Experiments With Food

Ask any Indian who has migrated out of India and has been living elsewhere for over 6 months what they miss most about being away from India, and about 99% of them would give the same answer without a second's thought - their mother... and they would be lying. Not that they don't miss their moms much; just that they miss their moms' food more.

When you have such a ready source of great variety of food at home and anywhere else you go as in the case of India, you kind of start to forget that there in fact is a source! So, when I moved to Australia having decided to study here, it came as quite a shock to me that for some reason dining tables in Australia would not generate food every morning and evening like the ones in India did.

I had never learnt even the basics of cooking when in India, because well, there really was no need for it until I moved out. I guess everybody needs a little push to get started - couple of days of bread and jam, oriental noodles, and potato chips from the supermarket did it for me.

I would never forget the day, I think it was about a week in to being in Canberra and I couldn't take it anymore, when I entered the kitchen with resolve and learned everything there was to know about lighting the burner. The landlord for some reason thought it was quite amusing that I would focus so much on a seemingly trivial task, trying hard to suppress his laughter all the while teaching me the nuances of lighting. About 15 minutes of constant practice later, I could at last light the burner without calling him or one of my house mates who were no better at this than me to supervise me. Yayy!

It took many more sessions over a couple of years to learn cooking even modestly. But it is such a great hobby and I love it now. I probably can't do without it. The good thing is I can now cook something edible nearly every time I start and all the utensils I start out with come out fine at the end of it!

PS: The fact that I learned cooking enough to be a chef for a reputable restaurant for nearly an year, is simply a true testimony to the patience and skill level of the other chefs.