5 July 2008

There was a nook

The gigantic Indian express(madurai) building is well known to any Bangalorean .It looms over the Queens circle and houses all the departments of the newspaper .On the first floor was the canteen where we had our by-two teas and other tasty snacks .This little nook is the protagonist of todays piece .
It was a large high ceiling'ed place at the time with a bunch of smiling happy people who took orders ,cooked and served a menu which had the likes of tea , coffee ,malt ,bournvita and upma ,idli ,dosa ,puris and the piece de resistance -bonda soup on thursdays .Though the food I have listed is the regular stuff one can get anywhere in Bangalore but any foodie worth his/her salt will know that there are dishes and there are dishes .The cook ,the atmosphere ,the friends who one shares the food with ,all make up for a special experience which takes any dish to a exalted status .
The bonda soup ,though, was my favourite and I waited for Thursdays to be able to get to the canteen and break into a soft bonda surrounded by an aromatic sambar style soup .Having become a sort of favourite with the people at the canteen due to my love of food I would be dished out this dish with alacrity every week and they made me feel they actually waited for me to make my appearance :0).I felt favoured by the Gods when my tea started to be accompanied with a little bowl of fresh cream .Little gestures that I will treasure always .
This tale will be incomplete without a mention of Julie and Luella ,my partners in crime .We formed a friendship then that has lasted us eight yrs as we speak and given us many hours of shared laughter ,songs ,food that continued long distance once I moved out of the country .To them I dedicate this post and to all the people that made that canteen and that office ,great places to be in .