Em's Twisting Kaleidoscope

I've been in Bangalore for all of three days and I think the thing I like most about it is the freedom I feel here. I don't feel unsafe here, like I did in Delhi probably. I don't deny this could all probably be  a socially reinforced conception of how unsafe a place is or  can be but I cannot imagine walking down the road at 10 pm in Delhi with as much comfort as I do here, with no qualms whatsoever. Moreover, the people are nice and welcoming. Saturday night saw scores of Royal Challengers fans on the roads, one even posing for a picture I was taking! Anyway, moving on. The weather is brilliant, just how I like it. It rains once in a while, it's generally cool anyway and it's sunny while it's pleasant! What more can I ask for. The food is even better. I think I've harped on about the jackfruit enough to last everyone a lifetime so let me talk about other things. Koshy's. It's this age-old restaurant a little off MG Road on St Marks. It has q...

Bombay. Where to start and where to end on the city of dreams.. Wait, for me, it was the city of chaos. And I think in that chaos, it is easier for people to lose themselves and their worries.; not leave them behind but lose them. People are so busy getting through the minute that they barely get a second to spare for what the bigger picture is. And then somewhere, gradually, in that chaos, one step at a time, clarity strikes of its own accord. Just one step at a time. And in that chaos, every moment of peace becomes all the more prized, all the more personal, all the more yours.     When I think of Bombay, three things strike me, the crowd, be it the traffic or the locals where everyone is the same, just stuck; then there is marine drive, where there is peace and quiet and a walk which I never want should end; then there is the third high end of life, eating out, shopping, all of that: distant somehow. The one that I prize most is probably Marine drive. I have been to mari...

So I just moved to Bangalore for a typical month of law firm internship. But as I was spending the first two days with a friend, walking long roads on pleasant nights trying local delights like ripened jackfruits which I had only ever considered a vegetable, I was taken back to all those times in different countries when I had the yummiest moments of my life. While Australia is the most vivid as of now, I do not cherish the others any less though they have become fainter with time. Let me once again start with being annoyingly preachy about travelling. Lesson #152 Eat the Local Food. This especially goes the local produce. The most delicious and natural flavours that you can possibly imagine come from a place's natural produce. Take for instance, the jackfruit I just mentioned. In North India, jackfruit is a vegetable cooked as a savoury dish eaten with chapatis as part of a meal. I had never before even imagined that jackfruit could be that, a fruit. It's like the old deba...