Explorer of Experiences

My review of Flambos Brewpub was published on Burrp! today. Here's the link to it:  http://www.burrp.com/pune/know/review-flambos-64479 For the benefit of our lazy web-surfers, I paste the review below so you don't have to go anywhere else. In a city known for its budding microbrewery culture and pub food, we find out how  Flambos  fares. A popular hangout point housing some of Pune's best restaurants and lounges, the Metropole commercial complex adjacent to Inox Cinema was once brimming with flavour. This is not the case any longer. Over the years, some restaurants have downed their shutters and the only surviving outlets are  Flag's  and  Flambos . We decided to pay this old haunt a visit on a Sunday afternoon, and walked into   Flambos   to be greeted by Flambos' beer chillers at the entrance. Its interiors are warm with bricked walls and wooden flooring and furnishing. The ambiance is lifted by substantial natural lighting during ...

If you've got a stomach for a thriller unlike any other, NBC's Hannibal is made with the perfect recipe. Ingredients include blood, flesh, more blood and more flesh.  Source: http://www.nbc.com/hannibal The show is a prequel of Thomas Harris' novels Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs and brings alive the legendary character Dr. Hannibal Lector. The Danish actor with a well-chiselled face and cold expressions  Mads Mikkelsen plays the role with brilliant perfection. Chasing him is the FBI Criminal Profiler Will Graham ( Hugh Dancy ). We saw the pair earlier in the 2004 historical drama King Arthur. Regardless to say, in Hannibal they share a chemistry dangerous enough to give you the chills.   Will Graham Graham is assigned to hunt down the Chesapeake Ripper under the guidance of his boss Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne). At the crime scene, Graham's unique ability to visualize himself as the killer helps him draw out insights on how the murder take...

Sometimes, I am grateful for having a blog. It disguises as an outlet for me to vent out my frustration. But this is a thought for another post. For now, there is a burning issue at hand. For those who get copied They say 'imitation is the best form of flattery'. I disagree! Because you get nothing in the bargain. My work style, thoughts and ideas have been copied by competition so many times. And nine times out of ten, wait, make that ten times out of ten, there is nothing I can do about it. And guess what, I am not getting the fluttery 'flattery' feeling at all. I am irritated. I am not an idea machine. I work hard to think of how I can make my work interesting and separate myself from competition and clutter every single day. And it is not easy. More often than not, in the process, the idea-originator gets no credit. No courtesy. That is not decency. There was one instance when I found out that competition had copied something of mine verbatim. My boss tried ...

How many of us have dined alone?  Eating by myself was something I never considered I would ever do.  But like they say...never say never. Before you know it you will find yourself faced with a time when you have no choice but to do so.  As a fresh university student some years ago, there were many instances when I would walk around discovering the new campus, attending lectures and touring the buzzing cafeteria, buying myself a a hot meal and finding a spot where I could sit and eat by myself. And I was not alone in eating alone. There were so many who did it. In the beginning, I used to find it odd, and felt uncomfortable eating by myself. And when I think about it now, it was mostly because of how I was worried about being judged by others. Would they think I am an introvert, that do not have any friends, or that no one enjoys my company? Would they think something terrible happened to me and I just want to eat in the company of my sadness? So I would then star...

  You were not mine to have. But you did not whine to be with me. You were not liked and called ugly by many. But you were a happy sight for me.  You were always ready and on time. Even though we were often early. You got stuffed. You got crushed. Yet you signified freedom to me. You were heavy for me, my shoulders ached. But you knew we were in this together. You accompanied me on my solitary journeys. Even though not a word was uttered from you to me. You played my comfy pillow on the bus. And a blanket in freezing air-conditioning for me. You got wet in the rain and mucky from the mud. But kept all my things spotless clean for me. You got sewn and zipped back up in repair. And still you never gave up on me. You haven't been carried in a while by me. Dusty, in my cupboard you lie patiently. You are always ready to be picked up. For that, I owe you so very much. 

My mind was set on a week-long solo trip to Leh-Ladakh. And then before I know it, I’m watching the Mumbai runway hide behind white clouds from ‘Asia’s Boutique Airline’ (Bangkok Airways, if you must know) flying its way to Thailand. Don't ask me how that happened! But I am not complaining; Leh-Ladakh can wait until next year.  Recounting my entire trip would make one very long blog post, hence there are three parts to my 'Seclusion and Shopping in Thailand' series. Bustling Bangkok was the first and this one is my second. QUIRKY THAILAND Thailand is quirky, Thailand is strange, its peculiarity is its speciality... There is so much this country has to offer. Some things you can make sense of and some which just do not fit into the puzzle. Some which amuse and some which bemuse. I am sharing these accounts which really struck me on my trip.  I loved every restroom I visited! No kidding. No matter where or in how remote a location I was, the loos I we...

My mind was set on a week-long solo trip to Leh-Ladakh. And then before I know it, I’m watching the Mumbai runway hide behind white clouds from ‘Asia’s Boutique Airline’ (Bangkok Airways, if you must know) flying its way to Thailand. Don't ask me how that happened! But I am not complaining; Leh-Ladakh can wait until next year.  Recounting my entire trip would make a one very long blog post, hence there are three parts to my 'Seclusion and Shopping in Thailand' series. This is the first.  BUSTLING BANGKOK  Retail therapy in Bangkok can be quite a straining affair... The last time I visited Bangkok was when I went there for an internship stint with some mates from my university in Melbourne. I had pretty much discovered most of this bustling city during that two week work-cum-fun trip. We folded our hands before more than one Reclining Buddha and had one too many Tom Yums!  At the company I interned at. We all posed for a pic on our las...