Till a few months back, it was a ritual every afternoon for all of us at office to figure out where we were going for lunch. We didnt have much of a choice to 'figure out' though because out choices were limited to more or less just Green Gardenia - the neighbourhood Andhra family restaurant where the lunch was always a mystery - even if we ordered the same things over and over again!
The whole bunch of us (at least 15) would saunter down the lane and across the main road to try our luck with biriyani or meals or rotis and curry. The chef at Green Gardenia is amazing! He can make Dal Makhni in many many different ways! I dont think I have ever had the dal there tasting the same even twice!! Between all of us, we have even tried the Chinese there ( I find Chinese food dubious in most places, forget Gardenia which cant even get the Indian right most times!!!)
It was super fun though! We would occupy the same seats and the people there would more or less know our orders as well! Green Gardenia was where we experimented with food, bonded over biriyani and rotis, talked and laughed, watched the funniest memes on Rambo's phone and got our Bollywood fix - we cringed but sang along with the older songs and just cringed at most of the new ones! Even Ritika, who got her yummy lunch from home, would come along just for the sheer fun of it!
If we werent lazy and most of us were at sites on Hennur road, we would all head to Koels Pizza and order the yummiest pizzas with all extras added in! Then we would fight over how many slices Rambo had and was actually supposed to have! If we felt like celebrating mid day, we would head to Straight Up. That was usually a Saturday feature where late lunches would wind up as late evenings :-)
The site visits towards Sarjapur and Whitefield are normally scheduled all together and the usual stopover for lunches then are the Big Brewsky or most of the time - The Red Rhino. I have been only once to the Red Rhino but I have heard so much about the place that I dont think my one experience counts! Loooong site meetings and hot, sunny days spent driving form one site to the other warrant good times and Red Rhino has always delivered!
Lunches are not the same anymore though. Most of us get lunch from home and I actually cook! Its only Rambo who goes out every day for lunch. Sai and I go with him when I am lazy or swamped with work otherwise its quick work lunches with a short break after these days.
The last week or so though, we have been going out a lot more. The same old banter and laughs and whats more, we have choice now! We have Chikpet Donne Biriyani to go to as well!
We should try and do the lunches more often .... I cant help but smile everytime I think about the good times. I had missed our group lunches. The conversations and laughter and fun times.
We really should do this more often. It binds us, these lunches.
-Leena
Comments