Mount Mary Festival - Bandra Fair 2009

It’s that time of the year in Bandra when the festivities take over and make Bandra a colourful place. Khar, Bandra and Santacruz are home of many from varied communities and religions and all festivals like Ganesh Festival, Rmzan, Mount Mary Festival are celebrated with equal enthusiasm.
Mount Mary is an old church situated in Bandra. Bandra Fair is a week long fair held annually in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai, starting on the following Sunday after September 8. It is celebrated to commemorate the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus, on September 8. People from all faiths throng to seek her blessing. The streets take on a carnival-like atmosphere, with shops and mini-bazaars offering everything from food, shopping opportunities and joyrides. Street plays, musical concerts, book readings and food festivals (typically Goan) also become a part of the celebrations.
The Bandra Fair is estimated to be around 300 years old. The fair started when a statue of Mother Mary was found floating in the Arabian Sea between 1700 and 1760, which, according to a legend, a Koli fisherman had dreamt about a few years earlier.

Abortion in the ears.....Brilliant!

This is a short story written by Dr Kishore Shah.... he is a gynaecologist in Pune and a very gifted writer....enjoy this extremely funny story.


My wife is an ENT Surgeon while I am a Gynaecologist. This can lead to some complications, as I recently learned to my anguish. A General Practitioner called me up and told me that she is sending a patient of hers for an abortion. Unknown to me, she had also referred a female with earwax for removal of the wax to my wife.

I duly informed the receptionist to send the patient right in as she was expected (and expecting!) As Murphy lays down the laws of our hospital, it was but natural that the patient who wanted the wax removed from her ear, landed up with me.

This is the conversation that I had with the patient.
"Please come in. Be seated." I said with a big smile. I always have a big smile, when I am going to earn some money. The patient gave a feeble smile and sat hesitantly on the edge of the chair. "Relax."

"Doctor, will this hurt a lot?"
"Not at all."
The patient relaxed visibly. "You know something, Doctor, we tried removing it at home, but failed."
I was shocked. "Thank God. Trying this at home can cause serious complications."

"I first tried to remove it by jumping up and down, but it just wouldn't budge."
I smiled and said, "If it were that easy, who would need doctors?"

She gave a cute smile and said, "Yeah! My neighbour tried to remove it with his finger, but the hole is so small that he used a hair pin."
"Oh my God!"

"Yes! My mother even tried a matchstick."
My blood pressure was shooting skywards. I just sputtered without uttering a word.

"Tell me, doctor, how do I avoid getting this dirt inside me?"
I knew that it was an unwanted pregnancy, but calling it dirt was too much. I replied a bit angrily, "There are tablets which can prevent this happening. Or you could use protection at night."
Now it was the patient's turn to be confused, "You mean to say that it happens only at night?"
I saw her point. "No! No! I meant anytime of the day, whenever you are in the mood, you should use protection."

She was even more confused, "It depends on my moods?"
Again I saw her point.. "My mistake. You need not be in any sort of mood. It just happens."

"My neighbour advised me to go to one of those chaps who sit by the roadside."
"You mean that pin man?"

"Yeah!"
This neighbour of hers seemed to be a very dangerous man. Besides using pins, he was sending her to such quacks. The only safety he knew was among the pins. "You were wise not to heed his advice."

"But I tried his other advice. He told me to put warm oil inside and wait. However, that also did not work."
This was getting more and more bizarre. Her neighbour deserved to be locked up either in a padded cell or a barred one.

"But have you taken your husband's permission?"
Now the patient looked confused. "Do I have to take my husband's permission? Because if you need his sign, he is working in Dubai . We were not able to meet for the last one year."
It was my turn to be shocked. I gave a sly smirk. It was one of 'those' cases. The pin-wielding neighbour seemed to me the usual suspect. I reassured her. "No! No! The husband's sign is not at all needed."
"However, I did inform him on phone."
Her husband seemed to me a very broad-minded fellow. I didn't know whether to congratulate her or to commiserate with her. So I hastily turned to other aspects. "Its good that you came a bit early."

"Actually I wanted to come early in the morning, but I had some other work."
"Oh! I did not mean early today. I meant that if you had delayed this removal, it would have started moving. Then it would have developed a heartbeat."

The patient was staring at me wide eyed as if watching a horror movie. Looking at her face, I decided that she was not fit to listen to the grotesque details. I decided to relieve her a bit. I said, "You will bleed a bit, but only for a few days."
By now, the poor patient was trembling, "how-H-How much bleeding?"
"Oh, only slightly more than your menstrual period, and it will continue only for a week or so."

By now the patient was clutching her hair in her fingers and staring at me wide-eyed. I asked her soothingly, "Why don't you lie down on the examination table? Remove your clothes and relax."

This was the final straw. She didn't even wish me goodbye. I saw just a blur of motion
leaving my consulting room at top speed.

Phonetics worldwide accepted‏

Many times while conversing over the telephone we have to give our details & the listener cannot understand our Pronunciation while explaining our spellings.

Following are the Phonetic used worldwide (used by airline crews too)

A for Alpha, B for Bravo,likewise C - Charlie, D - Delta, E - Echo, F - Foxtrot, G - Golf, H - Hotel, I - India, J - Juliet, K - Kilo, L - Lima, M - Mike, N - November, O - Oscar, P - Papa, Q - Quebec, R - Romeo, S - Sierra, T - Tango, U - Uniform, V - Victor, W - Whiskey, - X-ray, Y - Yankee, Z - Zulu



So next time you talk to anybody over telephone this could be handy

World's most dangerous bridges....‏

These is a video of some of the most dangerous bridges in Karakoram, a mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, China, and India. These bridges keeps moving and shaking when someone drives over it.
Do you DARE to drive over these bridges....hehehehe )

Dinner Tonight was Yummilicious

Sari made some kebabs and roast chicken with potatoes. There were some cabbage rolls stuffed with chilli beans....... some hummous and khaboos.... and some blue.... right now i can barely type so maybe more later... till then....

Highlights of Iron Chef Giada vs. Rachael Ray

Who wants to Live Forever

Halo

Boom Boom Pow

Plane crash caught on camera

HIGH TIDE ALERT FOR MUMBAI

Heavy downpour has created an emergency like situation in Mumbai, with road, air and rail traffic coming to a standstill.

The Disaster control cell of BMC has issued a warning that a 3.89 metre high tide will hit Mumbai around 4.15 pm. The weather bureau has also predicted that the rain is going to gain momentum in the next few hours. Heavy showers are likely to continue for the next 48 hours.

Air services have also been badly affected by the rain with heavy wind and visibility of 600 meters resulted in delay of incoming and outgoing flights by 15 minutes and 45 minutes respectively. Goa airport has been shut down due to bad weather.

South and central Mumbai is facing huge traffic jam due to water logging. Andheri subway is facing worst situation where the water level is above four feet. The Worli area is also submerged under two to three feet water.


Rail services are also badly hit due to rain. Central Railway trains are not plying beyond Ghatkopar. Western railway trains are running 40 minutes behind schedule. Meanwhile, services at the Harbour line has been suspended.

Reader updates on twitter:

Tyre-deep water-logging outside CritiCare Hospt at Juhu-end of Juhu Gully. Water loggng also @ Old Nagardas Rd, Andheri E

Basement parkings @ Solitaire Corp Park, Andheri gettng flooded. Cars being removed.

Harbour line trains out of Vashi seem to have stopped

Konkani / Goan Food at Higway Gomantak Mumbai

This place is owned by one of my close friends since our good old college days. Started off as a small family venture and now is one the best running restaurants for Konkani Food.

You can welcome yourself with a glass of fresh Sol Kadi which is awesome. Then hit the deck with Surmai fry (kingfish) or fried prawns. The stuffed pomfret fry is a best seller and a favourite with my daughter. You can also have some tisryo (clams) sukhe. Sounds yummy but let me assure you it’s very tasty too.. Sounds great for Chakna but unfortunately they don’t serve the stuff here...


You can have fish curry rice or prawn curry rice or chicken or mutton curry with rice which are basically thalis or rice plates which come with Sol kaddi


Another all time favourite is the Kombi Wade which is basically a divine chicken curry with coconut gravy served with some wades or a type of puri. You soak your wade in the gravy slurp it down. Awesome… Alternatively there is a Mutton Wade too for those who prefer lamb.

Other items include ghaboli fry or fish eggs which are yummy, rice chappatis, fried sheenane (mussels),

Again you can end your meal with some more Sol Kaddi to digest your meal.

So if somebody is down in Mumbai you know where to head for some good Konkan food..

The address is 44/2179, Gandhi Nagar,
Behind Apna Bazar,Highway Facing,Bandra(E),Mumbai
Tel: 26409692 /26432472
Timings : 11.30 am - 3 pm Eve : 7.00pm - 10.30 pm.
Closed on Thursday.

Nalli Nihari & Noor Mohammadi

The only Nihari I think which is out of the world is the one made by Steele Bhai’s wife and I had the opportunity to have it on one of our meets in Abdally. This was not Nalli Nihari but Nihari Gosht and was out of the world. I’ve not had anything better than that and wonder if I wud ever get an opportunity to sample those goodies again. BTW I am still waiting for the recipe Steele Bhai!

Right now I wanna talk about Nalli Nihari. Nihari is a spicy thick gravy of mutton and calf shoulder tenderloins cooked over-night on a slow flame with a mish mash of spices, onions, ginger & garlic. The released gravy is spruced up with a dash of couple of bone-marrow, a piece of tenderloin (calf/goat) and garnished with garlic slivers and mint leaves before it is served in a bowl. A couple of drops of lemon and the Nihari is ready to go well with Karari Roti’s, Lamba Pav (diamond shaped bread nan) or Bread Nan. I am still to work out the recipe. Plenty of recipes on the net, but nothing really convincing.

Nalla/Nalli Nihari is predominantly a North Indian Mohglai recipe, which in all its originality is a breakfast snack. However a heavy meal of the kind is not everybody’s idea of a breakfast, so it can be had as a meal. Noor Mohammadi’s Nihari is probably the best in Bombay.

Noor Mohammadi Restaurant is located in Bhendi Bazaar which is popular place in Mumbai. This age old joint has been given a new refurbished look lately, a place to hog all one can till their blood is completely replaced by cholestrol

However despite a long drawn menu, which includes delicacies live Non-veg Biryani’s, Non-veg Pulavs, delicacies made of Liver, Brain, Kidney and Kirri besides a variety of fried kebabs like Shammi Kebab, Nargisi Kebab, Dal Ghost, Meethi Ghost, Palak Ghost, etc., all of which are great and worth a try, the one thing that Noor Mohammadi is famous for is its Nalli Nihari.

The other specialty of the restaurant is its White Biryani, a recipe none can match. This biryani is a sort of hybrid between a Hyderabadi Biryani and the Yakhni Pulav, but comes out better than both.
If you get the opportunity while in Bombay then this shud be a place to try out.

Chai Time

OK!!

Maybe its time for a drink right now but what the heck. Thot of putting up somethign on my blog so here goes.....





Assemble the following Ingredients for Special Chai

Any CTC Tea or your favourite Tea Powder.
BTW, the acronyms are: CTC – Crush, Tear, Curl; OP – Orange Pekoe; BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe

Full Cream Buffalo Milk
Water
Sugar
Fresh Ginger Crushed - crush the ginger with the chimta directly in the vessel
Cardamom – peel, crush and powder the pods

In a stainless steel vessel mix 2 cup of water and 1 cup of milk. Add 5 teaspoons of sugar or according to your taste and put it on the fire.

Squeeze in a bit of crushed ginger and add a pinch of cardamom powder and the peel.
Lightly stir, let it warm, and bring to a boil.

Add two teaspoons of tea powder and keep stirring gently to ensure the liquid does not spill over. You can lower the heat and increase it in intervals. Keep boiling till the tea attains beautiful bright golden-orange colour – the moment you see a reddish tinge, give the heavenly brew a loving last stir, twirl the vessel, and sieve the Chai into the cups.

Enjoy your tea!!!

MichaelGray