Obama visits China and will probably visit India during the last month of his second term.
Has anyone observed that US presidents only seems to tour India when they are at the end of their tenure? In other words when they are being put out to pasture.
They then tour India speaking at CEO/Leadership conferences and making a nice little packet. Obviously they can’t go to China now because either they are not understood there or just because they are not wanted.
Case in point George W Bush and Clinton.
…and we want to be a world power
On a completely unrelated note heres a funny piece from The Onion.
Playing Golf the other day, my friend Raghu and I played with a couple of old timers. Both these gentlemen were in their mid eighties. I just hope that I get there and if and when I do, I have the energy that these two had. They played 18 holes of golf and then told us that they would have a few beers before going home. Very endearing.
We loved the company. They were slow, but I enjoyed every minute with them. Some of the jokes would have made a sailor cringe (assuming they cringe).
The most touching moment however came when we were chatting at the midway break.
“We were a foursome” he said, his eyes misting.”We had been playing together since 1950. But now only two of us are left”.
There was a little pause when the other gentlemen piped up “Well we are also in the queue”…and they both chuckled.
He was talking about Hotel Janardhan which is just off race course road. The place has been around for years but I’d naver been there.
Ended up at my friend’s office (which is right behind the place) for a “meeting”. At 2 PM we headed to Janardhan for lunch. A nice South Indian Thali. Probably the best I have tasted in a while. Interesting thing here is that theres nothing else available at that time… only Thali…and the place was packed.
Somehow the meeting “extended” into the evening and at 6:30 we decided to take a break and head for the Dose’. The thing I liked about the place was the lack of variety. He only has a few items in the evening but thats more than enough if you asked me. I did a Sagu Masale’ and was forced to have Badam Halwa. Since we could not have coffee after eating a sweet, we were forced to order some “Benne Muruku”…
Looks like there’s going to be a shortage of economy class seats on flights..our netas are falling on top of each other in their austerity drive..
Rahul Gandhi went by train…good for austerity..but bad for people who travel as there was chaos in the railway station (I saw it on TV)…what with the TV crews, security folks etc etc etc
I just hope that this austerity measure doesn’t get carried over to wearing fewer clothes…having said that..I came close to losing my lunch just thinking about it…
It started with economy class travel, then someone else decides to go by train, next by bullock cart and so on.. actually the best thing would be for these guys not to go anywhere at all…
There are eaters and there are eaters but none capable of emptying a kitchen like my cousin U. Growing up in Mysore, he was single-handedly responsible for most restaurants changing from full meal schemes to plate meal schemes.
Theres the time when he had 3 set dose’s (that 12 in total), a bisi-bele-baath,coffee for breakfast and then went home and had more idlies that my grandma had made.
Or he time when he had his Andhra meal and then proceeded to finish off the side dishes from our plates as well (he hated wasting food).
He once landed from the USA (where he lives now) and waited for Vidyarthi Bhavan to open at 6 AM before proceeding by Taxi to Mysore…and he stopped at Maddur for a second round of breakfast.
However the one that I remember the best was during a trip to a place called Mandagere on the banks of the Hemavati River.
A group of 8 landed in Mandagere by train at around 10 pm. Mandagere station was deserted and we were hungry. We decided to knock on the door of the eatery on the platform. The sleepy owner agreed to make us idlis (poor man). At 10 paise per idli it was a steal. We also placed an order for a further 80 idlis the next morning. The guy assured us that his son would bring it over to the Travelers Bungalow where we were staying.
The Bungalow was beautiful. It was on the banks of the Hemavati river which was flowing full.
Next day morning the owner’s son showed up with the idlis and coffee (which was fantastic by the way). He also informed us that lunch would be served at noon. A full meal for One Rupee and Fifty Paisa. U was already pacing himself.
We decided to go to lunch in batches of four. Uday chooses to go with the second batch..as do I. The first batch leaves at noon and is back at quarter to. Then its our turn.
The food was simple and delicious. However the full meal scheme was a mistake especially with U in town. He decides to have 2-3 helpings of each course. Inside we can hear a heated discussion between the owner and the cook. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel in the kitchen. Obviously they are running out of stuff.
Then after its all over, U says “Maybe I will have another round”..to which DG (another friend with us) says “He’ll probably kill you if you ask for more”..
The owner comes out of the kitchen (he probably heard us talking)…before we can say anything he says in Kannada “Saar, I have spent full days provisions on you people, I will have to shut down for the rest of the day. Normally I serve 60 meals, today I have served only 40…please don’t ask for more..”
NOTE: As I type this post, U is in town on a quick visit. He went into Vidyarthi Bhavan last week and when the waiter asked what he wanted he said “Bring me one of everything…” . He did the same at Maiyas the next day.
The legend continues.
There’s this shop that I go for my haircuts (yes there’s still some left)..being going there for a long time. Owner is a nice gent called Murthy.
Its one of those places where you go get your hair cut, listen to some local gossip, seed some of your own gossip and incidentally get a hair cut. Its not a place where you go for hair styling..
Murthy is doing quite well..he has 10 shops in Bangalore..
Suddenly he opens up a posh air-conditioned “hair-styling” saloon next door.. and by “air-conditioning” I mean the real thing..not the windows being opened to let the cross breeze flow..
Well thats all well, except that the good Mr. Murthy has been egging us regular customers to go to the new place instead of the old one..the new one has AC but is much more expensive…
“Why sir you and all are coming here..come come please go to AC place sir..”…
But wait !!!!..its the same guy who was snip snipping at the old place doing the chowra here as well…
We are having a “Customer Group” meeting soon to discuss strategy…
Posted by Vijay 
Posted by Vijay 
Posted by Vijay 
