A new scam has come to light. I got to read about this in a major Indian newspaper. They reported that 4 single women got sucked in this scam in the city of Bangalore. This is how it goes. As soon as the auto takes off, the driver hands the woman, two 500 Rupee notes in exchange for ten 100 Rupee notes. When the woman takes the notes then the driver suddenly takes the wrong route and asks for an extremely high fare. When you the woman demands the driver to stop, he threatens her with violence. There is nothing much one can do in such a situation. Only sane thing anyone can do is to comply with the driver, pay the fare they want and try get out of it.
Here are some tips to avoid getting into these situations:
Make a note of the registration number and ask the name of the driver. Take a photo of the registration number on your mobile if have to.
Never take the money from the driver. Tell them you don’t have change.
As soon as you feel as if the driver is going to do something wrong start recording with your mobile or camera.
Try to get an idea of the route if you can which means buying a map of the city you are in.
If you are travelling alone then let your family or friends know your travel itinerary. This way they will know the places you intend to visit.
If you feel unsafe get out as soon as the driver stops (for example at a traffic light).
Find the Twitter handle of the city police and tweet to them with appropriate Hastags. Hastags start with symbol #. You can also tweet to “Nitin Jairam Gadkari” the Minister of Road and Highways. There was an incidence when a mother travelling with her five year son on the Indian Railways ran out of milk for her baby and she tweeted about it to the Railway Minister of India. Believe if or not a bottle of warm milk and biscuits was provided to the mother. This means that the tweet was read by the office of the minister.
For instance if you want to tweet, you could do something like this “I am in trouble with this auto rickshaw driver (add location and reg number) in #DelhiPolice @MORTHIndia. HELP ASAP
Please note that majority of auto rickshaw drivers are honest individuals and work hard for their livelihood. But it appears that some bad apples are there to scam you. Just beware.
Gol gappa (Gol Gupppa) is the North Indian name of the dish which is widely known as Panipuri. It is also known as gup chup, poochka, phoolki and pani ke bataashe. The gola gappa is one of the most popular of all the Indian street foods other than the chaat. Here’s a guide on Indian street foods.
The dish can be prepared quickly; especially if the crisp semolina and flour mixed puris are ready at hand. The hollow small rounds of puri wait to be filled with masala made of potato, onion, chickpeas, chaat, sprouts, mint and tamarind sauce. For some special golgappas, the filling includes ragda, which gives it a different taste all together. For the person travelling in India, it is difficult not to come across a street vendor selling golgappas every few minutes, unless they are travelling in some barren land. The delicious taste, easy availability and low cost has made it one of the most desired snack of every season.
The puris are made small enough to fit into the mouth. Once inside the mouth the crispy puris break and give way to the filling to spread around and tickle those taste buds. It is common sight to see people showing the whole masala filled puris into mouth and relishing it one after another on the streets of India. Many of lovers of gol gappa are known to be voracious eaters of the snack. It is a sight in itself to watch the vendor quickly fill the puris one after another and hand it over to the customer one at a time. They are also served in platter made out of dried sal leaves after cracking a small hole in the perfectly round puri and filling it with desired masala and tamarind water. Some people prefer sweet golgappas whereas other may love eye watering spicy ones. The catch about eating golgappa is that it should be consumed immediately once filled with water. If not the puris will turn soggy and become leady spilling out the contents inside it. Not only is the preparation of golgappas an art, eating them smartly is great skill in itself. Often they are washed down with a bowl of spicy or sweetened water which is served by the vendors. It could be made of tamarind, lemon, dates or mint.
Having a golgappa. Photo by “The.Rohit”
It is not an expensive dish and affordable by everyone which has made it so popular that many call it the king of all snacks. It is common sight to see the friends share the golgappa from a single plate which makes them feel bonded together. Most of the youngsters usually hold competition to see who can gulp down most golgappas. This is a delight for the vendor. For some reason it is known to be a favorite snack with girls. One of the reasons could be that unlike boys, girls cannot sit on roadside in a gang, smoke or have fun openly without incurring the wrath of their parents. The only open get-together for them will be beside a golgappa stall where their parents will not object. In India, mostly the boys ask the girls out to share a golgappa more than sharing a coffee together. Though the dish is known to have originated in Bihar at present it is popular all over India and also in neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. One of the varieties of golgappa prepared in Kolkata called Poochka in the local dialect is most famous of the snack.
The invention of gol gappa
One of the mythology tale says that, when the Arjuna won over Draupadi in an archery competition beating all his rivals, he proudly told his mother about his victory. His mother Kunti without seeing the woman, said him to share his victory with his brothers which saw that Draupadi had to marry all the five Pandava brothers. Later, Kunti was worried that Draupadi may not do justice to all of her sons; therefore she decided to test her new daughter in law. Giving her just enough dough to prepare one roti, she asked Draupadi to serve the Pandavas. The intelligent woman Draupadi was, prepared five small puris, filled it up with some left over potato dish and served it to the Pandavas. Kunti could see for herself that her daughter in law was not partial to any of the Pandavas, in addition she had come up with a new dish wish was delicious and relished by her sons. This is how Draupadi is known to have won over the hearts of the Pandavas and her Mother in law.
Panipuri in a plate served in a restaurant
Though earlier the snack was prepared only by golgappa vendors, how people have started preparing in their homes, according to taste. Some people are known to add vodka or whisky to the water when it is prepared at home, though that would be considered an offence if done by street vendor. Once the snack of the poor, golgappas have entered all the expensive restaurants and become a part of fine dining in India. If are not sure if about eating it on the streets, just ask your restaurants if they can make these gol gappas for you.
Bihar has some of the most important pilgrim sites not just for Hindus for also for Buddhists. One of the most popular Buddhist sites in the world is the Mahabodhi temple in the town of Bodh Gaya. This place marks where Lord Buddha got enlightenment. It is said that After Siddhartha Gautama left his palace; he wandered aimlessly till he came to Gaya. He decided to sit under the peepal tree (now known as the Bodhi tree) and mediate till he got the answers to the sufferings (dukkha) in the world. The original tree may not exist but an offspring of the original tree marks the exact spot where he sat. You can find people collecting leaves that fall of the tree and many sit there and meditate. In 250 B.C (200 years later) Emperor “Ashoka the Great” visited the spot and founded a temple and a monastery. The temple declined as Buddhism declined in India but Burmese and Sri Lankan rulers restored the complex. The place is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here are some of the pictures of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya. You can get there by train, coaches or road from Patna, the capital of Bihar and from the Indian capital. You can read more about Buddhism in my book.
Note: Being a Hindu I have never eaten beef and neither do I intend to. I do not endorse the killing of cows and I am for complete ban on cow slaughter throughout India. This post is for information only.
Some foreign tourists from the USA and Europe love their beef so much that some of them start having withdrawal symptoms if they don’t eat beef for a period of time. Now if you are one of those people who are craving for a ham burger or beefsteak while on your trip to India, you’re out of luck. Most places in India will not have beef on their menu. In fact, you are not going to find any beef in any fast food chain restaurants including western ones such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut or Domino’s. You won’t find the Big Mac burger in an Indian McDonald’s restaurants rather you’ll have a ‘Maharaja Mac’ which will be the same size as their Big Mac counterpart but will have chicken burgers in it.
Mughali Beef curry in Agra, India. Photo by VasenkaPhotography
If you are craving for beef during your stay in India then a good place to go is Goa. About 27% of the population of Goa are Christians and many restaurants run by Christians will include beef (also pork) on their menu. In fact, many restaurants at the beach especially in the tourist areas will serve beef burgers. Although, Hindus of Goa won’t eat beef there is little taboo about eating beef in Goa.
In Delhi, the capital of India, most Hindus may not know this but many foreign owned restaurants and Muslim-dominated areas of Nizamuddin area of New Delhi or Jama Masjid (Jama Mosque) of Old Delhi will serve beef. The menu may not have explicit labeling of cow meat but many regulars will know about it. So you will need to enquire in these restaurants if they serve beef or not. Many Hindus may not have a clue that they have mistakenly eaten beef being sold as mutton (lamb) in some of these restaurants. You can identify Muslim restaurants by the signs at the entrance. They will have an Urdu sign along with Hindi and English. In addition, devout Muslims wearing skull caps, so you might find people at the till or the waiters wearing them. Although slaughtering of cows is illegal in Delhi, it is still available in Muslims areas of Delhi.
Beef market in kerala. Photo by Nicolas Mirguet
However, beef is legally available in Christian dominated areas of Kerala, Tribal Jharkhand (former South Bihar), Muslim populated areas of West Bengal and the whole of Buddhist/Christian North-East India. Calcutta (now Kolkata) has a large illegal Muslim Bangladeshi population operating beef markets that cater for the numerous restaurants and dhabas there.
The state of Uttar Pradesh stands as one state that has large number of cow slaughterhouses for meat export. Beef can be found in Muslim areas of Rampur, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Aligarh, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). Hyderabad is another place where you can get beef. It said that that Hyderabad is the best place to have beef biryani and kebabs. In fact, the Hindu “dalits” of Hyderabad have been eating beef in India for centuries.
Interestingly, the people in the state capital of Kashmir, Srinagar the only Muslim dominated state of India refrains from consuming beef keeping the Kashmiri tradition of religious and cultural harmony alive (known as Kashmiriyat or Kashmiri Nationalism). However there is no such taboo in the Kashmiri countryside. Recently some kind of disruption has been brewing up. Some Muslims of Kashmir have taken up eating beef just to piss the Hindus off.
You need to remember that cow meat are often replaced by cheaper bull or buffalo meat and sold as beef. You will have to confirm this with the restaurant. If people of Europe can be cheated into eating “horse meat” rather than beef, this can easily happen in India too.
Why beef cannot be found on the Indian menu
Hindus consider the cow as the symbol of life (and cows not worshipped)
Cow meat is not feely available in India
Any hint of cow slaughter can trigger riots
There is no big demand for beef
There are no organized slaughter houses for cows
Most Indian states have banned cow slaughter
Slaughter of cows is a sensitive issue
India has a civilian anti-cow slaughter and cow enforcement team
There are some (so-called) intellectuals and historians who claim that Hindus used to eat beef in ancient (referred to as Vedic) times. Funny thing is that many of these English speaking intellectuals don’t even speak a word of Sanskrit and they come to the conclusion that Hindus once used to eat beef. Fact is that mainstream Hindus never eat beef. Anyway even if they did in ancient times it doesn’t mean Hindus have to eat beef now. Times change and religions evolve and we don’t eat beef in this day and age.
However, you still can find beef in some upscale restaurants, hotels and bars with a significant foreign customers and some non-Hindu owned restaurants. Despite non-availability of beef, India happens to be the world’s third largest beef exporter after Brazil and Australia. At the moment, there are restrictions on eating beef in many Indian states. The best option is to refrain from eating beef in India completely.
Just a few days back, a man was murdered in his own house because the villagers thought that he had beef in his fridge. The disgusting paid Indian media is currently trying to whip up this story. Most of the Indian channels are run by supporters of the opposition parties hence they will do everything to create tension and defame the current ruling party. Anyway, whatever the case maybe, people of India takes the killing of cows very seriously.
Finally, I strongly suggest you DO NOT attempt to eat beef in India. We love our cows and in addition there are 24 out of 29 states in India that have some kind of regulations prohibiting cow slaughter and sale of beef.
Mumbai formerly known as Bombay is the commercial hub of India and the capital of the state of Maharashtra. Mumbai lies in the west coast of India. It is known as having one of the biggest slums of the world called Dharavi. Mumbai is also the home of Bollywood. Another interesting fact about this city is that it has highest number of billionaires among all cities in India. In addition, the world’s richest people love in this city. Here are some first impressions of Mumbai you will have when you go there. If you are considering visiting Mumbai then you might wish to read on how to travel in Mumbai.
The Gateway of India, the monument built by the British overlooking the Arabian sea.
Overlooking the Haji Ali Masjid (mosque).
Marine Drive, a 4.3 km boulevard. It is considered as one of the wealthiest spots in Mumbai.
The morning rush hour. Ladies going to work. Mumbai can be very crowded.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CT), the history railway station of Mumbai and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Oval Maidan (field). Just like rest of India, people of Mumbai love playing cricket.
