One of my friends was sucking her thumb when some of the events I talk about took place. Another did not even have a thumb and I was killing time by running around the city of Bangalore. I talk of old times, when mobile meant "able to move or be moved freely or easily". I talk of very old times when cell meant "a small room in which a prisoner is locked up". I have not bothered to revisit the places that I mention here, for many years now and so have no idea if they exist anymore. I, for sure, know that one of the places closed down many years ago but the others might exist still. But I am sure that the flavour flowing out them today would be very different from the days I talk about. So I will use the word likes "exist" in the past tense from here on.
As the St.Marks road, pierced its way toward M.G.Road, it crossed Brigade road just beyond the Rex theater. If one looked eagerly to the left, one would have seen a nondescript cream coloured building followed by the Galaxy theater with its expansive parking. This building housed two popular eateries of those days. The first, Nagarjuna, served fine Andhra food. Their unlimited Andhra meal began with paruppu podi and ghee and for many, never ended. A small path, on the side of the building sticking to the compound wall with Galaxy theater, led to the finest ice cream shops in the city, The Corner House. I am sure not everyone would agree with my declaration of this place being the finest. Many loved Lakeview on M.G.Road but, in my opinion, that place was a con. They had a hundred varieties of sundae and mondae with fancy names like breezy friday evening, a cold love, cozy calendula and my favorite name, crooning exstasy. All of them were made from 10 flavours of icecream and at times, the only difference would be the order in which they are arranged. Thus we discovered that peaceful panacea had chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, whereas going with a bang had vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.
Corner House was famous for two sundaes, Hot Chocolate Fudge (lovingly called HCF) and (at this point, hope everyone hears the drum roll and the ta-ra-rum-pum-pums) Death by chocolate. HCF with the nut laced hot chocolate sauce poured over vanilla ice cream scoops was a regular order and loved by all. For a long time, all of us looked the name Death by Chocolate with fear in our eyes. Many felt that one would actually die halfway through the dish. We felt like those Egyptian helpers in Howard Carter's team who dug through the Valley of the Kings to the cursed tomb of Tutankhamen. Some of us could actually hear the curse "The eyes of the Cocoan Gods fall on the one who orders Death by Chocolate and with every mouthful a part of his/her soul shall become the property of the Gods till there is none to continue living." So we ordered HCF and looked at those ominous words on the menu with wistful eyes.
One semester, I had picked a pathetic course and was on verge of flunking it. Life seemed so dark that I believed that my soul would be too tasteless for even the Cocoan Gods. So I skipped dinner and ordered the Death. A large plastic bowl of brown coloured rocky mountains arrived. Corner House loved serving their sundaes in styrofoam or plastic cup and bowls. That was the part of their cool attitude. Death consisted of many pieces of chocolate cake, surrounded by chocolate ice cream and loads of chocolate syrup poured all over. Nothing else! They did not even place the lethally sweet, syrupy and sticky cherry on top. The missing cherry disappointed me. I loved to munch the cherry as I licked the syrup off my fingers. I dug into the sundae and realized it tasted like chocolate something; a lot of chocolate something that is. I did not struggle to get through the death and obviously did not die in the process. I did not enjoy the dish though. It only had one problem, it had too much chocolate in it and I am not a chocolate person.
I like chocolates and don't faint at the sight of it. But you will not find me in an ice cream parlour requesting for additional chocolate sauce on a dish containing chocolate slush stuffed chocolate cake topped with chocolate ice cream. I have seen such people and roll my eyes when I see them walking towards the counter for the additional chocolate sauce. A Diary Milk here or a Bourbon biscuit there is not a problem. During the early days of my life, the small chocolate filled Éclairs had a special place for everyone. I somehow associated, the Éclairs distributing birthday kid to be a rich kid. I never distributed Éclairs; in fact, I did not like either - I used to wonder if that meant that I did not even have richness within me. My favorite chocolate moment came a few years ago, when I bit into a chocolate laced with mint. For me, chocolate tastes best when it is corrupted with something else - with nuts, with dry fruits, with crackles, with Oreo, with wafers, with nuts (Oh! I love nuts in my chocolate).
I love receiving boxes of chocolates as gifts though. I will never-ever walk in to a shop and ask for chocolates and this makes the gift doubly sweet. Sadly, in the past few days, I have been promised boxes of chocolates by 2 persons and their promises have not been fulfilled yet. Mind you, I hold no ill-thoughts against them. They promised to get me the boxes for trivial reasons and I am sure I don't deserve this benevolence. Besides, a box of chocolates brings in unpredictability. As Gump's momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." When I heard this statement, I felt there was more to it than meets the ears. I searched through my life and understood what it was. Gump's momma should have always said "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. The only time you know what you are gonna get is when the box doesn't arrive at all. In that case, you get nothing at all." I like the predictability that not having the box of chocolates brings and was never looking forward to those boxes of chocolates.
My only worry is that they promised and science is on the verge of proving that unfulfilled promises flash through a persons last thoughts. So seventy years from now, I can see them on their death beds mumbling incoherently "My God! I did... did... did not give that cho... cho...co.....la...." The machine displaying the spiky lines while chanting bip-bip-bip suddenly shows a flat line and goes beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Of course, by that time, I would have been long gone and long forgotten and the promise shall remain unfulfilled for ever. It will be a black spot, that is blacker than the black hole, in the conscience of the universe. In this case, there will be two such spots. Science is a few years away from proving that such black spots are the reason for the ever expanding universe, which would result in the breaking down of the creation-destruction cycle and ultimately would result in a universe that can neither die nor live.
The thought of this happening makes me sad.
I like chocolates and don't faint at the sight of it. But you will not find me in an ice cream parlour requesting for additional chocolate sauce on a dish containing chocolate slush stuffed chocolate cake topped with chocolate ice cream. I have seen such people and roll my eyes when I see them walking towards the counter for the additional chocolate sauce. A Diary Milk here or a Bourbon biscuit there is not a problem. During the early days of my life, the small chocolate filled Éclairs had a special place for everyone. I somehow associated, the Éclairs distributing birthday kid to be a rich kid. I never distributed Éclairs; in fact, I did not like either - I used to wonder if that meant that I did not even have richness within me. My favorite chocolate moment came a few years ago, when I bit into a chocolate laced with mint. For me, chocolate tastes best when it is corrupted with something else - with nuts, with dry fruits, with crackles, with Oreo, with wafers, with nuts (Oh! I love nuts in my chocolate).
I love receiving boxes of chocolates as gifts though. I will never-ever walk in to a shop and ask for chocolates and this makes the gift doubly sweet. Sadly, in the past few days, I have been promised boxes of chocolates by 2 persons and their promises have not been fulfilled yet. Mind you, I hold no ill-thoughts against them. They promised to get me the boxes for trivial reasons and I am sure I don't deserve this benevolence. Besides, a box of chocolates brings in unpredictability. As Gump's momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." When I heard this statement, I felt there was more to it than meets the ears. I searched through my life and understood what it was. Gump's momma should have always said "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. The only time you know what you are gonna get is when the box doesn't arrive at all. In that case, you get nothing at all." I like the predictability that not having the box of chocolates brings and was never looking forward to those boxes of chocolates.
My only worry is that they promised and science is on the verge of proving that unfulfilled promises flash through a persons last thoughts. So seventy years from now, I can see them on their death beds mumbling incoherently "My God! I did... did... did not give that cho... cho...co.....la...." The machine displaying the spiky lines while chanting bip-bip-bip suddenly shows a flat line and goes beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Of course, by that time, I would have been long gone and long forgotten and the promise shall remain unfulfilled for ever. It will be a black spot, that is blacker than the black hole, in the conscience of the universe. In this case, there will be two such spots. Science is a few years away from proving that such black spots are the reason for the ever expanding universe, which would result in the breaking down of the creation-destruction cycle and ultimately would result in a universe that can neither die nor live.
The thought of this happening makes me sad.
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