Like mother, like daughter

What people often dont realise about the generation gap is that it like any other gap can be bridged Theres immense scope for something entirely new to transpire from the culmination of new and old sensibilities This is something that 19yearold Mansi Vyas who lives in Dadar recognised three months ago when a college project gother thinkingA student of SIES College of Arts Science and Commerce Vyas is pursuing a Bachelors degree in management studies For the third semester of her course her business planning and entrepreneurial management class professor suggested that instead of reading out of a cumbersome book students try their hand at running a business for a monthUltimate gooey brownie ultimate gooey brownie with white chocolate Oreo almonds and chocolate chip brownieThe project tried to see if we were cutout for a business And we were given the choice to either start from scratch or sell bought goods Mansi shares It is then that she realised that what her mother Bela had been doing for years was nothing short of a businessHaving nurtured a passion for all things food Bela 56 had stepped into the kitchen for the first time at 13 Originally from Kolkata Bela says her father played a pivotal role in cultivating this hobby He would often urge me to take cooking classes the mother of two who moved to Mumbai recalls Belas love for food emerged from there and six years ago it found expression in a nameless formless business of browniesCutting browniesMy mum took a baking class some years ago and soon after for festivals she started replacing mithai with homemade brownies cakes and chocolates People loved it and started requesting her to make it in bulk But she was doing it informally When the project came up I thought that instead of selling jewellery I could give my moms business shape Mansi tells us tracing the birth of Cutting Brownies a dessert venture based out of Dadar EastThe hallmark of good food we think is a combination of earnestness and skill both of which are brimming in the form of the gooey chocolatey goodness that forms the core of these brownies What Mansi did is that she used the knowledge gathered from her classes combined it with youthful insight and packaged it mdash as industry folk love to call it mdash in a consumerfriendly formatWhen I was assigned the project in June I asked my mother if she would chip in and obviously she agreed Then she helped me get acquainted with what she was doing I like cooking too but I am not great at it So after learning how she goes about things I decided that instead of serving her brownies in boxes like she was we could give it a twist by putting it inside cutting chai glasses Mansi explains adding that the thought behind serving up these sweet treats in a chai glass was not only to match up to the aesthetic standards of Instagram but to also repackage the products into something more ecofriendlyBela who is a homemaker says that while her daughters vision and knowledge have helped her up the ante considerably adding a dash of coolness to her homely brownies what it has primarily done is give her a sense of purpose I was so excited when Mansi came to me and said she wanted to do this because I always hoped that I can pass on my love for cooking and baking to my daughters I do hope that she will take a professional baking class some day though I am telling her all the time that she needs to she quipsWith an eye on the future and hopes of expanding the menu to include chocolate mousse and other desserts Mansi is charged up to make her mums brownies mdash available in ultimate gooey Oreo and almond and other customisable combinations mdash accessible and fun I am working on a logo and looking into other details so we can go live on social mediashe adds Which brings us back to the beauty of things emerging out of the synthesis of the old and new mdash the result is almost always something heartwarmingly sweetAt Cutting Brownies Dadar EastCall 9619892998 only pickup availableCost Rs 60 per glass minimum order of six glasses Rs 230 to Rs 300 for 2s 50 gmsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates