How Staying in Kolkata Taught Me Necessary Life Skills

You don’t have to be a scientist to understand that cooking is a necessary skill in life, yet men in India choose to ignore it. Thanks to my mother, and then my wife, who never said it even once to me that I should also know the basic culinary skills. My mother brought me up like a typical average man in the family who never needed to enter the kitchen, except when there were guests at home. I would help the ladies in the kitchen by serving food, water, and drinks. However, I would never bother to keep things in place when I entered the kitchen back after serving things.

Nevertheless, there is always a time in life when you have to learn things you always ignored, and this time came for me when I had to live in Kolkata for six months. Now my wife is a working woman, and we had our first baby when my company decided that I should shift to the capital city for a new project. Divya, my better half, could not come with me, but she helped me set up my new home in Kolkata.

Being vegetarian

I am a vegetarian, and that too a strict one. Now I had several presumptions whenever I had to eat at restaurants. I would always assume that my food is contaminated with meat or its gravy, and it would make me uncomfortable. I would not be able to eat in peace, no matter what. I would often complain about the eating problem to Divya, but never to Mom because she would ask me to come back on the next flight! I could not do that at all since I had my stakes and commitments in office.

Nevertheless, after ranting to Divya for 3-4 weeks, I decided that I would cook!

She was shocked at my statement, but she supported me. She said that she was not sure that I would be able to do it, but it was a good start for sure. She asked me if I wanted her to join again to set up a kitchen, but I refused. I told her that I would ask her for help over the phone if I could not manage.

I bought the necessary things the next day, established my new kitchen in the house, and showed the pictures to Divya. She was elated. After struggling at cooking basic daal, roti, and rice for a month, I finally succeeded, and invited her over for dinner. She did not take another minute to book her flight, came over, and we had a blast.

I made pulao for her, daliya for my daughter, and drinks to celebrate our get-together after weeks! I had already looked for Self-Drive Cars in Kolkata and booked one for a long drive after dinner. Needless to say that we had a blast that day. She stayed for three days and I did not let her cook, even once. Till date, she says that the time we spent in Kolkata was the most romantic time ever.