New Delhi, Oct. 18 -- On festival days, my grandmother was always multi-tasking in the kitchen, cooking the day's meals while prepping ingredients for the festive goodies on the side. Those would be made in the afternoon, after the lunch spread was cleared away. One small job that was always assigned to me as a child, since it involved no sharp instruments or fire, was peeling and crushing green cardamom pods. The pods had to be split open, the seeds scooped out, and then pounded with granulated sugar in a mortar and pestle until the mix turned into a fragrant powder. The papery shells were never discarded; they were tucked into the sugar jar to perfume it with their lingering oils. For years, the scent of green cardamom meant festivals a...