Pinku-Enchanted Life

Even when you work in advertising and are aware of the power great pictures and witty lines can exert on minds, every once in a while you succumb to the same. This Saturday afternoon the intention was to sit at a familiar Café Coffee Day and get some work done and with this aim in mind we landed up at the Green Park Market where there are two such outlets. As luck would have it the parking space we found was bang opposite a newly opened Dunkins Donut outlet. The façade beckoned and immediate changes to the plan were made and we trooped into Dunkins with the aim of biting into some amazing doughnuts. A nice warm, lively space greeted us and the staff too took out time to smile at us which was a good beginning.  We sat down and opened respective laptops and then looked around for something to munch on. May I say that having seen the Mad Over Donuts counter, the one at Dunkins didn’t impress one much. Most seemed replicas of the MOD ones I settled for a cinnamon donut and a hot choco...

So, you have a late lunch on Saturday and assume that no one would be in the mood for a snack in the evening and are sure that tea and biscuits would suffice. However come 6 PM you yourself are craving a bit to munch on, after all whats a weekend without snacks? Of course conflicting thoughts of a full lunch, extra calories are also hovering around, making it a complicated decision making challenge. So here's what I did: Steamed some sprouted lentils I had in the fridge for about 10 minutes in the microwave.  Put the same in a bowl along with chopped onions, tomatoes and a few green chillies. Squeezed a bit of lemon, added rock salt and Chat masala along with a dash of Tabasco sauce and Imli chutney Added a couple of crushed papri's to the mix and gave the whole thing a good toss. Served it with a papri and a drop of imli chutney on top. Tasted yummy, was nutritious and helped the guilt pangs about healthy food as well. A win win for sure :)

I love planning...not the immaculate thought through to the last detail, well in advance kind of planning. Rather the last minute, 'let's do something' and it should be fun kind of planning which entails frantic wracking of one's brains for options and spur of the moment innovations. Yesterday was one such day...I had a long boring meeting from 9 AM sharp and it lasted till about 12:30 in the noon. As you can imagine my brains were fried by the time I walked out.Once out the first thing I saw was a message from a friend who said 'I am so bored, I feel like running away' initially I said 'lets do it together'. Later I thought, 'what the heck, its a Friday - we deserve a break.' So messages went scurrying back and forth and a plan was formed. The idea was to meet up at Hauz Khas village - 'pregame' as the youngsters call it, at a shots bar and then eventually go to Golconda Bowl for dinner. Hauz Khas Village - once used to be a sleepy littl...

We live in a place called Dwarka. Now while Dwarka is supposedly Delhi (our pin code is 110077) however it’s always treated as a separate entity. A big zone with 20 plus sectors Dwarka is a sub city   – the distance from the celebrated areas of Central and South Delhi adding to its isolation. While this has its advantages – one doesn’t have to fight with neighbors for parking space, there are ample parks and play grounds for children and security within the housing complexes is good. The one disadvantage is that of being at a loss when planning an evening out. There are no malls or cineplexes in Dwarka and the eateries too mostly leave one a little less than happy. This past weekend we happened to try out two such Dwarka outlets and here is what I found: Drool Kitchen was recommended by a friend as a quick meeting place – located in the Metro Station complex of Sector 10 it seemed like a good setting. Ample parking space, a restaurant with a separate party zone where a Birthday p...

1984 – The PM is gunned down by her own security guards. People spontaneously take to the streets and start butchering their neighbors (we are told). The entire bureaucracy is stupefied and allows thousands to die before they can recover and take control. 1992 – The governments both State and Center stand by as the Babri Masjid is demolished. Riots follow – finally the center steps in to restore peace after letting things go horribly wrong. 2000 people are killed in riots that spread as far as Delhi and Mumbai.   2002 – A train is set on fire, in retaliation a whole state erupts – kills, maims and rapes. More than 2000 people are killed, lakhs are reported missing. The selective killings go on for almost three months before an uneasy peace can be restored. All this in a state where the CM otherwise runs everything with an iron hand. 2013 – A solitary eve teasing case ignites inter community riots. A state government which takes pride in bringing down elephants...

My current job profile takes me to Bombay (refuse to call it Mumbai, just doesn’t have the same ring) atleast once a month. During my visit in July I had to attend a program at Linking Road, Bandra which was to start at about 12 noon. The day however dawned with heavy rains and I had many a anxiety pang wondering if guests would come through the downpour. The outlet at Bandra Linking Road, opp KFC In order to at least ensure that I was there well in time as my hotel was also in Dadar (quite some distance from the venue) I left the moment the rain stopped for a moment and landed up near the venue at 9:30 in the morning only to realize that the venue doesn’t even open before 11 am. I wandered the street for a while, till the rains drove me to take cover. The nearest shop where I could spend some time turned out to be a patisserie called Theobroma. The signage looked interesting and the idea of a hot coffee and perhaps a croissant while watching the rain fall from a window seat seemed an...