My parents, Ram and Sunita Swaroop, on the morning of their 45th wedding anniversary on Dec. 23,2012. I made them some fried pakoras to have with their morning tea. When i congratulated them on their longevity my mom reminded me that in India when you marry it’s for life. I think she meant that in that context 45 years isn’t a lot. To me it is worth celebrating. Congrats Mom & Dad!!
“Good. The texture and the crispiness came perfect.”
– Sunita Swaroop, high praise from my mom who taught me how to make these and who has been making pakoras for over 55 years.
It was Sunday morning and my parents 45th wedding anniversary. My parents are older now and going out to dinner or even a movie is no longer a pleasure for them. My dad is 83 and he has become frail after a minor stroke several years ago. Because of his condition, he would get too tired sitting in a movie theater for that long. My mom believes her place is by his side so she won’t go either. But there are a great many things that they enjoy. The morning chai is one of them and on this beautiful morning they wanted pakoras so along with tea and shortbread cookies that’s what I made for them. Click here for the recipe which is simple and easy to make.
My parents got married in Lucknow in 1967 with about 80 friends and family celebrating with them in a traditional Indian ceremony. According to my mom, it was an arranged marriage and my parents met on Dec. 20, 1967 and were married on the 23rd. Since my dad was just in India during a break from work (He was the lead statistician for Cordura Corp. for NASA and the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California) and school (UCLA where he was completing his Ph.d. in biostatistics).
My mom was working as a librarian at the National Botanical Research Institute in Lucknow, India. She quit her position when she married Dad to take care of the family, which included my brother and sister from Dad’s first marriage. She was living with my grandfather, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law until she and my older sister, Sunita, and older brother, Subhash, moved to California to be with my dad later that year.
I was born two years later and my younger sister, Suki, arrived a year after me.
Today, we all got to enjoy hot, tasty pakoras on their 45th anniversary.
Filed under: indian food | Tagged: Ram, Sunita | Leave a comment »