Kuku and his anna -- Weekend Melodrama

Kuku loves playing with his anna (older cousin brother). When his anna comes visiting, Kuku is very happy. He will insist on showing his anna his latest toys, his puzzles, and go on races with him on his ride-on till they both tire of it. When anna has to leave, Kuku gets very upset and cries bucket loads of tears. Its a very difficult situation to handle. Everyone feels very guilty for separating them.

This weekend, anna and his family came home around 10:30 pm. Because it was quite late, they had planned on a short visit. Kuku had difficulty coming to terms with this and before he started crying, the Arien requested his brother to let Kuku's anna stay the night and whole of next day with us. Kuku's joy knew no bounds as he prepared the bed for anna.

Sunday was fraught with episodes that I find funny now but I was struggling with at that time, that I have to list them here:

• Kuku wakes up pretty early irrespective of the time he falls asleep. When anna is around, he pretty much does not care if we exist. With great difficulty, we stopped him from jumping on anna's stomach to wake anna up.
• Kuku refused to brush or drink his milk. Finally, after all our patience was totally exhausted, we told him anna was going home. Immediately, he offered to allow us to brush his teeth and also drank his milk in no time. I hate emotional blackmail but we were fighting a losing battle.
• Kuku believed that anna had left while he was having his bath. No idea why he felt that but he cried and hiccuped for an entire hour screaming "Anna Anna Annnnnnaaa". The whole crying episode was so ridiculous especially since anna was watching TV, in plain sight, and came running in response to his cries. Anna was not hiding. No one understood what had happened.
• Kuku insisted that Anna play only the games he himself wanted to play, so anna was a bit bored after a while.
• Anna was also forced to sleep when it was Kuku's nap-time and the poor fella struggled to fall asleep (he is an active 13 year old who hates to waste time sleeping). 

What a weekend!

Is Chetan Bhagat the New Shah Rukh Khan? -- Rant

Hahahaha :D Are you wondering if:

• Chetan Bhagat (CB) has been signed on by Yash Raj films
• CB has become buddies-nahin-family with Karan Johar
• CB has started a on-off relationship with Farah Khan by slapping Shirish Kunder
• CB has a six-pack
• CB had botox so he cannot ever frown and even when he does - it looks comical
• CB's illegal ramp has been mowed down now
• CB has a surrogate kid called Abram

 NO NO NO!

Well, there was a time, when I watched a lot of TV (before Kuku, of course) and at that time irrespective of the channel, when it was time for advertisements, I found myself staring at Shah Rukh Khan. If it was not Fair and Handsome, it was Lux, Lux Cozy, Navarathan cool Tail (Yupp, that is the spelling), etc etc etc. After Amitabh Bacchan, an actor I used to admire a lot before he joined the  overexposed list, it is Shah Rukh. Amitabh appears for Maggi, Cadbury's, Navaratan Cool Tail, ICICI, etc etc etc. I found myself admiring the Heroes of an earlier era who would not be caught dead appearing for these advertisements. Of course, some of them died penniless as well :(

Chetan Bhagat now has the dubious distinction of joining the overexposed group with Shaadi.com, Blender's Pride, etc. Seeing him on TV advertisement after advertisement, had everyone at home going "Whaaat??" The senior Arien even asked "Who is that?" Well, so, if Shah Rukh was the next Amitabh, Chetan is the next Shah Rukh!  

Merry Christmas Folks -- a bit late tho

The Arien was thrilled that Kuku, who was now a year old, could actually enjoy Christmas and the decorations. Well, yes and no.

Day 1 (Dec 22), Kuku wanted to play with all the decorations which was not allowed. He made his pouty face and tried coaxing a few fake tears so we would allow him to play with the decorations. That didn't work. Next he cried real loudly. That also did not work. Then, he threw a huge tantrum and decorations were not done that day!

The decorations looked bright and pretty and its not surprising that Kuku wanted to play with it but they also had a lot of glittery stuff which stuck to our hands. Kuku usually puts his fingers in his mouth and so this was def off-limits :)

Day 2 (Dec 23), When Kuku was napping, the Arien completed most of it. Kuku had forgotten all about it by then and was approaching the new day with no clear ideas and so it was easy for us to get going.
Also, the Arien had left each decoration with a hook kinda thing and so all he had to do was put it up - still it left him very tired. By the time Kuku woke up from his nap, the Arien was ready to go on his :D


Day 3 (Dec 24), The lights were keeping Kuku excited. He pointed at it, babbled something, and actually laughed at the twinkling lights. He enjoyed the lights, the star, and the Christmas tree. The Arien gave him a lil sticker to keep him occupied which worked for a bit.

The Arien had planned to create the crib on Day 3 but he was so
tired after putting up all the decorations - he hunted for the crib we had made last year and fixed it, so it looked new. 

I was sick for most part of the week and coughing up a storm. I had almost no sleep thanks to the cough and no voice. I was not really looking forward to Christmas.

But, this year, Christmas was ok. Not filled with too many expectations and or plans-made for us not made by us-which meant I was not too stressed. But, to compensate, I was sick which killed the experience anyway.

After a lot of thought I decided not to wear a new dress when visiting with Kuku. I am always so worried that Kuku will wipe his mouth on me or decide to spit up on my dress which results in my going crazy. It adds so much pressure and stress that its honestly not at all worth it. So, this Christmas, I had a new dress (unlike last year) but I chose not to wear it to spare myself. I had no issues when Kuku wiped his mouth on me at all. I am so glad I took this decision. I was able to relax and enjoy myself.

Family Potraits -- Our G K Vale Nightmare -- A Rant --VI

Nowadays, when you visit any tourist spot, apart from the fact that the vast majority of the population is also there - you now see a profusion of cameras. Almost everyone is shooting pics - either from a camera on their mobile or from a 5D Mark III. The Arien is an amateur photographer and enjoys the entire process of taking snaps - the perfect light, the amazing shot, the twist in the pic, the shadow, etc etc.

While we have great snaps of each of us individually, we wanted to have one of all three of us. So, we decided that the three of us should have a well-shot snap. We decided to go to a studio and get it done the old fashioned way. We did not do proper research on the G K Vale studio but went with brand image and the family portrait displayed near the entrance. BIG MISTAKE!

Firstly, getting all of us (kuku, his parents, and his grandparents) together was an achievement. We managed that. Secondly, we all were a bit worried 'bout lil kuku's reaction but he behaved very well for most part. After 40 mts, kuku was fed up and threw a tantrum. But, that was nothing compared to the reaction that the Arien had when we saw our snaps.

The photographer was shooting non-stop - sometimes when we were looking away. Apart from a few standard poses and a prop to place Kuku on - he shot as if the goal was to shoot more than 50 snaps in less than 30 mts. The Arien, was shocked at the callous way we were being photographed. A set of 10 pics where one grandparent was standing stiffly to attention and looked like he had been added into the photo using photoshop was a very glaring goof. The Arien felt that that was unacceptable. You know that snap is useless so you immediately make the change. So, either the photographer did not see the pic or did not care. Both are shocking. Glasses produce glare because of the extra studio lights - he caught a few but some existed in the ones we chose. He said he would fix it - it did not get fixed even in the final copy that was printed. In some of the snaps, the rest of us appear a bit blurred because the focus is on one person only. I would like to believe that that was an effect and it could have been one if it was lil Kuku who was the object of the focus, and he was not. The Arien also discussed the format being used - which he said was not the best when you want to edit the picture later. All this was accepted in very bad grace.

We were left with a very bad taste after that experience with G K Vale. I doubt I will ever contact them again. Do not get fooled by the snaps you see on their display wall or behind the payment area.  Those snaps have clearly been taken by professionals. By professionals, I do not mean the  photographers whom they have employed now. There are a few very local studio type displays on the wall to the right of the payment area and I think those are the portrait shots taken by the photographers in the branch. Unfortunate experience and expensive at that.

I would like to think that if you are not into photography much, you may still like what they do here but if you are looking for great professional snaps - AVOID GK VALE. End of Rant! 

Laser Tagging and Sahib Sindh Sultan -- Adrenalin Rush and Yumm

Thursday evening saw us at I am Game, Koramangala, waiting to check out Laser Tagging. Apparently, it is a big hit in the US but none of us had heard of it here. We were 9 of us and only the bride and the groom had played the game before. However, that was not a cause for concern, because the enthusiasm level of all 9 members was quite high. In few minutes, we figured out that Laser Tagging was more like Paint ball but with laser guns instead of paint guns. Obviously, chances of getting hurt were minimal as long as we followed the instructions.

The first step was collecting our tags and figuring out who was in which team. I knew I was more of a liability and told my team that I would go hide rather than hunt the opponents down. Everyone first groaned and then agreed! We were then asked to go upstairs to put on our jackets and arm ourselves with the laser gun. 

The moment we entered the room, we were overwhelmed by the strong smell of unwashed jackets. When we realized that we would be wearing the same jackets, the capri cousin mentioned committing suicide with his laser gun!! Anyway, we got past that because we really wanted to play the game. Because most of us had not played the game, the person-in-charge showed us a video of the game and explained the various instructions - including telling us that we could not commit suicide (i.e shoot ourselves with the laser gun), or hit the opponent with the wrong end of the laser gun, or generally harm the opponent. Also, after we were shot, the jacket vibrates and your jacket and gun deactivate for a short period of 5 seconds. He asked us to get moving as soon as that happens so the opponent does not shoot us again. The person-in-charge also mentioned that the place was built like a maze with pillars and if we bumped into the pillar, it was bound to hurt. He also showed us the 6 target areas that each jacket had, which could be shot at. There were 4 in front and 2 in the back. Also, each team had a base station that could be shot at for maximum points. The base station could also shoot back. After the instructions, the jackets and guns were activated and we entered the arena like gladiators (I can dream, can't I?). 

And before we knew it, all of us were running helter skelter, hiding, and shooting at each other crazily! We initially thought 10 minutes was a long time, but we never realized it as we ran around the maze and shooting at our opponents. When the time was up, we realized that most of us were sweating profusely from all the exertion. The others had settled themselves in front of the base station and shot at it continuously, gaining points. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the game.

We decided to visit Fun Games at Forum so my niece could have some additional fun. While the capri cousin was playing with his daughter, all of us sneaked off to have some snacks at the Transit Lounge. After the game, all of us were ravenous. No one overdid the snacks because we wanted to have a nice dinner as well. We decided to go to Sahib Sindh Sultan and had a yummy dinner. The bride wanted to be seated in the coach but it was full up and so we sat outside - another cousin joined us and we had a lot of fun teasing the bride and groom, sharing anecdotes of the past, and of course, eating. A nice evening - Good Times!

Music Mania -- a saturday evening special

Both the Arien and myself were looking forward to the weekend -- we had some minimal shopping planned and we wanted to catch a movie. All that changed after the Arien received a call from his brother who lives abroad. I could hear the Arien utter "Yes.. Of course ... Sari... No problem... Yes, yes" and was quite curious. Well, the Arien had decided, all by himself, what we would be doing on Saturday evening. We were going to a musical gala at his nephew's school. We had not been to see him since he joined over 6 months ago and so this was a good opportunity. The program was scheduled to start at 5:30 pm and after picking up the folks who were joining us - it was 4:45 pm when we actually got started. I had almost given up hope on our reaching on time wen the Arien surprised me by reaching the venue (beyond Electronic City - after Elevated Tollway) by 5:45 pm and the program was yet to start. The stage was all decorated and we walked right upto the first row and settled ourselves in th seats meant for the kids :D

The school campus was huge and the number of parked cars informed us that we were the last ones :( The first to come on stage were the Prep 1 kids. The kids were actually lil more than tiny tots. They were 3 rows of kids (15 per row) and of them two would introduce the group and then join the others. Some of them were watching the guy who was playing the casino. Some of them were following what their friends were doing - at a very slow pace. I think we have never laughed so much. I had tears in my eyes. Only a small group was intently following the teacher who had a chair facing the stage and was miming the actions for the song. They sang and mimed for Popeye the Sailor man, Noddy, Sound of Music and kept us entertained. And then the capricon, Arien's nephew, came on stage with his first group (First Standard). The Arien settled down right next to the Stage so he could take good pics.

The capricon seemed so alone that all of us felt very bad. He is such a naughty kid that it is usually very tough to get him to do anything we want and seeing him like this - had us all go awwww. As he did his steps, he kept an eye out for us in the Audience and though the Arien was sitting right in front of him - he did not notice him till the very end. He did his steps very well and luckily for us - for some reason the mike did not work too well for one of the girls who was the star singer and so the teacher wanted a Repeatu of the song. I called the Arien because sometime earlier, we were asked to vacate our seats for the kids and told him to take more snaps. We were seated at the back -- close to the projected image and so we actually had a clearer shot of the stage.
And just wen the second round got over, we noticed that the capricon had seen the Arien because a brilliant smile shone on his face. He also did a quick step for the Arien as if to say "Oh.. I knew I wud come - How is this?" before he was shooed off the stage alongwith all the others, by his teacher.

The program got over around 7. The kids were given some coupons so they could eat something at the stalls. We had also purchased some goodies and so he was at his naughty best. He ran all around and refused to eat. We finally left around 8:10 after visiting his dorm, seeing two of his three room-mates and spending some time with them all. He is the youngest in the group and in the school. As we returned home, everyone had an opinion on the naughty capricon and if this was really what we wanted for him. It was 10 pm when we reached home.

Lunch @ High Note and a Movie

On a boring saturday, the Arien decided we had to see Predators (the movie) and I agreed if only for an excuse to go out. I have been wanting to eat at High Note for a while and so I tried to sell that idea to the Arien. After stuffing my face, I may fall asleep during the movie and miss it completely. Thats like a double yeah!! (I am so evil ;P) Planning, planning, and more planning - which show to catch? Do we ask the Taurean? Does the Arien still want to catch Predators? Can we catch the 4 pm show? There is no show at that time... Grrr.. In an hour, it was all settled: We were having lunch at High Note, catching Inception (yes, not Predators) at 6 pm.

Lunch was not the yummy affair I wanted it to be - the Arien did not like the food very much (Dragon Chicken and Lamb chops) - but then he is very much a kebab person. He liked the ambience though. The Taurean freaked out on the Veg Melange and Bruchetta. I had the Potato Au Gratin and could not do justice to it. After a while, it was simply too much of cheese, helluva lot of potatoes and I was ready to Guz it. When the bill came, the Taurean offered to treat us and I accepted his offer graciously (I think).

The movie experience was so awesome that I did not obsess over the unclean restroom facilities, the awful seats, a bunch of north-indian guys who for the life of them could not understand the movie, or any other stuff that I usually obsess over. The movie was simply that good. In fact, while Shutter Island solved the mystery for us and we all had this Whoa?!! feeling - in Inception, it was open for interpretation and you never really get rid of the Whoa feeling. The Taurean had already seen the movie but was game for watching it again - I could totally understand why. The Taurean and myself spent the drive home, discussing - nah- fighting over what we considered was the actual sequence of events in the movie while the Arien decided not to join the fray. This is the second movie this year that has totally exceeded my expectations - Ya, the first was Shutter Island. So, if you have not caught it, yet - DO NOT MISS IT.

Tea @ Infinitea

After returning frm a rain-soaked pilgrimage, I was looking forward to a lazy day - we were eating at the senior Arien's house - Yippee!! No cooking for me. The cook had prepared the south Indian version of the chinese fried rice alongwith a side-dish of paneer butter masala - that left a lot to be desired. The combo was the least of our concerns because the rice was so overcooked - it tasted and looked very much like pongal. Plus, it had a lot of partially cooked veggies - the cabbage was almost raw and peas was uncooked. Assuming we let all tht go - the salt was fit for a bp patient. I mean it was cmpltly tasteless : I almost regretted my earlier Yipppeee!! :( I was actually suprised that the Arien had not made any comment. I suggested going out and having a good Chai and snack which was vetoed by the senior Arien and the Taurean. While the senior Arien was keen on catching up on his sleep, the Taurean wanted to catch up on his speech. That left the two of us for the snack.

After indulging in sm arbid shopping for the Arien - I decided it was tm to have tht really nice hot cuppa Chai. I was in no mood to go home and make two hot cups and so we tried to cm up with options. The Arien not wanting to drive too far frm home - opted for Shanthi Saagar. My glare was sufficient to stop him from coming up with a list of similar such options wen I got my first brite idea of the day. Infinitea. I was all for the totally chilled out experience while the Arien came up with his standard rejections "Too far - Too expensive - Too late" and a new one "No coffee". But, for once my mind was totally made up and so on sunday evening arnd 7 pm - we made our entry into Infinitea.

We opted for steamed momos, and a pot of masala chai as the Arien was not in a mood to experiment (Alas, on our drive to Infinitea, I had mentioned Progrm's Green Tea scene). While we were still wondering 'bout wht we shd add - I came up with the Tiramisu. The Arien read it and had the best candid camera expression on his face :D He managed "Ladies fingers? Do you really want tht??" with a very audible gulp. I told him I was very clear and the first dish tht arrived was the Tiramisu which was promptly gulped down by the Arien amidst "Hmm.. Nice.. Hmm... Good.. Hmm.. do you want some???" before I cud say "Tiramisu". Well Well Well...

Momos were not so great but the spicy chutney tht accompanied it - sure was. Chai was so-so. I have had better @ Infinitea. We spent a while staring at the pictures on the wall - commenting on the statements made on the paper coaster - observed a college-going couple feeding each other, in one corner... Next to us, were a bunch of four guys chattering nineteen to a dozen who had finished their eats at least half an hour before we did. Somewhere in the midst of all the staring the Arien noticed that we had not yet recd the bill. Well, thts one of the nicest things.... I mean, in most places, the bill is placed alongwith the final dish and a waiter (im) patiently waits for you to pay. It was a very nice experience tht we cud jes continue to sit and chat :) While I have been here b4, it was the first time with the Arien and he enjoyed the experience as much as I did.

The Milk Cooker

T'was during the same weekend, that the Arien found the milk cooker. I remember receiving it as a gift a long time ago and moving it to the back of my kitchen cupboard. During weekends, the Arien gets into this cleaning frenzy and so he ends up finding stuff tht were kinda hidden from him. The week before tht he found the Eyah-chombu, which belonged to my mom. Thankfully, I did not bring the Puttu pathram or the filter with which amma made her decoction (pronounced dekokshun).

So on sunday, after the Koshy's visit, while I hoped to have a lazy sunday the Arien pulled out the milk cooker and decided to boil milk in it. This one was a stainless steel milk cooker unlike the older aluminium type which amma had while we were in some remote part of Karnataka, known as Thangadige. I still recall, the Taurean, a toddler at tht time, would either run for cover or hide under the bed whenever he heard the milk cooker shriek. The Arien gave me some gyaan on why milk boiled on a milk cooker never spills with sm details tht totally escape my mind right now. Anyway, I retorted that if milk was boiled in the Sim flame, it does not spill over and shared with him the gory details of the Taurean's milk boiling exercise. The Taurean decided to boil milk and as specified by me, left it at Sim flame, and forgot all 'bout it. It was two hours later when he called me - to inform me that firstly all the milk had boiled away and secondly, the vessel was charred beyond recognition and the good news was that none of the milk had spilled!! Yupp... his sense of comic timing is deeply flawed :P The maid was ready to murder him b'cos it took her a week to get the vessel back in usable condition.

Anyways, the Arien poured two half litres of milk in the new milk cooker and went back to his browsing. I got busy reading the newspaper. It was a solid 15 mts later that I heard this shrill whistle and looked up from my newspaper to realize that it was the milk cooker. Milk was all boiled - Tada!!! And, no spills. Super Tada!!! In all this enthu, totally forgot to make breakfast and we hoped to catch Harry Potter at the Forum Value Mall at 12 ...Waanh!!Grrrr!!!

An Evening of HahahahaHehehehehe

It was a lazy Friday evening when I received an sms for the S Ve. Shekar drama to be held in Bangalore. I was immediately transported to the years I spent living in Chennai. I was introduced to S Ve Shekar's brand of humour by friends and cousins. We spent countless afternoons listening to his cassettes and laughing at his jokes. We actually even knew some of the dialogues by-heart. "Yenna Mirugam Aakathe" was a personal favorite that was usually uttered by the actor who played S Ve Shekar's father in the drama. I soon liked his clean sense of humour and his comic timing, which was an amazing contrast to the Sendhil-Goundamani comedy style that was sweeping Tollywood. I wished I could attend a live performance - but alas that never happened while I was in Chennai. So, receiving this sms was like a "Wah Wah Woo".

I pestered the Arien to book tickets but he was not too keen. Finally after a lot of rhona-dhona, usually a major part of all tamil mega serials, I got my way. The Senior Arien was going to be all-alone over the weekend as the Taurean was away at Chennai. Used version 2 of rhona-dhona and managed to get a Yes from him as well.

Sunday, 4:10 pm, saw us (the senior Arien, the Arien, and self) happily driving to "Ghana Sabha". I had amazingly deleted all the smses and so was not sure of the name of the place. An auto-driver informed me that there was no "Ghana Sabha" in K R Road and that I am probably looking for "Ghayana Samaj". After reaching K R Road, and taking various detours, we finally reached Ghayana Samaj at 5:15 pm. While the Arien goes to park the car, I get the tickets by sharing the online booking id and the senior Arien is asking ppl standing outside if the show has begun - we suddenly spot the comedian himself sauntering past us. He has not changed much. He is extra-ordinarily fair in person and he speaks in a typical tam-bram accent when he informs the organizer that he does not want to make the audience wait any longer. Both the Senior Arien and self are busy gogling at him, beaming at none in particular, when the Arien walks up and asks us 'bout the tickets - we tell him in hushed tones that HE jes walked by.

At 5:30, the play titled "Periya Thambi" began. It was a new experience for the Arien. The Senior Arien and self were laughing away to glory. It was funny, familiar, laced with political inundoes, and naughty as well. The auditorium was one of those "Thaatha Kalathu sabhas" and soon it was pretty warm inspite of the fans. We were seated 5 rows away frm the stage which was perfect - I spotted certain improvisations made by the artistes tht would not be visible frm say the 10th row. The grandfather who uttered senseless proverbs was hilarious. Its usually pretty tough doing a live show and I was pretty impressed at the way they performed. A young gal in the third row was recording the play using her cell phone and S Ve Shekar caught her and waved a No! from on stage. While it was pretty embarrassing for the gal and her companions, I was surprised he could make out smne was recording with all tht light on the stage and the near darkness that the audience is in. The play was 2 hours short and had an intermission for 10 mts after the first hour.

After the play, S Ve Shekar introduced all the cast members and he was at his funny best at tht time. He also thanked the audience for encouraging drama artistes by coming to these plays when temptation such as multiplexes lured you. He also shared details 'bout his first play in Bangalore. It was complete wholesome entertainment and we had a Hahahahahehehehehe evening. Both the Ariens enjoyed the different experience inspite of creating all tht fuss earlier :D

Dinner at Copper Chimney

Was away on vacation last week and got drowned in work when I returned tho' neither I nor my brain was aware tht we were bk. Ob. had to re-do most of the stuff tht I attempted early in the week :( And then out of the blue receive a call frm my Arien aunt who wants to catch up with everybody and soon everyone is happily planning a dinner.

Almost everyone had a reason to celebrate - Leo sis has got an admit into Moore School for Business, Capri Aunt is happy she is back in Bangalore again, Arien aunt wants to meet everyone as she is here on vacation, Libran uncle and Aquarian aunt are ready to break their 7:30 deadline after a looong tm, the rest of us are jes glad to catch up with the others which according to us was a reason to celebrate.

The Leo sis is in charge of finding an appropriate restuarant n booking a table for 10. The whole day goes by and we do not hear frm her - she is probably busy with her manager - its always difficult to state tht you are leaving and I am sure she was finding it tough. The Arien aunt starts panicking and asks me if the place is decided - I opt for Samarkhand as I have never been there. Its an option, I tell her. Arien aunt is kinda mollified tht we have a place to meet. Finally, my sis calls.

We talk for ages... We catch up pretty rarely and so any conversation lasts an hour or more and this also did - almost messing up my schedule for the day :D We finally arrived at the topic of discussion and she wanted to go to Copper Chimney - the place had rave reviews and she was totally in favour of it. I had not been there as well and so we decided tht tht was the venue. She made the booking, missed her bus hme, and I informed everybody of the venue.

We were all supposed to meet up at 8:30 pm. The Aquarian aunt and the Libran uncle are known for their punctuality and are usually the first ones to arrive at any get-together. The Arien aunt was the hostess for the evening - and she wanted to reach the venue earlier and by luck and a lil help frm the usually punctual folks - she managed tht. Knowing me, we started at 8:29. We decided to pick Senior Arien and Taurean on the way and in the process got pretty badly delayed. We reached the venue at 9:30 pm :D

The ambience was nice - food was good - the Dum Biriyani was particularly good. The regular Biriyani was bad. We are generally a very talkative group and there is a lot of ribbing, teasing, and jokes made at each other's expense - all of tht hpnd - however, all the older members seemed tired and did not talk much - wen they did- they discussed sm philsophy, a TV serial titled "Yengey Brahmanan", and some gen talk. The main conversation was lead largely by the kid - who was 17 - ya, not really a kid - the youngest Arien in the family. Usually, it is the Libran uncle who holds sway over the entire conversation. We have always been kids to them and this inspite of the fact tht the oldest of us, the Capri cousin in Chennai, has a daughter of 5.

When we started for the dinner it started raining, we cribbed 'bout the traffic, the distance - but the moment we met the rest of the family - all tht was happily forgotten - everyone was so happy we made it inspite of it all. We talked n talked n talked or rather yakked n yakked n yakked till we cud yak no more. My eyes started to close towards the end of the dinner - the sizzling Brownie with Ice-cream dessert woke me up :D

We saw tht they had these cute two-sm options for couples outside - on the balcony - it looked awesome - a worthwhile option for a romantic dinner I hinted to the Arien. He tried very hard to hold back the yawn as he agreed with me. And then we were off - we still had one more day before the weekend - everyone was saying their byes amidst gigantic yawns - it wud be a while before we all caught up with each other again. Had a Ni-YAWN-ce evening.

Dinner at South Indies

April is a month of birthdays too - Both the Ariens and the Taurean have their birthdays this month. After April, we essentially have no more celebrations for a really looong time. Thts one beeg reason we take the time out to treat the family junta to an evening of our mad company and dinner.

This time we decided to have dinner at South Indies. We left pretty late and I was worried that we would probably have to wait outside. We parked a lil distance away and walked in. Well, I needn't have worried. The construction going on at CMH road killed their clientele b'cos there were plenty of empty tables. Or maybe we were early. Time can be subjective. The Senior Arien was on the phone all through the dinner - a girder had fallen and he was tense.

Anyway, we chose a table in the corner, waited for the senior Arien to come back in. During the loong wait, we managed to go over the menu twice, mis-pronounce the items and share a hearty laugh. It was then that we realized that the senior Arien may take forever, as is the case nowadays and so went ahead. We opted for Kuzhipaniyaram and Dumpala Karam as the starters. For the main course, we chose the Kal Dosai, Neer Dosai, and Veechhu Parotta accompanied by alembu arepu and paal katti vengayathaal kuzhambu. The Taurean chose a strawberry mocktail, the Arien opted for the fruit punch and I chose the Fresh Lime Water (sweet). On an aside, the maitre d' or the chief waiter, took our orders on a PDA. A lil too impressive :D

The senior Arien returned to the table when we were wondering if we should eat his share too :P Of course, he was pretty cool with all our choices. The portions were jes right for a lite dinner. The mocktails were perrfect! The Fresh lime came in a tall glass and I was unable to finish it :( We did not try the desserts.

The Arien felt the place was way too expensive for standard south indian fare. The Senior Arien was glad that he could partake food like Neer Dosai instead of Vegetable Fried Rice and Rotis. He prefers having a lite dinner. Surprisingly, the Taurean felt that the portions were perfect. I would blame that on his evening snack and so will not take that too seriously.

In my opinion, it was a change from the regular fare of Fried Rice and Rotis. However, I must add that when you look at the price, you invariably compare it with those of Shanthi Sagar and Adigas (other eateries that serve the similar food items) and that automatically kills the experience. So, if you are looking for having south indian vegetarian food sans the crowd and money is of no consequence - try South Indies.

Before I forget, they do deliver food to your place if you stay in Indiranagar. So the next time you are too lazy to step out but would like to try the food at South Indies, you could ask them to deliver it to you. For the menu and other details, see:

http://bangalore.hungryzone.com/index.php/restaurant-menu/5023/South-Indies/South-Indian/indiranagar

Happy Eating!!! :D