The billion-plus hours of daily watch time of Youtube offer a sneak peek into the state of trending culture globally. Not just a source of entertainment, the platform has also transitioned into a potential source of income for many. Be it Influencers, Vloggers or YouTubers, the platform has now opened the gates of opportunities for all equally. Bengal’s 86 year old grandmother Puspa Sarkar, is one amongst these shining stars of the YouTube universe. Her ticket to fame has been a cooking show, wherein she cooks traditional Bengali food alongside her grandson Kajal Sarkar( 30).

Initially, the channel faced difficulty to get its audience. However, with time they managed to grab attention. Presently, their YouTube channel named ‘Villfood’ has more than a million followers, and the monthly earning through the channel has reached INR 10 lakhs. Since then, this grandmother and grandson duo has had an obvious change in their lifestyle.

“Being a food lover, I used to search different foods on YouTube. I could never get any authentic Bengali dishes from rural Bengal. So I decided to give my channel a unique touch. My grandmother and my mother used to cook Rural Bengali recipes for us so, I decided to make it my subject. Authentic recipes have been lost from our lives nowadays. The young generation needs to be aware of the legacy. There are so many rural recipes and processes that the modern generations are unaware of. I captured such recipes, their process of cooking and uploaded them on YouTube”.-Kajal Sarkar

“At the initial stage, we didn’t have that many responses. Later, it became so popular that the viewers started to give their comments on the recipes. I used to read out those comments to my grandmother and mother; both of them got more inspired and started cooking more often for the channel”, said Kajal standing beside his traditional muddy kitchen.

The rural atmosphere, authentic dishes from their organic farm, grandmother’s recipes, and the process of cooking in a muddy oven has made ‘Villfood’ more popular to its viewers. “Now my channel has millions of subscribers, and I am earning lakhs from there now”.

“Earlier, I used to shoot videos through my mobile phone. After getting money from YouTube, I have changed my equipment and accessories for better shooting. Our financial condition has become better than before. Now I am earning my livelihood as a YouTube and Facebook content creator. We have a Facebook page with millions of subscribers now”, Kajal said gladly.

“We used to make bidi (local mini cigar filled with unprocessed tobacco wrapped in a thin leaf). But now, we only cook for our YouTube channel. It has transformed our Kuchha house into a three-storied building. Earlier  Kajal’s father used to work at Viswabharati University, YouTube has changed our financial condition. Kajal’s wife is also a food blogger. She writes blogs on rural foods”, told Kabita Sarkar Kajal’s mother. 

“This summer, I have made pickle from raw mangoes and mango sheets from the ripe mangoes from our garden I cook ilish mach bhatey, magur mach bhatey, Koi maach bhapa, kochu patay ilish and more recipes from our vegetable garden,” said Puspa Sarkar standing in front of her kitchen as she got busy instructing her daughter in law Kabita for making of chingri bhapa or baked prawn for their YouTube viewers.  

Photos by: Arpita Dey

Edited by Mohammed Sajid