The Chowpatty Cooking Club

Who didn’t want to be a freedom fighter while studying about the independence movement? I know I dreamt of being a heroine – just like Sakina in The Chowpatty Cooking Club. I would do something meaningful and brave. I would do whatever it took! But like Sakina, the question was what?

Bursting with humour, innocence and a burning, childlike desire to prove yourself, The Chowpatty Cooking Club by Lubaina Bandukwala is a lovely read. It is the tale of three young children who are determined to be heroes. It’s tough being a heroine when you have a strict grandfather, but Sakina must triumph. She, Zenobia and Mehul must do everything they can – learn to cycle, make flags, investigate the People’s Radio … But is it enough? Are they doing anything at all?

They are, but they don’t know it yet.

Written almost like a murder mystery, The Chowpatty Cooking Club gives us glimpses of a mysterious spy even while we experience most of the story through the protagonist Sakina’s eyes. I love books that use more than one perspective, and as I read, I chuckled. If the children think they’re being foiled at each turn, one can’t help rejoicing at the plight of the spy, foiled by three clueless children!

I have a soft spot for historical fiction, and The Chowpatty Cooking Club with its twists and turns made the 1940s come alive to me. It’s a period in history that we know well thanks to our history books. Looking at it through the eyes of a child of the times was a novel experience.