India, Jan. 2 -- Before every festival, my mother used to walk through the bazaars to get a flavour of the season. She would enjoy the fresh turmeric plants and sugarcane stalks before Yugadi and come back refreshed. During the Christmas season, I do something similar. I go to the bakeries to smell the plum cakes and kuswar platters. The one closest to me is Thoms in Frazer Town and so I walk through to get the Christmas spirit. Malls do the same thing with their piped carols that sing, "Joy to the World," and the fake Christmas trees, but somehow bakeries have the smell component and so I like them better.

Turns out that bakeries anchored Christmas baking for many families. Vivek Chandy grew up in Bangalore and can remember when his mot...