Happened to taste the new Horlicks - Foodles yesterday. It tasted just like Maggie noodles... so much for differentiating.
Maggie Noodles is way past its 25 years mark and still happens to be my fav. I vividly remember the day when Maggie was the cause of excitement in our school(then NES, now NPS), we were in our primary class ..all of us were given a packet after a small demonstration and from then on, Maggie is one brand that has stayed with us. The 'Bus Two Minutes' ad jingle was also a rage.
Maggie had everything going for it - Instant food, easy to cook, good taste and it focused on children - A sure shot recipe for success. Top Ramen was a late entrant but I guess, it is still a very distant second.
For all kitchen-challenged people like me, Maggie is a dream come true ;-))
February 22, 2010
February 17, 2010
The tale of two TV serials
'Madras Eye' forced me to take a day off and I was almost quarantined in my house. By afternoon, boredom had set in and I took to TV surfing.
A scene in a serial
Lady 1: can instantly say, she is the villi. With over the top makeup, garish saree, high tempo BGM, and that iconic creepy looks.. there was no doubt about it.
Lady 1 hands over a small red packet to Lady 2. Lady 2 receives it with equally creepy looks
Lady1 : "This contains a certain drug. Mix it with her food, she is bound to misbehave and create a scene, use this opportunity and throw her out"
Lady 2 nods...Lady1 and Lady2 exchange the 'conspirator' smiles [ atleast 4 closeup shots of each are shown in a loop ]
Yeppa..mudiyale...I change to cricket and move on to other channels..
Another channel, another serial
Lady 1: can instantly say, she is the villi. With over the top makeup, garish saree, high tempo BGM, and that iconic creepy looks.. there was no doubt about it.
Lady 1 hands over a small red bottle to Lady 2. Lady 2 receives it with equally creepy looks
Lady1 : "This contains slow poison. Mix it with her food gradually. she will die after 10 days"
Lady 2 nods..Lady1 and Lady2 exchange the 'conspirator' smiles [atleast 4 closeup shots of each are shown in a loop ]
Enna koduma saravanan idhu!!
The infection in the eye, which had sobered down a little came back with a vengeance..
A scene in a serial
Lady 1: can instantly say, she is the villi. With over the top makeup, garish saree, high tempo BGM, and that iconic creepy looks.. there was no doubt about it.
Lady 1 hands over a small red packet to Lady 2. Lady 2 receives it with equally creepy looks
Lady1 : "This contains a certain drug. Mix it with her food, she is bound to misbehave and create a scene, use this opportunity and throw her out"
Lady 2 nods...Lady1 and Lady2 exchange the 'conspirator' smiles [ atleast 4 closeup shots of each are shown in a loop ]
Yeppa..mudiyale...I change to cricket and move on to other channels..
Another channel, another serial
Lady 1: can instantly say, she is the villi. With over the top makeup, garish saree, high tempo BGM, and that iconic creepy looks.. there was no doubt about it.
Lady 1 hands over a small red bottle to Lady 2. Lady 2 receives it with equally creepy looks
Lady1 : "This contains slow poison. Mix it with her food gradually. she will die after 10 days"
Lady 2 nods..Lady1 and Lady2 exchange the 'conspirator' smiles [atleast 4 closeup shots of each are shown in a loop ]
Enna koduma saravanan idhu!!
The infection in the eye, which had sobered down a little came back with a vengeance..
February 10, 2010
Two States
'Two States' happens to be the second book I have read after Chetan Bhagat's First one - Five Point Someone. 'Thank your stars' that's what my friends, who have read the other books - one night at the call center, three mistakes tell me. I thoroughly enjoyed Five Point Someone and the jokes continue to flow in Two States too. The story as such is not new, but the challenge is the format in which it is presented. Chetan Bhagat is bestowed with amazing sense of humor and he puts it down in a cute manner. My fav. was the campus part of the story and the efforts taken by Krish to impress Ananya's family . But, there are few occasions where he goes overboard like krish buying rings for Ananya's entire family, Ananya solving the cousin's marriage problem, the wedding at mylapore etc. Chetan Bhagat also falters by giving a generic picture of south Indian/ tamilians as veg, music loving, academics oriented people. Can safely say 80% of tamilians are non-veg, and also 95% don't understand Carnatic music ;-)). My verdict: Safe Buy !
January 27, 2010
The Soup and Salad Cafe
Somebody did hear this?
Visited the newly opened Soup and Salad cafe on TTK Road, Alwarpet, opp to Raj Park. Amazing Ambiance is what that struck me first. Was greeted by friendly waiters. The menu was exhaustive, and it is not just Soups and Salads, they have sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, desserts, etc. But the names are mumbo-jumbo! We ordered a Soup-something Italian and Mexian - corn & pepper salad with mayo dressing. Both were awesome. Soup was heated just in front of us. They have a soup & salad counter and we could actually see whats going on.
The first visit culminated with only a soup & salad. Guess, we need to go as a big group to taste all the stuff. And hey, not all salads come under the 'healthy' tag, there were many salads with boiled potato, chips and paneer as ingredients ;-) The prices are a bit expensive - soups 50+, salads - 70+ but OK..when chaat can be 50+, it is worth paying for a salad. And something remarkable happened afterwards, I got a thankyou mail from S&S team. [ I had left my mail-id in the feedback form]. That was a nice touch to customer service.
Visited the newly opened Soup and Salad cafe on TTK Road, Alwarpet, opp to Raj Park. Amazing Ambiance is what that struck me first. Was greeted by friendly waiters. The menu was exhaustive, and it is not just Soups and Salads, they have sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, desserts, etc. But the names are mumbo-jumbo! We ordered a Soup-something Italian and Mexian - corn & pepper salad with mayo dressing. Both were awesome. Soup was heated just in front of us. They have a soup & salad counter and we could actually see whats going on.
The first visit culminated with only a soup & salad. Guess, we need to go as a big group to taste all the stuff. And hey, not all salads come under the 'healthy' tag, there were many salads with boiled potato, chips and paneer as ingredients ;-) The prices are a bit expensive - soups 50+, salads - 70+ but OK..when chaat can be 50+, it is worth paying for a salad. And something remarkable happened afterwards, I got a thankyou mail from S&S team. [ I had left my mail-id in the feedback form]. That was a nice touch to customer service.
GRT - Radio FM Ad
Creating Ads is very difficult. Creating Radio Ads are very very difficult. Arresting the attention of listeners with just sound medium is a real challenge. The latest GRT jewelery ad that conveys the simple message that they have opened a new branch in Purasaivakkam gets a thumbsup from me.
I automatically switch off when ads come in between the songs in Radio FMs but GRT ad starts with a lead music to a block buster song. Now, it gears everybody into listen mode, falsely alluring the listener who thinks the song has started and the ads are over. After few seconds there comes the announcement of the new branch. And Nobody misses the ad.
I automatically switch off when ads come in between the songs in Radio FMs but GRT ad starts with a lead music to a block buster song. Now, it gears everybody into listen mode, falsely alluring the listener who thinks the song has started and the ads are over. After few seconds there comes the announcement of the new branch. And Nobody misses the ad.
January 20, 2010
Pondicherry Weekend
Had been to Pondicherry for the christmas weekend...One day visit from chennai was the single most factor that tilted our decision towards Pondi. Wanted to enjoy the ECR scenery, but unfortunately, our Van didn't have the permit to use the route, so had to take the NH45..The travel was smooth, went to our native village near tindivanam, enroute to Pondicherry..Around 12 of us were there. lots of fun. Chennai was at it's coolest best during that time, thought Pondicherry would also be cool, packed my boy in full sleeves, full pant..but sun was out in its full force and there was stuffy feeling all around.
First stop was at Auroville, a town by itself. In its own words - Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." So, the place was teaming with Foreigners and tourists from other states. The Mantrimandir is the center piece for meditation and it was a good 1 km walk so we decided to skip it. I don't fancy herbal products at exorbitant amt. Auroville has a well stocked shop that sells candles, t-shirts, kurthas, soaps, etc and are priced for NRIs and Foreigners. A small video presentation gave us an insight into what Auroville was all about.
It was lunch time and we went to Hotel Ram International - waiting period was a good half-an-hour. The food was good. Next was Aurobindo Ashram. I could see pious devotees all around. I liked the calm atmosphere. Thats it. Wonder, why they converted it into a tourist place..half the crowd didn't know what it was (Heard a man comment : I think, it is some foreign temple built here) Few steps ahead was the Manakula Vinayagar, contrary to the silence we saw earlier, the decibel levels here were high as in a typical south Indian temple...A small elephant was at the entrance and was doing brisk business.
Beach was our last stop. On the way to beach, we had some snacks at Le-Cafe opp to the French Consulate. The masala puri there is divine...try it. The buildings near the ashram were a scream, very majestic. Lovely architecture.
Beach is not like the ones we find in chennai, there is very little of the beach as such..there is small stretch of sand and then the rocks. We were there exactly on Tsunami anniversary.. a small group was seen saying a prayer to the loved ones. We left pondicherry at around 7 pm..reached chennai around 9.30 p.m
Well, Pondi is not a great place for family visit. I think, checking into a resort would have been a better choice. Pondicherry by itself is not alluring for a chennai-vasi..the beaches in chennai are far better than those in Pondicherry...Can be seen once, just for the heck of it.
First stop was at Auroville, a town by itself. In its own words - Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." So, the place was teaming with Foreigners and tourists from other states. The Mantrimandir is the center piece for meditation and it was a good 1 km walk so we decided to skip it. I don't fancy herbal products at exorbitant amt. Auroville has a well stocked shop that sells candles, t-shirts, kurthas, soaps, etc and are priced for NRIs and Foreigners. A small video presentation gave us an insight into what Auroville was all about.
It was lunch time and we went to Hotel Ram International - waiting period was a good half-an-hour. The food was good. Next was Aurobindo Ashram. I could see pious devotees all around. I liked the calm atmosphere. Thats it. Wonder, why they converted it into a tourist place..half the crowd didn't know what it was (Heard a man comment : I think, it is some foreign temple built here) Few steps ahead was the Manakula Vinayagar, contrary to the silence we saw earlier, the decibel levels here were high as in a typical south Indian temple...A small elephant was at the entrance and was doing brisk business.
Beach was our last stop. On the way to beach, we had some snacks at Le-Cafe opp to the French Consulate. The masala puri there is divine...try it. The buildings near the ashram were a scream, very majestic. Lovely architecture.
Beach is not like the ones we find in chennai, there is very little of the beach as such..there is small stretch of sand and then the rocks. We were there exactly on Tsunami anniversary.. a small group was seen saying a prayer to the loved ones. We left pondicherry at around 7 pm..reached chennai around 9.30 p.m
Well, Pondi is not a great place for family visit. I think, checking into a resort would have been a better choice. Pondicherry by itself is not alluring for a chennai-vasi..the beaches in chennai are far better than those in Pondicherry...Can be seen once, just for the heck of it.
January 05, 2010
KarishmaDress.com
I had always noticed Karishma - Exclusive dress material ads in newspapers, wanted to check it out for a long time..Good that they had a website - karishmadress.com. Well..the dresses are under the designer label, carry the 'exclusive' tag and therefore way above my budget. Salwar suits range anywhere between Rs.1375 - Rs.9295..Ok..Nice site..thanks..it saved a visit to the shop.
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