February has been a month of many delicious new trials and some hot favorites. With the winter snow blanketing the ground, and the slushy, slippery streets to deal with, it has been a month of warm, cozy meals by the fireside, safely ensconced in the family home. We started the month off with the Goat [...]

It is a well known fact that the musical score for the song “Jai Ho” in the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” won the Oscar for its its creator, A. R. Rahman. But it wasn’t just the musical score of the song that made it so popular. It was also the fact that the words of the [...]

The summer after my dad, an Air Force pilot, received the Vir Chakra (bravery award), my grandfather insisted we visit him so he could show his  son’s medals off to his cohorts in the village where he had retired. My grandpa was very proud of his progeny and, to our great embarrassment, was not modest [...]

As a young child, I have heard many folklore about the British reign in India. The Brits, we were told, had a fascination for this country of stark contradictions. This was a land where elephants roamed the unpaved roads; snake charmers with huge snakes wrapped around their necks knocked on your door; where extreme poverty [...]

As a young child growing up in a South Indian Brahmin household, it was not surprising that I was reared to be a vegetarian, save for an odd serving of eggs, once in a while. We were considered a “progressive” brahmin family because my father ate eggs and my mother cooked them. But eggs aside, [...]