Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Reading aloud: an old evening habit worth returning to
In a top-floor flat in Pune, on the third night of the monsoon, a family of four sits after dinner with a...
Section
Author: Darshak Yadav
Darshak Yadav writes for Herbcare from a small flat in Ahmedabad. He grew up between his grandmother's kitchen in the old city and his father's slow evenings on the balcony, and became curious early about the household practices that never announced themselves as wellness. He reads widely across regional recipe traditions, Ayurvedic householder texts, and quiet cultural writing, and prefers writing that carries a specific place, a specific hand, a specific hour of the day. When he is not writing he is usually cooking, walking, or sitting with a cup of something warm.
105 entries in this section
Daily Wellness Routines
Garshana: the old Ayurvedic dry brush before the bath
In a small flat in Pune, an aunt of mine keeps a pair of raw silk gloves folded inside a wooden box...
Seasonal Living
Marking harvest festivals quietly at home
On the fourteenth of January my aunt in a village outside Thanjavur wakes before the light and sweeps the front step with...
Herbal Drinks
Chaas: the buttermilk glass with roasted cumin
In my aunt's kitchen in Ahmedabad, the last thing that happens after lunch is the sound of a small wooden churn tapping...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Yuzu-yu and the herbal-flower bath
On the shortest day of the year, in the older neighborhoods of Kyoto and Osaka, the public bathhouses float whole yellow fruits...
Ayurveda Basics
Anupana: why herbs come with warm water, milk, or honey
In a small kitchen in Mysuru, an aunt of mine keeps a brass tin of triphala powder on the shelf above the...
Traditional Food Practices
Preserving lemons: a Moroccan jar on the shelf
The first jar I remember was on a low shelf in a house in the Marrakesh medina, in a quiet room off...
Daily Wellness Routines
A cold water splash on the face, first thing
In my aunt's house in Pune, the first sound of morning was not the pressure cooker or the milkman calling from the...
Herbal Drinks
Sattu drink: a Bihar summer glass
By noon in Bhojpur the sun sits directly overhead and the dust on the road turns the colour of pale flour. My...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
A warm eye compress in the evening
In a small flat above a bakery in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, a woman I know keeps a shallow enamel bowl...
Ayurveda Basics
Agni: what “digestive fire” means, in plain language
In the kitchen of a small flat in Pune, an aunt used to lay her palm flat against her stomach after lunch...
Traditional Food Practices
A cast iron pan, seasoned over years
In my aunt's kitchen in Pune there is a black cast iron kadai that has been in the house since before I...