Q for Qwiky's

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays.

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

Qwiky's was one of the 1st upscale coffee shop hangouts to open in Chennai in the early 2000s. An Indian couple that had returned from the USA set up a chain of fast-growing coffee shops selling varieties of coffee (duh!), short eats such as sandwiches, burgers, fries, and cooling beverages such as milkshakes and frappes. Their logo was almost identical to the US-based brand Starbucks and this eventually got them into some legal trouble. Later, this was completely revised and a red and white logo appeared to dot the landscapes of cities and smaller towns of India. The brand grew overnight, and the franchisee model emerged. However, the downturn was almost as quick and soon many of these places shut down. 

There is an office/warehouse on the outskirts of Chennai city on the way to Pondicherry with the old board of Qwiky's on the front. Wonder what happened to their places within the city. They seem to have lost the rat race they spawned. Innumerous coffee shops now exist from Barista's to Cafe Coffee Day's (popularly known as CCDs), Coffee World, Coffee Tales and many more. Following an almost herd-like mentality, many new entrepreneurs jumped into the fray to catch a good thing and simply copied the concept. Coffee shop hangouts are now a dime-a-dozen. Costa Coffee is the latest to hit town. Interestingly, the trend is now veering towards tea houses that offer a range of flavoured teas, besides coffee of course. They also serve more continental and gourmet eats and combo meals. 

One that is slightly different from the trend and celebrates the Indian-ness of the popular hot beverages are Madras Coffee House and Kaapi Cheenu kiosks. 

However, Qwiky's started the trend of such hotspots. Now, it's almost like an overdose and has led to a lowered standard in quality and taste. Service is an area that most of them need to re-evaluate. Here's hoping the existing ones revive taste and flavour in all their offerings, so we can all raise a toast to new beginnings! Bring on the lattes, frappes and mocha-chinos!

What's your favourite coffee shop and your preferred choice of beverage? 

P for Petawrap!

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays. 

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai - sights, sounds, tastes, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

Petawrap is Chennai’s only street food kiosk that ‘wraps’, rocks and ‘rolls’ with food on-the-go. Young entrepreneur Rakesh Raghunathan comes across as an earnest and eager-to-please business owner. He also happens to be a well-known Carnatic music vocalist. With 3 years of understanding the nitty-gritties of the evolving food scenario in the city, Rakesh has a keen grip on what sells and how. --- 11 kiosks strong and currently welcoming franchisees, Petawrap has seen a spurt in sales and has a visible presence in all the major areas in town.

Pic Courtesy: Chinna Win

Petawrap offers bites and snacks in the form of stuffed wraps, - popularly known as street food - through a centralized kitchen, systematic processes, and ultra hygienic packaging methods. The fillings of the wraps are packed in vacuum-sealed and nitrogen-flushed plastic, and delivered to their kiosks across the city. At the kiosk itself, once a customer places an order, which is made in front of him/her, the standards of cleanliness and hygiene are apparent to all. The kiosk handlers and cooks use gloves throughout the cooking process, giving respite to the hungry customer’s palate as well as the senses. The vegetarian and non-vegetarian fillings are all cooked, packed and handled carefully and separately with different gloves and tools, and separate kitchens and grills. Utensils and oils are also different. Once ready to eat, the wraps are packed in colour-coded green and red paper holders respectively.

Pic Courtesy: Roshan Kuruvilla Thomas

My very first home delivery order from Petawrap a year ago was a disappointing experience. A lot of time went in discussing and adjusting the quantity of my order just to meet the minimum order requirements and dealing with the incompetence of the delivery service. When the wraps finally arrived, I was eager to dig into the paneer and vada pav, which were supposedly the famed specialties. The wraps were unfortunately cold and lacked ‘bite’ and flavour, and the chutneys/sauce particularly in the vada pav, had dried up. Despite this rather unsatisfactory experience, I was eager to give it a second try, this time hot off the grill.

Recently, Rakesh invited Chennai Food Guide (CFG) members to showcase the latest cooking and packing methods at a CFG Food Trial event. He was happy to address customer queries and open to candid feedback. About 12 of us gathered outside a Petawrap outlet for an up close and personal experience in a life of a wrap. After a ‘crisp’ briefing, he offered us the corn capsicum wrap-eat-zaa, the newest entrant on the Petawrap menu. A tasty, spicy mix to tingle our taste buds and flag off the ‘wrap foodathon’ with; we were all geared up for more. And boy, was there a lot more to come!

Corn & Capsicum Wrap-eat-zaa

The 1^st wrap-eat-zaa’s chapati (Indian flat bread) was a tad less cooked to my liking; it was possible that it was prepared and served to us in a hurry and hence the slight rawness factor. The wraps that we tried in quick succession were cooked well, some were even grilled; probably the grill was well and truly fired up by then!!

The corn & capsicum wrap-eat-zaa was soon followed by generous quantities of filling in the form of the flaming hot paneer wrap (if you’re a paneer lover and one who enjoys fire on your tongue, this one is made just for you – filling, satisfying and totally delish), cheesy paneer, chicken, veg manchurian (super spicy…keep the paper napkins…in plural, at hand), and 'chatpata' vada pav. The falafel wrap is available only on delivery as it is not package-storage-friendly, and is best prepared and eaten fresh.

This is the first street food style kiosk that has homeground advantage with its unique name. Coined as a spin on local areas/suburbs of Chennai city, many of which have ‘pet names’ – e.g. Saidapet, Alwarpet, Tondiarpet, Kolaikaranpet (tongue-twister this one!), Roya-pet-tah, Chrompet, etc. and the Tamil rap song by A. R. Rehman from the movie ‘Kadhalan’ that punned on the same subject, the name Petawrap was born. The only other competitor in the field here is the half-a-century old Mumbai-based Tibb’s Frankies outlets, which were the first in the city, but have now been outnumbered by Petawrap’s cute ‘autorickshaw-shaped’ kiosks – again adding in that local flavour – Chennai’s autos are well known over world over!

It is difficult to stop at a few wraps, not just after one! One can keep going since the varieties are the right quantity, perfectly bite-sized, and each one leaves you wanting one more! Do carry your own bottle of water as the only liquid available at the auto-shaped kiosk is a bottle of Coke, which is great if you’re a Coke fan.

With its oil-free, no-preservatives-added, long-lasting, fresh, tasty, healthy and hygienic quality, Petawrap is a viable investment on your wallet as well as your stomach.

Petawrap’s ad campaigns seem to favour superheroes and feature Spiderman and Superman delivering a rap…err…wrap. The lettering on the paper wrap wittily refers to how wraps pack a punch and hence might soon take over the world. According to Petawrap, a Superhero, who is a defender of humanity, needs one hand to grab a wrap on the go, and the other hand is kept free for self defense :-) 

So which Superhero would you prefer to swing by your place and hand you a wrap of your choice? :-)

Petawrap website

O for Oh-So-Org...

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays. 

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai - sights, sounds, tastes, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

O for Organic. Of late, I’ve incorporated organic veggies, snacks and millets into my daily diet. White rice and white bread will always have their place, but they have slid down the ranks of having occupied ‘crowning glory’ positions.

Brown is the new white. So organic millets called Fox Tail Millets, Kodo Millets, and Pearl Millets now occupy pride of place in my kitchen. With funny names such as these, getting cooked by the summer heat in the kitchen doesn’t seem so bad after all. One actually looks forward to hanging out in the kitchen. 

Easy peasy to make (the same way as rice or rotis—flat bread/tortillas), these millets are a great substitute and go with the same stews, side dishes and curries that one normally prepares. Luckily for Chennai-ites, these are easily available in all supermarkets and stores, and are a healthy option at mealtimes. They are grown at farms in and around the State and hence freely accessible and don’t come with a fancy price tag at a premium gourmet organic store, although they are also available there.

No, there is no taste by itself. Then again, nobody really eats plain white rice…err…plain. There is always at least one accompaniment and if you’re Indian, at least 7. There would be vegetables or lentil stews or if nothing else, regular old yoghurt to mix it with.

Like most health food varieties, organic millets stay true to their reputation of being taste-less and evoke reactions like “ptooeeyy!” But they contain fiber and this is something that all of us lack these days, in more ways than one!!

Since they are so bland, there is no limit to their creative use. Try it and let me know what you think!

N for Nizhal

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays. 

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai - sights, sounds, tastes, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

Indians are essentially the original tree-huggers, in a non-bohemian sort of way. We loved our trees and greenery until we went consumeristic and ballistic with it.

About 8 years ago, a group of people in Chennai decided to band together and promote tree culture in urban areas, particularly those with a dwindling tree population. Nizhal focuses on tree-planting, conducting workshops and camps, organizing tree walks, greening spaces, spreading awareness - all their efforts aim towards conservation and  regenerating biodiversity.

They expect to achieve this by community involvement, locals, children, the youth and work in tandem with other like-minded organisations. They en courage volunteering and call themselves "Friends of Trees". The word "nizhal" means 'shade' in the Tamil language.

Going on a tree walk is fun, spotting and identifying them, their Latin names, marvelling at the roots, trunks and leaves fills the heart with a different kind of joy when amidst the lap of nature. It is not the same as hiking or walking through the woods although that brings a different pleasure too. 

Here, one is truly one with the trees when focused on them. A very rooted experience. 

The Lalbagh Gardens in Bangalore are well-maintained. The most photographed tree is almost 300 years old. It is said to have been planted in the Tipu Sultan era. It is a mango tree that still continues to yield fruit! Remembered this while writing the M post of this A-Z challenge.

Below is  picture of a friend and I seated in front of this truly magnificent tree.

Try going on a exclusive tree walk some time, focus on the trees for a change! Join Nizhal in their noble endeavours and contribute your bit to conservation. 

Along with the birds and the bees, do teach your kids about the trees. The way the world is headed, trees might well be the only legacy that future generations would inherit.

Nizhal's Website

P.S. Sharing an interesting article I read recently: Chennai's Canopy

M for More Than One Topic :P

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays. 

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai - sights, sounds, tastes, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

M for Music. Oh, how boring you might think. But of course, there’s a twist. And how…Agam is a South Indian band that fuses rock rhythms & traditional Carnatic music with local vocals. They have songs in Tamil and English with great guitar riffs.

They sing bhajans in metal & rock style…can you beat that? With music being one of the first creative arts to go fusion eons ago, this combination is spot on. Hearing them live in an open-air concert recently blew my mind. Power and peace to them! Rock on, Southie headbangers!!

The above sudden change of topic was inspired by fellow Chennai blogger, Deepak Raghuraman. Do check out his inspiring blog here: Get Inspired! Thanks Deepak, for pulling me outta the slump and back on the A-Z challenge. Deepak sent me Agam songs, joked around and got me back up and running. I owe you one, Deepak, we shall start off with what's coming below! What say you? :-) Read on...

My original M post was to be about Maanga. No, not the Jap comic. ‘Maanga’ in Tamil refers to the king of fruits – the mango. Not the ripe one, but the green fresh-off-the-tree variety. Many a childhood summer vacation was spent indulging in a snack (many such plates in one day) of diced green mangoes doused in coconut oil and spiced with red chilli powder. This is the ultimate ‘hot’ finger food during the peak of summer in India. Kids and even adults climb trees to pick the best firm and juicy mangoes off backyard gardens, wash them, and the snack is ready in a minute, giving Maggi noodles a run for its money.

My grandmother’s only job all day with 10 kids in the house was to cut the mangoes we collected and spice it up. The mantle was eventually passed to my mother. We would have this before, after and in between all meals, even at midnight. Such was our fascination and addiction.

A common sight at the beach, the mango is of a local variety called ‘Killimookku’ which means ‘parrot’s beak’ due to its shape. A mango of a slightly longer shape and size, it is slit lengthwise, and each slice is further cut to resemble a cockatoo’s crest of feathers. These are then doused with the spicy oil, salt and chilli powder mix.

This combination of spice and tang is known as “chatpata” in Hindi. Fresh mangoes in summer - an any-age, any-time snack.

L for Little Flower

This blog post is part of the A to Z Challenge. This challenge involves writing a blog post on any topic/theme in the order of the alphabets from A-Z. The blog posts have to be written each day through the entire month of April, excluding Sundays. 

My chosen theme is the city of Chennai - sights, sounds, tastes, its happenings, events, and my memories and experiences connected with this place.

Another flower post right after K for Kanakambaram? :) This post is also of beauty, with a whiff of innocence. It has only happened that one time, but it is a lasting memory of a lifetime. An afternoon that made me pause and look at my life completely differently. 

I met a little girl there; she had all the precious qualities of a young child - shyness, sweetness, politeness, kindness, (all rare qualities in most urban kids these days!) and one that most of us adults today do not have - of gratitude. She was the person I spent the afternoon with. We were hangout buddies for the day.

I wandered into this expanse of trees, playgrounds and walkways and was instantly hit with a wave of childhood nostalgia. Yes, it was a school but not at all noisy or chatter-filled; in fact it was almost deathly quiet. The venue was Little Flower Convent for Blind and Deaf at T.Nagar, right next to the Gemini Flyover.

It was my 1st time as a scribe--one who helps the visually challenged to write exams. I was to read out the questions on the exam paper, diligently write down the answers she dictated, draw margins on the answer sheets, use different coloured ink to highlight stuff, etc. This part was not particularly happy nostalgia. Exams were always a pain in the wrong place while growing up. 

But this one I was going to enjoy thoroughly. It was not my exam, no pressure to score well, no tension waiting for the grades. Would be such a lark, is what I told myself when I joined the program in enthusiasm although mixed with slight trepidation. 

Wouldn't you know it, it was worse, 'coz here I was writing someone else's exam, that too an 11-year-old's. She didn't know me from Adam (or Eve) and yet trusted me implicitly to get her a grade good enough to move up to the next level at her school. What a terrible responsibility! This was so nerve-wracking...did I actually sign up for this?! What was wrong with me...all sorts of thoughts ran amuck in my head. Needless to say, I was petrified.

It was a day of mixed emotions. Because of her learning difficulty due to her disability, questions sometimes had to be repeated, she took a long time to understand or come up with an answer, and yet she never gave up by saying "Let's go to the next question." I gently guided her and repeated and explained the questions a few times over and in different ways hoping the answer would click in her head and she would yell out 'Eureka!' No such luck.

Some of her answers were incorrect. The brief given to scribes is to write down EXACTLY what the student says, be it a child or a college student. We cannot take the decision to put in the right answer if they are wrong. We are not to be partial or sympathetic to their situation. 

Most of these kids are from underprivileged families, many parents cannot afford to give their children an education. Schools, institutions and donors chip in to help. This makes a lot of the children feel very privileged and determined to do well for themselves so that they can support their parents and siblings. Yes, you heard that right...a visually challenged child/young adult has the drive to succeed, something lacking in the urban sections thanks to the easy, comfortable life they lead. 

Under the circumstances, helping them with correct answers here and there is not a crime, and it is not out of sympathy. Au contraire, it is out of sheer respect for their desire to achieve.

Before, during and even after the exam, the little girl was humble, considerate (kept asking me if I needed anything, even water), pens, pencils, if I was comfortable etc. She was being hospitable almost as if I was a guest in her home. She displayed extremely good manners and extended such courtesy that left me wonderstruck. I wasn't very comfortable to be honest. I was nervous, unsure and scared in the beginning. As we settled into the task I laughed at myself and reminded myself mentally that I was supposed to be the responsible adult here. Managed to put her at ease and even joked around. 

She was just a perfect little angel, a little flower that I hope and pray has a beautiful life. I don't know about her but a part of me blossomed and bloomed again that day; a part of the cynical grown-up I might have become. It was an ordinary exam for her, she was used to scribes, but the experience gave me a fresh lease of life.

People think a scribe helps the challenged students, but it is quite the other way around. You walk out of there feeling truly inspired by the grace and dignity with which they conduct themselves. One guy I had been a scribe for (a few months after this incident) had multiple degrees--he was more educated than most of us!! 

The little girl taught me so much that day. Most of those lessons can never be found in a textbook or on an exam paper. And certainly not on a blog. 

Life's experiences that touch the core of your heart can only be felt and experienced, never explained.