In the realm of human experiences, loss often serves as a catalyst for self-discovery and transformation. This sentiment finds a poignant portrayal in Shenaz Treasury’s heartfelt part-memoir, part-fiction, All He Left Me Was a Recipe, published by Penguin India. Renowned as a Bollywood actress and travel influencer, Shenaz unveils a narrative that transcends geographical borders, delving into the profound connections between food, love, and healing. For the uninitiated, Shenaz Treasury is one of India’s very first MTV VJs and Bollywood’s charismatic ‘it’ girl from Ishq Vishk and Delhi Belly, who has become India’s hottest travel vlogger. A dynamic entertainer, Shenaz has moved beyond acting over the years. She wrote, produced and hosted Culture Shock for Discovery Travel Channel, US. In the US, Shenaz acted in 107 episodes of One Life to Live on ABC and added her humour to The Nightly Show on Comedy Central, produced by Jon Stewart. She played a memorable role in the Oscar nominated The Big Sick, produced by Judd Apatow, and starred in Brown Nation on Netflix.
Elaborating about what inspired her to pen down this book, she says, “All He Left Me Was a Recipe is a book of this girl’s life from when she’s four years old to 40 years and every boy that she meets along the way that leave her with some recipes, which are life lessons. The first chapter starts when she’s a four-year-old girl in a park playing and she sees a poor boy that she finds so cute and she runs after him. But he gets scared looking at her with a toothless grin and he runs away and then he hits her on the head with a watermelon. And that’s her first breakup. And the lesson learned is ‘boys can hurt’. Like this it continues. Each chapter starts with a question — the first chapter starts with ‘what are the rules of breakup?’ The second chapter is ‘attraction more than just good looks?’ Because there, as a teenager, she meets a boy who she talks to on the phone. She’s never seen him. But when she sees him, he’s not as cute as she imagined. She still keeps going out with him and realises that it’s not how he looks, it’s how he makes her feel.
“In the book I have added gratitude too, like the three things the girl is thankful for from the boy after he cheated on her along with dramatic illustrations.”
All He Left Me Was a Recipe is a never-ending pursuit of love, a quest for the ever-elusive ‘Mr Right,’ all while kissing the ‘Mr Maybes’. It’s a roller-coaster ride through the fabulous and often hilariously complicated world of modern dating where love, lust and culinary metaphors are on the menu. From ‘a-ha’ moments to giggles and even some epic heartbreaks with a fair share of tear-shedding, this book is a VIP pass to Shenaz Treasury’s heart in all its shapes and forms over the years. Every story wraps up with a recipe — a memento from each of these unforgettable encounters — along with some timeless life lessons.Talking about her travelling days in Hyderabad, Shenaz says, “I have not been to Hyderabad in a long time. But the last time I went to Hyderabad was when I stayed at the Falaknuma Palace as I was doing a show for the Taj brand of hotels and NDTV Good Times. The palace is so beautiful. I need to come back to Hyderabad. It’s been a while and I actually find Hyderabadi boys quite cute (laughs).”
Interestingly, apart from travelling Shenaz loves writing and sketching, which the readers can see through her debut book. “I did the basic sketching for the book but it got alive through the help of an illustrator,” she says. For her, writing down not-so-good memories was like therapy, almost cathartic. But it took her quite a few years to finally publish the book. “It got sidelined as I started doing travel blogging and quite surprisingly it took off. So, I just kept travelling, travelling, travelling with less writing. But in the last year I got myself together and focused more on writing and less on travelling.
Now that the book is out, Shenaz plans to focus on travel blogging again. “I am again focussing on travel blogging as it pays my bills. But I am happy that a lot of people are asking me about this book as a screenplay and I would really like it to become a show for the OTT platform. Not only that, I am also planning to write a sequel to the book, start a podcast and take up acting projects as well,” she concludes.