In the tradition of 'Like Water For Chocolate', Shoba Narayan's sumptuous mouth watering memoir of growing up in a large, devoted Indian family confirms a central truth: life is lived in the kitchen.
Rituals surrounding food are central to Indian life - food is intimacy and comfort and Narayan seamlessly interweaves stories of her life with the memorable meals that have punctuated it.
Tantalising recipes for potato masala, coconut chutney, sweet idlis (rice doughnuts) and other culinary delights emerge from Narayan's stories, which are as varied as Indian spices - at times piquant, mellow, pungent, sweet - of her childhood in Madras, her college days in American, her arranged marriage to a man she grew to love, and visits to her New York city home from her delightfully eccentric family.
'Monsoon Diary' is populated with unforgettable characters like Narayan's irrepressible father, Raju the milkman (who names his beloved cows after his wives), a New York city taxi driver who insists his wife prepare a 'proper' Indian meal for a homesick Shoba and the iron-man who daily sets up shop in Shoba's front yard, picking up red hot coals in his bare hands.
'Monsoon Diary' is an homage to Indian culture, country and cuisine. Narayan writes humorously and tenderly about her family and their love of food and the customs surrounding it. Each member of her extended family is so vividly and affectionately detailed, that you feel you could drop in for idlis and coffee if you were ever in Madras, Kerala, New York or Florida.
