Food as a bonding point.

YES. Last entry before the fun part-- the reflection entries! (Obviously, I'm not turning this line in)

Food is definitely a bonding point. As I pointed out in the title of the journal.
Firstly, many of the turning points happen over food. Not the negative events mainly, but food signifies a change of heart or the moment when two or more characters are brought closer together.

A very largely emphasized example would be the moment when Aloka and Sujata finally settle their differences and reconcile while making channer payesh a cheese and milk dessert that their Grandma likes-- as Sujata admits to Aloka:

"When she sneaked a look at Sujata, it shocked her to see the crumpled face. Sujata bit her lip, squeezed her hands, and flexed her feet inside her sandals, like she used to do as a child when she was upset. ALoka felt a surge of affection towards Sujata, the usually tough woman, suddenly so vulnerable.  'When Thakurma asked me if I'd help you in the kitchen, at first I had reservations. Then I thought if we spent some time together we could resolve our differences....' Sujata's voice trailed off." (287)

Another moment happens before this-- when Aloka finally defends Sujata against Pranab at a cafe while they are eating snacks, despite the fact that Sujata has had an affair with Pranab in the past. This moment signifies when Aloka is finally able to let go of her grudges as well as her bondage to Pranab, and stand up for her and her sister's dignity (In this scene they were waiting for or already drinking, I couldn't tell, coffee and scones):

"'Are you saying all this because you're angry at me, because I pay more attention to Sujata?'

'Quite the contrary. I have come to consider myself fortunate that you loved Sujata more. All that time I held on to you, playing the dutiful Hindu wife, cost me years of my life. But now, fortunately, I've outgrown all that. Had we remained married, you'd have dragged me down even more.'" (270)

Also, as mentioned earlier, Aloka and Jahar first bond over food, and Sujata's last day in Victoria is spent over dinner when her friends encourage her and give her advice in regards to her romantic problems back in Darjeeling.

(On a random note, I notice that Sujata is referred to as Suzy only in the chapters she narrates... probably because she is still Sujata to the rest of the family....)

Also, Aloka and Nina are able to get closer to each other in terms of a granddaughter-grandmother relationship over a very exquisite lunch, just as Sujata and Nina in the chapter before further reconcile while discussing tea. In regards to the former, this is the moment when Nina suggests to Aloka that she make the channer payesh with Sujata. Also, at these respective points Aloka and Sujata soon reveal that they have overcome many of their obstacles and have gotten over their love for Pranab. These are also the moments when they assert their independence.

Jahar as a Symbol

This is a quick one, mainly because Jahar's a minor character.

After reading through one of my journal entries where I discuss how Aloka asserts or brings down women's roles in the book, I began to see Jahar as almost a symbolic character, whether Kirchner intended him to be one or not.

The first reason I say this is because of Jahar's intimate connection with food- when he first tries to woo over Aloka at the Korean deli, he tries to persuade by promising a home-cooked meal-as Kirchner, a cookbook author, greatly values the importance of food, and Jahar is shown to cook with his heart, food represents the soul in this context:

"'I can tell you have many important things to do. But please I'm making a good Indian meal--sukhe aloo, gughni, and  pullao rice. It'd be an honor if you joined us. I'd very much like to talk to you."

This almost ties back to Aloka's search for her own cultural identity (which her counterpart Seva seems to know plenty about.) As she assimilates into life in New York, she adopts more of their dress and their tastes (when she returns to Darjeeling, she spends most of her time drinking coffee at a cafe that reminds her of New York) until she is considered to foreign to her own homeland:

"In the next few minutes Aloka confessed how in these past several days seh'd been visiting family and friends and making excursions to all her old haunts-- Birch Hill, Observatory Hill, the zoo...but no matter where she went or whom she met, she was aware that something vital had been lost forever. People sensed the difference and treated her with a certain reserve." (256)

On the outside, as Aloka no longer dons the dress and mannerisms of her home, it seems like Aloka has been fully absorbed into American culture. However, as her relationship with Jahar proves, she does not.

Jahar is uncomfortable in upscale social activities, much like the new immigrant would not be able to understand such activities. Furthermore, by writing to Seva he seems to be trying to reach to Aloka's "inner spirit," a spirit that is deeply rooted in her childhood's culture, despite her disinterest in tea. The fact that Aloka feels more comfortable and herself around Jahar also contributes to Jahar's symbolism as her spirit or even inner self.

Without food, life would end. And without life, there'd be no one to cook and eat it.

YES, FOOD! What I observe about the use of food in Darjeeling is most likely universal at best, but I feel that the way that it ties the story together really emphasizes the larger themes of the book, and is in itself an overarching theme. The foods that the characters eat not only revive memories but make common threads between the people around them, and food indeed forges relationships--Especially considering that the book is about a tea industry and romance, there is in the most appropriate sense something sensual about the usage of food in the book. Something heartwarming about it.

Also, I consider this-- young children are generally very picky eaters, but as they grow they also learn to open their minds to new kinds of foods, a lot of it coming from the experiences that they go through in life. So basically, food is a qualitative measure of growth and maturity.

In a similar sense, though given the wide array of foods I don't think the characters are very picky, food and especially tea is a measure of growth for the Gupta sisters also, in how they forge and forget their relationships and rivalry.

A few examples (And this will span over the course of the whole book):

1. Food becomes a source of comfort when people do not. This may be because food is given meaning to the person who eats it-- To Aloka on page 9,

"A half dozen crescent shaped cookies called Pleasure Domes.... with their powdery, sugar-dusted tops and faint vanilla scent, they were her current weakness. Right now they only held scant appeal, serving only as a reminder of a friend's birthday bash." 

2. The author, Bharti Kirchner, is also a cookbook author-- this may explain why she sprinkles (I lost count after around 20 or so) every Indian dish she can think of throughout the entire course of the book, and gives a vivid description of the taste, aroma, and texture (and appearance) of the dishes. In this sentence alone on page 167, she lists six within a couple of clauses-- "luchi, aloor dam begun bhaja, cholar dahl, payesh, and two kinds of sandesh-- all for an afternoon tea." She does this many instances throughout the book, including on page 144 too. 

3. Or, after a few pages or so a reference to some sort of food will come up in some way or another--

a. It is ground for conversation and thus bonding-- in the awkward dinner scene between Nina (the grandmother of Aloka and Sujata), Sujata, and Pranab, Pranab seems to drive the conversation: "It'd be a pleasure to see you. And rui is my big weakness." (52) "Ah, rumali roti... smooth as a silk handkerchief-- so aptly named." (53) 

b. Speaking of bonding, Aloka warms up to minor character Jahar when she firsts meets him over food, as they start discussing jack fruit while Aloka is picking up dinner at a Korean deli. Then Jahar invites Aloka over to dinner and cooks for her by hand, while they discuss how Jahar prepares the meal. At the end, Aloka realizes that she has bonded with Jahar despite her initial apprehension, as spending time with Jahar enlightens her. After pretending to be a woman named Parveen to Jahar, Aloka at the end confesses to him the truth and adds:

"'I enjoyed being with you. You brought out a new me. I could be livelier and more spontaneous... and look at the world differently." (280)

Chai.Cha.Te.Tea

For starters, Aloka and Sujata are born into a family-run tea factory in Darjeeling, as explained on pages 17-18, which talks about Aloka's past in terms of the tea business:

"Her personal connection to tea ran much deeper than his, going all the way back to the 1800s...when her ancestors first tasted the tea, they found it so satisfying that they resolved to buy this choice location and settle down... the estate had prospered under the Guptas..."

Despite her "personal connection," Aloka doesn't care much for tea at all: "As the oldest child in the family, it would all be hers one day, even though her interest in the farming and marketing aspects of tea was nonexistent." (14) ON the other hand, as seen later in the book, Sujata is completely dedicated to tea, as she is introduced in the book being in the middle of her privately-owned tea business in Victoria BC. Likewise, the middle of the triangle, Pranab, is successful for his ability to taste the quality and tend to the growing and production of tea-- in addition, Pranab has a tendency to idealize all his passion and turn them into something grandiose-- his love for tea and the process, it could be said, is what ultimately led him to start a rebellion against his boss.

Indeed, tea is also a huge bonding point between Sujata and Pranab-- they share more intellectual and personal interests with each other such as tea and workers' welfare, and more deeply passionate interest's such as Pranab's dancing:

"And, without waiting for a reply, began to discuss two crop pests, red spiders and green flies, as well as soil erosion problems. Finally he asked her if she had noticed anything in particular during her walk through the field. She felt flattered at being asked and mentioned that not all the tea workes had gloves on...Before she knew it, an hour had passed and he'd given her a detailed account of the worker's living conditions, as well as his own suggestions for improving their lot." (40)

"I think about you during my dance practice. I want to perform for you sometime." Pranab, page 43

Even Nina notices the connection:
"Nina noticed, too, that both Sujata and Pranab drank endless cups of tea. Their obvious intimacy was centered around tea." (53)

And when Sujata is forced to leave Pranab and her house to go to Victoria, it is in the end tea that sustains her and makes her a successful and independent business woman without the memory of Pranab dragging her down.

To quote Bharti Kirchner from an interview I found in the International Examiner, "To me tea is a symbol, as it is in the book - of slowing down, of paying attention to the moment, of relating to a friend."

Naturally, the affair of Pranab and Sujata is, like tea, very in the moment-- it is done without considering the consequences of being discovered and subsequently punished.

Sujata's tea business, then, shows her living in the moment in a different way-- having let go (for the most part) of her tragic past in Darjeeling, her pursuits in tea allow her to keep up with the times form new relations with the business world of Victoria, finding a way to belong despite feeling isolated in a land foreign from Darjeeling.