The Iconic Sufi shrine of Mumbai, Haji Ali Dargah!!!

Haji Ali Dargah, was yet another place from my bucket list in Mumbai for quite some time. We had driven many a times on the Lala Lajpatrai Marg and got the view of the dargah, but never had I visited it. Most of our visits are to Haji Ali juice center, which is at the entrance of the pathway to the Dargah, one of the finest juice centers of Mumbai, and my favourite is their Kiwi Cream bowl. On my solo wandering on a Saturday afternoon, after Aegon Religare bloggers meet, I knew where to go after Mahalaxmi temple. It was drizzling and the weather looked perfect for the walk through the pathway to the Dargah.

The Dargah as seen from Lala Lajpatrai Marg

Said to be built in 1431 in memory of wealthy muslim merchant Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Bukhari, the Dargah is on an island off the coast of Worli, a suburb of Mumbai. There is a pathway to reach the Dargah which doesn't have any barricades and open on either sides. The Dargah is closed for public entry during high-tides, when the water level reaches as high as to submerge the pathway. At the entrance of the path way are shops selling chadar(piece of cloth offered at Dargah) and flower garlands for offerings. The shopkeepers keep chasing you. They even offered me, a scarf for free if I bought chadar, as you need to enter the Dargah with your head covered. I had a scarf in my bag and just kept going, not reacting to them. There are other stalls too selling souvenirs. But the drizzle restricted me from opening my cam.

The White marble main gate

You enter the Dargah complex through a white marble gate. As soon as you enter, you find the main Dargah. There is separate hall for ladies and gents. You need to leave your footwear out and cover your head to enter the Dargah.

The Main Dargah

The complex has other prayer halls and a Qawwal Khana, a place for performing Qawwali(muslim devotional song). There is platform to sit and enjoy the Qawwali, once you are done with Dargah. I spent some time there and enjoyed my walk back in srizzles. 

Qawwali being performed at Qawwal Khana

Travel Info:
Haji Ali Dargah is on the island off Worli.
Timings: 5:30AM to 10PM, entry restricted during high tide.
Entry Fee: Free
Photographing not allowed inside the Dargah.

Happy Ugadi!! #Together with family, down the memory lane!!!

The farther you go from your family and motherland, the more closer you get to their hearts and culture. The value of anything is felt as you go away from it. Festivals are the times when I miss my family and that makes me celebrate every festival ritually, trying to make my daughter aware of our tradition and culture.

What is Ugadi??

Today is Ugadi(Yugada Aadi) meaning beginning of the new era, the Hindu New Year. The festival marks the start of the spring, bidding goodbye to winter. The time when even trees bid their old leaves and bloom with fresh, new leaves and flowers. Thats the time of the year, when you hear the sounds of cuckoo and get mangoes, the king of all fruits.

That is the festive decoration at home, a plate of Jaggery and Neem leaves in Pooja place and main door decorated with mango leaves and neem leaves,

The Celebration!!!

As kids, our day would start with the first glimpse of god as soon as we used to wake up, mom would remind us not to open our eyes on bed and she would take us to the pooja room with our eyes closed and we used to open our eyes in front of the god, getting his first glimpse of the year. We used to take bath with the water boiled with neem leaves(bitter leaves), visit the temple. We would have neem leave and jaggery, which remarks joy and sorrow in the life and praying to god, the coming year to be a balance of both. The house used to be decorated with mango leaves, neem leaves and flowers. The festive feast was mostly of mangoes, raw mango rice, mango pickle and the must have sweet dish obbattu(puranpoli) made of jaggery and flour. It was also believed that mango has to be had only after offering it to god on Ugadi. The whole day used to be spent at the temple. The rathotsav(the chariot ride of the god) and at night the ceremony would end with Varsha Bhavishya. Where a priest in the temple would predict the coming year. Profit-loss, joy-sorrow, health-sickness, activities-laziness, success-failure which used to be graded in numbers for the coming year. That was the most interesting part, which as kids we used to sit and listen so curiously, especially success-failure, which we believed directed effected our studies.

South Indian Festive Feast, raw mango rice, mango pickle, mango sauce and on..

Why Celebrate??

When we try to understand the reason behind all the rituals we Indians follow, we really get astonished. As per Ayurveda, everything in the Universe is a combination of Pancha mahabhuta(five basic elements, Earth, Sky, Fire, Water and Air). The combination of which are doshas, Kapha(which is heavy, cold and moist, combination of earth and water),  Pitta(which is hot, moist and light, that is combination of Fire and water), Vata(which is light, dry and cold, combination of  sky and air). Doshas, can be related to any life, where Kapha represents the beginning, Pitta represents the middle or persistance and Vata, the end or dissolution, the imbalance of which leads to health issues. The seasons too, can be related to the doshas. So Ugadi is the transition from Vata to Kapha, a bath with Neem water makes your body warmer which combats your bodies Vata dosha. And mangoes are used to balance all three doshas, so to start the year with good health. Also when I found today, everybody in my society plucking the mango and neem leaves from the trees to decorate their houses, I felt, was this ritual started with an intention to trim the tree to make it ready for the fresh new ones(I may be completely wrong with my assumption).

The Indian festivals celebrated with family and friends with rituals and tradition, rejuvenates your body, mind and soul and gives you the strength and motivation to go optimistic in life and makes you ready to face the challenges of life.

This post is a part of the campaign #Together by https://housing.com/

When I started a new life, of a Blogger #StartANewLife

Traveling had always been a passion for me, be it in a group of 15, roaming the streets of Varanasi during a family trip or roaming alone on the streets of Bangalore. 

I always wanted to be independent and wanted to join a hostel, right at a very young age to lead an independent life. But being from an orthodox family brought up amidst grand parents, I was never allowed to leave the house alone till I finished my Engineering. Then on started my nomadic life. I worked in Bangalore for a year, I felt I was a free bird then and took every chance to explore and roam around in Bangalore alone, to live my life on my own. Be it visiting my cousins during weekend or walking back home from bus stop with a cup of sweet corn in hand and getting into any of the stores with sales board on, looking for quirky stuff. I enjoyed every minute of it. 

My nomadic life became twosome, when I married an equally travel enthusiast husband and shifted to Dubai. Not even a single weekend was spent at home. Our group of 10 was always there to plan one or the other stuff for weekends. Walking back home in group at 2 in the night, after the midnight movie show or long weekend drive to neighbouring Oman, life was awesome and went as I wanted, traveling and exploring new places. 

Life took a turn when I had to shift back to India for my baby's birth. Three years of life with my new born went in taking care and bringing her up as she really needed some special care being a preterm baby. She soon started her schooling and we were back to our roaming mood of exploring the world. But being engaged with my studies and job through out my life, spending time lone at home was the challenge which I had to face and that is when I started this blog of mine. My life took a new turn with the start of this blog. Got in touch with so many people sharing similar interest. My way of traveling had changed, till now when I clicked pictures of mine at the travel destinations had changed, now it was for the world I started clicking, it was not me but the places I clicked. Till now when I was all running behind not to miss a single chance to visit a new country had changed, I wanted to explore my country first. I was interested more in the architectural beauty of India than the beaches of the neighbouring countries. Blogging had changed my thoughts and my perception towards travel. Blogging had changed me and I started a new life through blogging.

This post is part of a campaign #StartANewLife by https://housing.com/.