What are the literati, glitterati, and swish set of Mumbai up to in the Christmas week? Well, they do what we do—eat, drink, sway to music, bake and hang out with buddies and family. We got in touch with SMD’s die-hard followers and arm-twisted them into telling us about a few of their favourite things. Take notes.

‘I bake a boozy Christmas cake’
Shanta Gokhale, writer-translator

I am afraid I don’t do any of the exciting things [that are typically associated with Christmas time]. But, I do bake a fruit-filled Christmas cake. The fruit is soaked in rum for long. I plan to bake the cake today, in fact, and lovingly feed it with rum as it sits cozily in its box, double wrapped in parchment paper. It is ceremonially unwrapped on Christmas Eve and enjoyed. ‘Eaten’ is too crude a word to use for something so rich. Let me say we “partake” of it on Christmas Eve. Whoever comes home during the following week gets a slice. By New Year’s Eve, the last crumbs are polished off.