Steaming morning tea, paper soft ghee dosa with chilly chutney for breakfast and fiery fish curry, rice/chapati and dal fry for lunch prepared by adoring mothers. This is the favourite dream of bachelors who migrate to other cities from their hometown for work.Presently, they either live alone or with peers. For gentlemen in high-paying IT jobs perhaps eating out everyday at affordable restaurants might not burn a serious hole in their pockets. But for a great majority,this proves quite expensive and also an unhealthy practise. The obvious thing then is to cook at home by themselves. These young men who probably never bothered to enter kitchens while staying with their folks have slowly picked up a few culinary skills. And what more, some of them have turned cooking experts in their own small way. “When one shifts to a new place, you feel like having hotel food only for the first few weeks. After that the excitement fades away since all restaurant food tastes the same. Cravings begin for home-made broth with pickle or raw green chilly and onions,” says Mithun Sasi, flight maintenance trainee who lives in Kalamassery with four of his friends. For this group, curd and pappadam is mandatory and their favourite dish is kappa (tapioca) with fish curry. “In the beginning some effort goes into buying a fridge, gas stove, pans etc. Then it settles into a routine,” adds Mithun. One thing common among these guys is that most of them like to cook, but their mothers constantly forbade them when they were at home. “My mom kept me away from cooking because she does not like anyone messing her clean kitchen,” says Aneesh, one of Mithun's room-mates. However there are also guys who do not like cooking but now have no choice but to work acquaint themselves with pots and pans “Cooking is actually an exciting thing. But if one takes it as a herculean task, then it will remain so,” says Navin Varghese, programme producer of a news channel. He lives with four other youngsters in a rented house in Kalmaserry. Among their specialities are sambhar and fish curries. “Don’t underestimate the cooking abilities of men because all the top chefs everywhere are men,” says Ajith S, who works in a bank.Cooking by itself doesn’t seem to be a big issue, but cleaning greasy utensils and the kitchen mess is a huge chore. “Cleaning vessles is given to those who don’t know how to cook. Sometimes, they take the job themselves knowing they need to pitch in somehow,” says Sooraj, business analyst. For breakfast,upama and dosa are the simplest dishes other than bread-omelette, he adds. But breakfast is a rare scene among bachelors, and most just have a brunch from outside. It could be a couple of veg puffs or a masala dosa and tea. “We have to reach office by 10 and to make food so early in the morning is impossible, hence we usually have tea and a snack at 11,” says Aneesh, working in an ad agency. Dinner is the time when they come together and cook. Rice, curries with potato, green gram, dal fry is the staple diet. On holidays, the boys treat themselves by making chicken or fish. The issue that crops up among cooking mates is that of division of labour and sharing of money. “Generally duties are assigned to each person by turn but many a times people tend to make excuses and skip it. This leads to arguments,” says Sooraj, who is staying with four others in Kakkanad. To avoid this, they do not assign duties but do whatever work there is to be done together. Normally, they keep accounts with shop-owners, and settle it at the start of every month.Most youngsters like to keep it fair and square among themselves, so as not to be short-changed. Many maintain a written log, recording the number of meals taken and absentees. It’s bitter-sweet experience overall. But has its great moments of togetherness and fun. Amit, an MBA student remembers a day when their maid who normally cooks for them in their flat didn’t turn up. He and his four friends were starving. So quickly one of them made daal-rice. A huge mountain of rice was laid out in a big plate and ghee poured all over it. The famished four huddled to eat and in record time, had finished it, still licking their fingers.
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