Ustad Hotel
Something just to make someone smile…!
The first wave of Covid had just receded and I was relieved. I felt like I had witnessed perhaps the worst phase of my career as a doctor. But this relief didn't last long. My wife started getting fever along with throat pain. The wave had ebbed, but it was certainly not over. We isolated her in the house and started the treatment protocol.
The Covid test came back negative. But there was nothing to feel happy about, as the fever and throat pain continued to worsen. All other parameters also came back negative. But so many times in life, the problems don't become evident initially. We have to hold ourselves together till they do. And so we did. After around 48 hours, with the second Covid test too showing negative result, it became evident that she had actually developed acute tonsillitis. By this time, her throat had worsened so much that she could not eat anything. I adjusted her medication, and in the next two days, she started responding. Fever and throat pain went down, and her appetite started improving.
She called me to say that she wanted to eat something 'interesting'. That is a sure sign of improvement, I told myself. And it was time to surprise her. After some thinking and YouTube hopping, I decided to make Biryani for the very first time. Being a fan of Chef Ranveer Brar, it was pretty obvious that I decided to follow his recipe. I have come across two schools of thought about cooking. The first one tells us that cooking is all about experimenting, trying different methods, ingredients and things like that. The second one believes in sticking strictly to age-old recipes without any kind of improvisation. I follow the second belief. After almost a week, wife had recovered, and we decided to end the isolation. And the very same day, I made my first Biryani. As soon as she took in the first spoonful, she said that it was the best Biryani she had ever tasted! She might have reacted this way to compliment my efforts, or it might have tasted good after eating 'sickness food' for the entire week. But when she asked me to invite my sister to taste it, I felt my efforts had yielded good results. My sister joined us, and she also just loved it. It was quite satisfying to see the happiness on their faces. My first experiment in the kitchen was a success!
I remembered this incident yesterday as I watched a Malayalam movie "Ustad Hotel." The story revolves around Fayzee, a boy born into a family who runs a small hotel, famous for its traditional Biryani. For Fayzee's grandfather, who is also the main chef, this hotel and cooking in general is all about passion and love. He believes "anybody can fill your stomach. But the food you eat should also fill your heart. That is the true gift."But Fayzee's father doesn't find any esteem in working in this small hotel. He creates his own business empire. Fayzee inherits the passion for cooking that runs in the family but is also influenced by his father's ambitions. He becomes a highly trained chef, and then as life unfolds, he faces a dilemma between cooking for fame, money, and prosperity versus cooking just to make someone smile!
It is a beautiful story that everyone should watch. We all work for material gains, but the few acts done just for someone's smile can bring us more joy and satisfaction. As a child, I wanted to be a chef, but life had different plans, and I became a doctor. But yesterday I felt I should still cook, not for money, but for someone's smile!
Do you have such a thing that you feel like doing just for your own satisfaction? Let me know in the comments.