Friday, May 15, 2009

"Will you join me for a cup of Coffee??"

If I told you that I drove around for two and a half hours looking for a coffee place in Bangalore and was unsuccessful, you would think I was plain stupid. If I then added that the hunt began at 11.45 pm in the night, you would probably understand.

After the MTR luncheon, on the 18th of April, we visited friends and more relatives. After we came back home we had a hearty 'pasta-in-white-sauce' meal. I mention the dinner menu to establish the point that the last packet of milk had been utilised in making the pasta sauce.

My wedding anniversary falls on the 19th of April. This was our 17th aniversary. A little before 12.00 we decided to go on a long drive to a 24 x 7 Cafe Coffee Day outlet, near the New Airport. It was fun to drive through the city's main roads, all silent in the night. The very places we had passed through in the morning and where we couldn't find enough place to park a car, were all empty and almost eerie. Suddenly we saw this group of 10-15 bikers, all with pillion riders. Some of them were travelling in pairs and some were racing amongst themselves. Suddenly the bike to our left revved up and did a wheelie. The front wheel of this bike was suspended in the air. The heart skipped a beat at this show of recklessness and false bravado.

Finally as we reached the airport we realised that we couldn't locate the coffee place. It had either shut down, or had shut down for the day. We turned back and decided to go to Koramangala. Another long and fruitless drive. By this time we were all ragging our 'daamaad' who was in charge of 'Operation Coffee Day'.

He admitted defeat and volunteered to take us to the sabzi mandi for a chai and 'bun' , added atrraction (at this place, at this time of the night/morning,) being , we could pick up the freshest veggies for lunch the next day....Or even upto the Manipal Hospital, outside which there is this chai ka thela. This suggestion was vetoed. The sabzi market was fine. But a Hospital - no no. Not a good omen . Then somebody suggested the railway station. Now we were all in the freak out mode and off we went to the railway station. No luck here too, as the vendors had been shooed away earlier on, because of the election bandobast. By now we were all ready to latch on to the next available cycle wala selling coffee or tea, bun or no bun. But the one fellow we found had a unruly looking bunch surrounding him. It had to be a an unruly bunch. Kaunsa 'sharif' group would be out at 3.00 am looking for coffee. One of us even suggested driving for a while more and picking up a milk packet from a milk van on the way to its first delivery and going home for the coffee.

Soon we were passing by the Leela and the Taj. So the Taj it was. It was a funny sight . Ten of us,including 2 kids, a 2 year old baby, and we adults, all equally perky waiting for our cup of THE brew. The Taj disappointed. The capuccino was luke warm. But it didnt dampen our spirits one bit. Not even the hefty bill.
Giggling like a bunch of teenagers, our motley group of maama, maami, bua, bhaanjas and bhaanjis, one daamaad and one grandchild returned to a candle - lit home. This candle part was NOT a part of our anniversary rendevouz. It was thanks to the Bangalore City Electricity Board, which also decided to participate in the celebration. Mercifully , by the time we tucked in, it also returned us the 'bijli' and thus fell the curtains on my 17th anniversary party. At this moment I could only say "Shukriya ji for lighting up my life!"

4 comments:

  1. Sad that your coffee-experience was lukewarm, but the fun was piping hot.

    Personally, I prefer the chilled variety.

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  2. wow, that was well said!>

    :-)

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  3. You know, I have been enjoying your travelogue over the last few posts.

    Would you believe it, we did an almost identical trip, by car , in the summer of 1977 and it brought back so many of those memories..... among those, eating an immensely spicy, tears generating meal in Hubli, and yes, there were no expressways, but we also observed that the roads in Tamil nadu were better. We stayed in Bandipur one night too..........

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  4. # ugich konitari : hello, i am glad you liked going through the posts. i have been following your blog regularly too. and most times am too much in awe to comment. u write about each facet so clearly and concisely, it is complete.

    the expressways have made road travel simpler, comfortable and convenient. but there is something missing. when my son was about 7 or 8, he used to have this PC game on racing - Napa Valley or something of that sort and there one could drive the car on a straight road and you could see the road ahead for miles and miles. even at that time i used to find the terrain in the game so boring. no way one could enjoy the twist or bend as the road curved. like when you suddenly take a turn and a breathtaking view of a tall , wooded mountain, with a valley nestling beneathm or a stream gurgling, or a mighty bubbly waterfall.

    When i travelled for the 1st time on the Mum - Pune expresssway, i felt like i was in of the participating cars in my son's PC racing game

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