Issue No. 13: Sunday Mornings At Home, Cardamom Chai & Life Lately

And living with the seasons

For as long as Nabeel and I’ve been married, most Sunday mornings at our place have been about playing old, classic music in the living room while doing some lazy Sunday rituals. This morning Nabeel made breakfast for us and right after we finished up, he put on his playlist while I put some chai on the stove. Back when we lived in Dubai, we used to put this cardamom flavored milk in our tea and somehow after all these years, this morning when we woke up, both of us just felt like having some. So right after breakfast, I cracked some elaichi (cardamom) pods and got going.

As the chai started to simmer in the pan, that beautiful, familiar fragrance of cardamom slowly filled up the room. It’s surreal how certain scents can carry such strong memories, restoring visuals from another time; it’s like something that you can’t see, helping you see. Anyway, with cardamom-scented memories, I cleared away the leftover plates from breakfast. My hair had been feeling really dry the past few days, so I also warmed up some mustard oil, on the side.

Sometime later, sitting on the floor of our living room, with half-finished cups of elaichi chai, old songs playing in the background, and generously oiled hair, it truly felt like the perfect Sunday morning.

I feel a hot oil massage is a ritual that for a few minutes seems to absolutely transform your life. Back home in Pakistan, when we were kids, my nani (maternal grandmother) lived with us for a few years and often on weekends, she would gather us all and one-by-one oil our hair.