New Roses

Every Rose has its thorns, it is said ..

Some of them have bloomed this year, even as the season has not been too kind to them, with erratic temperature, smog and all. 

Miss the lovely white this year, my absolute favourite, which has stopped budding after the first flush. Must get to know its moods once it starts blooming hopefully in the coming weeks!

The House Of Mirza Ghalib and Karim's

Nothing like trips to different places in the old quarters of Delhi and so we decided to explore Ballimaran this weekend. Ballimaran is a street that takes off from Chandni Chowk and runs up to Jama Masjid from where yet another street veers off, the Gali Qasim Jaan, where we can find the Haveli, or house of Mirza Ghalib. He lived here, the foremost poet during the last days of the Mughal empire and is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent  (1797 to 1869). Only two rooms and a small courtyard of the house have been acquired and converted into a museum. 

Samples of his handwriting have survived in bound books such as these and there is nothing much more except a few of his robes and chess boards and tableau with a few of his couplets 

The reason why Ghalib's poetry has attracted the young as well as the old can be seen in these couplet, put up in posters

Another end of this street has the famous Sangam kebab joint, but it opens only in the evening and stays open well past midnight. So we decided to walk down Ballimaran to Jama Masjid Gate No. 1. from where a few steps into another street is another of the must visit places in Delhi, the Karim's restaurant. Having featured in a BBC documentary, this eatery is now quite famous and the queues testify to its popularity. 

Opened in 1913 to serve royal cuisine to the common populace, it is said that the restaurant was started by descendants of the royal Mughal chefs since the secret ingredients and techniques were passed on from generation to generation. I can very well vouch for the Mutton Jehangiri for its subtle aromas and delectable taste and I don't think mutton has been cooked better in many other places 

Yeh Ishq nahin aasaan, bus yun samajh lijiye

Aag ka dariya hai aur doob ke jaana hai!

It isn't easy, this love, let it be known

Immersed in the river of fire, one must come

Hazaron Khwawishein aisi

Ki har khwawish pe dum nikle

Bahut nikle mere armaan par

Phir bhi kam nikle

Thousands of desires, such

that every one is hard to attain

So many wishes met but

So many yet remain 

(Poetry by Mirza Ghalib, translations are mine, even as I must say that the ambience of Urdu poetry can hardly be translated. For example, the word Khwawieshen  doesn't quite answer to either desires as we know it, or wishes or wants, it is something that the heart desires in its dreams!)

Street Food in Delhi

Decided to go explore the street food in old Delhi. Happened to be just the weekend when the temperature dropped with a chilly wind blowing in from the North but anyways, here we were, exploring Chawri Bazar at noon, walking along narrow and crowded streets full of old buildings dating from the middle of the 19th century. Only a few of these have been maintained properly but there are lots more such as these elaborately carved gateways and canopied balconies on brackets suggest, the brackets definitely drawing inspiration from the 17th century fusion architecture visible in Fatehpur Sikri, especially the Ibadat Khana of Emperor Akbar

First stop, Hiralal's Chat, for a leaf plate of slow fried potato patty embellished with a variety of sauces, syrups and spices. Also available in scooped out potatoes and tomatoes as a filling!

And then, for another plate of fruit chat, mixed fruit slices served with a liberal dunking in spices. One can ask for the degree of hotness one would like to have of course, and we preferred the lighter version.

Omkar is from Rampur in the State of Uttar Pradesh. He was almost invisible, squatting on the roadside with his pot of boiled gram, boiled to perfection and served with a mixture of chopped herbs and green chutney

Finally, "Daulat Ki Chat" which is uniquely available only during the cold season and only in these places. Made by whipping milk with cream at night, there is an interesting resource about Daulat Ki Chat here

This tastes like milk foam, and just disappears in the mouth. And after all this stuff, we had to skip lunch!

Baby Bee Eaters

One morning they decided to come and check out the bees and flies in the neighborhood. And hone their preying skills

A liitle place in this world, Bankura and Mukutmanipur

Bankura is a district town in the State of West Bengal and that is where my mom in law lives. Unpolluted, you can still enjoy the little fish varieties from the local catch, and the freshwater molluscs, which make a truly yummy curry. The air so clean and the fields so green! And I had an opportunity to visit this little place a few days back

On the way to Panchmura, a village known for several households that have kept up with traditional pottery for which the district is known

A pond heron

A forest lodge

Shambhu has his workshop in the front portion of his house, and there are several room-fulls of  these products of his wheel. Most of them are made to order, such as a clay chandelier (!) and the typical clay horses, some of them more than ten feet in height and used as decorative pieces, outdoors.

I wanted a set of clay panels with images in relief but these were not ready. The bull looked lovely though, and I bought a few clay tiles and this baul singer (mendicant and folk singer)

The next day, me and junior went on a day trip to some dense forests which were until recently, almost out of bounds for the insurgent threats. There has been some improvement in the situation with roads, power, schools and colleges but even then, the roads are heavily patrolled and shut down with the sun going down. And then, the dam at Mukutmanipur, which is one of the largest earthen dams at 11 kms, providing irrigation facilities to drought prone areas in several districts.

 

 There was hardly anyone at sight. Not even waterfowl but then, the tribals are known to be especially fond of all things that move in the forest! As soon as I could get a signal, I got frantic calls to be out and begone immediately, so then, a hasty retreat, but not before catching one lone greater coucal foraging, and this bird does not taste like pheasants, definitely

 

On the way to Mukutmanipur, the road passed by a number of ponds where waterlilies bloomed in happy profusion.

The dam is on the Kangsabati or Kansai river which often flooded in the fifties, near the confluence of Kansai and Kumari rivers where there is a riverine island, now turned into a deer park

 

 

The other side is now an enormously huge reservoir, and there is a pavilion on a hilltop from where you get a view

Steps to the pavilion are being done up at the moment, flanked by huge posters of the Bengali primer Sahaj Path, written by Tagore and illustrated by Nandalal Bose. The first book one reads in the Bengali language as a child. These posters have been painted by local artisans, without the help of computer prints or digital blown ups 

 

 Powered boats are available for a round trip, such as this one on its way to the deer island

 

Another hilltop has an open air shrine, originally a Jain place of worship and meditation. Later days have seen some additions as you can see; the Jain image on the right

A number of tiny stalls have now come up near the entry gate, selling various artefacts. They were all reasonably priced. I got a woodcut of Ganesha from Mr Show, who appeared to be a altogether a most reasonable man as you can see!