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On Building Skills

When I was in school, I recall my mother telling me how she hardly knew to cook when she had just got married. I found it impossible to believe because she was such a fabulous cook. And she said no, I knew very basic things when I started off, so I had to ask people, try out things and slowly work on it until I got really good at it. 

Today some 25 years after that she has added more skills and cuisines to her repertoire. Almost all mothers around are good cooks. This might seem obvious - all mothers are usually good cooks (add a few more skills) - but what is not obvious is that they get good at something over time. 

I started making chutneys a few years ago - mainly to escape the boring routine of having to eat idlis in the morning. Now about 3 years into the process - I am actually very good at it. Indeed I made a chutney infographic (see the picture) - and have tried more varieties post that. 

And India has humongous varieties of chutneys - with their local variation, regional variation and it works like magic. Add garlic or not, it changes. Add red or green chilli, it changes. Between lemon or tamarind, again it changes. And sugar or jaggery. Add a certain type of dal or not. Add curry leave or not. It is a mind boggling set of permutations and combinations. All this with a set of basic ingredients. 

Then I progressed to the next level - onion, tomato chutney. And then I discovered a chayote (chow chow) chutney, a brinjal chutney, a ridge gourd chutney, an orange peel chutney. And I also discovered variations. Some variations happened because I forgot the recipe, some happened because I had to use a substitute, but 3 odd years into the process- it is incredibly rare that I get chutney wrong. 

Yes, ask me to make chutney for 10 people - the maths of it might still go wrong. But the point is, this is how skills are built. 

If I, an amateur chef who makes chutneys maybe twice a week can get to this level of skill in 3 odd years - imagine mothers who cook twice a day every day (at the very least).   

No, this is neither a mother appreciation post or a feminist (or anti feminist) post or a post on cooking - this is all about skill building. 

My friend when he started driving once told me, avoid the taxi drivers because "unka haath jam gaya rehta hai" - to mean they are super skilled - their hands are set in a manner of speaking. 

And thats true. Skill building happens as we work on something continuously with a certain degree of interest, we get really good at it. 

So, what skill are you working on each day?

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