Vijay Haldiya had a eager curiosity in cooking since she was a toddler. She would help her mom within the kitchen and learnt a number of recipes from her. After her schooling, she received married, and in her personal phrases, “wished to deal with elevating her household”.
Company at her home had been at all times impressed by Vijay’s cooking and requested her to put in writing a recipe guide. However her reply was at all times the identical — “I’ll do it as soon as my kids develop up.”
And the 63-year-old lived as much as her phrases.
In 2014, after her husband retired, she determined that it was her time to shine.
She first joined a Fb group the place she would share recipes day by day. To her shock, she was blocked from the group. At the moment, she was visiting her daughter Apeksha in the US. It was then that Apeksha took issues into her personal fingers.
She says, “My mom was very upset at being blocked from the group. She requested me to achieve out to the admin and discover out the explanation for a similar, however it was of no use. I noticed the enjoyment that cooking a dish, clicking an image, and sharing the recipe by importing it to the group gave her.”
“So one wonderful night in September 2014, as I sat snacking on my mom’s sooji (semolina) fingers and chai, I made a decision to open a bunch on Fb. I named it ‘Zayka ka Tadka by Vijay Haldiya’. I instructed my mom that nobody can oust you from this group as you’re the admin,” Apeksha Haldia tells The Higher India.
However the subsequent problem was getting followers. Vijay says that she was completely satisfied having her personal group, however whom would she share her recipes with?
What labored to her benefit was her daughter’s digital advertising abilities. An engineer with an MBA and Grasp’s in Sports activities Administration, Apeksha put her abilities to good use.
“I arrange a WordPress web site for my mom and helped her get some followers. In 4 months, the group had 30,000 followers,” says Apeksha.
What began as a weblog and Fb group for sharing vegetarian recipes moved to a reside video cooking platform. At the moment, Zayka ka Tadka has over 9 million followers throughout its social media platforms.
Discovering her wings at 55
After the Fb group gained momentum, Apeksha moved to Ahmedabad together with her husband, who was pursuing an MBA from IIM there. Her mother and father had been in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She targeted on her dream of working within the Indian Premier League (IPL). However an incident pressured the entrepreneur to give up her sports activities administration dream and be a part of her mom for good.
“My mom received an invite from a newspaper to talk at an occasion. She spoke in entrance of 200 individuals and received a standing ovation. I realised that having her personal group and sharing recipes gave her a lot confidence. She was lastly dwelling her life and fulfilling her dream. So, I considered serving to her much more,” provides Apeksha.
She give up her job in 2016 and established the corporate. Their USP is holding it uncooked and actual. Apeksha visits totally different properties throughout the nation and showcases a mom on a reside video every single day.
Common viewers can be conversant in her tagline in each video — ‘Jo dikhta hai wahi banta hai Zayka ka Tadka mein’ (What you see is what you get).
Thus far, they’ve showcased 600–800 moms on their platform, and their workforce additionally consists of 10–12 moms.
Vijay says, “Age is only a quantity. You need to have the braveness to go after your goals. My life has simply began post-60 and seeing so many moms on our channel and studying their feedback offers me a lot happiness. It boosts me to work on extra recipes. Don’t assume that the very best years are behind you. You’ll be able to obtain something as soon as you place your thoughts to it”
She single-handedly manages their Instagram web page, which has greater than 5 lakh followers. She even did a pictures course to learn to click on photos for the platform.
However the journey hasn’t been that straightforward. For the primary three years, they hardly had any followers.
Apeksha shares, “Since our platform is all about mom’s recipes, it’s distinctive. As it’s a novel idea, it took time to take off. I put in all my financial savings within the first three years. We had been caught on one lakh followers. However due to the help of my household, we may maintain and right now it’s paid off.”
Empowering mothers
Apeksha says that getting moms to function in a reside video was a problem initially, however as soon as they noticed the response to their movies, their happiness was infectious.
Their platform goals to present confidence to moms and assist them acquire recognition. For instance, a 90-year-old grandmother cooked a recipe reside on the channel, supported by her walker.
What was wonderful was her husband’s response, who mentioned that he was pleased with her for the primary time!
Some moms like Shveta Seth, Archana Chakravarthy, and Shraddha Thakrar, are stars in their very own proper as their recipes are featured usually on the platform.
“I can see a giant transformation in myself. I used to be so hesitant and had a lot concern earlier than I used to be featured on this platform. Now, all my concern has disappeared. I really feel like I can do something by way of cooking. We usually really feel so underconfident, however I realised my very own power due to Zayka ka Tadka,” says Shveta Seth, one of many moms who options usually.
“These tales and responses by moms hold us going. That dadi (grandmother) was so completely satisfied as she lastly felt recognised. As soon as they arrive in entrance of the digicam and get these phrases of encouragement from their household and our viewers, they realise that they can also do something. Lots of our moms have began small house cooking companies after they had been featured right here, and a few have used recipes from our platform,” says Apeksha.
Other than encouraging moms, additionally they need to be a treasure trove of recipes.
“Whereas our moms helped theirs within the kitchen, most of us by no means entered it whereas rising up. Cooking is a vital life talent which everybody, be it man or girl, ought to know. Our platform options 100-year-old recipes which can be handed on by way of generations,” says Apeksha.
Recipes utilizing on a regular basis elements
One of many differentiators between different recipe movies and Zayka ka Tadka is the simplicity of the movies and elements. Every little thing is made utilizing on a regular basis family elements. Additionally, for the reason that video is streamed in real-time, the viewers would understand how a lot time it could take for them to cook dinner the dish at house.
“Making ready three meals a day is a giant problem, which all of us wrestle with. I’ve been following Zayka ka Tadka for a very long time and it’s actually made my life straightforward. Being a mother myself, my kids don’t like some greens like lauki (bottle gourd), padwal (snake gourd) and so on. However after watching some recipes like lauki idli and kofta on the web page, I cooked it for my kids in order that they eat these greens too,” says Rashmi, a viewer of the channel.
There are additionally many recipes that present what to make utilizing leftover rice and rotis. In addition they have timed recipes, displaying what you may make in 10–quarter-hour in your workplace or kids’s dabba (lunch field).
“Day by day once I get up, the very first thing I see is what’s getting previous and can spoil quickly. I then make one thing utilizing that. That is what mothers do in every single place, and we’re simply serving to to showcase that. As our movies are reside, many instances the primary dosa or cheela is not going to come nicely, however we by no means edit that. This helps younger moms realise that this can be a downside confronted by everybody, and so they too get the arrogance to strive cooking new gadgets,” says Vijay.
Now, they plan to begin exhibits on their platform to indicate recipes that may be cooked with only one or two elements.
Moreover, as Apeksha didn’t get to work within the IPL, she now runs her personal ‘Zayka Premier League’ that has groups from totally different cities competing with meals.
“We need to attain and uplift extra moms within the coming years. I strongly imagine that for those who empower a mom, you empower the whole household. I used to be there to help my mom’s goals and need to do the identical for others who don’t have familial help,” says Apeksha.
Right here’s a easy onion sabzi recipe by Vijay Haldiya, if you don’t have any greens at house:
