Heartbeat of a raindrop

I was probably exposed to my love language very early in life, though it took me 25 years to truly understand what it meant. It wasn’t until I moved to Kharagpur for my master’s that I began to realize its depth and value. As a child, I loved eating vada and sambar, especially the sweet, Mangalore-style variety. Even today, I could sip through buckets of it without pause. Sadly, I couldn’t find that exact taste in Kharagpur or here in Edmonton, but that never stopped me from eating or loving food. In India, food is more than sustenance, it is an emotion, a celebration, and often, a silent expression of love. As author Chitrita Banerji puts it in her book Eating India,  "Food in India is not just a means of satisfying hunger,  it is a cultural expression, an offering to gods, a gift to others, and a language of bonding." In Kharagpur, I began experimenting more in the hostel room with a portable induction stove, cooking with whatever ingredients I could find. That’s how I en...