A Brief History of Biryani

The History lecture being delivered by Mrs.Mukherjee had turned into a daydreamer’s haven. With the blazing May sun outside, the balmy and stuffy classroom left all feeling utterly drowsy. Except for a few front benchers who were self-proclaimed History buffs, Mrs. Mukherjee’s voice trailed into oblivion for the rest of the class, as she began the chapter on ‘India during the Mughal ages’. Most of the Eighth graders longed for the double period to end waiting for the bell to ring.

While Mrs. Mukherjee was leaving no stone unturned to make the Mughal emperor Babar’s entry, as interesting as possible, her lilting voice failed to make an impact. As on other days Kunal Malhotra seated on the last bench, at one corner, had put his head down even after being rebuked several times.

Kunal was one of the notorious lads around, and was quite infamous, especially among the girls, for his gastronomic adventures. A chubby and obese kid, his only desire was to get hold of everyone’s tiffin until his hunger pangs were satiated! Today being no exception, Kunal drifted off effortlessly into an afternoon siesta, during the ongoing History lesson. The last words he could hear were ‘in 1526 Babar and his army defeated Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan of  Delhi’.

Though renowned for his laziness and laidback attitude, in his heart of hearts Kunal desired to be a chef, and to be someday applauded for his culinary skills at a royal gathering. Thus was his dream and so he often found himself on a phantom pedestal of glory!

Today seemed to be the perfect setting for a revival of his dream. Mrs. Mukherjee’s constant warnings fell on deaf ears until she gave up and continued with her lecture.

While our dear Kunal Malhotra found himself as one of the many soldiers in the Mughal troupe led by emperor  Babar himself. In his dreamy aura he envisioned himself as a chieftain and to top it up he was also a culinary expert in the army!

“Hail emperor Babar! Hail emperor Babar!” sang the crowd in unison, as the king arrived in his court followed by the courtesans. The emperor motioned everyone to take their seats, while he himself rested on his throne.

“Shall we start the proceedings for the day?” he enquired.

“Certainly, O mighty king!” replied his chief advisor.

“There is news from our neighbours that Ibrahim Lodi, now Sultan of Delhi is preparing to expand his territory by waging wars on the adjoining kingdoms. The Lodi Dynasty is fast spreading wings in northern India.”

“We have to move strategically through the borders, in order to invade their territory, and lay them in a trap, if we want to outsmart them! The Lodis are powerful and astute warriors!”

Kunal Malhotra shifted in his seat while he was formulating a strategy against Ibrahim Lodi. He winked once, but was so caught up in his fantasy war, that he couldn’t be shaken out of his dream.

“Someday, I will take you to the Principal” retorted Mrs. Mukherjee angrily, in between the lesson. Her words drifted away into thin air, while the other students giggled secretly at the whole episode.

Kunal continued with his dream…

By now Babar had called the chief soldiers in his army as well as his chief secretary and advisor, and all of them were pouring into the the map of India to determine their next move.

“ O mighty king, I have a suggestion” said the head of the army.

“Please go ahead” commanded the king.

“Before looking at the map of India, we have a bigger task at hand”

“And what is that?” asked the king  in a curious tone.

“We must first formulate an attacking strategy to trap the guards and soldiers of the Lodis, so that they are caught unawares to become our catch. They have a formidable army and we must trick them somehow!”

“For this it is imperative to gain knowledge of their fortified territories before we make any move!”

The emperor nodded in agreement.

“All soldiers, lay out a plan by this evening for approaching the city of Delhi at the earliest. Everyone must be on guard to avoid falling prey to any miscreant spies!”

“The assembly is dismissed as of now…”

Kunal was shaken up vigorously from his sleep by his bestie Akshay, who happened to be a partner in crime.

“All ok Kunal? What happened? You dozed off as usual in the History class?” Akshay laughed.

“I…I…I was just going to…”Kunal muttered incoherently, while Akshay hurriedly picked up his bag.

Kunal’s mind was caught in a maze and he could still not come to terms with reality. Akshay literally dragged him out of the classroom to catch the bus home, on time!

On the way back home all the children were discussing the Battle of Panipat at the rear end of the bus. Apparently they were asked by Mrs. Mukherjee to perform a skit on the same episode next week.

“The Battle of Panipat” Kunal overheard, and his head started reeling with imagination again!

“But what about the remaining story? That nasty Akshay woke me up just before my grand entry in Babar’s court!” he complained to himself.

Reaching home, Kunal found his mom in the kitchen.

 She warned him “Kunal, don’t mess around in the kitchen today . we are expecting some guests in the evening, so I’ll be busy preparing Biryani. Ok?”

Kunal’s mouth had almost started dripping, but  drowsiness overpowered him. He kicked off his shoes and almost instantly hit the sack for another nap.

His dream took off from where it had ended, for he could not get the battle of Panipat out of his head!

Kunal took a royal entry in Babar’s court. As a newly appointed chieftain, he played the role of the imperial chef  in Babar’s army.

Just when the other chiefs were strategizing about the impending war, a brilliant idea struck Kunal. At the army cantonment in Panipat, where the Mughals were planning an attack on the fortress of Ibrahim Lodi, he would cook a meal so delicious that its aroma would travel miles until it tickled the nostrils of the guards and soldiers deputed at the fortress!

“I promise you emperor, it will be a dish so rich and spicy that its magnificence would be remembered for eons to come!”

“Please entrust me with this responsibility and I’m sure your army will bring back laurels after the victory.”pleaded Kunal.

“But how can you be so sure?” Babar was curious.

“Because Sire, the fragrant spices of the Biryani, specially bought from Persia, will surely get their soldiers addicted, and some of them will be drawn to our sheds, for sure! Our soldiers could then easily sneak into their territory by night and make them captives!”

“Such a brilliant idea Kunal! You shall be awarded with a 100 gold coins if you can take this task to completion!” beamed Babar.

“Of course I will!” Kunal said confidently and walked out to make further arrangements.

All this while , in the kitchen, Kunal’s mom had started prepping up the spices for the Biryani, The scent of the aromatic cuisine wafted through the house and soon reached sleepy Kunal.

In his delirious state, Kunal found himself  grinding the flavourful spices at Babar’s army contingent. He had to feed the entire army and it was no mean task. And then there was paucity of time!

Once the grinding was over, Kunal was ready with all the other ingredients that would go into the Biryani. As the meat was cooked tenderly, he assimilated the aromatic rice and the meat, layer upon layer, topped with crispy fried sliced onions and the most fragrant saffron ever! Yes indeed, in no time the scent diffused all over the place and watered every palate, even before it had been tasted!

Much as Kunal had guaranteed the king, the soldiers guarding the fortress  of the Lodis were enamoured by the flavours drifting in the air. As though almost in a hypnotised state, those men were drawn to the site of the Mughal army hideout near Panipat, in search of the source of this lovely aroma!

Kunal commanded the army in a stern voice “Armymen! I can sense some people from the Lodis moving in this direction! Be ready for the encounter! Long live the Mughals!”

An arduous encounter ensued thereafter resulting in the famous Battle of Panipat with gun powder and fire artillery. The Mughals defeated and uprooted the Lodi dynasty to reign over Delhi,

However, the star of the whole battalion was our dear Kunal Malhotra, the royal culinary chef. And of course the prized cuisine was’ Biryani’, which brought about the victory!

Kunal threw up his legs in his sleep as he imagined being escorted through the victory procession, and being garlanded in honour of the Biryani he cooked!

Just then kunal’s mom entered his room after her repeated calls from the kitchen remained unanswered. Looking at Kunal cycling in the air, she almost got a fit!

Finally she mustered courage to wake up Kunal from his delirious state, sprinkling some water on his face.

“Oh Mummy! I was about to receive the 100 gold coins from emperor Babar himself…what a Biryani I cooked!

Mom nearly fainted thinking her son had gone insane.

And thus goes the story of  spicy, aromatic Biryani!!