One time, I met Promina Dasgupta Barve in 2017. I was visiting to interview her for a piece on offal, and how chefs were promoting the consumption of every part of an animal, from nose to tail. “You are vegetarian? Boring. But you will take that mini bite of yours?” Pia, as she was popularly known, teased me.

If you met Pia once, you became a part of her inner circle. She’d sit in her armchair with Suzy, the Pomeranian, by her side. The smoke from the cigarette she lit was akin to a spell that drew you into her world of stories. A trip she was taking to Sri Lanka, her time as a tea master, baking bread... And in between, she’d give orders to her kitchen staff—all in one breath.