Keeping it real
BENGALURU: I remember when my son moved to England to complete his Masters, and my daughter was firmly entrenched in Mumbai, I returned home one day to a feeling of an eerie silence. My house was impeccable, nothing was out of place, the kitchen was clean, the cushions were in place, there was no trail of shoes, socks and breadcrumbs and the beds were all tidily made!
Exactly the way my staff and I endeavoured to keep it. I was overcome with a deluge of emotions. My eyes welled up with tears, threatening to form a briny puddle at my feet. My house was beautiful…but my ‘home’ was bare. That day I promised myself that I would stop all reproaches to my Incredible Hulk-like kids, to keep the house clean.
A home is where one can be totally self-expressed and joyful. When my munchkin was visiting recently, I delighted in her toys, various bowls of unfinished snacks and bottles of half-drunk juices being underfoot.
The ‘home’ is where the ‘mess’ is! Keeping ‘being real’ firmly in mind, all my mid-day and nocturnal activities have been relegated to small and intimate gatherings of people who are comfortable with each other. One may argue that it makes one insular. But believe me, after being a social being for over twenty years, if you can count four friends on your fingertips then one is blessed.
You know what they say, ‘if in your lifetime you have two friends, you are lucky. If you have one then you are more than lucky’! I notice that people who madly want to party, go out incessantly or who thrive being in a ‘conversation- less crush’ have very little going on at home. As the Beatles croon, ‘All those lonely people, where do they all belong’? So when good friend Shruti Saha called to join her for an intimate luncheon at ‘O’ver Coffee’, where the uber-talented Abhijit Saha is the food & beverage consultant and ‘Chef Patron’, I was delighted.
Oh! to be surrounded with good friends who squish you till you gasp for breath is my idea of a good time. Of course, the food was a gourmet’s delight especially for all those who sorely miss the food from Caperberry and Fava. We missed Abhijit’s presence but the delicious dessert- cakes and fantastic coffee made up for his absence.
His mastery over the flavours of food never fails to amaze me. Well, you are now in my neck of the woods chef! When Arjun Pandalai calls, the ladies of Bangalore (who all believe we are his chosen ‘best’ friends) go! This time it was for the launch of Taj’s latest Qmin store. The Qmin food delivery app delivers your favourite specialties from IHCL’s iconic restaurants to your doorstep.
But with the acumen of VP Nishant Sinha at play, they have opened up charming kiosk-style outlets in strategic places (this one in Manyata Tech Park) so everybody can partake in their outstanding well-priced snacks, gorge on cold coffees and fresh juices and just generally ‘hang’! We spent a delightful afternoon ‘hanging’ with the Taj regulars and sampling their extensive, yet well-curated fare. I met with Nishant’s sophisticated and articulate mother Sandhya, who told me that she is in love with namma ooru! Another one bites the dust…