We also discussed really important things like bringing up children, schools , weight loss issues and ultimately our secret dreams and ambitions of becoming successful businesswomen. While we waited for the husbands to shower down and join us in the verandah, we’d watch those power ladies come to the club for a quick drink with office colleagues or a work out before they either went home or joined their equally powerful and successful husbands for a drink at the bar. How we wished we could do that instead of rushing home for a winding down and putting to sleep routine….
One day, Zeba came up with a brilliant idea.
“Why don’t we all take up a bakery project? That way we’ll have something to work towards. We all like to bake, the kids like to eat and we’ll get a feeling of doing something worthwhile. “
“Yes,” said Maya excitedly, ” And lets each of us wear a Blue Earring while Baking so that we can glam things up a bit. A little bit off beat and funky and a little bit of Martha Stewart – cooking with make up and jewellery rather than in tights and a scrunched up bun.”
“Hmm, ” I added, ” Let’s call ourselves the Blue Earring Bake Club. We bake on Friday and eat on Saturday after the children finish swimming.”
And that’s how it came about – Every week we’d scour our cookery books and come up with a sweet concoction of flour, eggs, butter and sugar. Gradually we became more and more adventurous and began tweaking the recipes to make healthier options – oil instead of butter, whole wheat flour instead of refined flour till we became so good that we became innovators. Eventually our cakes made an appearance at our dinner parties and we became famous for our cakes and bakes. It wasn’t long before we were asked to take orders and before we knew it, our Blue Earing Bake Club became a company. Each of us would cover for the other baking on different so that it didn’t clash with housekeeping and childrearing. Then Zeba and Maya moved to Bangalore and Delhi because their husbands were transferred out. Of course, by this time the children had all grown up so we managed to set up units in these cities too.
But we still managed to maintain our routine of a weekly project that kept us in touch with our baking souls. Aaah. How wonderful it was to smell that wafting vanilla all over the house as the cakes got done in the oven. How perfectly thrilling it was to see the icing go up on the cake to make magical birthday cakes with forests and butterflies or tiered wedding cakes or occasional cakes looking like real computers and diplomas……
Today, the Blue Earring Baking Club Company has franchisees with over 100 women all over the country. All that they needed to do was to bring in their ingredients, a passion for baking and a weekly project they baked on their own.
That was thirty years ago. Our children have their own children and we have our own company. Instead of phone calls and fax machines, we share our projects through the Internet.
This is my project of the week – my Blue Angel Cake with butter cream frosting ……and that’s the blue earring I wear to bake.
