Awaken Your Inner Chef Time And Again

Viewers of the ongoing Masterchef India Season 7 started airing in early January this year. Among the 16 contestants, who were mostly in their 20s and 30s, we were quite amazed to find the silver-haired 77-year-old "young" contestant Urmilaben Jamnadas Asher from Mumbai. She made a big impression by presenting her straightforward, traditional Gujarati dish, Patra with coconut-coriander chutney, with a pleasant and enthusiastic smile. 

Although she was the first contestant to be eliminated, Baa, as she was affectionately known by the jury, her fellow contestants, and the audience, had won many hearts with her honest, frank demeanour and never-say-die attitude. She recounted her incredible journey and how she bounced back from a series of impossible setbacks, like losing her three children, including her son, who helped with her food delivery business. It was followed by her grandson being nearly killed in a road accident. Her story is one of courage, hope, and inspiration that might leave an indelible mark on the cooking reality show for years to come.

Gujju Ben Na Nasta In Masterchef

Incidentally, her listed profession as a Masterchef contestant was YouTuber. Her YouTube handle, simply called Gujju Ben Na Nasta, was initiated by her grandson Harsh, who also handles her store and business. She has nearly 2.5 lakh subscribers—a figure that has steadily increased since the app's launch two years ago. Chef Vikas Khanna even admitted to watching her YouTube videos to make the perfect methi thepla! So, while she might not have won the trophy, it was validation enough for Baa to have come this far and be chosen among the top 16 contestants!

I had experienced a similar rush of admiration and respect towards this quiet, bespectacled, and reticent gentleman standing beside his wife at a "culinary challenge" contest organised every year by one of the oldest Bengali Durga Puja groups in Secunderabad during the Ananda Mela celebrations during Dussehra. Upon a closer look, we found that the contestant for this year's challenge was the man and not his wife. We were all quite surprised, as he seemed to be an unlikely candidate for a cooking contest. But his wife shared with us that cooking was his hobby and passion, which he pursued over the weekends. Apparently, he has been looking forward to his soon-impending retirement eagerly so that he could perhaps finally get to open his cloud kitchen, and we were impressed. His dessert creation, called Jugal Bandi, as yummy as it was, did not win him the prize, but the plating skills were exemplary. His quick smile at our appreciative comments won him many well-wishers that evening.

On a personal note, I have always been fascinated since childhood by the alchemy of cooking, but for some strange reason (which I have not yet been able to fathom), I was barred by my mother from entering the kitchen. Even though my long summer breaks were filled with activities, games, and endless hours spent reading Enid Blytons, Nancy Drews, and other books, I would keenly look out for an opportunity to learn how to cook.

Those of us growing up in the mid-80s might have heard of the NikiTasha kitchenette, which was one of the first fancy cooking ranges made in India that also came with an in-built oven, which meant I could bake my cakes. So, we had one of those contraptions at home that was used only on special occasions. And the catch was that no one was allowed to touch it but my mother.

So, I would wait for my mother to take her mandatory afternoon siesta post-lunch to strike with surgical precision in the kitchen! Eggs, butter, flour, castor sugar, and vanilla essence or cocoa powder would roll out of the pantry to mostly make cakes. I would don her apron and beat the eggs, butter, and sugar into the flour. Cake tins would be out and lined with butter paper. My mother’s recipe books would come to the rescue in this cake-making process. And this entire operation was performed with great discretion so that the tattletales (my cousins) would not be spilling the beans!

My partners in crime for this daring act at that point in time were my grandmother and our pet Apso, Snowy. Both would encourage my efforts. My grandma would loudly applaud my attempts at baking and also cover up for me by raising an alarm when my mother would wake up to the mess in the kitchen. Snowy would eagerly chomp away the first or second piece of cake and polish off the crumbs from the floor.

Years later, my mother would thank me silently for learning how to cook without her awareness, as I used it as a tool to cheer my family when they were having a difficult or long day. Once, when my sister had to go through a difficult time during her pregnancy, it was stressful for the whole family, and she was in pain at the hospital. But when she and the rest of the family returned home, a hot dish of Mutton Do Pyaaza (cooked from Jiggs Kalra’s recipe) was waiting for them. This was my way of cheering her up, and that is what she did!

During the lockdown, I honed my roti-making skills and experimented with rarer dishes like dhokaar dalna and chicken lasagna, which turned out to be much simpler than I had imagined. But when you knew that you couldn't step out and that time was all that you had, along with a few ingredients and a zeal to cook, I thought, why not cook up a storm?

In the end, cooking awakens our inner traits of patience, perseverance, nurturing, and making others happy, in addition to being a form of soul therapy. So, for all of you who aspire to cook, it is never too late to take out your ladles, pots, pans, whisks, and aprons to dive into the world of cooking and let your inner MasterChef guide you.