Vanished World of an Aligarh Family in the Sixties and Seventies
Suman Bhagchandani
Vanished World of an Aligarh Family in the Sixties and Seventies by By Tabinda Jalil-Burney Ebury Press, 2023, 214 pp., INR 499.00
October 2024, volume 48, No 10

Adeliciously written book to savour as an uninterrupted read!

Tabinda Jalil Burney’s memoir is sumptuously laden with stories about all that constitutes the nostalgia for home. Each chapter in the book is generously sprinkled with mouth-watering recipes that take the reader through memory lanes of the author’s Aligarh home, making them believe they are one amongst the family. At the heart of it is a yearning for an idyllic life that despite its commitments, has reserved time for qissas (anecdotes) and shayaris (Urdu poems) to be shared, as the aroma of culinary preparations floats across the pages. In fact, the structure of the book may even remind the readers of erstwhile afternoon radio shows that narrated familial anecdotes interspersed with imitable recipes addressed to a homemaker.

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