Tastes of Life -1 - Gourmets Day Out

For the vegans, Bangalore is a great place to savour the traditional South Indian cuisine in its authentic form. So when we three - mother, I and my consort - got a day out in Bangalore we thought to hit the streets with our Gourmet's Hat on!

We are at Malleswaram. It is 9 am and we are rushing down the 19th Cross to reach Margosa Road and from there to the 15th Cross. At a distance we identified our Destination No.1 of the Day. There it is - a nondescript shop with a small hoarding - "Veena Stores". The office crowd has already gathered on the road side. It is just a counter-mode shop without any seating provisions. Take the coupon, have food standing and rush to office! So, we too decided to join the crowd – “Three plates Idly-Vada” (Rs.39 each) - the USP of Veena Stores. One Vada and Two Idlies are served in arecanut leaf plates with a plastic spoon. There is no concept of Sambar here. There is however, puthina sprinkled chutney. Idlies are hot and so is Vada. They are so tender that watching the spoon gliding through the Idlies and slicing the Vada one might think they are made of butter! Enter mouth, in fact we feel more butterly as they melt down into us! Ha! A gourmet’s moment to cherish!

We skip the tea at Veena Stores as our Breakfast is not over. 8th Cross is a little far to walk. So we take an auto to reach Hotel Janatha. Yet another modest hotel, but with seating provisions. There is no huge crowd here but there are several customers inside. Before losing our breakfast feel, we take another round of Idli - now with sambar and chutney. A single plate Sambar-Vada, the USP of this Hotel is also ordered. Vada here is a little big and a bit dense too. Sambar is on the sweeter side. And when these two merge, it tastes distinctly unique! A cup of strong tea each made up our breakfast for the day.

MTR - front view

We walked a few kilometres to burn our breakfast and to get ready for the lunch. Yes. The Lunch. When we are in Bangalore with Vegan Gourmet Hat where could it be? Undoubtedly it should be at no other place than MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Rooms). With a legacy of more than 80 years of uncompromising quality, MTR is an experience to be experienced.

MTR - Inside

It is 2 pm when we reached MTR near Lalbagh. Taking the coupon for South Indian Lunch (Rs.200 per person), we walk upstairs. There as I expected, and as my other two parts never even dreamt, is a festival crowd, including foreigners, waiting for their turn. There are genuine thoughts on the quality and cleanliness of food at such a crowded place. All our doubts evaporate as soon as we go in. Those who serve the food do not even use foot wear inside. After finishing the lunch we are told to pass through the kitchen to exit. A clear indicator that they are sure on what they serve us!

Old pictures at MTR

The lunch is majestic with series of courses. It starts with grape juice in a steel glass (it used to be silver glass earlier). Then the kuruma curry, chutney, payasam, carrot salad and vegetables are served with hot poori. Sweet Kesari is served next followed by Vegetable Pulav and Khichdi. Pure Ghee poured over steaming white rice served with hot Rasam is what I felt heavenly. Yes, another round of rice with sambar follows. It then extends to curd rice with pickle. The fruit with ice-cream and the sweet pan simply exhaust us completely.

The Wait! - at MTR

But the day is not yet over. The evening is for the fourth and last destination of the day –We are back at Margosa Road in Malleswaram. This time at Sree Sagar (CTR). It is in a small building at the corner of the road with old wooden door and windows. Inside, we see those classic wall pictures of Gods and feel that distinct vintage aroma (you got it right?!) – bringing it a true tempting traditional feel.

@Malleswaram

The heavy time with food has tired all three of us. But we have just this one day to celebrate with food. So at CTR we three merged and ordered its famous “Benne Masala Dosa” – a single plate for all three. Masala Dosa, with its origin in Udipi, is quite different from what we get in Kerala. Here it is just a little more than palm length, thick with lemon yellow masala inside and golden brown lustre outside. The Benne (Butter) glazing on its crisp brown layer gives it a unique look, fine feel and exclusive taste! Here we bring the day to an absorbing end.

Benne Masala Dosa

We sit back, sipping hot milk coffee, watching the growing traffic outside and reflecting our dream tastes of the day filled with those inimitable traditional flavours!

Remembering a Maestro

Mysore Dasara 2013 celebrations are here - and I thought to go back to that day - :D

**

It is almost 6 years back. Two young men bitten by travel bug reached the cultural capital of Karnataka - Mysore. The week long Dasara celebrations has just commenced. People are gathering from far and near for the grand celebrations ahead. After a day long wandering the two men entered the Mysore Palace. A cultural program is about to begin. Though hardly "culture oriented", with nothing much to do for the day, they decided to settle for the evening with the concert. 

The stage is set in the open with the Mysore Palace as the backdrop. They took their seat. An announcement is made - an unplanned program, actually scheduled for the previous day is about to begin. A "man", his forehead smeared with holy ash and a bright red bindi in its middle entered the stage to perform - it is a carnatic violin concert. He is smiling gleefully, occasionally talking in tamil to the acquiantances among the audience. Not withstanding his old age, he seemed to be the youngest person around. For the two young men, neither being familiar to the artist nor to his art, everything on and off the stage seemed so indifferent. And then - the concert actually started.

From the moment "His" bow touched those strings till that time the final reverberation of the concluding note resonated in the air, those two men neither knew where they are nor could they decipher what they felt. They just saw those nimble fingers of the master performer seasoned by decades of intense "sadhana" (infact of 6 decades), just move back and forth on his instrument emanating divine melodies at will. It is those subtle touches which once by exuding the Amruthavarshini brought rains to the water-starved villages in Tamil Nadu. It is that same sublime bowing which once by rendering the Bhairavi brought back the consciousness of his ailing father. And now here he is - providing the much needed soul therapy to those two young but rotten beings. 

The concert ended. Exactly after one year after that the great artist passed away. And now, after six long years, those two men cease to be very young. Yet in their silent moments, they still feel the resonance, those reverberations, that healing touch bestowed to their souls by the legendary maestro.

Footnote:

* It is irrelevant who those two young men are - It could be any two youngsters. 
* However it is very much relevant who the artist is - but by now, I am sure you would have identified this inimitable maestro.

**

The Dark Night

31 October 2008, 9:00 pm.

The night felt darker in its creepy silence.

A chill of winter air flushed my lungs.

Yet, I was severely suffocating -

A distress never felt before.

But the sky was calm.

Winking stars, patch of clouds, the hidden moon.

Then in the silence,

I heard the clank of the key -

The door has closed -

closed for a final time.

There was no looking back.

I walked down into darkness.

Into the fathomless darkness.

Into the cold darkness.

Into the ruthless darkness.

I realised I am dead and I am born again.

Goa Unearthed!

Goa Unearthed!

Through the fathomless feel of human pleasures

And the undefined sufferings of gruelling travel

Watching the unseen, feeling the unfelt

Along the unknown paths,

Among those crazy wanderings and the juvenile deeds

The hours in sea, exploring the right and wrong of boat ride,

The great morning walk, the awkward time on the lorry

The timely bus and the peaceful time on train,

All ending on a safe note with a rickshaw taking us back to our home

We made it...

We made it at last...an inimitable one for our life!

A Day with my Dream

March 3rd 2002, Sunday

 

Agreed. Life is largely a cold journey for most of us. Yet, there are a few moments in life which spring up occasionally with some very special warmth bringing out the widest of smile ever possible on our facial plane!

It was a cloudy Sunday at Bangalore. We (two friends and I) are doing our Project work at DRDO for our Master’s Degree. Sunday being the only free day of the week we usually prefer to spend our time with bed. But for a change I thought to explore the outskirts of Bangalore. The plan is to visit a grape garden. Though not sure about the exact locations, I know some places out of the city have few of them.

Along with my roommate Rajesh Bhai, I started out at 9:30 am. We first went to R.T.Nagar to meet Sunil Annu (our friend) and his new born daughter. After a nice lunch, I asked Rajesh Bhai

“Shall we visit Grape Garden?”

“Where is it? Do you know any place here?” – Rajesh Bhai asked me

“I don’t know, but I have heard a place called Jagoor have gardens.”

I am not having faintest of idea where that place is. But luckily Rajesh Bhai was willing to accompany me. It is already 2:30 pm. We hired an auto and went to bus stop. We waited for 30 minutes. At last our bus, an almost empty one, came. We stepped in slowly and took the seats. The bus soon moved out from the city to its outskirts. In 30 minutes we reached its last stop - Jagoor. We were the only ones left to get down there.

We got down and looked around. There was nothing in our vicinity. Not even a little greenery. We went to a road side vendor and meekly asked if he know about any grape garden.

“Grape garden…?” – the person looked puzzled.

Disappointment hit us. Leave the grapes there is hardly anything around. Not even a tea shop. We looked at each other wondering what we could do. To return back we have to wait for another hour or so for the next bus. No one knows about any grape garden here. What a reckless haste which has wasted the day.

“Let’s just walk around and see this place at least” – I told Rajesh Bhai. He was more than willing and we took the road close to us. It was a long road with several ups and downs. We just walked watching the surroundings. There is nothing around but few grass hatched houses, lonely trees and a lot of vast dry plain areas around.

After about 3kms of walk we found a green plot at a distance. It looked like some garden though the people we met on the way had no idea what it is. We decided to walk up to there. Another ten minutes of walk and we reached that spot. To our “shock” and utter disbelief it turned out to be a grape garden – a real grape garden! What a feeling that was! A dream comes true! We went inside without bothering who owns it. The grapes were tender and small, just sprouting out from the vines. For the first time in my life I am seeing the “live” grapes.

 

While we are watching the garden in awe, an old lady came in. Radhukka - She is the owner of the garden and had come in to check out the intruders. With his Kannada skills, Rajesh Bhai managed to tell her the story of our long journey. She seemed to have sensed our passion and curiosity as she said.

“Go down and there is another garden – go and see that. Tell the guard Radhukka sent you.”

As told by her, we walked further. This time we saw a bigger grape garden from a distance. But even before that, we were feeling a sweet aroma. Aroma of ripe grapes. As we approached the new garden, the guard came to us - Hosappa. At the mention of Radhukka, he gladly welcomed us inside.

“This would have harvested two days back. But the trucks to carry them have not arrived yet.” – says Hosappa 

Now. Hold your breath. What we saw inside, to be frank was simply unbelievable. To the distance our eyes could manage to see, there is nothing but thick bunches of deep purple grapes crowded together dangling down the vines. For a moment we were not sure where we are. A fairyland? A paradise? – The heavy aroma of ripe grapes is inebriating us. We are going through inexplicable waves of hysterical happiness. I can see nothing but my dream dangling around me, surrounding me, flocking me, overwhelming my senses!

Hosappa plucked a bag full of very fresh grapes for us. And they were nothing but heavenly. We spent almost 30 minutes relishing our dream. As we returned, we were enriched – enriched with sweet “purple” memories to savor for our life time!