FOOTBALL AND KATRI.......

What's not to like about football? Plus this is the FIFA, held once in every four years and the best of footballing nations play to win. While in the comfort of our own home, we can watch adult, fit men running around at high speed behind one small ball, trying to make a goal. These days the looks of the footballers has changed with dyed hair, tattooed arms and legs and a new found aggression. But the physical abuse continues.

There is extraordinary violence, though there are a zillion cameras pointed towards the players and extremely active referees, giving out yellow cards like hard candy. While Murali and I would watch football in the days of yore too, I became more than a mere viewer when we brought out a football supplement during the 1992 FIFA. I was in Newstime then and spent late nights with the boys watching the game unfold, learnt some technical details and the passion for the game stuck. New rules have been set, but I am watching and learning. While this month will be dedicated to this game, the other OTT channels are still as attractive. For sometimes just watching someone kicking ball is not enough! Hai Na? 

So, went to Chennai to catch up with grand niece, all of two and yet held us in thrall. Right now she is awfully cute and can speak a smattering of four languages. She can speak French (we really do not know if it is French), Luxembourgish (apparently what is spoken in Luxembourg. Again we do not know if she is speaking that), English and a huge lot of Tamil, having stayed three weeks with two grandmothers.

Incidentally, a young guy sat next to me with a woolen jacket when the Chennai flight took off. Because I was in the middle seat, he eyed the airhostess giving us the lowdown on the flight going into water and was discussing the float and Sonu Sah started looking for it. I told him it was under the seat and he tells me in pure Bihari that he knows it, adding that he has flown a couple of timeS, with his friends to Delhi for the IPL. No lack of confidence here. He was from Darbhanga and runs a sweet shop. One boy among four sisters, he was accompanying one of his married sister to Chennai, to settle her down, for jijaji also runs sweet shop.

Courteous, well informed, he was definitely not shy, but he asked me if I was a doctor. Asked him what he would do in Chennai. Settling his sister in the flat already bought, was priority and then he says "main ghoomoonga thode dino ke liye. Dil ko bhaya to rukunga nahin to ticket kat loonga". Capable and a decision maker, he was all of four feet in his socks. Talk of movies, pornography and sex just happened in the conversation and he was free and flowing. But before I could give him a best of luck hug, he said a quick bye and went to join his family.

While Chennai feels like home with all relatives living there and the schedule gets hectic, but we still managed the beach and their delicious bajjis. This time tried a new one made of banana flowers. The purple flower which hangs from the plaintain tree has many shoots/flowers inside and it is an art to remove these and remove a black bitter shoot within each flower and then use it. If you leave the flower on the tree, it makes new bananas, but otherwise, though a strenuous job, it makes some delicious dishes. This lady at the beach made sensational bajjis out of them. The taste still lingers.

Returned from Chennai, washed the delicates (thank god for the sunny weather) and immediately left for Bidar and then on to Nanded. Sikh friends had come from the US and so drove there for `mattha tekne'. While in my memory I have a soft spot for Bidar for all the beer drunk there and the bottles smuggled from there during prohibition, it is actually known for a very delicate art called Bidri work. Very few people left in Bidar and lesser people making it in Hyderabad. But how many paper weights and paper cutters can you buy? It is etching work and quite difficult and the result is very nice, but like I said.....

But we left home early and so had to have breakfast. We took the ORR and got off at Patancheru to take the Sanga Reddy road. How much things have changed and decided to stop at the food cart called Sri Sai Food Court. At Isnapur, just shy of Kandi. Mouthwateringly delicious, with steaming vadas being served along with factoids like `stand under the morning sun and you can enjoy both good health and good breakfast'.😆Charming to say the least. This was Anil Kumar, tall and handsome from Darjeeling. And as a friend said he had crossed from making Momos to Masala Dosas. Fresh, hot, delicious stuff and practically free for it was that reasonable.

There are a few new flyovers built on this road and my landmark from my memory was the 100 km stone just before the right turn into Pastapur, where DDS and Sateesh have stuck to their task

of empowering women farmers with farming techniques of yore. The roads are good and though a Sunday there was enough traffic. This part of the border between Telangana and Karnataka and later between Karnataka and Maharashtra are like `no-man's land', left to the whims of nature and the blessings of God, but yet flowers bloomed and people drove by in a hurry. There were small eating joints and I would loved to stop and have a jowari roti with their phalli ka chutney and a tencha, but we were keen on reaching Bidar to have the langar there, which would also be prasad. 

The Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib Gurudwara has a history, having been built in 1948. And has a little bit of myth attached to it. The people of Bidar were a sad lot because of shortage of water. Being moved by their plight, Guru Nanakji touched the hillside with his toe and a fountain of sweet water flowed from there and it is now known as the Amrit Kund or Nanak Jhira. Extraordinarily clean, the langar is another story. Always a filling and wholesome meal, luckily they also had some steel dining tables for a dozen persons. Cool breezes, while your feet soak away the tiredness in cold water, as you reach to the place of worship, even as the Shabd was being recited continuously. They sing each canto and practice and bhakti is rendered each time.

We drove on to Nanded since we had booked rooms there, but the Bidar Fort is 500 years old. And in 1724 Bidar was part of the Asaf Jahi kingdom of the Nizams and one of the Nizams ruled from the Bidar Fort from 1751 to 1762. In recent times the ancient Karez System or an underground network of aqueducts for water supply has been discovered. 

But soon we could see vast expanses of land with pockets of sugarcane, pigeon pea. I wanted to grab a few fresh kandi shoots for time pass, but since we were going for prayers and so on. There was a lot of turmeric, cotton and huge tall tamarind trees and closer to farms, there were guys selling fresh produce of cauliflowers, methi leaves, mooli and corriander leaves. We told ourselves we would return the next day on our return journey and buy it all. Something about fresh produce especially in such environs. And then we saw cartloads of fresh peas, but again exercised self control.

Though we ate at the langar, there is a particular time between afternoon and evening when the stomach wants what the stomach wants and so we stopped at the Balaji tiffin centre for he advertised gud ki chai. When we sashayed in, I could smell the deep fried stuff and so asked him if I could have just the paav or only the batata vada. He brought a plate of batata vada with the paav and fried green chillies. The tea was served in a smaller glass than a shot glass and was sweet and thick. A little bit of heaven. We wanted some pakodis and the guy offered to make them fresh. Back to heaven. A good, happy half hour spent, while Raju did the needful with the car and we were back on the road to Nanded, pointed out by all and sundry. Lot of diversions and construction work happening for new flyovers, so a bit of a bumpy ride. 

There are 12 and more Gurudwaras in Nanded and most of them have been built on the banks of the Godavari. Most of these places of worship are next to one another and in this mini kingdom of Sikhs there is enough space to stay at reasonable rates, the food anyway is free. The place is hopping, with courteous people, great food, clean rooms and unclean toilets. It is just difficult to wrap your brain around the fact that there is food being served round the clock and generously so. The Khada Prashad which is served near the place of worship is only a mouthful, but it is rich, tasty and tempting you to return to get some more.

We entered a crowded Nanded and the evening market just opening up. The sight of Delhi carrots and peas made us revisit this market the next day.

The concept of serving or `seva' probably has come from Gurudwaras and then caught the imagination of people when they saw people do the same at Puttaparthi, at Sai Baba's ashram. The Gurudwara  Huzur Sahib, is one of the Panj Takhts in Sikhism. It has been built in the remembrance of the tenth Sikh Guru Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. In a plot of assassinate him, Guru Gobind Singh escaped that but finally breathed his last at Nanded. There is a daily worship of the artefacts of the Guru, including two bows with 35 arrows, swords and a shield. It is an event in itself, when the room is opened and then shut for the night. 

As I mentioned earlier, this is a mini kingdom, with all kinds of facilities for the worshipper. The best I found was the few stone benches for people to rest up or soak in the sun, after walking up and down the steps to meet with the holy Godavari. Most of the domes are gold, and they shimmer with the rising sun and the setting one. The jute carpets around the gurudwaras gives a certain warmth after the cold feel of the marble under your feet and the feet cleaning before you enter the place of worship. Some one is working at it continuously and makes everything happen.

All the Gurudwaras are cash rich, and it is nice to see being put to good use to keep the worshipper/devotee/pilgrim comfortable. There is the Gurudwara Nagina Ghat, Gurudwara Bandi Ghat and many others, though we did not visit them all. I sat on one of the benches to ruminate, even as the golden dome of the temple emitted a golden halo in the rising sun. There were huge crowds, people all over, a child bawling, shop owner offering him tea and biscuits, but I just felt the peace and tranquility. That really cannot be taken away from you.

On our return we did pick our vegetables of Delhi carrots and moolis and a few others and then went in our search for murmura, having seen sacks of it the previous day evening. We found the shop and landed at the Marathwada Murmura Centre, with Firoze Pathan serving us our every order. Apparently his family has a murmura factory and he has a variety of them and asked us to taste all. As though we were waiting. Having had a more than decent breakfast at the langar, we shamelessly ate everything in sight. And though he has kept it in the open, none of them had gone soft and of course it had all the dust of Nanded in it and that is why it was so tasty.

I asked for Katri, or dried potato sali, which is to be friend and then mixed with salt and chillie powder. There is no way of explaining it, but you can keep this stuff by your side, watch a movie and just be careful that you do not chew your finger tips also. I might watch a movie or a football match......

Once we reached Telangana highway, I was king of road, or so I thought. So much has changed, including a new restaurant at the corner of the turning towards the highway at Nizamabad. Earlier there used to be several trees and one of the sulkiest old ladies would sell the best corn on the cob. There was one decently clean bathroom and over enthusiastic waiters. But the place filled up even as we sat. Service was quick and food was hot and delicious and sorry to say that it was roti and paneer, while the name suggested thali. 

We drove into Hyderabad into thick traffic but moving and reached everyone home before 5.30 pm. a tad tiring, a little bit blessed but still wanting more......