Musings

Kabini (Nagarhole National Park)

2011-11-29T11:21:00.001+05:30

Since the little fellow's friend and their family are moving out of India soon, we thought it would be a good idea to go on a trip with them so that the little ones get some good time together. After a lot of dilly-dallying, finally the destination was decided as Kabini, and the dates were finalised for 26/27/28th weekend of November. As usual, the days passed by swiftly and Saturday dawned, pretty much dampened by continuous rains the previous night. Nevertheless, not letting that dampen our spirits, we got together around 6:40 am at our house, and after making sure we had the directions right, we set-off at 7 am. That was not bad at all for us, since we had a record of starting not earlier than 9 am on each of our trips :)

The route was pretty straight forward. We got out of Bangalore on to the Mysore road, and hit the national high-way in around an hour's time. The breakfast stop was KaduMane. After thatte idlis, some good strong coffees and playing with the birds in their little garden later, we set-off once more. The kids had a super time in the car. There was a little bit of traffic at Ramnagaram which slowed us down slightly. When we were entering Mandya (or Maddur, am not sure), we got caught by police for over speeding. Eh? Over speeding? What was the speed limit and where was it written? We asked and were told the limit was 80 and we were at 79. Uh? 79 was lesser than 80 I thought. Realizing he had spoken too fast, the traffic cop corrected himself and said that the speed limit was 70. :P I see? We saw that every person driving on that road was being caught. So we just brushed it aside as a collection drive and paid the money without argument and moved on, a wee bit irritated for being delayed for no fault of ours. After which, we crossed Mysore, and with the help of the 3G on our phone as well as the residents of Mysore, we got on to the road which took us to Kabini. The final stretch of the road was blocked and there was a diversion on to a kuccha road for the last hour of the trip. Some broken backs later, we finally reached Jungle lodges and resorts, Kabini at 1:30 pm, just in time for a super duper lunch!

The rooms at Jungle lodges

We checked into our rooms and were briefed on what was in store for us. Since it was almsot 2:45 by the time we were done with lunch, we decided to stay around at the Gol-Ghar (which was the lunch area), and relaxed on huge hammocks near-by. At 3:30, they served some tea and biscuits, and then we dragged the sleepy, but not willing to sleep kids, into the jeep for our first safari at Kabini. What stood out was the back-breaking ride. However, no complaints there! We absolutely enjoyed the greenery, sounds of the forests, the huge teak and rose-wood trees, and the simple beauty of nature. Couldn't have been better. The spotting was pretty low though. We saw a few wild boars, tons of deers (oh dee(a)r!), a variety of birds, and one lone elephant at a distance where it was tough for the eye to spot. A wee-bit disappointed, we returned to the rooms and freshened up.

A male sambhar deer

After another dose of tea we went to the Viceroy Bungalow for a movie screening about Wild dogs. Wonderful I must say. Absolutely clear and it was an experience watching the wild dogs hunt the deers down, wild-dogs nursing their little ones and caring for them and so on. The only irony in the movie being the audience ended up feeling sad for the poor deers who were hunted down, where-as the photographer was empathizing with the wild-dogs and their receding numbers and the fact that they were missing their catches! Guess that's the work of nature eh?

After the movie, it was dinner time. A light dinner and some bon-fire later, we crashed into our rooms for a good night's sleep. After what felt like a few minutes, we were given our wake-up call at 5:45 am, to get ready and assemble for our morning jeep safari. We hurriedly shook the poor kids out of their deep slumber, quickly freshened up and assembled at the Gol Ghar for some much needed tea/coffee/milk. Then we packed ourselves into the jeeps and entered the forests, braving yet another bumpy ride. This time, with not so enthusiastic team mates and a bored naturalist, we had to keep our eyes wide open to spot animals ourselves. Hubby proved to be the sharpest of the lot, and he ended up spotting a mother and baby elephant, and a tusker (male) too followed suit. And the best catch of all, he shook us from our reverie on spotting a leopard jump down from a tree!! Wowie. For some foolish reason, I assumed the leopard was just going to hang around in our presence and I had all the time in the world to adjust my camera, zoom and shoot. Stupid me! While I wasted my time doing all this, the leopard saw us, and quietly slunk away into the bushes. Oh no!! No pictures of the leopard. I couldn't believe it. We drove closer to the spot, rather we went exactly to the spot the leopard was in, waited around for almost 20 minutes, but the leopard was wary of humans, and did not return. Oh well, at-least we feasted our eyes on the leopard for about 3 minutes! A wild-cat roaming free in the forests, at a distance of 30 feet from us .... what more could we ask for? Super cool.

We then got back to the resort for some nice hot breakfast of baked beans, bread + butter + jam, upma, kesari bhaath, and so many other varieties. After this, there was a little coracle ride, just for the fun of it, and then we retired to our rooms. The rest of the morning was just chilling around, playing with the kids, chatting and then it was time for lunch. After lunch, we had very little time with us before we got back on to another safari, this time on the boat. We were a wee bit rushed up by the jungle lodges team, as we had to go pick the naturalist Arjun from Orange County, along with the people living in the Orange County as well. A little disappointed at having to skip tea, we set off on the boat ride. The calming effect of the boat ride and the naturalist's interesting tidbits about the birds and animals around us nullified the "no tea" disappointment, and the journey proved to be the most enjoyable one so far.

We spotted the Malabar pied Hornbills. Yeah, so what? Was my first reaction. Arjun claimed it to be one of the most special kind of birds. Why? Here is the story. These horn-bills are the only kind of birds/animals who find a partner and live with this partner for their life-time!! If the male dies, female lives without another partner till her life time, and vice-versa as well. Wow! And when these birds reproduce, the mother stays inside her home (which is a hole in the tree) for the entire duration of laying eggs, incubating and hatching. Both parents close the hole in the tree with mud, tree pulp, their droppings etc., and leave only a small aperture for the father to bring food for the mother and the children. This goes on for close to 90 days, until the little ones are slightly bigger to be able to learn to fly. Interesting! The next time on, when he showed us the horn-bill, I looked up and tried hard to spot it with renewed respect for the bird in my heart!! :)

Croc resting

Our boat driver was one Mr. Nagaraj. The ease with which he spotted birds/animals was just unbelievable. We were lucky to have him and Arjun on our trip. Both of them kept us engaged with their own areas of expertise. Nagaraj took us really close to a crocodile resting on the banks of the river. Since the crocodile is a cold-blooded animal, it needs to regulate its body-temperature. Since the sun was up that day, the croc had come to rest on the banks of the river to take in the warmth. Arjun made sure we kept pin-drop silence, lest we ended up disturbing the crocodile and it had to go back to the waters. The crocodile going back into the waters might have seemed like no big deal to us initially, however, when Arjun explained the reason as to why it was on the banks, we felt really bad once when due to some noise made by an adjoining boat, the croc had to jump back into the waters. Arjun mentioned that once it goes back in fearing attack, it might take days for it muster up courage to come back up on the banks, which could disturb its entire body temperature cycle. Hmm.

Cormorants in their nests

Another interesting fact about a bird called Cormorant (which was aplenty in these waters) was that they do not have the oily lining on their feathers like other birds do. The oil coating helps the waters to drain off from the feathers quickly and hence birds generally are not bothered by the water. However incase of these cormorants, they do not have the oil glands which produce these linings, and hence after fishing for food, they rest on the banks of the river with their wings spread wide apart. So with this renewed piece of knowledge when we looked around, we realized that all the cormorants were actually standing on the river banks with their wings wide apart, drying out their feathers. Awesome!!!

A tusker

After spotting a tusker up-close, we headed back. Arjun egged us to use our binoculars and scan the forest for tigers as it was a huge task to spot tigers. They might just be lying in front of our eyes but we would miss them easily. However hard we scanned, we were not lucky enough to spot a tiger. However, enriched by the information and excited by the entire boat ride, we got back to the resort and spent the rest of the evening chatting about and relaxing in the ayurveda spa that the resort had. What a day it had been. However, we decided to give another shot at spotting tigers. The next morning, we got onto another boat safari. We missed the naturalist this time. However, our boat driver was Nagaraj again, and he made up for that by spotting a water snake this time! We even saw a water snake zoom past us in the water, right next to the boat. Beautiful!

Water snake on the rock

The exciting trip finally came to an end as it was time to check-out after the boat safari. The kids had a blast through the trip as they got to see each other all the time, and they had plenty of time to dig around in the sand and play to their hearts content for these 3 days. We checked out, refreshed and relaxed after three days of safaris and pampering at the resort! What a weekend. :)

Jog falls, Tavarekoppa, Bhadra.

2011-11-10T21:30:00.000+05:30

Another long weekend meant another trip aroundBangalore. Having read about Shimoga and Jog falls in my text books when Iwas a kid, I was curious to see the famous Jog falls of Karnataka. Amarriage in Shimoga was all the excuse we needed to embark on a trip to see theJog falls.

We left home around 9 am on Saturday. We took the Tumkur route,crossed Tiptur, Arasikere, Kadur, Birur, Bhadravati and finally reachedShimoga. The main crops around these areas is areca nut or betel nut. So on theway, we found a lot of specialized farm trucks, on which sonny dearwent for a ride with his dad. He even got a ride back in a luggage auto. Whatmore could the little hero ask for!

Since we had time till Sunday evening for the wedding, we decidedto continue towards Sagara, a place closer to Jog falls. Being a long weekend,all the good home stays around Jog falls had been booked already. We did notget any accommodation initially. However, the people running the homestays around Jog falls turned out to be very helpful, and after a few phonecalls, they got us a room at Shankara mutt at Sagara. This place had a roomwith a double bed and a bathroom and acted as a good overnight dump for us.They did not provide food, and we visited a near by restaurant calledVaradhashree lodge, which served good south indian food (and ofcourse filtercoffee!!). There was a quaint little Raghavendra swamy temple just next to themutt. We spent a peaceful one hour there, and saw the preparations going on forthe Karthikai (a tamil month) deepam there. The temple trustee was a veryhelpful person. He took us to the nearby market and introduced us to the ownerof a shop which sold wooden artifacts. Sagara is famous for sandalwood andivory carving. Lot of wooden idols and temple mantaps are carved beautifullyand the expressions on the idols are captured wonderfully. We picked a littletemple mantap for ourselves and returned to our room to crash for the night.

Next morning, after a quick coffee at the Varadhashree lodge, wemoved on to the market place to see if we could get rice Kadubus. Sagara andShimoga are famous for this delicacy. However, we were too early for the sleepyvillage. We had to make do with the usual idly and khara bath from a Mysorecafe, and then proceeded towards Jog Falls which was a 30 km drive fromSagara.

We heard from the local people that this was not the best time tovisit Jog Falls as the volume of water falling was pretty low during thisperiod of the year. So we saw, when we reached there. We decided to climb downthe 1900 set of stairs to reach the bottom of the falls and experience the coldwater under our feet (and hair for who so ever desired :P)

The climb down was pretty easy, with gravity helping us. We didn'tthink of the trip back up, and just decided to enjoy the water and the monkeysjumping all around the place. After relaxing for a while at the bottom wedecided to start the walk up the 1900 stairs. And boy! wasn't it a tough one.Saving our breaths, taking some quick swings of lemonade, butter-milk andmaaza, waiting every few minutes to gaze at the rainbow formation across thefalls, we finally made it to the top. After some lunch (We couldn't eat anythingit all. Liquids were all we could take), we sat in the car and headed backtowards Shimoga.

On the way to Shimoga, Tavarekoppa wild life safari beckoned usand in we went to take a look at the tigers roaming free and the ferociousleopards safe in their cages (or so we thought). I got the scare of my lifehere when two leopards pounced on my camera when, in my excitement to take somegood pictures, finding a little gap wide enough for the camera lens, I went atad too close to the cage. To top it, I even had the flash on. We got to see alot of monkeys playing havoc too. Anyone having a pack of pop corn or biscuits,beware! Please make sure you have it all zipped up in the bag and the monkeysdon't even get an inkling that there are eatables. They jumped and grabbed thefood from anyone displaying it and walking around the zoo. Wonderful experienceit was for our sonny boy. He got an "up, close and real" experienceof the monkeys and their antics.

After the safari, we headed towards Shimoga. Got into Samrat AshokHotel and Lodge, and after a cup of coffee, went up to rest a while. Theevening was spent at the reception of a friend, and after the tiring day, weslept really well that night.

Monday morning, it was time to move on towards Bangalore. Google mapsindicated another interesting place called Bhadra dam, on the outskirts ofBhadravati, which was on our way back. A small deviation from the NationalHighway took us to Lakkavalli village, where we could go on top close tothe lighthouse near the Bhadra Dam.

From there we had a beautiful view of the Bhadra river, and alsospotted the Jungle Lodges (Bhadra) resort where people were going boating. Ournext stop had to be that, so after spending a few quiet moments taking in thescenic beauty from the Bhadra dam, we moved to River Tern Lodges and asked fora boat ride across the river. Another beautiful discovery this. The steam boattook us along the forest edge and we even spotted a tusker on the way. The pooranimal got a little perturbed with the noise of our steam boat, and moved awayfrom the water further deep into the jungle. The river tern lodge was abeautiful setup by Jungle Lodges and resorts, with little huts right in themiddle of the forested area. Imagine sitting in the balcony of your homelooking out at lush greenery and a river beyond with butterflies and birds togive you company. Wow. What beauty and what peace! Dream on. We had to satisfyourselves with the boat ride. The navigator Deepak gave us some goodinformation about the area and the animal density, and we left for Bangalorepromising ourselves that we would come back.

Belur and a bit of Halebid

2011-10-10T14:02:00.000+05:30

The previous post about Shravanabelagola got a tad too lengthy, hence moved the Belur and Halebid experiences to a separate post. :)

After Shravanabelagola, we moved on to Hassan, and stayed at the Hotel Hassan Ashok (previously managed by ITDC, now privately managed). Beautifully landscaped, with a little fish pond, and some domesticated birds, this was a cleanly maintained hotel, which offered good rooms, equipped with all the necessities (and more), a super yummy breakfast, and to top it all FILTER COFFEE :). What more can one ask for? We crashed early that night to rest for the next day's travel to Belur and Halebid, which were around 35 km from Hassan. The breakfast next morning was simply awesome. (Our little chap was thrilled to feast on choco flakes, bread, orange marmalade, and jam, while I tried their south and north Indian spread as well.) And the filter coffee was absolutely perfect to help me overcome the most irritating runny nose that I had through the trip.

The first stop was Belur, after around a 45 minute drive. We stopped at the Chenna Keshava temple. I assumed we would quickly go around the temple, and cover a few more temples at Belur and then move to Halebid. I was proven wrong. We entered the temple, this time without socks to protect our feet. The heat was a little too much for the little guy :) But he managed pretty well, with just a few whines, and learnt that if he kept walking instead of standing still, the heat would not bother him much. We first went in to get Darshan of the avataar of Vishnu. On the way, we admired the pillars and the sculpture, the intricacies with which they were carved, without knowing the meaning behind each one of them. The husband told me we had to go get a guide who could explain the history et al behind the temple. I did not think much of the idea, until the guide finally joined us and started explaining the meaning behind every little art around the temple. I was blown away.

Garudar

Chenna meaning Handsome, and Keshava being the first name of Vishnu, this is a Vishnu temple (which is indicated by the Garudar present at the entrance), the construction work of which was started during the reign of King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala empire. King Vishnuvardhana was born a Jain. During his reign, he became a disciple of Ramanujacharya and converted to Vaishnavism. That is the explanation of how this Temple came into being during his reign. At the entrance of the temple, to our top left, there is a carving of the King Vishnuvardhana holding court along with his Guru Ramanujacharya. To the top right of the entrance, we have the King's grandson holding court, during whose reign the construction of the temple completed.

At either side of the entrance, we can see Rati and Kamadev. The significance of this being, Rati and Kamadev are always seen together. However, when one comes to pay respects to God, we have to leave all our worldly desires behind and come with a mind focused on the Lord. Hence here, Rati and Kamadev are separated, and standing on either side of the entrance. On the top of the entrance, there are two Makaras (Mythological animal) on either side. The Makaras are supposed to be a combination of five animals - pig's ears, eyes of a monkey, body of a fish, tail of a peacock and mouth of a crocodile. Also, on either side of the entrance is the emblem of Hoysala carved out. The name Hoysala came about from the ancient tale which indicates that a student named Sala saved his teacher and friends by killing a beast (supposed to be a combination of a lion and a tiger, which reminded me of a Liger that we saw in the Pine Mountain zoo at Atlanta!). Hoy means strike in Kannada, and the teacher yelled "Hoy Sala", as Sala was the bravest student of all, and the teacher believed that he could save them all from this beast.

Hoy Sala emblem

As we enter the temple, inside there are various pillars, each one unique in its design. The intricacies on the pillars left me awestruck. At some places, we can even insert our finger around little thin columns designed on the pillars. There is a carving of Mohini before we enter the sanctum sanctorum. Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful lady, to enchant the asuras and thus obtain the pot of Amrut and hand it over to the devas. This avatar of Lord Vishnu is carved with amazing precision, where the proportion of the nose is 1/3rd of the face, and the proportion of the face is 1/7th of the body. The facial expressions speak for themselves, and to indicate that it is Vishnu in the form of a lady, even the sacred thread (poonal) is kept intact in the carving. Wow!

Mohini - Vishnu avatar

As we went around the temple, we saw a work of Ravana trying to uproot the Mount Kailash, with Shiva and Parvati residing right on top of it. The story goes that when Ravana tried to move the mountain, not knowing that Lord Shiva and his consort reside on it, Lord Shiva pressed his smallest toe on the Mountain, and Ravana was held down by the Mountain and could not move. The depiction of this event was brought alive in the work of stone.

Shiva killing an asura

There were different avatars of Lord Shiva depicted, a few being the Kala Bhairava, and the Gajasura mardhana, each one of them carved with so much of detail. The Narasimha avataar catches ones eye... It is another beautiful work of art, highlighting small details with so much of precision.

Narasimha avataar

It was as cold inside the temple premises as it was hot outside. The fact that the heat was reflected off the surface of the stone made the insides of the stone temple cool and very pleasant to be in. One of the most beautiful temples that I have visited, the guide revealed another interesting fact. The Dhwaja Sthambam that we see just outside the Sanctum Sanctorum indicates that the temple is functional. If there is no Dhwaja Sthambam, this means that the temple is no longer active/functional.

Belur and Halebid are said to have been attacked by Malik Kafur around the 14th century. The temple of Belur was protected and saved as soon as the attack started, so it didn't incur too much of damage. However, Halebid was destroyed to a great extent and is in a pretty dilapidated state.

Similar work of artistry (but destroyed to a great extent) can be seen in the Halebid temple (which is a few kms away from Belur), only major difference being, this is a temple of Lord Shiva, and it has Nandi residing at the entrance. Also, there is no Dhwaja Sthambam at this temple.

Nandi

These temple towns are a must visit. Anyone even just interested in listening to stories can appreciate these beautiful pieces of work, each one of them having so many stories to tell, of an era long gone by!

Shravanabelagola

2011-10-07T17:01:00.000+05:30

Being a long Dassera weekend, after a lot of thought as to what trip could be done overnight, the husband finalised on Hassan. We planned to cover the three temple-towns around Hassan - viz., Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebid. When we started on the trip, I was pretty much geared up for another family outing and some more fun with the little one. However, the trip ended up offering me more than what I expected! I never imagined that temple sculptures could make me so excited that I would end up writing about them! Phew. What an experience.

We started from home (Bangalore) at a very relaxed pace (left at around 12 noon). On the way, after stopping over to meet and touch a few cows and talk to some interested villagers, we spotted the Gomateshwara atop the hill from afar. When we parked near the temple after 2 hours of driving, we were told that we had to either walk bare-foot or with socks. So donning pairs of socks and caps to beat the heat, we took a couple of bottles of water and started the climb. As we climbed higher and higher, the view got more and more beautiful. After the climb of the first major flight of stairs, we reached the Odegal Basadi. A construction of one of its kind, the picture below will speak for the description of the construction type.

All around this Basadi (or Basti), there were inscriptions in ancient scripts, which were preserved by a glass enclosure propped around them. A lot of these temples around Hassan have been destroyed, and hence the Government is working hard to preserve the amazing work of artistry around.

After climbing further up, we got another peek of Gomateshwara's gigantic statue. Each of these little peeks seemed to egg us on to get to the destination fast to see the entire statue. Unlike various other temples, this statue, due to its sheer size, is in an open area, which looks similar to the "mittham" in the houses of the olden days down south. There are statues of various other Teerthankaras all around this main idol. All of them in various postures of meditation. The size of the statue is what struck me the most. Every few years, there is a Mahamastakabhishekam conducted, where abhishekams are performed for this huge an idol.

The view of this town is wonderful from this high. The Kalyani pond below and the Chandragiri hill across is also a pretty sight to see. And although there are few more places to see around here, we decided to stick to only this one, as we needed to rest and prepare for Belur and Halebid the next day. And I didn't even have an inkling of the surprise that was in store for me at Belur!!

Dosa Hop

2011-08-22T10:59:00.000+05:30

A few weeks back, I was introduced to this new term called "Dosa Hop". :) It literally means, hopping from one dosa joint to another, eating as many masala dosas as possible, in a single day. As such, thinking about masala dosas, if they were to be made at home, we could easily gobble down 3 or 4 dosas, and maybe more. However, if it has to be from a hotel (to be precise, from Bangalore's old favourites, which generously add dollops of butter and spoonfuls of oil to the dosas they dish out), it is quite a task to digest even one dosa on one day. Keeping this in mind, a group of friends went dosa hopping, and after a successful attempt, passed on the idea to us!!

We had a few dosa crazy people around the day this idea was passed on to us, and hence there was made a decision. Let's go dosa hopping this saturday! :P Yay! (Before any of you start worrying about how I could think of achieving this feat, I had already made up my mind - Dosa hopping was not my thing. I would go coffee hopping instead, and grab a few interesting pictures).

So we headed straight to CTR - Central Tiffin Room - Malleswaram - one of the old favourite breakfast joint of Bangaloreans, on Saturday morning. At 10 am, we were served the first dosas of our day. Hmm. So the three of the dosa hop participants were super enthusiastic and wiped clean their dosas. The dosa was nice and buttery and the chutney here was not spicy at all. The coffee ofcourse was awesome, as it usually is in any of these breakfast places at Bangalore.

After a few minutes of passing time and chatting, we headed to Janata hotel which is just two lanes down! This is another favourite I hear. The trio grabbed another plate of dosa each around 11:30 am. This time two of them stuck to plain dosa, while the most enthusiastic of all stuck to his masala dosa order. So after two dosas and another coffee, we had a few more friends who joined us, and we headed to a park where the kids could play, so that we had a few hours break in between before we headed for another dosa stop.

The third stop was at Vidyarthi Bhavan at 5 pm in the evening. This joint is at Gandhi Bazaar, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of flower sellers, fruit vendors, and whatever not. This place always reminds me of Chennai's T.Nagar. Being the eve of Janmashtami, the vendors had a busy time dealing with bargaining customers. We headed straight into VB, where we experienced the way the waiter balanced atleast 15 plates of dosa on one hand. It was time for three more masala dosas :). The VB dosa is again brushed with awesome amounts of oil and butter. The chutney here is pretty hot, which is how most of the Bangaloreans like it.

So, are we done for the day? Yes!! Three dosas are all we can take. Let's go home and rest our tummies awhile:).

My summer at Pune

2011-05-26T11:19:00.001+05:30

Though summer doesn't exactly mean vacation for me, when I look back, for the last few years, I realise that I land at my parents place consistently during summers (May). This year (like the last), me and my son came down to visit my parents. This time my son was big enough to have started pre-school, and he had his holidays during May. So off we came. And fun we had! Just like all the visits, this also turned out to be a foodie one for me! Mom has a convection oven, and so I usually try my hand at baking and experimenting with the oven.

So there were two attempts at sponge cake, with little variations (added a bit of chocolate syrup and butterscotch essence the second time). The output both the times was pretty decent.

There were two attempts at granola bars too! The first one was super successful. We enjoyed some really yummy snack of granola bars for a few days. (You can find the recipe for the same here- http://savithrispot.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-granola-bars.html). Egged on by this success, I tried my hand at it another time. My second attempt at it was a disaster though :D. I mixed the ingredients and spread it on a rack for baking. And .. went off to attend a call (ofcourse after letting my mom know that she needs to turn it off in another 20 mins). But my timing proved wrong, and what we got was a half-blackened and hardened oat cracker :D

Well.. it still tasted good.. why wouldn't it, with a tin of milkmaid in it :P ;) .. But this was how it looked -

It was not just oven, this time. Another attempt was Ragada Patties, which I made on our usual gas range. Found the recipe here - http://www.marriedtoadesi.com/2007/05/radish-potato-and-paneer-tikkas.html Made it minus the radish. And .. drool! :) Has to be had fresh, as paneer is one of its ingredients.

The next attempt was veggie pasta with white sauce and a tangy veggie salad. I made the pasta with bellpeppers (how I love the colors!), corn and zucchini (this is the first time am using this vegetable in my cooking). The white sauce was the simple one with all purpose flour, butter and milk. Added a dash of the mixed italian herbs. Wheat farfalle was the pasta used. Pro - Yummy pasta - Con - The quantity was huge and it was the night's dinner, next morning's breakfast and lunch!!! :D ;) Am sure mom dad are going to stay away from pasta for a long long time ;)

Thanks to sis-in-law for the recipe for the veggie salad. She prepared this awesome dish once for dinner, and we enjoyed it to the core. I wanted to try it out myself. I used diced and slightly boiled beetroots and carrots, diced tofu and onions. I marinated the vegetables with some salt, chilli powder, turmeric, sugar, vinegar and cream for two hours. And voila :) Simple, healthy and refreshing.

And last but not the least, mom made this super capsicum rice the other day. Everything was perfect about it. After all, it was maa ke haath ka bana! And none of my dishes above came anywhere close to it. :) We had the rice with cluster beans made the maharashtrian way - using groundnut and white til powdered. Hmmm... heavenly.

So the foodie and fun Pune trip is almost coming to an end. But we did have a great time, and also managed some outings in between to discover Pali (Mango Huts) and Lavasa. Like the saying goes, all good things must come to an end...

Soup time folks...

2011-05-10T12:22:00.000+05:30

I saw this interesting soup preparation on the "Food Food" channel a few days back, and was really eager to try it out.

Yellow Pumpkin and Sweet Corn soup. Hmm. An interesting combination. Got a chance to try it out yesterday. Here's the recipe -

My measurements here served five. The veggies - a small packet of shelled sweet corn, a 200 gm piece of yellow pumpkin and one medium sized onion. Dice up the onions and the yellow pumpkin. Heat a pan, add a teaspoon of butter into it, and saute onions till they turn golden brown. Add the diced pumpkins and sweet corn, some salt to taste, and fry for 2 minutes. Transfer this mixture into a pressure cooker, add three cups of water and cook the vegetables well. Drain the water and keep the water aside as vegetable stock. Puree the cooked vegetables well in a mixer. Add the vegetable stock and boil the soup for 5 minutes. Serve hot with some freshly ground pepper to suit individual taste. You could also add cream to the soup before serving.

I prefer the fibre of the veggies and corn in my soup. If you like your soup smooth, strain the pureed vegetables and then add the stock and bring to a boil. The soup had a nice sweetish flavor to it from the yellow pumpkin, and also a streak of peppery hotness to it. Freshly ground pepper gives a distinct flavor, the emphasis here on "freshly" ground :)... helps to keep that in mind. Didn't take pictures this time to give you a visual idea, but the outcome was simply awesome.

The Dunmore House

2011-01-25T22:33:00.002+05:30

Situated in a little lane at Nallurahalli (off Siddhapura, near the Shell petrol bunk towards Whitefield), the Dunmore House is a beautiful little place. It is a wonderful bungalow, with the best part of it being a lot of natural light coming in. The ceilings are high which makes the place cool at any time of the day. They have a small garden area and a pond within the house, surrounded by pillars and a platform that people can sit on. There is a wooden swing and a trampoline on the platform. The Trampoline is the kids' favorite. They just love to climb onto it and jump! This area surrounding the little garden is where the kids have their snack, on little tables and chairs. The garden has a narrow beam on which the kids learn to balance without hurting themselves, a little tunnel made of four animals with their mouths wide open, that the kids can crawl through. This is undoubtedly the most attractive of all the areas in the house.

There is another quaint little place in the house which allows a lot of sunshine to come in. It is like a small room, with a slanting glass roof. There are small beanbags placed here for kids to sit on and do any activity that they like. A small aquarium with around 9 colorful fishes swimming around is another attraction for the kids. There are two hall like areas which have a variety play things for children. They have little scooters, a roller coaster, a soft ball tub, a little house through which the child can crawl in and out. Some of the self-learning stuff include:

1. Wooden boards which have animals, modes of transport, sea-creatures etc. which fit back into the shapes of the board.

2. Socks that are hung about with each sock holding an alphabet.

3. Lots of building blocks, colorful rings which fit back into their pillar.

4. Varieties of trucks, and even a little washing machine!!

There is a huge garden (yes, apart from the little one within the house), which has a lot of play things designed especially for kids. And of course, the main attraction here is - a lot of white sand which has been thrown in for kids to play. Trucks and trowels, spades, and buckets are provided for the kids to dig and play around with the mud.

The concept that the teachers who run this play follow is - they let the child be his natural self. He / she is allowed to roam around and choose any area or toy that he likes or wants to do at a particular moment. He is not forced into doing anything, which is a major plus for the child. Till the child gets adjusted, one teacher is assigned to the child, who sits with the child through out his two hours everyday, and helps him get adjusted to the place. So the transition for the children becomes a cake-walk. The parents can spend a week or two with the child at the school to make sure he settles in. This gives the parent also an insight into the school and how they deal with children.

There will of-course be a lot of challenges, what with more children joining in, and different batches being decided on, but The Dunmore House, and Vandana and Shahista, are doing a great job at present! I wish them success in this wonderful new venture. Way to go guys.

Potthi canteen

2011-01-09T19:54:00.000+05:30

The family (about 10 of us) made this trip down South. One of the stops was Thenkasi, to visit the Kaashi Vishwanathar kovil. Right opposite to the temple, was this little idli kadai called the Pothi canteen. What a discovery it turned out to be! We landed at this modest little kadai almost every morning to devour their soft idlis and awsome vadais and of course not to be left out - strong filter coffee. And you can be rest assured that the stuff was soft on the tummy too.

One particular day, we were so involved in eating the idlis, that we lost count of how many idlis and vadais each one of us had, and found that we ended up paying a lot more that what we ate for. However, no complaints since it was all absolutely worth it! With the amount of crowd that the guys who run the place had to manage, it generally gets tough for them to count exactly what people eat, and hence they end up doing an approximation. So the next time on, we sincerely kept count of what all we ate, and compared numbers with the shopkeeper, before we paid him the amount.

Unbelievable how such simple dishes as these could pull an audience so large every single day. Hats off to the Pothi canteen and the people who ran it.

On the same lines, a note about Ananda Bhavan, in a lane next to this Pothi canteen. They were famous around that area for the varieties of dosais they served. My favourite here was the Podi roast. HOT to the core, and simply wonderful to taste, when finished up with a strong dose coffee, what more can one ask for. Those who can't take too much spice, please stay away from this particular speciality. :)

North Karnataka Food again

2010-10-06T17:56:00.001+05:30

Keeping up with Bangalore's tradition of small eat-outs making it big, tucked away in one of the little lanes of Jayanagar 4th block is another little foodie place which seems to attract a lot of office-goers. It is called Sri Venkateshwara Uttara Karnataka Foods.

This joint, in-spite of its size, is neat and tidy, offering a limited but decent array of items. The main menu speaks of Full meals and Chapati Meals, both priced nominally. You can choose your chapati and roti from that day's options (Ragi Rotis, Jolada Rotis, Akki rotis, Plain chapatis etc). With any meal you choose, you get two or three sabjis to go along, and a cup of curd. If needed you can also buy a glass of buttermilk to wash the meal down. They also have some awesome pickles and chutneys to go along with the meal, and if you choose the special meals, you get a generous blob of butter on your plate :).

The whole serving process is pretty quick and is the best option if you are looking for a quick afternoon meal, without too many frills ... this is a good place to be in. The whole fare gives a very homely feel, and it is the current favorite with my colleagues, as the canteen at our office these days paints a very sad picture!

A truly inspiring novel

2010-10-05T10:08:00.001+05:30

Though this blog is not primarily about books and their reviews, this was one book which touched my heart, and I couldn't resist writing about it.

To Sir With Love

When I saw this book lying on one of the racks in the library, the enthusiasm in my father's voice, whenever he spoke to me about the movie filmed on this book, rung in my ears. I decided I should have a go at this one. And, how I loved it! Nothing but a true experience on these lines could bring out such a wonderful book.

E R Braithwaite has recounted the events in his life in a truly captivating manner. His hold on the language and the way he has worded the book is pleasing to the mind, after reading more recent authors who no longer treat language with so much importance.

The story talks about how Ricky, after a wonderful childhood and some happy years of serving the nation by being a part of the Air Force, was completely oblivious to the color discrimination that is prevalent all through England. He is suddenly thrown into civilian life and rudely discovers various difficulties that the so-called "colored" individuals face in their day-to-day life in England. It comes as a shocking discovery to him that even after being so highly educated, serving in the air force, and excelling through his life so far, he has to fight it out to even earn his daily bread. He realizes, through every road block that he faces, the fact that the English so coolly cover-up and appear as if they are not prejudiced, but when they are faced with the actual task of having to decide between a colored person, and "one of their own", their true reaction to the situation surfaces. Through all these difficulties that Ricky had to face, he handles the task of being a teacher to kids who are from a poor economic background, with so much of conviction and courage, that the book ends up making one think hard and look at life with a new meaning.

A must read.

CPK!!

2010-08-26T08:53:00.003+05:30

P and R got us some awesome pizzas from the California Pizza Kitchen at Georgia. Till then, I felt there was no variety in the vegetarian pizzas that were available in the States. It was always just cheese and tomato and basil and that was it. So when I mentioned this to P, he immediately decided that I must get a feel of the CPK varieties! The pizzas that they ordered were - Greek, Mexican, Japanese Eggplant and American

And wow.. I got the variety I so missed during this trip! My favourite was the Greek pizza, which had avocados instead of chicken, to make it purely a veggie delight!! Next came the American pizza which was the only one which did not "Go easy" on cheese :) I simply loved it. The Japanese had toppings of eggplant and broccoli, and the Mexican variety had artichoke hearts in it (we finally found out how artichokes actually were supposed to be cooked, after the "popat" experience at Cafe Manna, where they gave us grilled artichokes, and we thought we didn't know how they were to be eaten!)

CPK it is for pizzas. :) - http://www.cpk.com/menu/pizzas/

The best Tomato Soup ever

2010-08-15T09:22:00.000+05:30

Noodles and company... Another foodie joint in the States, with a nice concept. They have various kinds of soups and pastas catering to different palettes - Mediterranean, Asian, American to name a few. I have been to this place thrice now, but the one thing that swept me off my feet there, was the awesome (awesome) tomato bisque (soup) that they served. It was completely out of this world. Take my word for it!!! I have never ever tasted soup like that anywhere in my life!!! The thickest, creamiest, tangiest, yummiest soup ever! Would love to go once again to N&C just to have more of this soup.

Hats off to perims

2010-08-09T19:46:00.000+05:30

It was wonderful to read the article about our dear Shyamala periamma. :) It is nice to see that her talent was recognized and written about so well. The Mambalam house has always been a constant hubbub of activity, with one or the other guest coming in from every part of the world, staying over, chatting away and relaxing on the famous "balcony" of the house. As a family, we used to keep teasing her that come what may, she will never fore-go her music classes, and even if hell broke loose, she would be teaching her students sincerely in the "vaasal-room" of their Mambalam house. And her patience and smile is a taken-for-granted fact!

Hats off to Shyam perims. We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick new trial.

2010-08-05T19:57:00.000+05:30

Before leaving the hotel room for my next visit, I wanted to try out some new recipe. And the recipe had to be simple. I was too lazy to carry out a major process of buying stuff, grinding, marinating, mixing, waiting and what not. As I browsed for recipes, I found one that fit my requirements exactly in a blog that I follow - http://savithrispot.blogspot.com/2007/07/ravenous-for-rosti.html

I like potatoes in any form. And potatoes combined with cheese had to be good! :). So I tried this recipe, with a slight variation of adding pepper instead of red chilli powder (just because I had lots of pepper powder to be used up!). And wasn't it yummy! Here's a pic of how it looked while cooking!!!

Looooooooong weekend

2010-07-15T20:01:00.000+05:30

Starting from the eve of the long weekend, we were in the holiday mood... Friday evening saw us entertain 3 bachelor friends for dinner, with (I surprised myself by the number of preparations, so am taking the liberty to brag about it!!!) onion pakodas and potato bajjis as starters, main course had sepankizhangu roast, red cabbage morkuzhambu (yes!!), lime rice and semiya upma!!! White rice and curd to go along, and the bachelor friends got the dal which they prepared too. Phew! The best part of the dinner was that the guys enjoyed every bit of it, proof being the empty vessels (though after a month of eating sandwiches and packed and re-heated food, anything edible and home cooked would have been a hit)...

Saturday morning, we had to be in the "rush" mode, and were on the roads by 9:15 am... four couples with kids, heading towards Olson Lake beach .. It was a bright and beautiful day and the drive was amazing with the scenery which never ceases to surprise me. Everything around here is just picture perfect. Pretty looking houses around a small lake, with flowering plants surrounding them, a narrow river, with sparkling clear water, flowing across the road while we pass on a bridge above it, a winding road with trees looming right over us (the entmoot kind of trees!), and the quaint little post boxes at the foot of every second tree, which make us peep through the dense trees to actually find houses sitting right in between this forest-like setup!!!! I could just go on!

The day at the beach was fun, with splashing around in the water, lazing on the sand, lunch packed from subway (my first bite of subway sandwiches turned out to be a good experience with some tangy Chipotle sauce added in it) football on the grass, boating with the life jackets for all of us including the kids, (they looked so cute in it) and then heading back to a friends place where we exchanged stories and laughs way into the late hours of night with some yummy dinner (ordered this time from a nearby Indian restaurant)

After all this, Sunday morning had to be a relaxing one.. so we were up only by 9. We decided that today would be "catering to our tummy's with home food" day! Masala dosas and chutney it was for breakfast. By the time we had it, it was more like brunch. So we finished brunch by 12:30 pm... with a hot cup of ginger tea...(or should I be more specific and say chai, after the experiences here with using the misnomer "tea", but actually meaning tea with milk and sugar!!!). So sunday was pretty relaxing, with just a walk outside with the little one, and a stop at metro mart for some water. Evening was Palak rice and raita time. This was a new recipe that I tried out, and it turned out really well!

Monday was shopping day. Being the July 4th weekend, lots of stuff was on sale. So we visited quite a few shops and managed to get a good amount of gifts to take back for family in India. We decided to put an end to our gift shopping as on today!! :) Barnes and Noble was one wonderful bookstore that we visited. Recommended by friends and family alike, we had to look for ourselves what this shop offered. It was massive, and had a huge collection of books. The little one just loved the little train set that they had put up for kids to play. We would have liked to spend more time there, but for our growling tummies. So I just had time for the kids section, and picked a few books for kutti. Lunch was a quick snack at home and then after a nap, we headed out again for a nice long walk. We returned to try out an Indo Thai restaurant very near to our hotel room. Some good food later, got back to our room to get ready for our next day at home!!

Tuesday was mostly uneventful too. We spent most of the day at home and went for a long walk again in the evening. The long walks that we do takes us through such a beautiful localilty, that we just continue to walk for hours together, until we realize that out feet are tired and we need to get back! But yes, the four days were well spent, both fun and relaxing, just like every weekend here is turning out to be!

Bridging gaps

2010-06-27T06:24:00.002+05:30

One of the engineering wonders that I was taken to in San Fransisco was the Golden Gate Bridge. Since the climate around this time of the year through out the US of A is warm or even hot in most places, I decided against carrying warm clothes. I did take a jacket, though, for my son (thankfully) cos I was soon to experience the strong winds at the view point around the bridge, which almost threw as off our feet!!

It was a beautiful bridge constructed right across the strait. It had a pathway for people who wanted to walk across the bridge and there was a path for bikers too. We however decided to drive through the bridge, as we wanted to cover a few more places. At the time we visited, a huge container vessel that passed by below the bridge made for a picture perfect scene.

Picture Courtesy: K chitappa!

Some interesting facts that I learnt about the bridge are -

**The color of the bridge was painted an International Orange. The name of the bridge, though, did not come from its color. It is the bridge across the Golden Gate Strait that is the entrance to the SFO Bay from the Pacific Ocean. Hence the name - Golden Gate Bridge.

**Eleven men were killed during the construction of the bridge, and that was actually a safety record of that time. The expected fatality was more than 30!

Tons of other facts about the bridge are available online and make for an interesting read. :)

Sweet Tomatoes.

2010-06-23T00:59:00.000+05:30

One of the eatouts that we went to in SFO this weekend really impressed me with its concept. It is called Sweet tomatoes. Its a chain of restaurants within the US, though I just found out that the state I stay in does not have one :(.. Really did want to try out the lots of other stuff in their menu that I missed out...

As soon as you enter, you see the vast spread of the buffet before your eyes. (Vegetarians also have a huge choice). Starting with a variety of salads, cut vegetables, it goes on to have baked potatoes, pastas, soups (the variety was so huge that there were 3 kinds of soups for vegetarians, and around 5 or 6 kinds for non-veg lovers), macaroni and cheese, various types foccacia (which I learnt was a sort of pizza), baked beans .. this is just probably half of what they had to offer. To top it all, they had different kinds of desserts, what with muffins, brownies, cakes, icecreams, toppings for ice creams, seems like a never ending list. With all of the items available, you can mix and match them according to your taste.

You can check out the menu here - Sweet Tomatoes

Once you get in, you first pick up a tray and go along a line to pick stuff that you like. Try not to pick everything that catches your eye this trip itself, cos you will have tons of things on the other side to try out later after you pay and finish your first round. At the end of that line you have the counter where you pay for yourself and get a bill. Then find a place to sit and enjoy your meal, and go back how many ever times that you want, to the buffet, and pick what ever else that you need. Another tip is, try not to order any drinks, as that adds up quite a bit to the bill. This place have drinking water available for free in dispensers, which is another rare thing I guess here around the US, as we need to buy soda or coke at most of the places as they dont serve water.

Well, the size of the buffet does explain the width of the people here too! There is no stopping you, and you need to have a conscious watch on what you are eating and how much you are eating. But it is a place to definitely visit if you are touring the US. Also if you are in a hurry and want to grab some quick meal, this is the place to be in. No wait times, and the food is ready for you to start on it as soon as you get there.

Journey so far ....

2010-06-17T05:13:00.002+05:30

It's been a week now that we are in the US of A. Quite a few experiences to speak for during the travel ... interesting learnings.

The Bangalore airport checkin, immigration, security and waiting was all the usual stuff. In Lufthansa, the staff on board were pleasant, and we got a bassinet for the little one almost immediately upon take off. A comfortable journey and the food was just about right, as I was able to even choose a few things in the menu to feed the little one (I wasn't carrying anything other than biscuits for him).

The mid-way stop was at Frankfurt, and the airport, with its various duty free shops, and a lot of "eccalators" for my kid to walk to and fro on, made it a happy experience. Exhausting though, as my son wanted to keep me busy by making me walk/run behind him, where ever he went for the four and a half hours of wait... He even woke up two ladies sleeping on the lunge chairs! He made amazing conversation with them with his limited (tanglish) vocabulary, and they understood and enjoyed every bit of it!

Then, we got on board UA, to cover the next journey which was going to be 9 hours long. No bassinet this time. Food - hmm - nothing much to speak of, especially for the kid. The staff on board, nothing much to speak of either... or probably, we could speak about how there was no trace of "being pleasant" in them, to the extent of being unpleasant. My husband still says he found nothing wrong in that, and that's the normal caustic humor(!!?) displayed by people around here. I haven't still been able to agree with him on that front, as other people that I spoke to around were always ready with a "hi how are you" and with a smile on their faces. Hmm.. so there, 9 hours of bad food, bad humor, bad back later, we landed at ORD, and waited with fingers crossed for the immi officer to call us. After a few tense moments, which made us a lot wiser, we cleared and got the stamping (phew).

Out we came, only to be held back by the baggage clearance guys, who informed us that we have been held back for a "Special Survey" (oh please give me a break!!). But thank our stars, they did nothing much but scan the baggage, and we were let go (yippee ... scott free finally .. was the feeling!). We boarded our go air (airport cab) and headed to MKE.

Sonny gave an initial resistance to sitting in the car seat with an "amma madeela okkachikanum" plea... but well, what could we do? Coaxed him into "indha oorlai no amma madi". Thankfully for us he is a pretty coaxable kid :) .. and so finally reached room sweet room... all set to explore the new place!

Eating out at MKE

2010-06-14T09:10:00.002+05:30

The first day of eating out at Milwaukee, or rather, the States, was at a Mexican restaurant. I had what was called a Veggie burrito. It turned out to be a huge maida chapati filled with some rice, vegetables, a green sauce, sour curd (they had a variety of options to pick and choose from, and this was what I chose) . After the meal, I decided that the Mexican I have had in Pune was a lot yummier than what these guys offered, though there is no arguing as to which is the authentic Mexican! :)

The fun part of the eating out was a visit to Kopps, an ice cream joint. They specialized only in custard and cream and not ice cream, though it all tasted the same to me!!! I had a chocolate sundae with nuts and a huge cherry as toppings. It was on the same lines as hot chocolate fudge at apna Corner house... (a small difference though ... at apna CH, you can ask for extra nut toppings for free, while here you had to pay extra for the first helping of nuts too !!!)

Grilled paneer with veggies

2010-05-12T18:23:00.002+05:30

Here's another recipe that we tried out (from the LG cook book again!) and I think is worth a mention. This was more like a starter, but we ate it as an accompaniment to piping hot chapatis, and what a hit it turned out to be!

The grilled paneer with vegetables needed some 200 grams of cubed paneer, green (and if you want to add to the colors - red and yellow capsicum), onions, tomatoes. Cut all of the veggies into big pieces.

For marinating the vegetables and paneer, grind some mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies and garlic together into a paste. To this paste, squeeze in some lemon and one tablespoon of hung curd. Take a microwave safe glass bowl, put in the vegetables and paneer into it, and add the mint mixture into the vegetables. Sprinkle some turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala powder and a teaspoon of butter. Make sure all of the vegetables are mixed well together with the mint paste.

Refrigerate this for about 30 minutes and grill it in a microwave till slightly golden brown on all sides. This might take around 20 minutes. Try it to believe the taste!! The mint and lemon flavour gives a wonderful flavour and you will absolutely love it!

Jeera fried rice with Tangy Potato fingers

2010-05-04T13:57:00.003+05:30

So here goes... am back in Pune for sometime, and raring to go on the microwave cooking front. I have my niece with me for a few days, who is sure to appreciate my culinary attempts (irrespective of the final output!!).

So the countdown begins. We started the first day with an interesting recipe we found in the cook book which came along with our microwave. This turned out to be a decent accompaniment for Jeera rice.

As the name indicates, we peeled and cut the potatoes into french fry like fingers and microwaved them for 6 minutes. While the potatoes were kept aside to cool, we prepared the ingredients for the gravy. It required one chopped spring onion, chopped green chillies (as per your taste), 7 flakes of garlic (chopped again). Heat some butter in a microwave safe bowl for one minute, then add the above chopped stuff into it and heat it for 2 minutes. Toss the potatoes into this mixture, add a ladle of tomato sauce, one (or even two if you like it to be more soya saucy) ladle of soya sauce and one ladle of vinegar. Take a small cup, and put two heaped teaspoons of cornflour into it. Pour half a cup of water and mix the cornflour well. Pour this mixture into the potatoes. Add some pepper and salt to taste and toss them well together. Microwave the above mixture for 4 minutes and allow to stand in that heat until your jeera rice is ready!

The jeera rice was a simple one. We fried mustard, jeera and cashewnuts (till golden brown), added onions and sauted till transparent. In went some washed frozen peas and then the basmati rice (which was kept soaked in water for half an hour). Add some water (we used a proportion of 1:1 for rice and water), and allow to pressure cook until one whistle. Simmer for 5 minutes and then allow to stand.

Oh yes.. I forgot the salt! Before pressure cooking the rice, add salt to taste.

There you go - you now have a tangy flavoured potato fingers, to go along with the simple jeera rice.

Another petite outlet - UK Foods

2009-11-20T12:55:00.013+05:30

It was lunch time at office. One of our team members suddenly decided to go out for lunch and asked if we would join him. He said he knew of this place which sold hot jolada rottis. So we thought of giving it a try.

Uttara karnataka food stores sits pretty in one of the cross roads of Bangalore's Jayanagar 9th Block. It is a small store (adding to the number of other famous small eat outs at Bangalore) selling many of Karnataka's famous eatables, which include snacks, various rice mixes, sweets etc. The store also caters to the hungry noon crowd by dishing out hot chapatis, jolada rottis, varieties of rice like puliyogare, etc.

Picture - Courtesy Sangameshwar

The food is easy on the palate and tastes absolutely home made. I also got some kodubale (a rice flour snack) and kaai obbat (pancake made of coconut and jaggery) for home, and they were really tasty.

On the downside, we need to stand and eat. However, that can be compromised for the nice food. Importantly the place is not very expensive either. So it's really worth a try.

Nostalgia

2009-11-18T12:42:00.003+05:30

Was back at Pune for a week. Just relaxed and chilled out for a change. And the best part of the trip was, met a lot of my friends this time.

Most of us having settled either out of Pune, and / or married and having kids, meeting up seems a remote possibility every time I go to Pune. To top it all, I work from home during my visits there. So workload and the little one take priority and I can never make myself go out to meet people.

This time was different though. J's wedding, Adu's birthday, Uncle's 70th birthday - all the three events were fun. The little one also got to meet a whole gang of people.

Meeting up with the college and school gang brought back memories, and also insights into each one of our lives, which are totally different from what it was before!!! Surprising how we are all so totally different from what we were 4 or 5 years ago.

Also, Pune roads are now much better than what they were those days. After the completion of all the fly overs, the city looks nice and clean too (atleast the areas that I visited). The window shopping at Store One and dinner at Mainland china with L and kids was great too! Totally left me feeling "I wish I could have stayed longer"... Pune, mom dad, family and friends - miss you guys!

Ghaati Subramanya Swamy (Oct 2009)

2009-10-24T16:03:00.000+05:30

The little one was turning one on October 17th. The plan was made to go to Lord Subramanya Swamy temple on or around his birthday. So the date we chose was the 16th. The place chosen was Ghaati Subramanya Swamy Temple, Doddabellapur. The distance from Whitefield to the temple was around 72 Km.

Packing along stuff for the little one, we started on the journey by car at around 10 a.m. As soon as we hit the roads, G dozed off. We took the budhigere road towards devanahalli airport. When we hit Devanahalli village, we then joined the road going towards doddabellapur. After crossing doddabellapur, there are signposts directing you towards the temple.

The diety in the temple was the highlight. It is a seven headed serpent, the front of which is depicted as Lord Muruga and on the back rests Lakshmi Narasimhar. There is a mirror kept in such a way that we can see the Lakshmi Narasimhar on the behind. The significance of each of the serpents is also explained in the walls around the temple. The various little snapshots of Lord Muruga and his conversations with Lord Shiva and Parvati are painted all around, giving an insight into their lives.

The temple has an anna daanam program which feeds 100s of people on a daily basis. One of the methods they do this is with the fixed or recurring deposit scheme, in which they put the donations that they get from people, and the interests obtained from that is used for the anna daana programs.

Overall, the visit to the temple was very satisfying. The journey to and fro was pretty comfortable, save for some bad roads. The villages that we passed through provided for some scenic beauty. :) And over and above, little G also enjoyed the journey, and the darshan, which happened on the eve of his first birthday.

Tiruvannamalai after a year (Jul 2009)

2009-07-20T14:20:00.000+05:30

Tiruvannamalai is considered as one of the Pancha Bhoota Sthalams, associated with the element - Fire - the others being Kanchipuram, Tiruvaanaikkaval, Kalahasti and Chidambaram. The visit this time was with a lot more knowledge about the temple and its history, which made the trip and the darshan even more beautiful. Tiruvannamalai is the temple of Lord Shiva, where he is worshipped in the form of a lingam.

As soon as we enter the temple through the main entrance, we see the Murugan sannidhi to the left. The Patala Lingam sannidhi which is seen a little ahead to your right, is where Ramana Maharishi is supposed to have gone into a deep state of meditation. The main sanctum sanctorum has the Arunachaleswarar in the form of a lingam. When we sit inside the enclosure to see the Lord, we can actually feel the heat to such a great extent. The Agni Lingam is actually felt here, and you have to be there to experience it. When come out of the sanctorum, we are sweating from the heat, while it actually is not so hot just outside.

Unnamulaiyaal or Abithakuchambal is the Lord's consort. Before we either visit the Lord or his consort, we have to declare our presence to the attendance keeper of the Lord, who is Sri Chandikeshwarar. Since Sri Chandikeshwarar cannot see, we have to click our fingers twice in order for him to hear our presence.

This time, four of us, along with my 9 month old son made the trip. It took 4 and a half hours from Bangalore, even with some stops in between for food and also to pacify my restless little one at times. The relatives who travelled along with us walked the Girivalam stretch surrounding the Tiruvannamalai. This pathway is the home for many Sanyasis. This walk lasted around 3 and a half hours. Since they started pretty early in the morning, the walk was enjoyable with a strong breeze blowing, egging them on. Only a 2-3 km stretch which was within the little town turned out to be tough, what with all the pollution and noise.

Hotel Trishul again this time was our place of stay, and I must say once again that the stay was good at the hotel, though we skipped having food there. A lot of other vegetarian options were available in and around the place, so we opted for those.

Kalahasti and Tirupathi

2009-07-04T19:41:00.000+05:30

This trip to Tirupathi was to shave of our little one's hair for the first time since he was born and offer it to the Lord. This is as per our tradition, that before we start to cut off the little one's hair, we need to shave it off completely for the first time within his age of one year. Else we would have to wait till he was three. At the rate G's hair was growing, and with the increasing heat, we didn't want to wait for three years! Hence the trip.

We hired an Innova (dual A/C) at a pretty decent rate of Rs. 8.50 per kilometer rate. Innova proved to be a comfortable choice to have been made for 6 of us including the little one. The distance from Whitefield to Tirupathi was estimated to be around 260 Km. Leaving home by around 10 am on Sunday, we took the Whitefield road, took a turn towards Hoskote and joined the Chennai - Kolar highway. We made good time and we reached Alamelumanga puram by 3 pm. The darshan and prasadam there took us about one hour.

From there, we left for Kalahasti, which was about 25 km from Alamelumanga puram. Kalahasti is famous for the Vayu Lingam temple. This beautiful temple has a Lingam which is surrounded by oil lamps. Interesting thing to observe here is that all of the oil lamps keep flickering due to the wind property of the lingam, except one, which is steady.

After this visit to Kalahasti, we returned to Tirupathi, stopped at Bhima's Residency for a refreshing cup of coffee and started on our trip to Tirumala. We had to first go through the security check posts before we started the climb. The ghat section was well lit up and the roadways for onward and return traffic was different. So it was a comfortable drive up to Tirumala. After having dinner and spending the night at the Ahobilam Mutt, we left at 6 am to the tonsuring center. The whole hair shaving procedure surprisingly went off smoothly, with the little one taking it pretty well! So back to the room for a bath, breakfast and then getting ready for the darshan. We reached the entrance by 8:30 am. They had a special queue, being Monday, for Mother's and kids less than a year old, and also for elderly people. Luckily we got into that queue which started moving by 9:45 am and we were out in half an hour's time after a wonderful darshan.

After some rest in the room, some pictures with G and his new look, we left back for Bangalore around 1 pm. The return journey had a lot of stops in between for snacks and walks for G to relax. Hence by the time we reached home sweet home, it was 8pm.

Bugle Rocks and VB!!

2009-05-09T12:37:00.001+05:30

This weekend was brightened up by the green surroundings of the famous Bugle Rocks in Basavanagudi. Another favourite Bangalorean hangout, the rocky area with all the greenery is enjoyed by youngsters and elders, for their own different reasons. We could see kids happily sliding down the rocks and chasing each other, elders relaxing in the many cemented seats, the health freaks walking around in the park, and ofcourse, couples huddled together in various corners ;).

The Bugle Rocks has a history behind it. It was a watch tower in the kingly days. On spotting enemies, the soldiers used to ring the bugle and warn their counterparts to be ready for the oncoming danger.

After the relaxing time at bugle rocks, Vidyarthi Bhavan is the next stop. Famous for its masala dosas, especially the way the waiter balances 15 plates of masala dosas, the place is buzzing with activity. You need to wait atleast for 15 minutes before you can get a seat. But when you taste the masala dosa, you will agree that it is worth the wait. Drain it down with a cuppa piping hot coffee, and that for sure makes your day.

A drive to Nandi Hills

2009-04-21T19:14:00.000+05:30

After a tiring whole week, we decided to do a little day trip to some place nearby. Nandi Hills was what first came to our mind. We had my cousin over for the weekend and also having heard so much about Nandi Hills, we thought, well why not?

We decided to start at 9:30 am. Uh Oh.. spoke a little too fast there. Breakfast was at home - parceled from the Kadambam restaurant in ITPL. By the time the three of us and the little one got ready and actually hit the road, it was noon. We took the road leading towards Saibaba Ashram in Whitefield (after crossing Whitefield station). At the nearest gas station, we filled up fuel, made sure the tyres were ready for the drive ahead and also picked up a few food and drink supplies. The Whitefield road finally hit one end of the Old Madras road. Taking a left there and traveling a little further down, a right took us towards Budhigere. The roads and the scenery here onwards is beautiful. Though pretty narrow and winding, the roads are laid well and are comparatively less used. Mostly the evenings find truck traffic. Else its pretty empty and a pleasant drive. Both sides of the roads were filled with red, yellow, violet flowering trees. We even found a nest in a small yellow leaved tree. Lots of stops for pictures and some villages later, we reached devanahalli village. From the village, we had to cross the airport ring road at a particular point and on the other side was the road which took us to Nandihills.

The hill at one point when you see it from below, is actually shaped like the Nandi. The entire drive through the ghats while crossing from one hill to the other, had decent roads. Just before the ghats and after crossing the airport ring road, a patch of the road was bumpy. The hairpin bends were really steep. There was just one road for both onward and return traffic. This did not bother us much since there was not much crowd that day.

At the ticketing counter, we could either park the car and walk down, or drive inside the gates too. The garden inside was maintained well, with lots of flowering trees and play areas for kids. There were monkeys all around, waiting to jump on an unsuspecting victim. They were ready to pounce on any tidbits discarded by the tourists. It was really cute to see the mother monkeys running around with their babies latching onto their tummies.We saw the Tipu Palace, and the Nandi temple. The thing about this temple which stood out was the natural stony flooring. The earthy feel was retained. The view from various look out points was really breathtaking. There was a neatly maintained KSTDC hotel atop the hill. Though the menu was limited, and service not upto our expectations, it just about catered to our hungry tummies.

However, the best part of the entire journey was the return trip. The same route was even more beautiful in the fading evening light. From one point we could see the devanahalli air strip. There is a lake nearby and we walked down to the edge of the lake from where the take offs were a treat to watch.

The day thus passed wonderfully. If you are looking for a nice little quick outing, nandi hills could well be an option.

(Psst... The Budhigere route that I spoke about earlier, also is a quicker way to reach the Devanahalli airport from Whitefield)

Brahmin's Coffee Bar

2009-04-20T19:08:00.004+05:30

It's surprising how Bangalore still has these age old little foodie joints still going strong. The first little joint I was truly thrilled about was Raghavendra stores. This weekend, another one was waiting to grab my attention.

Brahmin's coffee bar. (What a simple yet eye-catching name!) This little bar is located in Shankara puram, and long long ago started as a small shop with just a table and a stove on the table, which would spew out hot idlies and vadas. This was THE joint for BMS college goers, who used to cycle down this path and were welcomed by the owner with a quick breakfast of idli, vada chutney and some piping hot coffee.

Brahmin's coffee bar is still a small shop (though the table and stove have migrated to an actual potti kadai with the stove inside), and some tables outside. The idly and vada with the chutney is simply awesome and, you know my fancy for kharabath by now ... yummmmmm.... Coffee.. well, the coffee was absolute heaven. The taste lingered in my mouth for the next half of the day. I couldn't make myself eat anything else, fearing it would spoil the taste of the coffee. (Until, ofcourse, the thought of a corner house hot chocolate fudge made me change my mind!!)

Brahmin's coffee bar ... Go for it!

Squirrel celebrating Tamizh Varsha pirappu

2009-04-14T13:00:00.004+05:30

Happy new year little squirrel - he seems to enjoy the mango rice on Tamizh new year.

Whitefield in Spring 2009!!

2009-04-11T22:29:00.000+05:30

Pune Mumbai Expressway

2009-01-13T09:07:00.000+05:30

The Pune Mumbai Expressway is something which makes one really glad by its existence. The distance between Pune and Mumbai by road has decreased substantially, thanks to the Expressway. Also, the number of lanes allows travellers to avoid any traffic jams and go at their own speed, following lane discipline.

From Pune, we can reach the expressway through the Pune university road, which takes us over a bridge towards Wakad. Before we enter Wakad, one should take a left deviation which goes towards Hinjewadi. When we reach the flyover, instead of going over the bridge, take a right turn below the bridge. This is the road which finally joins the Expressway. After travelling a little further more, and passing the Indira Institute of Management, another deviation takes you to the Expressway.

On the way, there are some tunnels that you have to pass through, and they are worth more than a mention. They are beautifully lighted up and give a thrilling experience to the travellers.

The median throughout the journey on the expressway has beautifully tended flowering plants and greenery all through. These are being maintained through the year by constant watering and they are refreshing to the eye. Clear signboards all along the way indicate anything to be aware of, the approaching fuel stations and their distances, the approaching tunnels and toll booth distances.

Travellers encounter a small ghat section on the way, where the road narrows considerably, and the speeds also reduce to a great extent. Also, the roads, though neatly laid, lack the smoothness and are bumpy in a lot of areas where two concrete sections join, causing inconvenience to passengers sitting on top of the wheels!

What is a journey without a mention of the eateries. Before reaching the Expressway from Pune, we pass Soul Curry - a restaurant which is known for its South Indian meals. Also, each and every gas station we pass on the express way, is very neatly designed and has rest rooms and restaurants where we can re-fuel ourselves, along with our vehicles. :).

Squirrel Antics for you :)

2008-08-28T12:32:00.007+05:30

Check out this link for some more details :) -
http://oooligans.blogspot.com/

Foodie weekend!!

2008-08-20T04:41:00.000+05:30

Well! This is turning out to be a real foodie blog, but I just can't seem to help it! :) Here's something that I tried over the last long weekend. Since it was August 15th, and we didn't want to venture out, so the only interesting thing left for me to do was try out some new recipes. Also, there was this huge basket of aloos which I (health)consciously avoided for the past two weeks. I needed to use them up before they sprouted in front of my eyes :P. Since now it was decided it was going to be Aloo, there would be no compromise on the amount of oil either!!! Aloo roast it was going to be. Yumm! Here's a simple recipe which I first heard from my sister in law. But remember, you need to be patient while the aloos get the right amount of roast.

Boil potatoes. Heat oil in a kadhai (put in 2 teaspoons to start with), let some mustard splutter. Add some chana dal and turmeric powder. After chana dal gets a slightly brownish tinge, add the boiled and cubed potatoes into the Kadhai and spread them in the kadhai. Mix one teaspoon each of besan, red chilli powder and rice flour (and also salt as per your taste), separately in a cup. Spread this mixture evenly over the aloos in the kadhai. Pour oil over the aloos, so that they absorb the above mixture. Cover the kadhai and let the aloos roast. After sometime, flip over the aloos and let the other side cook. Here's how they look finally!

Malleswaram station and Raghavendra Stores!

2008-07-16T14:37:00.000+05:30

The above place in Bangalore was revealed to me when a relative was admitted in the Manipal Northside hospital two weeks back. And boy! what a revelation! :)

Just opposite to the hospital is this heavenly eat out called Raghavendra Stores. A modest little place, where these guys prefer only handling the orders for a very limited tiffin menu, ofcourse apart from the piping hot tea and coffee. (After all, what's tiffin without some traditional cutting to go along?). Though options maybe limited, this does not deter the huge crowds that come trooping along to dig into the dishes here.

THE item TO GO FOR here is the Bangalore special, solpa khaara, solpa sweet - CHOWCHOW baath. The combination of khaarabaath and kesari is just awesome. Gulp it down with the traditional tumbler of coffee, what more can you ask for! If sweet is not something of your preference, have the khaarabath with a crispy vadai, mmmmmm! I'll leave the imagination to you. The idly vada, chutney sambar combination gets quite a few takers too.

A sight to see here is the number of people flocking into this little eatout, in their Innovas and Corollas, getting huge casseroles and plastic covers, filling them up with khaarabaath and vadais and what ever else they fancy. We also have relatives from the hospital smuggling some of the delicacies and taking it to their loved ones. :D. What is the use of being admitted in Northside, when you don't experience Raghavendra stores!

FOOD!

2008-07-10T17:23:00.000+05:30

MMMMMMM!!!! :) It's that time of the year when I am only thinking of food, cooking new dishes and something to keep munching on! (If you are wondering why, I myself am at a loss for reason. Probably the rains?) When it happens though, I am on an all time high. So there ... let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Mad Tea Party absolutely makes you mad with the mouth watering recipes and even more delicious pictures of them. Don't believe me? Go take a look then!
Khandvi and Cabbage pakoras are what I tried out from there. I took a few pictures of my own dishes from my own kitchen, when they were ready to be gulped down, and here's how they looked.

A few more trials and I think I should be able to perfect on these. The curd I used for the khandvi had turned a little sour. I would have liked it better if it hadn't. The pakoras were good. Again, Iwas a little impatient here and made huge ones, instead of the dainty ones shown on Mad Tea Party :). Size didn't matter to me :D, hunger did!! :D.

Thiruvannamalai – June 14th - 15th 2008

2008-06-17T11:47:00.000+05:30

TVM – Thiruvannamalai!
A2B – Adyar Ananda Bhavan!

This weekend was a sudden trip to Thiruvannamalai. Hubby dearest having read a lot about this place, had to visit this place and was looking for the right time to do that. So after getting some quick details from cousins and friends about the routes, hotels, et al, on Friday night, we decided to leave the next morning, stay one night and return by Sunday evening. The stay part was just so that it wasn’t too much of a strain. But finally it did prove to be a good decision, as we covered more places than we would have in one day.

Saturday – 8:15 am – We left Bangalore and reached Hosur, from where we proceeded towards Krishnagiri. Taking the Tirupattur – Thiruvannamalai route, as, though this route is about 10 km more than the Krishnagiri – TVM route, the road however, is better than the heavily potholed Krishnagiri-TVM route. So, after a stop at the way side A2B restaurant and filling petrol, and another refreshing stop at a tender coconut stall, where we ended up picking some mangoes and guavas as well, we reached the Ashram of Ramana Maharshi at around 1:15 pm. On checking if we could stay there, we got a negative response, since pre-booking was necessary to stay.

We then proceeded to Hotel Trishul (Found this on the internet and it was rated highest). Pretty decent I must say. Having dumped our bags here, and after some lunch and a much needed siesta, we left to visit the famous ashrams. The first stop was “Sheshadri ashram” (Ramana maharishi was his disciple). It was a pretty little place in a perfect rustic setting. It had a small meditation room and lots of peace and quiet! Then the next stop was Ramana maharishi ashram. Compared to the previous one, this was bigger, with more people, a temple, and lots of peacocks flying and screeching their throats out! There were also tons of our ancestors monkeying around J. The specialty here was that there was a pathway leading to the Virupaksha caves in the middle of the TVM, and also to the Skandashram nearby. While proceeding towards the caves, we can see quaint little rocks covered by clothes hung on wooden lines, which provide as a shelter for the aspiring sanyasis.

It was 6:30 pm by the time we left the ashram and proceeded towards the Arunachaleswarar temple. This temple is at the base of the TVM. It is a huge temple with at least 9 gopurams. The main deity here is Lord Shiva and his consort Amman (Abithakuchamba). There was a place from where all the 9 gopurams could be sighted, and there was also a model of the temple made which showed us the locations of every point within the temple. After visiting the two deities, we had our dinner at Hotel Ramakrishna, and then scooted back to the Trishul and slept early (the India Pakistan finals was on, and India was on the way to a defeat, so there was no point staying awake for that match!).

Sunday – 7:00 am –
After some coffee and a refreshing bath, we walked back to the Arunachaleswarar temple. This time we entered through the main entrance (there are four entrances). Lord Murugan’s deity was installed immediately at the entrance. That was where Lord Murugan appeared before Arunagirinathar Swamigal – who composed Thiruppugazh in praise of Lord Murugan. After paying due respects to the lord, we again proceeded to the Shivan deity, which was at the other end of the premises. On the way, there were a lot of other smaller deities and also a huge water body, not to forget the Elephant which blessed us when we gave it some small gift. We visited the Pathalalingam – which is the lingam placed lower than the ground level. We need to climb down a few steps to see this deity.

After the visits to the 4 deities, we had some good breakfast and awesome coffee at hotel Arunachala, just behind the temple. Though the temple was beautiful and well maintained, I can also not forget to mention the sad state of affairs around the temple. The dirt, slums and beggars was really heart rending to watch, and makes one wonder if there really was more that could be done to maintain the place.

We then checked out of Trishul at around 10:30 am, and asked our way around to find the Girivalam. Girivalam is a 15km pathway around the TVM hill. It has 108 lingams en route. We can either walk around, or even drive around. Due to lack of time, we drove around the pathway. The views of the hill were breathtaking from here. Sanyasis also were aplenty along the route. On completion of the Girivalam trip, we proceeded towards Bangalore.

I almost missed mentioning the fresh vegetables and flowers (at pretty cheap rates) that we bought at the market place of thiruvannamalai before leaving. One must surely not miss out on buying these!

On the way back – we took another sudden 18 km diversion towards Saathanur Dam. With pretty little villages and excited farmers posing for pictures on the way, we reached the dam and spent an hour looking around the lush green garden and checking out the dam engineering! So it was 12 pm by the time we left the dam and proceeded towards Bangalore. Another half an hour stop at the Hosur market for some Rice, and it was 4:30 pm by the time we reached home sweet home in Bangalore! Not bad at all!

Home sweet home!

2008-05-17T10:08:00.000+05:30

Back at home and having a good time :) .. doing what though? Nothing but idling away my time!! :) Doing all the things that I used to consciously avoid all these days. Little things, but of great importance, I am sure you would agree - :)

Getting up, but not before 8 am!, reading a book as soon as I get up from the bed, not bothering to clean up the table - knowing well it needs some good amount of re-arranging and dusting ... aaaah.. heaven!!! How good it feels to just laze around, and not having to worry about it!!

:) Enjoy it while it lasts, is what I tell myself... Though it does feel nice to be doing (or, not doing?) such things, with the sudden burst of energy I get after lazing around, I can't seem to stand all the mess which I knowingly tolerated all this while!!! :D. So lazing once in a while is a good thing after all I suppose...

Awesome win at T20!!!!

2007-09-25T13:57:00.000+05:30

What a match that was last night!!! Awesome, thrilling, fantabulous and what ever words you can think of! The Indian's for once, did not lose focus and proved their might. :) And am I happy or what! The entire country was cheering for the 10 players on the field, and the Indian team, I should say FOR ONCE again, did not let us down.

Watching the match on the terrace canteen (terabyte as we call it endearingly) of our office, all the folks were almost competing against each other as to who could cheer the loudest and most! Every run scored, and every wicket taken was followed by the loudest cheer and the highest jumps one could ever witness. And what a high we were all on - unbelievable. When this was the case with about 100 people watching the match, imagine what the entire nation cheering put together would have sounded like!

A thought crossed through my mind as to what if the players were able to hear the entire country's cheers for them. Whew! Way to go India. And keep up the attitude and spirit in all your matches. Play to enjoy the game, and dont get bogged down by the pressure of all the Indian's on your back. Though, I must admit, we do get over the top most of the times, but its because we love you and the game. And we will always do - whether you win or otherwise.

Marriage, Mexican fried rice, et al

2007-08-06T11:58:00.000+05:30

Well now - hello all - I am back and yes - with a bang! :) Having been given the tag Mrs. to my name, experimenting with various aspects of my life, cooking being one of the most important of them!!!! Amidst all the confusion and excitement of setting up our new house, my sister in law and me busied ourselves in trying out various new dishes, with hubby dearest being the unsuspecting victim.
One of these culinary attempts of ours dished out something we termed as Mexican Fried Rice! And I must say - it turned out pretty well!
We started by tossing in 3 chopped tomatoes, a few green chillies and some cilantro into the mixer. In a pan, add some oil and let a teaspoon of mustard sputter. Add finely chopped onions and saute till they turn golden brown. Pour the smoothly blended paste of tomatoes into the pan.
Now for the best part - the veggies that go in. American sweet corn, chopped red and yellow bellpeppers, some green peas if you please - all these go into the tomato paste. Add salt to this mixture and While it cooks, pressure cook rice with lesser water than usual, so that you get non-sticky consistency. Once the mixture and rice are done in their own separate ways, mix both of them - and voila! there is your lip smacking mexican fried rice. :) :)

Quick peek

2007-02-14T14:36:00.000+05:30

In the midst of all the madness these days at home ... :) ... I must mention a pleasant and enjoyable madness though ... Popped in for a quick peek into my favourite place :) on a special day ... Here's wishing all the visitors a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY.
It will be a while before I blog again. Signing off on a happy note.. See you all soon.

Happy New Year (Or what?!)

2006-12-29T17:27:00.000+05:30

Dec 29th 2006 - 2 days behind the New Year. The countdown has begun... Lots of mails flowing across - with wishes for the new year, lots of offers across all the malls, lights, decoration at the workplace, and what not.

I am at work now ... The work place is close to empty. Everyone has either have left for the day, or are on leave since the past week. And those who are here, am sure (I hope, atleast, cos that's the frame of mind I am in :D) are in no mood to work. I am looking at the clock tick away, ever so slowly, and am waiting for it to strike 6, so that I can bang shut my laptop (quite literally), turn off my desktop server monitor (Not shut down - because a test is running on it you see), and rush through the peak hour traffic and reach home. Reach home, yes, and what next? [Well, the next thing that I think of is some hot snack with a steaming cup of tea] currently, the thought of food is the only source of excitement for me.

Drudging along through my work load, ever so half heartedly, I can't stop wondering - why all this fuss about entering a New Year? I was one of them too, a few years back - One of them who loved the fan fare around the New year arrival, and who was very much a part of the celebrations and get togethers with friends, to welcome the new year until and beyond mid-night. And, yes, I maybe one of them this year as well. I maybe, for all you know, loving the feel of the new year dawning, and the lights and the colors and the happiness around.

But right now, at this moment, I cannot seem to understand what all the fanfare is about? Why do we all enjoy the arrival of a new year? Somehow, the beginning of this new year brings with it a feeling that time just absolutely flies. I feel as though I just finished celebrating the dawning of the year 2006, and before I could even let that feeling sink in, its time for 2007!! The years seem to be running by, and they, ofcourse, don't give us a second chance.

Talk of brooding, and I somehow manage to do that really well. Well, since the year 2007 is anyway going be here soon, so might as well enjoy the fact and receive it with all the fanfare and the excitement. And since there is a nice weekend before 2007 hits us, let me start, maybe, by making a list of all I would like to do in 2007. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!!

Uncertainties

2006-09-25T10:44:00.000+05:30

Another one of those days... When I am feeling like a lost puppy in the big bad world.

Life's inconsistencies and my indecisiveness are taking a toll and I need to sit and think about a lot of things and rearrange my thoughts.

But, sadly, my heart will not let me do it. I am too scared to open up my mind and let myself think, lest it makes me take some decision which my heart will not agree upon. Am I scared to face life and its various realities? I don't want to believe that, because I think I am prepared for whatever, WHATEVER damn situation I am going to face.

But then, is that true? Am I really prepared for what I might face? It's easy to console oneself that life has innumerable challenges and that we must and will take it as it comes ... On facing it actually, pop goes my so called determination and there I go, getting weak in my knees and refusing to believe that well, that's that. That's how it is and will be.

By the way, it actually feels better when thoughts come out clear on paper. Feels lighter and well, maybe now I can rearrange my thoughts afterall, and life's uncertainties are not as difficult as they seemed a few seconds back!!

Last few months

2006-09-15T17:52:00.000+05:30

It's time - The child has grown up. It's time for him to say good bye to his parents. It's time for him to go away - to be on his own. Away from his parents - the people because of whom he is here today and is what he is today.

The parents go through a plethora of emotions, and so does the child.

Parents - Happy to see their child grown up and able to handle things himself. Happy that they have brought him up well and have helped him reach this level. Happy that their child has achieved a lot and is ready to take on the next phase.
Sad that they will not have him around any more. Sad that they will miss his laughter, his activities around, his enthusiasm to do things... Sad that the child will not be there anymore to be pampered and cared for.

Child - Happy that he is going to face the world all by himself. Happy that he is going to be independent. Happy that he is getting his chance to explore and learn new things and can think of exploring ideas which would otherwise be difficult to do under the care of his wary parents.
Sad that he will not have the same care to help him through difficult times. Sad that he will not have his parents around to listen to his achievements. Sad that he will not experience the love and affection of his parents.

A thoughtful little fella...

2006-08-21T14:32:00.000+05:30

I met this little fella yesterday, who must be hardly about 10 years old - And, Oh my God! Wasn't I shaken out of my dream world!! I had a wonderful, thought provoking and a totally enjoyable conversation with him for about an hour.. and here's what he had to say -

LB - Akka, I just hate this city life. The noise and the pollution just irritates me no end. I want to go far far away from this city and live in a world of my own. My dad has some ideas of building a farmhouse. Wouldn't that be great???

I am planning to start a Wild Life Sanctuary, and do some Agriculturing also. We can have 3 dogs - two to protect the sanctuary and 1 for our protection. Also we will have a guest room, so that we can invite weary travellers to take rest there ... ofcourse we will not let them into our house, because its not right to trust anybody.

We will take all near to extinction animals, and take care of them so that they have children and their numbers grow. I am going to plant lots of trees, so that I can get the vegetables and fruits for daily use from them itself.

Me - But kutti, where will you get the money for all this? You know, I have just fallen for your idea, but it isn't that easy to start off on it.

LB - (thinks a bit and states matter of factly) - But Akka, if we start a wild life sanctuary - The Govt will fund us, will it not? So there goes the problem of funds!! Also, I have 2000 bucks in my piggy bank, and my father has saved money for me as well.

Me - (Wow!!!! What do I say here????).

LB - Akka, I won't even go to school, because all the knowledge is available in books, and I can just read them and improve and learn about the world.

Me - However, if you want to get a job later in life, you would need a degree certificate dear boy, and you would have to go to school and then college for that to happen.

LB - But why do I need a job? I can work as an officer in my own Sanctuary and help in the project to make the animals and greenery stay intact. What do you think of this akka? Can you please talk to amma and make her understand that we must do this and we must help our nation grow in the right direction? Akka, we must also control the population growth and stop breaking down trees and forest areas - we must build lots of trees and make people understand that if the trees are all cut down, we will not be able to live any more and lose all the comforts and the beautiful weather that we enjoy. People just understand all this, do they?

Me - True dear boy and its amazing that you have a great idea like this in your little head - and I would love to think that this will happen in the near future. Keep up this thought and work towards your dream. I am sure it will work out some day.

[Isn't it a wonder that a 10 year old loves the world so much and wants to do so much for it. And we, the common people, know all about the imminent dangers, but still pretend that life is just rosy, and turn a bl

Wada paav and chai ...

2006-07-26T12:26:00.000+05:30

Just the plain thought of it makes me drool, imagine what would happen if I actually was gorging on it right now!!! Wada paav and chai is one of the most famous snack - A favourite among people in the state of Maharashtra - starting from school kids to as old as 70 year olds...

Be it for breakfast, lunch or an evening bite - Wada paav is the unconquerable leader.

College days was when I was introduced to this delicacy! Starting at a meagre Rupess 3 for a wada paav and a 2 rupees 50 paise for a cutting (this was how a half cup of tea was known as) - this was the most affordable and lip smacking eat.

What with a few pennies in hand, all of us friends had no better work than to sit at the all time favourite Gokul bhaiyya's katta and gorge on the wada paavs and a cutting each. All the while, the guys making sure that they don't miss out on any of the babes coming out of the ladies hostel, and us girls just content with each others company and enjoying the stupid jokes (:P) that the guys used to crack.

Wada paav is basically potato wada (which also has lots of coriander, ginger and garlic), stuffed in between the two folds of a buttered and toasted Paav (you could call it a burger bun), with a generous spread of ground nut chutney and onion slices. A bite of this heavenly concoction, and a sip of tea to go along ... yummmmmmmm... you need to experience it to understand what I mean here!!

Kudos to the discovery of wada paav. :). Oh how I missed it in my 3 and a half years of stay in Bangalore!! And those who haven't had a taste of this - what are you waiting for??? Get up and GO EAT ONE immediately!

Psst - An advice... I have not tasted as good a wada paav anywhere else in India. So don't take a chance and taste one outside Maharashtra!!

An afternoon well spent ...

2006-07-11T12:18:00.000+05:30

There are so many little children in this world, who are not as lucky as all of us to have had a wonderful childhood. Little children who have had to sacrifice their innocent childhood in doing tasks which are not meant for them - working as rag pickers, working in Tea stalls, and whatever not. All this, in an effort to earn a little bit of money, to support their family and to be able to eat atleast one decent meal a day. At their tender ages, these children are burdened with much much more than they can handle. They end up growing too soon and miss out on the wonderful experiences of childhood. Though they might go to school, once they are back home, what are they in for??? Again the same scenes of drunken fathers, fights, smoking, ... things which are absolutely not meant for them.

So, it was a wonderful feeling on the last sunday afternoon to see these same little kids of lesser privileged parents, enjoying themselves at an art class organized by an NGO. The kids were having a good time there - which was the main aim - to let the kids be what they are - KIDS.

They were such a curious and competitive lot. Some were quietly and keenly doing the work given to them, while some were making me do it for them!! Others were busy comparing their work with that of their friends, and making sure that their own was no less. There was a lot of running about, sharing of paint brushes, spilling of the coloured waters, and at once getting a cloth to clean the mess... all these small little things teaching them the basics of life. Ofcourse there were some petty fights, and arguments between the little ones, and it took a lot of efforts on the part of the teacher and the volunteers to try and instill into them the rights and wrongs. But isn't that the challenge? To give them the freedom of their thoughts and expressions and mould them into beautiful human beings who can take care of their lives and be independent.

Well, within no time the class got over. All of them, chattering and playing, formed small groups. Some trooped to catch a train, while some started walking home. Walking along with me, they wanted to know where I stayed and how I would go home. They invited me to their houses, and I had a difficult time convincing them that I would make it some other day. Some wanted a ride in the car when they learnt that my dad was coming to pick me. Some wanted to know whether I stayed in a bungalow, or an apartment. My my... the questions were never ending. :).

It was an afternoon well spent - with children who were so enthusiastic, and so much in awe of everything around them, and who will take on the world, if only given a chance...

Dear Friend ...

2006-07-02T16:20:00.000+05:30

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are quite expressive and thoughtful. You see the world in a way that others are blind to.

You are not a very grounded person. You prefer dreams to reality. For you, it's all about possibilities.

You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself.

Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now.

For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

This one is for all my friends who have supported me through my entire life... For all those friends who have shared all the happenings in my life, be it the most joyous moments of my life... or even the most difficult times in my life.. I have always had them with me through the various ups and downs that I have gone through in my school and college days...

Friends are the most beautiful possessions in one's life.. I have ended up learning the most essential lessons of my life from the time spent with my friends..

And it just doesn't end there .. The same friends (and now even more), even with their busy schedules, with their daily routines of work, marriage, children, ... The same friends still make sure that they are always there to help me, lend a ear to the happenings in my life.. pull me up when I am distressed, buck me up with words of encouragement, to give me a shoulder to weep on... and to let me know that they have tons of faith in my abilities...

Through the various moments of fun, sorrows, separation, reunion, I have gained so many important lessons. Though at those moments of emotions, it had never been obvious of the influence that it would have in my life... but when I look back... I realise that they were what has made me the person I am today...

When I was made fun of by my friends, I used to be hurt. But I realised that they made fun of me so that I would stop being a baby, grow up, and learn to face the world and to stand on my own feet.

The trips that we went out together, they have helped us in getting to know each other so well, and we are all so strongly bonded now.. This has made me value the presence of any and every person/event in my life, however small it might be..

We used to go cycling together, racing against each other and against time... this has embedded within me, the quality of facing life's difficulties with a challenge and with a smile, and also to always remember to lend a helping hand to someone who is left behind...

This blog is for all of you guys and gals... This is to thank all of you for being there always.... Three cheers to all my dear friends... Here's wishing you luck in all the endeavours in your life...

With nothing to do on a weekend

2006-06-30T17:40:00.000+05:30

Blog blog blog - Am back - But the bad news is that - I have no special news to blog about. Have finished all the work for today at office. And I am wondering what I should do next. We have TGIF celebrations at our office today. But I am in no mood to attend. I want to go on treks and meet my old college friends and just freak out this weekend .. but got no company Boohoo .. so that's that.. and here I am, cribbing about it. All friends are in the US of A. Except a few who are totally stuck with work. Which is really bad because then they are not available on weekends to freak out with. And what is a weekend for if its not utilised properly? That statement makes me cry ... Am all set to put the city on fire.. but I don't have company. This is not fair.

Random thoughts

2006-06-19T14:44:00.000+05:30

Life's like that -

Not always sweet and rosy - sometimes I just don't seem to understand how people think, see and act, or what makes them see things the way they do.. and not the way I want them to ...

I can never seem to get people to see things from my perspective- because I myself don't have clear explanations to my way of seeing things, I just think the way I do without giving a thought as to how (or how not) feasible it might be in the long run..

So there you go.. what can be done in this case? Guess no one's really understood what I am trying to say here..

Traffic Rules

2006-05-04T13:51:00.000+05:30

You Are Somewhat Honest

You do tend to tell the truth a lot

But you also stretch the truth on occasion

You figure a little lie isn't a big deal

As long as it doesn't hurt anyone too much!

How Honest Are You?

Traffic rules - I thought they were there for us to obey them! And wow - people just impressed me totally today by breaking them so easily and causing trouble for all the others on the road - who look like fools following the rules...

As the saying goes - Rules are mean to be broken - Poeple are taking this statement very seriously and go about breaking the rules without even a hint of a prick in their conscience!

30 seconds more to go for the green signal, and the traffic is flowing from the opposite side, but Mr Car Driver honks and honks - and the Bike driver in front gets the cue - He moves breaking the signal and the Mr Car driver follows him as if it was the right thing to do - and glares at the others who are still standing, waiting for the green signal... How very nice of him, isnt it...???

AAAAAARGH... these things just totally get on my nerves... Why do the so-called learned and educated people turn Oh-so noncivilised? How will their kids learn if the elders themselves behave so ignorant... ??!?!! What is the hurry? Why doesn't a person start a little earlier than usual, so that he could be on time, just driving normally, instead of causing unnecessary troubles to all the others? One can actually enjoy a drive. Why the tension in the mind of the driver? Why not start early and enjoy the beauty of the morning instead of spoling your mood as well as that of others....?? Will people ever learn?

Change

2006-04-27T17:52:00.000+05:30

Your Mexican Name Is...

Doña Aracely

What's Your Mexican Name?

Pune - Back home. Feels great to be back home... to where I belong! And having all the attention of mom and dad. Exploring the familiar Pune roads on my two-wheeler, with the wind caressing my tresses! Wasn't that a wonderful feeling!!!
This was the place where I have the most beautiful memories. I can't believe that its already time for me to write about my memories about this place! It seems just like yesterday, when my friends and me used to go to school together on bicycles, and then to different colleges, but still managed to meet each other almost everyday, and exchange our daily events....

Now, it’s just me here. All of them are at different places. In the US, in Australia, living their own lives, bringing up their kids. Of course, still in touch. Life changes so drastically, it’s never the same. The best of friends we had, suddenly seem so far off and out of reach. And more so, this fact just merges so easily with our lives. The fact that things have changed, and that it’s no longer the same, that our friends are no longer with us, these things just become a part of our life so easily... guess that’s because our lives also have changed. We have our work, our family and OUR things to think about, we are so immersed in ourselves, that it doesn’t seem to matter anymore, not all that much at least, that our friends are not with us any more...

Like someone very rightly said - Change is the only constant in life

Why?

2006-04-06T12:01:00.000+05:30

Your Personality Profile

You are pure, moral, and adaptable.
You tend to blend into your surroundings.
Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends.

You believe that you live a virtuous life...
And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye.
As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Sometimes, life can just be so beautiful and nice to you, that you end up wondering why?!! I wonder sometimes, why is it that God is being so kind to me??? Am I really worth all the nice things that he is doing for me? What good have I done to people??

We all know and believe that God is impartial. However, I am never able to understand that why is it that some people are poor and struggle even for a small meal, while others just manage to have everything and still crib about not having enough .. (I am surely not excluding myself from the latter set of people) ..

Then how come we still say that God is impartial? So is all this manmade? All are these inequalities due to man bringing in distinctions between people? Then why cant God just set these things right, and why can't everybody in this world have their little basic necessities atleast?

But then again, where do these basic essentials end??

Autos in Bangalore

2005-12-20T17:20:00.000+05:30

Citizen1 asks the auto driver- "M.G.Road hogtheera?"
Auto Driver - Grunts ... "Illa hogalla"
Scene repeats with citizen 2 asking - "Indira Nagar?"
Auto Driver 2 - Gives a wry smile and just keeps moving.

This is a very common situation in Bangalore. I am sure Bangaloreans would agree with me. And it frustrates one so much, especially when we are in a hurry and want to get to some place at a given time, instead of being able to just take an auto and go our way, we end up walking about 15 - 20 minutes until we come across an auto driver who deigns to take us to where we want to go. And how??? -- After a great amount of haggling, at a 1 and a half meter rate!!!! Was it worth all this effort?

Its much more easier and feasible to just take a bus and keep moving. Sometimes I wonder, why don't the autos have a board, just like buses, stating that this auto will only go to this particular place. We wouldnt then even bother stopping and asking them whether they would please take us here...

I am sure every city has something to say about their auto facilities!

So whose fault is this? The auto drivers, when asked for an explanation, come up with the following reasons:
1. One ways on that road.
2. Too much of traffic on that side.
3. We will not get a return fare, so pay us one and a half.

So where do we go from here? The auto drivers too have a point here. They lose out on their income because of not getting a return fare, because of having to take round about routes due to the huge number of one ways that have been implemented, and also, because of having to wait for ages due to the huge traffic jams that happen at peak hours.

Shouldn't we be doing something about this issue? The population in Bangalore is growing by the day, so the number of one ways too cannot be avoided...

Will it help if we have a metering system which runs on waiting? This system is there at present, and is used when we ask the auto to wait for a few minutes while we finish off our personal work and come back. However, if it could also be used while the traffic jam is holding the auto up, the auto drivers might not think twice to take us to where ever we want them to.

Does any one have any solutions? What else could be done to better this situation? Also, this might not just be in Bangalore.

Thoughts on protection of trees

2005-11-17T06:15:00.000+05:30

The other day, I and a relative were having a discussion, and I mentioned the rapid cutting of trees in Bangalore, which was totally unacceptable to me. However, when he voiced his opinion on it, I learnt that there were people who actually approve the cutting down of trees. The arguement he offered was, if the traffic was really high, and the trees are growing in the center of the road, blocking the traffic, then the only option was to cut down the culprit. The roads would have been smaller in earlier years, and so they would have planted trees, not keeping in mind the fact that the roads might need to be widened as the days progress, and when they are, the trees might prove as a block for the ever increasing flow of traffic. Though, practically this arguement makes absolute sense, but do you still think this is a valid solution? What if trees had brains and could think and walk and talk like humans, and they were growing vastly in population? Would they start killing humans because humans had completely occupied their land? Is that acceptable to us? Don't we realise that trees are the ones who provide the comfortable shade in days of sweltering heat, and who house a whole lot of beautiful flowers which are so pleasing to ones eyes, and fruits which act as our food? I agree we need them to provide our basic furnishings etc., but shouldnt there be a way of ensuring that we help the growth of trees in some way or the other? There was a mention about planting one tree for every tree cut... but does anyone know if this really happens? Do we really need to advance so much in technology that we neglect the very own nature which has provided us with so much so unselfishly?