Kamath Loka Ruchi

My visit to mysore and other places nearby there, is incomplete without my visit to 'Kamath Loka Ruchi' enroute. The eat-out comes on the Bangalore - Mysore expressway. Recently, I visited the place to have a nice south indian meal with my family. Eating a meal there was a joyful experience as always. I had gone there with a fixed meal in mind - the popular north Karnataka 'jowar roti meals' ( or the jawar bhaakri like they call it)... We were given a multitude of meal-options by the staff there. I chose what I came for. My parents, not knowing better, followed suite. Di ( my sis ) opted for the Karavalli ( costal Karnataka ) meals. For some quaint
reason, my sis and me take unusual delight in having south indian meals...So this was her chance of experimenting. While the meal hadn't arrived, me n sis kept asking one of the waiters about the meal contents.. Gauging our less than perfect kannada, he was nice enough to give us a description of the meal in Hindi. My mouth grew increasingly watery as the minutes snailed by... Finally, they got us plantain leaves and served the first dish - the 'payasam' - a sweet
made out of mung dal and jaggery. I usually avoid sweets. They make me sick. But this payasam was steaming hot... and tempting. So i abandoned my no-sweets diktat for the moment and gulped down the entire cup of it. I din't realise m eating too fast until I saw my parents relish every whit of it. I looked into their plates hoping to get some of their's, but quit the idea soon. They din't look too keen on sharing it either.. :)
Next there was a little salad made out of channa - dal n cucumber, with a glass of machige ( butter milk). A vegetable curry made out of horse gram, followed by some stuffed brinjal...The waiter, dressed in a typically north-karnataka attire, served the garam garam Jowar Rotis topped with a generous helping of butter ( I quickly brushed
aside the calorie-clock ticking in my head...).. I don know how many of the rotis I gorged down ( it was being served continuously ). After having a good share of the rotis, there was rice and drumstick sambar ( a typical south indian lentil dish )... Everybody finished up the meal with a nice helping of fruit salad with icecream ( i dint eat that.. :)..).. Sis meanwhile was enjoying her Karavali meal which had a lot of coconut stew with rice noodles... Had some of that too. Yummy.

Carpe Diem

The last week saw the poet in me squirming for justice..:P
the end result follows

my mind so stuck in vortices...myself I somtimes forget..
memories pull me behind... while something ushers ahead....
it is restful, displeasing to hold on...
while the soul wants to let go..
the past is past...its burried n gone....
n the future comes all too slow...
no more does my heart yearn..
for the events that have gone..
no more does my mind long..
for moments that might not come...
my hopes no longer now hook on
to the hour that'll come n go...
the power of 'here' and the power of 'now'
is all I want to know..

Ramadan

Come Ramadan, and I am drifted back to the evening Iftar parties we used to go for...We had Muslim family friends who invited us for it...It was at their home. As people entered the house, there were cordial 'Ramadan Mubarak' greeting exchanges with the host. We could see people doing rounds serving Rooh Afzah and dates. During a day in Ramadan, people eat once before the sunrise. The meal is called 'seheri' and it is generally had at home with family. After the seheri, people fast the entire day and the idea is that the fast should be broken by eating dates during Iftar (the evening meal that is). After the dates, there used to be an elaborate buffet meal laid out. It usually consisted of a variety of non vegetarian dishes like chicken kababs, gosht biriyanis, haleem and chicken curries. The smile on everyone's famished faces even as the food was being spread out was worth the watch. While the non-vegetarians used to binge on their meal, we were happy scarfing out on the yummy jalebis, samosas, veg biriyani, paneer delicacies and raita.

The delectable 'sevai ki kheer' with lots of dryfruits and nuts was my all time favourite. Once the meal was done, people left after a final round of leave-taking pleasantries...

As a kid, I waited for Iftar just for the kheer. But on second thoughts, it serves as a perfect example of communal harmony and a reminder that any religion is a code of conduct, which eventually terminates at the same place.

Phelps

Got this as a fwd recently...Couldn't just help posting it...!!..lolzz