A 'Nobel' Biryani

Around 3 years back, when my parents moved into our apartment in Tilaknagar, Mumbai, I was told that some 'Kulkarnis' were our immediate neighbours. Now, this is a very common surname in the Western part of India, but over the last year, I got to interact a lot with Mr. Kshitij Kulkarni and have realized for sure that there is nothing 'common' about this individual.

For starters, he is a Geologist by profession. He started his career in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, where he worked as a Scientific Officer. After a 13 year stint there, he joined the United Nations in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Vienna, as a Isotope Hydrologist. His job profile was to study the various water bodies on the earth and this took him all over the world. During this time, he even got to work alongside Mohamed ElBaradei, who apart from being a Director with the IAEA will, soon, also be a candidate for the Egyptian Presidential elections. He spent almost 8 years in Vienna and then decided to come back to Mumbai in 2008 and settle down here.

My interaction with Mr. Kulkarni, first happened during on of my visits home. He invited me over to his place and showed me some of the stuff he had been collecting. Being a hard core engineer by heart, I obviously took a firm liking to one artifact - an old transistor radio, which he actually assigned me to repair, but I have no idea where to find a condenser for this beauty!!

Later in the year, during the month of December, I got to interact much more with him and discovered that he was abundant with all sorts of knowledge. He could talk hours and hours about just about anything from rare gem stones to classic perfumes and his all time favourite passion - cooking authentic food. So, during this visit of mine, Prachi and me convinced him to exercise his passion and cook us a good Mutton Biryani.

We decided to help out as well, so that we could get a few tips in the process. My first task was to drive him to the Nirmal supermarket, in Mulund, because according to him 'A good biryani needs the best quality of mutton and some very good ingredients'.

Walking around a large supermarket with a bag of knowledge was a completely different experience for us. He spoke a lot about the correct way of selecting the rice, vegetables and fruits. He even brought Guava and Pineapple, whose juice he said he would use to tenderize the meat. He gave us ideas on selecting the right oil for a healthy life and a few useful tips to take good care of our future car.

Finally, after 3 hours of moving around and shopping, we got back home. I wanted to help him prepare the whole thing, but had to step out for a while and back the time we got back, he was putting the finishing touches on his biryani and the 'mirchi ka salan' to go along with it.

Prachi and his daughter, Shruti, were out in charge of preparinghile the lettuce salad while my contribution was limited to cleaning the bowl in which the biryani was to be served and ofcourse, eating it!

My parents and a family friend of his had also joined us as we started the evening with some fine 'Black Dog' scotch accompanied with cheese slices and cheeselings and a bowl of yummy letuce salad dipped in some exotic vinegar.

This was followed by some really amazing Mutton Biryani, which contained some really succulent meat and a perfect blend of some amazing basmati rice, kesar and pudhina.


We followed this up with some vanilla ice cream with a topping of either chocolate or some alphonso mango cream. The night ended with a small serving of some real strong cognac and liqueur to satisfy every taste bud.

In the end of it all, I was really impressed with the capabilities of this common man right next door, whose biggest achievement I am yet to mention.

During his stint with the UN as a staff member of the IAEA, he was awarded the prestigious 'Nobel Peace Prize' in 2005.


Considering all this, I must say that I am very lucky individual, who can proudly claim that I had this unique opportunity to eat a Mutton Biryani prepared by a 'Nobel Laureate'!!

Comments

Charu said…
Nice Post .. I must say it would have been an experience to get to know him!
March 8, 2011 at 10:49 AM
arushi said…
Really nice .... :)
March 24, 2011 at 12:08 PM
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