Came across this nostalgic post from Anu about Mysore and Viky's interesting comment on the post. I almost tasted these things in my mind and wanted to post an article I had written about eathing joints of an NIEan on TheNIE.com . Here is the reproduction of the article.
Sometime ago, I was talking with a junior of mine and we invariably ended up discussing about the eat-outs that had gotten interwoven with our existence at NIE. Just occurred to me that I can write up an article about the eat-outs, make you all nostalgic ;)
OK, I am just listing down (in almost no particular order) the places that managed our voraciousness. I am only covering a time window of 4 years (1997-2001) {my earlier stay between 1987-1991 did not allow me to eat out that often} so I am sure I will not be covering places that existed before or the places that came up in last few years. Disclaimers apart read on and remember your favorite food joints!!
Chai shop: now, now, you will surely agree that this HAS to take the first place. The default place to go to if you have just bunked a class or have been kicked out of it by a strict lecturer. I was not a frequenter there (that’s because I could not bunk the classier because I would not come to the college in the first place for most mornings. Well, that’s a different story altogether) so I can not speak about this authoritatively. one interesting thing I know about this place is that (see the archives of this site ) earlier, you could order any fraction of a drink here, each portion of a different drink. I mean you could order 2/3 drink one portion tea, the other coffee and the remaining one milk!!
Kuku’s : Situated just out of the boy’s hostel. You could enjoy bread-omlette or a ‘verki’ or something else with sweet tea enjoying the stench of the gutter next to you and appreciating the scenic beauty of Ashokapuram
Anuty’s juice shop: what happens when great quality meets great hospitality? See that in this juice shop in the Sterling Theater complex. I think nobody remembers the original name of the shop. It was just the Aunty’s juice shop. I still remember the thick mango milk shake. So thick that you will end up ‘chewing’ it instead of drinking.
RTO: grapes juice corner near the RTO office was one huge attraction. There were serious doubts and theories about how on earth that particular juice can be so addictive. Choose your theory but have a drink when you are there next.
Kubera: Boy’s hostels mess on Saturday night (or was it Sunday night?). The hostel mess had a weekly off on Saturday night so this place used to be flooded with the hostel gang.
GTR: Gayatri Tiffin Room, Chamundipuram. The most focused business model I have ever seen. Opens only in morning and evening and was closed on Monday!! What a lousy was to do business you might think. But once you get addicted to the Masala Dose or Goli Bhaji or the delicious coffee, you will go even if he opened only at midnight.
Mahesh Prasad: Recent addition to the food-pilgrimage list. Close to Ballal circle, made good business in a big house converted into a hotel.
RRR: I don’t know what those 3 R’s stand for. But who cares as long as you get the best Andhra style meal in the town? More often than not, you would see Americans and Europeans enjoying food with red faces and running noses. Food in a way is the true global bond transcending nationalities I feel. Located near Gandhi Square if you have forgotten.
Shantisagar: this one we are speaking of was at Kuvempunagar. I remember NIE guys were a major reason they had to convert their unlimited meal into a limited one. Neither food nor service was great but somehow we all had a love-hate relationship. I think he had a very affordable party hall so we ended up having a lot of college parties there.
Dhabas: you would wonder how anyone on this earth could provide food at such a less price. During my days a roti used to cost 2 Rs. There were several on the Bangalore road (Delhi choice, Highway, Pallavi, Greenland etc) each known for its own special dish. None of them were hygienic (not that it mattered) but we would take solace by thinking that any harmful bacteria that might be present would have been incinerated seeing the high flame that was used.
Indrani/Sidhartha/Samrat/Penguin: all these were hotels for small treats you give after you pass an exam or clear some subject you were terribly doubtful about. Located in and around city center.
Roost/Ilapur: these ones are for the real big treats you give when you get your campus job or finish final year project viva. Little heavy on the student pocket but when you have your job at hand, you hardly care ;)
Railway station: well, it figures in this list because that’s among the few places where you could get tea anytime. I still remembers when we (falsely) assumed seriousness during exams and go there to drink tea around 1-2 AM just for the heck of it. It’s a different matter that after having tea, we would come back and promptly go to sleep!!
Okay I think I will stop here for now. There are so many more places that still make me salivate at the very thought but may be I will reserve them for a future article. Why don’t you drop in a couple of lines with your favorite eating joint when you were at NIE? And feel free to add in the places i have missed.
4 comments:
OK .. first of all I am not from NIE ... from the rival JCE :)
But then we had out favourite eateries too ... most of them feature in your list except some of the "In campus" ones. Along with the ones you listed, Raghavendra Bakery on D Urs road, Chat opposite St Mary's and Vada on 14th main road in Saraswathipuram comes to my mind instantly. I am getting hungry now !
Enjoyed this post! The 2/3 tea and so on is ideal for students!
The drinking tea and going to bed part sent some bells ringing :)) When i studied with friends, we had a rule that we would take a break and have tea at 11pm, which would involve a lot of fun and laughter. I stuggled hard to keep awake till then. After tea, the others went back to study and I went to bed.
Comment-Viky: Yes, One more unfinished eatery-blog on Mysore. Wait till I add my fave spots like Bakepoint...
Post-Viky: Viky, STOP, I tell ya. You have already done this on Anu's blog. Why don't you put up your own post?
C-V: Arre, this is SOOOO commentable. I want to put that Kuvempunagar complex Gobi stall, and Shanti Sagar, and what not.
P-V: Do it in your own post. In any case, you keep commenting, and I convert them into posts.
C-V: Yeah, thats all you do. Gather all my comments and put it as a post. Stop that habit, I tell ya.
P-V: If I gotta stop making posts from comments, refrain from commenting on Mysore all over the place. You have done it once. Enough.
C-V: Okay *reluctant look*
Sorry, that was what was going on when I read this. And yes, I've tagged ya. Hop over to my place and check it out.
Folks, was away for a while as my recent post would explain so here are my delayed responses to comments.
Pridera: NIE or SJCE, Mysore rocks. I guess healthy rivalry was definitely one of the fun parts of our BE days. I dont know the places inside/around the JCE campus but saraswatipuram Bondas.. hmm... I remember he could not make them fast enough.
Anu: Sleeping after tea is the fun part! What good it is if you read after the mid-night tea? :)
C-V and P-V: I dont know how 'both the three of you' resove the issue, but I would prefer to see complete posts and may be a comment leading to the post :)
And yup, your tag has been taken by me and I wrote it up.
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