Have you ever tried the South Indian cuisine? Well, I tried it last weekend. There is a South Indian family that resides in our neighbourhood. They have been living here from last five years but somehow I never had the opportunity to interact with them much. Now yesterday my South Indian neighbour- Mr Naidu, specially invited me to his home for a lunch on the occasion of his marriage anniversary.

Now, the invitation was so warm and loving that I couldn’t say no. So me and my wife decided to visit them. When we reached there- most of the guests had arrived. Apart from the other neighbours, there were many South Indian guests. Mr Naidu introduced me to all of them. I must say they were all very cordial.

After that we sat down for lunch. It was a South Indian spread and me and my wife were quite amazed to look at the different kind of food. Mr Naidu was very gracious and told me in detail about everything. He told me that he belonged to a south Indian state called Hyderabad. He told me that the food served on the table was south Indian food.

To be very frank with you- I was quite apprehensive about it all. I had heard that South Indian food is very spicy and not at all good for stomach. But still- I decided to give it an honest try. There were some round white things which they were all calling as ‘idlis’.  I tried them. It was not at all bad. I was eating very slowly. I was told that idlis were made of rice and were very nutritious.

Next I tried something called ‘dosa’. It was a sort of wrapping with a vegetable filling inside. I really liked eating it. It was served with a liquid thing like soup which they called ‘sambhar’. 

While I was apprehensive, my wife was enjoying herself to the hilt. She told me later that she had tasted South Indian food a couple of times during her college days. She had a classmate who told her about many South Indian things. She ate everything with relish and was chatting with Mrs Naidu so warmly. How I wished I knew more about South India?

To be honest, I was really surprised by the plethora of things that were there. I especially liked the South Indian dresses that the people over there were wearing. They were so colourful and beautiful. I liked them immensely.

But I must take your leave now. I am going to the market with my wife. She has told me she wants to buy something special. Please take care. Bye.

The wife wanted to buy a SouthIndian outfit which she liked so much. The “common man’ was fascinated by the colours, designs and patterns that were available. He decided to know more about South India.