Let’s Get Social: Meet Chandrika Desai

Have you thought of joining Silver Talkies Social yet? Silver Talkies Social is a fun club for 55+. Making it even more fun are our super awesome members. Come and meet them.

Meet Chandrika Desai, our Silver Talkies Social member exploring new horizons

A deep and abiding love for textiles and a passion to learn new things are two constants in Chandrika Desai’s life. Add a dash of healthy cooking to that too. At 72, Chandrika is one of the most active members of Silver Talkies Social.

“For me healthy cooking is not just being nutritionally balanced. At the end of the day you need to enjoy what you are eating,” says this member of Kitchen Garden Association of Bangalore. In fact she has held cooking classes over the years by appointment and conducted several healthy cooking demo for members of her association as well.

Chandrika has quite a repertoire of dishes. “I have done classes for Sandesh, Rasgulla, Gujarati Festival Cooking, Pita Bread and Hummus and other different and nutritious food,” she says, adding that she is always exploring.

Chandrika loves to teach new things as much as she loves to learn them herself. “I don’t like to keep things to myself. I like to learn new things and pass on the information on what I’ve learnt.”

Chandrika recently held a healthy cooking demo for members of Silver Talkies Social. She kept the preparations simple and the ingredients easy to source, keeping in mind our older members. The soup and dip made by her were sure hits.

Silver Talkies Social members at the healthy cooking demo in Chandrika’s house

Chandrika loves precise measurements and treats her cooking like an art. “I had three very good gurus,” she says, when talking of how she came to love it. “My mother, my grandfather and Tarla Dalal (late cookbook author)!” Another source of inspiration remains her aunts. Incidentally, her grandfather did not cook himself of course but supervised to such precision that it stayed with the young Chandrika. “I have learnt precision and style from them.”

It helped that Chandrika did Home Science from the famous JD Birla Institute in Kolkata, where she honed her skills further. It’s also where she met her husband, who was her neighbour. Her passion for textiles took her to Baroda to study them and later turned into a profession. Chandrika and her late husband Rohit Desai started Aarcee Home Textiles in Bangalore in 1996, specialising in cotton home furnishings.

Chandrika with her family

And while Chandrika is not as active in the business as she used to (she has able hands to run it) be, she keeps herself busy enough. Silver Talkies Social adds a new dimension to her life, by introducing her to new things. “I have tried my hand at Mosaic workshop, ballroom dancing and theatre with Social,” says Chandrika, who has also made new friends at Social, dementia resource person and writer Swapna Kishore being one of them.

“I also have a meditation group and we do Gita classes,” Chandrika says, adding, “I keep myself busy as much as possible.”

Join Silver Talkies Social now and meet more people like Chandrika. They’re Social, Savvy and Smart and know how to live their lives. Age no bar.