Category: Columns

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Enough said

Saudi Arabia’s not doing so well

…in the news, that is. Three separate and grisly incidents have focussed a harsh spotlight on one of the world’s richest countries.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

This month has not been a kind one for Saudi Arabia. The country has been thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

First came the crane tragedy at Mecca that killed hundreds of pilgrims and injured more than 300 people. Such a thing has been unheard of in this country, and it rightly shook Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world when the news first broke. At the moment, an official fact finding mission is on to ascertain the cause of the accident, there are thousands of rumours swirling about the place.

Theories ranging from sabotage to foul play by foreign players are constantly doing the rounds. What really happened out there?

Then the country put its foot firmly in its mouth with its ‘offer’ to build mosques in Germany if the latter takes in Syrian refugees. Not only is this offer bizarre but it borders on the idiotic. Firstly, why would Germany need this country’s intervention to build mosques on its land? Why would it need to build mosques in the first place? And second, what stops Saudi Arabia from taking in the Syrian refugees themselves? This is a country with more money and land than it knows what to do with. It can easily offer help and refuge while it sets up schools, hospitals, food canteens and camps for the Syrian refugees.

But no, it contends itself with making strange proposals to other countries after asking them to help those in need. What is the Government thinking, and why the studied silence on the issue of accepting refugees through its own borders?

And then there was the news of the Saudi diplomat accused of raping and torturing his Nepalese domestic help and her daughter in New Delhi. There is no concrete conclusion in the case yet and the man himself remains out of the public eye owing to his diplomatic immunity. How long does it take to complete such an investigation? Or are there wheels within wheels, due to which the investigation is taking so much time?

Questions that nobody is willing to answer…

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant. Her latest book Dagars and Dhrupad is out now.

(Picture courtesy www.ndtv.com)

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Swaad 'Anu'saar

Meat the ban

Does the upcoming ban on sale of meat make you crave meat more? Try out these wonderful non-vegetarian recipes today.
anurita guptaby Anurita Gupta | @myylittlekitchn on Twitter, @myylittlekitchen on Instagram

Anda, machhi, chicken! Naam bhi matt lo, ban hai!

Recently we have been ‘told’ what we should not be eating. The beef ban in Maharashtra was a ‘dream come true’ according to a senior minister. And now, all those who were supporting that ban are also in for a shock as the Government has again decided a four-day meat sale ban during the Jain paryushan. The ban was then reduced to two days – September 10 and 17 – after public and political furore.

While it is wise to be sensitive to all communities and cultures in our country, this ban is clearly pushing things too far. Politicians are now dictating what should be on our plates in the pious country of India.

Many ban-believers forget that Indian cuisine is the most popular in the world because of its ‘butter Chicken’ and ‘balti curry’ both of which are meat dishes. Popular or not, as free citizens we should not have to fight for our food choices! That is why I bring to you a unique way of ‘meating’ this ban by giving you some non-vegetarian recipes that you can make and enjoy albeit even more ravenously to make the point J

Butter Chicken

As I said, the pride of Punjab sadda butter chicken is one of the best and the most sinful creations that the world and its cousin loves.

Can you believe that butter chicken was invented by accident at Moti Mahal Restaurant in Daryaganj, New Delhi? I bring to you the same recipe:

Ingredients: 1 kilo chicken marinated in 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1/2 kilo dahi (curd) and salt to taste. While the chicken marinates put together the following for the gravy.

175 gm regular or preferably white butter, 1/2 kg tomato puree, 100 gm fresh cream, 4 to 5 green chillies sliced down the middle, 1/2 tsp each of sugar, jeera, red chilli powder, kasuri methi and salt to taste.

Make sure that the chicken is marinated and refrigerated for at least 6 hours or overnight before you put it in the oven. A clay oven is ideal but I use a regular oven (preheated) at 180 degrees and full power to roast the chicken for 15 minutes until it’s just a little underdone.

Now add half the butter in a kadhai and pour in the tomato puree. Saute for 3-5 minutes and add all the masalas. Now add the roasted chicken, white butter, the fresh cream, chillies and kasuri methi. Now simmer the gravy until the chicken is completely cooked. Serve hot with naan. Life set!

Sali per eedu

sali per eeduMumbai bawajis are known for breaking an egg in everything. But this eedu (egg) recipe is arguably the best in the Parsi bhona treasure trove. It’s simple yet a bit tricky. This recipe is essentially fried egg on top of fried potato chips/shavings. It’s tricky because while the egg cooks through, the sali must not burn or steam up to being soft instead of crunchy J

All you need for this is eggs and potato sali, the thinner the better. Now, heat 1 tsp of ghee/unsalted butter and add Sali –potato chips – in the pan so that they form a circle on top of which you break an egg. That would be just the same way as you would do when you make fried eggs.

Sprinkle 2-3 drops of water on the egg (not the sali) and cover the pan. In about 30 sec, the egg would get some colour and it’s ready to eat. Season it well and ensure that the potato shavings do not become soggy before you serve.

Tandoori fish

This fish recipe is by far my most favourite. It is also a hot favourite of fitness addicts, too. Low in calories, it packs in a punch of flavour. All you need is a wholetandoori fish big 1/2 kilo white fish, preferably a pomfret.

For the marinade: take 6-7 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp coriander leaves, 2 inches ginger, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chili powder, 1/2 tsp jeera powder, 1/2 tbsp garam masala, 1 ½ tsp salt, 50 ml refined vegetable oil, 1 tbsp ‘roasted’ gram flour, 100 gm thick dahi.

Take all the ingredients (other than oil and curd) and blitz in a mixer to make a fine paste. Add to the oil and dahi and make a thick paste. Now marinate the fish by giving it 3 slits in the middle. Make sure you rub the marinade in the fish as well for even coating. Keep the marinated fish aside for 1 hour.

Now pre heat the oven at 200 Degree C. Put the fish on the top rack for 7 to 8 minutes, turning it once after 3 minutes. If you don’t want to use the oven, you can simply put it on the tawa and oil grill it. Baste it well with the marinade during cooking. Serve will lemon segments stuffed between slits and some garden salad.

I hope you will explore at least one of these recipes during these ban day. It would not just add vivid aromas to your home kitchen, but will also reiterate your freedom to ‘meat the ban’ the way you like it J

Anurita Gupta is a media professional who is passionate about two things – food and radio. Her love for all things food makes her a foodie with a cause.

(Pictures courtesy Anurita Gupta)

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Enough said

If the Syrians came to India…

…they would most likely be banned. Which would be okay, considering how we treated last year’s Burmese refugees in Delhi.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

It is still hard to see the picture of little Aylan Kurdi and not cry. The three-year-old Syrian boy’s body was washed ashore after the dinghy he and his family were in capsized as they fled to Greece. Along with pain at the fate of a young life snuffed out through no fault of its own, is the numbness of knowing that all the Syrian refugees are actually fleeing into nowhere, with no future.

Though a few countries have acknowledged that they would take a few refugees, the fact is that nobody wants the burden of housing scores of people from another land. At least some European nations opened their borders; the rich Arab nations have still not done so!

Though there is no possibility of this happening, but I can’t help wondering what would happen in the Syrian refugees somehow found their way to our shores. I think their entry would be banned straightaway – after all, we are so fond of banning everything in sight. Even if they did sneak in, they would be constantly under the scanner as troublemakers, or worse, suspects connected to ISIS or similar outfits!

What is ironical is that though more than half of New Delhi’s population comprises refugees at some point – they themselves, if not their parents and grandparents – have fled from undivided Punjab during the Partition, their attitude towards migrants and refugees is completely deplorable. Last year, hundreds of Burmese refugees, the Rohingyas, fled their land to seek refuge in Delhi.

Not only was their condition hard to describe when they got here, their condition is even worse today. Neglected and shunned by the capital city, they continue to live in squalor. When they arrived here, they hadn’t eaten in days, and most were malnourished and about to die. Nothing has changed today – they live in a disease-infested ghetto near Kalindi Kunj in New Dlehi, close to the outer fringes of Okhla. I would say they are living like outcasts, worse than animals. I wish their entry had been banned instead.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy

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Enough said

Nothing’s changed in Kashmir

Where is all the money from Government packages going? There seems to be no change on the ground in Kashmir.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I visited the Kashmir Valley last fortnight, my first visit since the terrible floods of 2014 and the PDP-BJP tie up in the State. I was curious to see what changes were underway in the State; after all, a lot of Government money is being poured into the area by way of ‘packages’ worth crores of rupees.

As expected, nothing has changed. There are no traces of any help being given. The roads are still run down and broken. The pavements are still dented, the bridges still damaged, the garbage still sitting in undisturbed piles. Amidst all of this, only one thing has changed – strays abound in this once-beautiful city. They were not there before.

There is little transparency or accountability in this conflict zone, and nobody dares question the political tie-up in the State. The PDP’s rationale when allying with the BJP was that the tie-up would help get finance to repair the damage of the flood. But it has more than a year, and the supposed packages have still not done their work. Why is this so?

I wonder if those announced packages have reached J&K, or are they still stuck in file jottings? Or has the money come in but the repair and restoration happening at a glacial pace – so glacial, that they show no signs anywhere? In the backdrop of all this is the people’s resentment about the PDP tying up with the Right wing BJP.

What has been introduced in J&K is the presence of more check points. The police and army seem in total control of the place and its people.

The worst hit are the State’s young, especially those who were born in the 1990s and who have never seen the face of peace. There are no recreational centres, playgrounds and reading rooms for the youth, and this lack of a venting space is making the youth very volatile. The youth are not impressed by speeches made in Delhi, they want basic dignity and freedom. If the PDP does not recognise this in time, it has a potential problem on its hands.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.digitaljournal.com. Image is a file picture used for representational purpose only)

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Enough said

The debate on Yakub Memon’s hanging

The execution of 1993 Bombay riots convict Yakub Menon raises the same questions every execution brings – and no answers.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

When the news about 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Menon’s hanging broke recently, there were the usual reactions from all quarters. Some welcomed the execution, others condemned it. After all, Yakub was not the mastermind of the attacks – those men sit safe and sound in other parts of the world. Is he simply being made an example to other criminals plotting similar heinous terror attacks?

But then there are other questions that nobody every answers. For one, is hanging the only available punishment for criminals? Is it a good deterrent? Crime and prison statistics show that hanging has never had an appreciable effect on criminals. So whom does this exercise benefit?

Yakub is to be hanged at Nagpur Central Jail on July 30. Even as the date nears, as hectic last-minute appeals are being sent by his legal team to the Powers that Be, the country is hotly debating the wisdom of the execution. Like I mention earlier, Yakub was not the prime accused. He was one of many accused in the case, but one of the few ones who surrendered to the police and confessed his role in the crime. At the time, he was quoted to have said that he had “full faith in the Indian Judiciary”. It is a little disturbing to note that he is going to be the first to hang in the case, while the ones who are bigger contenders for the death penalty are out of the reach of the Indian law. Another person in Yakub’s case might have been shown more leniency. But after two decades of prison life, most of it spent in solitary confinement, is Yakub still tainted by his association to his brother and chief mastermind Tiger Memon?

Delhi-based publisher and President of the All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, says, “Yakub’s hanging before full justice is done to the victims of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition riots and the 1993 serial blasts case is a murder of justice. The murderers, rapists and looters that roamed the streets after the Babri Masjid demolition, despite all the evidence against them – who will bring them to book? The Srikrishna Commission Report, submitted way back in February 1998, names all the political parties and their leaders engaged in these crimes. Even police officers participated in looting and killing. But nothing happened to these political and police goons. Until these criminals are first brought to book, Yaqub’s execution will remain a judicial murder by a callous political system which believes in offering human sacrifices from time to time in the false belief that this will prolong the life of this unjust system.”

(Picture courtesy idrw.org)

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Enough said

What’s next in the Sushma-Vasundhara-Lalit Modi triangle?

As the issue becomes murkier, it’s time to examine if ministerial resignations should also be made compulsory, like everything else.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

The present Government was supposed to weed out every sort of corruption, starting with bringing back the black money reserves stashed abroad. But as each day passes, it is becoming obvious that far from rooting out corruption, the Government is firmly entrenching itself in it.

If Cabinet Minister and Chief Minister helping fugitives is not corruption, then what is? External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj ‘helping’ the tainted and wanted Lalit Modi due to some rumoured ‘family ties’ has only brought out the fact that the latter is Swaraj’s lawyer daughter Bansuri’s client. Nobody knew this before, and nobody would have known till Swaraj’s involvement in helping Lalit Modi had not been brought to light.

Then came the news of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s involvement in the matter, and the issue became even murkier. Even Vasundhara has ties with Lalil Modi’s family – her son Dushyant Singh has business connections with the London-based tycoon.

These are just two links out in the open at the moment – can we be certain there aren’t many more? After all, corruption is not just about taking money, it is also about influencing the outcome of several matters, or pressurising others to do things a certain way to gain some advantage.

What’s more, Lalit Modi seems to be in a mood to reveal many names connected with the matter – who else has been giving out the information about family histories and business links? The bigger question is, what does the Government intend to do with this information? Whether more names come out or not, what is it going to do about Sushma and Vasundhara?

If the Government can make yoga compulsory in schools, if it can enforce a beef ban in Maharashtra (and look to ban it in other States as well), why can’t it make resignations of errant Ministers compulsory?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.    

(Picture courtesy www.ndtv.com. Image is a file picture) 

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