Mom, I can Cook!!!!

Well waiting for your dream Company teaches you a lot of things, if Cognizant didn't delay our joining dates by an year, I would have never thought of cooking. We men generally do not enjoy cooking whenever there is a female around who can cook, this may sound like a stereotype, but this happens a lot in many homes, all over world. Men cook only if there's necessity, else we avoid it. Moreover, the best cooks throughout the world are men, who generally cook in Five star hotels, Exotic restaurants, or in a road-side dhabas, or in small outlets of food chain.

There's always a debate that which gender can cook better, Men v/s Women is considered as most favourite topic for time pass. But whether you ask a male or female, that whose cuisine do u like most? generally our answer is either mom or grand-mom, I mean a female in that answer, I have rarely seen a person saying that they like food cooked by their dad or grand-dad. But these are talks of old days. Today cooking is turning out as a necessity, people are learning it irrespective of their gender. We Men do enjoy cooking, but we are afraid of admitting it. Even my mom always tells me, "Never tell a girl that you can cook", but why is it so? Her reply is simple, " Do you want to spoil your Image? No Girl will like you that way". But I disagree completely, I have an opinion that, its not about the so called "Image", everyone must learn cooking, that's what they teach first thing in Military, If you can't cook,you can't survive in an operation. But, recently i read a Newspaper report in which few candidates who were aspiring to join Indian Army were rejected on the grounds that they can cook, and a Male who can cook generally do not have Officer qualities. Now, What the HELL is that, come on, don't these guys have a better explanation to reject that candidate, it was difficult for me to buy that crap. But as I mentioned it was a newspaper report in Hindustan Times, so I am not here to judge anything.

The first thing which I ever made on Gas Stove was Tea, long way back when i was in 6th Standard, since then I was able to make Tea,Coffee. Slowly I raised my standard and I attempted Kheer, Sewiyaan, mainly sweet dishes, and I must say that they were not bad at all, the right amount of sugar in right amount of milk, and the right amount of Taste. I am not praising myself, but I am writing all that on the kind of feedback which I got from my parents. Although, parent's reaction can be considered as Biased One, but they do criticise whenever it is required.

Wait for Cognizant was killing me, suddenly I asked one of my Orkut Friend, please tell me, how can I learn cooking, she said simple, open a website with loads of recipes and start attempting. But you guys must be wondering that why didn't I ask to my Mom? Actually, the truth is that I wanted to give her a surprise that I can cook, and a bit of hesitation didn't let me go to her for help, I feel more nervous if she's around and trying to guess the dish or to trying to tell me add this , add that, don't do like this, you will burn down the kitchen, get away from my kitchen, take care of your hands, don't cut like that, its a sharp knife, take care of your fingers, why are you following an Internet recipe? All these questions can fry your brain while you are trying to concentrate on cooking. But parents always care for us, and want us to stay safe, so they do it, its natural, we will understand all these things when we become a parent.

So slowly and slowly i started with basic vegetable curries and my first big attempt was Rajma for Diwali, and I must say it wasn't that bad, but my mom's Kadhi was so superb that everybody forgot about praising Rajma, even I got busy in praising Kadhi. After Rajma, I tried FISH, and I have made 4-5 varieties of fishes till now, they were all good as per feedback that I got. So, I think now can stay in any part of India without complaining about the food and enjoy a healthy home made food (I prefer less oil and fat).

In conclusion, I advise all the males and females who are reading it, please learn cooking, as it is a necessity these days, and keep the "male-ego" or "high-fi female attitude", out of the window while doing it.

CHEERS and Happy Cooking :)