The Yorkshire Biryani

Preface

In India, people often debate the significance and impact of the British sovereignty. Sometimes, the debate wanders into the realm of fiction; focusing on an India sans British reign. The fact remains that Bharat was under seven hundred years of Muslim rule, and close to three hundred years of English rule. The English came to India for trade reasons but established their stronghold over the country, depriving the nation of its wealth and knowledge.

The premise of Yorkshire Biryani occurred to me in a dream. This particular dream, in all its pristine glory, beckoned this burning question in my mind – Instead of the British ruling India for a couple of centuries, how would it be if we lived in a contrasting world, where the opposite had happened?

The dream spanned like this:

I stood in a large lavish room, which resembled the interior of a south Indian temple. Sculptures and pillars festooned the brightly lit room, whilst crimson red, lemon yellow, peacock blue, harlequin and a swarm of other colors dominated the Sarees, the Salwars, the Kurta Pyjamas and the Dhotis worn by the room's occupants.

I saw a couple bejeweled in gold and diamonds, looking more ornate than the rest- the bride and groom who were hosting their wedding reception party.

Other than the Indians present at the party, there were a few white skinned men dressed in white uniforms roaming around with plates and jugs in their hands. I suddenly realized they were the attendants for the night.

"How are you doing?" I asked a white man. To my surprise, the white man spoke fluent Hindi. "Arey aap Angrezi mein baath karthe hain, kahaan seekha aapne Angrezi?" (You speak English, where did you learn it?) I failed to realize the significance of this pep talk at that juncture.

In another part of the hall stood some men and women, visibly darker and stouter than the rest. Men with huge epigastrium stood leaning backwards with one hand on their hip, like a pregnant woman about to go into labor. Their white shirts were stretched across their bellies with great difficulty, with buttons that looked as though they were about to fly off at the slightest movement. These men stood biting on pieces of chicken leg, as the humble waiters stood holding their plates next to them. I stood there smirking at the scene, finding a sadistic pleasure at the sight of a white man in such anguish.

I woke up from my dream the next morning and started to put some deep thought in to this story. As I did so, these facts hit my mind's eye:

We have been raised with a de rigueur to comply with British standards. English is our default language across the world and nearly everything, from the clothing we wear to the sports we play, can be connected or attributed to England in some way.

My dream was devoid of our daily attributes. In fact, it presented a very unique world that hadn't been imagined yet. From that moment on, I took it as my personal goal to imagine this particular world; a world in which India is the crux of world culture, and its way of life has spread to every nook and cranny.

India is a chaotic place where religion is prolific. Being such a diverse country, many differences have existed throughout its course of history. The north and south have always had their clashes and no one emperor has managed to bring complete unity amidst the grand diversity. This book imagines a premise where an emperor actually managed to successfully unite India, restoring its lost glory from the Mughals, and slowly spreading its culture to the rest of the world.

I present to you The Yorkshire Biryani, a comical take on this particular alternate History. Set in an imaginary British village dubbed Mayfield, this book explores the lives of an ideal middle class British family, through all their happiness and heartbreaks.

A