Family Connection in a Teapot (The New York Times)
In these days of social distancing and staying home, I think often of the cozy house in Darjeeling, India, where my mother grew up. I imagine the living room: Tibetan carpets, thangka scroll paintings of the Buddha’s life, the antediluvian radio that sputtered on and off without warning, the mole that sometimes wandered in, which my grandmother named Alice. I see the silver tea set and the Wedgwood plates filled with scones and Walkers shortbread, roasted chickpeas and rasgulla cottage cheese balls, peanut butter from California my grandmother kept under lock and key. I see my grandmother seated on the sofa in her long silk chuba, telling me stories about her life in Darjeeling and old Tibet.
Memories of teatime with my grandmother make me realize that, with many of us still largely sheltering in place because of the Covid-19 epidemic, now is an ideal moment to connect with family through tea…