The title of Swapna Rakesh’s Facebook page itself is delicious — Swapna’s Kitchen Magic. Give oodles of red hot chilli peppers and see how she works drool-worthy abracadabra on them. So hooked to her vocation, she initiates a confident conversation saying, “I cook well”. This happy home-maker reaps nothing short of gold from her dearest pastime — cooking. The pleasures of cooking now whip up this sit-at-home-mommie a modest sum a month. Swapna recapitulates as her exclusive recipe blog swadcuisine.com nears its first birthday.
“I am crazy about cooking,” her fast-paced voice starts tinkling. “By and by, my love for cooking got popular within the friends’ circle of my hubby. Initially, many wanted me to share the recipes with them. Then I became an invitee to special occasions and together, we prepared delicacies. A year ago, I opened my blog. Since the past seven months, it generates me a monthly income through Google AdSense. The income fluctuates with the variations in the internet traffic, still it is fine,” says Swapna. The blog drums up close to two lakh hits a month.
In the meantime, she managed to create and sell a USP for her blog. Every recipe comes with a well-photographed step-by-step explanation of preparation. “Most people prefer to learn cooking from YouTube or similar video-tutorials so that they don’t go wrong at any point. I sensed that need and started capturing the images while preparing the dishes to be posted. The task needs too much care as my attention must equally be distributed on the camera and cooking process,” she explains. She sets aside weekends to cook and post recipes on the blog.
An MBA-grad, Swapna had an early marriage at the age of 18. She was a career woman until having her second child. “I worked with Axis Bank. After having the second baby, I wanted to pay heed to his needs primarily. My elder son is 11 years now and husband is busy taking care of his business activities. The blog in a great deal helps me manage all my priorities and household chores together,” says Swapna.
Recently, she started posting recipes in Malayalam and English. She plans to incorporate a session for healthy diets on the blog soon.
