Mall hopping..Comedy show..same thing!

The most lucrative part of visiting a mall at least in India is to watch people I think. There is no other reason I could at least be dragged into one. One has the feeling that everyone is watching what others are wearing, they look around, smile at people benevolently ( as if meaning..Holla, I'm here so are you!)

On a recent visit I managed to find a quiet corner and watch. A lady came along with her husband( Husbands are identifiable from a mile- The bored look says it all) she preened at everything from the joker dustbin to a stall displaying bags. After looking through at least ten of them, while the shopkeeper waited with bated breath..she took one and asked her husband to click a photograph..ten minutes of hubby darling requesting her to 'look to the right, look to the left' after the photo was clicked and the shopkeeper sighed in relief.

A man and a woman in their late twenties walk around, the woman has an arm length of Chudas( bangles of a new bride) and gently pulls her husband to the 'Lifestyle' showroom, while he longingly looks on at the electronics counter...the freshness of the marriage obviously wins over and he grudgingly walks in...

Two guys and one girl, walk around. they stand near MC Donalds. the boy puts on his sun glass's and asks the girl to stand next to him. He puts an arm around her shoulder. The 3 rd guy clicks the picture. next it is the girls turn, she pouts, places one hand in the hip, the other hand with the bag on the shoulder & beams 'paneer'..their FB status's are predetermined..Girl's status- "Hey guys was at Mcdie..had a great time!" ..Boy's status.."Guy's check out mah new girl, cool hah! Us at Mcdie"

My tea was over..I had had enough..Ohh ya I love malls

( Image courtesy Google)

The G K Vale romance

GK Vale is a huge name in photography down South. More than 100 years into business it was the first shop to introduce colour photographs in the South in 1970. Credited with making the maximum of marriages and also breaking some. What is more interesting than the shop's history is the fact that not so long back in history, it was almost mandatory for most prospective bride & bridegrooms to click their pictures in their studios & come back to the same studio, to click a 'happily every after' marriage picture.

Few years back while passing one of GK Vale studio's in Bangalore, an ex-colleague doubled up in laughter. On my asking why, she narrated that every time she and her husband crossed the particular store, her husband would stop their car & in an almost ritualistic prayer offer a few galis( curses) to the store for misleading him into being straddled with a wife who appeared something else on photographs & turning out to be something else when they got married! All this was of course way before photoshop & curiously enough the couple is immensely happy today, but the husband never really stopped cursing GK Vale!

( Image courtesy Google)

Traffic jams & day dreaming

I am sitting in a car, in one of Bangalore's many traffic infested roads. The traffic has been stand still for the past 40 minutes. I see the lights from a distance, turning Green..looking pretty and cheerful and then turning somber Red again..all the while when the car is at a standstill. There's a bridge overhead, I tilt my head and look up..I can almost see myself sitting on the top of the bridge, my legs dangling, looking down at the traffic standstill, looking at me ..my own patience and my ultimate resignation to what I think is everyday fate. As I peer down at myself..I am angered at this tremendous resilience, the loss of impatience, the resistance to protest against the stupidities of life taking them as if they were a part of our destiny when it is not so. And yet it was not as if the person in me had not tried. There have been numerous occasions when the wish to fly over a traffic situation like this has resulted in me getting down from the car and try to control traffic in small ways along with the policeman in charge. This works incredibly well in small town and in city corners where the mayhem has been created by zealous drivers who want to break rules at the drop of a hat, thinking it would give them that inch of a headway.

But somewhere today even that zeal to get down from the car and see if things could be rectified has gone..I see myself dreamlike, as if in a trance rather wanting to glide my wheels over all other cars and make a smart exit, a la 007, when a few years back the thought of jumping on top of car bonnets would have filled me with glee. I am broken from my reverie by the honking on all sides. The traffic jam has finally been cleared..everyone seems to be excited. The smart looking IT professional on the left of my car has just finished a long and winding argument with his wife, the teenage couple on the right have let go of each other and their long kiss, letting out a 'damm those traffic lights..why can't they make it longer'..I take a peek at the girl on the top of the bridge with dangling legs..she's gone..in her place a tree has grown suddenly out of nowhere..it seems to say..I am the hope...Life is beautiful still!

( Image courtesy Google)

Night out with Indie Joe Sizzlers

We were celebrating my parents arrival in Bangalore and decided to take them out for dinner. Continental was unanimously voted as the choice for the day. I remembered somewhere someone mentioning Indie Joe. Once while on a walk while rummaging the numerously dotted with restaurants of Church Street Bangalore I remember this little joint stashed away looking rather fetching in it's vibrant mysterious colours. All decked up to beat the Bangalore chill if you will in style :) we stepped into Indie Joe around 8 pm on a week day. Thankfully bookings weren't necessary and we were pleased to find the place almost empty. It's always nice to have the entire restaurant to yourself you know. But it did fill up eventually, though there's not too much of a buzz and everyone's kind of laid back.

What strikes you immediately on entering Indie Joe, is it's size ( it's rather smallish) and the decor and the food of course a wee bit later. Probably one of the not gastronomically high charged places, an average meal here would cost around Rs 400. For those new to the place, it will charm you with it's very 60's feel, of old records on the wall & display of the rather jazzy instruments that are all well lighted up to give you a feel of the swinging days. The motifs on the wall and low hanging lights make for an intimate feel, enough for a couple to get cozy I guess.

The staff here is rather friendly and they sportingly indulged me in my inquisitive queries about each sauce and seasoning that dug into. To the un-initiated Indie Joe is known more for it's Sizzlers rather than anything else and if you can seat yourself during the happy hours, which ends around 8 ish they make quite good cocktails too. I wouldn't say that the Sizzlers are out of this world, no they are not..but neither are they bad. They have quite a range though of the usual Chicken, Mixed, Prawn and Fish Sizzlers & an in house special Indi Joe sizzler too. I opted for the Indie Joe special Sizzler and I would not recommend anyone that!! Opt instead for the Fish or the Chicken ones.

Nice, warm yet fancy in parts are words that describe Indie Joe, the ambiance, the sexy Menu cards, with Marlyn Monroe posing on them more than make up for whatever is lacking. Having spent a nice evening in this little place you can hop over to the little pan shop right across the street and gorge on some Masaledar Pan, if that's your style or just take a walk down the street and beat some of the calories you've put on while watching girls all dressed to kill and men hanging around in corners looking for a smoke.

Very Bangalore, very chilled out definitely worth a dekho if you voted for a continental evening with the swish Sizzlers.