Happiness

What is happiness?

Coming home after a walk in the afternoon sun in the summer and having a slice of cool and sweet watermelon.
Curling up with a good book in the afternoon, without anyone to disturb you.
Getting drenched in the rain and coming home to a steaming cup of tea and a plate of hot pakodas.
Waking up late on a Sunday morning. Sitting on the floor with a huge mug of coffee and the Sunday paper. After reading the paper leisurely heading out for a hearty breakfast of fluffy omelets and golden crunchy toast and fresh orange juice.
P and I have always loved exploring places where we could get this kind of Sunday-morning grub. A few years back we headed out to Cafe Good Luck at Deccan for such a breakfast. The food at this place was good, but what was even better was the laid back atmosphere. Our heaven of happiness though, has been bulldozed by time and will be replaced by some impersonal steel and glass ugliness. Sigh!
One Sunday morning P had this urge to eat sausages. German Bakery,- one place we would surely get sausages in Pune, we thought. We had heard quite a few good things about this place from a lot of people. Worth the long drive we thought. So we drove across town to this small bakery-cum-cafe in koregaon park. The place was full of maroon-clad whites. There were a few normal whites as well (normal as in not dressed in maroon). I at once began to feel like an alien. "Why should you?" asked P. Yes, why should I? So we went up to order (this being a self service joint), only to be ignored by the person at the counter. "See, that's why.." I said. We were also told that they did not serve sausages. So much so for driving half way across town.... We ordered the normal eggs-and-toast breakfast. They do have a good variety of cakes, scones, danish etc. We had a tough time finding a place to sit. We waited politely for a table to be vacated. After a long wait and watching others just elbow their way in and grab a seat, we changed our strategy and grabbed a seat where a couple was already seated. The food also took its time arriving. But when it did arrive, all was forgotten. The bread slices where thick and toasted and buttered just perfectly. The omlete was also very fluffy and tasty.
However, that was many months ago and we have never gone back.
Another good place for eggs and toast breakfast is Hotel Vohuman outside Jehnagir Hospital. We walked in to this place one sunday morning when we happened to be in that part of town. A small Irani kind of a place, with a lot of tables and chairs placed close to one another. The place was quite full but did manage to get a table in a corner. The first thing I noticed as soon as we were seated was there were very few women. This seemed to be one of those places men would go for a quick and wholesome breakfast when they are travelling or when their wives are out of town.The place was also not very clean. Just behind our table was a door that opened onto the backyard-cum-dumping area. A stray dog walked in from the backyard and came sat near our feet. This was probably a very normal thing, for neither the waiters nor any of the other customers seemed to be bothered. We too acted like wise. We ordered our usual eggs-and-toast. The service was quick and the food tasty. The prices were very reasonable, with the bill coming to just under 100. (this included coffee and bournvita).
Last Sunday again we set out for a similar fix. This time we decided to head to George's on East Street. This place, also Irani was almost empty when we reached. Good we thought, for the Sunday-morning-breakfast is as must about the leisure as about the food. I stuck to the usual fare of omelet and toast, while P became a bit adventurous and ordered scrambled eggs-on-toast and chicken cutlet. We also order orange and mosambi juice. M, our carnivore daughter aged 3, was already jumping in anticipation of all the yummy food. Getting her to eat normal food is always a huge task, but anything non-veg, even eggs vanish in a jiffy. After a short while the food arrived. While P was dreaming of the tasty, golden scrambled eggs he would devour, the waiter placed some white mass plopped on two big toasts in front of P, which made P exclaim, "Don't you use egg yolk at all?" "We do", the waiter replied, "but this is made in milk and butter". After one mouthful, P wore a very sad look on his face. "I hope the cutlet is better" he kept on saying. M and I meanwhile started on the omelet which was quite okay . The cutlet arrived. One bite and P's already long face grew even longer. The cutlet was thin and rather tastless. So much so that even M(who absolutely loves chicken and can eat it in almost any form) refused to eat it and stuck to omelet. After all this when the bill came, it was close to 300, which we felt was way too high for the crap they had served.
So our search for a perfect Sunday morning breakfast place continues....................