For him, it was a well-travelled tryst with the best of cuisines, cooking techniques and the culture of India which prompted him don the hat of a writer. Chef Saransh Goila’s 100-day journey covering 25 States non-stop on a road trip for his show Roti, Rasta and India made opened up a world of cuisines to him.
“The book has moments where I’m happy, disappointed, angry and much more. I have poured my heart out. From climbing the toddy tree almost 20-25 feet above the ground in Alappuzha, Kerala, to driving at Rohtang Pass in the middle of nowhere especially when your car had two punctures and the other car had loose breaks, there are scary moments. landscape wise, the trip to leh changed me as I spent so much time with myself, seeing five colours merged into each other. The lush green Munnar was breath-taking. Surat has amazing street food and it’s the only place in Gujarat which serves non-veg,” Goila reveals.
“When Roti Rasta aur India was aired on the Food Food channel, I realised that a lot of interesting content was missed out. I was living 18 hours a day before a camera and only 20 minutes of the footage was used per episode. My English teacher lokesh who is now an RJ, prompted me to write a book. I was planning to come up with a blog or a travelogue or a coffee table book. But I wanted a lot of people to read it not just travellers or foodies. So, I decided to pen a novel that anybody could enjoy,” he says.
Though this was his first time as an anchor, the pressure to deliver was a struggle. “On the ninth day of my journey, I had a fight with my director as I was not able to deliver the way a TV anchor should. Being a debutant, I was taking time to adjust to the camera. I just gave up and shouted at the crew and told them that we need to take it a little easy. We were travelling 18 hours a day and not sleeping enough. It was only the ninth day and they expected me to be a pro on camera. They had given me a mechanical script. I was fumbling. So I decided that I’ll only do this my way and I will say what I feel and learn on the go,” Goila recalls.
In his journey he got to meet local families but one encounter in Kullu touched him. “I visited a family of 20 people who cooked for my crew and ate with us. Five women cooked on clay and mud hearth. While we were leaving, we wanted to pay them but they refused and instead gifted us two crates of apple, saying: ‘You are our guest. Don’t offer us money again. These apply are for your journey. It will be great honour for us if you don’t forget us in your journey across India’. I realised then what India is all about,” Goila says. From being a chef to a celebrity chef and now a traveller-writer, this trip was a life changing experience. “I was cooking a dish on the boat on the Ganges in Banaras. It was a moment that made me feel special and I realised this is what I wanted to do all my life. To be by yourself with people you don’t know and who eventually become friends. It gave me a sense of freedom in a different way. It’s been two years now and I don’t stick to a place,” Goila tells you.