Jalebi

Shri Nathji was very fond of Jalebis. And distributes them at times of celebrations.  Shri Nathji used to say:  “Jalebis were my favorite sweets, and, as a child, I loved jalebis, and even fed them to the calves.”

“Hamen jalebiyaan sabse achhee lagti thheen! Bachpan men ham bachhrron ko jalebiyaan baantaa karte thhe!”

 

Jalebi is a sweet dish which is also called, Jilawii, In Bengali: jilapi, In Pashto: źelobei, In Persian: zulbia, and In Arabic:  zalabiyah. It is a sweet popular in countries of the Indian Subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh as well as many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, like Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Palestine Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. It is made by deep-frying a wheat-flour (Maida flour)batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup.

The sweets are served warm or cold. They have a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating. Citric acid or lime juice is sometimes added to the syrup, as well as rosewater or other flavours such as kewra water.

Similar sweets are imarti, which is red-orange in color and sweeter in taste, and angoor aana which is grape-green in color; unlike jalebi, these are made from the batter of urad lentil. They are made in North Indian states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. A variant chhena jalebi, made with chhena, is popular in parts of Rajasthan, Bengal, and Orissa, though the form can differ significantly from place to place.

In India, Jalebi is served as the Celebration Sweet of India, popular during national holidays like Independence Day and Republic Day, on which it is supplied in government offices, defence facilities, and other organisations. Similarly, Jalebi is one of the most popular sweets in Pakistan. It is used as a remedy for headaches in some parts of Pakistan, where it is placed in boiling milk and left to stand before eating.

Origins of Jalebi can be traced back to ancient India, where it was called Kundalika or Jal-vallika (being full of syrup, which is watery; hence the name). In later dialects of Sanskrit, Jal-vallika became Jalebi which likely arrived in the middle east during the period of Muslim rule, through cultural diffusion and trade from the Indian subcontinent, and its local name Jalebi became Zalebi as Z is more common in middle-eastern languages.

The earliest written references to the sweet are found in a 13th-century cookbook by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi. In Iran, where it is known as Zulbia, the sweet was traditionally given to the poor during Ramadan. It is believe that the initial idea was developed by Al-Shamas Shahid Tufail of Iran.

In the early 1900s, Jalebi was used to hold ice cream. This idea was made by Ernest A Hamwi. Jalebi was also a treat for an American family, until the invention of cones.

One of the earliest known Indian references for the sweet exists in a Jain work — Priyamkarnrpakatha — by Jinasura. This work was subsequently cited in cookery books published in later centuries including the 17th-century classic Bhojan-kutuhala by Raghunatha.

Luxor Dot Pens

Initially Shri Nathji began writing ghazals with ink pens that carried blue ink, all his later ghazals were written with thick, black quill or “dot pens” made by a certain ‘Luxor’ company. Priya Nath had suggested these thick nibbed quill pens because he had wanted to make blocks of Shri Nathji's handwriting, for printing purposes, which would come out best in such thick, black letters.

In later years, a certain Neelam Chopra who was a drawing teacher in a school, would bring these black dot pens for Shri Nathji. It was a great miracle that whenever Shri Nathji had used all the pens, Neelam Chopra would appear on that very day with new ones, without being called.

Shri Nathji used about ten such pens every month, many of which were preserved by HH Priya Nath. These pens were made sacrosanct by the Divine Touch of God Himself. These days such pens are popularly known as sketch pens. Many such pens which were used by Shri Nathji, were preserved by HH Priya Nathji. This is the photograph of one such pen which was used by Shri Nathji.

Dot pens of Luxor brand become very popular in India.  Luxor Group of Companies, headed by Mr. D K Jain, President of the Company, started manufacturing writing Instruments in india in the year 1963. Today LUXOR is the brand leader in Indian Writing Instuments.

What started as a small venture in the crowded lanes of Old Delhi, has evolved into India’s No. 1 manufacturer & exporter of writing instruments – operating 10 state-of-the-art facilities in NCR-Delhi & Mumbai and producing more than one million pens a day. Today, Luxor products enjoy unrivalled patronage not only in India but in more than 75 countries across the world.

Hotel Palace Heights

Shri Nathji had visited Hotel Palace Heights in 1970. Once in 1982, when Shri Nathji was in Connaught Place, He had an urgency to use a toilet for micturition. Alas! The public toilets were far too filthy for Shri Nathji's use. HH Priya Nathji suddenly recollected Hotel Palace Heights, at Connaught Place which he and Shri Nathji had visited in 1970, and he immediately took the taxi there.

The manager was impressed by Shri Nathji's personality and recognized him, and Shri Nathji was able to use the toilet there. Shri Nathji would ever afterwards recall the incident and praise Priya Nath:

“Priyaji mushkil kushaa hain! Priyaji removes all difficulties,” he would say.

Hotel Palace Heights, is a plush hotel located amidst heritage Connaught  at D - 26/28, Connaught Place New Delhi .

Bawa Frame Shop at Connaught Circus

Shri Nathji used to go to the Bawa Frame Shop at Connaught Circus, New Delhi to get pictures and portraits framed. The proprietor of the shop had also framed the first portrait of Shri Nathji, which had been made by Manda Chavan in 1975 and had never forgotten Shri Nathji. He had been struck with astonishment by the prophetic appearance in the portrait and the personality of Shri Nathji, who had visited him in his small and cramped shop littered with pieces of wood, and had blessed the man, while paying for the frame.  Shri Nathji also later got Babaji Maharaj’s picture framed from the same shop.

This shop had continued to prosper and in now known as New Bawa Picture House. It is located at 58 Municipal Market,Connaught Circus ,Connaught Place, Delhi. From the current owner of the shop I came to know that the person who had framed Sri Nathji’s and Babaji Maharaj’s Portraits and Pictures was Shri Sohan Singh. It was then known as Bawa Picture House, but later the proprietors had to apply for a new sales tax number and thus they were required to change the name of the shop. So the name of the shop was changed to New Bawa Picture House. Presently the shop is run by the two sons of Shri Sohan Singh; Mr Paramjeet Singh and Mr Sarbjeet Singh

St. Denny's High School, Rawalpindi

 This is the Denny's High School, at Rawalpindi, in Punjab, now in Pakistan. Shri Nathji was invited at this school to deliver a sermon. Shri Nathji’s devotee, Shri Ram Sharan Das had taken Shri Nathji to the venue in an beautiful open convertable car. Shri Nathji mentions about his sermon at Denny’s High School in His sermon in Akola on August 16. 1978.

St. Denny's High School, at Rawalpindi is an old and reputed educational institution, since the times of the British. Its students are called Dennysians. And many famous people who belonged to Rawalpindi had studied in this school. One of Shri NAthji's favorite actor, Raj Kapoor had also studied here. The geo coordinates of this school are - 33°35'58"N   73°3'31"E. It is located on Murree Road near Babu Muhalla.

World Book Fair at Delhi in 1982

Shri Nathji visits the World Book Fair at Delhi in 1982 and visits the bookstalls and examines various books on various subjects. He is the Grand Author of all the subjects that exist in the world as he had said in his verse:

“Baandhe hue haathhon ba ummeede ijaazat

Hain kharre sainkarron mazmoon mere aage

“Their hands folded in obedience, awaiting my orders,

Stand all the Subjects of the world in their thousands.”

The bookstalls contained all the books except the ones Shri Nathji had written, which were not meant for the eyes of all and and were given out only to genuinely thirsty souls by HH Priya Nath and Shri Nathji at their home.

Shri Nathji had attended the 5^th New Delhi World Book Fair in 1982. It was held at Pragati Maidan and was spread in an area of 21000 square meters. 540 Publishing houses participated in that event.  New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) held for the past 40 years is now a major calendar event in the publishing world. The first New Delhi World Book Fair was held in 1972. The Fair is organised by National Book Trust, India, an apex body of the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development. The logo of  New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWB) is shown Above.

Shri Kamlapati Tripathi

Shri Kamlapati Tripathi, a senior political leader of the country, had reverence for Shri Nathji. He always paid obeisance to Shri Nathji, where ever he met Him. He met Shri Nathji at the wedding of the son of Shri D.N.Sinha he protested to Shri Nathji for ignoring medical advice, to step out on such a bitterly cold winter night.

Kamlapati Tripathi (September 3, 1905 – 1990), writer, journalist, editor and freedom fighter was a senior Indian National Congress leader from Varanasi. He served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh as well as the Union Minister for Railways.

His father's name was Pandit Narayan Pati Tripathi. He started his career as a journalist working for the daily Hindi newspaper Aaj and later Sansaar. He was also the editor of the two tabloids. He was married at the age of 19 and had 5 children.

During 1921 he participated in Asahyog Andolan. He was also an active participant in the Civil Disobedience Movement, for which he was jailed. In 1942 he was on his way to Mumbai to participate in the Quit India Movement when he was arrested and jailed for 3 years.

He remained Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 4 April 1971 until 12 June 1973.

He was Union Minister for Railways for two times first from 1975 to 1977 and then briefly in 1980. He presented Railway Budget of India four times: 1975-76, 1976–77, 1980-81 (interim) and 1980-81 (final). He was the Leader of the House of Rajya Sabha from Dec. 1975 to March 1977

He authored four books Bapu aur Bharat, Bapu aur manawata, Gandhi and Humanity and Freedom movement and afterwards.