ME AND MY CLOTHES 2 A red and white dress that just made me feel so happy 2020 has almost ended and 2021 is about to begin. Christmas celebrations in 2020 were extremely low key. Restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic meant no social gatherings and events…

ME AND MY CLOTHES 1 Memories of my first communion dress Every person needs clothes. Not just to protect his or her body from the weather but also as a means of self-expression. And just as the foods you eat, the songs you sing or listen to, the stories you…

A down to earth and not so bright but filled with light Diwali. It's festival time in India again. India is aglow with light. Diwali commemorates the triumphant return of Lord Rama with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman to their kingdom after a fourteen-year exile in the forest…

A personal account of growing and cooking pumpkins “ Its as easy as pie,” is a phrase often used to denote that something is easy to do. The month of October is that time of the year when baking enthusiasts in Europe and America would be baking pumpkin pies for…

BANDRA FEAST MEMORIES Praying, Eating and Loving at Bandra Feast Eat… Pray… Love. It’s a well-known book by Elizabeth Gilbert….But it’s also a catchphrase that pretty much sums up what people in Bandra-— a suburb in the megacity of Mumbai — do during the month of September. The reason being…

A BIRTHDAY IN A PANDEMIC Should I have even thought about baking a cake in a time like this? Some days before my birthday (which was on April fools Day) my husband said matter of factly to me, “I hope you’re baking a cake for your birthday.” “No, it’s the middle of Lent, ” I replied. “That’s…

My trials and errors at traditional sweet making — Christmas is a time to celebrate with family and friends. But I’m always pulled in two different directions for this. Should I participate in community choral events, bake cupcakes and cookies and stay the pre-Christmas season in suburban Bandra,(my home)in Mumbai? Or should I experience deep dark cold Indian winter…

A new old way to grow and eat rice…. and celebrate Halloween — ‘ We are what we eat’ is a well known saying. Till as recently as a hundred years ago a person was a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian more for socio-economic and cultural reasons than for health reasons. But in the last 25 years, people living in cities in India are…

An endangered local Lenten food tradition — The last week of Lent is supposed to be a time of intense prayer, penance, and fasting, for Christians. But fasting very often makes us acutely aware of food. Even the most simple and humble food that we may reject in times of feasting, takes on a different appeal while…