50Bucks, R.K. Salai: Good value for money

Had the chance to go to 50bucks restaurant more than a couple of times over the past few months. It deserves appreciation on a few things

1. Nice, simple concept and a straight forward way of marketing (all dishes are either 50bucks or less)
2. Found a nice niche segment - nicely positioned between the Mess kind of eateries and the restaurants
3. Good menu/choices
4. Neat interiors - Nicely setup tables, simplistic and clean
5. Not too stingy on the Air conditioner

They are true to their name, 50 bucks or less. Menu consists of South indian, North indian, Oriental, Thai, Mexican and Continental choices in both Vegetarian as well as Non. I have tried south indian Thali, Shanghai fried rice, Pasta, Lasagna, Thai rice with Curry etc and they have been good. The portions are decent.

Obviously, they are doing good as can be seen from the increasing lines and the fact that most times the place is filled.

A few suggestions to make the experience "better"

1. Cleanliness - Steel wares, plates as well as the cleaning procedure (till about a week ago it involved just brushing stuff from tables to the ground)
2. Service – Initially there were less employees, but they were nice and smiley, now there are more guys (with nice uniforms), but the care and attention is definitely gone..

I have not mentioned about the food quality/taste here. It is Good. Not bad, not great, but good enough.

Bhagavata Mela - Rukmini Kalyanam, A fantastic treat

Normally I am not one who has opportunities to view art, theater, performances etc., so it was a pleasure when I got the good fortune to witness the dance drama "Rukmini Kalyaman" in Karnataka sangha school auditorium on 29 Dec 2010.

The drama was presented in a unique form called "Bhagavata mela" where a fixed set of stories from Bhagavatam are being enacted in the traditional form over many years (More about Bhagavata mela @http://www.bhagavatamela.org/)

The event started with some details about Melattur Bhagavata Mela and its unique properties. (Melattur is a village near Thanjavur and this art form is being practised only in about 5-6 villages around Thanjavur). The songs are sung in Telugu (as written originally many decades ago) and all artists are amateur male artists.

The dances follow a method in which each character was introduced by performing a traditional dance routine and then the drama unfolded.

Totally the dance drama was for about 2.5 hours (seems it is a smaller edition for city). The dances and the sincerity from the artists was just amazing. The singers were prefect to the last beat and the dances were graceful and beautiful.

The best part was by Rukmini, the grace, dance and the makeup was amazing. The emotions, pathos and the dance movements were so real that after a point in time, it was very difficult to remember that it was a male artist performing the role (Most of the audience felt the same)

The artists included doctors, bank officials, retired Government officers, Engineering college kids and like.

Though the event was free, there was sparse audience (about 50 in a room capable of 900+ seats). Kudos to Sponsor who helped in bringing such an art to the city and Kudos to the artists and their hardwork.

Would have been great if some of the portions were explained a bit more for the audience, but that was a minor glitch which I am sure they'll overcome in coming events.

All in all it was a great event as I got to see a theater at work and I wish the team a big success.

Garbage - The urban malady

Of all the illness and malady of urban life - The Garbage problem takes the cake!.

Here is the garbage in bang in front of a health center ....And we wonder why urbanites face so many health related problems and issues ..

MRTS Stations look better..

The MRTS stations in Chennai look lot better these days (somewhere from Nov mid). Seems there has been a change of contractors. Have not see the QMC station that I blogged about earlier as Station for trains or for Trash, but there is a definite change for the good in the stations that I pass through.

Hope things get better...

Monday blues

For the first time in my work life, I am experiencing monday blues today.

Went to sleep as usual - non late weekend binges here. But could not get a good sleep.

Had an early morning call with the client, so got up at the alarm.

Man! felt as if my body had been beaten over the night - body pain, aching joints, groggy , burning eyes - definitely felt like dragging myself out of bed.

Completed the call and other usual morning rituals, still feeling low for a Monday. An unusual gloomy day in Chennai does not help either.

Finally It dawned on me, that it is most probably due to the extra 5 situps I did y'day. It is definitely not a big deal for a growup, but can be when you have not stretched your body a bit over many many years..

Hope the blues fade away soon. Atleast I have made an attempt trying to blog after such a long time..

Spain wins FIFA, Netherlands deseRvED ignominious defeat

Spain – the “Masters of midfield” dominated the FIFA 2010 Cup final towards a well “fought” victory over Netherlands in a battle of cards. Iniesta scored a well deserved goal as he was the main tormentor of the Netherlands midfield and defense as he repeatedly made forays into danger territory. Netherlands played a typical game similar to tbeir victory over Uruguay and Brazil.

The game

The game started with character, both teams trying to control possession and start the attacks. Ramoes came through well for Spain with a couple of great runs and close attacks. Alas the attacks also drew fire (foot) from the Netherlands and the card games began. Netherlands drew 2 cautions while spain drew level very quickly. The possessions were close while the “Orange” defense was pretty strong. The Netherlands players seem to magically materialize at both ends of the ground very quickly. It felt like there were more orange shirts than black. Netherlands were pushing spain to pass and make mistakes and were also trying to kick them down. One particular kick by ”Nigel De Jong” landed on Xabi Alanso’s chest. Should have been a direct Red card, but he was left off with a caution. At the end of first half the card score was 3-2 with Netherlands in the lead, while the goal score was 0-0.

The second half saw more action and attacks on the goals. Netherlands also started attacking and creating chances. Holes in both defenses were exploited repeatedly, only to be thwarted by goal keepers at the last moment. (Robben and Fabregas had wonderful opportunities in front of the goal post by some excellent saves by the Goal keepers denied the scores).

The 2nd half ended with many more shots at the goal, but score line as 0=0. But Netherlands was a clear victor in the card game with many more cards in its pocket.

Extra time & the Goal

The first area of extra time also went scoreless. Torres was brought it from Spain for the 2nd half of the extra time. Heitinga was cautioned the 2nd time against Iniesta and was packed off the game. It was only 4 minutes before going for penalty shoot-outs when Fabregas who found iniesta. Iniesta has been making breaks repeatedly into the Netherlands territory and was fouled and floored repeatedly by the Orange. He found a good angle and bounce that beat Maarten stekelenburg to the one and only goal of the match. Glory to Spain!!!!

The vanquished

For Netherlands, the mistake lay in their approach to the game. I had been a fan of the Netherlands team in earlier times with Gullit and Marco Van Basten showed much promise. But the current team seems concentrating much on physical attacks and histrionics to win. Robben plays a well rehearsed routine of falling at convenient locations for free-kicks and the team could have made a better impact if as a whole they had concentrated more on the game rather than the attacks. Netherlands had committed 28 fouls in this single match and got 7 yellow cards and 1 Red. Even after fouls and cards they still continue to play the same game of deception, cheating and acting. That they can force teams like Spain to attack back in defense is telling on the impact of such notoriety on the game.

The worst part is the pride they show in playing nasty. Shame on them and Shame on their coach!!!

The Winners

Congrats to Spain for bringing back beauty to the game. They won the FIFA fair play award. Vicente Del Bosque is so composed and well mannered and was encouraging his players even as they missed the goal posts at the fag end of the game. Great guy and the team reflects the good approach with clean takes.
May their tribe grow!!

And oh!. Paul proved he is the best sooth sayer by getting one more right (of course, he was right on the Germany-Uruguay Semi finals too). In fact he has got 8 out of 8 in this world cup.!

Green auto rickshaws to the fore in Indian Cities

New green autos in Bangalore. Seems they are eco-friendly.

More than that, the best part is that all of them have electronic meters. These days I reject autos with non-electronic meters. The new green makes it easy for me to find the right ones

From Citi Notes