They were in the same grade at school. They played, danced and sang together. They were from different cultures and spoke different languages. Amelia was Canadian, Mira an Indian and Rosa was Mexican.
One day Rosa brought a dumpling in her lunch box.
Amelia remarked “Hey, that's a Pierogi, that's my favorite!”
Rosa nodded her head and said “It’s not a Pierogi, it's an Empanada.”
But Mira did not agree with either and said “It's Karjikaai. My mother makes it.”
Rosa did not agree with Amelia or Mira. The three friends started arguing and finally, stopped talking to each other.
The next day at school, their teacher observed their silence. During lunch break she called them and found that the issue was over the name of the dumpling.
The teacher was from Africa, so she did not know about either Empanada, Pierogi or Karjikai. She asked them to explain how the dumpling was cooked at their homes.
Mira said “Karjikai is a dumpling having an outer covering of flour and an inner filling of coconut and jaggery”. Amelia said her mom cooks Pierogies the same way but the stuffing was of boiled potato. Rosa explained “Even Empanada is cooked the same way but the stuffing is meat”.
After listening to the three, the teacher smiled and said “Empanada, Pierogi and Karjikaai are the same but with different names. Although the stuffings are different, their outer covering and shape is the same. We come from different cultures and traditions, just like the stuffings, but we are humans after all. We all share the same air, water and soil on this Earth. We should not fight over small things.”
The three girls understood quickly, said sorry to each other and remained best friends forever.
-Isha (Grade 3)
Editors' Note: Karjikaai (ಕರ್ಜಿಕಾಇ) in Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) is Gujhiya (गुझिया) in Hindi.
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