Random thoughts - whose job is cooking anyway?

Recently, I've noticed this trend in media where the onus of what was once thought of as a woman's domain is now being shifted on to men. Specifically, there is this ad that seems to have become very popular, acquiring several 'likes' from men and women alike, where a father asks the groom's family whether he knows how to cook and on him answering in the negative,  how they expect his daughter to survive on noodles alone. The ad ends happily with the 'boy' asking the girl's family to come and visit him in ten days, in which time, he hopes to learn how to cook something good enough for the girl.
While I am as much of  a believer in equal rights for women as the most ardent of feminists, this advertisement struck me as wrong on so many counts. First off, cooking is a life skill - and both men and women should know enough of it to be able to survive on their own. Secondly, shifting the responsibility of cooking from one gender to another doesn't solve the problem of gender bias. It only changes the angle of bias. Similarly, whether you do 'ladki dekhna'(bride seeing) or 'ladka dekhna'(groom seeing - which in practice, never happens), the process is nothing but regressive at its best.
 In an ideal world, men and women (not boys and girls) would find their own partners when they are ready to, and cooking would be something that whoever enjoys it on a particular day does. It wouldn't be any one partner's duty to ensure that hot food is served at the table at pre-fixed times.
Sigh!!! If only ideals matched reality!!!

Now that you have told me

what it is that you dislike most about the cooking process, it is time for us to discuss what we really like about cooking. Why, in spite of not liking to chop, clean or garnish, do we still end up cooking?
For me, it is the satisfaction of getting food cooked just the way I like it and the sheer pleasure of inhaling the aroma of food being cooked.
Check out what my fellow marathoners Srivalli, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu,Monika, PJ, Azeema and Reva are cooking.

What is it....

that you dislike most about cooking??? I am not talking about the after-cooking clean up which a lot of people seem to dislike, but the cooking process itself. For me, it is the garnish. I am absolutely willing to try out the most complicated recipe, but am often too lazy to chop up corrainder/curry leaves to dress it up or to do a tadka.
So, what is it that you wish to skip every time you cook?
Check out what my fellow marathoners Srivalli, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu,Monika, PJ, Azeema and Reva are cooking.

Who is the better cook?

Recently, on a talk show that I watch, the older generation(mothers & MILs) and the younger generation were pitted against each other. They talked about different aspects of life which they approached with different styles. As is the norm with all things Indian, the conversation gradually moved on to food and who was better at cooking and serving it. Interestingly, both the groups were comprised entirely of females.
What I want to draw your attention to is this young man who was called up on stage and asked to choose between his mother's and his wife's cooking.
Who do you think he said is the better cook? More importantly, do you think it was right on the host's part to ask this question at all? How do you think he should have answered???

Tell me honestly, do all you food bloggers out there love to cook all the time? I know there has to be a decent amount of liking towards cooking (and of course, eating) most of the time. But aren't there days when you just don't want to lift a finger, days when you get somebody else to dial in a pizza for you???

It's not food but it's been on my mind lately

• Why do most women insist on babying the men in their lives even though the men are usually much older???
  
• Why do they act as if their sole purpose in life is to carry out the whims and fancies of their husband/boyfriend/whatever???
• Why does it make me mad when I see perfectly intelligent women let their lives revolve around deciding on what their husband should wear to work and then go about happily laying out his clothes. C'mon Iam sure it won't kill him to take his own clothes out of the wardrobe or to make himself(and you) a cup of coffee.
• Why do people give out unsolicited advise??? Is there some law out there which I am not aware of that says that you should butt into things that just aren't your concern in any way? Oh.....and if you have a baby...you are done for.....literally everyone from the watchman to the corporation worker who sweeps the road will have some gyan for you.
• Why do some people think that the purpose of a "No entry" board is to give them a stretch of road on which they can test their bike's maximum acceleration???

Edited to add: A lot of you wanted to know what brought this on.......The answer to that is both simple and complex.....observing the way a lot of people I know have changed is one of the reasons.....the other is the fact that people tell me Iam "lucky" to have a husband who helps out around the home and with the kid. What has luck got to do with it??? Why is it my "duty" to do things while it is my "luck" to have a partner who willingly shares my chores???