ROOPA Gulati was the Good Morning India girl. A bubbly, chatty chef who came on NDTV's popular breakfast show at the hour between morning tea and hot buttered toast and squeezed in the recipe for a souffle. "I'm a mix and bake, stir and serve kind of person. That was the theme of the show. My recipes used to sound and taste like hours had been spent slaving over them, they appeared complicated, but that was not so. I liked to make meals out of methods that could be swallowed whole, in one complete sentence," she explains confusingly.

As a breakfast show, Good Morning India was dedicated to giving the right start to viewers' days. Roopa, without a script, hosted the 12-minute cookery section on the show for three years, slicing, dicing and spicing her way into the kitchens and hearts of thousands of viewers across the country. "Then the producers decided that the programme had to be in Hindi. And I don't speak Hindi. Or I do with a North England accent! So I opted out. Besides, there were many other challenges in the offing. One door closes, another opens, but you've got to keep your eyes open for the windows also!"

She's always been keeping an eye open for windows, this happy person from England's Lake District. "I was born in Yorkshire in beautiful, peaceful surroundings, where people talk straight, are no-nonsense, warm and friendly types. Dad's an ophthalmic surgeon and Mum bakes cakes! Food was an important part of our lives. Lunchtimes were English, dinner always Punjabi," she says. "I started cooking when I was 11. Mum thought I'd burn the house down! First thing I cooked was a Danish layered cake with sponge grated chocolate and pineapple. My parents loved it!"

She then did a one-year diploma course at the Cordon Bleu School of Cookery in London. "They take you to the cleaners. I was used to the rough and ready ways of country cooking. And I was horrified here! Every grain of salt is analysed. And when you make a sauce, they want you to see your face in it." Roopa then came to India with her husband, and instrumentation engineer, and two lovely daughters. And she joined the Taj in Delhi as a consultant chef. "I was doing everything there and nothing! I taught French cooking and bakery, but played with the ingredients. Green Chilli Sorbet and Phalsa Cheesecake! Local ingredients treated differently.

This was not classic French cooking. The lines got blurred, the rules bent, I had lot of freedom in the kitchen, I made a lot of menus." NDTV approached her to do a food show. A life in the day of a chef, because, she says, she looked liked she cracked eggs whole day! Then one day when she was baking in the Taj kitchen, there came a call.

"My husband, he drove off to work and never came back again," she recalls sadly. He died in an accident about which she still does not know much. She lost confidence in life, couldn't cook anymore, couldn't stay still and had to move on. "I felt, my other love too had deserted me!" Then she learnt to use cooking as a therapeutic crutch. And she learned also to take on small goals. "Earlier, I couldn't drive. Two weeks after the accident, I got behind the wheel and was hysterical. People get driving licences in two weeks, I took the extra month, now I bum all around."

When NDTV came back and asked if she was interested in a regular show, she said yes immediately. "I needed to have something beyond reach, something after my heart. And two things I've always wanted to do were a TV cookery show and open a pub. From October 1997 to October 2000, I did the show. I loved it. My segment on the Good Morning India show was 10-12 minutes. I used to plan my week's menus on Sunday evening. I did everything from Chocolate Cake to Biryani. Lots of time, I went live, it was aired as it was. Guests? Not very often, but mainly chefs. It was essentially a one-woman show."

When the show came to an end, Roopa got cracking on her book, The Good Morning India Cookbook, produced later by NDTV and Harper Collins. "Most of the recipes are my favourites... if not my own, which I have culled from my Mum, friends, neighbours. I've tempered them to suit my own tastes. Each recipe is not just a dish, but a statement. Whenever I miss home, I cook something comforting. Channa simmering in a pan, the smell of rice, reminds me of home. Sometimes all it takes is a slice of cake to lift the heart. My recipes are an extension of myself. Simple, straight-forward, even the most complicated dishes.

Now I'm working on my second book. I'm writing more than eating!" This is her time in life for reflection. "I've been living on the edge. Now I'm picking up the pieces. I live in anticipation of tomorrow. I enjoy simple pleasures. Like baking a cake at the midnight hour by myself. I rejoice in my caffeine kick. Eight cups, extra strong! I'm one stage beyond a junkie. Can't sleep without coffee.

Sometimes, I just need to see the cup! Evenings, I unwind with a good whisky. McCallan, Glenlivet, they're smooth as silk, drinking them make you feel very special. Know what I mean?"