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Indian Takeaway TAKE a "return to the roots" quest, throw in a handful of encounters of the culinary kind, mix in exotic locales and have an experienced expat chef fold in the result into a book, and you are served a dish has definitely a distinctive aroma.
He boards a taxi older than himself to begin his journey and on the way hops across a bewildering variety of locales and people, from Taj Green Cove in Kovalam to a fisherman from Mamallapuram, and a self-obsessed Philipo-American yoga teacher, himself an expatriate, in Bangalore. At every halt, Hardeep tries to cook a meal for his hosts, and thus introduces them to the wonders of mince stovies (both the Scottish and Punjabis like to mix mince and potatoes) and fish and chips. As you travel with Hardeep, you see someone who is quite comfortable with his Scottish upbringing as well as his Punjabi heritage—he explains the intricacies of often complex Indian extended family life with the aplomb of someone who had done the needful all his life and one who straddles cultures effortlessly. Along the way you see a terrific sense of humour, and a keen eye for observing the incongruous. His description of a "bucket bath" is brilliant, as is his observation that "nothing happens quickly in India, except for incompetence". He buys vegetables arrayed on flat carts on large wheels, "the sort of cart that has existed ever since the wheel was discovered. While the range on the cart may be limited, the supply seems plentiful". Inevitably, as you progress through the pages of the book the query arises: Just who is Hardeep Singh Kohli? Googling gives the answer: Born in 1969, he is a Scottish Asian writer, presenter, comedian and property landlord in the United Kingdom. His eight ‘A’s’ in the ‘O’ levels reflect in his command over the language, and his experience as a broadcaster and a comedian are evident in the presentation. Hardeep’s love of food, seeing it, eating it and cooking it, is all-pervasive. His culinary journey had taken him into the land of his ancestors and finally his ancestral home. We have been entertained and edified in equal measure as he takes us along on this complex journey where the twists and turns take us through time, cultures and cuisines. For many of us in India, Hardeep Singh Kohli is a new name, but I dare say we will get more familiar with it as days go by. He has too much potential to be a one-book-wonder, even if this delightful book is something that will keep us reaching out to our bookshelves to revisit this journey.
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No Nigella Lawson is this
Glasgow-born Hardeep, for one, he is not half as good looking, but then
he could be forgiven, since a transplanted "slightly
overweight" Sikh man isn’t quite in the same league as the
voluptuous woman, in name, fame and riches, yet. He has definitely a,
ahem, dazzling taste in clothes, what with a red, I repeat, red suit and
a white turban. What Hardeep, who narcissistically has his own picture
splattered all over the cover, lacks in looks, he makes up well with a
wry sense of humour and an outsider’s eye that permits him to examine
expatriate life in Britain as an Indian and his very own homeland as a
British would.