Malai Kofta

As I told you in my last post that I am planning to cook Malai Kofta next, and two days ago my mom and I made some delicious malai kofta.  Good news is that it came out really good...bad news is that it took me 2 hours to make it :P...with few problems but that to discuss later.  I got the recipe from http://www.vahrehvah.com/Malai+Kofta:3262 where they show you the entire process on video.  Again I didn't do everything as it was told and had few variations.  I will post the preps and process that was used in making our Malai Kofta.  Not to make your mouth watery or anything, but here is a snap of the Malai Kofta prepared.

Ingredients:
Vegetables:
- Grated/mashed boiled potatoes (1 cup - 3 potatoes), grated boiled mix vegetables, chopped green chili, chopped cilantro, onions - 1, tomatoes - 3

Spices:
- Cardemom (elaichi - 2), cloves (laving - 2), coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, ginger paste/shredded ginger, garlic paste, red chili powder, jeera, salt, turmeric

Other:
- Oil, cream/yogurt (1/2 cup), cashew/almonds powder (not too crushed), grated paneer (1 cup)

Preparations: 
1) Finely chop cilantro and green chilies. 
2) Shred ginger if you are not using ginger paste 
3) Chop onions and tomatoes to make puree 
4) Boil potatoes
5) Grate Paneer 
6) Boil mixed vegetable and mash/grate them

Kofta Process:
1) Mix grated paneer, grated boiled potatoes, and mix vegetables together.
2) Add some chopped chilies, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, little bit chopped cilantro, little bit salt, add some crushed nuts, and mix everything well.
3) IMP: Make sure there is no moisture in the mixture you just made.  If there is then add some bread crumbs which will take in the moisture and make the mixture firm.  This is where I had trouble because the mixture was soft and when I tried to fry the koftas, the koftas started to break off in the oil :(.  But no worries...that's where my mom came to rescue and she added the bread crumbs in the mixture to make it firm.
4) Make the kofta balls out of the mixture.  Roll the koftas in corn flour or all purpose flour.  Fry them in oil on medium heat and fry until they turn little golden/brownish color. 
5) Keep the koftas aside.

Gravy Process:
1) Make puree from onions and tomatoes and 1/2 green chili.
2) In a pan, add oil and put it on medium heat.  Add Jeera, cardamom, and cloves to the oil. Now here there are two options you can use.  I used procedure A. 

A) Add puree to the oil.  Let it come to the boil.  I used malai kofta ready-made masala from Rasoi Magic.  I added that masala, garam masala powder, chili powder, and salt to the gravy.  If mixture is getting dry, add little bit water (depending on how much gravy you want).
B) Add puree to the oil, add garlic paste, shredded ginger, turmeric, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili power, garam masala powder, and mix everything well.  If mixture is getting dry, then add little bit water (depending on how much gravy you want).
3) Once the gravy comes to boil, add 1/2 cup cream to the gravy.
4) After adding cream, bring the gravy to the boil and then add some cashewnut powder (2-3 spoons). and mix the gravy well.
5) Then add koftas to the gravy and let it cook for another minute or two and put off the heat.
6) Add cilantro on top for garnishing.

And Walaah! You have your malai kofta!!

After making these last two recipes, shahi paneer recipe seems like piece of cake :D.  Well, don't know what I will be making next and when, but hopefully something new soon.  Until then, take care and see ya :).

Vegetable Navratan Korma

From 3 days I was thinking of trying out a new recipe and in one of the online lists, I saw vegetable navratan korma and decided to make that.  This time instead of manjulaskitchen.com, I tried the recipe from vahrevah.com.  If you search up Korma on this site, it will give you 6 different variations for veg-main dish.  But the recipe I followed is located at: http://www.vahrehvah.com/Navrattan+Korma:6176.  I have to warn all those people who want to try out this recipe that this recipe took me 3 times more time to prepare than it did for Shahi Paneer.  This proved to be very time consuming recipe.  Even in this recipe, I did some variations and this time I am going to list all the steps and ingredients used to make Veg. Navratan Korma.  One thing you need to make sure is that you have all the things ready before you actually start the process.  Because once I started cooking, I realized I didn't have green chilies chopped or ginger shreaded.  But I had help from my mom who was not just supervising the process but helped chopping some of the vegetables and in last minute preps.  The dish came out very well and looks good too.  Here is a snap of Veg. Navratan Korma that I made and then if you also want to try it, I am listing the entire process.

Ingredients:
Vegetables:
- Potatoes (1 large potato), Caroots (1 cup), Green Peas (1 cup), Green Beans (1 cup), Capsicum (1/2 cup), Cauliflower (1/2 cup), Onion (1 onion finely chopped), Green Chilies (1 to 2 finely chopped), Cilantro (finely chopped)

Spices:
- Cardamom (eliachi - 2), cinnamon (taj - 1), Cloves (laving - 2), Jeera, coriandar powder, cumin powder, garlic paste (1 spoon), shredded ginger, salt, black pepper, garam masala powder, hing

Dry Fruits:
- Cashews (1/2 cup), almonds (1/4 cup), raisins, pineapple

Other:
Paneer (chopped in cubes), Cream/Yogurt, oil, and butter

Preparations:
1) Chop all the vegetables (potatoes, carrots, capsicum, peas, beans, cauliflower).
2) Cut the Paneer in cubes.
3) Onion, green chillies, and cilantro should be finely chopped.
4) Shred the ginger.
5) Boil the vegetables (add cauliflower to the boiling bowl after the other veggies are half cooked so cauliflower doesn't get over boiled).  Also I boiled potato cubes separately in microwave (3 times 5 minute cycles).
6) Boil onions and cashews in water separately.  Once cashews are bit tender, remove the water (leaving little bit in there) and make a paste out of it.  Keep the paste aside.
7) Cook Paneer in butter and once they turn light brownish, keep them aside.
8) Cook cashewnuts, and almonds in butter until they get little brown and keep them aside.

Process:
1) In a pan, add oil, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and jeeru.  Mix well and add garlic paste, shredded ginger, and a pinch of hing.  Mix everything together and let the mixture get little brownish.
2) Add the cashewnut + onion paste, and chopped green chilies to the mixture.
3) Add coriander powder, cumin powder, and garam masala powder.  Mix it all well.
4) When the oil starts to separate and the mixture becomes little bit dry, then you can add little bit water (half or full cup).  Mix well and bring it to boil.
5) When the mixture is bit creamy, add the boiled vegetables, fried paneer, and cooked dry fruits.  Add raisins, and few pineapple pieces.  Mix everything well.
6) Add salt to taste, cream or yogurt as an alternative, and black pepper.  Mix everything and let the mixture cook for 5-7 minutes and let it come to boil.
7) When it's almost cooked, add finely chopped cilantro and turn off the heat and let the pan sit on stove for a minute or so.

And there you have your Vegetable Navratan Korma :D.

This was definitely a lot of work compared to Shahi Paneer, and that's why a 45 minute recipe took me 1.5 hours.  After using up 6-7 bowls, 2 pans, and couple of other cooking vessels, for cooking, the navratan korma was so worth it!  The kitchen was in a bit mess afterwards, but also got it cleaned after eating :).

Hope the detailed preps and process helps you if you decide to make this for yourself.
Next, I am planning to make Malai Kofta, so stay tuned!

Tata until next time :)

Shahi Paneer

When it comes to cooking, I don't have much advice to give or much to say because I don't really cook much....I help a lot in the kitchen but barely cook.  But recently I have started cooking different things starting with Aloo paratha (potato stuffing tortilla), Bread pakora, Onion Pakora, Bhindi masala (Okra), Aloo sabji (potato vegetable), and few more things.  Couple of days ago I wanted to try a paneer vegetable recipe, and from list of all the delicious choices such as Shahi Paneer, Butter Paneer Masala, Palak Paneer, and Paneer Tikka Masala, I decided to make Shahi Paneer.  One of my friends had recommended manjulaskitchen.com site couple of months ago to me and I had saved it in my bookmarks, so when I decided to make Shahi Paneer, I referred to this site with few variations.  With following the directions from the site, Shahi Paneer turned out to be Deeeeeeeeeelicious!!!  Here is a snap of it...

From the recipe online, what I changed was that instead of frying the paneer in oil, I fried in butter and then added oil for the puree.  Also I added half onion to make the puree.  I did not use ginger or paparika in the ingredients.  Also I had to add just a little bit more sugar since my yogurt was bit sour...so the best for anyone making this would be to taste the gravy after adding all the spices and yogurt to make sure it is tasty and you are not missing anything.  And with that, you have the delicious Shahi Paneer ready.  You can eat it with toritilla, paratha, or naan.  Enjoy!

India Return Trip 2010 - Part 2

Washington Dulles International Airport:
We reach Washington Dulles around 1:40 pm in the afternoon.  Soon we get transported to a mobile lounge to be taken to the International Arrivals Building.  There all the wheelchairs are waiting for its passengers.  The person takes us to the 1st floor where our customs will be cleared.  There are actually 2 lines from here.  One is for the citizens and one is for the non-citizens.  The line for non-citizens must be 3 times longer than the line for the citizens.  Since my dad was in wheelchair, we passed through that line and went straight to the officer's counter.  The officer asked us couple of questions like "why did we go to India?", "What did we buy?", and "roughly how much do we think the items are worth in total?", etc. and then stamped our passports and we were off to the baggage claim.  I got to tell you that since last time I was at Washington Dulles airport, this building has been remodeled because from what I remember, the place was very small that everyone would be bumping into each other.  But this time, it's big and very spacious.  In fact, they have new baggage claim conveyor belts that are longer and the space is enough to handle all the passengers from 2-3 international flights at the same time.

I swore last time I was at Washington Dulles that I will not fly though here again but the remodeling of the place has changed my opinion.  Last time, our baggage came almost after 2 hours and this time, almost all the bags had already arrived before we even got there, only to find one bag in complete surprise.  One of the bags was in such a bad condition that its chain and lock were completely broken and things were falling out of the small space.  Thankfully, due to the tag/string that they put in the middle of the bag in Ahmedabad held the bag together otherwise we would have nothing left in the bag.  Also we had tied the belts inside the bag which held things in place but still it was not enough as there was a possibility of things falling out when they transfer the bags.  Unsure on what to do, we took the bag in whatever condition it was in and headed to the transfer desk.  Unfortunately, we had nothing with us that we could use to tie the bag with.  We went to the transfer area where we needed to transfer our bags for the connecting flight.  I asked the agent who was going to screen the bags before transferring if he would be able to tape the bag or tie the bag somehow to prevent things from inside falling out.  He assured me that they can take care of it and told me to just leave the bags.

It was a bit of relief to get an assurance from the agent who said they will be able to take care of it once the bag is screened.  We leave our bags and head to the next flight gate.  All of this process must have taken us anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours.  And I was worried that we might miss our flight if we keep the connecting flight at 5:30 pm.  It turns out that we were done by 3:30 pm and it would have been nice if I had kept the flight at 5:30 pm, BUT I did not.  Instead I had assigned our flight times to be at 9:50 pm at night which would get us home after 12 am :(.  Well I had decided late flight simply from my last experience at Washington Dulles.  Who knew that they are going to remodel the place to make it better and faster for the passengers?  Well, we had no choice but to wait till our flight.  We were all so tired that we were falling asleep on the seats near the gate but at least one of us had to stay up since we had 3 carry-on bags, 1 purse, 1 hand bag, and a computer bag with us.

From Washington Dulles, we had to catch the United Airlines, so we were in Terminal C.  Now, this terminal is pretty small compared to Terminal A and B, and it can get very congested near a gate close to a flight departure.  I was just waiting for the time to fly and ready to go home.  Finally, we boarded around 9:20 pm, and flight took off on time.  We reach Denver earlier than scheduled and head to get our bags.  Thankfully, all the bags come back in one piece and in good condition except the one that was ripped apart from Washington Dulles itself.  The agent who told me that he will take care of the bag by taping it somehow to keep it together did not do anything!!!  The bag was as it is we received in Dulles airport and he didn't do anything to keep it together.  It was late and I didn't have energy to get mad.  And who am I going to get mad at?  It was just some agent at the Dulles airport, not a particular employee of United Airlines or Qatar airways.  We gathered our bags and headed to pick up area where one of our family friends came to pick us up.  We got home around 1 am and I was wide awake :P.  I wasn't sleepy at all, but had to force myself to sleep to avoid jet-lag.

About the damaged bag, I had to follow up on it with Qatar airways and that can be a separate post in itself :).  Till then, See ya.  I will post the details on the damaged bag soon.

Tata!

India Return Trip 2010 - Part 1

Although we were in India for 3 weeks, it feels like those 3 weeks just passed by in a blink of an eye.  It's very short time especially when you go for someone's wedding because most of your time is involved in the wedding which doesn't give you enough time to explore other places.  But I have no complains....the wedding was fabulous and loved and enjoyed every moment of it.  Now about the returning journey which was just as interesting as the arriving journey, maybe little less hassle or not.

We had a flight back to US from Ahmedabad on Dec. 4th early morning around 5:20 am.  We all got to the airport around 1:30 am with my relatives.  Apparently, in the international airport, once you go in with your bags and once you get your boarding passes, you can not come back outside to meet your family and friends.  So just hang out outside with your family until you are ready to go in.  We said our goodbyes and started to go in around 2 am.  Before you stand in the line for Qatar airways, or any other airlines, you need to get your bags screened at the airport where they tie a tag/string in the middle of each of your bags that you are going to check in.  I think we arrived at the airport at the right time because it got really crowded just after we finished screening our bags.  We got in the line to check-in, gave our bags, and got the boarding passes for all the way to the final destination.  I don't understand one thing.  If Qatar airways is able to give us boarding passes for United airlines flight, then why wasn't United Airlines able to give us boarding passes for Qatar Airways flights?  Anyways, the process was pretty quick.  The agent requested that we put one or two of our hand baggage also in the checked baggage at no cost which we will get directly in US with our other checked baggage because they did not have enough room in the plane.  Now, I didn't tell you guys, but when we were coming from Doha to Ahmedabad, the agent said the same thing on the bus and they didn't even give us an option but just took our hand baggage to give it to us directly at Ahmedabad airport.  When we boarded the airplane, it turns out there is plenty of room for hand luggage to fit.  So this time when the agent asked us to volunteer and put 1-2 hand bags in the checked baggage, I just gave them 1 bag since I knew there was going to be space on the plane and I was right.  There was plenty of room.

We got a wheelchair for my dad and headed to the security screening.  Surprisingly, the person assisting my dad's wheelchair was the same guy who asked my dad $50 to get through custom clearance when we landed in Ahmedabad.  But he didn't demand anything this time.  He took us to the 2nd floor for Qatar Airways gate area.  The airport is pretty big, really nice, and decent.  But one thing that is lacking big time is the notification aspect of the airport.  The airport has big monitor screens where they list the upcoming 3 or 4 flights with their departure time, but no gate information, no info on whether the flight is on time, or delayed, and the agents won't have an idea either.  Just an hour before our flight, couple of ground staff workers came and got the wheelchair people to take to another gate.  Apparently, the gate must have changed for the Qatar airways, but there was no way for the travelers to know about it.  They told me and my mom to stay behind and come with the rest of the people since they were just taking the wheelchair people.  After a while, all the ground staff comes back to get the rest of the Qatar airways flight travelers by shouting "Qatar", "Qatar Airways"..., so people for Qatar airways flight can follow them to the new gate.  It was just going down the stairs to 1st level and wait for the bus to transport us to the plane.  As far as I can remember, we fell asleep as soon as we got in our seats.  We woke up when the food came but I was so tired that I didn't really care for the food.  This time, the food was OK, nothing special and not even that tasty.  I also noticed that they were playing Anjaana Anjaani but wasn't interested in seeing that movie either.  Our flight left Ahmedabad on time and we reached Doha around 6:15 am.

Doha Airport:
We were still really tired but had to catch the next flight to Washington Dulles at 8:05 am.  As we reached Doha, the wheelchair people had to wait until everyone got off.  It turns out that within the 3 weeks we were in India, they must have made a new rule that only 1 person can accompany the wheelchair person.  Well, they didn't announce this at the beginning and now when my mom and I were going with my dad, they said "Sorry, only one person can go with him!  The other person need to go with the rest of the people".  The bus that transports people from plane to the terminal had already left and they wanted 3 or 4 people to wait until the bus came back.  I was little mad and demanded that I will only go with my dad since they didn't announce this at the beginning.  Along with me, 2 other families were mad since they told us this on last moment.  They didn't have a choice but to take us with the wheelchair people.  Unlike last time, this time it took us about 10 minutes to be transported to the main terminal from where we had landed.  We got to the main terminal and to the wheelchair waiting area.  The airport was pretty crowded for the morning flights and there was quite long line for the security screening as well.  I had the same problem with another agent who insisted that only 1 person accompany my dad and the other person should go through the regular security screening.  I left my mom with my dad and went in the main security line.  I knew he would be transported faster this time since our flight was in an hour and luckily I was through the security screening within 15 minutes I think.  Again, I didn't have to take off my shoes or jacket to go through the screen so that was faster.  Soon my parents came through the security screening and the man assisting my dad's wheelchair took us to our next flight gate on 2nd floor.

It turns out that for all US flights, there is a secondary security screening before you can get transported to the plane.  This time due to wheelchair, we got to cut the line and go straight to security screening otherwise it would have taken us another 15-20 minutes because it was pretty crowded.  During this screening, we had to take off our shoes and jackets and put them through the screening.  Once you get your belongings, you get transported back to the 1st floor to get on the bus which takes you to the plane.  Since our flight was just in 1.5 hours, we didn't really have any time in-between to relax and look around.  We mainly just got transported from one plane to another.

From Doha to Washington Dulles International Airport:
We got situated in our small seats on Qatar flight for another 13 hours of journey.  This time, we were lucky with the neighbors where they were not loud at all.  For entertainment, they had couple of different movies from the previous list on Bollywood movie list.  I watched the movie "Dabangg" but honestly, I think I kept falling asleep in between so I don't really remember the story anymore.  Food wise, we got lunch and snacks.  Surprisingly, we got the same lunch that we had on the flight from Ahmedabad to Doha which kind of surprised me.  I ate very little since it wasn't as tasty and who would want to eat the same thing again!!  For the snacks, they gave us veggie sandwiches which were very delicious.  It was more like subway sandwich but with less items.  It contained tomatoes, onions, banana peppers, green peppers, and other things.  They had these sandwiches at every station if anyone wanted more of them.  I think all 3 of us slept a lot on this flight due to lack of sleep from couple of days.  Ohh, on the plane, the staff gave us custom clearance forms for everyone to fill out.  Between sleeping and watching movies, we reached Washington Dulles around 1:40 pm on Dec. 4th.

Not to bore you with all the details in one post, my next post will describe the experience of baggage claim at Washington Dulles, and the last leg of the journey to our home state :).

India Trip Highlights

Once we landed in India, there were a lot of things I wanted to do in the first week including, most importantly, shopping :).  In the first week, my first priority was to get all my dresses for the wedding ceremonies (sangeet, wedding, and reception).  The reason I say first week is because even though the wedding was after 2 weeks, the ceremonies were going to start from a week before, starting with the "Bethak" which starts from a week before.  "Bethak" is kind of like a get-together every night where all the family members come to meet at night, chit-chat, have snacks and fun time! 

Let me start by the "Sangeet" for the wedding.  My cousin had hired a choreographer to teach all the cousins, his friends, all the aunts/uncles the dance for the actual ceremony.  You can't imagine the chaos to get everyone together for practice all at once....but believe me...it was crazy!  We didn't have all the steps done, or all the dances done until the day before the ceremony.  This leaves no time for practicing on the actual stage.  But somehow things always work out and the ceremony was fabulous.  I was supposed to get the dress for Sangeet a week before and must have gone to zillion shops, I have lost a count now, to find a dress that I like for the Sangeet ceremony, but no luck.  There were only 2 days left and I still did not have a dress.  Finally, I find the ONE dress I was looking for just 2 days before the ceremony, and hope that the blouse comes back stitched fine.  Next day, I find out that the blouse is stitched wrong with just a day to go and have to give back for stitching on the day of the sangeet.  I am going nuts but I was also relieved because my cousin was supervising the stitching and making sure we get the clothes in time.  Finally, I get everything back and sorted just 2 hours before the sangeet and start getting ready.  I will be lying if I say I wasn't worried...because I was!  If I didn't have that dress in time, I think it would have been a complete disaster.  For the dance, I was part of a medley which included songs "Main albeli" from Zubaida, "Gunji angana mein shehnai" from life partner, and "O bekhabar" from Action Replay.  I also did a dance with my 2 cousins on a rajasthani song "Ghoomar", beautiful song.  A lot of my cousin's friends danced on latest songs from golmaal 3, action replay, I hate luv stories, Aisha, etc.

We had a day break after sangeet and before the wedding.  On the wedding day, all the ladies, meaning my mom, mom's sisters, and all the other aunts had to be at the groom's place at 4:45 am in the morning for one of the rituals which is to put "Haldi (turmeric)" on my cousin brother's face :).  This is kind of hard to explain but let me give it a shot.  Basically "Haldi" ceremony is celebrated on both sides of the families in their homes where haldi paste is applied to the bride and the groom which includes turmeric, other herbs, mixed with milk.  Its been followed for ages and haldi is supposed to be good for your complexion :).  Following this ceremony was the actual wedding.  Before the wedding is taking the "Barat" to the wedding venue.  For "Barat", we all got together at my cousin's place with the band people and did tons of dancing at the front yard of the home.  Then we all drove to 1 mile before the actual wedding venue, got out of the cars, and danced our way to the wedding place.  We were from the groom's side,so we could demand whatever we want before the groom goes in.  We demanded for them to bring the bride out before my cousin goes in, and they did.  She came out and she was looking gorgeous.  The fun was unlimited.  The wedding took place for 1-2 hours and then we sat down to eat lunch with the bride and the groom.  Then comes the "Bidaai" part which is kind of sad.  "Bidaai" is basically where the bride's family is giving their daughter to the groom's family and sending her off to the groom's house.  This gets kind of emotional since everyone starts crying from the bride's family.  Controlling our emotions, we get everyone in car and then get to the groom's home where the couple of remaining rituals take place.  Finally my cousin and his newly bride gets to take a moment to breath, they need to get ready for another ceremony!  It's actually a wedding anniversary of my uncle and aunt (my cousin's parents) and they have invited the entire family for dinner, so they don't get to sit and relax.  I didn't get to sit and relax since I was with them the whole time, but freshened up, changed and got ready for the party!  The wedding was fantastic.  I just love weddings, where everyone is so happy, dancing, and the entire atmosphere is very joyful.

We get another day off before the reception takes place.  But this time, it wasn't too much of a hassle since there was no dancing or preparation involved.  We just had to get ready and get to the reception, take bunch of pictures with the newly wed couple and enjoy the magnificent menu my uncle had decided on.  I sat down to eat with my cousin and at that time they served everything from starter soup to the main course dinner.  But honestly, there were so many dishes that before the main course dinner came, I was completely full.  I told the waiter to put just one spoon of everything to taste but other than that, I had no room for anything else, not even the delicious ice cream they had for desert :(.

With reception coming to an end, we only had about 3 days left before we head back to US.  Now in these 3 days, I still had shopping left, plus all the remaining relatives invited us for either breakfast, lunch, and dinner which booked the 3 days completely.  So on Dec. 1, 2, and 3, we were booked for breakfast at 8:30 am at someone's place, then lunch at another family's place around 1 pm and then dinner at night around 8 pm.  I was just worried we were going to get sick eating around the clock non-stop.  But no one was willing to take a "No" for an answer :P.  My parents' wedding anniversary was on Dec. 2nd, so we celebrated it with my mom's side family at a nice restaurant with dinner and a yummy chocolate cake.  It was a lot of fun.

In between the celebrations, I met couple of my school friends after many many years.  Got to spend some quality time with them over dinner and catch up on all these years on what they have been doing.

Also after the reception was done, my mom's side family (around 40-45 people) decided to go watch a movie together.  Basically it was a small theater that they reserved for the entire family (with about 80 seats) so it was just for us :).  The problem is that they picked the wrong movie to see....Break ke baad starring Imran khan and Deepika padukone.  A bad bad choice.  It was complete waste of time, well, not complete waste because it was fun listening to the commentary by the family members during the movie.  I can't believe Imran signed that movie.  There was no story, no concept, Nothing at all.  I was waiting and waiting for the story to start or for the movie to make sense...but nothing!  Well I wasn't the only one that was disappointed with the movie...  I wished we had instead gone to see "Guzarish" and I know it wouldn't have been this disappointing but oh well.

Ahmedabad has changed a lot in all these years but one thing I don't think has changed and will never change is the traffic sense.  The reason why roads are so packed with vehicles is because everyone wants to make their own way and no one wants to follow the rules.  I was so scared to sit in the front seat in car with my cousin since he always drove bumper to bumper at the same time when 4 vehicles from 4 different directions wants to crunch in that same space!  However, I love to sit on bikes, scooters, and travel in rickshaws, and I fulfilled this wish by traveling in all those 3 vehicles :D.

That's all I can remember for the trip highlights.  If I remember something else that I haven't mentioned here, I will update this post again :).  Till then, See ya!!! :D

India Trip 2010 - Part 3

At the Ahmedabad International Airport:
So after almost 28 hours of journey, we get to Ahmedabad 45 minutes late compare to our original arrival time.  We get off the plane and get transported to a bus to be taken to the terminal which is like less than a minute away and honestly in walking distance but who would want to walk after a hectic journey?  Since there wasn't much walking involved, my dad didn't take the wheelchair and we headed for immigration line.  It turns out there is a huge line where we could end up waiting a long time.  It might have been better if we had kept my dad's wheelchair to get passed the whole line, but luckily we got hold of a person who was assisting a wheelchair person.  The guy was nice and got us out of the line to take us directly to the immigration counter.  We got our passports stamped in no time and headed to the baggage claim area.  Here is where the worker must have mentioned to my dad that "Give me $50 and you will be cleared through all the way"......Well he did mention 50 dollars and not rupees.  My dad did not give him any attention and he thought that he might not have any good chance at getting the money, so went to the first wheelchair person whom he was assisting.

So the new ahmedabad airport is big and very spacious.  It has 5 new baggage conveyor belts which are pretty long for all the bags to fit.  Our bags came very quick within 10-15 minutes.  Thankfully, there was a flight just before our flight whose baggage had been cleared so it didn't take long for our bags to come.  The real challenge now was to actually get through the security where we need to screen our bags.  There was HUGE crowd lined up and there were only 2 security screenings.  Apparently there were 5 lines which somehow end up being 2 lines and you can imagine all the pushing, and cutting in line when it actually comes to screening the bags.  While in line, I remember that there was another wheelchair person behind me and a worker who was assisting that wheelchair, who was asking for money to get them through.  But I guess the lady wasn't backing down and wasn't really going to give out any money.  I think no matter how much they ask you for the money, you have to stay strong at your decision.

About putting the bags through actual screening, it was piece of cake.  I put the bags from one side and my dad took it from the other side and we were done in less than 3 minutes.  We didn't have that much electronics with us except in my bag where I had my phone, camera, jewellery, and an IPad.  But they didn't ask anything for any of the bags.  Sweet!!

We could see all the family members through a see-through glass, smiling and waving at us :).  We rushed outside and met them all....there was a joy!!! :).  I must say though that it was really hot for a November weather.  We got in the car, stacked our bags, and headed to my aunt's home.  Home sweet home!

Well that's it for the travel part of the journey.  In my next post, I will tell you about all the exciting things we did for the wedding!!

Till then, see ya!