Neeraj

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@spiceandr @BR_wallah @shekhar_br02 https://t.co/DoZeKOECQb

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@sanjayuvacha Italian Marines.

[Sanjeev Singh @sanjeevsinghx]

R. Madhavan was born in Jamshedpur. So was Priyanka Chopra. Meiyang Chang was born in Dhanbad. Sudha Murthy joined TELCO in the late 1970s, working in Jamshedpur, then part of Bihar.

Before the 1952 Freight Equalisation Policy, India had only a handful of industrial towns - Kanpur, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Madras and Calcutta... Bihar had many - Jamalpur (Munger), Barauni, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Sindri, Ranchi... Northern Bihar had sugar mills producing 25% of India's output. People from every part of India sought employment here.

During my MBA days, a good number of my batchmates had connections to Bihar....regardless of their own ethnic backgrounds like Punjabi, Bengali, Odia, Marathi, Tamil or Malayalam. They said that an immediate family member from an earlier generation had been employed in a factory in Bihar.

We welcomed people of all ethnicities... free from prejudice based on their colour or language. You'd be hard pressed to find instances of us demeaning or beating anyone due to their ethnic background.

There's a history behind this. We created this nation. We gave you this civilisation, that you call great. We gave you the religion that you so proud of.. We gave Bharat its broadest territorial extent. There's a reason why we say "हम' and not "मैं".

[Anchit Gupta @AnchitGupta9]

IAF history is also about food. Not every piece of history is found in a logbook, an ORB or an old photograph. Sometimes it survives on a menu.

I am at Deluxe Dhaba, outside Ambala Cantt railway station, eating Sandhu Dal. Finding those two words still on the menu feels no less like touching history than coming across a forgotten logbook entry or a stray line in an old Squadron record.

The Sandhu was Air Commodore Amarjit Singh “Ajax” Sandhu, 7703 F(P), 85th Course. Commissioned in 1963, he joined No. 222 Squadron at Ambala in November 1969, and later commanded No. 32 Squadron, instructed with the Iraqi Air Force, commanded 41 Wing at Jaisalmer and was AOC 14 Wing at Chabua.

But before the Air Commodore, there was Ajax, the fighter pilot who apparently had strong views on how dal should be cooked.

The story survives through several IAF veterans, and their memories differ slightly on when it began.

Shashi Tyagi (later Air Chief) remembered Ajax experimenting with the dal at Ambala as early as 1965-66. Cheriyan Kuruvilla, who served with him in 222 Squadron, remembered frequenting Deluxe with him around 1969-70. The black dal accompanying the tandoori chicken was apparently not good enough for Ajax. He would go behind the hearth, add eggs, chilli, salt and whatever else he thought was missing.

Eventually, Kuruvilla remembered, people began coming specifically for Sandhu Dal, tandoori roti and green salad.

Then comes the wonderfully detailed account of BC “Lofty” Karambaya, who said he was there for perhaps its most famous incarnation.

In November 1971, shortly before the war, a group of about fifteen pilots landed up at Deluxe around midnight after an evening at the Sirhind Club. The dhaba was closing. All that remained, the owner told them, was maa-ki-dal and bheja curry.

Ajax took over the kitchen.

Onions, tomatoes and green chillies went into a large kadai with oil and whatever masalas he could find. Once bhunoed, in went the dal and bheja.

And then came the eggs.

Ajax asked Lt Arun Prakash, later Admiral Arun Prakash and Chief of the Naval Staff, to beat 30 eggs. They went into the kadai as well. Karambaya remembered the owner tasting the result and announcing that it would henceforth be called Sandhu Dal.

Was that really the moment Sandhu Dal was born? Probably impossible to establish now. The earlier recollections suggest that Ajax had been modifying the dal at Deluxe for years and the dish gradually acquired his name. The 1971 version, with bheja and thirty eggs, may simply have been the most memorable.

And it wasn’t a one-off. Other 222 Squadron veterans remembered Ajax continuing to walk into the Deluxe kitchen and prepare or “correct” the dal himself.

Deluxe was already an Ambala institution. IAF veterans recall eating here in 1966 and 1967-68. One remembered its old signboard, complete with a rooster:

“Meet me anywhere but eat me tonight at Deluxe Dhaba.”

More than half a century later, I am sitting here ordering a dish that still carries the name of an IAF fighter pilot.

There is no ORB entry for Sandhu Dal. No logbook records Ajax’s sorties into the Deluxe kitchen. No citation mentions the maa-ki-dal, bheja or thirty eggs.

But the name is still on the menu.

#IAFHistory @IAF_MCC

[Shrutidhar Nirala @ShridharNirala]

Reading now "Magahi Folklore and Folk Tales" by Sheela Verma #Magahi

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@IndianIndex खसिया
परम
तिलौरी, कोहरौ��़ी, चनौरी
अनरसा, मनरसा
ओल भरता
लसुनाद
मीट - पुआ
रेहु / कत्ला - झोर
. . .
. . . .

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@umashankarsingh इसके बाक़ी तीन यार नहीं दिखाई दे रहे हैं।

[Ananth Rupanagudi @AnanthOnTrack]

Pilgrims at the Vishnupad Temple, Gaya, Bihar— 1930s! It is an ancient Hindu shrine built around a 40-centimetre footprint of Lord Vishnu embedded in a block of basalt rock.

The site is ancient and mentioned in sacred texts like the Garuda Purana, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. Legend says Lord Rama once visited to perform rituals for his father, King Dasharatha. The current 100-foot-tall black granite structure was built in 1787 AD by the Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore.

Legend - A pious demon named Gayasura performed heavy penance, gaining the power to grant salvation to anyone who simply looked at him. To maintain cosmic balance, Lord Vishnu pressed his foot onto Gayasura's chest, pushing him underground. The imprint left behind is known as Dharmasila, and the surrounding land was named Gaya after the demon.

It is the primary pilgrimage centre in India for performing Pind Daan—memorial offerings of rice balls made to bring peace and liberation (moksha) to departed ancestors. Millions of Hindu devotees gather here during the annual Pitru Paksha fortnight to perform final rites for their lineage. #Gaya #temple #history @ArchiveofBihar

[Maghi मगही 𑂧𑂏𑂯𑂲 𑀫𑀕𑀳𑀻 @Maghi_Khortha]

मगही क्षेत्र लागी गर्व के क्षण! 🇮🇳
-------------------------------------
गयाजी के खुखरी गांव के निवासी मगध विश्वविद्यालय, बोधगया के भूगोल विभाग के पूर्व छात्र और #राष्ट्रीयसेवायोजना (#NSS) में राष्ट्रपति पदक प्राप्त श्री शैलेंद्र कुमार का चयन रूस में आयोजित होने वाले प्रतिष्ठित #InternationalFestivalofYouth (IFY), 2026 में हुआ है! यह आयोजन 11 से 17 सितंबर, 2026 तक रूस के येकातेरिनबर्ग (Ekaterinburg) शहर में आयोजित होगा।
यह हम सभी के लिए अत्यंत गौरव की बात है कि मगही महोत्सव मे�� कोर वॉलेंटियर श्री शैलेंद्र कुमार इस वैश्विक मंच पर भारत का प्रतिनिधित्व करेंगे। हमारी ओर से उनको हार्दिक बधाई एवं उज्��्वल भविष्य के लिए ढेरों शुभकामनाएँ!
#IFY2026 #ShailendraKumar
https://t.co/zsV7mLZN4t

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@madversity @BerkleeCollege Undoubtedly one of the finest bass guitar pieces by an Indian. 50 seconds of sheer magic.

[Neeraj @neerajn]

There is a complex process involved in making it - heat, binding, moisture, fat, et al. It is not sustainable on a large scale. The only place authentically doing it is Mahngu Hotel in Patna.

[Tony Montana @ScarFacedguy]

You should try Bihari kebab before you die

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@sanjeevsinghx @LMHOBOfficial This looks like written in Kaithi.

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@CommonBS786OM This is a GenAI image. Look at what appear as handwritten text. Those are digital fonts.

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@ambkcsingh @sanjayuvacha This is a GenAI image.

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@prakashpatelMD Born Farhad Ibrahim

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@madversity Aamir Gulzaar

[Satya | एकंगर मगही 🇮🇳 ⚔️ @EkangarMagahi]

🚨 एगो खजाना :

Ardha Magadhi Quadrilingual Dictionary With Hindi & English: A. C. Woolner
https://t.co/6evoElEdiZ

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@DrRakeshPathak7 It is a digitally composed text over an image of a letter.

[Neeraj @neerajn]

@atahasnain53 Extending warm greetings, and welcome, to my town Sir - from far away. Just sharing that Late Lt. Gen. (Retd.) S K Sinha was born in his maternal home, in this town.