Review of Lunchbox starring Irrfan

This is my first movie review and a series of awesome movies from a few talented and courageous directors like Tigmanshu Dhulia, Anurag Kashyap and Ram Gopal Varma absolutely forced me to take up movie review writing.

Coming back to the movie in question Lunchbox, watched it a couple of days back in Lucknow. I could guess the plot from stuff on the movie that one can find on social media. But my guess work was not altogether correct second half of the movie has its surprises. The character of Saajan Fernandes has many layers and his innate goodness shines through in moments that would have had even the most virtuous fall. I think this was the high point of the movie for me at least. But this is most subtly portrayed in the movie and the credit for this goes to not only Irrfan but the screenplay writer too. The Lunchbox offers a release from the drab and uninteresting lives of the two main characters but the force of habit and limitations of a middle class life are too strong as shackles to break. Watch the movie to see how it turns out between the two main characters. Any words used to describe the talent of Irrfan are words wasted because it appears as if Irrfan was created by God only to act. He has successfully put life in otherwise dead movies by his very presence. In this he resembles Marlon Brando and Rajesh Khanna who could carry the weight of dead movies on their soldiers. What happens when such an actor is supported by good direction and a very engaging story – sheer magic happens.  Nimrat Kaur plays the part like a veteran of many movies though this is her first movie. Much credit must go to the makeup man who changes Irrfan’s makeup subtly with each new turn in the plot. Direction is near flawless though I personally never liked open endings. As a middle class and middle aged person myself I can relate very much to this masterpiece by Ritesh Batra. Bravo!

Hope inspired by such movies, Bollywood takes a new road lately travelled by Tigmanshu Dhulia, Anurag Kashyap and which was created perhaps by Ram Gopal Varma.

First Lucknow Tweetup in 2010

Around August 2009 I came onto twitter and after that there was no looking back! I have loved twitter in all this while and found it an awesome source of knowledge. What differentiates twitter from other social networking sites is that there is so little element of anonymity and in general people who are active on twitter are highly educated and discerning individuals, there may be exceptions but in general the active ones are the very serious ones.

I had been thinking of a tweetup in Lucknow which is actually a 'meetup' of people active on twitter. Now Lucknow, to be honest is really not one of those cites where social networking sites are used by a large part of the population no it is not that way at all. I was not able to convince many people to come to a tweetup and had almost given up but then came this guy Gaurav Srivastava a software engineer, he had kind of dug his heels in and so this first tweetup happened. He named this 'when Nawabs meet' so I instantly thought of the fitting venue for Nawabs and that could only be Falaknuma roof top restaurant in Hotel Clarks Awadh the best restaurant in all Uttar Pradesh at least to my thinking.

Finally we met on 30th Jan 2010 and the tweetup started at 1pm and was scheduled to last till 2 pm but actually finished at about 3:30 pm. It was a blast. Falaknuma made everyone happy and I do not think any other venue could quite have brought about the desired effect. It was attended by me twitter username anuragkumarlko; Gaurav Srivastava twitter id sangfroid; Surendra Gupta twitter id SurendraGLKO; Raza Hasnain Naqvi twitter id RazaLucknow and Ashish Chandra twitter id AshishChandra.It was also attended by Mr. Manish Chandra Pandey Principal Correspondent Hindustan Times Lucknow who very kindly agreed to join us along with his colleague Mr. Dheeraj Dhawan who photographed the tweetup.

We had some really awesome food which included two types of veg kebabs - Surendra Gupta just loved the Hariyali Kebabs; two types of veg biryani with raita and one special pulao. You must be wondering why I never talked about what we discussed well I did not because our talks would have powered a battle tank we talked so much and we talked such innovative ideas. I can never put all that down in words it was so fascinating, those people had awesome ideas.

Hope others will take up the baton from us and organise many more tweetups in Lucknow. We made history in a way and well we did our bit for Lucknow! That was my primary concern - Lucknow - as far as I can help it I will never allow Lucknow to lag behind.

Now enjoy the pics!

I am a former journalist, historian and author. My first novel Recalcitrance was published in 1857 based on events of 1857 in Lucknow. I wrote it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of The Great Uprising of 1857.
My second novel Remembrance- of fading dreams is a sequel to Recalcitrance and is based on a plot to overthrow British rule by 'veterens' of the failed Uprising of 1857.

Social media versus mainstream media and how the former salvaged my novel !!

Social media versus conventional media - well I can go on and on about it but I will leave the broader topic for the experts and only talk about my own experience.

I have been interested in history from ever since I can remember. In early nineties I dropped out of medical college and suddenly had a lot of time on my hands. I discovered to my surprise that after reading one book on 'Mutiny' of 1857 I suddenly got hooked on to the topic. I read almost forty books on the subject over the  next few years. I then read almost everything there was to read on the internet. Then I moved on to actual historical papers in archives the ones the professional researchers should be reading but often do not.

I had hoped to write a book on the subject but not being able to control myself I churned a number of articles as a start, forgetting about the book for sometime. It was a different time altogether for traditional media, being yet free from clutches of revenue driven bosses. The editor still decided the content of newspapers. But the winds of change were already knocking at the doors of traditional media. Gradually, and I think it was precisely when traditional media, the newspapers really, turned colourful shedding the black and white past which had lasted nearly a century and a half. Suddenly the media content was in the hands of an unknown force and not the editor. They no longer wanted articles on history and I stopped trying to push my stuff.

It was suddenly 2008 and it dawned on the lazy me that this was the 150th anniversary year of 1857! I wanted to make it memorable for myself and for everybody interested in the event. Surprisingly not everyone, even in UP, the very epicentre of The Great Uprising of 1857, was interested ! I had hoped that a lot of books would be released but there were few very few.

Three to four months before the 150th anniversary year was due to end I suddenly decided to have my own book released. I had a nearly half finished novel, a historical novel, based on the events of 1857 and decided to complete it. It was hard very hard and the anxiety of finding a publisher always troubled me. Somehow I completed the novel though I amazed myself with the energy that I suddenly discovered while writing Recalcitrance, as I would later call the novel. My brother who works for a multinational company and is more than busy was kind enough to edit it. He did a very good job but he neither had time nor is a professional editor but somehow we were ready with a printable book. Less than a month was left for the 150th anniversary to end. I made a very wise decision then. I approached the only known printer publisher of some repute in Lucknow and told him to print the book. I was always very short of funds being a man of many unnecessary expenditures and small income but I was panicky and spent almost all my savings.

This was not the hardest part as one might imagine, it was still to come.

At this point I am tempted to criticize UP my state and its academics but maybe I would be making very broad generalizations so I must restrain myself.

I am a very unsocial being, not proud of it, but that is a fact. Most of my life has been spent in libraries. I did not have the courage to go to every editor in Lucknow and talk about my novel which incidentally was the only novel to be released in 150th anniversary year of 1857. I imagined that the editors would be thrilled beyond words and would invite me for a chat. I cannot say that it did not happen. A couple of papers did publish my interview but that was it!

I can say with some confidence that not even a single copy of the book was sold due to exposure by the aforementioned newspapers. They somehow were not the papers the book buying people in Lucknow read. The book buying paper in Lucknow never responded to my repeated letters to the editor. Perhaps they did not find my book good enough, was what I thought back then but now I know for sure that the editor I wrote to had virtually no control on the content of the supplement I was hoping would carry my interview. That control was with revenue driven bosses.

Then I suddenly discovered the world of blogs! I wrote a detailed blog about my novel. Soon after I was introduced to twitter and then to facebook. It was almost as if I had crash landed into a new world. A lot of people started connecting with me when they came to know about my novel. It helped that there was only one novel in whole of India at that time connected with the 'Mutiny'.

Major book chains like, you know the big guys refused to stock my novel; only a few old book stores in Lucknow were kind enough to stock it. I was very fortunate that the biggest book store in UP - Universal Booksellers in Hazratganj were rather enthusiastic in selling my novel.

But almost all my sales even local ones had their origins on either twitter or facebook.

On twitter I met some wonderful people who very kindly reviewed my novel on their blogs. I knew for sure that none of the professional reviewers in India would touch my novel with a barge pole. Perhaps they have good reasons for doing that perhaps they would have reviewed it after all but I never knew how to approach them back then.

Recently I came across an article in which Guy Kawasaki describes his experiences regarding self publishing and without knowing him I was doing something very similar to what he did. He criticizes mainstream publishers, I want to criticize them too but I know it is not going to help. They will do things exactly as they have been doing it and maybe will eventually have to close shop as Guy Kawasaki predicts who knows?

Meanwhile the very same people who helped me sell my first novel Recalcitrance by their combined efforts have forced me to write its sequel Remembrance and I am spending major part of the nights these days surfing the internet for finding ways to inform its potential readers that what they were looking for has suddenly started to exist but it is a long and hard journey and I know only social media can help me connect...

My pilgrimage to Trymbakeshwar Bhimashankar Grishneshwar Padli Vaijnath/Vaidyanath and Aundha Nagnath jyotirlingas in Maharashtra

20^th October 2012- Reached charbagh railway station at 12 AM to board Kushinagar Express. Had made nearly 6 bookings over previous two months in Pushpak Express but did not get confirmed tickets. Had in fact made bookings in another train from Jhansi but since was travelling with family never liked that journey plan. Plan would have involved waiting at Jhansi railway station all night.

Got a rude surprise when found that train was late by 1 hour. Later it increased to 2 hours and then nearly 2.5 hours. Little kiddo was co-operative otherwise it would have been hell.

Train came in and we boarded with the help of a coolie. Interiors of the train were dismal and seats looked smaller than normal. We had booked in First AC initially, the booking that never got cleared and now this! Anyway the people did not appear problematic. I forgot to mention that a day before the journey I booked Tatkal tickets in this train.

The journey was long almost exactly 24 hours thankfully the train food was good and kiddo enjoyed the journey.

21^st October 2012 – Reached Nasik railway station at about 2:30 pm in the night! Most stations in Maharashtra howsoever small are neat and clean. I am told there is heavy penalty for spitting in stations.  The problem that we had on our hands was that no coolie was present on our platform. This is becoming such a problem these days. My dad a senior citizen is the worst affected- no coolies specially outside UP! I did spot a coolie after walking towards the footbridge but he was standing on the other side of the tracks. Thankfully when I hailed him he crossed over. I was on platform 3 and two coolies together charged rs. 120. I first tried retiring rooms on the station but as often happens to me after travelling through nearly the whole of India – there was no vacancy. The only time I have managed to enjoy a retiring room was in Hyderabad and it had better ambience then a hotel!!

The two coolies strongly suggested that we leave straight away for Trimbakeshwar instead of staying in Nasik. They even negotiated with the taxi guy on our behalf. Now that was good! Coolies are seldom this gentle! We left for Trimbakeshwar with a pliable meek taxi driver who however charged us Rs.700 which was not much, as we got to know later, since he was driving us in the dead of the night.

Good thing about driving in the dead of the night is that roads are clear!! That is a big one if you are living in a city as crowded as mine and want to have some rest from the perpetual traffic jams! We reached Trimbakeshwar in about 1.5 hours. I saw a couple of hotels there and finally settled for the Taxi guy’s choice – it was Hotel Sahyadri ! A nice medium size hotel almost new! A good though a bit expensive restaurant!

Taxi guy was most co-operative poor thing and we took quite a bit of his time!

The room was almost exactly as I had dreamed nice clean toilets, floors lined with my favourite shade of marble. Woodwork and nice simple bed and of course with a very beautiful balcony opening on to the road.

We had planned to take a bath and go for darshan right away but we were so dead tired that we fell asleep like people drugged and only woke up at around 9 AM.

22 Oct. 12 – We woke up and ate a little breakfast we had brought in from Lucknow with tea with had ordered from the hotel. Here a word of advice – on a long travel trip it is advisable to bring along things like Bhujia, Mathri, Dalmoth, Saakhen/Namakpara and other food stuffs that can last out a few days. It helps you save time!

After breakfast we left our camera and mobile phones behind and set out for the temple. Due to terror threat most temples do not allow mobile phones and cameras. If you take them along you might have to deposit them at a stall outside temple complex as in Kashi Vishwanath temple where they might be swapped or damaged so it is better to leave them behind.

The temple is very neat and clean and well managed! It is advisable not to take a big bunch of flowers in a basket in the temple because you are not allowed to offer them inside Trimbakeshwar temple. Temple is of a very dark gray colour and I do not remember having seen a temple of this colour ever before. Floor is all lined with similar stone. It did not take us much time to do Darshan. Out of the queue for Darshan we emerged into a rather high but very dark hall at one end of which was the Garbha Griha housing the Trimbakeshwar Shivlingam. We were not allowed to go inside the Garbha Griha which was very disappointing. I was really upset about this because generally I managed to touch the shivlingam and it induces euphoria in me and makes me feel very near Lord Shiva.  I managed to talk to one temple staff. He asked me to wait for one hour. So we sat there on the steps for nearly one hour waiting patiently. Finally he made me change into a dhoti/lungi. Then he took me inside the temple and instructed one guard to take me into Garbha Griha. Now this was a really great moment for me. I managed to touch all three parts of sunken shivlingam representing Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.  Then we left. We went back to Hotel Sahyadri and brought back the camera and took photographs of the temple from outside bought some pictures of the temple and went back to hotel.  We then took an auto rickshaw and went to the bus station. We took a bus back to Nasik.

Once in Nasik we took a private bus to Manchar for our onward journey to Bhimashankar. We reached Manchar in about 6 hours and checked into Paras Lodge and Hotel on highway just next to bus station. The room was the best so far in entire journey though staffs was a bit rude.

The next day we took a bus to Bhimashankar. The hotel guy suggested we leave our luggage behind but we did not take his advice and regretted it. Bus journey to Bhimashankar was very comfortable and rather short. The whole route is very picturesque specially near Bhimashankar. Darshan at Bhimashankar was very comfortable very few devotees were there. We touched the shivalingam and bowed our heads. In less than hour we were back in the bus back to Manchar. There is little if no facility for accommodation in Bhimashankar. A few dharmshalas were there but they were very shabby and absolutely no hotels. So we came back to Manchar. Once in Manchar we were advised to go to Ala Phatak and take a bus from there to Nagar, Nagar in this case stands for Ahmadnagar. We waited and waited but could not board a bus to Ala Phatak so we hired a taxi who charged us Rs. 500 for only 30 km.

Once at Ala Phatak we waited and waited for a bus to Nagar that is Ahmadnagar but none came for a long long time. Finally just as we were ready to give up one bus came. Unfortunately this was full of rowdy boys from college who shamelessly played music as loud as possible on their mobile phones and even presence of ladies did not deter them. These were all Marathi boys since they were speaking fluent Marathi. Ironically it is they who blocked the seats for us. They plagued us all the way till Ahmadnagar. I noticed this breed of teenager all over Maharashtra perhaps they are there all over India but it is very sad that this rowdy generation has come up powered by electronic media and internet.

In Ahmadnagar we stayed in Hotel Swastik near bus station. In fact the crossroads is called Swastik Chowk after the hotel. The hotel was very safe and comfortable only irritant was the they did not supply us mosquito repellent and we were too tired to ask them. In the morning daughter woke up with three mosquito bites on her cheeks which infuriated me.

23^rd October 2012 – At 9 we set off for Aurangabad. The bus was half full. It was a comfortable journey. We checked into Hotel ..... Once we reached. The auto driver took us to the hotel. Comfortable safe and nice hotel. We hired a taxi for taking us to Grishneshwar temple the last and the twelfth jyotirlinga. The driver was Muslim but his behaviour was exemplary. I have met very taxi drivers whose behaviour can be called exemplary. He never seemed to listen to what we were saying, never interfered and promptly answered all questions put to him. He always made a point to open the door for my wife which is something very uncommon for Maharashtra at least.

Ellora caves are on the way but the driver made sure that we knew the site was closed on Tuesdays. He told us so at the beginning of the journey in fact. We also came across tomb of Aurangzeb and Daulatabad Fort. The latter was a really impressive structure.

At Grishneshwara temple we seemed to have the whole temple to ourselves. We did puja and darshan to our heart’s content. It is worth mentioning that men have to go with naked torso inside the temple though whatever lower garments they are wearing is not a problem at all.

During return we inquired from the driver about Parli Vaidyanath and Aundha Nagnath temples and he gave us very accurate information.  Based on information given by him we chalked out our program and decided to go to Parli by bus.

We were dead tired by the time we returned to go to Daulatabad Fort and went straight to Central Bus Stand in Aurangabad to inquire about bus for Parli the next day. It was very intelligent of us to do that because the bus for Parli goes in fact from SUDCO bus station a bit outside the city where most five star hotels are located.  I had done another intelligent thing which was buying map of Maharashtra at Daulatabad fort though it cost us 100 bucks.

24^th October 2012 we started off from Hotel without any breakfast or tea at 6:30 am by an auto rickshaw and reached SUDCO bus station. We waited and waited and waited still there was no bus for Parli. The MSRTC inquiry staff was not in the least helpful though he could have helped us if he wanted. Then I remembered about a place called Ambajogai just before Parli so we boarded a bus for the aforementioned. The journey was relatively comfortable but I decided that this was going to be our last journey by MSRTC. I have fallen in love with UPSRTC ever since I used MSRTC buses. Our buses are much newer and AC bus facility in fact Volvo buses are available on many routes. Or it could be that the routes we took were to very remote areas that is why good buses did not ply.

We reached Ambajogai in about five and a half hours. Once there I went outside the bus stand and inquired about taxi which would take us to Parli, Aundha Nagnath and drop us as Parbhani. Parbhani was the place where we had decided to board the train to Mumbai CSTM. A couple of taxi guy quoted astronomical sums like 3K but finally found an Indica Taxi whose owner would settle for 1800 rupees. This guy was decent, efficient and a man of very few words. He drove like a mad man but I could feel that he knew exactly what he was doing. The roads on the whole aforementioned stretch are bad and it is advisable to use an SUV if possible.

Taxi guy had us standing in front of Padli Vaijnath in less than two hours. We had a darshan to our hearts content although if we would have been late by a few minutes the temple would have been in semi closed state with devotees not being allowed to touch the shivlingam covered in silver.

We took a mineral water bottle and a soft drink and rushed off to Aundha Nagnath temple my final destination. I was absolutely dead tired by now dozing off to sleep in the car something I have done very few times in life. The highway was very narrow lined by tall grass or crops all along. No streetlights and big craters at regular intervals. It took us about 2 more hours to reach Aundha Nagnath temple.

Now there is something very curious about this temple. The actual shivlingam is in the basement where you cannot stand but have to sit and one has to go through a rectangular opening only about 1.5 feet by three feet. In the basement Lord Shiva was all ready for the procession I think since it was Dusshera. Shivlingam was covered by a huge silver mask.

I came out and phoned up father saying finally I have paid my obeisance at 14 jyotirlingas and he said something very encouraging which almost made me weep due to overwhelming feeling of joy but I controlled myself and talked of mundane things.

The driver dropped us at Parbhani station and settled myself in Upper Class waiting area to answer some business emails just then I saw on platform one Devgiri express crawl in. I was under the impression that it would arrive at 10:15 hours. Somehow we gathered our luggage which was quite numerous and ran towards our bogie but thankfully were able to catch it. There is no restaurant at Parbhani it being a small station only a stall selling samosa, vada etc. But also Puri sabzi of a substandard quality. Outside the station there is one Udupi restaurant not the original one but it serves tolerable food both north and south Indian. I had the owner pack two dosas for me which were just about tolerable.

Bam Bhole !

My visit to Somnath, Nageshwarnath and Dwarkadheesh Temples

August 16 2012

Boarded jet konnect flight to Ahmedabad. Flight took off at about 10:50 AM

Landed at ahmedabad aiport at about 2:30 pm. Nice airport luggage was already on belt when I arrived at ARRIVALS.

Pre-paid taxi counter is available at Arrival lounge as also auto rickshaw.

I had to go to Paldi chau rasta from where all buses leave Ahmedabad. Pre-paid auto rickshaw counter wanted me to pay Rs.350 but I went on outside the airport and found an auto guy who agreed to take me to Paldi for Rs.200.

It was hot and I was a bit indecisive whether to check into a hotel or to leave for Somnath rightaway.

Reached Paldi around 3 o'clock and started inquiring about buses to Somanath. I was told that Patel Tours and Travels and Eagle Travels were the biggest operators but they did not have buses to Somnath starting in the afternoon. Then I went to Mahasagar Travels agent. He suggested I go to Junagadh by AC bus and from there Somnath would be much closer and I could take another bus to reach.

I paid the agent Rs.300 and he gave me a printed ticket to Junagadh for an AC bus.

I had some food already packed from Lucknow so I immediately boarded the bus. I paid the auto guy who was really helpful all the while and brought me a bottle of mineral water too. I also tipped him a little bit.

Bus started at 3:45 pm.

It was a video coach bus and he played popular Hindi movies.

Bus passed through Rajkot and other cities which I did not make not of.

It also stopped midway on a big dhaba kind of place though much cleaner than normal dhabas and much bigger in size, also more expensive. Place also had clean toilets.

Bus driver drove on and on except for stopping to take in more passengers who had booked their tickets online.

We reached Junagadh at about 10 pm.

We alighted from the bus and a mini bus was already waiting for us.

The bus was to take people to interior of Junagadh. Inside the bus I happened to spot a Bengali guy, a young boy. He told me to stay overnight at one of the hotels near bus stand less than half a km away and then start for Somnath the next day. I took his suggestion and started on foot. I was really tired and wanted to fall down on any bed I could get hold of. I reached the bus station and bang opposite it was a lodge named Shri Ram Lodge. It is bang opposite Junagadh Bus station however a very budget hotel.

I had my doubts whether they would be having AC rooms but it appeared that they did have one room with AC.

I checked out the room, there was something cosy about it and the AC worked! Mistake I made was not checking out the toilet which turned out to be a bit dirty. I was dead tired as I said before I paid him and advance of Rs.800 of which Rs. 100 was refundable.

I told him to wake me up at 6:30.

17 August 2012

Woke up next day due to the hotel guy's banging at my door. Immediately got ready had no breakfast just two cups of tea. Tea cup in Gujrat is about half the size in UP but cost is same. You can take the tea home when the tea vendor packs it in a polythene tube. In fact he pours it down the tube with a funnel. I found this very funny !!

Bus started soon, a non-AC bus but people said I would hardly notice due to being near the sea, they were correct and in any case there are no AC buses plying between Junagadh and Somnath.

Junagadh to Somnath is about 90 km.

The road is good and bus was comfortable.

I had been advised to stay at Veraval less than ten km from Somnath but I decicded to go directly to Somnath.

Bus dropped us at Prabhas (patan??) from there I took a shared auto to the temple.

It being last day of Gujrati Shrawan police stopped the auto about 1 km from temple near Lilavati Guest House belonging to Somnath Trust. If possible one should book room online in advance in this guest house it is cheaper. I however had done no such thing.

It was painful to drag along my stroller attache for a km specially when I had a laptop bag full of stuff.

I bought a new pair of slippers as I had not brought along any. The slipper guy told me about a hotel nearby .

I reached the said hotel but he had no rooms at least no AC rooms. I was a bit angry and frustrated then I found a young guy, the type who take people to hotels. He promised to take me to a Hotel with AC rooms near the temple. Having no option I followed him. He showed me two or three rooms which I did not find good. Finally he took me to Hotel Sharda who had a huge room vacant, the only AC room vacant at thattime. Catch was that it had yet not been vacated. I wanted to catch the 12 PM aarti and it was already 11:30 AM. He had me taken to another room where I quickly changed and had a bath and left my stuff in . Neither camera nor mobile phones are allowed inside temple.

I quickly readied myself and left for the temple.

The crowd was extremely well managed. There was a depot for depositing luggage and foot wear but I did not go there I just left my slippers outside the temple like many others had done. From then on it took only about 10 minutes to reach the temple. Just as I entered the temple the aarti started. If you miss this aarti, be sure that you have missed something divine. Like in Rameshwaram temple you have to do darshan from afar you cannot go near the Shiv Lingam. I wish it was otherwise. Also you are not allowed to stay for more than a few seconds before Shiv Lingam and will be showed out by somnath trust staff if you overstay. I went outside the the main temple but within hearing distance of big aarti drum. A shehnai is also played along with drums.

On my way out I bought parshad which is sold at a designated kiosk by temple staff.

I was very hungry by now so I immediately left for Sardar Restaurant in Lilavati Guest House campus. Food here is expensive but really delicious and the ambience is superb.

Here i met Nepali students who came from Nepalgunj on India-Nepal border. I talked on phone and by my accent the Nepali student who worked as manager of restaurant immediately understood that I was from Lucknow. He lamented that he knew nobody in Lucknow otherwise he would not have had to travel so very far from his home to work. I assured him that I would give work to anyone he would care to refer to me. I gave him my mobile number.

After this I went back to Hotel Sharda and swapped my room. The new room was huge really meant for four people. It was tolerably clean with TV and huge space for putting things in.

Tea was made inside the hotel itself this I found very convenient as I am hugely dependent on tea.

I tried to catch some sleep but after some effort I gave it up and strolled out.

The sea near Somnath temple is lovely and one can stand on the rocks piled up against the sea for hours on end. It is not a cluttered beach very few pilgrims at a given point of time. Beside this pile of rocks is the regular beach which is crowded with ppl sipping a drink or even venturing out into the sea waves. coconut water , cold drink, snacks and sea shell mementos are sold on this beach.

Afraid that it could rain I went back into the hotel and watched some news on TV .

I again visited the temple for the 7 am Aarti. It was again a very smooth darshan. No pushing and shoving and no rush.

This time I sat on one of the benches facing the sea inside temple complex and did mala jaap.

Temple closes at about 9:30 PM in sharp contrast to Jyotirlingas like Mahakaleshwar and Vishwanath which are open almost througout the day and night.

After this I went again to Sardar restaurant and had dinner.I also had fried rice and roti and sabzi packed. I always do this before starting on a journey and I really thanked myself for this later on.

The bus station is near the temple and the inquiry guy told me  that a bus to Dwarka, my next destination, would start at 6:30 AM in the morning. Of course a non-AC bus since AC buses did not ply between Somnath and Dwarka

Reached hotel and after watching TV and packing up my things I went to sleep.

 18^th August

Started from Hotel Sharda at 6o’clock reached Bus station just a few buildings away. Inquiry guy said at the bus station that bus will leave at 6:30 am. Bus did come and leave at allotted time but I was not on it reason being that I have not mastered the fine art of pushing and jostling and elbowing one’s way into a government buses.

 It was suggested to me that I go to Veraval and wait for another bus which would arrive at 7 am. I took an auto and went onto Veraval and waited. A bus did come for Dwarka but it was the same bus that I could not get into. 

There was a group of financially weak students there too facing the same plight. We inquired about private buses but none were available. Then a mini bus guy suggested we first take a mini bus to Porbandar and from there take another bus to Dwarka. This is what we did. 

I and those seven people got into a rickety mini bus which took us to Porbandar . It was a beautiful coastal road with strong breeze blowing. But we were cramped for space so a ride of nearly four hours was a torture.

 At Porbandar the bus guy dropped us near bus station . From there we took an auto and went to bus station. Just as we got there a bus for Dwarka came inside the bus station. 

We got onto this bus which had become  fully vacant due to most of the passengers alighting. When the bus started we heaved a sigh of relief. It was again near the coast and cool breeze blowed. 

We reached Dwarka at around 1:15 pm and were shocked to learn that the temple had closed and would open only at 5:30 pm. 

Temple of Dwarkadheesh closes at 12:30 pm.

I was deeply worried as I was very very far from Ahmedabad and had to catch the plane back to Lucknow in the afternoon the next day.  

We inquired about Nageshwar Nath and Bet Dwarka thinking of doing these in the meantime . We were told that buses charged only Rs.70 for the whole tour. 

We went in an auto to inquire about these buses but apparantely they were all full. At this point the group of seven told me to take a special auto and go on forward on my way and they would stay back and manage somehow.

 I got an auto for Rs.600 both ways . I got onto the auto and heaved a sigh of relief. It took me to Nageshwar Nath about 16 km from Dwarka. Nageshwar Nath ji mandir was in a dilapidated condition but Late Gulshan Kumar had it renovated and a gigantic statue of Lord Shiva was installed there by him.

 Here I again met the same guys who helped me in getting darshan quicker. 

As we drew nearer the temple I bought gangajal and Prasad from the vendors there. I was disappointed to see that one had to do darshan only from a distance as in Somnath but those guys I had travelled with pointed to me that some people were going near the shivalingam so I inquired from two Pandits sitting there and they said I had to pay Rs.210 to go near shivalingam I paid and started to go in but they said first I have to change into a dhoti, so I went and changed into a dhoti and poured some gangajal on myself as I had not taken a bath.

 I was allowed to touch the shivalingam covered in silver except for a small window from where i touched it. It was a very old shivalingam with stone highly corroded. No body checked me I also offered bel patra and gangajal . 

I was so overcome by emotion that I clutched at the feet of two staff members there. Even they felt embarrassed but at that point of time I did not know how to thank them. One of them perhaps the Mahant gave me a special picture of Nageshwarnath Ji. It was the only picture I could acquire and why you would know later.

I also bought two bags of prasad from prasad kiosk which i later distributed to people back in Lucknow.

From this point the auto took me to Bet Dwarka jetty . I passed through salt making factories. 

At the jetty I was really tired but had no option but to move on. There was a mad rush for getting onto the steamer which was a large boat acting as a ferry.Steamer people charged Rs.10 . the rickety vessel chugged its way towards bet dwarka jetty. There we alighted . I saw a restaurant in front of me and stopped for bread pakora and tea which were only items available there that interested me. 

I was really tired by now with my soles paining badly but somehow pushed on. At bet dwarka temple i deposited my camera and mobile and my luggage with the security guard. I quickly had darshan of Dwarkadheesh. 

Lord Krishna 's idol here is almost a copy of the one at Dwarkadheesh temple. 

After this I quickly moved back to jetty and boarded the same boat with the same unpleasant owner. When I got back I again met those students who did not want to go to Dwarka but wanted to push off. I said goodbye to them. It was nearly six . I got onto a bus for Dwarka. He charged me only rs. 20. I had bid adieu to the auto rickshaw guy as i found him too unpleasant.

In the bus I met a couple . The man told me that he would take me to the office from where I would be able to get a bus back to Ahmedabad in the night. He dropped me at an office but the guy there said there was no vacancy in any bus. Then I went to adjacent agent and he gave me the only seat available in a sleeper bus. Ticket cost was Rs. 360. It was 7:45 and the bus was to leave at 8:30. I quickly took an auto to Dwarka temple . There I met a young Panda clad in jeans. He took me past the long queue and made it possible for me to have Darshan of Lord Dwarkadheesh. I asked for a bit of Tulsi from temple guard and he gave me a whole mala. Outside the temple I gave the young Panda Rs.500 for making it possible for me to have Darshan of Lord Dwarkadheesh. 

 I quickly rushed back to Bhadrakali chauraha where the bus was to come. I got my ticket checked and bought some patties , cream roll and mineral water and sat or rather lay down inside the sleeper bus.

The bus reached Ahmedabad at about 7. One autowalla took me to three hotels, of these I liked Hotel Crystal. Very clean luxurious hotel with wi fi and everything neat and new . I ate food there took a bath repacked my luggage and left for airport. 

Room tarriff was nearly 2K but I negotiated with him and he agreed on 1200. I had a heavy meal there of dal roti and chappatis.

The auto guy who had dropped me earlier had sent his brother to take me to the airport.

Reached airport at around 12 and checked in immediately.

Took a flight and came back to Lucknow again

It will be 3 jyotirlingas again in winter.

Jai Baba Somnath n Nageshwarnath. Jai Dwarkadheesh !

Top quality vegetarian food in Lucknow : well mostly !!

There are two evils in Lucknow - sloth and food ! Yes I know they are evil but Lucknowites love both! Once you become infected by these two evils your career is finished. I have seen people who were posted in Lucknow stick to their jobs for years, not taking promotions just digging their heels in so that they do not have to leave Lucknow.

I never would have realized this had I not been entrusted with the responsibility of expanding my father's business in the south, extreme south India that is. Once in cities like Chennai I felt like a fish out of water due to non-availability of good north Indian food. North Indian food was there but it was not good. I guess no one is to be blamed for it but it made me look around and realize how heavily food makes up for what we call  Lucknowi culture.

This is my first blog post on food and I welcome your suggestions and comments.

Shahi Paneer

This is one of the most painstakingly prepared dishes and so requires great expertise. When I was a kid almost every restaurant in Lucknow served decent quality shahi paneer but this has changed in recent times. The quality has gone down dramatically and only recently have I discovered that Ritz (Mahanagar) has again started preparing the old and famous top quality Shahi Paneer that can only be prepared in Lucknow.

Dal Makhani

In Lucknow Dal Makhani is on the menu cards under different pseudonyms like Dal Bukhara and Dal Maharaja but basic ingrediants and method of preparation is same everywhere. This again is  a dish that is painstakingly made due to a variety of ingredients used and spices required. The recipe is still a secret and it is almost impossible to prepare the kind of Dal Makhani at home which is served in reputed restaurants in Lucknow. The best quality Dal Makhani is available in Hotel Gemini Continental, Royal Sky and Hotel Sagar Ratna; Falaknuma roof top restaurant in Hotel Clarks Avadh sadly has lost its mojo where aforementioned dish is concerned. 

Chole Bhature

One can say why mention Chole Bhature under the head Lucknowi food but the old Chole Bhature recipe of Lucknow is decidedly different from the Punjabi Chole Bhature. Lucknowi Chole Bhature are not actually made from chole but from a smaller version of chole known only to old timer khansamas it is called 'mobia'. This small gram is also not available easily in the market and professionals stock it up in large quantity. I feel sad though to announce that the best chole bhature in not only Lucknow but perhaps in UP are no longer been made. There used to be a shop in a lane now known as Naaja or Naaza market in Hazratganj which used to serve those. They were a large family but they had disputes and only recently they wrapped up the eatery business supplanting it with computer hardware business. They used to make a limited amount at great pains and it used to finish up by evening. They had no name for the shop so it has disappeared without a trace and become history. Now only in certain pockets in old Lucknow will you get those heavenly chola dishes. I am yet to discover one of them because I depended heavily on that Naaja market shop. So still looking for the perfect Chola-Bhatura maker in Lucknow. If you have run into someone who fits the bill let me know by using comments section below please.

Chaat

No it is not chat as in chatrooms it is chaat which means in Hindi 'to lick' or literally 'lick it!' . Chaat is of course not a single dish but rather a syndrome of dishes I used the world syndrome because a lady who suffers from this syndrome can make your life hell specially if she happens to be your wife or mother. So chaat consists of paani puri, aloo tikki, matar tikki, sonth tikki, baigni, matar suhaal and chatni batasha some people add dahi bada to that long list. In my opinion original Lucknowi chaat is dead merely because no one wants to invest the mandatory long time in preparing chaat that is absolutely necessary for a quality product. To a very small extent Dixit Chaat in Chowk still keeps alive the taste but only just. Dixit chaat shop in one of the few to use Desi ghee in preparing chaat. Other big players in chaat market are King of chaat opposite DM's residence in Hazratganj and Royal Cafe Hazratganj. In my opinion Royal Cafe people who are the Don Corleone of food business in Lucknow make a chaat which cannot be called Lucknowi at all. It is an entirely different preparation. 

I never could train my palate to savour the strong and chilly taste of chaat so I am not so very enthusiastic in writing about this syndrome that has in its grip many ladies of Lucknow.

Veg kebabs

About ten years back veg kebabs were available only in parties of the very rich and nowhere else . Looks like some cook suddenly had a brainwave and started a veg kebab kiosk since then veg kebabs have become a huge hit in Lucknow with consumption far outstripping the supply. I am vegetarian but I have been told that there is not really much difference in taste in a good veg kebab and a non-veg kebab the secret being the spices used - which are the same. Veg kebab though is still evolving. No reputed restaurant right now has a good kebab cook on its payrolls so it is the roadside vendors who are supplying this new dish. There is one kebab corner in Chowk opposite Chowk post office, this eatery seems to me to be biggest eatery dedicated to serving veg kebab and veg biryani. On the quality parameter though I would give it two and a half out of five. Beware kebabs are very spicy and would not be kind on your palate or your stomach but the taste is divine if prepared by an expert. Falaknuma the roof top restaurant mentioned before serves a dish named 'Hariyali kebabs' they are definitely worth a try. I am sure in a few years good dedicated eateries serving veg kebabs would come up in Lucknow. Kebab is eaten either with rumali roti, a thin but large roti without ghee or butter; or parantha which is full of refined oil or ghee and made from polished rice flour.

Jalebi

Advertisements have been resorted to in a big way by moneyed restaurateurs and halwais in recent times in Lucknow. People not having the inside knowledge of the eateries map in Lucknow are fooled by these. I do not want to quote any names here but finding good food is not easy as reading and address in a hoarding and going to the same. Jalebi preparation is again a very painstaking process in that several processes are involved in it and a shade extra at any stage can spoil the whole effect. In my four decades of gluttony I have not tasted jalebi which comes even close to Babulal a famous halwai in old Lucknow. There is a whole crossroads named after him in Aishbagh. They are more than a hundred years old Halwai family. His jalebi has just that exact amount of sourness and sweetness which is the very soul of jalebi preparation. Then there is the texture of the fried flour how it releases the sugary and sour substances in your mouth that is what makes the jalebi either a success or a failure. He prepares a limited amount of jalebi and the last few grams are sold by 10:30 AM everyday. Like I said in the beginning no one comes even close. However if you want to savour the taste of second best jalebi you can go to Radhey Lal Sweet shop just outsidee Gol Darwaza market in Chowk in old Lucknow but he wraps it up by  10 am sharp.

Imarti

At first glance imarti looks like the Siamese twin of jalebi but in fact it is more different than similar to jalebi. One big problem with Imarti is that it cannot be eaten even an hour after it is prepared the quality deteriorates dramatically as soon as imarti becomes cold. Old Lucknowi imarti is again dead and there are poor clones. The one imarti that comes close to old Lucknowi taste is available at Net Ram halwai on Shree Ram Road in Aminabad. Imartis are made only in the evening though in most shops in Lucknow. Another tolerable variety of Imarti is prepared by Radhey Lal adjacent Gol Darwaza in Chowk in old Lucknow.

Rasogolla/Rasgulla

You would again protest that it is a Bengali sweet but Rasogolla is Rasgulla in Lucknow and to the best of my knowledge two very old Bengali Sweet shops used to prepare the best of these one was (closed down recently) Bengal Sweets on Lathouche road and the other is Calcutta Sweets Charbagh. The former shop was the better of the two though with the rasgullas and sondesh having the characteristic bongo-lucknowi taste. Calcutta Sweets has taken a rebirth and is now hidden inside the lanes of Naka Hindola near Chargbagh railway station. They sold their huge property or maybe they were just tenants in a very old hotel which do the best of my memory was also called Calcutta Hotel just outside Charbagh railway station.

Puri / Kachori(ghee/refined oil)

Well in Lucknow there are two types of Puri/Kachori one made in desi ghee and other made in refined oil or Dalda ghee and believe me it is a totally different ball game. Again it is an altogether different ball game making the sabzi and the puri/kachori. Many halwais in old Lucknow are involved in making puris/kachoris because believe it or not many Lucknowites in old city breakfast at the halwai's place almost every day using these puris/kachoris. Technically speaking halwais do not make puris and almost all puris they make are actually kachoris as all puris are filled with varying amounts of filling. Normally urad dal is filled in puris, those which have a liberal filling are classified as kachoris and those with small filling are called Puris. Top class puri is available almost exclusively in old Lucknow and new Lucknow puris are overhyped. The great taste of puris in old Lucknow has evolved over nearly a hundred years. The best puri in my opinion is made by one halwai known as Ramchander . Ramchander was perhaps the grandfather of the halwai who presently makes those awesome puris with the help of his two sons. The puris are served hot and 11 AM is cut off time . This halwai is based in bartan bazar in Yahiyaganj area of old Lucknow. The high and mighty are his customers as the market is the very hub of business in Lucknow and most traders belong to families who have been doing ancestral business of selling utensils. Babulal halwai mentioned earlier has his shop at a stone's throw from this halwai's shop.

Puri / Kachori(desi ghee)

Like I said earlier this is an entirely different ball game. Best kachoris are made by a very friendly and savvy businessman in Aminabad area the famous Netram guy. He charges a fortune for his kachoris but it is a very neat and clean place and he has lots of other interesting things for you like the imartis I mentioned earlier. His kachoris are available throughout the day till almost 9 PM. I love his insatiable desire for customers and his cleanliness considering it is just a halwai shop and you know how halwais are in India.

Khasta

This is one of the most complex north Indian dishes to make. No novice should attempt this dish. Even seasoned halwais and housewives are not able to produce a good specimen. There are two types of khasta again one made with desi ghee and the other made with refined or dalda ghee. I am sad to announce that no one in Lucknow seems to be able to make an excellent desi ghee khasta that art is lost! Last time I ate a good desi ghee khasta was years and years ago in Allahabad!

The best dalda/refined oil khasta is made, nay invented, by a halwai well known as Ratti based at Hewett Road. At his shop there is always scope for a stampede so popular is his stuff. Unlike other place he serves them mainly with matar but also gives two types of aloo sabzi one chilly and other only spicy. Quality has gone down dramatically as the third generation is concentrating on every thing other then quality of his khastas. I won’t recommend this shop anymore.

The best desi ghee Khasta is available unfortunately where not even a two wheeler can go and one must walk to reach the legendry shop of Ram Asrey in Ban Wali Gali in Chowk. The quality fluctuates a bit but it is more or less like khastas tasted almost eighty years back in Lucknow. I may add here that the shop invented malai paan or malai gilauri and is still the best producer of the aforementioned delicacy.

Newest entrant to Khasta scene made of refined oil/dalda as they call it is Durga Khasta on GB Marg. There are many duplicate shops so the exact location of this shop must be known which is in second lane near Gautam Budh mandir on Gautam Budh Marg in Lathouche Road. He serves these piping hot and preferably they should be consumed outside on the road near his shop rather than taken home. These khastas are very crisp bordering on hard so keep in mind your dental health