Movie Review - Hachi: A Dog's Tale

When it comes to choice of movies, hubby and I are often on the opposite poles. He often labels me as a “romantic comedy” movies aficionado while his choice of Shaolin master type intelligent movies have me lost somewhere in between. So, last night after a boring wedding reception, I was searching my laptop for some good movie. After filtering the “mushy mushy, action, thriller, boring types, too mentally exhaustive for the night” categories, I chanced upon Hachi: A dog’s Tale. “This seems a good movie…full of warmth & affection.” We both echoed….rare!

Many movies have been made on the dog man relationship, the last one I remember seeing was “Marley & me.” While “M&M” focused on the bond between the dog and his master’s family, “Hachi” is just about a dog’s love, loyalty & devotion for his master.

The movie runs in flashback as children in a class are shown giving presentation about the Heroes in their lives. While others go for the usual celebrity hero examples, Ronnie’s choice of his grandfather’s pet dog “Hachi” makes the class burst into laughter. Unperturbed, Ronnie begins his story…

A young Akita dog is shipped from Japan to US. On the way out from railway station, his cage falls down the trolley & gets unnoticed. Poor Hachi, with his black & white vision (1^st movie I saw which considered the research finding that dogs are color blind!) struggles to get out and begins to explore the cold, unfriendly surroundings. He catches the attention of Prof Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) who, touched by his innocent face & expressive eyes decides to help the poor dog. 

Unable to locate the owner or find a suitable place, parker gets Hachi home on a cold night. Having owned a dog before, parker had an agreement with his wife Cate that they would never keep a pet dog again. She goes ballistic as she discovers Hachi in her bedroom & orders Parker to have him led out immediately. Parker tries to buy time as he hides his growing affection for the misty eyed Akito from his wife. 

Parker consults his Japanese friend “ken” regarding the meaning of a symbol on Hachi’s collar. The symbol is “Hachi”, Japanese word for “good fortune” & that’s how “Hachi” gets his name. Each day, Parker tries to find Hachi a home while Cate helplessly sees Hachi making his place in the hearts of her husband & daughter. She finally receives a call from a prospect however, it’s too late…hachi had even taken Cate by his charm & she says “Sorry, the dog’s been taken.”

The next few scenes are a sheer joy for anybody’s who has ever owned a dog. The small joys of everyday life, the growing bond that Parker shared with Hachi brought tears in my eyes as I remembered my deceased dog & the fun we used to have. Hachi becomes an integral part of the Wilson household. Hachi is a grateful dog. He never forgets that it was Parker who saved him on a cold winter night & his loyalty holds highest with Parker. Hachi gives Parker company wherever he goes, sees him off to the railway station everyday & without fail, each day goes to receive him back, waiting outside the station. A wonder dog, he takes everyone by his charm as the butcher shop on the way too station treat him to sausages while regulars wish him as he becomes a part of their routine. Hachi even casts his spell on the local hot dog vendor who often doles out special treats for him.

Dogs have a strong gut feeling and one morning when Parker gets ready to leave for work, Hachi refuses to accompany him & tries his best to warn him of some danger he foresees. Hachi even fetches a ball, something, he had never done before. Ken had told Parker that Hachi is a wonder dog & if he fetches, he would do so for a special reason. Thinking this, Parker is elated, without realizing this was a warning to the danger Hachi had foreseen. Parker leaves for work, leaving a hyper Hachi behind. That day, at work Parker succumbs to a stroke. 

Things change with Cate selling her house & Hachi moved to Parker’s daughter’s place. However, for Hachi, the wait is still not over. He runs away from the house & makes the station his abode. Each day, he continues to wait for Parker at the station,hoping he would someday return & shower him with all his love like before. The station controller & the hot dog seller try their best to tell Hachi Parker would never return. Even Ken tries to convince Hachi in Japanese, but all goes in vain. Parker’s daughter & son in law come & take Hachi home however, seeing in his eyes & his determination to wait for his master, they let him be & bid him a teary farewell.  Hachi continues to wait for Parker each day at the station for the rest of his life.

On his 10^th death anniversary, Cate visits Parker’s grave & on her way back, is shocked to find Hachi still waiting at the station. She breaks down & hugs Hachi, perhaps regretting the love she could have showered on this loyal friend when parker 1^st got him home. She too tries to get him to terms with reality but Hachi’s hope is too strong to face the reality. The hot dog seller sees a new buddy in Hachi as he feeds him everyday & shares a few moments of buddy talk with him. Hachi, who has already become famous wth station regulars becomes a local hero with a newspaper story done on him. Till his last breath, Hachi hopes to be united with his master & so when his end comes, he closes his eyes & feels united with Parker.

What appeared as an amusing example in a class presentation has students moved as Ronnnie himself is unable to control his emotions. He now has his own Akita as he values the special bond Hachi shared with his grandfather & wants to replicate the same. 

It was a futile struggle to hold back my tears as I remembered the same bond my dog shared with my late mother. The movie, based on a true story of an Akito in Japan is a well crafted depiction of true love & devotion that exists even in the times of opportunism & deceit. Whenever I get a chance to visit Japan, a visit to the statue of the original Hachi will be definitely on my itinerary. Richard Gere, at his usual best & wonderful background piano scores add the perfect garnish to the emotional treat the movie offers. A must watch for all canine lovers…

The original Hachi

Hachi's statue outside Shibuya station

One evening in an auto…

When you’re back to Delhi after a while, the first thing you want is to rush to the kitchen and gorge on some homely delicacies. And the last thing u want is nonsense on the way home. Back to Delhi after a fortnight, I was super eager to be on time for a family dinner, especially since it wasn't at my place (so no cooking, serving or cleaning)! Not wanting to waste time, I took an auto from Dhaula Kuan, where my Rajasthan Roadways bus had dropped me. Unless you are not familiar with the Delhi auto protocols, you will definitely be taken for a ride. First thing first, no matter how many checks and rules our reformist govt comes up with, Delhi autowallahs will NEVER go by the meter. They will give some excuse or the other and would rather abandon u on the road than take the meter. If you go for the non meter option, the amount they quote depends more on their impression of yours than the distance to be covered. If you are a single woman looking for an auto post sunset, they will quote 30% more and remind u every 2 seconds later that it’s getting “late” madam! Wow! If u are soooo concerned about our safety, then better get your act right first and turn OFF your X ray eyes!

Anyway, if you are new to the city, or don’t want any mess, prepaid auto booths are best option. So I happily paid the money and boarded my auto. The auto wallah, chewing pan masala and donning a gamchha gave me an “X Ray” look and asked me…”madam, kahan ki slip lee hai?” The moment I uttered Karol Bagh, his face turned pale, as if I had said “Khooni Bagh” instead of “Karol Bagh”. He rushed to the prepaid booth cop and pleaded just like a student pleads for extra 5 minutes in an exam. But cops and teachers maintain their rules. So the guy was back, grumbling to himself. Pissed off, I asked him to return my receipt if he didn’t want to go. “It’s not like that madam, u see these cops don’t listen to us. Just now a Volvo came with Good passengers…but I will miss it now.” “Good passengers, what does he mean, I am a bad person? He doesn’t even know me. How can he call me bad?” I was about to shout at him when he started cribbing about his poverty & how he badly looks for long route passengers. “Oh, it’s the route that’s got to be Good”…I got it now.

He said “It’s so cold madam, I will have to go home and cook now. It’s so tough to live alone.” I was more interested in reaching home fast than listening to his cribbing. Experience has taught me when u are not interested in someone’s sob story, the “Hmm” always works. So, I gave an occasional “Hmmm” every now and then so that he doesn’t get offended and quickly takes me home.

However, my ordeal had just begun. Apparently the “Hmm” was enough encouragement for Mr. Chipkoo to carry forward the conversation. Within 5 minutes, he told me he is from Allahabad, stays alone near bypass, parents looking for a match, and even asked me how new was I to Delhi, whether I stayed with my family & whether I lived in my own house/rented accommodation. His too much too soon irritated me. “Rent pe rehney waalon ko discount detey ho kya bhaiya?” I asked. “Nahi madam, I wanted to know if being from Delhi, your parents have managed to own a house.” He said in his strong accent. We were on the unsafe ridge road & his questions were beginning to scare me now. I thought it safer to give him all fictitious details so that he doesn’t pester me just in case he is a psycho….so I told him I was living in a rented accommodation with my family.

That didn’t seem enough, for Mr. Chipkoo then said,”Madam, u are lucky u will get home cooked food & won’t have to cook like me. Do have a married brother whose wife cooks for you?” I’ve had it enough. I wished my adidas  shoes had a 3 inch pencil heel I could hit him with. “Bhaiyya, I am the daughter in law. And I cook, so u don’t tell me these stories” “You married madam? He looked around and gave me and “X Ray” look. Eeeeks! And he just kept looking back. “Accident ho jayega bhaiyya. Aagey dekho.” I said. “Nothing madam, I …. Could not make out from your attire….blah blah blah…this is a city…girls wear anything…blah blah blah”. I wished I had taken a bus. There are so many passengers there the driver wouldn’t care to talk to them. I looked at my phone. No signal. I couldn’t even call my husband to save me from this nonsense.

What followed then was even worse. He began some silly sob story about his parents trying to find a match, his love interest, who coincidentally met him in the same auto. She too like me, was a passenger, was talking to him like me (when did I do the talking?). How she fed him roasted peanuts as he drove her around. How she held his hand & proposed him. How he took her to the hotel for dinner and…

By now my frustration & irritation seemed no bounds. I was no longer interested in listening to this B grade movie script & to what happened in the hotel after dinner. So I pretended to call my husband. “Mere pati gussa ho rahey hain ki main late ho gayee hun.” I interrupted his nonsense. “Koi baat nahee madam, hum bhaiyya ko samjhaa dengey kitna tirraafffic thhaa.” Mr. CHipkoo was in full mood to meet my husband. Phew!

I was feeling really unsafe now. He was more irritating than the character of Vinay Pathak in Bheja Fry. Who knows, even a psycho who stalks women boarding his auto. I didn’t want him to see which house I entered. So I asked him to stop two lanes before my brother in law’s house & rushed home. I had escaped the torture of Mr.Chipkoo’s pulp fiction stories! Finallly!

Can’t say if this will deter me from taking an auto next time, but here are a few takeaways I have from this experience -

1. A simple “hmmmm” is also conversation.

2.  Delhi autowallahs are shameless not only with their “X Ray” vision & “rates” but also with their stories.

3.    No matter how much courage & tact you display, all husbands think their wives are fools & they never let go of their “what you should have rather done” moments. 

Pakaaooo shayree of the day#1

Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai

Exams se ye bahut darrrtaa hai

Jab saamney kitaabein aatee hain

Facebook karney ko jee karrtaaa hai!!!

Lolz!

The road to freedom

Washed out!

The mind is like a horse – works well when reigns are pulled. If left to itself, it just goes out of control. Till yesterday, stressed by exam fever, my mind was at its creative best. It was brimming with ideas, pleading me to pen them down. And come today, with stress gone, my mind is in its own world. All the ideas have vanished in thin air. Me wonders what to write….

A horse@ IMA Dehradun

Silly Point

I have shared my blog with a few friends and listening to their reviews, I feel on the top of the world! Thanks all of u for your encouragement! Thanks to your encouragement, I am confident that regardless of whatever CGPA I fall into, I will surely do something good in life.

Well, now a serious problem I want to share with you all. Unknowingly, I have become a blogaddict. Sounds cool but I feel like a fool. I have a monstrous exam tomorrow and while others are busy practicing, the blogger in me has overpowered the studios me. Blog addiction is worse than any other addiction. Coz when u feel the urge, u have to satisfy it there and then. And your creative mind can have the “Eureka” moment anywhere – in the middle of the lecture, on the road,in the metro, at a social gathering,  in the washroom or even in the middle of the night. If not addressed at that moment, the idea vanishes, leaving behind heaps of regrets. Reminds me of my amateur poetry days. The peom had to be penned down the moment it was thought!

Since stress brings the best out of me, I have given in to my Eureka moment. And I have convinced myself to rush to preparation the minute I upload this (result will be the same anyway, so might as well give myself a few moments of joy).

Today’s blog is dedicated to a very special member of my project group thanks to whom, I have spent 2 precious hours of my preparation time completing something that was HIS responsibility. As I dug deep into the error full work he had done, I almost reached my boiling point. And he simply made a cute face and told me, “This is a group effort. Please complete it. You can vent out your frustration later via your blog!” All through the process, instead of taking onus, he has been simply doing status checks & motivating us that he trusts our capability. To top it all, when I was taking notes in the class, he asked me to compile everything and mail him a ready reckoner! Wow!

Whoever said diversity enriches the group should come now and take tomorrow's exam on my behalf. And as for the group member, on an optimistic note, I’m glad he atleast made an effort (though an effort full of errors). But then, in the words of all the bosses in this world, that’s what people management is all about! 

Raja@Neemrana mod

Few days ago, I was at Neemrana mod to catch a bus. And look at what I saw! The doggie on this cart looked like a maharaja enjoying his ride. He seemed glad God made him a dog and not a horse else he wouldn’t have had this luxury! I immediately nicknamed him "Raja".

Look at him...

The Maharaja enjoying his sawaari

What to do in a boring lecture

Hi,

I am sitting in a boring lecture. I usually am a 100% attendance person and try my best to be attentive but this particular class is as torturous for the students as it is for the professor. I look at him…words flow like a rap, you can just feel the bass without making sense out of the song!

Since time is as judicious as the non renewable sources of energy, I thought why not spend this 1 hour doing something I like! Lets blog! So I began thinking what all can be done and in the process traveled from my school days to college, to office training sessions & MBA days. 

Today’s blog is dedicated to all the wonderful things you can do while stuck in a boring lecture. I call it captive creativity! Here’s a list of options - 

1. Surf net on your phone.
2. Update your friend about the latest gossips.
3. Finish off the Tiffin (did that so much in my 12^th standard physics lectures)
4. Play game on the phone (mute mode!)
5. Plan for the day ahead
6. Sit on the back bench and complete assignment of any other subject (pretending you are religiously taking notes)
7. Catch up on sleep
8. Plan for the blog (for a blogaholic like me!)
9. Watch cricket match live on your laptop
10. Draw a cartoon of the professor
11. Read newspaper (mostly applicable for MBA finance students)
12. Practice arithmetic – count no. of seconds left for the class to finish
13. Concentrate on professor (only if good looking, if guy. If lady professor, note the clothes, jewellery, makeup, hair and all that girlie stuff) and gossip about it
14. Organize eyes wide open sleeping tournaments
15. File nails
16. Practice maths - Calculate probability of good food in the mess (if a foodie like me)
17. Plan what to cook for evening and inventory situation inside refrigerator (if u r married…used to do that in my evening French classes)
18. Practice maths – count number of lectures to attend to qualify for minimum mandatory attendance requirement

This isn’t an exhaustive list. Please feel free to contribute for the benefit of anyone who in future may refer to this blog to explore options while stuck with a boring, buzzing professor.

Pic Courtesy : Google Search

Doggie@Amrita Shergill Marg

Delhiites love to take their canine companions with them wherever they go. The lush green spaces of central Delhi provides ample opportunities for dog lovers and u’ll see many people flocking to Lodhi Garden with their proud possessions.

While passing by Amrita Shergill Marg, I saw this dog at the traffic signal in an auto rickshaw. He looked well fed and taken care of. Being used to the comfort of air conditioner, he probably wasn’t enjoying the autorickshaw ride & so chose to look outside for timepass! He looked too cute & adorable & the shutterbug in me just couldn’t resist. Here’s a pic…isn’t he cute?

RIP Bal Thackerey

A leader is born, not made. And when they walk, millions walk behind them, trusting the path they follow. Such a leader was Bal Thackerey. I have never seen him nor been to Mumbai, but sitting in Delhi, I have always heard of his headline making comments in media. When he roared, the roar reached Delhi in no time. I was feeling not too optimistic about his state when I read 2 days ago that filmstars cancelled their events to visit him and when I read about his demise in the morning paper, it reminded me of my mother’s demise last year. Since I lost my mother, I have developed a kind of empathy with every departing soul. Whenever I come to know of someone’s demise or see a cremation mass, I pray for peace of the departed soul, strength for his family and happiness for my mother, wherever she is. Sometimes, when I see a corpse being taken to the cremation ground, I silently ask him/her to tell my ma how much I miss her. I know it sounds weird, but when u suddenly loose someone u love so much, u crave for even an atom of that soul.

As the last rites were being telecast on TV, I could see his son, trying to hold his emotions, following the directions of the priests. Celebs too are humans. There are moments when you feel like being alone and manage your grief. But when their happiness is public, so is their sorrow. And he looked alone among lakhs of people who joined him in his grief.

In this age when people are bound to gather for a common cause or have to be enticed to come for rallies or protests, it’s amazing that lakhs of people came to pay their respects to their leader. People who were unrelated to him, cried bitterly at the loss. In life, we all strive to cater to our desires,, ambitions etc. But there are people who look beyond and walk to make a change. And they are remembered not for who they are but for what they did and how they made a difference to the lives of people they worked for. Such was his leadership. RIP Bala Sahab Thackerey

Soya rolls on the street

I’m a born Brahmin, brought up in a house where garlic was a forbidden item; married in a family where eggs are considered something that destroys your dharma, or religion! So, u can well understand my exposure to carnivorous stuff. The sight of tandoori chicken or kebabs arranged on skewers fills my olfactory senses with all sorts of foul smells.

Lately, I have been spotting many outlets with the usual stuff (looks like chicken parts) hung on skewers. But wait! the signboard mentions 100% vegetarian! Wow! My friends tell me soya tastes almost like non veg. I decided to give these a try.

Mom in law was super skeptical. The sight of the usual things on skewers made her cover her nose in anticipation. I reassured her it’s just soya, the one we cook at home.

There were no chairs, no classy crockery, yet I was amazed to see the crowd which grew as dinnertime neared. Just six round tables with a pack off tissue papers on each. The waiters wore no uniforms but could be easily identified as the busiest lot, hopping between the tables, cash counter and kitchen, making a mental note of the order sans any order pad. There are no errors; the right dish goes to the right table, or the car.

There is something about street food. The outlet opens by 7 each evening and the daily footfalls might give any restaurant an inferiority complex. Delhiites can go to anywhere as long as the food suits their palate. Its futile waiting for table there, so people mostly enjoy their treats in their cars.

We managed to get a corner table, below a peepal tree and the waiter hurriedly kept a menu card and left. Mom in law and I felt like total amateurs. So many treats to offer out of the simple soya!

Hubby ordered Soya rolls while we went for the malai soya chaap with rumaalis.  Succulent soya wrapped around ice cream sticks, marinated in a blend of spices, immersed in creamy gravy, here was malai chaap. I told mom in law, “this is what you looked at covered your nose, I am sure you wouldn’t want to have this!” She smiled and pounced on the treat accompanied by unlimited onion rings and green chutney!

But I went gaga over their rolls! You see I’m a rolls afficionado. From the street side corner below my office to wah ji wah, soya express, I try ‘em all. But this was simple and yummy, no greasy sauce, no oil dripping out of the rolls. I enjoyed the chemistry between soya marinated and roasted to perfection, and soft, warm, thin layer of the wrap. I could actually concentrate on the original taste of soya without irritated by the oily, greasy sauce. To add to this, the onion rings and chutney kept me asking for more and the waiters obliged with a smile every time. At 120 bucks, the treat was just not bad! One of the best soya rolls I had so far!

We have become regulars now, though now, we too enjoy the rolls in the comfort of our car. The Amritsar chaap corner is definitely must a visit for those who love rolls sans the greasy sauce and oil! 

Hostel khichri

Till now my hostel cooking had been confined to preparing maggi (mostly cuppa mania) & boiling milk, thanks to the microwave in the pantry. But, the horrible mess food got the chef in me take charge of my lazy self. In my quest to lose weight & avoid the rich mess food, I had taken some khichri mixture, spices & desi ghee to the hostel. So, when the mess menu read poori & alu sabji, I knew it was time to do the shri ganesh of the ingredients. And so, with the blessings of ganeshjee in my hostel room, I prepared khichri in microwave…

1^st things first, the rice & moong dal mixture have to be soaked in water. But I was so hungry that I completely forgot about it. Anyway, I took some desi ghee in my new Borosil microwave safe bowl, put it in the microwave for 1 min, then put some laung & peppercorns that my mom in law had happily packed in the bowl. Once they cracked, I put the rice & dal mixture (washed 2-3 times with fresh water) along with spices (salt, red chilli powder, turmeric) & poured enough water to match up the height of index finger. Then, my khichri was off to the microwave at High for 15min.

These 15min transformed me literally to a hungry doggie! I knew it would take at least 10min or even more (since I hadn’t soaked the mixture) however, the intense hunger had me hovering around the microwave every 2 minutes.

As I waited for the khichri to get cooked, I remembered how my mother used to prepare the perfect khichri in pressure cooker, served with huge dollops of ghee & chopped onions. I used to hate it back then, but now I crave for even a single morsel of her dish. Wonder if mine would even have the right spices.

I wondered how good is it to have families, the best support system in whatever you do. I had just uttered that I wanted to cook on my own whenever the menu was bad at mess. My super caring husband had without delay, bought me the microwave bowls, desi ghee (so that my skin remains good in winters), the khichri mixture & a lot of other goodies. Mom in law had lovingly packed extra laung and spices & told me a 1000 times to put enough water & check with someone regarding Microwave cooking. Gosh! I was missing home.

Beep Beep Beep! The microwave signaled me the khichri was ready. Here it was, slightly watery, the dal not mashed as in cooker. But, the aroma of ghee, laung & peppercorns was amazing. Spicy & piping hot, it just made my day!

Piping Hot!

What do I like?

During Diwali cleaning, I found my school slam book.  As I flipped through my entries, I realized how diverse my interests were. The column “best friend” had a long list of friends in my group, “movies” included my favorites & probably the favorites of my sisters, friends…hehe. Same was the case music, books, colors and other things. And now, things are so different. Coffee means my hubby’s special whipped to perfection, tea means only ginger tea and I would rather stay hungry than eat pizza without corn.

Do we become selective with age? I wondered. True.  And to reinforce this, I probed my 13yr old niece & her friends. To my surprise, they all sounded like I did in my teens.  Every answer was carefully crafted with the most happening, chic and cool options. To them, more meant cool, and a way of showing how much they were aware of the “happening” things. I asked my niece “who’s your best friend?” “Alia, Neeti, Neha, Dhruv, Mayank…. She just went on and on.” They don’t teach good grammar at school, I thought. “Beta, best means one THE best, the one you like the most”, I said. “Oh masi, I love my entire group! We hang out a lot, look so cool together and are so happening. The entire school is so J (jealous) of our gang”. It is only when I asked her who would she confide in if she had a breakup that she came up with one name. Just like I had so many favorites mentioned in that slam book years ago, my niece had so many answers when it came to movies, books, hobbies and music.” I will ask these questions again after 10 years baby,” I told her as I left.

But why do we become so selective with time? When we are young, we want to show off how cool we are, want to be the best, and so whenever asked to make choices, rather than thinking what we like, we think what will make others think we're cool. As we get into the rut of life, we realize the most precious thing is our own happiness; our “ME” time and learn to value quality more than quantity.

The same me who loved to be seen with the biggest gang of friends in school, now prefer few but true friends, who I can trust. Instead of piling calories for the sake of others, I now prefer to focus on wholesome, well prepared, healthy food that will make me feel good. I would rather celebrate occasions with people I care for than with big group of people who don’t know the real me. If I have to spend 3 hrs on a movie, I would rather watch the genre I love rather than going for the most popular one. Instead of stocking my closet with anything and everything coming my way, I now shop for clothes I feel will really suit my persona & have learnt to discard the old ones. I have now realized the relevance of letting go of what no longer suits me, have learnt to focus on the things I really like, prioritize my time who I can count upon and the most sought after “me” time.

Most importantly, I have learnt to communicate my preferences without the fear of rejection. Maslow rightly placed affiliation needs at the top of his need hierarchy pyramid. And often we don’t communicate our choices fearing the reaction from others. If we learn to put our foot down, speak openly what we like and what we don’t, give our true opinions rather than being populist, believe me, it will give tremendous boost to our happiness quotient. It will also earn us true friends and well wishers who know and value the real us. Quality and not quantity is the key.

“Hmmm…wisdom”, I said to which my mother in law laughed and said “wait another 10 yrs & every choice by default will be tweaked to match that of your kids”.

Miles to go before I sleep...

Streetfood fest@ Sitaram Bazaar

I just love October…the soft chill in the air, festivity, colors, sparkle, joy, excitement, shopping and my favorite…food! Delhites need an excuse to satiate their taste buds with the yummiest treats the city has to offer. Since I am not much into fasting, navratras for me are nine days of sheer gastronomical paradise. I get to savor the best of vrat (hindi word for fasting) and non vrat food. From the bhog at Durga Puja pandals to the specially designed navratra thalis at restaurants, it’s my yearly ritual to have them all. 

One event I really look forward to every year is the baadaa at Sitaram Bazaar, Old Delhi. Sitaram bazaar is Old Delhi’s chaat capital and when they come up with something special, it’s a must have. I first went there 4 years ago and since then there has been no looking back.

Baadaa is a midnight food festival (mela) organized during navratras and goes on till Dussehra. Nine days of festivities, late night melas and lot of joy. Sitaram Bazar, during the day is swarming with people. However, for the baadaa, shops close early and makeshift food counters are setup. 

The moment I stepped out of the Chawri Bazzar, the glitter, lights and the aroma of delhi’s delicacies surrounded me. Wow! I couldn’t wait to get started!

Chawri Bazar Metro Station

In front of Sitaram Bazar

The lights!

Making our way through the crowded lane and the umpteen rickshaws, we first reached New Ashoka sweets. An otherwise famous shop of Sitaram Bazaar, they serve special delicaies for navratras. All shops serve 100% vegetarian food and most will also dole out dishes you can have while fasting. In fact, I was surprised to see every second counter serving vegetarian seekh kebabs.  The shop was crowded as if it was serving food for free. The 20 min wait for my order was a torture as I could see (and worse, smell the amazing aroma) the delicacies people enjoyed and my mouth watered and watered. But the wait was worth it. Kebabs made of cottage cheese, served in spicy gravy, served with onion lacchha (salad) and rumaali rotis, made to perfection. I was amazed how, despite the mad rush, the order taker made no mistakes in delivery while the rumali roti guy dished out roti after roti within minutes. 

People waiting for their order

Veg Kathi kebabs

The rumali roti expert

Rumali Roti

Veg Kathi Kebab with Rumali roti & onion lachha

Next in line was aloo paneer tikki…flattened balls of potato and cottage cheese, spiced up and shallow fried till crispy. Tikkis have to be cooked on the right flame for the right time else the result gets messed up. Maybe thats why, people didnt seem that patient to wait and the stall was relatively less crowded. But patience pays.The guy served the tikkis with generous helpings of tamarind and mint chutney and … My mouth still waters as I write. Crispy, hot, spiced up, with dash of chutneys, I loved the tikkis.

Aloo tikki and chaat

I had heard so much about Kanji vadas from my mother in law, so the moment I spotted the cart selling them; I was after my hubby to try them out. Kanji vadas are pakodas (fritters) served soaked in spicy water (kanji) and is a must try whenever u come to Delhi. The pakodas could have been softer and fresh but the spicy water made up up for them.

Kanji vada

Once a week, I have a date with Chhole Kulchey, but the ones I had here were very different than the others. In a hurry, the guy, just sprinkled lots of masala on the chholey and sprinkled lemon juice without bothering to mix it up. But, voila, what a treat it was! Every bite a super spicy affair! My eyes were watery (tears of gastronomical joy!) and I was loving it.

Chhole Kulche

I also tried the moong dal chilla, pancakes made of moong dal, stuffed with coriander, cottage cheese and served with chutney. Didn’t find much difference between them and the usual stuff I get to eat at every second wedding.

Moong dal chilla

People waiting for their chilla

Right next to the chilla counter stood Om prakash Kulfi waala. The ice creams at Sitaram Bazzar are prepared in unique manually operated ice cream makers in front of your eyes, from real fruits, no added flavors. You won’t get this stuff anywhere else. A must try. I tried the mango and pomegranate ice cream and they just melted in my mouth! One of the best ice creams I ever had.

Kulfi cart

Manual ice cream machine

Mango ice cream

Pomegranate ice cream

I was about to leave when I spotted this cart with nankhatai. At Rs 20 for 100g, I got the freshest, warmest and softest nankhatais that only Old delhi can offer. I quickly gobbled few and got some packed for my tid bit treats at home.

Nankhatais

It was time to leave. The crowd was growing every minute and I was told this would be so till 1-2 at night. The liveliness was infectious and I didn’t want to leave. I filled the aroma one last time and hurried to grab the metro…

Some more pics from the fest...

Balloon seller

Masks popular with kids during Dussehra

Masks, bow and arrows 

Servers in traditional attire

Rickshaw carrying water jugs back from shops

   

Chuski shop

The joy of eating

Outside New Delhi Railway Station