May 23, 2023 | Awake & Dreaming

I can’t remember what were the first songs I heard as a small kid. I do remember liking ABBA and Boney M – the former in particular. My older sister used to play their songs for me a lot and I think I loved them a lot. Other than that it as usually kid songs, usually with the artists not really well known or at times eve credited.

I remember this one cassette of all kid songs that I absolutely loved and I would play it over and over again. I can’t remember the titles or the songs now but I do remember the feeling of playing it in the afternoon or evenings (before my cartoons or tv shows came on) and being so absorbed in the songs. I would ofcourse sing along.

Since then as I started listening to more and more of what my sister bought. Wham!, Culture Club, Stevie Wonder and Madonna was what she listened to and I sat along with her. At the of of 8 I got into Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 music and I developed my own taste since then.

Prompt from Over 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students at The New York Times Learning Network

Biryani is an authentic Mughal dish and its current-day closest relatives include Hyderabadi biryani and Awadhi biryani.
Hyderabadi kacchi biryani is a famous biryani type yet one of the simplest. One needs to marinate the chicken with herbs, spices, and curd.
Once the rice is cooked to perfection, you can enjoy delicious aromatic rice along with soft chicken pieces.
Hyderabadi pakki biryani is another famous biryani recipe where initially the chicken pieces are cooked along with the marinade. Once done, these pieces are layered with parboiled basmati rice. Eventually, for a short duration, the dum is cooked.
Sindhi biryani is another pretty famous biryani type that is especially well known for its spicy taste.
Sindhi biryani is a staple food in many parts of Pakistan and is prepared as a mixture of vegetables, basmati rice, spices, and meat of one’s choice.
Memoni biryani is largely inspired by Sindhi biryani owing to its spicy nature. This biryani type employs curd, fried onions, potatoes, mutton but does not use as much food color as other biryanis do.
One of the most interesting facts about biryani is that not all biryani types use basmati rice. Thalassery biryani which is native to the Indian state of Kerala uses khyma rice along with chicken and other spices which is unsurprisingly also its specialty.
Talking about Indian biryanis, one certainly cannot miss out on Kolkata biryani as it is one of the most delicious varieties of this rich dish.
Kolkata biryani is believed to be inspired by Lucknow biryani. This biryani type is uniquely known for using potato as a compulsory ingredient and employing a lesser amount of spices than other biryani types.