GASD71
GLOBAL ASIA STUDIES
Kamala Kirushna
Life in Chennai
Birth - 1990: Growing up in Mambalam Chennai
Kamala grew up in a big family with four brothers and three sisters. She was amongst the youngest of the bunch and recalls memories of a simple childhood. Her father worked as a stock broker and her mother ran the household. The women of the household, mainly her mother, were always the ones to prepare and cook meals. She learned how to cook from watching her family members cook and through assigned tasks from her mother. Her family rarely went out for a meal and if they did so her father would take her family to a North Indian restaurant or South Indian restaurant for a birthday. Overall, typical meals in a day would consist of the items on menu 1. She would eat breakfast at home with at least one sibling through the busy rush at the start of the day and her mother would pack the children lunch for school, which she had prepared the morning of. For dinner they would sit down on the floor and eat as a family, usually being served food by her mother and one other daughter.
Career
India: Self Employed Textile Dyer
Canada: Administrative Assistant at Provincial Government Agency
Languages
Tamil
English
Move to
Canada
1990 - 1993: Marriage in Malvern
After her own wedding in Chennai, Kamala moved to Canada with her husband. They had chosen to move to Malvern in order to start their new life as a newlywed couple. Kamala continued to cook in the same traditional manner that she had done in the past and upheld her traditional views. Since she had moved here in the 90’s there were some small ethnic food stores established in her area in which she was able to purchase all of the ingredients she needed for her food. She slightly enhanced the flavour of store bought curry powder by adding in her own ground up coriander. In her opinion the ingredients that were available in ethnic stores at that time were similar in taste to what she would get in India (curry powder with slight alterations). Not only was married life in a new country different for her, her husband was a non-vegetarian where as Kamala was completely vegetarian. A typical meal she would prepare consists of [show class menu]. However since her husband wanted to eat meat he would prepare his own dish. She did not have any experience with cooking meat nor did she want to do it so her husband would cook for himself after she had prepared the main meal. As a non vegetarian her husband only ate chicken and would prepare chicken curry a few times a week for himself. Kamala usually was not in the kitchen when he would prepare his meat dish and does not recall how he would cook it. Unfortunately her husband passed away in 1993...
2007 - 2013: Life with a Modernized Family
After the passing of her husband, Kamala had lived on her own until her brother migrated to Canada with his wife and kids. Kamala and her sister-in-law would share duties and help each other run the household. Due to the fact that the kids were being brought up in a modern world they preferred to eat more Westernized foods. A typical days meal would consist of [show menu]. It was at this period in her life where she would enjoy eating different types of food such as Italian and Mexican dishes. Her favourite food became Lasagna and she would make this for the kids on occasion.
Present Day
2013 - Present: Life as an Independent Woman
​Currently Kamala resides on her own in Malvern. As she grows older she is more health conscious and is on a more restricted scheduled diet. Although she still enjoys going out to eat she does not do so as much because she tries to save money and reduce the amount of unhealthy takeout that she eats. She also does not cook as much as she had in the past because she lives alone and feels it is unnecessary to cook and use too much electricity. Her typical meals consist of [see menu 1]. Today she continues to make some traditional dishes that are convenient for her, like Dosa for example.
Migration is not a one way street. It is a circulation of food ways as well as families and individuals. Kamala frequently visits India to see her aunts and other relatives and mentions how different it is now. It is very much more modernized. There are a greater variety of street foods available. Not only is India more modernized, Canada is now more ethnic friendly.