Shelf full of stories: What you should know about Kurush Dalal beyond archaeology and food

"If you love to cook and read, you'd never be hungry and alone in life. And that's one of the greatest quotes of my lifetime," Dr Kurush F Dalal quotes his mother to put in a nutshell his ever growing relationship with books across subjects.

An archaeologist and culinary anthropologist by profession, Kurush's reading interests, as one may presume, is not restricted to books on old excavations and food. From Enid Blyton's adventure series, science fiction and Mills & Boon's romantic fictions to his current reads, ‘Lords of the Deccan' by Anirudh Kanisetti and ‘The First World War Adventures Of Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir' by Murali Ranganathan and Nariman Karkaria, his spectrum of interests cover diverse genres of books.

Books in and above huge shelves and cupboards, books in sofa-turned shelves and books in cartons, plastics and bags; all laced with personal anecdotes of gifting, receiving, borrowing and lending these prized possessions among friends, family and students. In all, Kurush declares that he and his wife, Rhea Dalal, a baker and entrepreneur, own around 2000 books, some of them in their Kharghar residence and the rest in other houses in Lonavala and Mumbai.

While many of them were gifted and inherited from family, most of them were also bought from a number of second hand book stalls in and around Mumbai, which form a major part of Kurush's books' chronicles. These include the famous Strand book stall at Fort, new and secondhand book shops at the Bombay High Court stretch, bookstores opposite Metro theatre and at Charni Road and a friendly raddiwallah's shop at Kharghar; some of which are now permanently closed and rest continue to cater to Kurush's reading preferences and choices.

Of science fictions and historical books

Growing up in a family where reading was a way of life for elders and siblings, books of all kinds made way to Kurush's healthy collection. During early academic days, a school library in Panchgani introduced him to authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Larry Niven, who deepened his interests in science fiction. This is evident from a quick glance at a shelf in the hallway of his and Rhea's home, consisting of three racks full of science-fiction titles by authors such as Gene Wolfe, Robert E. Howard, David Gemmell and Robert Jordan among others.

His earliest engagements with archaeological books were a result of those he inherited from his mother, culinary expert and author Katy Dalal, who was also an archaeologist. ‘The History of Architecture in India' by Christopher Tadgell, was one of his first books on archaeology brought with his mother at Fort's Strand Book Stall, at a cherished discounted price of Rs 1000 for a book which cost Rs. 1500 at the time. He went on to explore the subject as a part of his academic work at Deccan College in Pune, where he could get expensive archaeological books at the original price demarcated when they were first issued.

Additionally, there was a phase when he devoured western titles by authors such as J.T Edson, Louis L'Amour and Max Brand and also experienced reading authors like Franz Kafka and Albert Camus early on in his reading journey. Amid a collection of gazetteers, archaeological dissertations by his students, books on excavations, stood treasured volumes of Asterix comic book series; another interesting chapter of the historian's companionship with books.

A part of Kurush and Rhea's book collection at their Kharghar residence. Image credit: Raj Patil

The archaeology of food

"Nobody ever called it (the study of food) as archaeology of food. Nobody looked at it as food comprehensively, it was mainly animal and plant remains, when it came to food history," says the food chronicler, when asked about his interests in reading books on and about food. What served as an inspiration, Kurush's observations of his mother Katy's approach towards cookbooks taught him that these were not merely a compilation of recipes.

"It was more about reading different culinary traditions, understanding the mind of the author and the culture of the author through their food writing and knowing why this kind of food vs that kind of food and what are the things that bring a cuisine together," he says. As an archaeologist and a passionate food chronicler, his workshop on food history or as he puts it, ‘the archaeology of food'--an idea conceptualised by his friend and Rhea, which has attracted over 400 students--is a synthesis of sorts of his two areas of work.

There are very few people who write about culinary history in India, he says. However, he believes there are a number of food writers, who write about their community food history online. One of the websites, he mentions, is ‘The Goya Journal', one of the most well-known online resources for food readings. ‘Whose samosa is it anyway?' by Sonal Ved, is a book, he says is one of the books on Indian food history and a good start for beginners.

Jiggs Kalra's ‘Prashad', Roopa Nabar's ‘My romance with food', Saee Koranne-Khandekar's ‘Pangat - A feast' and Smita Deo's ‘Karwar to Kolhapur via Mumbai' are some of the food books on the recommendation list.

‘Reading will never die'

As someone who is a popular raconteur on social media, especially on Instagram, whether it is food stories or lessons on archaeology, Kurush has not shied away from adapting to digital tools when it comes to reading as well. Both Rhea and Kurush own a kindle and also highlight the availability of an online repository of information on their common interests, food and archaeology.

For someone who owns over 1000 books, kindle wasn't really a bad deal. About the experience, he jokes, "A lot of people miss the feel. But, I miss the smell of books. If somebody comes up with an old book smell spray for Kindle users, that's going to be one of those great things. And we'll put a tab at the back, scratch a little bit and you can smell your old books, uff..you're made."

While the absence of smell on digital reading tools is something that turns him off, the inexpensive method to occasionally access a bootleg version of a rare book, rather with a pinch of guilt, has eventually convinced him of some hacks when it comes to keeping up with one's reading habits. Though mediums have changed with time, he believes reading habits of people have stayed on.

"Today's youth want smaller doses of interaction with a lot of visuals. Is reading dead? No. It will never be dead. This is the original database (books). But, it is becoming more and more digital and it means anybody can publish. So either this way or that, reading will be there," he concludes.

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