MARGINALIA
The Biryani that Cares
While the makers were fasting, they made sure we were feasting.
Anagh Bisht profiles a culinary delight out of the Awadhi recipe books.
Owner of Wahid Biryani and sons (Courtesy:Quint)
Wahid Biryani has several outlets across India and their name is synonymous with Mughlai cuisine. It would be no surprise that Wahid Biryani is also the name of their most famous dish. This is an Awadhi rice dish made with a combination of spices that is a family-held secret. The taste and tradition have been preserved for generations and the food is a must-have when in Lucknow. But last March was their finest hour.
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March 2019 witnessed the march of thousands of migrants passing through Lucknow, on their way home. Many of them were footsore and weary. They had spent most of their savings on the journey home and many had miles to go before they could sleep in their own beds in their village homes.
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Muskuraiye aap Lucknow me hain (Smile, you’re in Lucknow) was an old slogan and this was what the Wahid Biryani makers revived during the Covid-19 lockdown. Abid Ali Qureshi, the current owner of Wahid Biryani, and his team of hundred workers, were at the forefront of feeding the migrants. The team was divided into groups and stationed at four different traffic routes—Polytechnic Circle, Kamta Circle, Sitapur Road and Agra Expressway—in the city . For more than two weeks, they provided food, water, fruit and fruit juice to the migrants. For many this must have been like manna in the desert.
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“We at Wahid Biryani have made a resolution to help people in tragedies. We will be serving people like we always have,” Qureshi said. Permitted by the government to roam through the city, several team members were in cars carrying food packets and water pouches, reaching out to migrants who were taking roads other than the highways.
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It wasn’t always easy. Mohammed Aquib, one of Qureshi’s sons, who was stationed on the Agra Expressway, remembers a moment he would like to forget: “I came across seven people returning from Bihar carrying eight cycles with them. They were overjoyed after eating. I asked why they were carrying an extra cycle. They told me that the cycle belonged to one of the members of the group that had set out. He had died of exhaustion along the way but this way, at least his bicycle would reach home.” Mohammed Aquib and his brother, Mohammed Saqib did not wait for the migrants to come to them. They would drive around in cars on the lookout of migrants. This is compassion with a healthy dose of action.
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Wahid Biryani feeding migrants at the Agra Expressway (Courtesy: Quint)
Wahid Biryani also broke a tradition for the first time in 65 years by serving pure vegetarian food to a large number of migrants. Many were sceptical if the biryani-makers were really serving vegetarian food. Aquib recalls an incident, “A temple priest protested that we make non-vegetarian food and he will not eat what we were serving. We then had to make him believe that it was made purely vegetarian so everyone can eat it. Then the priest helped us by telling the migrants that the food is nothing less than prasad (pious food offering) and is fit for vegetarians.”
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A similar incident happened with the team at Sitapur Road when a woman wasn’t sure if she should eat the food they were serving. This is truly awe-inspiring for it is assumed in India, and in most societies, that the poor should eat what they are given, without asking too many questions.
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The team, most of whom were fasting Muslims, did not consume even a single food item. Working in hot weather during their Roza, many members fainted but kept going for the humanitarian cause. “It was the grace of God that so many of our people were out there feeding the people and none of them got Covid. We weren’t sure if we could be able to do such a thing but perhaps it was God’s will,” says Mohammed Ibrahim, who works at one of the outlets. Abid Qureshi also feels that they were able to pull off this feat because of heavenly grace and the food was to be given to the people it was destined for. “We met people who hadn’t eaten well for weeks and then there were people who had money but could not buy anything as shops were closed.”
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Started in the year 1955 by Wahid Ali Qureshi, Wahid Biryani was awarded a medal for their humanitarian service from the Royal Success International Book of Records for serving more than 2000 people.