Former actress and curry queen pens her memoir,<i > Climbing the Mango Tree</i>
Why is it only about your childhood?
At this stage, I’m more comfortable writing only about my childhood.
What childhood memories do you cherish?
Family picnics at the Qutub Minar, the Yamuna behind our house where I fished and swam.
How did your marriage to Saeed Jaffrey and divorce affect you?
I haven’t got around to analysing it yet.
What do you remember about the Partition?
Tolerance and nuanced thinking was shoved out of the window. It was an unbearable time of hardheaded black and white, them and us.
How did it affect you personally?
Most of our teenage friendships withered and died as soon as talk of Partition began. It was as if two icy hands had split our class in two—Muslims and Hindus. I did not belong to the one, and seemed a traitor to the other.
Did the culinary scene change post Partition?
Yes, before Independence, most upper and middle-class families ate at home. The new, independent Delhi was in a celebratory mood, and restaurants were the place to express this new freedom.
How did you begin writing cookbooks?
I wasn’t getting any acting jobs in America and had to find a way to pay for my kid’s education, so I turned to writing.
You say you were driven to leave India because of the position of women—have things improved?
Not much.
And yet what draws you back to India?
My family.