Paranthawali Gali: A century old flavour

For some it’s dark and dirty, for others it’s lively and exciting, for some it is poor, for others it is the coffer of our cultural heritage, for some it is stingy and shabby but for others it is a mini India. Rich in food, art and handlooms, Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi is a home to some of oldest jewels of our history like the magnificent Red Fort and the Jama Masjid. But a little away from the grandeur and the limelight is a small restaurant, Shri Kanniyalal Durga Prashad Dixit Paranthe Waale, which has been there for around 140 years and is an important ingredient of the famous Paranthe waali Gali.

The fragrance of freshly fried paranthas adore the whole place and it is so irresistible that you can’t escape it however you try. Founded in 1875 by Late Kanniyalal Durga Prasad Dixit, the small restaurant serves around 30 varieties of vegetarian parathas including the parathas with exotic fillings like kaju, badam, rabri, khoya etc.

“We have been serving people the real Indian Paranthas for more than a century now. We are the fifth generation in the same business,” says the proud owner while he fries a mouth watering Nimbu parantha. “There are more than 1500 to 2000 visitors in a day in the Gali. Business is great but more than that we love the fact that we have been able to keep the dream of our forefathers alive and it is flourishing with each passing day,” he added.

From the famous personalities like Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru and Akshay Kumar to a common man, the restaurant has seen them all and inherits the real taste of the rich Indian cuisine. The parantha is usually served without onions and garlic with sweet tamarind chutney, mint chutney, mixed vegetable pickle, paneer and potato curry, potato and fenugreek curry, and a mash of sweet pumpkin. A chilled sweet lassi adds to the taste.

“I come here very often with my friends and we enjoy the real taste of Indian cuisine,” said Deepankar Pathak, a software engineer and regular customer of the shop. “While I love gobhi parantha, my girl friend is a fan of nimbu paranthas. It is a good change from the mainstream junk food,” he added.

The culinary journey of the Parantha waali Gali has traversed a long journey. It has moved beyond the small lanes and elegant Havelis of Chandni Chowk to some of the biggest malls. Not only this, the gali is internationally acclaimed. The well known Mela restaurant in UK is imitates the ambience of the Paranthe waali Gali.

It might look old fashioned for a large chunk of the Pizza generation but for a larger chunk this is the real taste of India. What is more surprising is that in a small lane lies the flavours of a culture which is more than a century old.

Read more →

Konark Festival: A blend of art and beauty

Few things are too perfect to be called reality and one can experience this at Konark festival. The lights were as bright as they could be, the decorations were perfect and the feeling was as welcoming as ever. Just follow the rhythm along the scintillating Chandrabhaga beach and you will feel the grandeur of the Sun Temple and it is there that the miraculous parade of the Indian classical dances begins at the Annual Konark Festival.

The Konark festival is held every year from December 1 to December 5. This festival marks the onset of the various dance and music festivals being held in Odisha from December to March.

This year the five day festival seemed, to many, as lesser scintillating than the previous years’. As reported by Odisha Tourism, an expenditure of around Rs 80 lakh has been done on the decoration.

The perfect blend of art and beauty, Konark festival, began with the Odissi dance performance by Purnashree Raut and Group from Raipur, Chattisgarh which was followed by Bharatnatyam by Anitha Guha and Group of Bharathanjali Trust, Chennai. On the second day, Lasya Akademi’s Sadanam Balakrishnan and Group from Kerala performed Kathakali and Mohiniyattam which was followed by Rudrakshya Foundation’s Odissi dance performance by Guru Bichitrananda Swain and Group from Bhubaneswar. The following days were marked by other famous dance forms like Manipuri by Singhjit Singh and Group and Odissi by Aloka Kanungo and Group on the third day, Kuchipudi by Aekhya Punjala and Group and Odissi by Padmashree Ileana Citaristi and Group on the fourth day and Kathak by Rani Karnaa and Group and Odissi by GKCM Odissi Research Centre on the final day.

The dances ranging from themes like depiction of Ramayana to Krishna’s Raasleela, from Shiva’s anger to Parvati’s calmness, from lyrical prayers to imbibing the male stylization into various dance form.

The international sand art festival has also witnessed entries from across the world.

This festival is one of the greatest dance festivals held in the State. It attracts large number of tourists from across the world.

The festival truly binds India together in rhythmic ties. The winter breeze from the sea, the famous Sun temple in the backdrop and the magic of various dance forms create an atmosphere filled with rhythmic beats which not only provides food for eyes and ears but also nurtures the soul.

Read more →

God’s own religion

Last week my visit to Jagannath Puri made me realize that the whole hullabaloo around Modi being a secular or not is a waste of time because in a ‘secular’ and religiously tolerant country like India, even God has a religion and that religion is Hinduism.

Of course, in a Hindu dominated state God has to go with the majority, may be when we decided Lord Jagannath’s religion we didn’t know about the privileges enjoyed by a minority. After all, Jagannath literally means ‘Jagat ke Nath’ or the Lord of the universe. And how can a secular state allow a Non-Hindu to rule.

A temple, or any other holy place for that matter, acts like a bridge between man and God and when the very same bridge is used to create gap, people like me begin to doubt my faith.

I was amazed by the glory and the magic of Jagannath on His devotees. The undying devotion and spiritual fervor for the divinity can be felt the moment you step inside Odisha. The omnipresence of the astounding belief fuelled my desire to visit the temple. One of my friends from Odisha once said that the moment he enters the temple there are tears in his eyes. Nobody can describe Jagannath such is his aura. And I think he was true because despite the temple’s mismanagement thousands of devotees flocked the temple for a glimpse of the Almighty.

The magnificence of the Lord can be understood by the grandeur of His residence. Built on an area of about 4,00,000 square feet, the triad  deities, Jagannath, Subhadra and Balbhadra, reside in the Garba Griha (Sanctum sanctorum) section of the temple. The sanctity of the place can’t be challenged but the lack of management and security seems to be a major issue.

With no proper frisking, one can easily carry cell-phones and other stuff inside the temple. This is a major issue for a place visited by thousands of people daily.

But more than the security and the management what disturbed me was an incident that happened with a friend of mine. None of the guards checked our bags properly because we looked Hindus but a friend was asked to prove his religion because he was bald and had a beard which is a typical Muslim get-up.

It was difficult for me to understand why were the non- hindus not allowed in the temple. I am a Brahmin by caste and I am supposed to visit temples but I prefer Bangla Saheb Gurudwara over any other religious place. It is all about faith and for a place like Puri which is one of the holiest cities in the country, discrimination on the basis of religion is not justified.

Since the ancient times, the servitors of Lord Jagannath have restricted devotees inside the temple. From Kabir Das ji to Guru Nanak Dev ji to Indira Gandhi to the Italian Odissi dancer Ileana Citarasti, the temple has posed restrictions on the entry on the basis of religion and has landed itself in more number of controversies than any other deity in the country. Mahatma Gandhi had even protested against the rampant caste discrimination practiced by the temple authorities.

The debates and protests have resulted in a lot of changes in the temple rituals like the Dalits are now allowed inside the temple but there are miles to go before we close this debate on restricting entry to religious places on the basis of religion. Jagannath is the lord of the universe. He is an assimilation of all the castes and religions and thus we all must get a fair chance to assimilate in Him irrespective of our castes and religion. It was only after visiting the sacrosanct that I realized that there is more Jagannath outside the temple than it is inside. Inside those four walls of the majestic temple He is only getting divided and cashed by his servitors but His real glory lies beyond those four walls where even the mention of His name commands respect and  nothing auspicious can happen without His blessings.

Read more →

Stories from the sea

She is magnificent but elegant, she is violent yet tranquil, she is attractive but mysterious, she is calm but holds a lot of might in its bosom, she is the grandeur of the sea that hides and unfolds the most complex and interesting human emotions and sentiments and I call her 'she' because like a woman she is desirable, beautiful and nobody can ever understand her.

The beach in Puri is no exception. Located on the banks on Bay of Bengal, it is a tourist attraction as well as a sacred place for Hindu devotees. The beach is a site of various art works, camel rides, Puri Beach Annual Festival and the world famous sand art by Sudarshan Patnaik.

The waves have been touching the coastline since time and thus have witnessed Puri grow from a religious place to a commercialized city. While there are many who came there to have a share of the sanctity of the place, there are some who visit it to enjoy the tranquility.

Kanta Javeri, a 78 year old lady who had come to Puri from Ahemdabad just to see Lord Jagannath and take a holy dip in the ‘Panch Tirhta’ (Five Holy places). As her son Suresh Javeri said, “My mother wanted to visit Jagannath once before she dies. She had not been keeping well and insisted that she wanted to visit the temple and take a holy dip in the sea.” Although she could not take the dip owing to the security issues she did wash her hands and touched the holy waters. “I was born in Puri but after my father shifted to Gujarat and I got married. I could never come back. Although I always wanted to and missed this place,” said Kanta.

The devotion of Kanta was visible in the way she looked at the sea and touched the waves every time they came on the shore. She could not stop thanking Lord Jagannath for calling her to his land.

Hindu devotees say that there are ‘Pancha Tirtha’ in Puri and among which the sea is the most sacred. The other four are Indradyumma Tank, Markendya Tank, Swetaganga Tank and Rohini Kunda.

Kanta is not the only one. The beauty of the sea and the sky has attracted people from all walks of life and around the world. A young couple from Delhi, Dinesh Kapoor and Smita Kapoor had come to the Puri beach to celebrate their first wedding Anniversary. When asked why Puri, Dinesh laughed and said, “My wife is very religious and wanted to visit a holy place and I wanted to go to Goa for I have a fascination for the sea. We had an intense discussion and then I thought Puri is the only place which can serve both the purposes.” He added that he loved the place and its tranquility especially the radiant sky at the dawn and the dusk.

Although the footprints, the names and the sand castles have been washed off from the beach yet it seems that a lot can be read on the golden coast. The stories and the sentiments are all the more the same, only the names change. The mysterious sea calls us towards it and our greed to unravel the secret draws us towards it but nobody knows what really defines this magnificent creation of God. Is it really the sanctity of the waters or the beauty that the place is gifted with?

Being my first visit to a abeach, here are a few lines that I wrote

Kuch to khaas hai in lehro me

Jo mujhse yun takrati hai,

Shor me khamoshi jaisi,

Subah ki pheli angadayi jaisi,

Jaise ho koi tamanna adhuri si,

Na jaane kisko chuna chahti hai.

Koi baat chupaye hai shayad apne seene mein,

Kuch to kehna chahti hai,

Kayi ankahi kahaniya dabi hai andar,

Awaaz lagakr mujhko bulati hai,

Samajh ni paati me inki jubaan,

To shayad ruth jaati hai,

Ufaan ki tarah aati hai,

Or maati k mehel ki tarah mujhko baha le jaati hai.

Rokna ni chahti me bhi khudko

Bas saath chalti jaati hu,

Thoda sa laut aati hu

Or thoda sa beh jaati hu.

Read more →