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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Spring Will Come...

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. 
- Robert H. Schuller

Two recent incidents shook me.
One was that of the death of the mascara painted, peroxide blonde Sunanda Pushkar. Whether or not Shashi Tharoor had a playboy streak to him, here was a lady who spoke her mind. She clearly had an independent thought, which was clearly evident when she candidly spoke her mind on the issue of womens' rights in Kashmir under the detestable Section 370, despite the political pressures her husband's party would have put on her. That was indeed an appreciable quality. She was reportedly depressed about her husband's alleged affair with a Paki "ISI spy".
The other was the reported suicide of the Tata Motors top honcho, Karl Slym. I had met Karl Slym in Goa, when we were in the Park Hyatt for an offsite in November 2010. He, then, was heading General Motors in India and they, too, were having an offsite in the same hotel. He did come across as a warm and a fine gentleman, with an impressive physique. He reportedly had differences with wife on moving back to his home in Britain.
Isn't life too short, yet too beautiful? Indeed there will be those rainy days, there will be those days when we feel that our world is crashing down.... But there is life after that, that is what we forget.
Lest we forget, the spring will come... RIP Sunanda and Karl....

Monday, January 27, 2014

Wah Wazwan!

Mondays are best when you are out of town, off-work and with family and friends. Today was one such Monday!
After an early breakfast with my parents and running a few errands, it was time to head for lunch. I was biased towards something exotic. I had heard about a new Ethiopian restaurant which had opened at Chanakyapuri, however "democracy" prevailed(!), and bowing to wishes of the majority, we headed to Dilli Haat, the food and craft bazaar in South Delhi!



At Dilli Haat, without wasting any time, we headed for the regional food stalls, showcasing the diverse and varied cuisines of India. With such a wide range of exotica at a mere arms's length, we were literally spoilt for choice....
And that's when I saw Wazwan, the food stall from the state of Jammu & Kashmir!




The area was basking in the soothing warmth of the afternoon winter Sun. We seated ourselves on a table that was in the sun and scanned the menu with a hawk's eye.
The mighty task of ordering was "outsourced" to me (probably as a consolation for junking the plan to head to Chanakyapuri for an Ethiopian lunch!).
Not to be out-done, I had a field day ordering stuff that I thought I would enjoy!


This was the second time I was going to have Kashmiri cuisine. The first time was memorable - it was October 2004, in the lawns of The Lalit in Srinagar, where a Wazwan buffet was laid out for us... It was a classy affair. I ate and ate, till I couldn't anymore, as they say in Hindi, पेट भर गया पर आँखें नहीं भरी!!!!
Now Wazwan is a multi-course Kashmiri meal, a communal dining tradition, typically for weddings and festivals. Guests are seated in groups and they share the meal out of a large metal plate, while being served by attendants. The delicacies served are mainly meat dishes, simmered and smoked on outdoor wood fire.
The Wazwan preparation and serving is considered to be an art in Kashmiri culture and identity.
Usually, Pandits do not eat meat, however Kashmiri Pandits are an exception, though they avoid beef. Even the Kashmiri Muslim cuisine, in deference of Hindu customs, traditionally avoided the consumption of beef! However, they voraciously consume lamb and mutton, even chicken and fish are rare.

I was dying to eat succulent tabakh maaz - fried ribs of lamb, unfortunately the menu here was limited. No tabakh maaz was on offer....


So I took the liberty ordering a melange of mutton dishes. This first was Yakhni lamb shanks cooked in curd based gravy with fennel (saunf) and cardamom!
The lamb was succulent and the gravy was subtlety flavoured....


For Neelima, the only vegetarian in our group, I suggested rajma (red kidney beans), but she opted for dum-aloo and haak saag!
We also ordered rista - meatballs in red curry, goshtaba - meatballs in yogurt curry alongwith chicken curry.
I quite enjoyed the haak saag or Kashmiri spinach - it had a unique flavour probably rendered to it by the mustard oil in which it was cooked!
The meatballs were tender and springy - the mince used to make the meatballs is handground and that gives them the unique texture!


We ended the meal with some phirni which was rather nice, and not too sweet!


We ended our meal with zaffran kahwah - Kashmiri green tea with saffron, almond and walnut slivers and cardamom! The kahwah was refreshing!

Though, I wouldn't rate Wazwan at Dilli Haat very highly, simply because there were no tabakh maaz and the portions were meagre, I did enjoy the meal. I resolved that there will be more evenings dining out at Goregaon's Kong Poush, when I return to Mumbai!
I ended the meal with a salute to the centuries-old Kahmiri culinary traditions! Wah Wazwan!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Always And Forever...

Miles separate us
Mountains and rivers separate us
But my heart yearns for you
For your soft hands that comfort me
For your big brown eyes that tell me how much you love me

Each moment doesn't pass without you in my mind...
So much I wish we could be together...
Right here,
Right now!

But surely,
You will be in my heart 
Always and forever!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Glittering New Face Of Chennai!

In my latest Southern sojourn, I spent a good couple of hours at Chennai and I couldn't help but marvel at the major improvement the Chennai airport has seen. In between the Plane Spotting, I roamed around the terminal and did find it quite nice...


The new terminal is dazzlingly bright and inviting, and not a dingy relic of the socialist era....


The Chennai Metro will connect the airport to the city centre in a few years....



Certainly not like the art wall at Mumbai's T2, but it does give the traveller a sense of Chennai's fishing traditions...


Spacious and open....
Not once did I feel it was crowded


The sun sets....



And passengers wait for their flights, killing time talking, reading or sleeping....



And some end up shopping...
The Ramraj Cottons outlet seems to be quite popular here...
And they had quite a few lessons of life to give...

The new terminal at Chennai is just right -  good mix of retail outlets, eateries and seating spaces - it doesn't have the expanse of Delhi, nor does it look like a shopping mall (Hyderabad) nor like a polished bus-stand (Bangalore)...


And I hereby declare Maggi the national food of India - from the highlands of Ladakh to seashores of Tamil Nadu, one voice will unite the country - bas 2 minute!


Once again, I had to fly on lousy IndiGo....
To add salt to the injury, they were annoyingly late...
So much for their claims of efficiency and punctuality...
Seriously, if you ask me, they are highly overrated....


As were taxiing, I spotted this Oman Air Boeing 737 that came in from Muscat....
Chennai would do well to target longhaul carriers as well...


The view of the terminal from the airside...


Up In The Air .... Part 15

Today, when I flew from Chennai to Thoothukudi, I flew on the Bombardier Q400, which had been acquired by SpiceJet a few years back, for its regional routes, primarily in the South.
The morning sun was bright when we took off and the skies were a brilliant blue.... The radiance of the clouds was mesmerising.... I could get lost in these moments forever...








We played hide and seek with the coastline as our headings pointed southwards....





Indeed this was a sight to die for....
And listening to Gandalf and Kevin Kendle on my iPod made the whole feeling ethereal!
I wish I could freeze this moment and live up here forever....





On the journey back to Chennai, this afternoon, I flew on the same aircraft, but the window was dirty, from the outside....
Arghhhh, SpiceJet, shape up....





The earlier editions of Up In The Air can be accessed here on this hyperlink - Up In The Air series!

Plane Spotting At MAA.... Again!

In my latest Southern sojourn to Thoothukudi (better known as Tuticorin), I passed by Chennai, where I had two layovers, one last night and the second one, today, for a few hours... which gave me another go at Plane Spotting at MAA!


The SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 basking in sodium vapour lit tarmac, as we landed at Chennai!



Boarding the Q400 called Laung (clove) this morning!
All the SpiceJet aircraft are named after spices...



An Air Asia A320 that came in from Kuala Lumpur a few moments earlier....
We'll see more of Air Asia here, as Chennai is going to be their homebase, when they launch their Indian operations soon...




Air India in action!




Oh la la!
That's an exotic bird... that set my heart racing and thumping... I had been waiting for months to see this bird here!
Air Austral's Boeing 737 that came in from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi enroute to the Roland Garros International Airport at Saint-Denis, Reunion Island.
Reunion is an exotic island, an overseas French territory off the coast of Madagascar and very close to Mauritius...
Look forward to flying Air Austral soon!


Another beauty, this one is from Male - a Maldivian A320!