The Time Machine

By Nikesh Shukla

"We grew up in households where food was important. We grew up in households where the kitchen was the centre of our universes. The main family thoroughfare happened in our kitchens." 'The Time Machine' is a new novella about food and grief by award-winning author Nikesh Shukla. It tells of Ashok's attempts to cook food like mum used to make. If he succeeds, his time machine will have worked and he'll be transported back to a time when the family home was alive with the sounds of cricket, the smell of food and the presence of his mother. The story is a tender, funny ode to home-cooked Gujarati cooking ('not tandoori or balti, are you rogan joshing me?'), peppered with family recipes and charmingly outdated wisdom from over-bearing aunties.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Galley Beggar Press
• Release date: Aug 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781910296059

Nikesh Shukla

Nikesh Shukla is a novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace and the critically acclaimed The One Who Wrote Destiny. Nikesh is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader’s choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. He is the author of three YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award),The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegie Medal), and Stand Up. Nikesh was one of Time Magazine’s cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Global Thinkers and The Bookseller’s 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and in 2017. He is the co-founder of the literary journal, The Good Journal and The Good Literary Agency. Nikesh has also written a memoir, Brown Baby: A Memoir Of Race, Family And Home and a book on writing called, Your Story Matters.

Book preview

The Time Machine

The Time Machine

Midpoint

The Time Machine

Nikesh Shukla

Praise for Nikesh Shukla’s Coconut Unlimited

‘Funny and irreverent.’ (The Guardian)

‘An entertaining portrayal of late-adolescent angst and musical ineptitude, Coconut Unlimited will have a broad appeal not limited merely to those who are nostalgic for high-tops and a time when Skee-Lo’s I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller was still in the charts.’ (GQ)

‘A riot of cringeworthy moments made real by Shukla’s beautifully observed characters and talent for teen banter.’ (Metro)

‘Energetic, tender and fizzing with some hilariously awful rapping.’ (The Word)

‘Without attempting to smack you in the face with originality (or whatever else new writers think they need to do to get attention), it manages to be heartfelt and an utter pleasure to spend time with. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine anyone being anything other than charmed by Shukla’s endlessly readable prose. Possibly the most fun this writer has had with new fiction this year.’ (Bookmunch)

Ebook version published in 2013 by

Galley Beggar Press Ltd

The Book Hive,

53 London Street,

Norwich, NR2 1HL

Typeset by Galley Beggar Press Ltd

All rights reserved

© Nikesh Shukla, 2013

The right of Nikesh Shukla to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

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Thank you

The Time Machine

For Jayshree, Saraswati and Patu who were.

For Rukhsana who is.

(1) Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 room

1 oven

4 gas rings

1 fridge/freezer

1 table

3 chairs

2 spice tins

1 mum

Preparation: On the left, you place cupboards that contain rice, oil, spices and four cookery books. Next to them is a fridge/freezer. The freezer compartment has those clear plastic takeaway containers stacked up in them, filled with leftovers. There are bags of frozen vegetables, like corn, peas, broad beans, spinach, okra, carrots. There are frozen parathas and rotlis and an old ice cream box that contains flattened wafers of garlic and ginger. Break off as much as you require. Next to that is the microwave and television. The television is always on, showing Eastenders, the news or sitcoms. Adjacent, is the oven. It’s fancy now we’ve renovated and next to the oven, you have four gas rings. The small ones you might as well not bother with. The bottom right, that’s the one with the juice. In the centre is the table and chairs. Standing next to the table and chairs, one flip-flopped