Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bye Bye 2010

2010

An year of changes and lots of predictions for me. I changed my job from SAP Labs to SAP India and became a consultant. My marriage got fixed with my long time sweetheart. A year too good on my cards, all the platform were set for my future en-devours and just today late evening I got blessed with a sweet lovely cute Nephew. From today I will be called मामा  (Maternal Uncle) by him :P.

I become active on Facebook and won many contests and many goodies esp from Kingfisher, Bacardi and Smirnoff. My pictures are looked upon by many on Flickr now. Another milestone covered in terms of photography. I also started 'Bangalore Photo Run Enthusiasts'- BaP RE!- where I initiated three successful events for a Photowalk. 
I lost some good 8-9Kgs of weight by attending two gyms. I developed a good hobby of taking breakfast early morning (before 10 AM) daily which helped in giving me a good balanced start for the day. Addition of fruits to my refrigerator was also welcomed by me.

The travel to the whole of South India reached deeper, The year was bang-on with Pondicherry and traveled to Kodai and Ooty. From the beaches to Goa to the Hills of Western ghats. 
This was the year of scams and Common wealth. The prices of Petrol and onions, the increased awareness of vested sports in CWG or Asians, From Obama's Visit to the Historical Rout of Nitish Kumar in Bihar,  Leh's cloud burst to the Karnataka's CM foolishness, Leaks and Dabangg, Rupee symbol to the debate of greatest cricketer, indeed a year of News and Leaks.

Here are the lists of want went good happenchance or planned:


Best movie: Ishqiya,

Love Sex Aur Dhokha, The Japanese Wife, Udaan, and Antardwand
Inception



Best Songs (Music directors/Lyricist and Singers): Lucky Ali -Hairat (Anjaana Anjaani.)
Gulzar - Dil to Bachha hai ji (Ishqiya)

Best Destination: KodaiKanal
Best Experience: Munzerabaad Off-Roading, Sakleshpur
Best Ride:  Lovedale on my TB 350cc 350Km ride from Bangalore


Best Food: @Hyderabadi Biryani, Airport Road.
                  @Egg Factory,St marks rd

Best Place to Eat: @Hyderabadi Biryani, Airport Road, Bangalore.
                           @Sanjha Chulha Tandoori Pepper Chicken, Calcutta
                           Kachori @ Calcutta and Chikpet, Bangalore

Best Drink: Costa Coffee,
Best Trip: Kodaikanal and Unusual Goa @Goveia Resort, Anjuna
Best Party: Sean Kingston Concert @ Hard Rock Cafe' - It was all sposored by Bacardi and we were also brave and dabangg to snatch the autographed Towel by the Pop-star.
Best Book: Highway on my plate, John Grisham- Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
Best Dare: Rock climbing and Off roading
Best Ads: Cadbury's Dairy milk (Eloping GF and Bus stop proposal) , Ceat tyres, Madhya Pradesh State    
                Tourism Development Corporation Ltd
Best Buy: LG LCD
Best TV find: Tarak Mehta ka Oolta chasma - a homely comedy, LA Ink
Best Google Search: Adobe CS4 portable
Best portal: Facebook and Flipkart
Best News: India completing 100 medals in CWG, Nitish landslide win in Bihar

Best Moments:  My Nephew and End of my Bachelor's days

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Highway on My Plate Book -Review

One of my favorite show on NDTV Good Times, and most celebrated by the people all over India for its unique concept of bringing Highway Dhabas and Cuisine inside our Homes.The hosts Rocky and Mayur finally went ahead and penned down their experiences in a Book- '"Highway on my plate "- The Indian guide to roadside eating' by Random house India. This odd 320 page book is having a perfect lonely planet style cover and a perfect thickness. The inside pages are crisp but with little bigger font size. The contents are well laid out in alphabetical order (Indian States) and you can dive inside the book as per your Highways.

What is great:

  1. A lovely and decent cover.
  2. Nice detailing on the eateries and well indexed.
  3. Rocky and Mayur have done a tremendous job to jot down all the places they have covered on the show. The ratings are great and give a detailed review of the places.
  4. Something on the side is really cool and adds another dimension to the Roadside Dhabas.
  5. What they have covered in this book is really unique and special, No magazine has done it so far. Bringing the real India for its taste and deep culture. Even Lonely Planet India must have missed some of their best pick when compared to this HOMP (Paper).
  6. This is for a foodie who believes in appetite fulfilling the real way.
  7. Value for Money. Rs 224 @ Flipkart.com 


What could have been great:

  1. While ratings have either Rocky or Mayur's verdict but not Both of them. Sometimes its really confusing why Mayur's verdict is required for a restaurant which is famous for its Non -veg delicacy.
  2. The book is definitely missing the wit and humor of Rocky and Mayur's HOMP, esp the free things at the end of the price list for each Roadside eateries.
  3. Some more pictures.
  4. Some of the states like Bihar are shown only in pictures, while Goa has only one featured. Even states like Chattisgarh, Orissa, Karnataka and West bengal have very few listings. Surprisingly Ladakh/Leh has no mention in this Road trip book for foodies. Wish they have added more locations and Dhabas in the book or are they looking for HOMP part II :)
  5. Last but not the least, Where are the Food Quotes ?????
The book is a collector's item and a must for the fan of HOMP. 

Overall Rating 


Sunday, December 26, 2010

Tees Mindless Khans

A compilation of one of the worst performers from Bollywood, topped with worst writer ever you can witness.
When you dream of all worst actors (Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar/Khanna), it becomes a nightmare. However there is a hope of making it at least watchable when you have a good Director. With Tees Maar Khan (Read Tees 30 Mindless Khans), we don't have a director but a Female who makes other dance.
Nothing can go right in this mindless satire of "After the Fox", the writer was sitting under a Pine-apple tree and the Apple didn't fall on his head. Instead our head was spinned for all the rotten jokes and an ending which was disastrous.

All from Bollywood gave their worst. I expected this movie to be a bore but not this bore.
Roadies twin heroes were a carcass from the past, while the whole village folks-men were full of idiopathic performances . Katrina played herself - a DUMBO. While all other cast including the main leads were Unnecessary. In fact the movie was unnecessary. Farah Khan the so called director cannot direct Tees Maar Khan, "Hence Proved!!"

Shiela ki jawani is better on MTV than to watch in the theater. One of the worst lyrics and worst dances, the choreography was expected to be atleast good but it failed at that front too. An utter Bakwaas.

At last, to conclude, You can have a better time in Toilet for two hrs reading 'Saras Salil' than to watch this shit, full of stinks.


A Headache.

PS: Still you expect a Star ??

Monday, December 6, 2010

A Compulsory Time Wig - Indigo

Recently I flew on Indigo Airlines. This airline was actually ontime and they gave a great emphasis on being at par with their promise.
I like their non-typical Ad :-"ON POINT! ON TIME!"
Click for Video



The flight was airborne in Delhi Foggy air right on time at 6:30 scheduled morning and landed as per time. Their air-hostesses were also keen on automatically noting the time of each move. A well done branding.

One thing I noticed that all the Air hostesses were looking the same, my curious eye was looking for the curious case. Suddenly I realized that all the crew were Females and they were carrying the same hair cut - coquettish bob.
As a part of this new makeover, the airline has  given them a chic blue tunic and a stylish cap along with a WIG.

This new change didn't only gave them an uniform smart look but also worked on their motto of saving time.
As they, now  do not need to spend time doing up your hair and can tuck it in the wig and get going, and the crew is also happy that their hair remains manageable during the course of the flight. Over the long run the Hair is not damaged by styling gel or other chemical products.
Apart from this, all the women wore bright red lipsticks and nail color. They were looking very intimidating and Dolli-sh. Everyone was wearing a badge --"Miss IndiGo", as if they ran a catwalk and all came as winner.

However I enjoyed my two-way flight with Indigo. Esp for its Time keeping promise.