!!....Infleson...!!
There are some things in life you never forget. Moments you savor, that remain fresh in memory even years later, and bring on those nostalgic train of thoughts. In case you're wondering why I'm getting so 'peeter' and 'feelingse' its because I can't think of how to start this new damn post. Writer's block, they call it. Mine is the size of a darned mountain. Okay, back to the topic.
I still remember the first time I entered the world of Bakya... pretty late, just after my Class 12, considering the fact that most of my pals spent their entire lives there. It was this kind of magical place where you could eat, and eat, and eat, and there was still no way on Earth that you would go bankrupt.
Anish and I took a stroll down Arya Gowda Road once after watching a movie at his place, and I was so ravenously hungry that he suggested that we grab a bite at some place he called "Baghya". I was like, "What?", having spent all my money on Hot Chips the previous four years.
"Its a good place, dude. Very cheap, they give you loads to eat... ", he said.
Now, if you want advice on where to eat and what to eat, ring up good old Anees, as we call him. At a Hundred and Four kilos, he's spent all his life gulping down junk food from around the city. There's never a better connoisseur of food, and he's got all the good places indexed. The guy used to walk around high school, bragging about the way he dug into six different delicacies and four drinks on a single evening at West Mambalam. You might call him an extreme dhanda-soru or vekkam-keta-janmam, but nothing penetrates that bulky exterior. Okay, back to the topic.
So I entered Baghya, (or Bakya, as the name goes), and one bite of the luscious Aloo Chat was enough to convince me that this was heaven on Earth. Being a lecherous bastard, I had always imagined heaven to be a bright sunny world filled with partially dressed beautiful women who sat on my lap and popped strawberries and grapes into my mouth at regular intervals. Now I could see heaven as a dimly lit place filled with the sound of hissing oil, clanging metal, and delicious aroma of softly simmering Panneer Butter Masala. Bakya was all this and more.
It had the reputation of being phenomenally overcrowded, but we guys always caught a spot to sit and enjoy our food. It was the domain of the 'Gangs', the vetti school pasanga, the tharudhala college group, the high school self proclaimed rowdy groups, the englipis-speaking cooling glass-wearing NRI buggers, and the occasional Mama or Maami.
It was the first place to address the problem of giving 'treats'. If a guy caught you off-guard on your birthday or on some occasion and demanded: "Machan...! Treat!"
You could give him that yo-yo confident smile and say, "Sure da. Saindharam Bakya vaa.."
Aah, those were the days.
Anyways the other day I caught Anish wandering mindlessly in 7th avenue, bumping into passing vehicles, walking right into puddles of mud without even bothering to see where he was headed. For a moment there, I thought he was drunk. And then, the cogs started working in my brain. Anish? Drunk? Sheesh. No way. So I crossed the road quickly and caught up with him, saying "Dude, what happened??"
I hadn't seen the guy this serious since they shut down my school canteen due to lack of funds. He looked at me vaguely for a moment. For a second he didn't recognize me, then he starting muttering incomprehensibly: " Bakya... Paneer Fried Rice.. 38..."
The world crashed around me. All of a sudden, the world went silent, and nothing mattered anymore. My marks, the bike, the incomplete assignments, they all seemed so trivial. Turned out, Inflation was the culprit. Bleddy Manmohan Singh, the bun-vaayan in the turban, was the black mark. When the news channels were screaming about the rise in inflation and price rise, I was like, "So what, man?". Now I knew exactly what it was.
May the UPA government rest in peace. Amen.
Damn, all this typing has made me hungry again. Gotta hit Bak- no wait, I cant. *Sigh* Free...
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11 Fellows Swore At This:
Baghya Rocks.. I'm sure everyone from namma area loves it.. who can forget all the vetti times spent there eating till you have no money left.. but after years of eating there it has kinda become mokka but best place for treats, who cares what food you get for free during the treats :)
free..
Yeah, man... yup.. bakya matta forever
Hey CK
Frankly I noticed a few past tenses which seem very appropriate.Bakya is no more what it used to be. I wouldnt mind giving them all my savings if I could get back that old Gobi Manchurian taste. That old cook either quit or is in the station road branch and this guy sucks..because according to him gobi manchurian is three spoons oil, one gobi and loads of colour mixed together in steaming hot water. It tastes like puke...daily puke i guess ;)
Hey Dude.. yeah, the new cook sucks and the prices have hit the darned roof... anyways its okay when compared to the shit they feed us in college. Two rock hard chappathis and some gooey brownish thing they call Kurma.. anyways man, gimme a holler if u guys discover any new hangout...
As of now I dont think we bakya loyalists would turn our heads anywhere else. There's a new McRennet opposite the postal colony stop. Otherwise I dont think anything new's mushrooming. If the rates go up, maybe the quality might too. As for the cook, I did well in misreading it as cock. :P
yeah yeah inflation s bad for the world and will someone pls take off my description as a "dhanda sooru"??
The quality remains more or less the same... but the crowd is definitely thinning of late. Nowadays v guys get a seat inside at 8pm..!! T'was unthinkable a month before.
west mambalam rockz.. ever so does bakya! been there just once... and i loved the ambience! :-)
ah....that was one kewl blog man..!
afta reading..believe me or not, me straight went to bakya..LOL..! had veg.noodles...utterly delicious..!
Yup.. its heaven on earth. Tried Matta?? its near Jawahar Higher... gals don like it that much, 2 spicy... but its a haven for the guys.
dude..awesome post man... but even the inflation doesn't stop us from eating our body-full there...remember Jagan's treat?
and one more thing to think abt.. Anee's so called "injury" and "bed-rest" exactly happened with the time they increased the food prices?? co-incidence??
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