Molagapodi, homestyle

Yesterday we made molagapodi at home.

There are many variations in the recipes, but no matter what variation, this is definitely Chennai's favourite lentil powder. Go to any Tamil house and you'll find people happily eating idli and dosa dunked in molagapodi and oil. My house is no exception :)

Typically, urad dal, channa dal, and sesame are ground together, with dry red chillies and asafoetida. Each ingredient is roasted separately before grinding.

But really, you can pretty much experiment with adding other lentils if you wish. We added a little bit of tuar dal and moong dal to the batch we made yesterday, and we skipped the sesame. It turned out pretty yummy.

As long as you get the proportion of chillies, asafoetida and salt ok, all these lentils can be combined in any way you want, to make an awesome powder.

There are lots of recipes online if you google for it.

Osmania Biscuits at Nimrah Cafe and Bakery, Charminar, Hyderabad

- by Deepa Krishnan

At the Nimrah Cafe and Bakery, there is always a crowd. Located right next to the iconic Charminar, this cafe has both locals and tourists filling it. The signboards are in English, Urdu and Telugu.

Every half an hour, fresh trays of biscuits and other baked goodies are brought to the counter-tops, still warm from the oven. The photo below has 2 trays of Hyderabad's famous Osmania biscuits.

We ordered Irani chai and Osmania biscuits; and they also gave us a Khopra Biscuit (the larger one in the photo below, it has coconut in it). The Osmania biscuit was delicious - crumbly, flaky, sugary and salty, all at once. Too much sugar, of course, but hey, I wasn't complaining. The tea was also milky-sweet.

The biscuit is named after the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, who died in 1967. Apparently he was very fond of them, and ordered them from Vicaji's Hotel (which was popular at that time). He would send his car to Vicaji's to fetch the biscuits.

Vicaji's Hotel doesnt exist any more. The original Vicaji refers to Vicaji Meherji (1781–1853), a Parsi from Thana, who along with his brother Pestonji Meherji, moved to Hyderabad in early 1800's. One of their mansions - called Pestonji ki Kothi - was converted to Vicaji's Hotel by Naorozji Bapuji Vicaji, a descendant of Vicaji Meherji. Vicaji’s Hotel was the numero uno of Hyderabad hotels in the 1940s and 1950s. It was sold in the 1950's to a Punjabi businessman who called it the Three Aces Hotel and Bar. In the 1980s, the mansion was demolished and Hyderabad lost a slice of its history.

But the Osmania biscuit has survived unscathed, and continues to be enjoyed by all Hyderabadis.

The gorgeous Badal Mahal at Junagarh, Bikaner

The fabulously coloured Badal Mahal, Palace of Clouds, with its blue and gold and red depiction of monsoon clouds, and Krishna-Radha.

The ruins of the Kakatiya Empire, at Warangal Fort near Hyderabad

These are the ruins of the grand Swayambhu Temple at Warangal Fort. Simply fabulous. Poetry in dolerite.

The Archaeological Survey of India has tried to reconstruct / reimagine the original temple partially; in addition, they have also placed other artefacts found nearby, to make a sort of grand open-air architectural ruin. 

The Kakatiyas were Jains originally, but converted to Saivism (worship of the Hindu god Siva). In Warangal, we see the worship of Harihara; half-Siva and half-Vishnu. In the Harihara statue in the photo above, you can see the damru of Shiva in the right hand, and the conch of Vishnu in the other.

The Kakatiyas were Telugu-speaking and they ruled Andhra Pradesh for 300 years, from 12th to 14th century. The Kakatiyas were defeated by the armies of the Tughlaqs of Delhi, and their kingdom at Warangal was ruined. But even what little remains is very impressive. Here is one section of the ruins. You can click on it for a larger view.

On each of the four sides of the temple, there is a grand square gateway, a torana, which is typical of Kakatiya architecture. They have beautiful carved swans mounted on top. The toranas have survived, making me wonder why the temples and palaces were destroyed but the toranas left intact. Perhaps some belief or superstition?

To imagine the size of the torana, see the garden bench at the bottom right of the photo, that will give you a sense of proportion. I was really saddened to see the headless swans on the ground. Such destruction!

The Kakatiya torana is famous in Andhra Pradesh. It is represented in state tourism brochures, and copied and used in many forms and variations by many institutions. Here is the entry road from the highway into Kazipet, see the grand torana that they have made, this one is of course, not dolerite rock, it is just concrete, but it is still attractive! Of course, the local bill stickers have not spared it!!

Patola Silk Weaving

-By Aishwarya Pramod

Patola is the name of the silk saris unique to Patan. One version of the Patola legend is that King Kumarpal (12th century) commissioned Patola robes from Jaina (South Maharashtra), a new one for every daily puja. When he learned the King of Jaina was sending him used clothes, he went to the south to attack and defeat the southern ruler. He brought back 700 Patola weaver families to Patan. Of those families, only the Salvis continue the craft today.

Patola is one of the most difficult forms of weaving in the world. It uses a double ikkat style where the warp and weft threads are dyed meticulously before weaving, according to a pre-designed pattern. The weaver then aligns them perfectly on the loom, which naturally creates a unique combination of geometric delineation with soft hazy outlines. It is said that an Indonesian king visited India, was awed by the Patola craft, and took it back to his land saying that only Indonesian royalty would be allowed to wear it.

The saris take 4-6 months to make, with more than 70 days for the coloring of the silk threads, and about 25 days for the weaving. They come in four styles: 1) for the Jains and Hindus, with flowers, parrots, elephants, and dancing figures, 2) for the Muslim Bohras, with geometric and floral design, to be used at weddings, 3) for Maharashtrian Brahmins, in solid dark colors bordered with designs of women and birds, called Nari Kunj, and 4) for traditional export markets in the Far East. Immense dexterity is required of the dyer, for visualizing the pattern of dyeing, especially for the weft threads which are woven in zigzag, and also of the weaver, for working at an even pace, so that the warp and weft meet at precisely the right place without breaking the silk threads. These extreme levels of craftsmanship give Patola artists enough reason to put a high price on their work, and to guard closely their patterns as a trade secret.

To watch the masters of the craft at work, or order your own piece, visit Vinayak and Bharat Salvi at Patan Patola Heritage +91 2766 231369, Patolawala Salvivado, Patolawala St. or Ashok Salvi at Patolawala Farm House +91 2766 232172, outside Phatipal Gate. The price of saris start at Rs. 90,000. There are also smaller scarves available, starting at Rs. 5000.

Visiting Kalighat Temple, Calcutta

The Kalighat Kali Temple is one of the four 'Adi Shakti Peethas' of India.

The Shakti Peethas are places in the sub-continent where the Goddess is worshipped.

Kalighat Temple, 1887

All major temples in India have sthala-purana or sthala-mahima, which explains the legend behind the temple. For the Kalighat temple, the legend is here: 

King Daksha was one of Brahma's sons. One of his daughters was Sati or Dakshayani, who wished to marry Shiva. Daksha forbade it, but Sati married Shiva anyway. Daksha disliked Shiva intensely, calling him a dirty, roaming ascetic with a cohort of goblins and ghouls. Once Daksha announced a great yagna (religious sacrifice) and invited all the Gods. Although she was not invited, Sati visited her father, only to have him ignore her and insult Shiva. In great sorrow and rage, Sati immolated herself in the sacrificial fire. 

When Shiva learnt the news, he let loose his goblin armies and they wreaked havoc on the yagna and killed Daksha. Later Shiva revived Daksha, by attaching a goat's head to his lifeless body. He then picked up Sati's body and in his grief began to wander the world. Another version of the story is that Shiva took Sati's corpse and began to dance the Tandava. To relieve Shiva and to end the grief, Vishnu spun the Sudarshana chakra (a discus) and sliced the body of Sati into many parts. These parts fell to the earth, forming the Shakti Peethas.

The right toe of Dakshayani is said to have fallen here, at Kalighat, imbuing the ground with the sacred presence of the Goddess. Originally Kalighat was a ghat (landing stage) on the old course of the Hooghly river. It is believed that the name Calcutta is derived from the word Kalighat. The Hooghly river has moved away from the temple, and the temple is now on the banks of a small canal called Adi Ganga which connects to the Hoogly.

Pilgrims bathing at the ghat, about 60 years ago. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kalighat_1947.jpg

Here are three photos of the temple which I clicked a couple of years ago. The bazaar below has many shops selling religious items and souvenirs. The path to the temple is lined with flower-sellers, offering hibiscus garlands.

Visiting the temple is rewarding for anyone who is culturally and spiritually curious. However the experience is marred by the aggressive hardsell that you experience from the priests (pandas). There are often long queues for darshan at the temple. While the pandas offer short-cut queues for a fee, they will also insist you purchase puja offerings from shops that they recommend, and they will also ask for fees for doing some instant pujas and mutterings. It is really a pity that such a sacred site is abused by the priests, making it impossible to visit it in a peaceful state of mind. To add to the priests, there are also beggars who come up asking for alms. Overall, unless the state of things improves, this is not a temple I would recommend for a first time overseas visitor to Calcutta. The Kali temple at Dakshineshwar is a much better experience.

Ahilyabai Ghat in Varanasi

Continuing the series on the ghats of Varanasi: this is Ahilyabai Ghat, named after one of India's most popular Maratha queens. 

There was an earlier ghat here known as Kevalagiri Ghat. In 1778-1785 it was extended and rebuilt by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar and after that, the name changed. The Holkars were a Maratha clan which ruled the Malwa kingdom (present day Madhya Pradesh) with their capital at Indore and Maheshwar. Queen Ahilyabai was renowned not only for leading her men in battle, but also for her patronage of culture, arts and religion. In her 30-year reign, she built literally thousands of wells, temples, dharamshalas and did many other charitable works, for which she received enormous respect from people all over India.

 At this ghat there is a palace and residential compound. The palace compound opens towards the city side, there is a gateway there with a noubat-khana (welcoming drum). There is also a group of religious buildings including temples and servants’ quarters, some of which are used as an akhada. There are two temples on the ghat in Nagara style, and in addition there is a Hanuman temple and Shiva temple also. The quarters of the Brahmin priests attached to the Indore estate are also on this ghat; it is a set of 10 houses and is called Brahmapuri (it is on a street parallel to the river).

The building in yellow is where Pandit Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya lived. He came from a lineage of ayurvedic doctors, but was blessed with musical ability. He was famous as both an extraordinary tabla player and teacher and reputed Ayurvedic doctor.

Women's restaurant initiative in Kerala

Photo credit: The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com

Kudumbasree (meaning family prosperity) is a Kerala state government initiative to improve women’s economic self-sufficiency through self-help groups. The program is supported by the Central Government, local bodies and NABARD (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development).

Under this program, poor women with little access to education and medical care are trained and aided in finding avenues for earning. They learn better methods of agriculture, floriculture and as a means to diversify, restaurant management, cooking, handicraft making and pottery. Information on money management, women’s rights and payment entitlements is shared so women are able to make informed demands and decisions.

The impact: Women who earlier worried about sending their kids to school due to the expenses now find themselves better-equipped to educate their kids.

Tribal women have been able to ban the brewing and consumption of arrack (local liquor), the bane of family life. They control prices of provisions and vegetables by hiring jeeps to bring goods in bulk and sell them to members at the cheapest possible price. Earlier, families that were dependent on low-quality provisions doled out to them in limited quantity are able to purchase good quality items on their own strength.

The program also works on highlighting new areas where the women may focus attention to boost income. Thekkady and Alleppey are seeing an increase in tourism. Hotels, resorts and restaurants need quality vegetables in supply. Women are learning to grow new foods that are high on demand. Prices are better regulated since they are not working as isolated producers but as a large entity.

Sometimes, earning is insufficient to meet emergencies or social requirements. Each member deposits a small amount (Rs 10) and can avail a loan to get by the immediate need.

In the male-dominated tribal communities, the success of women’s self-help is particularly interesting.

Part of the success is the organisation structure at a grassroot level. At each district, Kudumbasree has a Community Development Society (CDS) which operates with the help of volunteers from the health and education sector, infrastructure and income generation. Apart from them, there is a representative from the finance department, a secretary and a president. Responsibility is shared as office bearers are regularly rotated to keep out vested interests. The role of Panchayat (community head) is limited so the women are free to present crucial issues like water, power or housing, earning (otherwise sidelined under a male-dominated structure).

Seeing the success of this movement, the state has introduced similar models to include more people (not only women) in the move to eradicate poverty.

Lentil Hunter with Chef Michael Smith

My friend Amit Vaccharajani helped produce this film set in Ahmedabad, for a Canadian TV show called Lentil Hunter.

Chef Michael Smith travels to Ahmedabad as part of his worldwide journey, hunting for lentil based recipes.

You can click this link, select Ahmedabad on the map, and enjoy this wonderful introduction to all the ways in which Gujarat celebrates dal. http://www.lentils.ca/lentilhunter/

Have fun :) :) The visuals are great.