Orderly Disorder

Wonder when these will make their appearance on the Indian market? Nine out of ten scooters and motorcycles in Europe have windshields. It seems like a style statement and also practical.

Every region has it's specialities and the famed one's have good named after them. Being in Bologna for business and not savouring it's traditional cuisine was a sin we were not ready to commit. A few enquiries with local foodies we zeroed on to Ristorante Pappagallo - apparently the seat and home of traditional Bolognian fare. Finding Pappagallo is easy, ask for directions to the Due Torri (Two Towers) and turn right for Piazza della Mercanzia. Pappagallo's is situated at the footsteps of Loggia dei Mercanti , in all a 15 minute comfortable walk from Bologna Centro inclusive of swift window shopping on Via Della Indipenza. Once inside you are in a warm textured, semi colonial , post war decor ambience with series of black and white pictures of Italian and Hollywood stars who apparently have dined and signed at Pappagallo's. Friendly English speaking staff greet you with smiles and loaded with knowledge and pride of their exquisite bilingual menu. We quickl...

Hotel towels is a cause I have been waiting to espouse for a while. Almost every hotel worth its salt that I stay within India, proudly display notices in their bathroom's confessing their care for the environment and asking guests to save water and reuse terry towels provided. Their ( hollow) claim , reusing these terry towels will Save Water Save Electricity Merely lip service will not do my friends................. Can I ask you a question, dear Hotel Manager? Why don't you replace these terry towels with cotton towels? Cotton towels probably cost a fraction of their terried cousins, weigh a quarter as compared to them and use only 25% of the water required to rewash. They also soak and dry better, faster and would do immense help to our small scale industries and probably our suicide prone farmers in Vidharbha. Ask me for endorsements....I use cotton towels at home and refused the lead role in Saawariya as the main protagonist had to slip a terry towel in a...

This particular picture made the cover picture of the national tabloids.I am reasonably convinced that many of our 'breaking news' starved television journalists would have splashed this feature over and over on their channels. I do not lay claims to be a political commentator and nor am I protecting our government at the centre. Am just a well informed citizen and happen to know that elections are due, in less than six months, in the state of this bicycle riding Chief Minister. He reckons this bicycle riding drama might just strike a chord with his naive voters - the same people who voted him and his ministers on the BSP ( B ijli S adak P ani ) issue.Surely he must have pitched his voters to ride bicycles on the Sadak he had promised them earlier. What am I aggrieved about? Look at the picture carefully, once again. It has been digitally mastered to electronically remove the bandobast and barricades facilitating the minister's entourage. It has also digitally erased ...

Venue: Las Vegas Convention Centre Time: 1700 hours every evening.... and probably during the day American liberalisation never ceases to fancy me. Mobile Hoarding Vans roam around the streets of 'Sin City' with suggestive messages and provocative pictures. 'Mexican' Americans line the street handing each passerby with flyers and cards of "Girls who want to meet you'. And I could not get over this one. The guy in the middle is sporting a company T shirt whose marketing message is - Girls Direct to you in 20 minutes Call 0 - 800 - xxxx whatever. Faster than Pizza delivery, I say! Jai ho America !!!

I was on invitation for a business meeting with our German business associate coinciding with their participation in a trade exhibition in Hamburg. Having dealt with them over the years but I never had the opportunity of meeting most of them.My hostess was their effervescent Export Manager, a smart lady in her early to mid forties, a Peruvian by birth,French by her education and German by her domicile. As I was to learn, she was a live wire who amazed me with the ease, speed and dexterity in switching from one language to another. Spanish ,French,Italian,English and German , she had it all in her bag, attending to business associates like me and visiting prospects at the stand in their respective language of comfort. After close of play, four of us waved a taxi just outside the trade fair gate to get us back to our hotel. My co-inhabitant colleagues were a German who knew little English, A Spaniard who struggled with both his German & English, myself with my plain vanilla Engl...

A true measure of any city is never complete without savouring it's street food. Bangkok's street food is reknown and this lady on the right seemed to be the local street food queen tossing out pancakes like a well oiled production factory on her street cart parked just outside the Hua Lam Phong MRT station. Locals queued up and it did not take long for Kalpesh ( standing behind) and me to leave our Simha beers and join the locals. The recipe seems quite simple, Refined flour, lotsa butter, eggs and a generous helping of Thai Banana's topped in the end with Condensed Milk.Huge Calorie count here but this sure was one worth indulging in.Our veggie Gujju bhai Kalpesh was quite apprehensive before biting in to it and once he started, I did not get any more pancake. Go for this one, the next time you are in Bangkok.I believe Chocolate flavours are also available.