Month: May 2008

  • Growth, or the lack of it….

    At every cross road, there are opportunities that have not been taken. There are choices that have been made, options that have been taken, the first with a steely resolve, and the second, with a sense of compromise. The first is more often than not, a happy tone that comes from knowing exactly what we want, and the second one is a tone of resignation, which comes from knowing somewhere deep inside that by giving up a little, much could have been gained, if only we could bring ourselves to do it, if only we could be sure…

    I’ve always wondered about why I have a problem with giving up a few comforts, a few perks, a few advantages in life, especially if it means I could have an opportunity to connect with what I was meant to do in this life. At first, i thought it could be because I wasn’t sure what exactly it was. But then, I was even giving up chances of finding out what it could be.

    I came across a new logic a while back. One thats rooted in my small town origins. Of course, its no longer a small town, its what they call a tier 2 city. 🙂 Growing up in a small town means that you’re always on ‘add to shopping cart’ mode in terms of aspirations. Growing up in an age when the cans of cola in the hands of videsi relatives evoked a sense of envy, didn’t help. While a lot of the shopping cart items were thrown out with age and what I hope is maturity, there are some deep seated ones which are difficult to get over. Which explains the constant striving for growth. And as each upgrade is done with, it becomes more difficult to give up what has been achieved after so much of work has gone into it. While it can be argued that the potential growth by letting go is much larger, or that the movement is only lateral, when you come in from what is relatively nowhere, it is difficult to imagine even risking going back there.

    until next time, hedging the bets

  • Kobe Sizzlers

    Talk about focus… You only come here if you are in the mood for sizzlers… We couldn’t even try our regular strategy of one starter + one sizzler + dessert approach, since the starter options are almost nil… Even with this focus, we felt that we could’ve got more choice of sizzlers in say, Yoko, Indijoe or Tangerine.

    First things first, the joint is located on the 5th floor of Garuda Mall. We tried reserving in advance, but as usual were met with ‘We don’t take reservations on weekends’. What surprised us were a few tables there with a ‘reserved’ sign, and I only got a smile in response to my query. We reached there by around 7.45, and could easily get a table, but the place got crowded in another 15 minues.

    Since I was still reeling from a heavy lunch, we ordered a Chicken Salad and a Nasi Goreng. The salad came in no time, was very tasty (just the way I like it, with lots of mayonnaise) and was quite large, in terms of quantity. The sizzler took some time, but that might have been because they were waiting for us to finish the salad.

    The sizzler was made of boneless chicken on a bed of fried rice. And what a bed it was – king size!! I’m quite sure that even with a free stomach, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it. The lack of options, I think, is made up for by the extremely good quality and quantity of the food that one gets here.

    The dessert options are the regular suspects – custard, brownie. They also have a few beverage options like iced tea, cold coffee and something called the Kobe special coffee, have to try that out sometime.

    The ambience is quite pleasant, with very comfortable seating and cosy seating for 2 people. The food is absolutely value for money, the entire meal cost us just about Rs.400.

    Kobe Bangalore. 5th Floor, Garuda Mall, McGrath Road, M.G.Road, Banglore-560025 Tel: 080-65600872

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Citi Zen

    There are a couple of Citibank ads that started appearing late last year. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere on the net, finally got one of the storyboards here.

    This one shows a ‘home’ scenario where a woman complains to her husband about how his brother (Amar) has brought his financial planner to meet their father. The husband is very happy that his brother has become responsible, but the wife feels that the brother is eyeing their business. Later, the father says that since Amar has become smart in finance, and should handle their new factory. While the brother is happy with it, his wife is shown fuming.

    There’s another office scenario where a junior is shown to become smarter and is offered a new project, while a colleague warns his senior that he is trying to leap over him. The ads are only meant to convey that after using Citibank’s services, a person becomes smarter in his finance. I’ve seen a few comments on the net which don’t appreciate the execution/storyline of the ads, but i have a different view of it.

    Set in the context of a corporate/domestic life that has an abundance of back biting and ‘success at any cost’ mantras, and product and brand communication that has no qualms about accepting it that way and portraying it too, it shows a person who’s confident enough about his own skills to not feel threatened and is magnanimous enough to be happy about another person’s growth. To me, that’s a value statement in itself, and a refreshing one at that. I really don’ t know if it is by design, even if it is not, I (also) read it that way.

    until next time, efficacity

    Meanwhile, the cola wars are back, its Youngistan vs Thums up. Catch the video here (courtesy this)

  • Temptations of the West

    Pankaj Mishra

    A commentary on life in the subcontinent, that vividly portrays issues that pertain to the region- from the university politics of Uttar Pradesh to the lanes of Bollywood and from Ram Janmabhoomi to the plight of Kashmir, and thats only one country.
    It also shows the role of Pakistan in the cold war, its dealings with the US , the mujahideen, communists and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Touches on Nepal and the Maoists vs Monarchy tussle. Most importantly it also throws light on how religion can fuel the fires of jihad (Afghanistan) as well as serve as a cohesive force that becomes a source of cultural identity (Tibet).
    While it could be claimed that he does not devote the deserved attention to each part of the sub continent and therefore leaves the work incomplete, what I liked was that though Mishra tries his best to remain objective in his understanding of the issues, he is also not dispassionate, and tries to bring in a perspective that reflects the views and experiences of the resident population. If you’ve read his earlier work, ‘The Romantics’, you’ll feel a sense of deja vu, not just in the content, but in the tone too.
    Read it at a good time since the outcome of a lot of things discussed in the book is happening now – Prachanda’s triumph in Nepal, the return of the Kasmiri pundits, the Tibetan protests.
    The other good take out was his projecting of Buddhism as possibly the last bulwark against capitalism. No, I’m not a communist anymore, but strongly believe that our society needs an anti thesis, an option against the unbridled arrogance of money.

  • Going Glocal

    Heard here that Yahoo had launched its local search. I had been quite impressed by Yahoo Cities earlier, and had started referring to it more and more for events in the city. My only grumble was that i couldn’t get a feed for it. In addition to events, they also have news, answers, maps, travel, blogs, videos and podcasts, a forum among other things.

    There were a lot of the usual suspects missing from the list above, so when i read the news, i assumed that this would be complementary, and to a certain extent, it is. I was kinda disappointed because i had thought that Cities would be scaled up to include the missing parts too.

    Yahoo Local has listings of restaurants, pubs, fitness centres, and a host of other services that are a part of the regular city life. Some of the data is provided by Indiacom and users can also add businesses. The site also asks for reviews, which means Burrp, Needgrub etc will face heavy competition, especially if Yahoo promotes this through city targeted (say) email bursts. Don’t know about Burrp, but Needgrub has carrots for reviewers.

    On other fronts, it also means competition for Ask Laila, Guruji, Sulekha, mycitybuddy, buzzintown, just dial, Yulop, KyaKare, and Onyomo, who at one point of time was way ahead. Also, the other name that springs immediately to mind is a certain company called Google, who had gone local sometime back. I also saw another step from them recently. But i think Yahoo has upstaged them in this case. Meanwhile, I don’t use Yahoo Maps and cannot therefore comment authoritatively on the same, but given the crowd above and the kind of services some of them offer, Yahoo’s integration of Yahoo Maps may not be a quantum leap. Also, I was quite disappointed with the directions within the city that Yahoo gave (although vernacular is a good start). At least in Bangalore, this one is much better, the only snag is that nobody updates one ways!!! And that, in Bangalore, is about as dynamic as the average Indian politician’s loyalties.

    But like i said earlier, I wonder why they have developed Cities and Local as two separate entities. Wouldn’t a one-stop-shop be much more useful to the average user in this case? For example, given that most events happen at public spaces like auditoriums, malls, hotels etc, and these find a listing in Local, what additional value can Cities bring to the table? News can also be easily integrated into Local, especially if it can be made sub local.

    If a combo happens, what I’d be really be happy to see would be a customised search toolbar and say, a widget, that gives me local news updates as well as updates on events happening around town. With messenger, Yahoo Groups etc the possibilities, as the cliche goes, are endless.

    In fact, a local website could be the perfect platform to get into social networking with a twist. The site would already have the skeleton ready – think about it – you are interested in buying a book, there are listings of bookshops, the community gives you reviews and the shop that gives you the best discount, they can even recommend similar books…. similarly with plays, music, food, and all the other things that you entertain yourself with. Instead of a global scene like Facebook, you can actually start realising the virtual life… no, i didnt mean poke!! Hold Scrabulous tournaments, go trekking, organise Flixster quizzes, find people who enjoy similar movies and actually watch it with them…. Real Social Networks, get the drift?

    until next time, no more locally challenged?