Oktober 2008

Mani, Baskar und Rames warten sehnsüchtig auf die neue Saison mit neuen und altbekannten Gästen. Immer noch ein Monat Zeit.
Mani, Baskar und Ramesh are eagerly waiting for the new season with new and well-known guests. Still 1 month to go.





Das Festival für Werkzeuge (und Küchengeräte!) wurde mit ordentlicher Ausschmückung des Cafes begangen, leider von Gästen völlig unbemerkt, da es total in der Off-Saison liegt und keiner gucken kommt.
The Festival for tools and working, Aida-Pooja, was celebrated with a nice decoration in the Gecko-Cafe. Unseen by guests, because it is totally in the Off-Season. No tourists in town.






Zum Geburtstag von der kleinen Nachbarstochter gab es ein Extra-Foto.
Extra-picture for the birthdaygirl of the neighbors.




Das frisch gelb-gestrichene Gecko ist schon von weitem zu sehen. Die Kokospalmen wurden abgeerntet. 76 Kokosnüsse warten nun darauf, in Coconut-Curry und Lassies zu wandern.

The freshly yellow painted Gecko-Cafe can be easily spotted from far away. The two coconut-trees have been harvested. 76 coconuts are waiting to go into coconut-curry and lassis.





Die Off-Saison gibt ein bisschen Zeit für einen kleinen Umbau in der Küche und Freizeitspaß. Cricket spielt dabei keine unerhebliche Rolle.

The Off-Season leaves time for a little change in the kitchen und sparetime. Criket seem to be the major part in this.






Der Kochbereich wurde vollständig gefliest und ein ordentliches Belüftungsfenster zur Freude der Köche eingebaut.

The cooking area has been fully tiled and a new big window for fresh air has been put in, to keep our cooks happy.

September 2008

Die Vorbereitung auf den Monsun sind abgeschlossen. Im Gecko gibt es jetzt einen Regenschutz, der seine Funktionstüchtigkeit schon bewiesen hat. Drinnen bleibt es gemütlich trocken  mit den angenähten Bastmatten.

The preparation for the monsoon have been finsihed. There is a rain-cover in the Gecko now, which prooved its usability very well. Inside it stayes cosy and dry!

July 2008

New things happened in the Gecko Cafe,
because Mani never stands still. The roof has been covered with thatch to preserve the palmleaves.




Some decoration things found its way into the cafe.
Now you can find something to read in the new book shelf, buy little gifts or postcards from the cafe.






A Watertank was purchased and installed on the kitchen roof.



Also 3 more cookingplaces were installed in the kitchen:



Finally one of the the fridges has been moved up to the roof-top cafe, for serving cool drinks faster.



Uma, manis brother, who is making bronce statues and art work, started to work downstairs from time to time, here finishing one of his beautiful bronce-statues.

Juni 2008

Die Bauarbeiten sind vorerst beendet. So sieht das erweiterte Cafe jetzt aus /
Buildingwork is finished, the place now looks like this:




Innen / inside:






Malerarbeiten am neuen Cafe / Painting work


Und wieder wird das Logo an die Wand gemalt /
Painting the Logo once again:

MAI 2008

The Gecko-Cafe- Owners MANI and BASKAR

Koch und Kellner in der Off- Saison. Sie freuen sich auf die nächsten Gäste (und nein, sie sitzen nicht immer im Weg!)

The cook and the waiter in the Off-Season, looking forward to welcome their next guests. (No, they are not always blocking the way.)



Buildingsite AGAIN / Wieder Baustelle

After the last visitors of the season had left, Mani started a new builidingsite for the cafe making a little extra room on top of the little indian shop.

Nachdem die letzten Besucher der Saison abgereist waren startete Mani eine neue Baustelle zur Erweiterung des Cafes. Auf dem Dach des kleinen Ladens wird ein neuer Raum mit max. 8 Plätzen für das Cafe entstehen.

Natürlich beginnt nichts ohne eine Pooja vorher / All started with a pooja for the new building:



Dann wurde die Wand, an der vorher das Sofa stand, zum neuen Eingang für das "kleine" Cafe gemacht.
Than the wall where the sofa has been standing was turned into the new entrance for the extra-room.






Derweil zog der kleine Laden in den Vorraum des Gecko-Cafes um / meanwhile the little Indian shop shifted into the downstairs-area of the Gecko-Cafe:


Mani veranlasste ausserdem die Säuberung des Sees hinter dem Haus (eine Seltenheit im Ort)
Also Mani did clean the backyard and his part of the lake.

vorher / before cleaning


beim See-Säubern / cleaning the lake



Hinterhof vorher / backyard before


Zwischenstand / inbeetween


nachher / after

April 2008

Visit in APRIL 2008

the "tzchermans" have been there.
We visited the cafe finally - in the beginning of April. And the inspection has been fab. Everything was fine, the place is so nice and clean as expected. Travel-Report here: Mamallapuram_April2008. (Only in German, but many pictures)

It has been a relaxing, happy time in the cafe, trying all the nice dishes from the new printed menue (see picture and thanx to WDS Pertermann) up and down.


Fresh pressed juices, fresh fish, homemade vegetarian dishes - everything was perfect. no complaints. we were totally happy.






Only tiny little changes were made, for using the room even better - the horse had to move from the entrance to the middle of the room, giving space for one more table.




we also tested the Herrnhuter christmas-Star for the x-mas decoration... was a strange but nice + homy feeling to have a decoration like this under the palmleaves. Will be great in December. But thats a little far fetched...

News of March 2008

MARCH 2008

Finally a new fridge was purchased, because the whole season Mani and Baskar managed with the tiny thing.So the next season will be more relaxed - only in storage issues. Hopefully it will be busy as the last season already has been.



Also the new oven moved into the kitchen...now its all set for the next season: there will be homemade cake & cookies!