A seasoned argument

It's certainly not women's work. But women no longer have to choose between the kitchen and their careers. Cooking is a life skill. And it's strangely liberating

- SEEMA GOSWAMI

I have lost count of the number of mothers of young women who have told me, with varying degrees of satisfaction, that their daughters do not cook. Their girls have never as much as stepped into the kitchen, they say with pride. Why, they wouldn't even know how to boil an egg! And why should they toil in the kitchen when there are worlds outside to conquer?

Yes, I get that: The feminist argument for not getting bogged down with getting breakfast, lunch and dinner ready. And when I was in my teens, wild horses couldn't have dragged me into the kitchen either, though my mother, God bless her, tried her best to teach me some basic techniques. But no, I thought I was too good to learn how to make perfectly puffed puris, thank you very much.