Mumbai Bloggers Brunch Notes + Photos

Today's bloggers' brunch was as much a fun event as it was a gastronomic delight! As always, the superhostesses Melody and Sakshi pulled off a fab 4 hour event with no room for boredom. Lots of familiar faces and newbies alike, and everyone still seemed to have a great time.



The location, Dio's at Tardeo was just perfect, with a homely ambiance and reasonably priced, great food. The starters were fine, so were desserts. What I really liked was their salad and main course and live counters. Wine and beer were also well priced at 100 bucks each. Overall, definitely a place where I'm going again!

While the topics of discussion didn't necessarily focus on blogging, they ranged from Rakhi Sawant to Kanishk's dancing to Deepika Padukone and OSO versus Saawariya to photography to making money online to virginity to social service to profane sounding names of people and beyond. In chaos, we had fun. And made a lot of new friends while catching up with old ones!

Birthday boy Akshay showed up just in time for desserts.

Click here to check out the rest of the photos on my Facebook albums and also check Melody and Sakshi's picks.

Bunch-a Bloggers over Brunch

My alarm went off this morning to invites from superstar bloggers Sakshi and Melody. They're inviting all and sundry, bloggers and hoggers to a lavish Sunday brunch at Dio's. Here's the details. You're invited. Bring along your mates too - it's gonna be one fun event you don't want to miss.

When: 18th Nov, 2007. 11 am - 3 pm (Yeah, it's lavish!)
Where: Dio's, Behind Everest Building, Tardeo
Why: Woman and man are a social animal. Never eat alone.
How much?: Rs.450 wonly. Unlimited food and fun for the price of 3 beers. Don't think.

A Tale of 3 Cities

I love all 3 cities - Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa. So it's natural that I land up blogging about things about these cities. Here's a list of the kind of searches which landed some folks (like you) on my blog recently. If you're new to any of the 3 cities and can't find an answer, shoot me an email or drop me a message here. Would be happy to help.

• beautiful pictures of goa beach
  Ah, there's loads of them on Flickr. Mine are here.
• mumbai domestic airport
  Looking for the name of the company that build it? GVK. Here's my post.
• local specialities in bangalore
  bisi bele bath, chow chow bath, maddur vadas, mysore pak... See Burrp! for reviews
• best juice centre in bangalore
  Tough one. I'd say the one on St.Mark's Road, opposite State Bank. Juice Junction?
• bus mapusa to arambol
  ... costs around Rs.12, takes about 40 mins. Very picturesque!
• lhomen tours
  Wonderful tour operators in Bhutan. I highly recommend them! Ask me for the contact.
• switching to cfl
  ... is a good thing for you economically and environmentally. Just dispose them safely.
• malai translate into english
  cream
• kshanbhar vishranti photos
  Sorry, none. Here's a scan of their card. Fab halt on the Mumbai-Goa highway for a delightful bite.
  
• best beach shack in baga
  Tough one. To each their own. Find your spot.
• mandrem beach hut resort
  You're looking for Riva Resort. Fantastic location and view. Reasonably priced.
• amoeba in leela palace bangalore
  Fun place. All of Church Street is! :)

Fashion Sense + Civic Sense

The weekend gone was a fine blend of the fun and the serious. Checked out the Chivas in Fashion Tour at the ITC Grand Maratha on Saturday, followed by a promising and charged up meet with fellow Facebook citizens of Mumbai for making the city a better place. Here's the lowdown.

Chivas in Fashion Tour
Classic Kaushal style, I reached the show mid-way - so I missed the first part by Wendell Rodrigues, but still managed to check out Malini Ramani, Rahul Khanna and Rohit Gandhi's collection. Now, let me first tell you that I'm not a fashion critic, but as I told a lady friend at the event "Since you women complain a lot about us men having no fashion sense, I decided to make it here and change that". With that disclaimer, I now present you with my expert comments...



I really liked Malini Ramani's collection - bright colors, sporty and yet, very stylish - it had a great, fresh appeal to it. Oh and the models carried them off phenomenally well. Khanna and Gandhi presented mostly evening wear and club wear in rich dark fabrics.

Photos by my friend Nishant Desai. He takes up photography assignments.

My Mumbai

Last week, a fellow trekker sent me an invite to join this Facebook group. The mission statement read "My Mumbai aims to raise environmental awareness amongst the citizens of the greater Mumbai community, by actively involving them to work towards a cleaner and healthier environment".

Since I identify with, am appalled and feel I should do something about such issues myself, I decided to attend the first meet, which saw a bunch of us young Mumbai citizens perched in the founder's living room and bombarding problems and solutions for improving living conditions of the Mumbaikar (begin small, dream big - as one of the participants Jeet says). It was amazing how well the time was managed, taking each aspect separately and thawing it up - right from how this organization could potentially launch and shape up to who would take onus of what - and then breaking down to the problems and solutions. All within a matter of, just over an hour. Topics ranged from energy conservation and global warming to garbage disposal and waste management to air and sound pollution and such.

The closing was the most interesting part - we decided to get into action mode immediately! The group dynamics was great and we already seemed to know each other since always. So the next half hour saw us walking down Worli Sea Face, walking up to strangers and talking them into switching to CFL bulbs from incandescent bulbs. At the end of the exercise, we had already made decent progress - from identifying a problem to talking about solutions, to hurdles and potential workarounds. I left knowing well that this was another great Sunday spent productively, creatively and constructively. Cheers and God Speed to My Mumbai!...

... and a Happy Monday to you - have a super productive week :)

Mumbai Domestic Airport - The Wow! Experience

I'm in the field of design and user experience, and people sometimes need to be explained what the latter means. Let me start by saying that design is perhaps a subset of user experience. Marketing could also be a part of the user experience as a whole, besides design. To make things simpler, let me use this post to rave about the Mumbai domestic airport experience.

If you remember the domestic airport as a shoddy place where everything was dirty and chaotic, you obviously haven't been there lately. The lower terminal is brand spanking new and has a slick, futuristic design, completely spic and span. From the moment you enter, there's a sense of vast open space, very well lit. Hallways have trees planted along with a seating desk. Tons of seating space in fact. Clean loos, a cyber cafe, some great snack counters, Crossword bookstore, Cafe Coffee Day, Stop and Go (a mini Shoppers Stop), really swanky lounges - it's great to see a transformation from a filthy airport to a wow experience!

Essentially it's not just a great looking place only, but also a completely new, richer experience for everyone.

Peace on arrival

What's more, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise on arrival in Mumbai - no more getting 'taken for a ride' by the cabs and rickshaw drivers with excess fare demands. Every person who gets into a cab or rick is now given a handy leaflet which has both rate cards printed! This my dear readers, is what great user experience is all about. Understanding what users need, want and expect - and soliciting a wow! reaction. Naturally, I can't wait to fly next!

Taxi No. 3837

I've always wanted to write about Mumbai's cab/taxi drivers. Firstly, I prefer using cabs over buying a car (convenient, ubiquitous, maintenance free compared to the latter and I don't add to the madness of the traffic with another honky, polluting machine). Secondly, it's fun talking to the cabbies who always have a million things to talk about!

But today specifically, I have strong reason to salute Mumbai's cabbies. Having dropped my grandma to my aunt's place in Goregaon, I was about to get off from the cab after paying him, and at that precise moment in recent history, the skies decided to cry out loud and it started raining heavily. The station was about 30 feet away and I was bound to get drenched. The cabbie however, asked me if I had an umbrella. When I answered in the negative, I was pleasantly surprised that he got off from the cab, took his own umbrella out and ushered me into the station's shed!!

In hindsight, it was something which really saved me from falling ill as I was already down with cold and headache since Friday night. Perhaps my collected karma of being good to cabbies paid off, but hats off to Taxi No. 3837, and all the cabbies of Mumbai!

Notes from Waterworld

The monsoons have hardly arrived and with the first major showers itself, Bambai nagariya is down under and crippled - like the Indian cricket team in this year's World Cup.

I bet you've read and heard newspapers, people and everyone except the animals - about how this looks like a deja vu every year, how BMC sucks and everyone blaming the person to their right. Right. Posterity is going to give us a kick in the posterior for this high thinking.

Cut to reality. I'll take 2 minutes of your time with my 2-paisa thoughts on 'fighting the rains' and 'making Mumbai rainwater free' and all that.

Before abusing the BMC, stop abusing the roads. Stop littering.
I personally believe if there is a drainage line the city has in place - the BMC is already doing their job of maintaing it. But if you and I are going to throw plastic bags, bottles and garbage recklessly, it's going to clog up, duh! The same way you clog your arteries with oil from samosas all your life and one fine day, question life, God and yourself about who's to blame for your heart condition.

Think back when it was nice n shiny. Now think of the number of times you threw refuse saying "Hey, so? everyone does it!" or "one more wont make a mountain of a mole hill" or "hey the street cleaners are paid for this and its my tax money anyways") - Yes I've heard them all. So back off, be proactive instead of reactive. Everyone can see the problem once it goes out of proportion. Stop causing it instead.

Avoid using plastic bags, bottles and if you do - dont throw it off. If you dont see a waste bin, carry it in your pocket or in your bag (you carried that wrapper all the time it was housing a chocolate which in turn is busy clogging your arteries right now. Right?).

If everyone does this little bit, which is hardly asking for much - one would not find it difficult to look out of the window on a day of heavy downpour in awe instead of panic, knowing nature, the BMC and the drainage lines would do their job. Smell the earth, feel the rain spray and feel the scintillating chill.

Welcome the rains! :)

Sidenote: Went to Atria Mall today and had the best ice-cream of the season at the newly launched 'New Zealand Natural' store. Try their passionfruit FruitFlo. Delectable! They've got smoothies n shakes too.

Mumbai Bloggers Meet Notes

Just back from a fun bloggers meet at Seijo. Made possible by the wonderful 'partners in crime', Melody and Sakshi Juneja. Thank you ladies. Thou rocketh.

For me, making it to the meet was probably an adventure in itself! Till late evening, I had (a) a TON of work and things to do, (b) a new project coming in which I declined (beat this - a simulation of a porn website for a movie scene which was to be shot this morning! I told my prospective client how they could do it themselves) and the best part... (c) an empty bank balance! (long story). Finally around 11, I just got out of the house with 60 bucks in my wallet and 'dropped in' at the ATM. Miracle of miracles! A cheque of just enough amount had cleared just in time :D Phew! Off to the bloggers' meet...

Random Notes

• For turning up at 11 for a party that started at 8 pm, I wasn't too late!
• The Indian blogosphere is replete with beautiful ladies :)
• Bloggers are not necessarily party animals. They tend to stand in a circle.
• Suggestion to Saks & Mel: Bonfire next time?
• Seijo IS expensive. Friggin' expensive. Old monk + Thums Up = Rs.360!
• The G-string has arrived in India. Hallelujah! (an 'outsider' unfortunately)
• Sakshi goes into a 'loop' and repeats stuff after tripping on long islands. :D
• That tune stuck in my head is apparently Bob Sinclar (Zookies). Got MP3?
• The one thing everyone agreed in the end: Mumbai rocks!

Met a lot of fun people and made some interesting friends tonite!
Melody (The Voice in My Head), Sakshi Juneja (To Each Its Own), Shiju Thomas, Amit Varma (India Uncut), Divya (Chronicus Skepticus), Akshay Mahajan (Trivial Matters), Gaurav (Gauravonomics), Sumit (Twisted Difference), Piyush Bedi and Pankaj (2 fundoo friends of Sakshi).

Overheard "I'll have sex with you on top of the Taj Mahal!"
- Non-drunk girl to happy girl