Saturday, February 09, 2008

Bangalore Times
It's that whiff of Saturday morning breeze that brought a thousand memories gushing. Having lived in a place of scorching heat and chilling cold for quite some time, it seemed like there was no room for middle ground. But this Saturday was different. It felt like what is known back home as "Bangalore Weather". A day which should begin with iDli vaDe sambhar and a day when you are completely justified to hate cereal in cold milk.
Though I am guilty of crying hoarse about traffic jams in Bangalore, there are plenty of things dear to me about Bangalore (I refuse to call it Bengalooru) and let the nostalgia flow...

1. Janata Hotel, Malleshwaram: In our Sandalwood version of James Bond movies, we had villains going after a secret formula of a scientist who seemed to have beaten the Superpowers in creating a weapon of mass destruction. It all seemed funny then, but I wouldn't mind putting my money on the thugs to get me the formula for the sambhar at Janata Hotel. It had just the right mix of everything and a crisp vaDe to accompany it.


2. Corner House, Residency Road: Finishing a full serving of "Death by Chocolate" was a "manly" thing to do. A sense of accomplishment prevailed when rich dark chocolate amidst layers of vanilla was conquered. The lesser mortals who resigned from the battle were given generous tips and "techniques" involved in finishing up the bowl.

3. Halli Mane, Malleshwaram: Located on the one-way street of Sampige Road, it used to take us forever to reach Halli Mane. Though the "rural" tag didn't sound convincing, the food was excellent. The akki rotti, anna saaru, mosaru anna and "JOY" ice cream to end it all, it was worth every paisa.

4. Pizza Hut: I always loved the Indianized version of pizza with "Paneer Pizza", "Tandoori Pizza"et al. And ofcourse, the funny debate about which is better: Pizza Hut or Pizza Corner. It all seemed like debating between Pepsi and Coke. How could you ever tell the difference?

5. Masala Corn, Garuda Mall: Driving all the way to a huge mall just for a small shop which serves corn? It all happens when you get corn smeared with butter, chaat masala and lime, just the right thing you want when you are, or accompanying a window shopper.

6. Bun Samosa, Bakery near MSRIT: Bun samosa was the ideal thing to cheer us up after having screwed up our internal exams, with all the green chutney and ketchup to get our think-tanks in the group to hatch up strategies to catch hold of question paper for the subsequent internals.

To add to the list, all the churmuri, masala puri gaaDis at Seshadripuram, Malleshwaram 13th cross, all the Gobi Manchurian and Fried Rice aDDas and ofcourse the famous Dayana near M.S.Ramaiah campus, notorious for serving Veg Noodles made at the canteen next door at 2 Rupees extra.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Shankar you missed the juice center after cricket and how could you forget Coffee Day at 15th cross.

Weren't those the best days. Well done.

sumanth said...

Have not been to Janata Hotel but Corner House, Pizza Hut and Halli Mane are truly great eating and hang out places. But I always liked the Pizza Hut than Pizza Corner it tastes better. I also would like to add Angeethi and Smarkand also as one of the best eat out places

Shankar said...

@Sandeep Coffee Day at Malleshwaram has it's own "hit" memories.
You are right, those were the best days.

@Sumanth: Don't forget to try Janata Hotel, the next time you are in Bangalore.

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