietary habits.

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Their enthusiasm for tours in foreign lands is not matched by that for the cuisines of the places they visit. Many of them are strict vegetarians necessitating lugging around large quantities of parathas, kachoris, poha and other veg goodies to sustain them through their stay.

Now this could befuddle foreign airport officials who are not used to our delicacies.

We can imagine the scene at JFK airport. “Take a gander at this Bob, looks like cocaine paste,” one official would say to another. Chinnaswami Paneerselvam, political worthy from Tirunelveli would protest, “It is thayir sadam (curd rice) to see me through this visit.”

The offending item may then be sent for forensic testing, leaving the poor politico starving for days.

For the Gujarati MP washing up with a week’s supply of dhokla, foreigners could mistake it for yellow cake, a component in nuclear weapons production.

It will take some convincing that Gujju thrift and business sense is fuelled by this yellow cake-like savoury. But some of our dignitaries carry their penchant for ghar ka khana to extremes.

Our politicos must stop to think.

How would they like it if a visiting Japanese political delegation turned up at our airport bearing a consignment of blue fin tuna or the Malaysians were to come bearing the odoriferous durian fruit.

As we have always said, one man’s lemon rice could be another man’s fermented shrimp paste.