There are five of us at the table, a party of unlikely companions. At the head sits my trusted taxi driver Sudheer T, I am to his right, then Dr. Latheesh KV, a public health official; on the opposite side, KK Shailaja, the minister for health, social justice, and women and child development in Kerala’s Left Democratic Front-led government, and K Bhaskaran, the minister’s husband. We are seated around an oval table at the minister’s home, eating a late lunch on the first day of the Onam holiday season: two kinds of matta rice, turmeric-hued nadan fish curry, fried river fish, two kinds of vegetables, and three different payasams for dessert, laced with the twang of north Kerala’s Malabar region of Kannur. Sudheer and I have been to many places over the years, but we had never shared a table, and it is for the first time, as guests of KK Shailaja, that we sit and eat together.
Shailaja has come home after months away in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. When I enter, I notice the boundary wall surrounding her two-story home is short; over the tops of the potted bougainvillea, you can see the health minister sitting in the verandah with her husband. There’s no security detail or mark of pomp. Just two things give a hint of affiliation and significance of the household: the Kerala government-issued Toyota Innova that looks more impressive because of the narrow driveway and a flagstaff with the white-sickle crimson-red flag of the Communist Party. “Have you ever seen a chenkodi in front of a house?” asks her husband. ‘Chenkodi’ is a portmanteau Malayalam word for ‘red flag’. “It is there because it represents everything that our life is about,” he tells me.
Bu hikaye VOGUE India dergisinin November 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye VOGUE India dergisinin November 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Breathe In, Breathe Out
A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork
Red Pill, Blue Pill
India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum
Sign of the times
No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily
Return to form
Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports
Dimple, All Day
YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone
Let it grow
When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.
Beauty and the feast
The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.
Sweet serendipity
From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.