BENGALURU: There is a feeling of joie-de-vivre in the air and everybody (including yours truly) is throwing caution to the winds. When I included myself in the ‘young & restless category’, I meant it figuratively. I am still an adult with responsibilities, and though my world has extended beyond the confines of my house, sanitising and masking up has stayed intact. In fact, now I am being shamed for false-facing (lit lingo for masking up!).
I continue to be a big advocate for not working around Cardi-B but working with it, but now, my inflexible attitudes are changing. Two years of our lives have been wiped off the face of this earth. Initially, I desperately believed that the universe had temporarily opened up a door into the twilight zone and if we ever came out of that worm-hole it would be as more magnanimous and better versions of ourselves.
But Alack!(as my favourite bard Shakespeare would say), no one here was a ‘mender of bad soles’! As people, it did not take us long to revert to our old ways of jealousy, sloth, envy, you name it. Even a jaded person will be blind-sided with the ruthlessness of human invidiousness. In short, welcome back to a world where people use masks to camouflage and not for virus protection!
Thankfully, there are still some of us who will be happy at the success of our children, their friends and our friends. Alysha Vazirally and my daughter Alisha have been friends from the time they lisped their way into our lives.
Now the fabulously gorgeous girl (both inside and outside) is a self-assured young woman with a post-graduation degree under her belt from Singapore. She survived the pandemic by nurturing her artistic side, and since the sand and sea are her muses, she has come out with a fabulous resort wear line called ‘Siolistory’. She invited just a couple of people over high tea to ‘check it out’ (as she says). I was blown away...simple trendy, affordable and stylish!
Amit and Pratiksha are the epitome of what young entrepreneurs look like in our city. They embody everything that is new and exciting and are ready to take that leap of faith. Amit has opened a string of restaurants in the city and just opened up another called Brassa, which serves the best dishes from a multitude of cuisines!
Pratiksha has recently opened her own venture called Table-Scapes where she designs and decorates the most stunning table accessories, making the tables look almost ethereal. These young adults and their ilk are Bengaluru products, committed, unstoppable and respectful.
Suresh Hinduja is a formidable ‘Bangalore-force’ to deal with. A man with many talents (including the art of storytelling), this respected bon vivant curated a Sindhi food festival (with authentic food from the Sindh Province) on the lawns of Hotel Royal Orchid.
Passionate and knowledgeable, he is afraid this type of ‘painstaking made fare’ may end up on the endangered list! It was great to enjoy Bengaluru’s outdoors once again, with a gentle breeze and a cauldron of simmering mutton in the background.
Paradise regained perhaps?