Friday 3 July 2015

3rd JULY 2015 PLACES TO VISIT AROUND THE WORLD

 

Equal Streets movement in Mumbai simply rocks!!!! Equal Street movement reflects the spirit, the flamboyance, the creativity, the charisma and the fun loving nature of Mumbai. The Equal Streets initiative brought to Mumbai by NGOs, think tanks, citizens’ association and cycling groups, closes a 6.5km loop to motor vehicles from 7am-11 am every Sunday. The movement will continue till May 31, 2015 and the stretch extends from Bandra’s HP junction down Linking Road before looping back to the junction via SV Road. One can enter this stretch from the points at Linking Road and SV Road in Bandra, Khar and Santacruz.

Usually I prefer waking up late on Sunday but today was an exception. I not only woke up early but reached Linking Road at 7.30 am.

As a child I loved visiting the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata during the winter season with my family. It used to be a day long trip to the zoo with hampers full of snacks like luchi torkari, dim pauruti, and home made son papri. We used to also carry badminton rackets, Frisbee and cards to play inside the zoo sitting on the lush grass lawns. It was a regular annual event that I used to look forward to.

I always considered Kolkata as the Biryani paradise till I had Biryani at the real “Paradise” in Hyderabad. The name Paradise is appropriate as this is indeed the paradise for Biryani. Even while writing this post my mouth is watering thinking about that divine food in a manner comparable to our canine friends. A trip to Hyderabad would remain incomplete without a trip to Paradise on M.G.Road in Secunderabad.

Unlike Kolkata, Hyderabadi Biryani is light on tummy.

“Ektuku choya lage...ektuku katha shuni” is a Tagore song which explores the sensuality behind touch. A simple and quick touch from a loved one can make one skip a heartbeat. However in today’s fast and furious life we often miss these small moments. Especially with urban couples this is even truer. After 10 years of marriage this is exactly what happened to Ekta and Vishesh. Both were busy with their corporate careers, besides Ekta was also busy with their two kids Nysha and Zen.

Wanderful is happy to introduce a weekly column called "Tasty Tuesday". This column is a weekly food fiction, where the reader will read a story/anecdote along with a recipe mentioned in that story/anecdote. This is the third post of this series. Hope readers enjoy this weekly column. Guest posts for this weekly column are welcome.

MIL and Ghee

Shruti’s MIL suffers from a phobia that her son is not being well fed by Shruti.

Aruna had a love marriage with Prem. While studying Engineering they met and soon fell in love. While Aruna was the convent educated only daughter of a Bank officer, Prem belonged to a family of farmers. Prem lived in a village 500 kms from the main city and his parents were barely educated. Owing to this social mismatch Aruna’s parents were slightly hesitant initially but Aruna was confident that she would adjust with Prem’s family.
 

Every Sunday Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre “Jungle Planet” organises a Fun Sunday for kids and adults alike. With the entry ticket three free programmes could be availed which includes 1) Nature Trail 2) Animal interaction/ pet care and 3) another programme which could be anything like Butterfly life cycle, Meet a Mountaneer, Puppet show, basics about Bonsai, life of Dinosaurs etc. The park is open from 3pm-7pm and the entry ticket is Rs 100/ per person.
 

Gulab Bagh (Sajjan Niwas Garden) is the largest garden in Udaipur. It is spread over 100 acres of land. Our hotel shared a common boundary with Gulab Bagh therefore we walked down after visiting the Vintage Car Collection at Udaipur Palace which was also within walking distance. Gulab Bagh gets its name from the abundance of rose flowers it has. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see too many roses as I had expected, nevertheless saw other flowers.
 

My last trip to Kolkata was not as I wished it should have been. I ran from pillar to post to get my work done. Commuting proved difficult as mentioned in my post “6 ways why Kolkata is a City of Joy but not Joyride”. However the only saving grace was Mrs. Magpie. No, Mrs. Magpie is not my Wellington Square neighbour or my Anglo-Indian English teacher from school but a small cafeteria in Purna Das Road. The place has already become the favourite hangout for many South Kolkatans.
 

Wanderful is happy to introduce a weekly column called "Tasty Tuesday". This column is a weekly food fiction, where the reader will read a story/anecdote along with a recipe mentioned in that story/anecdote. This is the second post of this series. This post was first published in Prathampadokhep as a part of "of chalks and chopsticks". Hope readers enjoy this weekly column. Guest posts for this weekly column are welcome.

Momo and Mom

The craving for Momo is increasing by leaps and bounds.
 

My distant memory of Rajasthani music is from the 1974 movie “Sonar Kella” by Satyajit Ray. I believe this movie should have been rewarded by Rajasthan Tourism department for promoting Rajasthan as a tourist destination. In that movie Ray used Rajasthani folk music on numerous occasions. Ever since I watched that movie, I wanted to visit Rajasthan and listen to Rajasthani folk music sung by street singers the way it was shown in the movie.
 

Wanderful is happy to introduce a weekly column called "Tasty Tuesday". This column is a weekly food fiction, where the reader will read a story/anecdote along with a recipe mentioned in that story/anecdote. This is the first post of this series. This post was first published in Prathampadokhep as a part of "of chalks and chopsticks". Hope readers will enjoy this weekly column. Guest posts for this weekly column are welcome.
 

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian is an extremely gripping thriller that will keep the readers on the edge. The book keeps one on tenterhooks until the very last page. Indians have been reading Sydney Sheldon but now we have our own thriller writer to boast. God is a Gamer is a thriller which talks of a futuristic world where alternate virtual money has become a reality. This book is world’s first bitcoin thriller.

Bitcoins are decentralised virtual currency.
 

7 Secrets of Goddess is a well researched and thoroughly documented book from Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik. This book should be a must read for anybody interested in Hindu mythology. The book documents the stories relating to Hindu goddesses in the context of gender studies, patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism. The book heavily borrows from the signs and symbols found in folk art, calendar prints, tiles, temple art, statuettes, pattas and other sources to reach to the conclusion.
 

Eight years of marriage and a son later “WE” have completely metamorphosed into parents and lost our identity as a ‘couple’. As we live in a nuclear family and getting babysitter is a near impossible task we have to obligatorily tag our child in whatever we do and wherever we go. Therefore we take him for movies on Valentine’s Day, where he nags and cries and we listen to his “ghaynghayn” throughout, instead of listening to the movie’s dialogues.
 

Diwali in my part of India was celebrated as “Kali Puja” or “Shyama Puja”. After Durga puja this is the second largest Puja for the Bengalis. As a child I used to be terrified of this day. I was scared of the darkness of “amabasya”, the protruding red tongue of the deity and of course the myth surrounding the goddess.

The idol of Kali is intimidating in itself. She is stark naked with dishevelled black hair and a protruding red tongue against blue or jet black complexion.
 

In India we get to see Barbie dolls wearing sarees, lehengas, and salwaar kameezes therefore it was not surprising to find a barbie look-alike doll covered in a burqa on my trip to Kuwait. This doll is called Jana and she is the middle eastern counterpart of Barbie. Similar to barbie she also accessories like comb, hand mirror and vanity bag along with her. I saw this doll in Avenues Mall, Kuwait.

In his famous Madison Square speech the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi made an important statement “India is no longer the country of snake charmers but (computer) mouse charmers” (sic). Thanks to the IT revolution Indians are now prospering not only in India but all across the globe. IT industry induced travels have led to the exchanges of cultures. Survey says Indians are travelling like never before.
 

Lokhandawla Sarbojanin- Popularly known as Singer Abhijeet's Durga Puja

Kallol Kali Bari at Bangur Nagar Goregaon

Kumari Puja at Kallol

D.N Nagar Sarbojanin, Andheri West

Manish Nagar, Four Bungalows, Andheri West

Pragati, Near Andheri Station

Juhu Philanthropic Association, JVPD Scheme, Juhu

Juhu Cultural Association, Near Shoppers Stop Juhu

Actor Biswajeet's Puja

North Bombay Sarbojanin Durgotsav Charitable Trust, popularly known as Kajol/Rani Mukherjee's Puja at Tulip Star, Juhu

Mah

When my son was about six months old we shifted to a new flat. I initially loved the flat as I got a good view of the busy road from the window. The road was always full of hustle bustle. The shops and restaurants remained open till midnight, whole night cars zoomed pass and people walked all through day and night, and in a word the place was always vibrant and full of life. But I noticed a change in my son’s behaviour ever since we shifted.
 

The Scientific Center of Kuwait, located in Salmiya, serves as a centre for environmental education of the Gulf region. It spans over 80,000 square meters with the building covering over 18,000 square meters. The centre houses the largest aquarium in the Middle East, holding over 100 different species of animals. The Aquarium contains a 1.5 million litre water tank full of different kinds of fishes and sharks. An entertaining journey into the aquarium takes a tour of 3 different environments.
 

On my second day in Kuwait I decided to explore the Scientific Centre located in Salmiya. I took the hotel car and it took me about 10 minutes to reach. Scientific Centre is one of the worth visiting places in Kuwait. It is beautiful. The centre overlooks the Persian Gulf and from here I got a beautiful view of Kuwait’s skyline and the Kuwait Tower.

Scientific Centre

Scientific centre serves as a centre for environmental education of the gulf region.
 

Pujo asche this is what we Bengalis start feeling from the month of August. After the monsoon subsides and the black cloud in the sky is replaced by the feathery white ones, we know that our annual festival is on its way. The pujo committees start their preparation, shopping gears up and cleaning of the house begins.
 

Kuwait as a country does not endorse tourism; therefore getting a tourist visa to travel is slightly difficult. It is even more difficult if you are a single girl. I anyways had to never worry about visas as mine was a business trip. My counterparts in Kuwait not only arranged for my visa, they also made elaborate arrangements for my stay.

I boarded the Kuwait Airways flight early in the morning, 6am to be precise, from Mumbai. It takes about four hours to reach Kuwait from Mumbai.
 

I have been procrastinating my posts on Middle East for the longest time. The Surprise Prize from Ministry of Oman for my post Oman: Land of Desert Rain for the contest Beauty has an Address encouraged me to finally start the over-pending series. In this series I wish to write about three Middle Eastern cities, namely Kuwait City, Dubai and Istanbul.

I usually start writing after settling down in front of the laptop with a strong mug of coffee. My brain doesn’t seem to work without caffeine.
 

Just before entering Trimbakeswar a man approached us. The unshaven man with dishevelled hair wearing frayed clothes appeared drunk. He insisted on being our guide for the temple tour. Initially I was apprehensive but later allowed him to come onboard. The man’s body odour was competing with the car’s air purifier and it goes without mention that his stink emerged the clear winner.
 

Every year when the monsoon is about to bid goodbye, flu virus comes as a send-off gift to Mumbaikars. Unthankfully my family also received the gift, only yours truly was spared. Therefore, since last week it has been a house of maladies resulting in slightly dampened spirits during the Ganpati festival. However we disregarded all the sneezes, coughs, body aches and managed to visit two creative Ganesh Mandals in Andheri.
 

In my hometown Kolkata Ganesh Chaturthi was hardly celebrated. My first acquaintance with this festival happened during my stay in Hyderabad, where it is celebrated with grandeur equivalent to Durga Puja in Kolkata. And, ever since I shifted to Mumbai this festival has taken a more permanent position in my life. My son who was born in Mumbai is more familiar with Ganpati Festival than Durga Puja.
 

Life in Mt.Abu is slow and relaxed and centred around Lake Nakki. As the saying goes “all roads lead to Rome” in Mt.Abu all roads lead to Nakki Lake, a picturesque lake surrounded by hills. One of the hills has the Palace of the Maharja of Jaipur and another has a huge Toad Shaped Rock on its top. On one end of Nakki Lake there is the Bharat Mata(Mother India) Temple where a huge idol of Bharat Mata is placed.
 

“The Udaipur Palace Vintage and Classic Car Collection” should be a must visit place in your itinerary. This museum is a unique private collection of vintage cars from the House of Mewar - the world’s longest serving dynasty.

Well, when we visited Udaipur for the first time we had no idea that such a place existed. One day our hotel manager casually referred about this grand museum and we immediately went ahead to see this place.
 

"Ala re ala govinda ala" Mumbai was reverbrating with this sound yesterday as it was the annual Dahi Handi or Govinda event. It is celebrated on the following day of Janmashtami or the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. A earthen pot containing Dahi or curd is hung high up and human pyramid is formed to reach the pot and break it.
 

We usually go for a picnic during the monsoon season, this year we chose the bank of River Ulhas as our destination. River Ulhas originates at the foothills of the Sahyadris near Karjat in Western Ghats Range and enters Kulgaon-Badlapur towards the north of Ulhasnagar and then moves towards Kalyan.

We entered the banks of River Ulhas through Vangani. The river runs parallel to Vangani station and it took us few minutes to reach.
 

We hoist our national flag from the red fort, at police stations, schools, government buildings but have you ever seen flag hoisting by the waterfall? Well, this Independence day I had the rare opportunity to witness flag hoisting by the waterfall. I never knew that patriotism runs so deeply through us that we don’t miss out on flag hoisting even while holidaying or taking shower at a waterfall.
 

Even though my claim to “fame” is as a travel blogger, I confess that I had never heard of Vangani. Initially I was not even able to pronounce the name properly and literally curled my lips and tongue to utter it correctly “Wa-n-ga-n(r)i”. Yes, the pronunciation is not as phonetic as it looks. Therefore when it was decided that on Independence Day we would be going to Vangani, expectedly I was not very excited.

Vangani is an inconspicuous station in the CST-Karjat railway line.
 

I must confess that I have been unfair to Hyderabad. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to write a post on my second home and undoubtedly my favourite city in India. Hyderabad is a city where I spent the best days of my life. I found love, friendship and happiness in this city. My golden memories are associated with this city and therefore I love Hyderabad and should have written a post on it long back.

My life in Hyderabad was lazy and relaxed.

Cattle Class Auto Rickshaws- Considering that Bengal was under the communist rule for 34 years, the city of Kolkata adheres to the theory that every system should be structured upon common ownership and thus the concept of metered autos where a “bourgeois” can enjoy the luxury of an auto-ride all alone is absent in this city. Here each ride is earned after a “class struggle” with co-passengers in the long queue and then sharing the auto with minimum five of them.
 

On a relaxing Sunday morning on my ferry ride to Gorai Pagoda also known as the Global Vipassana Meditation Centre, I was thinking of Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha. Coincidentally, in the novel the ferry symbolised the means of expression or vehicle of Buddhism. The protagonist Siddhartha took a ferry to reach his spiritual destination. Ironically, I also took a ferry to reach the temple of the emancipated Buddha, the one of its kind, in the periphery of the maximum city.
 

Country roads, take me home

To the place I belong

Life is old there, older than the trees

Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze

Take me home, country roads

Take me home, down country roads

Take me home, down country roads

The above photos were taken during my Mahabaleswar trip. While clicking them I never imagined that the lyrics of the John Denver classic would match the images so beautifully. But fortunately, as you see, they did.
 

Oman, beautiful Oman, a holiday in Oman has been in my wish list for a very long time; precisely after I met Abdul Quddus. During my stint in Kuwait Abdul Quddus, a pleasant Omani guy from the Dhofar region of South Oman was my colleague. His dusky complexion and unique attire set him apart from my other Arab colleagues. Often in the office cafeteria he used to come and sit with me. The way I lamented for India similarly he lamented for Oman.
 

The latest news in Mumbai is the commencement of Mumbai Metro. The Reliance and MMRDA metro commenced on June 8, 2014 amidst huge fanfare between Versova and Ghatkopar.

1) Timings: The Metro services are available from 5.30am-12am.

2) Fare: Currently the promotional fare is Rs10/ and Rs5/ if you are travelling anytime between 5:30am-8am. They have also introduced a round trip of 90minutes duration at Rs20/.
 

On Saturday I ignored my busy schedule and attended the Zindagi indibloggers meet. Yes, we bloggers are a very busy lot. We are the Don Quixote of cyber world charging issues with our rhetorical orations through our blogs. Most non-bloggers consider us a-waste-of-time but we have learnt the art to ignore cynics.

Rohit was his name. I don’t even know his surname. I never saw him, but he is to me a messenger of lord Balaji. On our family trip to Tirupathi few years back, I lost my wallet while standing in the queue for Darshan. It was very crowded and lot of pushing and hassling was going on and precisely then my wallet fell down from my hand. I bend down to collect it, but the crowd standing behind me was pushing so much that I was unable to pick up my wallet. The tsunami of people pushed me ahead.
 

Me and my sister-in-law were still reeling with the excitement of riding on a Ho-Ho bus. The excitement was yet to settle down when we entered Jantar Mantar. It was peak office hours in Delhi, with noisy traffic in Connaught Place but the premise of Jantar Mantar was quite and serene. Two giggling "school girls" in their thirties were albeit trying to destroy the serenity with their constant chattering.
 

Prior to the Delhi trip, my brother announced that we would be sightseeing in Delhi on a Ho-Ho bus. Traditionally I associate the sound Ho-Ho to Santa. Therefore, Ho-Ho bus seemed like a distant cousin of Santa’s sledge. I imagined ourselves wearing red costumes and distributing gifts jingling ho-ho-ho from the rooftop of the Ho-Ho bus.

Ho-Ho is the short form of Hop On-Hop Off. This is a city tour bus which covers around 25 tourist spots in Delhi.
 

I live in a city which does not have distinguished seasons. Here there is no distinct spring, autumn or fall. Here we have a four month long monsoon when roads get waterlogged, traffic stands still and we go berserk. Before the monsoon we suffer from soaring temperature and extreme humidity. We pray to the monsoon god to come and bless us. Once the monsoon arrives we feel happy but within a month we start praying for it to get over.

Monsoon brings greenery to this otherwise lifeless city.
 

What did you discover during honeymoon? Some will reply that they were bestowed with romance, candle light dinner, roses, poems etc. But other not so lucky souls might discover horrific physical catastrophes like snoring, belching, kicking while asleep and not so good things which you can easily guess.
 

Going to Pune on a weekend trip was not a bad idea at all. I was bored to death and had practically nowhere to go. So when my friend J asked me to come over to Pune, I immediately lapped up the offer. The very next day at four in the morning me and my son woke up and by 5 am hit the road. This was my first trip, excluding my trips to home town Kolkata, exclusively with my son minus the father. Therefore I was excited but equally tensed and wanted the trip to get over unscathed.
 

Let me confess, Pushkar was never in my itinerary. My readers must be aware by this time, that when we travel we never follow our schedule and often take detours. Interestingly the places we visit outside our itinerary are usually the most amazing ones.

The last day in Jaipur we had not much to do, therefore the better half decided to go to Pushkar. And he booked a cab from Jaipur to Pushkar and back.
 

I took my son to infinity 2 this week, as I am seriously running out of ideas to keep him engaged. The long vacation has already started taking its toll on me and son. My son is getting bored and I am getting exhausted in keeping pace with him. Already I have arranged half a dozen play dates, pool party, tent party, mock birthday, movie outing and beach picnic. Lest not forget the numerous art and craft activities and picture puzzle that we are doing throughout the day.
 

Bhandardhara was initially not in our itinerary. While coming back from Nashik it suddenly occurred to us that we might take a detour. And as the Bengali proverb says “utlo bai to cuttack jai” only in this case Cuttack was replaced by Bhandardhara. We started from Nashik at around 10 am and reached Bhandardhara at around 12 noon. It is roughly 75 km from Nashik to Bhandardhara. And from Bhandardhara to Mumbai it is 185kms.
 

“Dil ka bhawar kare pukar, pyaar ka raag suno re.......” remember this famous Dev Anand song? The song was beautiful and the picturisation was a marvel. Dev Anand wanted to shoot the song Dil Ka Bhanwar Kare Pukar from his movie Tere Ghar Ke Samne inside the Qutab Minar. However, the cameras in that era were too big to fit inside the tower's narrow passage, and the song was shot inside a replica of the tower instead.
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