4 years and going strong!

Well am talking about my marriage! Yup it was on 27th of August, 2006 that I got married. Time is flying at a swift pace too. As yet another anniversary was round the corner it was time of the year to pay special attention to wifey. This time round I had to make up for not doing much for the past 2 years. Given Reema has not explored much of Tamil Nadu I was keen on travelling to Pondicherry and finally we settled for the same. Though Gingerly at first she agreed to a 2 night -3 day trip to The French Dream with the stay @ Ginger.

Having made recent trips to Pondicherry I was keen to explore a lot of those places which I have not seen besides taking Reema to the usual suspects of Beach, Le Cafe, Aurobindo Ashram (http://tourism.pondicherry.gov.in/) etc.

On 27th morning we took a bus to Pondichery reaching there by 2 pm. After relaxing for a few hours, we took a bike on rent and went around town. The exploration started on a rather spiritual note visiting the Sacred Heart Church (http://www.sacredheartpondy.org/) followed by the St. Andrew's Church in a suburb called Reddiar Palayam. From there we went to the Aurobindo Ashram and the famous Manakula Vinayagar Temple nearby! Were amused by the temple elephant Lakshmi and her anklets! This temple is also very famous for poojas for new vehicles.

Are you looking for more spirituality in a single day?

Rounded off the day with a midnight dinner at the famous 24/7 cafe by the beach - Le Cafe.

Day 2 and the spirituality continued. We took a rather brand new Hero Honday CBZ Extreme bike on rent and started with a trip to the Panchamukha Anjaneyar Temple at Panchavati, in the Tindivanam-Pondicherry Road. The idol of Panchamukha Anjaneyar here is 36-feet tall! Interestingly the work inside the temple lookd very similar to the glass work in Churches! We were lucky to see the pooja and also a special pooja where in the entire Ram- Sita swayamvaram was being enacted through shlokas and music!

From there we went to the Chunambar Boat House, located at a distance of about 8 kms on the Cuddalore road. We did a round of speed boating much to the happiness of Reema and then went boating to the Paradise Beach. Oh man....its a place to visit, especially after those crowded beaches in Chennai and even Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry. Given then only way to access this beach was through a boat ride! Its the most pristine beach I have ever seen!!! Clean white sand, nice waves and just 10-20 people around. We spent a good 2 hours enjoying the place and clicking a few pictures. Though we didn't want to but we left and headed to the hotel to take some much needed rest. The evening was spent at Hotel Ajantha Sea View (http://www.ajanthaseaviewhotel.com/) having a relaxed dinner.

On Sunday, 29th August morning, we had breakfast and set out exploring Goubert Avenue and the Beach Road culminating in a visit to the immensely popular Rendez-vous Restaurant. There I came across a rare painting of Ravana. After filling my tank with some really yummy fish while Reema slurped on Oysters, we went back to the bike rental shop, handed over the vehicle and left for the Pondicherry bus stand on our way back home.

By the time we reached home in Chennai it was around 10pm and we realised we have done a lot of travelling and had a lot of fun in lest than 3 days!!!

Pondicherry. Memories. Pondicherry. Recommended.

Food!

Ha ha...Wondering whats so unique or interesting about it? Well in this blog post am sharing about my second love. Yup it is. Well after adventure (which includes travel and photography) its food which has been my passion. People who know me will have funny expressions on their face as I don't look like your typical foodie.

The Beginnings

Born and brought up in 5-6 different geographies thanks to Appa being in the Indian Air Force (http://indianairforce.nic.in/) which also included travelling to see lots n lots of new places and then classmates and neighbours helped me get exposed to a cuisines from far and near at a very early age. From the quick n easy idlis and upmas to the chicken biriyanis and the aloo parathas! Today when I look back I feel so lucky to have got such exposure!

School

Kendriya Vidyalaya (http://kvsangathan.nic.in/) ....fond memories! I remember being the only south Indian in my gang my lunch pack was always in demand. And what do I get in return? Yummy parathas and vegetable dishes!

Summer Vacations

The very words remind me of my aatha (appa's mom, grandmother) and her fish fries (recipe: http://bit.ly/9pl4Fw) and chicken curry (recipe: http://bit.ly/ceb4Y1) among other dishes. And of course the vegetarian delights like the sambhar and rasam. Given I belonged to a family of farmers, milk and curds were always in abundance.

College

For graduation and post-graduation I moved to Madurai (http://bit.ly/9NIG34). Like any other part of the country, Tamil Nadu can be divided into gastronomic zones and Madurai is one big zone in it. Over the 5 years that I spent there I was introduced to some really mouth-watering dishes. The one which I will always remember will be the Chicken Kothu Parotta (recipe: http://bit.ly/a311VD)

In Bangalore @ work

Joined Lowe Worldwide (http://bit.ly/bzgikk) in June, 1999. Over the next 6-7 years, work, late nights, parties and weekends introduced me to some dishes which have become part of my life. From the Seeshmahal Masala Dosa (recipe: http://bit.ly/bCJhAv) to the legendary Empire's (review: http://bit.ly/dltCgK) Kerala Parotta n Butter Chicken Masala (recipe: http://bit.ly/cBnyMA) and Mango Milkshakes (recipe: http://bit.ly/aPXx5n) to Angeethi's (review: http://bit.ly/aEhhQY) Chicken Biriyani (recipe: http://bit.ly/87Lzbw) to Coconut Groveand over the weekends it was time for the Lakeview's (http://lakeviewmilkbar.com/) Chicken Club Sandwich (http://bit.ly/9j2MkB) and many many more places. I can just go on and on... With office situated on the MG Road, Museum Road, Church Street intersection there were over a 100 places where one could go have lunch and come back to work within an hour's time!

Upma @ Reema's place!

Every Monday religiously I would have Upma (recipe: http://bit.ly/bVdNP2) for dinner at Reema's place. ( a colleague then, she happens t be my wife now) One dish I have not been able to handle all these years but to convince her would visualise it as a sweet dish and polish it off. Leaving her place late in the night I would go searching for some Coke to help digest the Upma!

Over the next 3-4 years I shuttled between Bangalore and Mumbai. During my stay in Mumbai my food habits got a bit compromised. After some time like the rest of the Mumbai-kars I got hooked to the Vada Pavs (recipe: http://bit.ly/9Nrn2w) .

Marriage brought some stability to my food habits. Given Reema comes from a Bihar / Orissa background she brought with her knowledge of some lovely cuisines from that part of the country thanks to my mother-in-law...

Today when I sit down watch all those programmes on cuisines on Discovery Travel & Living (http://bit.ly/dtdOVc), NDTV Good Times (http://goodtimes.ndtv.com) I fondly remember my own gastronomic journey which ofcourse is still going very strong!

PS: The links are references top the recipes of dishes mentioned and not necessarily of the way they are made in the respective places!

Value for money - II

Its 05.05 am and am at the new and much touted Bangalore International Airport to catch a 06.50 am flight to my karmabhoomi - Mumbai! Wonder why? Value of money!!! Seriously. After a 3 day trip to namma Bengalooru courtesy an important business meeting, 3 days which flew away like probably 3 hours it was time again to pack! Hope this ends soon at least the frequency.

The whole of Friday went in the meeting, post which managed to catch up with an old colleague and good friend for a coffee. Updated each other on personal & professional life and future plans. Then went home and hopefully surprised my better half. Something which I'm somehow not good at. Dozed off in a jiffy to wake up only at 10 am. Haven't slept like that in a long time. Powercut saw wifey not able to make fish curry as she had planned. After some food from outside pushed off to Lintas ( the word itself brings a stream of memories happy & sad) to meet another old colleague and very good friend, Rajiv Chatterjee. Its been almost 3 years since we worked together but managed to keep in touch on & off. Spent a good 4 hours with him again discussing personal & professional lives. Went home had grub and crashed.

Sunday!

Had a full day to go but the early morning flight and the pains which come with were already playing on my mind. With power being kind enough wifey got busy preparing a quick breakfast and the fish which was overdue. Meanwhile I got busy working on official research. Was happy to spend some quality time and managed to get some really interesting info. In the evening we met up with a couple - Anjali and Santosh, good friends of ours. The venue was Firangi Pani. Post snacks when it was our turn to order dinner I was rather zapped to see a Roomali roti (for that matter all other rotis) costing Rs. 45!!! In all these years and all those eateries, big, small & fampous I have never hand such an expensive roti. Wondering whether it was really worth it, I ordered one. Soon I finished our dinner and went home wanting to have a quick nap.

Back to the airport

Given my flight timing, had 3 options, share cab pick up at 3.30, walk about 500 meters for a bus @ 3.30 am or order a cab for 5 am. The third option was ruled out given it would have costed Rs. 800 and not really worth it. Share cab for the same timing costing Rs. 400 was also ruled out. Decided to take the 3.30 am bus. Got ready by 2.45 am and walked to the pick up spot by 3.15 am. Had already spoken to the bus driver informing him about my travel. Bus was there at 3.30 am and within an hour I was at the airport. Feeling a bit hungry I proceeded towards Barista. By the side was another place offering Indian food, from steamed idlis and medu vadas to pav bhajis & biriyanis. I decided to go for a good old hot pongal. Hot it hardly was, over that it costed Rs. 90! Pongal for Rs. 90!!!! Medu vada sambar for Rs. 90! The bouncer was idli -sambar for Rs. 90!!!!!!!!!!!! If yesterday was about the most expensive roomali roti, today was the day of most expensive Pongal!!!

100 rupee notes don't have a value anymore. 500 & 1000 rupee notes go off in a jiffy...almost. If a salary of 5000 Rs. was not enough in 1999 so is a salary of Rs. 50,000 and more today. And in the race to make a decent living, time is flying, hair's turning grey faster and I think am increasingly missing the whole point of 'You have only one life, enjoy it as much as you can'....