WORDS-WORTH

Nothing brings more joy to many than the power of the written word: Shraddha Kamdar gets authors to share lines that make them smile and help uplift their mood at any given time

-  Shraddha Kamdar

RAKHSHANDA JALIL

Rakhshanda Jalil is a writer, critic and literary historian. Her most recent work includes the translation of The Sea Lies Ahead (HarperCollins Publishers India), Intizar Husain’s seminal novel on Karachi. She runs an organisation called Hindustani Awaaz, devoted to the popularisation of Hindi–Urdu literature.

By five or so, the family would gather in the verandah (or the poetic-sounding baramda as it was called). Amma, my grandmother, would hold court in her chintz gharara and white chikan kameez with a chuna-hua dupatta looped around her neck as the rest of us gathered to pay obeisance and enjoy the fruits of plenty she knew how to gather with great gustatory intuition. Looking back, I marvel at the native wisdom of the women of her generation who knew, instinctively, how best to use fresh, seasonal produce. Every morning, shortly after breakfast, she would open her ledger to write down the hisaab, proceed to the pantry to portion out the provisions, then send someone to the local market to fetch whatever fruits and vegetables that were in season. This would be supplemented by what grew in her own garden – guavas would be turned into jam, lime into copious amounts of squash, unripe mangoes into chutney and murabba, and the gummy lasaunda (aka labheda) into a deliciously vinegary pickle. Early lessons in gastronomic improvisations were given when we, as children, played a rustic version of ‘househouse’ called hundculiya. Boys and girls were encouraged to cook rice,