In an act of stars aligning, when I went to Bombay in March for Dad, on my flight to LAX from EUG, I found myself sitting beside the only other Bohri lady in Eugene. A few days before, mom had mentioned a bohri family living in Eugene that Aunty Farida Chiba had told her about. But, there was no way I was randomly going to look them up.
She sat next to me, on a flight she wasn't originally booked on, but was made to take since her original flight was cancelled. A few minutes into her sitting next to me, I had a strong suspicion she was Bohri, and so after the initial, "Hello. Do you live in Eugene?" pleasantries, I just decided to ask her, "This might seem weird, but, are you Bohri?" She was absolutely stunned by my question, I had to repeat it, and she said yes, with complete shock. Haha!
Anyway, we got talking, and her parents had lived in Oman. Later, when she reached Houston to her mom's, she found out that her dad had worked for my dad! In Bombay, dad told me that he remembered her parents well. Her daughter, Sophie, works across the street from our apartment in Eugene. It's a crazy small world and I love that I found her.
We have been to their place a few times now, and today, they had us over for her version of khao suey. She also made an absolutely delicious curried cauliflower soup, and homemade chickoo icecream. Oh, and when we got there, there were chaklis on the coffee table with jeera. She had made those at home too!
