Indian families are generally very large and complicated so I wanted to write a little post on what the different family relationships are called. Whereas in English there’s just one word for ‘uncle’, in Gujarati we have five different names to more clearly explain the relationship. There’s this bit in the movie Bride and Prejudice...Read More

Today is Bhai Bij – the fifth and final day of the festival of Diwali and it celebrates the special bond between brothers and sisters. Traditionally sisters invite their brothers for a jamvanu (special meal) and blessings and gifts are exchanged. For those who don’t have a brother, like myself, we do a little prayer...Read More

Happy New Year! Or as we say ‘Sal Mubarak’ or ‘Nutan Varshna Abhinandan’ meaning best wishes for the new year. Traditionally we visit family, particularly our elders to pay our respects. We have mithai (my favourites include googra, burfi, biscuits…. Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!) and nastho (delicious savoury snacks such...Read More

Today I wanted to tell you all about Navratri. It is my favourite Hindu festival and I’ve been dancing away for the past few nights. It’s celebrated in autumn for 9 nights with traditional folk dancing called Garba as a big part of the Gujarati celebrations. We do a special prathna (prayer) each evening called...Read More

Hi! Welcome to my blog Nanimas and thanks for stopping by. Nanima means ‘maternal grandma’ in Gujarati and this blog is all about the traditions passed down the generations of my family – from my Nanima to my Mum to me. It’s a record of all the things that I’ll hopefully one day pass on...Read More