Piyali Sekhar

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An honest attempt to pen down,without favour or prejudice,my romantic rendezvous with food N travel.Narratives drafted with fervour&zeal.Opinions R my own.

08/15/2026

Happy 80th Independence Day my beloved Motherland. ❤️🇮🇳

05/25/2026

Memorial Day 2026

05/09/2026

Maa one word impregnated with peace, calm, infinite unconditional love, no judging, no fear of being turned away, a place to rest all worries, a place of eternal happiness.

This last few weeks I have marveled at your inherent strength even more Maa. In 2003, you were all alone with two daughters. Bapi had passed over to the other realm, our fortress, our armor, our shield was gone overnight. We were all by ourselves and only had each other. The parents whom you loved & depended on so much were long gone to heaven. You had absolutely no one to turn to, no one who would hold your hand & comfort you.

I still lie awake many a nights trying to figure out how you garnered all that strength & stood like a rock for me & Bonu. You were always soft, demure, never faced the world without Bapi but here you were all calm & collected holding both of us tightly & carrying us forward, out of immense grief into a beautiful word of happiness & success. You, only you were our solace & balm in those grief riddled times. How did you do that Maa? Where did you hide your own grief?

I have had this conversation with you & all you have always said was that Almighty gave you strength & Bapi was always around in spirit so you propelled ahead with unimaginable power that only a mother has. I don’t know how many lives it will take me to thank you for the countless blessings you have blanketed my life with. Maa Bonu & I are so blessed that we are your daughters.

May Almighty always keep you in the best of health & give you immense happiness. Thank you for being our mother.

04/20/2026

Kasundi & Akshaya Tritiya

I was born on Akshaya Tritiya. The year I was born Akshaya Tritiya was on the 26th of April. This year (2026) it is on the 19th of April. Akshaya Tritiya falls on different Gregorian (solar) dates annually because it is determined by the Hindu lunar calendar, which aligns with moon phases rather than fixed solar days.

I have always associated Akshaya Tritiya with the making of Kasundi. Didun ( maternal grandmother) finished making Kasundi & then boarded the Howrah Puri Express train to Cuttack Odisha to see me for the first time. Every year Maa recalls this on my birthday very fondly.

Making Kasundi is a holy ritual in my family & with the help of AI I have tried to recreate the exact process.

Almost a month before Akshaya Tritiya, In a gamcha, black mustard seeds & Dry whole turmeric is tied. Then the potli is taken to the Ganges & dipped in its holy water. The mustard seeds & turmeric whole is then spread out on large plates & sun dried.

On the day of Akshaya Tritiya three or 5 married women together pound the black mustard seeds along with whole turmeric into a fine powder. When passing that powder through a sieve, salt is added every time. The fine powder is then added to an earthen pot of boiling water. The last coarse residue of the mustard & turmeric is retained for a ritual to be performed later. After the water along with the salted mustard & turmeric powder has boiled for sometime, it is taken off the fire & cooled. Once cooled the mouth is tied with a muslin cloth & stored.

For the next three days the pot is put in the sun without opening the muslin cloth. On the third day, the coarse mustard & turmeric powder from the last remnant is mixed with water & turned into an idol. This is worshipped & after that the idol is added to the pot of Kasundi & mixed. This ritual is called shaad dawa in Bengali. Once mixed the Kasundi is stored in glass bottles & savored for months.

Happy Akshaya Tritiya

04/05/2026

Happy Easter

03/24/2026

Basanti Durga Puja 2026 ~

যা দেবী সর্বভূতেষু শক্তিরূপেণ সংস্থিতা,
নমস্তস্যৈ নমস্তস্যৈ নমস্তস্যৈ নমো নমঃ॥

03/20/2026

Eid Al Fitr Mubarak

03/19/2026

Ugadi Subhakankshalu

03/17/2026

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🍀

🍀One day. Every culture. All green.🍀

Pic 📸 1 ~ Irish Soda Bread
Pic 📸 2 ~ Irish Lamb Stew
Pic 📸 3 ~ Colcannon

03/16/2026

So much is spoken about Biriyani every single day. I feel the love that this dish gets, but somewhere in my heart I think it deserves a little more respect. Yes & I will put my views here. You don’t have to agree to them & that’s absolutely fine.

For me this dish stems from a heart full of warm nostalgia. Eyes lighting up, smiles traveling from one ear to the other. Distant voices of people who have traveled to the other realm still ring clear & the fondness of this dish to them is still palpable to me.

I therefore treat Biryani as a valuable connect to all things that have created my life story. A treasure of a dish which feels like my mother’s hug & my father’s hand holding mine. Yes it’s unreal how many emotions this dish evokes in me.

So when cooking Biriyani there can be no shortcuts, please if you are in a hurry, there are plenty of other dishes to cook, please don’t cook Biriyani. Biriyani & Dum cooking are totally inseparable. Please use proper dum techniques. Yes there are many different ways of cooking it, wrapped in a banana leaf or inside a purdah made of wheat, but that doesn’t allow you to do as you please with this dish.

I am no authority alright and yes cooking is evolution. As much as this is true that nothing remains constant in the culinary world & every dish has evolved over time. But for me till the last plate of Biriyani I savor, it has to evoke the same sense of ecstasy as the first one still in memory did.

The rice grains cannot be soggy but should bloom like flowers in spring. The rice type might change but not the way it looks. The aroma of desi ghee, woven with meetha attar, kewra, rose water with intermittent notes of saffron, sometimes green chillies, mint & coriander leaves dancing around should engulf me as soon as the plate is placed in front of me. The beresta should be golden & complement the cashews & resins. The meat should fall off the bone & the potato should melt at touch. The invisible duet of the spices & aromatics should take me to a crescendo of happiness, hearty sensations should wrap my tastebuds & olfactory sensors all at once.

So next time you eat Biriyani or cook please know it is just not another Dish.

Address

San Antonio, TX

Website

http://mytrystwithfoodandtravel.blogspot.com/

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