There are various legends about the origin of Valentine’s Day. One such story goes: There was a Roman Emperor who thought that single men made better soldiers than married. men, so he outlawed marriage. Valentine was a priest who thought that this law was unfair and...
My grandmother loved to reminisce about her life in Palakkad, Kerala. She would talk about many local characters: some bums, some quirky and a few fascinating outliers. When we moved to Coimbatore, we got to meet one such outlier, Mani Kuttan. He was dressed “tip- top...
Thanksgiving always fills me with mixed feelings. Coming from India, I am generally eager to celebrate every holiday in the United States. Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, so there is no deity to focus on and no obligation to buy gifts. All around the world, people...
Air India flight 101 touches down at 6:07 am. She enters your Queens apartment and rushes into the 10 x 1 ½ foot kitchen, still wearing her sneakers. In search for something specific, she rummages through your pre-war, knob-less wooden kitchen cabinets. Finally, she...
Festival Samayal—An Offering to the Gods by Viji Varadarajan. Orient Enterprises. March 2006. Paperback. 98 pages. $21.95. Divali is upon us, and it is time to pull out cookbooks and handwritten recipes to prepare dishes associated with the festival of lights. Viji...
Honey was man’s first sweetener. Honey was also an important condiment in medieval times. We crave sweets, as our stone-age forefathers have been deprived of it for centuries. Humans (Homo sapiens) evolved some 50,000 years ago, whereas bees were making honey 40...
