Part 1 of 2: A Slap in the face

Mandu is around 90 KM from Indore & is India’s largest fort (perimeter of 82 KM). The ruined city in a small village having many water bodies even today is still charming; wonder what a beauty it would have been in better times 600 years ago. If its stunning grandeur isn’t enough to floor you, its water management engineering is sure to stun you.  

The Rani Roopmati pavilion housing the sepoy complex sits on the edge of a steep cliff around 1200 feet about ground level. Making water available at such great heights for the sepoy’s sans electricity, pumps etc. was a challenge in 14^th century.

To solve this problem the roofs, verandas etc. have a slight slope which enables all the rain water to get collected together at a point on one end of the massive complex. This is then passed through chambers of coal, sand, salt as part of the filtration process and finally is stored in a huge tank (My photo is a poor attempt). No steel is used & all the verandas & roofs cleverly make use of arches or domes.

The Jahaz mahal is another spectacular building sitting like a ship during two lakes with its sinuous rain water channels. To know about the water conservation engineering used here, please visit the ( http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/water-treated-royally-mandus-jahaz-mahal-ship-palace )or google for more info. 99% of today’s Leeds rated green buildings are a far cry from the green building technology used here 600 years ago.

I bow in admiration & ache to touch the feet of whoever the engineer was. How the inspiration in the mind was transferred to paperless /CAD-less drawings & made a reality is something that is difficult to believe

How could one engineer a simple water tank with such ingenuity & architecture? It’s a slap in our face as to what results one is capable of if he has a burning passion.

Mandu is a treasure trove to today’s engineers &architects. It pains that it is ignored by engineering institutions, CBSE & even government departments in charge of watershed management.

Jahaz Mahal  is a timeless poetry in symmetry.

Part 2 of 2: Jekyll & Hydisque

The Sarafa Bazaar is a small lane on the right of the imposing Rajwada in Indore. The two sides of this narrow lane are lined with numerous jewellery shops that are open during the day. There is nothing special in these. However, by night  8 PM the street transforms into a veritable food paradise.  A smart idea of traffic & city space management.

We start with the 80 year old Joshi Dahibhalla (see youtube videos)  the most prominent & must visit. The crowds are huge after 9 PM, so finish it off first at 8 PM.  The bhalla is made of urad & moong dal flour

We walk across shops selling mawa & dairy products that are over 150 years old.

The name “Bhutte Ka Kiss” amuses us (actually it is khees). The colour & texture of this is like brown kitchidi; however, it is made of grated corn & tastes differently good.

The puzzled look in the faces of all ladies at the shop selling gharadu draws us in. Gharadu belongs to the yam family but much bigger than yam & found only in MP only.  It is steamed, cut into pieces, fried & liberally sprinkled with the gharadu masala. The oddity draw the crowds.

The 10 flavour paani poori next – will sure test your tongues sensitivity in differentiating the subtle difference in the flavours.

We try out the paneer chilha (like dosa but made of moong dal batter & topped with grated paneer). You have variants in besan too.

 What’s a Chaat without the tikkis.  We opt for the corn instead of aloo tikki chaat. One bite & we realise that 90% of tikki chaats in India are fakes. The asli taste is unmatched.

The Malpua’s with rabadi was a unique combination over the routine gulab jamuns, 6 inch giant jilebbis & other sweets.

We ended our walk having a falooda with rabadi & icecream

Well there is everything under the stars here that you can choose from. We had to let go the fruit chaat with the odd-looking dragon fruit this time as we were full.

A paan was must & we had flavour options each packed meticulously in small disposable plastic boxes - butterscotch, chocolate, Kesar special or special mawa & so on

Indore is undoubtedly the Mecca to food lovers.