Cameraphone

Ever felt that not having a professional SLR camera was the only thing that is holding you back from becoming a professional photographer?

Then you should check out this guys blog. All the photos are taken using only an iphone.

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India's Best Burger

The Burger is worlds best dish, period.

Why do I say this, well for starters everywhere you go, the burger remains pretty consistent. The bun, the Patty, the cheese etc. In my definiton the perfect burger should taste out of this world, and finishing it must be a challenge, ie it must be huge.

Growing up in Kuwait, i got plenty of practice downing huge burgers . Places like Burger King, Hardees etc were my favourite fast food joints, because they were economical. Burger king has this incredible burger, where the beef patty alone is said to be quarter pound. There are other places like Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees etc, which are a bit more pricey.

Imagine my shock when I reach Mumbai and realise that beef is almost contraband, because of religious reasons. I began my hunt immediately and found that there is no decent burger place in Mumbai..!

If somebody knows where I can find a wholesome burger, please do let me know.

In any case along the course of my research, this is what I found.

McDonalds: For some reason I was never a big fan of McDonalds. Don't ask why, I'm not sure myself. And so one fine day I end up at the McDonalds near Andheri station(W) . First thing I do while placing my order, is to tell them to supersize my meal and no ice in my coke. The reply I get is that the only size we have is this (regular) and we havent't got ice because the freezer isn't working today. STRIKE, one, two and three! Moving on, the burger was small and nowhere near satisfying. I dont remember which one, but I think it was the McGrill(Chicken, No beef as I mentioned earlier). Even though Im not fond of McDonalds, I end up goin there alot, firstly because its economical and for some reason my friends from Mumbai can't seem to get enough of it. But in any case when I go there, I end up ordering only the fries and/or coke. Their fries happen to be real good though.

Combo meal with burger and fries- Rs 110(approx)

Bembos: This place calls itself the mexican grill(still trying to figure out why), but it is by far the most decent burger place I have tried in Mumbai. Its located on the SV road bandra just behind the shoppers stop and suburbia cinema. The reason I rate this place highly is because their burgers are pretty big. Infact they have sizes, small, regular and large. So far, I have only tried their grilled chicken burger, which honestly leaves a lot to be desired. They are slightly pricier than McDonalds and I have only seen one branch. I'm not sure if they are located in other places as well.

Combo meal with burger and fries-Rs170(approx)

KFC: Okay, first of all, KFC is not a burger place. But its not like we are spoilt for choice in Mumbai and since desperate times call for desperate measures, Im assuming the Zinger to be a burger. It basically has strips of chicken between the buns and the regular filling. Honestly, it was better than I expected and it is the place I go to when I need to get my burger Fix. It is pricier than McDonalds, but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for something of better quality.

Combo meal with burger and fries-Rs170(approx).

PS- I must mention here that KFCs prices in the International Airport terminal are higer than otherwise. I don't understand the logic behind this.

This makes up for about all the places I have tried in Mumbai which are worth mentioning.

I have yet to try out the Ruby Tuesdays and TGI Fridays here. But if its anything like I'd expect them to be, I can safely assume they got the big burgers for a higher price. Another place I have heard a lot about is Mondegar Cafe in Colaba. I heard that they got what Im looking for, and hopefully I can try out that place soon.

But coming back to the best I have had so far in India, it was surprisingly in Goa

Intercontinental Lalit: Well yes it is a 5* hotel, and I guess the burgers in the 5*s at mumbai should be about the same. But I haven't been able to try any of them there yet.

This Burger was awesome. The bread is baked fresh and the patty is made only after you place the order. So you gotta be prepared for the 30minute waiting time it takes to prepare. But the end result is mindblowing. The point to be mentioned here is they use actual beef, though they have chicken too. It comes with fries and some salad, and it takes some effort to finish eating. The price is pretty steep, as expected and obviously cannot be a frequent eating place for regular folk.

Burger meal, with fries and salad-Rs650(approx)

At the end I must mention that I still prefer the eating places in Kuwait and it would not be fair to compare them with those in India.

Action Anna..!

I am a big time movie buff. When I was living in Mumbai, I knew many people who worked in the film industry and so I would be very much in touch with all newest releases. When in Kuwait, it was strictly english movies. But in Mumbai, I became more flexible and started experimenting. Apart from the regular hindi movies, I watched some marathi Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy, which was pretty good, and even some bhojpuri Deshdrohi(Please note, I couldnt bear to watch the entire movie, only some 40mins of it. How bad? Well there were 4 songs in the first 20mins).

And last but the not the least, what I will be talking about the most in this post, The South Indian movies.

During my school days, many of my class mates were from south India. So growing up I heard alot about the films from down under, but never really got a chance to watch any, or didn't really bother much about it. My knowledge about south Indian movies was limited to the names of the actors, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna and Rajnikanth. I watched a few hindi movies of Rajnikanth, but none of them really had much of an impact. After I came to mumbai, Rajnikanth released his movie Sivaji, with much fanfare. I decided to watch it in the theatre, just for the heck of it(only tamil prints were availabe). The newspapers had given the movie rave reviews and some news papers went as far as to give it 4.5/5stars, even though the reviewer didn't know tamil. Imagine my surprise when I found that shows were booked for the next 3weeks..! Rajnikant had a cult following with people dressing up like him, acting like him and even dancing, in the middle of the theatre, everytime he danced on screen.

I wasn't able to watch Sivaji till alot later, but all the hype and hoopla about the south Indian movies drew my attention and pretty soon I was reading and lookin out for movies from down below. One of the first I watched was the ridiculously titled Indra: The Tiger. The plot of the movie is so unbelievably impossible that you just can't help but watch the movie. It revolves around two sparring families from a village and how one man sacrifices everything he has for the welfare of the people....yea right...Today Chiranjeevi has a political party and a fanatical fan following. He is regularly in the news. I happened to watched the hindi dubbed version on star gold, which regularly airs dubbed south indian movies. The only turn off is the long advertisement breaks, because of which I have to keep checking the information bar more than once to keep track of which movie I am watching.

Pokkiri is another brilliant example of south Indian movie making prowess. I will be honest and say that I watched it only after watching the hindi version, which I found a lot better, all thanks to Salman. But most of the cast and director were the same, but its just that salman has a certain aura, which took the film to a different level. The original tamil version(which is actually a remake of a telugu movie with the same title) was a blockbuster in its own right.

Chandramukhi is simply pure awesomeness. Rajnikanth is cool and Jyothika Saravanan who plays the character Ganga, who personality disorder brings about Chandramukhi is even more scarier than Vidya Balan in Bhool Bhulaiya as Maunjalika.

Another great south flick with personality disorder as the subject is Anniyan (Hindi:Aprichit). The main guy Ambi is superb, especially the climax where he shifts his personality from the timid Ambi to his other flamboyant and violent alter egos. When it was released, it was the most expensive tamil movie made that year, costing nearly $8million, which is relatively cheap compared to bollywood and hollywood counterparts.

Finally we come to Sivaji. I had to download it and watch it when I came to Kuwait. Rajnikant is old. As in seriously old. But somehow he manages to pull off what could be one of the most awesome south indian movies I have watched with finesse, somethin actors half his age fail to do. I mean come on, while every other actor simply pops the chewing gum in his mouth, Rajni instead chooses to ricochet of any object or person close to him. He has many different looks in the movie, like bald, blonde(shudder) and classic Rajni. He addresses some serious through the course of the movie. Rajnikant is originally from maharashtra, but found success in Tamil Nadu. He is has achieved demigod status and is said to be Indias response to Chuck Norris.

Bollywood tried to spoof the south indian film industry with Quick gun Murugan. They had a take on everything from the costume to the accent, but exaggerated everything to such an extent, that the end product was simply annoying. In conclusion I can say that south Indian movies are cheap and exciting. The storyline is primitive, but at the same time gripping. They are so ridiculously improbable, that its actually good.

Here are some MINDBLOWINGLY AMAZING SCENES that u just have to check out.

Amazing Horse stunt

Power of prayer

Incredible tractor 360

This is simply awesome, Benny LAva

Shows I watched looong ago..

This time, I thought I would write about the Tv shows I grew up watching. These are not random or one off shows which I just happened to watch once in a while, but which I followed quite religiously.

The earliest memory of a tv show that I have is the Looney tunes show. I remember clearly, that when the Merrie Melodies tune would play before the show, I would get all excited and then get my place on the sofa and watch Bugs, Daffy, Porky(KTV2 didnt seem to have a problem with the character or his name then), Elmer fudd etc.

Another show which I would watch because it would air right after the looney tunes show, was the Sesame Street . I always felt that I was too old to be watching a bunch of puppets sing and dance(shake their heads from left to right), but I ended up watching it any ways. Main characters were Big bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo, Cookie monster etc.

These were shows which would come on KTV2. This channel would start airing programs only in the afternoon, around 2:30 or 3. Starting with the National Anthem and Prayer.

But to get my fix of cartoons a little earlier, I would watch the arabic channel (Not sure which one), and there was this cartoon called Captain Tsubasa, or better known among nearly every kid who live in an arab country during that time, Captain Majid. It was in arabic, so the only part I could understand in the excited arabic commentary was the GOOOOOOAL...!!

If anyone has watched an episode, u'll realise that captain majid and his team mates sure think a lot before every move they make.

Then came the advent of the satellite dish and we could watch hindi programs on television. At that time all the channels were analogue and we would get star world. Soon I was watching The Simpsons, without really understanding much and also Small Wonder(I was watcihng tv a few days ago and found there was a crappy hindi remake of it).

Star world was short lived as the channels soon became digital and I was back to watching KTV2. No show managed to grab my attention all that much, except for Beast Wars.

Then again after couple of years, we upgraded our satellite dish so we started receiving MBC2 (Lebanese channel). Soon I was hooked on to Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Will Smiths ridiculous exploits. Immediately after fresh prince, it was time for Full House with Danny, Joey, Jesse and Michelle(Played by the Olsen twins). Thanks to MBC2, I was also introduced to FRIENDS, which would air in the evenings. There were also occassional episodes of Saved by the bell, my favourite character being Zack.

There were many other shows I would watch in between like Rugrats, Tom and Jerry, Count Duckula(the vegetarian vampire), Beavis and Butt head, Dexters laboratory etc. But I dont think these shows managed to make much of an impression on me.

These days I have moved on to watching shows like Dexter, Supernatural, Family guy etc.

A friend of mine suggested I watch Death Note, which is a manga series. It totally blew my mind and I have been telling every one I know to watch it. Even the theme music is so gripping. If u only listen to the theme music of the characters, u can understand what type of a person the character is. Must watch, not recommended for kids.

VUVUZELA...!

During the World Cup matches you must have definitely heard that loud buzzing, something like millions of flies. At first I thought there must be something wrong with my television, or something to do with the fact that it was a live broadcast. I later came to know that it was in fact the notorious VUVUZELA. I was following up the news about this annoying trumpet and realised that there were many pleas from the public and players to ban its use. The South African team went as far to say that the vuvuzelas, blown by their supporters, can be worth an extra man on the field. But the last update from the organisers have called on the critics to embrace it, as a part of South African culture.

NRIs may get voting rights soon

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NRIs-may-get-voting-rights-soon/articleshow/6043018.cms
Just saw this article.

Finally Indians residing abroad will be able to take active participation and hopefully they will take interest in the political situation in the country.

Something I have noticed among the NRIs is that most of them are blissfully unaware and ignorant of the political situation in India. Among the youth the situation is far worse. Im sure there are quite a few who have no idea who is the President/ Prime Minister etc.

Shawarma...!

Mumbai is a metropolitan city. One of the advantages of living in such a city is easy access to some really good eating places and the availability of a large number of delicacies from around the world. Im a hardcore fastfood junkie and am always on the lookout for newer and better eating places. One of my favourite columns in the newspapers is where they review different restaurants. One of my favourites fast foods is the 'Shawarma'. It is the staple fast food across the middle east.

I was pretty excited when I came to know that shawarmas are available in Mumbai, and almost immediately began my quest to fine the best shawarma places in the city.

Lebanese Point in Khar(W):

Its on the Khar danda road. Its a pretty small place. I mean really small, blink and miss types. In fact they have a whole arabic menu complete with sheeks etc and I guess its the place which offers the most generous serving of 'Toom'(Lebanese Garlic Dip).

Shawarma (chicken)- Rs70(approx.)

Good Luck at Mount Mary Steps Bandra(W):

This is a pretty decent place where I would normally hang out during my college days. They fire up their shawarma station by 6pm. Their shawarma is pretty stuffed and I guess the best I have been able to try out so far.

Shawarma (chicken)- Rs65

Carter Road opposite Coffee Café Day:

I was able to try out this place just once and its just about ok.

Shawarma (chicken)- Rs70

I visited these places a while ago and obviously the prices are bound to have changed by now. I have also heard about these places in colaba, on the street leading up to the Radio Club and the new International Airport. Hopefully I will try out these places soon too.

One thing I noticed about Shawarmas in Mumbai, is that they have been altered to suit the local palate, just like every other dish that has been imported. The shawarmas are more spicy and sort of Indianised, not that Im complaining about it!

Juhu Beach

I moved to Juhu in 2007. In the beginning, I used to go and jog or walk on the beach everyday. Not for the sake of health or fitness, but because the beach is just 2 minutes away. The novelty of living close to the beach ran out pretty soon. I haven't been there for months now. The thing that strikes me, or probably anyone for that matter is how damn bloody dirty it is. Im not sure who is exactly in charge of cleaning the beach, I guess its the BMC, who by the way are doing a pretty decent effort of keeping the beach clean. I have seen them cleaning the beach my self. Every evening at around 5pm, a tractor goes around dragging a huge bin and a bunch of guys go around collecting and picking up all the rubbish from the beach. The problem lies with the people visiting the beach. They do not have a sense of responsibility towards a public place. I walked up and down the beach plenty of times and have noticed a whole lot of garbage thrown around. Someof the things you find are just plain weird or disgusting. Living in a city like Mumbai, we are lucky to have access to some fine beaches like Gurgaon, Juhu and Aksa. The 'janta' must get their act together and of course the state government has gotta pour in some more funds for developing the beach. I cant imagine people who don't mind spending crores on an apartment that faces the beach and end up not going to the beach because its so messed up.

Pauli our parrot

This is my Parrot, Pauli.

He has been with us since 2002.

He is a Congo African Grey parrot. The person we got it from said he was bred and imported from Netherlands.

African Greys are known for their abilty to mimic and Pauli at times drives us nuts with all his mimicking...

For some reason he prefers to walk all over the house, rather than fly.

WDtv live

I consider myself to be a technology freak. Im always on the look out for the latest gadgets and technology.
My latest toy is The WD Tv Live.

This is a real cool little device, which is soon gonna replace all DVD players and I dare say Blueray players as well. Its small enough fit in the palm of my hand, at the same time it is fully capable of playing hi-def movies on the big screen LCD. It comes with HDMI and co-axial output. So far it has managed to play nearly every format i have tried, including mkv, H.264, avi, mp3, flv, jpg etc....

It has 2USB slots for connecting portable media. I dont think it has any restrictions on size.(I had connected 2 1TB hard disks to it at the same time.)It can also connect to the internet. and has a remote control. It retails in India for approx Rs.8500

I got it in Kuwait for roughly half that price.

Mumbai University

Well this is my first post. Right now Im in Kuwait watching the world cup match between Argentina and Nigeria. But the thing that is running in the back of my mind is how incompetent Mumbai university is. I appeared for my Tybcom exams and then came to kuwait. The results were expected, but then suddenly this news comes out that its going to be delayed. (http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&username&useremailid&parenteditioncode=9&eddate=6/10/2010)

Im not really surprised, but Im just pissed how lightly the University takes this matter, which is ultimately going to decide the career of thousands of students. This is not a one off incident, infact my entire final year was pretty action packed. We had the professors strike which was like 50 days. Then there was the delay in exams, because the people publishing the question papers ran out of ink (That was the official reason given in the newspapers). And its not just Mumbai University. CBSE is pretty reckless too. When I was in the first year, we had to submit our certificates (passing, marksheet, migration etc), to be verified. Well I received my stuff a whole year late. Inspite of repeated emails to the address listed on their website, I didnt get any type of response. Its pretty messed up when in this day and age, the main education board of the country is technologically challenged (No one was answering the listed phone number either). Well finally my stuff was sorted so I didnt really bother making any formal complaints or anything.

Basically the people who are responsible should understand that education is a very serious matter and its not to be taken lightly. My education is pretty much done in India, I dont think Im gonna risk my future by doing my masters/ MBA there.

But for the sake of the juniors, I really hope there is an improvement.

One word of advice, to the people responsibe for the salaries of teachers and others in the administrative departments of the schools and colleges, "You give peanuts and u gonna get a bunch of monkeys".....