Tree of life - Petra

Tree of life is the first from the right

Petra - in Latin it means Rock. The name is given by ancient Greek merchants witnessing the wast mountain ranges in the desert.  The place was believed to be inhabited as early as nine thousand BCE. Nabataeans, one of the nomadic tribes of Arabian desert, were the occupants of this area.

Nabateans were polytheistic and worshipped a wide variety of gods. The Gods were represented mostly as abstract stone sculptures and their sacred places are adorned with geometric designs. Nabateans believed in afterlife, practiced ritual sacrifices. Petra, mainly the siq has many temples and worshiping places which clearly show the regular habitual life of Nabateans filled with religious practices. 

Petra was a multi cultural hub. Being a trade hub along the ancient silk route, the place witnessed cultural interaction, religious diversity, philosophical patronage along with exchange of material wealth. This small stone carving of "Tree of life" as believed today, represents the later part of Nabateans life, when Christianity was adopted by the inhabits.

However, the question still remains as is it really the "Tree of life" that is mentioned in the Bible or is it just another worshiping symbol of Pre-Islamic religions from the desert?

Shopping in Ahmedabad

My daughter always wanted to buy something very traditional in Gujarat. We went looking for some nice gaghras, something bandhini or bandhani work material etc etc and some jewellery specially metal.

Our friends, arrived a couple of months earlier in Ahmedabad, called two autos for all nine of us and we were bit skeptical. My husband even insisted for an aircon taxi to be safe from all the dust. But our friend insisted that we go by auto.

As we reached Relief Road, I completely understood my friend's point. This part of Ahmedabad was so crowded that if left alone, I will prefer to walk. I was told that because of the holiday (24th Dec) the crowd is a little bit more.

Very skillfully the auto fellow drove us to Central Bank of India and asked us to get down to take a walk. I was too scared even to think of getting out of the auto. He pointed to the road opposite and asked us to walk around and look for everything and anything we want to buy. He promised to pick us up when we finish our shopping. He gave us his number.

As we crossed the road, I started seeing colourful sarees, dress materials hung on the shops. The street is so full of shops with displays that we barely saw any physical barrier between the shops! The walk was pretty interesting with vehicles on both the sides AND pedestrians trying to make their way.

This place along the Ratan Pole Road, Tankshal, has variety of fancy material. However, when we asked for something more authentic, with a touch of ethnicity, we were told to go to Rani no Hajiro. For me, who has no knowledge of Gujrati, all I could I understand was Rani and Haji. Where is it? Non of us understood how to go there.

We said many thanks to a kind shop fellow (he is kind and angel because he spoke to us even after we told him we are not interested in his merchandise. Others just ignored us)  who told us in clear Hindi to move forward and go to the end of the road.

We reached the end of the road to Gandhi Road. We asked a few around and didn't get any reply. May be they didn't understand our Hindi. We marched ahead past a huge 'Mukhwas' shop into a smaller lane. Here, NOBODY knew where is Rani no Hajiro!!!!!

We all started getting tired and irritated. Then an old man pointed his finger towards a small lane, which in normal circumstances we would have walked past without a second thought. 

Whola!!!! There inside this small lane, we found what we wanted!!! Hand made jewellery, very ethnic style gaghra cholies, and shoes. Lovely collection and reasonably priced. The shop owners were not at all pushy in their sales. They were very patient to show us almost everything they have!!

Citizen safety taken seriously - TamilNadu, India

Woodlands Interchange is temporarily moving!!

Chinese tea appreciation in Singapore

If you happen to be near NLB or Bugis in Singapore, want to try a cup of
Chinese tea and also enjoy something old and vintage, TeaJoy is the place you should go.

The place offers single cup, single kettle and also everything required for Tea Ceremony! I am still learning. So, cannot give you details of what it is and how it is done. You may google more for such information.

I am going to this place since 2004. Uncle there is very friendly and
loves to give you some advise on tea if you are in need. The place also sells various kettles and different varieties of teas. Many of them carry medicinal values too.

No sugar sweet

Last year I decided to give up sweet or rather sugar or anything that has artificial sweetness in it. It is very hard to pass off Jilebi or rasagulla or chatpat or ras malai after years of eating them with love and passion! But I am still resisting them successfully.

However, once in a while I feel like eating something sweet. Then I am eating fruits. or dried fruits.

Last week I remembered  a home made sweet from my childhood. It was made in Courtallam. Its a wonderful peaceful too close to nature almost a village like in Tamilnadu. My great grand father used to live there in an ashram and I visited the place till he passed away when I was 23 years old.

Whenever we visited the place during jackfruit season, ladies in the ashram used to make the sweet with ripe jack fruit.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup cut ripe jack fruit
2 tsp pure ghee
pinch of cardamom powder

Put a heavy bottom pan on stove on low flame.

Add ghee.

(If you are using cow ghee, then it is even more better as our Ayurveda researchers say, it is good for your joints and is good cholesterol!!)

leave it on fire for 30 mnts, stirring occasionally.

After 30 mnts you will see a soft paste with rich aroma.

Add cardamom.

Remove from stove and eat hot or warm or cold.

The taste is divine (for me)

Good Vietnamese Rice Rolls in Singapore

Wrap & Rolls at ION Orchard, Level B4, serves good vegetarian rice rolls. They have only three vegetarian dishes on their menu. But the two plates we served with the delicious plum drink was more than enough for our dinner!

Vegetarians, don't get scared of your neighbour's plate. Just focus on your order and enjoy this unique rice and vegetables flavor. Its low carb, so don't worry if you are on diet :-)

I ordered Basil and my daughter ordered Mushroom. The restaurant uses vegetarian Oyster sauce. So, Vegetarians, don't worry or get scared when you hear Oyster.

The worst place for Indian vegetarian snack in Singapore

As I go around looking for good food, I also try to taste Indian food
wherever it is available so as to know if I can recommend or suggest to my friends.

A few weeks ago I was at MBS with my family. I saw this 'Indian' food signage and went ahead thinking of getting some nice food. As I approached the place I saw that the majority food available was non-veg. I understand the biz angle. Its very hard to sell veg food and make money at places like MBS.

I went ahead and ordered Samosa which was the only vegetarian snack available and many people were also ordering. My expectation was that, at a place like MBS, definitely the food cannot be served mediocre whether it is a cozy restaurant or food court. But when I bit into the hot samosa, anticipating burst of flavours in my mouth, I faced a little disappointment.

The samosa was not cooked completely. If anybody, looking at its hot well done outer condition thinks that it is ready to eat and doesn't understand that the inside shouldn't be dry and taste, or feel or look like uncooked, will for sure end up with stomach ache or some other form of discomfort.

Its definitely not worth the money or the time spent waiting in que.

South India Tour - 2013 - Vegetarian food

Our journey through Kerala and Tamilnadu was planned to be more of pilgrimage and spiritual. However, it turned out to be a lot more of food adventure!!!

 

As vegetarians, we didn't find any difficulty in finding good restaurants in India which serve pure vegetarian food. In Kerala and most of Tamilnadu, we enjoyed eating in fresh banana leaves. I must say 'fresh' here as many Indian restaurants in India and also abroad serve food in banana leaves but most of the time, the leaves are not fresh and when hot rice (which the hotel usually has no choice but serve hot) placed in it will smell strange but in the fresh leaves, the fragrance is much more appealing and the rice tastes more better.

 

I didn't get a chance to take many pictures but here are a few and a much more longer list awaits for you on internet to explore. A few times we ate in places which served both non-veg and veg. But we felt very good with the service as the staff in all the restaurants took care in seating us and also making sure that we get a good feel that the food inside was also prepared with care. Without fail we thanked the staff and the management for their special attention. You may think that they might have anticipated a good tip from this large group, but we saw the same treatment with the locals too.

  

In Kottaraka town, we had opportunity to eat at Amgalakkara Regengy's restaurant. The ambiance and 'smell' of the restaurant was pleasant and good. We got a chance to eat Kerala Matta rice here. The rice had a very light texture and felt somewhat sweet. The variety of side dishes we got very unique Kerala flavor. They were not loaded with usual masalas or oil. 

In Trivendrum we went to this absolutely tidy place with delicious thali. They don't serve any idli or dosa or poori. Just meals.

The staff were very friendly and spoke to our kids very gently and answered all their questions. Our kids wanted to know if they can get extra pappalam, less rice, only their chosen veg from the list etc etc.

The restaurant was on the first floor. On the ground floor entrance the pic at the right attracted our attention. Hotel for lady executives?! Felt very good. I had an opportunity once to stay at a hotel in Malaysia with highly secured 'Ladies Only' floor. That official trip went very good as I was at peace when I left my daughter in the hotel room.

Our stop at Trivendrum and Kovalam were filled with adventure with food at different restaurants. Some of them boasting about western food. One of them, along the beach, actually made very good pancakes!

As we reached Tamilnadu, our quest for food reduced and my opportunity to take pictures also reduced as we had to go to many temples and everywhere cameras were no allowed. Though the temples provide safe deposit boxes or rather places, I was not comfortable with them.

Here is my last pic of food in the journey. We were driving through towns and villages at lunch time thinking of finding a good place to eat. Finally what we found proved to be the best and worth waiting for :-)

Must try fresh pizza in Singapore

One of the best freshly made pizza must try in Singapore is at B1 of Anchor Point at Alexandra Road.

We accidentally found this place. Absolutely fresh and mouthwatering.

You can choose toppings as you like.

Apart from they have a few other but pizza is their best.