Geetanjali Krishna: The microwave revolution

Did you know," said Kaushalya the other day, "you should never cook eggs in the microwave?" Being an ardent follower of all internet health fads as well as the donor of the said oven, I became immediately interested. "They explode all over the oven and it's a pain to clean it afterwards," she said darkly. It seems that ever since the microwave oven has entered the lives of this low-income family, their lives have turned upside down. Kaushalya said that when she reached home with the microwave, there was great excitement. Her teenage son and daughter were fascinated. "It seemed almost magical that one could place a glass of water in it, and by the press of a button, bring it to boil," she said. Her children immediately decided that this device was going to transform their lives. To some extent, it did, but not in ways that Kaushalya and her family had anticipated.

The first saving, they'd thought, would be in their monthly gas bill. Then came the first setback. They didn't have the right utensils to use in the microwave. "So we went to Lajpat Nagar to buy glass plates and dishes for Rs 500," said Kaushalya. "I could have got a small gas cylinder in the black market for that amount!" However, the convenience of heating individually served plates of food wasn't lost on her. "My kids used to eat cold food as I only have time to cook in the morning," she said. "Now they're enjoying their meals so much more, especially as winter is setting in." Even the chapattis she made in the morning, she reported, tasted great once they had been reheated in the microwave. Another saving, she found, was in the number of utensils to be washed. "The expenditure on new dishes and plates suddenly began to seem worth it!"

Then came the second setback. The teens figured that the sort of food they had dreamed of making in the microwave, wasn't the food they ate every day. "I found myself buying expensive things like popcorn. My household budget began to suffer," Kaushalya complained. Then her daughter read how easy it was to make idlis in the microwave. "So she has been pressuring me to get a plastic idli maker, but that too costs over Rs 250," she said. The children realised how easy it was to boil water in the microwave, and started drinking more tea than they used to earlier, when they had to boil it on the gas stove. "What's more, they even began to invite their friends to tea. You can imagine what that has done to our milk, sugar and tea budget."

Slowly, she said, their neighbours also began requesting the children to let them use the microwave. They would pop in to make tea or a packet of instant noodles, and Kaushalya's children began to enjoy the status of having an appliance that others didn't. And then, at the end of the month, came the third setback. "Since my husband and I are out for work all day, we realised to what extent this was happening only after we received our first electricity bill. The microwave (and its indiscriminate use) had caused it to double," she reported. Of course she put a stop to the neighbourly fraternising, but became rather unpopular around the house in consequence.

At the end of the day, I asked if she regretted having taken my old microwave home. "No, not at all. I'd say it's a nice addition to our household and all said and done, it has made mealtimes more efficient," she laughed. "The only thing is, it has made me realise that I need a raise."