My taste buds have been very active these days.
I got down from a bus this evening and walked to my house a kilometer away, giving some business to all small eateries on the way. My first pit-stop was to buy a Rs.2 pack of roasted groundnuts from a cart-vendor who usually stood next to a bus-stop. Before I was done with the pack, I arrived at the juice-center I regularly haunt, and asked for a pineapple juice. Next, I paused briefly at a bakery, thinking of buying a Butterscotch Cornetto, but decided to skip it at the last moment. I then visited a nearby tender coconut vendor instead. After coconut, I was keen to stop for a helping of deep fried small vade, but they were not ready yet. My next temptation was sugar canes(not the juice, but cane itself), which have been in my mind for a long time, but gave it a miss too, thinking of the struggle involved in eating it. But I would have loved to be eating all of them – the vade, sugarcane and cornetto.
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Map of popular restaurants in Bangalore
I find it hard to give a miss to anything edible that I see these days. Groundnuts have been an old temptation, but pineapple juice is a new craving that started after I had a glass of it at Koshy‘s a few months ago. But my hunger is not limited to street food – I have been restaurant hopping a lot lately.
I went big on eating out only recently, starting by devouring Raviolis at Fiorano a few months ago. More Italian food happened with Little Italy‘s excellent pasta preparations. And then Barbecue Nation‘s grills were appetizing. There was simpler food on the menu too – Shanti Sagar‘s oota, rich with veggies and neer dosa from Emgees have never failed me.
Ice Creams are another temptation I can’t keep off. The ice cream binge started six months ago in Delhi when I ate Butterscotch Pralines at CP’s Saravana Bhavan twice a day for three continuous days. After that, it was fig and honey in Corner House which had me addicted. Discovering Gelatissimo is the highlight of my ice cream raids: their Irish Coffee and Sizzling Brownie Sundae are not easy to resist. But Cream and Fudge failed to make a mark, though there were some expectations before I went there.
No matter what I eat, the good old masala dosa and uddina vade will always remain the favourites. I always end up yearning for these after a few days of exotica, and go for them like I had never seen them before. It has already been a while since I have had a masala dosa. The unusually expensive new menu at South Indies and the waiter’s question – “what gravy would you like to order with dosa” – put me off from ordering one recently. After a go at a large variety of sizzlers at 5 Elements yesterday, I am now looking forward to a good dosa at one of the good old places.
Winter mornings in Cubbon Park
Travelling in Rajasthan in February 2008
Jaipur >> Shekhawati >> Pushkar >> Jaisalmer >> Jodhpur
+ Previous: Encounters from Pushkar
+ Next: Jaisalmer
When I informed that I am checking out the next day, the man at the reception desk was eager to know my next destination. “Jaisalmer,” I told him. He offered to book tickets for me with a private bus operator. I was a little wary, having heard about poor quality of service and maintenance of private buses in these parts, and having read some horror stories on the internet. But the person manning the desk seemed trustable, and had acted in good faith in the days of my stay in Pushkar. I decided to go ahead with him.
“I need a window seat somewhere in the middle of the bus,” I told him, “Don’t give me the last seat or an aisle seat.” And after a moment, I let out my wariness and asked him if the bus would be okay. He nodded to everything, picked up the phone and announced to the bus company guy at the other end of the phone – “Jaisalmer, tomorrow night, window seat.” A few seconds later, he hung up and informed me that all my specifications are met. My bus was to depart from Pushkar at 10pm the next day.
I reached the bus stop a good 15 minutes before the scheduled time. I was the only Indian among half a dozen people waiting for the bus that day. Sitting at the bus operator’s office, the clock moved from 10pm to 10.15pm to 10.45pm, and there was no sign of bus. As I waited in the cold for the bus to arrive, two of the employees in the office discussed loudly on the scandalous operators who choked buses with more than a hundred people, the illicit practices of private bus operators in the region and such, making me go wary.
The bus finally arrived at 11pm, making us suffer in the cold for a full hour. When I got in, my doubts and fears turned true. The window seat in the middle of the bus that I was promised turned out to be nothing more than a lie. I was allotted the last seat, which was more or less like a bench. But fortunately, one of the push-back aisle seats in the penultimate row was not taken, I was allowed to occupy it. It turned out that the road from Pushkar to Jaisalmer was reasonable, and I did not have to go through a night of backbreaking journey.
Nevertheless, it was a cold night of travelling through the desert and I could barely sleep through the journey. As the day broke after a long and boring night, the desert terrain was visible through the window, with views fading quickly into the morning fog. There was little habitation on the way but for occasional villages and military barracks. Once in a while a peacock or two would show up through the window and cheer me up in the cold morning. I waited shivering in my seat, hoping that Jaisalmer will arrive soon.
It was nearly 7am when we reached the town in the middle of the desert. As soon as the bus halted, a bunch of people rushed into the bus vying for the attention of tourists. They were there to offer hotels to tourists, each of them claiming to know that secret place which is the best in town and incredibly cheap. Fortunately, in the melee, everyone ignored the lone Indian traveller who might have been taken as a local in a place where bulk of the tourists are foreigners. I happily walked out undisturbed and into a guesthouse of my choice.
Continued at Jaisalmer