Weekend Update
The long weekend brought with it an avalanche of interesting experiences( mostly food-related). Here’s the chronology…
Thursday Night
Met the usual suspects Altaf and Sana for a tête-à-tête at Barista next to Bandstand. A little about Sana. She’s a dentist and her opening line when meeting Saquib (Altaf’s doctor cousin) is usually to the effect of “Oh…I extracted 20 teeth today”. To which he will reply, “oks…I delivered a couple of smelly babies today”. Then in doctor-speak they will peacefully exchange the itinerary of the day, and curse a while about irate patients and squalid working conditions. These conversations seem amusingly novel as compared to our headed debates on theatre, film, books and fashion, where everyone is fighting to make their assertion.
Friday
A conspiracy is brewing between our tribe of 3 (A, M & myself). Can’t let the cat out of the bag as yet, but the brainchild is being gradually nurtured. We met at CCD to disc the plan of action, but as usual we digressed. Dinner was upper most on my mind( stay as a PG).
So we meandered to the line of restaurants next door and discovered a new open-air outfit called Mae B, which lies sandwiched between Crepe Station and a video library next to Kareem’s. The place generated friendly and casual vibes and we decided to experiment. We slid into the picnic-style wooden benches and noticed the owner hovering about in the vicinity, so we called him over for a chat. As usual, we quizzed him about the background and concept of the restaurant.
It appears that Mae B stands for Maiden in Latin signifying a maiden venture and B stands for Ben & his 2 buddies whose names all starts with the letter B. It’s a joint venture between 3 people with regular jobs. One is in logistics, one is an aspiring model and the last, I forget his alternative profession. The cuisine is continental, and the verdict – good value for money and yummy food too.
Saturday
Met some friends for dinner and we headed right back to Mae B on my suggestion. We were not hungry but greedy. This group of friends and me share a unique style of eating. Instead of each one ordering a dish for themselves (as one would with continental food), all of us tackle each dish together, making it more like a 7-course meal (or 4 course depending on the appetites which are usually voracious). This way everyone gets to sample a bit of everything, and no one runs the risk of being bored of a never-ending plate of anything.
As soon as a dish was placed on the table, we dived for it, polishing off the plate faster than the speed of light. First we had the beef cheese roll which is spicy as hell and rich as a cheese or chocolate pastry. Next, we had the Chicken a La Kiev followed by the Spaghetti Bolognese –both equally inviting.
Next, we ordered the Barbequed Chicken, which tasted surprisingly familiar. Instead of a brown sauce, we got a plate of fiery RED, HOT sauce a la vindaloo (a fiery goan dish)! My friend Giselle, who can be a chef’s nightmare, summoned the owner over and demanded to know why a barbequed chicken comes dipped in red and not brown sauce. By popular demand, he says. Well then don’t call it a Barbeque chicken, but create a new branding which is befitting of the flavour. Point noted, said Ben. Well, we hope he takes heed.
We were so stuffed (did I mention the garlic bread and peach iced tea we had before the main course?) that we decide to walk a wee bit before hopping into a rickshaw. We started walking and by and by I pointed out to the gang that for some strange, inexplicable reason we were walking…no, trudging uphill. We passed Olive, Shatranj and as we approached Out Of the Blue (OOTB), Giselle pointed out that OOTB has a Dessert bar. We went in to have a just a peak…and my eyes were transfixed by the Oreo Cream Cheesecake.
We waltzed into the restaurant and made ourselves all cozy, in anticipation of dessert. The cheesecake was fabulous, all crunchy and creamy at the same time, and fabulously priced too at Rs.70 (as opposed to Da Vinci’s Rs.90), plus the ambience of the place was very lounge-ish with avant-garde décor and soft lighting. The only thing out of synch was the manager who bustled about with an unnecessary air of importance. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his ample body scuttling about.
Nevertheless we decided to put OOTB on our To-Do list of restaurants, especially since the food is good, the ambience is soothing and on Friday nights Darryl’s friend’s parents perform live( jazz music mostly and a saxophone for good measure).
Sunday
We braved the afternoon heat for the cause of Art and to satiate our artistic sensibilities (eeeks…that sounds rich!) First stop was Ankur’s place. He’s a photographer by profession and specializes in photographing babies. He’s very passionate about what he does, the result being that he excels at what he does. When one walks into Ankur’s residence, one immediately gets the impression that a photographer dwells here. This is because, the living room doubles up as a studio and the space below the loft has been transformed into a dark room.
Yesterday, instead of babies, we were his models. Each of us struck a pose according to his instructions and it was a whole lot of fun. Meera, Altaf and I have great expectations from these photographs as whenever one needs a sensible image to use for business or pleasure, it’s impossible to locate one.
Post the photo session, we headed to town for an art exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery.
It was a theme based exhibition known as Sacred Spaces. Many artists came together to express their ideas on religious integration and peace. I saw a lot of ‘installation’ art, which seemed big on concept and low on artistic creativity in a traditional sense. But a chat with Meera later shed some light on ‘installation art’ and how it really is all about going beyond the canvas and expressing concepts & ideas using an array of materials in a 3-d format.
As we left the gallery, Ankur noticed a smartly dressed Caucasian woman sitting prim on a ledge, deeply absorbed in the latest issue of Time Out. He’d noticed her sitting here many times, and is curious to know who she is and why she sits there for hours skimming through magazines. Meera (the invincible) marched up to the woman and started a conversation. The woman looked startled, and then revealed that she is an artist. I think she’s a spy. Why else would one sit for hours on a wall of tailbone twisting hard concrete trying to read a magazine, in such terrible lighting? 
Last but not the least; we headed to Mohammed Ali Rd which comes alive during the 30 days of Ramadan and where one can find the best local flavours of its kind. Before indulging in our food fest we parted with a sum of Rs.100 each, handed over to Altaf, our kitty-manager and tour guide. We enjoyed a generous mix of kebabs, tandoori chicken, baida roti, firni, a malai based sweet and more, for a measly sum of Rs.61 a head.
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Do I Need To Lose Weight*/%#@?!!!
Animal Farm provoked exactly the same reaction within me, even though it was no horror story. I experienced a recurring vision of white pigs sporting gum boots, standing tall ( a la humans) and marching about in perfect file, while reading that book. It was absolutely eerie. To understand the significance of the walking pigs you need to read the book and I absolutely recommend reading it. Actually it’s about the Russian Revolution, but if you didn’t know that already, you might guess during the course of the book. 
I am The Chariot
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I happened to be reading the bestseller Jackdaws by Ken Follet, the other day. My friend who is quite the literary snob, shot me a look…O hell! 
written with alot of passion