Food for thought from a foodie

When I came back from Pune for good, I was in a mild state of shock! My whole gastronomical world had turned upside down! How would I survive without my daily dose of Café’ Frappe’ & chicken drumsticks. What had my life come to? Were my days of aimless frolicking and partying over finally? Would the world of exotic dishes & colourful drinks become a mere dot on the horizon of my life? So over the next couple of months I slowly & painstakingly scrutinized the food-joints & restaurants of Patna, & guess what! I went into a shock again! But this time the shock was of utter relief & joy. Patna had, as it turned out, a range of good restaurants that had somehow cropped up in the city behind my back & there was still hope for a delicious future for foodies like me.
I confess I am no professional expert on food, but in my own esteemed opinion, I prefer to think I am a connoisseur. & it would be a sin to withhold my personal recommendations from the people of this city. I absolutely swear by the Crispy Chicken Wings of Yo China. Ditto for the Chicken Dumplings. Momos of Ming’s Chimney are also a mouth-watering fare. & nothing better to whet my appetite than the sinful concoctions of Kapil’s Eleven. Reminds me of Delhi’s T.G.I.Friday
Being a non-vegetarian certainly has its good points (no matter what conspiracy theories the vegetarians propagate against us!). Otherwise how else would I have ever tasted the divine tandoori preparations of Food World, especially Murg Afghani & Murg Kali Mirch. Something akin to Karims in Delhi. My radius of experimentation with regards to international cuisine here has been somewhat limited though. Albeit I would be lying if I did not mention the deliciously exotic Chicken Lasagne of Maurya Hotel (they especially made it for some food festival, it is not available all the year round).

Coming to the present, I must say I’ve had a memorable experience of fooding in Patna. When we were kids we used to frequent Maurya Lok Complex or Boring Road for Pani-puri & chaat. Not much has changed apart from the fact that we have progressed (by we, I mean Patna & I).
Apart from all this, I feel sea-food is one weak area where my city lacks ground. I hope the restaurateurs are taking notice. Situated on the banks of The Ganges, Patna’s lack of innovation with the fishes is indeed very fishy!
There’s not much choice for lounging here, & none for clubbing. Though there are a couple of restro-bars that have come up like O2 on Fraser Road. I do miss McDonalds, KFC & CCD though. Coffee culture is yet to catch up with patnaites. I still remember my days in Pune, the long hours in the evening, sitting in Barista, sipping my coffee languidly. That was life. & Coffee was a religion.
Also, theme-based restaurants are yet to make their presence felt in Patna. As a customer my primary need of good food & good service has been satiated, but my secondary (& sometimes more nagging) need of a wholesome eating experience has been left unattended. I wish to eat my Biryani in a Hyderabadi themed interior & not just in a place with tables, chairs & air-conditioners! I want my eating experience to be as authentic as the food. The ambience & music have left much to be desired, & this is one area where we lag behind. Winston Churchill once famously flared up “Take away that pudding – it has no theme.” Well I am no Churchill, but I definitely agree with him on the ‘theme’ issue. I hope someone takes the initiative to cover this Achilles’ heel. Why cant patnaites have their own Jazz By The Bay with full on live music & karaoke?

I’ve had extensive exposure to the food & drinks culture of Pune, Delhi, Mumbai & Goa, and I can say with a fair amount of conviction that Patna’s culture has come many notches closer to these cities in the past few years. I remember there was a time when going to a restaurant for dinner was considered very up market & sophisticated in this city. It was a monthly affair at the most (generally reserved for birthdays, anniversaries & passing-out with distinction!). But now, it is an altogether different sight (or shall I say vision?). Patna is growing. I mean the mindset, not the size (well of course the size is growing too). It’s common now to see people out on the streets till very late hours in the night. The nouveau riche segment is growing & the middle class is happily splurging. The jam-packed eateries are a case in point. It is as though our city has slowly got a life of its own & it has infected its inhabitants with its vibrancy.

For me the art of living has always taken a backseat when it comes to the art of fooding. Suffice it to say that I am devouring a bar of 5 Star as I write this article. There is however one classic question that haunts us lesser mortals (read foodies) from time immemorial…. How much is too much? Hmmm… Very serious indeed. Well I’m sure I’ll be in a better position to answer it once I finish munching on my bar of chocolate….

Mom, you rock my world!

I will let Rudyard Kipling start this article for me – “If I were damned of body & soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine.”
I think all daughters have a love-hate relationship with their mothers. During their teenage years they are busy squabbling. As I grew up, my greatest joy was to do precisely what my mother did not wish and had anxiously tried to prevent. I spent all my life resisting the notion, and sometimes vehemently denying it, that my mother is my friend. But now, having come out of the hormonal cross-fire of my adolescence, I can honestly and boldly accept it that she really is my best friend.
When I say I am proud of myself, it is not self-praise. It is infact, a compliment to my mother. She had the greatest contribution in my upbringing, instilling in me the sense and perception of things and giving me an individual identity. The most solid pillar of strength, she showed me that it pays to stick to your convictions. It is wrong to say I am something today because of her. I am today because of her…
When I was a kid, while going to my school’s parents teachers meet, I would always insist she wear her yellow saree because my friends loved her in that colour. Yes, I was a show-off…I was showing off my mom! I used to be a picture of concealed glee & pride, walking hand-in-hand with my mother.
My eldest brother always claims he is daddy’s boy. Well, for me, let me put it on record that I am happy to be my mamma’s little girl. But hey Dad, don’t lose heart, maybe I’ll do a write-up on you on Father’s Day!
A couple of years ago, while giving an interview in Welingkar College, Mumbai, I was asked by the interviewer who I thought was the world’s best manager. I still remember the look of relieved surprise on his face when I replied it was my mother (for almost all the other candidates it was either Jack Welch or Warren Buffet!).
It is her care and unconditional love that enabled us to never realize how difficult it must have been for her to juggle between us and her teaching profession. If I, being a daughter, can get all tensed and panicky seeing my parents’ ill, I shudder to think what hell my mom must have gone through raising the bunch of us. Everytime my elder brother used to have asthmatic attacks, her blood used to run dry, though she did a great job of masking her fears and rushing him to the doctor. That is taking control of the situation. That is fighting back and never giving up. Kudos to you mom. Will I ever be as dedicated & persevering as you, I don’t know. But I would certainly like to show the same prudence & be as respected in the eyes of my children one day as you are in mine.
My mom rocks! How else do you justify her frolicking on the beaches of Goa with her two daughters-in-law in tow, having a girls-day-out? It is her all-encompassing warmth & affection that never lets her differentiate between her daughter and her daughters-in-law.
Coming to an end, I am going to give you one honest confession…Mom, you rock my world. Mother swear!