Namma Metro!

My husband and myself declared to my bro’s driver that we wanted to be dropped off at the Byyappanahalli metro station. He thought he didn’t hear us right. My husband repeated with a smile. “Why sir? I will take you to the city in no time.  After 11, the office traffic will subside. “  It took us a good while to explain in more than necessary ways that the two of us have been wanting to go by the Metro and it had been years since we got on to a public transport in Bangalore. He thought we were a pair of stupid people who didn’t know how to live. Very often when we would suggest to go to Brindavan ( a simple hotel in MG road which is no more and used to serve hot and tasty Bisi Bele Bath with karaboondhi...yum), have coffee in India Coffee House(also no more), go to Murugan Idli Kadai in Madurai, drink coffee in College House in Madurai, go to Janakiram’s in Tirunelveli to eat Pongal, go to the General Bazaar in Hyderabad to do crap shopping,  people always would wonder if the heat of the place has really got to our heads. These are crowded places too! But hold the charm and essence of that city by all means!

The Byyappanahalli station was definitely a total surprise. Absolutely clean, calm and vigilant security. Just a few people around,  in that hour. Infact, there were more security than passengers. The train arrived in a few seconds before which my husband finished scolding me to have taken pictures of the place when the signboard has clearly indicated not to! “How can you click pictures when it is written clearly. What sense of responsibility. Just for your blog we cannot do something wrong.” Does that sound like a sermon? Yes it is of some sort. But used to it neverthless. J

The entrance of the Byyappanalli metro station.

The view to the limited parking slots below.

I normally pretend being remorseful for a few minutes and then just keep smiling. The interiors of the train was spic and span. We were going upto  MG Road station and that was roughly 15 minutes from Byyappanahalli. I loved the view outside.  Given this small duration, and the ticket cost I really didn’t understand why people in that city crib all the time about traffic. Atleast people using this route will benefit big time.  I would have parked my car in the station and taken the metro and then returned by metro and driven back my car home. Ideal it sounds. But surprisingly not many seem to think it’s a great idea. We discussed about the possible bottleneck to parking spaces in the station or a secure parking as reason.

The train door.

You know you are in MG road when your eye hits the oldest building there…The Gangarams.  My God how many years! Certainly can be added in the  ‘Places to see’ list in Bangalore. There was one time when Harry Potter was released and you happened to visit the place. The huge entrance area to the shop was monopolized by hundreds of copies of the book kept in display. The press covering it and many many young Harry Potter looking geeky kids going bonkers over the book and definitely holding a copy of the book close to their chests. Have I diverted? That’s what Gangarams  book store is all about-Great way to go there and browse around!! Time flies and then you have forgotten why you came!

Train interiors.

The Gangarams building in MG Road.

After a full day of Commercial Street shopping and eating, we took the Metro right back. One of the only days in that city when we traveled effortlessly as we weren’t in the car. A fantastic way to beat the horrendous traffic !!  My bro and his driver picked us up at the Byyappanhalli station and almost asked us questions in a way that sounded like “Our condolences.” Hilarious it was. “Are you ok? Are you tired? Legs aching? Can we plan something for the evening? Will you guys be ok? Why did you’ll try this? “

How do I tell him that it was a smooth, effortless, hassle-free, happy travel that we enjoyed! No horns, no waiting, no cursing, no dust and no breaking your head over parking slots!  Definitely a great step forward by the Bangalore Government. I also heard a great deal about the Delhi Metro from someone who simply loves the place but not been on the Metro-my husband. “Must travel on the Delhi Metro”, he told me.

Metro travel certainly gives you a great feeling in any city as long as you don’t HAVE to do it for a daily living I suppose!!:)…So I think and who travels everyday by the Singapore Metro to work!!

Clear choices

It was the Louise Phillipe counter in Madura Garments that my husband and me,  along with his old friend stood making choices of shirts and trousers. That kind of shopping has happened many times in the past 15 years and what I always never fail to admire is my husband’s sheer lack of ‘choosiness’(if I can use that!).  When I open his cupboard today, the greys, blues and greens will always hit you straight away. There is an undying appetite for the blues, especially. So what we normally see is a big dab of blue in his cupboard. He will always make sure that I accompany him on such shopping sprees. He will stand there pulling off all the possible blues and greys and then bring them up to the counter to make choices.

The Garments office that was so deja vous for us! So clicked this 'often seen' picture there.

His marketing skills are at its best when it comes to the choice of shirts. “This blue is different. Half arm also”. He knows now that I have a special liking to his half arm shirts. If I remain unconvinced, and that is something he will normally read from my face, that's when he tries harder. Well by now both of us do face reading well. He would then run his fingers through the fabric and quote some very technical details like, “Its pin-point. Oxford,  Very good weave .”  I would be clearly stumped by this, he does have in-depth knowledge of fabric , owing to his long years of Coats experience. “This is like the oxford blue. Check out the price. Its value for money also.”  Well at that point I would say, “Ok, Take that since you like it so much but then take this half arm plain grey also”.  For the choice of the rest of the shirts I am normally knighted to make the choice as the one he dearly liked is already bought.   The whole shopping exercise will be so fast that I wonder if he ever gives importance to such things. While I do exercise my full rights in making his choices (something I love doing….used to doing it for all the men in my life till now. Dad and  bro!), what I never stop wondering is of the 10 times we shop for each of us, I make his other choices 9 out of 10 times while I let him help me with shopping my stuff only 3 out of the 10 times. What I hate to admit is the fact that whenever it is an outfit he chooses for me and I reluctantly buy it for the sake of not putting him off, that’s the outfit everyone compliments me about.  Well! A true confession!

A childhood friend and me sat discussing this and I do find that there are a few more like him. We verbally bashed our men with all our might and also thanked our stars for having them in our lives. Its often the same things that make us livid that makes us happy too !  My man is quick, hardly cares, checks the price, partial to certain shades, never wants to know whats new, hardly bothered about trying out the shirt and always tries to minimize buying. The world can go for all the shades they like but I want my simple stuff please!  After all, We are what we are by the way and how we make those choices!

To turn away and look at other aspects of choices too! While the shirts are washed and placed in his cupboard every week, whichever shirt sits on top of the pile will just get worn. If I did keep the same Tshirt on top, he wouldn’t know.:) No jokes. So much to his grooming interests.Sigh! Same with his shoes too!  I’m fine with this standard one is an obvious answer.

The sherwanis, Woodland casuals, strappy, branded watches, pointed shoes, perfumes and other accessories never entice him. I consciously gift him these. A far cry from the word ‘fancy’. Making his choices is easy for him. He hardly has much to make from due to his limited needs. Priorities are neatly laid in the mind and the requirements are always clearly stated. It’s the same case when we go out to dinner. Its me and my daughter who will take forever to decide from the menu card. He knows what he wants to eat from the menu card seconds after he is given one. No heed is paid to anything new on it. Not his choice anyway! A clear strength of mind that remains absolutely consistent, no matter what the situation demands of him.

While I pull his legs about his breeze shopping and the absolute ‘sanyas’ outlook to life, I realize many things today. He is never spoilt for choices, never gets driven by choices other people make, never sways from his tastes(very very fastidious with his likes and dislikes), predictability of wants in the tangible and intangibles, unwavering mind that never dissuades from a clear path of purpose.  Am I lucky in that sense! Well as I see more of the social world these years and am growing to adapt to the changes both inside and outside myself, I can’t but stop and simply marvel at his way of life! Nothing is grabbed  with a strong like and nothing is thrown away in total dislike! Claims are made and kept quietly and in total commitment to what he wants. It’s a peaceful world…his world , in one sense!

Its only me, who, occasionally in my zest to make it a more colorful world both figuratively and literally, end up forcing him to buy a deep purple shirt and  loudly striped trousers from the Louise Phillipe casuals section. Much to his dislike, but owing to the keenness I showed, he bought it reluctantly and wore it more reluctantly! While I heard that the colleagues kind of pulled his legs over it, he never told me that! “Its fine. Its different" While many of his friends do wear bold shades sometimes,  it kind of stands out when he does, as he never oversteps his territory, unless forced to! Am I proud of that!!

Spice it up!

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about pepper. I jokingly said that I would overdo the pepper if things go wrong between us and the friend retorted that the pepper can be removed and eaten anyway, making nothing difficult to eat. So much to fighting spirits in all of us! To which I immediately said, that then I will powder it, so that it cannot be taken and kept aside (a tactic learned from my grandmom).There was but a smile and the friend admitted that it will be good anyway! Making that conversation fall flat and have no spice to chew on! Spices have always represented ‘Anger’, ‘Grudge’ and ‘Spite’ as most of the spices that we know of are, hot ! With Pongal around the corner and my grand plans to make both the sweet and the kara Pongal, I was making sure I filled my spice box with enough pepper to splash to the Pongal .

Coincidentally, I watched ‘The Mistress of the Spices’ over the week end. Not to mention just how beautiful Ash looked in it and the homely plaits she wore right through the movie! Enjoyed the movie thoroughly as it brought alive the fact that the famous world renowned spices of India had far deeper roots to cultural and traditional values. Every spice had a power to heal and they were interestingly very unique. The asafetida was an antidote to love, the pepper made a person confess his deepest secrets that he so carefully nursed, the almonds brought out the sweet words even beyond the anger in the argument, the saffron was for the love of life, lent flavor and kept it glowing,  cinnamon sticks helped make friends who stood by us, ground black sesame kept one from danger and the holy tulsi was a cleanser of thoughts as well(I’ve always given it to my husband and daughter though for cleansing the phlegm that they seem to have 364 days in a year…the one day being the day when they decide to eat guava and they go back into their cycle of running nose, phlegm, cold, sneeze and cough!! Sigh) .Thats their cycle of life you see ;). The spices were depicted godly and they dictated how one must live. It kind of tickled my senses more than it did to my taste buds.

I grew up in a family where all of us loved spice and married into one where spicy food wasn’t great cooking. Bland was considered sensible. Now I scale somewhere between spicy and bland.   While from a medical perspective spices are indeed harmful, its still my kind of ‘good’ food. Even today its very easy for me to be tempted by spicy street food.  It simply still runs deep in my DNA to prefer the spicy samosa and the sambar too. Well, I have enough damage done already to the system and yet the kachoris and masala vadas always tickle my taste buds.   This time after a long drive and some shopping in the cold Bangalore weather, my bro and me stopped by a string of shops, selling street food. After a lot of thought we decided to go for it! I’m always a little more adventurous with such deals than my skeptical bro. Masala sweet corn, hot and straight out of the frying pan mirchi bajji(had a special tangy touch too that I loved) and crispy medhu vadas that had a generous shove of pepper and green chillies too! To send all this down for a proper digestive process(hopefully!) we finished with Jaljeera. At the end of it all, the bad throat infection that I had, seemed numb and as for him his eyes were watering throughout the time we drove back!

Its been many many times that I vow at the end of such sessions that I will never go back to eating food like this only to find that I am the first to suggest it next time. Not to forget another experience like that with my daughter to celebrate her Swimming medal-it was a vada pau in Bombay Café. She said that she could feel fumes through her ears. The waiter was so kind to bring in some sweet cold lassi immediately to nullify the burning effect for her. And yet it remains one of the best vada pau we ever ate!

Spicy food is not hugely healthy. Knowing it, doesn’t change a thing when I make my choices. I just eat what I like and of course take some precautions to nullify the bad after effects. When a day of such indulgence happens, there is a lot of fresh cucumber, curd and steamed broccoli to be eaten. Not sure if all spices have the healing powers that the movie featured. But they certainly give you a kick like none other. Like, when you stand in the middle of the ‘Anand sweets’ in Commercial street gulping  hot papdi chaat(lots of fresh raw mangoes sprinkled)  and a huge glass of cold badam milk. It’s a heavenly experience to then compensate it with some hot,salted dry peanuts that simply bore through your nose, inviting you to buy it from the street vendor at the end of the road before going ahead with some more crap  shopping of bindis and trinklets!!

Hot salted peanuts .

  So just eat what tickles your taste buds today!