Taken in October of 2013 in Delhi
The seven white, bulbous mini-domes in the top background of the bottom shot are the same as those at the top of the upper photo. Fortifications are built out in front of the gate to add a measure of security. There is no line-of-sight view of the gate from the front.
Taken in Kochi in July of 2014
Every once in a while, I see some graffiti that’s intriguing and / or evocative.
Taken in Vác in December of 2014
Taken in December of 2014 in Budapest
Terror Háza is a museum of the atrocities committed by the fascist and communist regimes in Hungary. It is housed in a building, Andrássy út 60, that was used by both those regimes for torture and imprisonment of dissenters.
Taken in November of 2013 at Hampi
This dead scorpion was sitting on some stonework at the Achyutaraya Temple.
Taken in the July of 2014 near Chamarajanagar.
Taken in December of 2014 in Pécs
The photo above and the photo below were taken at almost the same time (around dusk), but with some adjustments to the manual settings. (You can see the time continuity in the clouds above the hotel in the right half of the photo.) What a difference a few clicks make.
I’m stirring the pot.
The thing about Indian food–with its penchant for pureed gravies–is that I find it delectable, but often have no idea what I’m eating or how it got to me looking, tasting, and smelling like it does.
That is until recently. A couple of weeks ago I attended a cooking class at Manju’s Cooking School in RT Nagar in an attempt to rectify (or at least reduce) my ignorance. Manju’s offers a wide variety of classes (Indian and non-Indian, veg and non-Veg, cooking and baking, etc.)
I attended with a group of friends, and we constituted a class unto ourselves. We, therefore, got a quick and dirty introduction to a number of common / typical Indian foods (veg and non-veg, and both North and South Indian.) The menu we prepared consisted of two breads (kulcha and Malabar parota), dal makhani, paneer butter masala, and kadai chicken.
The class took 2.5 or 3 hours, and ended in a banquet of the foods we hand prepared.
Some of the fun facts that I learned include:
-“Kadai” in the name of dish just means that it’s wok-cooked.
-A Kulcha is essentially a naan of a different thickness.
-Dal makhani requires a lot of prep, even if you have access to a pressure cooker.
-There’s a lot of finely chopped onion in these gravies that often goes unnoticed.
-One can cook with the pot upside-down. This is how we cooked Kulcha. In a restaurant it would be cooked in a Tandoor oven, but at home you can cook it stuck to the bottom of a deep pot.
-Lastly, the key to a the flaky goodness of a Malabar parota is lots of fat… who’d have thought?
Taken in December of 2014 in Budapest.
Taken in November of 2014 in Mumbai.
The story is that Mr. J. N. Tata built this hotel after being turned away from upscale hotels at the turn of the 20th century because he wasn’t white (he’s Parsi. He made it one of the most opulent hotels in India. I haven’t seen corroboration of this story, but it’s what people say.
This photo is taken from the Gateway of India.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 