Sleep

I have heard many people complain about lack of ability to have a sound sleep. Personally I feel that the people who sleep very deep, not bothered about external conditions are really blessed. Sleep is an important part of our lives. Sleep deprivation can do strange things to you, unless you are in Special Forces or Army, and know how to handle it, because you are used to go on days without a wink of sleep. 

Over time I have found a few things which helps in getting a more fulfilling sleep which I will share with you now. 

a.) Calm yourself: Sedate or calm yourself before sleeping by not watching an action movie, or a highly interesting thriller, or an unputdownable novel which will keep you awake till the better part of night. Avoiding such things will lull you down. I would even go to the extent of saying that pick up the most boring book you have got and read a bit. For me it works like tranquilizer. If you find the boring book turning interesting, stop reading immediately. 

b.) Make the room dark: Either make the room dark or put those thingies over your eyes which doesn't let light in. Studies have shown that people who sleep in brightly lit rooms have weaker libido and can expericence weakened reproductive capabilities in the long run. Night is supposed to be dark. Respect nature. If you are afraid of ghosts, as I am at times, put the lights out, and try to think about your last vacation. 

c.) Keep lying: After lying down think of something you have forgotten to do (like keeping the book on the shelf, folding a cloth). Most of the times we don't really want to get up and do that thing. Instead we like to keep lying down. It helps. Suddenly you will feel more happy and cosy to be lying down. 

d.) Honey: Honey is said to have certain amount sedative effect on people. So a spoon of honey just before hitting the bed might help. It has loads of other health benifits anyways (like its capability to burn fat etc.). 

e.) Less water: Do not drink much water before going to bed. You wouldn't want to get up in the night to go to the loo, and then end up losing the sleepy feeling. Drink less water before going to bed. 

f.) Don't use that bed: You have a bed where you sleep. Avoid sitting on that bed anytime in the day. Don't do anything on that bed except sleeping. Do it for 2 to 3 days and you will be amazed that just lying down on that bed will have such calming effect on you. You will have good sleep. 

g.) Be busy: Keep yourself busy the whole day. Generally people who are busy the whole day (but not irritated) do not have any issues in rolling into a deep slumber within minutes of their lying down. 

So, with a mix and match of all the above points you can make sure that oh-so-sweet sleep doesn't elude you. It comes right to you and you just dozz off. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

Ammi's Biryani

Have you ever seen a large billboard of an eatery and then went ahead and tried it out? Well, I did it last Sunday. The story goes something like this. Saturday morning I was returning from work in the company cab, when suddenly, I saw this large billboard in Brigade Road with Ammi's Biryani's ad. Now I have come across ads of Ammi's Biryani before, but when they seemed like screaming out so loud I thought of giving them a try. Well, it didn't happen on Saturday (it's veg day) but it sure happened on Sunday. So we duly dressed up and went to Koramangala where it is located. We didn't have any trouble finding the place. We went inside. The first floor setup has 8 tables with 4 to 5 seats each. Well, we settled down. The first interesting point was that there were very limited number of items in the menu, Chicken/ Mutton/ Egg Biryani, and 2 chicken preparations. We took one chicken and one mutton biryani and 1 chicken kabab. The person taking the order duly informed that the kabab is more like pepper chicken with pepper in it. I said, no problem there, and asked them to go ahead. Well, in 5 minutes flat we had our Biryanis and kabab ready. Have you seen the silvery contraption in which they serve food in 2nd Class Sleeper coach in Indian Railways. The silvery bowl, if you can call it so, covered with a thin cardboard? All the preparations were served in that. The waiter, and there were too many of them, as an example of exemplary hospitality, neatly removed the cardboard layer from each unit and placed it infront of us. 

I took a spoon from my mutton biryani and almost immediately regretted coming to this place. The rice was normal arwa (small) rice. It was a very bad version of ghee rice. There was nothing biryani about that preparation. The chicken kabab, waiter's confession notwithstanding, was very very un-kabab. Infact it was not even pepper chicken. What it was, is only 3 people knows, the person who cooked it, the person who confessed about it, and God. In short, that too was not good. I tried my best but couldn't finish the complete thing. 

For a place which boasts of specialising in Biryanis and doesn't serve a varied menu, should have a minimum standard. Their audacious attitude towards Biryani and Bangalore's food lovers is almost criminal.