Devashish Palkar, November 12, 2015

The return of Maggi has destroyed the business of cooking classes, which emerged briefly after the ban on the popular instant noodles. The market that catered to hostellers, bachelors and women planning to get married is finding few takers after the ban was lifted last month.

Until a few months back, girls of the marriageable age were confident of their cooking skills, and were proud of their two-minute recipes of Maggi noodles, Maggi sandwich, Maggi pakodas and Maggi omelette.

However, the sudden ban on the sales of Maggi had suddenly handicapped them and their marriage prospects. The past few months saw a great boom in the cooking classes business. In parts of Delhi and Mumbai, there were more cooking classes than IIT-JEE coaching centres.

The ban, however, has now been revoked. Owners of these cooking class businesses are the worst hit.

Girls are again using Maggi to check off their cooking skills in the matrimonial forums.

A sad owner of one such cooking class we talked to said: “Where did they hide all the lead? We’re ruined.”

However, the return of Maggi has been a blessing for hostellers and other bachelors, for whom the two-minute noodles are a staple. “This was much awaited,” said a student of Yet Another College of Engineering (YACE).

“I was sick of eating healthy food,” he said. “Broccoli is no substitute for Maggi…especially with daaru.”