"Pyar mujhe sab sikha dega, Papa" Salman Khan said this very dramatically in Maine Pyar Kiya when his Dad told him he didn't know any work. Well, my Mom took a cue from him and told me the same when I was courting Mohit. Actually, Salman needed to learn some work to earn a living while I needed to learn some cooking to earn some brownie points.
I was also as cool as Salman was about it and thought 'pyar' rather 'time' mujhe sab sikha dega....Salman did manage to learn to do some manual labour within the next one month. Well, I took almost an year.
From the single, carefree girl whose weekly cooking schedule included making evening tea for mom-dad on sundays to somebody who is cooking square meals each day...Life has come a long way. Rather I have come a long way! Pyar, nope, Time sab sikha deta hain!
While I wiled away my courtship dreamy eyed, lightening sharp reality struck soon. I soon discovered whoever coined the phrase "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" wasn't a fool and wasn't kidding. It held true for 99.9% men, Mohit being one of them. So, as part of Pati sewa, I took it upon myself to learn the true 'art' of cooking.
On all my subsequent trips to Ludhiana, I made it a point to learn atleast one food item and practise the toughest thing- The chapatis. How others make them so round is still beyond me. Ranjit and Vinod( the house help) must be cursing me for all the weirdly designed roti's I made for them as part of the practise session. But, well their endeavor did pay off and 99% of the times, my chapatis are edible.
Chicken cooking was the only cooking that came naturally to me and also the kind that I enjoyed. A whole lot of experimentation, some help from ndtvcooks.com and a lot of inputs from Sumedha have made a decent Non veg cook out of me. Mohit better vouch for that! Maybe, Salman was right after all. Pyar ne Chicken banana to sikha hi diya!
The cooking classes in tandoori snacks, continental and Chinese prior to my wedding did help in impressing people but you can't survive eating noodles and pasta every night. But the basic forms of cooking were rather easy, I discovered. I let my imagination from the chicken experiments flow here as well and now you can see me as a 'hands-on' cook who can manage a meal for three without much hassle. That's a big deal for someone who started with sunday tea.
But cooking never came naturally to me and that is why I don't enjoy it as much as many others say they do. I manage it as part of a daily ritual. Aloo gobhi, rajma and matar paneer might not be my favorite words but tandoori chicken, lemon fish and galoti kabab do make me smile. Maybe they bring a twinkle in his eyes, that's why!
After all, pyar ne sab mujhe sikha hi diya!!
1 comment:
i thoroughly enjoyed reading this one...reminds me of ^THE RUPAL^^ who wouldnt get up to get herself buffet bfast....and luk at u now....uv come a long way...and all for gud..now m lukin for some long awaited sizzzllerrrrrr :)
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