ITC Fortune Excalibur- India on my plate

This hotel is the star of Sohna road, Gurgaon. This is my second visit to Fortune Hotel and I must say that these guys are really serious about the food they serve and keep innovating. Last time their concept “Dilli Ki Galliyan” was a huge success in which they had prepared the delicacies of Purani Delhi.

This time the whole India was on my plate. The concept is to to bring the best from all the corners of the country with pocket friendly price. That’s not all; they also have live music with the best ambiance.

Now let’s talk about the food.

This is the first time I was served with Neer More which seemed like rasam but with more spices. The tangy taste was a bang on for taste buds. Galouti Kababs are soft and tender that almost melt in the mouth with the first bite. With a balanced mix of spices, the taste is very authentic and don't miss the Ram laddu

Rajma Galouti and Tilwali subz seekh is a unique innovation for the vegetarians. I am sure now vegetarians will not complain anymore for veg starters. Murgh malai siya mirch equally tasted great.

In main course I chose Chicken Chettinad, Ghost Awadh Biryani, Mutton Curry, Dal-e-Fortne and Dahi Aloo Acahri. Most of the times I skip the main course because restaurants give preference to starters and score low in main course. However, this is not the scenario here. The main course was damn great!

In sweets they have plenty of options to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth. Their rasmalai was heavenly and I bet no one can eat just one.

I believe the USP of this place is live music and ambiance. Below are my ratings

Food-4.5/5

Ambiance-5/5

Service-4/5

Jodhpur Trip

Jodhpur is the city of Maharaja Gaja Singh.Well some of the attractions in the city is now under private umbrella of Taj hotels and public entry is restricted. The available sites could be covered in one and half day if planned wisely.

There are mainly three places to see in Jodhpur.

1. Umaid Bhawan
2. Mehrangarh Fort
3. Jaswant Thada (We missed this location)
4. Mandore Garden

1     Umaid Bhawan. This place was the office home of the Maharaja of Jodhpur. But now half of the palace is now under Taj hotels as a luxury hotel. The best part is tourist still has access to most of the area including a huge museum, Vintage cars and surrounding areas.

                                        

Vintage display

Vintage cars display

Umaid Bhawan from a distance

2    Mehran Garh Fort- 

This is one of the largest forts of India. It was built by Rao Jodha (The chief of Rathore Clan) in 1460 and situated on a cliff at a height of nearly 410 Ft. The fort is huge “Really Huge” and a normal visit without photography will take around 3 hours. It has four floors which preserve the history of Rathore clans. The fort is well secured by huge cannons and we have seen the largest collections of weapons inside. Photography is restricted in many areas and they are well secured by CCTV. You can see cannon shell marks on the huge entry gate this will take you to that era where cannons are the only weapon to breal into a strong wall.

It also has a good coffee shop for refreshment.

                                            

"Blue city"- Bird's eye view from Mehrangarh

3     Mandore Graden- 

There is very interesting story behind the city of Mondore, as per legends Mandodari the wife of Ravan belonged from this place. The garden is very mesmerizing with beautiful trees and ancient cenotaphs. The place swarms with Langoor but not to worry as they don’t bother anyone because they have enough to eat from the caretakers as well as visitors. This is a must visit place and very good destination for photography.

Delhi/ NCR Pollution

God created humans and environment to support all life on Earth. But our greed has disturbed the ecological cycle and as the most superior race we are destroying our own planet.

As per the experts in the few years Delhi and all major metros cities will be like Beijing (China). I think the human race will not end due to a nuclear war but definitely due to lack of oxygen and growing pollution.
Let’s start with our own city. As per High Court people is Delhi is living inside a gas chamber with harmful gases increasing every day at a very rapid rate. The real cause of this evil is growing number of vehicle on the roads and honestly it does not make much of a difference that on what fuel they are moving. As per a survey almost 3-4 Lakhs of vehicle are adding up to Delhi roads every year and if we combine this with all the connecting cities, numbers will be astronomical. After the high court scolding to the state government, some steps are taken like banning of diesel vehicles and odd even rule. But are we doing enough? The answer is NO.

Every vehicle causes pollution and it does not make any difference if we ban one specific fuel like diesel. The problem is government has no control on the number of vehicle adding up every day. Let me explain it with a very simple example that if 1 individual can finish 1 litter of water in an hour, 5 can finish it in 10 minutes. Due to easy loan facility anyone can buy a car with a small down payment. So it does not make any huge impact if we ban a vehicle runs on a particular fuel. 

If we talk about odd even rule then my question is what will government do in case of equal number of odd or even vehicle. So what’s the solution- I think the best possible solution is lowering down the emission rates to almost 50% and vehicles shall not be allowed on the road after a specific KM limit. If the Govt is really serious on saving Delhi NCR then these are the following steps.

1.     To create more public transport runs on environment friendly fuel like CNG or electricity.

2.     To create very strict rules on Vehicles creating pollution. They must be scraped after a certain age or KM covered.

3.     To lower down the emission rates in Vehicles

4.     To create more metro routes.

5.     Vehicles must not be allowed on the road after a specific year limit or KM as per the engine capacity. I have seen cabs crossing 3-4 Lakhs on their speedometer. Remember after a specific wear and tear engine creates more pollution. 

I japan the emission rates are in “Points”. If you ever see your pollution certificate closely u can spot some numbers or reference rates like 2.3, 3. 4 etc. In japan the reference rates are in .2.3 very huge difference. On the top these road side pollution check shops don’t even check the vehicle; they just change the dates in our old certificates. Till the time the govt take actions on WAR basis nothing will change.