Muthumani Maalai - Indigenous folk with a twist

This song can be characterized as an indigenous composition uplifted by western classical elements but not one iota does it lose out on it's nativity. I have always been a big admirer of Raaja's folk based numbers. This is one genre that he has particularly redefined and literally made it his own by giving it a colour like no other. It sounds aghast intertwining touches of classicality to rustic earthy sounds but the output generated is simply a class apart.

This is another Sindhu Bhairavi laced number of the Maestro. The beauty of this stunner is the treatment of the swaras and the beautiful manner in which the alternate swaras of Rishabam and Madhyamam are brought upon to the mix.

The flow of the song is really adorable and gives such a feel good breezy effect when rendering it a listen. SPB and P Susheela elevate it a much further notch through their soul stirring singing. This is from the 1992 Pongal release Chinna Gounder which ran to housefull shows back in the day.

I loved playing this tune as its strewn with jewels aplenty and the bejeweled manner in which it's crafted. It may be a Naatu Pura Paattu by nativity but the song perse is all class personified having such a lustrous texture interlaced to it along with the subtle gamakas embedded that makes it an evergreen verdant green composition.

Damu's Heritage Dine - A unique culinary experience!

To be honest, our over all dining experience at Arunachal Pradesh was nothing much to write home about. That was until we came across Damu's heritage dining which kind of blew us apart. This indigenous dine in housed almost in the middle of nowhere nestled somewhere along the interiors of the charming Chug Valley simply won our heart's over.

This fine dining restaurant prides on artisanal Monpa cuisine which is largely cultivated in house and consists of a pastiche of items made from millet, barley, buckwheat et al. The food is served as a set course meal and for once being vegetarian didn't make you feel out of place. The food tasted fresh and felt totally organic. The ambience gave a very radiant and colourful swirl. It was a boutique style restaurant housed across 2 floors with one of the floors making you witness the fresh greenery at the outset whereas the upper floor had a better design but was within a closed frontier.

We chose the open green space and began our foray with an item termed as 'Phursingh Gombu' which is a traditional dish made from corn flour dough shaped like tartlets with a juciy black lacquer overflowing over it. The black liquid tasted a bit bizarre but felt very unique and kind of medicinal. I guess you need to get acquired to such a taste but nevertheless it was quite an experience.

Next up we devoured a delightful green soup made up of tonnes of herbs where we could literally see swoons of those greeny leaves engulfing our liquid soup. This one felt extremely soothing and comforting being so rich in taste. On the main course section we also got to try a noodles made out of buckwheat. It almost appeared like being crusty on the outset but was anything but that. It was flavourful and went well with the accompanying salad.

The 2 dishes which were outright standouts happened to be the millet based momos and the green leafy tacos submerged with kidney beans aplenty. Both these were simply lip smacking awesome and felt so nice on the palette. The spinach effect pulverised it to a notch high above everything else.

We were also served rice which appeared a little thicker than normal which went well with the kidney bean lentil gravy. We were given a similar version of the rice as a sweet laced with a touch of jaggery. Apart from this we also had a shot of millet based pancake with sweeteners dolloped on top.

More than the taste of the food, this fine dining escapade was more to do with the experience which just hit home and felt so comforting and heart warming. We were taken care of magnificently well and explained about the finer points of each and every dish along with also knowing about the history and tradition of such a cuisine. On the whole it was a delectable experience which one should not miss especially when traversing across this neck of the woods.