Sunday, May 15, 2011

Coming Home to the Chilly










Dear home here I come
To savour my favourite chilly.
Redder than ever, sharper it's been never.
No pet would wag his tail as lovingly,
No cherubic smile would charm so willingly.
Your warmth, your glow, your welcome smile on show,
All make it worth my journey home.
At last, to my peaceable state. My seepable taste.


(my daughter gave me this welcome gift- the chilly grown by my co-bro Murthy in his lovely kitchen garden- his home is named Siri).


Friday, May 13, 2011

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Bhaavayaami


What a brilliant confluence of all that is best in our literature, music and artistic dedication is this immortal song, Bhaavayaami Raghuraamam, composed by a prince among composers Maharaja Swati Tirunal. Many texts are in circulation, with many errors (just my opinion). But I found an excellent resource here to read and understand this song: Dr. Narayanaswami's translation and notation at carnatica.net. I have copied the lyric in transliteration script here:


bhAvayAmi raghurAmaM
bhavyasuguNArAmam ||

bhAvuka vitaraNaparA pAN^ga lIlA lasitam ||

dinakarAnvayatilakaM divyagAdhisutasavanA-
vanaracitasubAhumukhavadhaM ahalyApAvanam
anaghamIshacApabaN^gaM janakasutAprANEshaM
ghanakupitabh.rghurAmagarvaharamitasAkEtam ||

vihitAbhiSekamathavipinagatamAryavAcA
sahitasItAsaumitriM shAntatamashIlam
guhanilayagataM citrakUTAgatabharatadatta-
mahittaratnamayapAdukaM madanasundarAN^gam ||

vitatadaNDakAraNyagatavirAdhadaLanaM
sucaritaghaTajadattAnupamitavaiSNavAstram
patagavarajaTAyunutaM
pa~ncavaTIvihitAvAsaM
atighOrashUrpaNakhAvacanAgatakharAdiharam ||

kanaka m.rga rUpadhara khalamArIcaharam iha
sujana vimata dashAsya h.rtajanaka jAnvESaNam
anaghapaMpA tIrasaN^gatA~njanEya nabhOmaNi-
tanuja sakhyakaraM vAlitanudaLanam Isham
||

vAnarottama sahita vAyusUnukarArpita-
bhAnushata bhAsvara bhavyaratnAN^guLIyam
tEna punarAnIta nyUnacUDAmaNI darshanaM
shrInidhim udadhitIrA shritavibhISaNa miLitam ||

kalitavarasetubhandhaM khalanissImapishitAshana-
dalanamurudashakaNThavidaraNamatidhIram
jvalanapUtajanakasutAsahitaM yAtasAkEtaM
vilasitapaTTAbhiSekaM vishvapAlaM padmanAbham
||

You can listen to the immortal MSS sing it here. I was told that the music was actually set by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Ideal South Indian Restaurant










This is purely my opinion. You are reading it at the risk of wasting your time and mentally disputing my ideas. In any case if this starts a debate well and good.

The universal appeal of the tangy taste and fresh flavour of south Indian cuisine makes one search with earnest intent for Southie joints everywhere in the world. Bombay and Delhi restauranteurs have gotten savvy about this and dish out Madrassi items like Badha Sambhur and Massala Dossa. But at the cost of curbing cultural exchanges, I insist that only a south Indian gourmet and restauranteur gets it right. At the same time our Idli Dosa joints are notorious for their poor service quality and noisy, cramped and somewhat dirty ambience. The waiters want to get rid of you fast, like a Sulabh Shauchalay attendant. And then the debate whether Sambar and Rasam should have a touch of sugar, or Dosa should be thick and brown like in Bangalore or white and thin-crisp like in Chennai. So I thought I should also venture my opinion, basking in the glorious feeling of a brunch at Murugan's on Saturday morning.

The Menu
Idli, Vada, Dosa round the clock
Coconut, coriander, gongura and tomato chutneys
Sambar - fresh, flavoursome and free-flowing (same goes for chutneys)
Fresh chutney power(podi) with til oil and ghee
Mysore Rasam
Lemon rice
Avial, Mor Kuzumbu
Poriyal not with bogus vegetables like beet root, but beans, carrots, ladies finger etc.
A dal-based curry (is it called thoyil?)
A tangy Gojju like pineapple
Puliyogare
Crisp vadams appalams, sandige
Real filter coffee and also good tea for the less fortunate.
Rava Idli, Pongal, and uppma
Poori with saagu and potato curry
Kosambri
Good mango and lemon pickles
Curd rice not dry or sour
Badam Milk, Butter Milk
Fresh juices
Carrot Halwa, Jamoon, good Kesaribath, Ras Malai
Kulfi, Ice Cream
Thali at lunch and light buffet at dinner. A la carte tiffin.

Service and Ambience
Decent seating with walking space
No smelly carpets or dingy corners behind moldy curtains
No street noises
Well lit
Banana leaf on stainless steel plates, silver tumbers for coffee etc.
Good clean filtered cold water
Clean and polite waiters
No noisy talk among staff
No din of stainless steel utensils being washed or stacked

A lobby like waiting area with a small handicraft shop

Good betel-nut, Beeda

Credit card payment
Generous tips allowed
Clean toilets, discreetly located clean wash basins
Parking not too cumbersome
Separate urchin play area
No noisy TV
Soft good instrumental Carnatic music

Must not cost more than Starbucks or Pizzahut for a meal.



Location:Murugan's Idli Shop


Friday, May 6, 2011

Amazing Race










A lovely day spent in a bounty hunt race, chasing clues and hunting for stuff all over VivoCity and Harbourfront Centre as a team-building activity after our 300 strong office moved from Tiong Bahru. Over 15 teams. Our ten-strong team sang Jai Ho as our anthem.
Table Tennis, GE jig, locate five ATMs in five minutes, find and eat the traditional soybean dessert ice kacang.

It helped that we won a prize finally too.


Location:Harbourfront Centre