Chronicles of a lone blogger - 2

The Kannadigas' contribution to food is praiseworthy. Right from the Udipi restaurants to the Bangalore Iyengar bakeries - they have been filling my appetite and also clogging my arteries! The Bangalore Iyengar bakery has a history behind it. When Swami Ramanuja migrated to Melkote in Karnataka (where the famous Tirunarayanapuram temple stands), he was accompanied by some Sri vaishanavas. Some of these people migrated to Hassan district in Karnataka. It is told that the Bangalore Iyengar bakery originated from here and spread to every corner in Tamil Nadu. Now who gives a damn about from where it originated, they make some of mouth watering pasteries in town. They offer interesting varieties ranging from butter biscuits, honey cakes, plain sweet cream pastries, dilpasand, dilkush, to my favourite fresh buttery hot spicy mouth watering vegetable puffs (the final nail on my coffin!), spicy vegetable buns and the famous "kick ur a**" kind of toast where the stuffing is made of fried onions, tomatoes, green chillies, chilli powder and turmeric powder. A gourmet's delight! Muthu and I still preferred having a vegetable puff, the mandatory onion/cashewnut pakodas and the aromatic cardamom tea served in small plastic cups.

For a person who was accustomed to eating food for taste rather than filling the stomach, the RECT mess was a big mess! Apart from the morning breakfasts with the famous bread toast and onion fry - I rarely ate lunch and dinner! There were times - where I used to travel 30 kms to Trichy just to have lunch in a restaurant! So choosy! I can never survive on thayir saadhams since I guess I am the only person in Tamil Nadu or perhaps India who hates curd!

Thus my customary trip to the Tiruvanaikaval temple was not only to fill my inner koshas with divine vibrations but also to fill my starved stomach with some proper tasty food. So our mandatory trip to the Bangalore Iyengar bakery was just a starter! This is just a word of caution - so that you assume there is still more to come!

The Kavery river is one of the most important and sacred rivers of India. Kavery originates from a a famous pligrimage spot called the Thalai Kavery which is set amidst Bramahagiri Hills in the district of Karnataka. The Kavery is considered to be the Ganges of the south and is also called as the Dhakshina Ganga. The river forms three islands namely Srirangapatnam and Shivanasamudram in Karnataka and Srirangam in Tamil Nadu. These three islands are famous for their temples of Lord Vishnu in a reclining posture on the seven-headed Athisheshan. These three temples are known as 'Adi Ranga' in Srirangapatnam, 'Madya Ranga' in Shivanasamudram and 'Anthya Ranga' in Srirangam.



There are certain minute things in life that can give you happiness that is unbounded in time and space, and these things have to be experienced. An experience that is unfathomable, something that is divine, an experience that can lead one to a state of divine ecstasy.

(The journey continues...)