My Bumpy Journey – Seventh Month (April)
Before I start speaking about this month, I am gonna post a warning here. If you are a foodie, please refrain from reading this post. This post is sure to give you foodgasm, as I have named it as Swiggying Away Month. So, what are you waiting for? Delve into this delicious post if you wanna read about tons of food.
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On April 1st, my mom and I packed all the necessary things needed for our one-month stay at the hotel. We then took off in a cab in the evening. I was really nervous, because I was about to have outside food for a month and also I was returning to work after a three-month sabbatical. While the former dealt with my physical health, the latter dealt with my mental health. I wanted both the food and the work to keep me healthy throughout the month. It was a one-hour journey to the hotel. During the journey, I had reminisces of December 30th, 2017. It was the same way I had traversed from my office to the hospital, when I was bleeding profusely. I associated that way with that bad memory and it would always stay like that. We (my mom, my husband and me) reached the hotel and met the receptionist. He was the one who managed the entire hotel and he was the one who came to our branch for all the bank transactions pertaining to the hotel. So, he knew me well and he flashed me a warm smile. I returned the smile and spoke with him regarding my medical condition. We were given a room on the first floor so that it would be convenient for us, in case we chose to use the staircase.
Room no. 105 it was. It was a small room with a cozy bed, an old-fashioned TV set, a table, two chairs and window AC set. As soon as I entered the room, I checked the closet for its cleanliness. I was particular about hygiene and I always checked that the toilet was neat and clean. We placed our belongings in the room and went down to have dinner in the restaurant. We ordered fish fingers, veg fried rice, chicken fried rice and chicken manchurian gravy. After our sumptuous meal, my husband took leave. At first, my mom and I felt strange to dwell in an unknown area, but the familiar hotel staff served as a reassurance for us. That night, we found that the remote control for our TV was not working properly. One of the staffs changed the batteries for us. We watched some Hindi serials amd whiled away our time.
The next day was Annual Closing Day for the banking sector. So it was a holiday and a lunch was arranged for our branch staff by our Branch Manager at Abu Sarovar Portico Hotel in Kilpauk. My mom and I woke up around 7.45 in the morning and readied ourselves. We then went down to have breakfast which was complimentary during our entire stay. The breakfast consisted of idlis, piping hot sambar, coconut chutney, tomato chutney, vegetable upma, white bread, butter, jam, grape juice and cornflakes with milk. I opted for the idlis with some sambar. Mom too did the same. One of the staffs said that there were freshly-prepared dosas available. We got a few dosas too and dipped them in the sambar and ate to our stomach’s content. After the breakfast, we walked to my office. It was quite a refreshing walk. I met all my colleagues and it was a happy reunion.
Soon, it was lunch time and we headed to the hotel which was situated just opposite our branch. Since my mom was along with me, my Branch Manager invited her for lunch, too. The lunch was an exotic spread consisting of mouth-watering dishes. I gorged on everything in limited amounts, so that I could taste everything. It started with Egg Drop Soup. For the starters, I had one spoonfuls of each of these dishes: Egg Chat, Mexican Chicken, Pasta Salad, Panneer Dry, Lovely Fish (don’t ask me what that means, coz, the board above the dish displayed that name), Chilli Gobi, Sundal Chat and Kimchi Salad. I moved on to the mains with Chicken Kabab, Mutton Biryani, Pepper Chicken, Portuguese Fish (best of the lot), Jeera Rice, Baked Vegetables, Caninal Florentine (I have no idea what this is. Don’t Google it. It leads to Cannibalism), and Panneer Gravy. My favourite part of the lunch – the desserts – consisted of Bread Halwa (I am forever in love with this), Malai Musk Melon, Coconut Pudding, Caramel Custard Pudding, Chocolate Cake and Mixed Fruit Cake. I washed all these off with a glass of Buttermilk. It was quite a heavy lunch and it had been a long time since I had tasted such a sumptuous spread. My mom and I reached our room and had a good siesta.
That week, my workload was rather heavy, as it was the beginning of a new financial year. But my colleague and Branch Manager were kind enough to share it. My relationship with food improved, as I tried out various dishes that were rich gastronomical delights. Food delivery app Swiggy helped me a lot in my food journey. Usually, my dinners consisted of 14 Idlis with Sambar from Hotel Saravana Bhavan or Chole Poori with Channa Gravy from Namma Veedu Vasantha Bhavan. I also had Chicken Fried Rice with Garlic Chicken after a long time. We also had our evening tea and snacks in the hotel where we stayed. The Chicken Cutlet served there was the best ever I had tasted. Once, I ordered a different kind of Maggi from Maggevala for my lunch. My colleague also joined with me on that day. We had Chilli Garlic Maggi and Exotic Veg Maggi. They weren’t that much good, as I felt that they had spoilt the original taste of Maggi. Sometimes, I got my lunch from my grandparents’ home, as my grandfather visited my bank on a few days.
During the first weekend, I visited Express Avenue mall along with my husband. Actually we had planned to go to the beach and just gaze at the sea from a distance (since I was not supposed to walk on sand). However, there were roadblocks going on, which made us traverse and go to the mall instead. I had a nice time at the mall. There was a singing show going on in which singers from a popular reality show participated. In the following weeks, my mom and I visited a pregnancy-specialty temple named Karukathamman Kovil in Chetpet. We also visited the Chetpet Eco Park and spent an hour by the lakeside. Amidst all this, we shared a good rapport with our hotel staff and gained their kindness. I enjoyed work too, since many customers, whom I had not seen for three months, enquired about my well-being and talked to me like old acquaintances.
Above all these things, I enjoyed the ninja warrior kicks of my little one inside. I played melodious songs through a bluetooth speaker, so that my baby would be musically-inclined. I also played some fast-paced numbers, to which my LO kicked enthusiastically. Since I had lots of time in the evening, I read the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, which turned into one of my favourite reads of 2018. I also watched a reality show named Enga Veetu Mappillai on Colors Tamil, hosted by Kollywood actor Arya. It was a show in which he searched for a potential bride for him. I wouldn’t comment anything more about the show, in case you are interested. 
