Food Court

The food court at most malls offer a varied choice - Chinese; Lebanese; Iranian; Italian; the Americans on account of their global promise of providing choice to the consumer boast of a Burger King, a KFC and a Mc Donald’s - all serving an assortment of meats with buns of bread, French Fries (wonder why it is called so) and of course Coke or Pepsi depending on their tie up; and last but not the least Indian food - at times a separate franchise for North Indian food and a separate one for South Indian food - a true tribute to our varied heritage and of course due to the fact that we make up a huge percentage of the population which is in fact perhaps the majority (An honest confession again - Please note that as I am not aware of the exact percentage of Indians in the region I have made the sentence inordinately long and even used the term in fact in conjunction with perhaps, two terms which are in fact mutually exclusive).

Parul and I after an exhausting session of furniture scouting went to the food court to grab a bite to eat. Parul was clear that she wanted to eat Chole Bhature at the Light of India. The backlit picture of what looked like a Rajput princess was reassuring but the Phillipina at the counter was not and I also hold the belief that Indian food cannot be franchised as it calls for a degree of expertise and cannot be mass produced the way meat and buns can be.

So I decided to do the rounds scouting for options.

Lebanese I immediately wrote off - grilled meat (one has the choice of chicken, beef and lamb), with bread and chick pea sauce (ground chana with olive oil). Was in no mood for it.

The Chinese reminded me of the slight buzz that I got in my head on account of the MSG.

I have sworn not to eat any of the American fare on account of it being unhealthy and of course bad value for money but I must add in the same bite the fact that all of it does seem to get imprinted in the mind as its so easy to eat and I must confess tasty too in a vague sort of a way.

Italian - the sight of cheesy pasta made my stomach churn.

I was in a real quandary at the south Indian stall. My mind immediately cried Idli's soaked in sambhar and chutney. "Zorry Saar, Zaambaar is zerved zeparitly", the Mallu infourmmmed me.

The Chole Bhature at Light of India were nice and oily.