‘How come you don’t like tomato sauce’, many have asked me on various occasions. Very few know the story behind me not liking the packaged kinds of ketchup. Would you like to know?
  It was long-long back when I used to LOVE eating my chapatis dipped in the red-hot tomato ketchup that was served at one corner of the plate as a special side dish while hating every bit of eating the vegetables that my mother served with them. My eating habits were poor from the very beginning anyways. My mom still says that I never ate a bite of cooked rice meal until the age of seven. She always had to prepare some interesting snack for me. Luckily we had Idli, Dosas and Appams in our daily diet, substituting my rice intake. Ketchup had made me turn towards Chapatis at least and my mom made it a point to stock it to just keep me fed.
Disclaimer: Picture randomly picked from the Internet. Will be replaced soon with original pics from the author.
  Although the worst of my nightmares was yet to unveil. One fine morning when I was hogging over my tomato sauce with whatever main dish it was my father brought up this topic out of nowhere in particular. He told in a very serious tone, ‘Aruna mole, you should stop eating this Ketchup. It’s not good.’ I gave him a look like he is taking out the very life out of me. ‘No seriously mole’, he continued, ‘I’ ll tell you why’, he paused and begun.
  ‘It was when I used to work at Ghatkopar, there was a ketchup factory just next to my office. I don’t remember which one but how does that even matter. It was a ketchup factory after all. One day while I was returning quite late after office I saw the local vegetable-walla with a huge sack on his head. I had to go back to get the lunch box that I had forgotten and when I came back, I was caught by anxiety that he had emptied the sack at the factory door. Tomatoes of all kinds piled up at the dirty entrance. Ripened, smashed, cracked, even rotten ones fell on the bear floor. Some rodents were by now having their feast for the night. Cockroaches were no bargain either. Flying across, sitting on the tomatoes, crawling above them while eating tits and bits in between.
  Suddenly the factory doors opened and a man in khaki emerged from within with a big rubber sheet. With a shovel, he pushed all the tomatoes onto the sheet. His companion soon came out and helped him take the tomatoes into the factory. Now u can guess where these tomatoes will end up. Not it the garbage after all. After this day, it was a routine to me, staying late and witnessing the rotten tomatoes being taken into the factory. Even if you argue that they might wash the tomatoes inside or separate out the good ones from the bad, are you sure? You may also argue that the product you buy is the best of its kind, hygienic and all that, can you ever guarantee what kind of tomatoes they might have used? Have they chosen only the best ones for you? Did they make the effort to throw away the rotten ones or just let it go to the mixture? Who will know, after all, ripen or rotten the final product is going to be a paste.’
  By the time he was talking of all the rats dancing on the tomatoes, my appetite had died. I had already pushed my plate aside. I don’t remember of having I drop of ketchup from the stores after that. I am sure to the core that my dad will never tell me a story just to stop my addiction. I heard him repeating the story to my little one recently when she was pulling on the ketchup packet that she got along with her french fries from McD, again in a serious tone.
  Now now, my intentions are not to deprive you of the juicy, tangy, red-hot friend of your meals but its good to be aware of what we are eating. Why don’t we switch to the homemade versions of the sweet saviour, just in case? I know in today’s age its difficult for moms who are juggling between work and home to do the extra bits but healthy food habits will only come in as a boon than a curse in the long run. So, eat healthy, be healthy 🙂
