Favourite Things – Neema Shah
Each week Reaction Weekend brings you Favourite Things – interviews with interesting people about the skills, hobbies, pleasures and pastimes that make them who they are.
Neema Shah is an author from London. Her debut novel, Kololo Hill, was published in February this year. The novel, which was inspired by the lives of her grandparents who left India for East Africa in the 1940s, was a 2021 Pick for Foyles, Daily Mail, The Irish Times, Cosmopolitan and Eastern Eye.
These are a few of her favourite things…
Dancing
If there’s a beat, I’m probably moving. My music taste is eclectic – folk, hip hop, pop, Bollywood, Latin American – and I’ll happily dance away to pretty much anything. In my younger days, I could dance five or six hours straight; nowadays, I’m more likely to be dancing in my kitchen or at a family wedding. Either way, I’m often the last on the dance floor, even if I’m rarely the first. I’ve found music to be a great unifier wherever I go in the world. Even if you don’t speak a language, you can communicate through rhythm, melody and a lot of smiling.
Salted Caramel Magnum ice cream
You might think, “well, it’s simply some salted caramel, chocolate and vanilla ice cream,” but you’d be wrong. There’s a hard chocolate shell on top so that the first time you eat it, you have to use a spoon to crack it open. This is the theatre in an ice cream tub. That might be an exaggeration, but it is my Kryptonite. Someone, please take the tub away from me.
Audiobooks
Of course, as an author, I love all kinds of books, but there is a particular pleasure in listening to an audiobook. It relies on the combination of a great novel and an excellent narrator. Particular favourites include My Cousin Rachel, The Underground Railroad and Swan Song.
I love the convenience of listening to a book when I’m doing other things, from the morning commute to unstacking the dishwasher. Although be warned – it’s easy to get distracted. I have been known to replay segments of a book two or three times over. There’s also the deeper nostalgic link of childhood when stories were read aloud to us. I’ve found them a particular joy during the past year’s challenges.
Writing
Perhaps it’s an obvious favourite choice for an author, but I came back to writing after many years and now hold onto it tighter than ever. I’d been busy building my career in marketing, and although I always read books, I’d not written a creative piece since I finished school. So writing my first assignment as part of a short online writing course gave me such a buzz. It felt like a piece of me that I hadn’t even realised was missing had slotted into place. As Sir Ken Robinson once said, “We don’t grow into creativity; we grow out of it.” I’m so glad I’ve come back to one of my first loves: it’s a part of my life now and always will be.
Maru’s bhajia
Bhajia are a delicious Kenyan-Indian snack; essentially, thinly sliced potatoes fried in a crispy batter spiced with carom seeds and fresh coriander. They’re served with spicy fresh tomato chutney. Maru’s is a famous cafe in Kenya, where my Mum was born. East African Asians then transported them to London.
Lots of places make these bhajia, but Maru’s cafe is the best; it’s pretty much the only thing they serve. I’ve been known to travel the 45 minutes it takes from my home to Wembley just to eat Maru’s bhajia. I like a good old fashioned English chip, but these are on another level. They remind me of family trips to Kenya, and my only wish is that they could be delivered. But then again, perhaps it’s a good thing that they’re not.