German Bakery....the days of glory shall live on!

German Bakery: Love of mine…one day u’ll find urself resurrected…!

German bakery!!! ……….ummmm!!! this place always resurfaces those mixed feelings of comfort and good fond memories of unpretentious laughter and moments of madness spent over those cups of coffees and brownies or Tiramisu “accidentally” discovered as a last resort for a birthday “cake” for a friend ….as unassuming and inconspicuous the place seems, it was just as much loved and popular with its patrons and anonymous strangers just getting lured by its lonely planet guide status alike…..this place din need any ratings or status in some travel guide…the lovely thatched roofs, the awkward small stools, the inadequate tables always falling short of space to occupy our never ending orders of those delectable yummy food trays, until the cute chinky waiter gave us the cheeky smile and we reciprocating him in kind to set up an extra table for our extra orders, ofcourse the place is jam-packed with no vacant stool let alone a vacant table and we eventually smugly hold our food in our hands as we happily devour it slowly, giggling and chatting the good times away…..hmmmm….just adds to all those memories where people just kept pouring in this small quaint hippy kinda place hugging, reminiscing, reading books all by themselves, the colored, robed, the quirky, the yuppies, the pranksters, the sobos, all givin their special touch to this small colorful, rather strange boho place…….

German bakery is not just a place but an actual melting pot for all humans of all kinds and colors, a travesty standing modestly tall to roof everyone and feedin and welcoming everyone who is in a mood to experiment and ready to make some strange friends….those strange smells of weird looking world cuisine which we dared never order until some firang orders it and we mentally patted our backs of our ability to save ourselves from disgrace of eating and throwing up there!.... I certainly had strange , funny slightly rough, wonderfully romantic, quirky, slightly high, those wet moments with a hot cuppa of coffee tightly clasped in my hands providing all the comfort and all solace in those times…..

German bakery was a very modest establishment not at all a fancy at that one, it was not a restro, nt a bistro nor a café, it was indeed very difficult to box this place into one category, with its colorful beaming posters proving wat lil color to its bamboo hedge kinda walls, the reality is tht the faces from world over, just added enuf color to this place tht no other swanky wall hanging or poster could replace, just looking at all those faces and u could relate to being a part of the world as a whole nt just any one religion or community and this is wht German bakery symbolized and Pune put together…..

Reminiscing on one of those lonely slightly introspective evenings when I head out to clear my head, an intriguing paperback clasped tightly under my arms riding my modest “phatphatiyaa”( I miss u my fren of good times…boo hooo!!) at breakneck speeds, (ya MJ I knw its nt Ferrari…its just the way I drive it …ahemm) I finally enter this cool commune of Koregaon Park, me and my frens fav hangout area….i’m nt too sure whr m I goin, when I just m bout to proceed German bakery, I just make a undecided stop and think bout havin a coffee, also the sky is clowded, looks like it gonna pour, so I take a decision, I march inside, just in the peak hours, 7 in the evening, when the place is beaming with loud people and overwhelming smells of food wafting thru the air, I feel so tiny in this crowd yet somewhat a feeling of belongingness and familiarity makes me stay back, but now I cannot find a place to park myself, just then as I start reviewing the place once again silently praying to find an empty table, also it has already started to pour outside, making it the perfect time for a strong caffeine shot, I gaze across as a bunch of colorful firangs as they move across , showing a small neat table tucked up in the corner with a maroon robed rather intelligent looking, slightly stuck up, multi-ethnic person sits there on the rather awkward small stool, infact quite comfortably for his stature all alone, all eyes on his Coelho, I rather sheepishly proceed towards him realizing I rather have to share a space rather than stand like a fool all along…..as I go upto him I gather some courage to ask him permission to barge into his beautiful space created by his paraphernalia of empty coffee mugs and his rather quirky chunky keychain and other amusing, weird stuff lying rather unattended as if on display telling me a certain bout him, but I rather stick to ‘the” question hopin he lets me share his space…. As I pop out the quintessential question, he looks up at me, rather not quite happy to be disturbed from his journey thru the Coelho wisdom, although he indicates me reassuringly to sit down, trying to clear his stuff much to his dismay but nevertheless shortly returning back to his paperback friend, I then sip onto my coffee and bite into the muffin listening to the songs on my I-pod as the rain drops get heavier and just making the pleasant wooden smell stronger, a sure shot recipe to kindle those feelings of desolate yet comforting solitude, the affirming truth of being loved, strengthened by the strong hob- nobbing of faces and smiles, leaving you mesmerized and feeling all that more mushy and gooey!......

Most of the times I have noticed one thing bout this place, people might be in whatever moods outside but the moment they enter this place there is this quintessential smile , a sudden feeling of warm welcome one feels as one enters thru its rather small, shaky bamboo entrance, it doesn’t matter where one comes from coz you will find something for your weird queer senses, those strange organic merchandises giving it a look of those small quaint small speciality shops tucked somewhere in a tiny hamlet , somewhere in remote Europe, and when me and my frens used to gaze in absolute awe as some people bought out these rather strange merchandises conjuring up the images of their strange origin and why exactly someone would waste their cashola on things we din even know what are they used for…this was German bakery…. the place was strange yet friendly ….the sudden rush of running into someone whom u haven’t met in a long time, and there goes another hour just like that…..but yet one more beautiful memory in the making for some other time to reminisce bout , to get nostalgic bout, just the stuff I love bout German Bakery!......with all its l’il world charm, for all those friendly chinky waiters, for all those endless hours of gossips and coffees and tiramisus, the stopover before the pub hopping begins for the nite, the place where all the plans were made for the future, the “kaash yaar kamaate toh ” talks…..the giggles, ……the mindless talks , the best times spent with my best of friends-books and people I love …..

German bakery is much more symbolic of those beautiful moments spent in this quaint shack …..of being comfortable around people from all over imaginable places than some random self loathing schmuck who blew up this harmless beautiful place just going under some religious psycho frenzy! I am downrite sure that this place is going to be up and running very soon also up with it will be the spirits of this potpourri of cosmic wok where everybody who enters thru its humble entrance does nt remain untouched by its sheer honesty and vibrancy for long…..a crossroads where along with the overwhelming wafts of a lot many sunny sides up and the lasagnas as it wades through thru this jungle of beautiful people wading in and out of this happy place, you would find people laughing, hugging, reading to themselves, exchanging awe-inspiring anecdotes frm everywhere while biting into their scrumptious food, which just forms the understated theme to this “not just another” food place….coz here memories are created not just a passable joint where u drop in for some quick bites, but where you love to spend ur lazy Sunday afternoons or just unwind over a cup of soothing green tea with ur bunch of hooligans(tht’s what I call my frens…lovingly ofcourse!!)….coz people who have been here wherever they’re now, will always remember this place to be a place where they’d been for the love of it!....they love the energy of this place….the pulse it sets!......the fond memories they had over here….the laughter rising above any type of sensible conversation doin the rounds…the Sunday morning brunches, the “the” monsoon days hangout for its ethereal backdrop and its beautiful mixed aromas of wet bamboo, coffee and baked cookies-all intertwined into one , where one can imagine the retro stuff like Johnny hates jazz shattered dreams or the lovely inside-out of bryan adams (if m just feeling extra mushy) playing in ur mind as u while away ur time besides those warm wooden smells filling u up..ummm…..btw did I tell u bout the last time I went there….so well here it goes!!...was hungry and was waiting up for a fren and then……..

Oh think twice, it's another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it's just another day for you,
You and me in paradise

-Phil Collins

P.S. > This post does not have any fullstops coz there aren’t any fullstops in life too and for German bakery also…it just has come to a brief halt, up it will be soon! …Amen to that!!