Jab Jab Phul Khile Tumhe yaad kiya hamne

I could not resist adding fresh delicious Strawbery here directly from farm

Tulshi Baug - Pune

CHILD AND ANOTHER CHILD

Dholya Ganapati Mandir at Wai

When the Law Makers are the Law Breakers.

The Signboard Says “No sign boards, no advertisements, no writing on the Temple walls by the orders of Trustees and Management” at Dholya Ganapati Mandir which is build by Sardar Raste around 240 years back.

Are they so dump not to realize that they have themselves are the main culprits to spoilt the beauty of the temple and temple walls?

Wai also known as Virat Nagari or Dakshin Kashi is a city and a municipal council in Satara District in the Maharashtra. It is situated on the banks of the Krishna river. It is famous for its temples and ghats (banks) on the Krishna river. The famous Dholya Ganapati temple is situated on its Ganapati Ghat. Wai is a powerful example of ancient Indian water harvesting systems, called Ghat. A Ghat is an embankment with safety walls for preventing the entry of flood water and steps to access the flowing water.

An just look at the cleanliness around ancient ghat on the Holy River.

Aren’t we ashamed of ourselves?

PAINTINGS

Hobby by my father after retirement.

Janaseva Dugdhlaya and others

Janaseva Dugdhlaya at Laxmi Road, we have visited n number of times for just for Kharwas, only to find out “NOT AVAILABLE TODAY”. Well, doesn’t matter. We can still attack Sabudana Vada, Sabudana Khichdi with curd, Tikhat Mithacha Sanjya, condition is it's to be backed up by Masala Milk.

We also do visit Badshaha at Tilak Road for Misal which is very tasty. Once we tried Misal at Bedekar (I forgot Hotels’ name), but lost further interest. We reached there in the early afternoon only to find out announcement that “Misal Sampali” (Finished or out of stock). The owner was offended when I passed remark saying “ Punekars take pride in announcing the word "finished".

Before I bought home in Pune, we were used to stay in Hotels at Apte Road.

For breakfast, quite a few times we used to visit Shivsagar just for Neer Dosa, or sometimes used to fill our stomach with water watering Veg.Pattice from Santosh Bakery.

For lunch, most of time we kept on going to Atithi Dinning Hall, neat and clean, Reasonable rates, good Marathi bhojan specially Pithale Bhakar and Curd and not to mention koshimbir.

Five/six times we visited Asha Dinning Hall at Apte Road, equally good, but as my wife did not prefer the karwari taste we dropped it from our list Few years back, twice we made it a point to go for Thali at Shreyas, Apte Road during Ganapati Festival and thereafter never even thought of visiting it again.

We also will never visit Girija (famous for Bharli Vangi, Bhakari) at Karve Road and at Sinhagad Road again. We did not like the decor and the food itself. Few years back we do visited Suvarna Rekha Dinning Hall at Prabhat Road but found nothing exciting.

During last summer, we visited Mathura, extremely famous for authenticate maharastian dishes ?????. (As per their claim). We ordered for Olya kajuchi Usal (wet cashew nut) only to found out in front of us, a dish with some sort of Punjabi style preparation. What a let down. Head Cook from the restaurant should make a trip to Kokan region to learn real meaning of Olya Kajuchi Usal.


Kaka Halvai or Chitale. My mind is like a pendulum. Well, my resolution on World Heart Day is “I will never stay away from Kaka Halwai and their Barfi’s.” I Cannot control myself at Kaka Halwai' shop

I have hate and love relationship with Kayani Bakery. I hate it because of the indifference nature of persons at the other side of counter. People should be friendlier to their customers. Warmth and personal touch of the shopkeeper are also equally important, if you want to really enjoy Mava Cakes, Shrewsbury biscuits, Ginger Biscuits. For Bhelpuri, Ragda Pattice, Panipuri. we have not yet found any other alternative to Ganesh Bhel at Nav Sayhadri.

If any one wishes to enjoy Katchi Dabeli, Cheese Katchi Dabeli, then he must make it a point to visit R.P.Vaidhya at Nav Sayhadri.

Gone for Dinner

Duryankur Dinning Hall

So many times, we have shared our good moments with Krishna Dinning Hall at Law College Road and Shabari at FC Road and Duryankur at Tilak Road.

Every time while hogging at Duryankur, I ask same question again and again to myself, Why Duryankur is serving so much varieties ranging from Thalipit to Dahi vade in Thali? I cannot give justice to any one of them except for Dahi Vade. I cannot tolerate empty bowl of Dahi Vade in my thali. I just love Dahi Vade. I also enjoy to keep waiters on their toes in Duryankur. I remember eating unlimited Aamras during Mango season, and unlimited Jilebi’s some other time.

No wonder I am overweight. Duryankur have spoiled me.

Shree Krishna Bhuvan

I had read so much about Puneri Misal Shri Joshi’s Shree Krishna Bhuvan at Tulshi Baug.

However I must confess, we did not like Misal at all for the first time. The punch was missing. Well it was certainly not a Love at First Site. I told myself, I must give it a second chance, no still it did not work. The chemistry was still missing. And at third attempt, the realization took place. YES. I liked it. I liked it so much that I kept on going for Misal again and again.

Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale

So much is written so far on Chitale.

Besides Chitale’s Bakarwadi, Amba Barfi, Jalebi, olya naralachya Karanjaa, Sutar Pheni, Shrikhand, I have recently developed taste for their Alepak. At a time I do not buy more that 100 Gms as I have a strong urge for start to finish, once I open the packet of Alepak.