‘Jolada Rotti’ (rotti–flat bread–made from sorghum floor) is one of the commonly available foods in the restaurants of north Karnataka. Traditional eateries of this region are called ‘Khanavali’ where you can expect Jolada Rotti to be served with a side-dish, fenugreek leaves and chutney-pudi (spicy powder as accompaniments).
Seen in the photograph is a kitchen of a Khanavali in Badami, Karnataka, where women are preparing Jolada Rotti on a wood-fired stove. They work for a good part of the day and make several hundreds of them everyday.
Come winter, the beautiful azure lakes of Ladakh freeze over and turn white. This January, Tso Moriri Lake in Changthang Plateau had formed a thick layer of ice on the surface, and had buckled to its own pressure at places. The night-time temperatures probably hovered around 25 below zero, which made it a warmer than usual winter!
I visited this village with a small community of potters near Yangon. Their setups are fairly large for a potter – almost twice the size of an olympic size swimming pool. The process is typical – beat the clay, bring it to shape on a wheel, beat, burn and then paint. Here is a photograph of the burning process in a rather pleasing mix of outdoor light (on an overcast day) and the warm light of the fire.
