Restaurant that stands apart.

Krishna's South Indian Veg Restaurant in Zurich offers a welcome respite for an Indian foodie who is looking for a different taste and food from India that the usual Indian dishes found in Indian restaurants across Switzerland. We find the same dishes duplicated in the menu cards of most of the Indian restaurants in Switzerland. Most notably these dishes are from a particular region in India. The image below would give an idea of the variety in food that can be found in India.

The dishes mentioned above in the map is but the tip of an iceberg of the food variety that can be found in India. That being the case, it is hard to understand the tendencies of these restaurants to stick to particular dishes. Even the restaurants like the Kerala food restaurant in Zurich and the Kanchi restaurant in Luzern that pose to represent the food culture of a particular region in India offers more items from other regions of India than it's own. 

Krishna's South Indian Veg Restaurant can be considered as a typical South Indian restaurant for two reasons. Vegetarian restaurants are common across the major cities and towns in the southern part of India and Krishna's represents this faction of restaurants. The other reason is that it offers most of the popular food  items from the Southern part of India. Although it offers a variety of Indian food new to Switzerland, it falls short in replicating the taste. To achieve an authentic taste or in other words to prepare tasty food, particular type of vessels and pans are to be used for particular types of dishes. A person who is familiar with these dishes would easily be able to figure out that this restaurant doesn't do this. At the same time, it should be kept in mind that authentic representation is not feasible because these things may not be easily imported and manageable here.

All said, the food is reasonably decent and most importantly the restaurant is open 7 days a week. This is welcome change to the existing Indian restaurant scenario in Switzerland.Opening hours are; Mon-Fri, 11:30 -14:00, 18:00- 22:00, Sat-Sun, 18:00- 22:00. It is probably viable for them to be open on Sundays because the restaurant is conveniently located in Oerlikon, which is one of the densely populated Indian quarters in Switzerland. Also the restaurant is crowded on Sunday evenings, given that it can seat around 60 people at a time. Unlimited buffet priced at 20 CHF per person could also be a reason for it to attract a lot of customers.

The Chronicles Of Amber

“The Chronicles Of Amber” also known as the “Corwin Cycle” consists of the first five books of the “Great book of Amber”. The next five books are called the “Merlin Cycle”. The Corwin cycle is complete and wholesome by itself, while the follow-up Merlin Cycle is incomplete and dragging. Unfortunately, Zelazny didn't live long to come up with a sequel for Merlin’s Cycle.

The Chronicles of Amber doesn't give away the central theme very easily. We have to earn it by reading through the series, page by page without skipping any. Only after reading one-fifth of the first book “Nine Princes In Amber” do we even get a slight inkling of the fact that this is a fantasy series. With having this in mind, I have attempted to write a review for this series without giving away much of the story.

The story is told through the eyes of Corwin, who has lost his memory and pieces them together from the day he wakes-up on a hospital bed. As we go on to see in the book, choosing Corwin as the narrator and plaguing him with Amnesia is not a random beginning. The story unfolds from this central point and weaves a magnificent web. Every strand of the web is well connected with each other and is very much a part of the central theme. The plot is not a mere sequence of events starting with the description of place and characters. The location of the story and character names are very much part of the web evolving around Corwin. I found it interesting to note that the structure of the series is very similar to the story of the book. There is a reality and our earth is only a shadow or an impression among infinite other shadows cast around this reality.  All of these impression/shadows are connected to each other like a hug misshapen web, making it possible to traverse across them. Slowly the book reveals that there isn’t one reality, but other realities and hints on the possibility to create several other realities.

While the series tells a story, it also builds on a philosophy and the philosophy of the book on Absolute and Reality is very beautifully written as a discussion by a bird and Corwin. This complex piece is probably one of the few well-written pieces in the entire series. The book has several complicated parts and the writing certainly doesn’t help us to pass through these complicated parts. At these complex areas, the writing becomes very verbose and I had half a mind to put down the book.

While the structure of the story and the story line are excellently woven, the series “The Chronicles Of Amber” falls short in becoming an excellent classic because of its writing.

The all-out entertainer “Vaagai Sooda Vaa” (a tamil movie) makes me wonder if it is a movie with a message. If the director intended to send across a message to the viewers, he had skilfully blended it with the texture of the movie. The movie released in 2011 is a period film set in the year 1966 in a remote village in the southern part of India. 1965 was a politically unforgettable year for India, yet none of these seem to be reflected in this village setting. One gets a feeling that the village lives in a world of its own and this is exemplified by the background score, songs, and the elaborate attention given to details in creating the set for the village.

The songs of the movie are very carefully executed. Especially the songs “Sara sara sara katru” and “poraney, poraney” are beautifully sung and the on-screen characterization given by Vimal and Iniya bring the scenes to life.

In 1960s, the government had two schemes for the youth to gain employment in the government. One of them was to do community service for six months. Vimal as Veluthambi plays the role of an unwilling youth forced by his father to take up community service so that he would be able to become a teacher in a government run school to perfection. When he reaches the remote village, he learns that the villagers were unwilling to send their children to school. His adamant nature to understand their disinterestedness in education and the villagers adamant nature to accept his services are very well executed by the actors on screen. Vimal enjoys the undivided attention of the spectator only until Iniya comes to the screen. Iniya with her appearance of an unabashed village girl fits into the role so elegantly that it is hard to imagine her as different person. The children with their naughty and jocular behaviour take Vimal for a ride in the first half and towards the end they turn to him with respect for the education he provides them. The interplay between them is a feast for our eyes.

Although the movie talks about the importance of education and its capacity to remove ignorance and defend oneself from cheaters, the movie does not presume to give a message. It humorously shows the simplicity with which the people of the village lead their lives and in that simplicity the movie extols the virtues of honesty, community living, and togetherness. Humour again makes it stand apart from other period films as most of the period films have a serious undertone to them.

The movie as a whole does a fantastic job of characterization and transports us to the period and setting in which the story takes place.