r2i forum

Lakshya;349422
BTW what is mathdi? One which has white sugar coated on top?

Mathri is like a salted cracker, so delicious. Goes well as a snack with tea.

http://fastindianrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mathri1.jpg

Lakshya;349422 But I am not sure what is the exact reason for that. BTW what is mathdi? One which has white sugar coated on top?

Ya very similar. It has a hard base (probably maida+besan+wheat flour) some 10 inches in diameter with sugar coat on top. Very vary hard, difficult to break with bare hands. The base has no taste persay, taste good only if you get a morsel with the sugar coat.

XOXO;349456Ya very similar. It has a hard base (probably maida+besan+wheat flour) some 10 inches in diameter with sugar coat on top. Very vary hard, difficult to break with bare hands. The base has no taste persay, taste good only if you get a morsel with the sugar coat.

Ok so you are talking about "Thor" that’s what we call. That one will be hard & dry so you can keep it for very long time. And these Prasad from Nathdwra usually you distribute to everyone in your extended family when you come back to home. So I assume that’s the reason they are so hard and dry.

BTW did you see Vegetable seller inside the temple parameter?

jupiter_009;349447Mathri is like a salted cracker, so delicious. Goes well as a snack with tea.

http://fastindianrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/mathri1.jpg

^^ ( picture ) that is known as " Farasi poori " , ( Khaari Poori )
a little hard and salty in nature. ( Wheat + Mehndo ) .
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DDOc35YtZyo/Rcs2_I6TRDI/AAAAAAAAAdA/A0spFBrFpas/s320/IMG_3314.JPG

It tatses somewhat like this " khaari biscuit ".
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cqKYD2tWZLA/S9w-u87EfcI/AAAAAAAACSI/reEdUxFBszI/s1600/IMG_3097.JPG

......

XOXo,
Great blog...very exciting....tell me one thing ...I am thinking of doing something like this with kids. DO you think kids would adjust to condition there...not too brutal on them.

Wow...fantastic blog..i can relate to what you are saying..the travel and meeting new people ..we know we are never going to see them again in our life, somehow that makes it easier to talk to them and share some part of our life ...and yes, while travelling food is like a bonding device.. i but girl..have you been to pune station...i went to mumbai by train and pune station is filthy, dirty and disgusting..the economy dubba of Deccan queen was ok..the train toilets were....well ...lets not go there...i didnt:))..but somehow when i came back somehow the station looked cleaner...dunno what made them clean it.
Waiting for your next post.

This is such a boring hike - couldnt you do anything better?? :)


P.S: So wots up with Klub M travelling at the same time? Now thats giving me some ideas - I need to dichappear for a few days.....

pm071;349613XOXo,
Great blog...very exciting....tell me one thing ...I am thinking of doing something like this with kids. DO you think kids would adjust to condition there...not too brutal on them.

There was nothing like brutal conditions.
The previous batches in the expedition had few kids (age 10+) and seemed like they were having fun.
If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Friend and I were uncomfortably settled on the third berth of the 3 tier AC of Ranakpur Express. I decided to sleep where as friend decided to sit and spend time with her best friend aka her mobile. 3:00 am train attendant showed up and said of some berth vacated in the compartment so my friend moved up there. 7:00 am my alarm went off and woke up to realize Falna approaching. Got up in a jiffy, dragged my friend from her sweet sleep and got ready to alight at the Falna station.

Falna is a nice and clean station in Rajasthan. Seems like one from different era. Atmosphere was pleasant. We got out of the station by showing our printed tickets to the ticket checker at the gate (retain the tickets till the end of your journey)

Falna is a junction so it is averagely big station. I had imagined it to be a small rickety station. We came out on the main road and there were tea stalls, newspaper stand, auto stand. Our reporting time at the Ranakpur base camp was by the end of the day so had most of the morning to spend at Falna. We had chai as the chaiwalla with most crowds. One of the best chai (tea) I had in ages and it was only 6 bucks. As we were sipping our chais, a small girl came asking us to do her bohni (first sell of the day). We got a newspaper from her (2 bucks but she was selling it for 3 bucks). As we were about to finish our chai, another girl showed up asking us to also do her Bohni. What were we to do with 2 same newspapers? We refused; she followed us for a while and then disappeared.

Falna is part of the Pali district of Rajasthan and is famous for umbrella manufacturing. Its Swarna (gold) Jain Mandir is also very famous and is walking distance from the station. The Swarna mandir is called as Shankeshwar Pashwanath Mandir and is 32 years old made entirely of Marble. Since last 7 years it is gilded (gold laminated) so is also called as Swarna Mandir. The temple complex is very nice with dharmshala and a cafeteria. The temple is elaborately carved, very similar to other Jain temples. There is also a Glass temple in the basement of the main temple. Walls are also covered with reflecting glass mosaic, seems very much like sheesh mahal.

We are breakfast at the temple, 20 Rs/plate. Yummy rajasthani breakfast: sev ghatiya, Poha, Khakra with groundnut chutney, masala puri, moong usal and milk (I substituted tea for milk). Photographed outside of the mandir (inside is barred for lenses) and then decided to take stroll in the village.

The sun was still not up in the sky and it was cool and pleasant so walking with our backpacks seemed very easy. The village was still waking up…it feels so different from city life….calm and peaceful. We did walk a bit, into the interior of the village, got a glance of village morning, children going to school, ladies dresses in their tradition attire. Falna is kinda developed, not really a village but more like a village blossoming into a town. In our walk we didn’t realize that we are moving further away from the bus depot which was going to take us to Ranakpur, had to walked back the entire length to the depot. Ranakpur is 35 kms from Falna. Bus ticket 19 Rs/per person/one way. Rajasthan state transportation buses are pretty comfortable with nice cushioned seats. I dozed off my entire journey to Ranakpur.

We got off at the last stop in Ranakpur (it is the last as well as the first). There is nothing in Ranakpur other than that the famous Ranakpur temple. I remembered that my friend was surprised as why they were no ATMs in Ranakpur when we were doing our research from Mumbai. Saw Ranakpur and realized of why there is not even a doctor clinic….forget about ATMs. Nobody stays in Ranakpur, people travel from neighboring villages of Sadri to work in the temple of Ranakpur or the RTDC lodge. We were middle of non civilization with Ranakpur Temple complex behind us and hordes of white skinned foreigners getting off their AC buses going in the temple complex. At one point I thought….Am I back in US of A? There were no base camp tents seen. We called our base camp leader (glad my friends cell had her service network functioning) who said we have to walk back some .5 kms to reach the base camp. On the way we saw families of monkeys, peacock. Thrilling to see them from such a close distance. We stood still to see the monkeys (they were not langoors but bandars, hairy and fluffy, very cute). Monkeys didn’t even give us a hoot as if they see animals like us everyday. It seemed those Monkeys were specialty for us but we weren’t for them. Finally we saw the boards of YHAI and we were at the base camp.

Next: Registration at Base Camp, Ranakpur Temple and Our Tent washed away in the Rains.

moneyIsNot_funny;349643This is such a boring hike - couldnt you do anything better?? :)

Like what ? Flying to South East of India?