• Halve nots

    During N’s last visit to Bangalore, the final minutes of our conversation was around rights and wrongs. Zeros and ones. Black and white. At some point in our evolution, we created halves – half rights, grays. Who’s to say your gray is grayer than mine? It becomes subjective, contextual. For argument’s sake, we could say that rights and wrongs themselves are such. But each time we make that gray decision, we know, and we pretend not to notice that little voice.

    Many years ago, as I sat eating an ice cream at the Cream & Fudge Factory in Koramangala (it no longer exists) an old man’s eyes met mine for a few seconds. He probably didn’t mean it, but as I took in his frayed but neat clothes, and his gaze that somehow conveyed that he couldn’t afford what I was having, I was suddenly struck by the unfairness of it all. These days, I wonder if I just imagined it all, and it was just my sub conscious conveying something to me. In any case, it’s like that subtext that once is known, is impossible to clear.

    We have to live, and make a living, N said. He was kind, and gave me various ways to assuage my feelings of guilt. But every time I make a choice – across life’s various scenarios – an extravagant meal, a new pair of jeans, a movie – I know I’m watching myself, and judging. It is easy to allow myself things, but who’s to say where the allowance ends. How objective can I be about myself? Every time I ignore that little voice, I add to the imbalance, blur the lines in my own eyes. A life has to be lived after all.

    until next time, live long and proper..

  • Toscano

    Between the Diesel 50% sale and the fact that I’ve heard so many diverse comments about Toscano, the decision was swung in favour of a UB City visit. (as opposed to a special event at Benjarong) Toscano is at one end of the food court on the 2nd floor, and opposite Soul City. As almost all the eateries here go, the seating includes an al fresco option too, an excellent choice on a windy Bangalore night.

    8.30 pm on Saturday is around the time that Bangalore behaves as though it hasn’t eaten all week. So we did reserve, but still had to wait for 10 minutes for a table. It might have been more if I hadn’t pointed out a free table. :\ There’s no real waiting area, so it wasn’t  the greatest of beginnings.

    But thanks to the wait, we had the time to decide what we wanted to eat. Yes, I’d have preferred doing that sitting down, but let me not nag now. 🙂 You can take a look at the menu here. Also take a look at the wine list and watch out for the day’s specials! A complimentary bread basket arrived before the Minestrone (chicken) soup we ordered. Two dips, one seemed to be herbed butter with olives, and the other had a chilli flavour. The soup was thick, with a tasty, mildly spicy broth base, and yes, chicken pieces were spotted along with pasta and cheese! (the photos were taken using the  phone camera, that would explain the worse-than-the-usual-bad visuals) 😉

    For the main course, D ordered a Linguine Chicken Aglio e olio Peperoncino and I asked for a Fettuccine e Salsiccia Piccante. (yes, just point to them on the menu card!) The former was a tad bland (for our palate, of course) despite the promise of chili in the description. But a huge dose of chicken cubes slightly made up for it. I quite liked the fettuccine though, lots of spicy sausages and a mild tang to it.

     

    Despite appearances, the dishes were quite filling, and we didn’t have space for desserts. The service was quite prompt and all the above cost us just over Rs.1300.

    Toscano, UB City, The Collection, 2nd Floor, Vittal Mallya Road, Ph: 4173 8800

  • Zinghopper

    A network that uses your existing social and professional connections for safe and secure ridesharing, that’s Zinghopper. In conversation with co-founder Arunprasad Durairaj.

    [scribd id=107672392 key=key-qx6ye96suz2evc46l3y mode=scroll]

  • Too big to fail

    I had a bit of an epiphany a few days back. A sign of the needle shifting from social to media. In the era when the two words were grudgingly stuck together, one of the catchphrases I’d heard was ‘fail fast, learn fast, fix fast’. It was a time when the rules hadn’t been made, and experimentation was the only way to learn. Though this practice had its share of critics, there was hardly any choice.

    But now there is. Facebook has an entire suite of offerings now – it’s no longer vanilla display ads, there are Sponsored stories, Page Post Targeting, Offers, to name a few  – all meant for specific purposes. They even have case studies put together over a period of time. (we – Myntra – were featured a while back too)

    So, the epiphany? In a conversation, I realised that things were more serious now. Brands are now loath to experiment since the general feeling was that a lot of people would see it and it would affect the brand image. It’s not just ads, posts, but even social actions! Smelled like traditional media. Is that good or bad? I don’t know, but I do know it’s evolution.

    until next time, traditional social 😉

  • Realty Check 3

    The location was right, and strangely, so was the price. In fact, almost everything was right and she told the current owner so. To make it perfect, she decided to ask him anyway. After all, they had done it before with soups at restaurants. “Excuse me, can you make it a three bedroom from two?”

    until next time, Part 1, Part 2