“Maghila Sangam”…breaking up bit by bit!!!!..Victims of recession????

(Special of the day - Vegetable Biriyani)

I had been ranting about my lovely “Maghila Sangam”…our lunch team of 5 ladies in previous posts….Anu, Archu, Swapna, Vidhu and me…….Recession played a disastrous role in our lives too in terms our bond…. Vidhu is released first from the project…Luckily she got into some other module in the same project..So she is still sticking here…..

Archu and Vidhu

Anu and Me

Archu, Swapna and myself are released from the project…We are counting down the days…..Archu is planning to quit her job to move with her hubby at Singapore. Swapna is planning to go back to Bangalore, after quitting too…Me..I’ll be still in the company…don’t know what I’ll do after my last day with the current project….Anu, being a contractor, is relieved not only from our company but also her company…Today was her last day…April 3rd, 2009…..


Archu, Anu and Me

We went out for lunch..a small send off party… to Anu…….Swapna is on leave today… We had a big argument with the auto drivers…bargaining for a reasonable fare…..As usual Archu got impatient and started walking out….and was checking with another auto driver for some reasonable deal..We all got into the auto..Vidhu is nowhere to be seen…Where is she?...She is seriously lecturing with the first auto driver logically and sensibily…OK! Unga lecture ellam inga vellaki avadu…Archu..Evantey ellam sollu puriya vekka mudiyathu..….4 ladies sitting inside the auto…of course me on the lap of anu..Pavam! She was able to hold my weight..…Finally,We reached our destined restaurant after hours of debating whether to go here or there…Archu is very good in invading to places where she destined to go whatever other people says…She loves eating out…..OK!!! Piyari Chelli (Dear Sis…I call her like that)….The restaurant was dark inside…hardly able to see anything…the hot sun in Chennai had blackened our retina….We got a table for 4…The restaurant looked cool inside….We browsed through the menu card…Archu’s favourite..mushroom soup….anything and everything made of mushroom..be it in any form…she loves it…hot and spicy mushroom soup…Starters…we have both non-veg and veg…Vidhu is pure vegetarian…and Anu is like cat on the wall..half veg and half non-veg..depending on the restaurants….!!!! Today she darned the hat of non-vegetarian..We had hot chilli prawn fries and chilli baby corn fries….We were enjoying and talking about various tags…life after quitting…what is the next move in project?...about Swapna…about each and every one….Next main course, 3 butter Naans, Veg Briyani..(not spicy..medium)…and paneer butter masala…The service was immediate…We didn’t wait for the orders, I believe…or we were engrossed in our own world of ranting..big mouths…..Naans tasted yummy with paneer butter masala curry…but the veg biriyani turned out to be spicy..we ordered for some more raitha…but still we enjoyed it thoroughly…Archu didn’t leave any plates untouched….full clean…why waste?....yeah yeah…

(Butter Naans, Paneer Butter Masala, Veg biriyani...)

The desserts were ordered…icecreams..and fruit salads….Archu went for Nut corner, Vidhu for Sultan’s Romance, Anu for Manhattan …Enthralled by the various names …the different ways of cheating ice cream die-hard fans…..Every ice cream has this pista and vanilla and butter scotch as base with different degree of proportion…..added with honey in one…another is with jelly slices and cherry welcoming one to mouth it early as possible….Manhattan was full of chocolate flavour…Vidhu ordered it because it had butter scotch in it..but looked like some culinary mistake has happened in the kitchen….The presentation was awful..with nuts thrown all over it and the biscuit strips pierced on the top…My tonsillitis was taking a toll for long time and it loved it so much that it doesn’t want to leave my throat..I reconciled with a fruit salad…..pieces of watermelon, green apple, grapes, pineapples…Great….We were happy both ways..the food and the lunch party…

(desserts - icecreams and fruit salad.....)

I suggested them to drop by at my home to see my kids as it happens to be nearby….Took a bus and dropped at the next stop…walked about close to 2 mintues and there were are….Monu and Vava was surprised to see me in the afternoon …unusual in their timetable….and they went and covered themselves…..shy to see all the aunties around…..my son was trying to terrorise the aunties with his dinosaurs, tiger…by keeping in front of them near the door and making it disappear behind the door…his way of attracting people….Anu offered them chocalates…a pending promise to my daughter when she met her at Thiruvanmayur beach on “Sankranthi” day ……Spent some time and took pictures of aunties with children….and Anu’s special photo with my daughter….I wished her soon to become a mother of twins like me….one looks like Anu and another like Ravi…She goes blushing…..

( L-R : Vava, Anu, Archu, Monu, Vidhu..)

(Vava and Anu )

We left in my dedicated auto-driver..Mr. Doorai Sir……We stopped at the nearest Mall to buy some gift to Anu…”a pair of pearl bangles…”…I held her hand and helped her to wear it…Vidhu too followed me….”Vazha-kappu..!!!”…Wishing her good luck for her future motherhood....After that we rushed back to office…