Demand for Cooks in Bangalore

Eating homely food is really a big challenge in Bangalore, specially for bangalorean from other states. For those who can’t cook, there’s no other option but to eat outside. Now one can’t bite pizza or briyani every day, everyone prefer homely food. There are hell lot of options  out here in Bangalore, right from North Indian meal to South Indian meal and never forget Andhra meal which one can get just at any corner within Bangalore. But nothing can compare to a home-made meal.For those who can cook well, sometimes they get little frustrated spending time in kitchen after returning from work. Bangaloreans usually have to spend hell lot of time in the road as Bangalore is quite well know for it's smooth traffic. To be honest we don't get irritated when we get stuck in traffic jam, as it's part and parcel of our daily life. There's a simple solution, just hire a cook to enjoy a tension free and happy life. Most of these cooks are from Orissa, they have a huge gang out here and believe me they are in huge demand. They usually prefer to cook in houses where there are 4-5 members and they demand around Rs 1000 -1500 per head. In one day they cook at minimum 6-8 houses. They are not professional cook but some smart guys from village and I really feel happy for them as they earn pretty decent to support their families back home. 

Earlier I thought that demand for those cook was limited to bachelors but I was wrong. For many working couples preparing food is a big challenge, specially in the weekdays and sometime the relationship just go for a toss for this very basic issue. Few years back we also felt the need for a cook and started to search for a good one. I had a hard time and I collected some 20-30 contact numbers and called each and everyone of them. Some of them said that our house a bit far from their place, few other said they would work only in houses where there are 4-5 members or else we have to pay the equivalent amount, some said they would come but only at 4 PM as they didn't have any other free time slot. After 2-3 weeks of hard work we  literally got fed up and was about to drop the idea but somehow we managed one cook who was ready to come at 7 AM. Initially 2-3 days he came on time and he cooked quite well.

But one morning he called me and said “brother, I was just on my way but unfortunately my bicycle tire punctured. As there is no cycle repair shop nearby so I am sorry, I will not be able to come today”

Again after one or two days he called me and said “Brother, today morning my cousin is coming to Bangalore, so I will have to go to the railway station to pick him up”

Again after one or two days he called me and said “brother, I am not feeling well, I have very high fever and I am on medicine (he coughed quite badly over the phone). This excuse is actually like a trump card for them as they usually play it once or twice a month. If they call and say they have fever then it's almost certain that they would not be coming for at least next 2-3 days.

After 2-3 weeks he became quite comfortable with us and instead of calling he started to send SMS on the  particular day he wouldn't come.  We were so much irritated with that guy that we decided not to continue him.

After Jia's  born, my mom was with us for a couple of months and once she left it was very difficult for us to manage. Again we decided to hire a cook and we had a hard time to search for one. Ultimately we managed one at a little higher price but the new guy was awesome.  After a few days some similar kind of drama started  but  with some different flavor. He used to send me SMS which i could read as  “I can’t well. I cannot today” and immediately he would switch off his mobile. After few more days I started to receive his SMS with exactly the same texts very frequently and ultimately we had to discontinue him. That time we decided not to hire any cook in future.About a month back Anjali joined office after a long break and we started to keep Jia in a nearby creche.  We again felt the need for a cook. One of my friend recommended someone and said that he cooks really nice and he is a decent man and very punctual. He is quite elder to us and we fixed him at a little higher price than the previous one. His name is Ravi and we call him “Ravi Ji”. 

Ravi Ji is the best we have experienced so far and he can cook a variety of dishes and he was also quite punctual for the first two weeks.  

But one day he called me and gave me the cycle tire puncture excuse. I just wondered “Oh! Not again”

One day he called me and said “Brother, it’s raining. How will I come?”

I said “if it rains, I wouldn't go to office or what?” 

Last week he played his trump card  as he called me and said in the old fashioned way "“Brother, I am not feeling well, I have high fever and I am on medicine (he coughed quite badly over the phone). there was a very high possibility that he actually had fever but I accepted it as an excuse :)

I said to him “would you come tomorrow?”

He said “I have taken medicine, I think by tomorrow I would be OK”

Next day I called him several times but his mobile was switched off and I was a little pissed off.

Again next morning I called him but he didn't take my call. I was quite angry with him as I never expected him to be like the other cooks we experienced earlier. But that day he actually came to work and I said to him "Ravi Ji, if you don’t come to work, you should inform us and at least send an SMS. He told me that the previous day he was not well and slept the whole day.

I asked him “why you didn't take my call today morning?”

He said “You never called me today morning”

I replied "Aree Ravi Ji, at this age it doesn't look good if you lie like this"

Ravi Ji smiled and tried to justify that he never received my call.

After some time my good friend “Ravi Pratap Singh” called me and said “you called me today morning, sorry I couldn't take your call that time” I was a little surprised and wondered “when did I call him?” After talking to him I had a look at  my mobile and realized that I actually called “Ravi Pratap Singh” a few hours back.