“Life really is about giving love without judging anyone. It is very satisfying for me to see this.” She smiled. Later when it was time for the younger one to leave the nest he decided he would learn his favourite dishes before going abroad! Now between them they can make good food and also host parties. Being vegetarians we have limited choices when it comes to eating out so my elder son would ask me for recipes and I would guide him online. It was more of a necessity for them to learn when they moved abroad to study. “They can both cook and are rather good at it too! However this was not something that I consciously did or taught them. Living away from home Ritu’s sons have taken from their mother. The colours of the ingredients, the aroma of the spices, the feel of the freshness, the taste of the flavours and the sound of satisfaction not just as we cook but also as we eat. There is so much love involved in making a dish. She also writes about food and does restaurant reviews on her blog From here she chose to take her skills to the next level and began judging culinary contests herself. After a decorated journey that began in 2000 she won the best chef prize for BBC Lurpak Cooking Challenge last year.
Ritu used her skills not just win hearts at home but also to participate and win cooking competitions in UAE. It was always exciting and fun to be appreciated.” I began to keep my taste buds alert at restaurants and then recreate the dishes at home. From early on I had mentors who would always share with me simple tips and techniques on making staple dishes. I experimented and always bettered my food. I remember that the first time I made daal at my in laws it was very watery but they relished it without fuss. My grandmother always said that to win a heart you must go through the stomach.
I was given liberties and I used them in the kitchen. “It was really nice to be so loved and pampered as the younger one in the family. Her role and responsibility was suddenly at a different tangent. At her in laws she was the youngest daughter in law. Ritu married when she was 21 she was the eldest in her family. I think we all took and gave to each other because each of us came with a definitive plan and purpose with our participation,” she added. “Being on the Calendar Girls team meant that I got to meet different women from different backgrounds and mindsets. Given an open pantry I can create new dishes day after day after day. Same as Shehrezad who cooked up stories I can cook up a variety of new dishes and spreads. There is so much one can do if we put our thoughts together. But using her presence of mind and creativity she stays alive night after night telling him stories. She was sent by her father to the heartless king to be his wife and her destiny was to be killed the next morning. So when I came to know about Calendar girls and the theme of fairy tales I just knew that I had to be Shehrezad. I loved to read – it was like being a new and fascinating world. “We used to see who will read the maximum storybooks in a week. Looking back at her childhood days she shared that she and her cousins would borrow books from the local library and read in competition. Whatever you do with a good heart it expands and goes into the universe, later this karma falls on you as blessings four fold,” smiled Ritu who is a mother of two grown boys, she is a food blogger, a judge at various culinary contests, a visual arts teacher at Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre and now a story teller as Shehrezad and herself! Your kindness will heal them and in return you will heal too. They are angry and hurtful because they are hurt. When someone hurts you, don’t be bitter and angry or hurt them back. It comes to teach you something – either about yourself or the other person. Her work and her words bring together many flavours of sweet, sour and special – the only taste she lacked was bitter.
Her thoughts of different tastes and moments filled me to the brim as we lingered from one memory to another. The interview with Ritu Chaturvedi who is showcasing as Shehrezad in September was like a splendid and scrumptious thaali feast. For someone who turned 48 years young this year she is childlike pure hearted. From all the participants on the Calendar Girls project she stands apart not for looks or her thoughts but for her ability to dabble in all things with a smile.
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