Kneading Memories
Delhi’s Post-Partition Rotiscape
My story is situated in contemporary Delhi and concerns the culinary memories the city preserves in the present
The central question around which I hope to work is: How does the evolution of rotis in Delhi register its laftered history of migration, especially after the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947?
Given the context of divisive contemporary cultures, it may be useful to remember the multi-cultural, assimilative history of food practices in the space of Delhi, a politically important site as the capital city of India, and as a multi-refugee space. I hope to see this through the varieties of rotis that Delhi has to offer.
An edible archive
Across Delhi, varieties of roti carry traces of household histories and the movement of people. This project reads everyday food practices as a record of migration, adaptation and belonging after the 1947 Partition of the Indian subcontinent.
Refugee neighbourhoods and changing kitchens
Focusing on Delhi’s Punjabi refugee colonies and other neighbourhoods, Meher Nandrajog asks how recipes, ingredients and the preparation of bread have changed as families rebuilt their homes. Food becomes a way to ask whose memories survive through daily practice.
Listening to intergenerational knowledge
The research draws on informal oral histories, the author’s experience as a third-generation descendant, and the meanings attached to ordinary meals. Its value lies in bringing domestic knowledge into conversations about public memory.
Sources & Credits
Original project references, visual sources and creator credits are collected here in one place.
- Creator & project
Meher Nandrajog. Social-media storytelling project. Who Owns Memory? Digital Public Exhibition, First Cycle 2026.
Every picture used (in the background or foreground) has been personally clicked, with all required consent and permissions wherever applicable and necessary. All my information has been gathered from a variety of sources that are research materials/writings/talks by researchers/scholars/cultural historians who I have encountered over time and across multiple platforms. It is, however, substantially based on informal ‘oral histories’ narrated to me, as well as my own lived experiences as part of the third generation of people who belong to such a history, yet are distanced from it.
- Visual and media material
Photographs, documents, illustrations, video and audio are attributed through the project text, captions and contributor documentation wherever that information was supplied. This exhibition page does not grant additional reuse permissions.
- Digital exhibition edition
Web presentation adapted for Who Owns Memory? (2026), with layout and language editing. The original contributors retain authorship of their research, interpretation and creative work.