UI Developer, UX Developer, and a Bun Parotta Kadai
Going by the title, were you able to guess the content of the post yet? If you are guessing that this is going to be about some UI and UX developers going out to have bun parottas, you guessed incorrectly. :P
Note: This article is neither a paid promotion nor an endorsement. It’s merely a narration of an interesting encounter that I had one Friday night.
TGIF
Back in the office, we have a custom called Freshcaller Fridays. It mostly consisted of a bunch of us getting together to play Mafia or Pictionary. On one such Friday, we decided to break out of our comfort zone and went to engage in an escape-room game in Besant Nagar. After nearly an hour of intense puzzle solving, we decided to take a break.
Click-click!
Selfies and groupfies were happily clicked.
The team then dispersed and the three of us, Ashwin, Karthik and myself, went on a coveted mission to find a decent place to eat.
Madurai Pandias Bun Parotta
We walked along the stretch of the Besant Nagar beach when we came across a quaint place with an interesting name. The sign read — Madurai Pandias Bun Parotta. It took some time to convince my friends to live a little and try out the place. When we got inside, lady luck was in our favor, and we got a seat inside the eatery with AC. The place was smaller than it seemed. However, what really impressed me was the beautiful, framed paintings of Jallikattu, Thiruvalluvar and Thanjai Periya Kovil adorning the wall. The menu card was rather modest. It had a neat selection of specialty food one can savor in the streets of Madurai, namely Kari Dosa, Bun Parotta and Naatu Kozhi Briyani. We ran through the items, ordered a generous selection, and eagerly waited for the food to arrive.
More Chicken on the Dosa, please
It had been long since I had proper kari dosa and I could barely contain my excitement. When the food arrived, we immediately dove in. The dosa was delicious, but only a few chicken pieces were present that I had to engage in an intense game of ‘hide and seek’. I gave my feedback to our waiter that it would be great if he can put more chicken in the dosa. He promptly delivered the news to another guy in the kitchen. Then, the other guy, with the intention of getting more feedback, asked me about the rest of the dishes. After giving him my honest opinion, I started interviewing him (like I always do). ;)
I was a UI Developer Bro
Our conversation went something like this.
“Is this the actual recipe for Madurai Kari Dosai?”
“Yes bro, somewhat close. I hope you liked it.”
“I did. But please Anna, more chicken in the dosa next time.”
“I have already informed the Master. If possible, please review us in Zomato.”
“Of course! Consider it done. By the way, how long since you opened this place. I don’t remember seeing this shop here, a few weeks back.”
“We only opened it two months back.”
“What were you doing before this?”
“I was working in Wipro.”
I was slightly taken back.
“Woah! What were you working as?”
“I was a UI developer, bro.”
I exchanged a meaningful glance with my friend who also happens to be a front-end developer.
“That is awesome. You left your job to start this joint?”
“Yeah. My friend over there and I started this place together. He was a UX developer. These illustrations here on the wall are designed by him.”
“Whaaaattt? A food place by a UI developer and a UX developer?”
“Yes, bro,” he replied with a humble smile.
“As a matter of fact, we are also front-end developers.”
“Really? What a coincidence! Where are you working?”
“Have you heard of Freshworks?”
“Yes. I have. My brother used to work there. It was Freshdesk back then. You recently rebranded as Freshworks, right?”
“Yeah. You seem to know so much about our company.”
“I do. Sometimes I wish I could go back to my old profession.”
“Why not? We have openings for the front-end. Why don’t you give me your resume?”
He was immensely surprised.
“Really? That would be quite helpful. I always wanted to work for Freshdesk,” he said with a wide grin.
“Who knows? You might even end up working in my team.”
“I hope so. Would you like anything else, bro?”
“Yes, the bill.”
After paying around 600 bucks for three, we clicked a few pictures outside and booked a cab to go home. I shared my contact with Pandian before I left. It was a good and fulfilling day, to say the least.
Will Pandian go back to his old profession or will he find success in the eatery industry?
Only time will tell. :)
If you like this article, please follow this Instagram page to find out more about my food-curiosity. If you think there are places worth trying, please DM me. I would love to visit and write a review :)
