Khan Market Posts

“Chhaunk on Food, Economics and Society” by Abhijit Bannerjee

23 05 , 2025 No Comments

Chhaunk, oil infused with different spices, lies at the heart of Indian cooking. It is just a few teaspoons, but it finishes a dish and gives it its particular piquancy. The pieces in this delightful book can be seen as a literary chhaunk – a sprinkling of ideas and arguments around the social sciences, which imparts its own distinct flavour.

Part memoir, part cookbook, Chhaunk playfully uses food to talk about economics, society and India, and makes unexpected connections, say, between savings and shami kebab or between women’s liberation and the Bengali vegetable dish of ghanto. It is published by Juggernaut Books.

Abhijit Banerjee, economist and Nobel laureate, loves to cook and feed people, and misses India all the time. This delicious collection of essays – light in style and big on ideas – is his attempt to string the many parts of his eclectic existence together.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Rose was very fortunate to have met the Nobel Laureate and illustrator at Bahrisons, Khan Market in December 2024. It was an unexpected but a pleasurable event. Abhijit Bannerjee did say that he usually does not give his consent to be photographed with others but he was willing to make a concession for a teenager who is interested in reading and cooking. Thank you, Sir!

L-R: Cheyenne Olivier, Abhijit Bannerjee, and Sarah Rose

The author was gracious enough to autograph it for Sarah too.

23 May 2025

“Anne of Green Gables” by L M Montgomery

15 02 , 2022 No Comments

7 Sept 1986.

A friend of mine told me on the school bus, when we were returning home, that the “Anne of Green Gables” series was available at The Bookshop, Khan Market. I came home and told mum. She immediately bundled us into the car and drove straight to Khan Market and bought the set. I think the last book in the set came a week later. Each paperback cost the princely sum of Rs 45, so I was taken aback when mum insisted on buying the series. Mum never stinted on buying us books and many of our books are inscribed by her as an “unbirthday present” but even by those standards, this was an expensive indulgence. But mum was right. These stories have given us all so much joy over the years.

I still remember where the late K D Singh had placed these on the bookshelves. It was in the wooden shelf, middle aisle, closest to him. It is where he usually kept the Puffin books. It was the first set of books that mum bought for me in one fell swoop. She remembered them from her childhood when her grandmother had brought it from USA.

Now I am trying to persuade my daughter to read the series. Unfortunately the wretched TV adaptation has ruined the story for her. Trying to persuade her to read the books. Let’s see if I am successful.

14 Feb 2022

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