Saqib Rahim

Saqib Rahim is a freelance writer in Southeast Asia. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Economist, The Guardian, and the sports sites SBNation and Vice Sports.

You learn what’s enough

Two cups. That should do it, I thought.

I’m in the kitchen, measuring out two scoops of yellow lentils. I pour them into a bowl and place them under a centimeter of water. They’ll soak all afternoon.

“Think that’ll be enough?” my partner asks. She’s smirking. Wants to plant a seed of doubt.

I sneer. “Yeah. You think I’m gonna be the one Bengali in the universe who can’t make dal?”

Over the next few hours, I discover I am that Bengali.