कमाल का ताना दिया है आज जिंदगीने
अगर कोई तेरा है तो तेरे पास क्यों नही

(Forwarded)

Tiffin - Rukmini Srinivas

Merchant In The Temple - Gianluigi Nuzzi

Avarice - Emiliano Fittipaldi

ह्या वर्षी अजूनपर्यंत तरी फक्त लोकसत्ता दिवाळी अंकच वाचून झालाय. "धनंजय" आणून ठेवलाय पण एव्हढ्यात वाचायला मिळेल असं वाटत नाही. २-३ दिवसांपूर्वी लोकसत्ताच्या दिवाळी अंकाच्या माहितीत 'आकंठ' बद्दल वाचलं आणि थेट आयडियल गाठलं. त्यांचं दिवाळी अंकांचं प्रदर्शन सुदैवाने अजून चालू आहे. तिथे 'आकंठ' तर मिळालाच पण 'मुशाफिरी' आणि 'भटकंती' सुध्दा हाती लागले. आणखी काही खरेदी करायची होती म्हणून 'दीपोत्सव' आणि 'किल्ले' घेतले नाहीत. प्रदर्शन ३० तारखेपर्यंत आहे तेव्हा पुढल्या आठवड्यात जाऊन तेही घेऊन येईन. :-)

Last week I received an SMS that the Swachh Bharat Cess (0.5%) will be levied on all Telecom Services in addition to the Service Tax (14%).

I wonder if the government will publish an account of how much money is received under this and how exactly it is helping to make India clean.

The Codex - Douglas Preston (Spoiler Alert)

This was the 3rd book in the Reader's Digest Select Editions and probably the one I was most excited about when I took a look at the plot summary of all 4 novels. Who wouldn't be? An inheritance worth billions hidden deep in the Honduran jungle in a tomb in an ancient Mayan city and the hunt for a codex containing medicinal knowledge from the same era. I can't honestly say that I was disappointed but I have to say that the novel didn't fully live up to its expectations.

To start with, the characters sound a bit made-up. Come on, in this day and age when the family ties are getting weaker by the day, 4 stepbrothers - one of them a native Indian - who care for each other sound totally fictional. A father who decides to hide himself and his wealth in a remote jungle of a foreign country also sounds a bit over the top. But it takes all kinds to make this world. I, however, could not forgive the author for not making full use of the place where most of the story takes place. You would expect mysterious stories, supernatural beings, curses and traps when it comes to an ancient lost civilizations but except for the lone case of the jaguar following the brothers, there wasn't much. And it all seemed nicely tied up in the end - like a Hindi movie - what with Max, an atheist, breathing his last after gazing upon the Lippy Madonna, all the brothers coming together as a family, Sally falling in love with Tom and the chief's wife giving the brothers the inheritance that was greedily kept by her husband. I was expecting either Julian or Borabay to be revealed as villains. Alas! That was not to be.

Well, all's well that ends well. But I must say that I was a bit riled when Max tells Vernon that if someone wants your money then the religion that they are preaching is bullshit and that it does not cost anything to pray in a church. Huh? Does the author really believe that any religion is represented by the people who preach it? What about the Vatican and its various scandals then? It doesn't cost anything to pray in any place of God - be it a temple, a mosque, a church, a synagogue or a gurudwara. In fact, you can pray within the four walls of your home and it won't cost you a cent. If God is omnipresent surely He can hear you from anywhere. But if you go for middlemen you will get swindled in any religion. Why take an oblique potshot at a particular religion?

Seriously, that was totally uncalled-for. On a positive note, the last few pages made me curious about Lippy Madonna so I checked on the net. It is a beautiful painting - one that fills you up with peace and joy, no matter what your religion.

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - by Bronnie Ware

Ragi-Ragini - by Anjali Purohit

किसकी पनाहमें तुझको गुजार ऐ जिंदगी
अब तो रास्तोंनेभी कह दिया है की हर क्यो नही जाते

(Forwarded)

Social, High Street Phoenix

We have been to High Street Phoenix so many times that we have practically eaten at almost all the eating joints there - except for Social, which opened a few months ago. I had checked out their menu on Zomato and like it - both for its innovative dishes and a quirky take on the names of the dishes. I must confess though that since the pricing charged seemed to be less compared to similar fare dished out elsewhere in the city, I had my doubts about the quantity.

But of course I was not going to pass up the opportunity at checking out what's on offer so during the Diwali vacation we ended up there one day. It's not only the menu that is quirky, it's the decor as well - what with the charging outlets for your laptops and phones dangling right above the tables. The walls are adorned with equally quirky pictures - check out the drawing of the bus ticket from the bygone era, priced at 5.85 + 0.15 :-) Oh, and the menus are rolled like a newspaper and put in a container on the tables.

We opted for Kiran's Big Apple Breakfast and Sid's Very Posh Breakfast from their "Breakfast Trays" section and Chilli Chicken Black Pepper China Box from 'China Box' section.The things common to both breakfast options are - 2 eggs any style (we chose scrambled eggs for one and masala omlette for another), bacon, toast with butter, preserves and Choice of tea/coffee (we chose Cappuccino). While Kiran's Big Apple Breakfast is served with Blueberry Pancakes, Home Fries and Oreo Cookies, Sid's Very Posh Breakfast comes loaded with Sausages, Baked Beans, Grilled tomato and Hash Browns.

Sid's Very Posh Breakfast

First a list of what we liked - scrambled eggs, Blueberry Pancakes, Home Fries, Baked Beans, Grilled tomato and Hash Browns. Nothing, I repeat, absolutely nothing was wrong. They were just perfect! Thankfully, the list of things gone wrong is short. Masala omlette was bland - why, oh why, can't the chefs make it tasty? I swear I make a better one. Sausages tasted stale, no taste whatsoever. Bacon was way too much salty. Though the Cappuccino was good, in hindsight, I think I should have gone for either Chamomile tea or latte. And I honestly think that they should reduce the quantity of butter served. Even though there were 2 huge toasted bread slices cut into 4 pieces, there was way too much butter served to be fully used. I had to sadly leave some of it behind.

The menu mentioned that the 'Chilli Chicken Black Pepper China Box" would consist of chicken with crushed black pepper sauce and Bird Eye chilli on a choice of fried rice or noodles (we chose rice) topped with crunchy noodles. They forgot to mention the egg fry that topped the dish. But no harm done. This one was another perfect hit!

I seriously cannot wait to try more of their offerings. But I would like to see someone polish off their Dhingra's Punjabi Breakfast and Chocolate Blood Bath - in one sitting if possible. That would be quite a feat! :-)

Alex Through The Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers And Numbers Reflect Life - by Alex Bellos

My Rangoli on Friday:

The Various Haunts Of Men - Susan Hill (Spoiler Alert!)

I wonder if the fever has played havoc with my ability to enjoy books. I hope (and pray!) not. And there is plenty of room to hope because I really liked this one almost to its very end. Though the character of Freya Graffham sounded very much like countless other women in Law Enforcement (right down to the gorgeous part!) I didn't mind it in the least. The author has done a good job of creating suspicion about more than one characters. But the end left me more than slightly confused. Why did Karin feel shielded and cocooned in the end? Why did Aidan leave the tapes for Cat? And why was he killing?

That said, I wouldn't mind reading the remaining two parts of this trilogy - even if just for DCI Simon Serrailler ;-)

The Last Juror - John Grisham

Grisham has always been one of my favorite authors so I was very excited when I started reading this one. It however turned out that Will Traynor played the central part in this story and the murder of Rhoda Kassellaw along with the murderer Danny Padgitt acted as a mere backdrop. Though the novel gives a glimpse into the life in a small American town, it's not definitely what you expect from a John Grisham novel now, do you? I waited forever for the twist in the tale but the event that was probably supposed to be it felt like a huge disappointment.

Frankly, I am not sure why York Evening Press called it "probably Grisham's bets novel in a decade". :-(