The Many Lives of Dabba

My mother used recycled yogourt containers to share food-and love. Now I do the same.

- Arundhati Dhara

EVERY AUNTIE I KNOW has a kitchen drawer containing a carefully maintained collection of yogourt dabbas. Dabba is a pan-Indian word for "box," but it refers to all manner of containers, too. Like the Hindu concept of reincarnation, dabbas live many lives; the 750-millilitre containers that hold the yogourt we buy at the supermarket and eat every day are saved and washed, and washed again.

The reused dabbas end up storing leftovers, religious offerings and potluck contributions. They pass from house to house, living in their drawer, the fridge or the pooja room (often it's actually a closet) where the morning prayers are recited. Sometimes they are even returned to their original owners, full of some other delicious food. This is a fairly advanced manoeuvre and one only the elder aunties manage recognizing their dabba from their friends' seemingly identical container is nothing short of miraculous.