BENGALURU: It hasn’t been a particularly good week for me, and this situation makes me seek out my ‘daal & rice’ comfort zone. Maybe it’s a natural progression, but I find myself going back to the basics more often than not. I catch myself using phrases like, ‘life is very transitory,’ ‘c’est la vie’ and lately, ‘watch it! I have seriously low oestrogen levels’!
I have been battling with some bad news concerning my bff’s munchkin and the news has knocked the wind out of my sails. It’s funny how frail we are as human beings. Our pituitary glands rule the roost. Even though we are a family of scientists, doctors and the like, the moment something goes inexplicably wrong, science goes out of the window and we go back to believing in ‘bad-juju’, ‘kanh’ and other occult type thingamajigs to ease our fears!
I was determined not to be a damp squib and let my fears get the better of me. So with my best ‘Mary Poppins’ demeanour, I opened my umbrella and decided to ‘feed-the-birds’! I am at my best when I hang out with my ‘true-blue’ friends, so I made a plans with my ‘precious-handful’ to have brunch at the ITC Gardenia. They have recently added their fabulous Japanese restaurant’s dishes to their Sunday brunch and we were excited to try it out. Sitting on the sun-dappled porch spending quality time, sipping on (make you mellow) cocktails, listening to music and partaking on a fabulous fare has all the right ingredients to put the smile back on ones face.
Not to let this warm mushy feeling pass, I invited a buddy who I had been making plans with for eons, to have a typical Indian high-tea with me. It couldn’t have been better as we gossiped, laughed and reminisced over home-made kebabs, dosas with mutton-curry, bondas (look-up Google) onion pakoras and an array of chutneys. Whew! ‘If food be the cure of all angst…eat on’! (With apologies to my fave bard)
I was really enjoying these small ‘onesies and twosies’ trysts with my friends but there comes a time where one cannot remain (or wish to) remain hidden for long. After all I am a social-being (my friends say too social), but I prefer to call myself convivial and gregarious.
So with a song in my heart and a skip in my step I attended the legendary ‘Swad’ festival at the invitation of Dr Kerwin Nigli, head of the Department of Hotel-Management, Christ University. The service by the students was impeccable, but what set a record were the over 40 kinds of purely non-vegetarian dishes served that day! Surely I am blessed…nary did a vegetarian spoon touch my plate!
Breaking food-barriers with aplomb…
(The writer’s views are her own)