Dead Housekeeping

She taught me how to dry roast spices. She told me grounding spices was like any other art that we learnt at institutions.

Pour all the spices into a container.

I would stir them for as long as she told me to, while listening to her stories of distant lands.

Put them into a bowl and let them cool. When they have, incorporate them into dishes and serve them with a lot of love and care.

And three rules were never to be broken:

Powdered spices were never to be served as anything but garnishes.

A pinch of turmeric was to be added to all rice dishes.

Only whole spices could be bought.

She taught me so many things, which I carry with me even today.

But the most important of them all was that cooking is meant to be taken as a form of art and expression of love that has the ability to touch not just taste buds, but also hearts.

So many of her words are still etched in my heart, but this one stands out more than any:

Always remember, a dish served without love, is a dish not served at all.

- Trivarna Hariharan is an author, musician, filmmaker and humanitarian. Her work has been published across the globe, in various literary magazines, zines and journals such as Teen Ink, YoungMinds, Literature Studio, Writers Asylum, Textploit and so on and forth. Her first poetry book, " Musings of an Alchemist" has been published by CreateSpace. She holds a grade 4 distinction in keyboard from the Trinity College of London. Her film won the Chinh India Best Film-2014. She is currently working as a school representatives member at a social organisation called Redefy and is the Social Outreach Coordinator at Textploit.