Acharekar, Janhavi. “Learning to Bake.”
Transnational Literature, Vol 13, Oct 2021
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Learning to Bake
Janhavi Acharekar

The breeze brought in the pungent smell of drying fish, as it did those days. Windows opened to reveal a washed-out blue sky. Bluer than the one remembered from their childhood, perhaps. But childhood had been some time ago and memories can be elusive.

The ocean is a blob. It reflects the colours of the sky to a cliché, encircling the bobbing fishing boats in swirling strokes. It echoes the shrill whistling of the kites as they glide the warm currents, slowly at first, and then dementedly, threatening to swoop towards the open window – an inch closer than the previous day – only to take a sharp turn and fly away into the horizon again.

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Janhavi Acharekar

Janhavi Acharekar is the author of the novel Wanderers, All, the short story collection Window Seat: Rush-hour stories from the city and travel guide Moon Mumbai & Goa. Her writings appear in various Indian and international anthologies and publications. Janhavi was a Charles Wallace Fellow at the University of Stirling, Scotland. She is a contributing editor to Condé Nast Traveller India and lives in Mumbai. Learning to Bake will feature in the forthcoming Indo-Australian anthology Relatively True (Orient BlackSwan). janhavistories.com ©Janhavi Acharekar 2020

This manuscript is under license and no part of its text may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author.