Id Mubarak

 Id Mubarak

Since today is holy Ramadhan i want to write on a famous Biriyani joint in erstwhile Madras todays Chennai .

Buhari hotel in Chennai has been there when Chennai was Madras and when I lived my chldhood there.

The Biriyani of Buhari was legendary those days ,and was a very rare treat to us by a purse tight family .

In fact it was only during my college days l could go there more .

The Tamilnadu type of Biriyani was of Vaniyambadi type made as Dum Biriyani ( BASMATI RICE ONLY ) with succulent meat so well cooked it would roll as butter from its bones !

Chicken was not very elite those days and no puritan would think of chicken biriyani bah !!

It was always Mutton Biriyani .

Beef ,egg,vegetables werent much heard of those days .

The basmati rice was finely grained ,long, aromatic ,and suitably spiced..... just correct

With white boiled egg in crowning glory , the biryani would arrive regally with white raitha and brinjal curry by white coated turbanned waiters ,who served with a flourish .

During my short stint in Presidency college facing the marina beach ,we zoology BSC students ,some who were sure of getting thier medical seats, as that year it was only by merit ,as the DMK govt had been dimissed by Smt Indira Gandhi who was said to have given word that medical admission would be only by merit .

so yours faithully actually benifitted from the Emergency in India !

So the long aternoons would be spent on a breezy Buhari instead of in dreary classrooms munching on crispy samosas .

Buhari was known for , and the waiter would lay before us a big tray of yummylicious pastries with red colored chai in cute cups .

Idea was one could pick any pastry and pay accordingly .

Our group with a couple of girls and some chain smoking boys would empty it in no time .

With time Buhari turned corporate with branches in Dubai and many other places .

I remember tucking into its biryani in Burr Dubai outlet .

So when I saw Buhari once in Chennai I stopped my driver to get a takeaway .

The takeaway outhouse was AC with suitably tied managers , i mean with ties !!

The packed biriyani was very neat, it wasnt bad at all but it had lost its soul ,and no samosas till evening I was told .

So Buhari is more in my memory

Vaishno devi

Vaishno devi trip

Years back we planned a trip to Vaishnodevi temple in Jammu and Kashmir .

In nineties terrorism has already sprung in kashmir valley ,and

Vaishnodevi was in the hotspot .

Premilas cousin was a senior army officer .

We requested him for help before we ventured .

He arranged everything through his friend as Brigadier .Harishettan was not posted there.

So we took a train to Jammu from Delhi .

Since it was winter and AC tkts were full ,we booked in sleeper compartment as it was not hot .

Never did we think our journey would be a horror.

From the moment we set foot on old Delhi platform with two small children and luggage ,we knew we were in deep trouble .

North Indian stations in winter those days is not a pretty sight.

The platform was filled with people of all kinds ,old ,young ,children ,families ,

sleeping ,sitting,smoking ,

some were even cooking with tiny stoves .

Coming from south india this was new to us .

The train too didnt come to platform on time

We wondered if we could reach our compartment comfortably

And when it did it was with great struggle .

We managed to reach our reserved compartment but found it full of army people lying on every available space .

Many had warned us that sleeper compartments in north india have no rules

We managed to evict them from our berths as they respected families and ladies .

We slept tired and cold but going to toilet wasnt easy .

By morning we found train was much delayed due to thick fogs and we would reach Jammu only by late afternoon .

The cold fields of Punjab sped by in a haze

Hungry and exhausted we blamed ourselves for this colossal mistake .

Somehow we reached Jammu and got out .

Our destiny changed then .

We saw two military police smartly dressed saluting us and taking our bags .

They escorted us into army room in station and later to an army jeep .

We would go to Udhampur army headqaurters and spend the night in the officers guest house ,and the next day leave to Katra the foothill to Vaishnodevi temple .

The army guest house and camp was neat , sophisticated ,and as guests of a senior officer we were given an excellent place to stay.

We had dinner in the officers mess and slept well .

Two jawans were deputed to take us up to Vaishnodevi and back till we returned to Delhi from Jammu .

They were Bhagwan from UP and Pande from Bihar both were in civil dress.

We instantly got close to them and they both were very friendly with Sruthi and Shyam .

After breakfast an unmarked army ambassador car came for us .

The road to khatra from Udhampur was high range and fraught with danger as terrorism was rampant in those parts and it was snowing on off too .

An obvious army car would be a sitting target .

Both Bhagwan and Pande regaled us with tales .

The car left us at khatra .

Now a train goes upto khatra as Modiji had extended railway line for pilgrims and Indias fastest train 18 connects Delhi to Khatra .

From khatra we needed to climb the hills .

Though there were nice sloping tiled paths with steps on off ,plenty of shops, it was steep and a hardy climb .

Gulshan Kumar of T series a great devotee of ma Vaishnodevi had built the path .

Pande and Bhagwan took each of our kids , as they were not very happy in climbing a mountain whose top is reached after a couple of hours .

There were two other modes of climbing,one can be carried on a chair like a palanquin or on back strapped to climber called Pithu specially for children ,

or by horse back .

Bhagwan and pande said those were not needed .

They asked us both to plod up slowly with our sticks which we all bought

they started running up with the children who joined them laughing.

Soon we lost sight of them .

It was hot in the lower area but got colder as we climbed higher.

The magnificient Himalayas stretched in front of us in panoramic beauty

The snowy peaks glistened in the pale sun .

We could have tea etc on the way and songs blared from shops .

Devotees danced sang and chanted Jai Mata jee to drumbeats to inspire those who plodded on .

After around 3 hours we reached the top.

The children were waiting happy with their army uncles .

We went into an army outpost and office freshened ourselves removed footwear to go into the temple.

The altar was inside a cave .

Earlier one needed to crawl a long distance those days there was a covered path .

Still nearing altar one needed to walk bent for a short distance .

Luckily we went by VIP entrance as army guests .

The army was all powerful in those areas .

After darshan we refreshed ourselves had some food .

We needed to climb some more to reach the Bhairon temple

This time we took horses though it was scary as the horses more like ponies tended to go the edges .

After Bhairon we started walking down.

I thought going down would be easy but it wasnt so at all .

Our knees hurt as we climbed down steeply .

Evening came but we were only half way through.

In the great distance we could see Khatras lights.

It was around 6 pm when we reached khatra totally exhausted .

Both children were tired

Thanks to bhagwan and pande who carried them down for some way

Our car was waiting and we were taken to a hill station called Patnitop .

We were to stay in CRPF camp there that night .

Pande and Bhagwan left us in a lovely guest cottage in a snowy slope and went to thier lodgings there.

An army cook made us hot chappatis with sabji .

He had to go for sentry duty after that ,so told us to have good rest and went away .

Children had already slept off in bedroom under heavy blankets

We too tried to sleep off but it was bone chilling cold.

There was no electricity only an iron fire bucket in hall .

We both foolishly carried the bucket with hot coals into bedroom for warmth .

As we were dozing off ,we suddenly realised we could all be dead of carbon monoxide poisoning by morning in the closed room .

In a panic we carried the hot fire bucket back to hall calling ourselves rank idiots .

Morning came

It was scintillating

Our cottage in camp was like in a fairy tale with powdery snow ,tall firs and poplars and so cool .

Children too were fresh .

We told of our idiocy to Bhagwan and Pande who had a hearty laugh.

After breakfast we went by our car to a skeing area where we threw snowballs and enjoyed ourselves .

Later we drove back to Jammu station and we parted with Pande and Bhagwan hugging them and giving them some gifts we had bought for their families .

We were in touch with them for some years .

This time the military police in smart uniforms escorted us in Jammu station into our berths .

They stood gaurd in front of our doors to see only reserved passengers got in .

So we returned very comfortably

Jai mata jee

 

Shyams Phd

 Shyam after completing Mtech in Engineering physics in IIT BHU had two options in front of him .

Get a lucrative corporate job , but more of a marketing one, unrelated to what he studied ,

or to chose the academic research path ,more tougher less paying ,and longer number of years .

He chose the latter .

Got a PhD scholarship from Australian National university in Canberra in computational Astrophysics .

Today was a decisive day for him as he presented his Thesis colloquium to his peers and coleagues in ANU .

We were lucky to watch it by Zoom .

Though highly technical ,we did understand that in the process he devised a code called Vettam or brightness in Malayalam to find out a way out of a bottle neck.

It was all Stars ,Sun's ,Distant galaxies ,Infra reds and computational simulations,

but to us his parents it was our little one reaching his chosen career .

He is the Sun we know in detail .

Shyam has been selected by Rutger university and Flat iron institute in New york for a four year post doctoral research scholar position and will join in some time .

At the end of it all we had was gratitude and prayers and happiness at his achievement

Innocent

 Sad to hear of this loss

An exemplary natural actor with a fine sense of humour on real life too ,a gentleman though entered politics ,we will miss him

One more legend from Mollywood signs off .

Innocent lived to his name of putting his punch subtly ,there never was crassness in his comedy .

But to dismiss an actor of his calibre as a comedian and slot him into that is injustice ,as one cannot forget the character roles Innocent played with aplomb .

Best part of Innocent was his unhurried take of life and penchant to put himself as the joke ,that's Charlie Chaplin genre and they get the best laughs .

I used to like his speeches in public ,

I did hear one or two directly sitting in the audience in his loveable Irinjalakuda slang where he used to berate his classmates and schoolmates who turned into big Dr's and scientists because , they poor chaps had studied in school ,while he , had fun all the way to become an actor by staying in same class for years !

He used to make his being an elected MP also as fun ,though he was a genuine one ,very rare in that breed .

This comes not in having good histrionic skills alone , but having a good humane heart filled with empathy.

A man who could laugh at his own sickness to inspire others ,

well I put him on a pedestal .

Just like we will never stop listening to Rafi Saab ,Kishore ddaa or SPB ,though they and many other greats are no more ,

Just like we won't stop admiring Sivaji Ganesan or Uttam Kumar or Sanjeev Kumar, just like we will not forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee or a Nayanar or an Annadurai because they touched something in us by thier genuinety Innocent too will be feted for long .

People will still laugh at the pained face of Kittunni when he is aware he got the lottery price when he had not ,

or as Warrier the aged assistant protector of Mohanlal in Devasuram and Ravanaprabhu and many many more .

Innocent is immortal .

May his good soul rest in peace forever

KSRTC Trip

The KSRTC Budget Jungle Safari is there every Sunday.

Two buses one from Allepey picking people on way via Kundanoor and Irumpanam ( only pre-booked people ) one from Kothamangalam is there every week

If crowded more than 3 to 5 buses ply .

Allepey bus starts at 4.30 am from Allepey KSRTC reached Ernakulam Kundanoor and turns to maradu irumpanam 5.30 to 6am ( mobile number contact there )

Kothamangalam breakfast included in package .

Later to Bhhootathankettu

Transfer to speed boat to Thattekadu..onr hr ride very scenic

Transfer back to bus.

Turns to Old Alwaye Munnar road does not touch Adimali

Jungle route through Kuttampuzha Mamalakandam ,stops in Jungle stream

Later up steep Kurangatti road to Mankulam by afternoon .

Lunch buffet fish curry meals or beg meals in Mankulam resort this is part of package too .

Then descend to Aanakulam to sight see take pics

Then climb up again to Mankulam abd by hair pin bends reaches Letchmi estates in Munnar .

Stop for pic and sight seeing in tea garden

Then to Munnar town KSRTC stand for tea

Then stop for buying tea chocolates carrot vegetables etc

Descend through Adimali route stop for dinner on way

Reaching kundanoor by 11.30 pm and Allepey by 1pm

Cost Rs 1200 from Allepey

700 Rs from Kothamangalam

Advice ...bus is just FP as volvos cannot go through the very narrow roads

Drivers are well experienced and interact well

Karaoke music present

Better to go when season is lean like this time

A fully occupied bus is not comfortable

Call the number given book early to get good seat

Payment by UPI

Famies or groups can book whole bus too I think

We go to places we don't in our vehicle literally off roads abd through forests .

The organisers are xclnt abd bring together everyone .

Below I give what's written by KSRTC with contact numbers

*ജീവിതത്തിലെ തിരക്കുകളിൽ നിന്ന് ഷോർട്ട് ബ്രേക്ക്‌ എടുക്കേണ്ടത് അത്യാവശ്യമാണ് പക്ഷെ ഒന്ന് മാറിനില്ക്കാൻ സമയം കണ്ടെത്താൻ ആണ് പ്രയാസം. ടെൻഷൻ എല്ലാം മാറ്റി ഒന്ന് ചിൽ ആകാൻ അധികം ദൂരമൊന്നും പോവണ്ടാ. മാമലക്കണ്ടം കേട്ടിട്ടില്ലേ??*

*കാടും, മലയും അരുവികളുമായി സഞ്ചാരികളുടെ ഇഷ്ട്ടകേന്ദ്രമായി മാറിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയുടെ സ്വന്തം മാമലക്കണ്ടം.*

*എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയുടെ കിഴക്കേ അറ്റത്തു നിബിഡ വനത്തിന് നടുവിൽ സ്ഥിതിചെയ്യുന്ന പ്രകൃതിരമണീയമായ ഗ്രാമം - മാമലകണ്ടം.*

*വാക്കുകൾ കൊണ്ട് പറയുന്നതിനേക്കാൾ മനോഹരം പോയി അനുഭവിക്കുന്നതാണ്*

*വനപാതയിലൂടെ മൂന്നാറിലേക്ക്​ യാത്ര പോകാം...*

*മാമലക്കണ്ടം വഴി മൂന്നാറിലേക്ക് ജംഗിള്‍ സഫാരി*

*പോകുന്ന സ്ഥലങ്ങൾ*

തട്ടേക്കാട്

കുട്ടമ്പുഴ

മാമലക്കണ്ടം

കൊരങ്ങാടി

മാങ്കുളo

ലക്ഷ്മി എസ്റ്റേറ്റ്

മൂന്നാർ

KSRTC ബഡ്ജറ്റ് ടൂറിസം സെല്‍

*ആലപ്പുഴ ഡിപ്പോയില്‍* നിന്നും അടുത്ത യാത്ര

*26.03.2023 ```* *ഞായറാഴ്ച*

*ചാര്‍ജ്- 1200/-*

*(ഏകദിനം)*

*(പ്രഭാത ഭക്ഷണം, ബോട്ടിംഗ്,ഉച്ചഭക്ഷണം ,ചായ,സ്നാക്സ്,ബസ്സ് ഫെയര്‍ ഉള്‍പ്പെടെ)*

*Cont* *9895505815*

*9400203766*