Looking for My Ancient Religion in Uzbekistan
Still, I was in search of something more, something concrete, something material.
Last October, I walked on the trail of emperors.


Every night on this trip, when I thought about forcing my words onto a page and every night, they sat just beyond the lip of my mind and did not come. I did not write a word even when I reached Termez, our next stop that sat on the southernmost fringe of Uzbekistan; it is fenced from Afghanistan by only the Amu Darya river. In the Djurkatana museum, we found the model of a fire temple that likely existed in Zoroaster’s time. My parents were elated; they took picture after picture, while a stream of visitors eddied round them. “Zoroaster might have even seen this temple himself!” mum said, the light rushing into her face.
I am an independent food, culture and travel writer with a special interest in exploring the anthropology of Indian food and culture through a postcolonial prism.
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Home, Mosque, and Synagogue: On Parenting and Sacred Spaces
“All the world is a mosque for a believer.”
Teaching Our Children How to Mourn
“We teach each other the prayer so that when someone dies, we are ready to fulfill our obligations.”
Women Writing About Complicated Desire Saved Me When the Evangelical Church Couldn’t
What I’d been looking for at the convent, I could find in reading and writing. If other writers could channel their desires, I could use it, too.