• The Legend of Sikandar

    Sikandar is the Hindustani name of Alexander the Great, and that’s the theme of this restaurant in Garuda Mall. Theme, only in terms of the food, not the decor, though they do have a few glass paintings that depict this. The place is usually crowded on Saturdays, so we reserved, got there by about 7.45, and got one of the window seats I have a liking for. Surprisingly, it didn’t have full occupancy at any point during our dinner. Blame it on you-know-what. I wonder if that’s the same thing I should blame for them using a fan instead of the air conditioning!!

    We decided to try a non chicken starter this time, and settled on the Adana Seek, described as “Turkey’s single greatest contribution to the world of street food. Lamb mince skewered on a sword, typically spiced and enlivened with paprika flakes and made the way it has been for eons in the Turkish town of Adana”. Judging by the taste, and the awesome flavoring, it definitely is a great contribution. Highly recommended, the only disappointment being that I expected to see the sword..and didn’t. The mint chutney provided with it wasn’t great though, so skip it.

    For the main course, we ordered a Murgh Siyali Kalimirch. The description in the menu reads ” Housewives in Siyalkot, Pakistan, take fierce pride in preparing their own versions of this dish of tender chicken cooked in sealed clay pots with lashings of freshly ground peppercorn”. We also ordered a Kadaiwala Machchi, “the best example of robust food made from simple earthy ingredients that’s the essence of Punjab’s cuisine. Fish tossed with fresh tomatoes, peppers and pounded spices”.  To go along with it, we ordered an Ulta Tawa ka Paratha – “the copper mahi tawa lends its special flavour ro these griddle roasted saffron flavoured parathas” , a Paneer aur Pudina Bharwan Kulcha, and when that proved insufficient, a roti too. What hasn’t been mentioned in the menu is that the chicken dish is a white gravy one, but that really didn’t matter. Its one of the best chicken dishes I’ve tasted in a long time. Whatever version this one is, I think they should stick to it!! The fish was good, but not in the same league as the other. The paratha was good too, and the only thing that was disappointing was the bharwan kulcha ( I think that has something to do with it not having a descriptor line..hmm)

    D felt that the choice of dishes has been reduced. I am not sure, but yes, there are about 4 chicken gravy dishes only now, so she could be right. The portions are quite large and more than sufficient for two people. They also serve liquor. The service this time was quite tardy though, in spite of the cold looks we gave the staff when they delayed in serving/refilling the water/bringing the bill. All of the above cost us just less than Rs.900. If you haven’t tried the place, you should, at least once. We chose this place specifically for this weekend because its one of our favourite places in Bangalore, and deserved to be the 50th Bangalore restaurant to be reviewed on this blog. 🙂

    The Legend of Sikandar, 4th Floor, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road. Ph: 41252333

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Dogged Pursuit

    He saw her, walking in the park. He knew her type – haughty and pampered. But he was street smart too, and started playing around with his attention grabbing ticks. He even gave a sound bite, but she ignored it. After a while, he gave up. The bitch obviously didn’t believe in bow-wow at first sight.

    until next time, puppy love 😉

  • Afterwards

    Jaishree Misra

    Having read both of Jaishree Misra’s earlier works, I was almost given into believing that this was going the same way as ‘Ancient Promises’ had. While the premise and the characters – woman, husband, extra marital relationship and a child are recurring, somewhere down the road, there is a fork, and that’s when it becomes a good book, not that Ancient Promises wasn’t , just that this worked better for me.
    To her credit, the author moves quickly over the part till the fork is reached, and while I’d have preferred some slicker editing after that, I can see how it might not be that way for others.
    A good read that captures the pain of loss, the hand of fate, and of letting things go being the only way to be sometimes.

    (spoiler alert) Special mention must be made of the wonderful way in which the author has captured the trauma of a 4 year old who realises her mother is no more, but perhaps can’t understand its ramifications in her life. I was deeply moved by the three pages that covered this, it gave me a different perspective of a 6 year old I knew once in similar circumstances. Echoes.

  • The heat is on…

    You know its summer when you see the various soft drinks launching their ‘season collection’. Coke, Pepsi, Thums Up, Mirinda and Sprite have all started bombarding the channels with their respective ads. Meanwhile, I was really surprised to know that Sprite is now the #2 soft drink brand in the country after Thums Up, the brand refused to die. This happened in October 2008, and since then Sprite has not only cemented its position (at 15.6%) ahead of pepsi (at 13%), but is also closing in on Thums Up (16.16%) (via Economic Times)

    So, let’s begin with Coke’s TVC. Coke has brought the ‘Open Happiness’ theme (which i’d written about earlier) to India, and has started the campaign with an ad featuring Gautam Gambhir. (because he’s an opener? ok sorry) The ad shows how the game of cricket (with Coke) adds fun and refreshment in our lives and builds community  by sharing our moments of happiness together – in this case, a cricket match. Gautham Gambhir brings to life a regular hangout joint by offering ‘ a dost free with every Coke’. The wife uncharitably commented that a free dosa might get more response!!

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S59gN7bl6As

    I honestly wasn’t impressed with the ‘Open Happiness’ theme anyway- Coke has done much better campaigns before, and this has cemented that opinion. Unless the remaining ads do wonders, I doubt if that opinion will change.  In fact I got thinking about Coke’s Slumdog association, rather dissociation, which i wrote about earlier. If they had allowed that association, the Oscar win would have gone wonderfully with the theme, and the Oscar is a global thing. They could’ve even done a cheering ad at the bottom of the screen whenever SDM got an award. (at least in the repeat telecast). Oh well, why cry over spilt cola.

    On to Pepsi’s latest TVC. With the cricket team in action, and IPL coming up, it looks like Pepsi has (thankfully) decided to shelf R.Kap and D.Pad for a while, and move on to Dhoni and Co. This is continuing the path of “echoing youth sentiment” – the last ad talked about how padhai wasn’t the only way to success, and this one talks of how people use their connections (jaanta hain mera baap kaun hai?) to get ahead in life. The concept, though a bit jaded, might actually work because of the execution (Sehwag’s wig’s contribution must be noted)

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2xS3P_Ejjg

    And now Sprite. I had written sometime back about how Sprite is going about things in a very methodical manner. In plain words, I think they have a strategy, and from the numbers it seems to be working. Clear Hai !! They’ve added the  no nonsense approach to their product benefit of slaking thirst and the renditions have been great so far. As a massive Fido Dido fan (7 up) I can only grudgingly admire. Brilliant. They have released two ads recently, but they really don’t measure up to the earlier work.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQr9gwb_-I

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-vVSEDOWmA

    The positioning has gotten a bit diluted, I felt, maybe the later ads will be better. Lets hope someone gives them something to spoof on. And meanwhile, the big news is that King Khan, after Pepsi’s non renewal of his contract, will now say ‘Baki Sab Bakwas’. Yes, he is Sprite’s new brand ambassador!! Coke has the most awesome Bollywood portfolio now – Aamir for Coke, SRK for Sprite, and Akshay for Thums Up.

    Speaking of which, Thums Up has also released its TVC, which features Akshay in a double role.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQUcO4GMus

    The typical Akshay-Thums Up ad, all slick action and stunts, centred around “will do anything for a Thums Up”. Wonder if Pepsi will spoof like last time.

    I also saw a couple of Mirinda ads, featuring Asin, very entertaining ones, but with a distinct south Indian flavour, which, am not sure will work across India (especially the market ones, which relies on wordplay a lot)

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65DbA-baZYA

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esp026fOXlE&NR=1

    The smaller 15 second ones which would work for a national audience don’t reach the same level as the ones above.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCiZ6ZCiDQ8

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em8_fbMGRKI

    7 Up has been silent so far. I hope they do something good with Fido Dido, which is a lot to ask for, considering the work so far. I couldn’t help but wonder the good use that Fido could’ve been put to in social media. This is the only brand which is instinctively identified with a character, and in a medium in which people like to talk to people and not brands, Fido could’ve served as a wonderful front end for the brand. His coolness wowed one generation, if someone thinks hard enough, he could easily wow many more too. Will he make a comeback with the new Pepsi lemon drink – Nimbooz? I, for one, hope he does.

    With the uninspiring 7Up and even Mirinda, Pepsi really has no flanking products. Coke, on the other hand, has two of its brands at the top. Pepsi needs a miracle now, to claw back. I have a feeling that Sprite is getting ready for the war for the top spot, and Pepsi played into their hands by releasing SRK. Thums Up, with Akshay at #1, and within touching distance Sprite at #2, with Shah Rukh. With these two sharing icy cold vibes these days in real life over the Bollywood #1 position, I think, we have a thriller on our hands.

    until next time, cold war!!

    PS. Interesting tactic by Coke – Don’t Dew it, a 24-ounce Vault (Coke) free with any purchase of a 20 ounce Mountain Dew (Pespsi)

  • World Views

    Sometime back, a work related trip took me to two completely different worlds in the same city – one, a software giant’s well designed campus, and the other, a market area. I’ve been in Bangalore now for 6 years now, but still can’t claim familiarity with a lot of places.

    The tech park was exactly as I had pictured it, from the large amount of written matter dedicated to it regularly in newspapers. Large and well laid out, with its own studio, food courts and bustling with activity. The activity is not techies just slaving in front of monitors, though I am sure that happens inside too, but having animated conversations over cups of coffee, cycling between building blocks, discussing a cultural activity happening in the next few days, and some even  watching the world go by.

    Gandhi Bazaar isn’t exactly the most written about place in newspapers, probably because its residents are not as appealing to the readers of the newspapers I read. But it is bustling nevertheless – the granny in the bullock cart surrounded by flowers, multitudes of roadside sellers, trading everything from vegetables to fancy jewelry to toys to clothes, a lot of happy, smiling faces drifting in and out of shops. I saw faces that just blended into the surroundings and others that didn’t perhaps belong there. (like me)  From where I stood watching, I couldn’t see any branded outlets around that I recognised, but in the vicinity you could get the best coffee and masala dosa. Pleasures of a different kind, but great ones nevertheless. Anything more would sound condescending.

    These are two worlds separated by a few kilometres, but almost isolated from each other, both worlds unto themselves, oblivious to each other, except for the few who occupy both. I can imagine the young local huduga who is now a techie and handles both worlds with ease. I feel happy for him, and hope he realises how lucky he is to be part of both these worlds – one  that helps him stay grounded and the other that helps him fly high.

    One planet, so many different worlds, and so many different stories.  A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to experience. This thought created a sense of deja vu, and sure enough, a search yielded this post. I guess the lessons of Nude Ellie are seeing a change of perspective.

    until next time, deja view 🙂