mere funde

I am out of Delhi next weekend, and Bharathi will be out before the one after it, so I thought it would be a good idea to have lunch with her today. Anyways, picked her up from NII and drove to Connaught where, according to her, the Nirula’s Chinese Room had reopened without the name. Reached there, only to find out that it would only open back in mid-April. Since she was in a mood for Chinese food, we headed over to Bercos. Disappointment hit us again as the waiting queue was more than an hour long. So we had to think of a place again. Finally, we settled for Piccadelhi, a restaurant I had heard about and wanted to check out. So there we were, in front of Piccadelhi, hoping that it would not be overtly expensive.

The first thing Bharathi said after we entered the restaurant was Harry Potter. This place seems small from outside but is actually very huge. Its like the platform nine and a half. It is spacious and the ambiance was to my liking except that some people were very noisy. The whole place has a very nice and laid back feel to it. There was actually live music, the choice of music being good, while the way it was sung wasn’t all that great. Though I have said that the place is slightly on the noisy side, you can talk without having to shout out. 8 out of 10 for the place.

We got a seat in 10 mins and a couple of minutes later were served with the menu. We placed our order for the starters and the soup. The soup quantity was less, and the quality though decent left me thinking of Bercos. However, the fried corn starter was awesome and the quantity was good. The staff here was very polite and did not bother you other than an occasional “Do you want something?”. We then ordered for the main course which came up pretty fast and was nice though Bharathi felt it was little bland. We finished off with me ordering a black forest pastry and Bharathi a bitter chocolate one.

I would rate the restaurant 7.5 on 10 and definitely recommend it to anyone. A veg meal for a couple of people would cost you around 550-650 bucks without drinks while I am guessing a non-veg meal would add another couple of hundred to the total.

I had promised myself that I was not gonna be sad over India’s exit from the WC. But I don’t think it is working. I know the money crazed cricketers are not be blamed, they are in the game for it. The irony of the situation was the Pepsi WC Cola ad, and the (I think) Reebok ad, with cricket is all that matters crap, just when India was staring at defeat against Bangladesh.

I wish I wasn’t disappointed. I wish I could say it is just a game. But I still do feel cheated. Dil hai ki maanta nahi!!

Read a couple of amazing things on Google Reader today morning.

1. From Gaping Void - “If you want to have a cool brand, you have to do cool shit.” While you are at it, check out Hugh’s notes for the Edelman talk here.
2. From Andre’s Thoughts - “Some people are assholes.” I felt that very strongly about someone last night, but then I would say to him. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

I admit. I have been very vetti over this week and unless something drastic changes in this week, I am going to be vetti for another week or so.

Damn this is so boring. Especially with the net connection at home being broken!!

Bob Woolmer - the coach par excellence - passed away yesterday night. The man who converted the South Africans to a world beating side in a very short space of time is no more, apparently unable to handle the pressure of Pakistan making a very early exit from the tournament.

I think it is about time we rethink the game.

Robert “Bob” Andrew Woolmer

May 14, 1948 - March 18, 2007.

Had a great weekend.

1. Watched 300 - I would call it a decent movie. Watchable. Nothing great. The movie has awesome graphics and some midblowing sequences, like the one where a Spartan kills a Rhino, but what the movie lacks is the ability to get the audience involved in the movie. The movie has lots of blood and gore but at no moment do you find yourself squirming at it. The movie shows underdogs fighting against all odds, but at no moment do you find yourself rooting for it.
2. Installed Windows on the home PC. Also installed Ubuntu on one of the partitions. Seems that I remember some Linux after all.
3. Watched the Australian GP. Kimi kicked real ass in his first race with Ferrari. Gonna be fun filled season it seems. Also, Lewis Hamilton drove with purpose and seems like he is gonna give Alonso one heck of a fight. Kubica and Rosberg also drove nicely.
4. Had loads of fun with Sam, TK, Appu, Pari, Bansal and Sachin. One of the fun filled weekends you always look forward to.

On a separate note the DL101 I had registered for on WIPO Academy sent me the certificate for successful completion of the course. Very cool I must say. Will post a scanned copy very soon.

Last, but not the least, Inzy has retired. The lazy elegance will not be seen in One day cricket any more after the World Cup. You will be missed.

Here is what I plan to do this weekend.

1. Sam is going to be in town over the weekend. So have fun with him, eat out, watch movies and roam around and gen laccha. TK will also come over for a while.
2. Reinstall Windows and get the machine at home up and running again. (Should remember to backup data before that.)
3. Probably install a copy of some Linux. By the way, did I tell you I had DSLinux installed on my Windows box over a VMWare Player.
4. Do something with the domain I bought a couple of days back (More on this later).

By the way, my phone number might change over the weekend. Will update the blog once that happens.

One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them

Ever wished life was as simple and you could answer your calls on any number all from one place? GrandCentral promises to be an answer. All calls to all your number will get transferred to all your phones, or the one you decide, and you can decide which one to answer from.

Awesome features include:

• Redirect a call to voice mailbox but still hear it.
• Web voice mailbox access and call recording.
• Customized messages to phone book entries.
• Phone spam filter - credit card buggers you have met your match.

Waiting for the service to arrive to India!!

It is funny how life can be at times. Right from the heights of ecstasy to the depths of misery.

Today was one such day. Started of with a nice feedback for my performance at the job in the last half year, progressed nicely with an unexpected mail from a friend after a long time, a good call with a client. But then God thought, enough good things for a day.

One of the worst calls ever in my professional life. Basically tore us down for everything and anything. I do admit that we were at mistake but we weren’t that bad. We had the results, but not arranged as she wanted them to be. My bad.

Damn!!