On this pious festival of Makar Sankranti and Lohri , Jayati Bhatia gets candid about her fond childhood memories of the festivals and her favourite dishes. Here's what she had to share exclusively with Times Of India TV:

Jayati shared her childhood memories, "Being a Bengali means a lot to me. It's called Uttarayan. Sun changes its direction, and it's wonderful because it starts the festive season. And in Bengalis, we really celebrate it in a lovely way. My mother used to make pati shapta With grounded naryal and Suji dosa jasa banta hai. So that is part shapta. Then she would make Puli pite and lots of because as the winter season arrives. All Bengalis use khajur ka gur, that is, you know, Nolen gur and all that. So all the sweets are made out of Nolen gur. So there would be puli pithe, pati shapta, payees, that would be made on the 14th of January every year, and we would do a small puja. And then after that, I, as a child, I used to be so greedy that I would not wait, I could not wait for the puja to happen and get my hands on the lovely, lovely mithais, mishti that ma would make, and we would also, there were two kinds of pulipithis that my used to, my mother used to make, but one was in milk, which was boiled with nolen gur, and with this, you know, Shruti under filling hoti that is boiled in milk. And there was another one, which was fried, which was which we used to dip in molten gur and we would have it. So my greatest, as you know I'm a big foodie, so all my associations with all the festivals are associated, with with food. And I love winters. I miss winters in Mumbai, so, and I was brought up in Delhi, so winters and Bush Sankranti were wonderful and would fly kites. My brother used to make Manjha and I would go and dry it and then after that, I could not fly a kite. But my my biggest excitement on Maka Sankranti was that I would hold the charkri and also that was my biggest job, and very important job. I used to feel very important because it was a do-or-die situation because it's an art to hold the charkri, to give dheel at the right time. When dada would say dheel and then had to roll it and then roll it back when he would say, those are beautiful moments of my childhood."

On celebrating Lohri in Dehli, "As for Lohri, I was brought up in Delhi so the festival is extremely special to me. In the evening, a day before Sankranti we would make the Lohri pyre from the woods and sing the folk songs around. With gajak, rewri, popcorn and those big groundnuts, all of this was to look forward to. Our neighbours would invite us. In Mumbai, it has always been shooting about the festivals and the screenplay would be either a week before or later."

Her special wishes, "And on this Maka Sankranti, I would like to wish all our viewers and all our readers a very, very, very happy year. May the life turn for the better for you, May the sun shine on you, and may all your dreams and desires come true. May you find peace within what is most important to find peace within. For me, in 2025, I think I would like to find peace within and go with the flow. Everybody says, go with the flow. But I want to understand and yes, go with the flow."