Kolkata: Locked-down kitchen irregulars cooking up a storm... of injuries

KOLKATA: A lot of kitchen irregulars have taken up cooking with gusto during the lockdown, either because they have no choice or to keep themselves fruitfully engaged. The results have shown, inside Kolkata’s burn clinics if not on the dining table.
Last week, Sanchari Das, a doctor, suffered burns in her left hand while cooking. She has a domestic help and her busy schedule hardly all-ows her the time to cook, which has made her kitchen skills rusty.“I burnt my hand when the hot oil spilt as I was frying fish,” she said.
“I immediately called one of my friends, a dermatologist, after taking initial precautions. Now I am using some ointments that she prescribed.”
Varsha Gupta, an auditor with an MNC, was left with a scalded finger trying to make rotis. “My mother always cooks in my house with the help of my domestic help. But none of the helps have been coming since March 24. So, I was trying to help my mother make rotis and accidentally touched the hot tawa,” she added. Gupta had a videoconference with a dermatologist and has been using medicines on her injuries. She has stopped venturing into her kitchen.
Oindrilla Acharjee, a lecturer at St Joseph College, suffered burns on her palm while rustling up a dish earlier this week. She has also got rashes from washing utensils.
“My domestic has not been coming since March 24. I am having to cook twice a day, apart from the clean-up after. I am not habituated to doing housework on a regular basis,” she told TOI.
Doctors in Kolkata are having to deal with hundreds of such calls each day.
Dermatologist Prerna Raj pointed out that there is an increased chance of burns and “blisters with post-burn hyperpigmentation” when an occasional cook attempts the job. She advised the use of cooking gloves. Another dermatologist, Sachin Verma, said occasional cooks should use use utensils with longer handles to avoid oil spills.
Skin irritations and fungal infections, triggered by cleaning utensils, are also on the rise.
Aparajita Das, an IT professional from south Kolkata, has been forced to try her hand at cooking and cleaning utensils. She has also been mopping the floors for more than a month now. Das hardly did any cooking in the last few years and never cleaned the dishes. “I have now got a skin irritation and an allergy in my hands and palms, for which I am consulting dermatologists. We have domestic helps for housework, which I am having to do now. I hardly get any time to cook, nor am I particularly interested in it. But now I have no option,” she said.
To avoid skin rashes, Verma advises using moisturisers and recommended liquid dishwashing soap, rather than bar soaps. “Most of those I’ve been getting calls from are not used to cooking and cleaning. Some are allergic to utensil cleaning soaps and have never used them,” he said.
Dermatologist Swagata Das said: “Utensil-cleaning soaps are harder than normal ones, so those not used to them may develop skin irritations.”