I love to cook. In college when I moved off campus into my first apartment, complete with four burners and a nice sized oven, I blossomed. So when I read that TMS fellows often cook for themselves I thought, “No problem.” Arriving in Hyderabad, however, my confidence deflated. In place of four burners and an oven, I have two burners, one of them less than consistent in its functioning, with an intimidatingly complex lighting system that feels vaguely like setting off a bomb. Needless to say, we spent our first few days here living off Maggi Noodles (the Indian equivalent of Ramen) and toast. But finally, once we got a little more settled in, we set out to make dal, a staple Indian dish of lentils and spices. Though far from perfect, our first real meal sent a message. In the sizzling of garlic and ginger, in the high-pitched whistle of the pressure cooker, I heard the words, “You can do this.” From there, I bookmarked a list of recipes to try out and quickly became what Karis has coined The One and a Half Burner Cook. After learning to work with the appliances and ingredients available to me, I can say I’ve made some things I’m genuinely proud of.

Stepping into my classrooms on the first day felt a lot like my first time stepping into the kitchen. At West Marredpally, I found out about two thirds of the way into class that the majority of the girls there had gone through the TMS program last year. So I’ll be starting over with an entirely new group of students this week. And when I showed up for my first day at Hill Street, fresh off the West Marredpally confusion and ready for something to go right, I was notified that the class time we had agreed upon would no longer work. After 45 minutes of discussion and compromise, however, we reached a consensus that the original time would work after all. So I used the remaining time to teach a very compressed and somewhat frazzled version of the lesson I had prepared. No four burners here. No nice sized oven. Just like in the kitchen, I’m learning in the classroom to make the most of what’s available to me. I’m sure somewhere in the clap of the chalk eraser, or a student’s voice calling “teacher,” I’ll hear those same words, “You can do this.” And just like the garlic butter pasta, spiced cauliflower, masala potatoes, and turmeric chicken pictured in this entry, I’m sure West Marredpally and Hill Street will end up with creations the students and I can all be proud of.