ROOTED!!

Home is where the heart is. And my heart is stuck. For life I guess. It's not like the city is the best place to live in or anything. It's just that I can't think of any other place that I can proudly call home. 

Indore is warm and cozy. It's just the right size. It's the right combination of a budding metro and a one horse town. Every place is not more than half an hour away from my house and even if one has to go to the other end of the city, one wouldn't take more than an hour. 

The people make the place. I have found the warmest, friendliest, laziest and most laid back people here who believe in living life king size. The top most priority here is to eat and to make people around you do the same. And when it comes to eating, we don't know how to compromise. Dollops of ghee in sleep inducing Baati with steaming Dal, and laddoo, papad, chutney and subji to complement the ensemble is known only to the sweet smelling Malwi soil. SHikanji is not lemonade here. It is a thick creamy concoction of rabdi and milk which can put anyone to sleep for hours. It's a meal by itself. But Indoris have a huge appetite, and how!! 

When it comes to sweets, there's no stopping us. People will reach Mathura Wala's at 11 in the night and eat up one sweet after another. Top n Town is always teeming with icecream fanatics. And one sundae is never sufficient to satiate us. It's as if we have a separate tummy for dessert.

Namkeens are a passing by thing. We are always hogging them. And there is a cornucopia of savouries available to the taste buds here. The variety and the range catered to is overwhelming. 

Indore has evolved into a connoisseur's haven. From succulent kebabs at Kebabsville, Dum Pukht cuisine at Sanchi, grand buffet lunches at Crown Palace, Amaltas and Goefferey's, you name it, we've got it. Although the cosmopolitan culture is setting in and Pizza Hut and McDee's are favourite eat outs, the tangy chaats and the scrumptuous dishes are indispensable from the true Indori's plate. Johnny Hot Dog and Vijay Chaat House are here to stay as much as Ravi ki Kachori. The Moong Badas at LIG and the Gajak at Sheetal are phenomena in their own right.

But more than anything else, its the Indori hospitality that's unbeatable. I have travelled a lot. Nowhere have I experienced the love that is found here. And that's what makes it special to my heart.