In the India of today social and communal fault lines have become starker than ever before. Inter-faith marriages once seen as the hallmark of a plural society are now being increasingly used to further a divisive political narrative.
Journalist Seema Chishti herself the product of an inter-faith marriage from a time when the 'idea of India' was not just an idea but a lived reality tells in this book the story of her parents: Sumitra a Kshatriya Hindu from Mysore in Karnataka and Anees a Syed Muslim from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. Woven into their story are recipes from Sumitra's kitchen a site of confluence for the diverse culinary traditions she mastered.
This short book is an ode to all that made the coming together of Sumitra and Anees possible - a tribute to the big proPaper Backe of India they brought into their modest home.