In 1992,

high school sweethearts Rashmi and Harish Closepet began their married life in Singapore. A working couple, they would take turns to cook. Whenever Rashmi worked late, she would come home to an elaborately cooked meal, plated and served with love by her husband. Needless to say, the young bride was floored by her husband’s efforts.

Every weekend

Would mean parties hosted by the couple. And what Rashmi cherishes 31 years later is the time they spent cooking together for these parties. It was a real bonding experience, she shares. She enjoyed watching her husband present different dishes and create interesting elements on the plate. 

Youngest of five siblings,

Harry grew up in a big family in Bengaluru in the 1960s. He would spend a lot of time in the kitchen and was his mother’s sous chef. The four brothers and sister would partake in all activities at home, from adding firewood to heating water, gardening and cleaning. 

Whenever Isha wants to cook something,

she always reaches out to her father for advice. A lot of their conversations revolve around it. Harry, too, says that she probably thinks of food when she thinks of him. 

In September 2022,

he put out a reel on Instagram which he titled ‘Pack A Lunchbox With Me’ Day 1 where he made a tomato zucchini rice, baked crispy potatoes with a tomato sauce marinade and a fresh orange and cucumber salad. It was a tremendous hit and earned him a great following. So far, he has made 63 healthy, balanced lunch boxes with a following of over 5.27 lakh people. 

While they made the videos just for fun,

Harry soon realised that he was solving a real problem faced in most households. What to make for the next day’s lunchbox and how to make it nutritious yet interesting for the child?

“My daughters don’t like straightforward South Indian food and I started making lots of changes. I would make different types of fried rice, noodles, pastas and breads. I would make pasta with Indian flavours. By mixing different flavours and fusing them with the Indian touch, I would give about 50-60 different kinds of tiffins,” he says.

He ensures that each meal is balanced with enough carbohydrates,

Good fats and protein. His lunchbox series always include these elements.  Some of his popular dabbas are paneer paddu with a beetroot chutney and carrot salad, rajma pepper rice with tomato masala and chia fruit salad, peas fritters with a sweet potato yogurt dip, masala paneer roll with tomato broccoli salad, a high protein upma with dry coconut chutney and a carrot vinegar salad and many more.

His favourite meal

Is rajma rice with a warm salad while his daughters love pastas and mexican rice with an avocado dip. “I love the chemistry of food. I love how different ingredients work together to give a beautiful, tasty outcome. The whole process of seeing simple ingredients become an extremely palatable dish fascinates me,” he adds.

As the page grew,

His daughter encouraged him to apply for MasterChef India. After a tough audition process across two cities and four rounds, Harish is today one of the Top 6 contestants. He wowed everyone with his watermelon rice in Chef Marco Pierre White’s challenge where they had to cook with just 250 ml water.  

While not cooking,

Harish runs a chain of art and craft supplies stores with Rashmi called Itsy Bitsy, through which they provide employment to rural women in Karnataka.  He starts his day early making and packing a tiffin for Isha, who now incidentally takes it to work, then exercises, goes to office and comes back late. The trick, the entrepreneur says, is to enjoy it all. 

Harry’s positivity and warmth is unmissable,

Even on a conversation over the phone, and through his Instagram reels. “One of the reasons for my cooking journey to be so exciting is the fact that I cook with my wife and kids. When you cook with your partner, it will help improve your relationship. I would ask all the young boys and girls to cook with your special someone and make it into a fun activity, if possible every day,” he says.

In fact,

he chortles and says that he’s got quite a few of his friends in trouble as their wives/daughters are expecting them to cook. But isn’t that how it should be? Harry adds that when both husband and wife are working, it’s only fair that they share the chores at home. “See, it will take time to come to an equation as to who is going to do what at home. It took us some time and effort to come to the conclusion about our roles, but it’s worth it. You have to be flexible. Whoever is free at that point of time can do whatever chore is pending,” 

While Harry has been shattering stereotypes,

Isha says that it was usually rare for her classmates to get lunchboxes made by their father.  “I’m so proud of my father. It’s really not that common for fathers to cook, but it should be. I would have been dead against just my mom cooking. It’s just so much fun to cook together,” she says.

Harry hopes to use his MasterChef experience to make more interesting lunch boxes in a shorter time span like 20 minutes to help busy parents. Rashmi playfully adds that one of these days, she is going to stay back late at work to come home to a fully cooked meal by her husband, much like the initial days of their marriage.