It started off I think with burnt pop corns. Yes,I burnt one of the easiest things to cook. It did add some comic fun to our get together however deep down stoked a fire within me to learn cooking.
The journey started off with poorly chopped onions,burnt tadka or extra salt. And then the YouTube fairy came to my rescue.I began exploring the plethora of cooking channels on the internet, and (might) have gotten addicted to watching these cooking videos which did play a vital role in my training.
I have always been fond of Indian cuisine, and round, finely cooked chapatis always intrigued me. My initial disasters in this segment did dampen my spirits but made my resolve stronger. Today my heart swells with pride when I see my chapatis blowing up like a balloon,not to mention ’round’.There is a lot to learn,of course however every self coocked tasty dish adds a new star to my cooking scorecard.
My cooking escapade did make me reflect upon certain important aspects of my own journey. Did I feel let down when I could see almost all my female colleagues getting self coocked (at least that’s what they claim) tiffins to work. Had I been judged whenever I binged on the cafeteria thali? Or Is it my internal misogyny which measures my womanhood on the scale of such skills?
We,women are always forced to do ‘such’ things.This has also been tagged as our ‘duty’.However we need to understand that we all have the power over ourselves.We will constantly be judged for what we decide to do with our lives however it shouldn’t deter us from achieving anything that we set our heart upon 💓.
Amita Karadkhedkar 