I have noticed that the Ambur and Dindigul biryanis available aplenty in small “biryani hotels" in the neighbourhood use small-grained samba rice; and hotels serving Kerala food typically use a fat red rice they call matta, which is not too different from the boiled variety we call ukde xitt (literally, boiled rice) in Goa. Nearly four years ago, we found rajamudi rice—originally grown for the Mysore royal family, the Wodeyars—at a local store. It’s a brown rice that veers towards red and does not need to be soaked, as many indigenous varieties do. I noted then that like broiler chicken, we have a national obsession with white rice; our minds have become monocultures, and our brains are happy about it. What we do not know and do not experience, we do not miss. Now that our minds have been broadened to the myriad possibilities of rice, there is no going back. Wherever we travel in India, we search for local rice varietals and buy a packet.