Fine Dining!

Ahem, We all know about places like Krishna sweets, ananda bhavan, etc and the special dishes they dish out..but we also don’t expect a big service nor other decent frills since our expectation is only to gobble some of those select speciality dishes of theirs..
But when it comes to special dining and with really ‘special’ (read v high) rates then our expectations soar. We put up with high rates many times because of the service offered or many other addl qualities like:
- good ambiance if not extraordinary
- neat & clean tables, table cloth, glasses
- refilling of water regularly
- good filtered water without ‘hand dipped’ effects
- no naive waiters and NO nose picking
- taking orders promptly and ensuring they all come
- no repeated reminders for every silly thing
There is this new outlet Krishna sweets have opened called ‘Rasam’. Inspite of some real good n unique items like cauliflower idiyappam, ilaneer payasam, karupatti halwa, exotic soups, etc they failed in all (yes, ALL) of the above qualities.
Why do such people who cant deliver try to step up? Its not any great special science to know the qualities u need to graduate to fine dining. IMHO saravanas is a simple middle class restaurant cleanly surpassing anybody’s expectations esp any demanding cleanliness criteria and is as good or better than any fine dining expensive outlets.
But I really fail to get the sudden urge and kick these people get to up the ante.
I know that Krishna sweet’s service is bad at their regular outlets like the ones in Tnagar or Adyar but I still put up with it bcos they are the just a shade better than the road side shops but have some special dishes. Though I chide myself the rare times I go there again (poor failing memory) but this ‘fine dining’ Rasam- I shouldn’t go again, for sure. That just isn’t worth. The amount of tension u handle after repeating the order or reminding them about the missed dishes or plead for water or clean glass is like having driven some 15 kms in banglaore or Delhi @ peak hour. Just not worth it.

Some letters, eh?

I bet it, u know I luv it!
But which one the most- u just cant guess.. thx to prem panix for these links..i cudnt refrain from laughing out so loud on a few of them! Its quite some days now and even now, the thought of that spider and its 7 legs push me to laughter. Not some smiles, but laughter mind u.
Pl donot read them in your office and then blame me for your boss being caught by his boss..(bcos u laughed out loud and ur boss asked u why u were doing so doubting u were ROFL at his mail and then u show him this and he is ROFL and caught by his boss)
The best of them comes first here.
Then some poor neighbour gets caught here and his party is ruined!

Just in case you want some other brilliant fella who can write such letters as well, its here.

Girls better than boys!

No, am not going to cut paste some joke here..
Iam serious..one of the activities that kept me busy last week was to screen a movie on GM (poison on the platter) in various schools and follow it up with a talk and Q&A session. Restore’s joint venture with another NGO- prakriti.
I was really impressed with lots of relevant and intelli questions posed by the students. The girls generally got in a bit more serious and would listen and question more. The girls only school like Vidyodaya was best. That was a great experience..they posed lots of questions and also weighed your answers seriously. BTW they even applauded a good question from their schoolmate and would also vociferously support any good (in their opinion) reply of any student:-) But they did applaud and almost pushed me to take the mike again- encore types. I was touched. infact I enjoyed every moment of this show.
Hope they all start to think in the right direction and walk to a healthy future.

Must see video

Watch this Sand animation. (Thanks to radhika!)
its just fantastic and outstanding..chk out the few comments below where there is a mention of the setting, meaning of the words, etc.

what a talent!

Recession what?, swine flu what??

I had to go (and again waste one full day) at the collector’s office regarding some area problem, some steps to save a huge lake in our area and to get a park. Oh! That’s a long story an that is not the point of the blog..(anon). There was a mention earlier about our system here, remember?
As usual had to wait hours on to meet the collector, then brief him, try & wrest ur way..then see to it that he passes them to right chelas with right comments (hmm.green color only)..then follow up to that chela’s table, drill/grill him with ur queries, info and walk out hoping things will go your way (atleast this time.)
Else do this again after a few months like today.
Again, I digress with anger and we all know anger when hungry is doubly harmful..
So lets go to that Hotel Saravana Bhavan at kanchipuram. Yes, kanchi is where the collector sits. Its mid day (ahem, well past noon) on a mid-week day. So u expect to have less crowd and so to be attended to soon. NO! It’s a huge hotel and still there were dozens waiting outside for a seat at this hour. Even the AC hall had some 18 on wait!
Hmm..where is the Swineflu scare?? And recession anybody???
Its all only in your minds and in the English media, I guess..rest of the world is hogging there or waiting for its turn:-)

Swine flu!

one more pandemic..nay, news pandemic..
yeah our news starved media is clinging on to one more excitement.. a disease this time..
and none wud dare to check how and why this started! like they did not do for foot in the mouth or sars or what ever..
ok, they dont do this in(tro)spection to even political scandals, where will they do it for such issues, eh?
for one, this swine flu thingy is over rated and over reacted..
hey, some fools voicing out that he wouldnt go to Pune..but will go to sweden or new york or where ever! hey first go and wash your rear end well, also hands. then stop picking your nose on TV. third get your stats right about how many are afflicted by swine flu in newyork, huh..
If you want red(or white or baked or dead or what ever) meat, please learn to live with all these swine flu, foot in mouth etc..
No, its not the vegetarian me talking..have u ever visited any of the poultries or pig stys or cattlefarms? India or abroad..India u wud not have known but crossed it numerous times.
8 out of 10 times when u frowned at some bad smell and twisted ur nose-while u were going on the highway and saw some prison like, well lit stupid structures..that was one pandemic breeding centre!
ever cared how the chicken are fed, grown & massacred for (o)ur taste buds? how they are treated? did u know what the cows were fed? their own meat! glory to us all!! so foot-in- all- our-mouths:-)
So this time its Pig! wait for a few weeks and it shall be something else..
The way the pigs are grown (manufactured?) - in 2 X 2 feet each..this proximity and unhealthy and greedy ways of our industry practices means they will fall sick..and the numerous employees who come in close contact with them will only contract the disease right? then can we forget all those who stuffed the meat for ur hot dogs in to their intestines, ha ha..
where will all this end?
ofcourse we will forget all this hulla bulla when some other animal or disease kicks havoc..
But there is a cause for concern here when some dear young ones fall prey to these diseases. but will we look at the right areas? our greed, indulgence, taste buds without care for how and where it all happens..and how and why we get in to these frequent pitfalls?
If we dont, lets watch all these visual media hype up such dramas.

Now over to tamiflu! though our media and citizens crib, its good that its not available so freely and in lots.
Did anyone care to check its side effects? ok, all allopathy drugs have a side effect, so whats new..but this one seems to have lots more than one can envisage..iam not going to type out all that my medico friends told or what i read at various sources..
just a small (partial)cut paste from wikipedia:
Common adverse drug reactions (ADRs) include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headache. Rare ADRs include: hepatitis and elevated liver enzymes, rash, allergic reactions including anaphylaxis, and Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Various other ADRs have been reported in postmarketing surveillance including: toxic epidermal necrolysis, cardiac arrhythmia, seizure, confusion, aggravation of diabetes, and haemorrhagic colitis. theres more- Neurological effects, am tired of ctrl V!

so weigh for yourself which is better- swine flu or tamiflu??

PS1: with a big race for govt orders for huge quantities of tamiflu between the big pharma companies, do u think the spread of this flu will be subsided? isnt their big orders more important?
PS2: Seriously is it not a time for govt & media to educate and spread some basic courtesies? like dont pick ur nose (not only TV even otherwise!). actually refrain from spitting or clearing ur nose in open, even touching your nose & mouth! how to use your palm or bent elbow as tools to stop spreading any virus when u cough or sneeze! how to open all your windows/doors (inspite of full AC offices, houses) and let as much fresh air as possible instead of helping the virus breed & spread in closed environs. hmm, if only were thinking..
PS3: am told we shudnt over react and start using the masks either..for we are utterly useless as we cant make out the diff between one time and multiple use mask. Then there are lotsa dos & donts to use a mask. So its better not to use them as they become safe breeding grounds otherwise. Use masks compulsorily (only) if u r afflicted with flu.

Muthodi forest

The photo you saw there was budhi padaga – interior forests of Chamrajnagar, Veerappan’s forte. Its supposedly interior forest with amazing scenery and interesting stay – no electricity being the high point! But since there is a bye-election in C’nagar we couldn’t go here. You need special permission from reserved forest authorities and can only stay in their guest house.
So we chose another interesting place but in Chikmagalur district. Again another dense forest with no electricity and unlimited fun. Here again you have some cottages and dormitory provided by the forest authorities only. Trekking etc are organized by the authorities only. This is the Muthodi forest/ nature camp, Bhadra Tiger reserve! Before you start imagining, please erase any idea of spotting a tiger. I have gone to many places including Sundarbans where we spent 3 nights and saw nothing wilder than Deers & Bengalis. With all your jeep and noisy tourists, if you expect to see a tiger, its height of hopes and nothing else. So all we got to see was a few deers and a bison far away. Ok, lots of elephant trails.
So here again the highlight was the no-tv-no-electricity dark nights, sounds of birds & insects all thru evening & mornings, wood fired food, nice walks & lotsa greenery. Add to that a great company {telecom dealers & distributors of Bangalore- all my close friends and business rivals of last decade (my previous avatar?) } and your day is made.
We couldn’t venture long walks or bath in the spring close by bcos of leeches. Summer shud be a better time though. But a get away like this is rejuvenating any day.
note: phew..my mobile refuses to show the fotos to my laptop..so no fotos for now..wait till i wait and extract from my mobile;-)

When?

When will we learn? When??
Firstly the sight of lights all along roads irritates me. Add to that tall posters with photos of these politicogoons - smiling & folded hands..(che shoot those AH- both the man in the poster & who planted it there)..then large vinyl placards singing paeans of these goofs..
These days its just not when these tallll leaders visit places for meetings, its also when they visit marriage halls..again lights, posters etc for 2 kms either side of the halls and the hall itself over done with glaring lights & blaring sound.
So one such hall we were crossing last evening where there were these ritualistic lights, poster, bandbaja etal..and W asks me to guess what the occasion was..
I said I knew there was a marriage hall round the corner..she asked me what could be the function that’s celebrated there? So she had the benefit of reading one of the posters or seen that big floral welcome board announcing the ‘event’..
I cudnt guess..u cant either..
It was the case of a little girl attaining puberty! Yes!! Some chottu had a natural periods and it is being announced proudly with so much opulence to the whole world! Shame on her parents. They cant keep something so personal to their daughter within their walls, hmmm..
And to screw up not only her happiness n privacy but to screw up mine too, by such show off- lights, posters etc warrants a big curse! @#$%$$%%