Somewhere in your family, there is probably a woman who swears by it. She set out the kheer before midnight, left it under the open sky, and ate it at dawn. Her skin, she will tell you, has never needed much else. Sharad Purnima, the full moon of Ashwin, falling in October, carries one of the most persistent cosmetic beliefs in the Indian ritual calendar: that moonlight on this particular night carries healing properties for the skin, even that it delivers amrita, the nectar of immortality, in diluted and earthly form.
