Eatouts in Malleswaram...

I spent the last 10 years of my life in Bangalore.Nine out of these ten years were spent in Malleswaram.For those of you not from Bangalore,Malleswaram is one of those places in Bangalore that still holds a lot of charm and warmth,something that is fast disappearing in Banagalore. Old mansions, colleges/ schools, temples in every nook and gully ,even in the most crowded market areas,beautiful temples with banyan tree and courtyards.Nothing of this has changed during the course of time.Hope it never does too.

But Malleswaram was also the hunting ground for two huge foodies me and my sister.Our slightly built frames disguise the amount of gluttony we both are capable of !Our favourite :"Chats". How i miss those days....those places....This blogpost is for those memories...may it serve as a guide for yet another foodie like me!Let me rave and rant about my favourites( not inthe order of favouritism though!)

The Hanuman stores bhel-puri. For us folks studying in MES...it was a treat...nothing great....not many things thrown into it, but the tamarind chutney had the right tanginess and the taste was always consistent, bhel was crisp ,with dhania thrown on the top.

There used to be a store called Annapurna just in front of the famous Veena stores on Margosa Rd.This guy used to make wonderful Samosas.The best i tasted anywhere in Banaglore.He started Chaats later on ,but nothing as good as the Samosas.Numerous evenings after college have i spent there with friends.A favourite destination for us students to treat each other.These days kids have more money which they flaunt in coffee days and pizza huts!

Who has'nt heard of Veena stores? The little joint serves fresh made steaming idlis, crisp golden vadas and other stuff .The chutney here is fabulous in taste with the right amount of pudina.The crowd thronging this store is never-ending .

I think dosas and i think of CTR facing the Malleswaram grounds.Golden crisp dosas just the way i like it.Also good are the Mangalore Bajjis, Maddur vadas and Rava idlis here.Janatha hotel in the busy 8th cross road is famous, but i always preffered CTR.

Phalamrutha in a narrow road joining 8th cross street came later on...and attracted lot of people..(its a busy street) ..hmm ..i never found anything special there but sure the masala puri reminds me of the one you get in mysore (may be a weaker twin in taste though!)..

There used to be a joint called Buttersponge we used to go to during our college days...This was the place i ate my first veg grilled sandwich...pastries were good too.

A popular hangout for us MES collegians was the "Eatout" on the 15 th cross road.There was a time when this guy used to dish out north-indian (Malai koftha was yum) ,south-indian ,chats everything under the same roof for very reasonable prices.Then one fine day the restaurant closed down...dont know why?

On the same road later came on, a chat shop called "Sairams" which soon started dishing out sandwiches,pizzas,juices,icecreams everything in a small garage converted shop...The crowds (mostly students) were huge and we used to go there pretty often because it was near to home and also the chats were always customised the way we wanted it.The guy never grudged if we asked more meetha(saunth) 'n' number of time :)

"Sai shakti" was yet another place we headed to on days when we wanted to eat something different,tasty yet homely and light on the stomach. Not to mention that it was light on the wallet also.The joint exclusively sold North-indian stuff.The curries are nothing to write about.Iam sure there will be many joints giviing out better tasting stuff but this place was very homely and light.They serve phulkas and chapatis and the curries were always less oily,no artificial coloring and fresh.The lassis ( peda lassi) were good too.

Adyar Anand bhavan was one more place haunted by us .Nothing special about the chats here but one of the very few places in bangalore serving us "Jhal muri" and having stayed in Kolkata i can vouch for the taste.A special mention would be for the kai -murukus and karela chips here.

I forget the name of the bakery at Malleswaram circle but it used to serve good grilled sandwiches, burgers and ice creams and soups for Rs 5.Probably inspired from a famous eatery at Jayanagar

Adigas has come up quite recently ( under a year) and in true darshini style serve good dosas and other good south-indian stuff.They keep adding new things to the menu : Pesarattu, Neer dosa etc...Whatever we ate here was good. Shanti sagar just a stone's throw away was nothing different to write about.

One more place that comes to my mind is the small Dharwad Store opposite to Asha's food camp at 10th cross...hmm...the chilli bajjis and bondas were awesome...A taste very different and fiery.It also has very different sweets (i fail to remember the names though).There was something called Bidar Paan i guess.And of course the Dharwad Peda.

Asha's food camp was a nice eatery, darshini style but with seating arrangement.The first floor housed the service restaurant with North-indian menu.Not bad.
Asha sweets was a favourite place to have a quick bite .Bengali sweets ( sandesh,rossogulla), paneer samosas,dhoklas,veg rolls, dahi vadas, gajjar halwa...Iam salivating already.

Kanti sweets at Malleswaram circle was the place for Parathas served with curds and aam ka achar...Also good were the chats and Paneer manchurian (yum).

A joint called Nandini sweets opened up just before i left and the guy was extra generous in offering free samples( not that iam complaining)...Hmm...I remember the golgappas, dahi chats and rasgulla chat( made famous by Gangotree chats) were very good.Hope the joint is still there when i go back...

New Mangalore stores served up churumuri Mangalore isstyle which was very yummy and comes close to the ones you get at Kadri park, Mangalore.As far as other Churumuri stores are considered they dish out something which seems like a cross between bhel and churumuri .so much for cosmo culture! The actual taste for churumuri can be tasted at Mysore.

It may seem blasphemous to many that i omit "Halli mane" but then sorry...kadubus there are good so is the ragi rotti ,but i have eaten at better places...so not much to mention here.

So much so...i know i sounded like a severely malnourished glutton ...but then iam not repenting coz its my blog and i have a right to rant and rave here as per my wish :-)...Only a fellow foodie can understand all this....

Snow snow everywhere..........

Snow is everywhere...a wonderful sight to behold...

Create a Free Slideshow

Taxi driver in Las Vegas

We hailed a taxi in Las vegas during our trip last month.The Taxi driver seemed to be a slightly built man with a soft voice.It took him some time to determine where he needed to take us to but finally he got it.

"I do know the place,but just wanna be sure so that i make no mistake" - he chuckled.
"Good" - we thought.

A short pause later, he asked us - "Where are u guys coming from?"

"Chicago" - we replied.

"oh ok, but ur from India?"--he asked.

"Yes" - we replied.

"Yeah i thought so..so this is your first time in Vegas?"

"Yeah thats right" - said we.

"Iam from outside too..Iam from Ethiopia..You have heard of it? - he asked.

"Yeah sure" - we replied.

Conversations with taxi drivers can be pretty amusing sometimes. I remember some of them. Like the taxi-driver who asked us what language we spoke at India.(He said it sounded good)Or perhaps the friendly Pakistani taxi driver whom we hailed in New york who sounded baffled when one of our friends told him that though he could speak hindi, he could not comprehend Urdu! Most of the taxi drivers we have taken in US are friendly and courteous ,but this man was very conversant.

"Well I have been in Us from the last 7 years" - he remarked.

Never the person to let go the chance of having a conversation no matter where, my husband butted in:"yes, we all come to US for the big bucks" - he laughed.

"Yeah" - the driver joined him."

"So you stay with your family?" - Hubby asked.
"No,Iam not married.My parents and siblings stay in my country. In our custom until you have discharged all your responsibilities (towards your family) you must not get married , you see." - he added.
Not to be outdone,my husband replied : "Yes, we have that too. In fact even after getting married we look after our parents and care for them."

"Thats' right, but after marriage it becomes kinda difficult, with wife, kids you know?" - he remarked.

"Yes,thats true" - we agreed.

"So you guys going to nearby places from here?Like grand canyon, Hoover dam eh?" --he enquired.

"No we are going to Los Angeles". -- we replied.

"Ah Los Angeles! Many of your folks stay there right? You guys are good in computers?"

"Is it?"-- We just smiled.

It surely is. LA or rather the Silicon valley has a rather significant Indian population working in the various Software companies some of them being multinational giants.A recent report even states that 30% of the companies there have been started by Indians.
"You people are very bright.It pays a lot does it? These computer jobs?"-- The driver asked next.
"Hmm ...pretty good"-- We replied.

Reportedly Indians comprise the richest ethnic group in US.

"Yeah..You guys (Indians) are a good lot, quiet, decent,educated "....He went on..

Indians are enjoying global presence like never before. Be it Politics,Business, software,law,medicine ,there are a lot of notable names today. Being the richest ethnic group in the US, we are also becoming more noticeable.and what does this mean? It means a great shift in the attitudes and perceptions about Indians and India. I remember one of the Tintin comics where Tintin comes to India and how is India depicted? It is full of jungles. There are elephants,tigers and sadhus. Not to forget the ubiquitous snake charmer! And how are the Indians shown?(rather the natives): brown- skinned,dressed up in a dhoti (loin-cloth.Certainly a reference to the Mahatma, nicknamed as the "Naked Fakir" by the English Press).

Novels, movies documentaries everything about India showed and depicted India the way the west better identified it : Snake-charmers, Elephants,Palaces, maharajas, sadhus sleeping on nails,kamasutra,slums,etc etc. Iam not blaming anyone though. But somehow these images were always associated with India. For an uninformed Westerner it perhaps continues to remain so.
Some sections of the Indian diaspora in US further help in cementing these ideas. Like this Indian colleague of mine ,born and brought up in US who went and told her American colleague how terrible it was for Indian women after marriage.They are forced to break off all ties with their parents after marriage! Imagine my shock when this American woman asked me if it was indeed the case in India. I mean, come on, gives us a break...what do these people think when they go around raking such stupid tales to people of different backgrounds?Aishwarya Rai in the Oprah Winfrey Show expressed surprise that people actually came up to her and asked her as to how she managed to speak English though being an Indian?

Perceptions are changing .India known as home to large slums,poor people, is also perceived as home to a large ,skilled,enterprising workforce.So be it.

"Your education system must be very good.In Ethiopia ,education not very good" --- he remarked.

Here inthe US it is always perceived that Indians are good in Science and Math.In many Indian families , children are always encouraged to concentrate more on these subjects as they provide more viable career options.Whatever the critics may say about schools in India, we must be doing good there.We still produce smart students with better analytical and problem solving skills.The engineers in silicon valley, other parts of the world in high ranking firms have been educated in India . An NRI mother was recently extolling the virtues of the American school her son went to. Needless to say she was still very concerned that her son knew as much maths and grammar as his counterpart in India and spared no efforts tutoring the child.Why?

"why don't you learn computers?" ---we asked the driver.

"I want to .I will some day" ---He replied wistfully.

Just one more encounter which reaffirmed the fact that India's face abroad is changing.No longer the land of the snake-charmer dressed in his loin-cloth, but Indians here are regarded intelligent, educated, smart. (At least most of them think so. Iam not bothered about the disgruntled racists).

And India--A country with a lot of promise. As for that nameless taxi driver( my inspiration for this post), i only hope he learns computers(as he says) and reads this post someday!

Hindi Poem - Kiski Lehren? (Whose are those waves?)

किसकी लहरें ?

भाव -विहीन यह सरस समँदर,
अपने ही धुन मे मग्न,

साँझ के ढलते दिनकर ने,
जैसे लगा दिया इसमे भयँकर अग्न II 1 II

क्या समय-चक्र से बंधा हुआ,

यह जलधर भी?

या फिर ठहरता है ये कभी,
किनारे पर छोडें हुए तिनको को,

समेटने के लिए,

या ये कहने के लिए कि :- विशाल समुद्र मैं,
छूता हूँ मैं नभ को भी II 2 II

क्या समाई बात ये उसके मन मे,

किसके लिए ये अपार जलराशि?

किसके लिए लहरों का आवागमन?

क्यों समय-चक्र से नियमित हैं इनका चलन?

क्यों हुआ है इनका जन्म? II 3II

क्या छुपी है उन असीम गहराईयों मे विलीन?

अंत है या निरंतर यह सागर कहीं,

क्या यह उठता ज्वार - भाटा,

है प्रकृति के उठते भावनाओं का सार,

या फिर है कृत्रिम और भाव - विहीन ,

यह जलधि अपार? II 4 II


सो मैं सोचती हूँ कि किसके धुन मे है यह मधमस्त ,
किसके आज्ञाओं से बंधा यह सक्त?
क्यों नही विद्रोह करती कभी इसकी नथ?
किसके लिए हैं ये लहरें व्यस्त?
किसके लिए हैं ये लहरें व्यस्त? II 5II

- दीप्ति श्रीनिवासन

Las Vegas Travelogue

Stratosphere

Back from a Las vegas - LA tour and here's the travelogue of all that I can remember:

Las vegas - the sin city rocks!This man - made marvel in the middle of a desert just proves the saying: "The shortest road to wealth lies in the contempt of wealth".You can see the glittering lights of the city and the imposing pyramid of Luxor casino with its vertical beam of light shooting out to the sky above even beforeyou get out of the plane.It was around 8:30 PM when we reached Las vegas on a Wednesday evening last week.We had a booking in Stratosphere one of the hotel/casinos on the Las vegas strip.Every casino in las vegas has something to boast of and the Stratosphere has the tallest observation tower in Las vegas to its credit.

After a one hour rest inthe hotel we dashed out exploring vegas.Our first stop was the near by circus - circus.As the name suggests the casino is themed after a circus carnival and looks likeone.The entrance is shaped like a tent and has people dressed up as clowns welcoming you.The casino floor is nothing unusual.The upper floor has lot of stalls as in fairs and carnivals where you can playgames and win prizes (mostly stuffed toys to attract the kids).We tried out games like aiming the pistol and throwing ball in the basket and won some stuffed toys as well!The casino also has a stage where circus acts are performed for free.We caught up some juggling acts being performed.
The next casino we went was the Sahara casino with an arabian theme to it complete with the sand coloured building and date trees in the entrace .The interiors were pretty good too with huge crystal chadelier,mirrored pillars and walls all like a arabian palace.
After this we headed back to our hotel room and ordered a late night pizza dinner and ate and slept.

Insanity(top)

The next day we started out exploring the Stratosphere.First we went to the much talked about Observation deck on the tower.At a height of about 2000 ft, it offers a panoramic view of vegas and the strip.After taking some snaps we headed for the thrill rides said to be the world's highest thrill rides.There are 3 of them :bigshot, Xscream and Insanity.We tried Insanity.Here people are made to swing tilted at a 70 deg angle from the top of the building.God! dont try it if you suffer from vertigo!We strolled across the mall shops on stratosphere and soon headed to the other casinos.We caught the shuttle that ferries tourists from one end of the strip to another.We were in the south end and decided to startexploring from the north end of the strip.

We started with Mandalay bay a posh casino with a oriental theme.This is a beautiful casino away from the crowds , complete with fountains waterfalls, pagodas and gardens to go with the theme.

The next casino we went to was the adjacent Luxor with an egyptian theme to it.For long the pyramid and the sphinx have been symbols of vegas.The Xenon light beam that is lit up in the night is so strong that it is claimed to be seen from space too.This casino is reported to have been constructed under the supervision of experts from Egypt.The interiors are very egyptian with trademark figurines, hieroglyphic motifs etc.Very good.It also boasts of a museum which is a exact replica of the famous Tutankhamen's tomb of Egypt.A must visit.

Located nearby is the Excalibur casino connected to the Luxor casino by a covered sidewalk.For your comfort there is a slider(like in airports) which you can step on and not bother to walk at all.Excalibur is designed like a medieval castle though from exterior it looks more like a kids castle.The interiors are done with faux stones and wood panelling with castle like balconies.Not to mention medieval style cafes and armoured knights in and around the place.

We next went to the New york casino connected via sidewalk to the Excalibur.This casino has all the famous attractions of New York : Statue of Liberty,Empire state,Manhattan building all scaled down versions.Also there is a huge roller-coaster in frontof the casino.Inside the interiors are styled to resemble a New tork street.All the well-known New York eateries have stalls here.But what was really funny were the little Liberty statues in Marilyn Monroe poses.Really funny!After going around for some time, we walked over the bridge connecting this casino to the MGM grand casino opposite to it.

MGM Grand is the biggest of all the casinos and is famous for the Lion Habitat where we saw Lions inside a Glass Enclosure.We could watch Lions walk above standing in the Glass tunnel inthe Habitat.This was the nearest i could get to a Lion and was very thrilling.Also interesting is the tropical jungle kind of environment they had set up inside.

Next we walked upto the newly done Planet hollywood Casino (earlier aladdin).It has very bright interiors and a Mall designed like a street.The roof is designed like a sky above.Not to mention a canal where artificial rain with thunder/lightening is seen inside the casino.So you can reach out your hand and touch this rain!

The Paris Casino was the next place where we went.This one had a huge baloon ( reminiscent of around the world in 80 days), a wonderful fountain, and of course the 2 Paris landmarks, the Eiffel tower and Arc De Triomphe.Inside was a surprise.The Casino inside was like a Paris street full of little shops, eateries, artificial trees, fountains etc and of course sky like roof.

We then headed for one of the oldest casinos on the strip , the fifty year old Flamingoes started by the Mafia gangster Bugsy Siegel.This casino boasts of flamingoes habitat and other rare species of birds.While we were there were some couples were getting married in the chapel in the park.

Next on the list was Caesar's palace styled like a roman villa.We thought of covering the interiors before it got dark so that we could see the flashing illumination across the strip.The moment you see the forum shops inside ,the only thing that strikes you is the grandeur.The scale is HUGE! Be it the wall art or the roman statues, its very grand.The forum shops have all the best known brands: Versace,Gucci,Estee Lauder,Tissot, Burberry , you name it and its there!The most striking was the Cleopatra boat in egyptian style named after Caesar's most famous queen.

By the time we came out the lights were there and we headed to the Bellagios.Termed as a Luxury resort for the rich and famous, Bellagios was an entirely different experience.It has a Botanical conservatory inside with beautiful gardens , fountains and an old- fashioned water wheel too.The apples you see in the photos are real and it seems they change the fruit stock with fresh ones daily!But the most amazing attraction were the musical fountains.More than 1000 fountains dance to music across a man made lake.They can go upto 40ft height.No words can describe the moment.It made our visit worthwhile.

After watching the fountain show we walked up to the Mirage casino.We did not go into the interiors, but waited outside to watch the artificial volcano eruption.The mountain is in a lake sorrounded by trees and gardens and every 20 min it erupts.We waited along with other onlookers and when it erupted it was a good sight to see.

Mirage and sirens show

The casino next in the line was Treasure Island with a Pirates theme.Inthe entrance were 2 big pirate ships.Again this casino houses the sirens show held on these ships full of music , dance, drama and gunfire.

They say all good things come last.Rightfully so as the last casino we went to was the Venetian palace.Styled after Venice , this casino was elegant from beginning to end.The Italian frescoes with gold liniing on the roof were breath-taking and so were the venice like canals with gondolas.The goldola men were professional opera singers so they sang while they took people for a ride on the gondolas.I was lucky for i was able to capture a gondola man singing my favourite song "Speak softly love" from the movie godfather when we came in.At 8:30 Pm in the night the interiors made us feel we were in broad daylight. The village square in the casino was also wonderful with eateries, gelato stalls and live orchestra making it a very happy atmosphere.A fitting finale for our vegas trip.

I can only say:Whether you gamble or not, a trip to Vegas is a must for everyone.

Explaining the Vedas scientifically...

I came across this interesting video recently.It seems pretty well made and researched.General outlook towards India has changed not only among the non- indians but also among Indians.The post- independence euphoria, gave rise to the optimism of the 60's, angst and disappointment of the 70's, political unrest of the 80's, followed by the current resurgence of India as a potential superpower which also revels in its glorious past and traditions.Lot of people even among the younger generation are far more closer to their roots than what people think and the circulation of such videos and interest shown towards them proves that.

Demis Roussos - Say You Love Me

Allrite..."Mehbooba O Mehbooba" has been done and redone to death recently.Ramu did it in his "tribute" to Sholay , the movie that will go down perhaps as the worst tribute ever!...and who can forget our desi rockstar " Himesh "Cap" Reshammiya's rendition of this song in his movie Aapka Suroor?That song stretched his vocal limits beyond their (ahem!) capabilities.....But i hunted for the original song from which RDB made "Mehbooba" and really liked the singer's( Demi Roussos) voice in this one....Good one...Now i will hunt for some more of his songs....