Masala Matrix by Judith Ravin brings 29 poignant tales to an English and Tamil readership. Penned as successive waves of COVID-19 altered life in India, the author takes the reader on walkabouts through mystic neighborhoods, dazzling prayer halls of mirror and glass, and inner sanctums of quietude and respect. At sunrise, Sanskrit chants resonate within the acoustics of ancient temple architecture. By sunset the river breeze carries the voice of an imam calling the faithful to Maghrib prayers. In a Hooghly District marketplace of West Bengal, passageways brim with pickles and spices, while aromatic resins arranged in conical mounds, stall after stall, entice customers in the riverless town of Vijayapura. Behind the large empty temple tank of Kapaleeswarar in Mylapore, astrologists sit patiently along a narrow alleyway, ready to deliver revelations of kismet. Though lockdown misdeeds threaten and abound, time and again strategy and improv prevail. “Now that you know your destiny, you can manage it,” pontificates a numerologist, offering advice unsolicited. Principles of Vastu shastra converge.
An astrologer sitting cross-legged atop a woven mat on the ground offers to read my future. I am doubtful I will learn anything new but also sensitive to an economy in recovery. I resist pointing out that no one predicted the future we are living—a protracted pandemic of global proportions. The astrologer explains the process. One of the parrots from the two cages to his left will select the card where my future is to be revealed. All the cards of fortune have English translations. I am relieved he does not assign the parrot the role of interpreter.
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Judith Ravin
Judith Ravin retired from the U.S. Department of State following a twenty-year career in diplomacy. As U.S. consul general Chennai (2020-2023), she oversaw U.S.-India relations in South India. She is currently an international volunteer with Fundación Simón I. Patiño, in Bolivia. She serves on the Board of Harvard W3D (Women in Defense, Diplomacy, and Development) as Communications Chair and is the Strategic Partnerships Advisor for Mausum Mahool Protection Foundation, a Pakistani civil-society organization focused on climate adaptation and climate education. Judith transitioned to the development sector as a Fellow at DREAM Project, a non-profit in the Dominican Republic, where she focused on human rights and documentation within vulnerable populations, at-risk youth development and leadership plus building writing skills through youth journalism. Her global leanings were forged over many years in publishing, translation, and journalism in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. She holds a Master’s in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Brandeis University plus study in Spain and France. Her published works include Big Alley and Backstreets | El Callejón (2025), Peru After Chamba (2022), Ballet in the Cane Fields (2022, 2014) and, as co-author, Beyond Our Degrees of Separation (2017).
