Langar at the Golden Temple

Sometimes you can smell a restaurant before you get there. With the langar hall you hear it first. Imagine the din of thousands of metal trays clanking and banging. You take your metal bowl as it's handed to you then your metal tray then you can fish a spoon out of a giant tub as you're moved down the hall and, in our case, up the stairs to the massive dining hall. You don't dawdle here, they've got the system down pat and if you slow down to look around you're likely to get plowed down.

On the floor are long jute runners which indicate the designated seating area. You move in and sit down on the floor with your tray on the floor in front of you. You have to be quick because the guys who are racing around with huge metal buckets of food are hustling and they clearly haven't trained in Lausanne to become waiters. If anything they may have practiced at San Quentin because you're left with a feeling that this might be what it's like in prison.

Ladleful of watery rice pudding ... slop, ladleful of dal ... slop, scoop of veggies (that day it was some kind of pumpkin) ... plop, roti ... catch it. Despite the brusque serving style, the volunteers (every bit of work in the temple is done by volunteers) are smiling and the atmosphere is congenial.

Once you get over the shock and dig into the actual food you'll find it actually quite wholesome and good. It's free, it's all-you-can-eat and the buckets keep passing by offering seconds or thirds.

Despite us gringos clearly holding the starring role as "dinnertime entertainment" there's no lingering over the meal here and it's pretty clear that there won't be any after-dinner coffee coming when they start splashing buckets of water on the floor in front of you to clean up for the next "service". It's time to move on.

On the way out you deposit your bowls and spoons in big tubs and give your trays to guys who's job it is to whack them as loudly as they can on the side of a huge waste container to knock off any residue and pass them over to the crew who number in the hundreds and must suffer permanent hearing loss after volunteering for washing up duty. The clanging noise is incredible!

Everything is on a massive scale here from the dal cooked in kettles that would easily double as jacuzzis in a suite in Aspen, the assembly-line production of rotis to the mountains of vegetables that groups of pious peelers are laboring away at on the floor.

Unfortunately we took no pictures to share with you...but thanks to the miracle of Google images I found some online!

Amritsar - A Trip Back In Time

After our early morning visit to the Golden Temple and about the worst breakfast I have ever had we decided to explore the back lanes of Amritsar.

Off we went, not really knowing where we were going, brushing off offers of a chauffer-pedalled rickshaw tour - we preferred to walk in the 105 degree heat! So walk we did through the crowded streets filled with shops selling every imaginable object with the face of Guru Nanak on it, swords, steel bracelets, special Sikh underwear, turbans, wool-trimmed fly swishers, leather slippers and, of course, the ubiquitous "pashmina" shawls.

Somehow we ended up way off the beaten track and found ourselves transported back to the middle ages down a quiet, narrow lane lined with blacksmith shops where the smiths were bent over their fires hammering out hoes, trowels, plows; printshops with the guys setting the actual pieces of metal type with tweezers; and small mills grinding flour between stones. 

These were the most interesting things I saw that day, even more meaningful to me than the riches of the golden temple. It was a simple glimpse into the lives of real people and it felt like a trip back in time.

Amritsar - Golden Temple

With our bellies full we settled back for the long drive to Amritsar. Unfortunately the Grand Trunk Road is undergoing a major overhaul with flyovers being built at each village and town it crosses.
That means that every 2 kilometres on average (just about the time you hit a decent cruising speed) you're diverted onto a bumpy, dirt road to bypass the work. Between the 800 bypasses and the 15 mile narrow, 2-lane stretch where you play chicken with oncoming 10-ton trucks the 280 mile trip took well over 8 hours.

The biggest highlight on the road was passing through Kurukshetra, the scene of the epic battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas and the spot where Krishna and Arjuna had the heart-to-heart immortalized in the Bhagavad Gita.

There is pretty much only one reason to go to Amritsar - to see the Golden Temple - the equivalent of the Vatican for the Sikhs. Outside the temple walls the city is filthy and crowded, like any other north Indian town.

The Golden Temple itself is spectacular. I was expecting a very serene, peaceful place from other people's descriptions but found it crowded and busy with people staring and pushing just like in Chandni Chowk.

We got up very early to avoid the massive lines to get in to the actual Golden Temple and see the holy book. It still took us almost an hour to make our way through the line (the people shoving their way past us in line didn't help either).

I found the chanting beautiful and hypnotic but once inside I have to admit I was a bit put off by the guy right in front of the holy book scraping up money and stuffing it into a box with a sword as fast as he could. I don't know why I expected this holy place to be different from any other...

Grand Trunk Road - Gulshan Ka Dhaba

A trip to Amritsar with visitors gave me the chance to try out some dhabas along the Grand Trunk Road.

Punjabis love to eat and the more desi ghee the better! They load it onto everything from paranthas to their dal. Makes me wonder what the average cholesterol reading is in the region.

Our first stop was Gulshan ka Dhaba in Murthal about 60 miles north of Delhi. We were early for lunch so the place was pretty much empty when we got there. The long, family-style tables in the open restaurant each hold a bucket of mixed pickle. We placed our order for some stuffed paranthas and dal - the classic dhaba meal.

The paranthas here are baked in a tandoor (unlike the fried paranthas in the Paranthe Wali Gali in Old Delhi). Don't let that fool you into thinking they're any lighter though. They're served with a big spoonful of snow-white desi ghee on top. The ghee comes from water buffalo milk which is why it's white instead of yellow like the butter we're used to. While we were waiting for our food we wandered back into the open kitchen to see how the paranthas are made.

We preferred the potato/onion parantha to the cauliflower (which we had to get because they didn't have any murli or radish) and the paneer options. The dal makhani was creamy and good. Not the best I've had but not the worst...

Served with homemade yogurt on the side to cool things off (notice the copious amounts of green chiles in the paranthas), mixed pickle and a masala lassi to wash everything down we walked out of there ready for the rest of our trip on the Grand Trunk Road. Little did we know that the decent highway was about to end about 10 miles further down the road...

Chandni Chowk in Photos

Some more photos from our walk through Chandni Chowk in April.

Betel leaves for paan

Costco-sized jars of pickle

busily stringing flowers on garlands

Fresh corn and  chickpeas, I got myself some
fresh chickpeas they're delicious!

namkeen - fried, crispy snacks in all shapes and sizes!

We didn't eat here...

These bizarre looking things are basically soy protein
wrapped around a stick. Tofu popsicles
Didn't try these either...

They take their kite flying very seriously
in these parts!

washing up, street style

Eating in Chandni Chowk part 2

After the stuffed naan we made our way back towards the Fatehpuri mosque to get the best lassi I have ever had. I've been to the Amritsari lassiwallah before so I knew exactly which one I wanted ... mango. Thick, creamy, tangy sweetness with a layer of malai on top. Creamy goodness in a glass!



papri chaat, not the most appetizing
dish in the world

From there we took a long stroll on a dusty street lined with vendors of every kind of metal household kitchen utensil imaginable and some kitewallahs. We eventually ended up in front of Ashok Chaat Bhandar. We lined up for "Delhi's Best" golgappas, papri chaat and dahi bhalla. I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Delhi-style chaat, it's very goopy. I've had it many times now and it just doesn't do it for me. The golgappas were OK but I've since had the most amazing pani puris in Bombay and will leave my discussion of them for a later post.

Watch out for splinters!

Just like a sorbet or granite is served between courses, our next stop was for ice cream where we finally found a place to sit down in the kulfiwallah's shop. Mango was the group favorite and the masala sprinkled on top was something tasty I've never tried before. The pomegranate sorbet-style kulfi was my favorite and was really refreshing after 3 hours walking in 100 degree heat in the dusty lanes of Chandni Chowk. Check out the spoons - slats of wood!

By this time we were too bloated to waddle to the next stop so we loaded our lazy selves onto bicycle rickshaws and paid the poor guy about a dollar to pedal us there. En route we had a flower fight, throwing marigolds at each other and showering people on the streets with petals as we passed by. You won't get that on anyone else's tour!!

3 people plus the driver per bike
what a load!

We unloaded ourselves in Kinari Bazaar which is the shiny-ribbon and gaudy-trim market. One of the most famous food places of Delhi is near here - the Paranthe Wali Gali. Although not one of us was the least bit hungry by this point, there is no way you can say you've done a food walk in Chandni Chowk without stopping here so we did what any self-respecting food lover would do - try 5 different kinds of stuffed and fried paranthas! Karela parantha was my favorite and I was most surprised by the papad parantha.

Just at down the lane from the Paranthe Wali Gali is Delhi's Old and Famous Jalebiwala and that is where we called it a night. We tried some of these sweet sweet treats but since I don't think these are the best in town I'll save my jalebi post for later too!





Eating My Way Through Chandni Chowk part 1

What better way to get back into the swing of life in Delhi than to wander around Chandni Chowk trying some of the goodies on offer in those crowded, narrow, dirty lanes?

And definitely the best and most fun way is to go with Himanshu Verma of the Red Earth Project. www.redearthindia.com

This wasn't your typical tour through Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk - we walked, ate, talked, ate, had a flower fight on bicycle rickshaws, then ate some more!

We met up at the far end of Chandni Chowk near the Fatehpuri mosque and headed straight to the Khari Baoli, the largest spice market in Asia. You know you're in the neighborhood when you start sneezing from all the spices in the air! Anything and everything including a lot of unidentifiable things are available here, it's fascinating!

Saltwallah - black salt and pink Himalaya salt
along with the normal white variety!
Don't know what the stuff that looks like
clods of dirt is...

Phoolwallah with his
genda phool

Himanshu is passionate about flowers and is fighting to keep Delhi's idiotic government from closing down the neighborhood flower markets (check out his website for more info) so he took us on a quick detour up a narrow flight of steep stairs to a small flower market completely hidden away from the craziness on the street below.

I generally prefer that the chef's feet
are more than 5 inches away from
my food ...

By then we were getting hungry so we went for stuffed naan at Kake di Hatti. We got paneer and potato. They're cooked in a tandoor oven and as it was about 100 degrees out I felt sorry for the poor guy who sits on top of the tandoor cooking these things all day long! They were pretty good although I thought there was too much raw ginger and they could have used some more seasoning - the flavoring was kind of bland except for the ginger.

... then I noticed the guy grinding
the spices in a hole in the sidewalk

Stay tuned for the chaat, kulfi, paranthas and more in part 2

From Blizzard to Bermuda

I returned to a winter wonderland with perfect snowman snow! We had a great time building snowmen, my niece & I built a snowman in a tree and Dad, brother-in-law, nephew and niece built a 9-foot snowman!

After a week back home I was off again, this time to beautiful Bermuda. The purpose of the trip was to check out prospective wedding locations but my wonderful, loving fiance suggested I invite my sisters along so I would have some company (since he was stuck back in India wrangling laborers). Since my sisters' (who are twins) were celebrating their 40th birthday in March I thought it would be a great occasion for an all-sisters' reunion / birthday celebration.

this is what happens when the kids
are left home with Dad for 5 days!

With the support of my awesome brother-in-laws who stepped up to the plate to take care of my 8 nieces & nephews (who are between 18 months and 11 years old) we met up in New Jersey picked up some bottles in duty free and were off!

Where are my kids again?

It was the first time the four of us were alone together without husbands or kids. Even though it wasn't quite warm enough yet to go swimming we had a great time on the sandy beaches of Bermuda. We stayed at the Elbow Beach Resort which is absolutely beautiful. It's right on the beach, set on parklike grounds and it would be the perfect wedding location!

The most memorable taste treat we discovered in Bermuda was the Dark 'n Stormy (which is not pictured here, this is a mojito in a to-go cup)

the best sisters in the world!

This is what we woke up to the day after we got back home...

Making Up For Lost Time and Low Cholesterol

Bangladesh to Bermuda via Chamonix and Lausanne - what a difference a month makes!

After being escorted to the Dhaka airport by the police in February and giving my digestive system some time to recover I was once again out of India, this time headed for snowy Alpine peaks.

It was great meeting up with family and friends in Chamonix but almost as good as seeing them was my first real non-Indian meal in months.

My cholesterol was feeling dangerously low so I opted for a croûte montagnarde with a crisp white wine from the Savoie. The combination of bread, cheese, wine and ham was just what I needed to hit the slopes the next day.

Even though everyone in the US was sick of shoveling, I was really missing the snow since I had spent Christmas in Delhi for the first (and last) time. Little did I know how much snow we would get back home in March!