In a Pickle..

As I was having lunch with mom today, I asked her about dad's favorite pickles. Apparently, ginger pickle and lentil chutney (kandipappu) were his preferred choices- both of them had generous doses of brown sugar!

Brown paper covers for textbooks

Father used to make the brown paper covers for books. There was anart and a process asswociated with making good book covers.

Mom's innovative cooking

Our mom is a great innovation and experimentation machine- she has made innumerable recipes of her own. She used to do it when our father was alive as well. Today she made a dish like Bagara baingan but with bell peppers instead of egg plant. She took classes and learnt how to make various fruit juices, and then she would experiment on her own.

Putting oil on head and ears

I remember father applying oil to our head and also putting it in our ears to clear out the junk. This really worked.

Reading the newspaper

Right now my memory goes back to our home in Nallakunta and father sitting outside and reading the Indian Express- during the summers of 1979-83. I was home then, and would also get up early. We would be reading different pages of the paper. I would get the sports pages first.

Shining Sofas

We had some elegant sofas in our living room, along with beautiful coffee tables. Father would always clean and dust them to make sure they were in great shape. We also had a number of great toys. One of our favorites was a doll that swayed from side to side, with music. It was absolutely amazing.

Lanterns

Power outages were common in New Delhi. Reminded me of Hyderabad and the various lamps that we had. Father had painted them in different colors, and they were very attractive.