Author: manuscrypts

  • Once was Bombay

    Pinki Virani

    This is the best ‘Bombay’ book i’ve ever read. It shows us a view of Bombay through the images of characters that even non residents will identify as belonging to Bombay – the actor, the bhai, the encounter cop, the politician, and so on. Pinki Virani obviously feels for Bombay, and reflects the myriad range of a Bombayite’s emotions now – anger, frustration, cynicism all stemming from Bombay’s change from then to now
    What’s wonderful about the book is that it stays true to the title and takes you on a journey in time – to how a place or a road came to be called so, and the societal changes that time has brought about there. It also has some incisive takes on the machinations that has transformed Bombay into what it is now.
    Long before Mumbai there was Bombay, and i can identify a lot with the difference it makes to the people who have seen the change, even though i don’t live there. This book easily gets into my all time favourites.

  • Technorati

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  • The Moment

    The moment went off without a thought. It was only when his wife reminded him that he realized the specialness of the moment. It wasn’t much, but the last time it happened was eighteen years back, in eighth standard. The next day, he chewed over the nostalgic moment a bit before he opened his lunchbox.

    until next time, do you remember your favourite school lunch box? 🙂

  • Password…protected?

    I sometimes end up passively watching ‘Moment of Truth’ – passively because it plays in the background while I’m surfing on the web. In the beginning I used to have a healthy disrespect for not just those who indulged in spilling out details of their life (mostly of the skeletal variety found in cupboards) but those whose voyeuristic inclinations made them watch it intensely.

    But now, it has also made me wonder about the almost cyclical nature of transparency. Wasn’t there a state when everyone knew everything about everyone else? Or, rather, one protoplasmic entity with a single consciousness? And then it evolved slowly until everyone had secrets. And now we have people willing to reveal their secrets for money. Of course, it doesn’t take us back to the original level, but still…

    In a comparable context, sometime back, there was also an interesting discussion on twitter, on privacy issues on the web, and people getting to know passwords. Like i said there, I’d classify these password hunters into basically two types – one for whom your identity is just another information source – banking passwords, credit card details etc, this guy wouldn’t be interested in  say, your clandestine relationships; two would be the guy who knows you personally and would like to really like to find something personal about you via your virtual life.

    Do we fear the second kind more than the first kind? Because he will break the persona that we have built over the years, in front of others, show them what we are beneath the veneer, and more importantly force us to face ourselves? Isn’t that the reason we are so jittery about privacy. It can’t be just the fear that he might use our accounts for something bad. When I look at it objectively, personal accounts (mail, blogging, social networks etc) are just data- data that we might choose not to share, what we call personal data. But what exactly do we mean by personal? Isn’t it just something, that if told to someone else would shame us to some extent? Isn’t that what we are trying to protect? Or am I missing something? What really is privacy?

    I really wonder if these privacy issues will somehow (in the long run) force us to have characters that are more spotless, a sort of utopian existence, when people are so transparent to each other, that there will be no reason or room for secrets? I think it’s possible, you?

    until next time, translucent lives

  • Kolkata

    No, this is not the one with the Oh, on St.Marks Road (that’s Calcutta anyway), this is closer to home – Koramangala. Very near to the place where i first stayed in Bangalore, in ST Bed. Okay, so when you’re coming from the Indiranagar side, take a left at the Sony World junction (from the National Games Village side keep coming straight). At the next signal (after Identiti, and opp Silsila, the junction which used to have the Maharaja restaurant) take a left, and then, another left. You’ll see Kolkata on the right. Yes, finally something right. It’s actually not very difficult to find. Parking shouldn’t be too difficult for 4 wheelers, it certainly isn’t for two wheelers.

    The place is very well done, with a lot of ethnic Bengali stuff on display – handicrafts, art etc. The person who runs the place said she had done it up herself. It’s very good, for the most part, and keeps the ambience in line with the name of the place. The staff are extremely courteous and the place emanates a very homely feeling. Since we planned to reach there early, we didn’t reserve, but the crowd picked up as we were leaving. So you’d do well to reserve if you plan to go after 8.30.

    So, we decided to skip the soup and start with some fried fish. The start was a bit disappointing since the fish was nothing special. Not that it was bad, but it was the kind of stuff we regularly have outside. The Bengali options in starters didn’t appeal to us (mostly because of my personal dislike for some vegetables) and the one we did decide on first was not available.

    So, with some apprehension, we approached the main course. At first we thought that we’d have some chicken and fish with luchis. But the person in charge of our table, really took charge, after we started placing the order. To him, our order must have seemed  a gross insult to the way Bengali food must be  consumed, in terms of combinations. So, to begin with, he brought us luchis (one plate – 4 numbers) with Kosha Murgi ” a dry chicken preparation cooked in select spices’. Though the menu says dry, its actually a thick gravy, which goes extremely well with the luchis. Next up, we had ghee rice with Macher Jhol (which is the regular bengali fish curry). An awesome combination as the items complemented each other perfectly. My problem with Bengali food has always been the mustard oil flavor, but thankfully I didn’t feel it, at least in the dishes we had. Must be said, everything we’d ordered was served piping hot. The quantities are absolute value-for-money and such that you can try out many things. And now comes the best part of the dinner – dessert!! While I’m not an expert on bengali desserts, and haven’t gone more than the regular (usually KC Das and tin cans) rasgullas, mishti doi, and rasmalai, I’d still say that the desserts at this place were sublime. I ordered mishti doi and it was different from the stuff I regularly have, and different in a very nice way. But the Ras Malai that D ordered went beyond that. It’s a must have. As the owner rightly said, the effect it had on D was quite evident from the broad grin on her face.

    All of the above cost us just less than Rs.700. The place is definitely worth your visit, and you really must try the desserts. My only suggestion to the owners would be to knock off the North Indian part of the menu, it didn’t make much sense to me to have that in a restaurant called Kolkata.

    Kolkata, 965, 4th Cross, ST Bed, Koramangala , Bangalore. Ph: 42555999

    Menu and Photos at Zomato