The Chowpatty Cooking Club
by Lubaina Bandukwala
“The Chowpatty Cooking Club” by Lubaina Bandukwala. Published by Duckbill. A story set in Bombay in 1942 during the Quit India movement about three children who are trying to be a part of Indian freedom struggle while their mothers are just running a cooking club of all things.
The story is narrated by Sakina mostly in the format of diary entries with dates and times. A spy’s narrative is also interspersed in between. Mahatma Gandhi had started the Quit India movement. The city of Bombay had become a hotbed of revolutionary activity. There were protests going on. People were joining the freedom movement proactively. Awareness was spreading. There was even an underground people’s radio which was broadcasting news collated from all over the country about the atrocities being committed by the British government against Indians and the developments being made by the revolutionaries. They were taking great risks in doing so. The British were censoring all news being published by newspapers. They wanted to nab the people behind the secret radio network and stop it. There were Indian spies working for the British who felt that India did not need freedom from the British.
Sakina, Zenobia and Mehul are ten year olds who want to do their bit in the freedom struggle. But there is very little that they are allowed to do by their families who are from affluent society. Their mothers started the Chowpatty Cooking Club. They took turns making different snacks and sweets and would send it with their children to the others in the club along with the recipes. Over the next few months, the children learnt life changing lessons. They realised why India needed freedom. They also understood what danger meant and the risks being taken by the Satyagrahis. What they couldn’t make out was how their mothers could run a cooking club of all things in such trying times. They looked up to Bela, Mehul’s aunt, who was a part of the freedom movement.
Would the children get a chance to contribute in any way even if it was small? What else did they learn? Who were behind the People’s Radio? Were they known to these children or their families? Were there any spies known to their families? Did the Britishers find who were behind the people’s radio? Did the cooking club have any role to play at all in the protest against the British? Read this coming of age novel to find out how growing up in this era was through the eyes of the three friends.
My almost 8 year old just loved the book when I read it with him. It has become one of his favourites now and he is eager to read more such books. This was his first book related to India’s freedom struggle. This is a topic that he has been wanting to know more about. And the book proved to be a perfect introductory means to him. His favourite character turned out to be Sakina’s aunt Faiji Samina who was a movie buff and a drama queen :) Guess he liked the drama part more about her!
The book is inspired from real events and the characters are mostly fictional. It is part of the “Songs of Freedom” series which explores the lives of children across India during the struggle for independence. This gives a fresh perspective of the freedom struggle through the eyes of commoners who lived at that time. It also speaks about little known events and people who were involved in the freedom movement. The newspaper clippings and photographs from Bombay of 1950s which led to the creation of this story have been added at the end of the book. We have loved books such as “Coral Woman” and “Leopard in Mumbai” by the same author. We are now waiting to read the other book in this series.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Greeshma and Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 9/10+ for reading on their own. It can be read aloud with a bit of explanation for 8+ year olds.
Reasons to Read
To get to know about India’s freedom struggle from the unique perspective of children living in those times.
To get a glimpse of how the life of people in 1940s India was.
To know about lesser known people and the roles they played in the freedom movement.
Where to buy from?
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.