The whole nine yards

22 cops fight off 200 Reds, save 150 lives

wholenineyards — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:32:32 +0000

TOI, Times Nation, Page 11, dated Apr 14th, 2009..

this story of true courage and heroism is relegated to Pg 11 of the TOI under the Times Nation section.

logically therefore, we have more important/newsworthy things happening elsewhere…so what does the front page carry?

1) Whose poll is it anyway?
2) Mahindras buy Satyam
3) India’s 26/11 proof not enough: Pak
4) In AP, rush is on to get cash and liquor to voters
5) Cell, cable operators looting people: SC
6) DGCA: dozing pilots have overshot routes

looks to me like the editor had dozed off today..why else would he want to relegate this piece of news to Pg 11 and put in mundane elements on the front page. Apart from the central story on the polls (understandable with the impending elections) and Mahindra’s buyout of Satyam (breaking news), all the rest are to my mind less important than the news of how, “for 10 hours a small band of 22 CISF jawans battled more than 200 heavily armed Maoists, without back-up or reinforcements, and saved the lives of 150 Nalco staff who were held hostage by the guerrillas“

Is this because this happened in Orissa? Because I can quite imagine a different front page layout if this had happened in any of the metros, elections be damned! Reams of newsprint would have been spent in lauding the achievements of our jawans, doing all the soft stories on the survivors and we would certainly have had a few candle lit processions for the ones who had fallen, as a response to this coverage..

To add insult to injury, we have a front page update of how Pakistan is claiming everything and owning upto nothing..as if we hadn’t heard that before..Voters being lured with booze and cash…not a path breaking development in our political landscape exactly…Pilots dozing off….etc etc..

this amazing story of bravery could have happened in Guatemala for all we care…

I salute our heroes in the CISF!

Kerala….finally!

wholenineyards — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:38:50 +0000

Ever since one of my friends….and as it so turned out, an endless procession of friends and common acquaintances managed to sneak in and came back raving about the beauty of God’s own country, we had been planning to do a trip as well..we finally managed to land up in Kerala around the Independence day weekend..

all along we were pretty apprehensive as to how the little one will behave onboard the aircraft..shouldn’t have worried though..a timely administration of a bottle of milk was enough to make her sleep through the better part of the flight..

our plan was to do a tour of Cochin city before moving off to Ashtamudi…to that effect, we hired a car from the airport..our driver John, one of the nicest souls we have seen in recent times, helped us to plan out the Cochin itinerary which essentially was more of a drive through all the key sections of the city and then onwards to Ashtamudi. We had done some research on the layout and the road connectivity on wikimapia, mapmyindia and Google maps..the homework helped a lot when John was explaining us how to create a route map for the city trip..

View Larger Map

So pretty soon, we were cruising to Cochin city, where we picked up some handicraft articles and sarees from MG Road…made a last minute decision to enter a jewellery shop..guess it was Josco..and were flabbergasted at what we got to see..the shop was quite big but we didn’t expect to see the crowd that was inside…all around whereever we looked we could see people thronging the counters, with additional rows of customers patiently waiting their turn…at any given point of time, i guess there were around 100 people inside..have never seen such a congregation ever anywhere…in a shop that is…and that too a jewellery showroom…anyways, I guess we spent about an hour there selecting a piece for the little one…who after having taken in the surroundings got busy checking out the fishes in an aquarium placed near the exit…a quick lunch later, we moved on to check out Jew town…and it is while travelling in the city that i came to like it a lot…having been brought up in a small town, i have an instinctive affinity for smaller towns and cities…cochin is one such place…irrespective of the scale of commercial activities that may take place here, it has retained the look and feel of a small town…an inclusive environment that makes people feel at ease..

anyways on to Jew town..the lanes started becoming narrower soon after we crossed the Kochi fort area…which incidentally with its open air bars and foreign tourists hanging around reminded me of Goa..

well, as it so happened, we wanted to see the Jewish synagogue..but it being a Friday, the synagogue was closed..BIG disappointment..

soon after, we were out of Cochin and were zipping past the countryside enroute to Ashtamudi..

wonder if those shades are adequate during the monsoons

we did a routine stop to stock up on refreshments on the way (coconuts in Kerala are as costly as the ones you would get in Bombay even though you would be at a stone’s throw from 100 coconut trees at any given point in the state)..I think it took us about three to four hours to reach Ashtamudi, if I am not mistaken..

as we entered the Club Mahindra property, we didn’t know what lay in front of us..and were quite spellbound by it when we alighted from the car…clear tranquil waters for as far as the eye can see..Ashtamudi is one of the second largest wetland system in Kerala..one glance at it and this claim will need no persuasion..

and all along the way while we were walking to our cottage, we gaped open mouthed at the lake…the waters had a very soothing effect on us after the long day and helped us settle in pretty quickly for a refreshing cup of coffee in the balcony outside our room…

a bit about the hotel now…but in the next post..

Believe it or not

wholenineyards — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:45:59 +0000

Just came across this gem in the papers today…

At Sydney restaurant, water’s on wine list

Water is the new wine at a top-notch Sydney restaurant offering health-conscious customers “bold” or “velvety” varieties which can cost as much as some vintages.

In what appears to a first in major wine producer Australia, Kable’s restaurant at Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel offers a menu of 20 types of water from around the world with descriptions that wouldn’t be out of place on a fine wine menu.

“The main reason behind launching the water menu is because we are finding more and more of our guests are increasingly health conscious,” Four Seasons public relations manager Sally McCann said. “Often people feel pressured into ordering a glass of wine with their meal but now customers have a choice,” she said. “Our customers are really enjoying the novelty and experiencing the water as they would wine.”

Some Kable’s waters are listed as having “an elegant velvet character when served at room temperature” while others are described as having a “large mouth feel and is best served as a pre-dinner drink with hors d’oeuvres”.

“You should match the mouth feel of the water, with the mouth feel of the dish,” said restaurant manager Philippo Radrizzani. “Normally with wine you go with the progression but with water you should go with different intensity of the carbonation in the water,” he added.

“Some waters can be velvety in the mouth, while some can be a little bit harsh.”

The water menu is divided according to its source and the mineral content and includes “artesian”, which comes from deep within the earth, “spring”, which acquires minerals through rocks and “rain”, which is collected from the world’s cleanest skies.

It also features a category for sparkling waters. Small bottles range in price from A$16 to A$20 compared to a glass of local wine which costs between A$11 to A$13.

Kable’s now hopes water will become equally popular. For diners confused about which water best compliments their meal, Radrizzani recommends lightly sparkling waters, such as France’s Badoit, for salads, seafood or white meat dishes while “classic” sparkling waters such as Italy’s San Pellegrino, work well as mixers or with red meat dishes.

Boy, aren’t they cute

Whats in a name

wholenineyards — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:21:48 +0000

or so mused the famous bard a few centuries back..what do you think?..does it matter at all?..i think it does…but more about that later..

for starters, if names were not so important, then most of our present day numerologists would be out of business…well let me clear the air right at the outset…i harbour no ill feelings towards these professionals..nevertheless, how such a development would help though is that we will never have to second guess someone’s name..so for example, if my old friend Prerna is coming back to town and i want to send her a happy homecoming mail, then chances are that i won’t be scratching my head…would that be Prerna from our good old days or Prrerna..well, the possibilities are endless…or how about Prerrna…not to mention the importance of the alphabet A in Indian naming customs..so there’s a high chance that my friend might have turned into a Prernaa…confusions galore to say the least..

if you look around you, chances are, that the names of a greater proportion of people you bump into would start with an A..at least for men….Bongs, for example, have a predilection for names starting with A and S..don’t agree with me??…check out any of the naming sites online…the variety that you will get for these two alphabets far outstrip the options listed under any other…

but seriously speaking, when new parents name their babies (in India, the entire family tree would be co-opted into the naming process), the names that they choose for their babies would be a reflection of their aspirations, their dreams and their value systems..most of our names can be traced back to the names of one of our Gods and Goddesses..so in more ways than one, our naming customs take its cues quite liberally from Indian mythology and culture..

coming back to what made me start off on this…a couple of weeks back, i was sitting in a popular Indian food joint with some of my colleagues..the main course having been dispensed with the generous accompaniments of ooohs and aaahs , we were mulling over the options in the dessert section..now this place is known for its firni and faloodas..while i would choose a firni over anything else anyday, the options listed under the falooda section were equally enticing…and so it went…rose falooda, royal falooda, kulfi falooda, triple falooda and so on and so forth…and then my eyes rested on something called GADBAD FALOODA….excuse me….are you serious?…my question to the waiter sounded derisive enough…the good soul that he is, he considered it his duty to inform me that it wasn’t a typo….its named so, tongue in cheek, not for the after effects that it might generate on an unsuspecting soul should he chance his fate with that offering but more as a ploy to make people sit up and take notice…well, it certainly made me do that…and when the waiter was through with describing it in detail, i had made up my mind..so here goes..

Gadbad the Great

three types of kulfi layered with falooda seeds, cream, syrup, jelly, cashew nuts and raisins…do you think thats sinful enough?..frankly, i couldn’t care less…

all i know is that one bright soul somewhere thought of a name good enough to hold my attention…and all to his benefit…

OSOboring!!!!

wholenineyards — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:39:05 +0000

two things i liked about OSO are these…

thats it!

i have never before seen a movie where i was growing increasingly restless with every passing minute..in fact believe it or not, i would have dozed off in the first twenty minutes of the film if not for a gentle nudge from my better half…”bad form”, she said, “can’t say i approve”…i couldn’t agree more…rank bad form to hype a movie beyond all proportions so that people troop into the theatres expecting the world..and then what they get is OSO…

in fact come to think of it, the only other time i asked myself as to why i opt for such masochistic trips was when i went to see Julie…does anyone remember that?? a neha dhupia starrer??…..anyone???

fun n frolic in Kashid

wholenineyards — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:37:59 +0000

barely a few hours drive from Bombay lies a wonderful place called Kashid..

we discovered it one windy day when we decided to take a short break from the usual..the plan was to land up there and search for a hotel that will match our budget, as we were going on a weekday…i may just as well add that if anyone is making plans to go there over the weekend, then booking ur acco in advance is absolutely necessary..as the hotels are few in number..

but there i have jumped the gun…first the road trip..just when we thought that we would be going on forever along the Pune highway, we got a right turn that took us towards Alibag..the road was ok…in fact with the occassional spells of rain, the greenery around us left us spellbound..just as we entered Alibag, we encountered a brake shoe problem…thankfully we got a garage that took care of it..

its been some time since we made this trip…so pardon me if i can’t remember the names of the places properly..we entered a narrow stretch after Alibag that meandered through a small locality…must be Revdanda if i am not mistaken..and what we got to see after crossing that part was truly mindblowing…we zipped along a road that hugged the sea all along till we reached Kashid..the images of the wild waves lashing against the windswept coast is something to be treasured..

once we reached Kashid, we did some hotel hopping and finally landed at a place called Nisarg…decent acco plus decent food…thats all we needed..and we were not disappointed…

there are a few other options like Surve’s cottage…some top level ones like Kashid Beach Resort and Prakruti are costly but the amenities, I am told, are worth it..neways, our idea was to spend as much time on the beach and hence weren’t particularly interested in what the hotel had to offer..

and boy, the beach was amazing..a loooooong and empty stretch of sand and sea beckoned us…..i couldn’t believe that we had the entire beach to ourselves…well almost, but for the cute dog from the hotel, Rani, who gave us company..and who valiantly went hunting for baby crabs all along..this beach has a steeper slope..so the breakers, when they come, are a visual treat..but that also means that wannabe swimmers should take it easy..

if u r an early riser and the skies r clear, then u get to see the glorious sight of the rising rays of the sun getting reflected off the waves..

unlike most beach side places, Kashid has all its hotels on the mountainside skirted by the road with the beach beyond it…so if you want to go to a beach side resort then tough luck…one more thing that you need to take care of is that power cuts are quite frequent..so it may be advisable to carry mosquito coils just in case…Nisarg anyway had a generator backup…as do most of the big hotels..so we didn’t face this problem..

we were there for two days…now that i think of it, thats about as much time that you can spend over there..or very soon u will become restless as there is precious little that u can do over there apart from wandering in the beach..

btw, don’t forget to carry ur own booze…

the big small car

wholenineyards — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

this is my first post….and yet i am not suitably enthu to write a post…so here goes one of my posts from a consumer opinion site…

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its been more than a year and a half since i bought a red swift vxi…and i have had a whale of a time since then…

the first time i saw a swift while it was getting launched was in one of the malls, where it was being displayed as part of a road show….and i remember commenting to my wife at that point of time that it seemed to have very little space inside….accentuated perhaps by the dark upholstery that they used…in fact apart from the exteriors, which i couldn’t help falling in love with, i don’t recall being particularly happy with the space management that had been done…besides, the rear windscreen was small in size…resulting in restricted visibility of the world behind u….and the less said about the dicky, the better…all this contributed to my feeling that it isn’t worth the buy for the price it was being quoted at…as a santro driver, (and i am proud of my santro) i didn’t feel that there was anything extra that was on offer…

but then, i hadn’t driven the vehicle at that point of time…

about eight months back when i decided to sell off my santro and go for a new car, my idea was to buy a bigger car which was fun to drive and which came within 5 lakhs…that automatically restricted my search to a ikon, a getz and a swift…unless of course i wanted to renew my partnership with a santro, that is…

while specs/features wise, i found swift to be offering a lot more than the rest, what kept bothering me were the initial thoughts that i had about this car….but then i thought to chuck these thoughts and do a test ride…

and man, what a drive it was….the moment i sat in the car, i felt like being enveloped on all sides as in a cockpit…the demo car was a zxi with lower profile tyres….and the drive was amazing….i couldn’t resist hitting sixty on the second gear itself…so addictive was the vrroom that it generated from the engine…and as i settled in to a more stable pace later on, i found that inspite of its bigger size (compared to the santro that i drove), it was very nimble….and the best part was the confidence it exuded while changing lanes and overtaking at high speeds…..and the side rear view mirrors are just right for supporting such activities…the gear box is smooth…shifting gears is a breeze…though somewhat a bit tentative if u compare it to a santro…and a santro does come up trumps in this department….the controls and instruments cluster are well laid out…the steering is buttered up just right to bring you out of the most inextricable situations…and as far as the looks are concerned, i think it has a fantastic street presence…i mean just look at a swift from the front….u will know what i mean….it looks like a crouching panther waiting to spring to action….

no wonder i was sold on this car….

and i bought it soon enough from sai service, phoenix mills….i was reasonably satisfied with the entire purchase process over there…all in all, it wasn’t a horror story as compared to some of the dealership experiences that i have read about in this forum…i had to haggle a lot for the freebies though….

till date, i have driven close to 10,000 kms…and this involved one long distance drive to Shirdi just after the monsoons when the roads were in a particularly bad condition..the suspension proved to be good enough for me as there were a lot of stretches where i simply zoomed through without much damage to the car and its occupants….all said and done, i can’t expect a better suspension on a sub 5 lakh package…but having said that, i keep on getting distracted by the squeaks and rattles from the right wheel…i had fitted wheel discs and these seem to be the culprit…the service guys couldn’t resolve the problem…they just kept on giving lame excuses..

one thing that i have not been particularly thrilled about in this car is the fuel efficiency…i drive a lot in the city, with ac, and in bombays’ wretched traffic…can’t get anything better than a 10…there r ppl who say they get a 12-13….just haven’t figured out how i can get that….neways, there’s no harm in keeping on trying…

since i drive a lot, i haven’t had the chance of sitting in the rear seat with well endowed individuals to figure out the shoulder room there…but what i have figured out is that three ok size adults will just about fit in adequately over there…which also means that a long distance drive in the rear seat may not be optimal for the passengers in a house full situation…

dicky as i said is not that great…put in a big suitcase…and then there’s pretty much nothing left over….unless u want to squeeze in some rucksacks and bags from the corners…

another point that should be noted is that while this car behaves like a lion on level ground, it loses some of its punch when it comes to tackling inclines….and you may find shifting right down to 1st gear a trifle disconcerting in these situations….

i wouldn’t recount the features that u get in this car (i bought a vxi)…but what i felt was the vxi was a good value for money package…though i would have been happier if they had given a music player….

and as far as the car goes, here’s my two cents…..never give the car keys to anybody…because the best place where u can appreciate this beauty for all that it is, is at the wheel…naturally my wife isn’t amused…