EP 27: Sumitra and Anees by Seema Chishti

‘Sumitra and Anees, Tales and Recipes from a Khichdi family’ by the Delhi based journalist Seema Chishti is a poignant tale of her loving parents- Sumitra and Anees- falling in love, having an inter-faith marriage and leaving a legacy of great humanity and values for her. Seema Chishti is in conversation with broadcaster Achala Sharma in this episode of Kitaab Kaulum.

Seema Chishti argues how 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. The book has been published by Harper Collins India.