Sehri vs. Sehri : Home-cooked vis-a-vis restaurant

When I was a child, I used to wake up to the panic of my mother, jolting me from my deep, peaceful sleep with her screams, "Quick! 5 minutes left!" Only to find out when checking the clock that I still had an hour to spare. 

However, all my frustration packed its bags and left upon reaching the dining table since my favourites, bread and eggs were put right in front of where I sat. As time went by, I slowly started adopting the life of an owl as I would stay awake all night and waking up was no more an issue. Sehri was replaced by random late night munchies and a last minute glass of water. 

Recently, I was introduced to the new concept of sehri at restaurants and I fell in love with it. BBQ Bangladesh and Nando's became second home for my friends and I, and wholesome, scrumptious sehris were something that we all looked forward to. 

How could we miss out on those tempting offers and those meaty, juicy chicken drumsticks served to us along with Spanish rice and bottomless cola? Never did we imagine sehri could be such bliss. 

As we started paying these restaurants a regular visit for sehri, it started to seem repetitive and mundane in addition to the toll it took on our wallets, because after all, we were all students. We also started missing the last minute frenzy and the excitement and zeal we experienced; making sure everyone in the family including the staff had eaten. There was a strong sense of camaraderie when the entire family had it together.

Asking around, you will come across people who will choose sehri at restaurants over home, whereas many will pick home over restaurants; while, some who would call it a stalemate when asked this trivial, yet tricky question. If you ask me, I would rather enjoy the best of both worlds, with a little bit of this and a tad bit of that. 

However, at the end of the day it comes down to preferences. Who would win this battle? Only time will tell since the cold war between home-cooked sehri and restaurant sehri has just begun.

By Ali Sakhi Khan