It is indeed a matter of great pride for this hill town that a little schoolgirl, Khyati Hari, has made it to the Top Ten in the ‘Amul Junior Masterchef’ contest on Star Plus.
Eleven-year-old Khyati, a student of Class Six in Convent of Jesus and Mary (Waverley), Mussoorie, is extremely excited as she is home for a couple of days on a break from the show. Her mother, Smriti, has been with her in Mumbai for the past two months. Both mother and daughter are happy to be home with the family after two months.
Khyati’s father, Vikas Hari, is a well-known entrepreneur of the hill station. The family is one of the oldest in Mussoorie. PC Hari, Vikas’s grandfather, established the Rialto Cinema on the Mall Road in 1929. Vikas ran the cinema till 2002 when it closed down.
Khyati is carrying forward the family name with her expertise in cooking at such a young age. “I have learned a lot during my stay in Mumbai with other participants,” Khyati told The Pioneer here. “I have learnt to cook better and acquired a lot of knowledge about ingredients and equipment,” she said.
She said she had made friends with the participants. “We play together and also discuss how the day was when we return from the shoot to the hotel,” says this young chef. Khyati said that the judges were extremely friendly and helped and encouraged all the participants.
Smriti, her proud mother, says Khyati was always interested in cooking and the first thing she does when she comes back home from school is to go to the kitchen to see what’s cooking. “She has learnt from me, her grandmother and from the many recipe books we have gifted her with, over the years,” says Smriti.
“She is a dedicated and focused child and spends a lot of time studying spending her leisure time in the kitchen. She loves to cook new dishes and make others eat them. She never tires of cooking. Pancakes made by her are our favourite. Baking is her forte.” Her city, Mussoorie, and the Doon valley wishes this young cooking wonder all the best. May her journey in the show take her towards more success. May this little girl bring more ‘Khyati’
to Uttarakhand.