New Delhi, April 12 -- I did not think I could write another column on a Goan fish curry. I have often waxed eloquent about my ajji's (grandmother's) fish curry, my shortcut version, my mother's version, the original version-to name a few. The beauty of the basic Goan fish curry is that there are as many versions as your imagination.

My imagination was jostled recently by the arrival of spring in Bengaluru, and the spectacular flowering of the trumpet trees-white, pink and yellow-the roads beneath them transforming into radiant carpets of blossoms. The rain trees-those hulking giants imported from South America and boycotted now because of their demand for lebensraum-also did their bit, covering themselves in feathery pink and white.

We...