Serendipity, Saunter and Faux paz

  (Photo by Doina Gavrilov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/delicate-pink-rose-17637049/ ) Gulkanda As the temperatures soar, the warm, seasonal food that was served through the winter changed. Suddenly, butter milk and lemonade became the go to drinks to keep cool through the day. Curries were made with raw mango. But the most interesting was to eat a spoonful of gulkand in the mornings. At other times of the year, gulkand was an essential ingredient of meetha paan (betel leaf with sweet gulkand filling) but in summers you could eat it everyday to ward off heat related ailments. And it was home made! Our tiny rose garden was our pride. It had about 20 variety of roses including climbers in our small front yard! But the ones that Aji took pride in were tucked away towards the backyard, near the bananas. They were the ‘desi’ or local ones in white, pink and pearl. The pearly one known as motiya in Marathi was particularly pretty! It is a delicate creamy rose with just a hint of pink...

Forever roses In addition to beautiful memories some other things travelled back with us from Kashmir.  Among them were the famous papier-mâché pen holder in black with an intricate floral design, a massive carpet that came in a few months later, a kangri (the wicker basket enclosing an earthen pot with coals to keep warm) and a branch of a rose bush. The beautiful cane basket, kangri, soon had a money plant cascading down the side of one of the display shelves, right next to the inner living room door. The pretty leaves, pale green and white contrasted beautifully with the dark polished wood of the cabinet and caught everyone’s attention. But this story is about the rose. As soon as we were back it was planted in the garden right next to the large window with a window box of China roses. It was hoped and indeed talked about that the velya gulab (vine rose) would grow tall and strong and cover the sun-shade of the window and fall over to the other side. This would be reminiscent o...

  One of my favourite things to do as a child was listen to my Grandmother's stories about her childjhood and everyone she knew. And of course she had so many stories of my Papa when he was a kid! This is her narration of the first story in wrote - #rememberingPapa This is the first story Dad wrote when he was about 8 - as told by my Grandmother There was once a Fox. He lived in a cottage near the woods. One day he decided to explore the woods. He took some bhakri(flat bread) and chutney and tied them in a bundle. — Shefali Kulkarni (@Shefali__K)  June 17, 2019   He tied the  bundle to the  stick, swung it over his shoulder and set off. He walked a little bit, sat down, opened his bundle and ate some bhakri and chutney. Then he got up and walked a little. He felt hungry. He sat down and ate. — Shefali Kulkarni (@Shefali__K)  June 17, 2019 Then he came to the river. He sat down, opened his bundle and ate some bhakri and chutney. Then he wal...