MODERN FOLK

I had not expected that life in Toronto would keep sending me across the US border. But securing immigration papers has meant my traveling thrice this past month to Niagara Falls, the land border crossing into Canada closest to Toronto. On a recent trip, I ordered lunch from a food truck run by a man named John Joseph Rimond, who told me he came from Kerala, India. My lunch consisted of a delicious, crispy crepe called a dosa, filled with rich, buttery potatoes, accompanied by spiced dipping sauces, from a sweet, salty coconut sauce to a spicy lentil gravy. After lunch, John Joseph was kind enough to share a song with me that he learned from his father, and has passed on to his son. The song is in the Malayalam language, and is about things learned from the singer’s beloved father, who is now in heaven.