It was a lazy start of the day. Weekends are always late risers. I always try to make my weekend happening and memorable because this is the day which is completely mine, not sold to anyone.

My to do list was popping something today. Generally I don't like to go out for lunch alone. I found this Vietnamese restaurant on Zomato.com and had no patience to wait for any company to go there. I knew I will be alone there but wished it would not be boring.

It was a little struggle to locate the restaurant. Tucked on the street beside sony center, 100Ft road of Indiranagar,Bangalore, was a little struggle to find when I crossed it two times, "The Phobidden Fruit" but could not see it(I thought its name bidden should be changed to hidden). It is on the opposite of "mom & me" shop. The entrance is a small passage. this restaurant brought a surprise to me. I was thinking if it could have maintained the same interior decoration and cool look of restaurant as the restaurants in Vietnam are.

Not only the interior design and the service, Vietnamese theme was also well preserved in this restaurant. This restaurant was successful in providing the relax and soothing environment.
To my surprise it was well crowded and most of the tables were occupied. I never thought Indian people may like Vietnamese food so much.



I found one place and got comfortable there. The menu was in front of me. I was excited. I wanted to check if they are able to cook Vietnamese food with same aroma and flavor. I ordered the most popular Vietnamese food Pho Ga(Pho: noodles , Ga: Chicken). It was very weird kind of feeling eating Pho in Vietnamese restaurant full of Indians.
The Pho was maintained with same aroma what I used to eat in Pho24 in Saigon. The flavoured leaves and other supplements were also provided in same way. The only difference I felt was the noddle part was not as soft as in Vietnam.May be they bought this noodle in bulk from Vietnam and preserved somewhere.

I ordered lemon Grass Iced tea. The theme was preserved in drinks also.  The same size and shape of ice cubes was used in drink. It reminded me of the drink we used to have in Vietnam where one drink used to last for 2-3 hours.

Lemon Grass Iced Tea

I was looking in menu again. This time wanted to eat some delicacy. I ordered for squid Salt and pepper fry. In the meantime when waiter could fulfill my order I started satisfying my queries.

I called manager type looking guy and asked
"who is the owner of this restaurant?"
A Tamilian sir" He replied. I was astonished.
"And where are these waiters from?"
"They are from North East of India". He added.
"How come you have successfully copied the theme of Vietnamese restaurants as well as the cuisines ?"
"Sir, Our head chef is also from north east part of India but was in Vietnam for almost a year hence he learned."
I was not convinced. Chef can cook delicacy but restaurant cool look and making Vietnamese theme live can not be his brain.
I saw a family sitting just next to my table. They were almost done with their food. With formal greetings I asked the guy.
" how often you come to this restaurant?"
"This is my first time". He said
"How did you know about it"? I asked.
"We just came to know from some site. Me and my wife are foodies. We like to taste new dishes of different countries. "
"How did you find this place?"
"Its cool and relax look. I liked Vietnamese food. Not so spicy but have aroma and softness."

In the mean time my pepper fry squid was on my table. I started enjoying it. It was also delicious. I took some snaps paid bill and came down.

Pepper Fry Squid

Downstairs I thanked receptionist and also praised the restaurant. One lady in her age of forties sitting next to reception was more interested in my talk. She started showing her ecstasy on the success of her idea.
My curiosity was still not satisfied. I asked the same question to the lady.
"How is it possible that without involvement of any Vietnamese, this restaurant have all the themes and aroma of Vietnam successfully preserved?"
In her surprising voice she told
" I am Vietnamese. I came and settled down in Bangalore 10 years back."

I was totally surprised. She changed a lot. In Indian dress and Indian style makeup it was hard to identify her as Vietnamese. I gave another keen look and realized that yes she is Vietnamese.

One Page of Menu

The paper is blank
    The pen has ink,
The heart is silent
    The mind is still.

What then can make
    One to feel?
What else can cause
    The ink to flow.....? 

There is neither the clot
    Nor the flow
There is neither any block
    Nor any bond

Going on is the search
    Within the Conscience...
The search for Truth
    Shall go on and on....

Until the mind is lost
    And the heart is opened
To reveal what was done
    Was right or wrong.....

There is a long way to tread
    To know what Is & What Is not,
For now the clock has stopped
    But the time has not.

Socha tha bhula diya,
har pannon ko dafna diya,

Parinda pinjre mein
Pankh fir bhi farfarata hai
pinjre se bahar dekh,
khud ke sapne sajata hai

Boondon ke pratibimb mein
uski chaya hi aati hai
khud ko jeevan ko samajhne mein
dimag ki nasein jhannati hai

Granthon kitabon mein dhoond kar
fir bhi wohi mil jaati hai,
likhte likhte yaadon ko
haath kahin tham jaati hai,

Patte fir bhi udd aate hain
Panne fir bhi khul jaate hain
parinda fir bhi farfarata hai
Apne sapne sajata hai
Jeevan chalti hi jaati hai,
parchayi peeche peeche aati hai

Fir bhi maine sula diya hai
Pannon ko dafna diya hai

We were following the orders of tour organizer. I always like to plan my trip myself and love to explore the unknown places. The idea behind this is to discover the place and understand the culture, tradition and scrutinize something which is not catchy at first glance. This time I was forced to opt for a package trip since there was no other option available.

We were always tempted to spend more time at some place and look for something more interesting. Since we were in group we had to suppress these thoughts. Many times we felt that we could read each others mind at incidence of tour guide's order, we looked at each other and smiled.

Most of the tourist attractions were conquered in the short interval of time. Two days in Bangkok passed faster then our calculation. In evening when we were set to return back to hotel tour guide announced that following day we will drop you in center of city and you all will be on your own.
We were waiting for it and accepted this with alacrity.
Morning we landed in the center of city. Our area of interest was not mall and shopping but to find something traditional. Hence we inquired for the market where street vendors are more. We were in the middle of some discussion for our next target when suddenly my eyes got caught in one of the very colorful and attractive street shop. We didn't gave any other thought and moved toward this street seller where our taste buds were tingling me making me feel that we are going to eat something really delicious. And we were never wrong.

What is this? I asked. This is "Thai Salad" she replied. She was busy in preparing salad for other customers. We also tried to observe how she is preparing it. We paused for some time and then asked her again .
"How much is this?"
She replied
"50Baht for green mango Salad and 90 baht for green mango salad with crab."
I was trying to read the faces of people who were enjoying this delicacy. Which combination will be better? I was thinking. We both are crazy to find new dishes and savor it, we didn't find difficulty in coming to a decision. We ordered two green mango + crab salad assuming that uncooked crab smashed will definitely enhance the taste.
The seller started preparing for us. She took 4-5 red hot chilli in the beginning and tossed it in a wooden vessel. ( in picture it is kept beside her). I want more chilly, a request came and before it can reach the seller I suppressed it immediately telling that let her prepare in her own way, else we will not get the real taste.


It was fast. Green mango, many different sauces, tomato and many more got smashed in her wooden pot. Then one black crab was also tossed in the same vessel when other hand was doing the smashing job using a thick cylindrical wood. We were eager to taste it.
Sooner we got the salad in our hand. Mouthwatering yummy smell was flowing in the air.
The first spoon in my mouth left me in the unstoppable vibrating taste which passed electrical pulse throughout my body. The electrical pulse was so strong that it became a challenge for me take the second spoon in my mouth. Really those chilies had done their job appreciably. Same time it was so mouth watering and tempting that it was tough to stop myself.
I looked at her and felt that she could bear the hot chili shock. She was totally lost in new delicacy. I thought not to disturb her and tried to concentrate on my plate. Second spoon in my mouth made my eyes to show the ecstasy by dropping tears. I asked her " How is it?".
 She replied
"it is very delicious. I love it. Hope I can pack some and take to my home."
She lifted her head up and i could see her tears also rolling out.
"You are feeling hot. Do you need water?" I asked.
She said "I love the taste of this salad and even its spicy part." I said " I am also liking it".
There was no question of stopping ourselves before we run for water. The crabs really added flavor in it. I think those were sweet water crabs since they were not hard or may be the crabs got crushed in the wooden pot and got softened. We ate till end also drank the tasty juice coming out. After eating we both were just struggling to get rid of this spice by opening our mouth big and blowing air out of it with sound whooooooo and hhhhhaaaaaaaa.... No one could utter even a single word before we got water.
It was indeed an unforgettable moment of savoring any delicacy which ignited our taste buds. The experience which can not be described in words.
I am trying to explain the recipe according to my observation of the street vendor.
2-3 Red chili. Smash it for some time.
Put one lemon juice and also one small red tomato.
few sprout beans (all begin smashed slowly)
Then some sauce(I think fish sauce and soya sauce) was also added with one green fruit (it is in photo and I still don't know the name).
 Green mango ( cut slices and shred) added and smashed slowly.
Some small cut beans.
and then the crab is also smashed.
( during the preparation she also added some more thing from the box kept in front of her.)
At the end it was decorated with some slices of papaya, peanuts and cashews.

I know you might be excited to try the same dish but my description is not good enough to prepare it at home.

Still after so many days when memories of Thailand is eroded, the feeling of eating mango crab salad is still fresh. I wish I can enjoy it again in near future.



( This article won the runner up prize in indiblogger Amul contest).

It was another bright day when I pulled myself out of bed and pushed to office. It takes me almost an hour to reach office which is just 10KM from my home. With all nice words to the management and traffic I reached office where I had to be a part of status meeting.

Status meeting was a a daily routine job and unwillingly I was holding one revolving chair when one team member was mumbling something about what he did last day. There was nothing interesting for me and I was just trying to keep myself out of this boredom and was looking around. Suddenly my eyes got hooked at a simple line written on someone desk's scratch pad. It was written on a place where no one used to sit. The first line caught my eyes and I got excited about the second line thinking that it would be something really interesting which will kill my boredom at least for a moment.

The first line read .. The rose is a rose. In no time I read the second line as well which said.. A lotus is a Lotus. My mind got fully disappointed. I tried to read it again together as my mind was not ready to accept that there is nothing funny in these lines. I read the lines together again.





I felt really annoyed. Then I felt like laughing. What a funny line. Everyone knows that rose will be a rose and lotus will be a lotus. I tried to draw my colleague attention toward the line. By showing those lines I uttered to him "See some crazy person have written this meaningless line. Rose is a rose, lotus is a lotus.. huh".
He was silent and serious. Nothing surprising or annoying I found in his reaction. I felt little bit uncomfortable. He said in a calm voice.. "I wrote those lines".
I was like WHATTT??? but then I tried to be calm and with unsuccessful effort of hiding my annoyance I asked "Well what is the meaning of these lines??"
He replied. These lines may look simple but to understand the very meaning of these lines and absorbing it in your daily life may lead to solve most of your problems as well may give you a completely new look to the world.
Our most problem is because we are not ready to accept what is happening in our life, how are the people around us and how the things are really happening. If a rose is red in color and have thorns with beautiful petals, that is rose. If we like or not, if we can appreciate its existence in this form or not, it will not change in any way. Let rose be a rose and accept and admire its beauty in its very form. Then only we will know the importance and value of rose. Then only we can see how attractive this rose is. If we always wished to see rose as a lotus we can never appreciate the existence as such. Same way the things around us is the same as we see it and the key to happiness is when we try to admire it in the same way of its existence.

I had nothing to say but just to appreciate this thought silently.

Type: Water painting Theme: After snowfall After snow fall is one of the piece of art done by me during my school days. It took a month to finish after multiple shade  and effects. The imagination got reflected very well in this painting maintaining the depth perspective and the 3d effect.

                                           Lifafe Ka intzaar

use bhi intzaar tha aur
mujhe bhi
us din ka
jo aaj aa gaya
aur maine khol diya use
lifafa ko

padh daale ek hi nazar mein
usme likhe chaar panktiyaan
panktiyaan kya thi
sheetal paani si bahti
ek nadi thi

Jhankte hi jisme
dikh gayi puri pratibimb
aur bhaari ho gayi meri
palkein

jaise paas aake,
kaan mein kuch budbuda ke
gayab ho gayi thi wohi
pratibimb

Aur chalchitra ki tarah
daur gayi yaadein saari

Jaanta hoon,
door hai wo kitni
fir bhi har waqt uske
paas hone ka ehsaas kyon hai

jaanta hoon meri
mukaddar mein wo nahi
fir bhi har mod pe
uske aane ka intzaar kyon hai