The auspicious time and day arrived finally, for me to relish food! Thilaga, the South Indian restaurant satisfied my palettes in ways I didn’t know existed. The food was good, more on the average side. But yet, it was amazing, given the fact it was served on plantain leaves and with authentic taste and flavour, all in Japan, a country that’s polar opposite in food preferences. The chef Prashant, a malayali and Arogiyaswami, a tamilian, were both pleased to see us, who were a mix of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They were the first people here with whom I could talk in the regional language, and that was an amazing feeling in so many days! The masala dosa, chutney, rice, the side dishes were all awesome. The best part however was the crispy uzhunnu vada (medu vada), spicy sambar and piping hot tea! If only if they weren’t running ahead of their close time, I would have ordered more of everything. Some other time, some other day.
Walking out of Thilaga, we took a bus to the Kyoto Handicraft Centre. Only when it felt like too south Indian a day, we met Sukumar, a visiting faculty at Kyoto University and his wife Sudha. Again a mix breed of Malayalam and Tamil, we spoke in both the languages and English. They gave us a quick idea about the Indian restaurants, shopping spots and good souvenirs to take home. We even got their contact, to keep in touch for a meeting again! A typical Indian couple suddenly appeared angelic!
Next stop was at Teramachi, the one stop shopping street in Shijo Kawaramachi. Tea sampling and shopping, souvenir hunting and exploring, we went around the place for quite a while. The routine bus to Kyoto, train to Minami Kusatsu and bus to Matsugaoka were wired in our system by now!
The Last Straw 