I recently lost probably the most important person to me. My original cooking insrtuctor and my conscience, my maa.

Maa, didnt call me to the kitchen to show me how to make edible Bengali fish curry, or how knead flour to make rotis. What she did do, was let me cook and destroy her kitchen when I wanted to. There were uncountable disasters like the minted lettuce soup which my family so sweetly acknowledge as a brave attempt.

What I did inherit from her however was the need to have a variety on the table. This usualy means that I am never just happy with one daal and one subzi. There was always, some fish or chicken dish along with 2-3 differnt kinds of vegetables. And of course- Karela, which we (me and my sister) diligently ate till a certain age. Maa, made sure we at what we were supposed to.

It is strange but I never remember her telling us off at the dinner table. Or making us put things on our plate that we didnt want (this was after our adolecence was over) Yet, she did have an effect on how and what we ate. A quality that endures in me now.

I never quite got the hang of her fish curry. I still can sort of taste it on toungue. I will keep trying. All that I can do.....

She was Awesome.