Qorma and Crowd – A trip to Old Delhi

-      By Sunandita

A visit to Old Delhi during the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan is a must if you are a food connoisseur and do not shy away from either meat or gravy with oil content high enough to trigger an invasion by a superpower.

As I am a ‘shudh’ non-vegetarian and do not think much about what oily food can do your stomach or heart, on the day before Eid I ventured out for a trip to the area near the iconic Jama Masjid. The congested locality houses a bunch of well-known restaurants, the most famous of them being the Karim Hotel and Al-Jawahar.

Trying to avoid endless traffic jams and serious parking issues in the older part of the city, me and two of my friends took a Metro to Chawri Bazar station. From the Metro station, you can get a rickshaw which will take you through the busy old Delhi lanes to your destination. But beware! Don’t dare undertake this treacherous journey if you are in a hurry or allergic to chaos. Your rickshaw-puller, like the driver of the Knight Bus in Harry Potter-3, will manoeuvre through thousands of other rickshaws, cars and what-not while cycle vans carrying huge load will partially block your path from both sides.

I anticipated that the lane housing the restaurants will be crowded as it was the day before Eid. And how crowded it was! We jostled through hoards of last-minute shoppers and ‘sawaiyan’ buyers to reach Al-Jawahar restaurant. Situated just beside the by-lane of Karim Hotel , it attracts a large number of food revellers despite being less famous than its illustrious neighbour.

Rather than going for exotic-sounding names like Chicken Jehangiri, we selected the tried and tasted Mutton Qorma and Roomali Roti for the main course.

As starters, we ordered half a plate of Chicken Afghani. The juicy and tender pieces aroused our taste buds, while the delicious Mutton Qorma that followed soon after made us savour every bit. As accompaniment, I personally like Roomali Roti more than Tandoori but don’t know if the Lucknawi Paratha, an oilier and softer version of Roomali, is sold in any Chandni Chowk restaurant. (You get that in Jamia Nagar, though)

A word of caution: If you want your restaurant to have hi-fi ambience and super-cleanliness, do not eat near Jama Masjid. But please note the positive aspect. The price of food here is quite low compared to most parts of Delhi. Food for three plus coke plus water bottles cost us only Rs 525, which left enough money in our wallets to tuck in sweet and tasty ‘phirni’ in traditional flat ‘kulhads’ from the footpath.

So, if you are ready to brave the chaos, you will be aptly rewarded in old Delhi. :D 

Those Pricey Thakur Girls

-      by Malvi

Anuja Chauhan's latest work “Those Pricey Thakur Girls" takes you back in the 80s era  in Lutyens’ Delhi. The author maintains a simple prose but keeps the readers engrossed in the built up to the climax of the story.

For romantic fools like me, the Jane Austenish touch to an Indian story, made me read it more avidly. I know it’s the plain old love story with its twists and turns but Chauhan brings that extra zing to the story which kept me captivated till the last page.

The story gives a strong nostalgic feeling for those who remember the Doordarshan days when Newsreaders were celebrities !  remember Salma Sultan with the customary rose in her hair, Shammi Narang, Usha Albuquerque etc??

In short, it’s a nicely roped in story involving a family saga set amid the pre-liberation era with tense political situation of that time including the Anti-Defamation Bill, the ’84 riot and the strict restrictions on the freedom of press. In those times, Doordarshan was the only channel available on TV and print media (newspapers etc) was the main source of news on the political and other fronts.

 If you want to know the story line, it’s like this: the Thakur family with a retired judge and his five daughters named in alphabetical order. The black sheep of the family, Debjani, is the protagonist and the love of her life is Dylan Singh Shekhawat, an investigative journalist. The author’s description of Dylan is the answer to every girl’s imagination of a perfect prince. Chauhan has done justice in building up the varied characters in the story including the entertaining nick-nacks and funny bickering among family members.

And the good news is that Chauhan has planned this book to be the first in series of books on the Thakur clan.

All in all, a sassily told tale with a heavy topping of wit, humour and emotions made it a really nice book to read. Mind you don’t compare it with a literary fiction, as this one’s an out and out rom-com !!

Agra ka ‘Amrood’

-          By Sunandita

“Hey Sunandita, look here! You won’t get a better quality than this.”

I was standing in front the majestic principal entrance of the Agra Fort, looking in admiration at the huge structure, trying to soak in the air of history and old-world charm when the sound of my name jerked me back to reality.

My friend-cum-colleague-cum-roommate-cum tour companion Sukanya must also have found the 70-ft high red sandstone fort as impressive as I have, I thought. But what does she mean by “quality”? I must have heard her wrong. I turned back, only to be in for a surprise!

Agra Fort

She has gone opposite the road and completely ignoring the fort, is immersed in admiring the “beauty” of some yellowish-green guavas being sold on a “thela”.

“Hahahahahaha...hohohohoho.. I mean, I know all about your craze for guavas, but come on! You are in front of the Agra Fort and all you can see is this?”

“Don’t be stupid!” she snapped. “Where has it been written that you cannot buy fruits in front of this fort?”

And we both broke into peals of laughter, evoking reproachful glances from some elderly members of our tour party, who must be wondering what these two young girls are up to, coming for an Agra-Mathura-Vrindavan trip from Delhi without any guardian or male companion.

It’s been 10 years since we went into that tour, our maiden “ladies’-day-out” adventure, which was followed by a fair few in the next few years but none of them was as thrilling because Agra visit was our first taste of freedom. And for some reason, the first thing I remember is the “Amrood episode”!

But there were plenty of other things to remember too. How we planned for days, finally managed to secure our weekly-offs on the same day, booked a trip with one of the lesser-known travel agencies because the famous ones were too costly, how we ran to catch the bus from Eros cinema hall near our rented flat at 6 am in an winter morning, amid thick fog, myself clad in my new jacket bought from CP (Feeling foolishly happy that I now earn enough to spend 900 bucks on a item of clothing) and how the elderly conductor-cum-guide took special care of us all through the journey as we two were “alone”.

The journey was smooth, the aloo parathas consumed in the midway dhaba delicious and the feeling that I am soon going to have the first glimpse of Taj Mahal made me giddy with excitement.

Though, I hope nobody sues for saying this, later I found that Agra Fort, which was our second stop in the journey, is much more interesting.

Don’t get me wrong! I mean, the Taj was unimaginably enormous, still pearly-white despite the talk of “yellowing”, vast in expanse and full of amazingly intricate designs. You cannot but feel dwarfed standing in front of the monument which you have seen so many times in books and television. However, I also felt a certain chill, a feeling of aloofness in the air, probably because, all said and done, it is a mausoleum. On the other hand, the Agra Fort -- with its Jahangiri and Akbari mahals, its stairs and gardens, diwan-e-aam and diwan-e-khaas, sheesh mahal, cell of the old dethroned king who sat there staring at the memorial he built for his wife across the Yamuna -- is much more alive and seeped in history. Or so I had felt.

From Agra, our bus went to the magnificent Krishna Janambhoomi Temple at Mathura, reaching just in time for the evening “aarti”. The idol was very beautiful and the darshan left me feel blessed. However, when we started from there after having a glimpse of the “garbha-griha” where Lord Krishna was said to have been born, it was already too late in the evening and probably that’s why, we were taken to only one temple in Vrindavan. It was small and marbled, bold letters in the wall proclaiming it as a “pracheen mandir”, but to be frank, it did not seem that old. But by then, we were too tired to think much about that.

We were dropped near our home at 1 am and ran inside, amid shivers and chatter of teeth. Next day, we saw in the papers that it was the coldest day of the season in Delhi, with mercury dropping to 2 degree Celsius.

P.S.: We had also bought some ‘Amroods’ from the vendor in front of the Fort J

‘Waterrelief’ - Andaman Islands

-by Bipasha

Andaman Islands (it’s an archipelago of around 325 islands) was a surprise holiday destination for me and a good one too! It was a holiday long pending and my spouse and I wanted to visit a destination which is not overtly ‘touristy’! You know what I mean - did not want to go to overcrowded hill stations (we Delhiites rush to Shimla or Kulu at the drop of the hat) or beaches where we knew it had to be again a mad rush for ‘holiday resources’!

Anyway, we reached Port Blair on day 1 (flights ply from Delhi to Port Blair via Kolkata or Chennai) and checked into a picturesque guest room (of the Indian Air Force). 

Surprisingly, Andaman has a tri-force command and my suggestion is if you have strings to pull, put up in a guest room of Army, navy or Air Force because they enjoy the best locations! We started our tour of the capital city of Port Blair in the evening - it was a beautiful drive along meandering roads (going suddenly up and then sloping down just to catch the glimpse of the sea!) dotted with British-era houses, few restaurants and small shops.

The Port Blair beach is secluded and lonesome - we took a casual walk and stumbled upon a little romantic eat-and-stay place right on the beach. 

Day 2 : We visited the Cellular Jail (it is called so because of the concept of solitary confinement) or the Kaala Pani - one of the most dreaded seclusions that a person in those times could ask for.

However, the architecture really amazed me - it was L-shaped so that each cell could be visible to the warden from his position. Great freedom fighters like Veer Savarkar (the Port Blair airport is named after him) and Bukteshwar Dutt were inmates there. There is a list of more than 200 freedom fighters on the board there! You can also visit the museum adjacent to the jail where it gives you an idea of the kind of lives the freedom fighters led.

There are several other places to visit in Port Blair such as the Fisheries Museum or you can simply laze around on the beach......

(to be continued next week )

Nehru Memorial - museum of neglect?

- by Malvi

After living in Delhi for more than nine years, this month I finally got an opportunity to visit the famous Nehru Memorial Museum at Teen Murti Bhavan.

I wanted to revisit my memories of the place which I had seen in my childhood during a “Delhi-Darshan” tour in my summer holidays. The Teen Murti Bhavan with its well-kept gardens is inviting and I entered the huge iron gates to begin my tour of the museum.

The place houses some personal artifacts of India’s First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and showcases his life and works during the struggle for India's independence. Nehru's ideas and life as well as different aspects of the Indian freedom movement are portrayed in the Museum. The Teen Murti Bhavan had been home to Nehru for around 16 years after he became country’s Prime Minister and until he passed away in 1964.

In the ground floor room, Nehru’s South Block office in the Ministry of External Affairs has been recreated with the same furniture and other articles he used. On the first floor, some of the rooms, such as Nehru's bedroom, the drawing-room and study have been preserved as they were during his lifetime which gives a very interesting glimpse of Nehru’s life. Like the narrow single bed on which he took his last breathe his study/Library with a huge collection of old and classic books still preserved.

Details of modern and contemporary Indian history are displayed in such a manner that visitors walking through the galleries are led through the many phases of India's colonial and post-colonial history and our freedom struggle, spanning nearly a century and a half.

However, as you progress in the rooms which showcase some historic documents and pictures of pre-Independence and post-Independence days, I felt as if an air of neglect had en-wrapped these priceless artifacts and photographs.

It was really disheartening to see the condition of the historic picture of Pandit Nehru welcoming the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1950.

The picture has been scratched by somebody and the notice boards on which the photographs have been mounted have a torn and faded cloth.  Seeing the pictures of such great importance of our post-Independence history showcased in such a condition made me sad!

Similar wear and tear is visible in the next two rooms which house the laminated pictures and historic documents including manuscripts and newspaper headlines of big events in the post-Independence era. 

There is no dearth of visitors to the place and even school children are brought in study tours. But the neglected showcases are not being able to hold the attention of the visitors, who rush through the rooms as if walking on a busy street.  Moreover, some visitors even spoil the artifacts in the absence of adequate number of overseers and guides and an interactive museum model, which was evident in the scratches inflicted on the Nehru-Prasad photograph.

On the positive side, the interesting display of life-size mannequins recreating the Central Hall of Parliament on the midnight of 14-15 August 1947 showing the figure of Jawaharlal Nehru delivering the 'Tryst with Destiny' speech' in the presence of other members of the Parliament gives a real-time glimpse of the momentous day.

There is no doubting the efforts of people involved in visualizing and creation  of the Nehru Memorial as a prominent reminder of our valuable history, but we should not let it  slip away into the hands of neglect.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

- by Sunandita

Chennai thoda mazedaar, Mumbai puri bekar.

No, no, I was not comparing the two Metropolitan cities of India. That is, in a single sentence, my “experience” of the two recent big Bollywood releases – “Chennai Express” and “Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai-Dobaraa.”

I went to watch the SRK-Deepika Padukone starrer “Chennai Express” with zero expectations. I hated the trailers and it was just combination of two factors – that the film was running at a theater near my house and that I had nothing much to do that day – took me there.

Rahul (SRK) is a 40-year-old ‘halwai’ (sweetmeat seller) from Mumbai who is asked by his

grandmother to travel to Rameshwaram to immerse the ashes of his recently deceased grandfather. The hero boards the Chennai Express. However, in a hilarious DDLJ-spoof sequence, he not only helps a girl (Deepika) to get into the train but also pulls in four other heavily-built thick-mustached men. It turns out that the girl, Meena, daughter of a village don in Tamil Nadu, is fleeing an arranged marriage and the men are her cousin brothers, trying to take her back. From here, all plans of SRK, obviously, go haywire.

Chennai Express is a typical Rohit Shetty comedy, with smatterings of romance thrown in for the sake of Shah Rukh Khan. This is not for the viewers who want their films sensible and logical. Here the sky is very blue, grass is very green, all houses and villages are like picture postcards and the cars in the chase sequence are garish red and orange. But there are a quite a few funny moments, such as one when Deepika asks SRK “are you 50?” As he tries to protest, she very sincerely continues, “Oh, that means you are older than that”!

SRK looks really old and tries too hard, but somehow succeeds to infuse comedy in some scenes. Deepika is comfortable and confident, sometimes outshining the senior actor. 

Songs are okay. “Titli” is nice, “1 2 3 4 Get on the Dance Floor” and “Lungi Dance” will be played in discs for some months before being forgotten.

Flip Side: The duration of the movie is too long. It could have been at least an hour shorter. And much ‘golmal’ is created by long Tamil dialogues. Sometimes, they are translated by other actors but sometimes they just go on and on confusing non-Tamil viewers. Up to a point, it’s okay. But after that it seems irritating.

The other movie, which was released a week after “Chennai Express”, is a sequel to the much-feted “Once Upon A Time in Mumbai”. In place of Emraan Hashmi, Akshay Kumar comes to play the dark and dangerous Shoaib. Imran Khan is the right-hand man of the evil don, tied to him in a deep bond of loyalty because he was rescued from the gutters by the “bada aadmi”.

Enters the demure damsel Sonakshi and by a cruel turn of fate both the bada don and the chhota don fall in love with her.

What follows is a confusion prolonged for two hours and 40 minutes. It is not clear whether the director wanted to make a love triangle, an action movie or a gangsta’ flick. It tries to be all three and ends up being none.

Akshay seems to be enjoying playing the villain and tried to salvage the weak screenplay. But even he could not do much in a story which wanted him to swing between the extremely suave, dangerous and cruel don and the love letter-writing ‘ashiq’.  Imran Khan looks misfit. Sonakshi Sinha is okay except in the high-pitched last scene. “Yeh Tune Kya kiya” is a song I hummed all along my way back home but rest are forgettable. Dialogues are too long and convoluted.

Flip Side: The high expectation with which you approach this movie after the gripping prequel which had taken evil-versus-lesser-evil drama to a new high. Even Chennai Express is brainless, but at least it does not pretend to be realistic.

Disclaimer: This is not a professional review of the two films. This is my personal view about the movies. You can go and watch them and forge your own view. :D

Easy-Peasy Starters!!!!

- by Bipasha

So, what happens when you have some unannounced guests at your place? How do you prove your culinary prowess and show them that unannounced arrivals are greeted with more than just readymade snacks/biscuits? Here are two recipes which can be made in less than 10 minutes!!!! And people, do let me know of ingredients that you mostly store in your refrigerator, as I can suggest more such recipes!

Cheese Balls

Processed Cheese (grated) - 1 cup

Onions (cut into very small pieces), alternately you can also use spring onions - 3/4 cup

Green chilies (chopped very finely) - 1 tbsp

Black pepper (coarsely ground) - 3 tbsps

Bread slices - 5-6

NO salt required since cheese already has salt in it

First, take a bowl, add grated cheese, onions, green chilies, black pepper and give a good mix with a spoon. Now, take a slice of bread and cut the edges off it. Now cut the bread into 4 parts - each part will now be a smaller square. Take each small square and dip it in room temperature water. Just remember, do not over dip it otherwise, it will crumble. Gently squeeze the water out of it and put a small portion of the cheese mix inside it. Now gently (with slightly wet hands) shape it into a ball with the cheese mixture inside the bread. Deep fry the cheese ball in absolutely hot oil. It should not take more than 4-5 seconds.

Tip: The oil must be very hot before you put the cheese ball in it. And do not over-fry it like a ‘pakoda’ or else the cheese inside will melt and stick to the pan.

Pea and Corn Mix

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Sweet Corn - 1/2 cup

Onions (finely chopped) - 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

Black pepper (coarsely ground) - 11/2 tbsps

Oregano - 1 tbsp

Butter - 3 tbsps

Take a pan and heat the butter (don’t let it burn though!). Add the onions and fry till they are translucent. Then add the green peas, sweet corn, salt, pepper and stir fry for 2-3 mins. Add oregano before serving. Serve it up innovatively - use as a topping on cream crackers biscuits, Monaco biscuits or as a filling in cocktails sandwiches!

Tip: I use garden fresh corn for this. You can alway extract the corns beforehand and freeze them for use in innumerable recipes.

Friends coming over for a casual dinner?

- by Bipasha

This is how to prepare your dining area for a cozy dinner get together..

First dim the lights in the dining area. Put colorful dining table mats (preferably the woven ones that are easily available!). Use bright colored mats such as magenta, orange, blue, turquoise etc. Light scented candles all around the dining area. Next, hang little chimes (the terracotta ones available in local markets) - I prefer colored glass chimes and lamps all over the walls giving a very middle-eastern feel and look. Use organza bright colored curtains - the see-through curtains add a mystical feel to the place. 

And better still, if there is a balcony either in the sitting room or the dining room then keep the doors open and let the natural night breeze sway the chimes, bells, and curtains.

Coming to the crockery, use brightly colored serving bowls (the microwave proof ones are readily available in friendly colors) and plates. Put away formal crockery sets for some other time :)  Play music which would be appreciated by majority of the guests. And what more enchanting, if you as a host can play some music yourself? 

Last but not the least, place a large terracotta bowl in the middle of the dining area with fragrant flowers/candles floating in it. 

Hair n Dress Hangups??

- by Bipasha

So, are you facing the same problem as me? Losing locks of hair in the monsoons?

Well, here is how you can have lustrous hair in Monsoons..

First, have a spoonful of amla juice (diluted with a little water) every morning even before your bed tea. Believe me, few days into doing this and my hairfall was noticeably arrested!

Second,always oil your hair (atleast twice a week) with sarso tel (mustard oil) which has been heated with carrom seeds (ajwain) till they become sort of brown. Wash your hair only after keeping your hair oiled for a minimum of 6-8 hrs.

And most importantly, in monsoons, a major reason for hair loss is the fact that our scalp is not really adequately exposed to sunlight. So after every hair wash, make sure to dry your hair properly and avoid using a hair dryer in case of excessive hairfall.

Going out to a semi-formal get together this Independence Day weekend?

Try wearing a floor length anarkali (abundantly available in leading stores, Shoppers Stop, Westside, Biba and some online portals too!) in bright colors such as fuchsia and cheery yellow (to beat the monsoon blues). My vote is for a heavy embroidered anarkali with minimal make up and accessories! Just wear a nice pair of jootis, put a dab of nude lip gloss and apply dark kohl on eyes! I would give chunky ear pieces and necklaces a miss for this. The look is perfect for both night and day. Let the dress and your eyes do all the talking - subtle yet making a statement!

And the Mountains Echoed

- by Malvi

And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini is a great piece of emotional story telling. 

The author maintains a simple prose in the book and his writing has a lyrical quality which keeps the various segments linked and flowing throughout the book.

The novel has several stories which are interlinked in some way or the other. The story of emotional bonding of siblings and the bond they share has been brought out quite nicely by Hosseini.

Set in Kabul Afghanistan, the story line follows a little girl, Pari, who is separated from her original family in her childhood. Her life takes a full circle and brings her back to her brother after many decades. In this book the author does not restrain himself in Afghanistan (his previous books were primarily based in Afghanistan) as the various characters are based in Greece, Paris and other parts of the world.

Although the Hosseini’s writings are quite engrossing and a hot bed for emotions, this book lacks the vibrancy which was present in his earlier book –‘The Kite Runner’, a bestseller which was also made into a movie.

In my view, the sibling love of the main characters’ Pari and Abdullah is described quite lucidly by the author and the readers may become really attached to the unfolding story. Unfortunately, the protagonists become lost after the beginning chapters amid other related characters and their stories.

They re-emerge towards the end where the duo meets again. However, the ending was tad disappointing despite the expert story telling by Hosseini.The novel showcases stories of an affluent couple Mr. Wahdati and his wife, Neela, an alcoholic  poetess, who are the adoptive parents of Pari. Neela, who is a free spirit, runs off to Paris with Pari and brings her up in that country.

On the lighter side, the long distance emotional connection between the separated siblings had me thinking about several old Bollywood movies (not including the melodrama of course!!)  

Kibbeh Lounge - The Lebanese treat!

- by Bipasha

Kibbeh Lounge (‘Kibbeh’ is a Levantine dish!) in Begumpet, Hyderabad is enviably co-located with other restaurants in the same ‘building’ (Mainland China, Oh Calcutta, and Sigree). Beating the monsoon blues, I wanted to try a specialty cuisine and mind you, not the regular Chinese, Thai and Italian. So, my immediate choice was Kibbeh Lounge and glad am I that I went there.

Located on the topmost floor of the ‘building’, KL has an exotic decor. When you enter, there are the regular table arrangements with maroon decor and hosiery. The walls are creamy white and instantly, you can feel the esoteric Middle Eastern touch. The bar is also rightly ensconced on the side. But believe me, the best was yet to come. Since we were two, the waiter ushered us into another section of the restaurant - I would like to call it the ‘walled city’.

On the other side of a very aesthetically done up section-divide, are four private cabins. Now the decor of the cabins (done in maroon) was what did justice to the latter part of the restaurant’s name - Lounge. There was a generous dosage of large velvet cushions, bolsters on the adequately spaced sofas in each cabin. There was a huge side mirror dotted with glass lamps all over - effortlessly adding that subtle mysticism.

Coming to the menu, there were cocktails (the regular stuff including daiquiris, caipirojca etc), irish whiskeys, scotch, vodka, gins and imported wines etc. Coming to the Mezze, the variety was splendid and authentically middle eastern - a welcome change from the mundane pastas etc. From lamb Kibbe, Meat Sambousek,Lamb Blazin to Cheese Sambousek, my taste buds really got triggered looking at the food descriptions. So, I picked a Veg Mezze Platter since I wanted to have the best of everything (remember, I am a pure vegetarian) comprising portions of hummus, baba ganouj,tabbouleh ,falafel,cheese sambousek all served with Pita bread. 

Mezze platter and grilled cottage cheese with tangine

For the main course, I ordered a

Grilled Cottage Cheese with tangine again served with Pita Bread. For the non vegetarians, you can choose from the eclectic spreads of Moroccon Spice Charmura, Chicken Shawarma Roll,Tom Sauid (grilled prawns with mustard marination) etc. Service was good, decor was fabulous and food even more rejoicing (of course, if you are ready to experiment with different cuisines, this is the place to begin with!) My verdict - absolute go, go, go!

A jumble of memories - Jabalpur

- by Sukanya

When monotony haunts and the need to break free becomes necessary, we three friends escape to some quick gateways to relax and have pure unadulterated fun.

This time in a similar dilemma, we decided on Jabalpur located in the heart of the country, Madhya Pradesh.

After a detailed research we got all set to explore this new destination and to spend some time together as the three of us work in separate organisations and live in different cities.

Bedhaghat

Jabalpur, has direct railway route to all major cities of the country and an airport, we found this ideal for our short and pocket friendly weekend trip. The city offers all range of hotels and resorts that fits every kind of budget.

Anyways, coming back to my experience of the city, I decided to go by train from Mumbai, which took me about 18 hours (you can get tickets on the train quite easily if you book a month or two in advance).

Excited to take a look around the city, we booked a taxi for the day from the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Office located at the Jabalpur Railway station itself.

With much anticipation we started for the most popular tourist site Bhedaghat. I had heard a lot about the place and was excited to experience it myself. Bhedaghat, one hour (approximately 20 km) from the city, enthralled us with its serenity and the famous marble rocks on river Narmada.

The real beauty of the marble rocks (they are more like mountains) is when you take a boat ride in the Narmada which follows a serpentine route in between the marble rocks, standing like walls on the sides of the river. We booked a boat ride for only three of us by negotiating with one of several boat pullers on the shore. However, there is also an option to go in groups with other fellow tourists on these boats.

As we sat in the boat and moved away from the shore, the serenity and beauty of the place took my breath away! I was enjoying the serene silence accompanied by the sounds of oars splashing the waters of river Narmada. To make the ride interesting and appealing to the tourists, the boat pullers (there were three in are boat as it’s quite a long ride) also turn into guides.  The guides’ commentary is lively and very entertaining and it helps you enjoy the rock formations. The Guide to make things more engrossing even quiz you to figure out things from the rock formations. The rocks hold some formations which the guide explains depict some scenes from Mahabharata. There is also a ‘shivling’ in middle of the river.

Spending over an one hour and enjoying the serenity and sheer grandiose of the place, my mind went to wander into an unknown place near semi consciousness.

A hot cup of chai and snacks on the banks of Narmada brought me back on earth and we left for Chausat Yogini temple, built in the 10^th century atop a hill.

 The beauty of the temple that houses sculptures of 64 (chaushat) lady devotees of Lord Shiva, cannot be described in mere words. The exquisitely carved store figures belonging to the Kaluchari period was worth the climb of about 150 steps. However several of them have been mutilated after the Mughals came to India.

Dhuandhar Falls

The temple has an open sky circular courtyard with the temple of Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati in the middle.The panditji there told us that the Shiva Parvati idol in the temple is a  rare one that depicts the lord and his wife riding Nandi the Bull after their wedding. This rare idol was stolen and was later found buried in sands nearby and reinstalled recently.

After this we went to Dhuandhar waterfalls, in the outskirts of the city. The waterfalls, gushing down from a height of 10 meters, have originated from the river Narmada.

 The water falling on the rocks with a heavy gush, makes a roaring sound and also creating a mist or ‘Dhuan’, thus the name Dhuandhar. This picturesque beauty beholds you, engraving this nature’s wonder in your memory forever and compelling you to visit … again and again.

On the way back to our hotel, we halted at the eroded volcanic rock formation called the Balancing Rock that even survived in earthquake of 6.5 magnitude. But there is nothing else to linger at the sight.

 Tired from the train journey and the day-long sightseeing we headed back to our hotel, for dinner and a good night sleep. 

Next day after a heavy breakfast we visited the Rani Durgavati Museum in the city. The museum houses beautiful ancient sculptures, coins and trinkets worn by Gond tribes. The museum has a section that beautifully depicts the daily life of the Gond tribes and the story of Gond queen Rani Durgamati.

This was the last place to see on the itinerary of our Jabalpur sojourn. This journey was not just a tourist trip but also a get together of friends and left us with enough memories to enchant us for many days to come after that.