Magic of Millions of Fireflies

The memories of my Enai's ( that's my maternal grand mother) home in Meleng, Jorhat are many and one very vivid memory that I still have in my mind is that of hundreds of twinkling fireflies. Enai's home has quite a big ground in front and there were paddy fields around. I am talking about 1985 here. In our summer vacations all our cousins would gather at her place and spend some time there. Electricity was erratic and it still is. Evenings when there was no electricity, we would sit in the long verandah and listen to Puthau's ( grand father) stories. And then fireflies would come twinkling. Some of us would run after them to catch them in our hands. Enai would shout " Don't touch them. Otherwise in the night you will have to go to the toilet!" Now that's something all of us wanted to avoid. The bathroom was outside of the main house. Just outside in the backyard. But if you had to go to the toilet at night, you had no option but to wake up an elder. If there was no electricity then, imagine the shadows on the wall from the flickering light of the hand lamp! No way.

Last week, I and P had been to Purushwadi. We heard about the place from a friend. She said " You have to see it to believe what I am telling you." We were intrigued. Every year just before the monsoons, millions of fireflies come to this tiny village and put up a spectacular light show, which now I also say " You have to see it to believe it." 

The Valley

We went to Purushwadi through Grassroutes They aim at , in their own words, " to create 1 million livelihood opportunities in Rural India." They have various stay options available. We opted for the canvas tents. There are shared western toilets with running water too. But please donot expect all the luxuries of the city life that we are used to there. That is NOT the idea and we must respect that. 

Valley facing Tents

We went by local train to Kasara from Dadar. In Kasara there are shared jeeps available which will drop you till Rajur, the nearest "town" to Purushwadi. From Rajur another jeep to Purushwadi. You can take your own vehicle too. Purushwadi is about 220 km from Mumbai in Ahmed Nagar district. The jeep travel part can be a bit harrowing. They stuff people into one vehicle way more than it's capacity. 

Lunch

We reached the camp site by afternoon. All your meals will be at the village at a villager's home. Our hosts were ready with lunch. It's a simple vegetarian meal of what they also eat. We loved every bit. We thought of lying down for about an hour as were up since 4am. But it was too hot. But to our surprise, by 4pm we could clearly see the clouds coming in. The breeze got cooler and suddenly the sky opened up. It started pouring heavily. We enjoyed the weather with local mangoes. Since it rained we were in two minds about the sunset trek. But thanks to another couple that we met there, we just went out for a hike. Grassroutes assign one household in the village for each of the guests and that keep rotating thus making sure that everyone gets equal opportunity. All four of us were hosted by the same family. We went up to the Sun set point even though there was no " sun set view". But for all of us, we enjoyed the small hike, rains and the weather. 

Our gracious hostess

There was no electricity in the village after the storm. The camp site was lit by solar lamps. As we walked to our host's home for dinner, already the tiny twinkling lamps were everywhere. Our guide told us that it was just a trailer and the full show was still to come. How true was that. After dinner we started our walk to witness the magic of million fireflies. All along the way there were thousands of them. Then we were there. Standing across a bridge, we saw a light show put by amazing nature. The tree looked like glittered with thousands of tiny Christmas lights. The fireflies were illuminating all over.  But it was so synchronized that we were awestruck. We just stood there silently witnessing this phenomenon. We returned to our tents happy.

Magical Fireflies

Next morning after a delicious Poha breakfast, our guides took around the village giving us a glimpse into their daily lives. Even though it had stopped raining, the weather was little humid but thankfully not scorching hot. We walked till the river, but we did not take a bath. Just sat there remembering Enai - Puthau and the fireflies.

Friends met there and our guides Sandip & Avdesh

Monsoon Potluck

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” 
― Mark Twain

Meeting friends for a potluck during monsoon or Bihu or any special occasion has become a ritual since last few years now. This year was no exception; but this year we decided to get surprised items but surely "not desi"  but try to keep it as Asian as possible. 
Of course we decided on who was getting starters or main course or dessert. The result and the spread was simply super. 

Bonding over good food with varied conversation with good company make all the difference. 

Here are the photos of what we ate..

Starters : 

We had Devilled Eggs with a Mayo and Tuna twist.

Noodles with stir fried vegetables and chicken in orange juice.

Grilled Chicken with Kaffir Lime

Garlic and Orange Mint prawns with Avocado and Wasabi Guacamole.

Starters

My plate of Starters

Main Course :

Main Course

Chicken Rendang
Nasi Lemak
Malaysian Sambal
Roasted peanuts, salads and boiled egg.

Dessert :

No bake cake with Icecream and Mascarpone Cheese
Coconut Macaroons

Dessert

Every dish was simply delectable and the love that had gone behind preparing and presenting shone through each one. 

One Confession : Both the starters; Grilled chicken and Prawn with Guacamole were prepared by my better in kitchen half. I just ate. 

Make a wish and mix - Christmas Cake mixing at Renaissance Hotel

Thank you Renaissance Hotel and Convention centre, Mumbai for giving me the chance to be a part of my first ever Christmas Cake mixing ceremony. I have always read about it, seen photographs and wishing how I also wanted to be a part. That wish came true today and guess what, this gave me a chance to make another wish too.

 It is said that the Christmas Cake mixing ceremony dates back to 17^th Century in Europe. This ceremony marked the arrival of harvest season and lots of fruits and nuts were harvested and then preserved for the next harvest season. This turned into a family get-together where everyone would join hands, literally, to soak the dry fruits and nuts in Rum, Wine and Brandy. Over the years it became of big ceremony which fall well in advance of Christmas so that the fruits totally soak in the liquor and thus when mixed in the cake, they add to the whole taste of it.

Roasted Pork Leg

My lunch

Before the ceremony actually started, we were treated to the sumptuous Italian brunch spread at Fratelli Fresh. I loved the roasted Pork leg with the apple sauce. The Ravioli and Gnocchi were phenomenal. I had 2 new desserts Crostata di Fruta and Zuccotto; and I liked the former more. 

Desserts

Then the bell went "ting ting" marking the beginning of Cake mixing ceremony. The guests were given chef caps, aprons and gloves before everyone put their hands into the large trays of fruits and nuts. Bottles of Rum, Wine and Brandy were poured into the fruit trays and then there was lots of laughter and giggles all around. We all joined our hands with the chefs and mixed the fruits and nuts into all those booze. These booze soaked fruits and nuts will be kept in air tight containers for 3-4 weeks. By the that time they will completely soak in the booze and be ready to add much more flavour to the final 

cake. 

The guests getting ready

In action

And yes I did make a wish as I was mixing. That I would like keep as a secret for the time being. 

All set

The new Lemon Leaf

To start with, I take  part in a Twitter chat session every Tuesday at 9.30pm called SY5Chat curated by @TheSynergy5 .One session was about Pan Asian cuisine and it was co hosted by @chefmitesh and @Lemonleafmumbai 

I was one of the winners  that evening and  got an invite to taste the menu at the soon to be opened Lemon Leaf at  Colaba. I was super happy as Pan Asian cuisine sure is one of my favorite cuisines. Hence there we were ,the chosen few at the Restaurant all set to for an exclusive tasting of the menu. 

Tempura Prawns

I and my husband had been to Aoi many times. When we found out that Lemon Leaf came from the same team, we knew the meal will be as good. And we were right. Starting from the drink to the dessert  team Lemon Leaf did not disappoint. 

Chicken Sisig

For vegetarian starters we had Mushroom Yakitori and Mint Cheese stuffed potatoes. Then came the Sushis, Tempura Asparagus and Tempura Prawns. So well made and well presented. How can I not have dimsums at an Asian restaurant. There they were; Chicken coriander dimsums and roasted vegetable dumplings. I loved both. The crispy fried fish baos are sure not to be missed. The Salmon salad was so fresh on the palate. My favourite starter was the Sizzling Chicken Sisig. It was so good that I could have go on and on.

Crispy Fish Baos

For drinks I asked for Divine farmer, which was a smoked cinnamon tea, infused with cranberry juice and fresh peach. Since I asked for one with  less  ice and  they made me a special glass and I loved that.

Salmon Salad

Srilankan Fish Curry

Then for mains, we had Srilankan Fish curry with Jasmine rice. There was a vegetarian curry as well. Both the curries had such distinct aromas, and were sure delectable,not to be missed! The Nasi Goreng with Chicken and Holy basil and the Pad Thai,my husband's favourite were perfectly done. 

Nasi Goreng

Icrecreams

Even after all those food, one always saves some space for desserts and when desserts are 4 different types of ice creams, one has to make space. We had Black Sesame & honey , Pumpkin, Beetroot and Jackfruit icecreams. My favourite was the Black Sesame and Honey. The Baked cheesecake with Miso Caramel was sensational. 

Cheese cake

Bookfaces

The restaurant was yet to attain a liquor license which I am sure will soon be in place. Uber stylish and chic, the decor and ambiance are very very impressive. Don't miss the book faces upstairs and please do not miss the Maü. As everyone at lemon Leaf calls it, it's the magic; the spirit; you tap into it and release it to see life in new light.

Mau

Here's to Chef Mitesh and his team at Lemon Leaf, Colaba all the very best. For me, I would surely go back for the rest of the menu once they open full fledged. 

 WASABI OUT!

The Address : Lemon Leaf, 4, Mandlik Road, behind Taj Mahal Hotel. Next to Indigo. Colaba

A Mumbai Local Story

 

16th AUG'16

It just happened.. don't ask me how or why or when. Some questions are better left unanswered. What's important is that it happened. I fell in love with Mumbai and the madness that the city offers. I was a hardcore "Dilliwali". But I am neither from Delhi nor from Mumbai. Both these cities are my adopted homes. Delhi was my home and Mumbai is my home now. While I continue loving Delhi and the idiosyncrasies I fell for Mumbai too. Just don't ask when and how. That I can't answer. Then why this page in my diary? Because just the other day something happened and it stirred my heart strings..again!

 After a hard and long day at work I got into the train at Churchgate. It was slightly pass the "peak hour" and hence the Ladies first class compartment had only 2 passengers. I and another lady. I sat on a coveted window seat and looked around. A little boy, an urchin, was fast asleep in one of the seats. I mean the whole seat meant for 3. I kept looking at him. So peacefully he was sleeping. He should have been in his home to the safety of the bedroom. For once I thought should I wake him up before the train starts. He must have got in to the train when it was coming to Churchgate. Now it was getting ready to leave Churchgate for Borivali. Then looking at how sound asleep he was I decided not to. Slowly the train moved out. One after another the stations came and the compartment started getting full. No one woke him up. Everyone was sitting. Usually at Lower Parel the compartment gets fully packed. I thought now he needs to get up. But before we crossed Mumbai Central I dozed off.

 

When I woke up the train was entering Malad station which is just 2 stations before the final destination Borivali. The compartment was still crowded. I looked towards the seat where the boy was sleeping. With so many ladies / girls standing, I could not see it. I thought someone must have woke him up and he must have got down in one of the stations. As the train moved out of Malad, the crowd got slightly lighter. I turned towards the seat again. There he was..still sleeping! I could not believe my eyes. That meant no one woke him up all this while. After a tiring day at work, all these women got into the train, hoping to find a place to seat and just close their tired eyes. I witnessed quite a few catfights in such crowded trains. But today all these women came standing, letting the child sleep. I looked around the compartment, to everyone. I realized I was grinning. Few ladies smiled back. Suddenly I was so happy even after a long day at work.

 

That evening I fell in love with Mumbai; once again!

 

 

Simply Saraswat - The other South Indian Restaurant

To be honest I had never heard about this community called "Saraswat Brahmins" forget their food. It was when our friend Bakul mentioned about this place called "Simply Saraswat" that too in Borivali I was really interested. She spoke very highly of the place and that they serve Chitrapur Saraswat cuisine. But P and I hardly had time to go find it. As luck would have, few days ago as we were going somewhere we saw Simply Saraswat on the way. There the place was; next to 5 Spice at the corner of Chandravarkar Road and Eksar Road. We decided to go there while returning.

It's a small place. On the wall there is big mural of the Rath Utsav festival during which the deity is taken on a Rath / Chariot ( hand drawn) around the town / village. When we reached there was only a lady sitting in one of the tables. She was busy sipping coffee and writing on her note book. We both did not know what we should try. Even though Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin cuisine includes non vegetarian dishes, Simply Saraswat is strictly vegetarian.



Appe

From the menu we could make out that Dosas are called Pollo and these are soft dosas not the kind of dosa that we get in regular South Indian or Udupi places. We ordered for a Mushti Pollo with Puddi Chutney and Ghee (Rs. 80) and Appe (Rs.70) to start with. Appe is described as a" Fluffy avatar of doas" in the menu. It came in the shape of small Unniyappams. The similarity ends there. It's actually a dosa,remember! It was served with sambhar and 2 chutneys. The Mushti pollo looked like an Uttapam. It was so soft and fluffy and the puddi and ghee sprinkled over added so much more to it.

Mushti Pollo

Rasam Ambode

We loved both. Then P asked for Rasam Ambode (Rs. 70). Button Vadas served with Rasam. After all these we thought let's have another dish from the menu and our dinner will be done.
We asked Kishore who was there serving us about his suggestion. He said Dakshin idli (Rs.90) was a very popular dish. It's idli fried in a spice mixture which, we are told, are very typically saraswat.

Dakshin Idli

All the dishes that we ordered were served piping hot.The menu boasts of a variety of Pollos or dosas. This time we tasted only 2, Appe and Mushti Pollo.

The place has been featured in a column in Mid day. A paper cut was hanging on the wall. From there  I learnt that saraswat brahmins trace their origin to Kashmir. They used to live on the banks of the river Saraswati. Later they migrated to the areas near Mangalore. The food, however is so similar to South Indian dishes than up North Kashmir. Whatever it is, both P and I enjoyed our first visit to Simply Saraswat thoroughy.  We have all the plans to go back to try other items in the menu soon.

Ram Ashraya - Matunga

It is one of those well known eateries in Mumbai. But I never had the chance to be there and try out anything at Ram Ashraya. But today finally I landed there and that too during lunch time. The place is so famous and I was always wanted to be there. I just made my mind that today I will go to Ram Ashraya and thus I held a cab at Dadar and told the cabbie, Ram Ashraya hotel Matunga. He took me straight there, no questions or directions asked.


Ram Ashraya serves South Indian vegetarian food. The place was packed with few people waiting to be seated. I got a place to sit after 5 minutes. I guessed that the most people were regulars because they were just ordering what they wanted to have. Looking here and there I could see the food items list written next to the kitchen wall. I checked what others were having too. In my table one was having Bisi Bele Bhat and the other was having Puri with Korma. Since I had so much about their Dosas I wanted to try out a dosa. But last minute I opted for a Neer dosa to start with. It took about 7-10 minutes and I thought the waiter forgot about my order! He got me a piping hot Neer dosa with chutney, sambhar, a red chutney and a small katori of grated coconut which was sweetened. I thought of saving the sweet thing to the last.

Neer Dosa with the Chutneys & Sambhar

Then I asked for a vada with rasam. I did that deliberately because I am very particular about Rasam. I order rasam only in very few places and some places serving "South Indian" cuisine also cannot do justice to a simple rasam. It's so easy to get the rasam wrong. Ram Ashraya did not disappoint at all. I loved the Rasam and the vada too.

Vada with rasam

I saw one of the persons in my table order for Pineapple sheera. That looked yum and could smell the ghee already. But I did not have any today. Instead I asked for a cup of filter coffee. It was really good, not too strong and not too sweet. Just perfect.

Filter Kapi

This decision to go and have lunch at Ram Ashraya did not disappoint me at all. This is a simple no nonsense place serving what they claim to be good at. Trust me, they are not exaggerating. I have every plan of going to back to try out the other dishes in the menu soon.


Oh yeah, when the bill came, I had to check again. Rs.109/- for a Neer Dosa, Rasam Vada and an awesome filter coffee! Wow.

Ram Ashray Matunga

A slice of the Orient in Mumbai

Second day of 2016 and a Saturday, ideally I would have preferred to be home and sleep to my hearts content.  But P had other plans and thus we were up at 6.00 am and headed to Mazgaon to explore an area of Mumbai which we were yet to explore. In P's filmy words " Let's check out the godi of Tiger and Bakhtawar!" ( For those uninitiated, he was talking about HUM, the 1991 Amitabh Bachchan, Danny Denzongpa film by Mukul Anand)




 P said that he had heard about a Chinese temple somewhere there near Dockyard Road station and wanted to go check that out. Honestly I had never heard about anything Chinese in Mumbai except for eating places and "Made in China" goods widely available everywhere. Thus we walked from the Our Lady of Rosary Church and towards the Mazgoan Dock. There in one of the quaint lanes lies a Chinese temple. To be specific, it is inside the Nawab Tank Road. It was still quite early and very few people were around. One morning walker asked us "2 curious looking tourists" what were we looking for. When we said the Chinese Temple, he pointed to a house right next to where we were standing. It's a Three storied house and on the second floor is the temple. You can't miss that bright red half door at the entrance of the house.



The Entrance

We pushed the door and entered. We faced a big door which was locked. Another door on the side opened and a man came out with a toothbrush in his mouth! When we asked about the temple, he asked us to go to second floor. We climbed the wooden staircase to the second floor and yeah, there was the temple but the door was closed. We waited for sometime confused in the company of Confucius and Fuk, Luk and Sau. Fuk, Luk and Sau are the three deities who represent Prosperity, Authority and Longevity. 

Fuk,Luk and Sau

We thought of coming back a while later hoping by then the door will be opened. While coming down we met a lady on the first floor. We asked about the temple and she gave us the keys to open and said " Sit and pray for as long as you want. But when you leave, please close the windows and lock the door again and give me the key."  Now that was a first. Opening the lock of a temple and entering with no one around! We opened the door and stepped inside. Both of us were awestruck for few seconds. Everything was bright red and there was something so pure so calm about it, that we could actually feel a sense of divinity. The fragrance of incense sticks hung in the air and that added to the whole atmosphere of the temple.

Opening the lock!

The Altar

General Kwan Tai Kwon

There is a hand written history of the temple. This temple is dedicated to General Kwan Tai Kwon a very just and fair Chinese warrior. This temple was set up by a group of Cantonese Hong Kong soldiers who worked for East India Company. Once upon a time there use to be a flourishing China town around that area. During the 19th Century, many Chinese came to work with the East India company and stayed in the Mazgaon Dock area. Most of them worked as Carpenters and many were engineers. Those people were mostly Cantonese migrants and they were called "See Yup". The building that houses the temple was named "See Yup Koon" after their native village. The 1962 Indo - China war saw many leaving the area and eventually leaving the country and now there are very few families around.


We chatted a little with the lady in the first floor, who said she was originally from Tengra , the famous China Town in Kolkata. It's been 40 years that she has been living in Mumbai. She politely declined our request for a photograph. We did not insist either.

The whole temple is in bright red because the Chinese consider red as the colour which brings fortune and joy.

Candles and Incense sticks



Joss Money

There were bunches of candles and incense sticks which one can light there. The Chinese have a tradition of burning "paper money or Joss paper" which they believe that the departed souls in the other world can use the money. The prices are mentioned against each item. The lady on the first floor had asked us to put the price ( if we bought any candle or incense sticks) in the donation box. We lit up candles and few incense sticks. P said "Let's burn some paper money too." We did that for our ancestors as a new year gift.

The wall next to the shrine is adorned with Bamboo sheets. You can know your fortune through these. Since we could not read Chinese and there was no one to read us our fortune, we had to be content with a photograph only.

Chinese Fortune Telling sheets

After about an hour we came to downstairs. The lady had showed us the keys for the temple at downstairs too. Again we opened the closed door on the ground floor. This was a temple dedicated to a princess who is considered a Bodhisattva. Here in the wall we could read the familiar Buddhist prayer " Om Mani Padme Hum". On the side of the wall, there is the hand written story of the Princess.



The temple downstairs



The Princess

Finally we came out of the house. Both I and P were silent for sometime as we both had been touched by something so surreal. Then P said that he would love to come back again and sit in the temple for sometime. It was so quiet; so serene ; as if we had found an oasis for our wearied souls.


While checking out on the internet for some information about the Chinese community in Mumbai, I came across this lovely short film "The Last of the Chinamen" by 101India .We did not meet the gentleman Mr. Liao Hung Hsing; but would surely love to meet this last of the china men in Mumbai someday soon.
Do check this film out. It's an eye opener I can guarantee.