Toilet Papers Aboard Indian Railways

One sign that Indian Railways has picked up steam against competition from air travel is the fact that we chose to travel to Delhi via train rather than airplane for an official trip. So what if it takes 36 hours to get to delhi, the combined fare for three train passengers in 2AC of Rajdhani equaled the air fare for one air passenger.

But this is not why I am writing the blog, I am writing the blog coz’ I re-discovered the comfort offered by Indian Railways’ Rajdhani trains, which is even better over air travel!

Sponsored Train: The exterior of the Rajdhani train with Airtel Ad splashed all across the train. (image taken using iPhone)

Branding Takes Over
I was pleasantly surprised to see Rajdhani (our train from Bangalore to Delhi) ‘sponsored’ by Airtel. The familiar white and blue colours of Rajdhani is now replaced by bold advertisement of an Airtel ad showing two boys playing football (one of the trademark ads of Airtel). The brand had also found comfortable space inside the train as colourful Ads informing us of the ‘Music on Demand’, “unbreakable bonds, unmatched coverage” and so on were placed at every head rest of the upper berths.

“Thank god the curtains were spared!” I said. Airtel had hit the right medium for branding its “Unbreakable Coverage”, when I noticed that even the windows of the AC bogies were cleverly covered by the Ad screen from outside.

A middle-aged fellow co-passenger remarked how he missed the pleasant trademark blue and white colours of Rajdhani and that he thought the train looked dirty with the Ads covering the entire surface.

But I couldn’t care less how Rajdhani might have looked dog years ago; I could see the value behind the ‘branding’ by private sector on a public train. The train was cleaner, and passenger friendly with the various amenities it had on board.

Squeaky clean Toilets
I must mention the remarkable improvement of toilets in Indian trains, atleast for 2AC compartments. The common wash basin is equipped with a soap dispenser, as well as the toilets. The western toilets not only have toilet rolls, but also toilet seat covers which a user can put over soiled toilet seats, tissue papers for wiping hands and an automated sanitizer that’s supposed to deodorize the toilet at set intervals (although I could see its batteries had run out).

The only complaint I had was that Laloo took away half my pillow! The free pillows given along with blanket and quilts were remarkable thinner than what used to be. However it was just a minor irritant that was soon forgotten with the other amenities provided on the train such as a charging point near the berths, and that actually works. So I had no fear of having a dead iPhone on board while watching movies on it.

The food wasn’t bad either, saving the curds that had gone a bit sour. Food was always of a certain standard, but this time I noticed better portions of curry dish (paneer or chicken), dal, rice and well cooked rotis. Whats more it came with steel cutlery, a sharp contrast over plastic ware that certain airlines still serve!

Yet another bold move I must say Mr. Laloo, coz’ for years, us - Indians were thought to be undeserving of steel cutlery thanks to a notion that we pickpocket free cutlery. So Thank you Mr. Minister for trusting us to keep good manners!

Air conditioning worked just fine and thank god I haven’t spotted any cockroaches still in my compartment yet. Water did not run out in the toilets even by evening as they usually did in the past.

My thank you
My vote definitely goes to our beloved Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. Clearly he has shown a way forward in making a squeaky clean image of Indian Railways. One hopes this is more than mere cosmetic change.

While I write this blog onboard Rajdhani I only hope the network connectivity of my cellphone was as good as the Ad at my bedside claimed. Perhaps a wi-fi enable train would be next Mr. Laloo?

Art of Fine Dining : Grasshopper

The occasion of my husband's birthday demanded we go to a special place for a belated celebration for just the two of us. After much Web hunting for a 'Romantic restaurants' I chanced upon Grasshopper, a restaurant that is tucked away in a corner of Bangalore, far from the traffic infested roads.

This restaurant has had some very good reviews on the Web and what drew me to it was the fact that it has no menu but promises a 7-course meal fit for a food connoisseur. Also this place is exclusively available on reservation which means no waiting in queues and no crowd (At one time it can accommodate four tables of 5 people each).

This place is a good one hour drive to Bannerghatta from where I live but we didnt mind it all on a rainy Sunday afternoon with a cool breeze giving us company.

We were looking forward to the European style of fine-dining, something we hadnt experienced before. I must admit that neither my husband or myself are experts on fine dining but we are foodies and willing to try something new all the time.

Grasshopper is just a couple of Kms from IIMB, and close to a lake., table was in the verandah overlooking the small courtyard which had several shades of green. We didnt have to order anything, as the menu for the day ws already decided and the chef was just waiting for us to begin his art. We chose vegetarian and no alcohol, just a cool lemon soda and ginger-mint to go with the meals.

1. Starters came in first; we started with Aubergine with walnut paste on garlic bread. This was both smooth and crunchy, with a delicious dressing of Olive oil.

2. The second one prepared us for the exclusivity - Zucchini with cream cheese and steamed garlic. This had both visual and tasteful appeal. The cream was just rightly flavoured and went extremely well with the garlic which had lost its pungency after being steamed.

3. The third starter just blew my mind away - Beetroot with sesame seeds and blue cheese. "A taste that my tongue has never experienced before!" I exclaimed. I never thought they could do that with beetroot and cheese! It was indeed an awesome combination as the steamed beet was lightly sweet and blue cheese was strong and pungent... creating an assault on our taste buds that we throughly enjoyed.

The starters had really got us in the groove and we were eagre for the rest.

4. The salad arrived looking all green and fresh; served on a bed of salad cabbage were Basil and other hebs freshly plucked and roasted tomatoes and figs. I was a bit disappointed with the salad as I expected a veg salad to be a more delightful to taste. I felt like a cow chewing away the cud. What couldve saved it for me perhaps is Mayonaise or some sort of creamy salad dressing.

5. After overcoming the salad with a few nibbles, I went straight in for the first main dish - Sweet Red Pepper stuufed with Tofu and Asparagus. This looked interesting as the green and red combination looked very inviting. I found the tofu very home-made and loved the red pepper. Asparagus was however given in its naked form with no value-add, and I realised how bitter it can be at some bites.

6. The final main course was mushrooms with baby potatoes and a leek. No one can go wrong with this combination. This was well cooked, had a nice herby sauce and the quantity was good enough to make me go slow. I enjoyed the taste and wished I held a red wine to go with it. No compalints with this simple dish. The surprise element wa sthe the leek (i forget its name) which I hadnt tasted before.

7. Ah, the final climax of this event was the dessert. We were presented with five choices - lemon cheesecake, chocolate truffle, coffee icecream, lemongrass ice cream, and fig and almond ice cream. We both went instantly for the lemongrass icecream as we had tasted this before and totally fell in love with it. Expectedly this didnt disappoint us a bit. The ice cream came with shavings of lemongrass adding to the romanticism.

The setting of the place was just perfect as we watched the raindrops kiss the garden. There was no hurry to leave and make way for some other guests, there was no impatient waiter hurrying us with the bill, in fact we had to call him to get the bill! We spent a good three hours eating, and enjoying each other's company.

The meal lasted long after we had it and drove back home. We felt as if we had participated in an event specially created for us and still savouring it.

I am not going to spoil it by letting you know how much it cost us becoz frankly this experience was too good to be adjudged as pricy. I just want to recommend that if one is ever looking for fine-dining and to be treated exclusively, then visit Grasshopper.

(Photos will be posted soon)