Sunday, October 25, 2009
Mullah Issues Fatwa Against Annoying Animal
Ali Kuckamameh, a mullah in Tehran, has been so vexed by the repeated calls of a rooster in his neighborhood that he has issued a fatwa calling for its death. The rooster, whose owner calls him Bilal, annoyed Kuckamameh because its crowing would interfere with the mullah's early morning salat. As a mullah for a local mosque, Kuckamameh's role has to issue the salat, a call for prayer, to the faithful five times a day. Like most modern mosques in Tehran, the muezzin has the benefit of an electronic amplification system but Kuckamameh claims that the rooster's voice is "devilishly loud". "The rooster is interfering in my work and Allah's decree," said Kuckamameh,"and, therefore, he must die."
Bilal's owner, Mehdi Hassan, is terrified that one of Kuckamameh's faithful will carry out the fateful decree. "It is the nature of the rooster to crow,"said Hassan,"Allah willed it that way and I cannot stop Bilal from acting out his God-given nature?" Hassan admitted that he has considered giving the rooster sleeping pills to prevent him from crowing at the crack of dawn. "I'll do anything to save him,"said Hassan,"But I just don't know how I can afford sleeping pills for him for the rest of his life." A rooster can live up to 12 years and Hassan ekes out a living as a day-worker in the limestone quarries in the southern outskirts of Tehran.
To drown out the crows of Bilal at dawn, Hassan has built a special enclosure using wool and a cotton quilt to sound proof the cage. "It's tough,"admits Hassan,"because Bilal doesn't want to stay cooped up in the cage. He's a free spirit." If the enclosure proves ineffective, Hassan's other plan is to corral the rooster into a dark room until the morning call to prayers have passed.
Hassan admits that he has made efforts to pacify the irate mullah. "I offered him 40,000 Rials (approx. $ 4 USD) to upgrade Ali Kuckamameh's speaker system, but he insisted that I get rid of my rooseter instead," said Hassan.
Bilal's owner, Mehdi Hassan, is terrified that one of Kuckamameh's faithful will carry out the fateful decree. "It is the nature of the rooster to crow,"said Hassan,"Allah willed it that way and I cannot stop Bilal from acting out his God-given nature?" Hassan admitted that he has considered giving the rooster sleeping pills to prevent him from crowing at the crack of dawn. "I'll do anything to save him,"said Hassan,"But I just don't know how I can afford sleeping pills for him for the rest of his life." A rooster can live up to 12 years and Hassan ekes out a living as a day-worker in the limestone quarries in the southern outskirts of Tehran.
To drown out the crows of Bilal at dawn, Hassan has built a special enclosure using wool and a cotton quilt to sound proof the cage. "It's tough,"admits Hassan,"because Bilal doesn't want to stay cooped up in the cage. He's a free spirit." If the enclosure proves ineffective, Hassan's other plan is to corral the rooster into a dark room until the morning call to prayers have passed.
Hassan admits that he has made efforts to pacify the irate mullah. "I offered him 40,000 Rials (approx. $ 4 USD) to upgrade Ali Kuckamameh's speaker system, but he insisted that I get rid of my rooseter instead," said Hassan.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Proverbial Chutney...
"I see that you have all the qualities that we are seeking...When can you start?"
Kolkata Ragpicker Recooks Leftover Chicken to Win India's Major Culinary Award
Indian Roller Exclusive by:
Shanti Bhuj, a 12-year-old ragpicker from the Tangra locality of Kolkata, won the presitigious Rashoi Ruchi (Kitchen Taste) Award in a culinary competition held at Kolkata's landmark Park Street Luxury Hotel. The award competition, hosted every year by the Culinary Chefs Consortium of the Parganas (CCCP), was attended by a record 248 competitors from the India sub-continent including entrants from Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Bhuj's winning entry was a dish of chicken biryani and it garnered top honors from all but one of the nine judges and beat its nearest competitor by 28 points. "As far as we are concerned,"said Abhijit Roy, a local celebrity chef and one of the judges."Shanti's entry blew the competition away. In fact, there was no competing with her biryani."
Local and national media rushed to cover the details when Bhuj's family revealed that the chicken and the rice used in the biryani were actually from leftovers rummaged from a trash bin following a wedding reception in Kolkata. A biryani is a spiced rice pilaf made with meats or vegetables.
Bhuj and her family manage to survive on an income of less than $1 a day by recycling the plastics, glass, and paper that they rummage out of local dumpsters and trash sites in and around Tangra. "There is a wedding hall on Lower Circus Road,"said Amiya Bhuj, Shanti's father, "and we often get to eat the leftovers after the wedding reception. We get by because there are a lot of receptions every week at this hall and the owners don't mind us eating out of their trash."
The news that the judges at the Rashoi Ruchi awards, an event telecast live throughout India, ate a winning meal made of leftovers has sent shockwaves through the media. This year the competition, as part of its outreach program, opened the entries to inner-city, economically-disadvantaged communities. A Tangra-area social worker had urged Shanti to enter her name in the contest. The Selection Committee, anticipating a profusion of entries from the public, set up a lottery scheme to pick a single entry. Shanti, who entered the competition with the help of Yasmeen Rahman, a social worker, had the winning entry in the lottery.
"Shanti has a knack for cooking,"said Rahman, who works with teens in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Tangra."She was always asking me to try out some of her culinary creations that she created on her mother's coal stove. She lives close to the squalor and the foul stench of the local garbage dumps but her cooking is inspired by flavours that remind you of the legendary Mughlai cuisines. I believed it in my heart that Shanti could win."
Shanti would like to use the Award money to "rent a flat with a real kitchen" for her mother. Several TV sponsors, including JeeMedia, a cooking channel, have approached her with offers. Rahman noted that Shanti and her family deserved "a break" from their indigent conditions and that Shanti should entertain some of the offers coming her way but that she should "stay in school" to get an education. "She might be the first person in her immediate family to have a chance to get a high-school education, and perhaps, a higher degree in a field of her choice,"said Rahman,"And she should make full use of this opportunity."
"Shanti's runaway success could make Kolkata residents think twice about what to do with their leftovers," added Rahman.
Shanti Bhuj, a 12-year-old ragpicker from the Tangra locality of Kolkata, won the presitigious Rashoi Ruchi (Kitchen Taste) Award in a culinary competition held at Kolkata's landmark Park Street Luxury Hotel. The award competition, hosted every year by the Culinary Chefs Consortium of the Parganas (CCCP), was attended by a record 248 competitors from the India sub-continent including entrants from Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Bhuj's winning entry was a dish of chicken biryani and it garnered top honors from all but one of the nine judges and beat its nearest competitor by 28 points. "As far as we are concerned,"said Abhijit Roy, a local celebrity chef and one of the judges."Shanti's entry blew the competition away. In fact, there was no competing with her biryani."
Local and national media rushed to cover the details when Bhuj's family revealed that the chicken and the rice used in the biryani were actually from leftovers rummaged from a trash bin following a wedding reception in Kolkata. A biryani is a spiced rice pilaf made with meats or vegetables.
Bhuj and her family manage to survive on an income of less than $1 a day by recycling the plastics, glass, and paper that they rummage out of local dumpsters and trash sites in and around Tangra. "There is a wedding hall on Lower Circus Road,"said Amiya Bhuj, Shanti's father, "and we often get to eat the leftovers after the wedding reception. We get by because there are a lot of receptions every week at this hall and the owners don't mind us eating out of their trash."
The news that the judges at the Rashoi Ruchi awards, an event telecast live throughout India, ate a winning meal made of leftovers has sent shockwaves through the media. This year the competition, as part of its outreach program, opened the entries to inner-city, economically-disadvantaged communities. A Tangra-area social worker had urged Shanti to enter her name in the contest. The Selection Committee, anticipating a profusion of entries from the public, set up a lottery scheme to pick a single entry. Shanti, who entered the competition with the help of Yasmeen Rahman, a social worker, had the winning entry in the lottery.
"Shanti has a knack for cooking,"said Rahman, who works with teens in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Tangra."She was always asking me to try out some of her culinary creations that she created on her mother's coal stove. She lives close to the squalor and the foul stench of the local garbage dumps but her cooking is inspired by flavours that remind you of the legendary Mughlai cuisines. I believed it in my heart that Shanti could win."
Shanti would like to use the Award money to "rent a flat with a real kitchen" for her mother. Several TV sponsors, including JeeMedia, a cooking channel, have approached her with offers. Rahman noted that Shanti and her family deserved "a break" from their indigent conditions and that Shanti should entertain some of the offers coming her way but that she should "stay in school" to get an education. "She might be the first person in her immediate family to have a chance to get a high-school education, and perhaps, a higher degree in a field of her choice,"said Rahman,"And she should make full use of this opportunity."
"Shanti's runaway success could make Kolkata residents think twice about what to do with their leftovers," added Rahman.
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