The Cooking Conundrum

Being a student living away from family, and a male (tribute to all stereotypes), the most neglected of pleasures for me is the gastronomical one. To add a dash of pity, picture a true vegetarian ("oafishly orthodox-no-onion-no-garlic-Iam royally screwed" club) in a land where meat dominates wheat like spice rules Indian food; after a point that is all you find.

I am one of the fortunate souls who can find my way through trouble without stepping on the regular kitchen landmines. But I have a fair share of "thorough-bred" Indian male friends, who have feasted on curd rice like there is no tommorow, because that is the easiest thing to 'cook'. Learning to cook rice is the first step up the self sustinence ladder and first step down the chauvnism one. Living with a bunch of guys who have no idea of household chores, teaches a few basic points, a) what your mom does is the hardest job in the world, respect it. b) cooking is an art,admit it. c) kitchen is also a part of the house, use it.

One of the cliches about life is that it is a great teacher...Believe me, the first class in art of living is when you live alone and fend for yourself. After living at home with parents for over twenty odd years, "bachelor life" or living alone, seemed embellished with thrills of freedom. What one tends to forget, that the things we take for granted like being served good food, all regular chores done in oblivion etc suddenly vanish. Fending for yourself is the real learning curve that I hit and overcame when I came to the US. What I learnt living alone, is not just cooking, being responsible and doing my work on my own, but a deeper and more important lesson. What parents specially mothers do at home, is indispensable, hard and never to be taken for granted. A very banal reply to what does your mum do, is "nothing, shez a housewife". To call that nothing, is not just making a dumb statement but being outrageously unjust to someone's work. What I learnt was a more profound lesson, the art of patience, the joy of self sustinence, and probably the first steps towards understanding how hard it is to be a parent....