Key Highlights :
When my friend returned from Lahore, I was in the US. I had asked her to courier a box of fingersticks biscuits to me in Bombay, a gift from our common friend, the filmmaker Farjad Nabi. Little did I know that I was about to experience a unique form of sweet revenge.
Fingersticks are a legendary biscuit, named for Lady Aitchison's slender fingers, and created by perhaps the first modern bakery in Lahore, Mokham-ud-din and Sons. This bakery, located in Lahore's Anarkali bazaar since 1879, is where my father grew up. I had grown up hearing and dreaming about fingersticks, and when I visited Lahore, I found my father's old house by asking about the famous fingersticks bakery. I returned with a piece of brick from the house and a box of fingersticks.
When my friend returned, I was disappointed to hear her response to my request for her to courier the box of biscuits to me. She said she would get me a big packet next time. I was shocked and incredulous, my feelings best expressed in the Hindustani phrase, "hairaan." I complained to Farjad, who responded with a humorous comment. I then decided to take sweet revenge.
I declared that my friend, Natasha Badhwar, was a "bad girl" who ate my biscuits. I named her, and I claimed her. I realized that in these times of disconnection, it is important to have friends who feel free to misbehave, so that we can have a lifetime license to complain. Complaining is a true bond, and expectations and claims echo in its faux outrage.
In the end, I realized that life is not complete without friends who can misbehave, and give us a license to complain. I hope that someone will eat up your sweets too, so you can give them a gaali that sounds like an endearment. That is the true mark of friendship.