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'KHAJUR'

Niligiris has many verdant picturesque villages. My village Ithalar is one of them.My visits would be to my maternal grandparents house for a day trip, most often. As a primary school going brat I would be carried piggy-back my by pretty teenage Aunt Neelavathi all the way to the 'tea-kadai'/ tea-shop . This place was rented out by my Grandfather to a Kunju Mohamed. Various fried snacks would be stacked in rudimentaryglass-lined shelves. I would want 'khajur'.

Last week, on a visit there I learnt that 'Junior Kunju' runs the place and they still make khajur.Most village teashops will have a stack of khajur, still.

Khajur is a Hyderabadi fried biscuit with a subtle flavour of fennel powder. It is dark and crisp on the outside and light and crumbly on the inside.My Late Dear Mother would say with alot of pride of how khajur , the local snack was much better than colonial cake!

Home-made khajur by yours truly as a tribute to Dear Mum..

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ORT.

Nestling on a verdant hill-side is the Ooty Radio Telescope. Driving on a road on the opposite side of this, I had it pointed out by my Dear Dad. Fertile stretch of land lies between the road and the centre. The above picture proves the fertile bit. A kid then, I did not know the significance then!

The sky and everything about it fascinates most of us, and now I am in the know of things. I remember being told that it was a protected area and during many Indo-Pak wars it was on the radar of the so-called enemy.

Ooty has many famous attractions, the ORT rarely gets a mention. Built between 1965-1969 this masterpiece, in simple layman's terms helps us in the field of astrophysics. The 530m long and 30m wide telescope rests in a place on latitude 11 degrees. A little bit of information that caught my attention was that it was built parallel to the equator!!! Imagine the kind of logistics it involved to find this place?!

It can be said that it is one of the few places in the district which pays its employees well; the centre being tied with the department of Atomic Energy, a Govt of India enterprise.

For me it is a marvel of a stainless steel specimen and holds many memories of trips to my village and fields which lie further on, with my parents and family.

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Orissa..

Orissa is a state in India I visited recently. What I liked was it can be said that it is a pollution free State. We have to accept that development also means pollution as most states never gave importance to pollution in relation to growth in their agendas.

It is a fact that the' Tall man of Orissa' the late Biju Patnaik whose son Naveen holds the reins of Orissa now ,was a stalwart of the Indian political scene. Growing up I did hear of his name in the national political arena. But did he do the right thing by breaking from national parties and forming his own regional party the BJD? Any state that has no truck with the centre will get step motherly treatment and this looks like what has happened to this state on the west coast. National highways are good, connectivity by road,rail, and air is good.

Touted as a place of beaches and temples Orissa scores high. Most beaches are pristine , this cannot be said about one of the most famous of temples for us Hindus. The Jagannath temple is chaos, I balk at the thought of it..

Historically, Orissa has played a major part in our country. The might of the Kalingas can never be erased from this sub continent's history. It brings to mind, Emperor Askoka who after the last of the many Kalinga wars saw the death and destruction and changed himself. He apparently embraced Buddhism and put in place reforms to benefit all.

The Konark Sun temple is a UNESCO heritage sight and the 'Black Pagoda' is going through major renovations. But why was it allowed to get to such a state? Lack of funds, obviously. So you have the present PM build a huge edifice for Sardar Patel in his state of Gujarat, which serves no purpose. It must be troubling the soul of 'Iron man of India', no doubt at the colossal waste of public funds. Any right minded person would believe it is!!!

The vast expanse of a lagoon, the Chilika lake is a feather in the cap of Orissa tourism. And yes if foot fall increases here, the pristine place will deteriorate, like it happens with most tourist spots in India. My little hill-town home town stands as an example of poor planning.

It is a paradox nevertheless as to how to overcome the pitfalls of growth and development in our country. Not to sound a pessimist , i guess we have to go the way the wind blows and I am glad I got blown there this winter! Cheers..