Sumthing Of Everything…

Yet another year that had swiftly passed-by, leaving important additions and invaluable losses to the self. After all, no one can trade the negatives of life with anything. Actually nothing in life with anything else. It is not so simple as it looks on the surface.

Moving on, now I am no more a single. It feels nice to declare that though I never realized that I can feel so when I was one. Only time I have enjoyed being the protagonist in any event was my wedding. The five short months of courtship with Sunitha, my better half, has helped a lot in not moving away much from ‘myself’ after the wedding, which I was always particular about. As everyone says, things will change after wedding. Well, I must take it. But they are things after all, which we could control. I still find time for library, long-drives, friends and photos along with Sunitha, wherever possible and touch wood, this continues I must say she has done major part of the job as especially for her, its the new living, language, people and workplace. Now this makes me cite something good and unique we did last weekend but more on the lighter side of it and that forms the title story.

Sunitha has once expressed a small wish to eat good Bisi Bele Bhath(we started calling it B - cubed) somewhere.. which could not be met for quite a while, even when we had been to Kamat’s breakfast buffet where Pongal had shown up in rice items category. Last Saturday I wanted to do it in a style… as in not preparing at home for her (Thank Heavens ! I did not do that !!) but as in the eshhtyle of NDTV Good Times show Around The World in 85 Plates… well, actually a bangalored version of that.. Taste Bisi Bele Bhath from different famous places around where it is proclaimed to be the best.. Started with the de facto place Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) in Lalbagh Road, where the same old uncle in white dhoti and thick oiled gray hair who always had given the bad news of waiting lived up to it again and announced it would be an hour-wait. Not taking any (Mavalli Tiffin) Room(s) for disappointment, we had soon pulled in at Kadambam in Bull Temple Road. This place sells the most tasty and little expensive Puligoyare, Pongal and Bisi Bele Bhath. B – cubed was served with some ghee topped on it and I could feel it really churning out the yummy feeling and stinging the taste buds to the right proportion, especially along with that combination of adequately salted mixture. And with that lasting relishing expression on Sunitha’s smiling face..finally the wait came to an end.. Well, let me say starting of an end since we had other places in queue to taste from.

We then dotted our B cubed journey at Kamat on the other end of Bull Temple Road. Now imagine the usual scene in Jackie Chan movies where he says something to a confused extra before performing a feat, like jumping off the building. I climbed up the steps and rolled out words to the wide-eyed saree-clad lady in the counter – Bisi Bele Bhath idiya ? (Is B - cubed available ?) Reply came out while preparing to hit the keys of noisy billing machine for some item she expected me to choose from what she says…– illa, P….. (No, P………..) No was what I heard properly and then pulav, pongal ide.. faintly as we turned back and got into our car in a spark before she even took her face off from the machine and looked up. No wonder if she had thought we were Bise Bele Bhath starvers or food inspectors who have come to judge their food by that one item of all. Some Bangalore foodies with funny bone say Kamat means ‘Khaa Math‘ . We had to follow that on the day of our B-cubed journey

Well, the next place was 35 yr old Dwaraka in NR Colony. I quickly glanced at the items written in blue chalk on black board displayed outside the restaurant. And the last one was Bise Bele Bhath..after taking the token the man in serving counter said that it got over. I wanted to try my luck yet again..asked him swalpanoo illva ? (Is any reserved stuff there ?) being very positive that he will surely have some.  He said he had less portion of it than a plate… I readily agreed to take that. and it was on our table in next minute along with those aptly friend potato chips. Sunitha now played Nigella Lawson and Kylie Kwong together by comparing the stuff she ate at different places and saying out the comments. Personally, I like the one at Kadambam for all those valid reasons said above.

(to be continued…)