Indian Food Rocks: Faces of India

Showing posts with label Faces of India. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Faces of India. Show all posts

Craftsy Giveaway Winner & Friday Feature: Faces of India

We have a winner for my Craftsy Giveaway: ~~AM! Congrats! I do not have an email address for you.~~ ~~Poornima!~~ Siri. Please get in touch with me by email indianfoodrocks at gmail or by using this contact form. Please include your Name and your Email Address. Since I took so long to announce the winner, I will give you until Thursday, June 26, to get in touch. Hurry! I want you to start exploring Craftsy right away!

Last November, I made a quick trip to India, and what a trip it was. I went to attend the wedding of a dear friend as well as handle some pending business, and ended up meeting a whole bunch of friends — some for the first time, like Anjali Koli. I have known Anjali online for over seven years. She and I were both Red Checks at St. Anne's High School in Fort, Bombay, albeit years apart. Anjali has always held me spellbound with her stories of the Koli culture. The Koli community are the fisher-folks that brave the rough seas in and around Mumbai to bring prized catch to ever-demanding customers.

I have memories of going to the fish market with my mother, afraid and in-awe at the same time. Anjali took me to one of the markets from my childhood and the fisherwomen did not scare me anymore. Instead, I chatted with them and laughed at their stories, while they smiled for my camera.

If you are so lucky as to be in Bombay, you might want to check out the Koli Culture Experience with the best guide there could ever be, Anjali.

Where: Colaba Fish Market, Bombay
What: Fish and beautiful fisherwomen, and Anjali.

anjali

Anjali

Sunday Snapshots: Bharat Natyam Recital

This weekend our friend's 15-year-old daughter gave a private two-hour Bharat Natyam recital at their home. Her performance was beyond brilliant as she wove stories through her graceful movements, gestures and expressions. The light was difficult and I wish I had the patience to energize the two doors in the background into oblivion using Photoshop. But I will not complain because this was a performance to be cherished.

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Where: Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay)
What: IDC is considered to be the best design centre in India for programs in several disciplines of industrial design. As we walked around, we noticed that the students painted the door to their lab, giving it their own signature touch. The building itself was a cheery departure from the staid and the standard. Dappled sunshine bathes the building through one of my favorite trees—which my friend Anita will identify very shortly. Until she wakes up, take a look at some of the Doors of IDC and my favorite tree!

Friday Feature: Faces of India

What: Dried Fruit and Nut Stores, big and small, narrow and wide
Where: Old Delhi / Delhi Sector 6 / Chandni Chowk

fancy gift packs

Friday Feature: Faces of India

What: Street Food
Where: Delhi 6 (just like the movie!)

Crowded, sweaty, cacophonous, in-your-face; it was sensory overload personified.

These pictures were shot as we walked fast in Old Delhi or Delhi Sector 6. The smells wafting from these street carts were incredibly enticing but since we had wills of steel and stomachs made of jello, the best I could do was take pictures as Anita pushed us peering tourists along.

Daulat ki chaat (milk foam)

Sunday Snapshots: Rajasthani Dinner at Chokhi Dhani

Dinner Time!

Jimanro Samay

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Folk musicians and dancers
Where: At Chokhi Dhani, near Jaipur, Rajasthan
What: These are real folk singers and dancers who come to Chokhi Dhani, a faux village that comes to life every night.It's a riot of color, music, dance, street food and a traditional vegetarian dinner. Saying any more will take away from the pictures. Enjoy!

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: The phone-wala
Where: Old Delhi, India
What: This caricature exists in real life. We went back to our apartments after a decade and the junction box was the same: wide open, wires tangled and hanging out, pigeons looking at making their next nest there. The phone-wala's job is unenviable. The lines go down frequently, even more so during the monsoons, and they have to bear with irate customers breathing down their necks, asking: Kitna time lagega?

The phone-wala is a wiry man, often stubborn and mostly unappreciated. But tell me, what mood would you be in if you had to work your way through a maze of wires on a daily basis?

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Street vendor
Where: At Chokhi Dhani, a village set up every night, near Jaipur, Rajasthan
What: This street vendor sells one of the most popular street foods, chana jor garam, that has been memorialized in many a Bollywood movie. Fried flattened chickpeas are tossed with onions, green chiles, and cilantro. Each vendor has his secret tangy spice blend that he sprinkles liberally into his mixing bowl, and then douses everything with fresh lemon juice. This street vendor charged Rs. 10 per cone, more expensive than if he were standing out in the streets, perhaps even calling out Chana jor garam, Babu, mein laya mazedar

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Women janitors or sweepers
Where: At Amer Fort (Amber Fort), Jaipur, Rajasthan
What: They keep the fort clean of litter that, unfortunately, no-one thinks twice about tossing on the ground. They also keep the toilets clean. They are all women. Most people walk around them and no-one really talks to them. The two that I spoke with were initially very reluctant to engage but one of them warmed up, while the other remained very suspicious of my motives. It's written all over her face. It has to be a hard life.

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: A scarf vendor and a shoe guard
Where: At the tomb of Salim Chisti, Fatehpur Sikri
What: One sells scarves and colorful thread while the other watches over visitors' shoes; both trying to make a living at Salim Chisti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri Fort, a World Heritage site.

Sunday Snapshot: Inside a Crumbling Temple

Where: Jagat Shiromani Temple, Amer Fort, also known as Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
What: The Jagat Shrimoni Temple is said to have been built by the Maharani of Maharaja Mansingh I in 1601 to honor her deceased son Maharaja Kumar Jagat Singhji.

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: A Rajasthani folk musician
Where: At Amer Fort, also known as Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
What: This folk musician entertains visitors to the Amer Fort. He is playing a simplified version of the Ravanhatta, a type of fiddle popular with the Bhopa community of Rajasthan.

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Bikas, a 12 year old aspiring guide
Where: Across the river from the Taj Mahal
What: He goes to school in the morning and by late afternoon, he sells t-shirts at the gardens across the river from the Taj Mahal, Agra. He was learning French and Spanish as language skills were essential to be a successful guide, he said. He asked us our names in English, French and Spanish; he also rattled off a few sentences in each language. It was heartening to look into Bikas's eyes and share some of his aspirations. The underbelly of India is made of these young people. He is India: young, ambitious and hopeful. Watch.

Changes are afoot at IFR: This is the last post that will come to you in full by email or in your reader, and I apologize for that. After this, you will have to click on a link to navigate to my blog to read the rest of my post. You see, I am tired of having my posts republished in full, along with my pictures, without my permission, on other web sites. Unfortunately, since I host with Blogger, I don't have much control over the nature of my RSS feeds. Also, since I host my pictures on Flickr, a photo sharing community that I enjoy, I cannot restrict my pictures from being displayed on other web sites. I've known eventually I will have to host it on one of my own servers. I probably should have done this a long time ago. I hope to publish the posts I've been holding back now that the last theft has been resolved.

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Autorickshaw travelers
Where: Delhi-Agra Highway, NH 2, where the speed limit was between 20-80km/h
What: This three-wheeled auto-rickshaw is a popular mode of transport; it sometimes holds up to 16 people, more if there are children. It travels at between 20-40 km/h and can be seen on the National Highways of India transporting people from one city to another. The almost $200,000 Audi A8 may have 4500 buyers in India but most of India's 1.2 billion population doesn't earn that much in their lifetime. (Thanks, Kitt, for that last link!) You might call these travelers brave — I do — but most of them have little choice when it comes to transport between cities.

The ubiquitous autorickshaw

Always adorned, with people half-spilling out

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: A homemade ice cream vendor, Kulfiwala and his customers
Where: Amer Fort, Jaipur, India
What: A young man and his helper earn a living by selling kulfi, homemade ice cream.

Kulfiwala

The Kulfiwala

Friday Feature: Faces of India

Who: Master Craftsmen or Paramparik Karigar
Where: Agra, India
What: Chiseling slivers of polished stones to make inlay work of floral patterns, in the style found on the Taj Mahal. These craftsmen work with very basic hand-driven tools and literally lose their fingertips in the process.

Faces of India

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