C for Cuisine

Welcome to the "Believe it or Not- That's Incredible India!" series. India is home to some of the most astonishing wonders in the world. The rich culture, heritage, food, scriptures, architectural marvels and scores of known and unknown facts come together to create this multicolored melange that is India. Throughout this month, read about the various believe it or not facts about India and know what goes into the making of this incredible country!

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Food is a big part of being Indian! We love to eat and how! While Westerners might think ‘Chicken tikka masala’ represents Indian food, it is so not true! It’s impossible to put a finger on one particular food and say this represents India because every part of the country has its own specialty which makes food a distinctly regional delicacy. Instead, I’d like to take you to different corners of the country and give you a virtual taste of what tastes best there.

Breakfast in Tamil Nadu/ Karnataka/ Kerala- These South Indian states offer the best in terms of breakfast. Choose from a steaming plate of fluffy white idlies, dosas, medu vadas, puttus, or paniyarams saddled with a variety of chutneys and sambhar. This is one of the most wholesome breakfasts you can have as it has just the right mix of carbs, proteins, and nutrients.

Snack up in Gujarat- Craving a mid-morning snack? Have a quick stopover at Gujarat and fill your plates with the softest Khaman Dhoklas, Shrikhand and crispy fried farsans, Khakra and Fafda.

Lunch needs a bit more variety, doesn’t it?

If you fancy meat you would love the Kasmiri cuisine which is more meat based. They like to cook their dishes for a long time to infuse it with flavours giving you rich succulent meat to dig your teeth into.

Thinking of chicken? Then Punjabi is the way to go. The Punjabi cuisine is rich and has a strong dose of butter and ghee. It is definitely not for the weak hearted! You can also get varieties of stuffed flat breads called parathas and food cooked in tandoor (an open earthen oven) to go with your chicken.

If you fancy pork or seafood, then head straight to Goa. And don’t forget to round it off with the best wines you can get.

And if it is fish that you are dreaming about go wading all the way to Bengal. The Hilsa fish is a specialty here and is cooked in mustard sauce.

I’m sure you’d fancy some rice to go with the meal. While there’s plenty of rice dishes to choose from I’d recommend Biryani. Every place in India has different variations in biryani but two of the best biryanis are the Lucknowi- cooked in sealed pots called ‘handis’- cooked over slow fire and left to cook in its own juices and has a more meaty flavor and the Hyderabadi Biryani which is Dum cooked (steamed over coals) and is more yogurty flavoured.

After all the spice and fats you must round off the meal with a tall chilled glass of thick sweet Lassi from Punjab.

Wait there’s more! Did you think you can leave without ordering desserts?

While there are umpteen desserts to choose from, the Bengali sweets win hands down. Whether it is the mouth-watering Payash or Sandesh or Rasogulla - the yummy spongy cottage cheese balls soaked in sweet sugar syrup, you can never have just one!

Before you know, it’s time for tea. But I’d say skip the tea and head back to Karnataka for the finest Coorgi filter coffee.  If it is tea that you fancy, then your finest cuppa will be the Darjeeling or Assam Black tea. And to go with your tea or coffee, try the spicy Vada-Pav from Maharashtra –cutlet sitting smug in between soft bread rolls called pav and is almost burger-like and is served with tangy chutney.

Dinner should be light right? I’d say Rajasthani food is best for dinner. It’s light, it’s clean and non-fussy but there's a lot of variety…you’d still be clutching your tummy after you’ve finished. Munch on the finest Dal-Bati-Churma - small balls of wheat flour dough, baked in tandoor and called Bati are served with lentil curry and sweet Churma. Oh, and did I mention there’s a generous dollop of ghee that goes on top of it? The heart will ask you to go on but the tummy knows it cannot take any more.

This is just a peek into what India has to offer in terms of food. The variety is mind boggling and if you are a foodie there’s so much you can choose from.

Believe it or not- That is Incredible India!

B for Bhaskaracharya

Welcome to the "Believe it or Not- That's Incredible India!" series. India is home to some of the most astonishing wonders in the world. The rich culture, heritage, food, scriptures, architectural marvels and scores of known and unknown facts come together to create this multicolored melange that is India. Throughout this month, read about the various believe it or not facts about India and know what goes into the making of this incredible country!

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Several hundred years before the astronomer Smart calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit around the sun, an Indian mathematician and astronomer, Bhaskaracharaya had already made that calculation way back in 1150AD!  

Bhaskaracharya was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical centre of ancient India. Born in 1114 AD, Bhaskaracharya wrote his treatise ‘Siddhanta Shiromani’ in 1150 AD when he was just 36 years old. In his book, he accurately calculated the time taken for the earth to orbit the sun to nine decimal places! He wrote that the earth takes 365.258756484 days to orbit the earth!

Modern science tells us that the measurement is 365.2564 days. Isn’t Bhaskaracharaya’s accuracy in that time and age marvelous?

Siddhanta Shiromani written by Bhaskaracharya is a mammoth work containing about 1450 verses dealing in detail with calculations pertaining to everything from Arithmetic to Astronomy. What’s even more astonishing is that his work is written in a fluid poetic language making you wonder how a difficult subject like Mathematics be written thus!

In this ground-breaking book, Bhaskaracharya also wrote about his findings on the decimal system, planetary positions, and about the gravitational force that helps to keep the planets, the sun, and the moon in their respective orbits much before the world could wake up to these deductions. He described the eclipses - lunar and solar, the phases of the moon and many such cosmological and geographical phenomenon with accuracy that baffles the human mind. To think about it, the world was still struggling to accept the fact that the earth was round and not flat, up until the 14th century! 

Bhaskaracharya is deservedly called ‘Ganak-chakra-chudamani’, which means, ‘a gem among all the calculators of astronomical phenomena.’

Believe it or not- That’s Incredible India!

A for Ayurveda

Welcome to the "Believe it or Not- That's Incredible India!" series. India is home to some of the most astonishing wonders in the world. The rich culture, heritage, food, scriptures, architectural marvels and scores of known and unknown facts come together to create this multicolored melange that is India. Throughout this month, read about the various believe it or not facts about India and know what goes into the making of this incredible country!

                                                    **************************************

India is one of the world’s oldest civilizations and Ayurveda, the oldest Indian indigenous medicine system. Did you know that the earliest description of Ayurveda is in the Vedas- the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda - which are believed to have been written somewhere between 1200-4000 BC ! The knowledge of Ayurveda has therefore been to known to us for about 3000-6000 years! 

Ayurveda literally translates to ‘the knowledge of long life’- Ayu meaning a long life. Ayurveda combines the knowledge of the natural elements and energies centered in our bodies and the aspect of spirituality with the food that we eat in order to promote a long and healthy life! That is to say, the ancient Indians knew that different kinds of food have the ability to produce different effects on our health. They had a knowledge of a vast number of herbs and roots and had the know-how to prepare drugs based on individual needs.

What's unique to Ayurveda is that it understands that every human body functions differently, and thus each person is treated as per the requirements of their body. The mind and the body are seen as being closely related to each other and the treatment is devised such as to bring about a cure in both these spheres. The body, according to Ayurveda is made up of three elements or energies called- 'vata' (air), 'pitta' (fire and water) and 'kapha' (density –like oil, phlegm). It is believed that foods can increase or decrease the level of these elements in our body and therefore, diet plans are made accordingly. The drugs used for treatment are also concocted from natural sources and thus, side effects are lesser with Ayurveda.

Thus, if a person complained of heartburn, their 'pitta' level was said to be high and the person would not just be prescribed medicines made from natural herbs but also put on a diet of raw vegetables, liquids and cooling herbs like mint to bring down the levels and asked to give up on caffeine and spicy foods. They would be guided to perform certain yoga asanas and make changes in their lifestyle thereby bringing about a holistic cure for their problems.

Modern science would be inclined to agree with that today! 

Isn’t it amazing that the philosophy of mindful eating and using food and natural extracts as a means to cure diseases was known to them so long ago? 

Believe it or not- That’s Incredible India!

When the chips are down...

The month of March has been hellish for me (and it’s not even over!) I’ve been through an emotional roller coaster - one whose motor got switched off when I was mid air, and left me dangling upside-down high up in the air, scared of hurtling down any moment.  I have gasped for breath, literally and figuratively, and have felt the palpitations of my heart reach a crescendo before promising to fall deadly still any moment. I never have felt as beaten as I have been this entire month through.

Source: Pixabay free images

Sometimes, you make choices. You go wrong too. But you don’t realize the enormity of the fault in your choices until it begins to haunt you, stealing the sanity of your being, crushing you under its weight and stopping short of nothing but destroying you completely. I made one such choice. 

And it destroyed me. Almost.

As an outcome of that choice, I struggled for a long time, transitioning between sadness to anger to self-pity to depression. There were days when I cried myself to sleep. My chips were down; confidence at an all-time low. I felt pretty helpless. I hadn’t considered talking to anyone because on the outside it didn’t look like such a big issue at all. I didn’t want them to think I was imagining things or exaggerating my emotions. As days went by, I realized that I had started hurting physically too, migraines, acidity, palpitations, breathlessness and fatigue had begun to overpower my body and I was disoriented most of the time.

I couldn’t go on like this. That is when I decided to speak to someone. No matter what they thought of me later, I decided to speak and let my emotions flow.

I’m glad I did.

I confided in two of my friends and they gave me a patient hearing, comforting me, telling me I wasn’t in the wrong at all, and convincing me that everything would eventually be ok over time. Friends are called friends for a reason, I guess. They really know how to gather your chips and put it back. I haven’t been alone in my struggle ever since.

I have never been the one to share my problems with anyone - thinking that if anyone can help me solve my problems it was me. People have called me the strong one – my family, friends and sometimes even random strangers. Having been on the other side of the problem, doling out advice and lending a comforting shoulder to them, I never thought I’d need it myself someday. Perhaps, I thought I’d be able to handle any lemons that life threw at me. But sometimes…even the healer needs to be healed.

So, why am I ranting about all this here? This is for those who are struggling like me. Those who are close to breaking point but haven’t thought of asking for help. No problem is too big or small - if it’s troubling you, it needs to be addressed. Bottled up feelings and pickled emotions will do you no good. Talk to someone. It may not solve your problem, but it will give you the courage to go on. It will bring back your confidence and assure you that you aren’t alone. And most of the times, that is all it takes to jump out of that seemingly bottomless pit.

Theme Reveal for the A to Z April 2016 challenge.

So... that time of the year is here again! The April A to Z challenge! 

This is my third challenge and I'm pretty excited about doing it this year too! But you know, the thing with being excited is that it becomes tough to zero in on a theme, because you are going round and round with the various themes floating about in your head! I wrote about "Being Positive" during my first challenge and my theme last year was 'Love in its myriad hues' where I took leaves out of mythology to weave my stories. Pretty satisfying that was! 

I wanted to do a mythology theme this year too, but then something caught my attention. 
There are so many things about my country that are so fascinating and that I knew so little about. There was this urge to explore more and dig out things that are amazing about India and yet not much is known about them. What better platform to showcase my country than during this all global challenge!


So...that is my theme for this year - "Believe It or Not- That's Incredibly India. I'm not sure I have posts for all the alphabets, but I wasn't sure about it the last year and the year before that too, but I did manage to get stories for all the alphabets and it worked out in some strange way; I am sure that'll happen this year too! 

By the way, have you signed up for the April A to Z challenge yet? If you haven't, then here's where you can sign up for it. Trust me, this will be a great month of endless reading, writing and getting together! 

See you there, then!