An interesting title, and on the face of it this book is all about a cooking club in Chowpatty, Mumbai. However, the title turns out to be rather misleading, for here is a story of India’s freedom movement as told by 10-year-old Sakina in the form of diary entries in 1942. Set in Mumbai within sprawling Parsi and Muslim households, the idea of fighting for freedom is fast gaining ground with Gandhiji’s Quit India movement. Common people are growing sympathetic to the idea of a free India, although there are still many who are ‘pro-British’ and opposed to the idea, usually because of businesses at stake. Ten-year-olds like Sakina, Zenobia and Mehul are keen to help the movement in some way as protests and riots break out everywhere, and arrests grow. All this while their gourmand mothers are busy exchanging recipes and fancy dishes across Chowpatty!
November 2022, volume 46, No 11