Lohagarh Fort, Bharatpur

As I had an hour until Banke Bihari Temple opened, I decided to take a round around Lohagarh Fort in Bharatpur. It was quite a long walk as it was a big fort.

Lohagarh meant made up of Iron Fort. Jat rulers of Bharatpur built it.

Maharaja Suraj Mal built numerous forts one of them was Lohagarh Fort. The fort was considered invincible as it was surrounded by a huge moat and was made up of thick walls.  

Inside Fort there was a museum but alas it was closed on that day.

Maharaja Suraj Mal statue was worth seeing.

Numerous stories of bravery of Jat kings were written over there on the stones.

The view from the top showed some age old havelies.

Patties of a difference!

Just outside Banke Bihari Temple in Bharatpur, there is a patties shop. Though many patties shop are mushrooming these days on the roadside in almost every city. But this shop has a different style of serving patties. They slice the hot potato patties in half and put the sav (thick bhujia) in it along with finely chopped onion. Then they pour spicy imali chutney and ketchup in it. And serve it on a paper plate for just Rs. 10/. This is the cheapest and tastiest snack I ever have!

If you visit Bharatpur, don’t forget to taste patties from this tiny roadside shop. You can even alter some of the ingredients as per your choice and taste!

Moringa Puri – Tasty as well as healthy

I love to experiments with food. Here is one of my successful experiments, which turn out to be tasty as well as healthy.

For making moringa puri we need moringa powdered made from dried moringa leaves. You can purchase it from the market or from me. :) Moringa is rich in Calcium and Iron. It helps in removing malnourishment in children and helps in relieving joint pain in elders.

Ingredients

Wheat flour – 1 cup

Suji / Semolina – ¼ cup

Ajwain / Carom – ¼ teaspoon

Moringa powder – ¼ teaspoon

Ghee – ½ teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil/ Ghee for frying

Method

1.      Take wheat flour and semolina in a bowl and mix them well.

2.      Mix salt, ajwain and moringa powder in it.

3.      Pour warm ghee in it and rub it well.

4.      Knead the dough with warm water and left it for 15 minutes.

5.      Make small balls and roll them with a help of rolling pin.

6.      Deep fry them on medium fire.

7.      Serve them hot with channa or potato tomato veg.

In search of Miswak

Meswak, a medicinal tree is disappearing fast from Haryana because of industrialisation and its medicinal value. Its roots are used as local toothbrush or are used in industries for making toothpastes. Its twisted barks are the homes of many poisonous animals like gauhwera (poisonous lizard), snakes and goha, a huge lizard. Even biju (honey bedger) loves to live in them. Therefore, people in fear chopped this tree mercilessly. I want to plant this tree in my garden as most of the birds love to eat its berries. They are delicious and are available in attractive colours like pink, white, red and purple.

I searched various nurseries for this tree. And Alas! Most of them had never heard of such a tree though it is native tree of this region. Surprisingly I tried near about 100 nurseries both private as well as officially hold by government. I hunt for it not only in Haryana but also across the length and breadth of the country. I explored Google for it but all in vain. As this tree grows well by its seed dispersed by birds or by humans. There is no tree near my garden therefore, this method was not feasible.

When I told my mother about my problem that I was not able to find nursery of Meswak tree. She asked about its local name. I told her it is also known as Peel, Pelu or Jaal and its botanical name is Salvadora persica. She recalled that when we used to travel by rail about 30 years back from Hisar to Rewari then on Jatusana railway station that fruits used to be sold by local vendons in leaf donas. She suggested that there must be a forest of this tree near that railway station and you might find some trees there but preferably go there in monsoon season as baby plants will be easily visible.

Following her guidance, today I went to Jatusana and found some trees growing here and there. Baby trees were not much there. But found a few. I noticed some kikar trees, teent bushes and monsoon mushrooms. 

The scenic beauty was awesome. Gigantic rocks were standing in pride ready to tolerate the simmering heat of sun and waiting patiently to gently kiss the clouds. It was mesmerising to watch nature’s creation. Although rocks were cut in different shapes and sizes even then they were holding oneness and unity. It was peaceful and calm view.

While returning home, I saw many purple moorhens feeding in a paddy field. A day spent well! A fruitful day!! :)  

Drink water

“Please have some water.” A bureaucrat asked me.

“No, thanks.” I replied.

“In hot summers like this, we should drink more water as we perspire a lot.” He gave a philosophical dose to me. And signalled me to drink some water.

“No, thanks.” I repeated.

Even on his repeated requests when I didn’t have water then he said, “Ma’am, do you have taste buds like Gurgaonites....................? That you drink only beer and nothing else.”

I laughed aloud.

Missing bus

While travelling through a public transport I never get down in the middle of the journey. When I have to then I get into the trouble. How? I boarded in a bus from Sawai Madhopur for back home. The way was long, the driver was driving the bus too rashly, and I found it more adventurous than a fictional ride in 7D theatres. I was exhausted and feeling tired. My legs were paining as I was sitting for long hours moreover there was not enough space to stretch my legs. There was a strong urge in me to walk a bit to relax my legs. I was hungry too.

The bus stopped at Alwar station. Before getting down the bus, I asked the conductor, “How long will be the halt?”

He replied, “40 minutes!”

Thinking that there was ample of time I got down the bus. I bought katchori chole, a famous dish of Alwar from the vendor. As I started eating it I realised my bus was not there where I left it. I was bit worried as the station was big and to search my bus was a tedious job. I took a big morsel and started thinking while chewing.

“What is the colour of bus - steel grey or blue?”

I can’t remember.

“Is it a new bus or an old one?”

I can’t remember.

“Is it a Rajasthan roadways or Delhi?”

I can’t remember.

“Where it is coming from?”

I can’t remember.

Then, what do you remember?

It is going towards Delhi.

By the time I was done with the spicy katchori, I began moving around in search of buses going towards Delhi by looking at the display boards in the front of the vehicle. To my surprise, near about half of the buses were going to Delhi. I asked conductors and passengers to help me in finding some clue about my bus but all in vain. I tried to convince myself not to worry even if you didn’t find that bus, you could catch another to home and could leave the luggage in missing bus as it didn’t contain any thing that precious to trouble yourself.

As I was passing in front of the buses to check the display boards, I found that the front pane of a bus has a crack, a crack of very small size. Now, I recalled that my bus has a huge crack in the front pane on driver side. Now, I started my search for a broken pane. And I found it so easily. I boarded in the bus with a smile on my face.

Teachers’ Training Course (TTC), Sivananda Kutir, Netala (Uttarkashi)

When I sit in padmasana and closed my eyes to meditate, I visualise fast flowing holy river Ganga (Bhagirathi), Sivananda Ashram, my teachers (Guru) and sometimes batch-mates. I slowly try to drag my mind to my object of meditation but surprisingly it jumps back to the serenity of river Ganga. My mind remains calm while meditating on the river Ganga and the ashram situated near it, may be the time I spent there was the most peaceful time of my life!

Spending one month with the persons of different cultures, age groups, professions and countries was an experience of its own kind. But we all had one thing in common- a very strong desire to learn yoga which might be the reason that we stayed together for 30 days.

The yoga teacher was nice and caring. She explained everything in detail and tried to clear all our doubts. While practicing difficult asanas she encouraged the student to do it in its best possible way, only gave the required support and never let the student fall off even if the student’s weight is too much and the body is too rigid. I was impressed with her on the day we practiced 108 Om Surya Namaskar, she spoke continuously without making a single mistake of left and right side. As I yoga teacher myself, I found it difficult to do.

The teacher who taught Bhagwat Gita always told stories, shared experiences and solved life’s complicated problems in a very simple way. He always encouraged the students to ask more questions. One day a student asked, “If a person moves while doing meditation, does it means his Kundalini is awakened?” He replied, “It means the person is going through a mental or emotional cleaning process and you should help that person.”

The food was sattvik without onion and garlic. Mostly they give south Indian food like idli, appam, idiyapam, rice and sambhar. Sometimes they give north Indian food like rajma rice, chickpea rice and parathas with pea potato veg. On the last day of the course, delicious treat was given which include samosa, gulab jamun, palak paneer, fried papad, ice cream, kheer and rice.

I was proud of my knowledge about yoga and Indian philosophy before joining the course. One of my batch-mates, a foreigner guy could perform much better yoga asanas than me. Not only that, he knew Indian philosophy much more than me. May be God sent him in my life to annihilate my ego!

The air was clean and environment was serene. The mountains, waterfalls, clouds, stars, moon, sun, rains, rainbow were mesmerising. The silent walk in the nature helped me in understanding myself better. The desire to eat delicious food and to surf on internet brought me back in this materialistic world otherwise I would have stayed there forever.

Dear readers, you can read my experience of Sadhana Intensive course here.