Puja season is around the corner and I can already feel the excitement in the air. I feel it when I go out in the mornings and the air is crisp. I can smell the dew on the grass and see the leaves changing color. Obviously these sensory cues would be different if I had…
Tag: Growing up
Golab Jamun – A Favorite Bengali Dessert
It would start with me sitting on the kitchen counter. Baba got out a large steel pan and added the dry ingredients. I distinctly remember the box of Carnation dry milk and how it smelled and how it felt like very fine sand. This was how we started our day making golab jamun, a dessert…
Kiss Me, I’m American
When I was in high school, I made a button to wear that said, “Kiss Me, I’m American.” It was around the 4th of July and I thought it was pretty clever. A fellow Indian teenager asked why I was wearing it because I was so clearly Indian. But, what does “American” mean and why…
Food is Love
I love to cook. And I love to eat. But I think more than that, I love to cook for and eat with my family. There is something strangely intimate about sharing a meal. We go out on first date dinners, anniversary dinners, shower lunches, family reunion picnics, girls’ night out dinner and drinks, business…
Dak Nam (Nick Name)
For as long as I can remember, art, music, food, and good company have always been a part of my life. Growing up, our home had an open door policy. Family and friends would be over for tea time most days of the week. There was always some sort of food, chai, a Kishore Kumar…





