Britania - Irani Restaurant

Ballard Estate is old corporate park in Mumbai where most of the buildings have high ceiling and windows a left-over from British Raj. I feel very fortunate as my workplace is on this street and moreover when I get bird's eye view of Mumbai from my desk.

For lunch, I have walked past Britannia before but for some or other reason I did not entered. It is one of Bombay's famous old Irani (Persian) restaurants situated at Ballard Estate. This no-nonsense, no-frills, 90-year-old restaurant is the last of a dying breed of establishments once found on every corner of South Mumbai. The environment is simple and functional, with little room for extras like presentation and ambiance. There is no love greater then love of eating - is their motto. It is mentioned on the menu food will be served within 10 minutes and they really do so. A must if you don't like vegetarian food you might want to drop-in. There is a different menu for each day of the week. Apart from the fact that it is the stuff of legends, the building was designed by George Wittet, the architect of the Gateway and the Museum.

I was lucky one as there was Berry-pulao that day one of their speciality. Berry pulao (a version of the Iranian zereshk polow) is the outstanding signature dish, made with succulent spiced boneless mutton (or chicken), fragrant long-grain basmati rice, and tart barberries imported from Iran. Though it was rich and heavy but its worth - once in a while.

Micro$oft Launch @ Mumbai

Micro$oft is doing a round of business and technical launch show around India. The products are Exchange 2007, Office 2007 and Vista. I attended only a brief session @ Hyatt.

Well, somehow my name was not there even though I registered 10 days before the event.

And my business card with orange and blue dots did not help much to get attention from those desk people. Anyway, it was solid 40 minutes of work for me – replied emails, chat with business contact got updates from their team – thanks to CDMA mobile card. This picture of Mumbai’s famous "dabbawalla" got my attention which is installed in the down-stair lobby as an object of art.

Well lots of promises about security from Micro$oft, but I got bit scary about the new “Office Groove 2007” as it seems it uses port 80 to connect and update sharepoint server. I think I need to know more before I make my final take. A new mantra was “blog” as speakers were mentioning new search capabilities; and used internet and blog as two different things. Sorry could not follow - does not blog stands for “Web-Log” in short.

Well it is M$ at the end of the day – every time they promise – “We are more OPEN with our new version of software so your heterogeneous network components can work seamlessly.” But then they redefine new standard for their implementation of “OPEN” standard. And people in the technological world have to take two steps back with one step forward. Leave apart, let’s not get into those details.

I might miss a good lunch to rush back to work. Goodies are welcome M$: D

Zooomr Pro

After trying my luck with flickr I figured out that I have to look for alternative. With Yahoo! there is nothing for free. Almost certainly they will follow suit when someone else win in their own game like gmail vs yahoo-mail. So trying my luck for Zooomr pro now.

P.S. I got the pro account :D

Another weekend

Well another day! Some techie note ; upgraded the web site to the latest beta release of Wordpress. And I found some strange behaviour. This is what I put forward to the mailing list. But with few minute of research found the root cause.

A dark post

Well this post is a dark one-

Aaj fir dil hai kuchh udaas udaasjaane kyun ek mayusi si chhayi haiaaj fir palkon pe pani haibheer mein hoon fir kyun ye tanhai hai jaane kyun bebas aur beychain hai dil mera....

In simple words, things around me are going crazy.... restless mind as there are loved ones who are dealing with the PROBLEM on the ground with hard reality; facing it more harsh then me who is being updated with phone calls only.

Anyway, recently I came across one site which tells about sleeping. I assume you all must be knowing about good effects of sleeping. According to the sleep test

I show symptoms of sleep apnea, a potentially serious sleep disorder.

Then I took another online test – and the results is

Might have moderate depression

Well that is all ;I feel good now as I hit the "publish" button

Travel Under Terror

There were massive bomb blasts last summer in Mumbai local trains. After that now there are constant reminders for the commuters to be on alert and check their surroundings. It is logistical nightmare to manage the massive number of commuters who takes train every day in Mumbai. In simple words, “impossible” will be closest word I can pick.

Few months back after lots of planning and public announcement Mumbai Police conducted a security drill where every passenger was supposed to pass via metal detector in two Main Terminus in the evening but after few moments it was clear that police can not handle the stream of passengers in lakhs and crores as they were heading home and it was abandoned. The good news is that it is indeed possible to check if the need arises but impossible on regular basis.

Although, there is always one or two man in khaki uniform in each station. But those people physically look so unfit with their bulging waistline that I personally do not feel any safe with them. Its just a game of probability in Mumbai terrorist attack. If you happen to be at Mumbai in the wrong time at wrong place you are in danger. No one can save you in Mumbai as it runs by “Bhai” (common con for the Bhai). There is always a strong nexus between underworlds with every business that flourishes at Mumbai. Be it movie making, real estate, jewelry --- just name it.

So till next time Mumbai rocks again – safe and happy commuting – Mumbaians.

New Gadget K790i

Well I got it. After lots of deliberation I upgraded my choice to K790 from K750. The big difference is price and features to say in simple words. I heard in recent time James Bond used this same phone in his last movie. Not sure what all other accessories Mr.Q added for him on the film.

I wanted to buy a camera phone as that will be handy to capture events. I remember spending $250 in Fry’s for Handspring Camera module in 2002. Oh! That looks like dinosaurs in comparison now.

Here are some pictures from the camera. The first one is of GPO(General Post Office) Mumbai; I was amazed when I went there first time. It is a true heritage from British time in Indian history. Unfortunately, it could have been better maintained like a heritage site. The design of “centenary hall” is so European with big round center desk.

The next picture is of the newspaper stand near my office. Well, a contrast from Pamela’s picture Paris news-paper stand. ;)

Back to my phone I just want to make a note to future/current owner to use MyPhoneExplorer a freeware to sync. You can sync with Thunderbird for your address book - not being stuck with M$. Still waiting from Hutch customer support for a simple MMS settings to be downloaded on my phone so that I can access internet and other cool features; according to their SLA it might takeup to 72 hours and I am still waiting :(