Bottled sentiments

GOWING up, my everyday school tiffin would include only one standard meal of paratha and achaar.

-  VERNIKA AWAL

The variety of the paratha and the pickle would differ on the basis of my mother's mood while preparing it, but the concept remained constant. Now I remember not being too fond of the parathas because by the time I would eat them, they wouldn't be hot and crispy like when served right off the tawa, but the achaar would turn this meal around completely. Sometimes it was the sookha aam ka achaar made by my naani, sometimes the aged lemon pickle that had a sweet-ish profile with a strong citrus flavour, and in winters it would be the gajar-gobhishalgam achar. I loved to follow the seasonal chart through these pickles and the way their appearance would change in my tiffin box based on the time of the year we were in.

The thing about pickles is that they are evergreen and probably the most versatile accompaniment to Indian food, and till date I remain a pickle-fiend. Having discovered quite a few home-run small scale pickle businesses in Delhi and around over the years, I cannot say that my search has concluded. In fact, the more I explore, the more I want to continue on the journey to find delectable pickles.