Cooking up a storm

Nonika Singh

Ever since the two tied the knot, the paparazzi, both in India and abroad, has been in an overdrive mode, busy speculating how long Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas marriage will survive. Given the age difference between the two otherwise seemingly ‘very much in love’ couple, somehow the tribe of sceptics doesn’t give them more than two years. One nosey and nasty tabloid has already called out quits on their behalf. 

Prophecy, however, is not my wont. Rather I am more taken in by what the gorgeous actress herself had to say in an interview. In one of her all-too-frequent appearances on television, on ABC’s chat show, The View, Priyanka confessed how she is a terrible wife, for she can’t cook.

Ah, the inability to cook.... her observation takes me down memory lane, to my courtship period. When I confessed a similar inadequacy to my would-be husband, his answer was so unlike the supportive Nick Jonas. Sure like Priyanka and Nick, back in time, he too couldn’t cook to save his life. But what he told me was no lovey-dovey placatory repartee — ‘it is perfectly all right dear’ — instead, he sulked, ‘Please don’t say that. In my life I have a mom who can’t cook, now to have a wife who can’t as well...!’ What was left unsaid was I must equip myself for the khaana khazana.

While I can’t say how he would fare in today’s world where everything is seen through the prism of gender equality, he certainly got full marks on honesty. Over the years, I daresay my culinary skills have only moved from zilch to average. But to my husband’s credit and my delight, while cooks as fulltime help have come and gone in our household, I remain on the top of his ‘favourite cook’ list. Reasons could vary. After all, who can dare offend a wife whose menu is likely to read ‘eat or starve’. The more plausible answer to his indulgence in me perhaps lies in — wasn’t I cooking strictly in deference to his taste-buds. 

Clearly, whoever coined the adage the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach knew what he was talking about. Indeed, in 2019 cooking is no longer a womanly affair. Thanks to innumerable cooking channels, he too has learnt to rustle up a few dishes. 

Today as I look around, I see both men and women cook. Not just to please their spouses, but friends, parents, guests and some exceptionally egalitarian ones even roll out chapattis for their help. Hasn’t Sikhism taught us that to feed others is the ultimate seva? Besides, cooking is not just another spousal duty, rather as Hedda Sterne says ‘it is an extension of love’.

So, dear Priyanka, no harm in lighting up the fire in the kitchen... who knows it might make those who believe there is no smoke without fire, see some light!