• Back to Yoga

    He’d been doing Yoga for a while now. And while it was going quite well, there was one posture he was asked to do everyday, but could somehow never manage. After some deliberation, he figured out the reason. He realised that the problem wasn’t physical, it was more psychological. He really couldn’t bend over backwards.

    until next time, yoga builds character 😉

  • The Long Tail of Caves

    I read about the Jaipur Lit Fest, only thanks to a tweet from prolificd/roshnimo, this despite the fact that I fancy myself to be quite a voracious bibliophile. So, I wouldnt have been surprised to be asked ‘Have you been living in a cave?’.

    I blame it on the information overload, and wonder if we have reached full circle. Once upon a time, the means of communication was so minimal that most people lived their lives without most of the information they’d have liked to have. These days, its the other extreme of communication means, but the effect is the same. Even if I have an interest for something, I might end up missing the information, simply because of the large amounts of data I’m plowing through in terms of Twitter, blogs, Facebook, news sites and so on. Don’t even think of saying noise, or filter. There are limits and it doesnt help if you have interests in the social web, Bollywood, puns, books, Formula 1 and so on.

    The more interest I have in different verticals, and the more conversations I have in any one of these, I expose myself to being in a ‘cave’. Different people based on their interest areas and levels of interest, would thus create a hmm, long tail of caves!!

    I’m getting by now by paying special attention to those whom I trust, in specific fields, to give me the latest, valid information. A sort of virtual look out. But I’m hoping for a better solution, like say, a few vertical networks?

    until next time, wassup? 🙂

  • Tweets w00t

    I’ve never plugged plugins before, but in this case, I’ll gladly make an exception, because its so damn useful. Quite a while back, after installing the friendfeed plugin, I remember asking on Friendfeed whether there was a WordPress Plugin that could pull in any sharing of a blog post. Think of the trackbacks we have for blogs, and then imagine if we had a similar mechanism for Twitter, Google Reader, Delicious or any of the sites we share stuff on.

    Mashable wrote sometime back about the concept of Tweetbacks, and thanks to the magical way in which web 2.0 operates, the bridge from fantasy to reality was quickly created, and the WP Plugin creation was called yes, Tweetbacks. Dan Zarrella, you’ve heard this before, you’re awesome. 🙂

    I’d recommend it strongly to all those bloggers who are familiar with Twitter (actually even those who aren’t) and would like to see who’s sharing your post there. Its an absolutely hassle free plugin- easy to install and adds another dimension to connecting with people and conversations. And now, Dan has built another plugin called Tweetsuite, which adds a load of functionalities. Testing it out now. Suggest you do too.

    until next time, hoping for a Reader and delicious plugin 🙂

  • Soo Ra Sang

    No, its not about someone singing, this is a wonderful Korean restaurant in Bangalore. We reserved in advance, and that turned out to be a good thing. Its not exactly in a location where you might chance upon it. When coming from the Koramangala/MG Road/Indiranagar direction get on to Airport Road, and at the first signal after Manipal Hospital, take a right turn (that’s Wind Tunnel Road). You won’t see it for quite a while, so disregard the voice within you (and behind you or by your side) that says you’re lost. After a while, you’ll have Omega Healthcare on the left, Soo Ra Sang is about 3 plots after that. Parking is not too much of a problem.

    The restaurant is on the fourth floor, with the first 3 floors occupied by the hotel. There’s this note stuck inside the lift which warns you of dire consequences if you don’t follow the instructions on it, but they were simple enough, and we survived. The roof top location gives  a wonderful view of Bangalore. There are about seven tables, some of which have a floor mat seating, but they were occupied, so we had to make do with regular seating, but it offered us a great view. The ambience is very cosy, makes you feel completely at home. There was also some nice Korean music in the background. Perfect setting. 🙂

    The menu has five sections – Chicken, Seafood, Pork, Beef and Veg. From a few reviews I’d read, i’d decided I’d either have beef or pork, but I chickened out in the end. We got a lot of help from the person in charge of our table, and it was a good coincidence that he suggested the same dishes we’d considered. So D ordered a Dol Soth Bee Bim Bob (no we didn’t say it, we mumbled the number associated with it on the menu). That’s stone pot rice with vegetables and chicken mince. I got the An Dong Cim Dak, which is chicken and soya sauce with green chillies, noodles and vegetables.

    We were given a bottle with some flavored water, and were told that it was sweet corn based. Its served chilled, and is quite refreshing once you get used to the taste. We then got a starter with some nice chilly sauce . Its a pancake (Maida based with vegetables, I think the generic name is ‘Jeon’). And then came the main course. In what can be compared to a Kerala sadya experience, we had about 10 plates placed in front of us with small portions of some vegetables, some plain bolied, and some with unique flavors. radish, potato, beans, brinjal, zucchini, Chinese Cabbage, among other things. These serve as accompaniments, we were told, and if we liked, we could get more. 🙂

    D’s dish was served in a stone pot, and was expertly mixed for her by the person who served it. Mine looked less fashionable, but I got a small bowl of rice, so there! while the former did remind us a bit of of Chinese food, the latter was completely different from anything I’ve tasted, and awesomely spicy. I guess that was the reason for the bowl of rice, it helps 🙂

    The meal ended with a Korean version of dessert. Its served in little cups and is cinnamon based. It’s served cool, but ends up cooling your insides much more. It seems to be a version of Su Jung Gwa. Not exactly the chocolate stuff I’m an addict of, but delicious.

    Meanwhile, all of the above cost us Rs.750. The 2 dishes are charged at Rs.375 each, so the starter and the dessert are part of the deal. Each dish on the menu is a meal by itself. The portions are quite sufficient, though i was tempted to ask for a refill of the dessert. Should have.I think the food is authentic, because all the other tables were occupied by Koreans, and they all looked very happy with the food. The service is extremely good. There’s hardly any time between the ordering and the serving. I think they serve some alcohol, since I saw a few KFs, and what looked like some bottled Korean liquor.

    Overall, a great experience, though next time, I’d like to try the floor mat, and one of them barbecues on the table. They looked delicious. You really must try it out.

    Su Kh Gua Ran Teed. 😀

    Soo Ra Sang, 35, RK Arcade, NAL Wind Tunnel Road, Murugeshpalya, Bangalore Ph: 080 41303435

    Photos at Zomato

    PS. In the bike parking space, there was an old signage, which reminded us that Soo Ra Sang used to be in Koramangala, when we had moved to Bangalore. 🙂

  • The Red Carpet

    Lavanya Sankaran

    The Red Carpet is a collection of short stories – eight of them, a slice of life of a generation in transit, with its amazing contradictions, all set in Bangalore. Though the different stories are not connected with each other, the characters in most of them (if not all) are recurrent, though not in an obvious way, and usually remain inconspicuous in the stories where they are not the lead characters. Many of the stories feature characters who differ vastly from each other- either by age, or social class, or mindset, but who, despite these contrasts, are still able to connect at some point. Bangalore offers a perfect setting, since it’s a city that has absolutely transformed itself in a short of period of time. But its not exactly a key character in any of the stories, merely serves as a backdrop. Also, don’t expect any Archer like twists in any of the stories. They just flow, and are reasonably good reads. Meanwhile, I’m extremely curious to figure out if the story after which the book is titled (The Red Carpet) has more of the author in itself compared to the others. My favourite happens to be ‘Mysore Coffee’.