Rim Naam at the Oberoi!

An exquisite place for a romantic dinner is the 'Rim Naam' at the Oberoi. The setting is perfect. The seating is outside by a pond and under huts that makes you feel very warm. Eastern cuisine lends itself to anything zen like and quiet, and this was one such.

The Oberoi drools of opulence on the outside and Rim Naam seemed like a sanctuary in the midst of it all! We were disappointed that they did not serve Singha, the quintessential Thai beer. Without letting this distract us too much, we jumped into the main course. The menu card looked very authentic with levels of spiciness elaborated with the count of chillies. M ordered a Pad Thai and I ordered a Veg. Red Curry for the main course. The Red Curry, though nice, tasted a little different from the ones that I have had in Thai restaurants in the Bay area. 'Pad Thai' tasted typically Thai and real good. It costed us close to Rs.1500 which includes beer, fruit juice, bottled water, the main course and a fruit salad!

Rim Naam did live up to Oberoi standards and is definitely worth a visit a second time!

The 'big' headaches of B'lore traffic..

Having observed traffic for the last 3 months, I've noticed the bigger cars (also tractors, I have never seen so many in any developed city!) are the most menacing during traffic. By this I don't mean the lorries, or even the extra long, extra wide buses. I am talking about the Honda CRV's, Innovas, and the likes. Most of the shorter, smaller jams on the road that cost an average of 5mts/person, are bcos of these 'big' cars trying to take a U-turn or join the road. This stops traffic temporarily because most of them are unable to manouvre the turn at one shot and so they have to go back and forth, ultimately stopping traffic on both sides!

Why do we need these if we can't do anything about the roads? These are not meant for Indian roads and I can't understand why they companies should be allowed to business in India. Shouldn't we actually be taking tips from Europe in this regard? Their cars are smaller, keeping up with their narrow roads and ofcourse the high prices of petrol in their country, which again we can relate to.

I just read in the papers today that Volvo is planning to sell in India. If the country is doing this as a part of opening up their markets, the govt. needs to have serious restrictions on selling cars beyond a certain size. Is it too hard for the 'big heads' in the Parliament to figure this out?

My take on 'Sivaji'

A total disappoinment for a great Rajni fan! I wished there was more of the Rajni punch lines, more of his style, and ofcourse a better introduction of the superstar. His chewing gum style did not really take off with me. Some saving points for the movie, was the first half comedy by Vivek and the extravagant sets by Shankar for some of the songs. But other than that, I felt it hard to sit through the movie. Shankar seems to have beleived more in his knowledge of putting extravagant sets for songs, special effects and make up and not really trusted our superstar. As an ardent fan, I would have loved to see and hear more of Rajni, than what was there!

Prenatal Classes in B'lore

I just got done with my pre-natal classes at 'Asha Foundation' in Indiranagar. We attended all the 4 classes, which was quite a feat from the two of us, considering it was on Saturday mornings at 10am! First impressions - Educative, could have been better organized and customized to the kind of crowd they are attracting. If I have to be more critical, I would've wished if they had started the classes on time and cut down on teh snack breaks, which were typically much longer than the classes itself.

For the interested, here's how the classes were broken down:
The first class was pre-natal exercises. Found it quite informative and since it was a one on one session in my case, got to learn it at my own pace. It was all downhill after this.

The second and third classes were about massage and nutrition. The massage class was a total of 15mts and we waited there for 2 hrs for someone to come in and tell us waht the agenda was! Quite disappointing. The nutrition class was where they took us through what to eat and what not to eat. It felt like it was too late in the pregnancy for all those tips, considering all of us were already near the end of our second trimester. I didn't particularly gather too much out of it. The issue was mainly the presenter. She was all over the place, she would start with the diet chart and the next mt. would talk about labor and then about epidural, and jump back to how protein helps the body etc . etc. It totally lacked any kind of structure!

The last class was lactation classes and post delivery exercises. This was a very informative class and I felt the presenter much more organized! Had a lot of my doubts clarified. I realized after this class, that labor and giving birth is just a part of the whole process. Handling and feeding the baby needs much more attention and care and I'm sure many mothers would agree with me.

On the whole, I was glad I attended something like this. If not for the classes itself, to meet fellow women in similar stages of pregnancy and discuss our symptoms. Luckily for us one of the expecting dad's was a physician and I was glad we had him in our midst. A class like this in India is a great thing, educating women and I respect and appreciate their sincere intentions. They are on the right track, but they just need some serious guidance on organizing a class like this!

B'lore - My first impressions!

It has been a while since I blogged, but there is more reason than sheer laziness. We have made the big move to our home country!It has been a smooth landing despite B'lore not being our home city. It was not so long ago when I used to live( for a brief six months) in B'lore. Despite all the complaints about the city and the constant murmur about how it becomes worse with each passing day, I have to highlight some improvements that have happened in the one year while I was away.

I noticed 3 important roads that atleast 50% of the "IT crowd" ply by have improved.

- The extension of the 100ft. road on Indira Nagar all the way upto Koramangala is an amazing feat!
- Old Madras Road has been widened and extended though I don't think it has helped ease the traffic. I don't mean the area under the bridge but near the railway track close to CV Raman Nagar.
- The most impressive of the developments has been the much talked about Marathahalli bridge. Construction is still going on for one side of the bridge but there is definitely hope!

I can't vouch for the fact that traffic has easened by any of these developments(may be it has!) but I would have to make adjustments to my opinion about the progress of this city. My proposition that the city would come to a stand still one fine day 'very soon' stands corrected. The improvements have merely postponed it to some later date!

Book: Inspite of the Gods

I am half way through the book by Edward Luce, "Inspite of the Gods" and I couldn't resist until I finish the book to comment about it on my blog. I was all the more inspired by Edwards' appearance a couple of weeks back on KQED(public radio) on the Forum program. What a fascinating book!

What impresses me most about his writing is the way he talks about the core values of an Indian family like he is one among us. Many of my Western friends have asked me about caste and religion and how life is in India. When I try explaining to them, I realize that what I am telling them is not totally exactly the 'Indian' way but just the way they do it in my part of India, in my religions, in my caste, in my subcaste. This is a very hard thing to explain and that's what Edward captures perfectly in his book.

Yet another fascinating point is his great perspective of why India despite its diverse castes, religion and languages, still flourishes as the single largest democracy in the world is a very deep thought. Freedom in 1947, was not only freedom for colonial power that our then national leaders wished for, but freedom of speech, thought and practice that they wanted every Indian to put to use. Despite all its misgivings, the very fact that India has survived it to be largest demoractic power, instills hope in our country.

I've to mention about a caller on the radio show. He has a Phd from a reputed college in the United States and has been without a job for some time now. He was asking if he should try looking for a job in India. I was quite surprised with the answer Edward gave him..."Yes, go and get inspired"! Coming from a Westerner, I swelled in pride. There is hope for our country and I believe in it.

The peculiar game of football...

There is something about the game of American football that puts it in a league of its own. Starting from the oddly shaped ball, the heavily padded attire (that makes even the most clean looking handsome guy look like a guy just out of a boxing ring), and the ardent fans who fantasize football betweeen the months of August and September, makes this all too special.

The game is by far the most technologically advanced game on the planet. For people who've seen the game, I'm referring to the instant photos of the previous plays handed to the quarterback while he's on the sideline, and the phone he makes to some guy (don't know who!) talking about the play...I'm hoping! The money involved is huge, neverthless there is a fine line that this game treads, given some of the requirements of this game!

Football players are quite different fom any other athlete. Football players are big guys, especially the defensive players. They have a certain weight to maintain, a totally tailored diet regimen, and it's all about being physical, fat and, muscular! You have to be a certain weight to even be considered for a position on the defensive or offensive line. What strikes me the most is the fact that this game comes from a country that stresses so much about watching one's weight and reducing obesity! I wonder if it will have any effect on the game of football sometime in the future.