A Plate Of Souvlaki At Sowcarpet Chennai, home to an urbane, cosmopolitan prosperity, gets a global explosion in taste.

Kebabs and kefte roll off the interactive kitchen at the swish Kryptos on Chennai's fashion avenue, Khader Nawaz Khan Road. On a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon, lunch is in full swing in the large, rectangular 64-cover dining area lined with three kinds of hand-crafted walls - firebrick, metal and wooden. A group of spiffy young women, who have selected this Greek restaurant that opened a few months ago for their afternoon of food and chatter, are poring over a menu of meze, souvlaki, fasolada and gigandes plaki. For most in the crowd, not many dishes ring a bell. But that is precisely why they have chosen to be here - to try, test, acquire and grow their culinary character. And that is precisely what Chennai's foremost and full-fledged Greek restaurant is cashing in on.

Nearby, on the busy Nungambakkam High Road, at Dahlia, a Japanese restaurant huddled in a rundown shopping complex, every day between noon and 2.30 pm, business is brisk. In 1993, a seafood exporter, Naoki Yamauchi, and partner Revathi Nagaswami started Dahlia to cater to the small but growing Japanese population in the city. But now it finds that there are more Chennaiites than Japanese gorging on its home-style traditional dishes of sashimi, sushi, udon, soba, ramen.

Chennai, once known for its conservative palate, has plunged into a culinary culture that now boasts of a cavalcade of cuisines and flavours from across the globe. Its ripple effect is perceptible among foodies, many of whom saying pita, sashimi and wasabi, for instance, in the same breath as idli, sambar and vadai. In today's Chennai, home to a manufacturing and IT hub, and an equally eclectic expatriate population, hummus is haute, kimchi the new cool. {Read on}

Phone directory search knocks the bottom out of Maran's defence.

Image via Wikipedia

The article “Minister steals a telephone exchange, loots BSNL” (TNIE June 1, 2011) was entirely based on CBI’s secret report on Dayanidhi Maran’s home telephone exchange in every respect — except one. And that is, the figure of loss of Rs 440 crores in the article was estimated for the 323 stolen ISDN connections on the basis of the extent of use of phone no 24371515, given in the CBI report. So, the outburst of Maran against The New Indian Express group is amusing at best, and ridiculous at worst.

Why? One, he cannot deny that the CBI, which has reported on his wrong doings, is his own government’s agency. Two, the inquiry was instituted by the CBI acting suo motu; therefore it was no political hand moving against Maran in ‘wilderness’. Three, he has to answer his government’s CBI’s report instead of faulting The New Indian Express which did nothing other than making it public.

Maran’s claim to innocence rests on a letter (dated 6.4.2009) issued by V Meenalochiny, General Manager (OP) Chennai Telephones. This was in response to Maran’s letter sent couple of days before. The substance of the BSNL letter is this: One, “only one BSNL connection was provided” at his Boat Club residence to Maran when he was the Telecom Minister; two, that “only phone allotted was 24371500 ISDN-BRA” and “no other BSNL connection was provided” at Maran’s home till date; three, as an MP, Maran was allowed 4,50,000 call units on that number for three years but he had used just 1/3 of it. So far from pilfering billions of calls, Maran has not even used his quota of calls as an MP. Brandishing Meenalochiny’s letter, Maran asserted that TNIE story that 323 BSNL lines were installed in his home is false. Examine this claim now.

The CBI report gives the specific numbers of the 323 BSNL ISDN lines installed in Maran’s Boat Club home. But, Meenalochiny’s letter says only one line — bearing 24371500 — and no other, was installed in his home. If what she says is untrue, Maran’s defence collapses. Here is the evidence that clinches that Meenalochiny’s letter is incorrect. {Read on}

'The Musalman' The last handwritten newspaper in the world.

The Musalman-Preservation of a Dream
The 'Musalman' is probably the last handwritten newspaper in the world. It has been published and read every day in South India's Chennai since 1927 in almost the same form. In the shadow of the Wallajah Mosque in Chennai, a team of six die hard workers still put out this hand-penned paper. Four of them are katibs -- writers dedicated to the ancient art of Urdu calligraphy. It's tough for the die-hard artists of Urdu calligraphy. But the story we tell here is not just of their desperation and despair. The fact is, at the office of 'The Musalman', the oldest Urdu daily in India, no one has ever quit. They work till they pass on. This is the story we tell.

 Photos by Scott Carney

 

 

 

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When you eat at places that serves...