Fantastic Thindi hopping with the gang!
40 people, JP Nagar, united by love for thindi❤️
@DVijaykeerthy @Prnv_B @KananVyas2 @97amarnathk @acertainhunger @bladenomics @debabrata_ma1ik @RiyaKandekar @Vikrchan @daffyxviks @AnjuPuduri
The theme was to explore beyond idli dosE vadE. We started at Keshu's corner near Puttenahalli lake. They serve sankethi style dishes.
First up, sorekayi idli (bottle gourd).
They're dense, yet soft, and pair very well with the kayi chutney. Karnataka has a history of using water melon rind etc in dosE and idlis.

60.
Nearly SIXTY of us roamed the streets of Cubbonpete yesterday in what turned out to be an epic thindi hopping!
@DVijaykeerthy @Souj_Sridharan @devanshp_ @sridhu @sindbadrose @sleepyhead148 @funnyfatguy_ @rosnshah @vigneshj619 @Mahesh121811 The idea was to explore Cubbonpete style darshinis. No sambar, no filter kaapi, compact menu, & the originators of thick, ghee laden dosEs (almost 30-40y ago). They really break the mold from the traditional Udupi darshinis that are more ubiquitous.
We started at SK tiffin room.

Had an awesome time with @floydiancookery @sahilk @KartikParija Vinitha, Shailendra, Punith, @Iamshennoying @DVijaykeerthy @NirmalSBhansali @dikshahahaha Aakanksha, Sruthee, Shailendra, Tejas, Anupama, Chethana, Shruthi & Manu. 27 of us, South Bangalore, chats hopping. Nuff said! The idea was to sample the varieties of chats in Karnataka. Wet, dry Shetty style, uttara Karnataka style. We couldn't sample the 4th type, aka Bangarpet style.
We started off with Tikki adda, Jayanagar for dry chats.
One of my favourite bandis!

Chindi chitranna thindi hopping with
@allenjseb @harsha_balur @kumar_abhijeet3 @pragatibadri @_anewbhav_ @scam_adi @amritaiq @reshprai @Nishar_17 @adii_kris @smarcha7 @mehulkanodia @0xgoutham @pseudonymtra @findabhilash
Janice, Samir, Sanjay, Gaurang, Nandini, @vighneshhegde9 Yash, Akshay, Abhishek, Arthy, George, Karthik, Madhura, Mahima, and Shalaka, Nirbhik. Nearly 35 of us roamed the streets of Seshadripuram and Malleshwaram. Beautiful areas❤️

I had 4-5 hours to spare in Kolkata. I thought I'd go on a little stroll and grab some food :)
It was drizzling. Thankfully, it wasn't hot, but still, quite damp. Didn't dampen my spirits though ;)
Here's to a little walk in the city of joy, i mean mishti and doi :D First up, a 250 yr old heritage place. Adi Haridas Modak, Shyambazar.
Known for their sit down service on banana leaf.

I spent a weekend in London. We all know where this is heading ;) Allow me to take you on a little journey :) London, obviously, is a HUGE food hub. I managed to cover a few places. Stop 1: Lunch at Bancone (Italian).
The place opens at noon. Queue starts from 1145.
This is their Covent Garden outlet.

Hello Kolkata! Due to unavoidable circumstances, i had to reschedule my journey that resulted in an overnight stay here. I had a few hours to spare before i hit the bed at the hotel room. So I decided to do what i love the most. Food hopping! Allow me to take you on a journey :) I did ask for some suggestions on twitter, some wonderful colleagues, and WA groups (one of the biggest perks of thindi capital :)) and came up with a map while doing timepass at blr airport after an early check in.
A solid 11km walk from Sobhabazar to Tiretti bazar.

A 10k followed by a visit to Reshwaram Cafe, Whitefield! (With parents). Location is on the main road so that's good! But parking is a massive challenge. Traffic cops are minting money 😂 they are openly telling people "if you park on the main road, you'll have to pay fine". Lot of ppl are like "here Saar take the monies and leave me". So the net

My favourite part of the job is visiting tea factories & commissioning processes.
The hours are long, work is physically gruelling & things have to be organized, meticulous & well planned. Each factory is unique & each visit is super memorable. One such visit concluded recently. Work went well, but the other part i enjoy equally is binding with the workers.
But that's not really the point of the picture.
What I really love about tea factories in south india is the male:female ratio in the workforce. It is usually 50:50, if not higher towards females.

Last five days have been exhausting. Working in a factory, running around few acres of space from end to end, it is physically draining. I'm in a remote location with nothing, and i mean nothing to do nearby. The hours are long (9am-8pm), and I'm also grooming a couple of newly joined engineers. The food at our accommodation is getting ridiculously monotonous and there is nothing reasonable nearby forbus to try. More like we don't have the physical and mental bandwidth. Such is life. Loneliness, isolation and lack of entertainment and being away from

Today is world Idli day. So sharing my idli collection :)
1. The legendary Brahmin's coffee bar, Shankarapuram. 2. Singularly amazing Shree idli corner, Veerapillai street.

Kannada Rajyotsava habbada hardika shubhashayagaLu. I'd like to thank the lovely city of Bangalore (I know I should say Bengaluru today, but the beauty is that this state is that it embraces me in spite of me identifying with Bangalore as an emotion...and my horrendous Kannada). Apart from a good job (Bangalore is a huge R&D hub for non software folks like me), good lifestyle, sakkath hot maga chindi chitranna weather that I miss when I travel elsewhere (wearing a light sweater as I'm typing this), my favorite part about this wonderful state is the food.

B*** Ma*a

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Assam for some (business critical) work. It was draining physically (factory, most days were 40C+ and 90%+ humidity. Once our work was done, my colleagues & I decided to travel a bit on our day off. I thought I'd share some pics :) But first, getting into Assam. I insist on a window seat, so I get to see the mighty Brahmaputra. And its tributaries in all its glory. The views are spectacular!

Today's #RunForThindi column for @htTweets features Asha Tiffin, the recently opened place in Whitefield. Hands down, the best place for masal dosE and keaaribhath! Finally, about damn time, Whitefield got a *good* darshini like place.
epaper.hindustantimes.com/Home/MShareArt… Thank you @saffrontrail for sharing the place :D
Located in AECS layout, at the end of the "cherry blossom" street. They have parking space as well.

Hi #Bangalore, I am delivering ration kits anywhere in town. Each kit has:
3kg rice
1kg aata
1kg ragi flour
1kg tuar dal
Sanitary pads 8pcs
Tea 100g
Oil 500ml
Soap 2
1kg Sugar
1kg Salt
1 bottle peanut butter
100g coriander pdr
100g sambar pdr
100g turmeric pdr
100g chili pdr I am open to customising the kits to include specific supplies.
I have been working with:
Let's be the change
The concerned for welfare of children
Aneka
Karnataka Janashakti
Armour of Care
State Workers Action Network
@readingkafka (Rural development department) for a bit.

This is an appreciation tweet. For a (imho) underappreciated genre.
The Marathi dhinchak/DJ songs.
When it comes to foot taping music, we are usually associated with Bhangra. But dappankuthu songs are a class of their own. And these Marathi numbers. Truly fast and fantastic! Exhibit 1. Dolbywalya DJ.
P.S: I don't have a clue about the lyrics (although there is an 'appadi podu' somewhere in the song ;)) but the music and the energy is terrific!

34.
I had moved into a new job after facing a toxic work environment.
I had gone through a spectrum of emotions. Ranging from resignation to fate to 'hey I'm better off than many people so let me not complain'.
I was still figuring life out. I wanted a child. Travel the world. Do things for my spouse. My family.
Amidst the shitstorm, there were things to look forward to.
34 is when a lot of people are figuring life out. 

After getting into a frame of mind where there is a shred of empowerment to decide things for them selves after being force fed

Mexican inspired chesse stuffed arancini balls with leftover rice and old bread.
It is baked :D In addition to leftover rice and crumbled bread, it also has chopped basil, corn, shredded pepper, salt, olive oil...aaaaand