Our Story

You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them backwards…
– Steve Jobs

The beginning and the promise

I can connect them all now – the reason why baba’s (dad’s) little business empire collapsed, the reason why we moved from the city where my parents fell in love and married – the city of my birth, the east Indian capital city of Kolkata; the reason why a dry and arid city in central India, Nagpur, became home and gave me the most precious things in my life – friends, theatre, my soul mate and my life goal; the reason why aai (mum) diligently turned her ‘only a housewife’s cooking skills’ into a successful catering business, the reason why her day had 48 hours, why baba would cycle down to deliver home made food to local shops come rain or cold; why aai, not caring for her beautiful and delicate skin would brave the raging kitchen fires cooking for hundreds of patrons; why I as a child would potter around, trying to make myself useful in any way, why I grew up with the aromas of freshly cooked food and spices – tasting, suggesting, appreciating; why I found the man who truly meant his wedding wows, believed in me, and made ‘my’ dream, ‘ours’…. I connect the dots now – ‘Cook-A-Curry’ was being baptised by fire (literally!) and a promise a little girl had quietly made to herself on cool summer nights, had been heard by the stars – one day, my aai and baba will get back their due – one day, aai’s recipes will reach millions and achieve what she loves best – happy tummies and happy smiles!

The concept emerges

Life had its own plans of course and the promise remained locked away in our hearts for years… England became our new home and the UK became ours. Professional careers and childcare took over but we always knew… one day…

Ironically the dream nurtured for a generation before us turned into reality for the generation after us– We wanted our children to connect with our childhood, connect with the glorious land of spices that is India and what better medium than curries! But we didn’t want them to think of curries as hard work that takes hours of pre prep. We wanted our children to ‘cook a curry’ that does not compromise on taste, is quick and simple to make yet is preservative free and fresh at the same time.

Who but aai would help us in perfecting the recipe! With her almost innate sense of proportion for ingredients and her knowledge of their distinct attributes, she designed ready to cook oil based curry spices – simple and beautiful – requiring only the addition of water to get authentic curries bursting with flavours!

You are invited on a beautiful journey

But little did we anticipate what was to follow next! As we slowly began ‘trialing and testing’ these recipes amongst friends and colleagues and neighbours, it almost became a community project – suggestions about the name, logo, brand colours, avenues for sales poured in – the love and enthusiasm bowled us over – the ready mix spices became popular by word of mouth and much to our delight ,our customers started introducing us to the versatility of these ready mixes – they made newer dishes and posted pictures of their dinners! What better customer feedback and sense of customer satisfaction could we ever get?

We are truly humbled.

We invite you to come, be part of this journey of happiness…

Reshma Deshpande
Founder and Director,
Cook-A-Curry,
By V R Intellectus Ltd.