Do you always cook the daal a certain way because your mother made it like that and it always reminds you of her, or does a certain dish transport you to summer holidays spent in your grandma’s kitchen?
For author, publisher, and columnist Malvika Singh, food is closely tied to memory — of family, friendship, travel, and Delhi at a time when the dining table was the heart of social life. On September 15, Prakriti Foundation presents ‘At the Table with Malvika Singh’ an evening of readings and discussions about her memoir Cooking for my Firefly.
The second volume of the memoir trilogy, Cooking for my Firefly, is not quite a cookbook, though recipes are an intrinsic part of it. Instead, Malvika uses food as a metaphor to revisit the people and moments that shaped her life and to talk about a period in India that has become a story for much of the younger generation.
Malvika Singh
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Written during the COVID pandemic, the book began as an attempt to record her experiences for her grandchildren, particularly a way of life she felt belonged to a different time. “It was a different time, a different age, and we all did things differently,” says Malvika.
Here, food is a means to connect those memories. “In our time, having a meal together was very important. It was sacrosanct,” she says. Family meals at the dining table were occasions to exchange stories, talk about the old times, and discuss the present. “There were designated days to meet the grandparents for lunch, and the whole family connected and exchanged stories. We talked about the legacy stories, spoke about what we are doing today, and our dreams for the future. There was a lot of engagement and embrace with people,” says Malvika.
The book also traces Malvika’s life with her husband, Tejbir Singh, affectionately known as Jugnu. She draws on photographs that he took over the years and dedicates the book to him. “Our house is an open house,” she says, describing a home where friends would drop in for meals, drinks, and conversations.
Among the memories she recounts is one of returning home close to midnight to find journalist Dilip Padgaonkar and filmmaker Mani Kaul sitting on the floor of her drawing room. They had eaten daal chawal, poured themselves a drink and begun singing while waiting for Malvika and her husband to return. “Dilip said to me, we were in the area, so we thought, let’s go to Mala’s (Malvika) house; I am sure if Mala and Jugnu are not there, the woman who looks after the house will give us daal chawal; we’ll have some rum and enjoy the evening ourselves till they come back,”she remembers, fondly.
“That is the kind of informality — the community coming together, friends coming together, family coming together. That was our life, and that was Delhi in those days.”
Another incident she recalls involves the Italian-American film director Frank Capra and Bert Haanstra, whom the author invited home for dinner after meeting them at an international film festival in Delhi.
“That was the time when we didn’t run around with autograph books because we were so privileged to have these encounters. I never met either of them again. But that evening is memorable because one learns so much from them about their lives, about their work, about their film, and one felt one knew them,” she says.
Listening to her stories harkens back to memories of Delhi in all its glory, where homes were open, friendships were informal, and food created spaces for unexpected conversations.
At the Table with Malvika Singh will take place on September 15 at Amethyst Cafe, Whites Road, Royapettah, from 6.30pm onwards. Entry is open to all, but RSVP at 9940620268
Published – September 13, 2026 03:46 pm IST
