Indian Breakfast

Street Barber

Anybody Hungry?

Usually these are made in wheat flour in whole of India and hence are brown.. and these have been too. But
we bengalis prefer to make these with White Flour which is white and tastier for us Bengalis!!

Lord Balaji Tirumala

The Lord Balaji Temple Dome from far using my Telephoto lens. It is fully covered with real Gold Folks!
Lord Balaji is Krishna of North India. Same God you find in ISKCON people worshipping all over the world.

This is the richest God in India with a total collection in donation of more than Rs 1 crore per day.

One cannot take camera inside so you have to do with this from me. Do not think the temple is small. It is only the main dome from afar. The temple is a huge building and the temple city TIRUMALA is India's Answer to the Vatican City, except that the latter is treated as a country and this is just a place in a city called Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh in a country called India.

The size of the Prasad or Offering to God tells it all !!
"Prasad" means  any food offered to God in worship. God is supposed to eat it and bless it. So you eat it later with reverence. Here it is the Famous TIRUPATHI (Tirupati) Laddu (sweet called "Laddu")

Ok. Here are some photos of the Temple City or Town - very much self sufficient with its own adminstration etc.

This was round. I had eaten a part before I remembered to take the Photo. This is not sweet but good! This is also got from the Temple.

Look at those solar panels. This town run by Tirumala Deva Trust (TTD or something like that) and feeds more than a lakh devotees free every day when there is peak rush. They also hve houses to house the devotees who can book their stay in advance. Max one day they can stay.

You have got to see the Laddu Counters to believe it. I went to the temple in the night paying VIP entrance fee of Rs 500/- (that itself is another story. as I said even in VIP category you are different types of VIP. - Basically here VIP means you are not free devotee and so you can avail one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening on Monday to Friday only when it is called VIP break- no free entrance allowed. Hence you get less rush. But do not fool yourself. I was lucky because this was exam time!

You even have a SUPERINTENDENT LADDU! IMAGINE the HR of this Organisation!! Maybe the so called HR professionals can take a leaf out this and learn something.

Here the Ratha or Chariot is taken and people can sit around and see.

This is the backside or behind.. or whatever...

They are offering Coconuts here. Hundi means? Well whatever you understand..

Foods of Juhu Chowpatty Mumbai India

Pao Bhaji Stall... Pao means quarter Loaf of Bread (Pao = Quarter. In Mumbai Hindi Pao means the bread you see at the back.. just below the red tomatoes... tthe small round curves are actually one piece of pao each.. all currently joined but before cooking is torn off and heated in butter.. the vegetable is cooked and eaten with the pao.

This is the Bhaji or the Vegetable cooked and eaten with Pao.

Pani Puri (Name used in Mumbai) or Phoochka (Name used in Kolkata) or Gol Gappa (used in North India). It is nothing but a small round "Puri" (Round Bread made from Wheat Flour by kneading with water and a little oil and then deep frying in oil just enough to make them swell). This Puri is stuffed with boiled potato (mixed with some spices as per taste) and then filled with Tamarind Water to eat in a gulp!
Of course the sweat of the server will make it tastier!!  ;-)

Bhel Puri. this is a Mumbai Special. But here you do not get just Puri. In fact here is a mixture of many things.. hey!! better eat it.. it is very difficult to explain the cooking in English when the items are NOT at all English, I say!!.. Just know these are all for the Tongue !! !!

Juices anybody? Or Syrup Water????

Now here is a decoration for you below!!

The fruits above are sour and tasty.. I forget the name!
The ones below are of course Raw Cut Mangoes with Red Chilli.

Other Juhu Posts are here and here and slide show here

Juhu Beach Mumbai India-2

Juhu Beach Mumbai is a place for the middle class family.. pure, simple enjoyment!! Free or cheap!!!!
A place for family Bonding!

Other Juhu Posts are here . For foods in Juhu Beach see here to be posted 19th
Slideshow here....to be posted on 20th

Juhu Beach Mumbai India-1

People, People Everywhere not a land to stand!
1 Billion Plus!! Can you Imagine?
Crazy People! Will just go on Reproducing!!
Oh God! So many of us in India!! No wonder we want to run away to States or Europe! (and of course increase their population!!! Sanjay Gandhi was doing right.... Sterilising people by force.. I forget the medical term for that! But then he died in a plane accident and of course lose votes for Congress those years by his act.

But like everything has a plus side... this huge population is what helped India NOT see Recession in 2009! Why? Because of the number of people buying never stopped!! That is why!
And this is what is now becoming our strength! Why? Because all West is coming here to sell their products-- because it is here where the buying is happening!!
Ohh Economics!! Let me come back to my theme here.. and that is Juhu Beach - one of the most happenning place for Middle Class Mumbai..- the City which (almost) never sleeps (the suburban train stops only for two hours from 2 am to 4 am) and on this beach of Chowpatty (meeting corner) as Juhu Beach Chowpatty is known life goes on till 2 am late in the night..!

The pictures were just taken in evening before nightfall and you can see the crowd!! From young to old!! Eating, sitting, playing, watching, whatever!!! And this same place in the night you have other activities too... in some corners... if you know what I mean...

Other Posts are here and here is where you can see the food stalls. Some other shots here.

Foods of India- Kerala

This one is Puttoo- a coconut grated and rice powder mixture steamed into a compressed form. Very tasty!! Eaten with Banana and honey or like this with Gram Curry.

This one is Rice Flakes and Coconut Grated eaten with banana. This is Indian Reply to Cornflakes!!

Food for the Gourmet

My Dinner some days!! 9I was 88 kg on 13th July'09 with a height of 5 ft 7 inches [i like to say 7.5 inches!!] so I got a target to reduce 26 kgs! I added 12 kgs in one year at Chennai with the Dosas and Idlis. and so now I am shrinking myself back to my Golden Old days.
Target= - 5kgs Per Month
Achvt 13th July- 13th Aug= - 2.5 kg [50%] Not bad for a compulsive Haldiram Snacks Eater!!
This is what I am eating. Just One half cup (I think 30 gms) of oats with three tsp of milk powder and water in morning; one apple (yeah 35/- per apple wowoeee!! How Costly!) and one 200 ml soya milk for lunch and boiled green vegetables and maybe yellow boiled dal some days-total 100- 250 gms max for dinner. Limit 1400 kcal per day. If I am hungry? Ohh I eat Britannia Digestive Biscuits- fibre.. or Britannia 5-Grain Biscuits.. or these sprouted food that is all.
And oh yeah.. I do try to walk briskly for 3 kms every morning.. (most days I jog for 1 km out of this 3) whenever I can wake up. I stll need some more zeal to do this walking every day!! Ooff!! tough for a guy who sleeps late for so many years to sleep early to wake up to walk!! Toughie!!.


Pending Posts for the information of interested readers of what is in store:-
1. Javadhi Hills, Sathanur Fossil Tree 120,000,000 years old.
2. Sadras Fort, off ECR, Chennai
3. Alamparai Fort, ECR Chennai
4. Some more Jaipur Pictures (earlier too there is a post here) taken on a recent visit.
5. Mumbai, Juhu Chowpatty Beach
6. & Of course the latest- Kerala, God's Own Country- Ernakulam (Cochin or Kochi); Alleppey or Alapuzzha, Kovalam.
anddddd of course single photos for my Thoughts Series..
I am in Madurai this week ..hope to get some more pictures..