Delhi watches cricket

World Cup fever has completely taken over. Everywhere I went, the only thing people were talking about was the game, the game, the game.

Overheard at Defence Colony: A debate about where to watch the match. I think they went to Adderwaza finally.

Drivers and guards at Dilli Haat: Deeply thankful that the memsahibs are taking a lot of time over shopping!

Brisk sales at the booze shop at SDA Market. Check out the number of cases and cartons lying around!

Post script: Aaaaaaaaaand the boys in blue have brought home the World Cup! The whole country is going to be partying now.

Food walk in Old Delhi

I went on the most amazing food walk in Sitaram Bazaar. This area is full of shops owned by Hindu Banias; the street food here is vegetarian and fantastic. With me was Dhruv, who lives in the area.

We started off with a gol-gappa-walla near Chawri Bazaar Metro Station.

I knew I should go slow and eat very little (so as to save space for more later) but it was too tempting!

After the gol-gappas came the most amazing kulcha-chole; just a little further down.

The chole was hot from the brass pot; and garnished with chaat masala, onions, ginger, chillies, coriander and lemon.

Finger-licking good! My tastebuds were tingling with the tartness of the lemon, combined with the spicy chola, and the tang of the chaat masala. The kulchas - soft bread made of maida - help temper down the spiciness of the dish. I swear this is the tastiest thing I have ever eaten in Delhi.

After the spiciness of the chola, Dhruv introduced me to the delights of brown milk cake.

The old man is a daily fixture in Dhruv's lane; stirring milk and sugar and ghee into a thick delight.

This cake had a chewy rich goodness that sent me on a delirious high. I started out saying "But I can't eat all this by myself"; and shared it with others, but then I tasted it, and ended up wishing for more!

This was not all - there was more - bedmi puri, aloo sabzi, nagori halwa...which I had never eaten before. But it's getting late right now, so I better finish this story here. I'll post again, with Part 2 of the walk, and more photos!

The Trishul

Have you seen the giant Shiva statue at Murudeshwar Beach? My school friend Preeti clicked this arresting photo with the sun in the background:

This is the second largest statue of Shiva in the world, all of 123 feet tall.

Whenever I hear that something is the "second largest", I always wonder "Which is the largest, then?" :) :) In case you're wondering too, the world's largest Shiva statue is in Nepal, and it is a standing Shiva, not a seated one. The Nepal statue is a more chubby-cheeked smiling god. Take a look. I think it is quite an unsuitable depiction of this charismatic ascetic! The Murudeshwar statue somehow seems more impressive, don't you think?

In both statues, in his right hand, Shiva holds the Trishul, his trident.

It's hard to miss the trident when you visit any part of India. Especially if you go on a pilgrimage circuit, you will see the trishul just about everywhere.

I found this maker of tridents in a little shop in Jaipur

At the Delhi Crafts Museum, there's this interesting collection of decorative spears and tridents (looks like it came from South India, not sure from where)

Lingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar. This is one of the few temples where Vishnu and Shiva are both worshipped. At the entrance, there is a painting of the two Gods merged into one. Shiva is identified by his Trident, and Vishnu by his Mace and Discus.

But it's not Shiva alone who lays claim to the trishul; it is also the weapon of the great Goddess in her many forms.

Mithila painting of the many-armed Goddess Durga. She holds several weapons, but no Durga rendition is complete without the trident.

Paan-wallah in Agra - this is the most popular representation of Goddess Durga; you see this in little shops everywhere in the country

"Eunuch temple" in Mumbai; trident of the Goddess Mariamman, who is said to cure people of the pox.

So the trishul is everywhere, and clearly it has huge symbolic value. I looked up some websites and blogs dedicated to Shiva, and they have a set of complex explanations for what the trishul represents. I didn't really know any of that stuff earlier; and I don't know whether this is even correct. If you have a deeper understanding, and can point me at the right sourcebook, let me know.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to look for interesting tridents to add to my collection of photos!

On Aesthetics

There are some days when I have this intense desire to paint or draw. I desperately want to put pen and brush to paper; I want to watch bold black strokes darken and take shape. I want to drench the paper with colour, watch it spread and deepen. I want to forget the world outside, and live inside that canvas, in a private world of my very own aesthetics.

So what's holding me back from doing this? It's those twin T's, of course - Talent and Time. One isn't good without the other, right?

Do I have talent? I don't know. I will never know, unless I give it the time it needs. Do I have time? No. There's too much going on in my life. I've looked at my days, tried to find a couple of hours to spare...but I'm already overstretched.

So - since I'm a practical person - I've decided to set aside my desire to paint, until the time is right.

Meanwhile, I will surround myself with beauty.

It is easy enough to do that. There is beauty everywhere, if you just choose to look. Beauty in art, architecture, music, plants, forests, animals, daily life.

Beautiful door at the Crafts Museum

Bangles at Kinari Bazaar

All I have to do, is to absorb the form and colour and motion I see around me, and carry that around in my head. I'll have my own little beautiful world, then, won't I?

The Indian Water Buffalo - A Tale from my childhood

When I was 10 years old, I read an amusing Marathi folk tale. It was about a man who left his home in a huff after a quarrel with his wife. When evening came, he regretted his rash action, but couldn't bring himself to go back and say sorry. Besides, too many of his neighbours had seen him walk off swearing never to return. He would become a laughing-stock if he returned meekly.

But he badly wanted to go back home for dinner, especially since his empty stomach now reminded him of his wife's lovely cooking. Desperate, he looked around, and spotted one of their buffaloes returning home unescorted after the day's grazing.

So he grabbed the buffalo's tail and went back home behind it, pretending the buffalo was dragging him back against his wish.

As he went, he sang a rhyme loudly: "Aga Aga Mahshi, Mala Kuthe Nehshi?!" (Oh, Oh, my buffalo, where are you dragging me?!).

He sang loud enough for the neighbours to hear :) When he reached home, his wife, wise woman that she was, smiled to herself at the hilarious sight, but welcomed him and gave him dinner. And that was the end of their fight.

Even today, every time I see a buffalo, this story brings a grin to my face.

Aga Aga Mahshi, Mala Kuthe Nehshi!

Buffaloes are a big deal in India. I was looking at the National Dairy Board figures, and we seem to have an astounding 100 million buffaloes. That's one buffalo for every 10 Indians!

We have a lot of cows as well; in fact the cattle population is nearly double that of buffaloes. But the buffalo population has been growing far faster.

While buffalo numbers have grown by 130% in the last 50 years, cattle population has grown by only 15-20%. The trend is sharper in more recent years. Clearly, buffaloes are fast becoming the animal of choice in the Indian dairy industry.

Why is this happening? Simple. The buffalo offers the most reward for the least cost and effort.

Firstly, the buffalo is hardier, and survives better under poor fodder and poor management conditions.

Skinny buffaloes in a dry village near Dausa, Rajasthan.

In this village home that I visited, there was no feedstock anywhere in sight; and grass was scarce. The buffaloes were skinny, and some had skin infections, but they still yielded milk. These buffaloes were still the biggest source of that family's income, and I'm guessing they made a big contribution to the family nutrition levels.

A buffalo yields richer milk than a cow (typically, buffalo milk has twice the amount of butterfat than cow's milk). The milk therefore fetches better prices. Buffalo milk is whiter, and better suited for the manufacture of milk powder. Traditional paneer cheese made from buffalo milk is better. Buffaloes can be used in agriculture for tilling, and also as a source of meat.

With the start of Operation Flood in the 1970's (specially the second phase of the program in the 80's), there has also been infrastructural support from the Indian government for buffaloes. Feedstock availability has been improved, veterinary services made available, and, most important, a stable, self-sustaining distribution channel has been established for buffalo milk. Both cows and buffaloes form part of the staggering 73,000 village co-operatives that produce milk for sale; supplying over 300 towns and cities. Each co-operative is made up of multiple small producers, allowing rural as well as semi-rural families (like the one below) to prosper.

This family near Agra had four fat female buffaloes with three calves.

The children of this family looked well-fed and healthy. Obviously, the milk was for sale, and not just personal consumption. I could not stop and check if the milk was being sold to a co-operative. But since this home is not far from Delhi, I assumed the milk would probably end up there.

There are several breeds of buffalo in India; but the champion milk producer is the Murrah. You'll see the Murrah in Delhi, because it is native to Haryana (adjacent to Delhi). It's really easy to identify this champion - the horns are small, upwards, backwards and tightly curved inward at the end.

Haryanvi Milk Goddess :)

The tail of the Murrah often has a white switch at the end; and that's an easy identifier too (although you can't see it in this photo). There's a very nice page here, managed by Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, that describes all the buffalo breeds in different parts of India. As you can see, they're each quite different; and some of them look very fancy! I'm going to click buffalo photos now, whenever I travel through the country!

All this milk-talk has suddenly set up a craving in me for paneer. Thick, creamy, soft, paneer... I'm thinking we'll try palak-paneer tonight! You're invited :)

In which I learn about paring toenails

On facebook, a friend posted this photo, which explains the right way for a devout Muslim to trim their nails.

Toe nails are easy. You start with the smallest one on the right foot, then work your way in an arc towards the smallest one on your left foot.

Fingernails are a little more complicated. For some reason, you do four fingers of the right hand in one arc, then four fingers of the left hand (but starting with a different finger), and then finally the thumbs (see photo above for better understanding; the fingers have been helpfully numbered in the right sequence).

As if this elaborate sequencing isn't enough, there's also a recommended frequency of nail paring (not more than 40 days between trimmings), a recommended disposal method (burial) and several other injunctions (for example, you can't wear nail polish, but you can put henna on nails and make them orange).

I then looked up a Jewish resource site, to find out what they had to say about nails. As it turned out, the Jewish way is equally specific. There are rules for the frequency with which nails should be cut (every week, or once in two weeks). There are days on which nails should not be cut (Thursdays). There's a recommended sequence (adjacent fingernails can't be trimmed one after another). There's also another rule that says you can't clip fingernails and toenails on the same day.

Both religions say that it is important to dispose of or destroy nail clippings. I think it stems from this old underlying belief that nails have "power" of some sort, and if you leave them lying around, someone can cast a a spell on you or do you harm.

I then looked up Hinduism and Christianity on the subject of nails. In Hinduism, I found that there isn't much other than an injunction not to cut nails after dark (I found lots of complicated rules about haircuts and tonsuring, and a total obsession with bathing!). Christianity doesn't seem to have anything much to say on the subject of nail cutting at all (or bathing, or haircuts or any other form of personal hygiene). Or maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

The more I read, the more I wanted to smile, especially when I laid all the "rules" side by side. They were all written in earnest religious tones; and each writer seemed convinced that they had got it right.

Actually, some of this stuff may have been right at the time it was written - for example, not cutting nails after dark was probably sensible in the pre-electricity era. Not leaving nails lying around is definitely sensible, no matter what era you are in.

But not all the rules make sense today. By and large, I find that the elaborateness of religious ritual borders on the absurd.

I have never had much patience with it; primarily because I grew up without any customary daily prayers or weekly fasts or what have you. I agree that rituals do have their uses. Having set patterns for things can aid in calming the mind. But hello? the "right" sequence for paring toenails? What were they thinking? :) :)

Hanuman Mandir, Delhi

Among the most popular temples in Delhi is this one - Hanuman Mandir, dedicated to the monkey god.

As temples go, I find this structure pretty ugly. Look at the incongruous metal and cement structures jutting out from the temple. They are an aesthetic disaster in architectural style and materials. There's a ramshackle plastic-sheet covered structure in the right foreground; not to mention several others to the left of the temple. An electricity tower on the right, and a crooked signboard, detract further from the serene feeling that a temple should evoke. In the photo below, clicked from a different angle, there's also an ugly building on the left with the clothes hanging out to dry.

These photos are clicked during the afternoon, when the temple is closed. If you go during temple hours, the place is crowded and chaotic. Combined with the ugliness of the buildings, I find that Hanuman Mandir has none of the spirituality that I want from a place of worship.

When you look at the astounding beauty of India's older temples, I wonder how we ended up with this kind of ugliness. It's not just Delhi - this is the sort of mess you see all over the country, whether it is Mathura-Brindavan, Haridwar, or Varanasi.

I am tempted to put forth a thesis here - that as long as we were building with stone and wood, and basing our construction on the shilpa-shastras, our aesthetics were exemplary. But when modern materials came our way - cement and glass and plastic - and when we stepped out of proven architectural guidelines, we started to produce extraordinarily ugly and depressing structures.

If you go back to the first photo in this article, you'll see that behind the horrible red and green facade, the temple itself looks nice, because, thank God, it's built largely based on traditional architecture.

So - should temples be static? Should temple design continue to reflect old practices, with no "modernisation"? When you look at the newly built Akshardham, you're tempted to say yes. Akshardham is stunningly beautiful, because the architecture is traditional, and it is executed in traditional materials.

But then again, if you look at the Baha'i Lotus Temple, you'll see that the design is undoubtedly modern, and so are the materials, but the end effect is of serenity and peace.

What this tells me, then, is that it doesn't really matter whether temple architecture is old or modern, Western or Indian. What matters is whether the architecture is coherent or not. What matters is that the people who build and run temples pay attention to aesthetics, or at least, understand better, the relationship between aesthetics and spirituality. Our sages understood this very well, building their retreats and hermitages in places of natural beauty. Kings and emperors built temples on hilltops, set amongst greenery. Even large temples complexes inside cities were beautiful, because they were walled enclosures, that created a spiritual haven inside.

Today, temple trusts all over India lack this sort of attention to beauty. As temples become more popular, their trusts, with a view to creating new amenities, or adding new admin blocs, play havoc with the structural composition of the original temple. Contracts are awarded to local builders, and I am sure there is a lot of graft. The end result is a hotch-potch of downright ugly structures.

Fortunately for temple authorities, the public doesn't care about beauty or cleanliness. People throng routinely to the dirtiest of temples, because they believe in the power of the specific God that supposedly resides there. The area outside Hanuman Mandir, for instance, is home to several beggars and wastrels. Partly-eaten food from roadside stalls is strewn about. There are street dogs, mendicants, astrologers, henna vendors, and stalls selling religious kitsch. It's more like a mela or marketplace than a temple. But that doesn't stop the long queues at the temple, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which are popular days for worship of Hanuman.

Temple timings:

Saturdays: Between 5:00 a.m. and midnight

Tuesdays: Between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.

Other days of the week: 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

If you plan to visit the temple on a Tuesday or a Saturday, be prepared for a long wait. And when you get to the sanctum for darshan, add a little prayer that some day, our temples become places of beauty once again.

Dehati Pustak Bhandar in Old Delhi

If you walk along Chawri Bazaar, then you can't miss this corner bookshop: Dehati Pustak Bhandar.

They're more than just a bookshop, really. Dehati Pustak Bhandar (DBP) is among Delhi's most well-known Hindi publishing houses. They also produce books in English.

Busy mid-morning at Dehati Pustak Bhandar

When I passed by the shop, they were doing brisk business. Several people were crowding with lists of orders, and the sales staff were busy hunting up books.

DPB is nearly 75 years old. The owners are Aggarwals, one of India's traditional business communities. As a first-generation entrepreneur, I admire any family-owned business that can survive for seven decades. It tells me not only that the baton is being passed successfully from one generation to the next; but also that each generation is evolving to keep the business in synch with their times.

In the publishing business, with changing customer tastes, I'm sure things can't be easy. But DBP seems to have got it right. At the heart of their business is the huge lower-middle class Hindi speaking populace; for whom they produce not just text books and technical literature, but also religious stuff, detective novels and everything else under the sun.

The primary sales are from technical books. Many of these are useful "How to" books in Hindi, teaching various skills, from welding to repairing tractors to wielding a lathe. Some of these are used as textbooks by those studying for diplomas in engineering. They are not expensive; and prices start at as low as Rs 30, and go up to Rs 300 for some of the fat books.

Three books that each train you for a specific trade

Here's a look at some other interesting books that caught my eye:

Cool stuff, huh? I love the cover design of the gemstones book; it reminds me of old Bollywood posters.

Clearly all these books are designed (and priced) with a specific audience in mind. I'm not sure how their English-language books are faring; but it's obvious that they're taking their skills at producing low-priced Hindi books, and using it to also mop-up the cost conscious segment of English readers. It's good to find a publishing company that knows what it's doing.