It’s the kind of reverent, ravishing culinary homage that makes your heart beat louder, and your appetite stir with something more than hunger. In the warmth of New York City’s East Village, chef Vikas Khanna has woven a thread between continents and cultures. With fragrant tuberose garlands, petal-strewn pathways, and plates bearing rose-kissed batasas (traditional Assamese sweet), his Michelin-starred establishment Bungalow now simmers with the soul of Assam’s Ambubachi Mela: a spiritual celebration usually nestled in the hills of Guwahati, now reimagined across oceans.

Every year in June, the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam, becomes the centre of a festival called the Ambubachi Mela. It celebrates the time when the goddess Kamakhya is believed to undergo her annual menstruation (a symbol of nature’s power to create and renew). During this time, the temple closes for three days, and thousands of pilgrims, sadhus, tantrics, and visitors come to experience the energy and spirituality of the place. It’s a celebration of the divine feminine, and of the rhythms of the earth.

In a video shared on May 25, Khanna welcomed guests into this transformed sanctuary. “In reverence to the upcoming Ambubachi Mela — a sacred festival at Assam’s Kamakhya Temple that marks the Earth’s cycle of renewal — we honour the divine feminine energy of Goddess Kamakhya, a powerful symbol of fertility and creation," he wrote, his words underscored by the Assamese anthem O Mur Apunar Dekh. The space glows crimson and white, mirroring the energy of Kamakhya, the goddess of creation and cyclical power, whose divine presence defines the Ambubachi observance. It’s a small but meaningful way to honour the goddess and share a part of Assam's deep-rooted traditions with the world. Co-founded in 2024 with restaurateur Jimmy Rizvi, Bungalow has quickly become a popular spot, not just for its modern Indian food, but also for how it brings culture and storytelling to the table. Through this tribute, Khanna shows that food can connect people to something sacred.