Past Forward

India’s current form in the league matches of the ICC World Cup 2015 belies their disastrous tour of Australia which concluded only a month ago. The World Cup always evokes emotions from my school days. March is always a tough month for any school kid, more so when exams are knocking on your doors. But even such important things are sidelined when the World Cup wave sweeps your city. What could be bigger in this cricket crazy country? The tournament had returned to India for a second time in almost a decade. India’s performance had been quite dramatic throughout the tournament. After the league stage, India qualified for the knock-out round and their opponents in the quarter final was none other than our neighbours and oft-hailed ‘arch’ rivals, Pakistan. The contest offered mouth-watering prospects. And it transpired that the quarter final fell in Bangalore’s kitty! What more could anyone in the Garden City ask for? All roads led to Chinnaswamy Stadium that fateful day. ...

The cakes and pastry 'season' comes alive in the later half of December and spreads over in January. The last week of the year sparks a festive season worldwide and India joins the revelry diligently every. Since our school days Christmas was synonymous with celebration and cakes! It continues and although cakes are available all throughout the year, they attain significance quite unparalleled at any other time. A visit to any place, be it a 5 star restaurant or the local grocery store, is incomplete without indulging the sweet tooth. Bakeries are at their best and go all out to woo customers. But only a handful is able to deliver the ‘different’ experience, which makes them out in the crowd.   Angels In My Kitchen is one such patisserie. Its outlet in Cyber Hub has a select and faithful fan following. It did have first mover advantage for some time, being the lone bakery, but inspite of other places selling cakes in some form or other, Angels has done remarkable wel...

I had heard of meeting point, lovers point, sunrise point etc. But when I heard of Chai Point, I could hardly believe that such a concept was possible. In this coffee chain crazy country, where you can find a coffee joint at every nook and corner, setting up a dedicated tea shop is, if I may call, a risky affair. I got a taste of their tea when a colleague got a whole jug to office one fine morning. What’s the big deal, I said to myself. When offered a cuppa, I obliged. The moment I sipped, I literally said ‘Aha’. It was an Aha moment for me, and I guess for hundreds, or ten thousands by now, of satisfied customers. For some their day begins at this outlet located in Cyber Hub (Based on the runaway success of this outlet in Gurgaon they have set up shop in other places such as Huda City Center, Unitech Infospace etc.).         They have a variety of tea available - lemon, ginger, masala, green etc. in hot chai; lemon, ginger, apple, cranb...

The options for vegetarian food are somewhat limited. Apart from certain sections in menu cards, which are rather limited and certainly lack variety, there are only few restaurants that cater to this large section of the Indian society. And fewer still are restaurant chains serving exclusively vegetarian food. Panchavati Gaurav is one such chain.   I had been waiting for an opportunity to give it a visit. And it was dropped on my lap one afternoon when my visiting clients from Mumbai opted for vegetarian stuff. Instantly my inner inclination told me that the moment was splendid to kill two birds with one stone. I cheerfully took them to the ground floor of Cyber Hu b and once we were in front of the Panchavati I simply lingered on. The view from outside was inviting enough for them. It did not take much long to direct our steps inside.   For a Monday afternoon the restaurant was decently occupied, I would say about 70%. We settled on a table for 4 in t...

  In these of multiple restaurants and mushrooming eateries, the customer is certainly spoilt for choice. Most restaurants miss the bus with respect to reaching out to the vast majority of eat-outers. But on the other side of the line are another set of unique restaurants where not only people are willing to go more than once, they are willing to wait almost an hour before they can step in.   One such restaurant is Dhaba by Claridges, located in DLF Cyber Hub . It has the unique capability of drawing huge crowds not only during the weekdays at lunchtime, but also for dinner on weekends. I got a taste of its popularity on a late September Sunday evening. On emerging from the parking, Cyber Hub looked like a carnival of sorts. The first sight was a huge bike, called the Freedom Bike, constructed with a variety of items bought on OLX (a popular website for selling and buying all kinds of stuff). Next to it at the centre, Emirates was hosting a quiz show fo...