One more Maggi story, writes Twinkle Khanna

1988: I tie my shoelaces and run out of my dormitory. In one hand, I have my school bag and in the other, I have a mug full of water. I quickly find a sunny spot on the parapet behind my dorm and place the mug there. From my school bag, I pull out a plastic packet, rip it open and throw the contents into my mug of water. Praying no one swipes it and having no access to hot stoves, I leave my meal to cook in the sunrays for the next few hours till lunch break and I rush towards my classroom.

Life at boarding school pivots around buying snacks with our meagre weekly allowance and sometimes sharing and sometimes hoarding our edible treasures. 

1996: Dressed in an elaborate red-and-gold outfit, I am in my make-up room at a film studio. We have been trying to film the same sequence for the last five days. I am sitting on a chair, nose buried in a book, when two other women sharing the room with me start gossiping and I burst into uncontrollable laughter when I hear a very senior actress dismissively calling an actor of her generation 'a two-minute noodle' referring to his rather dismal and disappointing performance behind closed doors.

2014: I am sitting at my desk, trying to finish a column before my deadline lands like a guillotine on my neck. Considering that this deadline is less than forty minutes away, this is very far from an ideal situation.

The prodigal son walks in and starts making a fuss about not wanting to eat his aloo parathas. Impatient and weary, I give into his demands, saying, "All right, you can have some, but only today and you will eat all your vegetables at dinner. Promise?"

These are the memories that immediately spin through my mind as I see the blaring headlines about lead-laden and MSG-enriched dear Maggi. It is difficult to imagine a brand more firmly entrenched in our minds and hearts over the last few decades and it is precisely due to this reason -- because we all have so much nostalgic sentiment entwined within this little yellow package -- that we are so disillusioned.

Did we really believe that a packet of refined flour was in any way a healthy substitute for our good old roti and sabzi? Of course not! But I think what we did take for granted was a singular fact; that it was not detrimental, just like a bar of chocolate or a cookie. An indulgence, that may not do you any good, but is not likely to spread toxins in your system either. 

Well, in my opinion the fallout from the Maggi debacle is multiple. We have all gotten a karate chop on our head, which is pretty much what we deserve for relying on a two-minute noodle, too many times and will be slightly more careful about products that we ingest regularly.

Maggi losing a large part of its market share and being recalled, will hopefully also make other manufacturers careful about what they put in our food. The Indian food and safety department will probably become more vigilant and put a lot more emphasise on periodically checking that the consumables are up to the standard norms.

So, can Maggi ever make a comeback or rather,will that yellow packet ever line our shelves again? Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I may buy a packet again if Maggi decided that it was feasible for them to perhaps,do some organic noodles, in a yellow recyclable paper package, demanding a tiny bit more than we would have asked from another brand because we are all a tiny bit pissed off.

Give us a snack, which may still not be as healthy as what we cook in our kitchens but which is not damaging either and hey, here is a tip; Dear Maggi, have a tagline based on the old saying, ‘All good things come to those who wait.’ and make a product that has a few more wholesome ingredients and thus takes a little more time to cook.

Go ahead and take a full 12 minutes and not just this hurried two. After all, it has now been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that we are getting rather tired of being let down by two-minute noodles both in the bedroom and in the kitchen as well.