Tasting Maharashtrian delicacies at October Food Fest, Mumbai

                                                                                                   ||श्री||

Working at my desk on Thursday afternoon, I had a very different idea about how my weekend was going to be, until a friend sent me a link on Facebook. 

Just then, I knew its time to get into 'Man v/s Food' mode. ;)

Soon it was Friday evening and with my Foodie friends marched to the October Food Fest. The venue was perfect - a Stadium - the place we had showdown between Food and Foodies; and as usual a huge number of dishes were conquered!

crispy Kachoris from Shegaon.

Drooling with anticipation, it was hard to be patient and walk all the way to the main entrance, especially when there were so many other (not so) secret entrances on the way. So we decided to sneak in using on of these entry points and landed right in front of the stall with delicious Kachoris from Shegaon. Yumm! - Soft inside, crisp outside and so tasty! 

Varhadi Special - Patodi, Zunka, Bhakri.

The next immediate stall served Zunka-Bhakar and other typical staple food of the rural Maharashtra, that are fast becoming popular among the City dwellers too! and going by the taste of it, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't. This particular Stall was from Varhad/Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

While my taste buds were busy enjoying the real taste of Maharashtra, little did I expect for a Visual and aural treat - an exhilarating performance of Dhol-Tasha, also commonly known as Nashik Dhol these days. I was able to capture a section of their performance, the best part of it!

my favorite moment in the video is at 01:52, where after a buildup, the music stops for a moment and then suddenly they start again at the previous high energy note enhancing it with dancing with the Huge Dhol! Brilliant, just Brilliant!

Tasting one dish after another, the best way to take a break would be Kulfi; and we found a stall for that too! 

After this well deserved break, we continued our exploration and soon encountered a difficult terrain - the valley of the FISH! There stood a huge section of atleast 20 to 30 stalls that served typical Koli dishes. This would be heaven for a sea-food lover, but since I am a strict vegetarian, I was trying to find something vegetarian in this region. A difficult task, but not impossible. :P

Koli women dressed in traditional attire served freshly cooked fish and other sea food. My

object of interest was Sol-Curry - a specialty from the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Prepared from Coconut Milk and Kokam. It is something one must not miss; and the best part is, its totally Vegetarian!  Enjoying the ambrosial taste of Sol-curry, I realised that my vegetarian Foodie comrades had abandoned me and moved on to the vegetarian section. I, on the other hand, had yet to cross another adjoining section of Kolhapuri, Nagpuri and other Nonveg stalls; but with Sol-curry cup in my hand, it was all worth it. 

NB: For all Non-veg food enthusiasts,  DO NOT miss the last part of this post. 

                                                                              I was kind of peeved on my friends for abandoning me, but they had struck GOLD (offcourse, vegetatian Gold) - Ukadi che Modak! A Konkani sweet dish, thats favorite of the Lord himself! Lord Ganesha loves these! and when your friends have found something so delicious, its hard not to forgive them. 

Whats the best way to end a feast? Paan! Standing with friends, chewing Paan under the full moon of Sharad Poornima in open grounds of a huge stadium with a bloated belly with amazing food from every corner of Maharashtra - can life get any better!

*Burp ... oh it just did ;)

There are Handi-crafts stalls too. Don't forget to check them out. 

And here is something for all the Non-vegetarians : Feast your eyes 

Mumbai Ganapati Visarjan

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A Hindu festival that was once only limited to people's homes was transformed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to bring people together and spread awareness and the result was Grand scale celebrations of Ganeshotsav/Ganapati Festival; which with time, has grown larger than life! Ganapati Visarjan is the perfect time to witness the scale of this Mega-festival of Maharashtra.

For 10 days Lord Gananapati is celebrated  with great devotion and Zeal. Huge Pandals decorated like palaces witness cultural programs including Bhajan recitals and Dance performances.

Devotees stand in long ques for hours to get a glimpse of their beloved deity, for Darshan/sight that inspires a spiritual connection with the divine. Its not uncommon to find tears trickle down someone's cheeks at such a time and place. 

At some places, even fairs are held. Usually such big Pandals celebrate the festival for 11 days, some for even 21 days! The city immerses itself in excitement and exhilaration of the festival.

Letting go someone you love is difficult, yetnecessary...for how will we meet again, if we never part ways? One may argue, If according to Hinduism, God resides within us how can we ever part ways? The answer is simple - a drop though is one with Ocean when in ocean, alone it travels the world to finally again be one with the Ocean. In body, we too are just a drop, a part but apart. 

Towards the end of the festival, Mumbaikars prepare to bid adieu to their beloved Ganesha, with a hope to see him soon the next year. With Dance and Music, with Drums and firecrackers, huge processions accompany Ganapati to bid farewell. 

Ganpati images from homes are brought out with cries of "Ganapati Bappa morya, pudhchya varshi lavkar ya". The latter half translates as "come back soon again the next year", while the former half goes much deeper. 

Morya Gosavi was a famous devotee of Lord Ganesh in 14th century. The words 'Ganpati Bappa Morya' depict the inseparable relationship between a Devotee and God. Today, all Devotees of Lord Ganesh are called Morya.
while the smaller Images are carried by people in their hands, the bigger ones ride on Trucks and other vehicles.

The procession is no less than a King's Parade. The carnival travels slowly, inching its way towards the Sea, where the Lord's images are  immersed. People dance all the way on the beats of drums (with changing times, on DJ's music too) 

 

One of the best spots to be at during Ganesh Visarjan is near Versova Beach. The number of different Ganesha images one gets to see here in a small interval of time is mind blowing! With camera in my hands, I was at the perfect spot at perfect time...until it started to drizzle. It was time to cover the Images to protect them. Oh wait! weren't these people taking the Ganesha images to be immersed in water afterall? Yes, but you don't just push your guests out of your house and get rid of them; you lovingly see them off, atleast the ones you are so fond of.

Its a sea of People out there on the night of Ganpati Visarjan, literally!Thanks to Mumbai Police, BMC staff and volunteers of various NGOs, this Mega-event goes smoothly. People travel with Ganesha Images on trucks as well as walk behind the trucks. This goes on till late night. The energy of this city on this day is amazing!

I remained there as long as I could, finally to return home totally drained of all my energy but drenched in the an exhilarating experience! 

|| Ganpati Bappa Morya ||

Mumbai Ganapati Darshan

||श्री||

A few days back, while reading an article, two sentences caught my attention - 

 "The Sanskrit term “darshan,” means sight. It is often used to describe an immediate spiritual connection that can occur while looking upon a representation of a Hindu deity."

Right from the beginning of Ganesotsav/Ganapati Festival, one of my childhood friend, Aniruddha Sukhatankar, has been, on Facebook, regularly updating photographs of different Ganpati pandals that he visited each day. While chatting with him I asked, "how about we share these photographs with a wider audience, helping them get Darshan of the beautiful Deities." He enthusiastically e-mailed me his collection along with the details of their location in Mumbai. The Photographs are many, and time to edit and upload is limited, So more will be added later. All the credits go to Aniruddha Sukhatankar for bringing us these beautiful photographs. May Lord Ganapati bless us all. 

||Ganapati Bappa Moriya ||

Lalbaugcha Raja

Ganesh Gully, Lalbaug

Santacruzcha Raja 

A huge Ganpati idol made of 32,000 pencils in Malad, Mumbai.

GSB Seva Mandal, Wadala 

Dadar, Near Podar College

Manish Nagar, Andheri (w) 

Malad

Santacruz

Vile Parle (East)

Andheri Station (East)

Chikhalwadicha Ganpati, Grant Road

Akhil Chandanwadi, Marine Lines

Chirabazaarcha Raja, Marine Lines

Nikadwari Lane, Charni Road

Grant Road 

Onam Sadya in Mumbai - tasting God's own Food

||श्री||

While standing outside this restaurant, On Onam evening, salivating due to the aroma  emanating from its Kitchen, I looked back at the day and the events that led me here. No, nothing dramatic - just a phone call from my friend late afternoon. I stood in the jam-packed waiting area for atleast half an hour, looking around at the elite crowd, knowing that inside they were all salivating, same as me, and trying hard not to let the foodie  inside take over, not ateast yet. It was like standing at the start line of a marathon race, waiting for the signal. I even saw a kid shout "yes!" with excitement, as his father's name was called from the list. 

Oh by the way, did I mention that I spotted Kalki Koechlin sitting inside? Sorry, no photographs, I'm no Paparazzi!

Soon we were sitting at our table with  Banana leaf in front of us and thus began our feast at the restaurant Banana Leaf, Versova, Mumbai.

While waiting for the food to arrive, I started reading the menu stand.

It somehow reminded me of my school. Legend of King Mahabali, Snake boat race, OnaSadya and Kaikottikali dance are the things about Onam I've only read in books and watched on TV till now. Today, Thanks to my friend, Vaishali Bharadwaj, for the 1st time, I was about to taste Onasadya - atleast one thing checked off the list!

  

Number of delicacies to be served - 14! The food Connoisseur in me jumped with joy! Actually, these 14 were the main items, excluding chutney, pickle and such. If these too were included, the total number would rise beyond 20!

before we move ahead, Let me tell you what I learnt about Sadya:

Sadya Means banquet in Malayalam. It is a typical feast of the people of Kerala that is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a Banana Leaf. A Sadya can have about 24-28 dishes served as a single course.

The meal started with Pazam Pori - for rest of India, Banana Pakoda. Since I was totally unfamiliar with the dishes and their names, I requested the staff to acquaint us with them while serving, to which they pleasantly obliged. It was difficult to keep up, but I tried...and the ones that I couldn't remember, I tried asking for another serving with North Indian equivalent terms.

I was pleasantly surprised when one of the staff requested us to call them whenever we need another serving of any of the dishes, if they are not able to attend to us in time due to the huge number of customers to be attended - Honesty, Politeness and Decorum, keeping in touch with the traditional Indianness. The staff was really well mannered and pleasant, even after serving hordes of Foodies for the whole day. I wondered, how could they maintain the standards and etiquette after serving wave after wave of Food enthusiasts! Right from top to bottom levels of staff, each member served with a smile, a genuine one.

Soon my Banana Leaf was full with mouth watering delicacies, while few yet remained to arrive! Time to get to work, Foodie.

Of all the delicacies, I couldn't stop myself from asking for a few more servings of Pazam Pori, Appam, Banana Halwa and the two different types of Payasam. Also, the Mix Veg. Soup served in the beginning was amazing - loaded with spices with a dominant taste of Garlic. The Traditional Kerala motifs used for interiors along with Traditional music in the background (at comfortably low volume) created a relaxing ambiance. Lost in the aroma, taste and sound, for a while I was in a state of Nirvana. With my belly stretched beyond its limits, I cleaned my Leaf. The meal ended with Elaichi Banana and Paan (Betel Leaf).

Just the Perfect end!

I've been to Banana Leaf before, a few times and loved the food and service here; but Onam was a totally divine experience! The Food, the Ambiance and the Staff - all make you want to come here again. Also, the prices here are light on your pocket. For all Mumbaikars my advice - mark the date for next year's Onam in your calendars so that you don't miss out on this ambrosial experience. Never the less, If you are in Mumbai, Banana Leaf is a place a true foodie must check out. 

Banana Leaf, Versova, Mumbai - 

Food Connoisseur's Heaven...

Vegetarians' Pride!