The diary game||"The dining arrangements at the Grand are underway"

green015 (77)in Hindwhale Community • 6 days ago

Greetings

I hope all my friends are well and healthy, by God's grace. I am also doing well. I am @green015 from India.Today, I will share a completely new feeling.

The diary game||"The dining arrangements at the Grand are underway"

I have mentioned the concept of "messing" in some of my previous posts. This "messing" entails taking full responsibility for all dining arrangements within the hostel—alongside one's academic studies—for a period of fifteen days. This responsibility is typically shared among a group of four individuals. Consequently, once we have successfully completed all the necessary tasks over the first fourteen days, the fifteenth day usually features a grand feast hosted by one of the designated mess managers.

Since we began our messing duties on April 1st, our tenure was scheduled to run until the 15th. However, as April 15th happened to coincide with Pahela Baishakh (the Bengali New Year), the Mess Committee initially proposed hosting a grand feast themselves. We, the mess managers, insisted that we would be the ones to host the grand feast on that specific day; consequently, they agreed to reschedule their own event. In any case, those periods were truly arduous; our hostel accommodates a total of 137 boarders. Therefore, handling the daily marketing and organizing the cooking preparations for such a large group—for every single meal—was indeed a challenging task. Typically, every resident is required to undertake this responsibility once every two years. However, since I had joined the hostel relatively late, I was required to fulfill this same duty despite staying for a mere five or six months. And, as it turned out, I successfully completed it.

In any case, we had devised a plan for the 'Grand' event. However, as the saying goes: "Power enables people to accomplish many things; conversely, there are times when—despite our desires—we find ourselves unable to act, and are compelled to suppress our own willpower." It was in this very spirit that I gained valuable experience while fulfilling this responsibility. In reality, although we had envisioned including several additional items, the Mess Committee—comprising our own classmates, yet holding a significant role in hostel administration—dissuaded us from doing so. Furthermore, the Audit Committee specifically instructed us against such measures. In essence, even though we were the ones executing the tasks, we were required to seek their approval at every step of the process. Moreover, they seemed intent on ensuring that no Mess Manager could organize an event more elaborate than what they themselves had previously arranged. Regardless, with the assistance of our cook, 'Jethu,' we subsequently drafted a comprehensive menu and food list for the entire grand feast.

Next, following our complete shopping list, we went out and purchased all the necessary ingredients. Although one of our four members could not offer much assistance at this time due to upcoming exams, the remaining three of us had to work quite hard to manage everything. Subsequently, the cooking began item by item, and we assisted the cooks in various ways.First, we helped chop the paneer; after the paneer dish was prepared, a tomato chutney was made, followed by the frying of papads, and then the preparation of a spicy chicken curry. Finally, fried rice was prepared. Afterward, the domestic helpers insisted on having their pictures taken, so we snapped a few photographs.

After wrapping up a lively cooking session, we headed to the sweet shop to arrange for our evening snacks—an order we had placed in advance. We had actually gone there once earlier in the afternoon to pick up the sweets, but we returned with only some paneer (cottage cheese), as the sweets were still being prepared at their premises at that time. Consequently, the three of us went back again in the evening, even though we hadn't had a moment to rest all day. We collected the items from the sweet shop and settled the bill. Then, we took a Toto (e-rickshaw) straight back to the hostel; we had already spent a considerable amount of time waiting there earlier, and the evening was wearing on. Thus, we tried to work as quickly as possible. We had placed a special order at the sweet shop for Amul Mishti Doi (sweet yogurt), Rasmalai, Vegetable Chops, Paspas, and Frooti or Maaza—essentially, ripe mango juice. Afterward, we rang the bell to summon everyone to the dining hall and served them their evening snacks: one Vegetable Chop and one Maaza or Frooti each.

Later, at 9:00 PM, when the main dinner was served, the Amul Mishti Doi, Paspas, and Rasmalai were distributed alongside it. Once everyone had been served in this manner, we took our own meals back to our room to eat. The accompanying images show the complete spread of food; as I do not eat meat, I did not take any photographs of the meat dishes. On this particular day, even the juniors were permitted to take their food back to their rooms to eat. And so, that concludes the account of our "Grand Meal" arrangements during our time managing the hostel mess..