Frederick FN Noronha wrote: While giving JC the right to take all the necessary potshots at his favourite bugbears, I'd like to add the following:
* Caste, being a social construct, is all in the mind. We can be part of some group, fall out of it, or imagine ourselves to be superior -- whatever we want. In such a setting, and when recipe books are widely available anyway, how relevant is this issue to the debate? FINAL COMMENT ON THIS TOPIC 1: Individuals have the right to be weird enough to set off boomerangs which come back and strike them in the butt. I do not have to give them that right. I am neither Mugabe nor Salazar. 2: Look where this conversation as 'tangented' to - courtesy FN Allow me please to summarise the main points of this discussion (from memory). FN can take it to Venus or Mars with anybody else: a: Some folks were unhappy with the food, service (and perhaps the cost) at Mum's Kitchen. b: Anna (who is friends with the owners) had no such problems. c: A good suggestion was made that Anna should advise her friend (at Mum's Kitchen) about the criticism. d: Suggestions were made wrt some inexpensive and tasty restaurants. Among them was the restaurant by the "khuris" run by a gaudo. I read that and took it to mean that Rajan Parrikar probably forgot the name of the restaurant. (It is akin to writing ...Punjabi, Mangalorean, Malyali, Russian etc) e: FN who has Rajan Parrikar as one of his "favourite bugbears" ..... jumped in with his "caste" etc; I see such tangential stuff only among politicians. But, I do understand FN's "troubles" with Rajan Parrikar. After all, Rajan has "outed" him. Instead of accepting that he (FN) was wrong, he (FN) is carrying on like his mentor/hero etc i.e. Mugabe. f: In the meantime, VM (who probably believes that looting by armies is OK ...spoils of war etc) came up with his piece of semi-informed nonsense. g: Now, FN has come up with this Recipe books stuff. His contention, apparently is that the 'cooks' in these restaurants by the road ..... use these recipe books to help them cook. h: I believe that the points have been made i.e. [A] Mum's Kitchen would do well to review the criticism [B] Food varies depending upon place, influences, availability of ingredients, and family traditions. The last is where the "caste" comes in. Done! jc --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------