Author: manuscrypts

  • In tolerance

    In the large world there are those who can’t tolerate people playing cricket in their country, who can’t tolerate others celebrating Valentine’s Day, who can’t tolerate women going to pubs, who can’t tolerate intolerance and will therefore send pink chaddis, who can’t tolerate losses and will therefore distribute pink slips, who can’t tolerate being called idiots and will send legal notices, and so on.

    In the smaller world, there are those who can’t tolerate getting stuck in traffic, who can’t tolerate waiting in the queue in a multiplex ticket counter, who can’t tolerate lesser intelligence in others, who can’t tolerate not getting a call back within 5 seconds of the other person missing a call, who can’t tolerate the slowness of the elevator, who can’t tolerate the tardiness of restaurant staff and so on.

    The larger world tries to hide agendas behind the intolerance, individuals are dispensable. The smaller world tries to hide intolerance behind their daily agendas, the rest of the world is dispensable. Society that is failing the individual, or individuals who’re failing society?

    until next time, just a rant.. be tolerant 🙂

  • Shiok

    Shiok is a restaurant that serves Far-eastern cuisine. And it’s moved. No, not the cuisine, just the location. Though we’d heard about it a lot when it was on CMH Road, (online mostly, but we’ll get to that later) we never managed to visit. So, when we saw the signboard on the Inner Ring Road (before the flyover, on the right, when coming from Koramangala), we decided now was as good a time as any to try it out.

    We skipped the reservation part but were lucky enough to get a table. I liked the ambience – elegant, pleasant to the eye, and cosy. There’s also a cocktail lounge – ‘Moss’ on the first floor.

    We started with a “Minced chicken and celery soup” (kaeng jued) , a Thai soup, “a tasty yet light soup with bits of minced chicken, celery, chinese cabbage and black mushroom”. Though it was a thin soup, I quite liked its flavour.

    We skipped starters and for the main course ordered a Beef with ginger, chilli, basil and crushed peanuts, described further as ” tender beef with several assertive flavours that nevertheless blend nicely together. The peanuts provide a crunch and a mild contrast to the other seasonings”, an Indonesian green chilli chicken (ayam cabai hijau), which is “chicken cubes simmered with green chillies, lemongrass,  ginger and tomatoes” It also says that this is for real chilli lovers and may be fatal in large doses. (yes, they also mention they’re kidding, so don’t worry). To go with these two, a Chi hor fun, a Malaysian noodle dish, “browned braised chicken cooked with flat rice noodles and savoury sauce using ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and chicken stock”. I felt the beef could’ve been a little more evenly cooked (some pieces were a bit rare) but I still liked it enough to slurp the gravy!! The crunchy peanuts did bring in a nice contrast. The chicken dish, though it displayed a few chillies, is less scarier in real life than is made out to be in the menu. I quite liked this too. In both cases, there’s not much of gravy, but since our noodles  had a bit of its own (hmm “squishier” than the Malaysian noodles I’ve had elsewhere), it worked out fine. And that’s why I was impressed with the service, because our original choice of chicken dish was vetoed by the person in  charge of our table, who suggested this one since it would go better with our noodles.

    Though i couldn’t find it in the menu, they did offer us some desserts, including a chocolate mousse, but unfortunately I was stuffed enough to pass 🙁 All of the above, including a service tax of 10%, cost us just over Rs.800.

    Shiok belongs to a MadMan (he’s one those really ancient bloggers, about 8 years, makes me feel young!!  :D) , though judging from the food, I’d wager that there is definitely a method. 🙂 You can get the exact location, have a look at the menu card, check out a few recipes and even reserve a table right here. Good food (quite a lot of choices for vegetarians and non vegetarians), nice ambience, excellent service, do give it a try.

    Shiok, #96, Amarjyothi Layout, Intermediate Ring Road. Ph: 65715555/6666. www.shiokfood.com

    Update: Closed

  • The Five Dollar Smile

    Shashi Tharoor

    This is a collection of Shashi Tharoor’s early works.. really early 🙂 It has 14 stories and a two act play. While they are not of the fantastic quality of say, The Great Indian novel, it definitely shows the class of the author, who even during school and college days, displayed an affection for words, and humour.
    Each story is preceded by a note from the author that explains the context, and the mood. This adds great value to the reading.
    The stories range from semi autobiographical to takes on the social, cultural and economic milieu prevalent at the time the story was set, and pure fiction. Some of them are also unique perspectives on commonplace occurrences. A lot of stories reflect the ‘Indian middle class’ values and mindset, and I could identify with that a lot. A lot of the wit is pun driven, so if you’re a wordsmith you’ll like it. 🙂
    The play is a wonderful humorous metaphor on the Emergency.
    In essence, a decent read.

  • Master Stroke

    31. Baskin Robbins. Ice Cream. But a cold played spoilsport.
    Said he, “So, no ice cream on my birthday?”
    Said she, “Nope”
    Said he “Hmmph!! You’re acting pricey because I’m not carrying my wallet”
    Said she “Let’s put it this way. There are some things that Manu CAN’T buy, for everything else, there’s my MasterCard”

    until next time, to my credit, I let the swipe pass 😐

  • Icky Tease

    There are some days when I feel incredibly old.. or older. Its usually a landmark of some sort. Today is such a day, when I see that ‘Published Posts’ tab on my blog dashboard –  600. Oh, okay, who am I kidding? It isn’t only the blog, its that Baskin Robbins like feeling. 31!! Me!! Meh?

    until next time, born jovial 🙂