My Cooking Diary:
So this is the first ever chance to spend time in this wonderful aspect of life called cooking. So to explain why this is the first chance, I will share a brief background.
I belong to the Mathur caste of Kayastha community. As per the Wikipedia link shared below, Reading and Writing has been the hereditary occupation of kayasthas, who are believed to be descendants of lord Chitragupta and in all Government and Other institutions, kayasthas have held high positions of repute.
Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathur_(subcaste)
So my Mom and Dad, both were Kayastha. Dad was in the Finance department and Mom was a Housewife, despite holding M.Sc degree in Advance Maths who had given up her teaching job to raise her kids well.
Family Background is a key component which develops certain level of interest in different activities. So we were always oriented to get good education and getting into good jobs.
As a family trend, we always had cooks in our house who were called Maharaj. Ladies of the house were oriented towards other art related activities like classical singing and classical dancing. Some of them were working even in those times around 50 years back from now. Art and creativity is an integral part of our household which can be seen on all occasions till date in all Kayastha families.
So, coming back to cooking, I have probably made the background clear that I have never been associated with any great cooking except for some basics.
But my mother, herself was a great cook because she loved cooking. Aside to writing poems and stories, she was a great cook. She was awarded a silver medal from Dhara Health as first prize for a nation wide contest on unique dishes. We have preserved the medal till date and the recipe that had won was of gobhi matar keema. Also, she had won second prize on a live cookery show on NDTV on Holi, where she had made Gujiya.
As it is always said that no one can beat the taste of mother’s home cooked food. So the same applied with our family. She was brilliant. Despite having a cook throughout her life for cooking regular Dal Roti Sabji, she would keep trying innovative dishes on her own.
So, coming back to my point, after class 12th, I got into a decent college in Delhi University for doing B.Sc in Computer Science and at the same time, I started with a 3 year course of NIIT which has evening classes everyday. So the schedule was all packed from morning 7 am(Thats when I used to leave home for a 1 hour journey to college) to evening 9 pm (Evening class at NIIT from 6 to 8 pm).
As soon as I got out of graduation, I got into a teaching job at Delhi International Public School, which again left me with hardly any time as I was also preparing for MBA.
In the same year, I got admission in one of the most prestigious MBA college of India, XLRI - Jamshedpur. Pls Note - There was not even a single day break in this transition. Also, similarly after completing MBA, we came back home on 31st Jan 2010 and I was supposed to report for work at ICICI on 1st Feb 2010. Since that day, I have been continuously working in an 8 to 8 job which leaves me completely drained off energy. It is often said, that you need to prioritise things in life and I, being a workaholic prioritised my work as it gives me a sense of independence, an Identity, work satisfaction and above all my work has been a saviour in life’s most difficult times.
And therefore, in my entire life of 30 years, this is the first time that I have got a wonderful 6 month long break after being blessed with twins - Aahan & Nyra, which gives me a bigger reason to now venture into this business of cooking. And let me tell you, I am enjoying this. I have always been a foodie who loves to eat good food and explore new dishes. And during present lockdown situation due to COVID 19, you can’t order from restaurants.
So here I am on a cooking spree and trying new dishes everyday. It is real fun.
So this is the first ever chance to spend time in this wonderful aspect of life called cooking. So to explain why this is the first chance, I will share a brief background.
I belong to the Mathur caste of Kayastha community. As per the Wikipedia link shared below, Reading and Writing has been the hereditary occupation of kayasthas, who are believed to be descendants of lord Chitragupta and in all Government and Other institutions, kayasthas have held high positions of repute.
Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathur_(subcaste)
So my Mom and Dad, both were Kayastha. Dad was in the Finance department and Mom was a Housewife, despite holding M.Sc degree in Advance Maths who had given up her teaching job to raise her kids well.
Family Background is a key component which develops certain level of interest in different activities. So we were always oriented to get good education and getting into good jobs.
As a family trend, we always had cooks in our house who were called Maharaj. Ladies of the house were oriented towards other art related activities like classical singing and classical dancing. Some of them were working even in those times around 50 years back from now. Art and creativity is an integral part of our household which can be seen on all occasions till date in all Kayastha families.
So, coming back to cooking, I have probably made the background clear that I have never been associated with any great cooking except for some basics.
But my mother, herself was a great cook because she loved cooking. Aside to writing poems and stories, she was a great cook. She was awarded a silver medal from Dhara Health as first prize for a nation wide contest on unique dishes. We have preserved the medal till date and the recipe that had won was of gobhi matar keema. Also, she had won second prize on a live cookery show on NDTV on Holi, where she had made Gujiya.
As it is always said that no one can beat the taste of mother’s home cooked food. So the same applied with our family. She was brilliant. Despite having a cook throughout her life for cooking regular Dal Roti Sabji, she would keep trying innovative dishes on her own.
So, coming back to my point, after class 12th, I got into a decent college in Delhi University for doing B.Sc in Computer Science and at the same time, I started with a 3 year course of NIIT which has evening classes everyday. So the schedule was all packed from morning 7 am(Thats when I used to leave home for a 1 hour journey to college) to evening 9 pm (Evening class at NIIT from 6 to 8 pm).
As soon as I got out of graduation, I got into a teaching job at Delhi International Public School, which again left me with hardly any time as I was also preparing for MBA.
In the same year, I got admission in one of the most prestigious MBA college of India, XLRI - Jamshedpur. Pls Note - There was not even a single day break in this transition. Also, similarly after completing MBA, we came back home on 31st Jan 2010 and I was supposed to report for work at ICICI on 1st Feb 2010. Since that day, I have been continuously working in an 8 to 8 job which leaves me completely drained off energy. It is often said, that you need to prioritise things in life and I, being a workaholic prioritised my work as it gives me a sense of independence, an Identity, work satisfaction and above all my work has been a saviour in life’s most difficult times.
And therefore, in my entire life of 30 years, this is the first time that I have got a wonderful 6 month long break after being blessed with twins - Aahan & Nyra, which gives me a bigger reason to now venture into this business of cooking. And let me tell you, I am enjoying this. I have always been a foodie who loves to eat good food and explore new dishes. And during present lockdown situation due to COVID 19, you can’t order from restaurants.
So here I am on a cooking spree and trying new dishes everyday. It is real fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment