The Hindu - GoCyle Coverage

"The Hindu" had an article on the GoCycle meet that we had yesterday in Page 2. Here is the Web Link

But they have ripped me from the pic there :-(

Fortunately I was surprised to see myself in the hard copy early today morning. The left extreme with the "pink" helmet on. Also TV9 Kannada also was covering the event and I could only see IPL matches being covered insanely there. Let me know if you folks do catch me in there.

GoCycle meet Bangalore

GoCyle's Bangalore meet was more than my expectations. Truly this was an amazing experience meeting up so many cyclists and making new friends. I must say this was a neatly organized event. What was more exciting to see were the kids who were a having ball. All this started with an ad in "The Hindu" newspaper three days back and they way it unfolded was perfect. No high promises, no criticisms, but just concentration on the event and to spread message to cycle as much as you can.

The started at 7.30AM when I started off from home and went to Adiyar Anand Bhavan for a coffee and I was skeptical initially and was expecting skeleton number of participants. But when I passed by Bethany school near Koramangla which was one of the starting points I was surprised. Looked like an impressive turnout and I joined in. Got a cool Tee and as everyone was doing I wore it one top of my Yonex Tee. Slowly started to take some snaps and then meeting up folks down there and getting to know them. I spotted Pulkit and his wife there and it was encouraging to see Pulkit back in action. Then I spotted Ashwin from RFL with whom I ran before at RFL runs. Then by 8.30AM we were all set to start for the Chancery hotel where other bikers from various parts of the city were supposed to join. The ride started smoothly but I noticed that kids wheren't given enough cover on the roads. Couple of us decided to cover the kids and shadow them till the end as we were on the main roads with hostile motorists around. The trail went through Vivek Nagar, Victoria road and halted near Lifestyle building so that everyone could be gathered. Reva, the baterry driven cars where also shadowing most of us and a Mahindra Scorpio right behind the last cyclist. Then we moved towards MG road and then onto Lavelle road right into Chancery hotel. The good thing is traffic cops until now were receptive and warm.

All the cyclists now gathered and we soon unwound ourseleves again for a show of strength loop. We now went to Cubon road and almost all the traffic were onto a grinding halt and we moved smoothly onto MG road and volunteers stopping traffic at unmanned junctions to ensure smooth and safe ride back to Chancery Hotel. It was fun and now traffic cops were cooperating with us and respecting every cyclists, cheering the kids occasionally and a very warm "welcome" to my "Thank You"s to them. I guess I never felt so elated for the day. Now it was time to lock cycles and get into the hotel and get some refreshments and message from the GoCycle folks. Most of the big names from the cycling blogs from Bangalore where around. I met with Shree (Shreekumar.in) and other cyclists. "Bums on Saddle" folks were also around and as I sipped in Tea I watched some impromptu quiz contest conducted.

As the event was drawing to a close, I grabbed some sandwiches (didn't intend to initially) and was talking with a big HP junta. Manu, Srinivas, Ashwin, Shree and others. Nice pep talk and then we decided to head home. Ashwin, Srinivas and I decided to go together via Domlur as Ashwin proceeded towards Airport road and from Domlu Srini and I took towards Koramangla over the inner ring road and I stopped by 4th block as Srini had to go to Sarjapur road. It was a great fun biking on roads with all gears and stud looks.

It was noon again by the time I reached home and after taking bath I decided to cook (I love cooking). Potato curry, plain rice, curd, "Pulikachal" mix (Thanks to Bharath for his Tamarind mix from grand sweets, Chennai) and some Bhujjia were more than enough. I'll be on leave most of this week and I'll be in Madurai early this week for my Sister's house warming ceremony and will be in Bangalore as my folks will be here for three days. So its a jam packed week and I'll probably hit running on Sunday organized RFL for their fortnightly runs at cubbon park part of their Nike club runs. So just in case you don't receive any mails during this period I'll be right back post May 3rd.

Until then keep running and cycling !
PS: As usual, pics at my Picasa page.

Nandi Hills Run - 20K

So after a lot of email conversations in RFL group's mailing list we finally decided to go in for the Nandi hills run on Saturday and were expected to meet at 5.20AM at GKVK. That means I had to get by 4AM and so I set the alarm for 3.45AM as I had to depart from Koramangla. My roomie Biswa pulled out as he hasn't been running for two weeks now so I decided to go solo. After snooozing the alarm twice I was up by 4AM and left home by 4.30AM. I haven't been riding my motor bike so early for quite a while and reached GKVK by 5.10AM and since I did not see anyone near the gate I decided to go to the Ganesh temple inside. Just then I bumped into Jagdeesh and we decided to wait near the gate. Rajat and co were there right on dot at 5.20AM and doc wanted to leave immediately. But soon we were joined by many and I decided to leave my bike at GKVK and caught up with Meghna and her Hubby's Honda Civic (Many Thanks to them). We then proceeded towards Nandi hills and just as we were about to reach the base Rajat's car started to produce some strange noise and we realised it had to do with the tyres. Then a jack was fixed and with so many expert views flowing it turned out to be a very small pebble that was producing that strange noise.

After an eventful start we finally took off by 6.40AM and the weather was perfect. After some quick stretching and my fancy blue colored Gatorade bottle in my hands we were all up and running. I personally had a good conversation with Jagdeesh who also happens to be from the same company I work for. Soon we were joined by Rajat's cousin and we were threesome running the grueling uphill and started off at a very slow pace. There was so much to talk and as we moved 1000 meters (ft?) above sea level we could see clouds all around and occasionally bikes and car passing by. It was 7.5K uphill and we finally manged to reach the top in around 1 hour 20 minutes. Very poor by my standards but it was okay. Downhill was like a treat and we wanted to be doubly careful as it would hurt more down the hill. I was just clicking my camera randomly here and there to catch the moments. I could see lot of bikers (cyclists) also taking up the hill with Madhu also cycling with them. Soon I joined Meghna and her hubby and then I jammed into their pace to finish the first loop and the feeling to complete to 21K was lingering and we were for sure going for another 5K overall. Rajat's cousin and I decided to go now and the sun was now shining real hard. Jagdeesh also joined us in for a while but I'm actually astounded with his grit and he has been running for over an year just to do the Badrinath trek. In fact Jagdeesh and I will probably be doing a GKVK run soon and some treks ahead in May-June. May be I'll go to Skandagiri (Kalvar Betta) with him sometime very soon in May as well.

I've met so many new faces and its hard to remember their names and some faces whom I've seen in their blogs (Manoj Bhatt for example). Finally after more than 3 long hours I called it a day and thanks to some Rajat's energy bars in his car trunk I was more than charged up now for the rest of the day. Soon we were dropped back to GKVK and then Jagdeesh dropped me near to my bike and by end by noon I was back home. Watched a movie "Into the wild" for over an hour and a half and couldn't take it anymore and decided to hit the sack just around 3PM and now up fresh and ready for the cycle trip tomorrow.

So another weekend run and a new route. Until then, keep running boys !

PS: You can peek into some peeks at my Picasa page.

Car Free Day - April 27th Bangalore (GoCycle)

Just came across this blurb in the "The Hindu" Magazine section yesterday.

Check out the "GoCycle" website.

Since I might have "Nandi Hills" run I'm not sure if I can make it. Starts at 8AM on April 27th from couple of locations in Bangalore. Let me see. A very nice initiative to urge people to use cycling as an alternate mode of transport. We need to learn from China at least.

Run Fatboy Run

A very cool comedy and a simple movie with lots of Masala of course. Being a runner myself I could appreciate it well. Somehow I've got a fascination for Brit comedies. Also stars Indian actor, Harish Patel in small but important role.

It talks about what the runners hit upon "the wall" in a very comic and subtle manner.
Do watch in the trailer.



Run Boys Run !

RFL fortnight run - 15 K

It was a new route to me and it started with warm up sessions from a coach and his team at 6.10AM at Kanteerba stadium. RFL has combined till 14th May, Nike club runs and fortnight runs. The warm up sessions were quick, fun and some were really new to me. Looked the like the coach was impressed by the way I was performing my stretching and pointed others to look at me as example. Wow !

Then we all moved towards Cubbon park entrance as the park is closed to traffic only till 8AM and the water and electrol support were to be available till 8AM only (though they managed to support until the last runner finished even beyond 8AM). The loop was a 2.5K one and somewhere back in the mind was 20K but this time with not many familiar faces around I had to go solo. Around the 4th round I was joined by "Ashwin" (guess??) who was sporting an Atkins running Tee and we had a nice chat but I was dropping some pace and we ran together for around 2KMs and then I was joined by another female who was actually galloping at a very nice pace. I just wanted a running a partner so that I could continue and after 1KM she stopped and I continued. Next I was joined by Bhaskar and we had a very nice chat and were pushing very nicely for more than 3-4KM but then I decided to go slow and after finishing 6 rounds I decided to stop and the traffic started to come in as well. All in all it was a very nice run with some stretching mats provided as well.


There was a parallel run on the occasion of world health day with lot many school kids taking part at the Kanteerba stadium. Later in the day I was having pains very similar to what I had when I was in Auroville for a half marathon. Not sure if the new stretching had any effect but I'm giving myself off for 2-3 days from cycling and running just for the muscles to recover so that I can continue with injury free running.

My roomie and I went to South Indies for a breakfast (brunch?) buffet at Indira Nagar and dashed on to bed. The pleasured pain was setting in. Later watched a comedy "Run fatboy Run" to top it up.

Jab they met – online

A very interesting article I found in "The Hindu" yesterday.

Something I would cherish and be part of.

Check out the online version.

Not everyone is luck ah !

Back to Bangalore Runs

It was almost like I was struggling to finish my runs today. Just did a 3.5K and looked like I was almost exhausted. The mosquitoes never allowed me stretch properly, very humid weather and some office work in the backdrop, all contributed to it.

May not cycle to office the entire week but will be back to cycle from next week on. Not much humor left for the day.

Pulp Fiction - Jules's Bible passage

This is strictly for people who have seen Pulp Fiction and QT movie fans. Yes the Video below will be fun.

Jules's Bible passage

Jules ritually recites what he describes as a biblical passage, Ezekiel 25:17, before he executes someone. We hear the passage three times—in the introductory sequence in which Jules and Vincent reclaim Marsellus's briefcase from the doomed Brett; that same recitation a second time, at the beginning of "The Bonnie Situation", which overlaps the end of the earlier sequence; and in the epilogue at the diner. The first version of the passage is as follows:
“ The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. ”

Read more at Wiki.

Video below:

Reservoir Dogs - I Don't Tip - Mr Pink

I do not vouch for the contents (expletives), but definitely one my favourite scenes.

Blind runner Dave Heeley does seven marathons in week

A blind man who set himself a worldwide challenge to run seven marathons in seven days has finished his final run

More at the BBC website.

Roger Bannister and Hussain Sagar Run

Another weekend in Hyderabad and a quick 9.3K at Hussain Sagar in 50 minutes. It was a good run this time around. Started at 6.20AM and finished by 7.10AM. This is a fantastic route and just as I was finishing the Army guys were out in full swing.

I was doing some post run stretches as part of my cool down and noticed Naveen's dad walking on the other side of the road and he also momentarily stopped to look at me. I crossed the road to wish him and we walked past the Tank Bund and uncle invited me to his home (just 2KM from there). Notwithstanding home commitments I went ahead to catch up Auntie (Naveen's mom) for some update and also the Tea. As usual Auntie insisted on breakfast but I convinced her for "Chai".

Uncle gave a quick glance at his books and mentioned about Roger Bannister. He was the first chap to break the "Four minute a mile" barrier which was kind of unbroken for years. Once Roger Bannister broke the very next year 37 more runners broke and by many many more in years to come. I get to know so many things from Naveen's dad and he is an ocean of knowledge and he suggested me some quick reads on positive thinking.

Read More about Roger Bannister here.

Also not to mention how his wife goes hand in glove with all his books and thoughts. She in fact was the first to see my weight clamp down and was very happy. You see I lost around 10Kgs in last 4-5 months just by running and some simple diet. I'm aiming for 79 and thereabouts and would want to hang in there for as much time as I can. All in all it was good day and I'm not sure if I want to do a back to back 10K run tomorrow morning, but I might as well.

BTW, just finished "Motor Cycle Diaries" and man what a movie ! More in my next post, until then Happy Running !

Long Way Round

Just as I checked in this morning, Kunal sent me this. I plan to see this one soon for sure. Have "Motor Cycle" diaries to complete this week.

Its about an amazing bike trip for over 115 days, all the way from London to New York through the Europe, Russia, Mongolia, Alaska and Canada.

Read more about it at the Wiki.

You'll actually get to know how dangerous it is travel in Russia and its new splits and I'm sure you'll come across some new terms and events in history through this Wiki article.

Also see some trailers in their official website.

God speed !

EGL run this morning - 8.4K

It was a very early start today as Biswa and I decided to run at the Embassy Golf Links (EGL) around the Airport perimeter. So we were up by 5AM types and by 6 we were all set and reached EGL by 6.15 and after stretching we took off.

This run was more of a jog and just to get out of the monotonicity of the Wipro Koramangla park circling 700 meters for loops together. The traffic here is also very little and makes up for a decent morning event as long it is before 7AM and sun the was slowly beginning to ascend. We were done 7.05AM and again after quick stretch we were back to Tranquility (our apartment). I think we will have more such runs and probably we will slowly try a 24K soon if we were able to start our run by 5.30AM and I'm sure we will in the coming weeks.

I'll be off to Hyderabad tonight and be right back to Bangalore on Monday. I plan to do Hussain Sagar (10K) loop back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Also it is Tamil new year day on 13th so lots of home food to burn.

May not blog during this time but will update my running stats on weEndure for sure and have to catch up with lots of movies and especially a Telugu movie "Jalsa" with Hyderabadi gang.

Happy Running !

Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Monty Python series have always been fun to watch, especially the Holy Grail.
Monty Python And The Holy Grail- The Black Knight:


She's a witch!


French Taunting - Monty Python and the Holy Grail


Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Three Questions

Typo Tour

Hit upon this one after an email logout from Y!

Ghati Subramanya Temple

"Ghati Subramanya Temple" is around 70 KMs from Bangalore. You need to take the Dodabellapur raod. Just before you hit Yelahanka from the NH7 you can notice a left deviation going into Yelahanka township. It is NH-207 and goes all the way to Hindupur in AP.

You need to cross Doddabellapur and around 15KMs from there you'll have to take a right. No clear sign boards so just keep asking locals enroute just after you cross Doddabellapur.

It is lord Murugan's temple and very much in tradition with the "Kukke" subramanya temple. Here you find him in the "Naga" avathar and all the "sarpa (snake) dosha" related poojas are performed here. We went in more like a tourist and to enjoy the drive. Also present is Lord Narsimha Swamy whom you can see in Mirror as a reflection within the sanctum sanctorum. Not very crowded and there are KSRTC bus trips to this place as well from Majestic.

Overall the drive is very pleasant and if you have more time and are interested you can drive up to "Lepakshi" in AP, probably another 60 KMs (not sure) from here. You need to cross Gaurbidanur and then go to Hindupur in AP before you reach Lepakshi. It is famous for "hasthakala" and also a very giant Nandi statue. Though I haven't been there myself.

Abhay and I have biked last time for almost 900 Kms to Coorg and around last time for three days. This was very short by our standards and it was 150 KMs overall.

We had a pretty short neat trip on a "Ugadi" morning and by 11.30 we were near Malleshwaram only to discover that "New Krishna Bhavan" was closed for the day and after contemplating with other choices like "Kamat Yatri Nivas" for North Karnataka meals ( Jolada Roti Meals ) we decided to go to "Sukh Sagar" for Gujarati meals in Majestic. This is the one near to the Majestic theater and "Adiyar Anand Bhavan" in Majestic. More about this delicacy in my blog some time this week with elaborate description.

Until next trip, catch you !
PS: More pictures at my Picasa page.

Jantha Tea Stall

Continuing as part of my efforts to write on restaurants and food joints in and around Bangalore, comes as a small surprise is the Jantha Tea Stall right near the Audugodi Traffic signal (Hosur Road in Kormangla 7th block). It is on the right if you are taking the Hosur road from the front side of Forum towards Richmond Road. Just before the signal on your right.

This is my favourite place and Tea is among the best I've had in Bangalore. Though "Adiyar Anand Bhavan" chain have very good coffee and tea, but this place is unique. "Sri Devi" bakery in BTM layout near to "Ladoos" is also a popular place for "ginger" tea. But if you are passing by "Jantha Tea Stall" do try a sip in here.

Tea or Coffee, well my take is coffee once in a morning and tea is purely an evening's prerogative. Also have a look at the Tea Board of India's initiative to promote tea drinking. All that you wanted to know about Tea, benefits are up there.

Follow me to know more.

Keep Healthy !

Charlton Heston - no more

Charlton Heston, among my favourites passed away yesterday. From the days of "Ten Commandments" to "BenHur" I've adored and respected this actor. He has a medieval face and has worked in so many movies of those genre. His voice, his attire and I mean the entire demeanour was perfect.


I also remember his famous quote on internet junkies:
"The Internet is for lonely people. People should live." -Charlton Heston

Kudos to you, my man !

Pleasured Pain - 16.8KM at EGL

So the day began at 5AM and by 5.30 I was stretching and with my Hero Octane I was at the EGL entrance by 5:55AM. Met Atul (I earlier had a mail intro with him) and handed him the annual membership cheque and then quickly met some Auroville Marathon runners and we began to stretch. This was my first run with RFL and the loop was Airport perimeter, 4.2 KMs. The run began at 6.20AM and it was nice small group of around 20 people ready for the fortnight run. A couple of runners lead us through the path and I was waiting to be slowly set into a pace and soon Alok and I ran into each other at an even pace and started with some introductions and within no time we reached the water-stop 4.2KM from the start and we took a U-turn as it was too early for a water stop.

Then we slowly started discussing our professional life and 8.4KM was completed in 45 minutes and off we went for the second loop. With so much to discuss Alok was a great running buddy. He was 40 something and works for Dell at a senior level. Looks like is heal was little niggly and soon we took some electrol at the 12.6KM and paced down slowly. There was a wild thought to go for the 24 or 20K but then we thought we'll settle for 16K and also the fact that I had to cycle back a good 3KM thereafter. It was nice start and probably will go for a 24K in the next fortnight.

But the whole concept of pleasured pain was now getting onto me. It reminds me of Sandy from Chennai runners who says "Suffering in group is so much better than suffering alone". Link to his blog. Do have a read there.


All in all quite a hectic two days and when I came back home I had to do quite a lot of stretching. Had breakfast with Ritesh at Sri Krishna Kafe, Kormanagla. I'll write sometime later about SKK but a must visit place. The best was yet to come as I went in for a siesta at about 11.30AM and woke up to see myself playing "Antakshari" with Biswa's cousin and sister.

The lunch was prepared by Biswa's "Mousi" and it was sumptuous and since it was 4PM lunch I guess even my dinner is kind a done. But the catnap I had at noon was filled with pain and now I felt like deserved to have food. But yes, what a day !

With more runs yet to come and tomorrow being a holiday, I met just be seen in some hill around. There is also a Nandi hill up and down run tomorrow by Sabine but guess it will be too much for this poor soul.

Happy Running !

Wow - 20K Bangalore Biking

It was 7.30AM and I was contemplating whether I should go for cycling or a run. I was anyway to run my first run at RFL tomorrow and thought cycling would a good idea. At around 8.15AM vroom I went onto the inner ring road and had no clue how long and where I was headed. Just as the inner ring road ended I hooked onto the airport road towards Victoria Road and I could see so many cops (both traffic and regular) regulating traffic at every possible "gulli" and I just biked with my cycling helmet and fasttrack goggles. Then I took over a deviation to MG Road and then onto Manipal center and then kept going straight on the parade grounds. This is probably the only stretch where you have a bay for cycles and now I could see all the incoming traffic were stopped and probably the road in which I was on also looked deserted.

Every traffic cop wanted to talk or identify with me and they were signaling, smiling, staring and what not. Probably it was my professional cyclist attire. Then one of the cop almost a kilometer away was signaling and as I could see no one around for miles I thought it could be me. As soon as I neared towards him, he was like "Go fast, go fast" and then I upped my speed. I guess the VIP was about to hit Raj Bhavan road and then I realized that I must take a deviation near the GPO towards Vidhan Soudha. A fellow cyclist who was on roadster model just a little ahead was stopped by a traffic cop for not heading to him and deflated his tyre. I was just behind, but I don't know what he thought and he didn't do anything to me and I also rode as if I was professional and I bike almost daily through this road. Now I headed towards to Hudson circle and then towards Mallya Hospital and then onto St. Marks road and then took a right at Bangalore Central and then towards Hosmat Hospital and Vivek Nagar and then to my cycle shop at Ejipura.

The cycle shop was closed as I had to refit some paraphernalia. Then I moved onto Sony World junction and my bike slowly started to disintegrate and all the parts where caving in. So decided to walk to the nearest cycle repair shop near Maharaja and found out that the nuts required some special tools which he did not have. Went back home and luckily Biswa's "Perima" had made some breakfast. After quick stretching and bath it was a nice quick meal. Biswa and co left for the day and I was expecting the cook around noon and feel asleep at 11.30. Woke up with heavy stomach at 2PM to realize that the cook didn't come and fortunately Ritesh checked in and he was also going out for lunch and thankfully we went to a Bihari hotel, "Prayag Raj".


Prayag Raj, is near the JNC college in Koramangla 5th Block. You get to eat "litti" (or Lithi) on Sundays here and Ladoos in BTM is another place where you get Satoo paratha. Then I had a plain pomegranate juice and after getting some cash at the ATM we were back home. Decided to fix the handle and other stuff at the cycle shop and decided to walk couple of KMs with the cycle. The shop guy has an amazing service and with 15 minutes I was thing perfect and the boy said "No sir, no need to pay" but just tipped him and had pleasant ride back home and realized now that the rent had to paid to the landlord. Since I had nothing left on my plate for the day took the original bike (my pulsar) and enroute bought some shorts at the Yonex shop in the Prakash Padukone Badminton academy. Since my dad is well known there I got a good bargain as well.

Honestly I must have ridden more than 20K and it reminds me of days in "Roadster" model cycles that I used to go to tutions with my pal Kireeti and to school. Things have changed so much since then.

Had nice ride and have got a 6AM run so need to get up by 5AM tomorrow and might catch up with Abhay for the rest of two days as it is a long weekend with Monday being Ugadi.

Happy Cycling !
(BTW it was one hour and forty five minutes of cycling)

New Cycling Helmet

Well then, the Cycling Helmet is also in. Now a water bottle stand is missing and proper cycling gear like Tee Shirt and Shorts.

This one costs around 300 and it just plastic-kind material on the top and thermacoal from inside. First I tried from the Helmet shops in JC Road but looks like these are available in sports shops. So I headed the next day towards Langford Road intersection with Hosur Road, pretty close to my office. It looked more for the style and less of a safety to me.

But one thing is for sure is that fellow motorists and cars give me more respect just by seeing the attire and helmet is a quick eye-catcher. As along I can keep away the big petrol/diesel away biking to office daily would be an activity to cherish for weeks to come. Long weekend coming and I'll be in station and hoping to cycle for an hour or two as I've some running activities lined up.

Will be back with more news after the long weekend. Happy Enduring weekend ahead !

Next superstar is Sam Anderson

This IS really sucks man... more on this series soon...
You need to know some Tamil at least to enjoy this !

The RFL run on coming Sunday

Probably this will be my first run with RFL guys.

On the 6th of April. It is on the Airport Perimeter Route.

Running Route: You can see any of the 2 links below for the route.

Without Km marker :http://quikmaps.com/show/36357
With Km Marker:
http://www.walkjogrun.net/index.cfm?rid=53E09F8A-CC92-167A-7ED3F228C149F817

Loop distance: 4.14 kms

Starting point: Near Embassy Golf Links Entrance

MTR binge

(Kunal missing in the pic)

Finally the we made it. MTR near Lalbagh for a lunch. Six of us from our lunch gang, with a cloud cover reached MTR by 1PM. We sent a set of three ppl first to book and reserve seats half an hour earlier. Kunal wanted to know if they can go ahead, but I was like "No way Man, Wait for us".

The whole point is, watching Kunal eat is a spectacle in its own right. Not the way he eats but the way he describes the incoming food that is just about to reach your "thali", his expressions thereafter. None of us wanted to miss it and so we asked him to wait. Vandy has grown, from eating samosas, puffs and idlis for lunch to having a proper full-fledged meal with us. Though she still has a long way to go, but she is definitely thereabouts with our style.


I've grown old and have "been there done that" kind of a person now. Amit has been experimenting with his tummy with all kinds of food now and I'm sure he'll miss Bangalore at least for the kind of cuisine it has to offer and he'll never compare it with his cheese at Gujarat. Tarun was not all that pleased as he was expecting more and Bharath who reached (or was forced) at the close call liked it and was happy to see the lunch pass through peacefully.

All in all, kudos to this lunch gang that formed out of strong despise to the office food that is served at the 7th floor of Salarpuria. I guess we've grown into a nice tiny little group which used to go on its own and now into a lovely group where we have one nice hour of happy eating and discussing all sorts of politics.




Here is how Kunal looks before and after the meal at MTR.
(Pic courtesy Vandy)


Happy Luncheon !


--- Just as I wrapped up this post, Kunal had some trivia to share ---

did you know MTR is for Mavalli Tiffin Rooms

did you know that there is a waiting room there

did you know that you are assigned tokens, which need to be produced upstairs in the waiting room, which then gets assigned a number, and then you are called

did you know that the typical waiting time varies between 10 and 45 minutes, on any given sunday .. and on sundays the waiting times increase

did you know it costs 28 bucks from Forum to get there

do you know that the food is served with precise logic, everything (food items) preceding and succeeding each other ....

the following was served today ----

1. grape juice
2. roomali roti
3. plain rice
4. curd rice
5. wangi bhath (wangi = egg plant)
6. fruits with icecream, and the fruits included black grapes, cherries, cheecukoo, and pineapple
7. papad
8. ghee
9. amazing achar
10. dry sabzi
11. sambhar
12. rasam
13. gravy sabzi
14. payasam
15. carrot, coconut based grated salad
16. raita
17. dahi wada
18. bida (pan .. at the end of the food served)

gulab jamun was the 19h dish

there was another dish, and for the life of me, cannot remember it

90 bucks, air conditioned room, not all rooms are air conditioned, and amazing service

what the heck more do you mere mortals want

adios

- kunal

As I Mature

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