From getting bullied in school for making rotis to seeing his mother clean gutters; Chef Vikas Khanna gets candid about his early struggles and MasterChef India

Celebrity MasterChef's judge Vikas Khanna recently had a podcast with The Grain Talk Show where he got candid about his childhood struggles, getting bullied, and then his first show with Gordon Ramsay and his journey with MasterChef. Here's what he shared:

When my business got shut, I was completely numb. I was 29 years old when my settled business got shut. It was wedding season and I felt that I was completely shattered. There were no cellphones back then and Papa returned late. So I asked him whether all of this was my mistake as a day before I had refused to give food to someone that was pre-ordered by my guests. This was the 1990s when police officials would randomly come and sit. But my papa motivated me and said, 'isse kuch bada hi khulega.' But I did feel that it was my fault for a long time.

Childhood was quite different, aur main bohot nalayak baccha tha, jisse koi ummeed nahi thi. The elder child is usually the settled one and my sister and I were so bottom low. My grandmother was my big champion she said, 'It doesn't matter as long as he is happy. Why are we forcing him to become an engineer? Yeh bann bhi nahi payega. So let him do what he wants.'

By then we had opened Lawrence Gardens and we were so passionate about it. Mumma would say a kitty party has been booked and I would be on the moon. I would be so excited to be a part of the whole process, to assist in cooking and serving. That was 1990's Amritsar where these kitty parties and small functions would happen at a dedicated space.

Who knew that would become a training ground? When I saw my mother working so dedicatedly changed my life. She would herself go to mandi to bring all the vegetables. I even experienced my biggest nightmare too, I wish I could erase that memory when mumma was cleaning gutters with rods and she taught me the dignity of labour. She taught me how the business is run.

I was a small kid when it began and I used to get brutally bullied in school. The kids would say, 'yeh ghar jaake rotiyan banayega.' I still had enough conviction that despite all of it I wanted to continue with my passion. I never imagined I would come this far.

I remember when Gordon Ramsay invited me to the show, Radhika was sitting with me and she knew I was extremely nervous about speaking in English for the whole episode. I had to learn a lot to be in front of people and speak. When I came to India for MasterChef India, I was asked to learn to speak in proper Hindi as I had a heavy Punjabi influence. So I learnt it as I wanted to show that even Chefs are on a higher pedestal in the Industry as others.