When a guest appreciated my cooking this evening, I was reminded of the time when I used to cook for my son and his friends when they were younger. Once he reached the age of 18 he had pretty much taken over from me. Rice, chicken curry, daal, spinach-paneer, yogurt and salad were the standard items on the menu.

Whenever his friends praised my food, just to provoke a reaction from him, in true Bollywood style I would say, ”Well, the food has the most important ingredient in it – my love for you.” Predictably, he would screw his nose up and say, “So cheesy!” I found that hugely entertaining and we had a good laugh.

Once upon a time I used to sing. I used to attend weekly lessons in classical vocal music. I used to host musical gatherings for up to 300 people. He used to accompany me on drums or djembe despite the fact that he hated my kind of music. He was really sweet.

In this garden around me, there are a lot of thorns and a lot of roses. I need to pick out the roses, knowing that the thorns will always be there. The beauty and fragrance of the roses cannot be marred by the painful thorns.