For the love of cooking

A funny incident took place today. My cousin recieved a call from my father who wanted his lunch ready in some time. He had gone for a function to celebrate State Day today and standing in queue for lunch at the Bhawan, after the long speech, was out of the question. Coming back to my cousin who is known to panic for no reason, she was at her panic best yet again after the phone call. I told her to finish eating while I prepared lunch for Dad, and then popped a question, "But do you know how to cook?" I wanted to laugh because the idea that I may not know my ways around the kitchen seemed preposterous. Then came her supporting argument, "Because I have never seen you in the kitchen". How was I going to defend myself in this situation?

Back in college, I was known for my cooking skills. A dinner invite to my place meant you were going to feast like a king. While my Bhutanese counterparts offered the famous red rice and ema/kewa/gobi/brinjal datse during the rare occasions I visited their flat, I always had six-seven dishes lined up for my guests. There just had to be dal, dry beef, chicken, aloo dum, some veggie, cottage cheese etc. There was this one time I cooked pork in my 205 flat during my second year of college. I had no idea how to go about it then but the finished product is talked about till date. Two agyas had the good fortune of visiting me and they still speak of the phakshya (pork) I had prepared that night. Other than this, I remember cooking for thirty-fifty people everytime my friends planned a party. I would start early and finish cooking in batches since we didn't have big dishes to cook one item at a time. I have always enjoyed cooking for people so I didn't have much complaints back then. The only problem was that by the time the drinks were over and people were on cloud nine, their appetites reduced to a miniscule and the ones who dared to fill their bellies were subject to throwing up in the lone toilet, which by the end of the night resembled a public latrine where strangers had taken the liberty to pee and puke all over at will.

After all these years, I have realized that I don't enjoy cooking for myself. If we have guests, I am in the kitchen trying out new dishes I learnt in the UK and some old ones. Otherwise I enter the kitchen for my dish washing duties. Also, I don't appreciate people disturbing me when I cook. For me, because I suffer from OCD, everything needs to be spic and span -- both during and after the cooking. Having multiple heads around disrupts the flow of cooking which gets my pressure high at times. So today when my cousin said the above two lines, it got me thinking. She obviously hasn't been around much but is it important for people to know what you are capable of? After all I was a bit offended by her comment. If she had said this in front of my friends they would have had a hearty laugh for sure.