' Rajdhani'... Thali in the Capital..

' Thali'... the quintessential Indian fantasy of a wholesome meal..combination of variation of breads and rice and the majestic part the plethora of bowls with variety of curries.. dry, semi gravy, full gravy, pickle , salad, papad and yes...sweet..kheer halwa etc etc

We chanced upon the idea of Rajdhani as husband had to find a good Gujarati food joint to appease his soon to be foreign returned boss. So we set for ' Rajdhani' with me thinking of myself nothing less than an extraordinary food critic and husband just hoping boss would be pleased with a good ' find'.

Well being hard core non veg as we are.. it was a brave endeavour on our part but the rave reviews and since we went there looking for a change.. we were not disappointed rather delighted more at the ambience than at the food. Just took our seats... no fuss about menu , order, waiting.. a huge ' thali' with plenty of bowls..and someone came with an antique jar and dish to wash our hands off.. a royal feeling i must say. Then the boys were at their job filling the bowls, glasses. 

Well before we could exchange a word the serving spree continued, chaanch in the earthen kulhad ,rose water, aloo chat, dal bati churma, nariyal kachodi and methi muthiya i think were served as starters!!! Since i am a starter person and very unhealthily binge on the tangy fried food as starters rather than the elaborate heavily spiced main course, i loved the aloo chaat right mix of curd and the tangy taste. methi muthiya was a delight too crispy and delicately flavoured. Nariyal Kachori was too sweet for our taste, dal bati was different though a bit bland at first with a dash of green chutney it seemed wonderful and the churma excellent. (First time i was served dal bati churma i thought the three needed to be had together and hence it was a total diaster!!) Here i have to mention there were four types of chutneys garlic , onion, green pudina dhania chutney, tomato.. two kinds of pickles chilli and the normal carrot wala mixed pickle.The chutneys were the perfect match for the curries each tasting strikingly different from other. 

Then a few varieties of papads which did not go very well with the food and were more like  tea time snacks and then the rotis. There was the normal roti round, soft and tiny which was okay with so much things to have, peas parantha without oil though you can have your share of butter or ghee but the Jawari roti with gud ( jaggery) clinched the deal, it had such an earthy rustic feeling to it just like enjoying the morning warm sun in December morning sitting in a ' khatiya' in a north indian village!! Food..and its magic ..who doesn,t get mesmerized...

The curries were ordinary stuff aloo sabji ( don,t know why it should be a must), corn paneer ( couldn,t find any trace of corn), tinda sabji ( why tinda of all the vegetables), gatta curry ( but i felt i had better gatta in Jaipur). Khichdi was a different taste for my Bengali taste buds, moong dal khichdi with ghee simple and tasty. The Bengali version with dry roasted moong dal releasing a unique flavour..reminiscent of the mildly spicy khichdi served in the Pujas. Kadi was sweet for my taste and so was another Gujarati dal served but then a less informed me had heard that Gujarati food is essentially sweet.

A little query and we found that the thali was a mixture of Gujarati/ Rajasthani so can,t call it purely authentic. But they have a combination of dishes which they keep rotating. Sweet dish was disappointing.. the strangely named sweet ' sandwich' very ordinary. ' Gajar ka halwa' too tasted different not the usual tasty greasy stuff 

but would rate the shrikhand high ( from the land of milk).

                           

A different experience altogether, the boys were apt at refilling the bowls, soon you know you are full.. and the comfortable hand wash as they pour water from that antique jar..  We came out with a mixed feeling..more than the taste a good feel of 'looked after' and ' taken care of' sense prevailed and definitely a great option for vegetarian thali. The fast, apt service, a feeling of complete meal, on the whole a nice experience, expenses almost justified.. somehow i just felt a paan would be just perfect to end the meal...any takers for the idea..

Just hope husband,s soon-to-return boss doesn,t miss the Paan too much!!

Peers and Pressures

Ah this pressure!! Well most of the things in my life fell in place just in time  with this pressure.

In early school days me and Baba..he would give example of all peers scoring maximum in Arithmatic, it was quite subtle though without getting pressurised but an emotional jolt and i ended up beeing stuck in late eighties or sometimes beginning of nineties and always with a stab in the heart of missing the ton. Baba continued through out the years, sometimes over phone.. and i would remember the eyes with the question ' how was your exam'...the anxiousness and my anxiousness at faltering, missing out on all he was aspiring..  Again i,ll have to say it wasn,t a parental pressure technique, may be he wove some of his dreams around me..and always very short of outstanding or excellent.. i was able to make it to the average.. i can state fairly without being modest and guess never disappointed him if not made him a very proud parent.

Teen days were confusing, intriguing. The pressure to look happening gave this immense urge to be ' different'..the safe way out..discomfort with an almost unknown body, falling out of sync with peers..outsmarted in looks and deeds led to shelling of self amidst piles of fiction beginning from  Mills and Boons to Tagore and Sarat Chandra Novels to those 'adult' stories published in ' Desh'. ' I,m different and hence looking for someone different!!' not a bad concept to deal with peer pressure really.

But how long can one survive being out of sync out of tune with peers holding on to a similar group frantically.. As the body turns familiar the soul emerges out of teens , tries to fall in sync with peers and without a 'facebook  like', a coveted ' like'  from any boys around would achieve it..at least being one of the peers though way down the line.Twenties would weave a bit of personality one would carry over for a  few years at least..and craft a ' my life' kind of thing. A dash of 'gyaan' about self, a pinch of confidence, stepping in the work arena from dreamy college university days...thrill of taking on the world and finally meeting up the  'one' who would put an end to all peer fears..and the twenties turn to thirties.

Thirties.. initially promising, also gradually time to be aware of the lines built around self, the secret desire to break all the rules which have eroded 'my' from ' my life'. And finally the health issue so unhealthily overlooked staring blatantly with years of massive negligence... Thirties also characterised frequent visits to parlours and salons, the desire to be 'in sync' with all the hot thirty somethings and forty somethings. Some money in hand...branded clothes, may be finally coming up with a-not-too-sure style quotient and  some admiring gazes...if from men.. definitely excellent but a winner if from women!! Times change..they do. Admiration (not jealousy) from women is a sure shot victory.. to your style, your shopping , your gym sessions if any. Constant struggle really.. workplace full of twenty somethings now, basking on limelight while you take a mild bossy position though no total authority, a middle level stage..whom the newbies love to avoid if you are choking with unwanted gyaan!! Hair colour or henna is mandatory , still the silver lining shines through!! And you do not miss to scan over the head of anyone near thirties..for a peer like feeling..any streaks of silver will do.

Huh.. dread the forties.. more peers and more pressures. With a growing child, slim moms would be the new peer group.. endless list.. And to think of fifties and sixties...can i relax with a head full of grey hair, acidic stomach, high bp and ' sugary' body, arthritic knees and what not,  perhaps admiring looks from men would clinch the deal...and perhaps flirting would be smooth and easy with no baggage of goody image hanging over head....and without a bit of make up applied

Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bohat niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle...

:-)

The Magic called Kolkata...

What is with this city..magical, mesmerizing, yes yes there is absolutely nothing to go overboard with any Indian city though my vision of foreign cities is close to nil.For all non residing Bengalis ( probashi bengalis living elsewhere in India).. Kolkata is short of a dream unless may be you actually go and start living in it or may be until you have not seen the other happening cities fledgling in India. Anyway for us the thirty something Bengalis born and brought up in some other state fed on a staple diet of Anandabazar patrika, Anandamelas, Deba Sahiyta Kutir Publications, at times Rabindra sangeets ( which we eventually left for Enid Blyton, Mills and Boons and Hindi film music) and also a literal staple diet of rice and mustard fish ( which also we have grown out of but still can,t do without at times) Kolkata holds what we had missed out in our childhood..an open often embarrassingly loud conversation in Bengali, the most flamboyant Durga Puja to be witnessed, buying Bengali books in College Street at amazing bargains, catch up a movie at Nandan ( which i was able to do with my father once), stroll along Maidan and Esplanade gorging on phuchkas and alu kablis, listen to Bengali music all around..and eat ,eat and eat...from amazing street food to a wide variety of fish, rolls at amazingly happy prices.

This year while our journey towards home in Silchar we stopped for a night and a morning over Kolkata. Just could not have enough of the city. 

Two miniscule cups of tea bought by husband from Durgapur station  @ 3  per cup

Difficult to capture the ' ' minisculity'

The Hotel we stayed in Sudder Street

Lunch was ethereal here

                      

             The Sweets Counter.. They also have a Biryani and Chaap counter on the other side

Before I move on to the next pics..definitely have to stop at this one and marvel. We chose this place to stay so as to have a feel of Kolkata for the little time we would be there..New Market, Park Street, Esplanade all close by . For lunch which was already late by a delayed train... we decided to stop by whatever we could find. Pity we did not click the pic of the menu and the dream that was served. Since my toddler was continuously disturbing we decided on the menu as suggested by the staff. It began with a dish something called Kochu Shaak diye Chingri Much ( Shrimps with some herb i can,t translate), it was probably steamed with mustard paste and a dab of mustard oil. Busy in rebuking and controlling the toddler and attending to my uncle who came to meet us there, i was happy they served me the food... and my..one fistful of food.. and believe me this is no exaggeration..for a while i was out of the world..this is food..i stared blankly at my woman friday, used to sharing these delights with her, ' My God what was this..'  She nodded excitedly..' So tasty'...Next came a heavenly moong dal, bhaapa illish, shol macher jhol with phoolkopi alu ( amazing as well) and a homely kind of kajai macher jhol...by that time me and husband have started exclaiming in enthusiasm. And the best part with the exorbitant illish as one of the orders we ended up paying five hundred fifty in all with these exotic food and a full stomach and more for three persons.
Later i analysed the cuisine might have been Bangladeshi as was written somewhere in their pamphlet so the taste felt so strikingly similar yet different. So much to discover..albeit the stomach conditions. With fully stuffed stomachs we did not dare for the sweet stuff , so i urged husband to get us gurer rashogollas ( brown ones made of jaggery) with the Kati Rolls from park street for dinner. Kati rolls though tasty were hugely oily  and being in Delhi for some years would give more marks to a healthier Rumali  version but again Rashogollas from the same place where we had lunch were....husband simply closed his eyes after sinking his teeth in as his head nodded in uummm.. soft silky stuffed with khoya inside. Huh speak of going overboard with food.

Imagine the rush at a tea shop..near New Market..we tried the tea there with  hot tiny crispy  pakodas with lemon chutney

New Market , Park Street all geared up for Christmas...we loved the time we were there..in full festive spirit

So Bong... Tea.. Coffee..and the quintessential Adda..

Some clicks in the morning

Snuggling for warmth

All these are available right here in the street and we have actually seen foreigners dining here

A wonder price list isn,t it...not to miss the bread and Ghoogni ( Bangla version of Matar)

The Tea cum breakfast joint is a hit with foreigners as well

Flury,s..I have heard the name since i used to come to Kolkata with parents,  seems very popular in old bangla movies as well..if i,m correct Uttam Kumar had tea here in some movie

Again forgot to click the pics of breakfast and the menu as me and husband were as usual tangled in some tiff. We ordered for an English breakfast and me a cheese  mushroom omlettee and coffee. Guess there was some feel of the Raj.. with a breakfast full of sausages , bacon and eggs, hash brown, tomatoes. Just overlooking the price factor... the long windows giving way to Park Street behind, a relaxed Sunday pre Christmas morning not a prompt service but looking by the age of the waiters.. i think some restaurants have retained their old captains and waiters.. i have seen in Moulin Rouge as well .. i haven,t seen waiters of such age in any other city i guess..this is Kolkata. I don't have much idea of European breakfast.. so husband helped me with bacon and eggs and gradually the taste built up into me, sausages were a bit too salty health wise, hash brown was crispy tasty something i heard of for the first time. On the whole i loved the ambiance and later sunk teeth into the soft cheese mushroom omelette with a warm cup of coffee.

I copied this pic from net..this plagiarism is ok i guess..i agree with the writer  the price was exorbitant

May be it isn,t the price always, the feel, a peep into old Kolkata.. the days of the Raj, a leisurely Sunday morning..leaving the sleeping toddler at hotel..the two of us..beginning of  a holiday, magic was gripping into us slowly. I was happy with husband for a pleasant morning, a short stroll, clicking pics of a half asleep Kolkata..and a breakfast at Flury,s. In Delhi we could never wake up early enough  and ' agree' for a breakfast outside.  Though as we just began to fight over the most trivial issue at hand, food was served and as we ate silently, miffed at the taste and ambience, the growing crowd.. only with coffee husband asked me ' What were you saying?' ...By that time i was savouring my cheese mushroom omelette..and for once i couldn,t remember what the war was all about.

The stay wasn,t just long enough.

The Magenta Diary: : My entry for the Get Published contest

A love story i grew up with, lived and breathed with the protagonist and grew apart as i moved into my own stories. A love story i relived  again as the dreams, feelings of an impossibly impractical eccentric at times , an early twenty something woman  unfurled through the pale yellow pages of an old magenta coloured diary.

If one ever asks me of a love story...leaving apart my own tryst with this thing called love.. it has to be the story of Ananyadi. The 'di'  in the name ( pronounced as in dee) is of course the endearing term for didi ( not to be confused with the ubiquitous ' didi' ruling the Bong state). Ananyadi was  five/six years elder to me, taught me Calculus and Physics before she became the 'Ananyadi' of my life.. intelligent, funny, silly at times with a haunting pair of eyes. I heard of her affair from her neighbour  my classmate before i  knew Ananyadi personally. The most striking thing  in that time in that small town was  a seemingly seedhi saadhi studious girl having an affair with a married man!! Bombshell really. Her boyfriend it seemed was at least fifteen years older to her, a top notch surgeon in some gulf country, married..

I was drawn  to her love story along with her Calculus lessons. Her boldness and her love miffed the teenage me. It happens.. love really happens across age across oceans..She loves him so much.. may be he is cheating on her, fooling her as Reshmi said but the spark in Ananyadi,s eyes dazzled me .
Then actually one fine day Dr Vinay Sengupta was in our little town.. to meet her.. yes out of chat windows and instant messages he was in real.. a victory for Ananyadi,s love.. her man  travelled 1000 miles to meet her..her eyes danced with joy..joy of love as she showed us Reshmi and me the gifts he got for her and it wasn,t those foreign gifts but the love they bore radiated in her elation.

Then.. did they get married..obviously  no. Life isn,t a Hndi film where loving a married man and getting married isn,t an impossibility, the  insecurity, the stigma parents, society..a different ball game altogether and if you get past through all these.. the reason for which you did all these get lost..love gets lost. What happened to them.. Ananyadi and Dr Vinay next four to five years they were together to the extent i also got gifts from the gulf country once year at least. Then Ananyadi moved out of our small town, national capital was beckoning her with a new career. And.. well i had an affair and forgot about them for sometime, as i broke up and then got married in the hurried attempt by parents to hide my affair and send me off to another city.

Then...they broke up .She told me when i met her in my wedding. By that time i was' eager to get married' type  and thought it was fine..Ananyadi should move on and get ' settled' like me. She is getting old.

And then.. the magenta diary.. you can sniff and live love even if  you think the writings carry no meaning..

Then.....

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs fromYashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

Our first visit to the zoo

Dear Ninni

Winters are just on the doorsteps..some warm clothes taken out, most of the times we remain confused what to wear, if the cloths are a bit too warm braving the scorching sun during noon or the chill of the evenings causing a slight shiver..which indicates normal cloths are not just enough. Fog, smog.. Delhi sky remains veiled most of the times but a pleasant feeling freed of extremities of the Delhi weather.

So one fine day we decided to visit the zoo. Actually we have been planning since many days but our work schedules, weather, other commitments did not allow. Your grandparents are here and thanks to your father's over enthusiasm when they are here..do i sound cynical..let me.. you will be discovering my cynicism and eccentricities gradually and may be find them irksome...but.. no i won't say thats how i am..i will try to be better..anyways we set for zoo one early sunday morning.

We are always late for everything, reach everywhere just about when entry gates are about to close, or the movie is past 5-10 minutes, or the shows are over, mall entry is closed but that day somehow we reached early when the crowd has not yet built up..and as your grandma remarked even the animals were not up from their slumber!! A lovely morning and we started with white ducks, then made our way for the White tiger. You know in Guwahati I've been to the zoo many times in childhood but with you it is like looking through your eyes again and hence the thrill and me and your father getting more excited than you!! With you it is a backward journey be it enjoying Durga  Puja, Deepawali, visit to the park and now zoo..like we are going back in time and finding those lost joys....

The tigers... one lazing in the sun, other too seemed extremely lazy drinking water near the ditch, you know it hurt seeing them forced out of their habitat and left idle here, nothing to do!!  One was kept confined in a cage like area and it was moving ferociously inside..out of its abode, out of its instinct, out of prey..may be it did not yet succumb to the environment thrust upon it...

Next was reptile house, a disappointment i must day barring a few pythons, most of the cages are empty,clay models of turtles and snakes... wonder where all the species have vanished! Yes i loved the white swans lazing about near a pond and a strange big bird called ' emu' resembling ostrich. Then we could see the ' sloth  bear' dark and all bear like..talk of bear hugs.!! And we absolutely loved the two giraffes loitering in the woods.. as your grandma remarked they seemed the most amicable  may be because of the fact that they had a partner or rather a compatible partner was my analysis!! Or may be as the day progressed the animals were waking up and caught up with the day.. and most of them were nocturnal as well. We had passed by a crocodile which your grandma swore was made of plastic, though your father and grandpa argued for the contrary, i was in doldrums as well doubting if the crocodile was real. And to dispense with all the doubts it opened its eye body position remaining same!! We remembered one famous line by Tagore from his story wherein one character  believed to be dead by all had to commit suicide to prove that she was not a witch and indeed she had been alive!!

Ah.. now all of us were beginning to get exhausted and you changing from one shoulder to another, Choco Bars, Biscuits...but no you won't walk. So some coffee and we had plans to skip the ' lion, elephants' part and moved in to the bird cages. Peacocks, pheasants, parrots ( other names i cannot remember)  all were chirping, chattering fun to watch. A ferocious cheetah banging on the cages...freedom Ninni is so sought after may be you realise it only after losing it, a lonely chimpanzee snuggled at the top of a cage with its back to us, it never showed its face once, another lonely rhino looked totally lost in the huge space meant for it.

You know while i went as a child i remember the ' fun' part which was getting tepid as i grew up, but this time though the loneliness of the animals, their lack of freedom and natural habitat was a sore sight but i won't complain...they the zoo authorities had put in effort after these animals so that they thrive and breed  and thats how we can see them.

Last was the algae lake with lots of cranes and other migratory birds, that was very lively as no one was caged there. The birds were catching fish from the pond, protecting their eggs and chics.. you know some of these birds come from far away countries unable to bear the cold there..strange how they find their way thousands of miles across the border and return home once winter is over

Panchi Nadiya pawan ke jhoke..koi sarhad na inhe roke..

It was a fun visit, we had lots of fun with you and as i said it was just like going back in time for us, taking a look at the animals through your eyes, gaping at the size and shapes like seeing them for the first time removing the layers of cliches already embedded deep in brain, just looking at things without preconceived ideas. I was telling you father.. i cannot find a proper children story to tell you, Cindrella, Snow Ehite were so cliched  with mother dying father getting a step mom!! He told me why not Panchatantra tales, i tried to tell him those fables we grew up with.. now while i tell you sound irrelevant most of the time. I gave example of the fox and grapes story.. hungry fox trying to have grapes but not being able..i feel sad for the fox!! Yes your father looked at me with unbelievable eyes trying hard not to laugh. I tried to reason, we grew up with these tales they are printed in our memory but when i begin to tell you the cliches become so conspicuous....

So where do i find non cliched things for you as i let you gobble up super cliched episodes of doraemon and chota bheem while i laze about in blogs and facebook !!  Anyways this post was about our visit to the zoo and the fun we had and the pics we clicked. Hope you love it when you read it.

Love
Yours Ma

Emu

The Ferocious One

Growing up in Baba,s shoulders!!

In Happy times.. with your grandma

White Pheasant

Migratory Birds...

We visited Purana Quila as well

The Team

Thammu  Dadu and you