Petals!

When I was a child, Mahashivaratri bhajans used to be conducted at home. It meant 24X7 work for my parents, especially my mother. But this is the one festival that we loved to get ready for.  You had to prepare in advance for hosting so many people overnight. They had to be comfortable yet alert because no one who stays can be allowed to fall asleep unless they are unwell or on medication. So, if there were aunties who wanted to take a ten-minute nap, I would time it and call them exactly in ten minutes! The joy of watching grown-ups make a fool of themselves over getting few more minutes of sleep cannot be underestimated especially when you are ten or twelve years old! Perhaps it is those beautiful growing up years that make it difficult for me to stay away from an all-night vigil during Mahashivaratri. I can't stay away from it no matter where I am, even if the following day is a working day. This year too, I attended the Mahashivaratri bhajans at the Sai Center, Lo...

I grew up outside India for many years - which also meant that while I got to eat exciting types of food (nope, sorry to disappoint you, not grasshoppers - I don't think I would be okay with it!), like crispy chicken in the basket or grilled Chambe  fish, I missed out on some desi food options. My parents say that I was such a reluctant child when it came to eating food that I used to take two to three hours to finish a single meal, morsel by morsel! Not anymore....hahaha! Tea-time snacks at home used to include a variety such as dhoklas, parippu vadas, unniappams, murukkus and cakes. Yes, that was my mom's happiest ''cooking days" sort of phase. She would whip up a new dish everyday and it would turn out so yummy that we would want more of it. Looking back, I can't help admiring my mother because I simply don't have that kind of consistency or energy to even try this on a daily basis. She did this for years while we were growing up outside I...