The Ringside View

My attempts at writing have always been stacked up in old diaries and scraps of yellowing paper.Time,neglect and phylum insecta however, always ensured that the gibberish i scrawled, never would see the prying gaze of an alien eye.Years later, i still scribble once in a while - this time in word documents stored in some obscure folder somewhere in the innards of my C drive.I am unearthing some of them and opening them up for the interested.To get what i call - The Ringside view.

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Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

CTR re-visited

I had been through the revered gates once. And the milling crowds had dissuaded me two times. Non-descript and unpretentious, it stands oblivious to the endless traffic that weaves past it in an all too obvious urban frenzy. I was mildly hungry and it was purely incidental that it occurred at the revered corner. Perhaps, it’s a hunger that most if not all at Malleswaram will vouch for, when they reach this neck of the woods. It is after all, one of the Holy Trinity – the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost of masala dosa.

CTR, Malleswaram has stood the test of time. And their Benne Masala Dosa is probably as divine as divinity can get. We jostled past a waiting crowd and scanned the seating arena. Blank walls and expectant faces – waiting like pilgrims wait for the pearly gates to open. It’s old world fairness. You jostle around and find place for yourself. Today was a lucky day; a day when being at the roulette table would have been as good an idea as being at CTR. Two gentlemen rise and we slide in, like in a musical chair. What a fair world.

Traffic flowed ceaselessly on the main thoroughfare. And the little boy, who came for the order, flashed no menu card. The order is placed and Nicky re-iterates the ‘bring the coffee with the dosa’ routine that is very much the style. I talked like I always do; about some inane happening that both of us at that point were hardly interested in. The dosa does not take time; and it probably should not, the waiting crowd will cry out loud. Small, golden and crispy – every morsel tastes of soaked in butter. Like some divine entity the butter is never visible and yet all pervasive. Put one morsel into your mouth and it appears mysteriously in your hands.

At CTR, people hover around you as you eat, like defenders at the Arsenal goal mouth; silently hoping that you would finish at the earliest; praying you are not one of those gluttons who would order for one more. We just take our time and deliver justice to what is on the plate. The trick is in being in oneness with your food; and ignoring the unnecessary. After all, at CTR you earn your right to be where you are. By the time we get to the wash basin and back, different men and women are already gracing our seats and waiting expectantly for their plate of happiness to be delivered.

Twenty-two rupees is what it takes. But the old Bangalore experience as a television commercial selling credit cards once said – is probably priceless.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Penguin said...

Reading this just before I step out to lunch is making me long to come back home. Are you back in Bangalore for a while now? Or how?

June 03, 2009 9:00 PM  
Blogger Preeth said...

come off ma. After all, home is where the heart is. Have been in Blore for a month. And by the look of things might be here for a few more months.

June 03, 2009 10:43 PM  
Anonymous Sona said...

Hey what's CTR?? I live so close to Malleswaram now, I got to go there! I've only been to HaLLimane in Malleswaram...

June 04, 2009 7:48 AM  
Blogger Preeth said...

@Sona -> only one thing to say - Shame on you. And don't ask any good old Malleswaram resident what you just asked me. They might think you're from Mars (ok.slight exaggeration here, but I insist, you should try CTR while in the vicinity)

June 04, 2009 11:20 AM  
Anonymous Sona said...

Arre I asked what does C stand for? I know wonly MTR :P

June 05, 2009 1:59 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

drool drool...guess where i will be going for breakfast tomorrow! :)

by the way, half the junta will not be able to read the words CTR on the board now..its been renamed Sree Cafe for quite a while now, but for the old faithfuls, CTR still appears at the bottom left-hand corner within brackets

June 11, 2009 2:53 AM  

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