The Way To A Womans Heart...

"Honey I am home. Whats for dinner?"

Since ages all mothers have been preparing their daughters to deal with the above one liner. Learn to cook.

"Sasuraal waale kya kahengay?" (Translate: What will the in-laws say)

"Dear, the way to a mans heart is through his stomach."

Its been put down as a womans noble duty to cook. The more variety and better the taste, better the husband! As a matter of fact, I dont think the way to a mans heart is through his stomach anymore. It is but expected that the girl know how to cook and how to cook well. Its a fact, accepted. At face value. You better have some other talent than knowing how to make finger licking food if you wanna get to the mans heart (Read: If you want that diamond necklace).

Now wait dear. Keep that gun down. Before she pulls the trigger let me explain. This post is not about the woman and the tradition of cooking being passed down from mother to daughter.

Lets backtrack. Into the past.

In my quest of being the ideal man, an all-rounder (yeah, literally - rolls hands over round belly), and the hunt for the ideal woman, I thought I should make myself more "marketable". So I thought of all the parameters. No doubt an attitude with an aptitude to match is a turn on to all women. Couple that with 0% body fat. And you have Kiera Knightley running after ya. But you know whats sexier?

For a woman, nothings sexier than a man (preferably with the abovementioned qualities) who can cook. Agreed?

Imagine you come home after a tiring day at work. Make it worse. You come home late due to overload of work, which you carry home with you. You are greeted by two kids (yeah, your spoilt brats) and hubby dear, asking you to cook since they are hungry. So there you start cutting the onions, peeling the potatoes..... and wondering why you entered marital bliss(?).

Cut back to the point where you come home late from a tiring day at work. You open your house door to the delicious aroma of basmati rice, chicken/paneer Makhani (Butter Chicken), onion pakodas and roti. And just when you are controlling your burp from over-eating, out comes the chocolate cake (I know, I know!) and Roshogulla.

Here. I'll let you in on a little secret. The way to a womans heart is through her stomach. Yup guys. The world has changed, open ya eyes.

When I first got to USA, I remember living off rice, boiled daal and salad. Couldnt last too long, could I? So I did the next obvious thing. Befriend a girl who knows how to cook. But eventually I did learn. I remember the first time I went on to cook chicken. I messed it all up. Last moment heriocs by her set things right. Practice makes a man perfect. Slow but steady, I got better. First I experimented on my roomies. They survived. Then my neighbours. And now I am ready to open my own restaurant.

Last week I decided to take up the final frontier. Kebabs. People eat chicken and lamb and paneer kebabs. I was walking around the supermarket and saw salmon (fish). I wondered, "Has anyone ever had a Salmon Kebab?"

The rest, as we can see, is history.

Now I just need to work towards that attitude, aptitude and 0% body fat!