From kneading dough to shaping rotis, meet the Pune woman who teaches men how to cook in 4 days

Pune: To challenge the perception that only females should belong in the kitchen, a woman in Pune is giving cooking classes to men teaching the nitty gritty of the craft. 

Medha Gokhale teaches a 4-day special course designed for men, where they learn to cook chapatis, vegetables, and some light snacks. Additionally, they are taught how to chop vegetables and perform a few other kitchen chores. "So, in this 4-day course, I teach them how to connect the gas to how to make tea, boiling milk, how to cut vegetables and cook those vegetables, how to shape the rotis, kneading dough, I teach it all," Medha Gokhale said.  

Her initiative is a step towards a more gender-equal era, where men share the load in the kitchen, from stove to sink. "I started this course in 2005 when I came back from Japan. From then till now I can say happily that my classes have been going great that too on word-of-mouth publicity. those who learn from here they only do my promotion outside," she said. 

Men who come to take her course say that it's not just useful, but also fun. "I took the class as a joke as it looked interesting and my wife told me about it. But after that I really started to take interest in the class. Now it is a hobby of mine and I enjoy working in the kitchen. Every evening I only make the food, this really helps a lot in the house and I thoroughly enjoy it too," Sachin Kulkarni, one of Medha's students, said. 

"The advantage of the basic course is that the food that you should eat daily, is the food that she teaches you to cook. Along with that, she teaches 2 breakfast items, a few dessert items that we usually want like 'Shira' and other stuff like 'Umpdi' and 'Poha' that help a lot in the morning for breakfast," he said. 

Medha charges Rs 4,500 for her 4-day course. Her trainees consist of retired high court judges, doctors, engineers, artists, and bankers.