ch.3 Rice SN 10

The writer's father is a methodical man who is famous for making a type of baked rice called pulao perfectly for family celebrations and events. He has made pulao using precise measurements and techniques for occasions like the writer's childhood ceremony where solid food is first introduced. Even when faced with challenges, the father demonstrates his dedication to continuing his pulao-making tradition.

Uploaded by

Surendra Bhatta

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

35 views2 pages

ch.3 Rice SN 10

Uploaded by

Surendra Bhatta

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 2

Ch.

3 Rice
-Jhumpa Lahiri

Main idea:

Jhumpa Lahiri is a daughter of Indian immigrants and she was born in London. Later her family
moved to the United States where she got her Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. Most of her books
and articles explore Indian and the immigrant lifestyles and culture. This essay is also about her
father's skill to make special type of rice which is called 'pulao' on the surface level, but in the
deeper level of analysis, it shows how rice has become a symbol of their cultural attachment,
family reunion and collective identity for the people in the Indian subcontinent. Originally, rice
refers to the Indian word 'dhanya' which means the sustainer of the human race. 'Dhan' is also
culturally symbolic because we throw 'dhan' at the weddings and worships indicating fertility and
prosperity.

Summary:

The writer says that her father is a methodical man who does everything perfectly and expects
the same from others. He has his own lifestyle cataloguing books at a university library for
thirty-nine years, drinking two glasses of water every morning, going for a walk, flossing his
teeth at the bed time for an hour. Even in the kitchen, he does everything perfectly in his own
ways. He has an estimate of how many cups of rice are needed for four or forty or a hundred and
forty people.

Similarly, he has got an oracle in rice. He is famous for another kind of rice making which is
called 'pulao', a type of baked, buttery, sophisticated rice usually served in the festive occasions.
It involves the grains of basmati rice in butter, along with cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves,
cardamom pods, cashews, raisins, ginger paste, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and much more ingredients.
A certain amount of water is needed until the rice simmers and the water evaporates. It is spread
on a baking tray and more water is flicked on the top as in the rituals. Then the tray goes into the
oven again until the rice is cooked through and not a single grain sticks to another. Despite
having some knowledge to do it, the writer can never make such pulao. She feels that he has the
copyright of the pulao which dies with him when he dies.

Her father cooked such rice in 1968 for the first time at the occasion of her 'annaprasan', when
the children are given rice as a solid food for the first time in the Indian culture. It is also called
'Bhath', the Bengali word for cooked rice. He cooked pulao for thirty five people, and then after,
he made pulao for the annaprasans of his friend's children, birthday parties, anniversaries, baby
showers, wedding receptions, and his daughter's Ph.D. parties. When they moved to the US, he
served hundreds of people in several events.
When the writer's son and daughter were infants, they celebrated their annaprasanas and they
hired a caterer but her father made the pulao. In 2002, for her son's first taste of rice, her father
made the pulao but in 2005, when it was the turn of her daughter, the caterer would not permit
her father to do the work telling him that he was not the licensed cook. He was not allowed to
use the oven and the caterer's dishes. But her father made the pulao at home using the small
microwave batch by batch and served for almost a hundred people. When she asked her father
about his experience this time, he expressed no frustration and said 'It was fine, it was a big
microwave'.

Here, we know that her father did not show his frustration even in making pulao using the small
microwave at home for a hundred people. He was so interested and so perfect in making pulao.
In this way, this essay describes her father's skill on making the special rice, pulao on the basic
level. But the writer also implies that how rice has become a symbol of family reunion,
celebration and their collective cultural identity.