New Postcards

We receive food memory postcards regularly. I am figuring out a way to digitize the collection.

Grandma

Paan - condiments wrapped in a Betel leaf was another forbidden food for children but if it came from the Krishna Haveli which means Krishna's temple we were allowed a little piece. It was considered prasad - food offered to Krishna and so blessed by Krishna. Paan reminds me of Grandma. When I think of her I see her soft cream or white pure cotton sarees some of them tastefully embroidered with small motifs.The lotus buds brings to mind her devotion to Krishna as does the paan symbolically shown in the right lower corner.

I still have Grandma's sari with the blue flowers.

Chai

Just as many in the US wake up to coffee, Indians wake up to the sounds of chai being made. Chai, means tea in many Indian languages. In my experiences growing up in India, chai is not a cup of foaming spiced beverage but an ordinary blend of black tea leaves simmered in water, milk, sugar and maybe some ginger. I have loved chai since I was a child. Children were not allowed to drink chai or coffee for that matter. My siblings used to suggest that for my birthday mother should just let me have a kettle of chai!

I made this food memory postcard of morning chai. When I remember mornings in my childhood home in Calcutta I see a kettle, traces of my mother's embroidery on a pink tea-cosy and a billiant sunrise.