Buttering the toast

Today morning when I was buttering the toast remembered a very funny incident from my hostel days.

In the mess everyday we would get toast and butter (rationed - only 1 spoonful) for breakfast. There were other items like idli, dosa, pongal etc, but after tasting them, I decided to stick to bread and butter for the rest of my hostel stay. Over a period of time, I mastered the act of dividing the given butter equally among my 3 toasts. I would first methodically and neatly apply the butter to the toasts and then eat them with the newspaper in my other hand.

Anyway, one day while was going through this routine, a girl sitting in front of me was observing intently. When I pickedup the newspaper, she interrupted me and asked, 'Have you studied in a boarding school?'. I gave her a puzzled no. She went back to her coffee. Now it was my turn to interrupt her. I enquired, ' Why do you ask so?'. She smiled back and explained, 'I saw you buttering your toast so neatly, so thought you might be from a boarding school'. When I still had a puzzled look she explained, ' You know, in boarding schools they teach you all this'. I was still baffled. She went on,' One of my friends was telling me. She is from a boarding school'. ' I'm late. Bye', she said and left.

I finished my toast and went straight to Mallika (she had studied in a boarding school) and told her this incident and asked her if they actually taught buttering the toast in boarding schools. She too was amazed by what I said. She said that in her school, breakfast with toasts buttered would be kept ready on the dining table. I tried to catch the girl again, but didn't find her around and after a few days I forgot about the incident. Until of course today morning.