4 months, 3 places, and everything else

I think that is a good deal. Of all the places I have been to since I last updated this blog, (only) three places stood out. Calcutta rolls, The Only Place, and Ants Cafe.

Quick recap - If you are looking for a place far removed from air conditioned holes in the wall, try Chakum Chukum Calcutta on a Roll in Indiranagar. The best thing about this place is that it is not a restaurant. In a really quiet bylane of Indiranagar, amidst a lot of greenery and pretty houses, you see a tree big enough for some shade and to have a chabootra around. That is Calcutta on a Roll.They serve parathas (that we did not try), soft drinks, and hajaar different kinds of rolls. In all possible combinations that you can imagine. Double egg, double chicken, chicken double egg, egg double chicken, to name a few. Chakum has a reasonable collection of rolls for vegetarians too. Try it on a boring Saturday evening, walk around the place, sit on the chabootra, talk nineteen to the dozen, and eat a lot. Trust me, if you are anything like me (pity if you aren't), you will love this place. Because it is NOT a restaurant.

The Only Place - Another bylane restaurant that must have been around for a gazillion years. Perfect to catch up with friends on a Sunday afternoon, especially when you are nursing a hangover, the weather is to die for, and you can survive anything but alcohol. It is sort of al fresco, open on the sides, again very green, and serves some really, really good food. I had some fried prawn thing and dessert and fries and another entree. I am not sure if this post is helpful without any names, but let this post be just about the places and the overall awesomeness of food. And the food at The Only Place is just that - awesome. At very reasonable prices. Don't expect impeccable service. If the owner is in a good mood, he will be supremely sweet to you. If he is worked up about the rush, he will cut short your order and warn you about how long your food will take. Almost like dads :P Having said that, this place is worth more than 1 visits.

And Ants Cafe - perfect for rainy morning breakfast. The place is run in partnership with an Assamese NGO. The shop downstairs is worth a look. Great scarves and stoles and kurtas and shirts in cotton and silk, really pretty kitschy jewellery, and some beautiful lampshades and other bling for homes - all at prices way better than Fab India and Mother Earth. The restaurant upstairs serves all day breakfast - brilliant omelettes and sandwiches. I have heard the salads and pancakes are great too, but my breakfast was all cheese and chicken and eggs. The spanish omelette was just right. The chicken and cheese sandwich was quite likeable. But the coffee, well. Just ask them to make it really strong. Mine was, the husband'd was as tepid as every other place that is not an Udupi joint. But the show stopper here is definitely the ambience. Extremely interesting furniture - all bamboo and tree trunks and pretty, bright cushions. The terrace is almost in the middle of huge trees and there are broad leaves from indoor plants that fill in any space that is not green! The place is beautiful. Get a book or grab one from the shelf that has 15 books (yes, I counted. It was a matter of this little bet with the husband) and a lot of magazines, or bring some really good company. I opted for company and it was the nicest, laziest morning in months. Go there. Tomorrow. Picture this.

Ants Cafe

There have been other places like Hole In The Wall (stupidly small), Cafe Thulp (aaaargh!), Nizaams (err), King Bites (ya ok, my cook makes parathas), Biryanis (bloody misnomer of extremely spicy and HOT chicken pulao), Rajdhaniv(too much food, too little taste), Legends of Rock (everything tepid - the drinks, the music, the mood), Cream Center (ye cheating hai! Not even close to the mindblowing food that the chain serves in Bombay), and this paratha place (bad enough for me to not even remember the name!) and none of them stood out. Surprisingly most of them are much hyped places. I wonder why!

Also, I am almost embarrassed to tell you that I finally discovered Commercial Street last month. Glad I did! If you have been around for a while, love roadside shopping, chappals, and cotton, and if you happen to be one of the handful of people who have not been there yet, GO!

I have been reading quite a bit. I happen to be a late starter on Flipkart. And my life and the lives that have been running parallel to mine - all very good. A Fine Balance (now reading and loving it), Eat pray Love (I finally managed to finish it. Complete waste of loo minutes), By The Water Cooler (timepass, fun in parts), Catcher In The Rye (whatte classic. Love it every time I read it and I can't do it enough).

Movies. Tanu Weds Manu (AAAAAAAAARGH.), Turning 30 (Cliched turning 30 angst), Band Baaja Baarat (what was the hype about?) Break Ke Baad, Anjaana Anjani, Guzaarish, Sherlock Holmes (none of which I could sit through), My Sister's Keeper (cried buckets, loved loved loved it). So don't get me started on these. I will finally catch up on Ye Saali Zindagi and No one Killed Jessica this weekend - yes, I have been running really late here. More on this later.

I am off to Manchinbele Dam tomorrow, Kerala in July (yes, in monsoon. Yay me!), Coorg in August. I will hopefully post about the December road trip that has been a lot on my mind lately, if only because it was the happy place that helped me survive the March and April heat. Now it is raining and beautiful, the April showers. And suddenly there is so much to look forward to! Picture this.

Ah! Now I am done.

What was Aisha thinking?

So I saw Aisha. Or whatever of a movie one can see with half of it at twice the speed, and still leave it unfinished. My first reaction was that I have probably grown too old for a chick flick. Oh wait and minute, it is not a chick flick. Chick flicks are fun! Aisha is just a 3 hour long painful cliche. I can't even call it stereotypical, because Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky were stereotypical Delhi. South, North. Whatever. It was dumb. Just that. D-U-M-B.

I know at least 10 girls from South Delhi who have 100 times more grey cells than the whimpering Sonam Kapoor and 150 times better clothes than Aisha. A hat, seriously? Why are the makers of the movie so hell bent on proving that girls, South Delhi or otherwise, don't like to be taken seriously? Oh wait. I don't think the makers of the movie could think that far, really. And no, Abhay Deol is not the saving grace Aisha. He gets a -1 for this movie. Because he really lowered his bar with this one. And no, he did NOT look cute. Far from it! He looked like his dumb cousin Bobby Deol. Beat that.

And what was so special about Aisha's wardrobe?! No, really. If you have to talk "hat ke", you talk Manish Malhotra and what he did to plain jane Rani Mukherjee in Kuch Kuch Hai. Or Urmila in Rangeela. Because that was "changing something". This is. Just. I don't know. Nothing? Of course I know nothing about dressing up. What can someone who owns only denims and cotton have to say about "fashionistas". But logic says if one has to see only the clothes, there are always shops to go to. Or Fashion TV. It still exists, doesn't it? Why make a whole movie for clothes when probably a flash presentation would do.

Aisha left me depressed at the collective stupidity of a bunch of people of my gender. Those that made this movie, those that acted in it, and those that liked it (and even had the audacity to tell everyone they would like it too). Even Sonam Kapoor's dad, whoever that actor is, depressed me. But who really broke my heart was Abhay Deol. It will take a revisit to Oye Lucky for me to believe in that stud (un)Deol again. He seems to have come a full circle, from trying to remove himself from the stereotypical Deol family picture, to just doing a Bobby Deol on us.

In my defense, I am not someone who believes in intelligent cinema. I love Bollywood, with all its cliches of the 80's and 90's to the jazzy Wake Up Sid to an Ishiqiya to everything Farhan Akhtar does on screen. And everything Govinda does on screen. Hell, give me Partner once again. But spare me the torture that was Aisha.

Udaan

I saw Udaan in two shifts. The first time left me unimpressed because the acting seemed amateur. But for the lack of anything to do today, I decided to give it another try. And I am blown away. I haven't seen a Hindi movie that made me sob like a baby, in months. This one did. For sometime you even begin to forgive the fake Bihari accent, and the very amateur acting. This movie really touches a chord with everyone who has, at some point, felt weighed under the pressure of high expectations of having to study something they have little or no aptitude for, or interest in. The frustration, the desperation to run for life, really brought back memories of a 21 year old fighting to prove that writing could actually be a career. Now I thank my parents for not letting me follow my fancy, and making me finish getting educated first. They always told me I could do what I wanted to once I earn the degree. I did, I am doing, and I am glad. Having said that, I remember how suffocating it had been then, to live to prove a point. Mostly to myself.

Add to that parental pressure, some peer pressure, and an abusive parent, and you have this really beautiful movie called Udaan. Ronit Roy, although not completely convincing as a frustrated, drunkard father, does make you hate him for what he brings upon his children. At my age, I can probably try to find reason in his behavior, but I can never really justify it. Rajat Barmecha is the quintessential small town kid with aspirations of becoming a writer, one that not too many people understand, definitely not his father. He makes you fall in love with him only because of his innocence and sensitivity. I hope there really are more 17 year olds like him, ones that actually have a dream that goes beyond driving at 150 kmph or getting to drink for the first time. But the protagonist's 6 year old step brother was the one I cried for the most. A child at that age can get scarred for life if he has to see the things this child did. It was obvious in his sadness ridden smiles in the entire movie. Ram Kapoor, the cool chachu, was adorable. I guess we have all had that one grown up that always told us what the right thing to do is, without telling us what we were doing was wrong. And I guess we have all ran to these people with a lot of our growing up pangs.

Udaan reminds one of the decade gone by, when we were growing up. Parents these days seem to have become more open to the idea of their children following their dreams. Or I may have come too far from my roots to notice it around me now. I say every parent that has not spared the thrashing after a math exam, or has taken the child to IIT coaching without a second though to what the child really wants from his life, should see this movie. I will not speak of abusive parenting, because that is one thing I don't know about except the fact that it's ugly.

Surprisingly, for a low budget movie, this one is made beautifully. The cinematography is a class apart. It is like seeing beautiful photographs, only they are videos. Whatever that means. The music, although not memorable, is very apt. Something one would listen to, to forget the worries of adulthood for a while. 

I must warn you though, that movie leaves you a little depressed in spite of seeing the protagonist run for his life, take his kid brother, and leave the father behind. I wish they could find common ground and put their troubles behind them. But what do I know of having to live with bad fathers. Mine rocks, in spite and because :-)

Kolkata, Koramangala

We had a mediocre movie marathon this weekend. To start with, Pathshala. I am not sure if Aamir Khan has seen the movie yet, but after wonders like Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots, if Bollywood still churns out total crap like Pathshala, I wonder where they are learning their ropes from, if not from Aamir Khan. Blatant exaggeration is what this movie is all about. I agree that with the recent spate of private and international schools, education like we knew it has taken a back seat, and not in a good way. With billboards of private schools, hefty fees and donation, and constant business in the name of facilities, and of course ambitious parents sending their kids to reality TV challenges, I can only wonder how long it takes for a child’s perspective to change completely. Some basics should not change. But what use are film makers ahead of their times that thought of making a movie out of a theme as contemporary as this, but only totally ruined it with terrible editing, bad acting, and blind, stupid exaggeration. What a waste of Shahid Kapoor and Nana Patekar! Pathshala is avoidable, I am glad I missed it in theatres when it first released.

Next in line was Analyze This. The movie has its moments. But with Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro, one expects the kind of impact that When Harry Met Sally had. Or at least the ROFLMAO moments like The Focker movies. Either the comedy was too refined for me to notice through the movie, or it didn’t really exist except in the moments. I did not enjoy it as much as I expected it to.

And then the icing on the cake. Inception. I FINALLY saw it, and I blame blogsville for raising my expectations. Inception was a movie I would have definitely caught on DVD, but with everyone from Twitter to Facebook to blogs raving and ranting about it, I thought this was theatre material. For one, Hollywood churns out stuff like this every other year. So why the hype? Secondly the movie was far from rocket science. It was easy to understand but difficult to take in. Give me a Crash or an Invictus over this dream-inside-a-dream-inside-a-dream fantasy play. It wasn’t even on the lines of Martix to evoke so much conversation. I am willing to give it a second chance though. I will watch it on blu ray as soon as I can find it.

I think PVR in Koramangala is, in a lot of ways, to blame for the movie seeming unbelievably mediocre. There was static in speakers. What more do I say? By the way I miss the days when I couldn’t tell the difference between 360 p and 780 p. I miss happily watching Friends on half screen on a small monitor without cribbing about picture quality. The new set up at home has taken away the fun from first weekend movies. Now I would rather really take in the movie in the set up at home or just drop it. I blame it on the husband!


But the lifesaver this weekend was Sunday lunch at Kolkata.Let the pictures first speak for themselves.

View from the window at Kolkata

Outside seating at Kolkata

We wanted to have a hearty meal before Inception and I read what Manuscrypts had to say about this place. The paragraph on desserts was what got us going. The food is brilliant, to say the least. Kolkata is in a narrow bylane in Koramangala 4th Block. The ambiance is very rural Bengal, the kind of décor you would see at the Isckon Gurukul in Mayapur. It is a little over the top in some parts of the restaurant, but the outside seating was well done. There are sunflowers and thatch umbrellas and graffiti on the walls. The overall effect was quite nice. R and I had decided to order the same things that we had read in the review, except the fish fries. We went for fish cutlet and it was a tad too dry for our liking. The aampora sharbat was really good. What followed was awesomeness! Authentic luchis, succulent kosha murgi with thick, spicy gravy, fish with mustard curry – very pungent and absolutely delicious, and ghee rice. Yes, I threw caution to wind, like I do every other day, and ate like there is no tomorrow. And for your information, I don’t regret it :D 

Then came dessert. We stuck with rasgullas and mishti doi and it was like being transported to Sharma’s or Deshbandhu in Calcutta on a dashami morning. The doi had no sour flavour about, absolutely nothing out of place. It was the authentic sweetened curd that Bengal is famous for. The rasgullas were fluffy, soft, and unbelievably awesome. I really relished a dessert session with only mithai after a long time. Kolkata is a must visit for anyone who misses the Bengali food they make at home, or the Bong food they grew up eating during their summer sojourns to Calcutta to visit relatives. I belong to the second category :) The entire meal cost us Rs 777, so the place was not too hard on the pocket. A 5/5 it is for me.

The restaurant was empty during Sunday lunch, but a reservation will not harm. You can call them on 080 42555999.

Of books. Movies. Easy Chicken curry. And other such banalities

At long last, I finished reading Madhav Mathur's The Diary of an Unreasonable Man. Actually "at long last" is just for the added effect. This is one book I finished the fastest in the last couple of years. Why I have become a slow reader, is a story for another day. Back to this book, I was extremely skeptical about it, mainly because how far fetched, Rang De Basanti-ish the plot sounded. But I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed it. If you have been working for a couple of years, been wondering why you aren't making the kind of difference to the world that you once, at 21, associated with becoming "independent" and minting (ha!) money, this book is for you. Or not. You also need to be patient, believe in shallow revenge (cow dung on expensive cars is not my idea of a well thought, intense revolution, but it's fun!), and in the mood for "far fetched". Now don't get me wrong. My life revolves around shallowness and "far fetched" and often, revenge, so obviously in my dictionary, these are quintessentially good adjectives. It is a fun read, although I don't see myself quitting "real" work to bring in any kind of revolution. The book doesn't speak of anything that you and I don't speak of everyday, albeit in our cozy living rooms, and with no cow dung around to spoil the party. Consumerism, mall culture, why the cars we drive and the machines we own have become factors that guide whether or not we have arrived in life. Whatever happened to living simple. To the deserving making it big in life. What is "making it big in life" anyway? So yes, the book sure is close to our reality. But this is where the "reality" bit ends. But at least the book is not a documentary on the faults of urban living. Overall a fun read, mainly on flights and loos. What? You want a review? I am not qualified to give you one. Read it to find out! I liked it. At least 10 times more than Eat, Pray, Love. Now on to the next book about corporate rut - Sidin Vadukut's Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robert Einsein Verghese. At this rate, I am soon going to be on my way to the Himalayas. Away from MY corporate rut. Or so you would think. Sigh!

Anyway I did start watching Heroes after wondering what the fuss was about. In fact I finished a whole season. And no, I still don't know what the fuss was about. Just like I don't know why people love Harry Potter and Twilight so much. Heroes is way beyond imagination. And not in a good way. Too many superheroes, too much fantasy. The men are cute though. And no, I am not going to watch another season. Excuse me while I return to the 5th season of Frasier. It's real. I have always suffered the underdog syndrome, I like Frasier Crane more than any superhero. Krrrish included :P

I am back from a tragic-comic movie outing - I Hate Love Stories (I refuse to spell it incorrectly.) What on earth was it? I liked the movie, I haven't seen a love story I didn't like. But IHLS was extremely amusing, and not always intentionally. What can I say that hasn't been said before. Except don't believe all the reviews you read. The movie was actually fun. Shallow, almost stupid, but fun. But someone tell Sonam Kapoor she is not half as pretty as she thinks. So she can really, really drop the pretty damsel act and start being a little more.. I don't know.. Human? Imran Khan is the show stopper. Someday I want a son like him. Bah! I am getting old!

What's for dinner tonight? The Easy Chicken Curry. I don't think this recipe exists anywhere. It is some random things done to the very normal chicken curry recipe you read in most places, to make sure the cooking time doesn't exceed 15 minutes. And it is.. Err.. Healthier? Not a Bihari recipe by the way. Although it can pass off as Dehati Chicken. What? There actually is a chicken recipe that is called that. I found out only a couple of weeks ago. Coming back to my recipe, here you go..
Curd - 1 cup
Beans - 100 grams
Catch chicken masala
Ginger garlic paste
Chilli powder
Haldi
Onion
Coriander powder
Garam masala
Cumin powder
Dhaniya (to garnish.. Heh!)
And chicken of course. 500 grams. Serves two adults who like to overeat, this dish.

Whenever you have a few minutes during the day, marinate clean pieces of chicken in curd, ginger garlic paste, haldi, and chilli powder. Refrigerate the marinade. This recipe is pressure cooked, so make sure the pressure cooker is free and clean.

20 minutes before you sit down for the meal, saute jeera and small pieces of onion in mustard oil, add the beans and fry for a few minutes. Then add a little haldi, a teaspoon of chicken masala, some coriander powder, garam masala, and cumin powder. Pretend to fry the masala a little, just in case someone told you you weren't doing it right :P

Add the marinade, mix well. Cook the mixture for 4 seetis - the first one on high flame, the rest on low flame. Do NOT add water if watery chicken curry is not your idea of home cooked food and you liked it only during desperate hostel days. Of course I am speaking from experience!

Garnish the chicken curry with coriander (not the powder, the leaves) because trust me it will not look even half as nice as it will taste. Serve with steamed rice. This is Good food. Also because it hardly involves any effort. I might put a picture here later. Or maybe not!

Movies, music, and all that jazz

Disclaimer: I know zilch about movie making. These reviews are only my perspective. Why I think I am good enough to do this? Because I have spent truckloads of money religiously watching first day first shows/ the same movie many times over, hardly ever pirated (I don't steal Hindi movies), for as long as I can remember. This is not a review maybe, this is what I wanted to see and didn't and vice versa.  Do yourself a favour, don't let my unaccounted for opinion change your mind about watching or not watching a movie.
If someone ever blamed me for supporting Bihari roots, I will not be able to say anything in rebuttal. And as things go with me, when I like a place/ person, I like everything about them. Not almost everything. Everything. And yet, I did not like Rajneeti. I had very high hopes from the movie - with Ajay Devgan and Ranbir Kapoor and Manoj Bajpai and Prakash Jha, I couldn't not have high hopes. But apart from the fact that every character had its shades of grey, I found the movie pretty much pointless.

One, the violence was over the top. It was way too far from reality, and from a movie like this I don't expect anything short of brutal reality. The dialogues were extremely corny at some places, e.g. when Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor's mother tells Ajay Devgan that he is her eldest son. Nobody in India uses words like "jeshth putra" any more. No, not in Bhopal, even less in Bihar. Apart from the shades of grey, there was nothing about the characters that was real or well thought out. I did not see any reason for Katrina to be in the movie, or Ranbir's American girlfriend. Manoj Bajpai constantly looked like he was trying too hard. To start with, a crisp white kurta and pyjama would have made him look a lot more like the party head's side kick son who was not getting the right deals in life. What he wore made him look like a pimp, or a Bihari/ Uttar Pradeshi/ Bhopali businessman's sidekick, and not exactly like a politician. Remember Sadhu Yadav?

Then of course is the whole mish mash of MP, UP, and Bihar. Stick with one state please, in spite of such stark similarity in these three states on so many counts. There was a lot of inconsistency in the theme, more in the acting. Let's just say the acting was bad.

Ajay Devgan looked every bit the character he played - the idealistic (?) minority leader who wanted to bring about change at all costs. I think he should have received a tad bit more screen time than the extremely annoying Manoj Bajpai.  Ranbir Kapoor. Is. Good. Arjun Rampal is good poster material. Let me be harsh and just say it - he can't act for peanuts. He is repetitive, flat, and very, very good looking. Oh and I mean the last bit as a compliment. He looks like a dish, I just don't like to see him talk/ act. How he made magic in Rock On and failed misrably in this one all over again is beyond me. Who do I blame for this?

It was of course extremely annoying that every single woman in the movie got pregnant. And way too easily at that, if you know what I mean. Talk about coincidence, timing, sheer luck, or whatever!

For me Rajneeti was a very Madhur Bhandarkar-ish attempt at portraying reality - unnecessary violence, too many steamy scenes, a sufi/ classical Indian number, a couple of pretty, glamourous women, dressed down, and an item number or two here and there. Jha ji ne iss baar thoda disappoint kar diya.


2.5 on 5 for me - 0.5 each for the shades of grey, Ajay Devgan's character, Arjun Rampal's good looks, and Mora Piya. The fact that the seats in Fame Lido, Bangalore are grossly uncomfortable, didn't help the cause at all! And I still don't know whose side I am on - Ajay Devgan's team or Ranbir Kapoor's team - I guess that was the point. I generally don't dislike Hindi movies, but the last entire year has seen me disappointed a lot of times. Is someone listening?

In the spirit of Father's Day, I finally saw Well Done Abba. And considering how simple the theme was, how low budget the movie looked, and how none of the actors were of the big league, I couldn't help comparing it with the disastrous hype around Rajneeti. Well Done Abba was a refreshing change from morbid reality AND Karan Johar's NRI dreams. Boman Irani of course is a rockstar in his own right - Well Done Abba was a double dose of brilliance with him. I even liked Samir Dattani (in spite of a his fairly flat acting skills - the boy has the cutest smile!) and Minissha Lamba. It did seem like Shyam Benegal/ Ashok Mishra had a little bit of a problem with Biharis, if you see how Ravi Kishen's character is woven around marital sex (and not sleazily outside of it, mind you :D). But nobody can play a Bihari like a Bihari, and Ravi Kishen takes the cake. Bharbhara ke baawdi bhar gayi, and this is just a example. The real star of the movie, of course, is Boman Irani, his Hyderabadi lingo, his absolutely unassuming and endearing honestly and resolve. I even loved the music of the movie - unpretentious, real. Especially Hum toh apni bawadi lenge and the peppy Meri banno hoshiyaar. The latter had me wishing the music of this film had released before my wedding :-) The movie did seem to drag a little towards the end, with the political drama mish mash. But overall Well Done Abba was a refreshing change. Best watched on DVD though. For me!

I have been listening to the soundtrack of Raavan the last few days. I am not supremely excited about the movie - Aishwarya Rai and too much wildlife. Mani Rathnam not withstanding. But the music I quite like.  Gulzar and A.R. Rehman - it sure doesn't get better than this. Especially Beera. The song has this zing that had been missing in movie sountracks for a while now, a one off Ishqiya not withstanding. I like how Beera makes me feel the song was written for me - chhede jo beera ko, dhama dham dham dham! I leave you with the video.

Majja ni life..

And no, this is not Munnabhai hangover.

If you once lived in Pune and made a beeline at Zamu's on Navroze and no trip to MG Road was complete without stuffing yourself at Dorabjee's and/or during Bombay days, Mocambo made you jump with joy and you are now suffering Parsi food withdrawal symptoms here in Bangalore and Andhra style is not really your style, try Daddy's Deli in Indiranagar. It won't promise you the stuff that legends like Zamu's are made of, but it promises nice, filling, homely Parsi food. I can't really comment on their service etc because I ordered in. But after a long day on the road, this food was all I was looking for. Succulent pieces of chicken and mutton in their Vindaloo and Dhansak respectively, crisp pieces of potato, to-die-for-gravy, smooth rotlis, and browned rice. The food was absolutely satisfying. Just like I like it after a Sunday spent on the road indulging in retail therapy.

Speaking of home delivery, I had been using Hungryzone on and off for online ordering. But I am switching my loyalty to Webdhaba. They are efficient, accurate, make a follow up call instead of instructing customers to call on their own in case of delay. And when you order from Webdhaba, you will probably only wonder what delay they are talking about. I had placed my order at 7 (yes, I am ALWAYS in a hurry if we are talking food) for a 9:30 pm delivery and I stay quite far from Daddy's Deli. And in Bangalore one must get used to last minute cancellations and delays, but the food was at my door at 9:30. Dot. I know you won't understand why this is a miracle in this city if you are not from here. Try it sometime.

Polished off all the food in the company for R and a certain Mr Clooney. The long overdue Up In The Air. How did I forget that George Clooney looks like that! Man! That smile, those looks, those intense eyes... I can go on! The movie.. Quite nice. Depessing in parts, but really gets you a perspective in terms of work and life, and how they aren't the same thing (and I lose mine ever so often when it comes to this!) And everything it means to have "company" instead of just working for one. A 4/5 for me... I still believe Alex should have ditched everything, thrown the damned backpack, and gone to George Clooney. Just like that. That's why the -1. I prefer happier endings.

And I am back in office now. Hating it. How can I not? SOMEONE TAKE ME HOME!

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!

Grave of the Fireflies and Parzania

This weekend we did justice to our "movie-buffness". We got BigFlix membership. I may be so used to social networking sites that nearly every thought of mine makes way to FB status update, twitter, or blog, as the case may be (and I KNOW it's not a very healthy state of being) but the wonders of web 2.0 still amaze me. One online form, a few hundred bucks worth of online transaction, and you can order unlimited movies! Every single day. All it takes is the click of the mouse. No credit cards, no long, cryptic passwords. Nothing at all! I love the concept (and I so hope India gets Pay Per View real soon).

So... We ordered Parzania last night and then sat down to watch The Grave of The Fireflies. The writer must be a sadist I say. Pragmatically speaking, if there is a war, people will die. And a lot of times, at the risk of sounding like an extremist, wars can't be avoided. But the movie, based on 2 war orphans, really proves the futility of it all. The real after effect. And the worst part is that when it's an animation movie, the cryfest doesn't quite happen. The movie left such a tug in my heart that I almost missed the cryfest! But the sadistic view of the world apart, the movie is BRILLIANTLY made. It's about the bombing of Kobe, an after effect (as far as I have read) of World War - II. Grave of the Fireflies revolves around 2 Japanese siblings that lose their parents during the war. It speaks of their trials as orphans, the sincere efforts they made to survive. And how they lose their lives because of lack food during the war, all the while the children craving for something as basic as rice. You have to see the movie to believe how powerful animation can be. But try not to watch it if you are down and out. It is insanely depressing. And as for R, he felt guilty eating rice during lunch today. A 5/5 for this masterpiece!

And then today. Parzania. I don't think I know anyone who still hasn't seen the movie. So I guess I don't need to write that it was based on the Gujarat riots sparked by Godhra. It did not leave me as shaken as Grave... But touching it was nevertheless. And the irony is, the movie revolves around a Parsi family stuck amidst a battle that was between Hindus and Muslims and how they lost their son to the riots. The movie left me questioning Mr Narendra Modi for the first time. It's foolish to support an ideology without realising what it really entails. So yes, I was being foolish. But the question is, how else do you stop this?

I had started out wanting to write about Bonnie & Clyde food, but it somehow doesn't sound quite right now. Some other time maybe.

... Of the good things in life

Hands down the best Biryani I have eaten in Bangalore - Hyderabad House, Koramangla. Totally miss-able because it's not a grand place for evening outs. But the food was worth the risk. Priced slightly more than the chicken biryani at the more popular (I guess?) Hyderabadi Biryani, it was worth more than a few extra bucks we spent on it. Hyderabadi Biryani is all masala and the taste doesn't quite settle. But this one, I can't say it enough - SUPER! Can't give you a complete review on service etc, because we ordered a take out. But for whatever it's worth, this biryani brings your taste buds to life, it's all flavours (as opposed to masala) and it's a complete delight. 5/5. Hands down.

The biryani was the lifesaver of the day, because just before the biryani meal, I watched Evam's Five Point Someone, a theatre adaptation of one of the most mediocre books that people bought and read like crazy. I do NOT appreciate Chetan Bhagat's terrible writing (but I still read it because it's the easiest thing to read on train journeys and loos... Ahem!). But I really thought that the man had a story he didn't know how to tell, and maybe Evam, with all its experience, will not make a mistake with the story. But apart from PF playing in the background, there was NOTHING good or even average about the play. No impact, totally disconnected, bad acting, thick south indian accents - it was a lovely winter evening at Ranga Shankara gone totally sour! Give it a miss unless you know Evam personally I say!

Another lifesaver over the long weekend - Invictus. Adrenaline rush as is the norm with every sports movie, but that's not all there is to the movie. There's Morgan Freeman. And how! He does complete justice to what I remember of Mandela from the TV news. The same composure, similar smile - the man is the God of Feel Good - both Freeman and Mandela. And both achieve different levels of success with what seems like such ease on the surface. Super! I didn't particularly like Matt Damon as the deep, thinking, almost sad sportsperson. He doesn't quite look right in the role. But the movie otherwise was something I haven't said about anything other than The Pursuit of Happyness - totally inspiring. I am going through a time in life that is totally full of uncertainties and has bits and pieces of self doubt thrown in. And Invictus is just the kind of movie I needed to get my head back in action!

I am sooo ready to hit work after a 4 day super break tomorrow. All hail the good things in life! :)

Of Soo Ra Sang and something between aalu dam and something else

This weekend has been good and bad in terms of food. Last night we went to Soo Ra Sang. I am not qualified to review it because my taste buds aren't evolved enough to really like Korean food. But the place is rather cute. Sit down meals, and korean barbequeue tables, and excellent service. It was the kind of politeness that makes you want to kick yourself for hating their food and not being able to finish it. And the amount of food they serve is a little overwhelming, because most of it comes free. The pic says it all.

And I watched Jail. Yes. Now. At home. Badly made, loved Neil Nitin Mukesh. He's really good! Don't have any strong feelings for the movie, so not even sure if I am fit to comment on/ review the movie here.

Coming to the better part about this weekend, I never thought I would say this about myself but here it is - I LOVE COOKING! It's so exciting to take a bunch of things that one wouldn't even think of eating one at a time, and you mix it all in random amounts, and the concoction turns out something you relish. Because it's also something you never thought you could do, something you never thought was as easy as it seems now. Come to think of it, cooking IS a lot like analytics - random data that all adds up into something that makes so much sense! Only it's a lot less challenging than analytics because the control entirely lies with you. YOU decide what you want, and what you need to get where you want, and how you can improve. And it's a little bit more exciting that the kind of analytics we know, because you can experiment just when you want to. Without worrying too much about the consequences. Because it's only food. LOL!

So today I experimented. I don't have a name for what I made, but it tasted heavenly. At least to R and me it did.  I had started out wanting to make aalu dam, but it clearly turned out something else, because I did my own thing in the kitchen :P Here's what you need-

Baby potatoes
Chopped onion
Jeera
Haldi powder
Garlic
Ginger
Green chillies
Curd
Dry red chillies
Clove
Daalchini
Tej patta
Pepper
Powdered garam masala and red chilli powder

Not mentioning the amounts, because I really don't know. Let's just say I added the amount of masala one normally puts in these curries.

Peel and partially slit the potatoes and keep them in a bowl of salt water. Then marinate the potatoes in a cup of curd, salt, and a just pinch of garam masala and red chilli powder. Refrigerate it for about half an hours. Grind ginger, garlic, one green chilli, and a few pieces of onion.

Once the marinade is ready, heat mustard oil in a kadhai. Heat tej patta, dry red chillies, and jeera till the mixture starts to pop. Then heat onion on medium flame till it turns golden brown. Add clove, daalchini, pepper, and the ground masala till the masala starts to separate from the oil. Put the marinade into this mixture and fry for about 5-7 minutes. Pour some boiling water into the kadhai and mix it all well. Let the potatoes cook completely on low flame. Let me warn you, this will take almost forever, and you really need to obsessing over it or checking it every 2 minutes. Just let it be! So in the meantime catch up with people on the phone, argue with husband over whatever comes to mind, check you emails and facebook, put the clothes into the washing machine. All that. Just when the potatoes were well cooked, add some salt to it. At this point R decided to get a little creative and added a pinch of sugar. Garnish it with coriander. Let it cook for another 5 minutes. And it's done!

Goes really well with rice/ pulao and coriander chutney. I just had it... I am in bliss!

Rocket Singh and 3 Idiots

When R and I set out on our vacation, we knew exactly where we will see the two movies... R's brother, a new hotshot sales guy is the Rocket Singh in our family, while my li'l baby sis, tired of all the expectations and academic pressures to live up to what she has started, is my personal favourite idiot in the world. R and I just made it 3 :P

Rocket Singh did and did not work for me. Worked because it's sincere and adorably candid! It wasn't exactly realistic, but at least it wasn't preachy. And Ranbir Kapoor - the kid is a showman! Event in his pagdi and sardar avatar, he was the cutest, most sumptuous (ahem!) thing in Rocket Singh. That said, there were bits and pieces that were stretched a little too far - the story isn't powerful enough to excite me beyond the first few jokes and it did not hold my attention through the entire movie. Now that I look back, I am quite sure I laughed more than necessary at all the jokes, mainly because I was in a generally super holiday mood :) Overall a just above average movie, great timepass. 3/5 I say!

3 Idiots - It worked worked worked! And how! Right from the first minute into the movie, I was rolling on the floor. Its over the top humour, Aamir's super "wtf is wrong with you, prof" expressions, Sharman Joshi, the sad little jokes on even poverty and paralysis - everything was hilarious. Most of Aamir Khan movies have a message, this one did too. But what was awesome was how it was showcased with lots of humour. I know of people who have taken things like acads, engineering years, failures and successes a little too much to heart. Chances are 10 years after the coveted engineering degree, it's the front benchers who haven't done well (and for me, "doing well" is defined by happiness. STRICTLY.) and the back benchers who have had the most fun and have made decent money too. I may be wrong but I think the movie was ham all around mainly because it portrayed just how amusing people can get when they take life and things that don't matter in the big picture, so, so seriously. Of course there were many, many unrealistic moments in the movie - one of them the great Ladakh run to unite Kareena and Aamir. There were many predictable moments in the movie too - it wasn't a thriller after all! The music was catchy, the actors hammed a great deal but for me it added to the fun the whole package was. I simply loved Sharman's line, "aaj humne human behaviour ke baare mein kuchh seekha. Jab apna dost fail hota hai toh bohot dukh hota hai, just woh top karta hai toh aur bhi dukh hota hai". How many of us haven't been on at least one side of the wall? I am sure none. I have been lucky, I have been on both sides and I know exactly how it feels! So yes, the movie may have been unrealistic, over the top, even crude in parts, the message (if you want to see it) was out in the open - this is not all there is to life... A degree, being a front bencher, a great job - Things that are have been ingrained in our heads for so long now that we don't even stop to think about the futility of it all. That children have a mind of their own. That they at least have the right to have a mind of their own. 3 Idiots was a lot of fun for me. And yes, people like Chatur and Rancho do exist - maybe even in every one of us. Only in much smaller degrees, because I agree that the movie was hardcore exaggeration, and that was the fun part! I would give the movie 4/5 - simply for making me laugh like there's no tomorrow.

Of course now speaking of 3 Idiots, how can one not speak of Chetan Bhagat, 5 Point Someone, and the recent controversy. My heart goes out to Mr Bhagat, who in spite of being an IIM grad and in spite of having some 10 years of work experience, didn't realise he was being taken for a ride. The agreement says he will be given credit, and he got credit. The agreement does NOT say when and where, maybe Mr Bhagat should have paid a little more attention to detail. He got his money, he got his teenie weenie credit, he was happy until the movie became such a rage. Now he is clearly speaking of collecting awards. Now he says "he knew he was being taken for a ride" If I were him, I would have been smarter BEFORE the movie released. Because being a mamma's boy after the damage is done won't really help. Welcome to the real world, Mr Chetan Bhagat. You did not get enough credit - everyone knows that. But you have only yourself to blame! Don't blame people for ethically abusing the contract, next time just pay more attention to detail. Thank you very much!

New Beginnings...

Yet another year (almost!)... And yet another blog (pretty much).

I am discovering a city right now, a new home. And I want to record everything this transition means. And all my memories, opinions, catharsis don't quite fit into one blog... And I hate the sense of loss I feel every time I have to delete a blog for obvious reasons. But all of it can't be trashed, doesn't need to. So ladies and gentlemen, presenting my Timepass Blog. I am not qualified to be a movie/ food/ music/ literature critic... Anyway these are not things I criticize :P But this place is going to be a collection of my wanderings... For food, for movies, for plays, on vacation... And memories of days that I only curl up and read a book. And there will be recipes. And everything else that catches my fancy and has nothing to do with my feelings, or any kind of narcissism. Who am I kidding? ;)

No better day to start this blog. I have just had a super Saturday afternoon... And it's only fair to give credit where it's due :) So here's how the story goes. R and I and were whiling away our time last night wondering if there's anything "sasta, sundar, tikau" to do over the weekend. Cooking was out (been doing too much of it lately, both of us). And for me, on a day like this, the answer is always a movie. Got tickets for Kurbaan and planned to have lunch at Chowka, our friendly neighbourhood Rajasthani restaurant. Here's how it all was-

Kurbaan - I don't generally dislike movies, and I would still say it was average. Strictly so. With a theme as strong as terrorism, and actors as brilliant as Saif (remember Langda Tyagi?) and Om Puri, the movie fell flat. At least for me. What could have been a striking 2 hour movie stretched on to 3, and I came out feeling absolutely nothing for it. Some moments sent chills down my spine, but then again I hadn't gone for a Manoj Night Shyamalan, and those chills were unnecessary. Om Puri and and Kirron Kher were strong characters as Muslim Fundamentalists, the rest just whimpered through the movie. I still do not get what Kareen was doing in the movie in the first place. She doesn't look the part (size 0 Psychology Prof who also gets pregnant - not quite the right blend, don't you think?). The music was average. It took on where Khuda Ke Liye and New York left off, for most part. But neither New York nor Kurbaan impressed me. They were just lame cousins of Khuda Ke Liye. Agreed that Kurbaan has finally managed to bring to light, and very strongly at that, what really makes one a fundamentalist. But the rest of the story failed to have an impact.

Music - just about average. Story - I would say there was none. The writer almost forgot to weave a story around what are hard hitting facts. Kareena, as usual, was unimpressive. I honestly think she should stick with item numbers of the Chhaliya category, or have a director with "Omkara skills". Saif was OK, not strong. Just about OK. And wait, did I forget Vivek Oberoi? That says it all :)

Do I regret getting up early for a 10 am show? Not in the least, I got the tickets for 100 each and I am very thankful I didn't spend anymore on it. And all said and done, it is a Hindi movie. It must be watched. You can trash it, but you can't not watch it!

So as is the case every time, I came out of the movie smiling... More so because I was expecting a lot from lunch. And I was not wrong!

Chowka is a small restaurant in Thippasandra here in Bangalore. Known for their Thalis and cost. 120 bucks for a full, unlimited Rajasthani meal that's worth every penny(and more). So we get into a restaurant in the baazaar area, find ourselves a nice canopy with a table for 2. And before you start romanticizing, the ambience was nothing to die for. The food was. We were welcomed with small glasses of chhaachh. Very refreshing. The phulkas were HOT, and soft. Missi roti - brilliant. Paratha -niiiice! The quintessential Rajasthani Aalu sabji - spicy and just right. I wouldn't say much about the baati, but the daal it came with definitely was good. I wouldn't suggest anyone to have rice there, it sort of spoils the after taste. The rotis are good enough. And for dessert, there was fresh jalebi and rabri. What a way to end a meal like that. Complete slurrrrrp! How does it compare with Rajdhani, the most well known among Thali places? To start with, the food in Rajdhani is a little too commercial for my liking, the waiters a tad bit too persevering. And Rajdhani, for me, has never been true value for money. At 120 bucks, Chowka totally was!

Highly recommended for casual meals. Just don't take a girl on a date there, no matter how much she likes Rajasthani food ;) The ambience is strictly OK... A tad bit tacky, if I may say so. But overall, a complete sasta, sundar, tikau option on most days.

I would give this Saturday a 4.5 on 5 hands down! :)