Category: chennai

Of butterflies in your stomach

I just finished a book by a friend, which contained his life as a government official in my home state of Kerala, India. It was an interesting book which captured life in India and the functioning of the government in the early 80’s. In one story he talked about how we remember those people who die young more than those who die old and it really got me thinking about my friend Venky. Venky passed away in September of 2012, I still remember the day, with my friend texting me over google chat and I couldn’t believe it. I broke down, crying so hard. It hit me so close for a multitude of reasons.

Venky and I were classmates during our MBA. everyone knew him as Gymbody, and he was just that. His goal was to hit  a 2%body fat ratio, while I on the other hand was happy with a 2% muscle mass ratio. Venky managed to get the college to not only build out a gym in the school, but also got the gym ready for all of us. He spent time there and made sure everyone exercised correctly and set up routines. He would’ve been an excellent trainer, but he was an amazing person as well. He was always open to talk and a good listener. He made friends easily and always came with with a smile attached.

We worked on our first startup together at his house, iFarm. It was an ambitious exercise born out of his house in kotturpuram, Chennai. He joined Cognizant around the same time as I did and so we both ended up meeting everyday for lunch. He kept tabs on my food intake and ensured I ate healthy. I learnt so much from him and I was his sounding board for new ideas and he made a big impact with those who worked because he built a great network of folks who would listen to him and be willing to help.

When I got married, he made the trip over for my wedding, promising to come and keeping the promise. During the journey back, he met someone and I remember him telling me “maddy, I can’t explain it man, but I was getting butterflies in my stomach talking to her”.  It was nice hearing him talk like this. He actually met someone really nice after that and she made him really happy.

I moved out from Cognizant to setup my own firm www.virtu.in and was constantly talking to him about what to do. He actually invited me to talk at Cognizant about Knowledge Management in startups. I still have that presentation (https://www.slideshare.net/madanmenon/cognizant-presentation-by-virtu-technologies-presentation)

After I sold my company in 2012 and moved in Bangalore. I was in touch with him and met him every time I came to Chennai.

He was healthy and so when I was told he suffered a massive heart attack at 530am and didn’t recover,  a part of me died. I won’t he hearing “Hi Maddy”, “Are you sure you want to be eating that” and many more venkyisms, anymore.

It’s been more than 8 years, but I still miss him. My lunch companion for 3 years, my Knowledge Management guru, my health instructor and most importantly my friend.

I’m sure you are making everything better whereever you are and smiling your 10,000W smile!

butterflies in my stomach!

Holy Smoke- Highly Unholy! a #review – #Fail!

Firstly, when i started reading about this place, i was thinking to myself that finally, there appears to be one more steak place in Chennai. but sadly, i would dismiss this place completely. We spent 2 hours for 2 dishes, 1 starter and 2 deserts- hardly the time one would look at spending at an ambiance such as this. The prices on the menu “card” were exotic, yet the experience was far from the prices that were being paid. The menu “card” was printed paper stapled together. Some other patron had ticked on the menu card and crossed off certain dishes- must have been the job of a good Samaritan.

It had the prices of a fine dining, but none of the elements, be it ambience, music, food, quantities or even the experience, were fine dining. The arrangement of the food was a feeble attempt to undo the injustice being done in all other sectors. The music was inappropriate – but good. the only saving grace of the evening. YEt, it was way to loud.

I really don’t know what Holy Smoke was trying to achieve, because it neither gives one the confidence of a great restaurant, nor does it deliver on the experience front. I for one would never go back there again nor would i recommend it.

damn them buggers @Mcdonalds

There is a McDonalds at the Ampa Mall in Chennai, situated just opposite the KFC. Outside the McDonalds they have the “Drive through” or the delivery counter. Which is convenient, but during the fiasco – realized its faster to go in a order.

So they have a huge board outside saying – 1 minute or a coke free. i smirked – knowing its impossible to deliver an order in 1 minute.

just to humor myself, i decided to check this “offer” out. So when i placed my order, I collected the receipt like a good little boy should, and then in front of the cashier – started my stop watch. Which is a Casio (just to establish the fact that its not some cheap thing which jumps or runs faster).

He immediately jumped and said “SAAR, this is voonly for zingle ORder SAAR” (yes, some creativity in the language, but the message is the same). So I said ok, if it is 1 minute for a single order, then it should be 4 minutes for 4 items.

Nonetheless, they were pretty efficient and brought it in about 2minutes 20 seconds. So, I showed the waiter who brought the delivery my watch.

He said “Sorry sir, but the 1 minute is not valid for delivery”. that kinda kinda put me off. I was like WHAAT?
Then he jumped and said “This is valid only Inside” .. Now that pissed me off even more. Here they have the board outside boldly displaying the fact that if its not delivered in a minute its free, and now they are back tracking on the whole thing. What?

its not about the free coke- its about the principle behind putting a board outside and then not sticking to it. If both the fellows had said the same thing – that this is valid only if you order a single item – then i would have been happy that the delivery was made in 2minutes and 20 seconds.

But with two employees giving me 3 different excuses – that put me off even more. I am sure if i waited longer – they would have come up with more creative excuses.

Anyways- i dont think i will ever go back to McDonalds- instead take my business to KFC, who dont promise anything – but still deliver better.

Its about setting the right expectations – underpromise and over deliver – you have a loyal customer.

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!

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!

Breaking traffic rules

Its frustrating when you see drivers blatantly breaking all the road rules, just to make their life easier. This morning, I noticed a large innova with the number TN 04 P 9995 – yes, i am publishing the number here, with the sincere hope that someone reads this and tells the owner- coming out and turning onto the wrong side of the road, and driving a good 100 mts. What more annoying is that this guy does it EVERY day, and sometimes much longer distances.

I know the apartment, but i dont know if i should stop him and tell him to go the other way. 🙁 I just had to get it out of my system… so here is the post.

remember the number is TN 09 P 9995- If you see it – tell the driver to respect road rules and drive properly!