Yet another tradition/belief followed blindly

A week back, when I went to my relative’s house for lunch, this happened.

• Aunt (Serving me food, she serves rice first)
• Uncle: You have to keep vegetables first and then you will have to serve rice
• Aunt (She obeys his words)
• Me: Why uncle? Why such formalities and all.
• Uncle: This is how you should serve food and you shouldn’t serve rice first. Keep vegetables, then rice and then sambar/rasam.. Elders keep telling this time and again.

I am sure many South Indians or might be even some North Indians would have heard this. It has been followed blindly in many houses. In fact it is not necessary that we should follow it at home.

This tradition started in a marriage when this happened. There were many people sitting in a row and rice was served first. They had to wait for a few minutes before vegetables were served. Rice cannot be consumed as such without Sambar or vegetables. It doesn’t taste good. This wait made them feel irritated. Hence we find people serving sweets, vegetables first and then rice during receptions/marriages that we visit. People can eat sweets and vegetables even it takes few minutes for people to serve rice. This keeps people occupied without making them to wait.

When it comes to marriages/receptions, we would love our visitors to go out of the hall with their heart filled with happiness. So whether the caterer believes in the tradition or not, he just follows the tradition thinking some of them in the crowd might lose their temper if rice is served first thereby creating unhappiness or that he might lose his catering business. This makes sense.

At home, we don’t have a crowd like in a reception hall. So even though rice is kept first, immediately vegetables will be served. This tradition doesn’t make sense here is what I feel.

Please pour in your suggestions if you have any