South of the Border,
Episode 5 9 -12
Dec ’17
Reforma, Angel of Independence….& food (of
course!)
A twenty minute cab ride through some amazing areas, was not enough to
drive home the realization, of how ill-informed/ignorant we are, of countries
that are less talked-about.( or do not appear in any media.) In a way, it’s a
blessing, because the discoveries we make during our sojourn, are all the more
exciting! The streets are well maintained, cleaned & have a lot of green
cover, either on the dividers or along the main streets.
 |
| View from the Centre |
The area, known as
Reforma, is the centre of the City. Traffic is well behaved, though honking is
not frowned upon. There are dedicated spaces between the walkways &
streets, for cyclists! Yes, there is a large No of people using cycles, their
own or from the Ecobic stands. (You pay for a membership for their use &
they can be collected from any of the stands).
As I said, a lot of the
landscape is reminiscent of ‘back home’ areas and the shrubs & trees are
familiar. Office buildings occupy a
majority of the space here, but cafes & shops are equally visible.
The most
striking part is the presence of intersections (are’ baba, ‘chowk’!), with
spectacular sculptures, fountains… and a very visible presence of Cops!
 |
| LadyCop! |
We shed our cab at the Angel
‘chowk’ & headed straight for the monument. The origin of this, has been
narrated in the earlier blog. The pillar stands tall in the middle of the
monument, with beautiful statues, traditional artwork & the Angel herself,
grabbing one’s attention.
However, it’s best to view her from afar, to get a
better look ( contrary to the Big Bad Wolf), as well as to avoid
a crick in the neck, which Romeo must’ve suffered from!! 
It’s worth the while, sparing
some moments to take in the panorama. If a picture speaks a thousand words, I
will spare myself the labour of writing ( & you, of reading every word!)
We saw a very strange but interesting event. One of the most important celebrations in Mexican culture is the tradition of the Quinceañera. This constitutes a ceremony on a girl's fifteenth birthday to mark her passage to womanhood, to give thanks to God for his blessings, and to present a young woman to the community. The festival would seem a combination of a “sweet sixteen” birthday party combined with a coming out ball for debutantes. The Angel is a favourite place for photo shoots. The girls were escorted by Chamberlains, all in their tuxedos.
Then, there is
a picture of tent-like structures along both sides of the street. These are put
up for vendors, selling home-made & other goods, over the week-ends. So we
crossed over to them & did a round of both sides. The products ranged from
home-made preserves, home remedies, artwork, pickles, traditional wear etc. You
name it, it’s there! Something like stalls that are put up at exhibitions. I
spoke ( wrote) about similarities in foodstuffs(fav topic!), spices, fruits. We
came across something that could best
be described as a thick “sev/shev” which was made from powdered Amaranthus
seeds. Amaranthus, in Marathi is “Rajgira”, the ladoos & ‘guddani’ of which
are so well-known back home (India, that is!). Kalpana
was persuaded to get herself a wrap, a
cross between a poncho & a shawl.
Having walked a lot and depleting Jenny’s
purse, the pangs of hunger, eventually won over the wanderlust & so, lunch
it was going to be!
Jenny suggested we go to a typical Mex place,
not too far off. A little bit of excercising ‘Shanks Mare’, passing by some
super commercial edifices & window shopping, we took a short ride to La
Casa De Tono (ie Tony’s house).For Punekars, it could be termed similar to a
cross between Diamond Queen & Good Luck & for Mumbaikars, this place
would evoke memories of ‘Café Stadium’, of old times, at Churchgate or say,
Leopold or Mondegar!
Before one could say ‘Buenas Tardes’, the
table was laid with Tortilla chips + different
kinds of Salsa, bread, Pico de Gallo (plain & simple Kanda Tamatochi
koshimbeer! Spelt as pronounced pl). I
quite relished a crisp ‘papdi’ kind of a thing called ‘Chicharron’. Pl Google
to find out what it is!
 |
| Pozole |
Lunch was Tostado Pollo (for
the uninitiated, LLs in Espanol is Y, so, poyyo, that is chicken) for Kalpana & Janu , while the men decided
on Pozole. The former is a crisp tostado (roti) with a cream base, topped with
shredded chicken, lettuce, cheese! Pozole
( the z pronounced as S) is, Tambda Rassa with shredded chicken, corn, vegs
& onions. A single item meal. Of course, there was Corona Light to wet the
throat! (by the way, Corona has a huge presence here & we intend to visit
the factory which is quite nearby. So is Starbucks seen almost everywhere). |
| Tostadas |
 |
| K'Park/Prabhat Rd Lane! |
 |
| Bhori Ali? |
I’ve been harping upon the
similarities in locales, food, ambience, traffic…the works. However, the biggest
contrast is the disposition of the people. Total strangers display simple courtesies
like greeting you. In fact, in the elevators, people wish one another while
entering & exiting! As mentioned
earlier, street vendors/sweepers etc, are all neatly dressed.
I always feel so
sorry to make this observation about my countrymen, but greeting someone,
whether in Office or anywhere else, has become extinct. Its hurts more so, when we pride ourselves
on our “culture” esp “Atithee deva bhavo”! On the contrary, we seem to revel in
someone else’s misfortune.
Chalte' chalte'... see any resemblance in the pic at right bottom ?
No marks for guessing, but just another pic like 'back home', The big(gest) difference is of course, the traffic!
While composing this, the Pais (Satish, Shubhangi & the boys), good friends of Janu-Jenny, besides being colleagues, have landed here, from Pune via Dallas, to celebrate X'mas & New Year celebs! Great spirit, so, next one up, we'll take you on a Hop On/Off trip of Mexico,City. Till then.. Cuidate!
So, Hasta Luego amigos, aboard the Turibus!
As ever,
AshoKalpana
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