Holy cow

Doors

Jaipur. Take Two

Uttam says the lassi in Jaipur is the best in India. It's served in
terracotta glasses, with a thick creamy layer on top that made me
think the yogurt was so alive it was still setting in the pots. Yum!

In Jaipur we went the the movies. The Rajmandir Movie Theater
is like a stage set in itself, and the Hindi movie, Guzaarish, was a delight.

Jaipur, The Pink City

In Management 101 we studied a model called the Johari Window.
Nothing to do with the Johari Bazaar in Jaipur. On a cool wet darkening
evening in November was it about as far from that textbook
abstraction as you could get.


Our Intrepid leader Uttam led us at a cracking pace along the
muddy streets through the bazaar. We trailed along behind him half dazed,
picking our way through rubbish, cow pats, potholes and puddles
and dodging the autorickshaws, motorbikes, children, goats, men wrapped in shawls,
an occasional umbrella, and the ubiquitous wandering cow (one wearing a bracelet).
Bit of a problem to negotiate all that while entranced by the
little specialty shops spilling out onto the uneven
arcades along the streets -- shoes, sweets, engine parts, oil lamps,
sacks of grains, sherberts, terracotta urns, chinese medicine, gems,
saris, marigolds, bells, statues, bangles, and myriad unidentified
objects filling the senses as we stumbled along trying to keep him
in sight.

And then a wider street, even more traffic, and looming over us
the fairy-tale facade of the Hawa Mahal.

Sweets (mithai) and sweetmakers

Milk and yoghurt are used in most Indian sweets. Milk is reduced by a long slow boiling over an open fire, the huge wok being stirred constantly. The yellow stuff in the last photo is jalebi - made with wheat flour and reduced milk and then deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup. Yum. (?) Oh, and I have included a photo of a puri-maker.

Turbans

 

 

 

 

The Mishra Dairy, Mumbai

Does the importance of fresh milk in the diet of Indians explain the sacredness of the cow? I came across the Mishra Dairy in a side street near my hotel in the major commercial district of Fort in South Bombay. It was the smell I noticed first. Then the man who was eating - what, paneer? His skin the very epitome of good health and abundant vitality. Is this the 'home' of the cows wandering the streets around here? People come by with their empty milk cans, get them filled from one of the large pitchers. Fresh lassi? How much fresher is it going to be anywhere else? And Chaas? A masala (spicy) buttermilk drink, tempered by being sprinkled with fried mustard seeds. Here's a recipe. Said to be a summer cooling drink that goes well with a meal. The asafetida and ginger in it aid digestion.