*Grass Eaters*!!

I have never been racial nor do I ever look down on anyone but sometimes metaphor helps the situation when words can’t. Pukhtuns as a society always hated vegetarian diet and looked down on lentils as well, terming those who eat it as ‘Dal Khors’ ( Lentil Eaters) . Nevertheless, while on a visit to Peshawar on 14th February 2023, when the rest of the world celebrated the valentine day that I was left celebrating hordes of Pukhtuns, converging on the Chinese restaurant located in the heart of Peshawar just opposite where the Dawn’s Editor Honourable Ismail Khan sits, opposite inside the State Life Building at Saddar. Dawn office in the years of yore always served as my first port of call, whenever in town .

Commandan! the nick, I use to address Ismail Khan ( with reference to the Internationally acclaimed freedom fighter Ismail Khan of Herat). I found Ismail not only a seasoned journalist, a loyal husband, passionate father and extremely helpful colleague , who would go beyond the call of duty to help.

To me it was an anthropological study to see the bedraggled Pukhtuns thronging the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant most probably all victims of gastritis, something over eating of meat normally causes. The only logical reason behind this surprise popularity of the Chinese cuisine amongst them is more likely to be because of Chinese food being lighter on their stomachs, as a merciful relief against the heaviness that eating meat caused them that ultimately compelled them become vegetarians (grass eaters). Who , otherwise, always hated anything other than Charas and Charsi Tikka, that they today were seen sheepishly sipping sizzling hot Chinese soup than taking deep puffs of the Charas filled smoke.

The funny part of the entire episode of the Hong Kong restaurant was that though it was founded in 1972 by a Chinese namely CF Lee of ‘Pakistani Nationality’ , who died in 1992. However, after his demise the restaurant is managed by a certain Peshawari businessman , who ostensibly has zero knowledge of the Chinese Cuisine that has transformed the restaurant into a fusion of desi and Chinese, where cottage cheese is lavishly served in the soup and the streamed rice remains half – cooked.

I humbly tried to explain the difference between the half- cooked and fully cooked steamed white rice to its Manager Mr. Asad, but he was more manipulative with words than skilled in the solution that the rice needed to be freshly boiled before being stir fried. I am glad at least he was honest to admit that the class of the people with enormous appetite they serve, it was the quantity and not quality that mattered that compel them cook the food in bulk in the morning and then serve it stale on demand.

I would humbly request the brave and bold Commissioner Peshawar Honourable Riaz Khan Mehsud, to someday kindly visit this particular eatery low profile and see for himself , if he finds my observation correct regarding their rice that they might be sounded advice, if he considers appropriate, to improve their cooking standards without sealing the restaurant and causing it the economic loss especially in these difficult times, when earning a decent living is increasingly becoming a distant dream.

To spice up the incident reminded me of another incident where an ignorant person with a beard visited a far flung desolate place. The locals celebrated his arrival and requested him to lead the prayers. The only thing he knew was Allaho Akbar and didn’t know what to say in the standing position ( Qayam) while returning from the bending position ( Rukho).

Upon which he shouted , ‘stand straight bastards’, that alerted one of the followers, who whispered to the other for their leader to be abusive, who was snubbed by the latter, on the plea that knowledge was like an ocean, this might be part of the exercise.

Similarly, mostly the Pukhtun customers from the lower middle strata have little idea of what real Chinese Cuisine was, thinking half- cooked rice might be the Chinese way of cooking without realising the stale food they consume could further aggravate their gastritis that drove them towards the Chinese from the Charsi.

I am sure the present pathetic state of affairs at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant in Saddar Peshawar, must be giving stomach cramps to its Chinese founder in his grave, if not the present customers, who throng the eatery by hundreds to relish their so – called Chinese Cuisine, everyday.