Visiting the Temple and Cheap Indian Lunch

Because today is the death-day anniversary of my grandfather (dada-ji in Hindi), we went to the temple to make an offering and receive a blessing of some sort. I don't get really into it because 1) I'm not very religious and 2) I remember very little of my dada-ji, aside from one strangely clear memory of eating kitchari (a sort of Indian comfort food made with yellow lentils) for lunch at his house in India. Anyways, I agreed to go along with Mommy and Daddy because I didn't have any big plans for the day. After finding an open temple in Bur Dubai (think dirty, crowded, with narrow alleys and vendor stalls, yet still lively and exciting), going through the ordeal of walking around the dirty streets barefoot (you cannot wear shoes when entering a temple) before finding the actual temple entrance, and finally making our offering and receiving blessing and parshad (including yummy suji halwa), we decided to grab lunch at one of the many cheap Indian restaurants in the area.

We headed for Karachi Darbar, a North Indian/Pakistani, Muslim-run restaurant with vegetarian and non-veg food. I wanted to avoid eating lots of unhealthy oily food, so I was a bit reluctant, but the food turned out to be pretty healthy and delicious, and I didn't overeat! The three of us shared a stack of tandoori rotis (wonderfully puffy, soft, and HUGE- about 1 foot in diameter!), some kind of vegetable kofta, daal fry, and a paneer dish. Unfortunately I have no photos because our current camera is outdated and chunky, but fear not! After some research and shopping, I'll have a shiny new camera by the end of vacation.