MEALTIMES AT MOTHER'S HOUSE

It starts with bottle gourd peels julienned pin-thin, 

fried with nigella seeds. For even the discarded 

to find a place of value on your plate is to relive your 

mother’s affection. Once she'd similarly picked up 

your broken feather of a self and nursed it with care. 

Next comes mung lentils with bottle gourd, a cooling 

summertime therapy for the tongue. A piece of fried carp 

brings some bite as the rice mixes with the lentils; 

conversations flow between the mother and daughter;

mild, tempered, crisp. The meal ends with a runny raw mango 

relish. Sweet. Tart. Refreshing like Mother’s plucky spirit. 

Mealtimes at Mother's house hold the delicate, the spicy, 

the complexly-flavoured in a textured, luscious balance.

Like Mother herself.