My first memory of a truly sumptuous Christmas lunch goes back to the time when we headed to Bangalore for a grand family reunion. I must have been ten years old. I recall how nana Maxine, my maternal grandmother, would literally roll up the leg of mutton sleeves (yes, it was a wildly popular tailored style!) of her frocks and would busy herself in the kitchen for days on end before the big feast.

The riotous whiffs and aromas, not to forget the incessant pounding of spices and whistles from a vintage pressure cooker made it all very curious for her city-bred grandchildren, yours truly included. The Anglo-Indian spread was unlike anything we'd seen back in Bombay – chilli beef fry, ball curry (no Anglo meal is complete without this staple), tongue roast, chicken korma, peas pulao, a garden salad, and cabbage foogath (a delicately stir fried dish). I can't quite recall how that meal ended because we had passed out from food coma. That frame of a buzzing luncheon table, laughter and Jim Reeves' Christmas carols in the background, courtesy papa Tom's gramophone, was Christmas at its best.