A foodie's review #1- Huckleberry and the Cupcake Company

Well, frankly I was never really a foodie, its only after coming to Bangalore and after being subjected to the cruel punishment of living away from home, ‘stereotypical mess food’ did I learn to appreciate food, and while many would say that my petite physique takes away my right to be called a foodie, I’d like to clarify that being a foodie means appreciating food in its most appealing and appetizing form. Therefore, shifting a little from the cliché I’d like to be called a 'food aficionado'. A word which I learnt from this friend in Stephen’s who roamed and explored every nook and cranny of Delhi discovering the best and cheapest of food places, and drawing my inspiration from him..Here I am on a jaunt to explore some of the places in Bangalore, which apart from being known as the IT capital, pub capital and what not of India is a budding place for a lot of eateries.

Having being addicted to zomato lately, I discovered and came across this place Huckleberry in Indra Nagar. Huckleberry reminded me of the book by Mark Twain, which Id read while growing up.

So, this place is located in the heart of Indra nagar on 100 feet road,a nice small space, which has a tendency of getting over shadowed by Toit which is right next to it. With a staircase leading you to your location, the ambience is perfectly set, wooden furnishing and flooring, walls painted in nice bright hues with cool, quick witted messages adorning it and well, the most important thing, they are very welcoming of pets and depending on the dog and the owner, they are more than happy to whip up something for the dogs to eat, that too free of charge.

We settled in for Creamy chicken mushroom pasta and a Fettucine Carbonara pasta, the presentation of the food was nice with a light sprinkle of herbs and tasted pretty nice however the drawback which we faced was the service timing, the restaurant was pretty empty and it was a weekday, in spite of that the food took a lot of time to come. On the whole, I felt the place was a little too expensive for the quantity and quality of food, considering I’ve had better pastas, although the bad service is something they need to work on, it could almost be a mood killer.

Post this, we went to the Cupcake Company, which is very strategically located right next to Huckleberry, so all those who are stuffed till their throats, it makes sense to make a little room for those yummy delectable cupcakes which easily melt in your mouth. We chose two cupcakes ‘Cookie and Cream’ which were Vanilla cupcakes with butter cream on it and ‘Death by Chocolate’ dark chocolate muffins with a sinful nutella centre and choco icing. As the old idiom says ‘Our eyes were bigger than our bellies’, their custom made cakes were adorable, a few of them included the angry bird cake, the fondant being molded and carved out so nicely.

By the time we were out of these places, our pockets were empty, our bellies full and a wide smile stretched across our faces.

On the whole, one Cupcake from the Cupcake Company is a must for anyone going to Indra Nagar and ambience wise Huckleberry gives out a nice cosy feel, but service and food wise, they need to improve on.

A Soul Sante experience

Well after a really busy and hectic week of being bombarded by assignments and classes from 9-5pm, this Sunday came as a welcome break, something worth looking forward to. This Sunday was something which many Bangaloreans look forward to almost every three-four months a year. It was Sunday Soul Sante time.

Briefly about how it began, so Soul Sante was started by Mrs Amrita Rao, whose main motive was to promote and help budding designers . This concept which started off with a very small idea has now blossomed to become a huge brand name. On entering the area, I was blinded by a kaleidoscope of colourful hues, almost blocking my mental vision and taking me into a trance. Before coming here, I was fore warned by some of my friends who are pretty much aware of my weakness for anything colorful and nice. Keeping my budget to as low as possible, and promising myself to turn a blind eye to beautiful things, I set out on a  jaunt  to appreciate and watch what every designer had to offer on their stalls. And, you bet! It was very hard for me to stop myself from burning a hole in my poor student’s pocket. Nonetheless, I went around ogling at pretty things, holding conversations with the friendly designers and negotiating with my friend on what to buy and what not to. The ambience for this flea market was appropriately set; music performances, karaoke, beer to beat the heat, amazing crowd, cute smiley kids nibbling at their candy and a wide array of food stalls. So what if God decided to make it the sunniest day in Bangalore and tan us? It didn’t stop the world from descending over.

After roaming around a bit, I darted for the food stalls. The wide range of food stalls confused me and finally I settled for a gigantic Chicken burger which was yummy and juicy as hell. After gaining a little energy, I set out undauntingly to explore some more, not being pressured by the heat. There was so much hustle bustle and free flow of creativity, I was surprised at the amount of ideas oozing out of every stall that had been put up. Pretty scarves, stuff made from quilling, doodling on alcohol bottles, waste converted to quirky artsy stuff and bursts of NEON..How can I forget NEON? It was raining neon. Neon shoes, earrings, necklaces, cushions, bottles, dresses. You name it and it was there. My face burst into a wide grin which spread to my eyes. Soul Sante has gained so much recognition that people from outside Bangalore were also there to showcase their cool stuff and join the bandwagon of quirky designers.

This retail therapy, actually more so, an ‘idea generating and treating your eyes’ therapy was totally worth it. If any of you missed Soul Sante this time, don’t worry you still have the next quarter to go and get into a frenzy like all the others. My first ever experience, I could’nt have asked for more. Soul Sante was totally a 'soul selling experience' for me.

A donut and an Oreo experience

So this friend and I made an impromptu plan, well not really all that ‘impromptu’ as there was a definite purpose ---get her laptop fixed. But what surely kills the mood for a happy jaunt in the city is the dense Bangalore traffic that ensures that a short distance of half-an-hour is accomplished in more than double the time!But Lady Luck was smiling today and another friend, in an unusually generous mood, allowed us to take his scooty. This was an adventure scripted in heaven ---- two girls, a big city, a scooty with a mind of it’s own and finally, an unforgettable ‘Oreo donut experience’.Unable to zip-zap-zoom through the crawling city traffic we hit a modest speed, the cool evening breeze battling to overcome the hot, sooty and noxious fumes of the big buses and trucks, the enchanting sights and sounds of Bangalore, the fragrance of fresh flowers---it was by far the most enjoyable day out in the big city.  We’d gone with one purpose in mind, but ended up exploring a bit of Koramangla, a few other stretches of the city and jotted down places that demanded a more leisurely look. The world beyond electronic city, where we are located, is a much livelier and happening place, in stark contrast to the detached, banal, concrete environs of the place we call ‘home’!  Out on our own and making the most of our trip we decided to give ourselves a richly-deserved treat. And what better place than to head to Mad Over Donuts and feast on scrumptious confectionary. MOD proved to be the icing on my cake, quite literally. So, what’s so special about MOD that makes a person go gaga –is a query most will pose?

Well, the answer is not as obvious as it may seem. It was not just my ‘Oreo-filled donut’ which I tried for the first time that left me with a happy feeling but the humour and marketing skills of the guy at the counter who convinced us into trying and purchasing those donuts. 

The gentleman goes by the name Anil Mathews. Attired in his orange uniform, taking your order and working the cash counter to patiently answering queries, Mr Mathews seems like your regular salesperson. But, as many who come in contact with him will vouch for, his USP (unique selling proposition) is his jovial, friendly and easy manner. What amazed one was his enthusiasm as he patiently listed out the vast variety of donuts all the while offering suggestions to help us make up our minds from the yummy donuts on display. To his credit he convinced us to buy more than our pockets would allow and I could’nt help but compliment him for making my oreo donut experience at the Koramangla MOD not only yummy, but a memorable one.This was a happy experience, but there was a lesson in it too -- how a little thing or just one person can make or break your entire perception of a brand. I was always partial to MOD, but one affable salesperson has ensured my loyalty to the brand. It is sad that on most occasions we use social media to complain about bad service, poor product etc to speed up the process of redressal. Why have we never thought of complimenting and commending someone’s effort for making our experience memorable? A thought there! Right?

I did my bit by tweeting and writing on the Facebook page and followed it up with this blog. Kudos to all those nameless, faceless people who in their own way make our everyday experience better but never get acknowledged for it. Guys you are doing a great job and thank you for it!!

The power of a vote

The power of a ‘vote’

India is a democracy, and this is something which has been mentioned, written and spoken about a bit too often in textbooks, articles, journals, speeches and blogs. But, what is it about democracy which differentiates it from any other form of government, for me, it’s the distinction between discretion and obligation. With the next set of elections on its way and politicians and leaders gearing themselves up to win the confidence of the public, and making fancy promises of living upto their expectations, it becomes imperative for us, ‘the aam-aadmi’ to make the right choices and voice our opinion. In order to do so, the educated janta ought to exercise their right, the same right which very often people take for granted at the cost of their time, money and many other such excuses, this right is called the ‘right to vote’.

 The need of the hour is to wake up and smell the coffee, react to what’s happening in our surroundings and not succumb and become privy to it. We as Indian’s share a history of being very tolerant beings, today this common perception is slowly and gradually being shattered. Finally, the leaders are bending down and realizing that force and pressure is not something that’s going to work in today’s times. Merely giving emotional speeches is not going to win the audience who is more aware, conscious and skeptical of everything, one needs enough credentials to back them up. The Janta today is no longer adjusting towards short term gains like TV sets, laptops  for a family or any other materialistic gains, what will a TV set serve when the family does’nt have basic amenities like food, clothing, shelter, electricity for their basic survival. 

Gone are the days of bogus promises and lethargy, the political discourse is transforming and waking up from the age old themes of social justice, reservation, secularism to social and infrastructure development, job creation and prosperity. The concerns of modern India are predominantly economic and transforming India into a poverty free country. In order to achieve these, we need a leader who is not only sensitive to the needs of the masses, but should feel like he’s one of them, he ought to be proactive in his decisions and also its implementation, forward driven, puts the country and its people before self and not just somebody who merely enjoys the fruits of holding an office. But before we can think of all this, let’s get back to the basics..how exactly is all of this possible? Who is going to make this dream of a corrupt free nation happen? The answer is something we all know, but we don’t want to exercise it, The answer is in the power of that one vote, which has made regimes and empires fall in the past, the answer is in the power of the masses, who at the end of the day are the decision makers. The answer is that ‘one vote’.

The questions unanswered

So what’s with the growing trend of self-styled godmen spouting homilies on ‘right behaviour’ and conduct that needs to be followed by women? It is another matter that their ‘divine’ expostulations defy logic and sensitivity and expose the gender-insensitive mindset of a raving chauvinist. This is the very parochial mindset that women across this country, rural or urban, suffer and battle with every day of their existence.

The recent comment by Bapu Asaram about the Delhi gang rape victim is not just completely shocking, but leaves one stupefied by the very logic it propounds -- the hapless 23-year-old gang rape victim could have saved herself from the trauma and certain horrific death by begging her tormentors for mercy. Excuse me? Would chanting the ‘Saraswati mantra’ and calling the perpetrators ‘bhaiya’have softened the blow of their brutality or their depravity? Would falling at the feet of a bunch of drunken crooks, whose senses had already been deadened by alcohol, and beg for mercy, have spared her the tragic fate they had in store for her? A bizarre bit of advice by Asaram Bapu to say the least and it has justifiably attracted a lot of flak. And once again this unsolicited bit of advice, one among many by leaders of all political hues, including one by no less a person than the President’s son, which has brought the focus back on the gender-insensitive environment we live in. Ironically, as it turns out it is the woman who is responsible for the ills that befall her!

So, what exactly is it that has triggered a surge in incidents of rape around the country? Is it the Government’s apathetic attitude towards the safety of women? Is it a lack of stringent laws and harsh punishments to curb such deviant behaviour? Or is it as one ‘wise’ politician in all his supreme wisdom said---the “stars are bad” for the womankind!

Me thinks the problem is in the mentality, the thinking of the Indian men who have been programmed to think of themselves as supreme beings, with women having only a secondary role in the male-dominated scheme of things. The problem is with the way a woman has been portrayed for centuries as being the weaker sex.

The problem is also in a man’s need to control and show his strength and powerto those who are physically weaker than them. In our society, once the wife leaves her maternal home after marriage, she becomes the ‘property’ of her husband and must by submit herself totally to her husband. The problem therefore, is in our value system. Most of the times, young men grow up seeing their father beating and harassing his wife, mother and daughters doing the household chores, a daughter having to sacrifice something for her brother etc which leads them to believe that women are supposed to sacrifice themselves at every step and point in life.

A woman in a skirt is as vulnerable as a woman in a salwar kurta. And what about two and three-year-olds being brutally raped, maimed and killed? Could these tiny tots have also titillated the raging hormones of deviants with their “skimpy clothes” and “dented and painted” looks?

The problem is that the law makers and upholders of the law have a very stereotyped and narrow minded thinking towards rape. It is as it turns out the single most heinous crime in this country where the ‘victim’ stands ‘accused’, shunned  and ostracized by society, denied a right to live in dignity and get justice.  She suffers all ignominy to extract justice from an insensitive system and many a time that justice is really hard to come by.

I believe that a woman has every right to dress in whichever way she wants, and that is not an open invitation for sexual activity. If a woman drinks or smokes, she’s considered to be a woman of suspect morals. Well, bringing in the history factor, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that in ancient and medieval India right  from the rani’s to the daasi’s, there are numerous instances of women smoking the pot and hooka.

 In a country like ours, which is said to be the largest democracy in the world, the power lies in the hands of the masses, finally after a long time people have been shaken from their reverie, this is not the first time that a homicidal rape has happened, the reason why I’m not using the word ‘brutal’ is because rape as an act of violence in itself is a brutal crime. By raping a woman, the man is insulting the womb from which he himself was born. Such cases have been happening over a period of time, in each and every part of the country, it’s just that people have now arisen. This case like many others in the past would have also become a file lying in some dusty corner of the record room, but the fear of the masses has speeded up the process of justice.

It is heartening to see that many men, young and old equally participated in the protests in Delhi and elsewhere. It signifies that a change is on its way. Somebody has rightly said: Rape is the monstrous face of domestic injustices. Blaming each other and the government is not the solution, one needs to look deep within and introspect. The answer and solution both lie there.