Daddy’s Day Out!

Mom’s day out too, but she’s more a spectator, than the one causing incidents and drama!

Every time Kumi  (my younger sister, for the unverified) is in India, she loves to take parents out for coffee, snacks, a major meal (usually associated with her shopping trips). She generally bristles that I don’t take initiative and make efforts to organise that (which is also a fact). I have my own reason (call it an excuse if you will) too for my reluctance.

Usually, my dad is very critical of every restaurant we go to eat at. I do not remember if he has approved of the food at any place we have dined at, in the last several years!  He invariably slips into a distant past and reminisces memories of having dined at some quaint eatery - those tastes still linger both on his taste buds and his memories. That both amuses and irks me. Also, I am not a foodie - if the food is edible, I will eat, and be done with. I rarely remember the signature dishes of various exclusive restaurants that I might’ve visited with different people. 

But, dad loves to be indulged, especially by his daughter. He loves his coffee with a blueberry muffin, from Costa (but, sadly there are not many Costa outlets). And,  rava idli from Shiv Sagar off Commercial Street. But, he also prefers to explore newer places beyond these. This time, since she was in town for a shorter duration and had many other engagements to deal with, she suggested we step out for breakfast. I readily agreed. And, for a change, looked out for a restaurant nearby and made reservations too, using google and Swiggy. She loves taking them out, each time she’s in town several times.   I reserved a table at the Grand Mercure Bangalore. Chose it since it was closer home, and easier to reach in morning traffic. 

Parents didn’t like the food one bit (not surprised at all; nothing new). Nor did we siblings. However, we were made to remember Shakespeare. It was King Lear style cuisine.  The place loves salt, and wants us all to appreciate it. So, we had salt in various flavours - rava dosa, masala dosa, idli, Wada, and sambar. The only dish not made of salt was omelette! May be they ran out of the main ingredient by then and had to substitute it with eggs! 

The service though was impeccable. They were suitably apologetic, and offered to replace dishes and make them afresh, but the main ingredient levels stayed the same. It appears they had a secret listening device and learnt my sis was having sudden Issues with a dip in her blood pressure. Voila! Now, after breakfast, her weeklong headaches have vanished!

Now, the BP apparatus at home is finding it difficult to record the readings of the rest of us though!

Tailpiece. 

Dad as always had a sneak peek at the breakfast bill. He berated us for wasting away good money on such terrible fare. “For a fraction of this money we could have had great food at home itself. And, the rest of the money could have been donated to people who need. But, you guys don’t have such generous streak in you.  You’d rather waste precious rupees at such places…”, on and on his rant went! 

By the time my sister visits India again, he would promptly forget all this and be ready for another outing. “Hmm! Where are we going this time?” And yet another rant, post food!