Amma was elated to hear how her work was appreciated everywhere.

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Days before Dassera, I’d returned from a long trip to the US and Canada. After a successful edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, for whom I’m Senior Programme Advisor, South Asia, I travelled first to Cambridge in Massachusetts, then to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Everywhere, I had meetings, and gave priority to visiting museums and art galleries, especially showcasing the art, culture and history of Black, indigenous and marginalised people and minorities, and erased histories. Whatever present I may bring Amma, Indu Shedde, 97, chocolates, soft slippers or a shawl, I know she will save it up for later, from old habit. Nothing gives her as much joy as the regular delights I bring her from Vijay Stores, Santa Cruz—yellow poha chivda, methi khakra, and brown Dharwad pedha (as Amma grew up in Dharwar, Karnataka). I know that spending the day with her makes her much happier than anything money can buy. And I brought her laminated cards of her “vegetable art,”........

© Midday