A Tale of Two Restaurants

At the start of a long weekend, I decided to dine out on my own, as always. Since the palate craved something South Indian, I thought the nearest restaurant offering a reasonably OK fare should be my first choice. So, off I headed to Adyar Ananda Bhavan, popularly known as A2B, to savour a South Indian Thali.

At the very outset, I was disappointed to find that only one of two floors was operational that weekend. The management had decided, for some strange reason, to keep the upper floor locked/closed. The lower floor with limited seating arrangement was already full, but I was soon led to a table for 6, which I was to share with another lone diner - a lady who was about to finish her meal. I thought it would be all right as it was a no-frills eatery. However, what annoyed me was that as soon as the other lady got up, a couple of thug-like guys was asked to occupy the same table. One of them immediately took out his smartphone and was holding it ON the table - all which was very suspicious and made my antennae stand up!

I decided to get up and leave. I did request the management and waiting staff to see if another table was available, but obviously, an eatery like A2B was only interested in larger groups and not a lone diner, that too, a lady. I paid just for the coffee I'd managed to gulp down and left - having sworn never to step into this awful place again! In the while I'd been there, I saw a couple of young working women also turned away from the place as also a family. Surely, this is not the way to run a restaurant?

Still, I was not discouraged in any way for Koramangala is a diner's paradise! This time, I opted to head to a Fine Dine Restaurant just a few meters down the road from the above-mentioned dreadful eatery. I walked up to Bayleaf, on the ground floor of Raheja Complex. The welcome was so good and I was made to immediately feel comfortable. What a refreshing change...The serving staff was attentive, made suitable suggestions about the food choices and the best part was their music playlist! So many of my old favourites from the 1990s and early 2000s...

Since I cannot consume alcohol, I opted for my usual Fresh Lime Water, which arrived promptly and was spot-on. Bayleaf serves complimentary roasted papads with a divine mint chutney for diners waiting for the food to arrive...I opted for Aloo Chaat Chandni Chowk Wali as my starter, and was I hooked to the flavours or what! Hot, tangy, spicy and delectable...It took me right back to Delhi in one spoonful. I couldn't wait to have more of this...

 

 

For my mains, I ordered a Butter Naan and Nizami Handi, a mildly spiced dish full of vegetables in a thick gravy. While the naan was flaky and hot off the tandoor, the Nizami Handi had plenty of carrots, peas, beans and other vegetables. Again, the taste was near-perfect, the beans were not stringy, and the extras served along with the Mains were mango pickle and Pickled Baby Onions.

 

And finally, to finish off this wonderful meal, I decided to got for a Dessert Platter - their Mithai Sampler. I chose Gajar Halwa, Pista Gulab Jamun and Sondesh Aur Gulkhand Pasanda...Needless to say, this was the highlight of the entire meal (or, was it the starters?)...The desserts are heavy and surely not intended to be consumed by one person. However, I could not help but eat as much of these flavourful desserts as I could.

 

Bayleaf matched ALL my expectations - and then, some more! I will surely be back for their weekday lunch buffets and their Lunch Boxes. More than anything, what was endearing was their treatment of and attention to every diner. Surely recommend this place to all! It is an oasis of calm in the midst of the hustle and bustle of traffic at the Forum signal. The interiors are tastefully done up and nothing jars the eye.

 

In brief, a perfect meal for a lone diner!



My Experiments with the Indian Workplace

For a long time now, I’ve wondered if ALL companies in India that work on language-related projects act in a certain manner? When I first relocated in 2011, I tried working in-house.

At the very first company, I was taken in for Quality Control of created content, but was soon made to “create content” – the same job that recent graduates were doing. To add insult to injury, a sleazy manager insinuated I was “eating too much at lunchtime” (company provided food to make up for low salaries). I QUIT in 5 weeks. Heard the news a couple of years down the line that the sleazy element had been sacked. Good for the women in the company!

The second company where I accepted a job claimed to be a publishing services firm. The set-up was so fraudulent, the CEO one day proudly told me he hadn’t even paid the Export License Fee that year. I was horrified. Capacities were vastly exaggerated when sending proposals to prospective clients. It had just a handful of employees at that time and even fewer freelancers. I QUIT in the fourth month.

The third one, where I was taken in as a French Language Expert (and this firm was later taken over by Big Name Group!) wanted me to “Just use Google Translate, Copy and Paste the results on a Word document, Edit here and there, Create a summary and Submit.” I had to show up for work at 8am even on Diwali day, had work between 8am and 10:30am, then again between 3pm and 5pm. What did I do in the meantime? I ate THREE plain cheese grilled sandwiches every single day at the cafeteria upstairs – for a mid-morning snack, lunch and evening snack! To make things worse, an incompetent little pest who claimed to be fluent in BOTH Spanish and German was paid much more than I was, sitting right next to me and asking ME to help him translate – when I proved he didn’t know jack shit about the Spanish language and/or culture, and my sample summary of Spanish>English translation was better, the HR Manager defended the pest. I only have an Ab Initio certification in Spanish, but have an MA in Translating and a PhD in Translation Studies from a British university. I also completed 2 levels of Japanese and 1 level of Arabic. I QUIT in my second month at this particular company. And I had the last laugh when I found out through LinkedIn that the pest had also QUIT the firm 2 months after I did…So much for HR policies! My immediate manager at that firm told me to be patient as I’d “easily reach managerial level within 6 months, given (my) capabilities”…I told him I wasn’t interested as using Google Translate for work goes against ALL my ethics.

Then, I started freelancing.

The very first firm paid me peanuts – EIGHTEEN INR per page of font size 10, with up to 200 footnotes in even smaller print for legal journal articles! I QUIT as soon as I bagged a good firm that was looking for freelancers. To get a rough idea of rates in India, 67 Indian Rupees = 1 US Dollar as of today. 

Then, I started with a company that was reasonably good – at least initially. I took offense to my works being handled later by a certain Project Manager who could not even speak grammatically correct English. When we finally met at the office, he said something something along the lines of “Sorry, we could not be able to meet earlier”…Now, CAN = TO BE ABLE TO. You CANNOT use the two together. And he should’ve known this as a PM in a publishing services company! I refused to work with him, and stand by my decision till date.

I freelanced for them till a couple of months ago. What made me see red was being sent negative feedback on my last assignment for them, when clearly they had not put it through a QC stage at their end. Now, this is very common in Indian workplaces – several of them CLAIM to put all processes and checks in place, including through “a stringent QC/QA process”, but alas, that is seldom the reality! If anything goes wrong, they find a scapegoat – in this case, it was to be ME. The manuscript in question was by an Indian author who clearly didn’t know how to write! As someone paid only slightly more than half a US$ per page, I cleaned it up as much as I could. Why did I accept such a low pay? Because I DO believe in some kind of loyalty to clients for as long as the work is reasonably interesting and I am paid promptly…Clearly, in this case, time to let go. I QUIT!

Another firm also sent me interesting titles to work on during 2012–2013. What started off well soon went downhill. At one point, instead of the 250–275 words per page that is the industry norm taken as forming ONE page, these people were cramming up to 425 words into each page. I QUIT!

A couple of other companies also sent me freelance work between 2012 and 2013. One sent me fiction which was so bad, the uninterested author herself forgot the name of one of her main characters! This firm mainly dealt with self-publishing authors – and no thanks to Chetan Bhagat, we have HUNDREDS of wannabe writers in India now. Most of them send their work to this particular firm…I gave up after having almost REWRITTEN every single line in the first eight pages of an awful manuscript that should’ve never seen the light of day! When I sent it back to the publishing services firm, saying “Author needs to look at changes suggested in the first eight pages and revert with a cleaner version”, I never heard from them again! Do I regret it? Absolutely NOT! I QUIT!

Now that we’ve seen the Bad and the Ugly, let me come to the Good ones…In Nov. 2013, I was contacted by a wonderful Bangalore-based company…and I still work for them. Touch Wood. The ONLY problem I had with them was when a new PM came on board a few weeks ago. That minor hiccup has since been dealt with successfully. Or so, I’d like to think.

A Mumbai company has been sending me reasonably well-paid work, but the assignments are few and far between. At this point in time, it does not serve my purposes, though I am still on their list of freelancers. Another firm dealing with similar jobs got a taste of my temper when they messed up the online time scheduling system. The notification to me clearly mentioned 12:30 the next day, not 00:30. Obviously, I had intended to work on the small piece after 11am that next morning and send it before the 12:30 deadline. Got a nasty shock when I received an email, saying I had breached the deadline. So, I kindly pointed out that 12:30 generally means thirty minutes after 12 noon, not thirty minutes after 12 midnight. There was no AM/PM to distinguish the scheduled deadline either. To that, the Editorial Manager sent me an email response, pointing out my email to the team was rude in tone…Really? I can sound WORSE than that…This one didn’t even see me taking on the first assignment. I QUIT!

I’ve been trying out something new lately – Quality Control again! I was told I’m being extremely thorough in my work and I was an asset. Yet, not being paid 25 days since my invoice was raised (when the contract said payment would be within SEVEN days) means I do NOT take on QC work for them again. This is because their vendors carry out such poor-quality editing that almost EVERY manuscript that comes to the QC stage needs to be looked into thoroughly, a Line Edit – making it almost a Re-Edit stage in the workflow process. FOUR pages during the QC process are treated as ONE page of edits and rates offered accordingly in INR. I QUIT! They want me on a freelance basis with a higher rate. I am giving them some time to redeem themselves. THEY are on trial; not ME!

So, the above have been My Experiments with the Indian Workplace. All the above in the last 5 years. Please pour in with your comments! I’d enjoy reading every single one of them, for sure…Have I given up? Not yet...Always an optimist. I am a dreamer and would still like to believe in silver linings, and lights at the end of every tunnel and a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow!

 

PS: I've not mentioned the company name in even a single instance. Kindly do not contact me asking for further details.

A Village Trip

From afar, we saw them –

Cheerful, gay and clothed in various hues,
The women were waiting outside their second home.
The eldest among them opened our bus door
To welcome us warmly
And embrace us with their collective love!

We bent our heads down

To enter their humble workplace
Rows upon rows of near-rusty sewing machines
Yet, on the walls hung their vibrant creations –
Bags, pouches, gift baskets, iPhone cases
Short of imagination they weren’t, for sure!

The sharp contrast hit the visitors

For how grateful these women were
For the little nothings they possessed!
The children, more than happy with an old tricycle
Donated by a mother whose child was now a teenager.
Sometimes, it’s the small things in Life that matter…

(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)

Where Are The Children?

Winding along the narrow road up the hillside,

On the right, an amusement park –
But wait! Where are the children?
A little further, a near deserted village
With cows and stray dogs roaming about…

In the third house along the road,

A family of three – just seated for lunch,
But hey, where are the younger ones?
The three at the table ate silently.
The grandmother peers at her son,
Who was taking a break from the farm
To mourn his young child’s passing
In the accident along the busy hillside –

The school bus taking the village kids

To the town school nearby
Had crashed into the hillside,
Wiping away an entire generation
From the now silent village!

(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)

Vagabond - a poem in 7 minutes

Searching, researching – for a lost soul

Where could she be hiding
After all these years?
She left one sudden morning
While the Dal
Was still simmering on the hob…
The main door left ajar
For the maid to come in
And discover she had left!

Vagabond! Be the vagabond you’d always wanted to be,

Said someone to her one day
At a café, where she was going through travel books.
Her mind was made up that very instant –
THIS wasn’t the life she wanted to live.

She wanted to run, to be free,

To escape, to be a Vagabond.

(Composed in Panchgani, October 2015)

Iyer Mess in Malleswaram - What a Let Down!

Being a true-blue Tam Bram, and wanting to eat a traditional meal in Malleswaram, I had Googled for ages and decided to hunt down Iyer Mess for a delicious Friday lunch. I was quite familiar with 7th Cross and 8th Cross Roads, and was confident of finding the place in a jiffy...Little did I know I'd be going round and round for well over 20 minutes!

Finally, I had no option but to pop into Sri Krishna Sweets, an old favourite, and enquire there. They very kindly offered to show me the exact location...and so, I trudged along till I spotted a large board pointing to "Iyer Mess". Turns out it is at the very end of a really small (as in less than 3 feet wide throughout) passage. I was wary and apprehensive on seeing the dimply lit passage...As I neared the entrance to the passage itself, a large black dog bounded up from another gate and was hastily shooed away by people around...Not a Good Omen, I said to myself!

I entered a small, not very clean room, about 10 feet by 10 feet, and at one corner sat the owner lady with her cash box. Dour-faced, unfriendly, she stared back at me as I neared her desk. I requested one meal and she turns to the side and barks at one of the serving staff, "Are the vadas still available"? Then, she says it would cost me 60 INR. She then thumps a plastic token on the table, points out to a  2-seater table and tells me to "Go, sit there". I crossed the small room and plonked myself on the rather uncomfortable steel stool, then proceeded to unfold the banana leaf, splashed a few drops of water on it and wiped it clean - all set for what I'd come here - LUNCH!

There were 4-5 other lunchtime diners, at various stages of their meal. I waited, and waited some more. No action from the owner lady? And then, the power goes off! Our lady gets up, only to shout at someone to "Switch on the generator"...A loud noise and a whiiiirrrrrr, and the stench of diesel fills the air, the lights come back on. And I am still hungry...It was sheer determination that made me sit tight and hold on to the thought of a good Tam Bram meal. I was as close to the entrance (exit?) as possible, next to a  window. The urge to flee was very strong indeed...

And finally, one of the serving staff comes to my table and plonks a Masala Vada and a bowl of White Rice. Another comes along to place a small plastic container of Yogurt by the side. Another wait...Then come the Pickle, Carrot/Coconut Dry Curry, and Drumstick Sambhar. I quickly started gobbling up the food as I realised I was being stared at in a rather uncomfortable manner by the idle serving staff and some hangers-on (I guessed, from delivery services)...The sambhar was the typical "arachuvittai sambhar" (with fresh ground spices and coconut) one gets in Tam Bram households. Halfway through this course, someone places a Fried Papad on my banana leaf. Half of that goes in too...

Again, another wait for a few minutes till someone comes to enquire if I wanted more Sambhar or Rasam. "Rasam", I mumbled, by now, totally freaking out and wanting to run out...The place was getting creepier by the minute! Rasam was nothing to write home about. There was then just the Yogurt to consume, and then I could be out of this place, I told myself...A few more people had come in by then, and were also being served slowly. I hastily finished my "Curd Rice" and found out diners had to proceed to a rather dirty hand basin, next to a trash bin, to wash their hands. Not a very pleasant experience...

As I ran out of the little passage and made my way to the afternoon sunshine, I thanked my lucky stars I was not as desperate as the regular diners of Iyer Mess! Once was enough in this dingy, unclean eatery - never would I make my way to it again for as long as I live...To all those who CLAIM to be foodies, please STOP recommending Iyer Mess as an option for Malleswaram! The location is hard to find, the place itself miniscule, hygiene dubious, food very ordinary and service poor...As a single diner, and a woman, I would not suggest this eatery to others like me.

 

An Enchanting Evening With Two Women Writers

On Saturday evening, my local library, Easy Library, had arranged yet another fantastic author meet with not just one, but TWO women writers whose works reach out to all of us. They were in conversation with Shinie Antony, who needs no introduction to Bangaloreans. The first of these was Sheila Kumar, a journalist and travel writer, from an Army background, whose book of short stories, Kith and Kin, is a collection centred around the individual members of a single Keralite matriarchal family, the Melekat family. The second author for the evening was Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, with books like Earning The Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home and, more recently, The Taj Conspiracy.

The evening started with the two writers talking of their own backgrounds and that of the characters in their respective works. Manreet comes from a corporate background and gave us a delightful insight into her former world...one wherein she was the Area Sales Manager for the biggest consumer products company in India. She explained how the scheme included not just sales stints, but also a factory stint (so the sales personnel could understand the manufacturing processes) and a rural stint (as the heart of India lies in its rural hinterlands). Everywhere she went, she could see how "Women in rural India are in a bind". She said being in sales gave her a great insight into India - the real India. Her book Earning The Laundry Stripes draws heavily on her own experiences in the corporate world. In a way, The Long Walk Home too is an outpouring of her expression, hailing as she does from a border town. She grew up in a town closer to Lahore than to Chandigarh and Partition had a profound effect on most lives in the town. Almost every elderly person in the town had a story or two about the ravages of Partition. Manreet also grew up in the Khalistan era...The Long Walk Home paints a picture of Punjab over 80 years, from pre-Partition to the current times.

Manreet's latest book, The Taj Conspiracy, required extensive research and she came up with some really intriguing facts about the Taj itself! For instance, I am sure its news to most of us that the Taj, an iconic symbol of India to the rest of the world, was measured for the first time in its history only in 2001 - and that too by an Austrian Indologist! She also uncovered that the Taj was originally meant to be approached from the North, over the river, in the Mughal era, not from the South side, as contemporary visitors to the monument do...Manreet proudly declared that the Taj is a truly Indian monument as it not only is an Islamic monument, but also has Hindu aspects interwoven into its construction and architecture. She also believes that around 99.9% of Indians today know nothing much about the Taj except the story associated with its creation!

Sheila Kumar then took over and explained how, in her collection of short stories, while each story is about a particular individual, the matriarch, Ammini Amma, ties them all together. She is the central force of the book. These are all slice of life stories with all the 19 stories about the same clan. Sheila jokingly admitted that she used to come across all sorts of "life stories" when she was regularly handling the Agony Aunt section of Femina, the women's magazine, for years! When quizzed by Shinie as to how Sheila wrote about Pain without being "cloyingly sympathetic", Sheila explained that the catharsis was three steps removed as she was writing someone else's story. She deliberately kept it light as Life throws all sorts of things at people; some characters are in perpetual denial.

Shinie also complimented both writers on possessing a "quiet intelligence" and of keeping their writing extremely fresh. She felt both Manreet and Sheila firmly belonged to the School of Anti-Cliche! To which Sheila willingly admitted that she was definitely rebellious, while Manreet declared that all her works deal with the two Fs - Fundamentalism and Feminism. Sheila also explained that as a journalist, it was expected that the next step would be a book...

The talk then moved on to the use of dialects and the vernacular in their works. This was a rather animated part of the session as there were divergent views! While some present felt that English works HAD to use only words in English, others spoke out for the peculiar brand that is Indian English...Shinie felt that one is no longer apologetic about using the vernacular, as Sheila has used a lot of Malayalam words and phrases in her works, while Manreet too has peppered her books with regional flavours. Manreet defended the use of these as much is learnt from the context itself, while Sheila has used a mini glossary to justify her characters' use of language. The discussion then moved on to whether we are on our way to having multilingual works. Sheila felt that while her own use of colloquialism was for entertainment, Manreet's was for instruction...

Being held so close to Valentine's Day, the session ended with a light discussion on the place of Love in the books by these two authors! In Shinie's words, both authors were teasers on this subject...