Benjarong!!

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Given a chance to choose a good eatout in Chennai for exotic fare (exotic being Chinese veg, Thai veg or continental veg - in that order) I must confess to being slightly stumped. The idea was to have a good time over lunch with a friend and the easiest one to decide on was “Mainland China” (too predictable, wot? And of course a peck on the chef’s forehead with words like “the best Chinese I have tasted …..” was hardly my idea of breaking bread with a friend).

Then I remembered having passed by this Thai restaurant several times on my way to office . Seemed correctly discreet and refined in terms of location and ambience from the outside.

“Benjarong” - with such an exotic sounding name conjuring up images of some Oriental getaway, I got cracking on the good ol’ net across the “burrps” and “smacks” of the virtual world and learned that the joint’s got an enviable reputation to boot. Talking to friends who raved about the place, we decided that Benjarong – it must be.

As I entered the place with just that wee bit of hesitation, I noticed that the place looked quite smallish to me in terms of space and also a bit shorn of lighting (not sure if it helps the ambience). But then I was also greeted by a beautiful reclining Buddha statue and some other Thai curios in the waiting room. With some time to go before my friend arrived, I gleaned more of the Thai couple that runs the place.

The main course started off with their customary Thai appetizer – an array of side dishes with the main attraction being the spinach leaves (as explained by our attendant) stuffed with peanuts, jaggery pasted and dry coconut crumbs. Though I had heard of this speciality, I wasn’t too sure – me being of the “if grass is for cows, leaves are for the orangutans” fame. Ditto for my partner. But then it wasn’t all that bad and we quite liked it. So on we moved to the next course – weren’t helped by the fact that the waiters seemed just a little preoccupied with themselves – they seemed almost relieved to learn that we could converse in Hindi – but of course that didn’t help improve communication either. Of course, we ordered the customary Thai curries with some fried rice – time teases my memory but I think we ordered the Tom Yum Soup as well. But then again, as luck would have it, I couldn’t quite finish the dish by itself. Tasted all too familiar to me and not the mouth watering, tongue smacking, palate tickling fare that I had settled in for. Maybe some other time – with a better setting and a better ambience, it would be right. But for now, it was so Benja-“wrong”!!

THE (W)HOLE TRUTH OF LIFE

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‘Tis a hollow lie often hung out as true,
Incessant harping gives it a shape anew,
That its true even in this Time & Space,
The indelible lie that Life is just a Race;
A Blind one too for money & for fame,
And to each person - his own game,

So hold your horses and just take a pause
To consider the fact of stones rolling with no moss,
And one fine day to wake up & find
Lost chances galore & memories left behind.
The earth goes around without remorse,
Staying still & steady on its course;

And Life laughs at our efforts vain,
To navigate Its turns and stay on par
Playing for minimum loss & maximum gain,
With the sure knowledge that we all are,
Even as It plays us out in grand pantomime
Destined to lose the battle with Time!!

Good Lord, why do I pray?
If Death is just an ordinary Day
In the calendars of those who wept,
for words unsaid and promises unkept,
for a better time that’s already passed,
And for a better memory to forever last!

So we go on with counting our pebbles & stones,
Refusing to let our minds be open & see,
That Life is more than just bricks & bones,
Know this Truth & set yourself Free!!

GOD BLESS!!

We didn't start the fire!!

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We didn’t start the fire..it was always burning since the world’s been turning ….we didn’t start the fire!!!

Marriages are now TV shows
Dimpi just got a “reality” dose
Rahul M beat her black & blue
Wait there’s more to come
‘Coz now Rakhi S is married too!!

Then of course there’s this CWG bloke
“Suresh Kalmadi?” – oh what a joke!!
The people though didn’t find it funny
That our man simply blew up lotsa money
On leaking roofs and rainy grounds,
And used equipment for a quarter million pounds!!

Which brings us to another sticky wicket
And a sham called IPL and a game called “Cricket” !! (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)
M/s Humpty Dumpty, I mean, M/s Modi & Pawar,
Turned the game into a bidding war

“Pawar Modi sat on the IPL
Pawar Modi gave the TV stations hell
And now all the twitter followers and all the Facebook fans
Cannot make Modi the IPL ‘czar’ again!!”

So everybody’s in the “Game” for Fame
And who cares a damn if The nation’s shamed…

And then we bring you the other “news”
As stale as the waste in yesterday’s refuse!!

Of Kashmir burning yet again,
And leaving a trail of blood & pain,
Of the solar Tsunami and never ending rain
And Lalit Modi and what his lawyer’s sayin’
Of Tharoor driving SM Krishna insane
And the shortage of water and rotting foodgrain!!
Of the India SL Test affected by rain,
And Sachin scoring a century again!! (yawwwwwn…)

Of MS Dhoni and his new bride,
And Maoist Naxals running wild,
Of how the two warring Senas lied,
About the North Indians spreading malaria awide!
Of bribes and RS MPs crossing sides,
And Amit Shah finding a place to hide!!
Of Saina being India’s pride,
And SM Krishna being taken for a ride!! (literally)

Of twitter wars and party nights,
And Bombay’s flooded with mosquito bites
Of gang rapes in metros and the violation of rights,
Of the growing Mumbai mafia gang might!!

Of the Indo Pak talks, and the Qureshi – Krishna farce
And in replies to Krishna, of Qureshi saying “Kiss my a..e?”

“Ba Ba Qureshi, have you got Dawood?
Yes, Sir & No, Sir!! Of course, all this is bull!!
Telling lies all the time, telling lies is our game!!
Of course we don’t shelter Osama too, who lives down in the plains!! (oops!!)”

And dear reader, if you think this tomfoolery’s over, please do not be pained!!
In this age of “anything sells”, just sit back on your couch & be entertained!!

Angel - Amma, Devi, Mata

Posted by Jay-talking! |1 comments

My second in the trilogy after ‘Avatar – Faith, Delusion & Salvation’. All of this has been inspired by a flurry of visits to several temples over the last month or so, the last visit being designed by Providence – the Jeevandani temple in Virar, Mumbai. On our drive , we had passed a temple on a hillock with the Sanskrit words “Om” splendidly carved out of the green grass of the hills. Wondering whether we would get to visit the temple – given the distance and the time factor plus we had no idea how to reach it. As Luck would have it, the person we were visiting was not available for the next 4 hours and we were advised by him over phone to visit the same temple for a darshan of the Devi.

The first letters of each stanza spell out the 3 names by which the Goddess is fondly worshipped – Amma, Devi & Mata.

Angel – Amma, Devi, Mata

Are You that Angel, from your mouth spitting Fire?
Maybe the Serpent that hisses to scare,
Marking the end of each dark desire,
And threatening to lay deep secrets threadbare?

Diva, are You enchanting Your own Dance,
Even as the demigods stare with untempered Awe?
Verily a Goddess lost in Your own trance,
Inspiring the Life Force to become Primal Law!!

Mere mortals as we are, how can we fathom your Play?
As foolishly we seek to immortalize our Name,

Time rolls relentlessly through yesterdays & todays,
And Death is just a pause in a never ending game!!

Aum...!!