Benjarong - Yummy Place

The entire crazy bunch of my team trooped into Benjarong to celebrate our success.

Benjarong is an authentic Thai specialty restaurant on TTK road, Alwarpet.

Man..what an evening it turned out to be!

All of us were in a mood to ransack the restaurant. And the restaurant rose to the occasion superbly.

Thai welcome pan was a great starter. You have to stuff - onion, coconut, ginger, lime, peanuts, red chillies, palm sugar sauce in a spinach kind of leaf..roll it ..then chew it..Heavenly. It is called mei kam (or something like that ;-)

The soups were amazing, we ordered clear thai vegetable soup (Tom Yam Phak) and coconut milk mushroom soup (something on the lines of Tom Khau..). Both were equally good.

The starters were interesting, we got babycorn wrapped in rice tartlets ..the rice tarlets looked like the distant cousin of our vadavams. We ordered some Broccoli stuff and spring rolls. We had a glass noodle & veg salad too..[we ordered another helping of this babycorn starter..much to the chagrin of our PM!]

The main course consisted of noodles (a tad spicy), steamed rice with a green vegetable gravy, Fried rice with broccoli, potato gravy. Everything was pleasing except for the green vegetable gravy, which was too sweet for rice.

[I leave behind my attempt to memorize the nomenclature of the dishes]

The non-veg gang had a field day by terrorizing the bearers with their never-ending orders. But to their credit, the service was very friendly.

The ambience had a very up market feel and the music was at a pleasant level.

Oops ..I forgot to mention that it is very very expensive out there...(U tend to forget that fact, if someone else is giving the treat;-)

On the whole, if you are not bothered abt your purse and want a good gourmet experience, head to Benjarong.

Shibu Soren's Shameful Saga

Shibu Soren does the classic convicted politician act! (May be I should remove the exclamation mark)

He complained of chest pain after his arrest and is now cooling his heels in AIIMS hospital.

Shibu would be entering the Hall of Fame with his distinction of being the first union minister to be convicted of murder.

Hmm..there is some justice in our judicial system..Shibu Shoren was found guilty of murder of his former secretary Shashi Nath Jha 12 years ago.

Actually, Shibu Shoren was in the eye of the storm for another case. He was asked to resign from his post two years ago, after an arrest warrant was issued in his name in a 30 year old case of killing 11 people. There was much drama after that..He went underground...sent the resignation letter from his hideout ... and finally a high profile surrender..

But, he was reinducted into the cabinet soon (this marred the image of ManMohan Singh in a big way).

Heights was when Jharkand governer called him to form the government in Jharkand (he is the chief of JMM - Jharkand Mukthi Morcha) and was appointed Chief Minister last year. But he couldnt win the vote of confidence..he resigned.

I will not be surprised if this case goes to supreme court and he is able to go scot free (may be Ram Jethmalani will take his case on National Interest )

Last heard, BJP is creating a ruckus in parliament abt this issue..somebody please remind them that years back it was with the help of this very same BJP, Shibu Soren became a RajyaSabha MP.

I would say Shibu Shoren is just plain unlucky to have got the verdict against him..there are scores of lucky asses who are yet to be named in the FIRs, yet to be chargesheeted, yet to have the cases called in the courts, yet to have the arguments completed, yet to have the verdicts given.

No wonder the erstwhile dacoits find politics to be a good career jump option.

Wal-Mart & Bharati Partnership

If everything goes as per the plan, then we are going to see Wal-Mart opening its doors in India.

In the Big Indian Retail war, Sunil Mittal seems to have quipped Reliance.

Economic Times reports that the Bharti-Wal-Mart alliance in the retail sector is all set to be signed and delivered in the next few days, an announcement is expected in the next 48 hrs. As per our law, Wal-Mart cannot do direct business . we have not opened up our front end business but we allow FDI by all other means - Money,logistics, etc.,..some smart law :-(

A good article on the Mittal Vs Ambani tussle.

Already, Bharati has got a bumper opening in today's trade - 2.5% surge

Sivappadhikaram - Paruthiveeran

These are the two most awaited films in tamil filmdom (next only to Rajini's Sivaji & Kamal's Dasavatharam).

Sivappadhikaram has Vishal donning the hero mantle and Karu Pazhaniappan (had a dashing debut with parthiban kanavu) at the helm of the affairs. Vidyasaagar is the music director for this film.

Paruthiveeran has Karthik (Surya's younger brother) as hero and Ameer (mounam pasiyadhe & Ram) as director. Yuvan Shankar Raja is the music director.

Well.. I wanted to blog abt the music of these two films..after a long time, we have folk based albums. Both the albums do full justice to Naatupura paadalgal, as they are popularly known. We actually have native - professional singers doing their job in few songs.

The songs are an absolute riot.

There is a good melody in sivappadhikaram..
"Atrai thingal vaanidam
Alli chendo neeridam
suttrum thendral poovidam
sokkum raagam yaazhidam

kaanukindra kaadhal unnidam
naan thedukindra yaavum unnidam"

Excellently rendered by Sujatha & Madhu Balakrishnan. I'm not sure of the lyricst (Paa.Vijay or Yuga Bharathi)

U can safely add these albums to your collection.

IT, Bachelor, House for rent

A very hilarious take on the rental situation in Chennai..head to Vicky's Dhandora - Bachelor's ku mattum [Tamil]

A gem of a statement at the end of the blog.

can be roughly translated as

"If your Father is not having a house in chennai..its your fate
But
If your Father-in-law is not having a house..then it is your foolishness"

HatTip - Gilli

Update: not able to view the tamil font, so I have attached the Thathuvam as image ;-)

Ian Thorpe Retires

Ian Thorpe, one of the greatest swimmers of all time has announced his retirement..I thought it was rather soon, he is just 24.

More on Ian Thorpe - Herez the wiki

Times of India has a very good writeup on Ian.

30 crore insurance

Sabarimala moves ahead!

Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has insured the Sabarimala Ayyappa shrine for Rs 30 crore, and also introduced a free-of-cost accident insurance project for pilgrims visting the temple.

The scheme was launched as a tie-up up with United India Insurance Company.

Well..that is quite an amount!!

Steve Ballmer launches revamped website

Steve Ballmer, the CEO of the all Powerful Microsoft launched the revamped website of a great concern.

Take a guess...
some really splendid MS stuff, techno stuff or charity, US Stuff..

Well, it is none other than our own Bollywood Scion Yash Raj Films website : www.yashrajfilms.com

IndiaFM reports it.

You should have the right connections .. man.

Treat Time

I wanted to yell "I'm the happiest woman in the world"...

Wait..Wait..Dont get carried away..
I just lost 10 kgs of weight in 7 months... Nothing could beat the tingling sensation I got when I saw the scales. Thanks to strict diet, glucose regulators and not so strict exercise ..I pulled it off..Life is much more easier now a days..

Now..this amazing feat called for a treat..my hubby took me to Fruit Shop on Greams Road and Subway...Cool places...

I sipped Pomegranate Milk Shake with a vengeance. We have actually taken a liking for FSoGR ...very very good outlet for fresh fruit juices. Would definitely recommend it.

Subway at Beasant Nagar was not that impressive. To start with, it had Prime Rooster (a specialty non veg res) for company..I was a bit irritated to have chickens hanging all over the place ..Subway is well known for its sandwiches. 6 inches Sub - was nice, but Veggie Delite salad was a downer (there was nothing in it for the 80 bucks they charged..Grr..Any day Naamdaari salads, bangalore and pizza hut garden fresh salads win hands down).

Anyways should lose another three kgs to attain that perfect BMI.

NewYork Times - Free Access Week

Thanks to Perception Gops, I landed on this goldmine.

From Nov 6-12, NY times is offering free access to selected articles.

Take a look at the Archive sample dating back to ..hold your breath ... 1851

My Fav: [PDF links]

• An Interview With Thomas A. Edison, Oct. 11, 1908
• Sinking of the Titanic, April 16, 1912
• Russian Revolution, March 16, 1917
• Stock Market Crashes, Oct. 24, 1929
• Moon Landing, July 21, 1969

ZOHO - what was behind that?

Kiruba Shankar interviews Dr.Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO of AdventNet and the spirit behind ZOHO - Web 2.0 Online Office. The Podcost can be accessed here. Proud to have a chennai based company take on the world.

Kiruba Shankar has definitely got his intro right and the interview too.

It's not easy taking on the mighty Google. So, when you come across a man who has the guts to do that, you can't help but admire the man's spirit.

Mutual Funds - Sell / Hold

When the market is at its bullish best, there is a timely article in Economic Times on How to make the most of your MF portfolio.

The below statement hit the nail on the head...made me really ponder

"Most people have a strategy for investing . But they don't have a strategy for selling," says Hemant Rustagi, CEO, Wiseinvest Advisors.

Andhra Police - way to go

Not everyday, you get to see the human face of Indian police.

Andhra Pradesh police department magnanimously consented to have eight-year-old Mahak Kothari who has been battling a life-threatening illness over a couple of years, act as a police officer for few hours. It was a dream-come-true for the kid. More info in Hindu

Hats off to those police officers!