Author: madan

Crimson Chakra – A review

I chanced apon a visit to Crimson Chakra over the weekend, and out of disdain i decided to pen down everything i thought was simply terrrible at the place.

This might be long.. uh oh! 🙂

firstly, the restaurant claims to be a fine dining restaurant, however, there was hardly any fine in the dining. the place was crowded, noisy and the waiters were sweaty and flustred. Now, when you come to a restaurant where you shell out so much money from your pocket, one would expect that there would be decent linen on the table, and a white pristine table cloth, well arranged napkins and adequate cuttlery. However, this was far from that. Ther was tissue paper and two table spoons on the table. There was a general mat which can be bought at LifeStyle and the glasses were very ordinary. there was no soup spoon and we had to use a table spoon. They removed all our cuttlery with the starters and did not give us alternatives for the rest of the meal.

There were no table cloths and it was this runner that ran across the table. the runner was dirty and the toilet had piping exposed and no paper/ towels.

Either there was something wrong with the water supply or it was not being filtered enough, with every dish and drink smelling of stale water, it put me off to no extent.

The drinks had no substance in them. I tried a ginger and jagery based drink which is not the best drink to have on an empty stomach considering it was quite sweet.

the soup was nxt – the first thought that comes to mind with their soup is broth. Spicy broth. there was no chicken or even a hint of it when we went through it. It was spicy rasam. very spicy rasam.

The next came the starters – the variety in meat was wide- Prawns, Fish, Chicken and Mutton, however, they were pretty similar in their taste and there were almost no accompanyments. Yes, they did provide a set of dips – but there were a 3 dips and 2 powders. Dunno what they expected people to use the spicy powders with spicy chutney and spicier starters.

The Appam – it was an insult to any true bred malayali to eat such abysmial apams. Cold, flat and thick. Appams need to be hot, crisp and cannot be brought one at a time for a large group. What are they thinking?

there ware two dishes to be had with the appam and roti, and then the biryani was brought. That was just OK. nothing great.

The sweet dishes that we got were just terrible. there was WAY too much ghee in the goosberry halwa and the other had some goo (called cotton seed souffle) coming out. finally stuck to ice cream – and had the most sour cherry on it.

All these combined, makes me think – what are people doing putting such expensive restaurants together. At 425 per head for lunch + Taxes – this si no wWAY a cheap place, and the place was in no way “fine dining”

so, they need to pull their socks up togther with some hard work – elese – i hope they see the light of six months!

#Airtel – you are bad!

I just received an SMS from Airtel –

Kindly note- All Local SMS sent on 2nd August (Friendship day) will be charged @50p/SMS. Dial 171152 (Toll Free) For more details.

On dialing the number- you get the same pre recorded message. how can they do this? if they are doing it for “friendship day” what stops them from doing the same on all other holidays.

So even though I have paid Rs 99 for unlimited SMS (9999 sms actually) per month, I pay for the sms on that day. Doesnt this correlate to extortion?

Airtel – you suck! im being open about it. You are a very bad person. The minute the number portability comes out- im outa airtel. hate you more and more!

outstanding! #quotes

The object of our Constitution makers was free movement and exchange of goods throughout India. It is essential for the economy of India and for sustaining improving living standards of its people. It should ultimately lead to one-country-one-people concept and economic benefit of the development should reach every citizen wherever he lives. The people of the state must sink and swim together. The long-run prosperity and salvation lies in union and not division. Economic unity is the main force for achieving cultural and political unity and stability and progress can be achieved only by demolishing artificial boundaries and barricades and should be sidelined.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1409791-post1.html

Of luck and #entrepreneurship ! #startups

I was thinking the other day, as an entrepreneur, do i rely on luck or chance or both? well, as they say, you get lucky if you are at the right place at tht right time, but does luck play an integral part?

if you have a good day, you will think back and say – yes, i heard this song in the morning, shampooed my hair and used this soap, then there becomes a favorite soap, then it becomes the only soap you use. I think as an entrepreneur, you tend to become a lot more superstitious- so to say.

i remember during the 12th board exams – more than a decade ago, ( i like that phrase) i used to get dropped in the morning, on the way, i used to listen to music, and the days i could not listen to music in the car, i used to panic, and go and mess up the exam. then i started carrying a walkman, listening to a cassette even if the car music system did not work. So how is that relevant now?

My case exactly, if i listen to something nice in the morning, start feeling happy, then use my favouritest shampoo and soap, eat my favorite serial, and then wear my favorite dress, there is a high probability that i will hav a nice day.

now that brings me to the second point and infact, a point which i believe is quite important- positive thinking.

i believe that we should go to our day with a cheer and excitement, not or dispair… yes, there are bound to be stressful events, however, allowing those events to bog you down is not the best thing to have around.

so as an entrepreneur, i think luck plays a pivotal role, and possitive thinking paves the way for luck!

abysmal Customer service @ shopper stop?

Quite a horrifying tale of pathetic customer service at Shopper stop. considering its proximity to my place, i think i would have easily spent over 30,000 there atleast.

Its even more pathetic when it hits so close to him. My wife had visited and was talked to such…

I had visited Shopper’s on Thursday, July 23rd ’09 at about 8.00 PM. Having selected a shoe, I was waiting my turn at the billing counter. Once I got to the front, there seemed to be some trouble with the billing machine/system. Meanwhile there was an executive counting out cash (of someone else’s purchase) at the same counter.

Having waited for over 20 minutes at the counter without any billing having taken place– I happened to ask the person behind the counter if he could please let me know when the billing for my item could be done.

To which he responded in the most condescending manner “Can’t you see I’m counting out money?! If you’re so impatient – why don’t take this and count!”, and he extended the cash towards me!!
I was OUTRAGED at being responded to in such as manner – to a very polite question to which he could have given a simple answer!!!
I told him so – to which he responded again in arrogance “Don’t be so impatient the systems are also down – if you can’t wait, just leave!”. I told him I would like to meet the manager and not have him responding to a customer in SUCH A RUDE MANNER! He then billed my item in 2 minutes time and shoved it across the counter, all the while muttering to himself!

When i read this email – i was quite aghast! this is very sad! Where are we heading in this world? Does shoppers stop believe that they can get away with such a crime?

Bad doggy shoppers stop! I know for one – im going to stop going there. please do the same!

Flyby Chennai!

Whilst making our final approach to chennai domestic airport, we were flying quite low – given the fact this was an ATR. I took the liberty of trying to take a few picture, however, due to the total spaz nature of the phone, it brought the flash on even though i turned it off. The airhostess then decided to give us a tip “take a video” which was one of the most brilliant ideas i heard.

anyways, took a short clip of the approach and flgith over chennai at night. Need to go again, and shoot a better video… 🙂

kerala in the rains




i am visiting kerala after a gap of about 6 month, and i think to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time im coming in july. Maybe i have done so earlier, but i cant remember.

Some pictures i snapped from the train.

x Files – the Movie

Terrible!

Have been a long time X-Files fan so when the new movie was released, I quickly got the DVD when it hit the stands. So yesterday, my wife and i decided to watch the movie.

summary in a single word – terrible.

The plot, story, characters and the overall movie would hav been a good film if it did not have the xfiles tag, as there was no X in it at all!

at the end of the movie it was an all and all disappointing flick, that mulder and scully had a kid who dies, but they are not married, that the FBI is looking and that no one but him believes in psychics.

One would have assumed that the movie would have started off where the other left off. but that was not the case, and it brought about a whole different angle to it.

It would have made a good episode in the x-files but not a full length film.

The power of positive thinking!

a long and standing mantra that most people believe in is the power of positive thinking- which according to google throws out about 7,650,000 pages of information. Now how does one not ignore this?

I did not think too much of it till recently. Going through a rather tough patch myself at work, i decided to think positive with the focus on whats happening rather than whats not.

Personally, i think it has made a huge difference. I feel happier, feel less stressed, and most importantly, am enjoying my work a lot more than i could have imagined that i could. I am really beginning to fathom this concept, and guess at a stage where i might embrace it simply for its sheer power and size.