It's me!
I know there are a lot of you who like me, love scrolling through the work of artists on that social media site. I don’t follow as many as I could but the ones I do have, I cherish. I love watching their styles evolve and seeing their practice teaches me a lot about the importance of being a lifelong student.
…I took a class on Zoom on December 30 and the goal was to write a one-page memoir or dedication to someone we lost. Our guide was Barbara Field, a writer and coach for people who want to tell their stories, just like me. It was a quick class, only 2 hours long. She gave us exercises to think about and at the end of the class, this is what I came up with. I wanted to share it here, in its mostly raw state, because it will remind me of what I remember of my father, 3 years later and also to keep writing my story even if I am the only witness to it. Writing is my joy and passion and I feel closest to myself when I am connected to a page, with or without a pen.
Happy New Year. I only wish people this today so consider my work done. Please click to read more!
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So much of food from India is a complete sensory experience. Right from using your fingers and eyes to calculate the quantity of spice that will go into making a masala to the satisfaction of scraping your teeth along the skin of moringa to extract the little flesh that lives inside this seed pod – it all requires you to be present and observe.
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The vegetable markets during this time of the year in Goa are usually packed with local produce. It is the monsoon and green is the colour most visible outside the window. This time though, a lot of local growers have been moving their one-person operations from the market, to the side of busy roads in different towns. The pandemic and general mood around it has made business difficult for everyone but the effects will mostly be felt by those who depend on a meager amount to sustain them on a daily basis.
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Bhindi in Hindi or bhendi in Konkani is okra. We also call it lady finger but I really don’t like that name so I call it one of the first three I mentioned. Dahi is the word for yogurt or curds, as we say with ease. Tadka means tempering (of spices) and the versions of it are as myriad as the diaspora.
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Today December 2 is my father’s 70th birthday, a day he didn’t make it to. He always thought he would live till past 90 and I believe he would hadn’t he been a victim of circumstance.
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I have been making things for as long as I can remember. My creative journey didn’t begin or end at any specific point in my life. It has always been a huge part of everything I do. I am not exaggerating when I say that I can make almost ANYTHING I think of.
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When we were growing up, we spent a lot of our vacations right in our vast Goan “backyard”. We either went to hotels, used a family friend’s timeshare, went to the beach or to another family friend’s wilderness hut where 10-15 adults and kids slept in close quarters to the sound of rushing water from the stream behind the house. Sometimes, we went to shop in Bombay.
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