My grandmother faced this problem in Geneva in the 1950s. My grandfather was based there as a diplomat and had to throw a big Diwali party. Air India’s director of European operations, an ebullient Italian named Giani Bertoli, flew in huge quantities of mithai for the party.But the appetite for rich Indian sweets in Geneva was limited. Faced with piles of mithai after the party, my grandmother decided to feed them to the swans in Lake Geneva, close to their house. She was mortified when the swans scornfully ...