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Episode 22: The Cooking Contest
At Ganesha Institute for the Gifted & Talented, Shakti was walking down the hall from her class during lunch time. As she was walking, she paused for a moment, looking at the board on the wall. She went up to the board and noticed a new flier was attached to it. "Come one, come all! Enter yourself in the annual Ganesha Cooking Contest!" Shakti read the flier. "Please note that all entrees must be in partners in order to compete. Please do enter." Shakti stood aback as she continued to look at the flier. "That seems interesting. I'm pretty sure Vicky would enter since he likes to cook," Shakti said as she continued walking. "Question is who would be his cooking partner?"
"I want you to be my cooking partner!" Vicky exclaimed. It was right in the evening where Shakti and the boys were having dinner that was prepared by Vicky at the dining room. And that's when Vicky made a sudden outburst.
"Huh?!" Shakti asked, confused.
"What are you saying?" Armaan asked Vicky.
"I'm telling Shakti that I want her to be my cooking partner for cooking contest!" Vicky replied.
"And why would you suggest that?" Armaan inquired. "You know Shakti can't cook."
"Hey! I've improved you know!" Shakti exclaimed.
"Don't insult her, Armaan!" Rishi told Armaan. "You don't know how to talk to ladies half of the time!"
"Says the boy who gets beat up by his own grandmother." Armaan rolled his eyes.
"WHY YOU ARROGANT PUNK?!" Rishi shouted.
"Sometimes I wonder how you two are friends." Saahil shook his head.
"Anyways, why ask me?" Shakti asked. "The others here know how to cook. Or you could ask any other girl in the school."
"You really think any other girl in the school wants to have clown boy as his partner?" Armaan asked.
"You know, you can be a real pain!" Vicky shouted. "I don't care! Shakti, I'm only going to work with you! Got it?!"
"Uh sure." Shakti replied.
With that, Vicky left the dining room and headed upstairs to his room. "What was that all about?" Shakti asked.
"Clearly clown boy is just acting up." Armaan said. Shakti continued to eat her dinner, and pondered, Man, how am I going to manage this?!
And so, Vicky had signed up him and Shakti for the cooking contest. After others had signed up, the contest was set to take place in a week after three lucky pairs would get randomly selected to participate. And that included Vicky and Shakti. And soon, the day had arrived. The contest was held in the evening where several other students had gathered to watch. Ms. Fernandez, who was hosting the contest, came up on stage where all three pairs were set up in mini kitchens.
"Welcome students to our annual Ganesha Cooking Contest!" Ms. Fernandez announced before the audience. "Today, we will have three pairs who will battle out their cooking skills to make the best dish they can make! Before I introduce you to them, let me introduce our judges! We have Principle Ghai, Mr. Dubey, and Ms. Dixit, who will all be judging the dishes made by our pairs! And now off to our pairs. We have Swayam Shekhawat and Taani Shekhawat. Then we have Arun Seshadri and Ritu Singh. Lastly, Vikram Oberoi and Shakti Sharma."
While the audience clapped, Vicky eyed Arun with a cold eye to which Shakti noticed. So that's why he's competing, Shakti thought to herself.
"So now this is how things work! Each team will have fifty minutes to cook the dish that has been selected by the judges to make," Ms. Fernandez explained. "And the dish is...classic chicken curry! So without further adieu, time starts...now!"
And so, Swayam and Taani immediately started as Taani tried looking up a chicken curry recipe on her phone. At that time, Arun and Ritu had taken out onions and started chopping. "Dang it, we're already behind! We gotta hurry up!" Vicky exclaimed as he rummaged around for onions.
"You know its okay if we lose. Its just a contest." Shakti said.
"Just a contest?!" Vicky exclaimed and then grabbed hold of Shakti by her shoulders. "This not just a contest! I need to prove that Arun chump who can cook better!"
"That's what this is about?!"
"Yes! For the past two years, that good for nothing rich snob has been beating me in this contest! Well this time is different! Because you're here!"
"How does me being here make a difference?"
"Um...well...I...ah forget it! Just work with me here!"
"Um okay."
"You chop the onions and garlic! I'll start working on the paste!"
"But aren't those supposed to be in the paste?"
"I DON'T CARE! JUST DO SOMETHING!"
Man, he looks like he's going to explode! Shakti rolled her eyes as she got out the onions and garlic and started chopping. Vicky was all focused on preparing the paste. As he was doing so, he looked aside to see Arun was already done with the paste. "Shakti! Hurry up!" Vicky told Shakti.
"I'm trying!" Shakti said as she continued chopping. "Oww!"
"Now what?!" Vicky asked, frustrated. He turned to Shakti was shocked to see Shakti's finger had started bleeding as it had been hit by the knife.
"Shakti! What the heck?!" Vicky exclaimed as he immediately looked in the kitchen and found a band aid in the cupboard. He calmly wrapped the band aid around Shakti's finger and asked, "Why would you be so careless?!"
"You were rushing me and you ask me that?!"
"I'm sorry! I'm just getting worked up! Anyways, you finished chopping! I'll make the paste!
Vicky went ahead and stirred everything to make the paste and once he did so, he took out the chicken. "Can I trust you with chopping chicken pieces?!" Vicky asked Shakti.
"I just cut my finger and you're asking me that question?!"
"Well Arun is already almost finished! We gotta hurry up!"
"Why are you worrying so much?! Swayam and Taani only just found a recipe! Just chill!"
"This is no time for Salman Khan songs! Get chopping!"
Shakti rolled her eyes as she took the knife and started chopping the chicken, while Vicky was getting the pan ready. As Shakti was chopping, a piece of chicken slipped off of the table and landed on the floor. As Vicky was walking to get the cumin seeds, he tripped over the chicken piece and fell into Shakti and the two fell onto the floor.
"Are those two getting along?" Saahil asked as he, Rishi, and Armaan were watching from the audience.
"Vicky looks like he's lost his sanity." Armaan said.
"WHY DOES THAT PUNK KEEP FALLING ON HER?!" Rishi screamed.
Vicky looked down at Shakti. He wanted to get up, but at the same time, he was almost lost in her eyes as she looked back at him confused. But then Vicky came back to reality and immediately got up along with Shakti as the two composed themselves. Vicky looked down on the floor and picked up the chicken piece which he fell on. "Why is this chicken on the floor?!" he questioned Shakti.
"It must have slipped while I was chopping."
"Slipped?! Are you not careful at all?! Not only does this chicken go to waste, but you made me fall as well and waste even more time!"
"So now you're playing the blame game?!"
"Exactly! Now we only have twenty five minutes left! Why do you-"
"All right that's it! You need to quit whining and just do your best!"
"What?! Why are you-"
"Let me finish talking! Being competitve with others is nothing! Why waste your time trying to prove you're better than Arun?! If anything, try competing against yourself! If you really believe in yourself, you can do anything! But all this worrying, whining, and complaing isn't going to get you anywhere!"
And Vicky was left speechless. He just looked at Shakti as she calmly looked back at him. "If you're going to do something, you have to do it for yourself," Shakti said. "Do you understand?" Vicky pondered for a moment. And then he nodded. "You're right!" Vicky exclaimed. "Who cares about that stupid Arun?! We're going to finish this dish the best we can!"
"That's better."
"Okay let's stir the chicken and the paste!"
And so, Shakti got all the chicken pieces in the pan after Vicky had the paste all ready. He then commenced stiring the paste and the chicken, cooking them together while Shakti carefully watched the time. As time had passed, the chicken curry was all finished and ready to go.
"And time is up!" Ms. Fernandez announced. "And now...our judges will take this time to try all the curries before we announced the winner!" While the judges started eating each team's curry, the other teams watched in anticipation.
"Taani, how could you put sugar instead of salt in the chicken?!" Swayam asked Taani.
"What?! They look the same!" Taani whined.
"Ready to lose again, Vicky?!" Arun asked Vicky with a smirk on his face.
"Like I care!" Vicky rolled his eyes.
"Shakti, I don't know how he's your boyfriend!" Arun told Shakti.
"Boyfriend?!" Shakti questioned.
"WE ARE NOT DATING!" Vicky shouted at Arun.
As the judges were discussing over the curries, they spoke to Ms. Fernandez while the others watched. Ms. Fernandez then came back onto the stage. "All right! The judges have tasted all the dishes! And we have a winner!" Ms. Fernandez announced. "And the winner...of the Ganesha Cooking Contest is...-"
Arun made his way to step forward while Ritu followed.
"Vikram Oberoi and Shakti Sharma!" Ms. Fernandez finally announced.
"WHAT?!" Arun said, shocked.
"Yes!" Vicky exclaimed.
Ms. Fernandez then went up to both Vicky and Shakti, giving them both a medal while the audience clapped. And in the excitement, Vicky went ahead and hugged Shakti, which surprised her. But seeing how happy he was, she went ahead and returned the hug, feeling happy for Vicky.
"Chicken curry for everyone!" Vicky exclaimed. Back in the dorm house, Shakti and the boys had returned home for dinner. And Vicky was treating everyone to chicken curry. "So Vicky...how does it feel to have finally beaten Arun?" Saahil asked.
"AMAZING!" Vicky smiled.
"Well obviously Shakti deserves some credit too!" Rishi told Vicky.
"Well thanks. But he's the real cook here." Shakti said.
"Vicky, I want to talk to you for a moment." Armaan told Vicky.
Outside of the dining room, Armaan and Vicky went out where Vicky asked, "What's up, Armaan?"
"So...now I get it."
"Get what?"
"Why you chose Shakti as your partner."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm pretty sure you winning this time was because of her. After all, she did motivate you. Am I correct?"
"How did you know?"
"I could understand everything just from watching on stage. She really is a lucky charm."
With that, Armaan headed back in the dining room, leaving Vicky confused.
Anupamaa
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