Bangalore
Imli Cafe and Retstaurant – Home is where Imli is!
If you ask Archana the co-founder and the soul behind Imli Cafe and Restaurant what is her kitchen secret? She would propably say ‘mere paas maa ki recipes hai’. Homely healthy food in a relaxed ambience is the key selling point of this newly opened cafe-restaurant in the cuisine-happy neighbourhood of Indranagar, Bangalore. Add to it Archana’s artistic background and her plans to add few artistic touches to the cafe through designs, an artistic corner and events it does makes us sit, notice and dine at the place.
Nested in a corner building on a bylane of the popular CMH road, Indiranagar the bright yellow walls of the restaurant is something that stands out in the neighbourhood and invites your gaze. Walking into the restaurant we met Dhiraj Shetty, co-founder of the restaurant. Unfortunately Archana was travelling so we missed her around but Dhiraja did kept us engaged in conversation (and you know we love good conversations and good meal!).
The ground floor of the restaurant has a small and a simple dining area with incomplete hand painintings adoring portions of the wall, waiting for Archana to give the finishing touches. The highlight of the restaurant and one that most would prefer would be the terrace dining on the first floor. Well spaced out and naturally lit gives a relaxed ambience and the simple wooden furnitures still gives a comfortable seating. I instantly liked the openness of the area and the setup. The terracotta roofing is high and being a corner building opens up the area and thankfully being in the bylane keeps the outside distractions to the minimum. Dhiraj mentioned that one of the idea behind the restaurant is to give an non-intrusive ambience where the diners can relax and indulge on a long conversations alongside their food.
For al those die-hard non-vegetarians out there please note Imli serves only pure vegetarian North Indian cuisine but you do have a large menu, different sharbats and variety of chai and coffees to keep you engaged.
Browsing the fairly populated menu was itself interesting. Din Bhar Khana Peena , Chaat – Vaat, Sookhi Sabzion Ki Bahaar, Rasedar Sabzion Ki Bahaar, Dalein , Set Pet Puja, Chawal Toh Chalega, Muh Meetha Karlen, Ek Thanda Ho Jaaye, Taazi Garam Chai Coffee. Now that sounds tempting isn’t it? And you do have a long list under each of these. A simple menu though sounding straight from a home kitchen. The choice of the dishes are picked from various parts of North India and not anything ‘experiemental’ or ‘fancy’ but reminding you of various ghar ka khanna you would have tasted at your home, relatives or friend’s home. For those who are hard-pressed to choose from the long list and would like to keep it simple, you can opt for ‘Set Pet Puja’ combos that are available in various combinations and priced at Rs. 200.
Now coming to the food itself, how would a caring, health conscious mother like to feed her child? Non-greasy , healthy yet with dash of enough ghee/oil wherever required isn’t it? Well its exactly what you get here at Imli and I loved the food served. Healthy bhi and tasty bhi!
From simple Besan Ka Cheela served with aam ka morabba, my favourite Mathri aur Ghar Ka Achaar (that reminds me the ones made by my mother-in-law!) to Poori aur Aalu Ki Sabzi and various khichdis and the Pakodeys. I would recommend you to try their assorted Pakodey that is crispy, non-oily and perfect for bangalore weather! Perfect for engaging on a long conversation and a cup of piping hot chai that comes in a choice of tulsi, pudina, adhrak etc both in Ghar jaisi types and kaali chai‘s . For coffee drinkers, you do have filter coffee and coffee by Lavazza choices. Do try their Karela Ka Chakkar one of my pick out of the menus.
We started our food though with imli ka panna and khus ka sharbat. Mild flavoured, soothing and enticing. The drinks are priced from Rs. 60 and chai and coffee at Rs.50. A good deal for a relaxed conversation and the ambience considering the restaurant also doubles as a cafe for you to spend time with your friends or meditate over your laptop without being disturbed. Unlike the other restaurants being a cafe, Imli is opened all day from morning 10 a.m to night 11 p.m
Dhiraj mentioned Imli is also looking at catering to small and medium sized companies and also arrange birthday and small events with some personal touch. Seems like they recently hosted a birthday party and arranged for a puppetry show to entertain the kids.
Now you can drool over some of the pictures I shot and the food I relished…
Imli ka panna and khus ka Sharbat …
And the irresistable Pakodey! Crisp and yummy!
Dishes spread out … begining with Karela Ka Chakkar and Pindi Choley…
Mouthwatering?
Jeera rice and Amritsari Da. Tasted just the way a mom would have cooked… (that is if she is good at cooking! I know many mom’s these days who would just be happy ordering their maids or burning the utensils or just feed the packaged food to their kids! *sighs*)
Pickles are another highlight of Imli. I was told by Dhiraj all the choice of pickles you get here at the restaurant are made at Archana’s home kitchen. You should taste it to believe why I drooled over them!
Muh Meetha Karlen? Though I am not much of a sweet tooth, I did loved the Aate ki barfi while my friend drooled over the rest.
Imli
204, 5th Main Road, 7th Cross Road, 1st Stage, Indiranagar
Call: 40949464
Price: Rs500-600 (Meal for two)
Timings: 10 a.m to night 11 p.m
(cards accepted. parking available)
Check Imli’s menu > here
Location map:
Wild Spice – An inconspicuous Coorg restaurant that surprises your taste buds!
We stepped into this inconspicuous coorg restaurant located in the basement of Field Marshal K M Cariappa Bhavan, itself a nondescript building adjacent to the St. Patrick’s Church compound. The entrance of the restaurant is on the Residency road side and we were greeted with a warm smile by Dev Devaiah, owner of this Kodava cuisine restaurant.
The ambience of the place is no frills attached and plain jane. No fancy interiors and bit withered but all that was made up by good conversation with the man of the restaurant and the food dished out. And for me both are on top of the list to enjoy a good meal.
So I prodded him what made him jump into restaurant business and he bowled me over with his candid reply. Many years ago someone crazy about music wanted to stack up some premier guitar but realized he had no cash. So our man worked hard to come up with an restaurant to realize his dream. And I was talking to that man. Though he said in due course he realized he invested more into the restaurant that he could have very well bought his collectibles. Fortunately, his passion for food and restaurant grew and Wild Spice stood all these years due to it. One candid reply ha! I enjoyed the conversation while having my plate-full!
The restaurant claims to serve ‘authentic coorg cuisine’ and Dev quipped many of the recipe are passed on to him by his mom. It has something to offer for both the veg and non-veg kinds and being a coorg speciality restaurant the pick of the menu being ‘coorg pandi curry’ or pork dishes. And I did see many of them opting for it. They also have thali for those who don’t want to confuse with the menus. The thalis available both in the choice of veg and non-veg are also branched out into rice thali and roti tholi and non-veg thali have quiet a number of variants – chicken, pork, fish, mutton and egg based.
So what you have spread out here is Akki roti, bamboo shoot fry, coorg pork fry, kadambuttu (a coorg style steamed rice balls), mushroom pepper fry.
And we were more than happy when Dev shared us few recipes for our readers but then I would say do drop into this small, quiet looking kodava restaurat if you are in Bangalore and relish the food and yes you can always catch a conversation with the ever-smiling Dev while you enjoy the food and his hospitality.
Kadambuttu:
- Wash rice rava and mix with water.
- Put this into a deep vessel and cook on medium flame.
- Add salt and water, stir with a wooden spoon.
- Continue to stir all the time till the mixture resembles a soft dough, making sure not to burn the dough.
- Turn off the flame and cover for 5 minutes.
- Spoon out a little of the dough on a plate.
- In a small bowl of water add 2 drops of oil.
- Dip finger into this mixture and rub onto both palms.
- Take approximately enough of the hot dough to make an 2 inch ball and roll into a smooth round ball.
- Do the same with the rest of the dough.
- Place the Kadambuttus in a vessel and cover with muslin cloth and
- steam for 20-25 minutes.
Coorg style Pork fry:
Ingredients:
- 1 kg Pork
- 2 table spoon black vinegar
- 5 Onions [medium size] sliced
- 3 table spoon ground Ginger
- 3 table spoon Garlic diced
- 7 Green chillies
- 2 tablespoon Black peper
- 3 tablespoon Coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoon Red chilly powder
- 1 table spoon Cumin seeds
- 1 table spoon garam masala [patta & lavanga]
- 2 table spoon Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
Method:
1.Cut the pork into medium size pieces.
2.In a pan, dry roast the black pepper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, for couple of minutes.
3.Grind the roasted ingredients into fine powder and roast powder again till it turns dark
4.Fry the onion, green chillies
5.Add the pork, turmeric powder, chilly powder & salt with ginger and garlic.
6.Cook the pork until done.
7.Add garam masala and the vinegar,stir well.
8.Cook for another couple of minutes.
Bamboo shoot fry:
Ingredients:
- ½ Kg bamboo shoot sliced
- 2 tablespoon rice flour
- 2 onions sliced
- 6-8 garlic flakes cut up
- 2 red chilies
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seed
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 2-3 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 tablespoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon Jeera powder
- 1 tblspn ghee
Preparation:
Heat oil in a deep pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves to hot oil. Add garlic and red chillies. Add onions and keep frying. Put the rice powder and mix with the rest of the masala in oil. Fry the masala for a little longer on medium heat before adding the bamboo shoots. Add the ghee and stir well. Add 1glass of water, mix and cover for few minutes. Remove the cover and cook for little longer.
Rice Roti (Akki roti):
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked rice,
- 2 cups rice flour (raw rice washed, dried and powdered) and
- salt to taste.
Method:
- Knead the rice along with salt.
- Add the rice flour little by and continue kneading with little water till the dough is of right consistency.
- Divide the dough into slightly bigger than lemon-size balls and roll them into chapaties.
- Roast them on tava evenly brown on both the sides.
- Cook on direct flame till it puffs up like phulkas.
Vidhana Soudha – Made in Chocolate
One of the major landmark of Bangalore is its majestic looking Vidhana Soudha, the country’s largest legislative building. For a change how will it be if you want to see it all in chocolates instead of bricks and mortar? Well, this weekend if you are in Bengaluru, stop by ITC Royal Gardenia to have a look at milk chocolate replica of the famous building.
Made out of 40 kilos of Lindt Picola milk chocolate by 75 year old Swiss chocolatier Adelbert Bucher, the replica is kept at the grand corridor leading to Kababs corner at ITC Royal Gardenia and is open for public view till Sunday 19th September. It took 3 days for the Master Chocolatier to make the 10 by 4 feet structure.
Master Chef Adelbert Bucher
The opening party of the event saw guests including Vinita Chaitanya, Anjala Jhaveri, Ramesh Dembla, Prasad Bidapa, Aslam Gafoor, Saritha Mandoth, Kripal Amanna and Jean Michael indulge in the irresistibly smooth melting sensation of Lindt and share chocolate anecdotes.
Choclates, Glitz and Glamour
Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprungli AG is the worldwide leader for premium chocolate products. Established more than 160 years ago in Zurich, it is one of the oldest Swiss brands.
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Getting picture perfect with Johny Francis
Meet Johnny Francis, professional photographer from Bangalore. If you want a glamorous introduction, he is the man who captured the Pantaloons Femina Miss India South (PFMIS) 2010 contestants this season. He has some of the best brands in his portfolio and a rising star of the photography world. Lakshmi Rajan got picture perfect with Johny in an exclusive interview for GingerChai.
1. Do you remember the first picture you clicked?
I believe the first picture always starts from a photographers thought. Before each shot you need to compose the same in your mind and in my case I might have done many such compositions before i got my first camera. After I got the camera it was my sister’s pic that I framed first. She was a great support and helped me to get my first DSLR cam and in fact she is also the first model that I clicked.
2. Are you a self taught photographer or did you have a mentor that showed you the ropes (or should I say frames)?
When I started working I was a self taught photographer, but after that I did my course in professional photography from NYIP (New York Institute Of Photography). As far as learning is concerned, every day is a learning experience for me. I learn from my fellow photographers, stylist, makeup artists and also from my assistant at times. They all are seniors in this industry and I would not want to miss any opportunity to use their experience on my set. Learning is a never ending process in photography and that is the beauty of this profession.
3. What kind of photography attracts you a lot? Reason?
Many people ask me this question; I click anything from landscape to high fashion. I believe that every creation of God is beautiful and you should have an eye to see them and capture them. I love the play of shadow, light, textures, colours, monochromes. These are the prime points that i would love to see in my subject.
4. When you look back at your earlier days pictures, what comes in your mind now?
It’s a nostalgic feeling when I look at the pictures that I had taken when I initially started photography. It helps me to relive those moments again but at the same time I also make it a point to learn from the mistakes that I did in my old pictures and try my best not to repeat them again.
5. What are you currently shooting with and what do you hope to be shooting within 2 years?
I am shooting with Prasad Bidapa these days and I must say it is a dream come true for me to work with this fashion legend. I can proudly say that fashion guru of India is eventually now my Guru in photography. I must say he is a complete package of creativity. The concept of colours, designs, patterns, styling, make up, lighting, fashion editorials, Runway trends you can find all of these in one person and that is Prasad.
After 2 years apart from the work that I am doing, I would love to photograph some international brands.
6. If you can photograph anyone living or dead who would you photograph?
Music is my passion and that being a strong point I would love to click pictures who belong to the music industry. In India I have already worked with legends like A R Rahman, Sonu Nigam and many more. I always wanted to shoot the King of pop MJ but unfortunately have missed that chance. It is the biggest loss for all the music lovers . I also learnt that he used to decide his own stage lightings and effects before the show. So whenever we see his shows it is a complete production of MJ and he looks superb with those effects on stage. Love you MJ. RIP
7. What are 5 Things you would like to photograph?
- Designer collection & Fashion Editorials
- Outside our country i would love to capture the beautiful landscapes of Ireland, New Zeland and within India it would be the breath taking landscapes of Leh, Ladhak, Rajasthan, Himachal & seascapes of Lakshadweep and Andamans.
- I have to completed a photo documentary on the beautiful islands of Andaman. As I belong to this place its is my prime responsibility to capture the beauty of this breath taking place.
- Last but not the least is the “Wildlife of Africa” that I always wanted to capture in my frames.
8. What are the 5 things you wouldn’t photograph?
Instead of putting it as 5 things rather I would not photograph anything that will carry a wrong message or can mislead our future or present generation. I would also not click anything that doesn’t give a sense of satisfaction for me.
9. Any funny photo-experience?
I was shooting for a Greek designer collection in Russell Market with 3 top models of Bangalore. It was a super cool shoot. But after everything got over there was a guy who was selling vegetables, he came to me and said – sir I know that your photos might be really expensive but if you can click a picture of mine I will pay it back in EMI. I clicked his picture with his shop and sent a hard copy to him. I am glad that he liked the picture but it was a funny exp.
10. Your Favourite Photographers?
Ansel Adams – I guess he is an international Icon for most of the photographers. Though he is no more but his work will live forever.
Apart from that I also like the work of few Indian photographers like Prabuddha Dasgupta, Atul Kasbekar, Ian Pereira, Pravin Talan & Rahul Dutta. They all are experts in their own field
11. How do you rate Bangalore photography scène?
I guess we need to learn a lot from the photographers who have set up a bench mark in international photography and also we need to try and explore some new styles in photography .You never know you might get your signature style and people will soon recognize your pictures without even watermarking them.
12. Proud moments in your career so far?
Doing a photo shoot with The Music Maestro A R Rahman for his first show after Oscars in India.
13. Would you give a brief walk through your work flow? (How you prepare yourselves for a shoot?)
Before I shoot for any commercials I make a sketch of it. I explain the same to my team and also brief them about the process that we would follow to achieve our end results. It is very important to communicate our deliverables with the team including the art director, models, makeup artist, stylist and the clients. Apart from that I also do my personal home work on the lighting and the post production work.
14. Do you think photography is really a glamorous job as people think it to be?
During my school days my teachers always use to say – “the other side of shore is always green” so when you look at photography from outside it is a job with lot of glamour quotient involved in it. You would be working with actor, actress, super models, and celebrities but just because it is a glamorous job you can’t just pick it up. It needs a lot of commitment, hard work, involvement, Planning and never ending flow of thoughts which would help us to achieve the right frames at the end of the day. To sketch a concept for one picture sometimes it takes more than a week, but there is nothing like it when you get your ‘picture perfect’ after all the hard work.
Wishing all my readers a happy and a prosperous new year 2010 with more success and love
LaaJawaab – Swaad ka Khazana
Well, to start with I am not much of a foodie or rather I was not one until marriage. After marriage I became one in the sense that I started trying out the new dishes and new eateries otherwise I am still one of them who follow “stick to regulars rather than lament later” rule. Today I am in one of those moods when I want to write! Why? I ate good food (not that I eat bad food otherwise but it was just awesome today).
This year I got promoted in my office (thanks for all the wishes ). So with promotion came the occasion to celebrate (literally for others though). Strange are the ways of world, you work hard, burn the midnight oil and get promotion and others want the party for your hard work! However, I kept postponing the party as there were others before me in queue whose parties were due. Six months passed like this only and finally the pending quota got over and my turn came. Thus began the hunt for the restaurant which can give only a small hole in the pocket, near to office (I had put the foot down that I want to take the team out for lunch only!) and most importantly people should appreciate as to what ever they eat. The last reason had given me night mares as we already had quite a few disasters when it came to food. I didn’t wish my name to be added to that list. After much deliberation and hunt I settled on this one in Indira Nagar. The fact is I wanted to go to this place since day one when I had read the first review in Times of India. More so because I was new to Bangalore some 3 years back and I would miss the authentic North Indian taste in hotels/eateries. This place claimed to be authentic and caught my attention.
So when it came to throwing lunch party, I first thought of this place but then budget was constraint (which actually I had never bothered to find out). However, luckily again Times ran an article on this food joint and ‘The Buffet’ price caught my eye (lucky me!). Still the search went on and finally my sweet husband ran over to this place and made enquiries. Ok, hang on! I must tell here the name of this place; it is called LAAJAWAAB, swaad ka khazana (Laajawaab means to which there is no answer or literal interpretation will be to which there is no comparison and swaad ka khazana will translate to treasure of taste).
So after much of deliberation I zeroed in this place and started making the enquiries and rate and menu etc. Well, I still can’t figure out as to why they took so much of time in responding to my emails, or why there was no call back on my number to ensure that there is one customer who desperately wanted to eat at this place! Never mind that, after much of haggling we settled on December 22, 2009, Tuesday as our D-day to eat out. We reached to this place by almost an hour late (bad habits of the Finance Team, can’t help it and this is after when everything was fixed on last Friday itself, huh!). Thankfully, the table was reserved in advance for 2 hours. I will not say much of décor though I liked it especially they played all my favorite numbers (good old evergreen classics from 70s- 80s).
This place is situated right there on the CMH road, a very posh and convenient location for all. Valet parking is available at no cost which is a cool plus point. Now the food, which is just the best part or should I say in our Indian Standard English – the beshtest part is food! (Few of the good teachers of mine would have failed me in English test for sure after reading this!). I cannot help in expressing my feelings about the food. I believe in my 6 months of pregnancy this is the first time I have become so emotional about food in spite of the fact that I have gestational diabetes and I am on almost 18 units of insulin! But trust me all you readers, you have no choice but to believe me that food was just awesome! The buffet had 2 vegetarian starters and 2 non-vegetarian starters, with 2 non –vegetarian gravies and 4 vegetarian gravies as main course, pulao, plain rice, tandoori roti / naan (served right on your table garam garam), 5 dipping of salad and 4 desserts. Oh yes! I cannot forget the Vegetarian soup and non – vegetarian soup. And guess what, the veg soup was something I had tasted a few days back at some big place and I didn’t like it and so was the case with my colleague. Hence, I didn’t take the soup and as I went back to my seat, I saw my colleague having the soup; I asked him if he liked it and he was like please go and have it else you are going to miss it. Yes, I will not name the dishes. I have a valid reason for this which I will disclose sometime later. However, I can say that one paneer item and one daal is a must in their buffet. The food was not spicy and it was not bland; just the right combination of spices. They say “seeing is believing” and today’s buffet was a live example. When I had first met the manager, he claimed that their buffets’ are jam packed. I actually didn’t believe him because when I had gone, there was not a single soul sitting there except the staff. However, today I considered myself lucky that I had reserved a table for 22 people else we would have waited for ages for our turn to come. The place was actually jam packed! I believe you now Mr.Manager
Coming back to why I can’t disclose the items on buffet; I had asked for the menu as we generally do and we have done so in past with quite a few eating places. However, no matter what these people will have one or the other answer on the menu and till last moment I was not aware of what was there on today’s menu card. I wish I knew as to why they were so secretive of the menu; but then I guess it is this secrecy that drives people to this place. My God! What a pleasure it was to eat there! This is all available at a reasonable price and yes if you are a big team and you have good bargaining capacity then you may get a discount as well (I will not tell if I got one )
Also, I am not sure if the executive chef always sits at the billing counter or was it my plain luck? He was the sweetest chap around who did most of the talking with eyes . If you get a chance to meet him, be courteous to tell him that food was good, he will sure like the appreciation and will keep this place going on with the same quality. My biggest appreciation came my way from a colleague who said that 6 months wait for this lunch was worth it!
The only way you will believe as to what I have written here is go out and try the food and I am 100% sure that you will lick your fingers and you will have only one thing to say ‘Stupendo, fantabulous, fantastic’ (this is a line which Geeta Kapoor says in Dance India Dance when she likes the performance) or as Remo says again in Dance India Dance, ‘this is what I call a performance’.
Bon Appetite kyunki Laajwaab ka koi jawaab nahin hai!
Kadalekai Parishe
Kadalekai Parishe means Groundnut Festival. It is an annual groundnut fair that is held on the last monday of Karthika Masa (according to the Hindu Calendar) near the Bull temple in Basavangudi area of Bangalore.
I made a visit on the last day of this year’s fair. The fair brought a village ambience within a city and made me realize that within every city lives a village!
Farmers from various parts of Karnataka and adjacent districts of Tamilnadu flock the fair with their harvested peanuts. After the offerings to the Bull deity, they sell their groundnuts in the fair. Plain groundnuts, roasted groundnuts, salted .. you can go nuts of your choice!
Check out the pictures:
Treat
Treat restaurant is located at 80 ft Road ( on the right side , towards Tippasandra) , Indiranagar , Bangalore.
One of my wife’s colleague suggested this place and we decided to have a treat for us this Saturday noon.
So we located the restaurant. It was in the basement of a two storey building , above it is a Chinese restaurant. The look from outside , suggested a small neighborhood restaurant. One of my food philosophy : “ A good taste of food can offset a mediocre ambience of the place ”. We entered the restaurant and took a seat. Being Saturday , it was quiet packed too. It was around 3 when we stepped in. We were one of the last customers to dine , as they closed the restaurant soon after we entered. So far all lazy Saturday eaters , this restaurant closes around 3 and probably opens later the evening for dinner only.
The time for menu. The immediate impression I got after a quick glance “ Pricey ”
Funnily , they have priced many dishes at Rupees ninety one ! I found it amusing ! But the price was not amusing at all for a neighborhood restaurant with a simple ambience. So the price could only be justified with two more criteria : Good quality with average quantity , Average quality with Good quantity . If both parameters are good , then its bonanza !
So with this criteria in mind , we thought of skipping the starters and directly went to the main course . We ordered Missi Rotis and Masala kulchas to go with Channa pindi , Malai kofta and also my must order choice of Jeera rice .
The dishes arrived. Quantity was not that attractive. So we decided to test the foremost criteria : The quality .
Missi roti was good . Masala kulcha though a tad small in size was fair enough. Not great but ok . Malai Kofta was a bit let down . Channa pindi was passable but definitely not yummy. Jeera rice was a disaster, I felt I could make Jeera rice better.
So my final verdict :
Ambience : Normal
Service : Below average.
Quantity : Normal
Taste : Below Average.
Price : Above average.
The Dhabha
Other day we found out that our boss has completed 12 years in organization! It was too much I guess although I am not sure. But then saanu ki? Humein toh party ka bahana chaiye so we celebrated the occasion with ice cream first at our office. Well, it took us almost an hour’s time to ensure that he takes us for the party. Except the day almost everything was decided. You see being a big team it takes us lot of time to decide.
Well, not only it takes time to decide the place but also the day and time and then we had to ensure that all of are there for the treat else every one has a complain i am left out. So while discussing on some important issue we ended up deciding that one wednesday we are going out at some club of which our boss was a member. I took on myself to inform the team and very religiously i came back and told everybody. But then sometimes when u feel all is well there is a loophole. It was all done on Tuesday evening and on wednesday morning we reach office, everyone is asking me if dinner is for sure. I was too confident, of course we have dinner on boss. Meanwhile my boss had almost forgotten that he was suppose to take 20+ of us on dinner! One of my colleague is on felxi hours, she went for some work to the boss and while talking to him she said that she will be staying late. He asked why. She said because he is taking us for dinner! And he was like oh no! i forgot and few quick calls were made. Last bomb fell around 6:30, he came and asked me if we are more than 19, i counted and told him yes. He asked me to check the other options available with us. And the google search started.
Finally we zeroed in The Dhaba on the outer ring road near marthahalli. So we pakced our selves in the cars and bikes and headed there.There is ample parking available at the first place. On ground floor there is Malgudi Days which is south india restraunt. You climb stairs and reach The Dhabha. The decor is like a road side dhabha, the dim lights and ambience is like a dhabha. Space is sufficient to accommodate some 30 people at one time or rather 40 i assume. They even had a truck bonnet inside the dhaba. They play all old songs from the movie raja hindustani, u can see movie posters all around, lighting is in the form of lalten. We started with the veg platter and it was good . The prices are on little higher side. There are kababs too. In the main course you have paneer items, daals and quite a few veggies to choose from. We tried for Paneer makhani, daal tadka, tawa chana (it was dry chana) and sabji kolhapuri. Paneer and Sabji were really good, Daal tadka was not that impressive. One has wide range of bread to choose from, we picked missi roti and butter naan and missi roti was really good. Among drinks, one has wide range i assume. I mean i am not sure in other drinks but we picked soda lime and cold drinks but yes others had hard drinks too. I cant comment on the non veg items as i didnt taste anything. Well, there was pretty less choice when it came to sweets which was a draw back and minus for that). Service was ok types, they can still be little more proactive. Well we ended up with around 8k hole in boss’s pocket. Over all a good experience.
Food rating will be 3 out of 5; service 2.5 out of 5,ambience 3.75 out of 5.
However, one should go once and enjoy the food
Article written by Mrs. R
TGIPB – Part 8 : The Second battle and my vote
The Great Indian Political Battle – The Second phase
April 23 , 2009
12 states.
195 million eligible voters.
2041 candidates.
2,22,350 polling stations
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand
Key Contestants : Rahul Gandhi , Sharad Pawar , Sushma Swaraj , HD Kumaraswamy , Captain Gopinath , Ananth Kumar
This second phase of election is memorable for me for the sole reason , I casted my vote for the first time. So was I thrilled ? Yep ! Me and my wife got up around 7 , had garam ginger chai and went to caste our votes. The polling booth is quiet near to our place . There were many booths made , so there was not much crowd and it was a smooth event and I pressed the button and got the ink on my finger as a proof of voting ! Whom did we vote ? I pressed the button for BJP while my wife clicked Congress. so 50 : 50 verdict !
Bangalore votes :
So Bangalore being my adopted city now , I had enrolled in the voters list and casted my vote in Bangalore north constituency. To be frank , I was disappointed with the contestants of Bangalore north. Though my voting affiliation is with BJP , the candidate was a big let down. BJP has fielded Chandre Gowda , who defected from Congress just few weeks back. The 70 plus candidate who quit last minute to grab the BJP ticket got my vote in spite of my disliking for the political opportunism he displayed. Well , its another fact that politics and opportunism goes hand in glove but reality bites. Some of my friends asked my why I root for BJP , allegedly “ communal ” party , Well , would write a post on that some day soon. Congress has fielded yet another good old Jaffer Sharief . After delimitation , I think it would be a tough call to predict the winner in Bangalore north.
Bangalore South has impressive candidates . Ananth Kumar , the three time MP and the number two in the power hierarchy of Karnataka BJP is facing Krishan Byre Gowda , a young seemingly impressive candidate from Congress . To add excitement to the already active young list of candidates is Captain Gopinath , the Deccan aviation chief. Captain may not win the seat but am interested to see how much he would fly the electoral race. I am also eager to see , If the hype that was build around Byre Gowda would match the confident Ananth Kumar. Tough fight in cards !
Bangalore rural sees “farmer “ Deve Gowda’s Son HD Kumaraswamy seeking revenge on “Giant killer ” Tejeswani Gowda , who stunned everyone last time by defeating Gowda Senior. Other day , I followed the Tejeswani on a local channel and was impressed by the lady’s energy and campaign . I would like to see her defeat Gowda Jr but then again it would be a tough battle ..
Assembly Election :
Orissa and AP also have their state assembly election alongside. So its time for voters to review Naveen Patnaik and YSR . Chiranjeevi is contesting from Tirupati and also Chandra babu naidu hoping his grand alliance will push him back to limelight. Lets wait and watch ..
Indiblogger’s meet , Bangalore
Yesterday night I saw a mail in my inbox “ 24 hours to the Bangalore IndiBlogger Meet!” I showed it to my wife , she said why don’t you attend it ? Impulsively , I said “Ok” So I signed into their site Indiblogger and marked my attendance.
The agenda of the meet was :
| Welcome | Indiblogger team |
|
1 minute of fame |
Bloggers |
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How well do you know your readers ? |
Indiblogger team |
|
Discussion on blogging rights |
Mutiny.in |
|
Blogging & Startups |
Microsoft Bizspark |
|
Mingling session / snacks |
|
|
First look at windows 7 |
Vic Parman , Infragistics |
|
Indiblogger forum |
Indiblogger team |
Well , this is going to be my first blog meet. The venue was Microsoft campus. So here I was sharp 3’o clock at the Microsoft signature block.
I entered the glass enclosure , where the meet is held. When I arrived there were around 40 odd people , predominantly male homo sapiens. ( Where are all the eves ?! )
The meet officially started around 3:30 , with the introductory welcome speech by team Indibloggers.
Next they had this “ 1 minute of fame “ , wherein the bloggers can come before the audience and can talk about themselves , their blog within a minute time. They had given a hourglass to track the time ! It was an interesting session ! Diversified people , diversified talks and lighter moments . I really liked it. Yes , even I had my share of 1 minute , where I mentioned the fact that blogging gave me a wonderful relation called wife !
“ 1 minute of fame “ was followed by discussion on blogging rights. This must be the hot topic this season thanks to the recent supreme verdict on Shivsena Vs an orkut community owner . The discussion basically revolved around the right of freedom as prescribed by Indian constitution which is not the kind of absolute freedom of expression given by US constitution. So the underline is lets blog on anything and everything under sky and beyond sky but be careful not to make any abusive , ugly personal remark on anyone or organization . Criticize but in constructive voice . Fair enough !
“How well did you know your readers” was a let down , with not much of enthusiasm from audience and homework done on that front.
The next to follow was a brief talk on Blogging and startups and Microsoft Bizspark by Girish of Microsoft division .
It was followed by “First look at windows 7” presentation by Vic Parmar and Vijay Raj. Well , honestly speaking being a non techie , It did not interest me much . Anyways , Windows 7 seems to be interesting . If I have to say anything on it , I can say from a view point of non techie person only after I start using it . So lets wait for the day when I install it in my computer and actually use it. Anyways , I find the name Windows 7 quiet a drub. They could have thought something better for sure.
The session was followed by a snacks break . Loads of veg and non veg pizza was stocked. So happily feasted on veg paneer pizza. Well , one suggestion to Indibloggers team : please also give a thought about disposable plates next time.
After feasting on Pizza it was time for some discussion on blogging in general. Shein who writes on financial world was the unexpected star who stole the limelight with his understanding of the psychology of blog readers and how to make moolah out of it ! Arif Ali Sayed showcased his PMW 1.6 utility .
Well , to sum it up , it was a good meet . Meeting other bloggers in real was never in my thoughts earlier. As such I talk less but it was a nice change to see some of the people who rant their thoughts sitting before a computer in flesh and blood.
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