Nairobi, Kenya

I was raised by…

I was raised by cricket.

Playing cricket with Vivaan,

His veranda,

My basement,

The park outside his house,

All of our homemade football fields,

The hot summer afternoons in Gurgaon,

The sun’s heat burning into my arms,

We would play,

Then we would go in for ice cream or juice,

The cold and fresh taste of mango juice and mango popsicles.

I was raised by food.

The soft, buttery

Delicious and flavourful,

Fresh from the tava,

Paranthi, Roti, Chapati, Phulka

My mouth would water as the smell traveled from the kitchen.

The curries,

The vegetables,

Amazing.

I was raised by culture.

The get-up-and-dance type of Hindi songs,

The say-your-prayers-before-bed,

The “Have some more puri, beta”

Turning the bhangra songs to full volume in the car,

The love story and get up and spontaneously dance type of movies,

That type of culture.

I was raised in DLF,

My little sister ran to me when I came from school,

Watching Ashoka at 8 pm every day,

The chaach on top of the fridge,

Calling to me,

Waiting to be drunk on a hot summer day,

And the time when a monkey broke into our house,

And we had to chase it away.

Even today, wherever I go, those memories of cricket, DLF, and fantastic food stay inside me. They are part of me.