Explorer of Experiences

Last weekend, I got a unique opportunity to visit Gowardhan Cheese Factory in Manchar district, a good two hour drive from Pune city. The owning home-grown company Parag Milk Foods brand portfolio includes Gowardhan and GO boasting of a range of dairy products that have been retailed across Mumbai and Pune over the last decade. I first started using their yoghurt when the local kirana store ran out of my usual preference of Amul , Danone and Britannia . One spoon of it and I instantly found it so fresh, light and 'unprocessed'. I have always loved cheese but now I even prefer it over chocolate. So when I was scheduled to visit the GO factory, it bore semblance to winning the golden ticket and entering glistening gates to its factory much like the popular Roald Dahl 's  Charlie . Except that it was not all that dramatic! 

Where Else promises to be unique in Viman Nagar, a neighbourhood already brimming with so many eateries.   Four young friends came together to put their love for food and travel experiences in a melting pot called ‘Where Else’. This new café and bar is the brainchild of sibling duo Ardesh and Daisy Rustomjee and best friend duo Amritha Shrikumar and Sweta Jobanputra. These Viman Nagar residents have been firsthand witnesses to the rise of new eateries in their locality. With ‘Where Else’ they aim to fill in the void of a place that offers all-day breakfast and good quality indulgent food. We drove to the outlet in its first week of opening to find out if ‘Where Else’ is the place to be.   

Everyone’s favorite hangout Brooklyn Shuffle has gone a notch up turning from ‘Diner’ to ‘Bar’. The lighting is dimmer, the up-tempo music played louder and kids don’t fit their target audience especially after 5pm. They have what are probably the city’s longest Happy Hours from 11AM to 8PM to cajole the tipple-lovers into busying their bar. On offer are beer, vodka and whiskey for a stunning Rs 99, unlimited draught mug for Rs 500 and cocktail pitchers for Rs 700. Now that’s what we call a sweet deal. 

  The good folks behind Brooklyn Shuffle , Jimmy Hu and WTF! , now bring the nearly year-old The Bombay Bronx from Mumbai to Pune. This is an all-day bar where everything, from the interiors to the food unbridles the soul of Mumbai. Enter the bar, and it feels like you’ve chanced upon a set of a movie that is an ode to the maximum city. The Bombay Bronx is fitted with installations reminiscent of the city – take for instance the local train-style booth seating with train handles suspended from the ceiling, Irani café-style tables and chairs, a wall-sized painting of Amitabh Bachchan in his Deewar attire, tin fittings on the bar resembling the roofing of Dharavi ’s slum houses, train routes mapped out on the ceiling, lights fitted into loud-coloured dabbas and the neon signage of the iconic Eros theatre. Clearly, subtlety was not the brief to the interior designer. It is little wonder that we caught many wild-eyed walk-in diners taking a tour of the place before settling...

In this age of social media, no matter what the industry, it is in the business’ interest to have digital presence. Just maintaining presence for the sake of it is one thing, but doing a great job of it is another. Few other aviation brands are doing as good a job on social media as KLM is. Just browse through the airline’s global Facebook page . You don’t need to be a frequent flyer with the airline or a travel enthusiast or a plane spotter to enjoy their page. You simply and inevitably will enjoy it. And what is remarkable is that the brand’s social content has such a universal reach and appeal. Let us see what they are doing well and more importantly, differently. 1)       Beautiful imagery You would think seeing images of the blue KLM plane daily on Facebook would be boring. After all, the aircrafts look alike and the colours are the same. So what’s new? Well, they share some really magnificent pictures of their fleet fr...

A mini-me back in the day putting lead to paper I always fancied the thought of being a writer. It seemed so...so..what's the word..intellectual. English was always my favourite subject and pretty much the only class I looked forward to during school years. While reading books, I not only enjoyed the stories and tickling my imagination but also took in the writing styles of the authors. I went quite mainstream in choosing my Bachelor's degree and studied Business Administration. Why didn't I study literature instead? No idea! I used to write for myself mostly. But then came Facebook and Facebook Notes where I started publishing my ramblings on. My friends said I penned well. With a full time job coming into the picture, the writing mostly took a back seat. Only once in a while would I find time and get the creative itch to write. But the embers of wanting to write professionally still glowed. A random browse through my Twitter timeline led me to applying for a freelan...

Decisions.  People debate whether you 'take' or 'make' decisions. I care little about that. What interests me more are 'decisions' - what makes us take them, why we take them and under what circumstances. So many times, we are faced with a dilemma - we can go either this way or that . And we will never completely know which one will ultimately be the right one for us. We only know if we make a choice and take the plunge. Time will then tell. Eventually, you may prove to be right with what you decided or if luck's not in your favour, you may end up not being happy with the decision you made. In a situation like that we may think, why didn't we choose the other path? But hey it's always easy to say 'what if'. Regrets come to us very easily. But I repeat unless, you live your decision you will never completely know. So why ponder over what could have been when all we have with us is where we are now.  It's a constant battle. We just ha...