Chocolat : Book Review

I bought this book from Blossoms based on TGND's recommendation. When I started to read this one a couple of months back, it did not hold my interest after a few pages and at that point, I wasn't sure if I would pick it up later at all. Little did I know that I would pick it up again in just a few months down the line and would actually find it to be a simple chocolaty read and also realize that nosy/gossipy people do exist in western communities too.


This book by Joanne Harris is about a single mother and her daughter who decide to set up a chocolate bakery/cafe in a small town in France. Apparently, they land up in the town and start their business during the Lent period (during the Easter season). This  irks the church and the believers,especially the pastor. So, the town kind of gets divided into supporters of the bakery and non-supporters. During this time, the protagonist arranges for a chocolate festival on the Easter Sunday and the book takes you through the different kinds of people that the protagonist comes across, how they go through their life, how she faces trials and resistance with  courage and builds her inner strength and more importantly how she makes it a point to make her customers feel at home at her cafe and tries to become one among them.The reader is treated to good amount of chocolaty treats that makes one drool and you will grab a chocolate near you for sure as you read the book. Overall, a good chocolaty simple read.

Gift : 55-er

He hesitated to be seen by his extended family with  the bouquet she gifted him. Few years on, she was greeted to V-day wishes by him over long distance call and mentioned that he retained the T-shirt she gave her long ago just so that he can release it today and feel her presence .

Happy Valentine's Day , everyone! May Love spread in our hearts and homes :)

Notes from hospital

• The hospital gives out a neutral fragrance and thanks to that, for "the hospital smell" itself will make one feel sick
• The ambiance makes one feel as if you are entering in a mall or a general lounge where plush sofas, resting areas along with cafe and good food is available.
• Now to some rant, the administration is not seamless and makes the patient run from pillar to post to get admitted
• Information on the availability of rooms is not centralized and every floor gives us a different status.Add to that the slow lit service, patients' attender will have a nice exercise before we get allotted a room
• Wondering how such a posh hospital can have a general ward which has NO place for patient's attenders to sleep over for the night.
• Hospital canteen serves awesome lip smacking food, just that you will have to take in the sights and smell while people who have come along with you relish different varieties of food over there as if it were a proper restaurant
• From my previous encounter with hospitals, I've come across nurses who seem to know all 4 south Indian languages, if not fluent, atleast to some extent. But, this one had nurses who conversed only in one local language and if the patient says something in her anesthesia induced state , it went unheard. While only mother tongue seemed to come out of my mouth to  ask for help, one nurse boldly says, you either talk in kannada or there is no nurse who understands Tamil!!
• When you ask the nurse to be slow and not apply force (be it while injecting, or while dressing up or while inspecting the stitches), they just stop their task and dial in a number and call the head nurse and complain" the patient is not allowing me to do anything"...Bah!! Does requesting to be gentle translate to not allowing, uh? Need to find in which dictionary they learn this
• Luxury rooms have a sofa for the patients helper to sleep in.If they charge a bomb for the rent, why not provide a decent small bed for the helper. Infact., the helper is the one who needs good rest so that he/she can help the patient.
• Rooms are AC and no windows. So, if you want fresh air and no A/C, you dont have an option.
• While the restrooms have dental kit, shower cap, shower gel, 2 different kinds of soaps, there is a definite need for basic bucket and mug (instead a hand shower is present) . We try to go the western way, but having Indian stuff in certain places will definitely help
• Needless to mention about insurance, the moment they know we are under insurance, costs triple. And on top of it, the hospital expects the patient to intermediate and solve the issues between the hospital and insurance company!! and what he heard was: if insurance is paying, we'll charge for 2 days, if you are paying on the spot, then, we will charge for a day and a half's room charge. 
• All magic "paybale/non-payables" list is made and the patient is made to pay amount after a long delay and wait. Finally, after the patient is home and has time to look at the bills, finds that extra amount is charged and when we enquire the hospital they say "dont worry Mam, your money will not go anywhere ,Its safe with us." No mention of returning, if asked, as usual, a long story follows

Has Google Maps become this accurate?

that when I checked the distance from My Location to Aprameya Swami Temple, it said 72 kms and viola, when we closed the engine to get off the trip, we saw that the car meter also shows an exact 144 kms!!

When has technology become so accurate?! With this, my expectations have also raised, how nice it will be if we were to be given the near approximate time to travel (depending on the current "live" traffic on the road) from one place to another?

Bangalore traffic needs no introduction, it is world famous. But still, there are only countable number of times when I've gotten ready first (after we decide on the time to leave home) and been on time. If we decide that we need to start early to office the next day, we'll fix a time and set up the alarm. Come morning, my mind will behave as if there is going to be no traffic and I'll keep snoozing the alarm every five minutes only to rush in the end and be late,eventually and get stuck in the traffic.

I want to record here how I think in the morning just so that many years down the line, I can come back here and laugh(hopefully by then, I would have disciplined myself!!) . I'll start calculating time for each chore, ie, 3 minutes for brushing, 7-10 for bathing, bfast preparation time: 20 mins, eating time:5 mins(or may be pack the dabba and eat on the way or after reaching office), and say misc: 10 minutes. And I'll end up with morning ablutions for 30 full minutes, breakfast preparation time will take another 30 - 40 minutes(cos I would have then realized that rava idli stock is too less or the power is off and I cant use the mixie to make chutney or the pongal has come like rice and there will be a war going on in the brain with all of this). So, needless to say, S will be all ready and set to leave after breakfast and I'll keep telling him 5 minutes (ingeyum intha 5 minutes than, meaning e theriyama 5 minutes solluven, ie, for anything and everything, it is standard 5 mins) and finally when we leave home, it will be a full 30 minutes or more than the time that we would have decided upon earlier..In spite of this repeated behaviour from me, S has been so patient enough and has never once shown his frustration ! Thanks a ton, dear for bearing with me! I will try and change ok? (try is the keyword here :) )

Restaurant Review

Its been long since I posted my comments on restaurants where we dined..It so happened that we either went to the same tried ones or didn't venture out too much..Anyways here's some of them where we tried:

La Tagliatella :
  I wanted to have pizza and didn't want to go to Domino's or Pizza Hut. We decided to check out this new place where we had not been before and landed up in this restaurant located in 100ft Road,Indiranagar. One of the bungalows converted into this neat restaurant with walls adorning pictures depicting way of life in  Italy (I suppose) . We had a portion of Veg Green Salad (for appetizer) and Mixed Mushroom Pizza (The names are all Italian, I'm mentioning what it actually is in Indianised language) . The Salad portion is huge : three large squares of mozarella cheese ,crisp on the outside, very soft on the inside; English corn with pistachios, walnuts and a few other nuts, lettuce, olives, caramelized tomato slices all tossed in vinaigrette of your choice (we chose honey flavor and needless to say, it tasted yummy !) . The pizza base was so damn thin and curled in the edges and you need not put any effort in chewing the base.The base along with the cheese melts in the mouth. I hear that this is close to the Italian version of the Pizza and the rest (ie, Domino's , Pizza Hut) are US versions. Whatever it is, the salad and the Pizza were filling and we didn't have place for dessert. 
Price wise, a bit on the higher end, but compared to other places which charge a bomb these days for anything, I think it is worth once in a while.

Mama Mexicana:
   I get this craving to eat sizzlers once in a while and we happened to be at 1 MG Road this time and thought of trying out Mama Mexicana there. They did not serve sizzlers, but had the range of burritos, enchiladas, quesadilla, and Pizzas and Burgers. Since I was not upto again going back to making decision of where to eat , we decided to stick to this place and finish our dinner. So, we ordered Refried Beans Burger and Assorted Fungi Pizza. The burger was decent , nothing to complain, at the same time nothing to talk great about too (You should try out the Big Moth Burger in Chilis) . Pizza base was something similar to what we get from stores and just put on the cheese,mushrooms, onions et all and sprinkle olive oil and was served. Hard to bite and chew, the edges especially and cheese was also so-so..I dont think I would go back to this place again. 

Price wise, considering this restaurant was located in the mall and all that, price looked decent for most of the items on the menu.


Food Hall:
  Food Hall has a assorted bread section, salad section and live pasta section. The pasta is decent and can serve as a quick way to fill your stomach while you are shopping in the mall. Salad bar is good with assortments that you can choose from and it is priced per the quantity you take. One thing which I noticed in Food Hall is that there are samples of waffles, breads, hummus, jams etc kept for people to taste and the queue to taste these free food is longer than the queue to order and buy food..:)

Annapoorna's:
   We went here on Deepavali day for Lunch and even though we were there by around 1PM, we had to wait for long to get a table (Like us, many had locked their kitchens on Diwali, I suppose). The attitude of those serving and the food itself was such a disappointment. The sweet got over and so they quickly made some paal-payasam which looked like just white water and one of the side-dishes had also got over for which neither did they apologies nor arrange for any replacement. The appalam was also low in quantity I suppose. But the price : needless to mention, higher than what they normally charge for this same meal every day. probably one dish was more this day and we never got to taste this one as it got over by then. Food quality was also not good that day, but even when we were done and walking out, we could see many of them entering to have their lunch. Overall, a bad experience and I for one, never vote for this place . Just that the SIL's family were also joining us for lunch and they are all prefer south-indian meals and they visit here frequently and so we chose this place. The attitude of the employees, the food quality and the price they charge : just not worth it..I would have cooked better meals than them , really.


MTR : 
  A branch of MTR is opened in 100ft Road in Indiranagar and we have had lunch there once. Good food , I would say, has both options of mini-meals and full-meals and full-meals has unlimited dosas, pooris which S relished. Sambhar and rasam are the uaual Kannadiga way, so you cant come to MTR and ask for Tamilian version of sambhar.  The main point which I wanted to mention is the tiffin that is served her. The quality is too good and for less than 200 bucks, you can have a full-filling tiffin for two. Compared to this Adayar Ananda Bhavan where the quality of food is not all that great and prices are increasing day by day, this one is definitely a winner.


Ganesh Bhavan:
  Why not mention the next door Ganesh Bhavan which serves yummy food day in and day out. So what if its a place where you will have to stand and eat , so what if the hotel's total area is 500-600 sq feet, so what if you can look at the kitchen where grinder is on in one side, dosa master is busy in other corner and onions are being cut in the third corner? This place served good food, be it tiffin or proper meal, this wins on a any day compared to Annapoorna. You wont believe if I say that for 40 bucks, you are served with unlimited quantity of rice,sambhar, rasam, kootu, poriyal, papad ,pickle and buttermilk. and the masala dosas here are a hit with me and Sambhar Idly is S's favorite in this place. If not for places like these, how will normal people get to relish outside food at a cost that suits their budget? Thank you,Ganesh Bhavan. May you keep filling the stomachs of all those who come to you.

CTR :
  Located in malleshwaram, I have heard of this place before and got an opportunity to eat here while my friend and I went to Malleshwaram impromptu on a team outing day. She had masala Dosa and I had Mysore Bonda. Benne Dosa I hear is popular here and melts in the mouth. Inspite of my friend mentioning very less oil, there was generous oil in the masala dosa and it tasted good too. Just that there is no sambhar here, only chutney for both the bonda and the dosa. Good food, overall.

Squeeeze Bar :
    This place catches attention in Phoenix Market City Mall with its claim of healthier drinks: Parfait, fruit falooda, different fruit shakes etc. Dont get fruit bowl in this place, fruit bowl only costs rs.80 for the regular size bowl you can get in any cafeteria. And the parfait was Ok for the first time , it didnt charm me next time onwards. A branch of this is opened in RMZ Infinity and here, the prices are half of what is in PMC and quality is also good. When they say Thick shake, they really mean it here and for their store in PMC, I wouldn't go there unless there is a need to.

Dhaavani Kanavugal..

remains just kanavugal for me..

I grew up in a town and paavadai-dhavani was neither too common nor too obsolete. You could still spot a girl or two wearing one when you walk by the market road. However, when I was in teens, the craze for schools to move over to salwar-kameez-with pinned dupatta started and it no time, most of the schools became converts. Only two schools in our town still had half-saree as uniform for 11th and 12th Std girls.

In hindsight, I realise the effects of hormones during my teen years .(romba seekarama gyana udayam varudhu ! Sigh!)..It could be a mix of all of these or some of these put together that made me behave the way I did then: inferiority complex admist my cousins who were all city-bred that I didnt want to pose myself as a "village-girl", or the way fashion was portrayed by the media and I was taken towards it or deep within me, I myself considered wearing half-saree meant I'll be a biiig girl and can no longer expect to be treated like a child , or because I have seen men passing comments /teasing as young girls in half-saree pass by (both in media and real-life) and felt disgusted and dreaded the day I would be subjected to such abuse. Something within me was a rebel against wearning half-saree that I was so adamant and protested against wearing one when I attained puberty. As such, in the community I belong to, we dont celebrate it that big compared to what I have seen and heard of how this event is celebrated with so much of fanfare (very close to how a wedding is or vividly I remember one of my classmates mentioning that this function will be grander than a wedding in some communities..!) ..My parents had invited all neighbours in the street we resided and some of our relatives landed down and I hated being looked at by all. I didnt like the concept of getting dressed up with saree/jewels/flowers etc and just be seated so that everyone can keep looking at me and come over one after the other and shower blessings. Wouldnt they shower blessings if I were in a salwar? I was such a rebel that day and Thankfully, (Thanks a Ton Amma and Appa) my parents didnt force me and I was allowed to be myself..In hindsight, I'm wondering what an effect it would have had on me if parents got pressured with what relatives/neighbours had to say and in turn forced me into doing things that I didn't want to at that time..

Fast forward to a few months, my aunt said that one of my cousins in Chennai obliged to wearning saree, got all decked up and caught everyone's attention for a few hours..My aunt was also giving me gyaan that this is an one time event and that I should have obliged etc etc..All through her monologue, just one time I felt how it would have been if I had worn the saree/half-saree , got decked up etc..(confused hormones, eh). But this thought was very fleeting and later , at various occasions, I didn't feel upto it to start wearing the half-saree

It was time to change schools after 10th, so, while looking for schools, I simply didst buy into joining this school (one of the two I 'd mentioned above) which had very good coaching, produced good results in 12th , just because the uniform was a half-saree.. It required so much of advice and convincing from my parents so that I nod my head for this school. But, (as they manasu pol mangalyam, though not mangalyam in this case :) ) I got admitted into an equally reputed good school which had salwar as its uniform..One big relief!! 

All through, the desire to wear a half-saree wasnt that big, and I didnt feel like wearing it then..fast forward, farewells came, I wore saree in those occasions and marriage happened and I started wearing sarees..Now, the real guilt trip started..

The desire to wear a half-saree is at its peak and doesn't seem to go down..But now, feel odd to wear a half-saree which is supposed to be an attire for young girls in teens.In the temple I visit once in a while in Bangalore, I have seen a couple with a kid where the wife/mother wears a half-saree at all the times that I 've spotted them..This convinced me to buy one for myself or at least try out one from  my sister. But, this thought would come up in Bangalore and when I go home, the actual doing will not happen..These days, whenever I see girls in half-saree (especially when I do a day travel to my home town, which I did recently ) riding a cycle, I get all nostalgic and regret for not having worn it..Now, I find half-saree is so much fun and you can actually dress up well in it and flaunt your teen curves ..I will let my daughter read this and hope she will not succumb to what people might think or say, but just follow her heart..I too followed my heart then, only that this same heart thinks and behaves differently at different times..:)

Upma Paduthum Paadu

Arisi Upma, that is..I make rava upma rarely these days, as somehow this wrong notion has gotten on to myhead that arisi upma or dhalia/wheat upma is better(for health,that is) than the rava one. 

Though the recipe for arisi upma is simple and can be made comparatively quickly too, the right way to prepare the same in order to get the final "udhir-udhiraa" upma is somehow dodging me..The main part which I'm not able to master is how long should I allow the upma in the cooker, ie, how many whistles should I wait before I sim it and turn it off. Today, it was worse : It went like this: Keep the stove in sim from the beginning (thinking I will switch off as soon as first whistle comes), then, when there was no sign of a proper whistle , I turned the flame higher, only to put things in the fridge and put in sim and then go and catch a quick glance at the clock and come back to put the stove in higher flame and this drama continued for some time until I realised enough is enough and bravely switched it off .. 

When I first made this upma, it came out as proper sadam (I had not grind it properly), next time, it had clumps (because I had not seived the ground rice+dhal+pepper+jeera), third time, it came out as koozhu (probably watre was too much), then it got adi pudichified, then, dry ...ah..let me stop here..Today, I think it came out a little better though I was not too satisfied, but the udhir-udhir types was seen , but a bit dry..

Arisi Upma, you better turn out well next time onwards Ok?