Reflections, Banter and the Honest Truth

 When I was much younger, our summers were often spent at our Grandma's house on the coast. Along with my siblings, my parents and me, many of my aunts, uncles and cousins would also gather there for the holidays. My mum has 9 siblings- and so I have a whole battalion of cousins, aunts and uncles.   Summers there were always fun, loud, and full of games, giggles, and delicious food. We often had people visiting and on days like that, dinners went on long after 'bedtime'. All us cousins were very excited at the thought of staying up late and giggling, chatting and playing games, and sometimes listening to the stories that our elders told. On the days that we did not have visitors, we would all usually go to bed on time. My grandma (Gramsy as we lovingly called her) would make sure her hall was swept and swabbed and the huge green and blue carpet was cleaned. Then all the cousins would excitedly each go and pick up a pillow and a thin cotton sheet to use. The excitement of ...

There are quite a few things that make me feel warm and give me comfort, and not surprisingly quite a few of them belong on the list of food and beverages. Last evening, both my daughter and I were feeling under the weather, and I wasn't sure what to cook- that would make us all feel nourished and satisfied. My elder daughter would not put up with a meal meant for for a convalescent.  I quickly glanced through the fridge, and the kitchen cabinets. An apple, chicken breast, carrots, potatoes, masoor dhal, coriander leaves, onions- few of the things that caught my eye. I thought of a recipe that I had years ago, and had cooked just once before, soon after I was married. My husband relished it then and so did I.  So mulligatawny soup it was then.  I was introduced to this soup at the establishment that our (extended) family ran years ago, in Bangalore. And we always had it in the non vegetarian form. You would normally not call something like this a soup. A pottage, maybe? I...

After a year of the normal routine, and lots of hectic but boring days, I am looking forward to a small break with my sisters in Bengaluru (Bangalore). We will not be doing anything over the top. There will be a lot of faffing. And because we can't faff around forever, we will spend some time drinking, and a lot of time eating. Here are just a few of the things (eating and drinking) that I usually visit/do on every trip to Bengaluru. After years of drinking Kingfisher beer, my sister introduced me to 'Tuborg Strong'. I have been a Tuborg drinker since then. I am not a regular drinker, just have a few drinks on social occasions. Besides the occasional drink, Chung Wah, on Residency Road Cross is my favourite Chinese food place in Bangalore. The food is not very rich, but really very scrumptious. I don't think that anyone anywhere has ever eaten Ice Cream, like that at Corner House. The original Corner House was on Residency Road. It is now at  Residency ...