In a class of her own!

From cooking for her family and friends to churning out high quality dishes in the Masterchef kitchen, Shazia Khan, a business woman who teaches underprivileged children in a school run by DPS, has surely come a long way.

This Bangalorean, who has become one of the top five amateur cooks in the reality show ‘Masterchef India – Season 2’, has made the City proud. She is currently shooting for the show in Mumbai.

Though she can’t reveal which stage of the competition she is in right now, Shazia talks about her experience representing Karnataka in the show and realising her dream through the show. Having learnt most of her cooking from her mother-in-law, Shazia says that she used to watch cookery shows to develop her culinary skills.

 “I never thought I had it in me to take part in a show like ‘Masterchef’ but my children insisted that I did, and the rest is history,” she says.

Articulate and confident, no matter how pressurised she is in the kitchen, Shazia faces it all with a big smile, the credit of which she gives to her family.

“My children used to come running home after school asking for different things to eat. I had to prepare them all in a short time. Now when I look back, those times helped me prepare for the show,” she laughs.

A progressive and talented Shazia says that she has the support of her entire family. “With the background that I come from, it is a big deal to be on a TV show. Initially, there were apprehensions as to how I will be projected on air. But as and when I started climbing to the top, I had the constant support of my family who took care of everything back home,” she says.

She feels that the show has not only given her an opportunity to showcase South Indian cuisine on a bigger platform but also given her a whole new confidence to dream big. “I know people at home are proud of me because I could show the country so much about Karnataka cuisine. When I made a short visit to Bangalore recently, people on the streets recognised me and it felt great,” she says. Though Shazia can’t reveal if she has bagged the title or not, she has already made plans for the future. Being in the teaching field, Shazia wants to open a cookery school for underprivileged women in rural Karnataka.
“I know I can’t become a chef in the true sense but with the kind of things I have learnt in the show, I want to give that to women who can’t really afford to take up cooking classes. Like me, I want to provide wings to those all those women so that they too can fly,” she signs off.