Dandiya Season isin't yet over... the fun continues

You all might have heard that the Dandiya Season has come to an end.... but hold your breath, the fun isin't over yet.

The last Dandiya Event is on 27th of this month on the auspicious occassion of Sharad Purnima.

You too can be a part of the celebrations at Maruti Gardens, Khairtabad on 27th.

Now, you might be wondering, where is this Maruti Gardens, chill, checkout the route map below.



Its pretty easy to reach there and do make sure to wear something traditional, so as to not to be the odd one out.

Be a part of the crowd and enoy the festive season to the fullest.

Shall keep you posted about the timings and the contact numbers

Cross Cultural Amalgamation

Amalgamantion, I swear by Oxford's, is the best term to be used here to put much needed stress on this post.

Cross Cultural Amalgamation – The combination of two or more cultures.

Dandiya pretty synonymous with Gujrati Community has more and more patrons joining in the bandwagon every year. Navratri Utsavs, pretty famous all over India, are well known for the celebrations and the eagerness with which people from different walks of life come together and place themselves on a single platform,a platform of Universal Brotherhood.

A couple of decades ago, Navratri Utsavs seemed to be limited for Gujrati Folks only, but as time changes and it is a well known fact that Time Takes It Own Toll, Navratri Celebrations have off late started being more of an event for cross cultural celebrations.

Name any particular religion and you will find them there, dancing on the Dandiya beats, Religions holds no importance on the floor. Who made the religions, the man. God has always accepted everyone open heartedly and the same is pretty evident at these Navratri Utsavs. Ask any one who has been to Navratri Utsavs, they would swear by it that there were no issues pertaining to any sort, between them. Its all about being together.

This year, ushered in one of my colleagues from Sri Lanka, right on time for Dandiya. Excitement seemed to be on the peak of it. We all were elevated and were high about him, joining us for the event. Generally speaking, we've been to Dandiya with lots of people before including expats from UK, US and Australia. But this time, it was a lot different, it was someone from pretty close by. A person, who knows about India and has seen these celebrations in a lot of Bollywood Movies.

No pun intended, but he proved to be worth the mettle. It sort of takes a person a lot of guts to start off dancing admist huge crowd, which could give a well developed city a run for money.

Lemme introduce him, he is Lakpriya and we call him Lak. So, Lak was on the floor with us and it took barely a few minutes to get him into the groove and he was all by himself, dancing the night away. Dandiya continued for some time and then started the typical bollywood style of dancing clubbed with a few of Garba steps and Dandiya steps... the one we generally do at the end of the whole event, where we all break loose and go casual with the dance.

It was fun and frolic all the way.

All stressed out and drenched, we all sat down for a quick chat, which continued on for long and long.

Lak, tasted Kaalakhatta Ice Gola, pretty famous out here. Hope he liked it. Just lick it real slow, is all I can say about it.

More updates coming soon.

Challenging the Challengers

We all Dandiya Freaks challenged the Challengers at Namdhari Gaurav Navratri Utsav at last.

As the clock slowly ticked towards the 11.30 deadline, we all were in for a surprise as Challengers continued playing way beyong the deadline. We were all too excited about it but as you are very well aware that excitement is like a bubbles in a glass of Beer, even before you could have it, they disappear. Just 5 mins through and the music ceased...... oh! we were so disheartened.

Again another day wasted 'cos of the Terrorist Organizations. Special thanks to the terrorist organizations for playing around with the lives of people. Peaceful hyderabad turns into Timorous Hyderabad. Enough of brick batting the TO's, I shouldn't be wasting the time and blog space on these topcs, we've got the so called intelligence team to look after this.

So, now getting back to the Dandiya thing, we were all very disheartened but they took it up to the next level with some more music, that continued on for another 30 mins. What a respite, atleast we were able to touch the 12:00 timezone, else I thought this year, we won't be inching towards the 12:00 timezone.

Dancing to a new version of Nasik Dhol, with a lot of inclination towards Dandiya, that was a perfect blend of Dhol-o-Dandiya. Then followed by all the older tracks, concentrating much on the music part of it.

Overall, it was a great experience.

Namdhari Gaurav Navratri Utsav turns out to be a damp squid

Drumroll! The Dandiya season’s here and the city’s party lovers have already chalked out plans for the nine nights of feisty dancing.

Dainty cholis and kurtis teamed up with jeans, colourful lehengas and jhumkas were to stir the festive spirit. But what makes this whole thing a damp squid???

The over enthusiastic organizers closing down the celebraitons at 11.30. There were times when these events used to start at 10.30 and the whole arena used to heat up at 11.30 as this was the time, when most of the people walked in and used to get into the groove.

But 2007 brings in a lot of surprises, the deadline of 11.30. Early start of the event. Loads of security personnel around. Special thanks to the recent spate of bomb blasts and hoax calls, it was a good initiative by the organizers to having step-up the security but the unimaginable deadline of 11.30 seems to be the real problem.

There were times when we used to be around till 04.00 in the morning dancing the night away, enjoying each and every beat to the fullest. Following the rhythm of the dandiya beat used to be something done very very religiously. Those were the times, when it used to be all soiled Kurta-Pajama's, all drenched up souls dancing fervously to the tunes of Dandiya Beats. Those were the days :(

Now the times have changed with the super imposed deadline of 11.30, nothing seems to be working out now.

Who do you think would be able to go to that place by 7.30 and start the whole thing? Its been 3 days since this event started and i'ev just clocked about 1.20 Hrs on my dandiya celebrations watch. Danced just for 1.20 Hrs in these 3 Days... ain't it pathetic.

But, we all hope for the best and expect that the time extends atleast till 02.00 :D

The Dandia fever is here. And it is to stay for nine days.

What a respite!!!

The Dandia fever is here. And it is to stay for nine days.

After days of anticipation and searching through Hindi Milap & Hindi Vaarta religiously everyday for the past 10 days, it was a respite seeing the first Advt. of Dandiya of the season. Hope this isin’t the first and last of those Ad’s.

I still remember the days, when we used to see loads and loads of Ads everyday, about each and every Dandiya event organized in Twin Cities.

Times have changed now, thanks to the recent bomb blasts and the threats, due to which the organizers seem to have shied away from organizing the event this year.

Generally speaking, one could see a dozen Ad’s in news papers daily about various Dandiya events.

Namdhari Gaurav Navratri Utsav, a name synonymous with Navratri Celebrations in Hyderabad is back to their basics this year by organizing it at Mallareddy Gardens, their home ground. It used to be real fun at Mallareddy Gardens but from the past couple of years, they had shifted their base to HITEX Grounds, near Hitec City.

It was such a passé, never felt like going there. Whats the point in dancing on Carpeted floor, that too indoors. Authenticity seemed to be the lowest there.

The reverberating sound in the closed indoor hall of Hitex made me feel as if I am a part of one of those events organized by Gujrati Students Associations in USA, where in they generally do the Navratri Celebrations in Auditoriums and Halls. Enclosed Arena with Carpeted Floors isn’t that authentic for Dandiya.

Me too, as the organizers, have shied away from Namdhari Gaurav Navratri Utsav for the past 2 years and have been to various other places except Namdhari Gaurav Navratri Utsav full time.

But this time, it is a total different story altogether, I shall be back to the basics with Namdhari’s…. BACK TO MALLAREDDY ;)

Lemme share something with you, about 4 years ago, I still remember the day, when all of a sudden it started drizzling and everyone on the floor started running away, searching for shelters. We were a group of about 12 people, we continued dancing as we always follow one thing “Let Rain Come or Sun Shine, the Show Must Go On”.

Initially people thought we were crazy, but a few minutes later, we could see people rushing back onto the floor and most of them joined us and danced away in the rain. It was real fun, “The Challengers”, were all excited by the sight and were playing the best of the best tracks for us all, The Brave Soldiers of Navratri, who fought with rain and were continuing with what they loved the most.

This year, I do anticipate Rain and the Garbaraas drenched in rain.

Rain rain don’t go away,
Come again right away.
All the people,
Wanna play

So, lets embark on this new mission and shall keep you all posted about the latest happenings and etc.

Time is ticking by...

Time seems to be ticking by and as I am compelled to sit down and count the days left.
Now you might be wondering, counting days for what????7 Days to go before Ramzam ends and that ceases the sale of Haleem.5 Days to go for the start of my favorite season “Navratri” & these 10 days are mine and try to live life to the fullest.So what do these numbers mean, lemme put it straight… 2 days to less Haleem for me this time. I abstain myself from Non-veg food for these 10 days and hence, I am on loss of 2 days….
But the excitement of Navratri is killing me now, can’ wait for Friday, the 12th. Gonna be there for sure.

Shall keep posted about the latest happenings at the Dandiya Fests around the city, so be tuned in.

Inhabitants of Charminar do follow Traffic Rules

Who says inhabitants of Old City aka Charminar do not follow Traffic Rules?

Seen this Helmet placed atop a Bicycle, looks as if the bicycle rider is well aware of the Traffic Rules and is wearing a Helmet for safety reasons, the safety reasons best known to him.

Ice Cream @ Darley's

Darley's Ice Cream, doesn't it sound too wierd to see a name like Darley's being put up for an Ice Cream Parlour. It sounds as if I am calling my dog to stop being a jerk on the middle of the road and get back into the backyard and do the playing or his stupid antics.

If I was in a situation like this and I were to write a brief summary of the whole incident, I would jot down "Darley", I Scream at the top of my voice, "get back into the backyard and play stupid there"

Jokes apart and getting back to the usual habit of quoting the quotes, I find one quote very apt to this situation "Everything that glitters is not Gold", how true. A very original quote by Chaucer and mind you it wasn't Shakesphere (He isin't any brother or distant relation of Britney Spears, how true to their name and nature they are, quite opposite), who quoted this. The original Latin proverb Non omne quod nitet aurum est - Everything that glitters is not Gold was used by Chaucer (c. 1374-87). Shakey used this quote and that closes the opportunity for any kind of discussion here, and that's it. Instead of inviting controversies and initiating discussions, I would love to drop down straigt away into the topic.

After the sumptuous Haleem served brimming (to put it straight forward in Hyderabadi Hindi "Haath Choor Ke Daala") in a peforated theramic bowl, we landed at Darley's for some ice creams. Expecting the least that the ice cream would turn out to be frozen crstals of water dipped in juices and ground in a blender so as to resemble a scoop of fresh ice cream. It was Fresh, it was all icy and it had cream in it. Lo Behold! I've my own recipie of an ice cream now.

We had pre-planned the order and wanted to eat that and to our utter dismay, Darley's had everything on the menu card, but were pushing the customers to have their specials that day. So we thought "Why not we take a chance and try it out. We've been experimenting with food for whole of our life, so why not again today"

With these annotations, we asked the Icy Cool Guy serving Ice Cream as to what are the 4 best ice creams there and even before we could complete the question, that guy was all blushing and all happy as if we have given him the best opportunity of life. It looks like, people there never allow these guys to speak. The guy was all so confident and explained us what each one of these ice creams have and what's the best one to opt for.

Me being a Black Currant aficionado, I asked him get me something that has loads of Black Currant and he asked me to opt for "California something" and others ordered for their own stuff like Blue Passion, Darleys Love and etc.

Those platters arrived even before we could say "Wow!". Checkout for yourselves the beauty of the ice creams.

All the Ice Creams, before being served and vanquished

Darley's Love - Served to MHer Raz

California Something - Served to Me

Blue Passion - Served to MHer Imz

Do not have those guts to post the ice cream savoured by MHer Mushy

Now this takes the piece of the cake or the final topping for the whole thing, even before we could finish 35.64% of the served Ice Creams, we were bowled out. We were discussing so as to avoid eating the ice cream, we had a chat about many stupid issues and topics which actually made no sense in the real world. We had to spend some time there as we had to pay money for Nuts (and that was what we all had that day at Darley's)

If you remember, in the begining of the post I mentioned that i've come up with a special recipe of Ice Cream. I would like to name my Ice Cream as "Black Love Californificated on the Platter". Now, its high time that I share the recipe with all you Ice Cream Lovers.

What is "Black Love Californificated on the Platter"?
A good concoction of all the left over ice creams,
when mixed together and topped with Black Currant Juice.

Its fun being creative, rather than sulking on the money wasted

The Magic of Pista House

What is synonymous between a Tsunami and People thronging Pista House for Haleem?
Both tend to swell as the time passes by...

Serious jokes apart, this is however a fact that as days pass by the influx of people visiting Pista House swells to such an extent that parking of bikes around the area seems to be a herculean task.

Swankiest Bikes, Swankiest Cars parked bang right on the middle of the road is a usual sight nearby Pista House now. The less foruntate ones, who reach with the least luck got to drive a bit more ahead to park their vehicles. However, as goes the saying "Everyone has a piece of Cake, not matter how many turn up", you could see Servers (not the IBM or SUN Servers, but the people who serve you Haleem expecting some tip from your side) running helter skelter, carrying loads of Haleem Bowls stacked on a Serving Tray.

We were fortunate enough to have 160 (Md. Ayub Khan) by our side, would love to call him 160 even though his name was printed on the card, as that is what you need to remember if he slips away with your 1000 Ruppee Note, this seems to be a distant dream as no one outhere seems to do something like this.

(MHer Mushtaq seen with our beloved 160)

(Me, an avid Haleemer with those few last spoons of Pista House Haleem)

If you love trekking and adventure, then try walking around Pista House barefooted. Mountains of Haleemish Bones can be seen strewn all over the place and lucky dog gets most of the bones. Dogs do frequent Pista House and relish the Haleem as we all do. They do take it as a sense of pride, when they get their share of Haleemish Bones around the place. Some more fortunate ones do get a spoonfull of Haleem dropped by the Generous Haleemer (a person who is fond of Haleem and gulps down loads and loads of Haleem, no pun intended)

(MHer Imran at Pista House)

People were seen getting back to business, as this roadside stall selling footwear that would give D&G, Prada, Vercase a run for money. Want a Diesel styled Shoes, then do checkout these roadside stalls and you would not be disheartened. You would be the lucky few, who get to wear a Diesel Shoes designed somewhere in the world but made in the bylanes of Mumbai or Hyderabad.

When a lion dines, fox gets his share too... Proving this idiom right is the existence of various outlets who sell stuff that could flush in the Heavy Haleem, for instance bang beside Pista House would you notice this shop selling Lassi, Faluda and etc etc etc, to cool your tummy and flush down the Haleem.

Charminar Gleams and Shines this festive season

Charminar, been a haven for hawkers and small time petty sellers selling their stocks. Come the holy month of Ramzan and we can see oceans of people thronging the small puny lanes of Charminar, Madina, Ghasmandi, Afzal Gunj, Gulzar Houz, Lad Bazaar and etc etc etc, shopping for the forthcoming festival.

Life starts at 7.00 in the evening, i.e., after the Iftar, here in Charminar and goes on till the wee hours of the morning before the time for Saher.

As goes the saying "Variety is the spice of life", this notation can really be seen true here in Charminar, where in we do see variety of activities partaken by Hyderabadis at Charminar, right from shopping to eating food to savouring on the various sweet shops to Special Pan's to Chais to etc etc etc.

Its all about fun all the way. People love shopping at Charminar 'cos its would be one of the best experiences ever.

Right from huge bargains to loads of options to choose from.

Don't be surprised if you come across someone sitting at a shop and bargaining with immense vigour for a saree. Take for instance, you go down to buy a saree at Charminar and the shop keeper tells you the best price he can give you is Rs. 2,000/-. You try bargaining it and are quite successfull at closing the deal at Rs. 1,800/-. And as you pay the bill and are about to leave, you come across a frequent shopper at Charminar, who knows how to bargain.

You just wait there to see, what happens, the person actually bargains it so perfectly that she lands up to the best price of Rs. 1,200/-

That's the speciality of Charminar, if you know Bargaining then you are at profit and if you lack the skill of bargaining, then the shop keeper is at Profit, but down the line, the bottom line is both of you would be at profit.

Charminar (Madina) being a wholesale cloth market, it is pretty obvious that the lot here would be pretty much cheaper than purchasing the same thing at Shopper's Stop or Lifestyle.
So, 3 cheers for our Old City, Charminar

(Apologies for the bad quality of photographs, was taking them on the move)