A taste of Khajuraho

Monday nights and going out don't mix. But a cuz from out of town was visiting with friends and dragged us to a hollywood hot spot. The place is called Nirvana. It's more than fine Indian cuisine. It has the unmistakable nightclubbish look; a row of beds with dreamy canopies and decorative little tables on these beds so you can eat on em, colored glass floors, a little fish pond with a giant wet buddha statue emerging from it, soft lights, amazingly soothing and romantic Indian music that I'd never heard before and, here's the fun part, kamasutra theme. Actually I guess the theme was kamasutra infused with zen (or just buddhas)... does that make it divine?

I recognized it from my visit ages ago. As I looked around, I saw life sized and quite exquisite buddha statues and wall art adorning the walls. At a few random places, bits and pieces of erotic khajuraho sculptures (do these sculptures indicate anything beyond orgys? I’ve never been to khajuraho) hung with soft light focusing on it. Throughout the restaurant, tiles of suggestive art were flaunting themselves. The crowd was nothing like you'd expect: uncles and aunties and more uncles and aunties and a screaming baby (mine). That's Monday night for you!

The owner of this place was a friend of my cousin’s and kept us good company. I learnt that he was a cuz of Vikram Chatwal, the infamous hotelier and shared many many insider stories. That's the kind of stuff I live for ;) When I asked him about the theme, he joked that one has to be a pervert to do something so explicit. Of course he was joking; he was the nicest guy and took good care of us. The intriguing part was that all the khajuraho sculptures in the restaurant had been made in Thailand, which he said translated into awesome quality and affordable rates. Only if our rulers during medieval times had known about the concept of globalization.

The menu was a work of art too. The cover had a picture of a female hand with mehndi, and the mehndi had little kamasutra drawings on it. The appetizers were in the ‘Foreplay’ section, the entrees in ‘Loss of innocence’ section and the deserts were in ‘Sensuous pleasures (sin committed but quickly forgiven)’ section. Thankfully, sides were just sides. All in all, it was great family fun :)

With all the 'vices' (visual so I guess it doesn't count) it had to offer, I had reached Nirvana, but was far from attaining it. Unless food coma can pass off as a state of Nirvana. :p