When I first came to Australia, I had to bring kaalo jeere or nigella seeds with me, along with ‘panch phoran’ or Bengali five spice—a mix of whole cumin, fenugreek, brown mustard, fennel and nigella seeds as these were unavailable in this country. These were usually bought the day before we left India, from the reliable local ‘mudikhana’ grocery, an unsmiling Satyababu on the corner of Broad Street and Bondel Road in my case. I then snuggled the little packages of newsprint tied up with jute string in anything that I thought I would not have to unpack at the airport; spectacle cases, suit pockets, the inner pockets of men's trousers. Australian Customs were notoriously difficult at the time, just past the mid-1980s and anything that they did not know by sight was promptly confiscated. Men mostly, as unsmiling as little Satyababu back home, manned the counters and at some point would ask the dreaded question: Have you got any food?