Say hello to my new Kindle touch! :)
Now my travel bag will not groan under the load of multiple books!
May 23, 2012
May 6, 2012
Mad Over Donuts, Bangalore
Yesterday, Mad Over Donuts, or M.O.D as they are known, opened shop in Bangalore. My hotshot yembeeyay friend who had done some project on niche chains like MOD dragged me along with her to sample some donuts at the place.
It was a long anticipated opening. The store has been under construction for a while now. On Saturday, the atmosphere was festive with a friendly man distributing balloons to young and old alike. The head chef guy was cheering the entire staff and all of them were chanting M-O-D aloud. And to add to all the happiness, they were giving away free samples of the donuts to all the people who walked in!
The place is hard to miss- standing right outside the food court of Phoenix Market City. M.O.D claims that those who have not lost their hearts to donuts would lose them post sampling them. And they stand true to their claim.
In keeping with our love for all things chocolaty, we set out to order the Choco Bomb and Double Trouble - two of their most recommended items. To our dismay, both trays were empty. However, the person at the counter told us that they were getting made, and would be available in a jiffy!
So I went on to sample my first donut from M.O.D. Sinful, delicious and wholesomely chocolaty. That is all I can say about it. Double trouble was worth every penny. It has a lot more filling when compared to what Donut Baker offers and scores on the taste front too!
One can see the bakers making donuts in the place. And my! I dont know whether it was because it was Day 1 or what, but the entire staff was buzzing with high energy!
They have other cheesy sounding flavors like Blush Factor, Original Sin and After dark. The donuts come in rings and are filled. And there are plenty of flavors to choose from! They are priced upwards Rs.50, slightly more premium than donut baker.
I intend to revisit and fill in more details.
P.S. Ashu, thanks a ton for taking me there and all the gyaan :)
The place is hard to miss- standing right outside the food court of Phoenix Market City. M.O.D claims that those who have not lost their hearts to donuts would lose them post sampling them. And they stand true to their claim.
In keeping with our love for all things chocolaty, we set out to order the Choco Bomb and Double Trouble - two of their most recommended items. To our dismay, both trays were empty. However, the person at the counter told us that they were getting made, and would be available in a jiffy!
So I went on to sample my first donut from M.O.D. Sinful, delicious and wholesomely chocolaty. That is all I can say about it. Double trouble was worth every penny. It has a lot more filling when compared to what Donut Baker offers and scores on the taste front too!
One can see the bakers making donuts in the place. And my! I dont know whether it was because it was Day 1 or what, but the entire staff was buzzing with high energy!
They have other cheesy sounding flavors like Blush Factor, Original Sin and After dark. The donuts come in rings and are filled. And there are plenty of flavors to choose from! They are priced upwards Rs.50, slightly more premium than donut baker.
I intend to revisit and fill in more details.
P.S. Ashu, thanks a ton for taking me there and all the gyaan :)
March 29, 2012
The whole six yards
A conversation that led to this post:
Me: (In the pantry, steeping a tea bag) Wow! Enna special? You turned up in a saree!
She: Nothing special ya!
Me: Don't chumma say nothing. Birthday aa?
She: No ya! I have so many sarees. Rarely wear them. Why simply save it up for functions only? So i decided to wear it to work.
Me: Nice ya!
She: Well, it will look and all nice, but who is even thinking of me having to maintain it?
Me( thinking) If Saree maintenance is difficult, then why go for it? :)
For most of us ladies these days, office wear would mean a pair of jeans and a top or a salwar-kurta. The whole concept of the saree being an attire for everyday purpose is gone! Everybody complains about the difficulty in maintaining a saree! For God's sake, people work the fields in a saree. Until the advent of "modern outlook", the saree was our staple clothing. My mom goes to work everyday in a saree. How is being in an air conditioned office tough? Why then does our generation think that it is difficult to handle and manage? It is simply because we are not used to draping a saree. Anybody will vouch for the fact that a saree clad woman, when draped well, is elegance personified. But well, we have not been used to wearing it oh-so-often. It is only during some function that we would slip into one (of course, draping it isn't as easy as slipping-in!) And then all the maami's would go, aDa! So pretty! You girls look so nice in a saree. You should wear it often!
And then you suddenly feel that all eyes are on you. So much that you want to go back to being in your "normal" clothes. Ladies of our generation, who are interested, should learn the skill of draping the saree. Only then will we realise how beautiful it is. And we should start treating the saree also as normal clothing, not as something that is unmanageable and attention grabbing. And the first step to that would be to stop asking people who turn up to work in a saree as to what is special?! :)
Me: (In the pantry, steeping a tea bag) Wow! Enna special? You turned up in a saree!
She: Nothing special ya!
Me: Don't chumma say nothing. Birthday aa?
She: No ya! I have so many sarees. Rarely wear them. Why simply save it up for functions only? So i decided to wear it to work.
Me: Nice ya!
She: Well, it will look and all nice, but who is even thinking of me having to maintain it?
Me( thinking) If Saree maintenance is difficult, then why go for it? :)
For most of us ladies these days, office wear would mean a pair of jeans and a top or a salwar-kurta. The whole concept of the saree being an attire for everyday purpose is gone! Everybody complains about the difficulty in maintaining a saree! For God's sake, people work the fields in a saree. Until the advent of "modern outlook", the saree was our staple clothing. My mom goes to work everyday in a saree. How is being in an air conditioned office tough? Why then does our generation think that it is difficult to handle and manage? It is simply because we are not used to draping a saree. Anybody will vouch for the fact that a saree clad woman, when draped well, is elegance personified. But well, we have not been used to wearing it oh-so-often. It is only during some function that we would slip into one (of course, draping it isn't as easy as slipping-in!) And then all the maami's would go, aDa! So pretty! You girls look so nice in a saree. You should wear it often!
And then you suddenly feel that all eyes are on you. So much that you want to go back to being in your "normal" clothes. Ladies of our generation, who are interested, should learn the skill of draping the saree. Only then will we realise how beautiful it is. And we should start treating the saree also as normal clothing, not as something that is unmanageable and attention grabbing. And the first step to that would be to stop asking people who turn up to work in a saree as to what is special?! :)
March 15, 2012
Learning a new script
Having studied in KV, I am severely handicapped when it comes to my reading and writing skills in regional languages. So when tamil speaking friends at work took to learning to write kannada, i asked myself whether I was happy with just my English and Hindi script knowledge. I knew that I was happy with my passable kannada reading skills that serve the purpose of reading signboards and bus routes. Since I know that level of kannada, reading telugu movie posters is also not a big deal. The challenge of course, is with Tamil.
In the pre-google era, I would call my parents to read out the name of the interesting movie or serial playing out on Sun TV. Whenever I had to write out a comment in tamizh, naa english script ae vechchi sammaaLippen. But now, I want to learn the language. Simply because I want to read those lovely stories that Amma used to read out from Kumudam and Kalki. Because I want to be able to use right sounding tamizh words effortlessly like Gopinath does in Neeya Naana. Because I want to read Ponniyin Selvan. I have heard people raving about the novel like they rave about Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. I know that for a beginner, Ponniyin Selvan is far far away. But I like a good challenge. So I am at it, starting today :) It all looks like jalebi right now, but very soon I should be able to make sense of the alphabet. Best thing is that the Tamil alphabet does not have so many letters!
P.S. Watch this space for an update in the form of the review of Ponniyin Selvan :)
In the pre-google era, I would call my parents to read out the name of the interesting movie or serial playing out on Sun TV. Whenever I had to write out a comment in tamizh, naa english script ae vechchi sammaaLippen. But now, I want to learn the language. Simply because I want to read those lovely stories that Amma used to read out from Kumudam and Kalki. Because I want to be able to use right sounding tamizh words effortlessly like Gopinath does in Neeya Naana. Because I want to read Ponniyin Selvan. I have heard people raving about the novel like they rave about Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. I know that for a beginner, Ponniyin Selvan is far far away. But I like a good challenge. So I am at it, starting today :) It all looks like jalebi right now, but very soon I should be able to make sense of the alphabet. Best thing is that the Tamil alphabet does not have so many letters!
P.S. Watch this space for an update in the form of the review of Ponniyin Selvan :)
March 13, 2012
Would you use Airtel money?
I am a big sucker for great ads. So when i saw the ad for airtel money, where the girl spots this god-awesome bag but doesn't have the cash for it, i really felt for her. And felt that she should get the money for the bag. And when her mum dearest said, tathasthu! for her bag wish and sent her money thru phone, i was smiling along with the mother-daughter.
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Got me to do some digging up on Airtel Money. So how does it work?
1. Mom has an airtel money account. Daughter has an airtel money account.
2. Mom loads cash into her account either by physically depositing money at an airtel office or transfer thru net banking.
3. Mom needs a power account to send money (Rs.50 subscription). She pays Rs. 5 per transaction below 500 and 10 for transactions above 500. (The bag certainly isn't coming for 500!!)
4. Daughter receives the money.
5. Daughter prays real hard that the store accepts the airtel money. If she is in luck, then he would. She would have to transfer money to his account by payment. And in case she sends it to the wrong ID, airtel does not hold itself responsible. If the merchant did not receive the money, then she would have to contact airtel customer care with transaction ID.
And yes, its a given that this would mean that all parties involved in the transactions have airtel accounts!
Now a simple question, why would anybody go thru this hassle in the age of debit and credit cards?! And if the mom is as tech-savvy, then she can as well use mobile banking and transfer money instantly to her daughter's account.
Same case with money transfer. When i can fund transfer directly to another account, free of charge, why would i do it to my airtel phone, so as to later transfer it again, at a charge to someone else's money account?
They let you book movie tickets using their money service, but you cannot pick your seats. Riders, charges and conditions are there with almost every transaction. While their tagline says, it's not just about the money, they are charging money for everything ;)
I really did not understand airtel ka funda behind launching this service. I'd rather swipe my credit card free of cost and also accrue points for my purchase. Can you think of anyway in which airtel money would be advantageous and convenient?
.jpg)
Got me to do some digging up on Airtel Money. So how does it work?
1. Mom has an airtel money account. Daughter has an airtel money account.
2. Mom loads cash into her account either by physically depositing money at an airtel office or transfer thru net banking.
3. Mom needs a power account to send money (Rs.50 subscription). She pays Rs. 5 per transaction below 500 and 10 for transactions above 500. (The bag certainly isn't coming for 500!!)
4. Daughter receives the money.
5. Daughter prays real hard that the store accepts the airtel money. If she is in luck, then he would. She would have to transfer money to his account by payment. And in case she sends it to the wrong ID, airtel does not hold itself responsible. If the merchant did not receive the money, then she would have to contact airtel customer care with transaction ID.
And yes, its a given that this would mean that all parties involved in the transactions have airtel accounts!
Now a simple question, why would anybody go thru this hassle in the age of debit and credit cards?! And if the mom is as tech-savvy, then she can as well use mobile banking and transfer money instantly to her daughter's account.
Same case with money transfer. When i can fund transfer directly to another account, free of charge, why would i do it to my airtel phone, so as to later transfer it again, at a charge to someone else's money account?
They let you book movie tickets using their money service, but you cannot pick your seats. Riders, charges and conditions are there with almost every transaction. While their tagline says, it's not just about the money, they are charging money for everything ;)
I really did not understand airtel ka funda behind launching this service. I'd rather swipe my credit card free of cost and also accrue points for my purchase. Can you think of anyway in which airtel money would be advantageous and convenient?
March 4, 2012
Why Pinnnk for the ladies?
I have been going through hoards of websites in the past couple of weeks in order to get the best deal for a certain phone that i have had my eye on for a while. The search spanned the Valentine's day week and I was cringing whenever i saw the hearts all over the websites. What irritated me the most was, in the gifts for Him section, you found all the smart looking phones and practical gifts. On the other hand, gifts for her featured *PINK* stuff, and was mostly things like stuffed toys, chocolates, pink bags and wallets, pink phones (Beat that!). What makes the online stores think that girls would love stuffed toys? The very fact that she is old enough to receive a valentine's day gift means that the girl is a grown up! Stuffed toys are for kids! And why do they not think the ladies would be delighted in receiving a practical gift? Why give a pink phones that has hardly any desirable features? Don't you think a black "useful" phone would please her? Don't you think she would appreciate a practical gift like an external hard disk ?
A note to the online marketing people, women don't need a pink phone or a stuffed toy to make them feel special. The poor guy will probably face her ire if he gives her an overstuffed teddy bear while she was expecting something useful! And what makes you think that women should be given pink gadgets? I bought myself a stylish black phone and am in love with it! More on the phone later.
Women these days are probably as informed as the men about gadgets. They are practical and they know what they want. And speaking from common knowledge, what they want is certainly not a cuddly teddy bear!
A note to the online marketing people, women don't need a pink phone or a stuffed toy to make them feel special. The poor guy will probably face her ire if he gives her an overstuffed teddy bear while she was expecting something useful! And what makes you think that women should be given pink gadgets? I bought myself a stylish black phone and am in love with it! More on the phone later.
Women these days are probably as informed as the men about gadgets. They are practical and they know what they want. And speaking from common knowledge, what they want is certainly not a cuddly teddy bear!
February 5, 2012
Volvo Janata
I take the Volvo to work everyday. It is convenient, i can switch off during the journey, take a nap or just watch the traffic passing by. It is a short distance from home to work- about 8 kms. But the traffic makes sure that everyone moves at a snail's pace, There are people driving by, beside the bus- one person in a car. A royal waste of fuel that just adds to the congestion on the roads.
I take my eyes off the road and take a look at the people travelling along. Most of them have a laptop bag on their laps and are occupied with their phones. Some fancy, some basic. They are either talking or listening to music. I see the girl giggling away and giving a coy smile as she talks. And i want to say, "Lady, the person on the other end can certainly not see all your 32 teeth. No point smiling so much."
Then there are the people oblivious of their phones having three plus inch displays. The person next to you cannot but help accidentally looking at the message that you are typing.
There are also the intellectual types. Some come armed with the newspaper and use the travel time to catch up with the latest news. And the person beside him and behind him will try to read the same news, for free. The next kind of intellectuals is the most common kind. People with novels. If you are a regular, you will know the pattern. Takes close to a week to finish a book. Most people will have books from flipkart. Maybe the same bookmark as you do. Usually it is a Chetan Bhagat or Durjoy Dutta. So much for intellect!
The ones who are not on the phone or occupied with the book, are using the Volvo ride to put on some soothing or headbanging music and relax their own way. And this is not just on my bus route. I am sure that this would be the scene on any bus route.
The people whom i cannot put into any of these categories are the ones who simply sit and stare. Some openly, some under the veil of their sunglasses. The persistent starers always sit in the seats the face the others in the bus.
I suddenly realize what i am doing, and take my eyes off the people in the bus. I certainly don't want to fall into the staring people category. It is time to turn my focus onto the newspaper of the person sitting in front of me. :)
I take my eyes off the road and take a look at the people travelling along. Most of them have a laptop bag on their laps and are occupied with their phones. Some fancy, some basic. They are either talking or listening to music. I see the girl giggling away and giving a coy smile as she talks. And i want to say, "Lady, the person on the other end can certainly not see all your 32 teeth. No point smiling so much."
Then there are the people oblivious of their phones having three plus inch displays. The person next to you cannot but help accidentally looking at the message that you are typing.
There are also the intellectual types. Some come armed with the newspaper and use the travel time to catch up with the latest news. And the person beside him and behind him will try to read the same news, for free. The next kind of intellectuals is the most common kind. People with novels. If you are a regular, you will know the pattern. Takes close to a week to finish a book. Most people will have books from flipkart. Maybe the same bookmark as you do. Usually it is a Chetan Bhagat or Durjoy Dutta. So much for intellect!
The ones who are not on the phone or occupied with the book, are using the Volvo ride to put on some soothing or headbanging music and relax their own way. And this is not just on my bus route. I am sure that this would be the scene on any bus route.
The people whom i cannot put into any of these categories are the ones who simply sit and stare. Some openly, some under the veil of their sunglasses. The persistent starers always sit in the seats the face the others in the bus.
I suddenly realize what i am doing, and take my eyes off the people in the bus. I certainly don't want to fall into the staring people category. It is time to turn my focus onto the newspaper of the person sitting in front of me. :)
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