Daulat Rupani, Author of


Daughter of Motiben and Essubhai Adam Rupani, Daulat was brought up in Kodinar, India among four brothers (three her senior).   Beside schooling (in defiance of opposition to educating girls in rural India at the time), she performed several household chores acquiring a passion for cooking-from-scratch in her extended family environment, where all three meals of the day would be cooked from fresh ingredients and served hot immediately (no refrigeration; no microwave oven).

In early 1960's at age twenty and with a teaching certificate in hand, Daulat sailed to Mombasa where she married Mahebub Rupani. Two years later she gave birth to a son.   She acquired knowledge of English and Kiswahili languages.

In mid 1967, following a quick visit to India with her husband and 13 months old son, Daulat settled in Nairobi where her husband's employer moved its head office.  The family grew when her second son was born, and again in 1973 when Daulat and Mahebub adopted two children (of similar ages as their own sons) from India, daughter and son of Daulat's eldest brother.

When her adopted son, (youngest among the four children) had attained age six, and all four children were schooling, Daulat attended a design and dressmaking college to enhance her skill of making made-to-measure garments, while simultaneously her passion for cooking-from-scratch continued unabated.  On completion of the course, she had the option of choosing between her skill of cooking on one hand and knowledge of design and dressmaking on the other to generate a second income for her family.

Daulat decided to establish a college of dressmaking.  The college was named Rupani's Dressmaking School which flourished in spite of its destruction twice - once by fire that spread from a neighbour's premises and three years later through looting by rioters during the abortive coup in Kenya.

Disheartened by the destruction of the college, the family decided to emmigrate from the country it called home; the move would be made within two years.

In that small span of time, the School reopened in another premises and was sold, though not without living through heart-wrenching second thoughts not to leave Kenya.  But the idea prevailed of better education opportunities abroad and safer living conditions for the children (then in their teens).

Daulat, her husband and their second son moved to Lisbon, Portugal; the eldest son remained behind to complete his senior secondary school education, while the adopted daughter and son went to India to complete their education there, and also to spend time with their birth-father whom they had longed to see.  Upon completion of his senior secondary school studies, the eldest son rejoined the family in Lisbon followed, few years later, by the adopted son from India.  The daughter did not go to Portugal but instead opted for making India her home.

Re-starting their lives from scratch brought new challenges in a country where the majority did not want to speak English or other foreign language; Daulat and her family learnt the Portuguese language.

With the help of her eldest son, Daulat ran Lar Fatima - Residencia Universitaria Fatima (a girls' hostel for university students).  In summer, the hostel served as a guesthouse for tourists.  The second son went to an English secondary school in Estoril and in spare time helped run Lar Fatima. Mahebub found employment in a community council as its executive officer.  The combined income from the job and hostel enabled Mahebub and Daulat send their sons to a university in USA, and also to arrange for the adopted son's return from India to the family in Lisbon.

In 1990 the family moved again - this time to Toronto, Canada where began the process of re-building their lives from scratch once more, in the face of economic recession.

Notwithstanding the difficulties accompanying the events during her life from Kenya to Canada, Daulat's passion for cooking-from-scratch did not diminish but instead drove her not only to cook for her immediate family but also entertain relatives and friends at the family's birthday and anniversary parties.  Her friends often expressed surprise at the wide variety of dishes she would prepare.

Daulat and Mahebub have two university-age grandsons from their adopted daughter in India, and a teen-age granddaughter and two pre-teen grandsons (children of their own sons) in the USA and Canada.

Daulat's inspiration to write came from her children and grandchildren's love of Indian food.  Her grandchildren in the USA fondly refer to an Indian restaurant, that they frequent, as 'Grandma Restaurant'; that in itself gave the final nudge for Daulat to publish her book in the hope that it will assist her grandchildren, and other children of their generation, when they are ready to cook Indian food 'from-scratch'.