Date: 15/06/2026
All Rights Reserved by the Author
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” — Maya Angelou
Tucked inside an old cookbook was a single sheet of paper.
The handwriting was neat but slightly faded.
It contained a recipe for a simple cake.
There were no measurements printed by a machine. No photographs. No professional design.
Just ingredients and instructions written by hand many years ago.
Yet the paper carried far more than a recipe.
It carried a voice.
The person who had written it was no longer present, but the handwriting remained unmistakable.
A curve in a letter. A particular way of writing numbers.
Suddenly, memories returned.
Family gatherings. Celebrations. Ordinary afternoons made special by shared meals.
Handwritten recipes often survive long after kitchens change and tastes evolve.
They become part cookbook, part family history.
Perhaps that is why people treasure them.
Not because they teach us how to bake.
But because they remind us of the hands that once prepared something with care for the people they loved.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
email: rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
youtube: conversewithasmile
musingofrajat.wordpress.com 