Nuances

A common question that I am often asked is, how am I able to cook simple fare, leave alone sumptuous meals and tasty nick knacks, when I used to never enter the kitchen in Bangalore? Honestly, even I am stumped!!! The first day I picked up the knife to cut the onions, an eternal doubt lingered in my mind - will I be even able to chop it even half way through??? Lo, behold, not only was I able to successfully pulverize it but was able to prepare a descent, edible and optically affable Baby corn peas masala with not so plump Pooris. Some credit should definitely be given to me for cooking in a 'nearly bachelor-paddish' kitchen. I even managed to deep fry things in vegetable oil which was meant only for dressing. I kept wondering why my pooris were not ready to bloat at all. It was only later that I realised that it was the oil that was playing the havoc!!! Hats off to Adarsh for putting up with such alienish dishes and not complaining even a bit. Anyway, it was good...

Diwali may be a week away but we got to celebrate and enjoy the festival on this weekend itself. We got to know about the get-together from one of the lunch time Indian friends of Adarsh. It was organised by the employees of the office where this friend worked. Since it is a Chennai based company, as expected, it was organised by a couple of Tamilians. So for one thing, both Adarsh and I did not feel out of place since we could easily understand all the conversations going on around us. Luckily Adarsh knew some of them too. I had fun looking around the animated faces, kids and chatty ladies (something that you don't get to see often here). I got on really well with the friend's wife and struck up a lively chat with her. Luckily for me, I decided to wear one of my Chudidhars for the function. Every lady in the hall except for the British was decked up in a colourful saree. The only British lady was the wife of the supervisor of the employees. It was funny to watch the shock, ...

In this episode I would like to share my experience of visiting the local bank. It all started on Saturday, the day we had planned to visit London. En route we decided to visit the bank in which Adarsh holds an account to notify the change of address. Though the banking system is almost similar to the one back in India, the procedures are slightly different. As soon as you enter the premises, bank employees give you one-on-one attention no matter what the issue is. Luckily we found an elderly woman named Davina Salisby. She was very sweet to us and finished the intended job in a jiffy. She just did not send us away with that. Realising the fact that we had recently moved into the new apartment, she proceeded to advertise some of the banking products which actually was on our minds too. Back in Indian nationalised bank branches, only the manager has a cabin. But here, there are multiple cabins each equipped with a computer and the required stationary. So, she took us into one of the...

Boom began the morn of the second of October just as unexpectedly as the month of September. Is it only me or is time really flying at escape velocity? I should definitely check with the saner group! Jokes apart, time is not waiting for itself, leave alone for the tide. The impending wedding which now is a memory of the past, the intended departure of Adarsh which is also a thing of the past now and my expected travel; all of these events have just zoomed by. And lo behold, I am on the flight typing this travelogue. The penultimate day of my travel was very busy with visit to Grandparent’s place, getting my luggage weighed and bidding quasi farewells to all kinds of people. The cherry on top of the cake was of course the tasty gobi Manchuria by Ash, Dahi vada by Amma and the Dutch Truffle cake from Aparna and Rajesh. Imagine celebrating and chatting till 11 in the night just before the day of flight – this is my kind of preferred life! In a wink of the eye, dawned the morning of ...