Sunday Bloody Sunday

So last Sunday was probably the worst Sunday we have ever spent doing things we love doing - movies and eating. Here's the long and short of our horrible experience at Forum Value Mall.

We finally saw My Name Is Khan. If at all the whole MNS Vs SRK story was a publicity stunt, I am sure SRK had his reasons for it. Because MNIK... Really? I couldn't believe the man I have loved pretty much ALL my life, not because of his acting skills but his sheer intelligence, agreed to do a movie like this. No no, don't get me wrong. I don't think he belongs to the Aamir Khan genre of intelligent cinema (discounting 3 Idiots of course). He is a star... A businessman if you will. He does what sells and what he does, sells. Even his mindless Om Shanti Om has a fragment of intelligence in the many spoofs. But MNIK is a disaster. For one, it was hilarious, an adjective not quite apt for a theme like that. And what's with SRK turning into Superman and saving people and being dumb at the same time? Why wouldn't a man give his wife a shoulder to cry on instead of travelling across America to meet the President to say one line... My Name Is Khan and I am not a terrorist. What melodrama! I don't understand why Karan Johar tried to squeeze so much into ONE movie. First there's Kajol and SRK together again, which for most of us who grew up on the late 90's hindi movies, is a huge thing already. And then there are tales of wooing, an illness, a Hindu-Musling love story, song and dance, shaadi scenes, NRI "bigness", Kajol's eccentricities and a past, superhero sequences, war victims, AND the sensitive issue of being a Muslim in our day and age. The movie, at best, was a spoof on lot of serious issues.  And not a very intelligent one at that. My rating 2.5/5 - for the comedy and for my eternal love for SRK. I almost stopped loving him. And then this year's Filmfare awards happened... Sigh! ;-)

After the movie, we went to the new MTR outlet in the mall. I was of course super excited because I had heard so much about how this place is a heritage here in Bangalore and how awesome the food is. And how cheap! Cheap it was. But that too came at a cost. My limited patience. We decided to take a table on the terrace and that was our first bad decision. It was HOT. Then we got a table with leftovers from the previous party. Watery, dirty, dusty, sunny, and yellow spots here and there- the table was quite a sight. And nobody came to clean it either, in spite of asking 2 employees. Finally someone did oblige after a lot of buck passing. We were given water and one of the glasses had chutney marks just where you hold it. You got it right, someone had used the glass with the same hand they ate their chutney... And nobody thought of washing those glasses before dumping them on our table. Running out of patience, we asked for the manager. He apologised profusely and we let it go. The food was going to be worth it probably. We were wrong. We ordered 4 masala dosas, R's parents were accompanying us. We ordered 4 dosas, R's parents were accompanying us. We were served 3 dosas. The 4th one was brought in just when the remaining 3 were almost done with their food. And the food was nothing extraordinary. I probably don't have extremely evolved taste buds, what's so great about MTR food really? It tastes as good as anything else in any other slightly more expensive restaurant. And with that kind of service, I don't mind staying away and not recommending this place to anyone. What's funny is that this was the first day of the mall outlet (I guessed because the water jugs had their steel company stickers on, later I confirmed with one of the employees), and although there were no discounts, even their service and attitude made us believe they weren't too excited about a new outlet and a restaurant full of people. The coffee was good. Strong. And one of the better cups of coffee I have ever had. But my rating would still be 1/ 5, 1 for the coffee.

And then realising that we no could no longer take the atrocities of that Sunday, we went to the parking to leave. And the entire length of one side of our car had been scratched. Deliberately. R, being the obsessed lover of everything he owns, lost it and asked the security guy what happened. He seemed to not understand that he was being spoken to. When R asked for his manager, he just grumbled that there was no facility of lodging a complaint and walked off. On our way out, R argued with the outside security that we weren't going to pay for the parking. And we didn't. But those 4 tenners we saved wasn't worth the kind of service we got at Forum Value Mall. I am never setting foot there again, except if I am planning a survey. Because look at the brighter side. It's because of service and experience like this that people like me stay in business.

Sunday bloody Sunday I say!