I painted all the flower pots!

Bangalore Rains

One crazy night when me and my girls were packing our bags for a day trek around Bangalore for the next morning, suddenly the sky thundered and the clouds showered us with so much rain, that we had cars floating in our streets. It was a scary night. It almost sounded like the clouds were having some angry conversations between themselves. We were furiously calling up each other to find out the status of each other's street and were discussing water levels. At midnight, we left it up to the morning to decide if we could go for our trek. And we did!

Beautiful Bangalore in winter

Bangalore is most beautiful in winter. With bougainvilleas in full bloom, you will find multi-coloured carpets of flowers on the streets. This green city is in full bloom at this time of the year and it actually looks like a Garden City! This picture is taken on my street in Koramangala on one such morning.

Rooting for #RCB at the #IPL match in Bangalore! Chennai v/s Bangalore.

Some colour for my pretty plants!

I like to do things the unconventional way. Regular is so boring. Even if its as small as a tiny sapling.
I don't like calling a pot, a pot! But since I wanted one for some new window plants, I had to find a way around it. And then lightning struck! Flashback happened!

As a child, I remember the local milkman who would come home, with a pencil stuck above his ear and a yellow card in his hand. I would always be amused by the long ladles he would have in different sizes and how he could raise it really high and pour out the milk in style!

Since I wanted tiny plants which I could hang on a window in my living room, what better what better way to hang them than these long ladles!

So I looked all over Bangalore for these aluminium milk ladles and only found round scoop ladles made of steel. Finally I pestered my mum to get the local milkman in Mumbai to buy some on our behalf. It seemed like the entire milkman community was curious as to why we would want these milk ladles, as they wondered what on earth would someone use them for, except for milk. Surely they are getting into the milk business, they thought!

Our milkman kept asking my mum what she wanted them for. Since she didn't know what, for the life of me, I needed them for, she promised to show him a picture, once I was done. This picture is for him!

Now that I have coloured these ladles in bright acrylic colours, all I need to do is drill a hole at the bottom and buy some soil and seeds for tiny herb plants. I painted some black colour on to write names of the herbs once I know which ones I plant!

I'm sure somebody is relieved that I'm not into the milk business!

The grand view!

One of the times when we were Googling: "buy apartments in Bangalore" for the millionth time, we stumbled upon a property we found interesting. When we looked up the website and checked the floor plan, this is what set us on a laughter riot!

 Two toilets and a balcony in between! Wonder which view you get from the balcony and/ or from the toilet :p :p :p

Meet Mirindaaaaa!!!

Meet Mirinda, the new addition to my living room! Come Christmas time and everyone's generous with presents- especially if you don't know the person you are gifting it to!
Yes, I'm talking about Santa time- that too, a secret one.

We played Secret Santa during Christmas at my workplace at Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore and I got the most awesome present from somebody I had never interacted with before. He was a guy working in the digital studio. What's more, he was so amazed, at all the limelight he received after, from all the girls who went up to him and said he was so thoughtful and bought just the right present for a girl!

I absolutely loved my Christmas present- I  mean who wouldn't? It's so lovable and ORANGE!! :) Happiness, I say! I had kept Mirinda on my office desk for a few days, as people wanted to come and get photographed with him.

What I love the most about him is an orange body and blue legs. He has such nice, long ears and a flat, black nose, chubby cheeks and small eyes- just as cute and quirky as I like it!

Let me tell you how he got such a brilliant name. It's courtesy Sid. He has this knack of naming things and people aptly, in a way thats fun!

When I got home, I proudly showed Sid my Secret Santa present and he exclaimed, "It's so damn orange, let's name him Mirindaaaaaaahhh, after the orange drink!"
And that my friends, has been the brightest spark in my living room, ever since. Mirindaaaa! :)

A funny sign outside a cake shop

Saw this signboard outside a cake shop and completely cracked up!
Things people do to sound clever! Tch...tch!

Good morning!

Every morning  there's somebody who ardently anticipates me at work. Its Misty, our office dog at Geek Creative. She's just like her name- white as mist, naughty and extremely adorable. The minute she sees me arrive on my pink electric scooter from a distance, she takes a long run up, leaps onto my scooter, licks my face, and barks as if to say 'Good Morning!' No matter how much I rub my eyes and drag myself to work on a Monday, Misty just adds the happiness ingredient to kick start my day!  She is happiness galore! Here's a picture I took on one of those mornings when she sat on my scooter and she did'nt mind the camera at all! 

The new- age rakhi

In my last post, I was talking about how shop keepers, too, have to be innovative all the time, however small or big the products are. The traditional rakhi which is to be tied on the brother's wrist in return for a promise of keeping the sister safe from all trouble, has moved from it being made from a simple white thread with a small coloured dot; to multi-coloured, big dialed rakhis; to fancy, expensive rakhis with zari and sequences; to 'designer rakhis'; to rakhis with cartoon characters like Spiderman, Chota Bheem, Doreamon, Shaktimaan, Hulk, etc. As a kid, I remember going to the store to buy rakhis for my brothers and always buying some simple white rakhis for my mother, along with ours, which were slightly more colourful, but still traditional, elegant and simple. This time, I had stopped at a small general store selling rakhis to buy some for my brothers, when I noticed a kid throw a tantrum, park himself in the middle of the road, and wailing until his mother, out of embarrassment, succumbed to the demand, and got the boy a Ben 10 rakhi, which, I over heard, he wanted for himself. He didn't even have a sister! I wonder if there will be any tradition left for this new generation which will be pure and simple, untouched by unnecessary adaptations and tricks by marketing companies.

Sweet innovation!

The other day, I walked into a local mithai store right opposite my office just to buy some 'farsaan' (salted munchies). What took my attention away was what was displayed in the glass cabinet. Sweet toothed that I am, my eyes immediately caught the label that read 'Bournvita Barfi', 'Horlicks Pedha', etc and my eyes gleamed with delight and my face lit up with a smile! I, being in the creative industry, always thought that we probably were the only ones who needed to be compulsively creative all the time, until I saw this. It made me think how every person has to be innovative at their job, no matter what kind of job it is. It has to be new, interesting, innovative, with constant variety and has to catch the consumer's attention. Just to appreciate the creativity, I almost bought a piece of the new mithai, when I got a phone call asking me to get 'Diet chiwda' on the way!

A scene in Dharavi

Sunday Market in Jayanagar

I saw these robots with headphones attached for people to pay and get know their future. It was amusing to see so many of these on the street!

Harry Potter glasses

I saw this hilarious sign board in a crowded local market in Bandra. I love India! :)

Let's get this party started!

Merry Christmas

We had a desk decoration week at the Ogilvy office in Bangalore to celebrate the oncoming of Christmas. This is what my desk looked like. All my happy meal toys came out of the carton to play in the snow :)

Psssttt...Now you what what to buy me for Christmas next year!

Smoked Out BBQ

Last weekend, we walked into the much talked about restaurant called 'Smoked Out BBQ' in Koramangala, Bangalore, which is a stone's throw away from our home. It's a 'kutty' little place with barely four tables, but it does leave a big impression!

What impressed me was the simplicity. Just a few BBQ grills in the kitchen and a one-side page menu card on a writing pad is what they have to make it simple.

I had ordered a veg burger with their special BBQ sauce, which came with one onion, two cucumbers, half a slice of tomato and a few diced veggies in the sauce. I expected a burger, at the least. Big disappointment. Fortunately, I wasn't very hungry, else I would have been very very upset.
But the music was a consolation and made up for it.

Sid, on the other hand, had a non- veggie burger and he was very happy with it. I remember him being absolutely thrilled with the ginger lemonade.

The ambience is very nice. The music is great. Its one of those small restaurants just outside your house, where when you don't feel like cooking, you can just step in for a light, casual meal.

Review of Cafe Boca Grande, Bangalore

At 6.30 am on a beautiful October Sunday morning, when the sky was overcast and the wind was gusty, Sid and I shook off some sleep and hopped on to our cycles for an early morning ride to Cubbon Park. We couldn't have chosen a better day. We returned at about 8ish- finished and famished!

But to expect a nice breakfast place to be open at such wee hours on Sunday is like asking for the moon! Bangalore is lazy on Sundays.

So here's what we did- we actually came home and googled for breakfast places. Had we not found a place, I would have eaten up my precious crockery (joking!).

Enter picture- Cafe Boca Grande.

Google says this place opens at 8.30 am on weekends. So we zipped across to 8th Block, Koramangala, near Bethany High School, all set to devour some English breakfast.

Here are some reactions from me:

First glimpse of the logo- scowl (The designer in me lets out a cry!)

The outside space- "Lucky guy! Sww-eeeeeeetttt" (followed by a whistle).

 As you walk in- Shrug- "It's empty!"

 As I see the posters- "Baaaaddd!! baddddd copywriter. The posters don't make sense!"

 The buffet spread- "Yaa ba da ba dooo! Attttacccckkkkk!!!"

When I actually eat- "Really? Is this the big deal?"

So here's what you get-
The Sunday English breakfast, which is priced at Rs 299, was really averagely, mediocre. I could bet on my beloved macbook that the croissant was definitely 3 days old, as it was this close to going stale. The live omlette counter was a disappointment too-it reminded me of the experience of buying a Subway sandwich in India- where you have to keep asking the staff to 'add more olives, please'. The waffles were offered cold and had to be asked to be heated before being served. The juice was concentrate (Oh! Was it a crime to expect fresh fruit juice?). The only good this was the ready bottled maple syrup. I thought to myself," How wrong can you go with filter coffee?" and lo! The coffee didn't go well with me either and left me with a funny tummy. Luckily, we didn't break our backs, which was quite possible, thanks to the uncomfortable seats.

 To top it all, what added to the disappointment was the sight of the opposite table with plates full of food, wasted. It annoys me to see people waste food, when half our country is starving! And it's a shame that parents do this. I can't expect much from the kids then!

Besides, only Enrique songs gets to be the lucky one a to bug you early in the morning with his songs playing in the background.

We still polished off every speck of food on the plate because we were really famished after the cycle ride, but ask me if I would go there voluntarily, and you will hear me say, "Beda saar!"              

(Credits for pictures: Courtesy- Internet and the Boca website).

Kitsch Mandi, Bangalore

An art fest was organized by Time Out at Pebbles Bar, Palace Grounds in Bangalore sometime in September this year, with a lot of 'hoo- haah'. My husband read about it first and promised to treat me to an arty evening there, since he thought an artyhead like me would like something like this.  On the big day we set out with our cameras in full gusto, eager to get some good clicks at the fest.

From the outside, it looked like a Page 3 fashion mela exploding with lots of arty people from the advertising, fashion and media industry sporting khakhis, jholas, crocs, mohawks and goatees and a lot of art college students who seemed to have come straight from the hair salon. I even saw somebody wearing yellow coloured boots on weird looking clothes!

The mandi was crowded beyong belief, and somehow my local train travelling skills from Mumbai came handy here. The open ground was converted into an exhibition space, with individuals selling items like painted bottles, stoles, earrings, bags, ipad covers and other home- made arty items, all at absurdly exorbitant prices. Like it is said, anything sells in the name of art.

My frown just turned upside down as my eyes were straining to see something unique, special, something that qualifies to be in an art fest. I was reminded of the Kala Ghoda fest that happens in Mumbai, which is several notches ahead, and is the real deal. This one seemed like it was trying too hard and not getting anywhere.

It was one of those places where everyone was there, just to show they were part of the "cool arty industry". Suddenly, the phrase 'all dressed up and nowhere to go' came to my head!

The most meaningless of them all, was the sitting area created in the centre of the small ground, where in the midst of hoards of people moving about, performing on stage, and stalls selling standard stuff, there were people lazing and lying down on mats. (Imagine a traffic jam moving from the either side coz a bunch of cows have decided to sit in the middle of the road). Exactly!

We bumped into a few friends and acquaintances, who were also armed with cameras and tripods, frowning that there was nothing worth capturing. Famished, we moved to the food section on our way out. Apart from chai, there was nothing worth having either.

All in all, a show with all noise and no substance. Major disappointment and no items in my shopping bag and a prior trip to the ATM was totally wasted.

Here are some of the few pictures I took from my camera. The last one is a poster created by Kitsch Mandi for some promos.

Cafe Thulp: Restaurant review

Cafe Thulp is a popular hangout not only for college-going teens, but also for young adults with/ wo kids. The bright red colour signage catches your eye instantly. If you walk in, you will find large, chunky tables around, a book rack hosting some comic books, an Enid Blyton collection, board games, etc. The cafe has a comic- book style look, which is very impressive, unique and fun. Somehow, the weird doodle of a pair of eyes and a big nose painted on the wall, is quite amusing too! (See photograph).

While the menu is interesting and the food is to die for, the names of the dishes are devilishly crafted. The menu card serves is definitely an entertainer.  

The only disappointment is the menu card design, which is so cluttered and busy, that you have to struggle to read the description of the food. I almost asked for a Saridon, since I started to believe that I was getting a headache. Finally, I gave up and ordered for something that was marked 'vegetaraian'. Unfortunately, I cannot remember reading the name, but I devoured the food like I've not eaten in ten days! Absolutely delectable. If I remember right, it was mozzarella cheese/ sour cream with aubergine cooked in red sauce with spagetti served with garlic bread, mashed potato and salad.

Here are some pictures I took of the menu card and the food that I ordered, absolutely delicious, mouthwatering and heavenly. I for sure, am definitely going again!

Here are some more pictures I borrowed from the internet as it was too dark to click a picture when I visited (Credits to photographers, I hope you don't mind).

Here are maps for location details from their jarring red website: