Author: manuscrypts

  • Oye! Amritsar – Koramangala

    Since we’ve frequented both Oye Amritsar and Oye Shaava on Church Street, and enjoyed the experience, we were eagerly looking forward to the opening of Oye Amritsar in our own neighbourhood. The Koramangala version is in the building just before China Pearl, the same road as Vicky’s and The Esplanade too – the one-way connecting Inner Ring Road with the road from Forum to National Games Village. (refer either of the first two links for a detailed route). Parking is not too difficult, in any case there are many sidelanes on that road.

    Since we planned to be there early, we didn’t reserve, but if you’re planning to be there after 8pm, reservations would help. The restaurant is on the first floor, and just like the Church Street version, watch out for the awesome posters on the stairway and actually all over the place. This seems to be a bigger place with indoor-outdoor seating options. The terrace faces the road, so its a good place to watch the world go by, if weather permits. It did, and there we sat. The only snag with the tables on the terrace is the lack of sufficient light – its difficult to read the menu, but you could ask for candles.

    The dhaba theme and the ambience is the same as Church Street, but looks like the menu has been changed a bit. It’s been quite a while since i visited, so there might have been updates I’m not aware of. They serve alcohol too, here, and the bar seems to be decently well stocked.

    The menu begins with veg starters, quite a few, and in addition to that, there are also tawa fried options. About a dozen options combined, priced, on an average, at Rs.90/165 for a half /full plate. This half plate option is something  i remember liking at Oye Shaava, so it’s good to see it in action here. There are also many options in non veg starters – chicken, mutton, prawns, and fish, priced at Rs.115-145/225. And if you’re the shorba kind, there are a total of 3 options – one each in veg, chicken and mutton, priced at Rs.60-80. The veggies really have no reason to complain, since I saw over 20 options for the main course. (Rs.145-165). In fact, I’d say there are fewer options in non-veg, but there are enough to choose from there too (Rs.180-345), including bheja and gurda, for those who love ‘spare parts’. To go with that, there are rotis/naans/kulchas (Rs.30-45) and rice options (Rs.110-165).

    So we decided to skip the shorba, and since the half plate option was available, we ordered two starters . Two half starters equal to one starter and all that logic.  The Dhuanwali Lahori Seekh (“Lahore, Paris of the East, home to the most creative chefs of the land of five rivers, crafted this seekh kebab of lamb mince smoked with coal embers and butter, skewered and tandoored”) and the Pahalwani Dhabe ka Maahi Tikka (“the famous rawas fish specially flown down from Amritsar and cooked to recipe by our friend Pahalwan Makhan Singh at his famous Maqbool Road eatery”). The Lahori seekh kebab completely disappointed, it was quite rubbery, and honestly, i have tasted better. I actually gave half a kebab (a non veg kabab) to D, so you can imagine. But thankfully, the Maahi tikka made up for it. We had to remind the guys for the pudina sauce though.

    For the main course, we ordered a Murgh Lahori (“whole chicken cooked with all the glory of Punjab Sindh flavor) and a Bheja Fry (“lamb brains cooked in a spicy masala on the tawa”), and to go with that a Makki di Roti, and a Masalawala Kulcha. We also added an Amritsari Kulcha later. Both the dishes were extremely good, though the chicken dish wasn’t boneless. Excellent thick gravy, though. The brain fry is not recommended.. to those who cannot handle spice 😀 This one could actually compete for the best brain fry I’ve had, not including D’s of course.

    The dessert section has the usual suspects – gulab jamun, phirni, jalebi, kulfi with rabri etc. (Rs.90-100) I haven’t seen a Gajrela and a Rasbhari before though. I would’ve tried at least one of them, but was too stuffed. There’s also a paan guy downstairs, in case you’re in the mood for the betels. 🙂

    All of the above cost us Rs.900, that includes a service charge of 7.5%. Slightly inflated because they billed us for a full plate Bheja Fry even though we had ordered only a half plate. (that would’ve been sufficient) For those who haven’t been to Oye Amritsar on Church Street, you should definitely try this out. For those who have, you know why you need to drop in. 🙂

    Oye! Amritsar, 54, Canara Bank Road, 6th Block Koramangala, Ph: 080 40994451

    Menu and photos at Zomato

  • The Onam tag

    Today is Onam. I’ll get wished – “Happy Onam”, and I’ll mutter a thanks/flash a smile, hopefully not weary/ type a ‘thanks’ with a smiley that will not reflect the emotions within. That’s perhaps apt, because there aren’t many emotions within. I concluded a Kerala visit last weekend, and felt compelled to figure out what I was feeling. – for Cochin, as always, and for Onam, because it was the season.

    I sit in the fancy store, as D and another M swan around trying to find appropriate things to hang from their neck/ears/hair. They aren’t alone, there is an assortment of folks of their gender, all there for the same purpose. Sometime during their existence, the store owners figured out that those of the other gender would really be lost souls in such a place, so they made sure there was a corner where they could be lost souls without impinging on the ecstasy of the real shoppers. A nice goodwill gesture. And so there I sit, with my companion, which never fails to respond to my touch, and type a few words, which are then saved in the messages drafts folder. Alternately gawking and typing, and realising that the shoppers would be here again very soon, in search of the latest trends in accessories. Fashions change quickly, after all.

    I move around the city that once used to be undisputed home, and familiar feelings bob up. Things have changed, and it is perhaps no longer undisputed. An old breakfast joint, which has many memories attached to it, has changed its name. I look up at an old building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the old lending library that set the tone for many current reading habits. It no longer exists. It is strange how, these days, when I go back to Cochin, I have mixed feelings. Where once there was only a sense of belonging, the changes have ensured that there is now also a sense of un-belonging. Earlier, I couldn’t fully grasp this feeling, could one be homesick at home? But then I remember a comment that Cyn had made on an old post – “An Idea called Home“, where she described it as being ‘homesick for a life stage’. There’s an image of Cochin that exists only in my mind, with many tags, its from an age long ago.

    I watch a movie – ‘Rithu‘ (Seasons), in a theatre complex that had 3 screens from the time I knew it, back in the 80’s. Music composed by an old school pal. (that deserves a post too…soon) Its a lovely story about childhood friends, about how their relationship(s) change when they grow up, and how they themselves have changed. I realise that its not just places, we also ‘tag’ people at different stages of our lives and we often don’t bother to update the tag, a kind of self-conditioning. Parents, siblings, friends, relatives, they have all been tagged at some point and not updated after some point, the tags define how we behave with them at every point later in life.  Over time, each believe they have different priorities/viewpoints/interests and so on,  maybe that’s why sometimes when we are ready for a relationship, they aren’t, and vice versa. There’s a chance that we will miss the opportunity to form a bond. We fail each other, without even realising it. We change, we move on, but the tags, in many ways, remain constant.

    I also realise that we do it to ourselves too – tags. We make images of ourselves which define what we say and do. We tag ourselves. We rarely acknowledge that and proceed to make up our own justifications, which suit us/others. They make sense at a particular point in time, they may or may not later. Yet, we live by them. Do we revisit the tags…objectively?

    One of the reasons, I store thoughts and feelings here is because I want to look back. Who was I in that September of 2009, what was i feeling, what was i thinking, can i understand me at a later point? It is amazing how some earlier posts give perspectives about the self, that had been forgotten. Time has a way of distorting, hopefully these tags will aid me in objectivity at a later point.

    Meanwhile, almost every shop has the ‘Onam Discount’ board put up. There are restaurants that have already announced their ‘sadya‘ rates. What is Onam to me? At a very young age, I had thought it was someone’s wedding since that was the other time we used to have a sadya on banana leaves. Memories – ten days of school holidays, a trip – most likely to Palakkad, meeting up with the vast set of paternal relatives and a few days of fun, collecting flowers for making pookkalams, dressing up in the traditional mundu, visits to temples, and so on. These are childhood memories and it is interesting how the memories dwindle as I look back to the later years of my life. The recent memories are somehow more indistinct, not separated much from the days before or after, except for the special (new) movies that get shown on television. I wonder whether I should stay back for a few more days and script a few new tags. I don’t. So, ironically, Onam survives, on its early tags. For now, I think that’s best. And as the line in that movie goes, I eagerly await the next Rithubhedam (change of seasons) of my mind.

    until next time, thanks for tagging along on a mind ride 🙂

    PS. For a more light hearted approach to Onam, you could check out my version of the myth, my Ram Gopal Varma version and the 55 word view.

  • Kerala Kerala, Quite Contrary

    This is an anthology of 26 works, edited by Shinie Antony, who also contributes a few as author, interviewer and chronicler. The title, IMHO, is a bit misleading since the works themselves, while touching upon various aspects of life in the state or offering perspectives on its history, culture or working as travelogues, do not attempt to bring out the contrary nature, in whatever form that’s meant. Different individuals’ point of view, does that make a collection ‘contrary’? I’m not so sure. To be fair, a couple of works do attempt to show the contrary nature of the state and its residents, but that’s in isolation, and anyway are not enough in number to justify the title.
    Having said that, there are quite a few which I immensely liked. Will mention those (in the order in which they appear in the book)
    Odd Morning by Susan Visvanathan. I’ve always been a fan of her work after I read ‘Something Barely Remembered’. There’s something that’s wistful and haunting about the way she writes, and this piece follows that style.
    William Dalrymple’s “The Strange Sisters of Mannarkad” is quite enlightening, and has a fascinating theme of religion and legend.
    Anita Nair’s “Orhan Pamuk, Nair and I” is a wonderful short story that explores the psyche of Kerala’s writers and critics.
    “The Argumentative Malayali” by D.Vijayamohan perhaps best justifies the book’s title, as it captures Kerala’s unique stance on global and national issues. As a malayali, I’d say that his observation and insights are spot on. Anti-communist? Probably, but I can’t blame him. For me, its one of the best works in the book.
    S S Lal’s “A medicine that cannot be prescribed” is the kind of short story I love. The perfect mix of food for thought and a mild twist in the tale, that makes a perfect ending.
    “Sitrep Seventies” by Hormis Tharakan is perhaps the strongest contender for the best work in the book. While I was mildly puzzled by the way the piece started, the way it swept across centuries and the lifestream nature of the work grew on me, and its amazing insights on law and human nature just raised it to a whole new level.
    Shreekumar Varma’s “Fort Lines” is a story anyone who has lived in the state, or visited on a ‘wrong day’ can absolutely identify with. I wish the kind of cosmic justice that appeared in the work happened in real life too!!
    “No Sex Please, We have cable” by Suresh Menon ended up as my favourite work. The humour is amazing, and I could easily identify the way a place changes or remains the same depending on what you’re looking for.
    Nimz Dean, all of 13 years old is the youngest contributor at “The Gift”, and the 2 page work definitely shows promise. 🙂
    Shashi Tharoor uses all of his skills to make a passionate case for Kerala and investments in the state in “Building Brand Kerala”. A well written piece but having lived there most of my life, and having worked there for some and having seen enough hartals in the recent past , I am not convinced.
    “Happy” by Omana (as told to Shinie Antony) is amazing food for thought material, and is a fine ending to the book.

    So that’s about 11 out of 26, which are really good works, and a few others could work for you depending on your interests. 🙂

  • Just about fair

    A few days back, on Twitter, Vijay Sankaran shared an article, that led to a brief but heated debate. By the time I joined in, fun time was over and people had moved on, but i still manage to butt heads with Surekha for a while. Since the 140 character format was a constraint, we left the argument in a safe place and I said that I’d share a post soon with my consolidated view on the matter.

    The matter was of course “SRK: Now playing at an airport near you”. No, don’t yawn yet. After evading ‘gyarah mulkon ki police’, this is exciting stuff – the discovery of a continent where the words “Rahul/Raj, naam to suna hoga” don’t mean a damn, and an ordeal which lasted (depending on who you speak to) 2 hours/ just over an hour. That makes me wonder whether SRK started off with ” Sattar minute hain tumhare paas, shayad tumhare zindagi ke khaas sattar minute”. In any case, by the time it ended he must’ve been saying “Babuji ne kaha gaon chhod do, sab ne kaha paro ko chhod do, paro ne kaha sharaab chhod do, please aap mujhe chhod do”. Ok, ok, sorry. I am not really an SRK fan, but I have to admit, I admire the journey from Fauji back in 1988 – a hard fought climb to the very top. An amazing trip. And when the ego was forced to land at Newark, even if it was for a brief period, it must’ve been painful.

    Fingers have been pointed (including mine, initially) about how it was a good promotion for the upcoming movie ‘My Name is Khan‘. But from online sources, the release date for MNIK is 2010. This would be way too premature, and despite his faults, I can’t remember SRK doing publicity stunts like this. (correct me if i have forgotten something) He himself brushed off the incident later and said that they were doing their job, and when compared to an ex-president, (Kalam getting frisked) he was a nobody. I’m inclined to say that maybe he wasn’t guilty of making it a great deal, but the media and us consumers of media were. (Yes, even this post is a case in point, eh? 🙂 )

    But all this was just an introduction. The article i mentioned earlier (and which you didn’t bother to click) is by Govindraj Ethiraj and is titled ‘The Idea of Injustice”. It centers upon whether the detention of SRK was unfair, unjust, both or neither. The writer gives various examples of injustice that we experience/see around us in our daily lives – from the politician’s convoy that disrupts our commute to the people sleeping on the roadside outside Hard Rock Cafe. He goes on to say that “Young India actually lives on with the most amazing amalgam of principals and values. Where justice and injustice have little or no co-relation to our real lives or that of others. Where denial of a right to education, livelihood or food has no bearing on our notion of justice.” The title of the article relates to Prof. Amartya’s Sen’s “The Idea of Justice”, and the article also cites some of his views.

    Surekha felt that the comparison was harsh and unfair and fans are entitled to their expression, and countering every protest with questions on outrage against poverty, corruption etc won’t get us anywhere. While I agreed that fans could express themselves anyway they wanted, I felt the comparison was valid and the sense of injustice that some felt when SRK was detained was connected to the injustice that the child living in poverty faced. (What he makes out of it later/destiny etc is a different debate) To me, it is not a comparison, but a connection nevertheless. Saying that it is not connected reflects our contextual sense of justice that I kept mentioning. We are affected when the things we hold dear (from family to property to film stars) are affected, the rest is someone else’s problem. We relate to our immediate context, and would like justice in that bubble. We are totally unaffected by the rest of the world’s misery. Yes, we do like the candle marches, and protest groups on Facebook, they are easy ways to placate our conscience. But ‘our’ experience of injustice is more pertinent than anyone else’s, and we turn a blind eye to things that will not affect our bubble.

    Forget the rest of the world, when we have an argument with someone close, how many times do we try to be genuinely conscious of the other person’s point of view/perspective? Aren’t we always right in the stories we tell about ourselves to ourselves? Aren’t our actions always warranted, just, fair? Can’t we always justify? Heh, to ask the same us to reflect a bit on the world’s inequities when we aren’t even conscious of our own motivations and sense of right and wrong would be asking for too much, huh? Right, wrong, justice, injustice, fairness, unfairness are all subjective, basis our perspectives. Think about it, shouldn’t unfairness and injustice be absolutes, and not relative to any individual’s perceptions and perspectives? But we’ve built an entire society and its accompanying systems and laws based precisely on this. From communities to joint families to nuclear families to the individual, our concern ‘circle’ has been becoming smaller all the while. And everything from world wars to strife in personal relationships is because of our narrowing concern. But this is not a commentary on society, for after all, if change has to happen, it has to be at the individual level.

    Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
    Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye

    ~ Kabir

    Objectivity. To see things unhindered and uninfluenced by the baggage we carry around. To go beyond our conditioning – self imposed and otherwise and look at ourselves first, and then the world around us as absolutes. Why? Selfishly- because it can un-complicate us, selflessly- because it makes us more humane. When we can do that, perhaps we’ll understand  the connection and what justice and fairness is all about.

    until next time, ego messages

    PS. The thought continues….

  • Ambrosia

    No, not the food of the gods, actually far from it, its a restaurant in Koramangala, serving global cuisine. Pretty easy to find, its on the Intermediate Ring Road just after the Sony World junction (when coming from the Indiranagar side) opposite Vision Express.

    Though we hadn’t reserved in advance, we managed to get a good seat when we reached there around 8pm. The place did get full by around 9 though. The ambience is pretty good, with very comfortable seating. The menu is a mix of cuisines from several countries, with flags placed beside each item to point out its place of origin. There’s quite a good selection of appetisers with options of veg, chicken and sea food (crab, squid, prawns), priced between Rs.145-275. There are also about half a dozen options of soups and salads each, again a decent mix of veg, chicken, lamb and sea food options, priced at Rs.85-125 and Rs.165-245 respectively.

    Then there are flambes, which are supposed to be the specialty here, priced between Rs.255-395. Also available is pasta (veg/sea food/lamb at Rs.225-255). Other main course dishes include Chinese/Thai stir fried options, enchiladas, fajitas, North Indian gravies with roti/naan/parathas/rice options etc. We also found a couple of regular Goans – Xacuti and Cafreal. The place also serves alcohol, though there didn’t seem to be a lot of options.

    We started with a Bortsch soup, ” a traditional Russian broth with lamb chunks, tomato, beetroot, carrot, beans, grean peas, cauliflower and cabbage, topped with sour cream. We were told that it was a thick soup, though ‘broth’ indicated otherwise. When we asked for a ‘by two’, we were told that that couldn’t be done, but we could be given an additional bowl. I’m trying to figure out whether its some old Russian custom – the state serves one portion, and we have to share. Anyway, the soup was quite good, so we didn’t complain that it was actually a broth, and not a thick soup.

    For the main course, it turned out that both of us had selected Mexican dishes. Must be the subliminal effect of swine flu. I asked for a Chicken Enchilada, “rolled tortillas topped with homemade smoked ranchero chilly sauce with cheese, served with refried pinto beans, sour cream and Mexican rice”, and D ordered a Pechuga Pibil, “roasted chicken marinated with achiote chilli served with Mexican rice, salsa and tomato sauce”. The food was only just decent, and the quantity was not really sufficient.

    Though the dessert options included a drunken banana flambe and a bitter chocolate mousse, we made different plans for dessert.

    And now came the most exciting part of the dinner – billing. After about 10 minutes of subtle signalling, and then 5 minutes of tactics just short of SOS flares, finally we managed to convey that we’d like to pay and get out. Then, after waiting for another 10 minutes and more gesticulating, someone came to our table and asked us whether we had ordered our main course. When we again conveyed that we had survived the food, and just wanted to pay and leave, we were told that the bill would come ‘just now’. By now, we’d begun to wonder whether the bills needed to be sent to Russia and Mexico to be verified before being given to us. After another 5 minutes, we were told that the printer was not working and that was the reason for the delay. Though we weren’t too thrilled at that, we felt quite proud that a printer had been dedicated for our billing – since at least a couple of other tables got their bills, paid and left while this entire exercise was happening!! Finally, we got the bill…. with a couple of foreign objects, in adddition to the ones we had ordered. When we pointed that out, the guy actually tried to remind us of the buffalo wings and coke we had consumed!!! In turn, I reminded him that I wasn’t Aamir in Ghajini. He realised his mistake and we got a revised bill, this time without the soup. ‘From Russia with love’, I thought, but it was their way of apologising. I insisted on paying, and was told that printing a new bill would take more time!! And I thought the joke/urban legend ended with ‘The russians used a pencil”!! We finally just added the soup price to the bill, paid and escaped.

    All of the above cost us just less than Rs.700, and a Saturday night.

    Maybe it was just a one-off case, but all I’ll say is that while the immortals may have all the time in the world and beyond for ambrosia, we have a finite lifetime, so we plan to stay away from this place.

    Ambrosia, No:52 B, 100 ft Road, 4th Block, Koramangala. Ph:40940101/2, 9740391194