Maria Goretti's SECRET Life as MTV VJ, Chef, and Poet!

[00:00:11] Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Chasing Creativity. This is Kiran Manral. Today I have a wonderful guest with me. She's changed careers completely and become a chef. And after that, she's done something even more unusual. She's become a poet. Welcome to the show, Maria.

[00:00:26] I think I just suffer from multiple personality disorders. Maybe it's just that.

[00:00:31] Or maybe it's just a wealth of talent that doesn't know where to go and keeps finding various outlets.

[00:00:35] Probably it's that. That's a nicer way to look at it. Thank you.

[00:00:39] I'm very curious, Maria. You started off in the glamour world as a VJ. Back in the day when it was the first, you were the first batch of VJs that came up.

[00:00:49] And there were no precedents for that kind of a career. So how did that happen? And what made you decide that, okay, was it just like, you know, this has come to me, so let me take this up kind of a thing?

[00:00:59] Or did you think that there was going to be a future career in the show business?

[00:01:05] No, actually, I think at the time that I went for the VJ hunt, I was called for the VJ hunt exactly one week before it was going, you know, there was a stage performance.

[00:01:19] So I found it a bit bizarre. And I said, you know, this is too odd. I've not applied. And they've called me in last minute, maybe, you know, they need fillers.

[00:01:29] And they know who is going to win. And so I was not very keen on going. And my sister told me, she said, you know, I think you should just go. Think of it as one week of fun.

[00:01:43] You know, meet so many new people and like minded people probably. And I think you should go for it. So that's how I took part.

[00:01:51] Okay. Before that, I was actually, I was studying at Survivors. And I was doing fashion design. I did a year of fashion design. But in the middle of all this, I was doing a whole lot of modeling.

[00:02:06] I was hosting shows. I was working, I remember I was working with Z. I did something for them called Fans Life and You, which was basically, it was a hosting interview based show that had to do with pop stars, Indian pop stars in India.

[00:02:28] And I remember, they wanted to take it out to London. And I went to college. And I told I asked my, my ma'am there and told her, I said, listen, I need a month off.

[00:02:43] This is Sophia's.

[00:02:44] This is Sophia's. And she said, why? I said, because I have been doing the show while I've been studying with you.

[00:02:52] But now I need to go out. And I need a month because I can't go to London and come back. We'll be doing a whole lot.

[00:03:00] I said, and I could have just not come and given you a medical certificate and said I was sick.

[00:03:06] But I didn't want to do that. I'm telling you the truth. This is it.

[00:03:10] She told me, she said, you know, you are late on a garment. Finish it.

[00:03:16] So I ran. We used to all run down from Sophia's to Anwar Ali's, I think.

[00:03:21] So I bought my fabric. I rendered it. I did all my paper cuttings, given my paper cuttings, everything, everything, everything, everything.

[00:03:28] And I remember, I think, I think college used to get over at four.

[00:03:33] And by three, I had given her the garment, given her the rendering, given her everything, everything.

[00:03:38] I finished everything like she asked.

[00:03:41] And she called me to the office. And she told me, you need to clear your cupboard and you need to go.

[00:03:49] So I was like, you know, I've done everything that you asked.

[00:03:53] You want the garment. I've given it back, everything.

[00:03:58] And she sat me down. She told me, she said, why are you here?

[00:04:01] She said, why are you here in this college?

[00:04:03] I said, because I want to be an NT. I want to be a fashion designer.

[00:04:07] She told me, she said, then you don't need to be here.

[00:04:10] Because as far as garments are concerned, you do that really well.

[00:04:14] She said, this is your second year here. I've seen you for the first year.

[00:04:17] She said, Maria, you need to go out. There's something bigger and better waiting for you.

[00:04:22] And you need to leave.

[00:04:23] I have sat at her feet.

[00:04:26] I've held her feet and I've cried.

[00:04:28] And I said, Jyoti, ma'am, don't throw me out.

[00:04:30] I really want to do this. I really want to do this.

[00:04:33] And she said, no, you need to go.

[00:04:36] She said, you really, really, she said, you don't need this.

[00:04:39] You're wasting your time. You need to go.

[00:04:42] And I did not know. Now, what did my mom that?

[00:04:46] What did mom say?

[00:04:48] So I went back home and I was leaving that night.

[00:04:51] Okay, so there was no, there was nothing.

[00:04:54] So I went back home and my mom said, she said, you're leaving tonight.

[00:04:58] So I said, yes.

[00:04:59] My mom was very used to me traveling for work.

[00:05:01] And, you know, I used to be doing ad films.

[00:05:03] And I used to be doing this for quite some time.

[00:05:05] So she was very used to me doing this.

[00:05:07] So I said, yes.

[00:05:08] She said, so what about, what is college?

[00:05:11] What is this?

[00:05:11] So I said, I'm not in college anymore.

[00:05:15] I mean, I'd finished my grad.

[00:05:16] This was post that.

[00:05:19] And she was like, what?

[00:05:21] What are you going to do?

[00:05:24] I said, I don't know, but I'm going to London.

[00:05:26] I'll come back and I'll figure it.

[00:05:28] So I went to London.

[00:05:30] And as things would turn out, it was disastrous.

[00:05:35] I worked with the worst producer, director of my life.

[00:05:41] He had nothing there.

[00:05:44] He had lied to Z.

[00:05:47] There was no arrangements made.

[00:05:51] And I was thinking, where have I landed?

[00:05:55] And what?

[00:05:57] And I've just lost college for this.

[00:06:01] So I put my foot down.

[00:06:03] I said, I'm not working with you anymore.

[00:06:05] And I'm going back.

[00:06:08] And he said, if you do that, he said, you will be banned.

[00:06:13] And I'll see that you'll never work again.

[00:06:15] And I just looked at him and I was thinking, oh my God, this is such rubbish.

[00:06:18] But I'm just leaving.

[00:06:20] So I did.

[00:06:21] I came back.

[00:06:24] And I did many more shows after that with Z.

[00:06:29] Did you go back to college?

[00:06:31] And no, I didn't go back to college.

[00:06:35] And I somehow got a lot of work hosting on television.

[00:06:41] I would learn my Hindi script.

[00:06:42] And I would just say to camera, there were no teleprompters in that day and age.

[00:06:47] You have to do your own homework.

[00:06:48] You have to do your own research.

[00:06:49] But I worked with this lovely woman called Nandita from Z.

[00:06:54] And I'll never forget.

[00:06:56] I used to do this weekly entertainment guide.

[00:07:01] And she used to, one of the words in the script was Hali Mei.

[00:07:06] And I never knew for the longest time in my life what Hali Mei meant.

[00:07:12] But it used to be in every show.

[00:07:14] So I learned that really well.

[00:07:16] And you know, we used to do gorilla shooting where sometimes she would say,

[00:07:19] Maria, stand there in the middle of the road.

[00:07:20] And as traffic stops, you start.

[00:07:24] So she would be somewhere else.

[00:07:25] I would be somewhere else.

[00:07:26] Oh, that's nice.

[00:07:27] And then I kept doing this.

[00:07:29] Then I remember I did another show with Brian.

[00:07:32] And Brian Tellis.

[00:07:34] It was a music show in this big, it was like a dance show.

[00:07:40] And I was, you know, presenting the songs there for every, I don't, it was, it was, I don't even know what it was exactly at that point of time.

[00:07:49] And then MTV happened.

[00:07:52] So it was just, I think my life just flowed into this place.

[00:07:58] And I'll never forget once when I was doing an event at St. Andrews.

[00:08:02] I, somebody backstage came and called me and said, there is a lady who's come to meet you.

[00:08:06] So I said, lady?

[00:08:08] He said, yeah, she's not like the crowd.

[00:08:11] She's a bit older than the crowd, but she's insisting on meeting you.

[00:08:14] And I went there and there was Jyoti ma'am standing.

[00:08:17] And she said, say thank you.

[00:08:19] How lovely.

[00:08:20] Oh, absolutely lovely.

[00:08:22] I'm telling you, every time I think about her, I actually have, like, I have so much of thankfulness towards her.

[00:08:31] And so many, I just feel, you know, sometimes you don't know, you don't know you, but people around you do.

[00:08:39] And my heart just fills with so much of joy when I think of her.

[00:08:43] And, you know, I just feel, I just feel wonderful because what she did was actually she pushed me out of my comfort zone.

[00:08:53] Because if she had kept me in college, I probably would have come back and got back into this and not known what I want to do or not put my energies in the right place.

[00:09:05] So it was, it was just the most amazing thing to have happened.

[00:09:10] MTV, of course, was the best place to hone your talent, to grow, to meet the most wonderful people.

[00:09:20] I worked with the best directors, the coolest people I had.

[00:09:24] I mean, I was working with people who were so talented, who were so individual in thought.

[00:09:32] And all of us had such different personalities.

[00:09:35] It was just, I would say, the best time in life.

[00:09:40] Lovely.

[00:09:41] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:09:43] After MTV, you, of course, kids happened, marriage happened, life changed, life went on.

[00:09:50] And then you retrained completely.

[00:09:53] You got in, you were presenting, of course.

[00:09:55] But then food became a passion.

[00:09:57] So I must tell you, after MTV, actually, I did cricket.

[00:10:00] Okay.

[00:10:00] And I, I, how long was that?

[00:10:05] I went, I remember in 2002, I was in Sri Lanka for the ICC Champions Trophy.

[00:10:13] And in 2003 was the, it was in South Africa for the World Cup.

[00:10:19] So when Sony first hired me, they hired me to do interviews with everyone because that's what I did.

[00:10:26] And I had, I had, I had left MTV because I think a part of me was, was a bit tired.

[00:10:35] I think I also grew up a bit and I could not anymore do the, hey, are you having a great time?

[00:10:41] So I think I was going through a little bit of change inside me personally.

[00:10:48] But, and I never thought that I would ever, ever work in a space that was as satisfying and as much of fun.

[00:10:58] And I did cricket and it was a blast.

[00:11:03] Were you a cricket fan to begin with?

[00:11:05] No.

[00:11:06] How did you get into that?

[00:11:07] I got there because they needed a presenter who was good with interviews.

[00:11:11] And they actually hired me as what they put on board as the weather girl.

[00:11:19] Oh.

[00:11:19] Okay.

[00:11:20] So I remember that and I looked at it and I said, but you know, I've never been deterred by what is put on paper or what any label that is given to me.

[00:11:32] Because that's not me.

[00:11:34] You know, that's your interpretation or whosoever interpretation.

[00:11:37] And I'm absolutely okay with it.

[00:11:39] That's nothing to do with me.

[00:11:41] And I remember going to, I remember going there.

[00:11:44] There was no Google at that time.

[00:11:46] So you had to read and you had to read papers.

[00:11:49] And I had to learn the game.

[00:11:53] And it was a blast.

[00:11:55] It was fab.

[00:11:57] And it was fantastic meeting, you know, the who's who of cricket.

[00:12:03] And after that, they were like, okay, Maria, we are taking you on for South Africa.

[00:12:09] So I did the same thing in South Africa.

[00:12:11] And I just traveled for two months and watched all the matches live.

[00:12:16] And it was fabulous.

[00:12:18] It was just fabulous.

[00:12:20] It was exactly what I like doing.

[00:12:21] It was travel.

[00:12:22] It was talking to people, interviewing people.

[00:12:26] And it was, I did a lot of food there because of course we were in Africa.

[00:12:29] So I was working with the South African tourism department.

[00:12:33] And I was working with Sony.

[00:12:34] So it was just, it was just the kind of life that I love.

[00:12:38] It was a lot of travel.

[00:12:39] It was great work.

[00:12:40] It was wonderful conversations.

[00:12:42] And it was wonderful food.

[00:12:43] I could not ask for anything better.

[00:12:46] After that, I think I did my last piece of work in London.

[00:12:51] After that, I was, it was also cricket.

[00:12:55] And then I think I said, okay, this is it.

[00:12:58] I'm done.

[00:12:59] I didn't, I thought I wanted to have kids at that time.

[00:13:03] And I said, okay, I think now I want to have kids.

[00:13:05] And so I had kids.

[00:13:08] I have a boy and a girl.

[00:13:10] My boy is 19.

[00:13:11] My girl is 17.

[00:13:13] When Zeke was about two and a half, I had to feed him food.

[00:13:20] And I realized that my repertoire of food was very limited.

[00:13:24] It's like I could make one French toast, one khichdi.

[00:13:30] And then I would make a baked chicken because my mother made baked chicken.

[00:13:34] So I used to do that.

[00:13:36] So I was like, I would keep calling my mom and saying, how do you make this?

[00:13:41] How do I make soup?

[00:13:42] I need to give him this.

[00:13:43] What do I, how do I do this?

[00:13:46] So I started like that.

[00:13:48] And I think by the time my daughter was born, and by the time she turned three and a half,

[00:13:53] four, is when I realized that I think I like food.

[00:14:00] And at that time, I remember NDTV was doing a show.

[00:14:04] And Vicky Ratnani was their chef.

[00:14:07] And they called me to host it.

[00:14:09] So I was hosting it while Vicky was cooking dessert.

[00:14:12] He was baking and he was making beautiful desserts.

[00:14:14] And my first brush with food was Vicky Ratnani.

[00:14:18] Okay.

[00:14:18] And I was like, wow, this is really good.

[00:14:21] So I remember simple things like how do you stir chocolate?

[00:14:24] I had zero idea.

[00:14:25] I'd never done this in my life.

[00:14:26] And I was like, this is so interesting.

[00:14:28] And then a few months later, they called me for another show called Pressure Cooker,

[00:14:32] which had Ritu Dalmia and Vicky Ratnani again.

[00:14:35] And it was a bunch of people who were cooking.

[00:14:39] And I realized that besides hosting and doing what I was doing, I was so interested in the recipes.

[00:14:46] I was so interested in what they're doing, how they're doing, where did they learn?

[00:14:51] And I met this very lovely girl on the show, Shazmin, who had just studied in London and come back.

[00:14:58] And she gave me all the details.

[00:15:00] This was in December.

[00:15:01] I wrote to them in Jan.

[00:15:02] And in September, I was in college.

[00:15:04] In London?

[00:15:05] Yeah.

[00:15:05] I went for three months.

[00:15:07] I did a certificate course.

[00:15:10] It was in cuisine, in boulangerie and in bakery.

[00:15:17] And I came back and I had no idea actually what to do with it.

[00:15:22] Because I came back and I did not go to a restaurant or work in a restaurant because I didn't have that luxury of time.

[00:15:30] I had two tiny children that I had to, you know, steep back into and get into again.

[00:15:37] And I think I used to write randomly on a blog.

[00:15:43] And I started getting offers to do a book.

[00:15:47] So the first offer that came to me, I went to say no.

[00:15:50] I went and I met them and to say no because I could not understand why I was getting a book offer.

[00:15:58] Okay.

[00:15:59] And the second person that met me, she kind of sat down and broke down what she wanted to do with me.

[00:16:07] And she broke down.

[00:16:08] I also asked her, I said, why are you calling me?

[00:16:10] You have so many wonderful chefs in the market.

[00:16:13] And so many who have so much of, you know, so many years behind them in this business.

[00:16:19] And she said, no, I like what you do.

[00:16:21] I like how real the food is that you make.

[00:16:24] And I like what you say about the food and how you link it to life.

[00:16:29] And she broke it down for me.

[00:16:31] So I said, thank you, thank you.

[00:16:33] And I remember when I got back from that meeting, I realized that I did not want to do what the publishing house at that time wanted me to do.

[00:16:44] And I realized that if I have to do a book, it would be something else.

[00:16:50] It would not be like that.

[00:16:53] And I happened to go to the Bhutan Lit Fest as Arshad's plus one, where I met my publisher, who is now my publisher.

[00:17:04] And he was talking to me and he told me, he said, you know, I want to do a book with you.

[00:17:09] I've read your blogs and I see your recipes.

[00:17:12] So I was like, this is the third person.

[00:17:14] I said, maybe I'm doing something right.

[00:17:18] So I had that conversation and he said, okay, we're on, we're on, blah, blah, blah.

[00:17:23] And he called me in November and he said, so how is it going?

[00:17:26] This wasn't me.

[00:17:27] So I said, how's what going?

[00:17:30] So he said, how's the book?

[00:17:31] How's the book coming along?

[00:17:33] So I said, nothing.

[00:17:36] So he said, we had this conversation.

[00:17:38] I said, yes, but a lot of people say really nice things to me when I meet them.

[00:17:42] I don't believe everyone, you know.

[00:17:44] And he said, what?

[00:17:48] I said, listen, he said, okay, I'm coming to Bombay.

[00:17:51] I said, okay, I'm coming to meet you.

[00:17:52] So I went, met him.

[00:17:54] I remember I met him at the Taj Land's End and we had breakfast.

[00:18:00] And I said, why are you doing this?

[00:18:02] Why are you doing this book with me?

[00:18:04] He said, I told you why I'm doing this book with you.

[00:18:06] He said, I like what you write.

[00:18:07] I like the recipes that you do.

[00:18:08] They're doable.

[00:18:09] They're easy.

[00:18:10] They're great explanations.

[00:18:11] You know, he said, and that's why I want to do this book with you.

[00:18:14] So I said, you want to think about it for a day?

[00:18:16] Because think about it.

[00:18:18] He said, no, Marie, I don't want to think about it.

[00:18:20] Get cracking.

[00:18:21] Contract signed and sealed.

[00:18:24] So we didn't actually know.

[00:18:25] I'm very bad with contracts.

[00:18:27] So no contract was signed.

[00:18:28] I started work on it.

[00:18:29] And it went through a long process because I had no idea how to write a cookbook.

[00:18:34] I didn't know how to write recipes.

[00:18:36] I just knew how to cook.

[00:18:38] So then I went through various processes where I said, OK, let's do food that is seasonal or let's do food from regions or let's do food like this and let's do food like that.

[00:18:48] And then I reached a point where I was just confused about how to do the book.

[00:18:52] And then I realized I said, OK, why?

[00:18:54] How and why do I cook?

[00:18:56] So I basically cook for the people that I love.

[00:18:59] I cook for occasions that I love.

[00:19:02] So I then decided, OK, fine, let's do it this way.

[00:19:06] So I divided it from Jan to December.

[00:19:09] So it has menus, Jan, Feb, March, etc.

[00:19:12] And for each month, I gave it a theme.

[00:19:16] And the moment I was able to give it a person or a theme, I was able to write.

[00:19:22] Then, of course, the wrong process of I worked alone.

[00:19:24] I had no team.

[00:19:25] I had nobody.

[00:19:27] So I had to figure out what I want to do, then try it all out, then cook it, then make three versions of it, find which is the best, then put down the measurements, then cook.

[00:19:41] And then shoot.

[00:19:42] And then shoot.

[00:19:44] So it was quite a long process.

[00:19:46] And then when I met people after that, they were like, so who all was in your team?

[00:19:51] And I was like, what?

[00:19:54] A one woman army.

[00:19:55] I called up.

[00:19:56] I remember calling up Ajay and saying, people have teams.

[00:20:00] He said, yeah, babes, you could get a team.

[00:20:03] I'm like, I don't even know about these things.

[00:20:05] Like, I didn't even know.

[00:20:07] Like, then I got to know that, OK, you have teams and people kind of collaborate with you.

[00:20:13] And but anyway, now that was in 2016.

[00:20:18] I'm done with that now.

[00:20:19] Whenever next.

[00:20:20] I will think of the team.

[00:20:21] Next cookbook.

[00:20:22] You will have a team.

[00:20:23] I'll have a team.

[00:20:24] But you have another book after that.

[00:20:26] Yeah.

[00:20:27] But we'll come to that later.

[00:20:28] I want to get into food and what it means to you.

[00:20:31] Because I see this very, you know, Maria, sorry for interrupting again.

[00:20:34] I see whenever you write in your Instagram posts, there's a strong focus on family, culture, tradition.

[00:20:41] This is what I remember.

[00:20:42] My grandmother.

[00:20:43] So there's a lot of memory and very strong association with roots coming out in your food.

[00:20:50] Is that very important to you?

[00:20:52] It is.

[00:20:54] It is.

[00:20:54] You know, like all my memories of food are sitting on a dining table or Christmas with the whole family, church feasts.

[00:21:13] I remember food on holidays at my grandparents' home in Vasai.

[00:21:20] So my maternal grandparents were farmers.

[00:21:24] My paternal, I never met my grandfather.

[00:21:27] I knew my grandma.

[00:21:29] She was a Montessori teacher, but she cooked beautifully.

[00:21:34] And at a time when nobody knew about mushrooms, I remember in the rainy season, she would go to the garden and come out with a bowl full of mushrooms that she would wash and make mushroom soup.

[00:21:50] So I was very used to seeing her do that.

[00:21:52] She and her sister, when her sister was a nun, and she lived at the Carmelite convent, in fact, at St. Teresa's.

[00:22:01] So when she came home, they would make puff pastry together on the dining table.

[00:22:05] So I remember lots and lots of dough being rolled and then they would make keema and this would be a whole day process.

[00:22:12] And by evening, we'd all be having this flaky, you know, puff pastry, keema patties.

[00:22:19] So because I was somebody that never cooked, because I think I started working at a very early age.

[00:22:25] By 17, I was working and doing college and collecting money for myself.

[00:22:31] Because I come from a very, very simple middle class family.

[00:22:35] And my parents always told me that the only thing I can give you is a great education.

[00:22:42] Besides the manners, besides all the rest of it that, you know, comes with it.

[00:22:47] So in my head, I always knew that I will study.

[00:22:54] And even today, whenever I want to walk somewhere new, I always study it.

[00:23:01] I need to go down and start at basics.

[00:23:05] And I need to know everything and then, of course, build on that.

[00:23:08] So for me, food has got so many memories that I think the first, my first brush with all of it was your home.

[00:23:20] It was finding recipes from my mom.

[00:23:23] I would keep asking her.

[00:23:25] I would keep asking my uncle.

[00:23:27] So I started learning like that.

[00:23:30] I would keep asking friends, you know, in homes that I've loved a recipe.

[00:23:34] Then when I got into food and when I got interested in food, I used to ask them that I ate that at your house.

[00:23:40] Can you share it with me?

[00:23:41] And, you know, so that's how I started cooking.

[00:23:43] I never started cooking out of a college.

[00:23:48] That came much later.

[00:23:49] Did you ever find that, you know, that your knowledge of food was, I think, very instinctive?

[00:23:55] It is.

[00:23:56] And did that ever hinder you when, you know?

[00:23:58] No.

[00:23:59] No.

[00:23:59] You never found that a hindrance?

[00:24:00] No, no.

[00:24:01] So I think the skill that I learned is something that I love.

[00:24:07] I love the skill that I acquired while, because I went to Tante Marie and because I went and I did my diploma at Le Cordobler.

[00:24:15] That skill, nobody can take away from you.

[00:24:17] You know, that knowledge, that.

[00:24:19] It's very different if I give you a recipe and you follow it.

[00:24:23] But I think it's very important when you're cooking something, if you don't rectify it, if it goes wrong.

[00:24:29] You know?

[00:24:30] So that is something.

[00:24:32] When you learn the science of food and when you learn the science of baking, that's what you learn.

[00:24:38] You learn the nitty gritties that probably somebody who just knows it from, or then you learn from experience.

[00:24:47] One of the two.

[00:24:48] Yeah.

[00:24:48] Now, I didn't have my grandmother to teach me.

[00:24:51] Okay?

[00:24:52] And so for me, I think because I never learned and I, and today I really feel terrible about the fact that I never went into the kitchen to learn.

[00:25:03] I never did.

[00:25:04] I used to always think that I'm studying so much, I'm not going to be sitting in a kitchen.

[00:25:09] You know?

[00:25:10] Yeah.

[00:25:10] I'm going to order my food.

[00:25:11] My mom used to keep telling me that, you know, you have to learn and I would be saying I'll order food.

[00:25:15] I'll take out.

[00:25:16] I mean, I'm the last person to take out.

[00:25:18] I love home food.

[00:25:20] Like, I love home food.

[00:25:21] How lovely.

[00:25:22] Yeah.

[00:25:24] Never studied and I would tell my mother that, you know, either I'll hire a cook or, you know, we'll do take out.

[00:25:30] That's not happened.

[00:25:31] The cook has happened.

[00:25:32] And I keep saying, my son will say, maa ke hat ka Maggie noodles yaad atat.

[00:25:35] Ha!

[00:25:37] So, yeah.

[00:25:38] So, I think, no, no, even I have a cook.

[00:25:40] I'm not cooking every day.

[00:25:41] Please.

[00:25:42] I don't think I'm, I don't think a lot of us do that.

[00:25:46] But I get into the kitchen if there's, if I want to do something special or the kids, you know, now they're older.

[00:25:51] So, they're hardly there.

[00:25:52] So, I feel, who am I cooking for?

[00:25:54] You know?

[00:25:54] I feel, okay, if there's no one to cook for, what the hell am I going in for?

[00:25:57] So, I go in for special occasions if I want to, if I'm entertaining, if I'm doing something.

[00:26:02] That's when I get into the kitchen and I, like, really cook.

[00:26:04] How do you come up with new recipes?

[00:26:07] What is, what sort of?

[00:26:09] I think ingredients.

[00:26:11] Ingredients.

[00:26:11] I think it's the ingredients.

[00:26:13] It's when I go to a market, when I go into the market and if I find something that is really interesting.

[00:26:18] So, then I get it.

[00:26:20] I will Google it.

[00:26:21] I will figure 10 ways to make it.

[00:26:24] And then I will figure my way from those 10 ways.

[00:26:27] So, that's how, that's how, I think that's how everyone does food, not just me.

[00:26:31] Is it, are you tempted to do fusion?

[00:26:36] Are you tempted to stick to traditional recipes and add your twist?

[00:26:39] I think I do do a little, I do do a lot of mix and mix of this and mix of that.

[00:26:45] You know, like, we East Indians have something called a vindalu masala that we make.

[00:26:49] We also have something called our bottle masala.

[00:26:53] So, most of the time when I'm making baked chicken, I do it.

[00:26:55] I make bottle masala baked chicken or when sometimes I'm rolling pasta, I make my vindalu and I put it into the pasta because it tastes really nice.

[00:27:04] Because I love my, like any good Indian, I love my pasta spicy, but I like it.

[00:27:09] But I also like, I also like to not mess with pasta sometimes.

[00:27:13] But, but I keep trying things out.

[00:27:15] And I think some things are sacrosanct and you should not.

[00:27:20] But most things actually, all of us are never sticking to the traditional way of doing anything.

[00:27:26] We are putting a bit of us, our personality, all our experiences, all our travel, everything that we've ever tasted into a dish.

[00:27:34] So, that's how it is.

[00:27:36] Lovely. The food scene in India has changed quite a bit from the time you started.

[00:27:41] And it's changing, I think, by the day now.

[00:27:43] Yes.

[00:27:44] What are the trends you see coming up?

[00:27:46] I think everyone's going back to basics.

[00:27:48] Really?

[00:27:49] I think everyone's going back to basics.

[00:27:51] I think everybody, all of us have realized that the food, that the food culture that we have here in India,

[00:27:59] I don't think anyone has as many cuisines.

[00:28:02] And as many flavor palates.

[00:28:05] You know, and what I see, what I see everyone doing is going back to what they grew up with.

[00:28:13] Going back to the state that they grew up in and the food that they ate.

[00:28:18] Going back to what they know best as a flavor.

[00:28:24] And I think that's wonderful because all of a sudden, you can sit in one city and you can taste the whole of India there.

[00:28:32] You know, international food will always have a place because that's international food.

[00:28:37] You'll have your basic pastas, you'll have all that.

[00:28:40] But today there is also international food is not so generic anymore.

[00:28:44] You know, you get Peruvian food.

[00:28:46] You get food from various places.

[00:28:49] You get Spanish food.

[00:28:51] You get tapas, which was so...

[00:28:54] Nobody did tapas.

[00:28:56] At all.

[00:28:57] You get really good Chinese.

[00:29:00] Greek food is so popular.

[00:29:01] Yeah, Greek food is so big.

[00:29:03] So the thing is that I feel today it's not just, there's not just this umbrella of international food.

[00:29:09] It's very, very, I would say they're getting into the little micro pieces of everything.

[00:29:16] And I think that's lovely.

[00:29:17] I just, there is a Naga belly next to my home that I keep going to.

[00:29:23] There is something called Aicha Zevan or Kitchen.

[00:29:30] I don't know which is the correct one.

[00:29:32] Where you get beautiful Maharashtrian food.

[00:29:35] So it's just, you know, it's so wonderful that today there are so many restaurants.

[00:29:41] And what they're doing is going back to their roots and making the food that is actually flavorful.

[00:29:47] I think what they're doing now is making it look a certain way.

[00:29:51] And I think that's great.

[00:29:53] For a while we had this entire thing about molecular cuisine.

[00:29:57] I never understood it.

[00:29:59] I never understood it.

[00:30:01] I ate it, but I didn't understand it.

[00:30:08] The foam and the smoke.

[00:30:09] So I understood how to do the foam because I thought it was really fancy and cool.

[00:30:14] And I loved it.

[00:30:15] Because I remember I'd had this cauliflower foam at one of the, you know, food festivals in Bombay some years ago.

[00:30:25] And I was like, wow, how do you do this?

[00:30:28] And then a few years later, I understood how to do it.

[00:30:32] But somehow, me as a person was never tempted to go down that way.

[00:30:39] Because I think I, my style of cooking is very simple.

[00:30:45] And I think I do.

[00:30:46] I'm a very meat and potatoes kind of person.

[00:30:49] You know, a few years ago, somebody said this about me.

[00:30:52] And I said, why are you calling me a meat and potatoes kind of person?

[00:30:55] I said, that's so bland.

[00:30:57] So they said, no, that's not bland.

[00:30:59] That's wholesome.

[00:30:59] That's wholesome.

[00:31:00] So I was like, hmm.

[00:31:03] So I actually thought about it later on.

[00:31:04] You know, a lot of times when you do things, a lot of things get set in your head that, you know, break barriers.

[00:31:12] And you kind of own some things.

[00:31:14] And I realized, yes, I like making wholesome food.

[00:31:17] Like, you know, you can't give me food that is this much.

[00:31:19] I will eat 20 plates of that.

[00:31:21] I eat.

[00:31:22] I'm an eater.

[00:31:23] You know, so it's like, it's like I want to eat well.

[00:31:27] When I finish with a plate of pasta, I should feel like, I can't get up.

[00:31:32] I like that.

[00:31:33] The snake who swallowed the python.

[00:31:35] Yeah.

[00:31:36] The goat, sorry.

[00:31:37] Lovely.

[00:31:40] Food remains a passion.

[00:31:41] Yes.

[00:31:42] But you brought out a book of poems.

[00:31:44] Yes.

[00:31:45] How did the poems come about?

[00:31:47] So at the same time that I was writing my blogs, that's in 2010, I think I started writing my food blogs.

[00:31:55] Somewhere in 2011, I started, I don't know, this just, it just came out of me one day.

[00:32:02] And I remember I wrote this piece called Little Lamp.

[00:32:05] It's not in my book, but it's the first poem I wrote.

[00:32:08] And it basically talks about how all of us, inside all of us, there is a little lamp.

[00:32:14] And when nothing else works on the outside, all you have to do is walk in and find that lamp.

[00:32:21] You know, because it's always burning.

[00:32:25] And I kept writing.

[00:32:28] But, and I would put it on my blog sometimes, not put it.

[00:32:32] I never thought much of it.

[00:32:33] But when I finished with the food book, Deepa from Om was the one who called me and told me, she said, Maria, you want to do poetry?

[00:32:44] And I was like, I don't know.

[00:32:47] So she said, I know you've written a lot.

[00:32:50] I said, yes, I had 100 pieces.

[00:32:52] So she said, why don't you send it?

[00:32:55] So I sent it.

[00:32:57] And she said, you know, I think we have something special here.

[00:33:00] So I said, okay.

[00:33:02] I said, listen, I'm, it's very simple.

[00:33:04] It's really, really simple.

[00:33:06] Because I don't write in language that nobody understands.

[00:33:09] Neither do I cook in a way that nobody understands.

[00:33:11] I think I'm a potatoes and meat kind of person.

[00:33:15] So when you read it, when you read the poems I write, they may not have any big word that you need to Google or open a dictionary.

[00:33:24] But I think it comes from the heart.

[00:33:26] And it resonates with a certain kind of people.

[00:33:30] And it resonates with me more than anybody else.

[00:33:37] And Deepa said, okay, so let's get cracking.

[00:33:41] And I sent her all of them.

[00:33:44] Then I had Ipshita, who was my editor.

[00:33:47] She brought it down to 70.

[00:33:49] From 70, I think it came to 50.

[00:33:50] 50, it came to 40.

[00:33:52] And she said, Maria, 40 is a sweet number.

[00:33:54] We're going to stick with this.

[00:33:55] We're going with this.

[00:33:56] I said, okay, fine.

[00:33:57] Then they would send me the transcript and say, you know, go through it.

[00:34:00] You know, any changes, anything.

[00:34:01] I would read it.

[00:34:02] I would really hate at least half of them.

[00:34:04] So I would say, no, no, no, I'm sending.

[00:34:06] No, no, no, we're cancelling this.

[00:34:07] We're cancelling that.

[00:34:07] We're cancelling that.

[00:34:08] We're doing this.

[00:34:09] I'm writing a new one.

[00:34:10] I'm writing a new one.

[00:34:10] And it's not that I can sit and I write.

[00:34:13] It just, it's like a download.

[00:34:15] I don't know how to explain this to you.

[00:34:16] I sound completely cuckoo to you.

[00:34:17] But it's like a download.

[00:34:19] It's like I'm sitting somewhere.

[00:34:20] So most of the time, if I'm sitting in nature, okay, is when my mind is the most creative.

[00:34:31] And then, you know, maybe a movie I saw or a conversation I've had, something that I've spoken about, something that I'm feeling.

[00:34:43] It all just finds a way out in a poem.

[00:34:50] And I think during lockdown, I read it.

[00:34:53] I read it half the book.

[00:34:54] Okay.

[00:34:54] Finally.

[00:34:56] Finally.

[00:34:57] This is 24, no?

[00:34:58] So in 23 it released.

[00:34:59] So in 22 December, they were like, we are not sending you the book.

[00:35:06] I said, don't send it then.

[00:35:08] I said, because when you send it to me, I hate three-fourth of it at least.

[00:35:12] And then I'm like, oh God, this is terrible.

[00:35:14] I want to do this again, do this again.

[00:35:16] So they were like, okay.

[00:35:17] So I said, okay, send it one last time.

[00:35:19] I made a few more changes.

[00:35:21] And I said, don't send it.

[00:35:24] I said, even if I beg of you to send the book, don't send it.

[00:35:27] Just let it go to print.

[00:35:29] So they said, okay, send us a mail sing, go to print.

[00:35:32] They do that.

[00:35:33] They do that.

[00:35:34] You need that.

[00:35:34] So I was like, eee.

[00:35:36] Then finally I said, go to print.

[00:35:38] And it was out in a month.

[00:35:41] So it was that easy actually.

[00:35:43] Lovely.

[00:35:44] Were you a poetry reader by any chance?

[00:35:47] Yes.

[00:35:47] I used to as a kid.

[00:35:49] Then I think once I was up and about and working, I continued reading.

[00:35:53] But I think poems took a backseat.

[00:35:57] You know, I would sometimes flip through a book.

[00:36:01] But I don't think I would read as many poems as I would normally just read books.

[00:36:08] Okay.

[00:36:09] So, and I like fiction.

[00:36:10] And sometimes I like reading, you know, a little deeper books.

[00:36:19] But I mostly used to read because I used to love to be transported to a place.

[00:36:27] So as a kid, I think by the time I was in my first standard, I had finished reading Grimm Brothers 100 book, 100 stories.

[00:36:39] Yeah.

[00:36:39] And so I had a very active and alive imagination.

[00:36:45] So I used to write, I used to write stories as a kid.

[00:36:49] And I mean, they would be in some rough book.

[00:36:51] I don't even know where.

[00:36:52] I used to constantly be writing about dragons and, you know.

[00:36:56] Processes.

[00:36:57] Somebody who is coming with a sword because I was reading all that.

[00:37:01] All that stuff.

[00:37:01] That's right.

[00:37:02] So, yeah.

[00:37:03] Then I think I forgot about writing or about all of this.

[00:37:09] Till I, again, I think my mind was calm and I was in a space where all this comes back.

[00:37:17] And, you know, I think it, like I said, it just flowed in this direction.

[00:37:25] And so we have this poetry book.

[00:37:29] And would you say the blogs were a kind of re-ask for your writing?

[00:37:33] You know, the discipline of writing I'm talking about.

[00:37:36] No, I have no discipline in writing.

[00:37:38] No.

[00:37:38] So I would, whenever I cooked, I would write.

[00:37:42] Okay.

[00:37:42] I would write a blog and I would put it out.

[00:37:45] But discipline is not something I have.

[00:37:50] I'm very hardworking, but I'm not disciplined.

[00:37:54] That's an interesting combination.

[00:37:56] So you, if you put me in a box and say, by next, in the next 15 days, I want this ready.

[00:38:00] I'll beg myself out.

[00:38:02] I'll say, no, no, no, I can't do.

[00:38:04] Or no, oh no, please.

[00:38:06] The moment, I realize the moment you put balls around me, I can't function.

[00:38:13] Something inside my head just explodes.

[00:38:15] That's why I loved MTV.

[00:38:17] That's why I loved cricket.

[00:38:18] Because we were never told to be a certain way.

[00:38:25] You know, it was a dream job.

[00:38:27] I was told to be exactly who I am.

[00:38:30] And I don't know how to be anyone else.

[00:38:33] So, you know, people may think it's repetitive.

[00:38:38] Or people may think, oh, she's not changed much from still doing the same thing.

[00:38:47] But you were who you are.

[00:38:49] But the inner growth is completely different from what it's going to be on the outside.

[00:38:54] I just feel that when a job is given to you, you need to do the job exactly like how it needs to be done.

[00:39:00] And given your best there.

[00:39:03] Lovely.

[00:39:04] And that's what I do.

[00:39:05] Lovely.

[00:39:06] So now there's food.

[00:39:07] There's poems.

[00:39:09] Is there fiction on Danville?

[00:39:11] Can I tell you something very truthfully?

[00:39:14] I'd written a very, even if I may say so.

[00:39:17] So, I love traveling.

[00:39:18] So, I wrote this love story.

[00:39:22] But because I really did not know how to put it on iCloud, I lost the whole story.

[00:39:31] The whole book, which had just three chapters left.

[00:39:36] My computer crashed.

[00:39:38] And I realized I had not saved it.

[00:39:40] Oh, Lord.

[00:39:41] So, it went.

[00:39:42] No, but that's...

[00:39:43] So, I'm thinking maybe that was not meant to be.

[00:39:45] No.

[00:39:45] Maybe it was really not nice.

[00:39:47] No, no, no, no.

[00:39:48] That means it has to come out in a new avatar.

[00:39:50] Maybe it has to come out in a new way.

[00:39:51] And you know, it was really...

[00:39:53] It was really what I did with that was...

[00:39:55] I just picked all the places that I knew.

[00:39:58] You know, and I have actually walked those streets.

[00:40:01] And been there.

[00:40:02] And eaten there.

[00:40:03] And stayed there.

[00:40:04] So, all of that was in the book.

[00:40:06] So, it was more like a travel love story.

[00:40:10] And I lost.

[00:40:12] So, I don't know what's happening with that.

[00:40:13] But one of the things that I want to do...

[00:40:17] Is I want to make a community food book for the East India...

[00:40:20] East Indian community.

[00:40:22] I'm an East Indian.

[00:40:24] And I think as a community...

[00:40:27] We're a very tiny community.

[00:40:28] And I think if we don't preserve all the grandma's recipes...

[00:40:33] I think it's all going to go.

[00:40:35] I'm half East Indian.

[00:40:37] Yeah.

[00:40:37] But I've realized no grandma wants to share their real recipe.

[00:40:40] No, they will not.

[00:40:40] They will not tell you.

[00:40:41] They won't tell you.

[00:40:42] They always tell you, you can't get it.

[00:40:44] And it's so sad.

[00:40:45] And I just feel that food needs to go on.

[00:40:50] And if it...

[00:40:51] You know, one day this will happen.

[00:40:53] This will happen.

[00:40:54] Basic as a phugia, they will not tell you.

[00:40:56] I'll tell you.

[00:40:57] It's a secret recipe.

[00:40:58] They will not tell you.

[00:40:59] No, it's...

[00:40:59] I'll take it from you.

[00:41:00] It's in my book.

[00:41:02] There are phugias in my book.

[00:41:03] So, I...

[00:41:04] That is one thing that I really, really want to do is a community book.

[00:41:10] You should.

[00:41:10] You know, yeah.

[00:41:11] On East Indian cuisine.

[00:41:13] Lovely.

[00:41:14] Because it is so lovely and it has got...

[00:41:16] It has so many facets to it, you know.

[00:41:19] Because us East Indians are basically from Maharashtra.

[00:41:21] So, there's such a big...

[00:41:23] Maharashtian influence.

[00:41:24] You know, what do you call it?

[00:41:25] Influence of Maharashtian cuisine.

[00:41:28] Yet, it has got some influence of Portuguese food.

[00:41:32] And it has some influence of the British East India Company.

[00:41:36] So, it's such a wonderful cuisine.

[00:41:39] And it's such a small...

[00:41:41] I would not say it's small.

[00:41:42] It's actually pretty varied.

[00:41:44] But...

[00:41:44] Hardly any real recipes around.

[00:41:48] Except if you have the book.

[00:41:49] You have the East Indian book that is...

[00:41:51] They have many...

[00:41:52] They keep printing it.

[00:41:54] So, I have three of those.

[00:41:56] But, yeah.

[00:41:57] Besides that, I would like home recipes from...

[00:42:00] From...

[00:42:01] Grandma's who cook.

[00:42:02] From mothers who cook.

[00:42:03] You know, from people who do catering.

[00:42:05] And put everybody's numbers at the back saying,

[00:42:07] If you want catering for weddings, then you...

[00:42:10] You know, this, this, this.

[00:42:11] This person makes wines.

[00:42:12] This person gives, you know, dabbas.

[00:42:15] I want to do something like that.

[00:42:16] And I think that is...

[00:42:18] That is a pet project that I need to start.

[00:42:21] Please start.

[00:42:22] Because I think we need it.

[00:42:23] I think East Indian cuisine is really so much better than most of the cuisine.

[00:42:26] And nobody knows about it.

[00:42:29] That's a tragedy.

[00:42:30] You know, so that is something that's really like...

[00:42:32] Our simple potato chops.

[00:42:34] Or...

[00:42:35] Like my mum used to make a snake gourd with a keema on the inside.

[00:42:38] And, you know, I'm like, nobody does this.

[00:42:42] So let's see.

[00:42:43] I hope I can do something with it.

[00:42:45] All the very best for that.

[00:42:47] Thank you.

[00:42:47] And all the very best for all that you do coming forth.

[00:42:50] More poetry, hopefully.

[00:42:51] And that fiction book you've...

[00:42:53] Lost.

[00:42:53] Lost.

[00:42:54] And you're going to rewrite it.

[00:42:56] Thanks for coming on the show, Maria.

[00:42:58] Thank you, Kiran.

[00:42:59] It's been a lovely conversation.

[00:43:00] Thank you.