Harish Choubesa, 30, is on a whirlwind Diwali holiday. This humble cook does not have money to holiday abroad but he has the skills which make Gujaratis feel at home as they travel around the globe.
In the past two years, Choubesa has travelled to Africa with his patrons. This time, he has gone to London for a month with a Gujarati joint family, all travelling, lodging-boarding expenses paid. He gets a salary and also an opportunity to earn on the side rolling ghughras, ladoos, mohan-thal and other Gujarati delicacies for the NRGs settled in London.
“Cooks are in great demand as most Gujarati families who travel with extended families like home-cooked food after a tiring travel day. It is not that Gujaratis are not experimental but since most of them are strictly vegetarian, their choice of food becomes extremely restricted. Plus, they also crave after the comfort of sweet dal, shak and rotli at the end of the day”, says Sanjiv Chajjed of a leading travel agency.
“We never travel without a cook as my grandparents and parents do not like to eat restaurant food while travelling. It makes them ill. I have a permanent cook whom we hire for our annual Diwali holidays. This time, we went to Kerala and it was fun to have home-like rotli shak there,” says Subhash Shah, a businessman.
Market sources say that a cook who is good at cooking Gujarati food gets as much as Rs 50,000 for a 10 to 15-day trip with all expenses paid holiday. Those who are less skilled, get Rs 25,000-30,000 and are hired mostly for domestic travelling with the footloose Gujaratis.
“There is a complete shortage of professional cooks in the city. I had planned a big birthday ceremony for which I needed a cook to make a complete Gujarati menu at home but almost all of them seem to be holidaying at work”, says Vaidehi Patel, wife of a businessman in Satellite.
