INfusion 47 ebook - Summer 2012 - NMIT

Bronwyn Lovell Rattanbir Dhariwal
Recipe
Preparation time: 21 years
Cooking time: 10 years
Ingredients: Bones, guts, whimsy
Method:
1. Combine ingredients and mix together in a bowl until they form
a spongy dough.
2. Cover with a tourist tea-towel and leave in a moderately warm
suburban family until risen twice as tall.
3. Send to school daily. Allow the mixture to be pushed down
repeatedly until it reduces to half its size. Let it rest and rise again.
4. Remove from family. Toss and stretch until its shape begins
to bounce back quickly.
5. Bake until a thick skin forms. Then enjoy. Best served with
a movie and glass of red wine. Flavour will improve with age.
152 153
Grandpa
The year was 1907, and Grandpa was born into a family of wealthy landlords.
His place of birth was called Kot Lakha Singh. It was named after his greatgrandfather,
who had been rewarded with the ownership of that land on
account of the valour he had shown in one of the wars during the eighteenth
century.
Grandpa was the only son, so he had a privileged upbringing. He grew
up to be a fine horseman, a wise farmer and a well-built, handsome young
man. There was an aura of invincibility around him and he became a much
respected person of the area. His fame would also attract foes, ever-conspiring
to eliminate him and take his land. There was an attempt on his life, the
marks of which were permanently left on his body in the form of three sword
wounds.
Life, as we all know, is a great leveller that does not necessarily wait for
judgement day to deliver justice. One of the great certainties of life is uncertainty
and my grandfather, despite being in the good books of lady luck, was
not going to be an exception to the laws of nature.
The year was 1947: Grandpa was forty, Grandma was thirty and my father was
one year old. The British left India; the new people in charge exulted that the
British crumbled under the pressure created by their peaceful agitations. But
the fact was, affording India was now a luxury for the Crown, who was already
reeling under the stresses of World War II. A new country, Pakistan, was created
and the Indian subcontinent witnessed the largest human migration in
mankind’s history. Under the new transfer of land laws, people moving from
India to Pakistan would get a multiplied proportion of the land they left in
India, whereas the land share of people moving from Pakistan to India was to
be divided.
We were the unfortunate ones; for us, there was a cruel definition for this
new so-called freedom. From being the proud possessors of more than two
hundred and fifty acres of fertile land we were reduced to being the humble
farmers of a mere twenty-five acres — and that too was in split locations. So
the smaller farms were sold off and the family built a house near the largest
block of farmland. Grandpa was now faced with the daunting task of raising