Spring has arrived. We are apparently saving daylight, (saving it from what, I am tempted to ask) and finally, we are past the threat of snow. The boxwood in our front yard have begun to release their pungent, sandy smell, the daffodils have broken through the cold soil, and the tulips want to test their…
Category: Dals
All Mixed Up
The autumn puja season is officially over, the weather is now cold, and the leaves lie in crushed, swirling patterns on our lawns and streets. As a follow up to my begun bhaja (fried eggplant) and mamlet (omelet) posts, I would like to blog about khichuri. Loosely translated, it means “all mixed up” in Bengali (Bengali: খিচুড়ী khichuri). …
April
We are having warm weather all week. I am excited by this. I am excited because it is the second week of April, and it has been known to snow during the second week of April. But this year, we’ve had some freakishly fine weather, and the tulips are up, the azaleas have buds, everything…
There’s a Certain Slant of Light
The light has changed even though the weather is not too inhospitable, not yet. But it has been dark. And the weather was oppressive last week, rainy and uncharacteristically grey, somber, even at noon. This weekend has been sunny and mild: an interstice of blue-sky warmth forestalling the arrival of winter. We went for a…
Humble Beginnings
Let me start with a memory. I was in Manhattan one winter weekend many years ago, wandering through Chinatown, when I was struck by the similarities between its open air markets and various markets in Kolkata. Storefronts on Mott Street boasted wooden crates piled high with okra, stacks of dried fish and fragrant cilantro, a…
Remember the Taste 