Dehradun, Nov. 8 -- Culinary Chronicles

Some faded memories yet the choice till date remains intact and probably I passed it on to the Cub in the genes.

In the growing up years I was allergic to eggs. Hence the breakfast choices were restricted. My mother narrates that as a tot I chose the South Indian flavours for the first meal of the day - idli, dosa or uttapam.

Ram, a cook from down south at our home on Camel's Back Road in Mussoorie during those years, prepared the best of those delicacies. I do not reminisce about him at all but vaguely remember his food for it became my preferred cuisine later and, his little daughter, whom I often bit hard not in anger, perhaps in affection as I would do then to anyone whom I liked. A weird hab...