Friday evening doesn’t start with the clock hitting 6 PM. It starts in the kitchen, when something sizzles differently. When…

It’s hard to explain to someone outside the culture why you’re not allowed to eat idli until the tulsi plant…

Some smells don’t just trigger memories — they *are* memories. And for me, the smell of sambhar bubbling on the…

There’s a particular kind of peace that only arrives after the last dish is done. When the stove has cooled,…

Some mornings arrive loudly — alarms screaming, phones buzzing, kitchens clanging — but not the ones I remember most. The…

The thing about Diwali that no one warns you about — especially if you grow up in an Indian household…

There’s a strange kind of peace that only exists in the hour between 12 and 1 AM — that quiet…

There’s something intimate — almost conspiratorial — about chopping vegetables with your mom at 7 in the morning. The world…

There’s a kind of existential dread that settles in your chest when lunch happens at 3 PM. You’re not quite…

Before my alarm clock, before my first thought, before I remember which day it is — there’s the whistle. That…