Of People and Places

Last weekend in Mysore, my sister ( a die-hard thatte idli fan) went around the streets asking for thatte idli. One of the guys,regretfully gesturing with his hands said - "we only have the regular small idlis madam!" Sadly, we had to come back to Bangalore with our wish unfulfilled. Our Thatte idli fanaticism has always been met with raised eyebrows, rolled eyes and bored looks that seem to be saying " Oh these tatte idli crazies are here again! Why can't they just eat regular idlis and be done with it." Two places we have loved eating Tatte idli at  - A cart that is seen in the mornings near M.N Krishna Rao park, Basavangudi Pavithra idli hotel , Kyathsandra, Tumkur. Which is your favourite joint? 

The beauty parlour close to my house is run by a Miss Trunchbull like personality, with whom we have only just managed to break the ice after three years. Usually, she ignores us as she expertly trims someone's hair, or does this weird walk like an Egyptian thing with her head when she is threading our eyebrows, or sharing some juicy gossip with someone who has presumably known her for more than three years. But the other day, she smiled at us and that transformed her face. It was a brief smile but it made her less intimidating. She is super efficient, barking out orders at the other girls who work there - mostly from the North - Eastern states and Nepal. They seem intimidated by her too. They are relaxed when she is not around and they laugh and giggle and horse around. I was getting a much needed pedicure to come back with some new, 'glowing' feet and one of the employees who had just walked in popped this red slab of sticky looking candy into the beautician's ...