Sumptuous Tuesday At Barbeque Nation

After bleary eyed and somewhat blue-ish mondays, tuesdays are always good for me. Happy things happen and I am usually productive.

Today, I came to work on time, am getting stuff done and best of all - went to Barbeque Nation for lunch today with my office colleagues.

This is a very busy place on all days (reservations are a must) and the the grill + buffet idea works very well for an office lunch. The grills are interesting and having one at your table is a first for Bangalore.

This is the third time I am visiting the place. And this time around, the non-vegetarian grills were reduced to 2 from 3. I hope it was a one off today. The buffet is regularly refilled and so far has maintained a consistent satisfactory quality.

There are 2 or 3 non-veg grills and 3 veg grills served at your table with a variety of sauces and marinades. There is the excellent gilafi kulchas to go with the kebabs. A complimentary mocktail or a pint of beer is also part of the buffet.

Then you could proceed to the buffet that starts with 2 soups and a good quality salad counter. The main course for the non-vegetarian has 1 fish, 1 chicken, 1 meat main course and a meat biriyani. There is typically a paneer dish and 2 other vegetarian main courses, a pasta, plain rice, dal, curds in the vegetarian section. Of interest are also the pickles and chutneys kept in a corner. Indian breads ( rotis, naan and kulchas ) are served at the table.

Finally, the dessert counter has 2 or 3 pastries/puddings , 2 Indian sweets (Gulab Jamoons always), fruits and ice creams. Its pretty good.

A good buffet - but sometimes the queues are long.

All this for about Rs 282/- inclusive of taxes. For lunch. For dinner, it is Rs 400 + taxes. The number of grilled kebabs are increased - 5 vegetarian and 5 non vegetarian.

The restuarant has 2 more levels which open for dinner only, I think. The 2 nd floor has a view of the Airport Road flyover which I thought looked pretty good. The first time I went there was for dinner and there was some good live singing on the second floor.

Thats it - Barbeque Nation is a fixed menu place - lunch and dinner - every day! :)

Barbeque Nation is busy at nights too. So, it is not exactly a great place for a quiet, intimate and paced meal. But its still great value for money and is a must try - at least once.

Oh they also have valet parking.

As for our lunch, the food was great and the company fun.

It was also a much needed respite for office cafetaria food.

Compliment, Perspective

K and I had to go to a different office today morning for a meeting. We got in earlier than expected and the meeting was running behind schedule. We ended up sitting in the reception area, chatting, almost for an hour.

All the while that we were there, people kept walking in and out and it seemed like every other person was someone I knew or worked with in the past. So I was very frequently greeting some one or the other and making small talk.

Internally, I was feeling quite pleased with this happening in front of K - who has just spent 2 years overall working.

And then he says, "Wow, you are like the building security guy. You know everybody".

:)

Of Temples, Devotees and the Priests...

Venue: Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

State of Mind at the Start: Curiosity, excitement to see the dancing Shiva idol, the place of Chidambara Rahasya (secret) - where the formless is worshipped.

And then,

As we start entering the temple, young priests start waving furiously at us. We avoid a couple of them and are soon stuck with one young enthusiastic Pujari near a deity.

Priest: Where you come from?
Me: Bangalore.

Priest: Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Seshadripuram?
Me: Koramangala?

Priest: Yes yes. We have a lot of devotees in Bangalore. I have visited Bangalore many times.
Me: uh huh. Nice.

Then, the priest launches off into a detailed explanation of the temple and its history in Tamil. Finally, he finishes off by telling me that not everyone has the fortune of visiting the temple. I am lucky that the auspicious time for visiting that temple and seeing the dancing god has arrived for me. And then, he goes for the kill...

Priest: Why dont you leave your name and address?
Me: No no.

Priest: We will pray for you everyday. Nothing is required. Just put your name and address. (slides a notebook towards me).

Me looks around for support but by then Y too is stuck and nods helplessly.

Me: How much will it cost me?
Priest: Nothing at all. Whatever amount you want to donate, thats ok. Please give us your name and address. Write down the names and nakshatra ( birth star) of all your family members.

Me: Ok ( and write down )
Priest: Can you fill up the amount? It is Rs 600 per year of prayers for you. How many years you want?

Me: Just 1 year.

We pay up and run.

And of course, by then, I am irritated and angry and just want to exit the temple. I dont care about the history, significance, etc by then.

All I can imagine is a weekly status meeting to take stock of how all these priests have done with their collections. How it will affect their appraisals and their payhikes...

And I think about the TOI (transfer of information) program for new-joinee priests on how to collect from hapless visitors who are conditioned to be polite to priests and so concerned about looking good in front of these scamsters.

Because, there was a priest at every other corner in the temple with a book and started off with the same spiel - Where you come from? Rajajinagar, Malleswaram?