A Chennai Girl's guide to Dating...

Let us start with a Disclaimer, shall we? What all goooood posts start with one... So --> This might apply to dates generally. But hello, I am writing this and I am a Chennai girl. Hence the title. ok? OK!

Venue: 
Chennai as much it is hot, is a beautiful place. If the guy leaves the choice of date to you, think wisely. And don't pick a mall, as much as the idea of spending the day at a Centrally Air-conditioned Mall tempts you to no end.

If it is a simple coffee date, do not pick the same old Cafe Coffee Day. Well hello, you have been sitting at that place almost daily and all the waiters know you and your order. Do yourself a favor and think about Madras Coffee House (T. Nagar), The Madras Kafe (Nungambakkam), Coffee Central (T Nagar), Coffee world (Abhiramapuram), The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Velachery) and so on. Or if you are really adventurous, ride out to ECR towards Kipling cafe.

Heck if the date sucks, you will at least have a good menu to ponder upon. Why should you be stuck with a bad date and a bad coffee??

Eating out:

umm... Eating at a restaurant, yes...

Starve the previous meal!!! please please, do not go pick on your food. What are you trying to do? Save him some bucks?? Go all out and chomp on that Masala dosa! Murder that plate of vazhapoo vada!! Or if you swing the other way, slurp some of that sauce from the chicken wings like you mean it! Carve out good chunk out of your beef steak. I personally like some good Mughalai biriyani, Syrian Beef fry and a lemon soda. Then may be a large serving of Ice cream. Or if there is a dessert buffet, three of everything and the chef on my plate, pretty please with whipped cream and cherry on top!

Digressing, ouch! My relationship with food is a different story, of well.. But yeah, I have learnt that a girl with a good appetite is a huge turn on for guys as much as anything else. Never got the logic behind it, oh well!

Dressing up: 

Not much of a choice here. Chennai climate makes sure that you can't wear layers. And wearing anything shorter will get you raped and I am not even joking here. I simply don't care and wear what I like. Add my quirky sense and you have a laugh riot. There have been instances when I have worn Sweater in May, White sheer kurta on a rainy August day, matched Yellow kurta with bright pink accessories, carried a red handbag and wore my green sneakers!! I am sure Actor Ramarajan would have been proud of me!

Conversation: 
FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, DO NOT BRING UP BOOKS!! Chances are that his favorite book would be Three mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat. One fellow passionately dissected and explained Two states to me. The delicious grilled chicken sandwich was the only thing that held me from running away.

Another topic to avoid is music. I was happily singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody and one fellow said "I JUST LOVE JUSTIN BEIBER". I had to pretend that I went momentarily deaf just to sit there for 20 more minutes.

Stick to weather, the love for Chennai, the latest economic development and anything neutral... If he says, he hates Chennai and its climate, it is time for you run away like a headless chicken. WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH A CHENNAI HATER, ANYWAYS??

Well anyways, Be yourself. He should know what he is in for, shouldn't he??

And even after all these you do graduate to the mythical second date, sit back and relax, he is a keeper!! 

Madras Nalla Madras...

If you are from Chennai, you should know that August 22 is Madras Day. (Yeah ok, this post may be tad bit late... but oh well!) and MADRAS WEEK is celebrated from August 21 to 28, this year. Year before last we (read The Chennai Photowalk club) had a photo exhibition at Mylapore and last year at Odyssey, Adyar. Go take a look, they still have the photographs displayed on the staircase-sidewall. Brownie points to those who recognize my name and my photograph. This year, though we don't have any exhibition, the regular photo walks are on... More details here.

Me being me, thought I would do a post on two things I love the most, apart from photography - Chennai and Food, though not in that order always. Ask any Amit about what comes to his mind if you say Chennai, he would promptly say Idli/Dosa. Ok some may mention the heat and the sweat, but its raining hippos and rhinos now, so IN YOUR FACE AMIT!! :-D

Not to be called an amateur blogger, I talked to couple of old citizens of Chennai to gain a little inside knowledge about the cuisine of Chennai. I got many a dreamy eyed glazed expressions and a mention of a special Madras Curry. Now, I have no clue nor have I never heard of it before. Goaded further, one 60 year old paati made her daughter-in-law make the curry for me while she gave a steady stream of instructions.

Several konjam molaga podi podu - Nalla idichi podu - illa illa ippo illa, Kari vendha apram thaan sekkanum - innum konjam molaga podi podu - Kari vendrucha paaru- molaga podi potiya?? laters, I was served with a steaming bowl of Mutton curry over white rice. Did I mention the several instructions about molaga podi aka Chilli Powder?? Yes, the curry is so hot, that you won't get out of a swimming pool for the rest of the day and not to mention the adventure at the loo the next morning. So no wonder, no one makes this Madras curry anymore or its absence on the Chennai hotel menus.

Anyway, moving on, the other dishes which the paatis told me were our good old Idli, Dosai, Medu Vadai, Masala Vadai, Keerai Vadai, and ofcourse Filter Kaapi. Besh besh, romba nalla irukku.  between, this ad will whoop ass any surya-jothika-bru-coffee combination

Filter Kaapi is best had in a dabara tumbler with one third of the coffee in the tumbler and the rest in dabara. The suuurrr aka slurp sound will cool down any hot kaapi. The darker the kaapi, the better. Give any mama or maami a lighter kaapi, you will be met with scornful eyes and will be put on never-to-invite-to-any-home-functions list.

The best kaapi, I have had is at this maami's house where she served me with a tumbler of kaapi made from  Indian ‘monsoon’ beans. The Indian Monsoon is named thus as the beans are exposed to rains and winds. This makes them pale,swell and gain a unique, strong flavour. It reminds you of earth, rain and that sweet smell when the first rain hits the earth. Mmmmmmmm...

Another coffee memory of mine is a pretty funny one and one which I had often repeated. Appa had the habit of buying ground coffee beans fresh from the then "Coffee day" stores (not the modern Cafe Coffee Days). Every evening after school, it was my job to prepare the dicotion (yeah yeah decoction) and keep it ready for him when he arrives from office. It was a pretty easy job, place the ground coffee powder on the upper part of the coffee strainer, press it down with the sieve disc, pour hot water over it, cover the upper part and wait for the magic to happen. What actually happens is the chicory sort of holds on to the hot water a little longer, letting the water extract more flavour from the coffee powder (straight kaapi paste from Wikipedia)

So anyways we are digressing. That interesting part of making dicotion was my job. I continued this pretty religiously. What I didn't know was that darling Appa had switched to ready made coffee powder which dissolves instantly in water. Please to imagine his thunderstruck face when he came home and found a pretty strong "dicotion" made from 4 tablespoons of instant coffee powder waiting for him. And with that I lost my coffee making job. :-(

on a leaving note, did you know that Srilankan Tamil name for kaapi is "Kottai Vadineer".. No? I didn't either... Go read this...