No refills please

So we're out to lunch at a restaurant called Swiss Chalet on Saturday. The server was happy enough with us at the start of the meal because we'd ordered what he felt was a fair amount of mains and sides. The first round of incredulity hit when I declined his offer of a refill for my lemonade. "But it's free!" he said. I know, I replied, but thanks anyway. He stood there gaping at me for a few seconds and then dashed off in the direction of the kitchen. Out he came a couple of minutes later bearing a huge glass of water with slices of lemon and plonked it in front of me. Just in case you regret your decision of not ordering a refill, was the unspoken message.

When we were done, having, to our minds, eaten a little more than was necessary, we asked for the cheque. The server came running towards us looking extremely troubled. "But you haven't ordered desserts!" he exclaimed. We said we'd eaten too much already. He blinked rapidly for a seconds, looking from one to the next in our group. Then he walked off mumbling, "I'll give you Skittles and M&Ms anyway. They come with the meal." And the cheque didn't make an appearance until the candy packets were duly handed over.

In this land of bottomless drinks and huge portions, we new settlers with relatively smaller appetites seem quite a rarity. And this is just Canada, which by most accounts is slightly better than the US when it comes to portion size. We'd had a similar experience at a Red Lobster downtown the weekend before. The charming server there started laughing when we voiced a collective and vehement "No" to her offer of desserts. A Red Lobster main comes with a choice of not one, not two but three whole side dishes!! All of us chose not to have a third side. That had surprised our server a little, but she was more sophisticated than the man at the Swiss Chalet and didn't let her incredulity show on the face quite as plainly.

Last week on the local news I saw a report about what's being touted as the world's worst drink. It's a peanut butter and chocolate smoothie that carries a whopping 2000 calories per serving in the US and a much healthier 1700 calories in Canada! Can you imagine exceeding your entire daily calorie intake with one drink?!!!

Yesterday we went out for a Chinese lunch and Arvind and I ordered a small soup each. Our eyeballs nearly popped out when the soup arrived. The serving concept here is different. You order one soup and then share it with others at the table. Each small soup was enough for four people! So doing the meal justice was a struggle indeed.

Such lavish portions, to me, are a waste. There are other forms of excess one witnesses here. Canada is supposed to be one of the most environmentally conscious nations on earth, which is why the level of waste of electricity surprises me. The corridor our suite is in has in excess of 60 very powerful light bulbs on 24 hours a day. The space is just too brightly lit. They could easily put half the lights off and still have more than enough illumination. And this is just one corridor that doesn't even span the entire width of the building. It's a 26-storey structure with a twin that stands a couple of floors taller. Then there are other common areas that are equally brightly lit, not to mention the apartments themselves. Having just come from power-starved Gurgaon, this amount of waste of electricity is extremely troubling to me.

There's a lot one can learn from this nation in terms of caring for the environment and maintaining high standards of health and hygiene. But there is also a lot that Canada could learn from nations that have fewer resources at their disposal about plugging wastage. Turn a few lights out and don't serve quite so much food. You'll be surprised at how much energy and money can be saved.