A bunch of guys at work challenged me if I could handle “Habanero “sauce. I am used to eating extreme versions of Karam. “Hot” like its hard to imagine. Well, all these years I have never really had to prove to anybody that I could handle the spice. First of all, eating hot and spicy food is not good for health! Period! This is something I am not so proud of too. I want to like and eat healthy. I have always played defensive saying “no, I don’t eat that spicy food” every time people at home complained about my bad food habits!
Plates turned for once. Over a conversation during lunch at work, the room filled with talks about “who can handle spicy food”. And somehow the conversation was dominated by people who could handle spice and they felt superior! And I casually mentioned too that I have inclination to spice. Not in a “showing-off” style but mentioned I generally like spice and don’t prefer bland food. That is when my male co-workers (Male and Female should be classified in different species-well that calls for a different blog altogether!) to my surprise got all competitive and challenged me if I could eat the greatly feared “Habanero Sauce”. I retorted casually, “Well I have never tried it but would love to.” End of the chapter.
The next day came and guess what? I was welcomed into the lunch room with sneers and jeers from my peers! They held the grail filled with the only and only…oh dare I utter the word…The formidable- “Habanero sauce”!
I do have to admit, I did feel nervous with eyes gawking over me…eyes that begged me to fail…eyes that longed me see me cripple down suffering the burn from the spice! Well, one of the guys was a little sympathetic and offered rice to eat it with sauce (Glad he was!). I mixed it with mixed feelings and closed my eyes and took a deep breath and reluctantly ate it. Guess what! It was not bad as I expected. On the contrary, It was home calling! It was awesome!!! Wasn’t I glad they made me eat it! It was super hot super spicy! I ate some more and left the room feeling pleased and soaked in pride. The guys looked shocked in disbelief that I liked it. You think they accepted my prowess in the field of karam? No way, its ‘guys’ we are talking about- they accused me of eating it just to prove my point. But do I care, Nope. I felt victorious!
Long forgotten, after a couple of hours, all of a sudden I felt a pang of pain in my abdomen. It deepened and the pain consumed me. I knew what caused it – of course the notorious “Habanero” sauce! As my head awakened to that very fact my worry of pain turned to shame. What is wrong with me? Why did I have to eat more of the sauce? Though I got to see their lovely expressions of shock when I tasted it, it is definitely not worth the pain in my tummy! I let the pressure get to me. I am not a teenager. I am in my mid 20s and nothing stopped me from feeling competitive to prove my point. In a weird sense all of a sudden I understood why kids get caught in alcohols & drugs succumbing to pressure.
Moral Of the story:
3.3 Oz of Habanero Sauce-$1.19
Look of Shock on coworker’s faces – Cost of a severe tummy-ache
Lesson learnt- Priceless!
ROFL! But I still can’t believe the Telugu-speaking girl got an abdomen pain eating hot food!