A Trip to Parathey Waali Gaali , Delhi

Recently during my annual home trip I got a chance to pacify my long standing/lasting desire of having parathas from the very famous Parthey Waali Gaali of Chadni Chowk , Delhi.

So we boarded the Metro which dropped us till Chadni Chowk Metro station, from there Parathey waali gaali is just a 10 min walk. Those who are going very first time are in for a surprise as it is not like what one might have imagined, it’s just a small bylane which is just a meter wide and there are chances that you can totally miss it if you don’t ask constantly for directions from the shop keeper’s of very Crowded but vivid Chadni Chowk.

Once we went inside this bylane it was typical Delhi :)….Scooters, People all trying to get the max of that 1 meter wide road and then there were many cloth shops for which Chadni Chowk is so famous. Nice place for girls for getting their bridal gears for the D day.

To my right and left there were few Paratha shops offering the tempting but oily (but who cares :)) Parthas. I didn’t find many shops, just 5-6 were there which was quite a disappointment as I was expecting a road with some 20-30 shops :( (may be it doesn’t make much business sense). Anyhow we settled for one place and went to first floor of the shop where few college goers and few aunties were enjoying their afternoon meal.

To start with we ordered our regular choice like Gobi, Aloo & mix Paratha. Which was served to us in accompany with one sweet chutney ( with a slice of banana in it) , one green chutney ( very regular in north ), One Aloo Gravy , One Aloo Dry Sabzi and One dry pumpkin Sabzi and last but not the least pickle. The Parathas were a bit small in size and were deep fried instead of being fried over the pan but that’s the specialty of this place which makes it so famous.

Stuffing was good and side dishes were making the experience more and more pleasant. I specially like the pumpkin gravy. After finishing the first round we went for another one this time we were in experimenting mode so we order ‘Papad ka Paratha’ and green peas partha . Papad ka paratha was quite a delight as the stuffing was giving the taste of a real papad :) and green peas was quite nicely stuffed. To finish it up we ordered for sweet lassi which was good. Cost wise it was Ok as each paratha costed us 30 bucks.

After coming out of the shop we roamed around a bit to see other shops were people were jostling to get a place for there meal. All in all it was an satisfying experience. The place has lost its shine but still it is a must go place for any one who is visiting Delhi.
We wanted to go to Kareem’s (Near Jamma Masjid) which is very famous for it's non veg but we were full till our neck so we gave it a skip,did some shopping and again boarded metro from Chandi Chowk for our destination.

It was quite aptly written by great urdu poet Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq about delhi….

“Humne maana ki dakkan mein hai bahut qadre sukhan; Kaun jaaye Zauq par Dilli ki galiyan chhod kar ”

One reason which I could find behind his thought process must be food :) for which Delhi is so famous and Parathey Waali gaali is a proof of it!!!!

Gokarna – Trip to the land of beaches and tranquility

After visting two hill stations back to back it was time to hit the beach. So planned to go for Gokarna which is located in North Karnataka some 450 Kms away from Bangalore. As trip to munnar was quite fucked up by the Packaged tour operator. Thus this time we decided to go via bus with no specific booking at Gokarna. As it was an all boys gang thus we were flexible with our accommodation plan.

Onward Journey was comfortable apart from our bus starting late by 2 hours from Bangalore, A flat tyre and then a broken axle after which we were pushed to a new bus at Sagar. Thanks to all this we reached Gokarna around 1 in the noon instead of 9 in the morning. From the drop point we took an auto to reach Om beach.

Om Beach from Top

Beach was pretty Ok by Indian standards, crowd was a healthy mix of Indian and foreign nationals. We had our lunch from one shack, which was reasonably priced and was Ok in quality. We enquired about Half moon and paradise beach and decided to trek towards these beaches by crossing the mountain instead of going via boat. Trek to Half Moon Beach was around 20-30 minutes a simple one, but this path should be avoided during rain.

Way to Half Moon Beach
Half moon beach was almost deserted with only few foreigners having sun bath and few preferring to swim long in the sea. As water was very clean (one of the cleanest I have ever seen in India) and calm we also decided to take a plunge in the water. A couple of beer added to the fun and then we went ahead with our trek to Paradise beach, it took us 30-40 minutes to reach there. Trek was a bit tiresome but still manageable, it was almost evening when we reached there.
Paradise Beach
Atmosphere at Paradise beach was different from Half moon as it was buzzing with people, trance was in the air all around thus we decided to spend our night there. Sunset was quite picturesque and mesmerizing. People were enjoying among themselves with Drinks, Music and food adding up as a good supplement. We tried enquiring about some beach hut but everything was booked but we were able to get some shelter as one of the hotel owner agreed to give us beddings in the open hotel area which was just 10 feet away from sea shore. I was able to see the sea, the moon, and the stars from the place I was sleeping; the feeling was just indescribable and gratifying.
Sunset at Paradise Beach

An Early Morning Shot
In the morning we wake up and had breakfast, spent some time at the beach then we trekked back to the half moon beach, where we again dived into the sea to cool ourselves as it was quite hot in the afternoon had lunch there rested for some time in the shack only and then again trekked back to Om beach and after spending some time there we went to the bus station to catch out bus. And believe it or not we again got the flat tyre :) on our way back.