First time I cooked a full meal

I can never forget the experience of cooking a full meal for my family when I was just 9 years old.  It was in  early 50s and we were living in a chawl in Mumbai.  My father, who rarely went out on tour, was out of station  on office work for a couple of days. My mother could not enter the kitchen because she was `impure`- she was going through her periods -  when women would not enter the kitchen or the puja room those days. Since we could not afford to buy food from a restaurant for the whole family , she taught me how to cook a simple meal.

Standing at a distance she instructed me how to light up a coal fired `aduppu` ( Sigdi).  Then she taught  me, step by step, how to  make rice and dhal. Using a portion of the dhal she taught me how to make rasam.  We already had some buttermilk which she had churned the previous day. With some roasted  `appalams` & ready pickles  to accompany, a three course meal was ready for the family. The appreciation I received for my maiden effort from my mother hooked me to the art of cooking at a very young age. Over the years I learnt to cook simple South Indian  vegetarian meals, comprising a variety of Rasams, Porials ( dry  vegetable curries), Sambhar or Vattha kuzhambu or More Kuzhambu ( kadis). Now, at 79,  I am confident of cooking full meals for even 15 to 20 people. May not be  gourmet meals but certainly palatable meals. My specialities are `Paruppu Urundai More kuzhmbu` ( kind of kadi vadi), Appalam Vatha Kuzhambu and my brand of Avial (  `Ravial- Rajan`s avial`)

 I believe, like every other soft skill that is being taught, cooking is an essential life skill which every child- boy or a girl- must learn. In today`s world where both the husband and wife are working and lead a very stressful life, knowledge of cooking by both helps in sharing an essential responsibility.

The youngsters of today will not agree with me. With the facility to order a meal of their choice on swiggy or zomato why do they need to know cooking. Meals at the press of a button seems to be the order of the day. Cooking is no more an essential life skill.