Climbing the mango trees a memoir of a childhood in India

Jaffrey, Madhur 1933- (Author).

Summary: Actress-writer Jaffrey gives us a memoir of her childhood in Delhi in an age and a society that has since disappeared. Madhur (meaning sweet as honey) grew up in a large family compound where her grandfather often presided over dinners with forty or more members of his extended family. Picnicking in the Himalayan foothills on meatballs stuffed with raisins and mint and tucked into freshly baked pooris; sampling the lunch boxes of Muslim friends; sneaking tastes of exotic street fare--such memories flavor Jaffrey's story. Independent, sensitive, and curious, as a young girl she loved uncovering her family's many-layered history, and she was deeply affected by their personal trials and by the devastating consequences of Partition. This is both an account of an unusual childhood and a testament to the power of food to evoke memory. Plus a secret ingredient: more than thirty family recipes.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 9780307517692 (electronic bk. : Adobe Digital Editions)
ISBN: 0307517691 (electronic bk. : Adobe Digital Editions)
Physical Description: electronic resource
remote
1 online resource (x, 297 p.) : ill.
Edition: 1st American ed.
Publisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

Content descriptions

General Note:

Description based on print version record.

Formatted Contents Note:

Delhi-Old and New -- Sir Edwin Lutyens and the House That Never Was -- Grandfather, "Babaji" -- Number 7 -- The Lady in White -- The Kite -- Summer Lunch -- The Red Book -- The Story of My Ancestors -- Muslim Influence -- British Rule -- The Record-Keeper -- Mutiny of 1857 -- The Reward -- The Freedom of Kanpur -- My Mother and Father -- A Fairy-Tale Marriage -- A Desire to Excel -- Choosing a School -- A Milky Nation: The Milk Beauty Secret and Milk for Breakfast -- Our Morning Rituals -- The Magic Garden -- Summer Holiday -- Baby Sister -- Starting School and Learning English -- The Toffee Man -- The Quest for Barley Sugar -- My Perfect Sisters -- Fasting for My Father -- Lighting Up for Diwali -- An Opulent Dining Room -- Chewing the Bones -- Bookworms -- A Role Model -- My Caring, Reticent Sister -- The Useful Club -- The Death of a Cousin -- Divided Loyalties -- Preparing for War -- Film Buffs -- The Nazi Connection -- Wolfie and the Gray Horse -- The End of the Kanpur Idyll -- Spellbinding Shibbudada -- Two Tragic Marriages -- Sadness and a Conspiracy of Silence -- My Gang -- Fishing, Shooting, and Swimming -- The Watermelon Fields -- Ear-Piercing Antiseptic -- The Drawing Room -- Winter Evenings: Family, Friends, Lemonade, Nuts, and Pakoris -- Dining at the Long Tables -- Family Picnics in Delhi -- The Art of Getting Thirty People into Two Cars -- Cinema Trips -- Story Time -- Summer Holidays in the Hills -- The Great Exodus -- Grandmother's Magic Potion -- Mountain Picnics -- The Taste of Ecstasy -- A New School -- Classmates in Burqas -- Hindi or Urdu: A Dreadful Choice -- A Lethally Sharp Pencil -- Shibbudada's Favorites -- Teatime Tension -- A Dream House in Daurala -- The Sugarcane Fields -- Sweets Galore in the Sugar Factory -- Visiting the Old City -- The Lane of Fried Breads -- Monsoon Mushrooms -- Learning to Swim and Dance -- A Haven for Musicians -- Temple Dancers and Tap-Dancers -- Dressing as Milkmaids -- An Unhappy Teenager -- The Drama of the Monsoons -- Shibbudada's Quiet Cruelty -- The Spring Festival of Colors -- Chicken Pox -- Soup-Toast and Sewing -- A Fancy-Dress Party -- Learning to Fly -- School Days in Summer -- Mrs. McKelvie -- Discovering Drama -- Fearless Amina -- Art Appreciation -- The Sisters Return -- A Taste of the Future -- Mother's Shawls -- Kamal's Illness -- The Muslim Twins -- Sudha's Vegetarian Delights -- Punjabi Promila -- Our Shared Lunchtime Feasts -- Contacting the Spirit World -- The Icy Hands of Partition -- Mahatma Gandhi -- Spinning for India -- Independence Day and the Bloody Aftermath -- Punjabi Influences -- Food with New Attitude -- Bazaar and Tandoori Foods -- A Taste of Spam -- Sunday Lunchtimes -- The Looming Banyan Tree -- New School Friends and Fresh Tastes -- Learning to Love Hindi -- Two Types of Indians -- Hated Cookery Lessons -- Divine Potatoes -- Exam Season -- Brain Food -- The Honey Seller -- Sweetening the Mouth -- First Jobs and First Loves -- Ballroom Dancing -- Dressing for the Dinner Dance -- Future Planning -- The Radio Station -- The Last Large Picnic -- Wildflower Hall and an Encounter with the Police -- Kamal's Journey -- Shibbudada Interferes Again -- Cookery Exam -- A Joint Family in New York -- Grandfather's Decline -- A Riverside Cremation -- Kamal's Return -- A Gift of Coca-Cola -- Sailing to a New Life -- Mingling the Flavors of the Past and the Future -- Family Recipes 245.