Let this be a lesson

so the upshot of things was that the Drunken revellery did happen. Over the weekend. And no it wasn't me that got drunk. It was a friend and the best part about dealing with drunken people is that its the best time to wean out secrets from them. And wean out secrets we did although i'm pretty sure that THAT friend will not want to socialize with us ever again and that would truly suck because he was the one with the car. So no more rides, no more late nights, no more random 2 am stops at streetside chaiwallahs, I guess for my sake I better be discreet now.

I'm a social drinker.Yeah ok, not quite a social drinker considering I have a whole bottle of malibu hidden in my closet. I dunno why but I hide things that I don't want to share with anybody in my closet. Just Like my mother actually hmmm. Anyway, so the malibu sits prettily next to my pile of special underwear (too much information??) and I have a swig of it (the malibu not the underwear) every other night. I like it with pineapple juice and that combination is heeavenly! but my drink of choice these days is the dirty martini. A martini makes me feel all grown up and mature. It makes me feel like a woman who has her life sorted and which is extremely sexy as opposed to what I am - a 25 year old who collects happy meal toys

I've never had a particular thing for alcohol tho. I mean it wasn't particularly glamorous because it was never denied to us as kids. My dad loved his beer with fish curry rice and we had a lot of those growing up. Infact my mom completely spoiled beer for me by telling me it was good for the knees!! imagine beer having medicinal properties! I'm glad that my parents were cool about alcohol as it meant that I was regarded as super cool in my school, as I was the only one among them to have tasted all the alcoholic drinks. But their coolness also meant that I could never store my alcohol at home. Infact when I stashed my breezers in our fridge, I would often find those consumed by my folks. Infact my mom even called me at work once and reminded me to get more breezers. Now you know why I moved to pune...

But I've had my drunken tryst with alcohol too. What I describe next doesn't make me look good, but if I wanted to feel good about myself, I'd watch splitsvilla. Anyhow, my drunken binge happened, unfortunately at an office party. The party was at Geofferies and since the alcohol was on the company all of us literally immersed ourselves in an alcohol frenzy. I had 8 tequila shots, 2 large whiskies, 1 glass of wine, 1 cosmopolitan, 2 shots of baileys and then I lost count. Then I also started slapping people around. One of the people I slapped happened to be a senior sales guy and he wasn't particularly pleased with my slapping him and so he poured his wine over head as he was drunk too, see? I don't think I consumed that...and then I passed out on the lawn. When they tried to take me home I started puking my guts out. Another dear friend (I won't say who, you know who you are) who was also drunk and who happened to be in the same cab as mine also started puking but unfortunately inside the cab. The cab driver actually refused to drive any further because of all the puking and demanded that he be paid a thousand bucks more inorder to pay for the cleaning. The onus of pacifying the driver came on the only guy who was not drunk and not puking and I bet at that time he seriously wished that he was one of us puking people.

The next day I felt sick to my stomach and spent the better part of the day in the loo. After that incident I did not drink for a year. Now, in fear of such an event ever ocurring I actually take in just one small drink and make it last the whole evening. Its for the greater good - no puking and no angry cab drivers to deal with

I Got Panda!

This is a tale of triumph. of inspiration. of overcoming great odds. This is a tale of how I FINALLY got the King-fu Panda Happy Meal toy at McDonalds.

Ok, ok, I realize as someone in my Mid-Twenties, I should not be associating myself with anything MacDonalds. Even remotely, as that would prove detrimental to my cool yuppie chick image and instead should be writing about alcohol, orgies and grass but seriously, I live in Pune, which has not quite recovered from that ill fated rave party (which people still talk about...I mean..C'mon...) so expectations about tales of drunken revelry need to be tempered a lil bit methinks. Also. Also, and this is hugely embarassing, I have a thing for collecting Happy Meal toys. Some ok. Not all *she says, rather defensively*

See, at first I was a huge closet admirer of Happy Meal toys. They were cute alright but I was too embarassed to ask the guy at the counter for fear of being judged. When MacD was rolling out Shrek Characters as Happy Meal toys I was greatly tempted but I resisted myself. Then epiphany happened by way of talking to kay my best gal friend. I told her about my secret craving for Happy Meal toys and found that kay had a whole bloody collection going! and when we were in school, kay was the first one among us to have a living, breathing boyfriend as opposed to some of us (I'm not saying who) who were still into fantasy boyfriends. This fact alone made her an icon in all our eyes and if she was collecting Happy Meal Toys, there is no SHAME in me collecting one too.

So from then on, I became a Happy Meal Nazi. I constantly harassed the MacD staff when they didn't have the "right" toy in stock. I mean they NEVER had shrek in stock. I got the donkey and other assorted characters but NEVER shrek. I personally love the look on their faces when I ask about toys - the "You need to grow up lady!" look, that said I was often perplexed about why I never got the toy of my choice. Are there so many friggin' kids in our country? Why are there so many friggin kids in the first place? Are people having so much sex that kids just happen? why? why? and why me?

When the Kung-Fu Panda toys came out, I again wasn't able to get the panda toy. I enquired in 4 different MacD and still no luck (I can't believe I admitted to that, I sound positively neurotic). Thats when I began to harbour notions that there was a special clique of slimy kids which was working specifically to thwart me in my attempts. Thats when I decided to change strategies. I asked a friend to get me a Happy Meal and to ask if they had the Panda and Guess what? they HAD it!!!. See, see, I told you there was a grand conspiracy.

Ok I sound neurotic but really its more enthusiasm and joy brought on by this coup. And get this, after my friend saw the Panda, he was like "duuuude I should have got one too!"

so moral of this story - Don't ever take me to MacDs and I badly need a drunken revellry jig clearly

Oh Bangalore! or Alternately - Why folks from RVCE will love this post

Sigh! what can I say, every time I visit Bangalore, I realise how much I miss home. This trip was especially nostalgic, considering I visited my alma mater - R V College of Engineering. I'll get to that later but first the really goody details of my trip. Well goody for me anyway!

First, this trip was unusually bountiful. I got a lot of gifts & serious bling from the loved one from his trip to bangkok and I must say that the man has really REALLY good taste! I got a fully ensembled black dress and by fully I mean it even came with a chic bracelet, bling-bling necklace and get this, a CLUTCH PURSE. The whole look was so classy and 50s chic that for a moment, a brief fleeting moment, I felt like Marlene Dietrich. sigh

Ok I'll stop but this trip had lots of good food too. That should interest you all. We went to a restaurant called Take 5 on 100ft road which is supposed to be a jazz restaurant. The ambience was very classy and very Manhattan type-y. The food was EXCELLENT. I mean, even as I write this, I long for their fish fingers in tartar sauce. mmmmmm. They even serve Belgium Beer, which was something I tried for the first time. Apparently belgium beer is "Alive" like all good wines. The beer menu had some good choices with good flavours. I mean never thought cinnamon would serve as an ingredient in a beer! But the big disappointment was the music. They call themselves a Jazz bar and they play U2. Sad that.

But really, do you know what I like about places like these? that these places are generally good conversation enablers. The music is not too loud, the food is amazing, the alcohol too is just right and if the company is good, it makes for stimulating & memorable conversations. Nag and Gowday, my two best buds from ice-tea days in college joined us for one such stimulating dinner. I like the fact that although we have graduated from ice-tea to alcohol, the conversations are just as stimulating, if not more. Oh I also found out that Gowday, by virtue of his job, could get me Rahul Bhattacharya's (Remember Pandits from Pakistan? my rave in my previous post?) number! Good now I know someone who knows someone who has written a book!

Now onto my trip to RV. I had to go there for some mark sheet related work. Found that the place has had a dramatic makeover! As visible from the grand entrance below -

But thankfully one thing hasn't changed drastically - the RVCE canteen. It's still the same hole-in-the-wall place next to the mech department.

Although inflation has caught up with these guys too. Check out the prices for the mini meal, puri-saagu and Idli -vada! a mini meal costs 14 bucks!! dude it was 10 in my time. lol

But inspite of the price rise, the humble mini meal has retained its ..er..essence. It still looks and tastes exactly like I remember it. Its even served by the same people! their expressions too are exactly how I remember them! I owe my engineering existence to this plate of marvel *giggle*

Did I say nothing in the canteen has changed? I'm sorry, something has. They have openly embraced corporate branding. As a marketer, I couldn't be more prouder of my alma mater. It positively warms the cockles of my heart.

But not all branding activity seems to have succeeded. The on campus Coffee Day has been shut down apparently. Sigh. RV Without Coffee Day? What will attract those poor outstation folks to the college then? It was our only plug! and our only salvation towards hipness. Alas!

RV sure was fun. It might not have been one of the best places to do engineering, but I'll vouch for this with every ounce of my being, it was the best place to meet people with character & personality!

Look Out World, She's got a book and she's not afraid to throw it

Damn Right!

Guess what? Yesterday I spent the whole day reading Amitav Ghosh's Calcutta Chromosome. Yes, Even at work (during break times ofcourse!) and then I ran back home as soon as could to finish it. I EVEN (and this makes me sad retrospectively) told the loved one "sorry baby, I'm reading a book, can I call you..er..tomorrow?". It was about 3 AM when I came to the last page and found that this book has the LAMEST, most Fuck-All ending of all times.

I HATE it when a book makes me feel stupid, more so when its absolutely absorbing in every page except the last. It literally made me go HUH? or rather a humongous HUH???

And the worse part is that I like Amitav Ghosh's previous works - Glass Palace, Hungry Tide, In Antique Lands etc. I can't understand why this one turned this way and I've spent the last two hours deciphering the ending on the net, but nobody seems to have a clue. What's even more frustrating is the glowing reviews. Like all of them literary types have understood exactly what the book was all about.

I did like the book tho but the ending just didn't make sense and I felt like calling the author up and asking for an explanation and ofcourse for my money to be returned. If anybody has read this book and more importantly has understood the ending. CALL MEEE

Lately, I've reading a lot of books with Fuck-All endings and its like, I've hit a lean patch equivalent of the literary world. There was Candace Bushnell's 4 blondes before this and that too had a lame ending. But the silver lining in all this is that I am Reading. That I am reading atleast one book a month like I resolved to. I'm glad I can still stay till 4 am reading books when I have work the next day when I know I'll all be bleary eyed, just like it used to be in college. Nothing makes me more happier than curling up with a good book and losing all track of time and space.

Inspite of my whinging today there have been loads of good books that I have read.

*Drumroll please, for the lady recommends.........*

1. Reluctant Fundamentalist - By Mohsin Hamid: sweet, short good read
2. Boys From Brazil - By Ira Levine: Gripping thriller, OMG ending. Loved It
3. Atonement - By Ewan McEvan: Well Written, absorbing. Felt good after reading it
4. Pundits From Pakistan - By Rahul Bhattacharya: My favourite read of the year. I'm not a sports fan but this guy made cricket absorbing for me. Wonderfully constructed sentences on cricket and life in Pakistan. I can't recommend it enough
5. The In-between world of Vikram Lall - By M G Vassanji: Another well written book on the life of 3 asian kids in post colonial Kenya. I'm a sucker for stories with strong political bacdrops so much so that more than a backdrop, it ends up being a strong character in the book.

I have 3 more books on the cards that come highly recommended - Manil Suri's Life of Shiva, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy (OMG...Yeah I know...I've still not read it.. so shoot me ok?) and Orhan Pamuk's Snow. I hope I'll be able to finish these by the year.

What have you guys been reading? Any recommendations?

Comment Allez Vous?

Did I mention doom in the last post? Well things have already begun to happily unravel for me. Its time for my annual mid year crisis. I lost my debit card. Well I thought I lost it anyhow and I cancelled the card. And because Citibank sends a replacement card with such alacrity, I found myself consuming copious amounts of Vada Pavs at Joshi Vada Walle for lack of money for a proper dinner. This is the same joint that attracts Auto wallahs and skoda driving peoples in equal proportions and yes, that’s what I said to console myself in this state of temporary penury.

Things always go haywire for me around June time. Work starts getting hectic, I fall sick a zillion times – and what I hate the most – the combination of those two together. Ever since I’ve started working, I’ve noticed that my most demanding projects happen around June-July AND when I’m at my sickest. That’s life telling me – “Deal with it super girl”. This has happened to me every year for the past 3 years that I’m beginning to suspect a collusion between top management and God. It’s as regular as that 3:30 PM email from boss on Friday afternoons.

Well work has involved a lot of traveling too. It took me to Mahabaleshwar where I spent a rain soaked weekend in a resort that had no cell phone signal. The only place where there was signal was a solitary tree near the pool. Things got so desperate that I was seen juggling a laptop, a phone and a gigantic umbrella, sending emails amidst a downpour under that particular tree. I did that for 2 days and when I was checking out, the hotel manager asked me what I was trying to do exactly. When I told him that I was sending emails and that I’m the consummate worker bee and very dedicated to work and do not mind emailing under desperate conditions, he tells me that there was wi-fi in the lobby.
I wanted to KILL HIM!

Work has also taken to me to a lot of five star hotels and the best, most awesome things about these hotels is the most awesome complimentary breakfasts. I dunno whether it reflects on my upbringing, but I feel like an Ethiopian famine survivor at the sight of so much free food. And food that I my bleak, solitary life doesn’t ordinarily see in one place. All to tuck in as much as I ever want. Sigh. I want to die and go to heaven at this time. A heaven that consists of Bacon, pastries, apricot jams, grape fruit juice, scrambled eggs, potato wedges, pancakes and maple syrup…sigh

Work has also made a mini mafia don out of me. I find myself yelling and making bizarre sentences like “I need that consigment in my office even if you have to sacrifice your life for it” or even contemplating on the alcohol consumption of about a 100 middle aged men. Don’t ask. It’s a lot of stress and I end up getting pissed off quite often. I can literally feel the muscles in my forehead stretching.

And sometimes, because I get so stressed, I stress about being stressed and wonder if I’ll be part of the statistic that takes BP pills below the age of 30. As long as I have constant access to complimentary star-hotel breakfasts, I think Not!

God ...I thought you were on my side

I have to write, even thought its 2 am in the night. I have to write because this restlessness is killing me.

I always get this way when the season is about to change, actually when the year hits June because, I'm thinking to myself, dear lord its JUNE!!. June is like my time for a mid-year crisis. All of a sudden my birthday is looming, and although most people like the idea of their birth being celebrated, I don't because it terrifies me that I'm getting older. this time I'll be hitting the quarter-century and apparently as a girl in india, thats peak "shelf life". The last chance to get married after which, its all downhill apparently. Usually, I'd scoff at the mere thought of this, but now, I can't help but wonder if it indeed will be downhill.

I can't help but think of the last time I was deliriously happy. It was May 26th 1999, I remember the date very clearly because the 1999 world cup was goin on and India were playing Sri Lanka that day and licked them so royally that the lankans wished that the earth would open up and swallow them. That was not why I was deliriously happy though. My 10th boards results were out that day and I went to school to find out my results in trepidation and anxiety. To my utter joy I found that I had topped the school. I felt on top of the world. I felt like God's anointed child. I felt so high and the world was at my feet. I honestly have never felt this way again or may be I've grown and become more mature. Or so I would like to thing. But that thing that day made me want to love everybody, be a nice person and want to truly love the world because I was so happy.

I dunno if I'll ever get such a moment again but I really, truly want one. Every year I wait for a day where my life truly changes and moves on to another plane. A moment that transforms me for the good. last year it was the move to pune. I guess I did it solely because I wanted a major change. theres nothing as demoralizing as the slow grind of status quo.

May be I'm thinking too much, after all, a date change is nothing to get a panxiety attack over (panic & anxiety attack together) but thats the thing with me, I do think too much. I think in sentences. You know I mentally correct my thoughts if the grammar isn't right? and when I think, I usually concern myself with the worst possible scenario because thats the situation thats really tough to deal with right? and thus my agony.

I forsee nothing but doom at the end of this year.

More Notes From China Trip

I know, I know it's been a month since I came back and my visa to milk this story has run out but things have been quite hectic and I'm in Hyderabad (Oh the new airport totally rocks) and a colleague's T-shirt has inspired me to blog so there...phew! and Also, I made a lot of mental notes which I thought I'd share and besides which one of you smart asses has been to china eh? and by the way things are going, you might soon end up working for the commies and then you'll thank me for these interesting notes.

So, for the interest of future prosperity, here it is in bullet point format:

1. Actually, I'll sneak in some singapore vignettes too, coz you see the genius me managed to sneak in some stop over time at Singapore. See apparently they let you into the country if you have a valid "white" country visa like Australia, USA, UK you get the point right? This visa is free and its diff. from visa on arrival

2. Singapore is mighty expensive. Fie on people who shop in singapore. Laught at them and tell them about this friend you know who got awesome stuff in china for just Rs 500. No kidding, when i got out of the airport, I went to the Raffles City Mall (but naturally since we are such a mall rat) and I almost died to find T-shirts costing 80 sing dollars. Thats like 3000 bucks. eesh. And if anybody raves about Topshop and the likes, again, tell them about this great friend you know who got Prada rip offs for Rs 500 in China so its really no big deal. (thats me btw, if anybody was wondering who this friend was)

(as an aside, I've always wondered about these supposed "friends" when people reference them in to bring credibility to some incredulous claim. Who ARE these people? how did they make it into common floklore and why do not have names and more importantly why am I not in this clique, when clearly they are looked upon with awe and stifled envy)

3. California Roll is not really really Sushi as it does not contain any raw fish and Imagine, just before I found this out, I declared to my bemused host that I aboslutely lurved lurved LOVED Japanese food especially, the california roll. Sometimes I have an IQ of a tomato

4. In china now and it must be mentioned that the chinese (Yes we are making sweeping statements here and that's not politicaly correct but who am I to be politically correct about the commies) come off as rude and quite often you are not sure if they are yelling at you or trying to sell you something or both. Assume the latter. Coz rude is when they try to spit at you for quoting a far below price when bargaining. This happened to me at the Great Wall and I escaped unhurt and without spittle

5. Language is a HUGE problem and the only way to get around is to put on a "Stoopid Foreigner Face" (Yeah thats when an IQ of Tomato helps) . Although, sign language may not help you much. The chumps at singapore airport threw my contact lens solutions off and I had to roam around the streets of Beijing looking for contact lens solution. Fun it was not, as, to explain, what I needed, I pretty often had to pretend like I had a horrible eye disease and hence needed a solution. Get it? EYE SOLUTION? No? they didn't either and everywhere I went, they got out some ghastly looking herbs. Till finally someone told me to go to a spectacle shop

6. Languge is however not a barrier when you are shopping oddly enough. Who knew the potential of the humble calculator to unify two races. Especially between that which won't give a bargain and that which can't live without a bargain. I got that from russel peters and he's so bloody spot on. When you tell the vendors an outrageous price, they all go NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. If the calculator can diminish the language barrier, you have no idea what the mention of Gucci can do to you. Do not for heavens sakes yell out Gucci or Rolex, for you'll be swamped with vendors of fake goods and they'll pull you, assault you, pummel you till you buy it from them

7. Chinese are good at faking things. They can imitate the crap out of anything. I heard that they even had imitation Ferraris. They are soo good at faking, that one day they'll even fake your orgasm for you.

Ok I've been dying to put that out there for ages (hehehe)

8. The food is heavenly but why the Chopsticks??? and who thought that eating food with 2 sticks was a good idea and why did a billion people buy the idea? I say this not out of contempt but out of frustration. Lets say that I was not exactly adroit with the chopsticks and lot of good food slipped through the cracks. A LOT of food. Why can't they copy the good things about western civilization, like Spoon for example?

9. If you see a Bank of China gathering, prostitute yourself if need be and get inside somehow. For these guys dish out the whole deal. Opera and complete string orchestra at the Great Wall of china complete with champagne and stuff. I saw this and I really wanted to part of the chinese creme de la creme. Only briefly and my democratic, human rights self reared its pretty head again

10. Thats the things about China, it brings your nationality and culture into sharper focus. You don't feel like an individual but like some kind of ambassador dressed in dowdy tourist-y clothes. May be its because I'm a proud Indian and there's so much being bandied about the two countries. May be its because I live in a democratic society or may be its because they fucked us in 1965. May be its all of the above Or may be I really do have the IQ of a tomato

Yo China!

Well, back in India after a whirl wind trip to China and what can I say except that China took my breadth away! Yes, I got swept away by the commies (literally too, on Tian'nmen square, but that's another story altogether). China is vulgarly showing off. From the moment you enter the international terminal of the beijing airport (a yummy looking building by Norman foster) to the ride through the streets, and the awesome thorough fares that beijing's roads are, its plain - the commies ARE showing off

Beijing International Airport - Its effin' Huge!

I'll write in detail about my trip but here's a quick list on what makes china fabulous and why it may also suck sometimes..

Why China is Faaaabulous!

1. The Food! - ok if you're the typical indian who likes getting assaulted by Indian spices then subtle chinese cuisine is not for you, but if you're not, its effing heavenly. I was quite surprised by the variety in their vegetarian food. Trust me folks, this is one country that takes its beans seriously! I've never seen beans being manipulated like these guys do. The taste is subtle, sweet & sourish, crunchy and fresh but NEVER spicy. Thats why its awesome. It never assaults your taste buds. It grows on you with every bite

That's a Fish with its mouth open

More exotic food pics

And oh we had the Peking Duck too, which the locals were very Meh about. We went to a place that was famous for its roast duck and it was soo famous that it had 2 menus!! yes you heard me TWO menus. One for the average crowd and one for the high rollers. I swear its all true. The menus were very corporate brochure type-y and had elaborate images and description. The duck dinner was a 24 course meal! by the end of the 12th course, there even was an effing mid-meal dessert! who's heard of a mid meal dessert. Anyway the food kept coming on a revolving table and I kept sampling everything that came my way in a touristy fashion that clearly amused my hosts.


2. Shopping! - This place has the ability to bring out the maniac in you. Yes you'll be surprised by how easily you part with your yuans because everything is so fucking cheeeeaaap. Soo cheap, that you want to cry that you don't live here or didn't bring a bigger suitcase or don't have a bigger budget or combinations of the the above three. The standard price for evrything is 100 yuan..that about 500 bucks. That will get you a fabulous fake Dolce & Gabana bag, 2 fabulous leather boots, A hot looking Jacket and 2 4 GB pen drives. Almost makes me want to emigrate!


But shopping here is almost like a torrid love affair. You've gotta bargain like crazy and stick to your ground no matter what. The thumb rule I discovered, was 10% of the quoted price - thats generally the OK price. So first they tell you the ridiculous, gargantuan price thats when you gotta put on a zen like face and put forward 10% of the said price (All thru calculator ofcourse). Then their faces bulge out like a fish and they say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. They then reduce the price by half. but you still have stick to your price. More cajoling and price dropping later, you have to act like you've had enough and pretend to walk out in a huff and thats when they pull you back in and literally hold on to you and assault you. But you still have to be tough and stick to 10%. After all the drama both parties agree to the 10% price, after which everyone agrees that Indians are really good bargainers


Yes its high drama and almost feels like sex, only instead of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" you're saying "100!, 100!,100!"


3. The Heritage - Beijing has the most amazingingly preserved heritage structures. The Forbidden city, Summer Palace and Temple of heaven are breadth taking. Lessons to all indians - no mutilation of any building anywhere. I guess in china they shoot such people


Why China Sucksss

1. No English - Oh yeah, that can screw you up big time. I arrived in Beijing at 2 AM and the cab driver couldn't speak english and didn't know my hotel. Luckily I had with me a woman from WHO who was used such language barriers and put on an expert "Stupid Foreigner Face" that the cop directing traffic at the airport helped us out. All in sign language


2. No sense of service - these guys can also be extremely rude and sadly, do not have a sense of service. Methinks that its more like crude than rude but that attitude is not going to win hearts. My hotel dudes turned out to be cheeky and gave a room far below the standard of what I was paying for. Its only after I complained and showed them their own brochure they upgraded me. It seems like an isolated incident, but most people dealing with tourists like Shopkeepers, peddlers, taxi drivers etc were unusually rude


3. No sense of fun : You know sometimes you get the "Jolly Feeling" from a country...like these blokes are ok? You don't get that in china. People are serious bordering on grumpy and it feels like everyone is wearing the nation's pride on their sleeve when they are interacting with you and not like an individual. Its hard to explain, but it feels like nationality is driving a wedge between two individuals. that is truly sad

But still got some awesome memories - My first authentic chinese meal by the temple of heaven, listening to a chinese opera on the great wall of china (Bank of china - the chinese big kahuna bank was having its annual get together on the great wall and they had the entire shindig - a ensemble orchestra and an opera singer), Shopping at Yashov shopping market, handing out an indian 10 ruppee note to a shop vendor as a trade off, eating sweet spicy apricots, getting swept of the pavement by a marching cadre of the Red army at the Tian'nenmen Square and ofcourse fake Gucci Bag Sellers :)

Much Excitement is happenning

Oh yes, yes

I've got to be brief because we're writing this from the departure louge of the brand new Mumbai International Airport. Oh yes that's excitement number one.

We're travelling to china people!! to Beijing! Imagine that. Imagine the possibilities of me blogging about the commies. Yes I'll try to provided I can wade the language barrier, which, I got a taste of, when trying to confirm my hotel reservation. I'm still not sure what they have booked me as. Yes I have a complicated now but is that complicated? so the 5 people who read my blog, please check out my travel blog..err...I think it is... Called Garam Chai

Excitement # 2 came in the form of coming fourth in the Brand Equity Quiz- Pune round and in the process getting guess what? A DIAMOND RING!!! yes and its doesn't even fit!! My first ring and it comes from a quiz, not that I'm complaining, but it sounds soo geeky...

Excitement #3 - getting stuck in the lift for 45 mins. I always wanted it to happen to me. Its such a creepy and weird thing. Well this one was ok. I was stuck inside with another guy. Luckily his cell phone had signal so he called his friend and the whole security jing bang came to rescue us. I felt like I was in my favourite movie - Speed. You know - the opening scene where Keanu Reeves save all those people from a Lift. Its like my all time favourite scene ever. Sadly no keanu reeves tho'

Ok gotta rush people, take care and look out for tales from the People's Republic. And no, I'm not taking my "Save Tibet" T-shirt.

Still Rolling

I know what you're thinking...hoping..rather, that this time "Rolling" refers to marijuana and rolling joints and not about that house hunting shit that I was talking about..but..sorry..no, we will go back and dissect that topic even more because guess what? there have been fresh developments. Yes, I have shifted houses AGAIN and now I'm a World Champion House Shifter and boy, can I pack, I can soo pack that I think I should make it a full time occupation.

Turns out that the only thing worse than a single woman house hunting in pune is TWO women house hunting together in pune. This time it’s not the society that is to blame, although it continues to be predictable and be horrendously evil, this time its US - us women. I teamed up with a good friend to go house hunting inspite of already having moved recently because she - the good friend, wanted to move out from her PG and I was feeling all chuffed that I was finally goin to have a cool roomate. I always wanted to have that fantasy roomate. You know where the roomate is this boho-chic, extroverted type, where she'd take the nerd me to all the cool parties- yes THAT roomate. Although this chick wasn't thaat boho and stuff, I was still excited about getting a roomate.

So anyway, we house hunted together and we found a really good deal where the house was all furnished, and for the rent that was being asked, it was as good as MTV CRIBS. So we both were really excited and right when we were about to sign the lease at the broker's, she backed out because, hear this, her "Parents did not want her to move out". This was really it and long story short, I exploded, she exploded, and obviously the friendship exploded and in this combustible mess, I had an epiphany. Actually two. First, most women, if competing for the same prize, HATE each other and second, most women, are actually very weak decision makers.

I’ll explain epiphany two before I lose my last remaining girl friend. I’m not sure if it’s the result of upbringing or self-confidence, but most women I know run all their decisions by their parents. I’ve never seen guys do such a thing but this aspect troubles me. If women can’t decide for themselves how they should live, how they should spend their money, where they should study, what company to work for, no wonder their parents are also decide who their husbands should be. I believe parents are the root cause for this. They bring their girls up on such a tight leash that the girls themselves are unable to take a firm decision without the approval of their parents, in turn feeding the insecurity of the parents with regards to their kids. I think a strong able parent would be one who lets his girl go, one who gives her enough independence to confidently make her own decisions.

Epiphany one is no brainer really. All women HATE each other period. If they are the best of friends today, come tomorrow and they both are competing for the same thing, all bets are off. But then all women tend to take things personally and really can’t look at a situation objectively. Not like men, who can cuss the hell out of each other and can still have a friendly banter on Tendulkar’s batting a moment later. Women hold deadly grudges. I know that because I had a major blow up with almost every woman I know here and it’s true! we all can be quite the bitches.

And suddenly I’m having epiphany three. No wonder I studied Mechanical engineering, where I was pretty much the only girl in the class, No wonder I like working with men more than I do with women, no wonder my closest friends are men, its not other women, its Men! I expect these women to act like men, be independent and fierce like men and it is unfair, given how women are brought up in this country, but I just wish my tribe would be more confident and sure of itself and that sometimes, it's OK to act like men

Life, Randomness and Horrific A-HA moments

Question: Does it mean that you love your work when you feel guilty about blogging when you're absolutely bored by..er..work?
So...this utterly random day has been puntuated by certain horrific A-HA moments. Horrific
A-HA means stuff that I should have known but was stoopid enough not have figured out sooner. Thats why the horrific part. but this one takes the cake:

Did you know that you can actually convert the case of all the letters in MSWord WITHOUT TYPING THEM OVER? Did you? I just learnt that. All my life I've been cursing MicroSoft for not having such an option, turn out they do. Bastards. Now they make me feel stoopid

There were other comp related stuff - like how to turn an awesomely massive Hi-resolution file into a oh-so-easily-emailable low resolution file, Also and my favourite, how to go directly to your desktop at the click of a button..ah..lot of geeky stuff, that I was clearly too cool for in college.

Where we are that proverbial rolling stone that gathers no moss

...except for the fact that I don't want to be that proverbial rolling stone. I like my roots just fine, but this dratted world just won't let me have any and instead I find myself writing this in a new house and not in that not-so-perfect apartment that I lived in. Which obviously means that this post will be all about spewing venom on house hunting and what a bitch that can be. Lets begin shall we?

The danger to the world isn't terror groups or virulent diseases, it seems, the danger to society is infact the single woman. The reason I was getting evicted in the first place was that I was living alone. My insidious landlord had the nerve to tell me that even though I could pay the increased rent, I had to evict as she wanted a "Family". That word has been my bane throughout the process. Landlords, are perfectly normally people, till I tell them that "its just me". Then their eyes bulge out, they swallow a dozen times and ask me how I'm going to the pay the rent "all by myself". At this point I've heard this refrain so many times that I want to blurt out "By pimping myself mother fucker" but no we can't, we are desperate. Thats when it seems cruel. Cruel how single independant woman are treated.

We work as hard as anybody else but its so unfair sometimes. If you're a woman and your single, the society we live in feels so bloody threatened by it. they want to marry you off, they want to pair you with somebody and if they can't, they want you to just disappear. Nobody asks a guy when he plans to get married even if hes on the wrong side of 35 but for a woman and if shes 25, she over the hill. Its business of the society, it seems to police the single woman - to monitor what shes doing, who she goes out with, who are friends her and oh on the business of friends all the landlords made it perfectly clear that boys were not allowed. Nada. no way. I want to know if bachelors face the same ordeal? Do people tell them that they can't have girl friends over? or is it assumed that boys have raging hormones anyway and they can't control them, its the women who are susceptible and ergo by this insane logic they should be policed.

WTF!!

Kill me. Kill me right now

Ok. Its not been a good 2008 so far. I hate January. Its the meanest month of the year. Its like the Monday of the year. You have to be good again, get ready to go through the routine all over again. Can't we forward to september please, with all the fabulous discounts and all?

The last few days of 2007 were very good though. I was in bangalore and I managed to to do a lot of fun things. I met up with old friends and ofcoursed gorged on marvellous food. I indulged in those cheese balls at LOR. I do that EVERY time I visit B'lore. I also got some Japanese food this time, by dragging 2 hapless friends from school to Harima and as one of them was vegetarian, I got cursed till 2070. Ok I'll shrivel up but I had the most amazing Ice tea at Citrus. Its seriously the best the Ice tea ever!!

Ok, so bangalore was very good and sadly one had to return to pune (Bengalooooru why did I ever leave youuuuu ) and as if to rub salt into injury, my geyser blew. It happens apparently. and to compensate for the lack of hot water for my daily ablutions, I turned to my trusted electric kettle, where, painstakingly we got to about half the bucket when that too, believe it or not..BLEW!

WTF!!!

so not a right start right? going without bathing? but we have learnt to be quite resourceful, living here in pune. So rightly assuming that if I turned any more electric thingummy jig on, I'd blow up the whole apartment, I decided to shower in the gym instead. Yes, every morning for the last few days. So it was 20 mins gym and 40 mins blissful shower and I even started reaching work well in time. I almost did not want to fix this situation, given that matters of hygiene were now pushing my weight loss movement. But I had to and my electrician (who is now on my speed dial, replacing family) fixed it and charged me a bomb.

This is what I hate. Being dependant on somebody and then have them rip you off 'cause you are helpless and desperate. I know now why women marry. Not because they're in love or want to have babies, but because they need a man to deal with all the riff-raff, to fix things when they blow up, to sort that leaking tap out and ofcourse to open hard-to-open jars.

I have a bottle of Apple - Cinnamon jam that I CANNOT open. I have tried everything - teeth, knife, teeth again, candle flame...but it just refuses to budge.

I'm thinking now, that I single handedly moved shop from bangalore to pune, I wrangled with the best of brokers and managed to remain sane and got a decent house (not so sure now though with all the elctricals and all), I even fought and got DSL connection for my entire building, I fight with wretched auto drivers everyday but I can't, I can't for the life of me open a Jam bottle.

Will someone end my misery by driving a stake through me? Please?

where we take a break from what is a decidedly dull day at work

and oh I forgot to mention, the boss is also out so yay!

Its december and its time to appreciate the lazy sun methinks. Its true enough for me atleast. I'm a sun child and if anybody is a fan of the sun, its me but ever since I started working, I've never had the time to look at up at the clear blue sky and appreciate the warmth on the skin..till its december. I think I know why. By this time, I'm exhausted, I'm running out of steam, I've taken the hint, I'm done trying and that's when I have the time to look up at that fatheaded sun and wonder about all the glorious days I've missed inorder to keep up with the rat race

December is also my favourite month because for me its the month for "giving up". Yes we are in loser mode today but hey its december, and I have January to be the "employee of the month". December for me has always been the month to wrap up things, a kind of emotional expiry date where I just have to get somethings done- like finish certain books I've promised myself to get done with. But the big problem with december is that it runs out very fast. its like the year too can't wait to run out and its followed by fat old January where you have stand upright again, be infallible and make lofty promises of redemption to yourself.

Well believe it or not, I intended this to be funny. Oh well, I guess it all stems from being incredibly tired and exhausted. Its hard fending for yourself. The dark side of living on your own I guess. Its fun but it has also been tough dealing with not having anybody to depend on anybody but yourself. Like for instance the other day when I was incredibly sick and the fuse blew. That was it really, I was ready to crumble and go back home. But no I couldn't. I had to go out into the chilly night and find an electrician and get the job done. Oh dad, I miss you so much!
The breakdown of the machinery is so hard to deal with. You are juggling so many things and when one of them goes kaput it all crashes down.But all said and done it has been incredibly fun - discovering a new state, a new bunch of people whose language I barely understand, even though I do feel like an ATM machine all the time (You wont believe the amount of bills I have to pay!).

Its been a good year too, I feel like I've been more adventurous and I've definitely gotten a fair bit reading done, so all hum.

I hope everyone out there has a great year ahead and Happy festivus everybody!

What's up with the world?

Seriously...

What do you expect when you order Juice? Fruit in liquid form right? Liquid being the operative word here? but noooooo. That's not how it translates when you order Watermelon juice apparently. I got chunks of watermelon in my "juice" tonight. Who invented this stuff? who was this being over smart and thus being very stoopid. And who, pray tell, likes chunks in their supposed "juice" when factually its not even juice - the way GOD INTENDED IT TO BE, YOU FOOLS!

and thus she ranted

It first happened to me in Bangalore, the shanti sagar in forum to be precise. I innocuously ordered their watermelon juice. Not making much of it, because technically technically ordering a juice is not supposed to jolt you out of your senses. But not so with the accursed watermelon it seems. I got something that was in between pulp and juice. and then as if to add a dash of mockery the guy slipped in a spoon instead of a straw!.

Spoon! Spoon! are we eating our juice these days? are we? are we??? (*makes hyper ventilating noise*)

Not one to take such things lying down, I go, "ahem...I ordered for water melon juice, there are pieces in my juice, can you please put it in the mixer again please?". To which, the guy at the counter gave me this "are you toying with me lady? cause I've had a reaal busy day" look. I was told that that was the way they served their water melon "juice" and that I'd just have to lump it (pun. heh)

As that was too much for my assaulted senses, I told him in my no-nonsense-will-punch-if-it-comes-to-it voice that I don't want chunks in my juice. So guess what he did? he simply removed all the pieces, took the spoon back and gave the now much reduced in quantity juice. Yes and I didn't even get a straw.

Today, it happened again. In another city. I shudder to think if this is an epidemic. But this time I lumped it (Note to self - definitely over doing the pun thing) and ate the juice. yes you heard it. ATE it

What's happening to world. What kind of a society do we live in? am I going to see noodles in fried rice now?

And thats not her only pet peeve right now

Damn straight. I have been going to gym for the past 5 days, working out for 2 hours, sweating it out and what do I have to show for it? a grand weight loss of 500 grams!

Things just suck. oh sorry, no they don't, you're supposed to lump it with a spoon. bah!

Maaja Macho

I'm liking this maharashtra place. September to December seems like one big party and by party I mean huge makeshift pandals, loud muisc from cheap speakers and ofcourse season's discounts. Yes the latter is often a source for cheap thrills these days. Like when I found out that the Ras malais had been discounted due to navratra.

This place has been really weird for me because back home I've never seen festivities being taken really seriously. by anyone. All it meant was - it's a holiday and you don't have to work. Here it is different. festivities mean a great deal (I mean traffic Jam causing big deal) to the people here. The mood is cheerful and lithe and already people seem to have given up on reforming themselves. In bangalore I've seen this "Oh Screw it" thingie kick in only in december. I dunno why but for the past couple of years I've felt really immune to these sort of things, like I've grown up and become too old to be excited for these things. But here it's different but I guess it's the thrill of being in a new place.

Well anyway, the main point of this post was to announce to all about my first ever Danndiya do. ok that sounded like a song. But it was fun. So much that I wished I had some serious Gujrati lineage. Why don't we south indians do such things. Nine days of dancing? what could be more fun? Like all festive things Navratri is also big deal here. I'll tell you how much.Listen to this, they blocked an entire road, A gujrathi band set up their ensemble (most noticeably of which was a huge loud speaker) and then all the residents from all the colonies came out and did the daandiya- right in the middle of the road. It's like how they say in fairy tales, "then they all danced merrily", yes, only this one was real and in the middle of the road.

But coming back to my daandiya sojourn, like I said it was most fun. It was fun get all dressed up and doing the daandiya steps, which isn't all that tough btw. And oh, must mention that I got my daandiya sticks all thanks to MacDonalds. MacDs had this thing where every combo came with a pair of daandiya sticks. Needless to say that the combos were flying thick and fast here. That was another of my season's special cheap thrills.

Another reason to celebrate in october was my b'day. I turned 24 in a city other than bangalore for the first time there were 5 new friends at the dinner table. they threw me a surprise party and smeared cake on my face. so all very nice.

The True Indian Idol

It's hard not be affected by the current festive season when you're in a place like pune. Maharashtra loves, nay LOVES lord Ganesha. That's truth apparent, going by the numerous pandals in this place, infact the street I live on has 6 big pandals. All this is new to me and I look upon with wondrous eyes, as in the place from where I come from, Ganesh Chaturthi begins and ends on the same day.Indeed the other day, when somebody was talking about the traffic jams caused by "Visarjans" I was like, "Oh C'mon, you've only got to bear it for a day" (*make a sound here for getting a fact soo wrong*)

No, here in pune, Ganesh Chaturthi is the baap of all festivals (That's me trying to be local, in days to come, I promise to infuse my "writings" with the local flavour). I don't know how the system works but everyone who is anyone puts up a pandal. Infact the biggest pandal on my street is sponsored by a political party and there's even a booming audio that lists all the top brass of the party, Lord Ganesh too is mentioned somewhere and after that, the whole thing flashes with 70's disco lighting, that, oddly reminded me of Mithun Chakravarthy numbers. Then Ofcourse there is the Music. If you are not belting out the latest dance number, you are not a true pandal it seems. Yeah there are the devotional songs and stuff but one seriously needs good music to work the crowds. I swear, I heard a pandal playing Kevin Little's "Turn me on" and this song has lyrics that go - "And then she said to me Boy just push that thing Push it harder back on me" - makes you wonder no??


But really its all nice. Festive season always makes me happy. There are bright lights everywhere, good discount in stores, people too are generally happier and less snarly and overall the mood is generally cheerful. Infact, the mood it seems has even crept into your ATMs. Yes, I kid you not, my atm had a full fledged pandal thing going - sans the music and the lighting ofcourse (see below). Get cash, do puja, get out.

I do love the times we live in. Its sooo much more amusing.


P.S: The photo above was clicked by my friend sim who was slightly amused that I'd want to put it on my blog.

And they say this blog is "Self Obsessed"

I'll try for this not to be a rant. I said "t-r-y"

But what is it with the world and my name?? Everytime I tell anybody my name they look at me with utter befuddlement, with a look that says "Are you serious??". If I'm on the phone and I tell my name, there's this obvious pregnant pause at the other end and I know that the person is taking time to process the whole name, as if I'd said something like "Anastasia Chavetdatze".

I've had it with this behaviour. The other day I was on the phone with a vendor and I told her my name and she was like "Really? what does it mean?". That's another thing, the pregnant pause is always followed by the meaning of my name. I've not heard anybody asking anybody else for the meaning of their names. I don't ask anybody for the meaning of their names, but nooooo, when its me, they all want to know what it means and then there's the third step in "the Philosophy of my name" - The contradicting of the meaning. Its not hope but Doubt.

There was this incident (actually there are serveral, but we'll run with this as example) where my teacher and mam argued about my name, when dear old mam had come in to collect the report card. It wasn't pretty.

T: About your daughter's name, Its wrong, how can you call her doubt?
Mam (quite coldly): Its not doubt, its Hope
T: Ofcourse not, its mean doubt, there's no doubt about it hahahahahha
Mam (now positively glowering): I think as mother, I know better
T: Its still not too late to change her name. You could perhaps change it to "Akanksha" Thats not too bad.
Mam: Its still not too late to change your name either

Yeah, Go Mam!!! but I knew I wasn't gonna top the class anytime too soon.

Sigh, there are times I've wished my mother had given me a no brainer bollywood-esque name like Tania or riya. Has anybody asked a Tania what her name means? ofcourse not, it means shit and everyone knows it. I've gone to mam and complained about it and she feels kinda guilty too. She collects evidence of my name and scours the internet for my rare namesakes. There was this incident at frankfurt airport, where upon telling my name, the guy I was a making random conversation with said "oh! doesn't it mean hope?", I could have jumped over the table and kissed him for saying that. Suddenly, my existence was legitemized. I felt normal. and when I told mam about it, she wanted to kiss him too.

What snapped within me was yesterday. 4 complete strangers, at pragati maidan, spoilt delhi brats all, laughing upon hearing my name and making fun of it infront of me. Them being spoilt brats was incidental. It was everybody. Teachers, Classmates, Peers, Bosses, colleauges, everybody has done it. Made fun of it. Purposely made a mess of prouncing it wrong.They don't know that by doing it, by questioning my name, they are not only mocking mocking me but also mocking the two people who gave me the name and its just not done.

So, Fuck you all. There I've said it. FUCK YOU. If you think you know better

Yay Me!!!

Well six months ago I did something unfathomable. well unfathomable to most people who do not know me. I moved to another city, to live by myself, to be independant, to fry my own bacon as it were (ok that sounded corny) and here I am six months hence, in an apartment of my own, in a city thats less alien and more friendly, my own TV, my own bloody land line even, did I say I'm sooo proud of me?

When I first moved, everybody, asked me if I was crazy to move. I mean even people in poona asked me why I did it. Well the truth be told, i don't know why. Its something that I felt ought to be done. To challenge myself. to see if I could do it. It's hard to explain and most often I end up shrugging my shoulders and looking like an idiot, but I'm glad I did it. With minimum meltdowns too. 2 to be exact but thats a decent figure methinks.

there are the highs. Oh my god the highs. Its hard to describe but even little things like instant coffee can give you joy when the universe seems against you. there are so many frustrating moments and even more frustrating people to deal with and then something comes along that makes it all easy, like a sweep of a magic wand.I mean I could almost make love to the guy who invented instant coffee. especially Bru cappucino. Hindustan Lever. I soooo love you dudes. Open packet, hot water and voila, cinnamon cappucino. who da thunk? now if only someone came up with instant tea, my life will be complete.

Then there are the tiny victories. the little come uppances that make you feel like a diva with her own entourage of backups. There was this one time where I was faced with boiling water in my bathroom because the bathroom was the only place in the house that had a 15 A plug. I didn't know that it was a 15 A plug that I needed. So I went to an electric store and asked for a "big" plug and they all snickered there. They almost sold me a 300 ruppee extension cable set but you know what, I was sure that there would be a 5 A to 15A plug, and there was! and it costs only 30 bucks!!. Now my electric kettle sings happily in the kitchen.

Did I tell you about my broadband story. This story is soo hugee, it deserves a paragraph to itself. Ok first some background - I had a lousy wireless connection that was painfully slow and I almost never got the signal. I mean I used to walk around the house with the laptop on my head looking for a spot with strong signal. Since obviously thats just too much effort to get on to the internet, I decided to go in for a broadband connection. The only hitch was that the society that I lived in did not allow broadband connection on the premises. I called every broadband vendor and everytime I told my society name, they would all refuse flatly. So I went to reason with the society president, but he just refused to give permission. His reasoning - All the wires would make the premises messy. So did I take it lying down? Did I start to look for another house in another more frendly society? Ofcourse not. What I want, I always get. So I approached the society president, this time armed with the most potent of all weapons : emotional blackmail.

I told the guy my parents lived in australia and that I had to talk to them everyday since I was a girl alone in this bad bad city, I needed the broadband and before I knew it huge sobs were pouring down my face. "As if this life wasn't tough, you want to make it more tough?" I asked in between sobs. Well anyway tears do work cause I got the broadband permission after that! That victory was soo sweet, the "whos your daddy bitches!!" moment, ahh simply priceless. And thanks to me 6 houses in my building also got broadband connection. Airtel so owes me!!

So, inshallah, its been a fun 6 months. I've made friends and proved to myself that I can make friends when I want to. The life that I've built in the last 6 months is expressly my doing and that, is the sweetest of all victories.

Damn those cravings!

I miss..

> The Cheese bites at Legends of Rock. oh those lovely gooey fatty things that explode with so much cheesy goodness. They are pretty much the only reason I go to LoR. Not the music, not the drinks, not the ambience but just them, Cheese bites. Yes, initially my diet conscious being restrained me from sampling this very un-epicurean delight, but once I had eaten one of these erm bites, dripping over in mayonnaise, all diets were toshed. The sad thing has been that the last time I was in bangalore LoR was out of cheese bites. Never did the 23 year old me most want to throw a 3 year old's tantrum. This time when I come visiting, if they don't have it, I'll bloody blow up the place.

> Chicken wings at millers 46. do you know heaven orders chicken wings from millers 46? Many of my fondest memories have involved talking to friends and contentedly tucking in chicken wings at M46. I miss the place. The wings are glazed in a sweet but peppery sauce and after you'd eaten about 6 of them, steam would be popping out your ears, the tongue would be on fire and the lips would have swollen,bee-stung like. The waiters knew me well. they even knew my house well, cause I'd order so many times. I wish they'd deliver here.

>Biryani at Ebony's. Ebony is my place. yes it is. people may say whatever they want but its so my place. I'm in my element there, with the sight of bangalore to behold, good food, and getting tipsy and giggly with a drink. I have eaten biryani in the best of places at hyderabad, but I still haven't experienced anything like the biryani at Ebony. Every time I see the waiter bring our dum pukht biryani, I start salivating like pavlov's dog. I love the spicy raita that they serve it with. it adds a certain zing to the biryani, so much so that your palate is a state of flutter. ooh just love it.

>Lunch Meal at Krishna Kafe. KK is this authentic tam bram place in koramangala that was a short walk from my previous work place. We used to go there for lunch, especially on Friday's because the heavy lunch is a perfect excuse not to work therafter. The lunch was served on a banana leaf and was a typical south indian affair with rice, applam, sambhar, rasam, 3 different types of curries. Every time I have gorged on steaming rice dripping in sambhar, I know i have a fat pot bellied tam bram priest inside me. The highlight was ofcourse the "unlimitededness" of the entire meal. Unlimited everything - rice, sambhar, curry and offcourse applams. KK brings back fond memories of this road trip my family went on when I was 10 I think, through Tamil Nadu. Every restaurant/Tiffin room had this "Unlimited" largesse concept. For the price of one you could eat for ten people. I haven't seen it emulated anywhere.I sorely miss my Rice-rasam- sambhar here. I'm in roti hell folks!!!

> Set dosa at shanti Sagar. My parents have this wonderful habit of ordering Dosa and idlee from Shanti sagar on sunday mornings. That would be the only day mom wouldn't make breakfast. I was always deputed to go get the breakfast and it would always be 3 set dosa and 10 idless. I loved my set dosa. I miss it.no thats MISS it. Dosa and saagu palya used to be my sunday morning heaven, together with fresh tea and the sunday times. I also used to have a cup of coffee whist at shanti sagar, waiting for my parcel. There is no coffee like south indian coffee. Nothing. I'll contest anyone to a spelling duel if they think otherwise

> Cornerhouse!!!. I don't have to be descriptive here do I? I miss the banana split, the cake fudge, the ice cream overdose, the whole of your ice cream immersed in nuts. you know they don't do that anywhere. It's a special place people. Please preserve it.

>Bangalore!!!. words can't say how much... sigh