Although everything looked difficult at the time, I have some of my favorite memories to look back on — one of them is that the pandemic has allowed me to appreciate life and other basics such as food, shelter, the chance to spend more time with my family which eventually made me embrace my nativity and heritage. Born in Kerala, the land of culture and extravagance, enriching my life with delectable foods and beautifully elegant outfits, I hardly appreciated it — every aspect of my experience has been disconnected from where I came from because I stayed away from my native state, forming a convoluted relationship with my culture which I always took for granted.

This is where my inspiration comes from for this project, Liminality + Transition. I decided to narrate my cultural liminal experience during the 2 years of the pandemic, which shaped my perspective toward my culture. I made it an open-book recipe box that talks about my bakshanam (food), what it means to me, and how the conversations happen around this with my Amma (Mother).

During the lockdown period, while I worked from home, I had no regular schedule/routine to follow. I mainly watched television and worked out to pass the time. I fondly remember making dishes with Amma for family gatherings, for Onam and Vishu, and recall waking up to Amma’s hot hot doshas and my friends coming over to eat my Amma’s food. But during the pandemic, I specifically remember the unhurried, lingering dinners, unforgettable failed baking, better-than-anything-I’ve-ever-had-chicken curries, and many other authentic Kerala cuisines. Now, I more than miss the taste of my Amma’s food and going back home to a table full of food, snacks, and fresh juices that she makes every day.

Waking up to Acchan’s (Father) hot Masala Chai and Amma’s crispy Murruku was the best way to start the day despite how late I slept the previous night binge-watching Netflix series or staying awake all night watching murder mysteries on ABC and losing sleep. I grew up in Chennai and had always preferred the South Indian Tamil food until I tasted all of these authentic Kerala cuisines Amma made every day which I missed previously because I would either be in school or at work and hardly ate lunch at home. She changed the lunch plan daily to make me taste all the food she grew up eating. Be it on a rainy day on your balcony or an evening getting together with friends, Upperi serves the purpose. I used to help Amma by slicing raw bananas into thin round discs, which we then dip in boiling oil till they are crisp and crackling, and have it with Chai in the evenings. I used to prefer Amma feeding me dinner especially because I always watch Television during that time and find random excuses so that she can feed me the delicious Doshas and Idiyappam she cooks. I then added recipes for each of these sections to embrace its authenticity.

I engraved and laser-cut out the font vectors with the help of Assistants from the EPIC center at Boston University, in clear acrylic glass to trick the liminal effect in the box, giving my project a whole new look. I wanted to express how my resilience level has gone high because I have become rigid from the situations around me during the pandemic, with the weight of the acrylic glass as the cover for the recipe cards.