Of People and Places

Bangalore, 18 years ago was like a hill station. It was an upheaval of sorts - moving from Udupi to Bangalore. Being teased a little about our accent and way of speaking in school, staring wide-eyed at mothers who came to drop their kids off to school in nighties with a little shawl or dupatta or even towel for modesty purposes! I have seen that only in Bangalore. The number of bakeries and hot chips all across the streets! And the free-handed way in which my classmates spent money to buy snacks or some Bombay mittai (Candy made out of sugar that can be shaped) that they sold in fluorescent colors on cycles outside the school.  The seller would nimbly shape the mittai into an animal or a doll while a bunch of noisy students would hang around, jostling each other and waiting their turn. Another nostalgic favorite was something they called 'coffee beeja' but for the life of me, I can't figure out what that was ( possibly tamarind seeds?) If anyone knows what that is, ple...