Day 1 - Enthu Cutlets on Indore Trail

 Day 1 - Indore ki galliyon main

Life had been a complete grind for most of us at home. Waking up everyday day to the same routine and sleeping off to the same pattern makes you realise that you need to break this regime, get out of the clutter and get into a new groove even if its for a short duration. 

With this purpose in mind, we decided to give the Jr. Cutlet and myself a brand new short holiday. Keeping in mind the challenges at home and her busy college and other schedules, we had to choose a destination that could be covered in 4 days yet be fun filled and enriching. We researched a lot of places within India until one fine day my friend Sonali mentioned about her wonderful short trip to Indore with her friends .

After a lot of research, reading and discussions with Sonali , Indore IT WAS. Initially it looked liked an off beat place that wasn’t so much a commercial tourist spot, yet we decided to go and swim against the tide. We reached Indore in the early morning and after a quick hotel check in , we had planned day 1, for local Indore sightseeing. The enthusiasm of the Jr. Cutlet was at the peak by now. Our car driver cum local guide Gorakhnathji looked like an enthu cutlet himself and he gave hands down info about every place. We did our Shree Ganesh with Khajrana Ganesh temple , that has been built in 1735 by Her Highness Devi Ahilyabai Holkar herself. She found the murti hidden near a well to be protected from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and went on to build a small temple that got developed into a huge premise and shrine in Indore.

Gorakhnathji recommended us to visit the Indore Zoo. I could see the child in Jr. Cutlet insisting on it and I reluctantly agreed. Watching caged wildlife is not my type however , yet again I couldn’t deny looking at her enthusiasm . Spread across 51 acres , this place is a sprawling one with approximately 60 species like White Tiger, Bengal tigers, Black buck. We saw few endangered species too. After a long walk of almost 3-4 kms we were getting hungry and tired too. A quick meal of Daal Bafle ( its a must) and we were ready to roll. We later visited the Lalbagh palace, the official residence of the Holkar Maharajas in the 18th and 19th century, Annapurna temple and finally the lovely Pitreahwar Parbat. 

With the feet crying in pain , we decided to retire for sometime at the hotel before hitting the yummy Sarafa night bazaar. Thronged with people , with aromas of different food items , vendors calling people to their stalls exercising their vocal chords and the yummiest dahi bade, chole tikki, butte ka kees, jalebi rabri is what Sarafa Night Market all about. 

Fatigued yet content is what we are today. And as I retire for a good night slumber, I will leave you with this thought . “ If you are looking for a breakthrough , try breaking your routine  .”

Shenta – Is Immortal to Us

Exactly a month back , was a fine Thursday morning that was full of energy and life in the kitchen and generally between all of us . It was one of those days of the Devi Navratri that we celebrate at home with all of the Puja rituals and special food as offerings to The Almighty. The Covid Lockdown and Unlocks had almost crippled the entire personal and professional lives of everyone including our family. This Navratri (usually gets celebrated at my co-sister’s place in Pune every year) was like a ray of sunshine in our lives.

Unfortunatley , that is how it was not meant to be. That afternoon , my mother in law whom we fondly called as Shenta Aai (my phonebook also saves her number as that ), left us because of a massive cardiac arrest. And it just took 10 minutes to turn our world topsyturvey. From that day on everytime I have decided to write about her , I can barely manage to go beyond few lines. And while I look back , 17 years since I got married into this family , having spent a lot of time with her , especially the last 8 years, this is not how she would want me to remember her. And having said that , I therefore wish to recall her Best Times , Best Qualities , basically Shenta at her best. ( we as a family address our parents with their first names. While I always called my Mom ‘Veena’ , Shenta was a word coined by my niece because she couldn’t pronounce her name ‘Snehalata’ correctly)

So what was Shenta to Us.

1. A born teacher : While a lot in my family have narrated stories about her life as a teacher , she remained a teacher till her last breath. When I got married , my mother was extremely worried about my cooking skills and had alerted Shenta about this. Without being fussy about it, she assured my mother that she would teach me everything and she did so, using all her patience . That also included giving me a pat on the back when I did great and a smack when I faltered. Her only message to me was that in an era when we can afford to have cooks, you still need to be indpenedent, know your stuff and be self reliant.
2. An ambitious lady : During my interactions with her, she always harboured ambitions for each one of us including herself. She kept a tab on our annual incentives and promotions at work and whenever we got accolades at work , she made it viral in her very own ways, so much so forth that sometimes we had to put a control on her marketing efforts. She was dissapointed when I had to quit my job and was happy at the same time when I decided to start learning again. She was extremely ambitious about Ananya too and infact taught her Hindi till the last breath. In her good old days , when she was part of a bhajan mandal at an instutution , I remember her memorising those bhajans at home again and again since she had a reherseal the next day.
3. Never say Never : In so many years since the time , she had to undergo multiple and painful hospitalisations , never ever did she lose hope or was pessimistic about any condition of hers. Everytime she came home discharged from the hospital , she’d want to get back to her routine or atleast try to get back on her feet. Even during the highs and lows in our life, she was like a glimmer of postivity around us. I still rememeber her saying “One should never lose faith in The Almighty and always keep hope. Crying doesn’t solve any problems. Tears are always a hindrance to your psoitivity.”
4. A True Leader : There are so many more qualities that could be listed , for instance, she always beleived in maintaining relationships , not just with immediate family , but also with her extended family and her well wishers. That’s exactly why we always had her relatives , well wishers, friends coming over to meet her , greet her and she always found occassions to call them over. Most of all , she always led her team from the front. And ensured all of us fell in line 

A month after a demise and we still continue to feel her presence in the house. We still remember the funny conversations she always had with her children and her grandchildren that make us laugh. The enthusiasm , the aura , the halo , the smacking , the patting will continue to be part of our lives no matter what.

For me , Shenta is officially now our Senior Enthu Cutlet………………

Unleash Those Dragons Within

As everyone celebrates and basks in the glory of the International Women's Day today, I will try and delve into an significant aspect of our life that keeps hovering into our very own sub-conscience all the time. I have experienced, I do experience these all the time and my only effort is to keep facing them and letting them know that I will always be prepared to fight whenever need be.

Every morning , as soon as you wake up , your mind runs you through a multiple array of tasks you ought to accomplish . Most of the times ,it also throws across those Dragons that I call The Known and the Possibilty of the Unknown Fears .Ofcourse their gravity and the frequency depends on the nature of the challenges that each one faces in their life. And while each one of us is absolutely aware of those fears within us , we choose to bury them deep inside or push them aside into one corner of our mind so as to avoid them. I did that and do that like each one of you all the time. And as and when the degree of challenges increased , the frequency of fears increased and with them increased ways and means to avoid them . There were various superstitions or relative facts that I thought would keep those fears at bay. However these antics only brought more fears and more superstitious beliefs back into my life. It looked as if they were multiplying instead of getting subtracted . The most dangerous Dragon being The Fear of the Unknown. The thought that there is a possibilty of  some challenge that will crop up somewhere in the near future that I will not be able to tackle was My Fear of the Unknown (in simple words). It was loaded with prejudices and engulfed with layers of emotions and negativity.

Gradually I realised that these dragons brought out the worst in me and I wasn't very pleased with that ME. Thus one day , and trust me it just dawns and strikes one day, I decided to face the Dragons. It is no rocket science and all you need to do is Stop being in Denial, Understand those Fears, Converse with them, Ride with them and finally Accept them . Once you follow these, they gradually begin to diminish from within. It is not a one time process and you need to revisit and do this again and again. Once you get your hands on it, there's no contentment as fulfilling as this.

International Women's Day today will serve a good cause for You to start unleashing those Dragons and bid them farewell. Because As Napolean Bonapart puts it " The only conquests that are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves."

Our Multifaceted Bro-Dada

"We need to meet Yogesh and Pallavi today evening . Try and wrap your work early.I will pick you." This was an early morning conversation Nimish and I had (ofcourse in Marathi) few days after we had decided to get married . While I had met almost everyone from his family, I was yet to meet his brother and his wife. While they were changing homes from Bangalore to Pune, they were supposed to be in Mumbai for sometime and therefore they decided to meet. All this while I had heard so many things about them from my to be -MIL and Nimish, that I was extremely keen to meet them. Most of the times in such cases , you tend to make a mental profile of people whom are curious to meet , especially when they will be your future in laws.

And many of such times, you go worng with such profiles . However I have to admit , I was bang on with my profiles that I had created for Yogesh and Pallavi. Infact they were much more warm than I actually thought. In such cases where one can easily try to be powerful or even rag , they made comfortable from the 1st minute that we met. And I as I got to know them gradually, I began to experience various facets or dimensions of Yogesh's personality. He was an aggressive corporate honcho who took his work damn seriously , he was a husband totally in love in with his wife as if they were just married , even after 7-8 years of marriage, he was a father who pampered his daughter silly but also ensured she obeyed everyone in the house, he was a doting son totally in control of what was happening in his parent's life inspite of living in a different city and he was less of a brother and more of friend to his siblings , whose chemistry I had never seen before. And here I was adding another relationship dimension to his personality. We hit off so well that in no time , I started tying him Rakhi and taking blessings on Bhau- Bheej. Our realtion graduated from him being my brother-in law to Brother and thus became my Bro- Dada.

One of the aspects of Yogesh's multifaceted personality that I love he is extremely honest about certain pinciples and values that he follows and he doesn't compromise on them in whatever circumstances. Also those who don't know him personally should know that he is a great orator, so much that he can actually inspire and also infleunce people to move in the right direction. He has a bag full of interesting and valuable real life stories and incidents to narrate which I am sure , he must be using in his coaching sessions.

Today when he crosses over his mid-century in life , he has a wide experience to share and has been an excellent role model to all of us. May this journey bring new successes , warm memories, loving experiences and a long healthy life.

Onwards and Upwards only Yogesh .

Happy Happy Happiest Birthday Dada

We - The Amritsari Delights Day 3 & Day 4

My Apologies for a supreme delay in posting the last 2 days of my travelogue ; however I'd like to mention that I was unwell in the 1st half of Day 3 and then the next 2 days went ahead in a jiffy . Before we realised we were in Amritsar; we have already reached Mumbai and here I'm pondering over what happened in the last two days; thus bringing more smiles to my face. So here it is.........

Since the girls had wound up late night chit chatting , they planned to get up late in the morning. As I had slept off early the previous night , I woke up early morning at my usual time. Uma was fast asleep so I decided to make minimal noise so as to not invite the wrath of Madam X. The best thing to do in such a case was to read a book . Therefore I did so for another hour or more until Uma woke up and with it started our distinct chatter. I wasn't keeping so well since morning as my headache had started to build up. I had already thrown up once in the morning . Nevertheless ; I ignored it and thought that I might feel better with some hot tea on a chilly morning. However the tea worsened my condition and I threw up once more feeling a lot more unwell and acidic. By then the girls were almost ready to leave. I decided to pass the breakfast and Durgiana Temple visit and take rest since  I wanted to visit the Attari Wagah Border in the second half at any cost. Thanks to Juilee who gave me the right medicines promptly and Uma who ordered me the perfect khichadi , I was feeling much better and raring to go. I even wrote Day 2 memoir till the time girls came back to pick me up. What are friends for; the food and the medicines is one element however what really matters is when they pull your leg and make the mood light instead of sympathysing , you forget what had happened to you in the first place.

The girls came to pick me up in the 2nd half as it was our time to visit the Attari Border. The border is approx 30 kms away from the main city. It is much chilly there than the city. Thanks to Uma , we had a VIP pass booked for us. Special gratitude to Supriya Khadilkar for all the arrangements she made for an effortless entry. To begin with ; I was extremely intimidated watching both the flags from a distance and slowly as we proceeded towards the stadium , we could see the road , the army and the audience at the other side of the border. I have met several Pakistanis and interacted with them in a foreign country , however to see a Pakistan border and Pakistanis from about 300 metres was little overwhelming. The Retreat Ceremony is a flags down ceremony during sunset for both the countries and there is a lot of entertainment as a build up to the ceremony. Some found it entertaining , some found it frivolous . I will abstain from giving any opinion on this platform so an to not put across any biases in people's mind.  As soon the ceremony got over , we proceeded to a miniature Punjab like set created few kms away from Attari called Sadda Punjab. It is the place where you need to keep atleast 4-5 hours to cover the entire 12 acres of campus. The entry ticket includes visiting all attractions, fun rides, games and a buffet meal. The small pockets where they give you a taste of Punjab like the Fulkari weaving, or the folk dances and especially the Punjabi delicacies are worth a visit. A mini meal of Sarson da Saag and Makke di Roti with goond and Makkhan will take you into trance. The rest of the time and place was quite fun filled especially with Uma try to speak to the locals in fake Punjabi accent and insisting for Gajar Halwa to a vendor who sold Chole Matthari Chaat. That was when the three of us slyly withdrew ourselves from there, disowning her. After full satisfying four -five hours and battling with thick fog on the highway (I remember chanting Hanuman Chalisa rapidly) we reached our hotel safely. Exhausted we called it a day.

Day 4 began very early with an agenda to witness the sunrise at The Golden Temple. Panting away, we reached there at sunrise , however the thick fog had covered the sunrays and we were unlucky this time. Nevertheless the atmosphere out there early morning with kirtans playing in the background and fog covering the premise was like a picture straight from a movie. I havent seen a devotional place or a temple as clean and disciplined as this. More so the Seva done by thousands of devotees in various departments is par excellence. After the temple visit, the biggest challenge we faced ,  was almost like a fear hovering around us , was about how to fit that shopping in our bags. After a futile attempt to fit all of it in the bag the previous night , we decided to buy an extra bag today. So we headed to the market to buy that extra bag that would go as our cabin baggage. And alas we managed to find those bags early morning. Now that we had an extra bag , we shopped for few more things. Women I tell. I was loving every bit of it; because I knew that with Nimish around, I wouldn't be able to buy even half of what I had shopped. With just about an hour to leave for the airport , we rushed to our hotel and repacked our bags. Phew .....That was quite a feat. Finally came the time to check out and bid aideu to the one of the most warm and hospitable cities I have come across.

These four days created memories for each one of that would last for a lifetime. However all of us were also looking forward to meet our near and dear ones back in Mumbai. The early morning tiffins for the lil ones, our own morning walks, work and family routime awaited us. That is when I realised that inorder to value Routine , such getaways are a must. Finally they are getaways and you need to come back to your core and be ground by routine to value those Getaways. Think about it.

Signing off for now and wish to see you soon.

We - The Amritsari Delights Day 2

Day 2

The chilly morning in Amritsar forced us to remain tucked in the bed for a considerable amount of time. That put our morning palns of stepping out early on a slow track. Nevertheless , once up we quickly got ready and decided to continue with our city trail. Today's plan was to visit some historic places situtated in Amritsar. One of them being Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal. However , there is a popular saying in Marathi "Pahile Potoba mag Vithoba" . So we obediently listenend to our tummy growls and decided to have an authentic Amritsari breakfast. There are very few options for breakfast here in Amristar if you want to have an authentic one. Atleast that was what we were told. On a chilly winter morning, it is best to have variety of stuffed Kulchas and Paranthas accompanied with chana and lots of curd. I have to be honest , we had one of best ones ever.

Once our tastebuds were satisfied , we decided to visit the Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal. We were told that the temple dates back to the period of Ramayan and the place is famous for Maharshi Valmiki.It is this place where her gave shelter to Sita , after she was abandoned and where her sons Luv Kush were born. Apparently this also the place where the great epic Ramayan was written by Maharshi Valmiki. It has a 8 foot tall , 800 kg gold plated idol of Valmiki. The place is in middle of a pond and gives a complete serenity to the surroundings.Also for this provided us a lot of scope for self photography. We clicked self pictures , group pictures in every angle, on every spot  . Sometimes i felt that finally the camera from our phones would pop out and and proclaim "Moms ab bas bhi karo. Main Thakk gaya hoon" . Yet we continued to click click click. Clicked to our heart's content , we decided to proceed to our next destination. Ooops and we realised that the place we had decided to visit next was closed for the next 2 hours. What next ; with superwomen in tow , we always have a Plan B. And what Plan B was it. We decided to visit Hall Bazaar , the most happening place for Shopping. On our agenda were 3 important things.

Fulkaari, Jootis and Spices. In the Fulkaari shop time flew like that of speed of a falcon. Oblivious to what was happening in the surroundings , we just kept selecting-deselecting duppattas , sarees , dress materials. Each other's opinions on a particular piece mattered here the most. Irrespective of whether you like it , if the friend's disapproved , it got de-selected. Like this we seleceted 75-100 pieces in total , shortlisted few, and again filtered few. So much patience , I observed the last time when I was taking Jr. Cutlet's lessons. Finally victorious , we stepped out of the Fulkaari shop to get into the Woolllens and then the Spices shop. After finishing the shopping ; once concern that kept bothering us was to how do we take so munch stuff back home. Nevertheless we said to each other, now that we have bought it, we will buy another bag to fit in the shopping stuff. Which means another shop for the bag. However we decided to postpone this for the next day. Because by our brunch had already settled in the tummies and Shilpa was on the verge of throwing a hunger tantrum. So we decided to have an early dinner at 6 in the evening.

Post dinner we proceeded to Gobindgarh fort for a laser show. We thought it would like any other typical laser show, however much to our surprise , the show was spectacular giving us history of Punjab, the fort and also briefly about the Indian Independence struggle. The creatives and the narration was brillinat and so were the folk dances post the show. We roamed about in the fort for sometime , sat by the bonfire chit chatting realising that it was very late and time to wind up. Although we missed going to a couple of place, it was a very fulfilling day. The mind and body we screaching and demanding for rest. While I hit the bed straight away; the girls decided to stay awake for some more chit chatting. God has made women really special. They might not find time for hundred other things; however they will always find time for a good round for chatting with their girlfriends. Kudos to the spirit.

Signing off for now for a better tomorrow

We - The Amritsari Delights

Day 1

I never imagined that a plan that was discused so casually over Uma's Birthday lunch would soon be getting executed at such moving pace. Over numerous yeses and noos of options and discussions on the options ; we zeroed on the flight and hotel bookings . I am defintely certain that men don't decide and discuss even half of what women do especially when comes to detailing whilst planning a certain group holiday. The Jr. Cutlet as usual was trying her best to accompany us by making sad and sympathetic faces thinking that finally my heart would melt and I would let her come with us.

Finally, as the day arrived , I promised to get a lot of goodies for Jr. Cutlet and with a heavy heart and a big sigh , she bid me goodbye. During the initial planning , we had decided to get a little adventurous and plan to go on getaway from Amritsar. I secretly wished to take a day off to Dharamshala and Mcleodganj since they were about 200 kms away from Amritsar. I even tried talking about this to girls , however my ambitious plan went unheard. However , if you plan to spend about 4-5 days in Amristsar, 2 days in Dharamshala should also be on your itenary. Also a visit to the historic Kartarpur Corridor is a must. Kartapur is about just 50kms away from Amritsar , however one needs to book a slot almost a month in advance by doing few minor formalities on the Indian Home Ministry page created especially for this purpose. We missed this opportunity due to lack of dates. We landed in Amristar at 4 pm since the flight got delayed . Fortunately our cab driver also gave us few additional places to visit that we hadn't heard of. Since it is a land of the Golden Temple , one is spoilt with choices when it comes to hotel. It is always preferred to choose a hotel that is centrally located . After a quick round of stopover for a Kulhad waali Tandoori Chai (thanks to driver Paaji) , we reached the hotel.

By the time we wrote- rewrote the entire itenary and freshened up , it was 8 pm. The only plan was to have a hearty Amritsari meal at Makkhan da Dhaba (its a must visit) and try and catch the Palkhi Sahib ceremony at 10 pm at the Golden temple when the Holy book Guru Granth Sahib is taken back to the roon for the night. We missed the ceremony, however The Golden Temple at night takes you into a different world that doesn't look like a reality. The atmosphere outisde the temple at 11.30 in the night is like that of a day. Full of people swarming the streets , shopping , eating or just chilling in the brrrrrring cold.

The cold by now had started entering our bones and brains , therefore we thought it would be only wise to get back to the hotel and call it a day. Lot was planned for the days ahead . Its 1.30 in the midnight as of now and I am now loosing my fingers, eyes and mind co-ordination while writing .

"Life is either a daring Adventure of Nothing at All" by Helen Keller. So set your foot in.

So signing off for a brighter tomorrow.