My love for cooking dates back to my childhood days. I grew up admiring the magic weaved by my mother and grandmother in the kitchen. The kid in me would earnestly crave a chance to do the smallest of tasks with them. Be it washing or peeling vegetables or tasting food midway, I would never miss out on the chance. Thankfully, I could carry the fervour forward to this date.   

Cooking, like any other art form, is an expression of oneself. Just as art outlives time, the flavour of good food and its infinitely attractive aroma lingers in. Its artistic flair lights up lives and transcends. Perhaps it is the glow of this transcendence that gleams in my eyes and lights up my days.   

I vividly remember how my grandmother would make these mouth-watering fish curries for me. She would use Kodambuli (Malabar tamarind) as the souring agent. Believe me, as I write this, my taste buds yearn for the amalgam of its smoky-sweet sourness. Also, the superbly sublime caramel custard my mother prepares for me is delicacy personified. Though the connection between taste and memory is equivocal, I would love to clear off the ambiguities and connect my favourite dishes with my fondest memories. Every time I bite into a brownie, I travel back to my childhood and immerse myself in the moment I first had it. Even now, I can write volumes about it.   

Cooking has never ceased to amaze me. It gushes a fountain of happy memories, and the most rewarding part is how good food can make people smile. The time I spend in the kitchen is therapeutic, and on the toughest of days, I feel like brewing an elixir of life. It calms me down and revitalizes my inner spirit. Not that I underbake or simmer when I should boil, but I always correct myself and learn. It’s the big lessons made from small mistakes like these that make all the difference. Ultimately, what else will life come down to?  

And today, while working as a Content Strategist at Mitsogo, I still get to try out Vietnamese Banh Mi’s, Alfredo Pastas and Bacon sandwiches during my free time. Thanks to my company’s flexible work culture, my work-life balance seldom gets wrecked. Moreover, cooking has improved my organizational skills and finely chiselled my time management skills. The craftsmanship, finesse and ability to mix things in the right proportion have come in handy on multiple occasions. I’ve learned patience, practice and perseverance from the kitchen, and it’s no chalk and cheese from coming up with many drafts to deliver inspiring content.   

Winding down a hectic day at work with Spaghetti and meatballs is indeed a satisfying release. What’s more gratifying is the thrill of sharing it with my friends. At the end of the day, my cooking stints help us eat mindfully for our bodies. The best part is that we also become better off nutritionally and economically. After all, we see to it that the weekends in Chennai are downright toastier and return refreshed to work. As Nora Ephron puts it, “Writing is what I do. It’s like breathing to me at a certain point, but if I couldn’t write, I do like cooking.”