Now, one of the most common and hence most irritating question I have been asked about a zillion times, comes from these giggly, gushing ladies going ga ga and wondering in very excited high pitched tones, with eyes wide open, "ooooooh So he cooks at home? I'm sure you get to eat a lot of fancy things at your own home right!" Oh well sweet ones - who dream of putting your feet up and watching you favorite soaps while your husbands in aprons produce magical, fancily plated pastas and what not in front of you - the answer is a BIG, EMPHATIC "NO"!!!
First of all, being a Chef in ANY hotel in India means, you have no time limits to your work. You have to be there at the hotel when others eat, when others celebrate great holidays, when others want to throw a party and when others want to enjoy a weekend. Which means, you are hardly home with your own family to do any of those things, including eating a meal, let alone "cook".
So the underline is, if I have to eat, I have to cook. And that will be non-fancy survival food like rice, dal, some vegetable chopped and fried and our main survival tools - curd and pickles -meant to eat and live.
Secondly, our lovely 5 star chefs, being so familiar with 5 star burners and ranges and 500 types of knives for cutting, chopping and sheering different things, and 5 star pots n pans n utensils and what not, CANNOT survive in our basic Indian home kitchens. They are lost having to work on 2- burner kitchen stoves, with only the basic human size kadais, non-stick pans to cook in and one or two knives that cut and sheer everything! Ohhh no...how does one manage???!!!
So, rather than standing around explaining that you have to cook that also in that pan, and this knife can cut that vegetable as well, and arguing about "how do you manage" and "how can you not manage, its simpler and hence easier" - you might just go ahead and do it yourself. Save some lost souls in the process. :)
Now, since the guys are less bothered about cooking at home and are more keen about how to spend money on eating an drinking out, my friends of the male kind have another common myth, which goes something like this - " Hey arch, lucky you! so you get to eat free food at the Taj all the time right!". Once again my answer would be another Big Emphatic No!. I have, in the last 3 years of marriage, eaten at my Husband restaurant about 2 times. And though the food was very very enjoyable and the experience was very unique- with most of the guests staring at me in surprise wondering who this important lady might be whom all the other chefs (read my husband friends) are coming and greeting so frequently - it was not like that is my regular food fest. Plus, it turned out to be boring as my husband himself would refuse to accompany me at a table in his own restaurant. Eating alone in a 5 star, being stared at by all the other guests was not really one of the most pleasurable experiences.
So ladies, overall, my life with regards to cooking and eating has been very plain and simple -eating self cooked home food like most other wives and in fact even more sad as I eat it alone most of the times. It hurts you even more when you celebrate Christmas and New Year and Diwali and valentines and everything else alone at home as your husband is out there working hard trying to help others celebrate in style.
Well, hoping that I have not done a lot of damage by disheartening and disillusioning you damsels out there, I think I do owe you a list of some of the good things as well.
First of all, since our guys get so little opportunities to eat at home, the times that they do get to eat, its a pleasure to cook for them, even if it is just en dal n curry n the usual. For them, if you serve anything in the name of "ghar ka khaana" it will be highly appreciated. Well, this one is also case specific cos if your husband is a trained Indian Chef, then it may also lead to criticism. But that way I am lucky as my chef at home is not too keen with Indian cooking himself. So everything that is palatable in the name of home food, however simple that is, as long as it is not burnt and spoilt, you can get away with as classic cuisine.
Secondly, once I have convinced him that a particular knife can actually cut a vegetable very effectively and he is in the mood to help, I get my vegetables cut in under 30 seconds. An activity I dislike the most in my cooking process, that I find the most painful and time consuming. So that is a HUGE Boon.
Moreover, though I did mention earlier that they are hardly ever home for the big festivals and celebration, Pradeep has, over the last 2 new years eve and valentines day, managed to sneak in a few seconds before 12 am, with a lovely gooey, chocolate cake right out of La Patisserie (The taj bakery) and though we didn't spend the whole day together, that gesture has been the most beautiful. Especially if you are regular readers (there are hardly a few I know, but feels good to write those words ;)) you would know that chocolate cakes are one of my top 20 favourite things.
Another thing is, for the life of me and irritation of others who eat out with me, I cannot read a menu and decide what I want to order in a restaurant. So whenever we eat out (and again the regular readers know this is another favourite), having a chef alongside who knows exactly what means what and it suits my taste or not is the biggest boon for me...
Another unique experience has been partying after human hours. Be it one of their colleagues birthdays, send off parties or whatever occasion, the only time everyone gets to get together and party is after something like 2 am when no one in their right minds visits 5 star coffee shops most of the times. Though I was not sure whether to put this in the advantage or disadvantage sessions, as it drastically affects the bloody clocks of normal human beings like us, it has been a very unique experience to be visiting the nocturnal kinds and their parties.
Finally, though my chance of dining at my Pradeep's Hotel has been very limited, I have visited and eaten at more 5 start hotels in the last 1 year than I have in the last 25 years before. This is specifically because when we visit Pradeep's friends (college mates, old colleagues etc.) and as usual they are working all the time, the best thing to do is to visit them at their hotels, which in turn means you eat there and more often than not get the specials.
So signing off on that nice note....damsels, continue dreaming bout marrying the "hot guys who cooks" but only for the right reasons.
