Month: April 2011

  • On the Edge

    No, it’s not a state of the mind post. On the Edge is a lounge restaurant that neighbours Ebony and 13th Floor in Barton Centre on MG Road. Last weekend, thanks to the cup that mattered, we converted our regular Saturday dine out into a Sunday lunch.

    On the Edge has a view that parallels 13th Floor – facing MG Road. Not as spectacular, but close enough. It would be better at night, obviously. Most of the tables offer the view, but there are some others too, and they’re actually more lounging-friendly. You can find the map, menu and a few photos at Zomato. The prices have increased by about 10%, and they add a service charge and tax.

    After the mandatory skyline photo session, we ordered the “Bangkok in a bowl”. Before that arrived, we got a complimentary bread basket. That dip was quite good. The Tom Yum was not the coconut milk version we had hoped for (on hindsight, the menu hadn’t mentioned coconut milk either), but was still spicy and all the flavours manifested well.

    For the main course, we ordered a Khao Soi (w/ egg noodles) and a Chicken – Prosciutto Roulade. The Khao Soi, though a Burmese dish, seemed closer to its Thai version. It was quite good, though I prefer a heavier dose of coconut milk. 🙂 The Chicken – Prosciutto Roulade was extremely good, and if you’re ok with ham, you should definitely give this a try. Despite not being a big fan of Popeye and Spinach, I quite liked it. Loved the presentation too, especially the mashed potato.

    All of the above cost us just less than Rs.950. Not exactly cheap, but for the ambiance, the quality of food and the decent service, it seemed quite reasonable.

    On The Edge, 84, 13th Floor, Barton Centre, MG Road. Ph: 41783333

  • Twitter, #cwc11 and me

    Since I’m not sure whether we’ll dominate like the Australians have been doing for a while, or wait for another 28 years and make it special, I wanted to document what I was doing during the match that made us World Champions. No expert comments, no emotional attya4, just pure fun in 140 characters. But at the end of it, we witnessed a moment that I think I can clearly reconstruct even decades later, this is just a back up 🙂

  • Weekly Top 5

    This week’s top 5 stories include Android’s quality control and In-app billing, Sony’s gaming woes, updates at Twitter – interests, Advanced Search, Google’s Page, Page Speed Online, Nortel patents, Microsoft’s ant-trust plans and Facebook’s journalist page..

    [scribd id=52588280 key=key-1rnqrb3qwbn1jcxv7xco mode=list]

  • Lady Gaga, Identity and Flexible Persistence

    Though the Old Spice man campaign (earlier post) was famed for its creativity, the other important part about it was the near real-time operations involved. More recently, I read about Kraft’s plans to turn 5 chosen tweets into TV ads for its Macaroni & Cheese product. Even more interesting was Coke getting Maroon5 to compose a song in 24 hours, with “inspiration and collaboration from fans” on Twitter. They performed it on March 23rd and Coke released it for free on April 1st. On reaching 100000 downloads, they will also make a donation to an organisation working on providing clean water in Africa. (via, there is another example too, from the fashion industry)

    Real time can be cool, and then I read this article on ‘Accelerated Cool‘, an interesting take on how to keep up in a scenario where a trend is replaced almost as soon as you hear of it. Their answer – “be yourself”, because then “You are owning your identity and embracing the rawness of pure, unfiltered, self”.

    Is this an option for brands? An interesting perspective I thought of was a personal brand – no, not Bieber or Rebecca Black, thank you but (predictably) Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga, who wowed folks at Google and Twitter recently, interviewed by Ev and Marissa Mayer respectively, and answered a viewer question on “Stefani” (her real name) with “This is me. Gaga is just a nickname.” Her song “Born This Way”, viewed a record (until Black’s Friday happened) 24 million times on YouTube, is incidentally about identity. (via)

    But a Lady Gaga cannot scale beyond a person. So, with existing platforms in a constant state of flux, and new ones appearing with a unique set of rules regularly, the answer for a brand is not simple, especially when consumers have the tools to amplify the brand’s #win and #fail and the economics of attention do not usually allow second chances. There is always a choice – to take an example of logos, revert to the old logo like Gap, or stick to their guns, like Syfy. (via)

    I’d say that brands have to find their purpose, from it would evolve the identity, and its manifestation across contexts and platforms then needs to be planned, governed by what LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman would call ‘flexible persistence’. “The art is knowing when to be persistent and when to be flexible and how to blend them.” (via) The science would come from the tons of data – real time and otherwise (earlier post) that is being generated and will continue to grow in volume. The trick, as usual, is in balancing the identity and the context, and if that is done, the brand can play with real time as easily as Neo does with the Matrix. Damn, that example is a dozen years old!

    until next time, identity kits

  • Roleplay

    Jagathy Sreekumar, in my opinion, is one of the finest comedians actors to grace the screen. Probably THE finest. Since he’s acted only in Malayalam movies (over 1000 of them), he’s relatively lesser known to non Keralites. But you don’t have to go away, this is not about him or even Malayalam movies or even movies.

    Contrary to his usual on-screen characters, he’s a very serious person in his media interviews. He was once asked why he accepted all the roles that came to him, and why he wasn’t more choosy, especially since he could afford to. Pat came the reply “I’m a professional. Do you think a doctor should be allowed to choose which patients to accept?”The interviewer predictably moved on to easier pastures.

    This was sometime back, but I was reminded of it during the debate on Tendulkar ‘walking’.  (he walked away despite the umpire signaling ‘not out’) Both Jayawardene and Ponting were clear that they’d walk only after they were declared out. Though I have not always been a Tendulkar fan, I have been an ardent admirer for quite a while now, of the player on the field and the person off it.

    So it was quite a difficult question – the morality of a professional (?) ‘walking’ without considering his responsibilities to the team. (forget the expectations of a nation for now) Was he being selfish – keeping his ‘fair play’ image intact? (though Ganguly claimed Sachin hasn’t always ‘walked’)

    While the moral question lingers, I thought I got an insight into Sachin’s behaviour from this amazing article I read thanks to Roshni. It says that Sachin is a bridge, between two eras of cricket, and he realises the responsibility. As a sport, today’s cricket, both on and off the field, is vastly different from what it used to be, and yes, it is no longer just a sport. As the author quotes “The team’s rabid popularity, is a reflection of rising national ambition, of pride in national achievement.” Maybe Sachin realises a bit beyond this too, and is doing his bit to ensure that in the pursuit of success, a right set of ethos is also kept in mind. Playing the game to win, and playing it fair.

    Jagathy, legendary though he is, perhaps has it easier. There are bigger stars around him who are expected to be role models. He can get away with moral absolutism.  Tendulkar probably has the tougher job – as he charts new territories in terms of matches played, runs scored, centuries made, he also has to navigate new grounds in moral integrity, balancing his own stance with the expectations of a team, a nation and still ensuring that he’s a worthy icon in all respects.

    until next time, Godlike