Peas Biryani

[Guest guest]

Steaming hot Peas Biryani! Mouth-watering! Delicious! Mother usually

made Peas Biryani on Wednesday afternoons in winter. It was her

favourite dish to prepare, for it was easy to make, yet a hot

favourite amongst the kids. Moreover fresh peas were in season and

tasted heavenly!

 

She heated some oil in a pan and added a spoonful of cumin seeds.

Then she added a handful of chopped onions. She proceeded to add some

green peas and seasoned them with salt and turmeric powder. Having

sautéed them for a couple of minutes she turned in the cleaned and

washed riceand poured in a good amount of water. She covered the pan

with a lid and let it cook on a slow flame.

 

Strangely, the ingredients in the simmering pot started a

conversation. The rice was the first to say, 'I am the most important

of all of us present here for I am pure white and wholesome. I am the

key ingredient to making Peas Biryani. I am SATYA, this is the

Truth.'

 

The yellow turmeric powder chuckled and said, 'No longer are you

white my dear, for I have dyed you in my own colour. I am DHARMA.

This is my duty.'

 

The peas smiled peacefully and said, 'What is Peas Biryani, without

peas, eh? We are the most attractive and delicious part of this

preparation. We are shanti. We are PEACE. We are peas (peace) and our

colour too is green that is the colour of peace!'

 

The salt mused to itself and said, 'Who would ever be able to eat

Peas Biryani, without salt? I am the most important of all. If I were

not there Peas Biryani would be unpalatable. My taste shall be

infused in each particle. I am PREMA. I love each one of you

equally.'

 

The onions said, 'We add the tang to this dish. We add flavour. We

are the soul of all vegetarian food. We are AHIMSA. We tolerate all

other flavours, yet retain our own!'

 

The pan spoke up and said, 'It's I who is holding all of you in

here.But for me, you would all have been separate identities. I have

held you together, so that jointly, you can become a delicious dish.

Where would you be without me? I am DISCIPLINE and I am

indispensable. '

 

The cumin seeds were dancing up and down in the boiling water and

said,'Try making Biryani, without us! It shall be quite tasteless. We

sizzle in the hot oil first of all for we are devoted to spreading

our flavour, wherever we go. We are DEVOTION.'

 

The Biryani was almost ready and the oil glistened on every grain

ofrice. It said, 'I ensure that each grain of rice, each pea and each

cumin seed, retains its individual identity. I prevent stickiness. I

am DISCRIMINATION! '

 

The water was almost completely absorbed by now. It smiled

contentedly and said, 'I was determined to permeate into each

particle of all of you. Without me could peas Biryani ever have been

made? I am DETERMINATION and I am the most important of all!'

 

Mother came by and checked to see, if the Biryani was done. The gas

flame smiled quietly to itself and said, 'Each one is so full of its

own importance. Without the power of heat provided by me, what would

they be? It is the power of God vested in me that I can give the

energy to cook. But alas, who remembers the POWER OF GOD?' God smiled

to Himself as the lady turned off the gas and waited, till He was

needed again.

 

Each one of us in this world is so full of his or her importance. We

conveniently forget God who gives us the power to do

everything.Whether acknowledged or not, whether remembered or not,

God is the power behind doing and making everything, even Peas

Biryani!

 

 

FROM: Shoba M.K