Lemon Rice Recipe by Imanbi

Have you tried Lemon Rice before? Not very different from Poha. But there’s still some difference. Before culinary nazis murder me, let me clarify once again many of us didn’t have a choice. We grew up being force fed. If I saw someone being beaten up for refusing to do something, I learnt to do it quickly.

Mostly, that led to hasty learning. In modern parlance, it’s called a Quick-fix solution. Are you sure, we are not firefighting anywhere? And the entire universe is helping you to have total control? Patience is a virtue, but it can be a double-edged sword.

Funny story, if you find it funny at all. I left a thick coffee table book outside the house carelessly. I don’t know who gifted that book and why. But certainly, that book was eaten by a cow. Being a small child then- don’t remember how old- I didn’t wrestle.

Lemon Rice Recipe wasn’t in that book

It was perhaps rescued by my mother and was preserved after cleaning it up in its half-eaten condition. I still pored through it lovingly over many days/years. That book is no more, and I don’t remember the title. As it so happens, I didn’t learn my lesson from it very well.

My mother beat up someone for it (I don’t know who). But I bawled so much my father was confused. He asked me why I was howling. I said in all my innocence “Amar book ta phete gaechhe” (literal translation- my book got torn).

I might have tried to hide this fact by hiding in some clothes filled cupboard or pulling out some old torn pieces of clothes/sarees. My father heard my tale and gave me another task.

My mother made a joke of it and narrated to everyone who immediately laughed. Why did they laugh? I was teased about it so many times.

Lemon Rice Recipe is not from any particular book

Do you want to know why? I made grown men cry over things which were deemed to be silly. We have that famous dialogue of “Lily don’t be silly“.

That’s a simple way to dismiss another’s point of view and then send them off on “secretarial” jobs to be done. And then they made another film out of it later. And then they made a random film called “Boys don’t cry”. Excuse me, I saw boys crying all over the place. For all of you Spaghetti Western lovers- I am warning you, that the gloves are going to come off.

If people continue to deny the reality of others by portraying a romanticized version to make a story out of other people’s actual experiences, let me put another elephant in the room now.

We don’t have the money to buy another elephant. So, we are going to commission an artist to create a different animal.

Lemon Rice is not a Riddle to be solved

Just for a tub of ice cream????? You made so much of noise? And then it wasn’t even frozen! Did you count the number of white hairs you plucked from the head of an old man to get 1 small tub of ice-cream? Yes, I did. We got paid for it- to count and pluck them.

The old man was held responsible because he would go, sneak and eat the ice-cream all by himself saying, I have walked miles and miles and miles. I am Worth it. Guess what happened. He went so many miles and didn’t get Sonamasuri rice. And bought long grained Basmati rice instead of small sonamasuri rice. Big difference!

So, poha flakes won’t do for this particular recipe. We need sonamasuri rice. Now, I didn’t ask for the recipe but was told to prepare the rice in advance for her to share the recipe with others.

Why is this taking so long?

Truth is, I didn’t ask, what kind of rice is suitable? How should I prepare the rice? Do I add anything to the rice while cooking it? 3 unasked questions. Led to a few lessons given.

Lesson no 1: You can add the salt to the rice while cooking or add it later. But it may not taste the same. (Do you care?)

Lesson no 2: You are supposed to be a silent witness, and you asked whether the oil was too much to an expert. She gracefully said, no no. Immediately, there were many calls on her phone which she didn’t answer.

Lesson no 3: I had asked her to chop 4 onions, but she chopped only 2. Why? She was late for next appointment, and the phone calls told her clearly that she must leave to bring tiffin for a boy going to school. Did she arrive on time? Did you check what time she came for the training session? No. She informed that she would come back later during the day to finish some pending work. I was also informed that she needed to take 1 day off the next day.

Lemon Rice was a Recipe for disaster

Lesson no 4: What was the unfinished work? It was hanging of the curtains in the living room. We are both not very tall. And we both lack some strength to be able to do this single-handedly. We were also confused about the multiple appendages in the curtain rod which seemed a bit unnecessary. We have taken those appendages out but kept them in a drawer for safekeeping. If required, they can be used later.

Lesson no 5: Examination of the curtains in the other rooms has happened. But work has not been done for washing them properly. Nobody asked, why? Cleaning of the rest of the house was also not done today after 1 day’s leave of absence. Why? There are 2 whys already and yet someone is ignoring the task to be done. Why?

Lesson no 6: There’s no proper joblist/tasklist or manual given to Imanbi. And you missed giving her breakfast several days in a row. She has still not complained about it while she looks a bit uncomfortable. This is getting extremely suspicious. (Is this going to be like a guesthouse/hotel?)

Boring enough but comfortable recipe

Lesson no 7: You asked her to cut raw mango for a salad into small matchsticks. And she didn’t cut it properly. Was it deliberate or was there a problem in your instructions or lack of demonstration? After you explained why- she cut it properly into smaller bits- not exactly the way you imagined but good enough. You didn’t show her another option. Why? Are you playing too many friendly matches like these and getting too comfortable?

Did someone throw out a plate of lemon rice, and you felt bad? Was there a lot of lemon rice leftover and you had to eat a few plates/words in the past? Did you start comparing it with poha which has small potatoes or other interesting snacks which you liked as a kid?

No. Nothing worked. I got no answers. Somebody was really in deep trouble wondering what exactly happened with the whole horrible delay in the delivery of this particular training session. I got to eat the lemon rice soon enough. But somehow, my own repeating of the task took forever.

Clearly, my heart was not in it. But it was still beating.

Lemon Rice Conclusion

I’m unable to really manage the human resources here. It’s actually the other way around- they are managing me. So it’s another way of looking at the differences in perspectives. If they need anything- they ask me. If I need to remind about something- I usually take a little longer.

Reason being, they are working in multiple households. Their timing is not fixed always and there is a priority given to school going children.

They are the ones who will receive credit cards in future. Their expenses far exceed their income or savings. Some parents have already provided for their futures and hence they are extremely lazy/callous. My way of interpreting human interactions is certainly at odds with theirs. I will not live forever. And I will not remain forever young.

Let’s go and eat some lemon rice. We have a simple recipe given below. Some snacks for Holi might have been better. Imanbi suggested Mirchi bhajji with it.

Footnote

An Ode to Little River Band

I haven’t been to those woods yet

Which were described as lovely dark and deep

Numbness in the thumbs maybe due to several reasons

Which one do I take and which do I keep

The one who seemed fine was perhaps

Just drawing a deep charcoal line

To let me know I see the future is bright for some

And perhaps a little bit tight for darker gum

My dentist asked me to do a bit of water flossing

Tiger tiger burning bright

I have nothing here to keep you light.

Stupid limericks are from so long ago

That even copycats are discarding carbon papers

And resorting to cheap tricks of Ashes and capers

I know you wanted some meat or fish

Or perhaps a little sweet dish

I sent the muffins to my brothers

A little band which kept me safe and sage

And helped me when I sent an emergency page.

Melting Lemon Drop 01.03.2026