Author: manuscrypts

  • You have a message

    … and the song that was playing on TV when i switched on the comp to check the feeds happened to be Joan Osborne’s ‘One of Us‘, a personal favourite, mostly because of the lyrics. And one of the feeds that popped up first linked to this, a mail from God.
    Now its very rarely that I have posts that links to things that make a good forward but there are times when that cool line from The Matrix Reloaded, which i keep mouthing regularly, is made believable – “We have not come here by chance. I do not believe in chance. …….. I do not see coincidence, I see providence. I see purpose. I believe it our fate to be here. It is our destiny.” And so, I thought i should do my bit by spreading the message.
    The reason I like that mail is because it keeps things simple, and brings up a point that I’ve increasingly come to believe in – the overbearing influence of money, on society.
    Before you write it off as a pro-socialism tirade, I do believe that as a tool, money has immense amount of benefits, but when the accumulation of money becomes a purpose in itself, we become the tool, and that’s what’s increasingly happening.
    Meanwhile, on a sidenote, the message also perhaps answers austere’s recent question. Death is quite possibly God’s way of saying ‘long time, no see’

    until next time, counting my blessings

  • More than Paranthas

    A review at burrp informed me that there’d be no point in trying to reserve a table after 7.30, so we walked in at around 7.45 and got a table easily. Ah, but before that, this is a new outlet in Koramangala 80 ft road. If you’re coming from the Indiranagar side on the intermediate ring road, take a right at the Sony World junction ( in the direction of National games Village) and you’ll find it on the left (opposite Dal Roti). I thought I saw valet parking and for two wheelers, they have ample basement parking. (steep slope though!)

    Ok, flashback over, so, we got a good window side table, quite comfortable though the sofa could have been a bit higher, because your partner will seem to be looking down on you. Ahem! The ambience was good, but what could’ve been avoided is that red lighting, which gives it a bit of a dingy bar look. We ordered a Murg Galiana Shorba (by two), meanwhile, they have a separate menu card for soup, starters, drinks, mocktails, and its quite exhaustive, though priced a bit on the higher side.

    For the main course, we had another menu card from which we ordered a Rara Murg Punjabi, a Magaz Masala, a Mirchi Mushroom Masala, and a Bharwan Aloo parantha. You noticed the first bread? Hatke, right? And thats the specialty of this place, there are a few pages of parathas to choose from. The disclaimer on the price remains. We were told that the Magaz masala would be dry. Okay, noted.

    When the first soup bowl was kept on the table, I blinked. It was as a big as a full portion. When the second bowl was kept, I blinked again, it was empty. Apparently the kitchen does not serve by twos, so they brought us an extra bowl!! The Murg Galiana shorba is a thin soup flavoured with herbs, coriander and boiled rice. It was quite good, though a bit salty.

    The Rara Murg is chicken cooked with Kheema in Punjabi style, and the magaz masala is goat’s brain cooked on a tawa with ginger garlic paste, spices, and topped with coriander. The guy who took the order obviously forgot to tell the chef that the latter was a dry dish, because we got a gravy, albeit a thick one. The chicken dish was done well, but the magaz masala would actually have been better off dry. They really meant business with the Mirchi Mushroom Parantha, and the Aloo Parantha was also on the spicy side.

    We ordered an additional Naan as soon as they served the main course, and there started the nightmare. They took more than 25 minutes to bring the naan, inspite of my rude reminder (after about 15 minutes) that we’d like to have it as part of the dinner, and not the next day’s breakfast. The service can also be gauged by the fact that on noticing that we were sitting idle with half filled plates (after the paranthas got over) about 4 different people asked us what we’d like to order, and after being told that we’d already ordered a Naan which we’d been waiting for, for quite sometime, each of them promised to check it out, never to be seen again. No, sorry, after about 20 minutes, one person came to tell us that the rice we ordered was on its way. ??!!! The air conditioning works. No, its not out of context, we noticed it from the state of the dishes when the Naan finally arrived!!!

    Since we’d noticed the people at the next table waiting for the same time (25 mins) for the bill, we asked for the finger bowl and bill as soon as the naan came.  All of the above cost us a bit over Rs.1150, thats including a 10% service charge (not tax) and taxes. They would have known no one would leave a tip for the service. Surprisingly the bill came on time, with an apology regarding the naan affair. They learn fast, or so we thought. After we gave the card, we waited for another 15 minutes, and since there were ‘Sale’s happening all around, I was worried sick that someone might have gone shopping with my card!!!

    More than Paranthas, but definitely less than decent service. But the wife says its a great place to visit………. if you feel like fighting.

    No:610, 6th block, 80 ft Road, Koramangala, bangalore-95. Ph: 41724630

    Menu at Zomato

  • Horrorscope

    He wasn’t superstitious, but the day’s Career horoscope spooked him. With the elections approaching, his role as PM meant holding the fort till then, and building a positive image in the public’s eyes. He was betting heavily on the nuclear deal, so it really wasn’t a good time to be told “You’ll feel Left out”

    until next time, leftovers

  • Timebound

    He’d always been fascinated by time travel. So it wasn’t surprising that he decided to see a sci-fi flick even if there was some apprehension on how Bollywood would handle it. The movie was very inspirational. Halfway through the movie, he wished he could time travel, back to the time he bought the damn tickets.

    until next time, not even timepass

  • Stones

    We really shouldn’t be seen there, because it’s a pub, and we don’t drink. But then, its more than a pub, and I get to listen to some of the best rock that’s played at any food joint, in Bangalore and a bit of jazz sometimes, so that’s how we are seen there.

    On the Indiranagar 100 ft road, you’ll find it (when coming from Koramangala) on your left after the CMH Road junction (the building after Domino’s). Two wheeler parking is easily available, but since the metro construction is going on, you’d be advised to park your four wheeler in one of the bylanes nearby.

    Stones belongs to the same species as Pecos and Mojo. Like I mentioned, we go there for the ambience and the music. The place is dimly lit and the walls are adorned with some good graphics of rock legends. There are some good seating options, and they really play the music loud. So don’t go there when you’re in the mood for mouthing sweet nothings, shouting matches, game on 😉

    Stones would be an idea place if you’re the drinking kind. I’m not sure of the costs of beer, but KF costs Rs.45 for a mug and Rs.225 for a pitcher, hope you can adjudge the price factor from that. But the food is what drags teetotallers  like us here, and you won’t feel too left out, since they serve water chilled in beer mugs. 😀

    You can take your pick from various preparations of chicken, pork, beef, bacon, sausage, prawns, mussels, fish and don’t worry there’s enough stuff for the veggies too. And to go with that, you can have the regular paratha, naan, rice stuff and in addition Kerala Porotta, Dosa and Appam. There are a lot of relatively difficult to get Mangalore, Goan and Kerala preparations here, and you even get a Pork/Beef fried rice.

    Our regular fare here is the dosa chicken curry combo and a chilly beef. The beef will give the Kerala preparations a run for their money, and boy these guys take the chilly very seriously. The chicken curry is boneless and I haven’t come across that taste anywhere else. The closest thing perhaps would be the Mangalore chicken curry we get in the coastal cuisine restaurants. The dosa too has a very special taste, the wife says its because they add butter. It really doesn’t matter but it tastes great!!

    The cost for our regular fare comes to just over Rs.300. Yes, it’s a bit above the general parameter of value for money, but we’ll still keep dropping in regularly, because the value is above the regular parameter of only food, it’s the place.

    Ph: 41481572/3/4