The foodie comes to Pune...

When I came down to Pune from Delhi... one thing that hit me the most was the change in food! Not so much the everyday food, but the Junk Food!! All of a sudden my world was devoid of shahi paneer, paneer ke pakode, bhalle papdi, aaloo chaat, falooda kulfi... even the samsoa's, jalebi's, dal makhani, gol gappe, bread pakode and patties tasted pathetically different! The sambhar was sweet, there was dahi on samosa and no dahi in raita, nothing was served hot... and a frown was all I got when I would ask for it! But then, I have explored and experimented and thankfully discovered some really good places to treat my taste buds with, and in the process I have stumbled upon and enjoyed some cool maharashtrian delicacies as well!

I thought I would share my list of favourites and 'why'...

If you have been to some of these places, do share your experience with me; if there are any good places that I have missed out, do let me know (please excuse Vaishali and Marjorine, I find nothing special there other than a needless hype)! If you are a north indian, new to Pune... this just might save the day for you! The list is in no particular order... so chill!

(*) Hot Dosas at Kadhai... In the basement of Ozone Super market in Aundh, amongst a motley of food joints... selling chaat to chocolates... one chubby guy prepares the most awesome crisp dosa's, right before your eyes... and serves them piping hot with two flavours of coconut chutney! The dosa here beats every other dosa I've had... by miles!

(*) Puran da dhaba at Hotel Pride... a wonderful dhaba ambience, live music usually playing ghazals or old hindi songs... and a buffet that serves everything from gol gappe , to a variety of tikka's, to kullad waali chai, to sarson ka saag, to meetha paan! This place is expensive, so come here when you have plenty of time, plenty of space in your stomach and it's not your birthday!

(*) Home Restaurant's... usually found at the base of most trek's to Shivaji fort's around Pune! The food is good, hygienic and super duper hot (lots of chilly) ... and I love it! :-) Here I first learned the words bhakri, pithala and matki usal...

(*) Chaitanya... most people come here for it's over-sized and half-cooked paranthas... I bet these people have absolutely no idea of a what a parantha is! Chaitanya is good for it's baigan ka bharta and bhindi served with normal sized plain paranthas! If you got the appetite you can also order a big peg of amritsari lassi! That said, this place is unhygienic, over crowded and is painfully short on serving staff, so I am not going there anymore!

(*) Manmeet... is more popular for it's chaat, but I go there for nothing but it's spicy, greasy north indian food! Another thing worth a try is the tri color falooda kulfi!!

(*) Goodluck... this shabby little eating joint renders it's name to one of the most busy chowk's in Pune! Bun maska ani chai and life is good at Goodluck! There's nothing else worth a try though! In my days of ignorance, I also enjoyed the scrambled egg's served here!

(*) Kalyan Bhel... for everything from pani puri to SPDP, please don't waste your time at any other place in Pune! Even if is means... you have to travel down half the city... it is worth it! :-)

(*) Kwality on MG Road... one of the very few places where the food tastes like it tastes in Delhi! You can order pretty much anything and you will not be disappointed! One interesting speciality is stuffed shimla mirch curry!

(*) Little Italy or La Pizzeria... is Italian and it's vegetarian! The food is awesome and does absolutely no malice to the stomach! The mock tails are the best I've had, and that combined with a very descent ambience make for a near perfect dining experience! Some people die for the desserts here, umm... I am not a big fan of them! They serve good food, and they charge good money for it!

(*) CCD at Baner Road or Hinjewadi... now CCD's are everywhere, and the one's at Aundh and Camp suck big time! The boys at Baner Road and Hinjewadi know their coffee... it's been a few months I've been to either of these places and I am not sure if the same guys are still there... but I am all willing to take a chance! :-)

(*) And more... places like Ice cream Magic popular for CAD-B, the coffee stall on the road opposite E Square, Horn Ok Please, Naturals ice cream and Mayur are alright too, but not worth a discrete mention!

Disclaimer: The above mentioned food is mostly unhealthy and is to be consumed at your own risk ;)

Whats your Rashee ?

Overall "What's your Rashee ?" is PAIN! And much of this pain is caused by it's more than a dozen, yeah... more than a dozen, mostly insipid songs! There is also the usual melodramatic drag. I personally don't mind it much, because... over the years, on a feast of Hindi movies, I have pretty much grown immune to it!

There are twelve girls and they all look the same, it wouldn't have been much of a problem if they had come and gone in a tidy sequence. But then, it would have been even more boring... so one or two of them pop in here and there in between and you are left wondering which one was she? A pen and paper to take notes as you watch, might help! Oh, did I mention the movie runs for a full three and a half hours? The climax, according to me is super stupid and takes away any regards you have managed to preserve so far for the movie and it's makers!

On the positive side, I found the plot quite interesting! The unfortunate protagonist HAS to get married on a given date, but there's hardly any time! Fortunately he's in India, and as we know here... it's not our problem to get ourselves married! So the stage is all set for an arranged marriage! But then, our hero always wanted to fall in love, and so he works out a little plan! Through a book he knows, that there are twelve rashee's and hence twelve kind's of girls... and so he decides to meet one of each type; thereby giving himself every possible chance on the planet(given his assumption that there are only twelve kinds of girls) ... to fall in love! There are some funny moments especially in the beginning, and the movie seems to be slowly tightening it's grip on the viewers attention... but sadly it doesn't last for too long!

Watch it on a DVD(when it's available), forward the songs.

Thank you...

I walked into the Office Yoga Hall 20 minutes late. There were people waiting, just for me, some of them were senior managers! Usually I get worried and anxious when something like this happens. Today, it was different. I was happy and smiling effortlessly! The morning sadhana had firmly fixed me into the present moment. And the guilt of making busy big shots wait on me, wasn't enough to shake anything in me! I had a lesson to learn here, I took my lesson and made the required resolution. And that's about it.

The Kriya started and finished. I saw it happen one more time... the super magic of Sudarshan Kriya!

Now, there were some blissful souls sitting in front of me. I narrated to them them a little story; of a barber and a Pandit ji, and they smiled and giggled like little children! We got up to leave, and one of them came up and hugged me, another few came up and said thank you! Now in office, the smile's are mostly plastic and the thank you's are superficial. This was different... this was amazing!!!

In the restroom, I looked in the mirror... there was a glow on my face! I smiled to myself before a hearty splash of water! And then walked down to my workplace, where some super delicious sandwhiches waited for me. Neha had got up early and got the breakfast and the lunch ready in time!

I realized that I get the hug's and the thank you's, and it is appreciated that... when most people are just busy fixing their own lives, I go out and fix some other lives too. No one realizes, that I can do that... because someone takes care of me, because someone keeps my life beautiful and fragrant, because someone instilled the right values in me, because someone let me do what I wanted to do, because someone taught me how to walk and talk and read and write, because someone taught me how to teach. I feel contented and so full of gratitude for Guruji, for you and for so many people who have shaped me as I am, and who in their own way... are helping me learn and be myself... more and more, more and more!

There is no greater joy in the world, than the joy of being in gratitude and in service.

Jai Gurudev

love & gratitude,

manish

My first course...

It is said that true love is where you come back... and come back one more time... and then never go. I was 18 and my father did not like me sleeping late in the morning, and so I was enrolled into an 'Art of Living' Youth course. 'Art of Living' because he had himself done the course recently, and found it exceptional!

I was not looking forward to it at all, and neither did I look back much at it after it was finished.

A few things stayed with me though. I still fondly remember the monkey process, that kirayedaar story, oh yes... the Dog and the Bone game! :-) I feel so full of gratitude everytime I share the same stories or play the same game with my students. Satnam Singh and Lata Singh were the fabulous teachers!

I went around flaunting the knowledge from the course, and did it impress my friends! It somehow never occured to me to acknowledge the source of my sudden found wisdom though.

It may not have lasted long, but for atleast a couple of weeks I was very aware and very much in the present. It was very interesting to realize that I am opening the door and Hey! I am so aware that I am opening the door! :-)

I failed to realise the value in the practices, and eventually didn't bother doing them. In the next two years, I sat down to meditate exactly once.

home

coming back to Delhi...

I think there is a switch somewhere inside me... and when first words in haryaanvi accent from the 'airport taxi desk' greet me... the switch swiftly points itself to home!

And then, as the taxi speeds past the familiar wide roads in Delhi Cantt... leading to Hari Nagar, the furniture market on Jail Road, ... Mira Model School... and finally to Vikaspuri... it seems like I have never been anywhere else! Aundh, Baner, Hinjewadi... sound like funny words, just like they sounded when I first heard them about three and a half years ago!