It was late spring, almost summer, and the drumstick tree in the courtyard was flowering. If you are sensitive to smells and fragrances, aromas, and scents, their subtle but inescapable aroma would drive you little nuts. A little high. I generally don’t need much to get me high. …

A Recipe — Breathe a short prayer as you enter the kitchen. Communicate to Whoever you believe in, that you love the person you are cooking for, and that you hope she/he will like what you are about to make. So then one is more careful, more grounded, more humble while cooking. …

Send up a prayer, first, to whichever God you believe in, because cooking is not a chore, but a rite which is sacred: a process in which you transform pieces of vegetable, meat and fish into ambrosial delicacies for those you love. Praying also confers humility on us, and when…

That’s easy. First you stay put someplace. Alone. Not lonely. Alone. Then you look around and make sure no one is watching you. If no one is, the next step becomes easier. Remove ALL your masks. One by one. Every last one of them. The tearing away may leave lacerations on your skin…some…

Response for the Triple Centina Writing Challenge — The man watched the baby crawling on hands and knees with affectionate joy. “Look at the little feller,” he said, looking back and blowing a kiss at the baby’s mother sitting in the chair behind him. “Only some months before, he was still inside of you!” he said, as he…

A Prompt Response — What does one do when one’s favourite music becomes discordant? Well, for the sake of one’s peace of mind, one tries to find another chord, or make a chord, herself. That’s what happens when our values and traditions change. The above photograph is a picture of the Vishu ‘kani’, which…

Post Lockdown Travel: an Essay In February 2021, pandemic-induced lockdown was lifted briefly, in India. My husband and I had lived through a harrowing two years of being caregivers to my mother-in-law who was in an advanced state of dementia. The pandemic and lockdown had kept people away from each…

A Personal Essay on Relationships — People are beautiful to us, because of the connections we have with them, or because of a shared history that melds us together. We love people because they helped us grow, or heal: or because they have walked part of our journey with us. One of the TED talks that…

A Personal Essay: Response to a Prompt — We call this culinary delight ‘Ishtu’, which might be a variation of ‘stew’, but all Malayalis, or Keralites would probably pillory me for saying that. So let’s just call it by the age-old favourite title of ‘Ishtu’ Once, this dish was made only for our two festivals, the Spring festival…