Current Issue
Essays by
Takbeer Salati, Priti Saxena and Lalhriatzuali Bungsut
Volume 3 | Issue 7 [November 2023]
The Jitiya Fast
Volume 3 | Issue 7 [November 2023]
In Hinduism, fasts fall into three categories that overlap – phalahar, a fruit-based diet, nirahari, without food and sometimes even water, or alpahari, eating prescribed food with an intermittent fasting period; I have tried all three but it is the feasts that follow them, that keeps me more interested. Before marriage, I fasted on Thursdays and Navratri because my mother kept them and encouraged me to do the same. Except for supplication to the almighty to bless our lives, rituals did not burden my fasting at this stage.
Kasheer-e- Dastarkhawn
Volume 3 | Issue 7 [November 2023]
I was about ten years old when we heard a knock on the door. A few men stood near the gate, asking for food. We were not rich. The coming of such strangers was a common thing in Kashmir at that time. Mostly they were bearded men with weapons. I remember their demand: Kokur (chicken), Maaz (mutton), Rogan Josh and Zumroo Thool (egg curry). Militancy was at its peak. Everyone asked for shelter and food. When my mother ran out of milk and my father was out of town, she crossed the lane where firing was on, only to request our neighbors for some milk for me.
Bekang Um: All Wrapped Up in Banana Leaves
Volume 3 | Issue 7 [November 2023]
I watch my mother scrape off bits of sticky, pungent bekang um from a spoon onto a lush banana leaf and then pass it to me to wrap up with a piece of string. No verbal communication necessary, our hands move in silent synchrony. The ritual of preparing bekang um, or fermented soybean, has cemented itself as part of my upbringing, not only being a ritual that connects me to my mother, but my mother to hers, and to my Mizo heritage. The process of making bekang um, …
