Mangalore - Apr 22

We got here Sunday (Mar 27) night. It's 11 pm Tuesday (Mar 29) right now, so about two days in - 

The night we got here from Goa was just regular home-cooked fare and catching up to rest. Trains don't let you sleep in peace, even 2-tier compartments, with hawkers, commuters, other passengers continuously passing by. Slept in till about 11 am Monday, then sent off some work emails that I'd been delaying for a week. Went for a short drive around 7 pm and had ice cream at this new Natural's outlet called Just Sundaes. I've developed a full-blown cough and cold now, so took some antibiotics on the way back home. Had 2 small Old Monks with warm water before turning in, and had a nice deep sleep. 

Woke up around 8 am Tuesday and went to Vincy to buy idlis for breakfast. At 10.30 we all left to catch a 11 am show of Gangubai Kathiawad. I'd never particularly been interested in watching this movie, even with the moderate amount of hype it generated, but there wasn't much to do otherwise so I made the plan. The movie is well directed in places but the screenplay falls flat. I feel that for movies about underdogs driven by a strong sense of morality, the main character needs to have a larger goal they're oriented towards that's established right up front. That was missing here. It just seemed like the movie went from sequence to sequence without any real arc, throwing up and resolving plot points arbitrarily. Maybe very little written material is available on the life of this person. This is perhaps why the end seemed abrupt as well, with no proper resolution to her meeting with the PM. The dialogue is powerful and hard-hitting in crucial scenes, but, even with Alia Bhatt's delivery, a lot of it seems forced and engineered to evoke a sentimental response. Not to forget the treatment is quintessential Bhansali drama - grand sets, sombre picture tone, high-speed shots, rousing dialogue and a sentimental score rooted in Indian instrumentation. Last, Vijay Raaz is sinfully underutilized in what could've been an epic (and slightly longer) role, and that's also why I think he seemed very out of it. 

Lunch was saar, chapati, egg bhurji and some methi aloo bhaji. Took a half-an-hour nap in the afternoon during which time my cough progressively worsened. Around 6 pm I took a shower, and all five of us went to Ideal Cafe for a dosa and chinese dinner, followed by Natural's Just Sundaes for ice cream. 

Aditi, Raveena and Rohana at Ideal by Pabba's

Woke up late Wednesday. Papa and I sat through the morning making our Mysore reservations. Around 3 pm when papa was going for his workout, Aditi and I went with him to check out the 7th floor gym, where Aditi took a video of me testing out one of the treadmills wearing a lungi and chappals. Some time around afternoon papa got a call from a bookshop we'd gone to yesterday about a Tulu English tutorial book just coming in. Papa and I left for Bharath Mall, and after picking up the book and some other basic stationery he suggested booking tickets for tomorrow's show of Kashmir Files. We came back home and dinner was at home only. 

On Thursday we went to the gym around 4 pm, got done with our workout in an hour, then left for Bharath Mall. Had some dosas and coffee at Ideal, and got to the theatre well in time for our 7 pm show. Kashmir Files is such a weird movie. Forget the fact that the actors (barring maybe Anupam Kher) have given mediocre performances, the faux-documentary style treatment looks forced at best and fake at worst. The gore is unnecessary, the storytelling plain, and the plot wafer thin. It basically stems from a controversial interview some Kashmiri militant gave about a bunch of murders he did that were never officially documented. So the (non-linear) narrative carelessly trudges back and forth between present-day and 80s/ 90s Kashmir, and the whole thing is a shoddily pieced together assemblage of sequences alternately depicting violence and over-the-top (badly enacted) drama. 

 Machhli serves amazing fish

Dinner was shawarma from a restaurant close to Bharath Mall, I forget which one. Had some rum to round off the night. Cough is almost gone. 

Finished this really cool book called Ignore Everybody by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, recommended by Steal Like An Artist author Austin Kleon. NeuroTribes is about 40% done, so around 300-odd pages still to go. Went to the gym at 4 pm, then did some shopping with papa. My cousins Raveena, Rohana and Rahul came over in the evening and we watched CODA followed by Temple Grandin. More on that here. 

Also, found papa's DSC W220 Cybershot lying around and have been using it to take family and random pictures. Going to post some samples and maybe use it as my blogging camera. The A7iii gets too big to lug around everywhere, especially when I'm not planning on shooting video. Might also use it to take stills on shoots. I've found a couple of old memorabilia from earlier years on this trip: 

1. Casio SK-1 - A small keyboard papa bought sometime in the early 1980s. Really tiny thing but decently power-packed. Doesn't have more than 8 or 9 built-in sounds and no MIDI capabilities, but it's got this sampling mode with an in-built mic that can record 5-second samples and synthesise it. Ahead of its time. 

2. Autograph book - with signatures of Rani Mukherji, Dev Anand, Farida Jalal, Ranjeet, Annu Kapoor and some other stars. Remember meeting some of these people, don't remember some others. Still pretty cool for the Instagram age where selfies are the thing and stars much more accessible. 

3. Kindle - this one's the 10th gen from 2019, but cool to have an extra one because I needed an extra one and papa wasn't using his.

Sunday we didn't do much apart from going to a relative's 50th wedding anniversary where I got emotional about not having had chicken lollipop for so many years that I ended up having 5 pieces back to back. Followed by neer dosa and chicken sukka for dinner, then three pieces of tiramisu cake and half a gulab jamun. Very difficult to resist good food after heavy workouts. 

 The view from our 7th floor gym

 The view from our 7th floor gym

 Weather balloon against a clear sky

Monday Sarita maushi (aunt on father's side) from Bangalore came home and spent the day with us. In the evening we drove to Pilikula Nisargadham, which is a nature reserve plus lodge, kind of like Coorg Nisargadham. The place overlooks a beautiful valley with coconut and palm trees, and on the hill right across from the restaurant is the Mangalore Airport landing strip. Our favourite pastime is watching planes take off and land there while sipping beer or whatever drink we've taken along (there's no alcohol available for sale at the restaurant but they don't mind us bringing some along in moderate quantities). Sadly, this time there was some shoot going on there so the restaurant was shut to visitors. Kinda felt like being on the receiving end of when we shoot in restaurants during working hours and patrons have to go back and find some other place. Stupid karma. We drove back to the city and went to Machli for dinner, followed by Pabba's for gadbad. 

Tuesday I finished reading NeuroTribes, and started with Temple Grandin's Thinking In Pictures, which is equally engaging. Grandin's way of thinking is unique, but doesn't entirely resonate with me; I think I'm more the verbal-logic type of brain as opposed to music/ math or design/ pattern. Actually, I might have got bits of all three, and I also think it might be possible with enough experience to switch between all types depending on what kind of work you're engaged in. More on that in a different blog. Maybe.  

 (L-R) aunt, grandma and mom

 The Gajbaje at Natural's Just Sundaes

After our 4 pm workout we went to Mangalore's View Point, which is a short drive over this small hillock slightly outside Kulasekara that brings you to a clearing from where you can see the entire south valley of the city. Beautiful little secluded place for watching the sunset and taking pics. Had dinner at this chill restaurant called Village, which has amazing Anjal rava fry, prawn tawa fry and hara bhara kebab. The egg biriyani is tasty too. Aditi brought the CyberShot but forgot to bring the battery, which was left charging on the charging dock, so we couldn't take any pics. Boo hoo. 

Aruna atya (dad's sister) came home Wednesday morning. Aditi and I uploaded a BS video after a while, so spent the whole morning and afternoon working on it. I also did some blog work. At 4 we went upstairs for a quick workout, then to Thannirbavi beach with the family. Took lots of pics, ate churmuri and bhoota (corn), and drank cubbinhalu (sugarcane juice) and coconut water. Walked around the beach until sunset. It's quite like Goa, except there's no shacks but a small chowpatty kind of area with bhel, gola and other fast food stalls. It's mostly a family beach so no alcohol places nearby either. Strangely, didn't spot too many boys groups drinking or smoking, and no policemen or beach authorities patrolling the area. Which is both good and bad. 

Dinner was at Pabba's, where Aditi and I split a Mysore sada with cheese and something called a machine gun sandwich, which is a veg sandwich with coleslaw and fries jammed in between the bread. Rounded it off with a nice cup of badam milk, which I've really come to like. It's like the Kashmiri kahwa but with extra milk and fewer dry fruits. 

 Dad and Aditi on some kids' thingies outside the gym

Private gyms are fun :)

Thursday we didn't do much until our 4 pm workout. In the evening - in typical fashion - we debated for almost two hours about where to go and what to do. Eventually wound up going to Natural's Just Sundaes for their gajbaje, which is plated jelly + seasonal fruits + ice cream. Aditi spent the evening baking mawa cake for tomorrow's party. I started the 100 days 100 lo-fi songs project with laying down the melody for the first song and jammed for about an hour or so while Aditi sat and edited the birthday wishes video for amma. 

Friday was amma's 90th birthday, the main reason we took this long trip. In the morning papa, Aditi and I went to a party shop to buy some balloons and other decoration stuff. Had a nice lunch at home, then slept for about an hour. In the evening we got ready and went to the 8th floor community hall in the building for the small party we'd organised. Everyone spoke about their fondest memory with amma, followed by a quick dinner. We wound up around 10 pm, came back home and sat around talking about old times, which is a thoroughly underrated activity I feel, because it grounds you so much in the present moment, like a Headspace exercise.

 

 Little kitty outside a bungalow next to home

 Aditi reading her Kindle in our balcony 

For those couple of hours you forget the future, the present, your ego and who you are to the world, and you let yourself be taken in by all these stories told by people who've known you all your life, before you even had a basic comprehension of the concept of self-image. It's humbling, and I'm most fascinated now by amma's 90 years on Earth, during which time she's seen Nehru, Indira Gandhi (who she calls demure and shy), and Queen (then princess) Elizabeth. Would be so cool to have a way to see things through her eyes since 1932, most of all events that have historical significance. 

 Sunset at Thannirbavi beach

 Extra blackened corn on the cob

 Some sukka bhel type mixture

Got back from Mysore on 15th night, and didn't really do much over the weekend. On Saturday, we went for lunch to a relative's place in Kapikad on account of Sathyanarayan pooja. Did a short city drive in the evening and had an early dinner. On Sunday, while doing some work, Aditi came up with the genius idea of merging Bakesplaining with Much Much. Made immediate sense, considering creating content for (and marketing) two growing platforms was becoming somewhat of a massive task. The plan is to rebrand Bakesplaining simply to Much Much and have all our baking content under one section. The other sections will be dedicated to our original IPs (On The Go and others), music videos for my original music & covers, and maybe a vlog Aditi and I can start. Plus, of course, all the branded content we do that pays the bills for everything else lol. 

This is the reason vacations are needed. Sitting in Mumbai all day long you're so caught up with meetings, calls, deliverables, deadlines, emails, changes, follow-ups, more changes, invoicing, payment reminders, and all that stuff that these simple ideas never seem to come. 

Consolidation is key, the flavour of the month. Here's to making this pivot pay off. 

Cheers, Mangalore. You were amazing, as always :).