REVOLUTIONARY SAMBAR
by Professor A.L.I.
It boils like our blood after centuries of oppression
A fusion of flavors like our earthly diffusion
See our lands sink into seas like mythical serpents
Those once kings, now roam the earth as servants
Slaves to lesser beings, whips cracked on backs
Kumari Kandam was lost, but its existence a fact
The aroma’s from the kettles which stew our angst
Is the sambar of revolution, facing their tanks
At Tiananmen, yet instead it’s one lone Tamil man
A soul rebel without a pause, for devils without a plan
They visited our shores, 400 years before this
The story inscribed on the back of a holy tortoise
No purpose or design, its human greed driven
Atrocities committed, Gaya’s stillborns delivered
They stole our cakes; raped dosas then birthed crepes
Vadas to Donuts, banana leaves traded for plates
A culture is lost, while another’s’ accelerates
A cycle of destruction, tale’s fibers woven by fate
This is a history lesson, with culinary infusion
I rep the idly before I rep for Italian delusions
Or French in Pondicherry, stealing dreams from wombs
Stealing our futures and desecrating our tombs
Yeah I’m a TAMIL, The Angry Man In Limbo
Now they steal our queens and makem’ act like bimbos
Truly Missing In Action, or conversing with Satan
My true Tamil Soldiers see the truth in this statement
So as a scattered seed, I write in Diaspora
Those who once asked sages, now as Laura…
So peep the recipe that I place before you
Gather these ingredients*, but know it’s a metaphor too
For the struggle we all undergo, identity crisis
Should I rep for Murugan while I murder Dionysus?
I stay a Tamil, a Moor, even a Somalian Pirate
A complex poet, a violent advocate for non-violence
I endeavor to make others stop saying “Whatever”
Writing this story from blood spewing from veins severed
Seven levels traversed, I’m Dante upon seas
I submerge into the depths, and emerge truly freed
***
REVOLUTIONARY SAMBAR
Ingredients*: Angst, Love, Passion, Rage, Patience, Foreboding….
*mustard seeds, curry leaves/cilantro, one tomato (optional), Madras Curry Powder (Sambar Powder), turmeric, chili powder, cumin, yellow lentils, tamarind paste, okra, eggplant, daikon radish (optional), green onion, green chilies, Anaheim pepper/Bell Pepper, carrots (optional), pumpkin (optional), pearl onions (optional)
Step 1. Chop your ingredients like so
Step 2. Boil up 1 cup of lentils and blend the cooked lentils with a pinch of salt (set aside)
Step 3. Heat up 4 tablespoons of oil in sauce pan, toss in tablespoon of Mustard seeds, a pinch of cumin, a teaspoon of chili powder, a tablespoon of Sambar Powder, and tablespoon of turmeric
Step 4. Add Onions and Chilies, then add vegetables in succession
Step 5. Add water until all vegetable covered, then add another cup
Step 6. Boil on medium for 20 minutes. Add curry leaves/cilantro.
Step 7. Add Tamarind Paste and one chopped tomato
Step 8. Stir and then add in lentil paste.
Step 9. Add Salt to Taste.
BLACK TIGER SCROLL feat. Killah Priest and Sam Scott
a epilogue, and reflection of life in the Diaspora
aka the TAMIL Exodus, from our motherlands…
