I have an essay on the “On Eating” website:
I am at my sister’s house in Patna. Whenever I come to Patna, during periods when my college is closed for either summer or winter holidays, I mostly eat at home. There must be fine restaurants in town but these aren’t the places I knew in my youth; the food that I get at home here also reminds me of my mother’s dishes.
Meena, who cooks for my sister, is an Adivasi woman from Netarhat in Jharkhand. She is a marvelous cook. This morning my sisters and I went walking in the park in front of the house. Then my sister bought karela (Google tells me that the English name for it is bittergourd) and I’m looking forward to eating that along with the rohu fish that Meena is frying right now. I also bought bunches of makoi (is gooseberry the correct translation?) and my fond hope that they will be sweet. But what I’m most looking forward to is the bhindi.
P.S. Earlier this week my uncle died. Here’s my Champaran diary.