Once Upon A Table
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I ate my grief
In a time when the world's grief spills into our own, I spoke to a friend, an expert in the quiet, and shared with her my invisible ways of trying to…
Sep 18
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Purva Grover
3
Labels, lentils, and life
…Growing up, colors began to mean different things.
Sep 16
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Purva Grover
2
Dubai nights, chai & Alice in Wonderland dreams
On a still summer night in July 2025, chai simmered, falafels arrived cradled in a paper bag, and someone whispered the idea of pizza into the air.
Sep 11
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Purva Grover
4
August 2025
Cat tales over coffee at Meowtropolis Café, Dubai
On a warm afternoon in July 2025, we swapped inboxes and exes for oat flat whites and feline side-eye. The cats, of course, stole the scene.
Aug 28
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Purva Grover
1
Lattes & profiteroles: Lava Cake, Dubai, teaches how to love greedily
At Lava Cake on Jumeirah Beach Road, one July evening in August 2025, I ordered a rose latte and custard profiterole… and ended up witnessing love…
Aug 26
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Purva Grover
4
Dubai, thou art Romeo—yet wherefore is Juliet absent?
One July evening in 2024, Romeo Lane, Pullman Hotel Dubai. On some evenings, you don’t just play matchmaker—you become the narrator and the person who…
Aug 21
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Purva Grover
3
2
Chutney, Dubai: A Thali teaches you to eat with your heart, not your screens
The humble Thali reminds us how to truly eat — not scrolling, not swiping, just eating. One October afternoon in 2023, a Peacock Thali at Chutney…
Aug 18
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Purva Grover
2
2
India–Pakistan Independence Day, Chai & Samosa: Backseat of a Dubai Cab
Two strangers, one cab, and a conversation brewed over chai, samosas, and cricket. In Dubai, even an India–Pakistan rivalry tastes like home.
Aug 11
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Purva Grover
6
4
Little Lahore: The Dubai restaurant’s classic breakfast that goes beyond borders
Sometime in September 2023, I ate halwa, channa, and poori prepared the Lahori way — yet the flavors took me back to my home in New Delhi, India.
Aug 6
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Purva Grover
1
From Meena Bazaar to Matar Wale Chawal: A mother’s two worlds
In many Indian homes, including those tucked away in Dubai’s high-rises, a quiet ritual unfolds after every outing: the mother heads straight to the…
Aug 4
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Purva Grover
1
July 2025
The Dubai restaurant that doesn't want to deliver: LahKee
Sometime in July 2025: And why I hope it never does, because some memories are better lived than carried on two wheels.
Jul 31
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Purva Grover
1
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