• Long before we had single button publishing…….

    A few days back, a friend buzzed me on GTalk to ask if i was the kind who contributed to magazines. She had seen a 1996 issue of Reader’s Digest which had an item with my name and hometown, a combo which was too coincidental to not check out. And right she was.

    Took me back to 1996, second year of Engineering, a time of upheaval. I was still getting used to staying away from home, and books were something i clung on to, not the engineering type, but fiction, perhaps as a link to a life i left behind. And since RD was something we subscribed to, at home, i sometimes carried it to the hostel. Incidentally, Dad still subscribes, and when i go home, i still get laughs from ‘Humour in Uniform’,’Life’s Like that’ etc.

    I remember the time when, after reading the ‘Towards More Picturesque Speech’ section, I sat down to make spanking new oxymorons. It didn’t matter that i had no clarity on whether ‘Picturesque’ was made of two separate words i knew, though i couldn’t see what sense their joining made, or it was a totally new word. Meanwhile, dozens of oxymorons made their way to RD, but only a few managed to get published. Maybe they are still laughing at the ones that didn’t get published.

    In the old days of India Post exclusives, I waited for the postman to bring me news of RD accepting my entry and er, paying me. When, eventually they did, I also remember the thrill of getting paid, and for the first time, seeing my words and name on print. Of course, I was also asked to explain the humour in (for example) ‘Mutually Exclusive’ and why it got published. I usually failed. For that particular example, the one that got published in 1996, I remember the picture on the cover too, because that was the last entry i ever sent to RD. Something must have changed after that.

    Have you ever tried to look back into your past, a sort of bird’s eye view? And sometimes, while doing so, have you ever felt conflicting emotions? Sometimes I cannot understand myself and why i’d done things I did. And sometimes, I understand myself totally and wish someone had been there to give me a hug that I was longing for. And that still brings a lump to my throat. Maybe I haven’t changed after all.

    until next time, published

  • Sahib Sindh Sultan

    Our first tryst with these guys was documented in my other blog, and you’ll notice that the relationship didn’t begin well. We’ve had mixed experiences with these guys, and I think its one of the most snobbish places as far as the BJN group’s restaurants go. We’ve had occasions where they didn’t take reservations, and then asked us if we had a reservation when we reached. But something that’s been consistently good is the food, and since that’s one the most important parameters of judging a restaurant, we manage to go back. But as far as the service goes, go there if you’re into masochism.

    This time we were told that no reservations would be taken after 7.45 pm, so we asked for a table at 7.45. We got two calls to confirm that, one in the afternoon, and one at about 7.43 pm. I fully agree with a restaurant calling me if I don’t arrive on time, but this irritated me. Unfortunately, the location at Forum Mall makes sure that they get patrons inspite of themselves, and because of the food.

    The theme of the restaurant is the first train in india, and that’s what its named after. the restaurant consists of two sections –  the ‘platform’ and the ‘compartment’. As you’d have guessed, the former is an open kind of area with flexible seating arrangements (large groups, couples etc) and the latter is a more cosy 4 seaters affair. The platform has graffiti that resembles an actual platform, including the old station master gong that sounds once almost every hour. The inside also does the theme justice, with overhead storage space that hold some old English style lady hats and handbags, and you can also see the kind of fans you see in trains. (don’t worry, its not for the function, the entire restaurant is air conditioned 🙂 )

    We ordered a Royal Velvet Chicken Shorba, which judging from the way it was consumed, was extremely good. We’d also asked for a starter to be brought along with the shorba, but of course, they really don’t listen to you. So three of us watched one person drinking the shorba, while munching breadsticks. Speaking of breadsticks go for the cheese and cumin sauce, the other two are miles behind. Meanwhile exactly 5 minutes after the soup was finished, we got the starter – Laupathgamini Bhatti ka Tikka (that first name coule have a spelling error, though it would roughly match 🙂 ). Thankfully, it was extremely tasty, and was just right in quantity for 3-4 people.

    For the main course, we ordered a Makhmali Murgh Tikka Masala and a Vulcan Foundry Murgh Badam. We’d gone there expecting to get a Havelock’s Fish Musullum, but for the first time, it was not available. But I’d definitely recommend it especially if you’re agroup of 3-4. Anyway, we ordered a Tandoori Roti, a Butter Naan, an Aloo Anardana Kulcha, and a Paneer & Peas Kulcha. True to character, they ended up forgetting the Aloo Kulcha and gave us 2 Paneer Kulchas, and expected us to believe that it was indeed Aloo, though it tasted like Paneer.

    The quantity was not sufficient, and since i was voted down when i suggested the Dak Bungalow Roast, and the Makhmali Murg was extremely tasty, we ended ordering one more of that and an Aloo Kulcha. We got lucky the second time since we actually got it. The Vulcan Foundry Murg is good especially if you’re the white gravy kind. But I still prefer the Dak Bungalow Roast (brown gravy), though it’s not boneless. The rotis and kulchas were also good enough. The sad part was that all this did not leave enough room for dessert.

    All of the above cost us about Rs.1500, and to top it, they didn’t get us any saunf etc after dinner. I assume it wasn’t just us, since i saw quite a crowd at the exit, picking it up from a table that had all the stuff. In essence, some of the best food you can find in bangalore, and possibly the worst service would sum up Sahib Sind Sultan.

    Menu and Photos at Zomato

  • Zoom In

    On one hand, i see the TV media guys, sprucing up their websites to improve engagement with users. On the other hand, I also read about how they are sharing content with pure play internet channels. I guess it will be a while before we see exactly how TV and internet will co-exist and still make money.

    I’m still figuring out Blinkx only slowly, especially since another entity of a similar kind caused me a lot of heartburn when i checked it out. In my first attempt at Hulu, they refused to show me most of the stuff I wanted to see, citing some regional reasons. I was so looking forward to seeing some Simpsons episodes 🙁 In my second attempt, i had to be operating from the US to see anything at all. Blinkx, however, operates on a video search level, though in the future, I wonder how much of a distinction there will be among a youtube, hulu, blinkx etc especially if content – professionally created or uder generated, will be shared everywhere. Will there be someone interested in keeping their content exclusive, or will it be too risky not to share it? Its something I’ve yet to understand. This and this, though old, might throw some light on it.

    Meanwhile, the other big news today is the launch of in.com. WATBlog says Web18 might have spent 2 C for that domain. I thought of taking it for a pin and have been told that it might take a couple of weeks since my mail id is in a queue. In typical Indian fashion, they told me that jumping the queue is possible, if i give my mobile number. But since I’ve been inundated with SMS relating to everything from commodities to movie tickets to holiday packages to jobs and everything in between, I decided to pass. Unfortunately, even WATBlog’s username/password combo doesn’t seem to work anymore. You can also read about it here.

    While its competing in the quite cluttered horizontal portal space, it already has a tangible differentiation with the homepage. I’ve always liked Web18’s moves even though they took the concept of niches to an extreme, and now this one seems likely to set a new benchmark for Rediff & Co. Come to think of it, com.in would also have been a cool name, maybe with a teaser like “Com.in soon”. “In.come soon” also has a nice ring to it. Haha, okay, i shall refrain. 🙂 They also have a presence on TV which is also on expansion mode. That almost makes them a ‘one of a kind’ entity here, except for, of course The Times Group. Incidentally, i saw an ad of Zoom yesterday (below)

    It claims to have 23 applications on Facebook. Now, I consider myself fairly active on Facebook, and have never come across a Facebook application from Zoom. Can someone enlighten me, coz i love Bollywood trivia games. Incidentally, if you consider yourself a Heroes fan try out my quiz here.

    until next time, kisko dekho?

  • The Cybergypsies

    Indra Sinha

    For all those who consider themselves cyber wanderers, this is a must read. It shows us glimpses of the net before it became the www. It talks of the mid eighties to nineties when early cybernauts roamed about bulletin boards (BBS) and multi user domains/dungeons (MUD) creating their own versions of reality in extravagant roleplays.
    In what seems to be almost autobiographical, it is the story of Bear, a copywriter who is unable to get over the cyber addiction that threatens his marriage, and who still finds time to help the Kurdish cause and the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy, and go about hunting clues to meet his virtual friends in real life.
    It also talks about his various co-habitants on SHADES and VORTEX, virtual worlds, who, along with the worlds they created, perhaps played a large role in defining what the net is now. A disconcerting thought is that a lot of issues discussed in this book stille exist in one form or the other, and especially in this part of the world, the impact of the internet has still not been seen.
    Personally, i winced when i realised (after buying the book) who the author was, because another work of his (The Death of Mr.Love) had really irritated me with its pale climax, but this one was a pleasant surprise, though his complete irreverance for chronology can be a bit confusing at times. 🙂
    It is an extremely good first person view of the early days of the net and an excellent read for anyone who has any interest in the early uses of this medium, and can wonder how it must have been then, in the imaginary worlds they made and shared.

  • One up

    While watching the nation’s current pastime yesterday, those irritating screen-side-and-bottom takeovers started happening, but there was one creative that made me smile. It had two popups (both with what looked liked an actress caricature). The first said “I will expose if the script demands it” and the second said “I will expose if i get enough money”. Guess the brand….. Sprite – Seedhi baat, no bakwas.

    I read an interesting post the other day on tag lines, about their ownability, and how integrating the brand name into the tag line makes it more powerful. What struck me when i saw the ad yesterday was the tagline of Sprite, and that also got me thinking about its competitor- 7up. As i’ve said before I was a huge fan of Fido until they started using for such nonsensical stuff as this and this. I did enjoy the female leads though. 🙂 And while this was definitely better, they regressed with this. I really wonder what they were drinking when they came up with ‘Bheja Fry, 7up try’. Why stop with Bheja, i say, maybe you could do some ambient stuff in restaurants with ‘Pomfret Fry, 7up try’ and ‘Chicken Fry, 7up try’. The possibilities are endless. 7up, keep trying.

    And while that was happening, Sprite obviously thought about the entire thing, and came out with this positioning. And as though following a script, Pepsi played into their hands and they came out with a killer spoof, that fitted their positioning completely. Sprite has to be commended for a wonderful follow up to their earlier ‘Sprite bujhaye only pyaas, baki sab bakwas’. Remember that, in turn that evolved from ‘Sprite –clear hain‘, and take a look at this. The wonderful thing for Sprite is that they have taken a completely generic positioning (Mumbai Mirror and Bangalore Mirror launched with a ‘Lets cut the crap’ line which is saying the same thing – seedhi baat, no bakwas, but with a different set of words) and made it into their own.

    With so much of beating around the bush/implying/connoting happening, they can take any subject and make a creative around it, and across media, because they have a brand promise which they can easily fulfill – quenching thirst. At the same time, note that they’ve evolved a very appealing proposition from that basic drab premise that every soft drink can make a claim for.

    Notice that both brands have their names in the tag lines, but look at the difference. I really would’ve loved to see Fido playing the brand ambassador for the Sprite line (he fits really well because that’s where he started out), but that, i guess, would be asking for too much.

    until next time, upstaged