vegetarian. They may sit on the same table while their
father eats non-vegetarian fare but their vegetarian
dishes must be kept separate.
Archana’s 2 sons were brought up vegetarian. They
are now 18 and 21 years old and both refuse to eat
meat. Her older son, Aaryamann, played football for the
junior team in the English Premier League. He lived and
played with English boys in the United Kingdom who
were all meat eaters, yet he would faithfully stick to
his vegetables while they gawked at him. During meal
times, these boys would fill their plates with meat and
he would give his share of meat also to them. But in all
this time, he never ate any meat himself. Archana told
me how tough it was for Aaryamann. He underwent 2
years of training for 7 hours every day on the little bit
of vegetarian food he could salvage from the regular
meals that were served for the players. Instead of meat
he was never given extra vegetables. But the proud
mama told me that despite this, he was never less fit
than any of the other boys. He just never got enough
tasty vegetarian food there. And sadly, sometimes not
enough vegetarian food. But he never succumbed and
ate meat. And he is still vegetarian, by choice.
Her younger son, Ayushmaan, refuses to even let any
flesh touch his food. He will lose his appetite if meat is
on the same plate that he is eating out of or even on
the side of his food.
Should a vegetarian look like a gobi, a
baingan? The strongest animals in the
world are all vegetarian. Strength is
not dependant on eating meat.I asked her how it was in the years gone by, when she
would be a vegetarian on the sets. Were there many
others who shunned meat? Archana told me that in
the industry she was one of the very few vegetarians
earlier on. But of late more and more actors are eating
vegetarian food. Archana would often be mocked for
her vegetarian food. Some people would even ask
her that she did not LOOK like a vegetarian to which
Archana says she would retort what does a vegetarian
look like? A gobi? A baingan? What does that question
even mean! So these very same people would then
qualify their statement by telling her that she looked
so tough and strong, they were sure she was secretly
devouring meat at every meal. Archana’s retort? The
strongest animals in the world - horses, elephants etc
are vegetarian. Strength has nothing to do with eating
meat or not.Archana saved a frog from the mouth
of a snake. Her sons save ants. She
releases rats in jungles.Archana’s sons are very gentle with animals. Their
worst fear is that by accident an animal may get
hurt by them! Even an ant is picked up on a piece of
paper and deposited outside the house! Similarly,
rats are caught in traps (she lives in a bungalow so
rats sometimes make their way inside her house) and
then her help take those rats (cute looking squeaking
things according to Archana) on a motorbike and drop
them off in the nearby jungle (she lives in Madh Island
conveniently for close access to jungles!)Once when she was dropping off her sons to school,
she saw an amazing sight. Just outside her house, a
snake had caught a frog in his mouth. Archana made
the driver stop the car and scare the snake. The snake
dropped the frog. Her sons and she put the frog in an
open-mouthed bag and placed him the other side of
the wall so that the snake couldn’t get him. She told
me that she knows the frog is the snake’s food but she
can’t help myself. She absolutely cannot let a living
being be eaten alive.Eating out once in a way is fun. But for
me... HOME MADE FOOD is the BEST.So, is it true that celebrities eat fancy food at every
meal? Especially if they are on the sets? That was
my next question to her. Archana laughed at my
question and told me that people are always amazed
by her lunchbox at shoots. Archana likes to eat simple
homemade food especially on the sets. Her normal
dabba consists of dal, sabzi, rice followed by some
jaggery for that sweet taste. She eats with her hands
and her colleagues are always shocked by her simple
food and by her eating habits she told me very proudly!
Her favourite foods are all vegetables including tori,
lauki, karela. She loves arhar ki dal with chawal and
aam ka achaar, rajma chawal, puri aloo...her idea of
a perfect meal is one cooked at home and served in
her room with the entire family sitting together on the
bedroom couch, watching television and eating. For
this ferocious vegetarian, who makes the world laugh,
this is utopia.