The Way Things Used to Be

Jihan heaved a bag of groceries into the car. “So much food for one meal!”

- Susan Kneib Schank

“I know. Imagine if we were having undhiyu, too,” said Mom.

“We’re not?” said Jihan. “Aunt Anandi says it’s too early for undhiyu. She’ll make mixed vegetables with beans and potatoes. Like potato undhiyu,” said Mom.

Jihan groaned. “Potato undhiyu?” Mom smiled. “You might like it.”

Jihan didn’t want to try potato undhiyu for Diwali at Aunt Anandi’s house. He wanted things to be the way they used to be, at Grandma’s (or Ba, as the family called her). Jihan would always help Ba cook the meal, and she’d tell him about Diwali when she was a girl. He’d laugh as she told about the time she fell in the mud while picking soft clay for diyas.

That night, Mom and Jihan started preparing food for the next day’s feast.

“Why don’t you fold the ghoogras?” said Mom. “Ba always said you folded them best.”