I was out at the market – shopping for groceries – yesterday. I’m surprised to admit it but grocery shopping is a great pastime. Before you judge me as a shopaholic, let me clarify that I am not. Whenever I go to shop, I go with a list and finish that. I hate window shopping and don’t spend a lot of time comparing things and wondering if it’s cheaper in another shop. Let me come back to grocery shopping. I do spend some good amount of time in order to buy fresh fruits, veggies and things needed for the house.
So, I was out to buy veggies the other day and was thrilled to see some fresh Okra (Lady’s Finger). It is a green vegetable that feels hollow from inside, when you cut it, there is a gooey liquid. I’m sure that doesn’t sound delicious, but it’s a great vegetable and my husband’s favourite too!
Okra is very tasty when it is tender. It is easy to cut, cook and eat too. The ones that haven’t been plucked at the right stage end up being slightly hard – extremely fibrous and horrible to eat. We have all been taught in our childhood that the best way to spot tender Okra is by the tail. ‘Try and nip the tail, if it snaps immediately, pick that up’; that is the mantra. Although hands tend to become slightly gooey after trying to pick the right ones, it is worth the effort. I usually end up spending a good 10 – 15 minutes picking up Okra when shopping for groceries.
The other day I did the same too. My eyes on the Okra tails and my fingers furiously snapping the tails to make sure they were tender enough to be picked up. When I had picked up a sufficient amount, I looked at the bag that I had collected them in. It didn’t seem right. I had picked up the tender ones after so much care but I realized that I hadn’t noticed the top part of the Okras. Some of them were cut on top and some of them were drying too. I had been looking only at the tails and ignored the vegetable as a whole.
This little trip to the market was an eye opener for me as I realized how short-sighted in life we tend to become. We see in our surroundings what we want to see and consciously or unconsciously choose to ignore everything else. It is not bad to focus on one thing, but often we forget the bigger picture or the real reason why we were focusing on that one thing in the first place. If we can always remember the purpose of our actions, they result will indeed be fulfilling.
Well, as for the Okras, I spent another 5 minutes picking the right ones up but in life we may not always have a second chance.
Thank you dear lady(‘s finger) for the learning!
– Divya Varadarajan
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