वहा तक तो साथ चलो जहा तक मुमकीन हो
जहा हालात बदल जाये वहा तुमभी बदल जाना

Ashish Book Center's Book Fair

Sunderbai Hall, Behind Income Tax Office, Opp. SNDT College, Churchgate. 1-19 August, 9:30-8:30. :-)

Prem Utsav (festival of plays based on Munshi Premchand's stories)

Prem Utsav (festival of plays based on Munshi Premchand's stories) starts 26th July, 6pm onwards with a play at Mavalankar Hall, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

15 plays will be staged during 31st July-2nd August, 6-10pm at Sane Guruji Smarak, Sinhagad Road, Pune.

The staging of 134 plays in Mumbai will be during 4th-14th August, 4pm onwards at Sathye College, Vile Parle (E). Seating on first-come, first-served basis.

रिमझिम गिरे सावन.....

बेजान चीजोंको बदनाम करनेके
तरीके कितने आसान होते है
लोग सुनते है छुपछुपके बाते
और कहते है के दीवारोंके भी कान होते है

(Forwarded)

Banana Chocolate Cake, Starbucks

I know I should have gone for some hot coffee. But I was in no mood for that. And the weather wasn't suitable for cold coffee. So I scanned the row for dessert and decided to go for Banana Chocolate Cake. I had expected it to be moist but it was sort of semi-dry. The little bits of chocolate added crunch but I had to make an effort to finish it off.

I guess next time I should stick to ordering coffee here. :-(

I had wanted to write about this since a long time. But somehow or other couldn't. Before the election, Mint had carried an article about what an average voter is looking for in the new government.

I have always wondered why we Indians expect the government to do everything for us. We know our rights but conveniently forget about our duties.

We want better roads, better public transport, reduced traffic congestion and facility for pedestrians and cyclists on the road but we don't bother about being disciplined while we are on the roads. We honk when the car in front of us doesn't move within a millisecond of the signal going green. We walk on the road abandoning the footpath. When we use the footpath and see someone we know we stop right in the middle of the footpath and merrily go about chatting. We run in front of the speeding cars to cross the road as if our lives depend on it. We take our cars to office instead of using a car pool. And we don't ever stop to think about the fact that better roads will do precious little if we don't use them in a disciplined manner.

We want better garbage collection but we don't want to waste our time in segregating wet and dry garbage. Hell, we don't think twice about throwing the ticket on the road as soon as we get off the bus. We do our daily pooja and throw the flowers we deck the Gods with into the ocean the next day. It doesn't occur to us that the ocean chucks it right back at us. We are least bothered about our dirty beaches but we want better garbage collection. Composting? What is that?

The next one? Lower food prices for consumers. Just take a look at the amount of food wasted in the wedding buffets. Agreed that it has got nothing to do with lower food prices but my point is that we just don't realize what a crime it is to waste food. It is our duty to see to it that it doesn't go to waste. Yet, no one seems to care.

Better law and order, policing, security for women etc? There are two things that we can definitely do here - one, make sure we don't tolerate any behavior insulting women as far as our social circle goes and two, if we see any such incident in public we step forward to do the needful. I agree that it is dangerous for one person to confront the culprit but there is strength in numbers and we must use it. The cops cannot be everywhere. We have to do our bit.

And everyone's favorite topic - eradication of corruption. This, like charity, has to begin at home. If you are at fault, like for example jumping a red signal, pay the fine the legal way. Stop bribing the cop. If 10 people refuse to bribe the cop, he is unlikely to ask the 11th guy for it.

There is lot we can do but the million Dollar (or is it Rupee?) question is do we want to? :-(

Flora, Worli

The moment I stepped into Flora, a familiar aroma hit me with full force and almost instantly took me back to my childhood. This was one of the places that we used to frequent - once a month during those days - and order the same food, every time - crab corn soup, vegetable spring rolls, chilli chicken, chicken fried rice and some kind of prawn dish. When I think about it now I wonder how we used to consume so much of meat in one go. But as kids we weren't so worried about cholesterol and stuff like that then. Good old days! I will always remember the Chilli Chicken that used to be served there at that time. I never tasted anything like that anywhere ever again. Wonder who their chef was. The dish used to consist of crispy spicy pieces of chicken and equally crispy (need I say spicy?) pieces of green chillies. Tasty down to the last bit. I don't recollect the name of the prawn dish. But amazingly enough it used to be crispy on the outside and soft inside with a creamy texture. If I could go back in time, I would love to eat both these dishes again, and again, and again!

Enough of nostalgia. I opened the menu knowing fully well that I wouldn't find any of my childhood favorite stuff in there. 4-5 years ago we had visited the place and found the food not so upto the mark. We hadn't bothered going back again till today when I hoped a different chef had come aboard. Surprise, surprise! Crab corn soup was still on the menu. I decided to order it - and warned myself that I could be sorely disappointed. Crispy spicy chicken sounded suspiciously similar to chilli chicken so the dish made it to the order. And we decided to go for chicken chow mein.

Sweet Corn Crab Soup

Crispy Spicy Chicken

Chicken Chow Mein

When the soup was served I wasted no time before dipping in and was pleasantly surprised. It had the same taste. How is that possible? Maybe they have always used the canned variety. Who knows? It was thicker than the one I remember from my childhood and had more crab meat than sweet corn. I didn't think much about it as I went about polishing it off.

There wasn't anything spicy about 'Crispy spicy chicken'. Very bland indeed! It would have been impossible to eat it had it not been for the schezwan sauce. :-( And I guess you cannot go much wrong with Chow Mein. It was as I expected it to be - except that it was a bit runny.

I don't mind going there again but I am sure to order something different next time - except for the soup, of course! :-)