Memories of Morocco

Every time we set off on a trip, my husband always tells me that we should pause for a  moment to reflect on all the excitement and anticipation because once the trip starts you will have gone from one experience to another and before you know it, you will be back home looking at your photos and sighing over a blur of memories….

In September this year, I got a chance to go to Morocco for a Study tour with Art of Islamic Pattern, run by geometry teacher Richard Henry and biomorphic guru Adam Williamson. Although the trip was in September, the plotting and the planning started way back in April, when I received the first email announcing this trip. So for almost 5 months along with my young friend Aziza, a true Geometry junkie, I spent many an hour poring over emails, and websites to plan this trip. A casual conversation with Gaye Reeves of Aya Sofia hotel in Istanbul last year, about her daughter Michele Reeve's travel agency Plan-it-Fez, in Morocco, proved to be most providential and that took our trip to another level completely.

Finally, the day dawned or rather night fell and we were winging our way to Casablanca!!! (I kept pinching myself - to ensure it was really happening…). Arriving in the morning, navigating nervously past French and Arabic signage and speakers, five hours and two train rides past some very alluring glimpses of the blue waters of the Atlantic ocean along the way, we reached Fez. We were staying in Fez-el-Bali, deep inside the medieval medina - an ancient city, parts of it dating back to the 9th century and now a Unesco World Heritage site, and also the world’s largest car free urban area, it is also known as the Mecca of the West.

Our first night was spent at Dar Finn, a beautiful and lovingly restored Dar - courtyard house- with a stunning zillij, the traditional Moroccan tile mosaic work, central fountain in the inner courtyard that just took our breath away. Within the hour we were out on a Tasting Trail with Sihame and Hassan of Plan-it-Fez tasting and sampling our way through the street foods of the Souk that began with  ‘sheep’s head stew’ and ‘snail soup’ (we couldnt get ourselves to taste these though) to a wide array of fried breads, meats - spleen is very popular as is pickled meat - a delicious Jewish style salted meat that is preserved in stomach fats !!!

There were a wide array of fried breads (leavened) - melui, harsha and beghrir,some savoury and some sweet, served with fresh goats cheese and honey, there were kefta and stir-fried meat sandwiches, olives, dates and a wonderful variety of fruits from juicy nectarines, plums and grapes to the mouth watering and sweet cactus fruits (my favourite) and many refreshing fresh and dry fruit juices - the almond milk and  pistachio juice was quite amazing. We checked out the fresh herbs - thyme, mint, lemon verbena, and the popular rose and orange blossom waters and tasted at least a dozen types of honey (I bought a small jar of ‘thyme’ honey). At the spice stores we saw some similarity with Indian spices  - cumin is very popular and used extensively in Moroccan cuisine - we came away with a packet of pricey freshly ground fragrantly spiced coffee, that I am slowly and sparing savouring every morning to revive memories of the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of the Medina. The sweets included prettily coloured nougats and delicately shaped and fried pastries filled with a mixture of almonds and honey. The only downside of this tour was that we were so busy tasting and taking in the sights, smells and sounds, that we forgot to take pictures….

The next day we did a Cooking with a Family tour that started with shopping for ingredients in the market and ended with dining at home on delicious fare that we had cooked together with Fatima and her mother. The high point of this tour was learning to make the local bread Khobz, from Fatima's mother - complete with making the dough, leaving it to rise, then kneading it again to just the right consistency and baking it at the local bakery like everyone else. The lamb and vegetable tagines kept us licking our fingers for a long time afterwards.

We shifted to our home for the next four days,  and venue for the Study Tour, the amazing Dar Seffarine -right round the corner from the famous 12th century Quaraoulyne Mosque, restored and run by the widely travelled Indophile architect and designer couple Ala and Kate. We were twenty odd eager students in all, who had travelled afar , some seasoned experts, some amateurs like me, and  few wide eyed newbies wielding compass, ruler and pencil (not to forget the erasers), as we tried our hand at recreating motifs and patterns, some from the surrounding monuments. The patterns jumped out at you from everywhere - on the dar walls, the gateways to homes, the souks and streets, the mosques and medressas. We were taken on a walkabout along the alleyways for the “ hidden gems of the Medina” with David Amster, an eccentric but passionate expert on houses in Fez, with strong views on the merits of traditional limestone over modern day cement. He is fighting hard to ensure that restoration of the old houses is as true to the original as possible.  Another morning was spent walking around to see the different artisans of Fez, with Jessica Stevens of Culture Vultures. We met with the dyers, carpenters, knife sharpeners, bone and horn jewellery maker, coppersmiths, metal engravers, and weavers and learnt first hand about these traditional  crafts that date back thousands of years….we saw the harsh and malodorous toil of the tannery workers who spend hours in foul smelling pits to wash, cure and dye the leather before they are crafted into the beautiful poufs and lovely bags and shoes on display in the shops in the Souk.

Between more geometry and biomorphic art classes and eating some truly mouthwatering Moroccan meals, washed down with gallons of herbal teas (Moroccan mint and Louiza - lemon verbena!) we were taken to see the  Bou Inania and Attarine Medressas only to have our minds blown away by the  intricate details of the plaster work and the richly carved woodwork. We even got to try our hand at zillij -that is pieced together from behind! We watched the  master tile cutter at work, as he chipped delicate pieces and later tried our hand at assembling different shapes and colours to make our own little Zillij tile…my piece now holds pride of place among my travel souvenirs…

Our stay in Fez was quite exacting physically, we were constantly clambering up and down steep, narrow winding staircases ( a hallmark of the Dars), and the maze like slopes of the Medina  (Fez is not for the weak kneed !!!) all the while encountering friendly Fassis, as the people of Fez are known, welcoming us, and when they found we were from India, they would greet us with cheery “Namaste”s and occasional filmi lines and songs . It was incredible to see how Bollywood crazy Moroccans are  -we met fans of Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachhan, Hema Malini and of course ShahRukh Khan was a hot favourite - I even sat and watched a bit of a tv serial  ‘Malika- e- Jhansi’ or  Jhansi ki Rani dubbed in Arabic, with a shopkeeper one evening.

Four heady days later we moved again…. this time it was to the very ornate and even more knee challenging, Masriya Mia - an annexe to the newer Dar Mia. A Masriya with the main rooms on the top floor, is traditionally  a guest house used for male guests, or the elder son and his friends or his family,  who are not usually allowed to sleep in the main house.

Once the course got over  my friend and I took a couple of day trips to the countryside beyond Fez. We walked around the ruins of Volublis - a partially excavated Roman city dating back to the 1st century AD! and admired the still so well preserved and detailed mosaics. We went on to the city of Meknes nearby and wandered in the cool granaries of Hri Souani and saw the enormous water tank built by Sultan Moulay Ismail for his 12000 horses. We drove up to the pretty Andalusian influenced town of Chefchaouen up in the hills, with its blue rinsed houses and colourful tribal handicrafts that was such a contrast from Fez.

The trip was sadly coming to a close and after some mad dash last minute shopping, we found ourselves lugging our bulging bags on to the train to Casablanca. Since we had some time on our hands, we decided to give in to the allure of the Atlantic ocean and took the train back  for a quick tour of  Rabat - the capital of Morocco - we wandered around the Kasbah Oudiya, walked up to the ocean waters amid surfers and young beach trippers,  drank the ‘ best orange juice in the world’ in the Medina area, before heading back to Casablanca. We made it in time to watch the sunset from the phenomenal Hassan II mosque, apparently the third largest mosque in the world, wrapping up the trip at Rick’s Cafe - a somewhat snooty restaurant commemorating the famous film Casablanca in which Humphrey Bogart famously toasted Ingrid Bergman with “....here’s looking at you kid…”

Of geometry, Islimi and woodwork....

Its been  six months since I blogged, and at the risk of sounding cliched, much water has flowed under the bridge - but I must admit that a major milestone in my life here in Doha, has been attending Islamic Art motif workshops .  I first chanced upon these workshops being offered at Katara in December, in collaboration with the Prince's School of Traditional Arts, London. I spent two magical weeks learning 'geometry' and 'arabesque' motifs. I havent really done much 'art' work since I left school, apart from a brief dabbling in oils, during one college summer holiday, and doodling of 'rangoli' or 'alpana' patterns  ( a habit I picked up in college!). So over that fortnight, I tried to attend as many sessions as possible with Richard Henry and Nooshin Shafiei, the resource persons who had come from the Prince's School of Traditional Arts in London to teach us and ably assisted by woodwork artist Roya Mai Al Souag.

What I found really liberating and extremely gratifying was seeing patterns and motifs unfold almost organically, before our eyes as we grappled with the compass and a ruler, drew circles and  lines and picked out patterns....... we drew grids with 6 point (Seal of Solomon), 8 point (Khatim) and 12 pointed stars... we  learned about the Breath of the Compassionate, Seeds of Creation and so much more.

The Islimi or Arabesque motif sessions was another amazing experience. We learnt  about tea staining our papers and to trace using red earth pigments, and then to draw the Hatayi or lotus patterns - Nooshin with her infectious enthusiasm, taught us how to paint steady straight lines using the really thin brushes and then to 'shade' and colour our hatayis and even gilt them with gold leaf !!!

The high point of my Islimi classes was doing the Shamseh, with its tiny floral motifs. Each petal of these little flowers had to be painted at least thrice in differing shades of the same colour that ranged from light to dark. The process was almost meditative and kind of spiritual! Its no wonder that the Shamseh is supposed to be a symbol of divinity, light and oneness with God.....

It was thus very disappointing to miss the March workshops as I was away in India and I am so grateful to my friend and classmate, Aziza (who does some amazing work herself) as she collected some of the handouts and shared pictures of the work they were doing via Whatsapp.

As luck would have it,  soon after I returned to Doha at the end of March, Aziza informed me of a fresh series of Art workshops at the Museum of Islamic Art - another delightful place to just hang around and soak in the sights and exhibits - this time by Roya !

So now two months have gone by in a blur of geometry and believe it or not, 'woodwork' classes !!! The geometry sessions revived the thrill of wielding the compass and ruler and producing an interesting pattern of the 12 pointed star and this time with the 'weave' .

Our instructor Roya Mai, herself an accomplished woodwork artist, took us through our paces in the woodwork sessions.... first walking us through the Ferozekoh exhibition at the museum to get a sense of the intricate Nooristan style of woodwork of Afghanistan. We then traced our patterns onto the pine wood blocks, drew 'cut lines'  ....and  learnt to wield our 'raqqamas'.... a unique Algerian curve bladed chisel, that we used to make our 'cut lines'  on the wood, and then carve out the wood to give it depth and see the pattern emerge. Alas the classes were too short and infrequent so we couldnt finish our pieces.... I am hoping that we will get a chance to go in for a few more sessions and finish what we have started.

I have been fiddling around at home with the patterns and trying to recreate some of the pieces and am acutely aware that there is still so much more to learn........

The view from my bedroom window

I always wanted to live in a house with a view. In Guwahati I envied all the people who lived in houses with a view of the mighty river Brahmaputra, but because we live in the family house in Uzan Bazar, I  had to be content with a view of the greenery and trees outside our house from the bedroom windows. Alas, that view is fast disappearing as more and more of the older houses (some 'Assam type') are being torn down to make way for not very pretty concrete 'RCC' structures instead. I have now hung bamboo screens on the balcony of the house to block the view of these buildings and to protect my privacy too.

When I came to live with my husband in Doha, I was delighted to find that the bedrooom had one window with a reasonably clear view of the waters of West Bay - beyond the W Hotel, and the pretty Moroccon embassy office a long stretch of almost turquoise blue waters with the posh Al Gussar and St Regis Hotel building and the white pearl shaped dome of the Pearl area visible in the distance. I have stood and stared at that view happily for long spells. The empty plot beside our building was used as a parking lot by office goers and shoppers coming to the neighbourhood.

The view from the window last year

 I returned to Doha this year in July to find to my dismay that construction work has commenced on the empty plot beside us. The plot has been enclosed with barricades and the earthmovers are busy digging up the soil and I now hear the continuous clanging of the cranes through the day and night, as they dig and drive piles for the foundation of the building. I can see that its only a matter of time before my precious view of the bay is blocked by another tall building of Doha's West Bay and only hope that by that time we would have moved on from here. Till then, I am resigned to listening to the banging and clanging sounds of the pile drivers and watching the Indian company, Navayuga Cranes in action as I take my eye fill of the blue waters beyond.

The West Bay area is Doha's new part of town, with lots of fancy skyscraper buildings -  the night skyline looks very pretty as these building have rather unique designs.The architects must have been given a free rein to conjure up these amazing buildings. I hear that most of them are European and many British. But was is interesting is that the construction workers are mostly from South Asia. I guess its cheap labour from India, Pakistan, Nepal etc. Wonder what goes through the workers' minds as they see these wondrous tall buildings come up in front of their hard hats and sweat and toil.... do they feel a sense of pride when they see the finished buildings and say to themselves " I/we built that...." do they think of all the effort and hard labour (it is very hard labour under very difficult working and living conditions!) that they had put into erecting these posh and modern edifices. I have watched them work on other buildings in our neighbourhood. They are bussed in shifts from far away labour camps and they toil round the clock, in the heat and dust digging deep to lay foundations and then constructing floor after floor, hoisting equipment up makeshift elevators and scaffolding, often dangling from cranes and winched up platforms at vertigo-inducing heights as they weld and instal glass windows, frames and chrome fittings and much more. I have watched them take occasional breaks to respond to phone calls ( probably from loved ones far away at home? ), or rest under the scant shade in the searing afternoon heat before they resume their work. I salute them, for indeed it is they who are building the glitzy new cities in the Middle East!

Update as on 1st May 2014
In little under two years the view from my bedroom has been transformed.
The vacant plot that was doubling as a parking lot, has been built up rapidly  and the construction of the building has now reached the 21st floor and is still climbing!
Needless to say, most of the workers who have toiled night and day, through blazing summers and chilly winters to build it are from South Asia!

Zum Zum Zumba!!!

Have gone and enrolled in Zumba classes lately..... they were on offer at a Spa/Gym facility nearby in my young friend Parul's building (Beverly Towers!!!) in Doha. Was mulling about it for a while.... my friend Munu (Anuradha) Barua's words ring out in my head -" its great fun, even if we look a bit silly jumping around the place, but who cares,  everyone has a blast...."  

Have taken 4 classes so far....and I must say it is nice to shake the legs and arms to the beat of latino music. 

Way back when I used to do aerobics, initially in the 90s, while following the Oz Aerobics team on Star TV, and later at aerobics classes in a gym in Guwahati. I remember that even though I had to will myself to drive across town to the class, I would feel very good after it was over and I had melted into a sweaty puddle.... I quite enjoyed leaping about to the beat of music. Along the way, I had dropped out - the knees began to creak a bit and our instructor (Sir, we called him, as he was a trained PE teacher at Guwahati University) also stopped coming, probaby because of dwindling interest and lack of space to hold the classes.

Zumba class reminds me a little of those days....the music, the group and the instructor are v different. Affiya Gordon, our instructor has an amazing body and a butt that has a life of its own..... she gets us going with a selection of music from her iPad (a far cry from the same old cassette played by Sir in Guwahati)....and before you know it, you are swinging along to the salsa esque beat .....and thinking of Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and the like.....

I did wake up the morning after the first class with a bit of a headache and groaning knees..... probably overdid it and jangled my spine and knees in the process....since then I have been moving at my own pace - albeit a little slower and wobblier than Affiya and many of the younger classmates.... luckily there are a few middle aged women like me in the class - and that gives me the courage and confidence to keep moving.....

I have also realised that I probably have a bit of a problem with eye hand coordination....this is compounded by the fact that I have been leading a pretty sedentary life for the past few years.....and so I have this inertia of motion that prevents me from joining the beat speedily....I find myself waving the wrong arm or shaking the wrong leg and am often sheepishly stopping to correct myself and rejoin the gang on the right beat.... 

I googled Zumba earlier today to learn that this new fitness with fun phenomenon actually happened by accident, when an instructor called Beto forgot his aerobics kit one day and decided to conduct his class using his own personal selection of salsa and merengue music and everyone had such fun that lo and behold 'zumba' was born!

Its become quite the rage and there are all kinds of formal arrangements, trainings etc on offer....I also saw a rather nice video about Zumba called The Biggest Loser, Buddy gets Zumbalicious and this has inspired me to keep on dancing my way to a slimmer me.....although its hard to watch my bulges jiggle in the mirror in front of me as I "....shake my body, do the 'brazil..., salsa, drink the caipirinia, and go to the party....", I think the bulges are getting smaller .....Yay!!!.!!!

Carrot cake and Leek Soup

Hmmm.... finally took the plunge and have decided to start blogging.... Not sure what I will blog about but I guess anything is worth a try?
Have called it random ramblings.... which is what it will be I guess.
Now, let me see.... what shall I ramble about today.... about my attempts at cooking?
I have been curious about Martha Stewart and would watch her programs on telly sometimes. She is quite an amazing woman - but I do have mixed feelings about her - .... her website is quite a mother lode of information about household/housewifey stuff - cooking, sewing, gardening etc. Now that I am here sitting in Doha wondering what to do with myself and often forced to go into this huge kitchen that we have, I find that website very inspirational.
I wish I had access to this kitchen when I first got married and came to Guwahati to set up house.... My dream in those days was to make the perfect roast chicken and back a decent cake!!! I used to turn the pages of this wonderful Marguitte Patten cookbook that Smita and Ashok Banerjee gave me as a wedding gift and sigh!. I did have a Baby Belling oven that I had bought off Mrs Banerjee (of Grant Advertising days!! - wonder where and how she is now?) and made a few sporadic attempts and it took a long time and many disasters, before I could put together anything half decent on that oven.
Anyway, to come back to yesterday, I took a stab at making Spicy Carrot Cake and a Leek Soup earlier.
The Carrot cake was based on John Barricelli's recipe - I used butter instead of vegetable oil - decided to double the ingredients thinking I would make two cakes... one to take to Moni Das' place - Moni , Pallavi actually, is a lovely young woman from Tezpur (worked earlier with TDMS!) who lives here in Doha - her husband Palash works here and they have two sweet kids called Monma and Monpa !!!. Moni's hasnt been well and had to be hospitalised earlier in the week for a saline drip and they will shifting house soon !!!
Back to the cake......it came out okay, but didnt look like it had twice the ingredients though....so I ended up taking a large squarish chunk of it across later to Moni's place. That wretched sugar glacing however didnt work out so well.... it didnt have the nice random zig zag dripped over glacing look that John showed in his video....my glace was probably too thin and so it soon got absorbed into the cake ....
But then, the proof of the pudding is in eating I guess - so when Moni's fussy son Monpa, took a piece and ate it, I thought  - there is hope for me yet?
The Leek Soup worked out okay. Surfed the net for a long time looking for recipes and videos on youtube on how to cut and wash the leeks..... learned that you dont really use the long green leafy part, just the stems and a little bit above it. You also have to wash it well as it can be gritty. Finally made the soup in my own tried and tested way - tempering a little oil with bayleaf and peppercorns then adding the washed and chopped leeks and some garlic, adding water and letting it boil for a bit.... I added two good ole Magi Chicken soup cubes and it came together quite well.... Now in hindsight I wish I had added some chicken too..... the husband had two bowls of soup for lunch and so I can tuck that under my belt of tested recipes too! Hah..