In Malwa, the road to El Dorado has taken a culinary turn. Only that can explain the large number of youngsters queuing up for cookery classes to ladle out the perfect samosa or puri.It is actually quite an appetising way to reach foreign shores, for Indian cooks are reportedly in great demand abroad. As Brijinder Dutta of Rana Cooking School, puts it: ‘‘Getting a work visa for trained cooks is a cakewalk. These youngsters are not only assured well-paying jobs but also a legal visa without shelling out big bucks.’’No wonder aspirants, most of whom are Jats from Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Moga and Faridkot, are enrolling at the 10-odd cookery institutes in Bathinda. Many from Malwa are beating a path to Ludhiana and Amritsar. ‘‘We teach them to cook food fit for a three-star palate. After classroom teaching and practicals, students practise the rigorous visa procedure,’’ says the manager at Garg institute, adding embassies now take practical tests for chefs.Experts in the field say the demand for chefs is at an all-time high with Canadian hotels and restaurants paying as much as $3,000 per month for a 12-hour job as a chef. ‘‘They are also in great demand in Australia,’’ says Maj Puneet Choudhry, a Chandigarh-based immigration lawyer.In Bathinda, the 10-odd institutes charge between Rs 15,000 and Rs 60,000 for a capsule course after which the students are given practical training at local hotels and sweetmeat shops.‘‘I am learning to cook so I can take the legal route to immigration,’’ says Gurpreet Singh from Mansa, who’s paid about Rs 25,000 to an institute in Bathinda. His batchmate Baldeep Singh, busy putting the finishing touches on a pie, says this will pay him more returns than his B.Com degree. Sukhwinder Singh has applied for a work visa to Australia and is hopeful of completing the formalities in a year. Choudhry says Punjabis running hotels abroad often sponsor chefs from back home.
