The ISKCON Rathayatra 2018

This was my first encounter with the Rathayatra conducted by ISKCON in the city as my new office is close to its temple on Albert Road. When I reached the temple at around 3.40 pm, the Rathayatra had just set off. The route was: Albert Road - Hungerford Street - Sarat Bose Road - Hazra Road - Hazra Crossing - Ashutosh Mukherjee Road - Jawaharlal Nehru Road (Chowringhee) - Brigade Parade Ground. The pandal at Brigade Parade Ground will remain seven days. After that there will be a return of the procession to Albert Road called Ulta Rathayatra ('Ulta' means return) on a different route via Esplanade on 22nd July.

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

There are three 'ratha's (chariot)- One each for lord Jagannatha, his brother Balaram (alias Balabhadra/ Baldev) and sister Subhadra. A huge procession takes place around these three and it is witnessed by thousands of devotees and general public.

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

Albert Road-Hungerford Street

(The above pictures are sourced from a colleague)

I am confessing herein that, to me, the best part of a puja is its prasad. I came to know from a colleague of this group called Baldev Group (Dedicated to lord Baldev) which was to distribute prasad bhog (rice-based prasad) on the occasion. I, accompanied by a support staff, set out again from the office for the prasad. The distribution would be from a spot on Sarat Bose Road. The ratha (chariot) procession was moving down that road then with huge crowd witnessing it from the side and scores of devotees joining others in pulling the ropes of the ratha. A lot of young photography enthusiasts climbed the road dividers for a vantage point.

One of the three rathas

I figured out the venue in the middle of a thick crowd. Volunteers of the group were distributing sherbats to the people gathered. Devotees from the group had cooked several units of chappan bhog (Literally an assortment of 56 items from starter to dessert) to offer the deities before distributing as prasad. I saw the units placed on table tops being carried to the deity and brought back.

Chhappan Bhog on way to be offered to the ratha of Lord Balabhadra (Balaram)

The distribution started soon after, while the procession was still on, from the Pabrai's ice cream parlour. And it was exciting! One could pick up any one bowl/ plate/ pot and take it away. I was choosy as we had to pick up a proper bhog for sharing it among colleagues back in the office. My colleague picked up a pot of khichdi topped with fried vegetables and it had my smiling approval. I was looking for a good finishing dish and spotted a bowl of kheer and wasted no time to pick it up. We left immediately and it soon started pouring. 

I was happy for this experience despite the long walk to the prasad venue at Sarat Bose Road and back to the office in the drizzle. Everyone in the office was happy to share the delicious bhog.


#ISKCON #Rathayatra #RathayatraKolkata #Rathayatra2018 #RathayatraKolkata2018


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The second edition of The World Week of Italian Cuisine at Italian Consulate

It is that time of the year when Italy woos gastronomes across the globe with its cuisine. The World Week of Italian Cuisine is celebrated in the countries where Italy has a consular presence. This year’s is the second edition (the first one was known as The First Week of Italian Cuisine and you may see the post on it on this blog here)

My sincere gratitude to the honourable consululate general Mr Damiano Francovigh for the invitation to the inaugural party at the consulate like last November.

I reached the Italian consulate in Alipore around 7.30 pm and found the Consulate General and his team greeting the guests at the entrance. The team found me out on the guest list and told me to go in. The party was in full swing at the large lawn. The guest list had the creme de la creme of Kolkata.

Seven star hotels were showcasing their special menu in a stall each helmed by their resident Italian chefs. in order of appearance, there were HHI ( Chef Marialuisa Lovari), Swissotel (Chef Enrico Bricarello), Taj Bengal (Chef Giovanni Poretto), Novotel (Chef Andrea Misseri), The Oberoi Grand (Chef Mariagiustina Campagna), Hyatt Regency (Chef Mauro Ferrari) and ITC Sonar (Chef Vittorio Greco).

Here’s what I liked:
I started from the very first stall- HHI. The smoked salmon was good. It was served in normal temperature and had a subtle taste with some creaminess. The Lamb Pepperoni (Thin, round slices) was good too.

Smoked Salmon

The Consulate General addressed the guests at this juncture and said that the week was a celebration of Italian cuisine all over the world to raise awareness about it. He named the hotels and the chefs who were present and informed that the same food would be available in the hotels over the following fortnight.

Italian Consululate General Mr Damiano Francovigh

The drinks counter was serving a fine selection of wines. Since I’m not a wine person, I chose to skip it.

Moved to the Taj Bengal stall and tried the lamb stew. They served it with a pulao. The stew bowled me over! Its taste was richer than a stew yet not spicy. The tender, well-marinated lamb chunks cooked with the vegetables was an ideal dish for the pleasant autumn evening. I have never been attracted to risotto but I liked the vegetable verson and the seafood risotto was lovely (with tiny chunks of seafood and made with stock). Both were being cooked on the spot and served right from the oven.

I met Chef Vittorio Greco at the ITC Sonar stall and told him that I had loved his poached fish last year in the same event (you can read about it in the post on this blog here). He said he remembered me (!) and served me his fish preparation of this year. Personally speaking, it was not bad and was subtly flavoured but that it was cooked with tomato, thus didn't appeal to my palate.

I met food blogger friends Indrajit Lahiri and Debjani Chatterjee Alam. Indrajit showed us his discovery- a fatty pork dish from the ITC Sonar stall. I had a spoon of it and went back to the stall just for it. The baked pork with almost a 50:50 fat to meat ratio in some cuts (and I precisely picked the fatty cut) was a delight and chef Greco’s magic made it the showstopper of the evening for me. The poached fish I talked about was the best dish for me in last year’s edition.

Baked Pork

The chicken liver puree at the Novotel’s stall was a bit bitter to start with, but its rich flavour took over soon. It was one of the new types of dish discovered.

Another puree caught my fancy. None of  the chicken dishes tasted thus far had scored with me (like Chicken Bon Bon with Onion Sauce, Chicken ball with parmesan) but the chicken breast on top of a cauliflower puree at the Hyatt stall was made flavoursome for the delicious puree.

Potato Stuffing Chicken Breast in Cauliflower Puree

I wrapped up the night with the the tiramisu from the Oberoi Grand stall which served only desserts. The tiramisu didn't turn out well. I missed the cheesy flavours. But the dense chocolate cake that I took just before made up for a sweet ending.


#WorldWeekofItalianCuisine #ItalianFood #ItalianCuisine #Pork #Risotto #Lamb


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Pujo Diaries 2017

Here's a trail of Pujo (as Durga Puja or Puja is commonly known) which was celebrated in September 2017 in Kolkata.

This pandal (marquee) in Telengabagan which is a popular puja of north Kolkata. Theme puja (Pandal and idols of goddess Durga and her four children are designed following a theme) rules these days pushing the traditional puja to sidelines. The theme of this puja was child labour.

The interior of the Telengabagan puja (below).

The themed idol of goddess and her children in the Telengabagan puja. This reflects the current trend of idols of goddess Durga and her children.

A unique Durga idol with nine hands on one side, in Shnurir Bagan puja, north Kolkata.

Kobirajbagan Sarbojonin puja with the ship-themed pandal.

A classical Durga idol. A rarity in big pujas now.

A peek into the suburbs now. The book-fair-themed pandal of Shitala Mandir Samaj, Barrackpore, in north suburbs of Kolkata.

A tribal village has been recreated in a Barrackpore puja.

A jamindar's mansion has been recreated as the pandal in a popular puja in Barrackpore.

Live human models in the above-mentioned pujo.They stayed still for hours on end.

A swan-themed pandal in a puja in Ichhapur (north suburbs).

The idol of the above-mentioned puja. There's a certain playfulness in the design.

The classical war goddess avatar of Durga which is a personal favourite. It's a rare kind of idol these days. This one is at College Sqaure puja which has been blissfully defying the trend.....thankfully.

The houses in the locality are sometimes included in the pandal design  of a theme puja. This one is at the Nalin Sarkar Street puja (north Kolkata)

An art installation on the theme of an asylum in the Nalin Sarkar Street puja.

Kumari Puja on Ashtami day is another ritual which is followed in the Ramakrishna Mission centres. A young girl is selected for worship. This one is at Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission of Barrackpore (which, though shares the same ideology, is a breakaway of the famous institution).

The roads get dressed up, too. This is Hatibagan Sarbojonin puja (north Kolkata).

I like the creativity of Hatibagan Sarbojonin and this year was no exception. The theme was 'Birds'. The design with cages and small wooden birds all around with their chirp as background music created a world of its own.

Chandelier is a tradition of puja pandals. Various pujas flaunt big, majestic chandeliers.

The Kashi Bose Lane puja (north Kolkata) was on the theme of evolution of music. The transistor radio and tape deck took back to the old times.

A small instance of the puja craze would be this. A small part of the queue for the Santosh Mitra Square puja (central Kolkata) past midnight.

Sindur Khela- the send-off ritual of the goddess on the last day- Dashami.

After the round of smearing the goddess with sindur (vermilion) is done with, it's time to do the same to each other among women (originally meant for married women).

The vermilion brings out a rare kind of feminine beauty .

'Sindur Khela' is equally popular among young and unmarried women now for its fashion quotient. Media photographers get them to pose for their 'Dashami' work.

Finally, Bhasan/ Bishorjon or biding the goddess adieu. Its immersion of the idol in the river.

Though a painful moment, bishorjon is obesrved with much fanfare. And free-flowing 'bhasan dance' to the beats of dhaak is a popular subculture.

I was lucky to witness this classical form of bishorjon. The idol is balanced on the edge of two boats and several rounds are done before the boats move away from one another.

#Puja #Pujo #DirgaPuja #DurgaPuja2017 #DurgaPujaKolkata #DurgaPujaKolkata2017

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The Christmas treats from The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata

The goodiebox from the cake shop of The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata that arrived in my office was red, so was the man – dressed in a red t-shirt and cap. It felt for a moment that Santa had taken a disguise and appeared ahead of schedule.

The name ‘Great Eastern Hotel cake shop’ takes me back to my childhood. My father’s office was across the road, opposite the hotel’s erstwhile entrance on Old Court House Street. The aroma wafting out of the 19^th century bakery (founded by English baker David Wilson) of The Great Eastern Hotel (The previous name) was irresistible and he was among many to queue up at the cake shop for their tempting Christmas cakes. Those wonderful cakes make one of the sweetest memories from that age of mine.

Coming back to the goodiebox. It had a card with handwritten Christmas wish from the General Manager of the hotel. I found a one pound Christmas fruit cake, a pack of Christmas cookies, a vanilla muffin, an orange muffin and a loaf of Masala Bread inside.

 Inside of the Christmas goodiebox

The vanilla muffin tasted good. It had a mild vanilla flavour, had nuts and was not intensely sweet which is how I like my cakes.

The Masala Bread topped with cumin seeds had a mild spicy flavour which was nice. To enjoy a slice of it better, toast it lightly and give it a pat of butter.

 The Masala Bread

The Christmas cake was also delicately sweet and good in taste. The taste is distinctly different from other cakes as they use clarified butter instead of butter. It is not loaded with dry fruits and candied orange peel, so you can have it any time of the year as a tea cake.

 The Christmas cake

 

I liked the Christmas cookies a lot. I crave for good cookies and the hard, crunchy, sticky, coconutty cookies were delicious. They had dried plums for the added goodness and again, were not intensely sweet. The children should love it.

 The Christmas cookies

If you wish to buy your Christmas cake from the hotel's cake shop, it's on Waterloo Street. They've opened well-decorated extended counters outside to cater to the long queue, so once you reach near the hotel at the end of the street, you shall not need further direction. The counters are opening around 9 o' clock. They also have an outlet of the cake shop in New Market where you may visit if you want to avoid a long queue. But try not to go there late afternoon as you may end up being too early for the next day.

My heartiest thanks to The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata for the gesture! Wish it a great Christmas season!

Wish you a Merry Christmas too! Soak in the chilly weather with good food.

#Christmas #Christmascake #TheLalitGreatEastern #TheBakery #TheLalitKolkata #TheLalitexperience #Heritage #KolkataHeritage

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