Food Review: 5 Spice @ Bandra

This was my second visit to this restaurant and my first one with the family. Luckily for us, we had booked a table before reaching the venue. Despite that, we had to wait for about 15 minutes. Such was the rush and that too on a Wednesday night. Amazing!

Plus point 1: The food and service was definitely worth the wait. It was my son's birthday and we were a group of six. There were two other birthday groups on the same floor. It was one gala celebration as a cake was cut at each table and all of us joined in the birthday song.

Plus point 2: We ordered a chicken dish and veg fried wontons for starters along with some non-veg soups, a veg 5 spice soup and a Peking soup - all yummy.

Plus point 3: Then we ordered one rice, one noodles and three gravies. The portions were large and more than enough for all of us. And everything was perfectly cooked and seasoned.

Plus point 4: The best was the blueberry cheesecake that we had. It was better than the Strawberry one.

Plus point 5: The waiters were always at attention without breathing down our necks.

We paid the bill of 3700 for a few beers, tequila shots and the food quite happily and went home with a warm feeling.

Spirituality: MUKTI CLASS ON 4.4.2010

Yesterday was a Sunday and the first local Mukti Class was conducted by Sri Bhagavan through skype.

The Dev Darshan Hall at Ghatkopar (W) was arranged for the same. The hall was luckily huge and airy and could take the 1500-odd crowd quite comfortably.

But the sound system was terrible. Luckily for me, I had read up the lesson as conducted by Bhagavan at Ahmedabad, thanks to my friend Anuradha Chandrashekhar.

Sri Bhagavan came on the screen and greeted us and started with the lesson immediately. He uttered some sentences and we repeated them seven times along with Nivedhanaji and Asmitaji in Hindi and Marathi as instructed by the Lord.

1. My thoughts are not mine.
2. My mind is not mine.
3. My body is not mine.
4. There is listening but no listener.
5. There is seeing but no seer.
6. There is doing but no doer.
7. Things are happening by themselves.
8. Self is but a concept.

After repeating these sentences seven times each, Bhagavan asked: Then what are you?

A few from the audience replied: We are Atmas.

I have given the gist of Bhagavan’s reply here. I could not hear the exact words.

Sri Bhagavan: That’s right. You are all Atmas that have come from the Paramatma. You are but witnesses to what is happening around you. You have taken the combination of Body-Mind-Spirit as Sat-Chit-Ananda. You are actually Satchidananda Parabrahma. I will utter this sentence in Hindi three times. You say it along with me. I will then disappear from the screen. You chant this mantra for 49 minutes while Amma and I will give you all a powerful Deeksha. Most of you will attain Jeevan Mukti at this point. Even if you don’t, you will attain mukti in a day or two. Complete the chanting and then take Deeksha from the Padukas.

"Main Swayam Satchidananda Parabrahma Hoon"

Saying this three times, the Lord disappeared from the screen.

We chanted this in Hindi and Marathi as we liked for 49 minutes. The guides told us when to stop. After this we took Deeksha from the Padukas.

A powerful Deeksha session indeed!

Environment: GLOBAL COOLING

Almost every newspaper and TV channel around the world is talking about Global Warming, about the earth falling apart in a few decades due to this.

We read about it, may talk about it and then, what?

As ‘aam janta’ - the ‘mango people’ as Saif Ali Khan’s character calls the common man in Love Aaj Kal - what can we do about this issue that is slowly but surely snowballing out of control?

This new column is all about that.

People talk about using less electricity, conserving energy, switching of all electrical equipment for an hour as a gesture. All these will help in fits and starts. What about issues in the long run?

One simple way to cool down the globe is to switch off our computer screens while not in use. This saves a lot of energy and on a regular basis and will most definitely help towards what I would like to call GLOBAL COOLING.

I would like to impress upon all my readers to please do it from now on, especially when you leave work for the day.

Look out for more on this. Comments and suggestions are welcome. :)

Sharing: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Well, since the whole world is talking about it, I feel compelled to write about the so-called International Women’s Day.

I wonder how this came about! The world cannot exist without women, so why dedicate one special day to us?

All days of the year are ours, ladies. So, wish all women a super duper Women’s Day, EVERYDAY!

Sharing: BHAGAVAN'S BIRTHDAY!

Sri Bhagavan of Oneness University is an Avatar for Enlightenment. He has come down to earth to give enlightenment to 'man' and bring about the smooth transition into the Golden or the Aquarian Age where the Earth will be ruled not by the head but by the heart.

Bhagavan was born on March 7, 1949. That makes him 61 years old today. Let's all wish Bhagavan a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Let's hope and pray that the transition into the Golden Age beginning in the year 2012 will be as smooth as possible. And let us all thank Bhagavan and Amma for all the miracles that have happened in our lives over the past few years since our association with the Oneness University.

I would also like to request Bhagavan to increase the consciousness level of every single human being on this earth by a few notches right now, on the occasion of His birthday! I pray for the increase in consciousness of the Earth too.

Thank you so much Bhagavan, for coming down to Earth to take care of all of us and to ring in the Golden Age!

Food Review: PANCHAVATI GAURAV @ INORBIT MALL, VASHI

I have been to the other branch at New Marine Lines and the food and service there are both fantabulous! We went to this branch just for that reason. We had barely a ten-minute wait on this Sunday and were given a corner table. There were six of us and the hotel serves only Vegetarian thali with a Gujju-Rajasthani flavour.

Flop show 1: The moment we sat, there was a flurry of activity - something similar to a swarm of bees around you - absolutely disgusting. The aim of the waiters seemed to just put everything on our plates and disappear.

Flop show 2: Two-three minutes later, we found that every item was served on only some of the plates - on an average of one item to four plates instead of six. The sweet was missing on two plates, the farsan on some, some or the other vegetable was not served in all the plates. We had to ask for papad for the man to serve it. He did not offer. I am not quite sure what they wanted to achieve.

Flop show 3: They served something in the name of 'chaas' that was horrible. We called the head waiter and told him. He shook the almost empty glass a couple of times and agreed that it did look strange. A few minutes later, a waiter appeared with eight glasses of chaas and we were all excited that he was going to serve all six of us for once. No such luck, he served four glasses on our table and even as we told him to leave two more, he moved on to the next table as if he was deaf.

Flop show 4: The vegetables were all very mediocre and seemed to be cooked in similar gravies. Pretty sad considering that Gujju-Rajasthani cuisine has such a variety of rich flavours.

Plus point 1: The only one, in fact! Every time we had to keep calling for more rotis or puris. At least, they were hot and fresh. The kadi was excellent.

The overall experience was quite upsetting. It appeared as if the only aim of the waiters was to force us to finish eating and leave the restaurant. The place was packed, no doubt, but it definitely did not have people waiting outside in a queue.

Despite the price being reasonable at 1440 for six thalis, the meal left a bad taste in our mouths.

Festival: HOLI

This Hindu festival is celebrated in North India only. People play with colours and water through the first half of the day. Thinly made jalebis and bhang (an intoxicated drink made of dry fruits and herbs) are the festival specialties.

How has Holi come about?
There are a few myths surrounding the festival. One is about Prahlad, the son of King Hiranyakashibhu. The king hated Lord Vishnu as He had been responsible for his brother Hiranyakshan’s death. He had banned one and all in his kingdom from taking the Lord’s name. But Prince Prahlad was an ardent devotee. Nothing his father did could stop the young lad from uttering the Lord’s name. Hiranyakashibhu’s sister Holika had the power to walk through fire without getting hurt. She decided to walk into one along with her nephew Prahlad and hoped to destroy him. But due to Lord Vishnu’s blessings, it was Holika who got destroyed in the fire while Prahlad walked out unblemished. The Holi fire signifies this.

There is another lore about Holi involving Krishna and Radha. Krishna was envious that Radha is very fair while he is so dark. He asks his mother Yashodha for a way to overcome this. She jokingly suggests that Krishna smear her with colour to make her dark. The mischievous Krishna does just that and the ‘festival of colours’ was born.

Then there is the story of Lord Shiva. He was in deep meditation. All the heavenly beings and those on the earth wanted Lord Shiva to get married to Parvathi. It was after the birth of Lord Skanda the problem of the demon Surapadman was to be sorted. But how to get Lord Shiva out of his meditative state? The onus fell on the Lord of Love, Kama. When Kama sent an arrow at Lord Shiva, the Lord opened his third eye and Kama was up in flames. This probably is also a reason why the Holi fire is lit year after year.

Whatever be the story behind the fest, it is one of great fun and frolic and brings together family and friends. But recently, the games have turned quite dirty and painful. People losing their eyesight due to use of bad quality colours have become a part of the norm. Those getting drunk with bhang and misbehaving seems to have become an accepted practice. This year will see the worst as there is also a shortage of water.

Festivals are a time of joy. But then, it must be so for everyone, not just a few. I think it is very important to play a safe Holi with environmental friendly colours that will not harm anyone and we should also be careful about the water we throw about.

Wish one and all a VERY HAPPY HOLI!