Memoirs of a Piscean Chef

MEMOIRS OF A PISCEAN CHEF - Bhaskar Adeeb



My Birthplace - 1980

I was born on the seventh day of March, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty in a family of Kashmiri Pandits who were settled in central Uttar Pradesh since five generations. My father was working with a bank and was posted in Allahabad at the time of my birth. I was born amongst my parents and grandparents and they were the first beings that I saw when I opened my eyes to this world.

Allahabad is a small city in the state of Uttar Pradesh; known for couple of important things including the famous ‘sangam’ of the three rivers; Ganga, Jamuna and the mythical – Saraswati, birthplace of Nehru and obviously Amitabh Bachchan !

We used to live in a colony known as the civil lines which was one of the posh areas of the town. My grandfather was working in the state excise as a deputy commissioner at that time and had probably known a lot of people in that city.

Our landlords were the Sharmas who were one of the rich families in the city and owned couple of cinema theatres and petrol pumps.

The Sharmas was the only family we were close to as they were our neighbours and known to our family since two generations.

The memories of Allahabad are very short lived as my father got a transfer soon after my birth to another place; called Devariya

Devariya - 1980

Devariya is small town, almost an urban village which was inhabited by lot of backward and rural population. This was my fathers first rural posting. I was still very young and do not re-collect much about that place except the fact that the place was named after a saint – Devrah baba who had spent all his life standing on one foot.

The next place I traveled was Faizabad, which was next to the city of Ayodhya. We stayed there for almost six months before we moved to Lucknow.

Life at Lucknow - 1983

The year was Nineteen hundred and eighty three and I had turned three. I still fondly remember our first house in Lucknow; it was located in a colony call Indira Nagar which was then the largest colony of the city.

C-1263 was the house number (also remembered as C- Bara sau tresath) which I still remember very distinctively. My grandfather had retired by then and was also living in Lucknow in the same colony. Their home was just two blocks away, B-106; my retreat.

We used to go their every evening, and have dinner almost everyday. My grandfather’s home was a small one with a drawing room, a dining room with a small attached kitchen, a long corridor and two bedrooms. He was a very strong believer of god, that’s why he always had a small pooja wherever he stayed.

There was also a small outside area where there was small shed next to a lemon tree where his driver Mr.Sunil Bihari Lal Khare used to rest.

Outside the shed there was a small place where Khare used to fill up my grandfathers ‘hookah’, I still remember the cast iron pan with red coal and the tobacco which used to lye there for ever.

My grandfather owned an Ambassador car which used to be parked in the car shed.

Abha Bua

My aunt used to live in a small town called Barabanki which is around twenty seven kilometers from Lucknow. She is my father’s younger sister.

Phuppa ji used to work in an organic factory as an engineer and after so long he still is with the same factory.

We used to visit Barabanki every week end to spend time with them. They have two daughters; Richa didda who is five and a half years elder to me and Gudia didda who is four years elder to me (‘Didda’ means elder sister in Kashmiri). I always used to have a good time with them.

Gudia is born

In the month of December, my sister was born. It was a pleasant surprise as well as an unsecured feeling which made its way into me. Soon I was alright. Gudia is three and a half years younger to me and has always been a different species. Whenever we were together, we always fought.

Life continued like this and I was about to turn four. My parents decided that I should be put in school as I was getting very restless at home. I have always been very restless all my life, not being able to settle in one place or with something, always switching on to various things.

I was put in a primary school which I faintly remember, the only thing I remember is that I had to wear a checkered shirt and there was a small rickshaw which used to drop me to school.

My school used to get over by twelve and I used to be back home by twelve thirty. One important thing which I should mention here is that; I was always a fussy eater till very late. I used to be a nuisance for my mother whenever she had to ‘force feed’ me.

I spent couple of months in that school before I was transferred to a girls’ convent. Carmel girls’ school used to allow boys till kindergarten II. It was a convent run by the missionaries , I spent two years there.

My class teacher in KG-I was Ms. Jean Scott. She was a young lady in her late twenties who used to take lot of interest in teaching. I still remember my first lesson – the alphabets.

I had a friend in my school – Monu. His father, Joy Uncle used to work along with my father. He is a Syrian Christian from Kerala. Though Monu was one year younger to me, we were always together in all the mischiefs….be it emptying the entire bottle of ENO in the drain and admiring the fizz and the bubbles or throwing pebbles at other children.

Both the families also went to Darjeeling once for vacations – where I got lost in the market and had to come back home alone. It was five then…

Time passed by and I had already finished two years of kindergarten. Now my parents had another task in front of themselves – my admission in standard first. The admissions were about to open and I had to appear for entrance tests.

There was a school called St. Mont fort which was a boy’s school till standard fifth. The school was associated to Mahanagar Boys’ Inter College which was among the best schools in Lucknow run by the missionaries. After fifth they used to automatically transfer the students to MBIC.

Montfort Boys – 1986

The month was April, Nineteen Hundred and eighty six. I was six years old and sat for the entrance test. The results came after few days and I got selected.

My casual life was about to get over and another life was about to start wherein I was expected to study, learn and do something later in the life.

I still remember that school; it had a huge playground and two floors of classrooms. My section was A which was the first room on the ground floor.

I never liked going to school. Though I was a bright student, I never liked studies and was never into scoring high marks.

I used be alone and not talk to other students except a person called Brijesh Das who was my seat mate. My class teacher was Ms. Sarah Jacob who was a very nice lady and always nice to me.

Time passed and I graduated to standard second. There were lot of new things and subjects which were very difficult – English, Hindi, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science. Maths was always a nightmare for me and English and easy glide.

I was a mediocre student in terms of the marks I used to secure, because I never considered studying important. Life went on like this and years kept on passing by.

Stories by Dada

Another very distinct memoir which I still have is of my grandfather. He was a tall well built gentleman in his sixties, very religious, straightforward, caring, loving and had a great intellect.

Apart from astrology and religion his passion was food. He used to spend most of his free time in cooking new dishes and serving them to people. Probably that is where I got my ‘cuisine gene’ from.

As children we always wanted to spend time with Dada and Dadi in their home. We could get up late in the morning, we could go out for shopping and ganjing - visiting Hazratganj – a famous activity centre in Lucknow and we could listen to his stories, most of which were related to ghosts..

Being the eldest child in the family, he was very close to me and used to take full care while I was with him.

I still remember his tales of paranormal encounters in and around our ancestral house at Sultanpur.

Summer vacations at Nainital

Spending summer vacations in Nainital was something which makes me feel nostalgic – even now. My father had spent few of his educational years in Nainital and probably that was the reason we always used to visit Nainital even after he had left that place.

One of our family friends – Yogesh Sah owns a hotel there, called India hotel. India hotel is situated right on the mall in front of the lake and it used to be our retreat during our vacations. Sahs used to live on top of their hotel and most of the times we used to be with them at their home.

When I think of Nainital, there are few landmarks which make the mere feel about that place very nostalgic. The famous of them were the `flats’.

It was believed that once a mountain fell in the lake creating a large flat place in that hill station. The flat used to swarm with video game parlours, chooran walahs, hawkers selling hot bhuttas and various other attractions.

Few other attractions of Nainital, which may sound stupid now were the Governor’s house which had a huge golf course and a haunted underground tunnel, pedal boats in the lake, stroll from Tallital to Mallital, horse rides and the French fries of India Hotel.

India hotel used to serve these ‘home fries’ with tomato ketchup for Rs.25 per portion, which at that time was “expensive”, but we still used to order and enjoy them on every visit of ours.

The last time I visited Nainital was in ninety six. I still want to go back to that place whenever I can.

Dinkar Chacha and Alka Chachi

Dinkar chacha is two years younger to my father. He is a lawyer and works for the Indian Army.

Dinkar Chacha was always a mischievous child all throughout. A compulsive talker and the real hardcore – ‘Adeeb’.

Being in the army, he was always posted in different cities, thus I could not spend much of time with him, till off late when he got settled in Delhi.

They have a son, Aditya who is the same age of Gudia, only twelve days elder.

Mausaji and Masi

Masi was nine years elder to my mother and was also very close to her. Mausaji was in the Army and retired as a Brigadier. Again due to his posting in different places, I could hardly spend time with them except few stints here and there.


Transfer to Unchahar - 1988
The year was Nineteen hundred and eighty eight and I graduated to standard third. The subjects got little more difficult. Before I could understand them, my father got his transfer to a place called – Unchahar. Unchahar is small village around one hundred and twenty five kilometers away from Lucknow.

The government had a power project there, called Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power project. The people working for the project used to live in a small township constructed near the village. It also had a small bank where my father got posted. The township was just like a small city which had a school, a small market, a recreation facility etc.

There I got admission into DAV public school. We spent only nine months there before my father again got transferred back to Lucknow.

This place left me with lot of memories including my first infatuation. Garima Singh was my class mate in standard third. Incidentally I could never talk to her…..as usual.


Transfer to Lucknow - 1989

We came back to Lucknow in the year Nineteen Hundred and Eighty nine and I got admission back to Montfort in standard fourth.

My grandfather had bought a land and built his home there. The plot was numbered B-1603. He named his home ‘Guru Kripa’ and he started practicing astrology there under the banner of ‘Martand Jyotish Kendra’ as one of his hobbies.

Initially the house had a front lawn which was later cemented, a small porch where few cane chairs or the ‘modhas’ used to lye, a mini parking for his moped, a garage for his new car – the grey Fiat, which till few years back I thought was blue and a room on the roof.

The house also had a back area and small shed there. The house next to it had a guava tree which used to be our famous steal spot.

My grandfather soon had a pet, appu is a small brown Pomeranian who now lives with us and is fifteen years old. He used to be very close to my grandparents and lived with them till the end.

Meanwhile I had finished two years there before I got into Mahanagar Boys.

I was in standard sixth now. The subjects had changed. Social studies got divided into History, Geography and Civics while Science and Mathematics got divided into Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Algebra respectively.

I still hated school, every morning I used to make one or another excuse to my mother. My excuses used to range from stomach ache, nausea, back ache or just simply ‘do not feel like going’ syndrome.

Trip to Badri and Kedarnath

Nandan Srivastava used to work with my father in his office. Srivastavas also used to reside in Indira Nagar therefore we were frequent visitors to each other.

One night he and my father decided that we should go out for a vacation somewhere and soon it was decided that we should visit Badrinath and Kedarnath which are the two famous shrines in Garwahal Himalayas.

Two cars started in the early hours of the morning the next day, not knowing what would be their next destination.

The month was of May, the plains were still hot with the sun scorching away to glory and the entire population wanting to go to the hill stations and here were we driving up the hills.

The first halt was decided to be at Haridwar, after spending a day there we again started the journey, traveling through various parts of Garhwal Himalayas and crossing towns like Rishikesh, Sonprayag, Rudraprayag, Joshimath, Vishnuprayag and Nandprayag.

Finally we reached a place called Gaurikund which was the base camp for Kedarnath. One needs to trek for around fourteen kilometers before reaching Kedarnath or alternatively ponies can be hired for the same.

We started at around one in the afternoon for Kedarnath, initially we were very excited about the fact that we will see snow and ice, but as the altitude started increasing, the distance becoming longer and the temperature going down and down with the rains, I started feeling as if I should stay there and …. It is enough.

The shrine was now only three kilometers away and finally I pulled it up. We reached the town at around six in the morning. The place had no electricity; all the lodges were swarming with tourists and absolutely no place to spend the night. Finally we got shelter in one of the temple complexes.

To visit the shrine you need to do an advance booking, we were allotted four in the morning as the visiting time.

I do not remember what happened after I slept on those ‘wet’ mattresses. I only woke up to the sun at around seven in the morning, the family had come back from the shrine with the Prasad and I, looked like a fool.

We had our breakfast and decided to walk back to the base where we had to start for Badrinath.

After we reached the base, my father got cramps in his legs so we decided that we should stay there before we move further.

Next day we started for Badrinath, the entire road till Badrinath is a motor able road so we could reach the town. It was much bigger than Kedarnath almost three times of the size.

We stayed there at a ‘dharamshala’ and slept on wooden cots with no mattress, not even a bed sheet.

We visited the temple and next day we started back again and to stop only ay Rishikesh.

After spending a day there, we came back to Lucknow.

Sultanpur’s residence - 1990

Sultanpur is a small town in Uttar Pradesh. It happens to be our ancestral town where my great grandfather had built his home. It was a very big home with around thirty rooms. All of the things from furniture to utensils, doors, windows dated back to 1800s.

My grandfather had lot of sentimental values attached to this home and also the tales of the third kind. I still remember, there used to be a rusted ancestral sword which used to lye in one of the rooms. This sword always had a peculiar handle to it which I can still picturise. Every time I used to visit the place, the sword was my first catch.

Other few things which remind me of that place were Sampatiya, an old lady who used to take care of that house, a small door on the roof which led to the lane behind the house and which always used to be chained as it was said that the spirits of our ancestors are locked up there, the old kitchen, the large market behind the house which was also owned by us and was known as ‘suraj market’.

My grandfather had decided to sell off this home and that was the reason we all went together to Sultanpur to bid the last farewell.





A Trip to South India - 1993

During one of the vacations, we decided that we should go out somewhere and spend our holidays. My father used to travel a lot for leisure and that is why we also saw lot of places in the country.

The entire trip was unplanned, as always. The only ticket we had was from Lucknow to Madras.

We started our journey from the Lucknow railway station. It used to take three days from Lucknow to Madras. The journey started and our train crossed various different states including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra and finally it entered Tamil Nadu. It was the second day of the journey and suddenly our train stopped.

There was some problem with the engine and the halt was getting longer and longer. The compartment was full of restless passengers who were making the place more congested, hot and uncomfortable.The train was halted at a station called Jollarpettai which is a small town in Tamil Nadu, around three hours from Bangalore. The weather there was very pleasant, The town was surrounded by the lot of hills and lot of greenery, we decided that we should get down and catch another train to Bangalore. It was already six in the evening. We took out our entire luggage and managed to get tickets for another train which was leaving for Bangalore.

We knew no one in Bangalore. The journey from Jolarpettai to Bangalore was a very scenic one. The train was moving between the hills and the forests. It had just rained and the entire placed was wet and one could smell the earth.

Finally we reached Bangalore at around ten in the night. We took a taxi and went to a hotel. I still remember that it was the month of May and it was raining in Bangalore. We had to take extra blankets and sleep.

Next morning we woke up with no clue about our next destination. Over the breakfast we decided that we should spend the day in Bangalore and see other nearby places like Mysore.

Next day morning we left for Mysore which is around two hours drive from Bangalore. We went and saw various places like the Vrindavan gardens, Mysore palace, Srirangapattam etc. We spent two days there and then we decided that we should take a conducted tour to other places.

We spoke to the hotel’s manager and he told us that every morning there is a conducted tour to Belur, Halebid and Sravanbelagola. Belur and Helebid are small villages near Mysore famous for the remains of the 16th century Dravidian kingdom and Sravanbelagola was famous for the Jain temple which was situated on top of a hill and had a 90 meters long statue of Bahubali carved out of a single stone.

After this trip we came back to Bangalore and then we decided that we should continue our journey. We spent the day in the city doing sight seeing and the next day we caught a flight to Trivandrum. That was the first time I traveled in a plane.

The flight takes one and a half hours to Trivandrum. We were standing in the Trivandrum airport again with no idea as to what next… We had not informed Joy Uncle about our arrival as we wanted it to be a surprise.

Language posed the biggest threat, with great difficulties we reached Joy Uncle’s office. My father and I went into the bank and inquired about him, to our surprise, the manager told us that he has been transferred out from Trivandrum to a small village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

We did not know what to do. We were about to get up and leave the place, suddenly Joy Uncle entered the branch. He was on a two day vacation and had come to Trivandrum to see his family. It was really a sigh of relief.

We all went with him to his home which was situated in a locality called Valleyambalam. We spent two days with him in Trivandrum before we decided that we will accompany him back to the village where he was posted.

We started from Trivandrum early morning in his white maruti which used to smell as if it was a small Kerala scent shop.

The first destination was a place called Thekkady which is famous for the Periyar lake and the elephants which reside in the forests.

The boat ride through the lake was a very beautiful scene. The entire lake is situated between green mountains and has hundreds of tree trunks in the centre of the lake. We also saw couple of baby elephants playing with their mothers which was an absolute treat to the eyes.

In the evening we continued our journey and halted at a place called Pirmid where we spent the night. Pirmid was a very small hill station, it had a guest house which was situated amongst jackfruit trees, lot of mountain flowers, inhabitation and wolves !!

I spent entire night waking up to the haunting howls of these animals.

Next day morning we again started for our next destination which was another hill station situated in Tamil Nadu called Kodaikanal. Kodaikanal is famous for its lake and the city which was situated all around it. It was just like Nainital.

Kodaikanal was also famous for its chocolate shops which used to sell different shapes and flavours. They used to fascinate us so much that we wanted to buy every single shape. No one knew that after few years I shall be making them myself.

Finally we reached our destination and Joy Uncle dropped us at the spot where we had to catch our next bus. We had an hour before the bus was scheduled to come, we decided that we will eat something. There was a small thatched roof house which looked like a small ‘dhaba’. We went in side and to our surprise it was a idli restaurant which used to sell only idli and sambhar with some coffee.

I still remember that shop was selling idli for just Re.1 with sambhar and chutneys complimentary. We stuffed ourselves and waited for the bus.

Soon the bus came; it was a Tamil Nadu road transport bus which had people as well as goats traveling in it. We managed to get few seats at the back and finally reached Madurai in the evening.

We went to a small hotel and left our luggage before we went out for the sight seeing. We went to the Meenakshi temple which is a very famous shrine down south.

Next day we left for Rameswaram, which is situated in the western part of Tamil Nadu next to the sea. There we stayed in one of the tourist guest houses and visited the famous Ramesawaram temple.

Rameswaram was the end of our trip as then we went back to Chennai and then to Allahabad and back to Lucknow

Lucknow to Jaipur - 1993
After we came back from the vacations, my father got a transfer to Jaipur.

Jaipur was not a new place for me as my maternal grandparents used to stay there and also my parents got married in Jaipur.

Nana and Nani

The memories of Nana and Nani are attached with the memories of their home in Jaipur. They had spent their entire life in Rajasthan and after retirement they chose to settle down in Jaipur.

Their home was located in a colony called Bani Park which is a very famous colony for those who have either been to Jaipur or lived in that City.

The house was on Madho Singh road which was the heart of that colony.
D-192 was a very big house with lot of open spaces.

The main gate used to have spikes all over it, which was a very fascinating scene for me, every time I visited them. There was a small gate which was next to the main gate and everyone used to enter through this small gate only.

To the right hand side there was a big area which was full of different trees, mostly kair trees (a local berry used in pickles).There was a small area where my grandfather used to feed the birds and the squirrels which used to take shelter under these trees during the scorching heat of the afternoon. He had placed a small earthenware pot on a stone which used to be under a trickling tap and was always full with water. On the stone he used to put the seeds for these creatures.

The house had a huge lawn surrounded by ashok trees and neem trees which used to protect the lawn against the heat. The lawn also had a small sprinkler where we used to take a bath during evenings.

Next to the lawn there was a big mulberry tree. It used to be one of the most pet tree of ours and we used to feed ourselves with the berries whenever we were there. Apart from these trees there were lot of lemon trees, bougainvillea plants and other flowers which used to keep the house always fresh.

The house had five rooms altogether. My grandfather room was in the right side of the house. It was a small room which had a cupboard where he used to keep his clothes, his sun hat and his belts which he always kept neatly rolled.

To the other side of his bed were the homeopathic medicines and books which he used to refer.

The next room which was adjacent to his bedroom was the dining room. It had an old white coloured Allwyn refrigerator which, to the best of my knowledge was bought even before my mother was born.

The room had a small dining table which used to have these peculiar detachable plastic table mats and a cutlery stand. The main attraction of the room was this old wall clock which required winding every seventh day and used to ring after every half an hour.

The third room was the main drawing room which had two beds, couple of old wooden chairs and two wall racks. The only reason I still remember every single detail is the fact that I was a very keen observer and also was attached to that home.

My grandparents had kept an old radio which used to operate only during 8-8.30 in the evening while a popular play, called `Hawa Mahal’ used to be broadcasted. The same rack also had a small wooden ‘hookah’, a metal peacock which had atwenty year calendar on its feathers and other displays.

The second rack used to have a plastic bottle filled with home made ‘chooran’ which my grandmother used to make, a photo frame with my picture and few magazines. The room also had a large ‘phad’ painting (Rajasthani folk tale in the form of a painting)

The room also had a huge cooler attached to it which had to be filled up from the front and a pipe had to travel across the room.

My grandmother and my uncle used to use this room as their bed room.

The only reason I am mentioning all these details here is because I very distinctively remember those things which I cherished sometime in my life.

The next two rooms which were attached to this room were my Uncle’s property. One of which was his study room where he had his typewriter, a study table, couple of books and lot of medicines, while the other room had a bed, a godrej almirah where my grandmother used to keep a bottle of ‘rooh afza’ and two chairs wooden chairs.

There was also a large verandah on the back of the house which had the kitchen, a small shed with a washing area, a grain store and a kitchen equipment store.

The roof used to be always full of bougainvillea plants in various colours and aroma. These plants used to give a very different look to the entire house.

Tagore Public School - 1993

I was thirteen years old when we moved to Jaipur. I had to join a school, I got admission in a school called Tagore Public School.

It was the first co-educational school for me and thus created lot of difficulties in the initial phases of settling down.

I have always been introvert and a reserved person especially with the opposite sex. Life at school was monotonous as I had very few friends to talk to. I just hated going to school and spending time.




The City

Jaipur was a much cleaner and stabilized city as compared to Lucknow. The people were much simpler and law abiding citizens.

We used to live in a locality called Ambabari which was around four kilometers from the city centre – Mirza Ismail Road or the M.I. Road.


Expedition in the Himalayas – 1995

I had finished my basic and advanced rock climbing course with the Rajasthan mountaineering institute and wanted to go for one of the expeditions which this institute used to organize every summer.

This time there was a trekking expedition going to Kafni and Pindari glaciers in Kumaon and I opted for it.

The year was Nineteen hundred and ninety five and I was in standard tenth. It was a group of around twenty students who were the part of this expedition.

We started from Jaipur in a mini bus for our base camp which was Bhimtal, a small town in Kumaon.

Bhimtal is close to Nainital and is famous for its lake and scenic locations.

Next day, after a tiring journey, we all reached Bhimtal where we got down at a government rest house and rested for a day before we started our journey further deep in the hills.

Our trek had to start from a small village called Song from where there were no motor able roads and one could only trek to move further.

On the way to Song, we crossed several hill stations like Kausani, Bageshwar and Almora. The drive was really mesmerising, the curves on the road, pine and deodar trees, clouds which used to settle down on the roads and green mountains had added extra life to our entire journey.

Finally we reached our destination from where we had to start our trek. We got down at Song and after a little while, we started our walk. Pindari glacier was around fifty kilometers from the base and we had to reach there in seven days.

It was around one in the afternoon when we started walking, we trekked for about five hours and covered approximately six kilometers before we retired at a small rest house for that night.

It seemed that the rest house had been there, standing all alone by itself all these years. There was absolutely no sign of habitation except the bahadur who used to take care of that place. There was no electricity so we had to eat our dinner before the sun could set and then sleep.

The next day morning we woke up at around five in the morning and got ready in an hour after having cookies and bournvita as breakfast. The second day was very tiring as we trekked almost for nine hours with short breaks in between.

Even after ten years, I still remember those paths and the mountains where we walked. The entire experience was so astounding that it still holds a special place in my memories.

We used to walk on stoned paths, amongst the trees and moss laden rocks. One could see the river which used to flow deep down in the ravine. The water was so clear that the stones and pebbles could be seen right from the top where we were trekking.

It was the month of May-June but as we went closer to the glacier, the temperatures started dropping. Finally we reached the last destination, the village which was around three kilometers from Pindari glacier.

Next day we had to wake up at four and go to the glacier, everyone had early dinner and slept by seven in the evening.

Next day was the D day, we had to see the glacier- the sub zero point.
We started at around four thirty in the morning and after have trekked for almost four hours, we reached the glacier.

The view was astonishing; one could not see anything except ice and a small temple there. One whole river had become ice; as if it was frozen through the time. That sight was one of the rarest one could ever experience.

We enjoyed ourselves there before we started back to our mid way camp from where we had to de-route towards Kafni glacier.

All of us were so tired and drained that we refused to walk further, the plans changed and next day morning we were trekking downhill towards Song.

The five day journey was completed in only two days. Finally we reached the bus and we started again. This time for Bhimtal and then back to Jaipur.



Ill health – 1996

The month was December and I was in Nainital for vacations. The town was expecting a snow anytime and the temperatures had dropped to nearly zero.

I enjoyed winters in Nainital to the fullest but was not aware that the return would be so painful.

When I returned back to Jaipur, I started having pain in my left chest. I could literally feel that some air is moving outside my lungs.

I was rushed to our family doctor, Dr.Panicker who recommended an X-Ray and few other tests. The X-Ray showed that there was a small leak in my left lung and the air was leaking from the point and getting accumulated in the chest cavity.

Dr. Panicker recommended me to a specialist, Dr.Sen. Dr. Sen suggested that the chest should be incised, a tube to be inserted and the air to be taken out.

I was there in the hospital with a tube inserted in my chest for a week. After a week, X-Rays showed that the leak was healed and the leaked air was completely removed.

I was discharged from the hospital. After one month, the problem recurred, this time with full bang. I was again kept with the tube inserted, but this time for almost a month hoping that I will get better.

After a month when nothing was looking very promising, Dr.Sen decides to perform a surgery. He had planned the following -

Cut open my chest, scrape the lung and stick it to the chest cavity so that leak is permanently sealed off, the plan was executed on Seventh day of April, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety seven at Jaipur.

I was kept in an ICU for three days for observation and then I was discharged after a week.

College 1998

The year was Nineteen hundred and ninety eight and I had finished my class twelfth exams and now I had a huge decision to take – what next?

I was always interested in two things, computer and cooking. I was sure that there is nothing except these two which I should pursue as my career. I had a broken right hand at that time and a confused mind.

After lot of thinking and counseling by various intellectuals I gave entrance exams for hotel management and also got admission to Bachelors in computer application in the university.

I gave entrance exams for National Council for Hotel Management, Welcomgroup school of Hotel Management and Taj institute of hotel management.

I got selected in the first one and therefore left the university. The day came when I received the joining letter for the hotel management and Trivandrum as my college.

It was a mixed feeling for me because it was very far from home and had no one whom I knew in that part of the country except Joy Uncle. I had two months of vacations before I had to join the college in July.

My father accompanied me to Trivandrum. We reached Trivandrum three days earlier to the date of joining and stayed at Joy Uncle’s place. Finally the day came when my father left me in the college hostel and left back for Jaipur.

My new college was situated in Kovalam which is famous for its sea beach and was around thirteen kilometers from the main city. The college was right on the beach surrounded by coconut groves, the sea and couple of small shops and thatched houses.

The hostel was in the campus with all the facilities possible. I was given a room on the first floor. It was a small room with a place for three. My room mates were – Manuel Medeira who was also a first year and Prakash Jayadeven who was a senior – a third year student.

I had a bed, a small writing table and a cupboard for myself; I neatly arranged all my belongings and went out with Manuel to have a look at the place.

We met lot of new people including seniors who pretended to be our batch mates. That night was the get together night and we were asked to introduce ourselves. Most of us were home sick as it was first time we were away from home.

As usual I was very reserved and not speak to anyone except few of my batch mates who used to stay in the same wing of the hostel. All of us used to be together at all times including those times when we used to be ragged. Ragging was not a very painful process as it included only doing assignments for our seniors, washing clothes, singing, dancing in front of the girls’ hostel etc.

Our hostel warden Mr. Dutta used to live in the hostel with his family and used to take care of us.

Slowly time passed and we got busy with the daily chores, our assignments, projects, surveys etc. We used to have a five day week with Saturday and Sundays as our off days.

We had to catch a bus every time we had to go to the city to buy our daily requirements, see a movie or check mails. I still remember the place where we used to get down in the city; it was called the East Fort and was the centre of the city.

Trivandrum was a very peaceful and silent city with people who enjoyed this kind of lifestyle. The people were always helpful, kind and honest. Initially language was a barrier but soon it was overcome when I learnt the language.

Initially I used to visit Joy Uncle and spend weekends there, soon I got busy and spending time with them got difficult.

Our classes used to start at eight thirty in the morning and used to finish by four thirty after which we used to go out to the beach, spend some time at Mohan Chetta’s pan shop chatting and gossiping and come back for dinner.

As first year students we were supposed to go and help the mess cook in the dinner preparation. I still remember those times very vividly, they were one of the best times with absolutely no responsibility on our heads except finishing assignment on time and study for the exams.

Mr.Prakash was our principal and we had a small team of faculty in our college. Chef Ivan used to take our food production classes, Mr. Pillai was our front office teacher, Ms.Nirmala was our French and communications teacher while Ms.Jolly used to be our housekeeping teacher. Mr. Satish deserves a special mention here. He was our food and beverage faculty and was the most sophisticated and learned teacher.

Industrial Training – 1999

As part of our syllabus we had to go for six months of Industrial training in any of the hotels, I decided to stay with family hence I did the training at Welcomgroup Rajputana Palace Sheraton, Japiur. I spent twenty two weeks there and worked in Front office, most of which I did in the business centre, housekeeping, banquets and kitchen.

The entire stint of kitchen was done only in the Indian section…….





Two months in Cochin - 2000

I was now in the final year and got selected in the college’s chef competition team. We were four of us in the team and decided that we should spend our winter vacations doing training in some hotel.

We had divided ourselves based on the various categories in the competition and decided that we should focus only on the core area.

We got an opportunity to train at Taj Residency, Cochin for two months. It was the first time for me in Cochin, the place was absolutely new and very different from Trivandrum. Cochin being a port and base for the Indian Navy, was a cosmopolitan city with lot of people from various parts of the country.

We got our accommodation at a sub urban area call Thevara which was around four kilometers from the hotel. It was a small dingy room with four beds, no place to walk in the room and a strange smell. The person who had to go to the last bed had to travel on the first three.

Everyday morning we used to get up by seven in the morning and go for breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Due to lack of finances we could eat either dosa which was around six rupees or Iddiappam with green pea bhaji for seven odd rupees.

We used to be free by six in the evening and then we used to stroll on the beach or markets or watch a movie or just go to sleep.

This is how I spent two months there before I came back to college for the final preparation of the competition.

Chef competition – 2001

The competition was due in February and we were still in the process of our preparations before we received a letter from the National Council stating that they had changed the rules and now instead of all the colleges coming at one place, they will go for a semifinal zonal competition and only two teams from each zone would come for the finals.

Being in Trivandrum, we had to go for the south zone competition at IHM Hyderabad and we had four other teams to compete with, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bhopal.

Chennai and Bangalore were strong teams and thus our chances stood week.

All four of us started preparing for the semi finals which were due after few days. Finally the day came when we had to leave for Hyderabad.

It was the first time in Hyderabad, we were put up at the IHM’s hostel.