Sellitaire

An appeal to the Neo-Bangaloreans

2006-04-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

It is now almost 48 hours since the Kannada legend Dr.Rajkumar passed away. As Bangalore limps back to normalcy, the reaction is but expected from people who have come into Bangalore in the last 5 years and the people who’ve witnessed the mob fury on television; “why should people react like this when Dr.Rajkumar died a natural death? South Indians are crazy. They tend to idolize film stars and land up becoming fanatics”.

It is imperative that people understand the significance of the loss to Karnataka and Kannada. As a child growing up in Rajajinagar, I remember how television had changed our lives. How the damned idiot box still in its colourless infancy, started to dictate our lives. Tuesday 8:00 p.m. was meant for “Chitramanjari” – 30 minutes of Kannada film songs, Wednesday 8:00 p.m. was for “Chitrahaar” – 30 minutes of Hindi Classics and Sunday evenings was strictly for the Kannada movies. The one face we used to look forward to seeing on the screen was Rajkumar. Gifted as he was, with acting-singing talent and the fact that his movies rarely fell out of the “family” category, it was only but obvious that everyone looked up to him.

At a time when Kannada was by far the least dominant language in South India (I have reasons to believe it still is), there was one gentleman by the name Rajkumar, who was strengthening not just the Kannada film industry, but also the very roots of every Kannadiga. A standout example perhaps is his support for the Gokak Movement.

When Rajkumar started acting in movies, Karnataka did not have a studio of its own. All Kannada movies were made in the then Madras Presidency. Soon, Karnataka would have facilities of its own, but Tamil was soon becoming the pushy & dominant language thanks to the Dravidian movement gathering force. There were loads of leaders in the Tamil movement, but Karnataka had none besides Rajkumar. True to the nature of a Kannadiga, the Film industry here never looked to put down the Tamil film industry, but only focused on its own strengths.

Today, we have a huge empire that is looking to survive without its Father, who was its identity. Rajkumar was a simple man. No fundamentalism, no politics, no regionalism, yet he stood for what every Kannadiga was and wanted to be. “Annavaru” had a cult following, not because he was a Super-Star, but because he was not one. On-screen, he was the common man who lived a normal life while addressing the odd socio-cultural issue, or he was a god, may be a king now & then. Off-screen, he was the same, except, he never played god. He never acted in a any other film industry and in no other language. His pure love for “Kasturi” Kannada coupled with ability to identify himself with the common man & reach out to the needy was a tear-away force.

50 years, he was the unmistakable ruler of Bangalore’s hearts. The ability to resist the temptations of greed & power put the 3rd Std school drop-out way above any of his South Indian counterparts.

Not that the acts that have followed his death are justified. Infact all this violence must be the biggest humiliation to the man himself. Opportunistic hooligans ruled the roost and many of my friends fail to appreciate history when they say “what’s all the fuss about?” .
Lets perhaps make an attempt understand the emotion a little more in the right perspective. Let us try and assimilate a little more. There is a Bangalore more vibrant, more colourful, more honest and peaceful, if we look beyond the walls we’ve built around our pubs, malls, MG road and Brigade Road.

To quote historian Ramachandra Guha “A Rajkumar would have given his life for Kannada, but an Amitabh Bhachan would never give his life for Hindi !!! "

Restaurants & Blues with a Touch

2006-03-04T04:37:00.000-08:00

5 Stars & twin restaurants ( from Blue Foods)…..Its been hectic. A lot of traveling. After 2 visits to Delhi one of which was to a wedding, it was time to hit Hyderabad and then Chennai. Here’s some low-down on some of the pubs & restaurants I’ve been to in the last one month !!!

The Blue Bar, Taj Westend – Bangalore

The Taj West End is Bangalore’s 5-Star hotel with a completely unique ambience, what with its 20 acres of gardens & landscaping and the freshness from its old trees.

The Blue Bar is set amidst the gardens of the hotel. You can enjoy a wide range of the finest cocktails and drinks, in an open-air setting. While there is a live band playing, it really is the atmosphere that instills a sense of calmness & delight. The food is Indian and good. The service does disappoint a little, but that hardly does anything to spoil the evening.

Overall, it’s the kind of place you want to head to if you need to have a long laidback dinner/lunch with a good conversation.

There a couple of other restaurants you can try at the Taj Westend. Mynt is the 24 hour coffee shop and Blue Ginger is the popular Vietnamese restaurant.

The Noodle Bar, Bangalore Central – Bangalore

The Noodle Bar is Chinese & Thai restaurant located in Bangalore Central. Nothing extraordinary with the ambience. There is a lot of glass around you and it doesn’t quiet get rid of the mall atmosphere.

We ordered the All Veg sizzler with Noddles/Rice, chopsy, Crispy Noodles with Vegetable and Hakka Noodles. The food was good; particularly the sizzlers which had a very strong flavour to them and you really cant do too much wrong with something like Hakka Noodles.

Warning: Don’t try the desert. We tried the crisp fries with Honey & Ice-cream (Dashan). The honey was nowhere to be seen and crispy fires where too bland. Overall a disappointment.

Wouldn’t recommend the place but its certainly not bad !!!

Polo Club – The Oberoi, Bangalore

The Polo Club is one of the 4 restaurants at The Oberoi. It has indoor-outdoor setting with a kind-of cluster seating.
The Lunch Buffet offered was a good mix of Indian, Italian, Mexican Cuisine. Preferrable do not try the Italian. The penne pasta was simply disappointing. The Mexican breads, dishes and salads were excellent. There was nothing to write home about the Indian food either. And what the hell the Desert did not have Ice-Cream !!! How sad is that !!!

Overall the buffet was quiet unsatisfactory….

But yes the female chef was cute ;)

Touch – Hyderabad

Visited Touch on Sunday Evening, after a lot of recommendations for the place. Located at Banjara Hills, Touch is regarded as one of the Top pubs in Hyderabad along with Bottles & Chimney at The Club, Dublin at Kakatiya Sheraton, 10 Downing Street, Spanish Fly, T2 etc.

The Pub is owned by South Indian Super Star Nagarjuna!!

The building that houses the Pub is rather bland and speaks nothing of whats upstairs. As I entered the place, what struck me most was the Red Lighting used to give it that gypsy feel. The furniture is white lounges with an interesting table. The table has narrow trench in the middle, along its length. The trench is filled with water and candles are set afloat along with rose petals (which go with the general atmospehere). The only thing disappointing was the fact that we were the only people then in the Pub.

So clearly Sunday evenings don’t rock here and the fact that we were early at 7:45 p.m didn’t help. But the crowd built up by the time we exited at 10:00. The Music is not confined to any one particular genre though hip-hop seemed to be the take that night.

There is sufficient space at the Dance floor and you will find a lot of couples hitting the floor. I’m told there’s hardly any space left on a Saturday night.

Prices are a little on the higher side but may be they wouldn’t seem so if there was enough crowd in!!!

Bombay Blues, Hyderabad Central – Hyderabad

One of the three restaurants at Hyderabad Central, Bombay blues a neat restaurant with a glassy ambience. An attempt has been made to give it a semi-mumbai-goan feel, only partially succeeding. But this restaurant really impresses on the food & drink front.

My Recommendation would be to start of with some beer & whisky followed by some Sizzlers. The sizzlers are very reasonably priced and excellent in terms of taste & quantity. Probably the best sizzlers I’ve had. Try in particular the Veg Sizzlers….absolutely mouth-watering. Among the non-veg sizzlers, you can try the ones with mutton. Hyderabad does dish out excellent meat and chicken is best in Biryani :)

There is no great desert on the menu but then the taste buds are fairly satisfied after the sizzler.

We spent almost 3 hours at the place, nice relaxed evening with great food. Overall a fantastic experience.

Strongly recommend this restaurant to people visiting Hyderabad.

Opus-ulent Bangalore

2006-02-02T02:18:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has grown up in Bangalore through the earlier decades would understand how painful it is to see our loved city being torn apart by some silly governance, mindless influx of population, and a crazy idea that the world starts at MG road and ends at Brigade road !!!

Since the time I’ve been back to Bangalore from Delhi, towards the end of the last year, there was this hollow feeling about the cit. It wasn’t about the collapsing infrastructure, the surging cost of living index or even the ever-lengthening traffic jams….but about what it meant for me to be a Bangalorean.

Growing up, Bangalore was about riding my bicycle through that clean neighborhood; biking through roads with that lining of huge trees on either side; boating in Ulsoor Lake; brunching on a Sunday at Koshy’s; catching up on movies at Galaxy, Symphony, Rex; wading through life in Majestic; walking in Cubbon park, marveling those flowers at Lalbagh; working hard through the day only to hang out with friends at a pub, guzzling down mugs of draught beer and relaxing to the sounds of rock music

Never once in all those wonder years, did I meet a rude Bangalorean. You met crazy ones, but the warmth, friendliness, casual-relaxed, don’t-care-a-damn attitude was unmistakable in them

This is precisely what I missed about my city. Yesterday I visited a place called Opus, with friends. It would be unfair to classify Opus as simply a restaurant coz it isn’t. For a lot of things, Opus takes me back to the “Bangalore Days” despite its Goan theme ;)

Located just off palace rod, Opus is hotspot of cultural activities – in a style of its own. Opus is owned by the Briganzas – Carlton & Gina (Carlton is an ex-sailor I am told and Gina a management executive). With the stars sparkling above us, the pebbled carpet under our feet, we settled down on comfortable cushions on either side of a neat little stone table. The beanbags and chairs inside were nowhere near as fun there, but do catch up on some contemporary artwork. Candle-lit outdoors with some innovative lamp shades, Star fish embedded on the sand and the Palm trees dot the landscape which slopes down to the stage area. The piano’s there for you to play, you can sing along, or even jam with the band or may be dance!!! You can do all this and play some scrabble, chess, pictionary or monopoly….

The menu is visibly the result of a lot of hardwork. The food was amazing (Fish, lamb, chicken…they’re all yum) and the music was even better. Wednesday night was Karaoke night and soon we had a people queuing up to sing along. We had everything …..2 dudes singin’ “Nothing else matters” as if nothing really mattered, to a sincere young chap trying to “Feel it in his fingers”. A funeral and some young woman trying her best at some Alanis Morrisette with a jagged little pill in her throat :) Dont recall her name, but the lady singing right at the end (I believe she is regular there) was a stunner with her vocals. And of course, Carlton himself wound up the evening with “New York, New York” from yesteryears.

Opus has Rock Nights on Mondays & Tuesdays, Karaoke nights on Wednesdays and Sundays, Retro nights on Fridays and Salsa nights on Thursdays to go with loads of live shows and performances by amateur artists. Opus has also staged plays, book readings, art exhibitions and dance performances. So there’s lots happening all the time at Opus!!!

What makes Opus special is perhaps the personal touch it adds to et al. Be it something like dedicating a track to Siva Subramanian’s last night of bachelorhood (Siva is a theatre personality and was party to the concept of Opus along with Vijay, a Salsa artist) or every singer being made to feel like a Rock Star…….it’s the place for regulars.

One thing’s for sure, I’m headed back there every week coz I can go back in time!!
That was what Opus gave us…….great food, a couple of drinks, some great music, a few laughs with friends, warmth of our hosts and a culture to it all !!!!

I even like the logo (shown in this post)

Thanks Carlton & Gina for making me feel a Bangalorean again !!!

Dosa Dossier - Part 2

2006-01-06T01:37:00.000-08:00

There are innumerable players vying to produce the best dosas day-in and day-out. Almost 15 years ago, a small restaurant in Jayanagar called Ganesh Darshini opened a stall just outside the café called Dosa Camp. The best dosa makers were out there preparing a variety of dosas. Soon we had a no. of Cafes trying to emulate the Dosa Camp. The one that came really close was the Dosa Palace in Jayanagar 8th Block. Try the Pesarettu (a dosa that is made of green gram, chilies and rice. Very Andhra and Very spicy) there and you would not be disappointed.

Then there are other old players who make excellent Dosas but probably have their core competence in other lip smackin’ items!!!. One such place worth mentioning is the Udupi Sri Krishna Bhavan in Balepet. The restaurant itself is a hundred years old; it is more popular for its Masala Idlies. The traditional Raagi (often called the poor man’s rice) Dosa is also available.

Janata Hotel in Malleswaram 8th Cross is sensational. While the Hotel makes it to the big league of South Indian Tiffin joints, there are many patrons, who swear by this dosa. The Hotel, which exists since at least 5 decades has quiet a unique ambience and a long “Dining Hall”

The Davangere Benne Masale has now opened a no. of joints in the city. Perfect Sunday morning stuff !!!! I live in Rajajinagar and hence have been trying the Rajajinagar branch. I’ve been to the N.R. Colony joint and it is just as good.

However, any true Bangalorean and Dosa connoisseur would know, the story is incomplete and should not be complete without a note on one more place

Vidyarthi Bhavan

After MTR & CTR, you would believe there isn’t much scope for another rockin’ dosa place. Wait until you get to the busy Gandhi Bazaar Street, in Basavangudi. The Dosa at Vidyarthi Bhavan is smaller than average and has a very unique texture to it. You do not have to chew the Dosa here. It simply melts in your mouth. Vidyarthi Bhavan has been dishing out these dosas for decades now maintain the same old world Bangalore ambience. The place has a seating capacity that is simply inadequate, but the wait is worth it. Where else in this world would you get a half-dosa ? I would place the Dosa at Vidyarthi Bhavan as the second best after CTR.

The chutney is used like Sambhar. There are barely about 3-4 waiters who stack up plates of masala dosas (with a slight slant in the stack) on their shoulders and then pour the chutney on the topmost plate. The chutney flows down to all the plates below!!!! While the Dosa is soft and the curry well done in a traditional spicy way, the simple coconut-dal chutney goes perfectly with it. This dosa is in no way heavy and makes you feel good in the tummy :)

Tip: Attack this place in the evening. Have patience & wait. Don’t expect tissues. You will have to make do with newspaper cuttings. Coming to the dosa, do have that scintillating cup of coffee after the dosa.

So Overall, if I were to look at it, the Top 3 would be CTR, Vidyarthi Bhavan and MTR in that order.

Dosa Dossier - Part 1

2006-01-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

Hmm……..What’s the point if I am a connoisseur of good South Indian food and don’t dwell for a while on the Dosa Capital of the World – Bangalore. The Masala Dosa may have its origins in Udupi, but Bangalore has emerged as the tastiest of tastiest places for Dosas. I've been tasting Dosas right around the country for the last 20 years now and here are my recommendations of the variety that’s available in Bangalore:

Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR)

Located on Lalbagh road with a number of franchisee outlets around the city, MTR has over the decades become the benchmark of quality South Indian Food and in its own right deserves a lot of space on this blog. For now though, lets stick to the MTR dosa. The masala dosa of MTR remains unchallenged in its category of masala dosas. The dosa measures on only about 6-8 inches in diameter, dark in complexion, and smooth texture. The curry is non-spicy and is served in a fairly large portion. The biggest temptation about this dosa is the generous mix of cashews and raisins in the onion-potato curry. To go with the non-spicy curry, the coconut-coriander-chilly chutney is used. While the chutney can really burn it up, the dosa is served with pure ghee in a fabulous micro-container.

A neat variant of the masala dosa is the Saagu Masala Dosa. The gravy variant replaces the normally dry potato onion curry. The MTR saagu as it is called is a delight coz of its excellent mix of simple spices (mustard & ginger) with a touch of sugar in it.

Tip: A perfect pre-cursor to the Dosa would be the Rava Idly here. After which, one piece of the Dosa with curry and chutney can do wonders to your taste buds. Once you are done with the 2nd Dosa (c’mon you should have 2), while the taste of the ghee & chutney lingers in your mouth, have the MTR filter Coffee !!!!

Central Tiffin Room (CTR)

Located on Margosa Road , Malleswaram 7th Cross, this not so great looking restaurant has been dishing the world’s best Benne Masala Dosas since the 1960s. The Benne Masala Dosa unlike the traditional masala dosa is not an easy product to master. A Benne Masala Dosa can easily be roasted into a greasy, bland affair. I’ve personally been eating at CTR for the last 22 years and the taste or the feel of the hotel hasn’t changed (not even once), which is why it has to rank as Bangalore’s best dosa, even ahead of the MTR masala dosa.

The dosa is a well tanned 6-8 inch, slightly crispy and not so smooth textured one. The dosa is cooked in Butter instead of oil/ghee, which has a strong influence on the flavour, aroma, essence & thereby the taste. The key to such a great dosa in my opinion is to understand the degree to which the butter influences the spice of the dish. While the curry is simple, the true taste is derived with the help of the 2 chutneys served. Like MTR, the chutney is very liquid. The first chutney is a simple one made of coconut, pulses and a little bit of mustard seasoning. The second chutney is a special one with coconut, pulses, tinge of tamarind, coriander & a touch of pudhina.

Tip:This tiny place sells out about 3000 dosas a day !!! While the perfect pre-cursor would be a Mangalore Bajji or Bonda Soup, don’t forget to end it all with excellent strong filter coffee that CTR offers :)

Universism

2006-01-04T04:04:00.000-08:00

Sometime ago I took up this amateur quiz that would suggest the most appropriate religion based on your answers. To me the top-most recommendation was Islam and that was followed by something called "Agnosticism".

Today I found myself looking on the web for agnosticism and I found this - "UNIVERSISM".

Universism is based on a set of beliefs, arrived at through reason & personal experience. It is a fascinating concept for a number of reasons.

Personal experiences and reason are unique for every individual. Hence your religion is your very own and there is no one else in this universe who follows the exact same religion.

The concept is founded on uncertainty of the human mind. Derived perhaps from Heisenberg uncertainty Principle in the Physical Space. Unlike our conventional religions which propound the existence of certainty, that single common great truth, Universism suggests the existence of multiple truths as in the truth for each individual is different.

It is due to this uncertainty that Universism does not believe in neither the existence of God nor the non-existence. It encourages the each individual therefore to look for his own purpose in life.

The most fascinating way to do this is by questioning. Universism does not answer any questions. It only encourages the questions.

That led me to ask the question, is this a mere concept or can it be elevated to the status of a religion. The website for Universism says this

"Is Universism a religion?Yes. It is a religion in the sense that it unites members in community around a set of shared values and is concerned with questions of meaning and purpose that exist outside the domain of science. However, it differs from other religions in that it does not ask its members to accept anything on authority. In short, Universism is a religion, but not a faith." - http://www.universist.org

For more on this you could check out http://www.universist.org/