Funny Side Up

Funny Side Up - Bread and Breakfast!

Someone rightly said that the human race ought not to feel very disappointed early in the day. Life, said someone, gets better after breakfast. I am forced to nod my head in humble agreement. A day without breakfast is rather gloomy. Its not so much the deed as the thought of skipping breakfast. A soul that is used to this ritual in the morning, is a trained one. At precisely the breakfast time, that particular soul wanders around hoping to as usual, catch up on the ritual. There's nothing else to do at that time – its reserved, bought, sold to breakfast.

Sometimes one thinks its a mind block and that one ought to skip the morning meal for an early brunch. But as pointed out, there's nothing to do during breakfast time. Its marked on the calendar. You could take a walk, or talk to your dog during that time, but there's this uneasy feeling that you drowned your fish, voluntarily.

There's always the newspaper to read while break-fasting. Now, now – you know how that goes in. News is a supplement to the breakfast, its read absentmindedly, taken in slowly, one morsel at a time. And the breakfaster's sentiments regarding any sort of news in the paper is mostly neutral – it does not matter. So the ministers changed, the cricket team won, the farmers got smarter – it all feels the same, with bread on hand. The storm brewing, the volcano spewing – is all taken in, in equilibrium. Nature has bestowed man with the equilibrium of mind and emotion during breakfast times – who are we to fight it out? I once heard about a man that lost his breakfast and found his newspaper. I heard that he could not digest it well. He ended up crying over the cricket team so loud, his neighbors brought him grub!

There is the aroma – oh, almost certainly. The morning air smells of hope, good faith and a healthy, heavy, handsome breakfast (if not a handsome breakfaster!) You almost know what to expect. I understand that sometimes people hope to be surprised – but the regular breakfaster prefers that to happen a little later in the day. Breakfast knows no surprises. A breakfaster always wants, prefers a familiar breakfast. No Octopus, no strange culinary experiments go well with the breakfast. If one does experiment with breakfast, there is the odd chance that the experiment might not agree with the mind or soul. If that occurs, then be sure to watch out for an irritated beverage time. I once heard that a man was surprised with his breakfast and he didn't like it very much. I suggest we learn from his experience instead of trying the experiment out ourselves. Better breakfast than sorry (the breakfaster's version of the “better safe than sorry”).

The mind has not woken up during breakfast. Most of the cells are still trying to remember the alphabet. It takes the cells a while before they can come to “how to identify a pronoun” - and one ought to give them space and enough transition time before they face the world. I have often seen people eat breakfast in not-too-much-talk mode. No big thinking like, “what is the electron's anti-spin action” should be done during breakfast. It kills the passion of the mostly lazy brain cells and neurons of the average man, whose other cells don't want to hurry to work – but just have to as the situation demands it. And if one wants to cheer these brain cells a bit, wake them up, give them a pat – they pick a simple, enjoyable task that suits them. For some its the morning crossword (“nothing brings more joy than a familiar word” says a crossword enthusiast), some prefer the cartoon strip, some try the sudoku, some just turn on the radio and don't listen to it, some others do something similar too. Once you've woken these brain cells up, nothing like them to impress your manager at work, says someone. We'll just take his word for it.

But of course, there is the “i love mornings” people who wake their brain cells up by a morning exercise routine. I often suspect that the whole “lets get up and run” thing is to build up an appetite for the breakfast (But I definitely do endorse the exercise. It makes a lot of people look fit) Personally, I'm not too much of a fan of early morning runs – but thats because my brain cells get frightened by the mongrels on the street, whose brain cells are kind of ferocious.

I once heard of a man who didn't like his breakfast. I heard he lived a long, boring life. I also heard that he got promoted often. But that sort of a thing is a thing of chance. You ought not to take it seriously. Lets hence not follow his actions and imitate him. Its annoying to recollect that he was pretty easy on the eye and even, some say, witty. But yes, thats a fluke – a rare event. Lets not dwell too deeply on him. Lets talk about the breakfaster who loved his breakfast. He was loved by his wife. Old and young liked him alike (his wife was a middle-age example). Lets follow him instead. I hear he laughed and played and often got his bonuses. He was a jolly good fellow and did lots of things that others appreciated.

By the previous example, let us conclude that its a nice thing to have a nice breakfast rather than it being a nice thing not having a nice breakfast. Apart from its healing powers, it gives a soul something to do in the mornings, something to call a daily routine. For the lack of a punch line to finish off with, I shall borrow one. Someone said that one should never skip one's breakfast. Amen.