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.