India as an idea is fast gaining momentum. But what is India, asks Gamal Nkrumah The seamless merging, like on an Indian sari, of state-of-the-art technology with a rich and ancient culture is the hallmark of contemporary India. And, as if to prove it, one Monday morning I was offered, with the purest-hearted intent, a glimpse of Indian cure-all dishes produced by professional chefs at the Maharaja Restaurant at Cairo's Ramses Hilton. The Maharaja, dubbed the Indian Signature Restaurant of Egypt, lives up to all its accolades. Its chefs are paragons of goodness, and a group of journalists and society ladies was treated to the trend in contemporary Cairo for the outlandish. The Maharaja's vegetarian menu is extensive and varied. To the uninitiated, tandoori specialties are the preserve of carnivores, and India's famous tandoor -- the traditional charcoal-fired clay ovens -- churn out the most mouthwatering and succulent chick-pea-and-lamb morsels. However, the vegetarian tandoor is equally delectable. Shakahari seekh, vegetable kofta served with freshly prepared mint chutney, is quite simply the food of the gods. And so is halyan aaur bainjan -- asparagus with smoked aubergine in curried yoghurt and tomato sauce. The idea of India as a "benign giant" is fast gaining ground inside India and in Asia and the world at large. There is the unspoken realisation that the borders dividing the nation-states of South Asia are artificial. India as an idea is fast gaining momentum. But what is India? The art of the Kathakali, the rituals of the Theyyam, chicken served with salad kachumber and mint yoghurt sauce, or shaki tukra (fried milk dumplings) with gulab jamun ? These are parts of what constitutes India, but the real India is a political entity that is disinclined to play down its secular orientation and its democratic ideals, and is not particularly predisposed to draw upon its impressive political capital. What is most inspiring about Indian politics is also most disquieting and provocative as far as zealots the world over are concerned -- the idea of unity in diversity. As chef Udaykumar Mani succinctly puts it, "the scope of Indian cooking is vast, and it encompasses a huge range of geographic and climatic conditions, together with centuries of history and many cultures." As far as India is concerned, diversity is a sure sign of strength, and by the same token homogeneity is the hallmark of weakness and intolerance. "A well-balanced meal contains the six basic tastes of Indian cooking: sweet, sour, salty, spicy or pungent, bitter and astringent," the chef goes on. Whether it is a dazzling dance performance, the deft demonstration of an intricate Indian dish, or a breathtaking photographic exhibition, the sub- continent stirs the human imagination and compels those of us who hail from the monotheistic religious traditions to respect the amazing accomplishments of the polytheistic Other. "Besides spices, the main flavouring ingredients are milk, cream, yoghurt, onions, garlic and coconut milk," Mani elaborates. "An Indian meal is rounded off with an after-dinner collection of spices and condiments, such as fennel and cardamom." Indian chefs exploit the ageless mysteries of their ancient land and only occasionally risk blending their rich heritage into murky Sanskrit soup. Yet, with ingenuity, the Indian chef has put even this melting pot to good use. India was once the land of the "Mechanical Elephant" -- the Rolls- Royce that no maharaja, nizam or panjandrum could do without in the dying days of the British Raj. Their gloriously customised personal vehicles were matched by India itself. India is about ideas. But the beauty of it is that these convoluted ideas are flawed, and India does not deal in moral absolutes. Instead of the spectacle of a perfect working democracy, we get a sweet-and-sour concoction, spiced with nihilism when popularly elected politicians are summarily dismissed as lying scum. Democracy might be dirty, but that does not diminish its momentum. "India is a land where everything is possible," Suchitra Durai, minister plenipotentiary and director of the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in Cairo, tells Al-Ahram Weekly. "Individual success is meaningless without a sense of community achievement," she maintains. "We have many problems, and we are the first to acknowledge these problems. Economic growth in itself doesn't mean much. Rapid economic growth rates are meaningless to the millions of people living below the poverty line. What is wealth when it is concentrated in small pockets?" Something of the socialist ideals, the egalitarianism and the disparagement of ostentatious lifestyles that were upheld by the founding fathers of India has tenaciously survived into this age of globalisation. India will be guest of honour at the Cairo International Film Festival in November. "My job is to make India understood by everyone in Egypt, and not just the elites," Durai says. "I intend to talk to Egyptians frankly about India in remote provincial schools, as well as in lecture halls and seminars in Cairo and Alexandria. I do not want to address exclusively the elite." Such an attitude is typical of contemporary India. Durai hails from Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state populated predominantly by ethnic Tamils, as the name of the state indicates. Nevertheless, she is acutely conscious that she is also a woman of the world and not only of India. She is proud of her Tamil heritage and is a proficient and professional Indian diplomat proudly representing her country abroad, as well as a mother of a three-and-a-half year old son, Ram. Her 23-year-old daughter Sindhura is training to be a lawyer in London. "We have a Sanskrit saying: 'The world is one family'," Durai says. India is home to a strand of libertarian conservatism that its neighbours, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist, are prone to emulate. Religion is not suppressed, disregarded, or sidelined, though it is kept at bay in the political arena. Wrapped around this peculiarly Indian realpolitik is the firm belief that politics is about choice. While not everybody shares that view, it is interesting to note that India has kept the upper hand in South Asian politics. Tricky things, Indian edibles. They are like tasty baits. The right one can be sublime, giving even the most uncouth bumpkin the illusion of allure. A truly delectable one can give a taste of infinite mystery and seductiveness. Aspiring cooks in Cairo can hone their skills under the watchful eyes of restaurant manager Anil Kumar, also from southern India, and take part in master-classes with chef Mano Haran. Kumar, who hails from the enchanting Kerala, is keen to demonstrate the specialties of South Indian cuisine. Massala, he says, stems from mixed combinations of spices, pointing out that many Indian spices have specific medicinal properties. He admits, though, that Mughlai cuisine, characteristic of northern India, is more in line with Egyptian tastes. Meanwhile, at the Cairo Opera House a photography exhibition by Coucla Refaat shows off "The Art of the Kathakali and the Rituals of Theyyam". It captures the spirit of southern India with its dance and musical traditions. Durai chips in. The surest method to cement ties of friendship between nations is through cultural exchange, she says. The Maulana Azad Centre, for instance, recently staged a lecture on music in Indian films, which she insists is a genre in its own right, "quite different from traditional music from the various Indian states and regions. It is also distinct from classical Indian dance music." Maulana Azad, India's first minister of education after whom the Indian Cultural Centre in Cairo was named, was a prominent Muslim scholar. "His mother was of Arab origin, and we recently held a comparative study on Sufism in India and Egypt." In the same vein, Durai says that India and Egypt share many cultural features and have exchanged trade and culture since time immemorial. "The centre comes under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations," Durai says. "It is the only Indian cultural centre in the Arab world. It stands as evidence of the preeminence of Cairo in cultural and political terms." She heaps praise on the Indian-Egyptian Friendship Association (IEFA), noting that even though it is in need of rejuvenation, it is still an indication of the ties binding Egypt and India. "Indeed, the first president of the IEFA was none other than Egypt's first president Mohamed Naguib. All culture is politics. The emphasis is on people-to-people interaction. People remember an arresting performance, or an absorbing seminar." For your last meal on earth, what dish would you choose? Perhaps gulab jamun (fried cream dumplings). Indian food doesn't have to ooze oil, though there is no doubt that it is very rich. Restrained spices are not particularly characteristic of Indian cuisine either. The best Indian dishes are those whose ingredients are not mashed together, but left as a medley, like the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the sub-continent itself. So what is the greatest contemporary Indian achievement, apart from Bollywood and curries? My answer is unequivocal: the twin concepts of secularism and freedom, coexisting in the same political space.
