Keymaker

Shalini Devi was a rich landlord of McLeod Ganj, a small suburb in Himachal Pradesh. Surrounded by the majestic Himalayas, life seemed slow and relaxed.

Shalini Devi lived alone in her bungalow in the middle of her tea estate. She came from a humble middle-class family but married into an elite family. Shalini Devi was known for her lively nature, kindness, and lovely family. None of them exist today. Now, she was just a grumpy old woman, an annoying 85-year-old nobody wanted to spend time with.

It was a nightmare for the workers to work at Shalini Devi’s estate. She was abusive to everyone. She was the richest miser in the entire village.

Shalini Devi’s son Pratap Singh lived in the US. He kept himself updated with the happenings at the estate through his confidant Bhola, who worked at the estate as a manager. Pratap ensured that the working staff got paid separately and did not quit working at the estate, something Shalini Devi was unaware of.

Shalini Devi had a weakness for good food. She would not mind spending money on some good food. Grumpy Shalini Devi would turn into the sweetest, most adorable person when there was Degree coffee (a strong version of the filter coffee popular in the Kumbakonam region of Southern India). The goodness lasted as long as a hot coffee would last in the cold Himalayan town. Shalini Devi acquired the taste for coffee during her temple tour of South India. The coffee in McLeod Ganj was as rare as an honest politician.

Shalini Devi would often ask her cook to prepare something special—something she would relish alone and never share with her staff. She wanted her cook to prepare different cuisines. If she was in a good mood, the credit would go to the cook. Alas, he got something right that day! The whole estate staff, across their religious beliefs, prayed to one person—her cook.

The anxiety level in the estate was higher than Mt Everest that day. Her cook decided to quit and move back to Delhi for a better job. Shalini Devi did not seem to care. According to her, he was a below-average cook.

Manager Bhola put up job openings for a cook on several of his social media platforms. He even reached out to some agencies to find a replacement. There were several who came. Many were rejected by Shalini Devi. The ones she liked did not want to work there after hearing about the terrifying work conditions at the estate.

Then came an interesting candidate. He had a bald head with a thin stripe of grey hair to demarcate the head area and the wrinkled neck. One would guess that he was someone in his sixties. He wore a white shirt, a white pant and, white sandals. He looked brighter than a full moon. He introduced himself as Bhima and he was from a place near Delhi. For his trials, he cooked some rajma chawal. He simmered it with some desi ghee and made some onion pakodas for the sides.

Shalini Devi loved it, she said this was the best she has had in a long time. Hearing this the estate staff celebrated. The cheer was louder than the cheer when won against Pakistan in the cricket World Cup match.

Shalini Devi said ‘I can hire you but I cannot pay more than ₹9000’, the background celebration muted. The previous cook was paid ₹10,000 and was tipped an extra ₹10,000 by Pratap and that was still not enough. But Bhima agreed to work for the amount she said, no negotiation.

Bhima cooked some amazing food. One day he even bought some roasted arabica coffee beans ground it and made degree coffee for her. Shalini Devi was never seen so happy.

The news of Bhima and the magic crossed the seven oceans and reached Pratap. Pratap had a bitter-sweet reaction to the news. He was happy that his mother liked someone but he could not believe that there was someone working at their estate for a mere ₹9000 and would cook delicious food for his mother and would do that thrice a day so she could eat hot and fresh.

Pratap called his friend Arun Khurana. Arun was the Inspector General of Himachal Police. Pratap wanted to get a background check on Bhima.

Arun Khurana called up the local police and assigned that task to the Inspector who then tasked it to a constable. The policeman scooped about Bhima’s background and came back with nothing.

Pratap was now worried. In a hurry, he booked a flight and decided to come to McLeod Ganj and check on Bhima himself.

Pratap met Bhima. He felt he was no ordinary cook. Some of the dishes he ate were no less than that of a Michelin-star chef.

Pratap sat in solitaire in the estate. He asked Bhima to get him some hot tea and join him for a conversation. Pratap wanted to confront Bhima about his intentions.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Pratap asked “Who are you? What are your intentions?”

Bhima did not find those questions unsettling. He said his real name was Kunal Khanna and hailed from the same town. Since a young age, he wanted to be a chef. The village had organized a cooking competition, except for him all the other participants were girls. The organizers suggested that he should withdraw from the competition. It is shameful to have a boy in the cooking contest. The only person who supported him to participate was one of the judges, the new daughter-in-law of the affluent estate family – Shalini Devi. Even though he did not win the contest, Shalini Devi gave him twenty rupees, as she felt he was the true winner. Twenty rupees was a generous amount back then.

He used that money to complete his education. His passion for cooking got him a scholarship from a renowned culinary college in the US. His dream was now a reality. There was no looking back. After his college, he worked in a renowned restaurant. Then he started his own restaurant business. He tasted success here as well. He got two Michelin stars and became a super successful restaurateur.

He decided to return back to India and start a restaurant in Delhi. While he was visiting McLeod Ganj he heard about the situation with Shalini Devi. He secretly met the previous cook and offered him a job in his restaurant in Delhi. Kunal himself appeared for the job as Bhima.

Kunal did all this as a token of gratitude. He felt good seeing a happy and lively Shalini Devi. He requested Pratap that he keep this a secret and continue the arrangement as long as it can be.

Years passed by and Shalini Devi now spent most of her time with the villagers. She kept herself devoted to philanthropy. She spent her fortunes on rebuilding the school and improving the cleanliness of the surroundings. She would spend a lot of time with young boys and girls talking about education, cleanliness, and gender equality. The estate staff and the villagers loved her. The fuel for all of these was the scrumptious food Bhima cooked for her every day.

A few days before the Diwali, Shalini Devi called for a staff meeting. First of its kind in many years. She gave a candid talk to everyone on how they have been her family and how kind they have been to her. She gave everyone an envelope. That was their Diwali bonus of one month of extra salary. Something that had never happened in many decades now. Everyone except Bhima got their bonus. She dispersed the meeting. All the staff went back to their quarters with a smile.

Shalini Devi asked Bhima if he could prepare degree coffee for her. Bhima smiled and said, “Sure! There are many firsts today”. That was a remark because she never had coffee after sunset. She would believe that she cannot get a good sleep when she has coffee late evening.

Shalini Devi was sitting on her favourite chair in the verandah. Bhima came with the piping hot coffee. She offered him a chair and asked him to sit.

She gave him a folder. As she was sipping the coffee, Bhima was flipping through the pages in the folder. That was her Will. She had decided to spend most of her fortune on charity. Shalini Devi asked if her decision was correct. Bhima nodded in agreement. She spent the next few minutes praising him on how blessed she was that she got to eat food cooked by him. She thanked him and handed over the envelope. One similar to what she gave to all the other staff. She asked him to leave as well and she would savour the coffee and sleep.

Bhola, the estate manager came hurried to Bhima’s house. He cried that Shalini Devi was no more. Bhima rushed along with Bhola to the estate. Bhima saw the lifeless Shalini Devi lying on the chair with an empty coffee glass by her side.

Bhima returned home after the cremation. He sat on his bed. The memories rushed through his mind from the first image of her when he saw her in the cooking competition to the time when she smiled at the degree coffee the previous night. The envelope lay half open next to him with just a twenty rupee note in it. It read ‘Diwali bonus to dear Kunal Khanna’