When I heard that the place we were heading for lunch, is the Times Food & Nightlife 2013 award winner, I was excited. And that too for the Best Kerala Hotel Category.
That's what we wanted. We were looking out for the best authentic Kerala food in the city and Ani came up with The Paul.
The moment we stepped into the hotel, I knew that it deserves the award. It was a real oasis in the midst of the city.
Vembanad restaurant offers the real authentic Kerala treat. What is more delicious than the boiled red rice and the Kerala spices?
With the mind and stomach full of satisfaction, a wonderful lunch with the dear ones...
As usual, thanks to my dear for the wonderful cake surprise. And to mummy for her support. Loved the card which Isaac gave me. So touching and emotional :)
It was a sudden plan to visit the Bangalore Turf Club Race Course. When checked with Ani, she was double ready for it. We took Isaac too along with us, so that he can see the live horses running around the place.
You can see the name of the Jockeys on the board.
Took 45 minutes to reach the club. The place was somewhat crowded as there was 9 nine races scheduled for the day. People with pen and papers were busy calculating something. It was Ani who gave some info about the betting part of the race.
The area is divided into two parts. One for the club members and the other for the non club members. We thought of parking the car inside the premises, but was blocked by the people who were controlling the traffic at the club gates. Somehow found a place to safely park the car and headed towards the club.
There was three ticket options. INR 10, 20 and 200. We were about to take the INR 200 ticket, then from no-where, one old person came and told us to take the INR 20 ticket as there is no difference between the views from the galleries. So we went for the 20 rupee ticket on which we finally regretted.
For men the 20 rupee ticket will work fine. But having Ani and Isaac with me, I would have taken the 200 rupee ticket. People with family will be much more comfortable with that. Keep this as a tip while you visit the place.
The race started at 1:15 pm. In less than a minute, the race was completed. People were cheering up for their betting horse and could find mixed reactions to the end of the race.
Isaac was super excited to see the horses racing towards the finish line and the Jockeys in colorful outfits, he really enjoyed the view.
We didn't wait for subsequent races. Headed towards the exit. All the way back, we could find people analyzing various documents and brochures to place their best bet for a good fortune. The betting platforms were crowded with lot of people and I could find the betting amount strip scrolling on the mounted televisions. From INR 5000 to lakhs and lakhs of rupees, there are many people who wins the bet and there are many who lose everything from it.
A good outing to a different world altogether.
Warm up before the race
People moved near to the fence out of excitement
People with books and leaflets to learn about the race and to try their fortune.
