Dubai- a different perspective from all the concrete and glass

Dubai.... the name brings to mind a glitzy city, tall skyscrapers, glamorous buildings and hotels, desert and petro-dollar-rich sheiks and such things. I have lived and loved the city and hated it for certain things (I truly believe that true love can not exist without any hate or remorse; it is like the most beautiful thing that you love most also has a few elements which one doesnt like or hates)....

The Sharjah Corniche with a lovely view

The Deira Twin Towers

The famous Burj- Khalifa- the new symbol of Dubai

Apart from all the glass and concrete towers, the city has many mosques with beautiful architecture and illumination and they are spotlessly clean. This one is in Sharjah corniche.

A typical mosque

Dubai is also the home of shopping malls and you have so many that you lose count and each looks swankier, bigger and better and more glamourous than the last one.... it is incredible. And the airports- clean, business like, efficient and once more, a shopper's paradise.

Ibn Batuta Mall

Incredible decor

The themes in the Ibn Batuta Mall is beautiful and seems so real

Ibn Batuta offers separate themes for each area and all of them are simply incredible in detail and portrayal.

And, then there is the contemporary and modernistic architecture of concrete, steel and glass...... so much of glass!!

Glass- extensively used in all architectures across the city. Here in the form of a dome.

... and here as a glass ceiling and skylight

Long, covered and illuminated spaces with shops on both the sides and a posh atmosphere.....

Stylish Staircases.....

The Airport lounges....

Albeit all the glitz and glamour, the city has a short yet captivating history and it is a story of how a small fishing village transformed itself into the Dubai we know today. It is a very interesting story and one can see that in the Dubai Museum and Old Souqs of Deira and Bur Dubai.

A tour of the Dubai Museum in Bur Dubai and the Old Souqs is in a separate blog....

The Kebab trail of Kolkata

Kolkata has a rich and famous tradition of Mughlai and Awadhi cuisine and to experience the most authentic and tasty fare, one has to venture in the lanes and bye- lanes of Old Central Kolkata. The best place to start is the Nakhoda Masjid on Ranindra Sarani, very near the M.G. Road crossing and southward. Or, from the Central Metro Station to walk through Phears Lane towards north.

This is the Nakhoda Masjid as it is approached from South. The Rabindra Sarani is a thickly crowded and narrow street lined with shops and tram lines. People and vehicles jostle for space and it is difficult to stop and look around as there is always someone behind trying to push forward. Anyways, it is very typical of old areas as one sees in Chandni Chowk in Delhi or Lucknow.

The main road has some magnificent old buildings...

The grandeur and pomp of a beautiful house of the past

From the Central Avenue side near the Moonlight Cinema.... magnificent, huge house silently remaining in the glorious past, oblivious to the present time and changes

Grand, stylish and pompous like an old beauty queen... stands neglected and lonely

The buildings say a very vivid story about the locality and the inhabitants- that they are traditional, stuck in a time wrap and thus today, they are neglected and forgotten. However, it remains a fact that they were the best in their heyday and commanded awe and gave inspiration. Even today they are unparallel in their style and beauty and stand tall in spite of all abuse and neglect.

But, the streets and lanes behind the Nakhoda Masjid and the ground floors of buildings and the areas behind these buildings; are all kinds of shops and a fair section of them is eateries. They might not be the cleanest and swankiest in town and does not list on the restaurant guides of the city but one can have an unforgettable experience of the best of Mughlai and Awadhi cuisine here. The fantastically skilled culinary artists, Muslims by religion and learnt their trade from their forefathers have been practising and delivering like they have been for the last several generations. In fact, one look at the people, their equipment and shops will tell you that they have not changed much in decades.

The various kebabs that are served in small and mid-sized eateries here are delicious, succulent and cheap compared to their taste and the skills that go into their preparation. It is incredible actually!!

This is the typical charcoal fire and oven that one gets to see here and the iron skewers

 The old iron utensils which are slightly battered but spotlessly clean

Old Delhi

The areas around Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Sadar Bazar etc are my favourite places to walk around. The narrow lanes and roads, the old and unkempt buildings on both sides, the crowds, the shops and markets, rickshaws and autos, the eateries, the squalor..... it is absolutely a potboiler of all these and something more.....

The savories and sweets, the delectably made samosas and paranthas, the tasty and spicy curries and the aroma of food..... it is like a sensual paradise....

And now, onto some more heavier stuff. the Chandni Chowk area which is just opposite to the Red Fort is a market and redidentail area all mingled together for centuries and are myriadly complex in their nature and existence. The shops on both sides of the narrow alleys, selling everything from artefacts to cloth, silverware to provisions.... it is simply incredible that so much could co-exist side by side in asuch a cramped yet ahppy co-existence. It brings one to the Moghul Style eating houses and to Karim's, the high altar of such culinary art.

The Paranthewaley Galli.... need one say more. It is impossible because the paranthas have all kinds of fillings and one loses ones way in the labyrinth of taste......... it is heaven.......

The famous Jumma Masjid.... red sandstone built, just like the historic Red Fort/ Lal Qila

I find these old and dusty alleys, these unkempt yet beautiful buildings.... they all seem to tell a story and I would love to connect to that.