Taking a Break at Chandni Chowk

Chandni Chowk - Paranthe Wali Gali

Last week I finally decided to walk down the lanes of Chandni Chowk as a stress-buster. It proved to be quite an adventure with the sights, sounds and tastes of the historic area. The Delhi Metro has been quite useful in directing the youthful crowd down the historic 'Galis' especially the famous Paranthe wali gali which I and my friend though to be truly amazing.

After researching on the web I  found out that the Chandni Chowk region in particular was established in 1650 and was built along with the Red Fort under the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. The Paranthe Wali Gali ("lane of parantha-makers") in Old Delhi is one of the famous gourmet localities of the world. The gali in the past had over ten to twelve shops, but today there are just five shops left. Located near the Gurdwara you can ask about just anyone where the gali is and they would direct you to it.

Anyway as we entered the Gali my friend suggested that we would enter the shop that was the most full of people, so as to judge the tastefulness of the paranthas, which I though was a good idea. We passed 2 shops and as we approached the third, I found the smell too tempting not to venture inside. Already almost lunchtime I was really enthusiastic to taste the parathas but the varieties were endless. We decided to take on the parathas one at a time to relish the taste (anyway due to the crowd at the small place we were handed the parathas one at a time so...we had to do it that way.)

We tried out the most popular mix paratha (stuffed with a little bit of everything, from aloo, gobi, matar, tomato and paneer to cashew, almonds, pista, radish and papad!), nimboo paratha (super khatta), mirchi paratha (not really spicy, but full of chilles) and bhindi parathas. The paranthas are quite hygienically prepared, deep fried in pure desi ghee in cast iron pans and served with chutney, sabzi and achar. After savoring these, we were quite full and we missed out on the bananna, Kaju, Badam, Matar, Rabri, and other exotic parathas, which I would try on my next visit.

Daulat ki Chaat

As we walked down the lanes of Chandni Chowk we came across a few street sellers with closed baskets. Wondering what was inside, I decided to ask the next vendor what indeed was inside.

What we ended up tasting was 'Daulat ki Chaat'. This is kind of like a Desi-ice-cream which served as a light dessert over the heavy meal we had earlier. On asking what is was made of the guy just mentioned milk. Later on I got to know it was made of cream, caster sugar, rosewater, pistachios, all whisked up to create a foam. The foam is then sprinkled with castor sugar in layers as well as on the top so that the foam is compressed further and refrigerated. Simply super!

Old Famous Jalebi Wala 

Our journey ended at the Old Famous Jalebi Wala's shop. As history puts it, Kailash Chand Jain, the present owner of the shop's father Nemi Chand Jain, a native of Agra's Hari Ki Garhi village, migrated to Delhi in 1905 and after some struggle, started a shop at Dariba Nukkad. He experimented with many recipes and finally came up with the most delicious recipie of a Jalebi that has been kept as a family secret for years.

I have had jalebis earlier, but not really as tasty as these jalebis. We relished the hot jalebis and handed tit bits to a well fed stray dog who was quite glad to help us finish them.

Rambling forward we looked for the entrance to the metro station. A passerby informed it was near the fountain. We soon found the station, which was located near a non-functional relic of a fountain. As we stood still resting our feet on the escalators to the metro platform, I though back about how I would have almost not made it to the place due to daily work routine commitments. I'm glad I took a break to walk down the lanes of Chandni Chowk to see what the streets of Old Delhi have to offer.

Sania and Shoaib wedding pictures

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik finally tied the knot on 12th April instead of 15th and gave the media a slip. Check out the pictures below....












































To read details of the wedding see the link below:-
http://meowlife.blogspot.com/2010/04/sania-mirza-shoaib-malik-wedding-pics.html

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Grammy Awards 2010 Winners

The Grammy Awards 2010 took place at Los Angeles Staples Centre. The following is the List of the winners for the major categories at the 52nd Grammy Award 2010.

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Halo"- Beyonce

Song of the Year: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” Thaddis Harrell, Beyonc— Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyonce)

Best Solo Rock Performance: “Working on a Dream” — Bruce Springsteen

Record of the Year: “Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best Country Album: Fearless — Taylor Swift

Best Rock Album: 21st Century Breakdown — Green Day

Best Hard Rock Performance: “War Machine” — AC/DC

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: “Run This Town” — Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Dance Recording: “Poker Face” — Lady Gaga

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: “Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

Best New Artist: Zac Brown Band

Best Electronic/Dance Album: The Fame — Lady Gaga

Best Alternative Music Album: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — Phoenix

Best Contemporary R&B Album: I Am… Sasha Fierce — Beyonce

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” — Beyonce

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: “I Gotta Feeling” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Rock Song: “Use Somebody” — Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)

Best Pop Vocal Album: The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: “Pretty Wings” — Maxwell

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: “Blame It” — Jamie Foxx & T-Pain

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: “At Last” — Beyonce

Best Rock Instrumental Performance: “A Day in the Life” — Jeff Beck

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: “Pearls” — India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore

Best R&B Song: “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” — Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyonce)

Best Rap Solo Performance: “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” — Jay-Z

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: “Crack a Bottle” — Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent

Best Rap Song: “Run This Town” by Jeff Bhasker, Shawn Carter, Robyn Fenty, Kanye West & Ernest Wilson

Best Rap Album: Relapse — Eminem

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: “Make It Mine” — Jason Mraz

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: “Lucky” — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: “White Horse” — Taylor Swift

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: “Sweet Thing” — Keith Urban

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden — Michael Buble

Best Metal Performance: “Dissident Aggressor” — Judas Priest

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: “I Run to You” — Lady Antebellum

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: “I Told You So” — Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis

Best Country Song: “White Horse” — Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best Americana Album: Electric Dirt — Levon Helm

Best Contemporary Blues Album: Already Free — The Derek Trucks Band

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: Slumdog Millionaire — Various Artists, A.R. Rahman, producer

Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: “Jai Ho” (From Slumdog Millionaire) — Gulzar, A.R. Rahman & Tanvi Shah, songwriters (A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Vijay Prakash)

Best Recording Package: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today — Stefan Sagmeister, art director (David Byrne & Brian Eno)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: Neil Young Archives Vol. I (1963-1972) — Gary Burden, Jenice Heo & Neil Young, art directors (Neil Young)

Best Short Form Music Video: “Boom Boom Pow” — The Black Eyed Peas

Best Long Form Music Video: “The Beatles Love – All Together Now” — (Various Artists)

Best Comedy Album: A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All! — Stephen Colbert

High Speed Rail

Things have certainly been speeding up in the world today. Just recently, the American President has announced plans to introduce a high speed rail service in Chicago, and several other areas in California and Florida. The speed of these trains would range from 200-250 km/h. It is surprising that USA being though as one of the developed countries is now taking the idea of high speed rail from countries like China, which though quite far behind seems to be speeding ahead in terms of transport.

In China, Shanghai Maglev Train holds the record of the fastest train which has a top operation speed of 431 km/h and top testing speed of 501 km/h. It is only due to the short distance (only 30 km maglev tracks), the average operational speed for the maglev train is 245.5 km/h, else it would have been much higher. Faster still is the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, the high-speed rail service in France with the record speed, from Lorraine-TGV to Champagne-Ardenne-TGV being 279.3 km/h (173.5 mph).

The Delhi metro train capable of a mere 95 km/h currently only runs at a speeds ranging from 60-40KM/h. This is quite fast considering Delhi’s slow, traffic moving standards. Mumbai residents would also be given a speed boost with the government mentioning the start of the monorail in the city on this Republic Day. This would be a relief from the crowded local trains that have been ferrying mumbaikars for ages. Only the mono-rail is much smaller in size as compared to the Delhi Metro and it may just be another crowded form of transport.

I wonder why India cannot introduce high speed trains. It would certainly be a way to speed up Indians economic development process.

CAT Results Delayed

The Common Aptitute Test commonly known as the CAT Exam is one of the biggest tests for MBA Aspirants in India. The results were supposed to be declared today, the 22nd of January, But now will be declared in the 3rd week of February 2010.

For those unfamiliar to the CAT Exam, it is the test written by thousands of students as the toppers of this exam get calls from some of the top MBA Colleges of India, namely the IIMS. The basic reason being the highest placement packages in the industry averaging to arround 14 lakh a year!

This year the exam was computerized for the first time and was plagued with many faults like server crashes, non display of forms etc. Due to these reasons many students were not able to give the exam on the said dates. Thus many of these such students were given new test dates.
All candidates identified for the re-test in phase two would have received notice of their eligibility from Prometric by now. They will receive another notification informing them of the time and location for their test by January 23rd, 2010 at the latest. The results of CAT 2009 are likely to be declared by the third week of February 2010.

Phase 1: CAT 2009 - November 28th - December 8th, 2009
Phase 2: CAT 2009 - January 30th & 31st, 2010.
For more details visit the official site: www.catiim.in