Fifty million plates of biryani

It is my distinct pleasure to congratulate the 1860 Legacy Foundation, firstly on its decision to extend equal membership of the Legacy Foundation to every one of the descendants of the 1860 settlers who are now 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th generation South Africans and secondly its decision to celebrate the 150th year of the community in South Africa by serving 50 million plates of food (1 plate of food for each person in South Africa) next year.

It appears that initial attempts by some elitists to hold a self-congratulatory banquet to honour and fete the leaders and representatives of the Indian community in South Africa, which would have included just 5 000 people, have been shelved and replaced by a plan to cook and distribute 50 million plates of food instead.

There are after all 50 million people who live in South Africa and the purpose of the 1860 celebrations next year are to honour the legacy of the pioneer settlers and since the ultimate legacy of Indian culture (of every ethnicity and religion) is the willingness to feed complete strangers without a thought, it is only fitting that 50 million plates of food will be distributed throughout the country.

Apparently there is no food item more “Indian” than biryani and while it will be vegetable biryani, for reasons of reminding us of our cultures and our religions given that Christianity, Islam and Hinduism all prescribe simplicity and have scheduled fasts which are designed to instil the practice of moderation and sacrifice among the faithful, the vegetable biryani will be served with salad, dhall and yoghurt.

Now the dynamics involved in cooking and distributing 50 million plates of biryani are indeed complex but thankfully there are more than 500 “Indian” community organisations (including the mosques, churches and temples) distributed across the country who have all been included in the 1860 Legacy Foundation and who will be making this project possible by sponsoring the ingredients, cooking the biryani and distributing it to the people of South Africa.

This action in and by itself will prove that the Indian community in South Africa is an integral component of the South African people and that it is committed to nation-building and multicultural pluralism, as has been the case over the last 150 years.

After all the real heroes of the Indian community in South Africa have been those people who have shouldered the burdens of their families and have sacrificed their own gain so as to be able to provide for, protect and care for their families. Most of these people are not community leaders and most of these people are not materially wealthy but they are evidently blessed with the grace of God to be able to have done these things to uplift their children so that they might have a better opportunity in life than their parents had.

This lesson of prioritising religion, culture, community, education, self-denial and sacrifice is the legacy of the Indian community and by building more than 300 schools in their first 30 years in South Africa, the community proved this. Those people who have been blessed in their lives to have been able to make contributions to society and the public at large have done so in service to God and their fellow citizens.

The vast majority of these heroes are unknown and unsung and they do not seek the acclaim of public recognition for their contributions. It is perhaps this principle of universal selflessness which is the binding characteristic between all Indian people, of every faith and ethnicity.

One wonders then why the elitists were allowed, at all, to attempt to focus on the wealthy and the powerful rather than on the people at large in the first place.