An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary

                   

Strawberry Country

Mahabaleshwar is the largest and one of the most popular hill stations of  Maharashtra.
It is situated at an altitude of 1372 metres above sea level – about 5 hours drive from Mumbai.

Mahabaleshwar has a cool climate and is a popular week end get away for Mumbaites.
It is a lovely place to spend a few days – relaxing and rejuvenating.
It is also the summer residence of the Governor of Maharashtra.

There are several lookout points which offer spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys.
There are lakes, waterfalls and a number of pleasant walks.
There is an old historic Shiva temple nearby.

History

We find the first mention of Mahabaleshwar in 1215 when King Singhan of Deogiri visited Old Mahabaleshwar and built a small temple and water tank at the source of the Krishna River. Read the rest of this entry »

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Backdrop of Rudyard Kipling’s
Jungle Book

You can imagine the beauty and fascination of Kanha National Park by the fact that Kanha National Park was the backdrop of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’.
Today, Kanha National Park is one of India’s largest and finest National Park and Tiger Reserve located in Madhya Pradesh, India.In the 1930s, Kanha was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 sq. kms each.Kanha National Park was created on 1 June 1955.Today, it covers an area of 940 sq. kms in the two districts of Mandla and Balaghat.
Together with a surrounding buffer zone of 1009 sq. kms, and the neighboring 110 sq. kms Phen Sanctuary, it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve.  

Flora

There are dense forest zones with good crown cover.
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Land of the romantic Marble Rocks
and Kipling’s Jungle Book

When you think of a romantic cruise amongst marble rocks, think of Jabalpur.
And when you think of Snooker, think of Jabalpur again, because snooker was invented here.

Overview

Jabalpur is located almost in the centre of India.
It is the first district in India which obtained the ISO-9001 certificate.
This has come into force from April 1, 2007.

The present city dates from the nineteenth century and has wide and well planned roads.
Jabalpur is famous for beautiful formations of Marble Rocks (Bhedaghat) through which flows the holy Narmada River.

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Earliest Human Settlements in India

The Bhimbetka Caves, or Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, (also known as ‘Bhim Baithaka’ meaning Bhim’s seat), located at the southern edge of the Vindhyachal Hills, 45 km south of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, contain 15,000 year old Stone Age rock paintings – the earliest evidences of human life in India.The rock paintings, which are in remarkably good condition even today, take us on a journey into time and tell us about the lifestyle of our ancestors over a period spanning thousands of years.
Mythology

According to mythology, when the five Pandavas were banished from their kingdom, they came and stayed here in these caves. They even built a palace at Lakhajuhar made out of lac.
Bhima used the massive rocks for sitting. This is why the place is also called ‘Bhim Baithaka’. Read the rest of this entry »

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Enigmatic land of Sand and Snow

 In the first part, I gave an overview of Ladakh and took
the reader east of Leh to Changla Pass and Pangong Lake.
In the second part, I wrote about some wonderful places West of Leh.
In this part, I am writing about Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world to the North of Leh and the unbelievably beautiful Nubra Valley beyond.
I am also writing about the beautiful Tsomoriri Lake, and Dhahanu, the Land of the purest surviving Aryans to the South of LehNubra Valley via Khardung La – The Highest Motorable road in the World (40 Kms from Leh)Nubra Valley, popularly known as Ldumra or the valley of flowers, is situated in the north of Ladakh between Read the rest of this entry »

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Gateway to the Himalayas  
   
                                              
Rishikesh is a picturesque holy city on the banks of the Ganga or Ganges River at the foothills of the Himalayas.
Rishikesh and its surroundings are ideal for Vedic learning, yoga, spiritual meditation and similar activities. You can climb into the ice and snow covered mountains; stroll through the dense forests harbouring a variety of animals and birds; or engage in a number of adventure sports.Rishikesh is also the starting point for onward travel to the Char Dhams – Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri  (the four holy pilgrimages) - and is therefore known as the gateway to the Himalayas.

Mythology


Lord Rama performed penance here after killing Rāvana, the demon King of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Read the rest of this entry »

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            the most popular Flavouring  in the world                                                    

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.
Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.
The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance.

Background

We Indians use a lot of spices in our daily food.
But most of us do not know where the spices come from.
Someone suggested that I should write about the spices in my blog.
So here we go.
This one on Vanilla is another in a series on Spices of India. In 2004, I was working in a city called Hubli, a small but important trading centre, in Karnataka, South India.
I was invited to visit some plantations in Sirsi about 100 kms away.
There were the usual coconut trees, areca nut (betel nut or supari), some spice trees and Vanilla vines.It was the first time I saw a Vanilla plant.
I was surprised. The plantation was heavily guarded, with high level of electronic surveillance.
I thought the owner must be under some sort of threat. But no! The security was for the Vanilla plants. The crop in Madagascar had failed. The prices of Vanilla had literally shot through the roof.
Theft, and even robbery (using armed force), had become quite common. 

History

Vanilla originated in Mexico, where the Aztecs used it to accent the flavor of chocolate drinks.
In the 16th century, the Spanish explorer Cortez, brought it to Europe.
The Aztec drink, made with Vanilla pods and cacao beans, became popular among the aristocracy in Europe.In 1602, a chemist for Queen Elizabeth I suggested that Vanilla could be used alone as a flavoring.
Today, Vanilla is the most popular flavour in the world.

The Plant                                                                                                                

The Vanilla essence comes from the long, greenish-yellow seed pods of the tropical orchid plant, Vanilla planifolia.
The plant is a creeper and climbs up on the trunks of other shady trees.
It can be easily grown on coconut trees, areca palms, other trees, even poles.
Left alone, it will climb up and up.
But growers fold the higher parts of the plant downwards to keep the height accessible by a human. This also stimulates flowering.

The flowers of the Vanilla plant are hermaphroditic – they carry both the male (anther) and female (stigma) organs. But to avoid self pollenation, a membrane separates the two organs.
In nature, the flowers can be pollinated by a bee found only in Mexico.
Therefore, in cultivation, the flowers have to be artificially pollinated.
Fortunately, the process is simple and easy.
The Vanilla flower lasts about one day, sometimes even less. Growers have to inspect their plants every day for the open flowers, a labour-intensive task.

Harvest                                                                           

·               The pods are harvested while green and immature. At this stage, they are odourless.
·              The vegetative tissue of the Vanilla pod has to be killed to prevent further growing. The killing is accomplished by sun killing, oven killing, hot water killing, killing by scratching or by freezing. In India, I have seen cultivators use hot water killing.
·               The pods are held for 7 to 10 days under hot (45º-65ºC or 115º-150ºF) and humid conditions. The pods are kept in fabric covered boxes immediately after boiling. This allows enzymes to process the compounds in the pods into vanillin and other compounds which give Vanilla its flavour.
·               To prevent rotting and to lock the aroma in the pods, the pods are dried. The pods are laid out in the sun during the mornings and returned to their boxes in the afternoons. When the moisture content is reduced to 25-30% of the pods’ weight (as compared to 60-70% before drying) the curing process is complete and the pods will exhibit their fullest aromatic qualities
·               Once fully cured, the Vanilla is sorted by quality and graded.

How to use Vanilla

There are three main commercial preparations of natural Vanilla:
·               Whole pod,
·               Powder (ground pods – pure, or blended with sugar, starch or other ingredients), and
·               Extract (in alcoholic solution – at least 35% by volume). 

Growth and prices

Till the middle of the 19th century, Mexico was the chief producer of Vanilla.
By 1898, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands produced 200 metric tons of Vanilla beans, about 80 percent of world production.
Due to a typhoon, the market price of Vanilla rose dramatically in the late 1970s.
The prices remained at this level till the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the cartel that had controlled Vanilla prices and distribution since its creation in 1930 disbanded.
Prices dropped 70 percent over the next few years, to nearly US$ 20 per kilo.
Due to the typhoon Huddah, which struck early in the year 2000,  
political instability, and poor weather for the third year in succession, Vanilla prices shot up to an astonishing US$ 500 per kilo in 2004, bringing new countries into the Vanilla industry.
It was around this time, I visited the Vanilla plantation.

A good crop and more countries starting cultivation have pushed the market price down to the $40 per kilo range in the middle of 2005. Culinary Uses

Good quality Vanilla has a strong aromatic flavour, but food with small amounts of low quality Vanilla or synthetic Vanilla – like flavourings are far more common, since true Vanilla is much more expensive.
A major use of Vanilla is in flavouring ice cream.
Natural Vanilla gives a brown or yellow colour to preparations, depending on the concentration.
The cosmetics industry uses Vanilla to make perfume. Medicinal Uses

Although its medical qualities have never been proved, Vanilla is used as an aphrodisiac and a remedy for fevers.
The essential oils of Vanilla are sometimes used in aromatherapy. 

Recommendation                                                                                                   

There is no Hindi word for Vanilla.
The term Vanilla itself has come from the Spanish word “vainilla”, meaning “little pod”.
Indonesia and China have become major producers of Vanilla. There is no reason why India should be lagging behind.Vanilla is a beautiful green creeper. It can be kept as a house plant. It requires high humidity, bright light and a good stick or pole to climb up.
It can be successfully cultivated even on roof tops in large pots with a screen cover to reduce the sunlight.   

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the Best Hill Station of Gujarat

Saputara literally means Abode of the Snakes. But don’t panic. Saputara is not a place full of snakes.
There is a sacred snake image on the banks of the river Sarpagana worshipped by the Adivasis (tribal people) during festivals.Saputara is a beautiful, planned, hill station in Gujarat.
Not too well known, it is clean and not too crowded.
The cool climate; its motorable distance from Mumbai, Nasik, and Surat; and the beautiful roads make it a place worth visiting.

Location

Saputara is located at an altitude of 1000 metres atop the second highest plateau in the Dang forest area of the Sahyadri range in Gujarat.
The hill station is surrounded by dense forests with Adivasi villages.    

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Unique Wildlife Sanctuary

According to the Ramayana, Lord Ram himself stood at this point and carried out reconnaissance of Ravana’s kingdom in Sri Lanka just 48 kms. away.
A stone slab at Ramarpatham (meaning Rama’s feet), the highest point of Point Calimere, bears the foot prints of Ram.

Now it is a unique wildlife and bird sanctuary.

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Second largest Mangrove forest in the world

Almost two and a half decades ago, when I was working in Chennai, I first heard of the Mangrove Forests of Pichavaram – 14 kms. from Chidambaram.
I did not really know what Mangrove forests were and what Pichavaram was like.
I requested my friends to organize a visit.

After my visit, I wrote about Pichavaram in the Swagat (inflight magazine of Indian Airlines) and a number of other magazines.
To this extent, I take credit for increasing its popularity.

Since then, I have visited Pichavaram several times.
My last visit was a few months after the Tsunami of 2004.
Pichavaram is a unique success story. Read the rest of this entry »

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