Just Walking Around

Green Thumbs

Search Google and the most trending topic of discussion in news in developed and developing economies is “ Climate Change” , the effects of which are hotly debated on news channels , World economic forums and International associations like United Nations. Believe it or not the effects of Climate are very real and very visible. Take the case of the smog choking Delhi every year this time of the year or the case of the incessant rains in Mumbai right up to Diwali in mid October. And the extreme temperatures currently observed during the day making you sweat and the sudden drop in temperature during the nights making it a health hazard for not just kids but also adults alike. Giving most of us the sniffles or a clear case of runny noses accompanied by mild fever. Such is the weather sometimes it feels not to step out of the home.

To top it all the local administrations in most cities is not geared upto handle the deluge due excessive rains. Take the recent news case of floods in Chennai making the lives of the people residing in the city. Flooding caused the city to come to a standstill for 2-3 days and the same thing happening in Bangalore a week before . City after city is fighting the same chaos and in hilly places like Uttarakhand such climate change can be catastrophic by way of landslides and many lives being lost as also damage to property.

But all this can be attributed to mans greed , one reason being unrelenting cutting of trees to develop land for housing and commercial activities. Creating more Concrete forest , when the need of the hour is more green cover.

Living in Matunga where fortunately the green cover is still intact in the quite precincts of Hindu Colony and Dadar Parsi Colony. Even during high noon when the Sun is overpowering in the sky you can take a pleasant walk among the shade of the trees in these places. Enjoy the cool breeze in the evening or even a night walk enjoying a little chit chat with your spouse under the amazing night sky brightly lit with twinkling stars and yellow full moon.

Growing up I still remember I had a green thumb potting plants in our wide and airy Verandah. We always had a Tulsi , that light green plant with medicinal properties . According to Ayurveda Tulsi is one plant which is a natural air purifier . If planted in abundance it can filter the polluted air entering our homes. The leaves can be used to make home remedies to beat that toughest of cold and flu. A few leaves in your hot cup of tea can recharge you with energy and a clears your system of all the daily stress. Then there are flowering plants like the white lilies which would bloom in abundance come April and May every year. The delicate white flowers rising up from the mud in the pots like stars on drinking  straws. A bouquet of white bloom among the deep green grassy leaves. A wonderful sight to behold. 

Another rare plant we have is the Brahma Kamal a variant of the exotic Lotus flower. If you look at the plant it appears like a shrub in a arid dessert with flat green leaves rising from buds buried in the mud in the earthen kundi or planter. It is said that Brahma Kamal  flowers once in 6 years but when it blooms it’s a sight to behold. First a tiny buds sticks out from the sides of those flat green leaves. Over a period a few day the buds grow in speed with a proper stem and a large bulbous conical bud at the top .The colour being a fiery red. On the day of its bloom you can not miss the faint but sweet fragrance emanating form the bud which spreads across your home. The red bulb starts opening up late in the evening to reveal the soft and pristine white flower with faint yellow spores in the center. When fully bloomed it is a sight to watch with a large flower holding center stage like a beautiful goddess and right fully so the favorite flower of goddess Laxmi itself. But the life of the flower is only for a night as it wilts away when you check on it the morning after. Making the saying “Best things comes in small packages” so true.

The other plants we always had were the Sadaphooli of the ever flowering literally daily making its presence felt every morning with its cutely symmetrical pink and purple flowers or pure white and yellow combination. The flowers were plucked and offered to the gods during morning prayers . All these plants sitting pretty in the wrought iron stand fixed to the verandah or now in the window grills. With open spaces coming at a premium , most of the flat owners today have flowering and medicinal plants in their window grills. Some going on to make space for kitchen gardens with veggies like cherry tomatoes , brinjals , green chillies and green leafy vegetables like Methi or even a Palak.

Such is the demand for potted plants you are sure find many plant nurseries in Mumbai. At the end of the Tilak Bridge connect Dadar East to Dadar West you can find a very old nursery made out the step like holders placed along the bridge wall. Here you can get plants in all sizes from the small saplings of Chinese Rose in deep pink or purple. The ever flowering Sadafuli in pink , purple or white. The fresh bright orange Marigold or its other variant in sunny yellow. You can even get the Shevanti the bright yellow coloured flowers most often offered in the form of a garland . Special variety of the Shevanti which is cute as a button and literally called button Shevanti. They also keep fragrant flowering plants like Mogra , Jai and Jui  . Some shrubs which flower in the night and spread their fragrance all across like Rat Rani or a Parijat. Since the demand for exotic flowers is increasing they even keep plants for orchids and carnations. Sometimes you can even get Gladiola .

If you are looking to plant some real trees may be in your building compound or a the society garden you can head to Kalina. Just on the roadside on the way to Mumbai University you will find nurseries growing sapling for palm tree , Jasmine or even fruit

trees saplings of mango , chickoo or a guava. Most of the Facility Management Companies who are into Office management or even Landscape Decrators for Corporate Spaces come here to pick up these greens. You can even get real grass in rolls or turf which can be laid ut on open plots. Making the landscape really green and soothing to the eye.

So next time you are feeling a little depressed and under the weather I suggest you go to your small garden in your window sill just sit there staring at the small patch of greenery and see your worries melt away ….just like magic. Try it its and sure cure for all your moody blues.

Just Walking Around

Walking amongst the flowers ….

The festive season has just concluded and everyone is back to the usual grind. The same old traffic jams the same old rush in the trains same old routine job.Looking at all this chaos around a  song comes to my mind , a lilting melody ….”Yeh Kahan Aaageye Hum Yuhi Saath Saath Chalte” from Silsila . A song playing in the background as the tall angry young man Amitabh Bacchan and the beauteous Rekha walking hand in hand amidst the most beautiful places on Earth , among the valley of flowers especially the bright pink and red Tulips. Totally awesome …

You wont find the same serenity but you can take that walk , a walk among the flowers right here in the midst of all the chaos in this Maxim City of Mumbai , close to the one of the busiest Suburban Railway Station if not The Busiest . That’s right  here in Dadar.

Just next to the station on the south side of the FOB starts a small lane filled with small hole in the wall shops . Close to 20 stalls lined right till the end where the flyover bridge opposite the Dadar station ends. The business starts here at the ghostly hour of the early morning around 4 am every day. Tons of flowers come here from all across India mostly by trains or in huge trucks. The bags upon bags of flowers are transported to this small bylane known locally as the Phool Gully or the Dadar Phool Market.

You can see the flower vendors some owners of small shops some traders or even some who pick up loose stock converge here to pick the best lot at that ghostly hour. Pitch black except for the street lights and lights on the stations these flower vendors get to work. Opening up huge jute filled bags of bright Orange and Yellow Marigolds . Spilling on the ground like small pom-poms. Or now during the winters its those bright yellow or lemon colored Shevanti or the maroon and orange tinged small Zinnia’s . Now a days you can you can even spot some exotic flowers like the Tulips or Orchids or even the Carnations which go into making of lovely flower bouquets . Those you can give to your sweet heart.

Walking here early in the morning is like walking among a beehive of activity or something similar to a warzone. You will find the unloaders , unloading the flowers in bulk at the stalls . Small and retail vendors haggling away with the shopowners to pick up a  few 10’s of kilos of the best and freshest flower to be carried back as far as Kalyan & Dombivili in the Central Suburbs or Borivili and Dahisar on the Werstern side. Some are local flower sellers who take their stock and sit below the flyover bridge and start making garlands weaving these flowers into multicoured “haars” or garlands ready to adorn the necks of the various deities across the city in temples and in our homes. You can see largely the women folk working fervently at these flowers and deftly weaving them using nothing but a string of thread and magically transforming the flowers into those lovely garlands. Even small girls as small as 5 year olds work along their mothers , their aunts or the old grand mothers and transform these flowers into “Vennis” or “Gajra” . Both of these flower adornments used by the women to tuck into their hair buns and look gorgeous.  You will find families upon families thriving upon the measly income generated after selling these garlands and Vennis to the people entering and exiting the station.

While walking among these flowers you can literally surrounded by the wafts of fragrance . The sweet smell of those red roses and pink roses that come from the dry Rajasthan or Kutch. The distinct fragrance of the  small white “chadi” used in the Haar or the over powering smell of “Mogra” which are the costliest but the best for making the Gajra’s. Not long ago a middle class Marathi manoos would profess his love for his wife by buying a couple of these delicate Mogra gajra’s while returning home from work. A modest romantic gift for his wife to see that special smile on her lips , a smile which would melt his own stress and agony of day. A few moments of bliss shared between the two.

Then there are the faint lingering smells of flowers like white sontakka , bright orange chaffa or the yellow bud like kavti chaffa sold in lose by the dozen. I have seen people buying those small garlands made up of these orange chaffa at the traffic junctions or at the Red light Signals and placing them on the small murti’s inside their cars .The fragrance so sweet and overpowering you wont even need to use an air fresheners for the entire day. Try it next time , its better than the artificial fragrance in our otherwise artificial and routine life.

Walking here in this Phool Market ,transports you to an entirely different world . A world amidst the chaos but still fragrant from the beauty of nature.

Just Walking Around

Diwali Icon’s

Its been raining for last couple of days. Every evening around 6 pm it gets dark with black clouds looming in the sky . And it starts to rain followed by loud bangs of Thunder and Lightning as if it’s a Special Light and Sound Show from the God’s above. Its October  and its still raining in Mumbai , I say to the Missus “ Looks like Diwali will be a Damp Squib like all other festivals this year. Will have to light the Fire Crackers in the morning s at this rate”. She Laughs . I hear Netra mouthing some lines with animated expression , I ask her what it is she is saying. She loudly proclaims “ Utha Utha Sakal Zhali Moti Sabnachi Vel Zhali” And we all have hearty laugh.

Yes its true those were the nostalgics days . I still remember in my childhood getting up on Narak Chaturdashi the 1^st day of Diwali really early at 5.30/6 am . Bleary eyed made to sit on a wooden pat and Aai aaplying Tel (Oil) .Then taking the Abhyanga Snaan (Pahli Anghol) . A hot bath with Kubal Utne ( perfumed powder like substance) and Moti Soap. That large round soap in either Sandal or Rose fragrance. The ritual still carried out till date in not only our home but across most homes all across India. 

To let you into the history of this Iconic Soap, Moti was quite popular during seventies. It is thick round shaped soap positioned as luxury soap.It was a brand of Tata Oil Mills Company ( TOMCO). In 1993 after merger of TOMCO with HUL, it became the property of HUL. Moti soap was launched keeping in mind certain points to differentiate it from other competitors. Such as its shape and thickness which was different from rest of the competitors. Its name was taken from Hindi language whose meaning is Pearl. It was introduced in differentvariants such as Sandal, Rose and Khus. At the time,Sandal, Rose and Khus were perceived to be precious and devout in our Indian society. In Hindu mythology it has been found that queens used to take bath with exotic herbs and flowers such as Rose,Khas, Sandal etc.In this way soap was positioned as exotic soap. As it was promoted as luxurious soap, it was priced around 25/- per soap in eighties competing other brand such as Dettol, Lux etc. But at the same time as it was quite big in shape so it was long lasting. Packaging was simple with respective colour of variants such as orange for sandal and pink for rose.

It was promoted heavily and as name of product was “Moti”, print advertisement was giving importance to pearls. One of the popular print advertisement for magazine shows a soap anchored in big seashell on a beach, just like pearl. It also gave stress on its ingredients . In the nineties Moti was positioned as special occasion soap by its latest TV commercial .TV commercial of Moti soap gave stress on spirituality and purity. In this advertisement an Indian lady was shown as lighting the lamps, making Rangoli and using Moti soap. Overall the advertisement was all about celebration, purity and tradition. As soap’s ingredients are traditional, consumer started to perceive it as special occasion soap such as using at the time of Diwali. After this advertising campaign, Moti has become a special occasion (such as Diwali) soap. 

After merger with HUL in 1993 Moti soap lost its sheen and HUL did not focus on this brand much and Moti was  lost in the ocean of HUL’s other soap products like Lux , Liril Ayush etc.. The fallout was that competitors such as Mysore sandal soap another Iconic Soap Brand from down South -Karnataka, local handmade soap and Ayurvedic soaps, HUL’s own products started over powering this brand. In addition to this lack of innovation and increasing customer expectation from soap lead to decrease in its sale. It became necessary over time to either reposition the product or to take a strategic decision on the future of the branch because till this time Moti had become a soap which was having seasonal demand than regular demand. HUL relaunched a campaign to get back its market share by airing a new commercial in 2013.This commercial gave stress to the old Indian Diwali Custom of taking bath early in the morning on the first day of Diwali. A chawl has been shown in the commercial where a small boy knocked on everyone’s door early in the morning and ask them to take bath with Moti Soap, similar to the habit of an elderly man who carried out this activity in his younger days (bringing the viewer to recall the earlier advertisements of the 80s and 90s). This advertisement was able to create nostalgic feeling among consumers. It was also telecasted in Regional languages of Marathi and Hindi. Overall this advertisement got lot of appreciation from customers and critics. And the loyal customer came back to this Iconic Soap again.

Looking at overall journey of this brand it’s a success sustainance for more than 40 years is not an easy task and that too in era of dynamically changing market. While it has a selected and small market,it still has its set of loyal customers. Using Moti soap on special occasion has become a tradition and is getting passed on to next generations as cultural heritage in most of the Indian middle class family.

Another Icon is the Kubal Utne or Uptan available in bright yellow paper packets at small and big retails vendors during the week leading upto Diwali It’s a fragrant powdery mixture  made of sandal wood powder , multani matti (mud) , neem powder and turmeric. This is applied to the face and the body during the Abhyanga Snaan. The ingrediants are such that it nourishes our skin and if used regularly during winters can help in getting its glow back from the winter dryness.A Natural cosmetic passed on from ages

One more icon that strikes you and is so common that we take it for granted is the Calender on the wall…It’s the Kalnirnay the Calender cum Almanac designed by the famous Astrologer Jayant Salgaonkar. Kalnirnay an apt name as in Marathi it translates to timely decision. It is a calmanac (Calendar +Almanac) published in Mumbai. The almanac gives simplified information about the Panchang, auspicious days, festivals, holidays, sunrise and sunset. It has recipes, stories on health and education, monthly Bhavishya and articles on Hindu astrology.

Kalnirnaya was founded in 1973 by Jayantrao Salgaonkar. It initially started as a hand-printed almanac for Marathi subscribers. At a time when the trend was to give away calenders for free this compact Calmanac which served as a reference point for not just dates and festivals but also gave the common man the power of Panchang with its easy to use auspiscious dates and time all in standard hours and minutes unlike the traditional Ghatika in say a Datte Panchang. The first issue was sold to 10,000 subscribers. It gradually grew to become the largest selling publication in the world, with around 19 million copies being sold annually.

Kalnirnay is published annually, by Sumangal Publishing, as a calendar almanac for all Indian religions. It contains auspicious dates, festivals and celebrations of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Jews are mentioned in detail. It also provides useful information about Daily Panchang, Shubh Vivah Muhurat, Sankashti Chauturthi Chandroday Timing, Daily Sun Rise – Moon Rise Timings, Monthly Astrological Predictions for all Zodiac Signs, etc. It is published in nine languages -English, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu , Kannada, Malyalam and Punjabi with Marathi accounting for the bulk of its readers. In addition to dates and times of religious and cultural relevance, each issue also contains articles on topics such as health, food and beauty

A anecdote as shared by Jayant salgaonkar himself in an interview gives its utility not just for regular dates and auspiscious time but also helps meat vendors and butchers to manage the stock of meat looking at the fasting days as mentioned in Kalnirnay. That’s called making life simple in its truest form.

In keeping with the times a website was launched in 1996, its desktop e-version (e-kalnirnay) was subsequently launched, and it is now available even as an Android and an iOS app. … “Bhinti Wari kalnirnay asave…

And how can Diwali the festival of Lights be complete without the mention of Fire Crackers . The Fire Crackers from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. One more iconic symbol of Diwali is the fire crackers from Standard Fireworks. Standard Fireworks was founded by Sri NRK Rajarathnam in 1942 in the town of Sivakasi. The company started by manufacturing match sticks but later expanded to firework. The pioneer and market leader of firecracker industry in India. Head quartered in Sivakasi (Tamil Nadu), Standard brand of fireworks is available across the country through their retailers and dealers across the length and breadth of India.Just before Diwali you will find small and big shops displaying prominent Standard Brand banners alluring the buyers to choose from their wide variety of products and the new launches. Even today you will find someone in the family may be a distant cousin picking up small stocks of fire crackers and selling to a closed group of known family members  and making  part time earnings. 

The most frequently picked up crackers would be the Sparklers big and small or coloured , Fountains or Flower pots as they are called , those conical crackers that bust into a flare of lights , the Zameen Chakri or  circular discs which spin at top speed and release multi colored flares. Or the small barrel bombs like Laxmi Bomb or a Double Barrel which burst twice when ignited. Then there were the small string bombs packed into red or purle paper not more that 3 inches in size but burts with a loud bangs another most sought after cracker was the Lal Mahal or Red Fort with the label promionently displaying the National Heritage sight the Red Fort in Delhi. Then during our child hood when Anti Sound or Pollution Activisim was not as much as it is today , we would be definite to be woken up to those long strings bombs of 100 , 500 ,1000 or even a 5000 laddi bursting a goo 10 minutes. Or if you really wanted a big bang for your money you could burst the green coloured sutli (tread) bombs or the yellow box type bombs. And then those who were a little affluent would bring the Rockets ( a costly proposition) for the sky show. Once they started to getting competions from Chinese Fire Cracker players instead of fighting them off they decided to join forces. Today they have collaborated with Chinese fireworks to bring a newer range of even more memmerising crackers . They even have a manufacturing facility in China.Churning out eye popping fire crackers that would make you jaw drop.

Times have changed but as they say more  the things change more it remains the same . So these Icons will hopefully last our lifetime and would be enjoyed by the generations to come….

Wishing all my readers a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year. Have fabulous but safe Diwali…

Enjoy this Video ---

https://www.facebook.com/scroll.in/videos/1163714717044740/

Just Walking Around

Interval ka mazaa…….Samose ke Saath.

If you are an avid movie buff and like to watch Bollywood / Hollywood movies on 70 mm in a single screen theater with the regular Aam junta like me .Enjoying the roller-coaster ride of action emotion, comedy and drama … thoda rona –dhona …thodi hasi aur bahut sara family fun and when the cinema screen flashes the sign of Intermission rush out to the snack counter with only one mission get that hot packets of , yes you guessed it right Samosaaaa…

Did you you know that more than 80% of the single screens across Mumbai serve that special crispy triangulated deep fried snack known as Samosa made by only one vendor and is famously known as A1 Samosa.They are among the most famous samosa makers in Mumbai. They make abouth 15000-18000 samosas a day and supply more 30 movie halls in the city.

Those crunchy, spicy, potato-filled triangles of happiness can make a bad movie tolerable and a good movie awesome! But to get an A-1 samosa, you don’t have to go to the  cinema, where they’re priced quite high. At their main shop in Sion, near my house, it’s 12 rupees a samosa.

The shop’s nothing fancy, and it’s often hidden from view behind a row of parked vehicles. But it's always bustling with customers. The Punjabi samosa is their classic offering – it’s the potato-filled one you get in all the theatres. Their other favourites are the Cheese-Corn Samosa and the Chinese Samosa. The Chinese ones are stuffed with bright red, schezwan-flavoured noodles – but they’re really not as strange as they sound. They also have a sweet vairiety in the Sweet Mawa Samosas but I have never tried it myself,. Do let me know how it tastes if any of you ever get top eat one. A recent addition is the Palak Paneer Samosa They are  filled with paalak and paneer (spinach and cottage cheese). Bu t if you ask nme which wiould I pick with doubt it will be thoier classic Punjabi Samosa.

A-1 was established more than 40 years ago by Kishanchand Nevendram, a Sindhi who came to Mumbai from Karachi, after the Partition. He is said to have left everything he had behind in Karachi. His grandson now owns the business.

There are two locations where the samosas are made: the first is at Champaklal Estate, Sion East. Here, the masala / stuffing is made, and the samosas are rolled into their typical triangular shape. From Champaklal, it is taken to the A-1 outlet in Sion West, where the samosas are first 'half-fried' and kept ready. Then they are deep fried in batches and brought out front. From here, they're distributed to retail shops, cinemas, school and office canteens, caterers and party organisers. As each batch gets sold or distributed, new batches are deep fried.

The distribution process is interesting: there is an army of freelance entreprenuers on cycles, who buy samosas from A-1 daily, and sell them to various buyers across the city. Typically they have a 1 rupee margin per samosa. Sales are made in lots of 150 or 250 samosas (there is a weighing machine, so the samosas are placed on trays and weighed, not counted). Each freelance entrepreuner has his own set of contacts/buyers across the city to whom he sells.

So if you go to A-1 at any time of the day, you can see hot samosas, coming right out of giant iron woks, being piled into trays, then loaded on cycles and being taken away. The large trays you see in this photo above can hold 250.So if you're ever walking around in Sion, don't forget to stop by at A-1 samosa.

If you ask me Samosa is to the North Indians what vada pav is to us Maharashtrians. An any time snack and served best with a hot piping cutting chai – adrak mar ke.

What’s rather interesting is that while this savory snack is popular across the country, each state pretty much has its own version. For instance the Punjabi samosa is dominated by potatoes and peas, with raisins and cashews added in to enhance the flavour. In Gujarat, the patti samosa is quite popular. And this one is stuffed with finely chopped potatoes that are allowed to cook in the oil as the samosa is fried. The patti is also made with wheat flour instead of maida (refined flour) because cabbage is often an important ingredient, and refined flour can’t quite hold that ingredient together.

The Bengali samosa, which is referred to as the singara, uses potatos and peas, and cauliflower, and even peanuts for a little crunch. Even though it’s hot thanks to the chillies used, it’s much milder than other samosas when it comes to the spice factor. In Karnataka, onion samosas is a big hit, as is keema samosa, made popular by some of the local bakeries. In Delhi, apart from the potato samosa, the one with keema, khova, or even moong dal are quite popular. Now let’s go on a samosa trail, looking for some of the best in different parts of the country.

If in Delhi head to the Manohar Dhaba in Chandni Chowk that serves what is known as the Japani Samosa and no one know why it’s called so. However, it apparently has 60 layers of flour, and is filled with potatoes. It’s served with chhole and a pickle. Another famous samosa specialist is Munni Lal Halwai at Gole Market , he is famous for the classic potato samosa. Served with mint chutney, this shop seems to have perfected the recipe. And At Kumar Samose Wala near Milan Cinema in Karampura has quite a surprising range of samosas – starting with ones filled with peas and paneer, sweet corn, moong dal, vegetarian keema paneer, and even chowmein!

The samosa or singara in Kolkata is practically woven in to the Bengali food culture. And it’s often served with sweet jalebis. Across stores, you get different varieties of the samosa. While most serve the more commercially viable samosa, the true flavour of the singara remains in the hands of the local sweetshops; stuffed with peas and potatoes and peanut, and if the shop is slightly upmarket, you’ll also find bits of cauliflower florets in it.

The samosa or singara in Kolkata is practically woven in to the Bengali food culture. And it’s often served with sweet jalebis. Across stores, you get different varieties of the samosa. While most serve the more commercially viable samosa, the true flavour of the singara remains in the hands of the local sweetshops; stuffed with peas and potatoes and peanut, and if the shop is slightly upmarket, you’ll also find bits of cauliflower florets in it.

Most famous Samosa wala is Tewari Sweets in Bara Bazaar is still known to have some of the best samosas in town, perfecting the art of spicing the filling, and frying the pastry in ghee. Deckers Lane and BBD Bag are known for their street food and this is also where you’ll find some of the best Bengali and North Indian samosas. Mrityunjoy Ghosh & Sons on Sarat Bose Road, a century-old rundown sweetshop, is also quite popular for their Bengali samosa, stuffed with cauliflower of course.

Chennai has a few samosa stores it can boast about. Located in Anna Nagar is The Samosa Factory that serves up some decent ones. The Chinese samosa seems to be quite popular – filled with cabbage, beans, carrots, and potatoes, and cooked in soy and chillies – and is, let’s put it this way, interesting. Tucked away in Adayar is Rajpal’s Street Snacks , which serves rather good samosas too. The pastry and the filling are cooked just right.

Bombay Lassi on Ellis Road, apart from its lassi, is rather popular for their samosas too, and you get to eat them with sweet brown, and a green tangy dip. The Tirunelveli Halwa Stall , located on Valluvar Kottam High Road, is yet another place to go for the samosa in Chennai. The make fresh batches twice a day, and that contributes to the popularity of the place. Or, you could just head over to Sowcarpet to treat yourself to lots of those deep-fried triangles in plenty of tiny stores that dot the area.

Think of samosas in Bengaluru and you’re reminded of Albert Bakery’s keema samosas

. They’re as crunchy as it can get, and decadent. If you have a slightly posh palate, most of the five star hotel coffee shops serve the samosa. But the flavour truly is on the streets. From the onion variety that is served at tiny roadside tea stalls across the city, to some of the popular sweet shops, one can literally find all kinds of samosas in the city. Banchharam, with its three outlets (Koramangala, Marathahalli, and Ulsoor), probably serves the best Bengali singara in the city.

The ones at Bhagatram Sweets in Commercial Street are considered to be one of the best in town though.

So next you are in mood for a fried snack with your cuppa of chai just go for this puckka desi snack of Samosa . eat away at the cruchy outer cover and bite in to the masale wala alu stuffing , dip it in the mint chutney or that plate of hot chole mixed with sweet and spicy imli ki chutney.. Lipsmacking and to die for.

Just Walking Around

Desi Fizz….

Growing up as kids the best attraction during birthday parties was the cold glass of fizzy drinks like Goldspot or Thums Up. Till date we are habituated to drinking these carbonated drinks during dinners or at home for the fizz and most often than not to relieve us of the bloated feeling we get after a heavy meal.But sometimes you can try some offbeat drinks which not only give the end result but are great in taste too.

What do think when you hear the word ‘GOA”….Beach , Beer , Babes ..Fun ..Frolic but did you notices those small shack like shops dotting the beaches or the pathway toward the famous temples like Mangueshi or Shanta Durga Temple. On any given scorching day you will find some cold drink –beverage shop for the average teetooler like selling those cool cool drink made from the odd looking green bottles. If you keen observe these bottles they are deep biottle green with a contorted neck capped with a you guessed it right a marble or a Goti in local Konkani / Marathi language. Ask the fellow selling them to make you a drink and like an expert bartender , he will mix a little sugar solution from his earthen matka / steel drum ,with some jaljira masala , squeeze a juicy lemon into the galss and then finally top it up with the bubbly soda from the green bottle. The marble will be depressed using a mini wooden mallet and the soda flowing out with the gas holding the marble to the bottle mouth with a squeaking sound….chooooiiiii. This is expertly mixed in the glass and served with ice. Drink it to quench your thirst and feel releaved from the heat and humidity of Goa. This local fizzy drink is local to Konkan and some parts of Norther India where it is known as “Banta”

Banta also known as Fotash Jawl in Bengali, Goli Soda (Goli = spherical object in Hindi) or Goti Soda (Goti = marble in Hindi) is a colloquial term for a carbonated lemon or orange-flavoured soft drink popular in India. Though the origin of its name is from Punjabi word for marble (banta), Banta has been sold since the late 19th century,long before popular carbonated drinks arrived. The drink is often sold mixed with lemon juice, crushed ice, chaat masala and kala namak (black salt) as a carbonated variant of popular lemonades shikanjvi or jal-jeera.It is available at street-sellers known as bantawallahs.

And if you are in and around Vadodara you can always go to the local Soda Shop . You can identify the small shop which is always surrounded by a crowd of about 30 people.It consists of two soda dispensers and several employees. On the counter will be a wooden box sectioned into a few dozen compartments, each with a plastic cup of soda - sort of an assembly line, allowing the staff to handle many orders at once. Several plastic bottles sit on one end of the counter. fashioned into squeeze bottles, some will be filled with fresh lemon juice and plain or flavored syrups. There will be canisters with spices and rock salt. A couple of employees fill the cups with soda water and placed them in the compartments for a third employee — the flavor man — to finish with syrups and spices. You will be amazed at how quickly and gracefully they move, like dancers, effortlessly squeezing fresh lemon juice, squirting in syrups and mixing in condiments, handing the finished sodas to customers. I remember the first time I tried a nimbu soda. The first sip flooded my mouth with fresh lemon and spices that I'd never expected in a cup of soda: chili pepper, cumin, ginger, black salt. Sweet, salty, savory and a bit funky all at once. This was not just soda. This was masala soda, the single most flavorful sip of my entire trip, and I needed more.

The flavor I tried was the aerated cousin of nimbu pani, a sweet and salty lemonade or limeade that many Indians drink to stay hydrated during hot summers. But there's a myriad other flavors. The masala could contain as little as white salt, black salt and cumin, or an endless list of spices including amchoor (dried, powdered sour mango), black pepper, ginger, chili pepper (dried or fresh), turmeric, asafoetida, mint, even anar dana (dried pomegranate seed powder). A popular flavor in Mumbai and the state of Gujarat is jal jeera, a spice mix with roasted cumin that's otherwise used for another traditional summer drink of the same name — jal jeera literally translates to cumin water. The other most important ingredient of this masala is the kala namak, or blac black salt.

It's a rock salt containing sulfur, which lends a pungent, almost eggy smell to the drink. Carbonated water gives the drink effervescence, which can be further enhanced with a simple syrup and nimbu (meaning lemon or lime) juice or a fruit flavored drink called sherbet. Sometimes its even served with commercial sodas, like Thumbs Up (an Indian cola) or Sprite. But the best combination is when had with pure soda .A drink with a punch and bubbly but with out the side effect effects of an alchoholic drink…

When down south in Chennai, a mysterious drink with a hint of dark fruityness flourishes in refrigerators all over the Tamil Land. Its placebo effect in case of an upset stomach is legendary. Locals will tell you that it is the one thing you should drink after a kari dosa or other fiery eats from the Chennai’s streets. So when crates of Kalimark’s Bovonto are unloaded from the local old cycletrailer at small tea stalls , there is a happy clamour. “Bovonto is timeless,” says  owner of Zam Zam Tea Shop, receiving three crates of south India’s oldest homegrown soft drink. Forty-seven-year-old Mani, one of over two dozen Kalimark distributors in town, supplies to 60 shops every morning before popping open a bottle of grapey goodness for himself. I don’t think Bovonto

will ever go out of business. For a generation of Tamils, soft drink is “colour” and colour is the neon orange pop of Torino or the caramel tint of Bovonto. A true-blue Indian soda pop that refused to cede the battleground to multinational colas, Bovonto is a formulation of the century-old Kali Aerated Water Works. Worth over Rs 100 crore, it continues to expand its footprint in south India.

Every year, the cola wars pit blue against red, Pepsi against Coke, 7Up against Dew as the multinationals stake out their territories across India. But, like the last outpost of Gaul defiance against the Romans, homegrown sodas survive in many parts of India — their fabled histories reminders of older times, their quirky flavours a part of many memories. In 1977, as Coca-Cola was beating a retreat from India under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, Torino, an orange soda with a prodigious use of sugar, entered the market in south India. In no time, they had captured 90 per cent of Karnataka’s orange soda market, says Pankaj Lakhani, the second-generation owner and MD of Bangalore Soft Drinks runs the business now. Torino has since been re-launched in PET

For homegrown soft drinks, trouble began to bubble over with the consolidation in the Indian carbonated beverage industry in 1993. Coca-Cola staged a comeback, acquiring Parle’s classic Indian sodas — Thums Up, Limca, Citra and Gold Spot — and small local brands began a slide to obsolescene. PepsiCo picked up Duke’s stable of masala sodas and Campa-Cola, a relic of socialist India, fizzled out.

A few unlikely survivors of the cola wars are now riding a wave of nostalgia and slaking the thirst of middle India. Torino, Bovonto, Sosyo and other sodas today cater largely to a niche outside the big cities that has tended to slip through the cracks of multinational brands. Even if they haven’t been as fortunate, other brands continue to be a part of the lore of the cities they sprung up in. Like Delhi’s banta. A lemon soda packed in quaint Codd botttles, and spiked with a kick of kala namak,

they are sold in carts across the city. Pandit Ved Prakash Lemon Wale, a shop in Chandni Chowk, has been selling the lemony drink for “at least 150 years” now. But local suppliers say the drink has lost its edge to bigger brands.

Of the triumvirate of raspberry sodas —Duke’s, Roger’s and Pallonji — of the Parsi community in Mumbai for over a century, only one remains. PV Solanki has been bottling Pallonji, a drink with a 149-year-old legacy, since 1979. He can not  take on big brands, and if they flexed their muscles, there is no way he would be able to survive. So Pallonji’s  decided to make their own market, as Solanki. Instead of servicing Mumbai, Pallonji is distributed within a 100-km radius of its only bottling plant in the suburb of Mankhurd. Within city limits, you can find it at Irani stores and select

petrol pumps if you are lucky. With a turnover of Rs 1.45 crore, Pallonji employs all of 40 people and Solanki says the business continues to be profitable

A trip to Surat in Gujarat is incomplete without a glug of Sosyo, a local pre- Independence-era soft drink that was an offshoot of the Swadeshi movement. Launched in 1923 by Hajoori & Sons in Zampabazaar, Sosyo’s theme was “Apna desh apna drink” and its USP an alcohol-like flavour. The manufacturers recently repackaged and re-launched the product to survive competition, but there was a time when Sosyo was the only drink Surtis ever needed. It combined the flavours of apple and grape to position itself as an alternative to wine in a dry state, an afterdinner digestive and a refreshing aerated beverage.

Indians love their masala sodas so much, that even global and regional companies are now bottling them. In 2012, Coca Cola relaunched a bottled masala cola called RimZim that they bought in 1994, and PepsiCo India released 7up Nimbooz Masala Soda.

But these commercial sodas lack customization and the atmosphere of a soda shop, which is a big part of the masala soda experience. As I learned in Vadodara, these Shops  are also social hubs, especially in dry states like Gujarat that lack bars. It's a meeting place where people gather to sip masala soda and talk with their friends.

I tasted one my favorite masala soda from one such street vendor in Mumbai. It was made from kokum (an Indian mangosteen), which is not available commercially. For 20 rupees , I sipped my sweet, sour and mildly savory soda as I watched small groups of friends come and go, drinking their sodas and chatting. The taste and memory have lingered on till date.

And to let you into a family secret . A standing joke in our extended family is that whenever we go out for a family dinner, the bill is never requested till my wifey Kashmira asks for a Fresh Lime Soda – sweet and salted. That is the sign that the family dinner has come to a close much like a closing ceremony of a super special event.  After a lot of leg  pulling  and laughing at her expense ,everyone on the dinner table has a sip of that cool drink .Finally with a large burp of satisfaction over the food we ate , there is a smile on our lips and fond memories of time well spent….

So Enjoy these Desi Fizzy drinks till they are still around fighting the large MNC’s . More power to these real foot soldiers of the Make In India campaign….

Just Walking Around

Matunga Special

I have been writing about a lot of things , about my experiences while travelling through the lengths and breadths of India , its cultural diversity , natural landscapes and of course the gastronomical delights . But how can I forget my sweet old Matunga , that quaint little place some where between Dadar and Sion whose boundaries though not well defined but filled with  unique & mesmerizing shades of emotions like a flamboyant painting with the sky as the Canvas made by the Creator Himself.

Figure this where do you remember having qued up the last time around. May be at Siddhivinayak Temple for the Darshan of Lord Gajanana , or at the movie theater if you have not booked your tickets on BookmyShow , or outside some government office for getting some important documents or if your are the old school outside the Telephone or Electric Company office to pay your bill. But have at any time come across an shop selling Agarbattis so famous that people que to get them.

Its here in Matunga in on of its by-lanes you will fiind Acharya Products largest traders of agarbattis or incense sticks since 1956 that you will find literally people queing up on occasion like Gudi Padwa or Pongal or the upcoming Dushera . The serpentine que starting at the shop on Laxmi Narayan Lane right upto the Kabutarkhana in Matunga market a good 100-150 meters. Acharya Products was founded by K Y Acharya in 1928 as a incense trading house and later started manufacturing some of the brands themselves. Currently managed by the 2^nd generation and head of the family Raghu Achrya. They are sole distributors for nearly 32 manufactures and 500 fragant varieties of incense sticks beside another 10-12 manufactures of Dhoop sticks and brands.The first thing that hits you when you enter the shop is the heady mix of fragrances of all the incense sticks. Theres the strong smell of Kevda or a Mogra , mild scent of Champa or the sweet smell of Chandan . The shop is strewn with row upon row of neatly stacked packets of incense sticks in various sizes from small 10 stick pack to 100 stick packs to the packet on weights of 100 gms to 500 gms. They stock the usual variety of Gulab , Jasmine , Chandan & Lavender and even exotics fragrances like Musk , Akashphool, Amber and Marie Gold . Even some trending scents like Citronella and Fruit Blast.You will not only find individuals buying these incense sticks in small lots but also small retailers coming from across the city to buy in bulk quantities. As habit they keep small smples of the latests fragrances to be included in these large orders as a way of Marketing their stock.

If you ask Raghu Acharya who sometimes sits at the cash counter , what is their specialty , he proudly says , their expertise lies in accessing and assisting their customers requirements in regard to quality of incense , fragrance and packging.They have earned their reputation for maintaining strict delivery schedules and by offering competitive prices. They have huge stock of all leading brands and even have an listed Export company to ship these products to 58 countries like US , UK , Eupore , UAE and even some African countries where there is a large population of Inidans. They pride themselves on their products not containing any restricted forest produce or any species of wild fauna and flora and which are listed in the Appencices of the Convention on Internation Trade. A notice to this effect prominently dispayed in the shop.They have been awarded the Top Exporter in Handicraft category for 3 successive years between 2002-2204 and the only company in this category to get this Hat trick of a award.To cater to the Western world they have now expanded into Natural oil based Soaps and Toiletaries and even Aroma oils for Aroma Therapy at leading Spa’s .So next time you are in Matunga and need some incense stick or dhoop sticks trust your sense of smell and walk in the direction your nose tells you in this bylane and you will find yourself standing in fornt of Archarya Product  written in bold Red on a Turmeric Yellow backdrop and with an interesting tag line “Bhakti Me Laye Shakti”…

If you trust your sense of smell walk just opposite to a small hole in the wall kind of shop just next to Hotel Ram Ashraya called Quality Tea & Coffee. If you are a lover and a Cofee / Tea addict this is the shop for you. They have been serving their loyal clientele since 1958 . This too started as a trading shop selling tea and coffee from tea estates especially from the south in Coorg and from up east in Darjeeling. They have now started manufacturing their own blends of both tea an coffee under the Quality Tea & Cofee brand. Here you will get the finest variety of coffee which can be custom blended in 60:40 or 70:30 ratio of Coffee Arabica & Chicory. Or you could pick the pre-blended French coffee a strong brew to release your day long stress . They also sell coffee beans – Peaberry beans , Plantation beans in raw or roasted form which can be hand crushed or crushed using coffee machines to brew you own drink.

For tea lovers like me they have a wide selection from the standard CTC to Hiltop dust which is extra strong. Some other blended variety like A1 Premium , Mast ,Rasrang and Radical CTC .Where CTC referes to the tea processing term of Cut Toasted and Curled .They even keep  newer Falvoured teas like Jasmine tea, Peach tea Orange Pekos , Premium Green Peko and Green Tea .Other flavours suited to the hard core teaf buff are Lemon Grass (Gavti Chaha) , Cardamom (Elaichi), Cinnamon (Dalchini) , Tulsi , Ginger and even Rose flavored .Brew these in milk as per tradition or drink it black to savoir its flavor .

Ek chuski chai ki ek pyaali sehath ki……

As I said Matunga is a place I am still discovering even after staying here for 40 years there are still secrets that lay hidden in its by-lanes like layers of  a rose petals that need to be peeled one by one to reveal its beauty and fragrance…

Just Walking Around

Bandra Fair…..

When you say Fair or Jatra what comes to your mind..the huge crowds , floodlight paths leading upto the sanctum sanctorum of a holy place, giggling kids , protective parents hold their children, the.. Ferries Wheels (Giant Wheels) , the food stalls , all the nick-knacks and the hearts filled with joy. Last Sunday we as in me and the missus decided to relive our childhood days through our kids Netra and Bhakti.We decided to visit the famous Bandr Fair..

The Bandra Fair is celebrated in the pious vicinity of the Mount Mary Church in Bandra . It starts on the Sunday following September 8^th , the birth day of Mother Mary , mother of Jesus the Son of God.The Bandra Fair is commemoration of the Nativity of Mary or the Birth of the Virgin Mary and celebrated at the Basilica of Our Lady of  the Mount or locally called as the Mount Mary Church a Roman Catholic Church located at Bandra . According to historical records, the statue of ‘Our Lady of Navigators’ was in the chapel at the mount from 1700 to 1760. It is said that in 1760 Arab pirates attacked Bandra and they chopped one of the arm of the statue. The statue was later reinstalled in 1761. Over the years the Virgin of the Mount came to be known in different names in colloquial Marathi, ‘Matha Mavli’, ‘Mothi Mavli’ and now ‘Mot Mavli’ The 9 days before the Bandra Fair, from 1 September, 2017 to 9 September, 2017, Mount Mary Basilica performs “Novena” (prayer) for the Blessed Virgin Mary

The actual fair starts on the 10^th day .It is estimated that the Bandra Fair is around 300 years old. The fair started when a statue of Mother Mary was found floating in the Arabian Sea between 1700 and 1760, which, according to a legend, a Koli fisherman had dreamt about a few years earlier.

During the Bandra Fair, the entire area is decorated with festoons and buntings. Besides the religious experience, Bandra Fair also includes the social experience of relaxing, camaraderie, alms-giving and enjoyment. There is an atmosphere of fun as we go through the various stalls that constitute the Fair. During Mumbai’s Bandra Fair, 430 temporary stalls selling religious artifacts, food, toys, clothes, handicraft items, etc, are set up at Mount Mary Church, Kane Road, Mt Mary Road, Eastern steps of Mount Mary Church, St John Baptist Road and Rebello Road. Most of these stalls are allocated to local residents.

We took a rickshaw from Sion to reach this place. In hindsight it was the best deciosn as we could avoid getting trapped in the traffic jams along the road as the rickshaw wallah deftly maneuvered the rick going extreme left or zig zag thorugh the bumper to bumber traffic from Bandra Reclamation towards Mount Mary Roads. We alighted at Kaner road and decided to walk the rest of the away to experience the thrill of the Fair. Our forst stop was obviously the Giant Wheel for the kids , though little Bhakti was a little terrified still she enjoyed and had fun holding her elder sister Netra for dear life. 

Next stop was the multi coloroured merry go round in shape of gleaming cars and all lighted up. This Bhakti enjoyed with full vigour. Once done we started to walk further looking at all the stalls lining the streets. We picked a couple of Tiara’s for the kids with white flowers , wearing them they looked like cute Flower girls from a Christian weddings. We mobved along , a stall selling bright pink Cotton Candy Floss caught my eye as also of my mischievous little princess. Bought the soft candy floss and enjoyed its sweet flavor. As we walked further we noticed many more stalls.

There were stalls , which sold roasted grams, sweet items, religious objects like wax figures of the Virgin Mary, along with an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of the body. The sick and suffering choose one that corresponds to their ailment and light it in Church, with the pious hope that Mother Mary will consider their appeals for help.

As we reached the Church we could see the preparation of the late mass in the small ground adjoining the Chruch. We then entered the Church to a spellbinding view. The Statue of Virgin mary with the child Jesus was decorated with fresh flower arches and satin ribbons. Looking at her face you could feel the energy radiating in the holy precinct. We folded our hand in reverence and prayed . It does not matter of which religion you belong as long as you have faith in the Higher power in the sky. We saw many non catholics who had come from far sub-urbs with families in tow offering candles and offering a silent prayer. I enjoyed looking at the frescos on the walls of the Church depicting the birth of Christ , the The 3 wise men and teir joyney to find the baby Jesus on the dark and silent night of Christmas eve.The rising star and the smiling baby Jesus born in the barn.The experience was exherelating .We then moved out to see the spectacular and prestine white Arches brightly lit with the staue of Mother Mary . The monument looking beautiful with the dark sky in back drop.

We decided to walk back to the base. Lining the church steps were stalls selling sweets and  food delicacies such as Mawa Pedha, Home-made Cakes (wine, Plum, walnut, dates), Guava cheese, Fuggias, Kadio Bodia (Goan dish made of sugar and flour), Sorpotel, Vindaloo, Dodol (Goan sweet), etc. Bought some Goan authentic Khaja those sweet sticks and later some toys from the neighbouring stalls. There were stalls selling the famous Aam poli and Fanas poli and some selling salted namkeens brought from Kerala.

 We descended the steps and reached the street below . Ready to leave I Looked back one last time at the Church , it was glowing in the lights or was it the rays of hope  emanating from the Mother herself , spreading a halo of reassurance among all those who visited her in this earthly abode…..