Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
Following independence in 1947, a distinct community of British, American, and Anglo-Indian expatriates made the choice to remain back in Mussoorie. For them, this hill station wasn’t just a colonial outpost, it was home. It was the place where they had been born and raised, where they had studied in schools like Woodstock or Oak Grove, where they owned the businesses and estates that formed the fabric of their lives.
Among them was Mrs Marylin White or “Gori Mamma”, as I fondly addressed her. She resided at Hari Lodge, an apartment situated right above the iconic Kwality Restaurant. The property itself was a charming cottage owned by the prominent Hari family, famously known for running the historic RB Hamer & Co pharmacy on the Mall Road.
She was a private citizen who kept mostly to herself, yet she was recognised by the entire town. On the rare occasions she did venture out, she gracefully walked along the Mall Road with her walking stick in one hand and a sun umbrella in the other.
The widow of a North Western Railway engineer, she possessed a singular mind and an uncanny constitution. Her fractured bones would knit back together naturally, completely defying the need for medical intervention. She spent her days hoarding empty foil medicine strips and meticulously stacking “bukhari” kindling, which she kept burning bright during the cold months.
I as a little girl would be invited to her cozy home twice in a year, on her birthday and mine. She would be ready with well laid tea and cookies in a tray over a frilly cover. Cookies were mandatorily from the bakery of Bhure Khan.
Clutching my father’s finger, I walked up to her cottage clad in a frock with a coat and a pair of buckled Mary Janes. As a part of our enduring ritual, I would sit decorously to sip hot tea and indulge in the finest cookies with her.
Every birthday, she gifted me a card purchased from the iconic Cambridge Book Depot. It was always inscribed in her striking, bold ink handwriting, with a crisp hundred-rupee note tucked safely inside.
When her own birthday arrived, her return gift to me would be one of her treasured belongings—a piece of her history that she willingly parted with.
I still possess a handful of her keepsakes, including a promotional pencil bearing a 1935 calendar. The pencil was an old souvenir from Rohtas Cement (today a unit under Dalmia Cement) and had been distributed by Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. – the historic trading house now managed by the modern Kothari Group alongside Martin & Company.
Today, Mrs Marilyn SW White rests in peace at the cemetery on Camel’s Back Road, her memory forever woven into the landscape she left behind.
Ingredients:
- All-Purpose Flour (Maida) – 350g
- Unsalted Butter (Softened) – 125g
- Brown Sugar – 175g
- Large Egg (Room Temperature) – 1 piece
- Honey – 4 tbsp
- Ginger Powder – 1 tsp
- Ground Cinnamon – 1 tsp
- Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Method:
- Combine – Whisk the flour, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda in a large bowl.
- Cream – Rub the softened butter into the flour mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs.
- Sweeten – Stir in the brown sugar until fully mixed.
- Mix – Lightly beat the egg and honey together in a separate small bowl.
- Bind – Pour the wet mix into the dry ingredients and stir until a firm dough forms.
- Chill – Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Roll – Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 5mm thickness.
- Shape – Use a cookie cutter to stamp out the cookie shapes.
- Bake – Place on parchment paper and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Cool – Leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to crisp.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is an accomplished senior consultant Chef and a food historian. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
