Khao, pio, aish karo!- Eat, drink, enjoy life!

In search of…’Khao, Pio, aish karo!’…abroad!

Let us eat and drink: for tomorrow we diet. ~Wendy Morgan

We all know the basic Indian Mantra of daily life- ‘Khao, pio, aish karo!’ : Eat, drink, enjoy life!
Many of us live by this simple but profound philosophy. Growing up, whenever in doubt, we have often taken shelter under the wide umbrella of this slogan!
Since landing in America years ago, I always wanted to find out if this desi mantra ‘Khao, pio, aish karo!’- ‘Eat, drink, enjoy life’, applies overseas as well. To verify my curiosity, I needed to find a swamy or a guru, who knows it ALL; someone with ultimate knowledge of life and its principles. That is how I stared my personal journey to look for a divine saint full of wisdom to answer this basic question.

I always thought that such a deep and thoughtful slogan has to be backed by some Indian religion. I was almost certain that it was from some ancient guide; may be a part of Lord Krishna’s preaching to Arjuna during the great battle of Kurukshetra….
So I went to see a pundit at the local Hindu temple. I was not surprised to see him sitting on a small dais with a laptop next to him. After the simple greeting and some chit-chat about Google versus Bing, I popped the question:
“Khao, pio, aish karo! – is the slogan from the Hindu religion?”
He laughed at first. After realizing that I was serious, he started to search something online. I could not wait to be enlightened, but I did not want to interrupt him and his thoughts…
Finally he spoke, “Nope”
“Are you sure?” I did not believe my ears.
“I swear by the holy book Gita, your so called mantra is not in there”, he sounded serious.
“It has to be in there!” I insisted as the priest shook his head again.
“No, it is not” He repeated.
“So, what should I do?” I was losing my faith.
The priest got closer to me and whispered, with a smile, “Khao, pio, aish karo!”
Bewildered, I walked away.

I was not ready to give up; I have lived all my life believing in this mantra. I recall many of my friends with the same belief back home were Sikhs. So, I went to a Gurudwara and posed the same question to the pathi –the Sikh priest. After all, the holy Sikh book is full of writings and poetries from so many different saints and gurus. But the pathi swore by Baba Nanak that there is no such thing in the holy book.
“I don’t believe it!” I said.
“Have some more parshaad” He said, as he reached to the bucket full of light brown halwa drenched in butter.
“But…”
He poured me a big handful of parshaad, even before I could cup my hands properly to receive it.
“Khao, pio, aish karo!”, he smirked through his long grey beard as I stood there speechless.
The parshaad was quite filling, but my quest was unfulfilled.

So where the heck this beautiful slogan originated from? ‘Khao, pio, aish karo’ - a single line stanza that seems to be so complete in itself. The 3-4 words seem to sum up the purpose of our life on this earth! At least, so it seems .
I approached a monk that afternoon, hoping that my long ‘search’ may end somewhere in a Buddha temple. But instead he told me all about deeds and actions…
After listening to the concept of karma for a while, I had to walk away…
“Where are you going, oh truth seeker!” The monk asked, I think taunting me; it was hard to get his sense of humor.
“I am tired and hungry; I have to go back home” I replied as I departed.
“And, do what?” he asked; I think he knew my reply:
“Khao, pio, aish karo”

Frustrated, I drove back home. While cruising on the freeway, I wondered if Bollywood was responsible for getting this mantra in our heads. After all, most of our daily life and thinking are influenced by the desi movies. But, I was drawing a blank.
I got home and crashed on the sofa in my living room. I was so sleepy; I could barely keep my eyes open, may be the butter from the parshaad was getting through my system!

“Who are you?” I jumped to see a familiar face in Punjabi suit, very similar to the one she wore in the movie Davedaas….
“You know me”, She replied in her familiar crisp voice, and continued, “I think I have an answer for you”
“What?” I was lost.
“It is ‘Khao pio Aish karo”, with capital ‘A’, the upper case ‘A’ – Aish” she said.
“What?” I was in a shock or something close.
“Aish, as in Aishwarya Rai….ME”, she laughed.
Her laughter and strange derivation of the meaning made me jump. I almost fell off the sofa….
Sitting up straight, I looked around. There was no one there “that was an interesting dream”…I said to myself as I rubbed my eyes.
I walked over and opened the front door to get some fresh air, to wake up from my dream. The evening sun was setting over the West; the saffron sunlight was creating a beautiful scattering effect over the colorful trees and clear autumn sky far away. A few birds were still wandering under the jasmine trees in the front yard.
“What a pretty sunset” I said to myself, “Perfect weather for firing-up the grill in the backyard, and ‘khao…….” !