Friday evening musings...

Lately I was reading some posts on the subject of boredom. A person who calls himself a corporate slave had posted about his dead-end job and how he felt demotivated. There were lot of comments on that topic with some really insightful ones providing help. All that deep discussion really made me ponder over the subject...

Ever since the pandemic made home-birds out of all of us, boredom and fatigue have been a regular concern for people around us. Wake up, think what to make or have for breakfast, zomato or swiggy, or if there are no morning calls then pull out the inner home-goddess in you and make an omelette or Upma. Then back to the laptop...till its time for lunch....again back to work...evening...time to make tea....again back to work....laptop always remains open till its weekend. If you are one of those health conscious types, then of course you carve out some time in your daily schedule to move those adipose tissue to get a sense of accomplishment. Copy this routine for two long years. It would be enough to drive any sensible person insane. Now that we are almost out of the pandemic, the new world of work seems bizarre to say the least. Why are there so many cars on the road, why are people not coming to office, where are they actually going, why restaurant food feels so good, why the resorts in all hill stations are overbooked, why have the airline fares gone astronomically high...All minds and bodies are totally out of sync with the new ways of the world. Just last week, I was in office and talking to two of my colleagues. In the middle of the conversation, when one of them went silent, I caught myself saying, "Can you hear me?!"  And then I realised, this is not a Teams call but real F2F conversation, why the hell am I saying, "Can you hear me?" Lolz! And we all burst out in laughter. 

I find myself making elaborate plans for Friday evening, and then change my mind when I see the season 2 of "Bollywood celebrity housewives" got released on Netflix. Somehow the world on the screen seems more tempting to experience rather than the real world outside. I just made some Ginger tea and now sipping it with Good day biscuits...Netflix is on and the overladen skies promise me some incoming showers. Life is good, and I am truly thankful. 

So what about boredom/fatigue etc. Are you kidding me? Its a privilege to be alive, working and living the life we do.

Baker Street - Pondicherry

 Have you ever eaten a croissant, that transports you to heaven on a magical carpet of sensations that your taste buds never experienced before?

I had a similar experience sometime back at a bakery named, "Baker Street" in Pondicherry. I usually google the top 10 places to eat whenever I visit a new city and try to visit at least 5. Baker Street repeatedly came up on my searches and also on different youtube videos about Pondy. 

So I enter the bakery and I am pleasantly surprised at the huge rush during the non-peak hours. It was around 3ish. A sweet smell of sugar and vanilla pervades the atmosphere and I detect a glint in everyone's eye, as they browse through the exhaustive items on display. I have never been a big fan of bakery items, but after moving to BLR, I have developed a taste for Egg puffs and croissants. Iyengar bakery items are so good here. So I ordered a croissant and a chocolatine. A chocolatine is similar to croissant but with choco nuggets embedded in different flaky layers. Along with a cappuccino. It took almost 10 mins for my order to arrive. I am perplexed, as it should not take more than 2 minutes to nuke the items in microwave. But I ignore that line of thought so that I can focus on the food first.

I glance at the baked goods and even before I take the first bite, the aroma of the flakes envelopes my senses. I take a bite of the Chocolatine. My eyes close automatically, as the flaky layers break with a crunch and join harmoniously with my palate singing songs of delight. With each bite, I rise higher and higher as if I am floating on a cloud of puff. I don't want the experience to end, I don't want the croissant and Chocolatine ever to get over. But it does. And that too quite fast. Along with cappuccino, the gastronomical experience is just perfect. I am torn with the thoughts of how to carry this experience with me back to Bangalore. How do I carry the Croissants and Chocolatines, will it be as tasty and crispy as it is now? How many to take? 

I go there again the next day. My plans to visit Auroville gets tossed in the air. Baker Street is my Auroville. Baker Street is my Matri-mandir. I order a Chicken Burger along with the other stuff. The burger turns out to be the best burger of my life. Pure chicken it is, hardly any batter in it. I relish it as slowly as possible. So soft and juicy. I can't help myself but I finish it along with another croissant, even though I am stuffed to my gills after the buffet breakfast in the hotel. Then like a stroke of genius, a thought hits me. They do not microwave the stuff, they actually put it in an oven for 10 minutes, before serving. Thats why its so flaky and not soggy and soft. I order dozens of my favourite items and start my drive back to Bangalore after carefully stacking the boxes in the back seat.

I reach home and the first thing I do is to pre-heat the oven for 10 mins at 350 degree C. Then I carefully place the Chocolatine in it and turn on the heat for 10 minutes. Voila! It comes out exactly the same as served in the bakery. Super-flaky and crispy! And the chocolate nuggets have slightly melted and oozes out of the layers. Ahh, Nirvana! Once again!

Namma Bengaluru...

 Lately I have been hooked to Reddit like crazy, after my brother introduced me to this amazing platform where you can browse through interesting topics of your choice and enjoy/learn from the discussion threads, and here people most of the times genuinely share POVs that are well thought through.

So I came across too many threads on BLR bashing. People have been venting out how the city has become unlivable due to astronomical rents and pathetic roads etc.

I thought, let me jot down my POV as well.

I moved to BLR almost 4 years back for work. And to be honest, I have been in love with the city ever since. Let me not harp on traffic woes and real estate issues here, because they fade out when compared to the myriad pluses that this city has.

1. The amazing BLR climate :

    The temperature hovers between 18-27 degrees throughout the year mostly. Avg temperature of the day remains around 25 degrees. I am a person who hates hot and humid weather. Born in Odisha, I had gotten used to temperatures of 40 and above. After I moved to US for two years, I wished for the same climate once I got back to India. Little did I know, that my fate would take me to a city in India where I would enjoy US like climate all through the year. Due to the climate may be, whatever plants you get, they flourish beautifully. So the avid gardener in me, is really liking it here. You rarely sweat and you feel fresh through out the day.

2. Ahh the food scene in BLR :

    This is not a city where you can diet at all. With restaurants galore, you will be spoiled for choices. Ordering food from the plethora of restaurants is the biggest temptation once has to deal with on a daily basis. The biryanis [Andhra, Hyd, Tamil variants], Sharwarmas [Savoury is the best] and delectable Idli and dosas. I can write a separate blog just on the top 3 Idli places. [SN Refreshments in Jaya Nagar is my fav]. And the bonus is the Ramadan iftaari scene at Frazer town! 

3. BLR People :

    The people here are very honest, supportive and genuine. I never had a bad experience so far apart from few stray incidents with Cabs. After that I take cabs only if its a matter of life and death. I enjoy driving and I don't mind BLR traffic because, it gives me a chance to listen to my fav music and catch up with my friends on phone.

4. Shopping in BLR :

    99% of all my favourite brands are located here, so I have no reason to miss USA. With Bath and Bodyworks opening here, I can't imagine putting anything on my shopping list when I go to USA next.

The city has given me a feeling of being rooted after a long time. I found solace here and after a long time I am finally in a place, where I can be myself, where I don't find the need to be elsewhere...the city has embraced me with open arms and I can't just have enough of it. Love you BLR! Always!

The Columbus in me...

 Lately, I have become bit reluctant in experimenting new restaurants. Mostly because I want to inculcate the habit of eating home cooked food and also because, the rare occasions that I venture out I don't want to   get disappointed. Hence, I go to my dependable favourites. Either Nagarjuna or Dindigul Thalapakatti. These places are very consistent in their offerings and they always leave you feeling satisfied.

So the Columbus in me was crying to be set free and I had to bow down to the pressure. The mindless IG scrolling led me to an attractive and scrumptious reel of Kashmiri restaurant Parsa's in Koramangala. And one fine Friday evening, I made plans to try out the unknown.

After jostling through the crazy "happening" young crowd of Koramangala, I finally arrived at Parsa's, which is next door to Gilly's. The street welcomed me to thumping music and mild drizzles. I stood at the front of the restaurant Parsa's and it was like time had stopped. Dark interiors and depressing decor. The wallpaper had the interesting line on it, "Let us adore and endure".  That was the hint no. 1, which I blissfully ignored as the rumbles of hunger in my tummy were about to overtake my sensibilities. I had no inkling of what I was about to "endure". I bravely entered and found an empty table with okayish kinda seating arrangement. The restaurant was 20% occupied. That was hint no 2, which I failed to absorb. Why is this restaurant almost empty on a Friday evening?! I ordered Wazwan and another chicken dish. Wazwan was around 1200 bucks. Food arrived in 15 mins. 2 mutton meat ball dishes, 1 keema dish and another very chewy mutton curry with ordinary white rice. Everything was very average. May be a 4 on a scale of 10. The chicken curry was very dry as if its been taken out of fridge and just heated, without even turning it over. My jaws got a good exercise, after sometime I was tired of chewing and asked for the bill. It took them 20 mins to get the bill, card machine was not working. They were insisting on cash or paytm etc. I think, this place would be a good find for non-resident Kashmiris who are working or studying in BLR and craving the food from their state. It might help them relive the memories of their hometowns. Even if the food is far inferior to what they are accustomed to in Kashmir. But for people, who have a refined palate when it comes to Non-veg food and who want to get introduced to Kashmiri cuisine, I would not recommend this place to them. It will leave them scarred forever. 

Finally, after finishing the whole ordeal, I eagerly exited from the place, cursing myself and the Columbus in me, for being too adventurous!

The family on the Green Scooter

 Was browsing through the sad news of Stalwart Rahul Bajaj's demise on newspaper today. There was one article along with a pic of the famous ad in which a man is wiping the front of the scooter with a white washcloth. The green shade of the scooter is unique, darkest of the leafy green but not quite touching the olive zone.

The first scooter my Dad ever owned was Bajaj Chetak in the same dark green shade. I remember my mom narrating the story of how we saved pennies to purchase that scooter. In those days, scooter was a premier product and not easily available in Berhampur, Odisha. Much to our delight, one of my uncles helped us get it from Kolkata. Me, my sister and brother were tiny tots and used to reside in the coastal sleepy town of Berhampur which was just 30 odd kms from the now super-famous Gopalpur beach. And the first ride we ever took on the majestic Chetak was to this beach. What began after this was a series of most looked forward to happenings of our young life ; weekend picnics to the beach. I was the tiniest of the lot, hence used to stand infront of Dad holding the handle of the scooter squinting hard at the wind and trying to tame down my hair which turned into Einstein's infamous hairdo in minutes, while the rest of my family used to pile up behind. My bro sandwiched in between Mom and Dad & sis on my Mom's lap. The family on the Green Scooter! 

The sea held immense charm for us, the thrill of frolicking in the surf used to keep us excited the entire week long. Mom & Dad keeping an eye on us from afar sitting on the mat while sipping on the sugary chai sold by the hawker and we three kids going delirious with joy in the waves. And when we got too tired after our frolicking, we used to get treated with hot Samosas which we had carried with us from town. There were hardly any shops on the beach. Those were the times, when the Gopalpur beach was yet to bask in its share of fame which it duly received in subsequent years after the establishment of Mayfair chain of resorts there. 

This tradition continued for a long time till we kids outgrew the scooter ride. The dark green scooter gave way to light blue one after few years and many more after that. But those initial rides to Gopalpur beach on our trustworthy Chetak will forever remain etched in our memories. It was not just a scooter, it was our ticket to self-sufficiency, independence and progress in life. Not just for the little family on Green scooter in the tiny town of Berhampur but for the middle class of an entire nation.

Rahul Bajaj. May you rest in peace, wherever you are.