I wasn't surprised to read about the management shuffle at Maruti's Manesar plant. Given the labor unrest that happened there last year, it was just a matter of time.But I was surprised when I read the following quote by someone familiar with the matter.

In Japan, there has not been any strike in the last 58 years. The idea behind bringing these Japanese officials is to align the HR processes followed in Japan with that of India.

I happen to remember from a long-forgotten culture sensitivity class in the B school that in Japan authority is respected and rarely questioned. In India, that used to be the case a few years, no, decades back - when people used to spend their entire career at one company. I rather doubt that's the scene these days.

How prudent is it then for Suzuki to align the HR practices in their home country to those that should be rolled out in India?

Book Exhibition by Ashish Book Center

Where: Sunderbai Hall, Behind Income Tax Office, Opposite SNDT College, Churchgate
When: 11 April to 1 May, 10am-9pm

अर्ज किया है.....

जुदाई तो मुकद्दर है फिर भी जान-ए-सफर
कुछ और दूर जरा साथ चलकर देखते है

(Forwarded)

Develop your eccentricities while you are young. That way, when you get old, people won't think you are going gaga.

-- David Ogilvy

Asia 7

What's wrong with TGIF? When we turned up there for lunch on a weekend, we found that most of the dishes are tucked away in their 2-course lunch and dinner options which are available only from Monday to Friday. Their offerings for weekends are not only pricier but also pretty limited in choice. We ended up walking out.

Out next stop was Asia 7. Since I can make Khao Soi at home, I was on lookout for something different. We zeroed in on 'Meal In a Bowl' - with chicken. This one is available with a choice of sauces like Black Bean and butter garlic for example. We chose the latter, and of course, Pad Thai noodles.

The dishes took their time to make their way to out table. Or maybe I thought so because I was ravenously hungry. The 'Meal In a Bowl' came in a huge bowl - with plenty of veggies like carrots, broccoli, cabbage and spring onions to give company to the chicken. The sauce was tasty and I wished there was more of it in the dish. The pieces of chicken were a bit too large for my taste but were superbly cooked. All in all, the dish went well with the plain rice that it was served on (the other choice being, of course, noodled).

The Pad Thai was what stole my heart away. The chicken was cut in bite sized pieces and the seasoning was perfect (the peanuts complimented the dish rather than dominating it). The best Pad Thai that I have eaten so far in my life!

I have always loved the fortune cookies that are served at the end of the meal. The ones that were served in Asia 7 were so delicious that I was tempted to ask where they got them from. In case you are curious about the messages, here are two of them:

A courteous smile to fellow travelers brightens the day

You will have many important meeting visits and chance encounters

And the best of all:

Do not worry of growing older, with age comes wisdom.

So, if you ask me where you can get the best Pad Thai in town, I will say, without a moment' hesitation - Asia 7!

Every IPL I remind myself that I shouldn't read much in the name 'Mumbai Indians', that they have got nothing to do with the city except the team name and that I risk increasing my chances of getting a cardiac arrest if I take their matches seriously. And every IPL, I forget that.

The result is that I suffered a lot of heartburn because the first two MI matches weren't much to write home about. Though the team did manage to win yesterday's match, it wasn't a comfortable win. They had come within inches of losing it. I laughed out aloud when I saw the caption 'अख्खा मुंबई खेलेगा' on one of their posters. If their current performance is anything to go by, the city will have to chip in if they don't up their game anytime soon.

While we are speaking of the IPL, I hope there are others like me who feel that Sidhu talks a bit too much. And not all he talks makes sense. Yesterday, while talking about Pollard he quoted a saying - a rough English translation would go something like this 'a piece of charcoal turns into a diamond only under pressure'. I guess his intention was to call Pollard a diamond but I am not sure he even realized that he ended up linking him to a piece of charcoal. Not a very politically correct comment!

On another occasion, he called Dhoni's performance 'Paranormal'. Huh? I think the word he was looking for was 'Superhuman'.

If words could speak, they would have got a restraining order against this guy for the rest of his life :-)

I was reading Reader's Digest after a long long time. An article that caught my attention was about a girl who fell from a height about 10000 feet after her airplane was struck by a bolt of lightning and ended up spending 11 days in a Peruvian rain forest. If you are curious about her, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke.

Got an attic full of toys and other stuff that you want neither to keep nor throw away? Then check out http://helpemptymyattic.co.uk/, if you reside in the UK.

The Listeners

Recently I came across reference to the poem 'The Listeners' by Walter De La Mare in some article. Intrigued, I checked it on the internet. It's a haunting piece and will surely resonate with those of us who think of some place or other that we have been to at some point in our lives and that we hope to visit again in future.

You can check the poem out here.

In my opinion, advertizements are best seen with the TV muted out. But some ads like the Gold Star cookies one makes me want to reach out for the remote and turn the TV off. Amitabh Bachhan plays a guy who behaves in a very patronizing manner with his servant who has served him cookies that are different from the ones that are normally served. When he asks 'अच्छा तो आप सोचते भी है?', I feel like screaming in exasperation. I suspect that there is no dearth of people who treat their domestic help like bonded laborers. We don't need Mr. Bachchan to encourage this trend. This is one jar of cookies I am not going to have on the table!

On the other end of the spectrum, the Frooti ad comes as a breath of fresh air - especially in this hot, humid weather of Mumbai. It features Shahrukh Khan guzzling the entire bottle in one fell swoop while a group of very thirsty players watch him enviously like a pack of kids. My favorite is the kid who claps and makes fun of the players at the end of the ad.

Oh, and the adorable ZooZoos are back with the latest season of the IPL. I have seen only two of their ads so far. Hats off to the creative brains behind these!

Entering the park near the Shivaji Park seashore for an evening stroll, I was pleasantly surprised to hear someone singing. Up ahead, quite a few people were sitting listening to the music and songs being played by a small band of musicians. Spotting a board nearby, I walked over to it. It talked about programs that were going to be held this month at various places in Mumbai - like Bandra Band Stand and Horniman Circle for example - in an effort to promote the Band Stand culture.

Though the decibel level was a bit high for my taste at some moments, the experience felt like a breath of fresh air. Normally, you see people running about in this city, trying to meet the deadline, always in a hurry to reach someplace, harassed by heat and traffic, stressed and tired. These people were relaxed, enjoying the songs and cheering the singers and musicians.

We definitely need more of this in this city. And being a foodie, I think that this concept can be taken to a new level by adding food to the music. I know this city suffers from perennial space crunch that is getting worse by the minute. But maybe someone can take an initiative and turn a corner of the city into a weekend Eat Street where amateur chefs can put up stalls and people can turn up to buy and sample their food.

Maybe we Mumbaikars need to be reminded that there is more to life than chasing deadlines.

Lunch at Faaso's

I wouldn't have ordered it otherwise because I usually avoid ordering food from outside on the weekdays. But I had been out over the weekend and so hadn't found time to prepare lunch for Monday. Another colleague who had come without her tiffin suggested we order from Faaso's. The only other option was Dosa or Uthappa at the office canteen (I wouldn't touch their non-vegetarian fare even with a bargepole!) so I agreed. Going through the menu was a tough task, especially because I wanted avoid having meat. No such luck though. The options on the veggie menu boasted of either paneer or potatoes. No way! So, reluctantly, I turned to the non-veg section. And my colleague and I started debating the choices.

Overhearing this, another colleague strolled over and suggested we go for chicken with Indian spices. I had visions of chicken pieces smothered under layers of onions, chillies and garam masala. And that almost killed my appetite. Barbeque chicken looked promising and I zeroed in on that. I decided to go for wheat chapati instead of the normal maida roll at the suggestion of the same colleague.

Turned out that was the only smart thing that I did. When the lunch arrived - after almost an hour (the delivery guy claimed that he had jumped a signal and was pulled over by a cop!) - the fare was far from being value for money. The barbecue sauce tasted like a mixture of soya sauce and tomato puree (a lot of puree!). The chicken pieces were rather rubbery. And the onions made a guest appearance rather than complimenting the dish. I am confident that I would have done a much better job of making this dish at home.

My colleague didn't have much luck with the Biryani that she had ordered as well. To be frank, the Biryani looked as if it was a mixture of some chicken gravy and plain white rice. I didn't dare taste it.

I have been brought up with the teaching that you should never say bad things about food. But I have little patience with food joints that charge a steep price but fail to deliver quality food.

I tried to console myself thinking that maybe the food was healthy and hence tasteless. :-(