We are two!

15th Dec has brought a lot of anticipation and joy to us. Perhaps thats natural given the significance of the day. Usually Dec 15th was no different earlier until we tied the knot on this day two years ago. We turned two this year! Since the Doc was working his night shifts I went ahead and planned a surprise for him.

I reserved a table at the famed Olive Beach. By far, this is one of the most exquisite dining experiences we've had in Bangalore. The ambience and decor is really simple and stark yet leaves an indelible impression. Its a sort of a cross Spanish/Italian style structure with uneven whitewashed walls interspersed with niches, a warm ochre flooring with a slanting azure roof, pretty crystal chandeliers adding the little dash of color lit by candles that are placed in the niches and tables. The outside seating has a sort of quasi seaside atmosphere with white sands, rattan furniture, a little water body and some pretty greenery. The place is pretty simple but exudes an understated elegance. The DJ dishes out subtle & muted jazz . The whole atmosphere was simply awesome and heavenly. It felt like I could not have made a better choice, given that this was our first visit.

The Olive Beach dishes out a awesome Mediterranean style fusion menu. We really had to look at the menu and took a while to decide what to order. We ordered our drinks from a fabulous and exotic array. They serve quite a wide and innovative range of martinis like the Tamaritini (with a subtle tamarind base) or the Pinatini(pineapple based) in addition to the wine and other cocktails. I decided to pick a fabulous French Merlot and the Doc settled for the Pinatini. We began our first course with a vegetarian crostini and an aromatic salad of bocconcini, zucchini and tomato mildly spiced with olive oil, basil, parsley and thyme. The crostini was fabulous with toppings of mildly flavored tomato, aubergines cooked in olive oil and a simple tomato sauce and basil. The salad was very light, delightful and very refreshing.

We refilled our glasses a few times before our entrée which was the epinaca y verduras - a simple mashed potato base topped with lots of aromatic and flavorful greens, vegetables and again a mildly flavored spinach and cream sauce with olive oil and thyme. This was followed by a simple pasta in a simple and delicious arabiatta sauce.

The dessert was of course the best. I picked the chocolate mousse while the Doc had a praline gelato. The mousse came dressed in glory with a white flowery patterned ribbons of chocolate.
The deep dark rich chocolate stood in striking and attractive contrast to the white platter it was served on. Simply yummy and delicious, it makes me want to go back right away. By the way, we were also made to blow a candle and cut a little portion of their most fabulous chocolate fondant(a cake oozing with liquid chocolate)!! It was a very memorable private celebration and the folks at the restaurant have really done their bit with the personalized service and fantastic food.

We returned happy and content. It was an evening really well spent.

Hyderabad Chronicle - 2

Decided to finish this up finally. The nostalgia is done and now the real reason why we were at Hyderabad. My bro-in-law was engaged last Sunday. He always was sorely aware of this and awaited the axe to fall...finally it did. My sister-in-law to be is really quite sweet. She is a medical professional - a doctor to be precise, and that leaves me the odd one out. It began about 3 weeks back when her parents were eager to meet the 'elder bahu & beta**" in the true blue traditional Indian style. We went and they saw us. I guess they were pretty awed or should i mention horrified by what they saw. They never saw a typical elder bahu phenomenon, what they saw was a short haired female, hanging around with the elderly men of the house sharing a few jokes, walking all over the place with a big semi-professional camera hanging around her neck, managing a whole 6 yards of silk in quite an un-womanly manner and some how try hard to join a few Telugu words to speak a few broken sentences of the language. Well I guess it made a dent, a big one, because my B-I-L's mom-in-law to be took me aside and cautiously handed over a sari(while I thought "not yet another one...please") and entrusted her "little" girl to me. Well...I am not the sure what to think - all I can say is I am very happy that theres a wedding around the corner and my b-i-l has nice company now and a lot to look forward to.

Bahu: Daughter-in-law.
Beta:Son
Psst: Gowri (she's the bride-to-be) I won't eat you alive for several reasons one being I am vegetarian and secondly, I like you!

Hyderabad Chronicle - 1

The weekend was rather eventful. The Doc and I were at Hyderabad. Just entering Hyderabad and driving into the city brought back a rush of memories for both of us. The drive through the city streets and lanes made the longing to return to it even stronger. This is where we met and this was the city where our future together got cast in stone. A whole slew of things came back to our minds:

• The Hang Out(pic featuring only the partial crowd)–the place (our dear old apartment) where a bunch of us lived, hung out with friends, got drunk silly, spent endless nights chatting over unending cups of chai**(then discussed who would make the tea next), swooned over books for our exams, held innumerable discussions on just about anything(even the poor fly's perch on a wall was scrutinized), danced on crazy music, celebrated birthdays by splattering cake all over ourselves and the floor(and spent the next day cleaning it!), cooked enormous amounts of food to feed 6 to 8 hungry souls with garangtuan appetites, there were of course the several fights and broken hearts... the list is endless.

• The Escapes – The Doc and I have always been heavily into this, till date. As soon as we met our only escape were the long drives down Jubilee Hills, Hitech city, Durgam Cheruvu** etc. This seemed the only 1 or 2 hours when we could simply enjoy the fresh air and each others company with nothing more than the wind whistling in our ears, the steady roar of the engine and the comfortable silence.

• Nothings Over Coffee – Our much treasured moments were spent at a special place on road no. 36 Jubilee Hills, it lay perched on a little mound and was called Qahwa. The most amazing coffee was served here. You could say that our futures were sealed here over cups and cups of steaming fantastic coffee. Its not around any more. It went when we left the place, sort of quaintly coincidental. We were indeed deeply struck by the loss and keep our fingers crossed for its resurrection. Also, around the corner from the same place was our favorite chaat stall. We used to be special guests deserving of his best services and huge discounts because we brought him tons of business thanks to the Institute

• The Institute – heres where we came to build our futures. We did do so successfully but not without causing a lot of pain to our faculty and especially our dean. But, we made it and we're doing pretty okay. Though I wish that we could be more in control of the Bohemian in us.
  

• The Rest – then of course there were the special dinners and dates and nice restaurants, great shopping, plenty of walks around the old city and Charminar(very quaint) to buy little bric-a-bracs and satiate my feminine side. More friends, more parties, short trips to vague & adventurous destinations, late nights...
  

We will return to Hyderabad some day. In the meanwhile, I guess its more Hyderabad rushes in many more short trips to relive a few instances and take away some more indelible memories.

**Chai - our tea was made with loads of finely grated ginger brewed with milk, water and sugar.
**Durgam Cheruvu - Secret Lake as it is also popularly called - is no more a secret though. This idyllic lake is in Hyderabad near Hitech City. The lake spreads over an area of 63 acres and is encompassed with rocks and hills. It used to be a wonderful retreat for silence, seclusion and serious conversation. We now here this is spoilt because of too much public nuisance and encroachment. It saddens us to think of it so.