Roadside Chocolate Thieves!

Man if there is a paradise in Rajasthan, it would have to be on the drive from Udaipur to Mt Abu... looming rhyolitic cliffs with Palms, sitafel, mango, frangipani, banyan and bamboo trees, covered in creeping vines and cut by picturesque winding rivers and streems. We are all just amazed by the beauty of this place...

As we drive along the highway, small children carrying baskets of wild custard apples are trying to flag us down. We stopped a few minutes ago to buy some, and were suddenly surrounded by little girls begging for chocolates. Me and pops were laughing ourselves silly as I handed out squares of Ba's Lindt bar. They didnt even want money! Just chocolate! Hahaha!

The Wonders of Street Food

We're just chillin and waiting for our train to Udaipur, so I think ill take this time to give you all a little update on the wonders of Indian Streetfood. Ive already gone on at length about the delicious fare that you can gwt at a Roadside Dhaba, but there are still a myriad of other options out there that I havnt even touched upon. And this doesnt even include the readily available Samosas, Pakoras and Mitais that we all get in Canada. Street food in India, is some of the best in the world, and provided you can stomach the inevitable gastro-issues that occasionally follow these forays into the street, itll leave you wanting more.

My favorite, and the one I stare at longingly everytime I see on the side of the road is: Pani Puri! My Mom and aunts used to make these for us growing up, and it is as fun to eat as it is delicious. Basically Panipuri (or Gol Guppa, for my punjabi peeps) is a crunchy and inflated chip (called a puri) that has had a hole punched in it, that has been filled with chickpeas, potatoes, onions and cilantro. You then take the Filled puri, drizzle various chutneys on top of it, and then submerge it in a bowl of pani (water flavored with various spices including tamerind, chilli, cumin, cilantro and mango powder). As soon as the puri is filled with the pani, you try to stuff it into yiur mouth before all the tasty water drips out. Of course when youre eating them, you get covered in the water that inevitably spills out as you try to shove them in your face, but you honestly dont care cuz it tastes so good. In fact, I dont know anyone who doesnt love these crunchy little snacks. Every so often my family tries to have a pani puri eating contest to see who can devour the most number of puris, but so far noone has even come close to my dad. He can out eat just about anyone I know!

Another awsome street food is Chaat Masala. This is another one of my favorites. Its made up of a handful of fried wheat chips that have been covered in chickpeas, potatoes and onions (this is a common trio for street fare) and then drizzled with mint and coriander chutney, tamarind chutney and spiced yogurt...pretty tasty stuff! The fried wheat chips can be replaced by bhel (puffed rice) or sev (fried noodley chips) to give a different flavor too.

My dads favorite street food is Chole Bhatura! This consists of a delic bowl of Chole (aka Channa masala) served in a banana leaf bowl, eaten with a thick fried piece of bread, similar to naan. Its phenomenally flavorful, hearty and def leaves you in need of a soft comfy bed to sleep off any impending food coma...so good.

Apart from the typical food fares available, there are also loads of snacks and drinks that are totally unique to the indian subcontinent. 

One of these is Narial Pani, or the juice of a large green coconut. Although you can find these in most of asia, and even central and south America, the variety you get here is absolutely sweet and tasty. The coconut-wallah chops the top of the young coconut off and sticks a straw in the top for you to suck the tasty water right out. The water is incredibly refreshing and keeps you hydrated even in the 35degree weather. And if youre lucky, once the water is all drunk up, the coconut wallah will use part of the husk to scrape out the malai or young coconut flesh for you too eat. I absolutely loved this stuff.Its no wonder that they recommend this stuff during hot yoga.

India also has a variety of snacks that are produced by companies we've all heard of, butare unique to this region.

CocaCola makes drinks likr Mirinda (like orange crush, but less sweet), Nimbooz (like 7up, but with fresh lime juice and a hint of salt), and my absolute favorite, Limca. Limca is like lemonade, but with a hint of fresh ginger flavor. Its fizzy and refreshing, but with a bite, that makes it closer in flavor to Ginger Beer than Sprite. It comes in these old usually scratched glass bottles that are sent back to the Cocacola factory as soon as you drink it. Its actually a nice way of doing things, as the glass bottles really reduce the amount of plastic that is being thrown out, and are actually reused without much reprocessing and energy consummption. The cost of a glass bottle of pop is also less than a can or bottle, as the incentive to recycle the bottle is placed on the vendor rather than the consumer to return the bottle to the factory to be cleaned and refilled. The vendors recieve a larger profit by using the glass bottles as the cost only reflects the refill cost. So if you do buy a glass bottle of pop, the vendor will prob make you drink it on the spot so that they dont lose the glass deposit.

Anywho our train is just about here, so ill end it there....

Stay Tuned for my Jaipur Update!

 - kirti

p.s. I know im making a ridiculous face in thst photo with the Narial...but try not to laugh...My aunt was telling me to just show how much i was enjoying it, and not make weird faces, and this was the best I could come up with...ba says I look weird....but whatevs...thx ba

Fireworks and Congress-wallahs

By the way peeps...Today Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader, and PM-hopeful of india has arrived in Jaipur to give a speech. So the city is alight with fireworks and cheering throngs of people carrying green and saffron flags. Not gonna lie, it's pretty cool.... I am currently sitting on the 3rd floor terrace of the Jai Mahal Palace, watching the sky fill with sparklers and light. So cool.

Ajmer and Pushkar: Sufi saints, and jelous wives.

About an hour after arriving in Ajmer, we were taken to the famous Durgah of Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chisti, the tomb of a venerated Sufi saint. Our guide informed us that if you were to ask anything of God with an open and pure heart while standing at the shrine itself, your wish would be granted. So we each donned a head covering and took part in a simple offering. It was truly an amazing experiance, and one that was very very different from that of any hindu monument ive been too. Everyone was quitely praying, no shop keepers or peddlers were hastleing you, and the scent of jasmine and rose filtered out any unpleasantness from the streets below. It was a singular experiance, and one im extremely thankful to have had.  The Muslim population is a minority in India, but is still quite substantial, and the Islamic holidays are observed as openly and devotedly as the Hindu holy days. Its definatly great to be here During festival time.But more on that later.

Yesterday, we were driven over to Pushkar, a town about 20minute away from Ajmer, to visit the holy temple and lake dedicated to Brahma. Throughout India, the majority of temples and holy sites are typically dedicated to the Hindu Gods, Vishnu, or Shiva (or thier various incarnations). However, rarely if ever is there a monument dedicated to Brahma, the third deity in the Hindu holy trinity. This is because (according to our guide), that in a fit of jelousy over his taking a second wife, Savitri, Brahmas first wife declared that though always respected by the people, no monuments would be built in Brahmas honor. As a result, rarely if ever do you find a monument to Brahma in any temples. The only exception to this rule is Pushkar lake, which was said to have formed when Brahma, while battling a demon, dropped a lotus flower onto the earth. The force of the petals falling caused three springs to erupt from the ground, leading to the formation of three  round lakes, the largest of which is Pushkar. Because this is one of the only sites in India, dedicated to Brahma, it is therefore considered extremely holy. They say that if one was to bathe at within the waters of the lake itself, you would be absolved of all sins, so we took part in a small Puja (prayer) ceremony in order to fully appreciate the site itself. However the experiance itself was a little bit soured, as the pandit who was performing the rituals for us, began to demand money in donation to the temple itself. Sensing that we were obviously foreigners, we were hasseled into donating more than the other worshippers. As a result we were pretty annoyed that rather than focusing on the beauty and holyness of the site, the focus was placed more on money than devotion....but i guess even the pundits need to make a living.

We headed back to the hotel just in time to catch our train to Jaipur. It was a 2 hour train ride, which i spent mostly sneezing because somehow in this 35 degree heat ive managed to catch a hell of a cold. But it's alright cuz my Ba is here to look after me...hahhaha...

Aywho...enough out of me for tonight...im gonna go crawl into my bed and hope that tomorrow my face has turned back to normal, instead of the snot factory/faucet that it's turned into

Have a good night peeps!
- kirti

Jodhpur: Geologic monuments and formidable forts.

So we've been travelling around more of Rajasthan over the last few days. We hit up Jodhpur, Ajmer and are now in Jaipur. Its been a good few days with a lot of train riding thrown in.

Jodhpur was a whirlwind of Rajput architechture resplendant forts, and impeccable service. We arrived around midnight to the Taj Vivanta hotel, and spent a wonderfully comfortable night in the embrace of it's 5 star hospitality. This particular hotel, was by far the most positive experince we've had since we arrived in Rajasthan, with excellent service, and delicious food (Baked YOGURT!!!). We then spent the next few days checking out the sites in Jodhpur itself.

Our first stop was the Umaid Bhavan Palace, built by Maharaja Umaid Singh, to provide work for his starving subjects during a period of severe drout in the 1920s. The Palace boasts over 360 individual rooms and is constructed almost entirely out of yellow and red sandstone. The palace was admittedly quite a sight, but to be honest, me and pops were so enthralled by the selection of  classic Cadillacs, Rolls Royce (Phantom) and a few Mercedes and Buicks (Roadmaster) that we wern't really paying it much attention.  From what i recall, the Top Gear presenters were given free reign to fawn over and drive these phenomenal cars when they visited India last year too, but we had to content ourselves with drooling from outside the building instead. Umaid Singh was aparently a huge car fan, and owned over 30 luxury vehicles.

Next, we hit up the Mehengarh Fort, formarlly the home of Maharaja Mann Singh. Mehengarg fort boasts all the pomp and circumstance of a Renaissance era Mogul with a military history remnant of past mughal dynasties. The Fort iself is often used as a movie set as well, due to its exotic and forboding presence (In the Dark Knight Rises, the fort was used as a backdrop to the pit in which when Bruce Wayne is imprisoned by Bane and the child of Raz-al-goul; In Hum Saath Saath Hai, the palace was featured in the song Mere Hiwada Mein Nache Mor). The fortress itself looms as an impregnable citadel over the city of Jodhpur, due to its placement upon a 120m precipice of volcanic material, part of the Malani Igneous Suite. This particular suite marks the last phase of Precambrian-age igneous activity within the Indian Subcontinent, and consists of a thick layer of Proterozoic sedimentary sequences (sandstone, limestone and shale) unconformably overlying granite and rhyolite (approx 600Ma in age). The fort at Jodhpur, while impressive in and of itself, pales in comparison to the Geologic significance of the region, with its near perfectly exposed outcrops and readily visible unconformity. Infact, it was recently declared a National Geological Monument, by the Geological Survey of India. As we drove up the hill towards the fort gates, i couldn't help pointing out the changes in lithology that i was seeing. In fact, my dad eventually had to explain to our guide that i was a geologist, and therefore had a tendancy to get  little over excited when i saw rocks.

When you enter the fort itself, you walk up this loooooooon inclined ramp towards the gate. The surrounding wall is scarred with canonball impact sites, giving voice to the military and invasionary history of the region itself, and the passageway has a tendancy to narrow and curve, so as to confound potential invading armies. As you walk through the palace itself, you also see a variety of canons and pipe-like holes where the maharaja would pour boiling oil and water onto any unwanted invaders that managed to breach the outskirts of the fort. It was quite interesting to see how many tricks and foils were built into the complex itself, so as to provide defence to the inhabitants. Once you pass through the outer barricades and walls however, you enter into a world of extreme beauty and luxury, with intricately carved and engraved passageways, and astoundingly ornate living areas, halls and thrown rooms. The glasswork and stone work truly is breathtaking, and you can't help but marvel at the lifestyles that these individuals must have had. Today, the majority of the palace has been converted into a museum, with beautiful gold palanquins, hand woven tapestries and weapons on display for any and all to see. Despite the blistering heat, and abundance of annoying traders , the Mehangarh fort really was quite a site to see.  

After checking out the local sites, me and the fam bummed around the city for a day, just to see if we could find some pretty artwork and trinkets to take home with us. But there wasn't much that was really appealing to us, so i imagine that the majority of our shopping will be done in Jaipur, as that is supposed to be the art mecca of Rajasthan.

Whoo...this got really long...ill continue this on the next post, so that the photos done get too jumbled...

Stay Tuned!

- kirti

Garam Garam Chai

One of the best parts of travelling around India by rail, is the amply available, sweet and milky chai.

"Thodi si miti, thodi se thiki, bhahut mulayam, garam garam chai".

Every sip fills your pallete with the delicate aroma of ginger, clove, cinnomen, fennel and a hint of cadamomn. This reddish brown elixer sells for R5 (10cents) a swig, and is an amazing pickmeup after a long night on the train. Everytime we hear the chai-wallahs resonant chant as he passes through our compartment, we're always scrambling for change just so we can have another swig of that sweet and spicy drink. Honestly dudes, its a flavor youll never find anywhere else.

Starbucks has nothing on this 10-penny tea.

Monkeys

So im sitting in our SUV trying to get a couple photos of some banderlog (monkeys) playing on the side of the road (with my window open might I add) when when one of them launches itself at our truck...of course I yelled cuz it was inches...INCHEs...from my face and climbed onto the roof of our truck. My parents (and the driver) were losing it laughing, while I turned beet red, but I still maintain that that little bugger was trying to get in. Lb for lb monkeys are more dangerous than tigers (Source: James May, Top Gear)