Can you believe that we are already into the advance-tax paying month of the year? Excuse me for being the ‘zillionth’ person complaining about the ‘lagaan’ we have to shell out (it would have made our previous conquerors proud). Shhh! Please be careful if you laugh out loud while reading or hearing anything funny. I believe there is a tax being levied even for that! For me, if you take food out of my equation I automatically start feeling the blues. But with all the news (both true and false) swirling rife amongst us, the plebeian folk, even the simple joy of eating may be taxable. According to one report, our household expenditures (like groceries) may be up for scrutiny, if your income and expenditure don’t match. Now, ‘don’t match’ is up for debate. So to be on the safe side, I am contemplating turning vegetarian, and giving up all extravagant excesses like onions, garlic and ginger!
That being said, I was delighted to be invited to The Ritz-Carlton by my very charming friend Reuben Kataria to be one of the few guests to have a sneak peek at the new menu (A Global Culinary Journey) now available at their restaurant, The Market. Reuben is really stepping up his game and it’s wonderful to see young and dynamic leaders putting namma ooru on the global cuisine map. I am a firm believer in the ambience, the decor, the service, and of course, the quality of the cuisine and the offerings at the bar. When one dines in the opulence of a ‘starred’ hotel, everything must be in confluence with one another. One expects and deserves the best of the best if one chooses these establishments to dine (and wine) in. We were not disappointed. Since it was a table brimming with the ‘boss-man’s’ personal friends, all of us knew each other and the wine and conversation flowed seamlessly. One could only ‘hear’ the
silence when the exquisitely plated victuals arrived. Bengaluru has certainly come of age judging by the bon viveurs seated at our table!
I love celebrating birthdays! Especially of good friends who go back a long way. I’ll be honest, 2024 wasn’t a particularly good year for a lot of us. As for me, I lost two good friends and got some awful news about two others. To top it off, I wasn’t in a good place mentally and many times I felt I was drowning. Celebrating birthdays (especially landmark ones) always put me in a very good mood. It gives me a sense of hope and rejuvenation as everyone at the party gets a little too inebriated and ‘auld’ secrets and nonsensical memories come tumbling out. The birthday ‘person’ is also busy laughing and going red in the face and good-naturedly enjoying the ribbing that his/her old friends are giving them.
We enjoyed good and long-time friend, the suave Virender Razdan’s birthday, at the al fresco poolside area of The Leela Bhartiya City, Bengaluru, with the acclaimed English chef, Adam Gray, a seasoned connoisseur holding a Michelin star for over a decade, surprising us with a superlative dinner. The ambience, the tinkle of Baccarat crystal toasting Virender’s good health, the food and the company were just perfect.
I firmly believe that ‘Age wrinkles the body and quitting wrinkles the soul’.
(The writer’s views are personal)