Ambience, Food and View

It was a decision I had to make on where to take my family out for a good meal. I went through the usual research techniques viz. surfing the net, interviewing friends, etc etc. Finally a visit to the Gold Souk area made me look up and at a distance I located Hyatt Regency and noticed a structure that looked like a revolving restaurant back in Delhi like Parikrama.

Went through the website and read up the contents and decided on lunch. My logic was very simple. The night would make us see only blinking lights, while during the day we could see the whole of Dubai and also the sea and that's a special attraction.

So lunch it was and the hostess was extremely polite and the welcome was good. The seats were on the window side and it was a treat to the eye. The rate of revolution was just right and we could devour the changing scenery with great detail and peace.

The ambiance was calm and relaxing while the food was absolutely exciting. The buffet was a mix of Oriental, Asian Sub Continent, Arabic and European. That was enough to die for.

We spent , two good hours of relaxed eating and this is one experience I would suggest any tourist to Dubai to make it part of his schedule of things.

You won't regret it, I am sure. And once again....the lunch makes better sense then dinner in terms of consumption...both digestive and ocular.

I am waiting for my next visit. Sphere: Related Content

Its smoking hot on a Friday

Yesterday I had been to the local Spinneys. Bought some bitter gourd, cauliflower, cucumbers, green apples, some raw salmon steak, canned tuna, multigrain bread and some frozen raw chicken wings. I had to do all this since I am staying alone and Friday happens to be my cooking day. I cook for the week and the week just passes in a jiffy without me bothering on cooking everyday post my daily homecomimg!!

So what did I do!! I cut up the bitter gourd into small pieces and also diced some potatoes. A bit of oil in the pan and off we went. Low flame, lots of time, a bit of stirring off and on....and its a yummy fried stuff. Crispy Bitter Gourd if you may call. Goes with steamed rice and lot of bengalis like me, love it.

Next on the agenda was a Dry Cauliflower dish. Cut the flower into florets. Some cumin seeds into the pan to splutter. A few green chillies and put the florets in. Stir on high heat and put in some salt to taste. Cover for 3 minutes on medium flame and then when you open its almost done. Let it stew in the heat, stir occasionally and its done. Oil was hardly two teaspoons in a non-stick.

And the chicken wings. Vegetables to be cut into large pieces. Potatoes, Carrots, French Beans, Cauliflower and Garlic. Oil in the pan and then some green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and a couple of bay leaves. Put in the garlic. Then fry the chicken in that concoction for sometime. Don't have to wait till its golden.

Then comes the pressure cooker. Put all these in the cooker and the vegetables too. Stir up the stuff and then put water, salt and close that lid. Put on pressure until one whistle. That's all. Have it with bread, and it would be better with the French or German ones.

That's a healthy Friday and will have a good bearing on my week too.

And by the way, did you get misled by the Title!!! Sphere: Related Content

NIGYYSOB

What's that? Your first reaction for sure. That term is the underlying philosophy of how organisational teams work, and this has been ideally helped by a simple technology process called the email.



This is how it works. A sends an email to B since its B's job. B disagrees on the approach and sends a reply to A and marks a copy to C. There is a brief period of silence after which A again instigates B and does a reply all, therefore ensuring that C gets a reply too. Now C sends in a "reply all" including D, F, G, H. Subsequently H, sends a mail only to C and A and changes the Subject Heading. Now in turn C does a reply all on the second trail and therefore B is now out of the loop. The trail grows bigger and finally again A sends an one to one mail to B. B shows ignorance. A takes out a copy of firssst mail and and then the second and says NIGYYSOB.

Its not all that complicated for people who are used to email and other discussion board types of activities. Nowadays we have to keep track of emails, discussion boards, project plans, forums, group emails, impromptu corridor decisions irrespective of quorums, etc etc. That's life.



Oh by the way, what's NIGYYSOB?



Now I have Got You, You Son Of a Bitch!!! Sphere: Related Content

Project Management

1. You cannot produce a baby in one month by impregnating nine women.
2. The same work under the same conditions will be estimated differently by 10 different estimators or by one estimator at 10 different times.
3. You can freeze a user's specs, but he won't stop expecting.
4. Frozen specs and the abominable snowman are alike: they are both myths and they both melt when sufficient heat is applied.
5. The conditions attached to a promise are forgotten and the promise is remembered.
6. What you don't know hurts you.
7. A user will tell you anything you ask - nothing more.
8. Out of the many possible interpretations of a communication, the least convenient one is the only correct one.
9. Things take longer than they do.
10. The first 90% of tasks in a project will consume 90% of the allocated resource. The remaining 10% of tasks in a project will consume the other 90% of the allocated resource.
11. Nine women CAN have a baby in one month.
12. A 'piece of cake' is any unit of work, regardless of scope, for which someone else is totally responsible.
13. A meeting is no substitute for progress.
14. If you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there.
15. No matter what has to be done immediately, there is always something else that has to be done first.
16. Hindsight is the only exact science.
17. A committee is a group of people that meet for hours to produce a result known as minutes.
18. Diplomacy is the art of letting other people have your way.
19. The proper course of action can always be determined from subsequent events.
    You are most ignorant about a project at the start. That’s when you have to make the most critical decisions on scope, cost, resources and schedules.

Sphere: Related Content

An India Pakistan Match

I went home early yesterday. The reason being simple. There was an India vs Pakistan match that was actually the finals of the 20 20 World Cup being played in South Africa, So this friend of mine proposed that we should go home and entertain ourselves.

The same idea was however generated in most of expats staying in Dubai and there was an expected traffic overload in the roads. We missed 7-8 0vers but then it was an extremely engrossing match.

But thats not the point. Its the concept, that myself an Indian and my friend from Pakistan went together to watch a match and enjoyed it too. At the end of the day its cricket that united us in this joint venture and I am sure there would be plenty of examples like us in Dubai or wherever.

I wish our armies at Siachen could play volleyball together. I wish our Borders with Pakistan are relaxed we could visit each other freely without the goverment agencies snooping around. I wish the people who are supporting lost causes in the name of religion divert their energies to charitable or value added ventures rather than destruction.

I wish in both our countries right from school we are taught that our elderly politicians have really screwed it all up and the common man has been left in the lurch with questionable sense of belonging.

Since everything that happens in the world are in cycles, we hope to come out of this trough soon enough. Sphere: Related Content

Indo-Pak Match

The people are eager for the match to start.
These matches do create a flutter in the heart.
Colleagues in the bank are placing bets
While the guys out there are at the nets
So why wait, watch the game and play your part. Sphere: Related Content

Dim Begoon

I have been in Dubai for some time now, but contrary to typical me, I have been hardly going out to eat. At work I carry sandwiches from home, while dinner I always prepare. Somehow I have not been really able to manage this inertia of mine of not going out to restaurants. So what do I typically eat these days at home. Lentils, vegetable curries, fish curry, raw cucumbers, raw onions, etc. Eggs are my favourite and I buy the low fat cholesterol free eggs for consumption. Red meat I have almost forgotten, while chicken is in the agenda once in a while. I dish I often cook is Dim Begun and you might wonder what the hell is that. The literal translation of that Bengali name would be Egg Brinjal but perhaps I would like to change the name to Planter's Egg.
Egg is self explanatory while Brinjal is also known as Egg Plant or Aubergine.

This is how I make it:

1. Buy quality Brinjals(Egg Plant, Aubergine)
2. Ensure that they are not bitter (I would be grateful if somebody tells me how to make sure of this)
3. Wash them and cut into cube like pieces
4. Have some sliced onions ready
5. Cut boiled eggs into medium cubes(or whatever that geometrical shape is called)
6. Throw in some oil in the frying pan.
7. Fry the boiled eggs until ultra light brown and keep aside.
8. In the same oil add onions and fry until ultra light brown.
9. Now put in the brinjal cubes atnd fry till semi soft.
10. Add some spices like Chilly Powder, Coriander Powder.
11. Keep frying until the spices are no longer raw.
12. Add in the eggs, salt and stir the mix occasionally without making a mess out of it.
13. EAT with Indian Breads or Mexican Tortillas.

I love this, So would you! Sphere: Related Content

50 50 vs 20 20

I am talking about cricket out here and people who are not interested in the topic are still allowed to read on.

While I wrote that sentence above, somehow my thoughts got all jumbled up and the first thing that is flowing out of my fingers is the fact that there are prudes in all of us and that in different point of times in different aspects of our life we are so keen to exhibit this trait.

Like Javed Miandad commenting on how Test Cricket would suffer from 20-20. Did'nt we hear that when the One Day Internationals started?

The point is that no matter how hard you try, one cannot run away from economics. Whether you are working, playing, helping or carrying on a religious life. Somebody has to pay!!!!!

So its all good to say stuff like money is not the main motivator....but underline its the Lowest Common Denominator of our fractioned life.

So when we talk about 20-20, have you seen the stands? They were choc-a-bloc. People do not have time these days. So while classical music is the basis and will prevail, you also need the Hip-hops and raps for you to make money. Tests will stay, but you are prude to ignore 20-20. Incidentally the latter is the game that is played in the streets in India. We all are in sync with this. And may be you are not, but then you are surely a case of the exception proving the rule. Sphere: Related Content

Weekends, Weather, Walls

On weekends these days, since the weather is not so conducive for outings, I am confined to four walls in my studio. The place of course is Dubai and I did not ever fathom such a contrast with my earlier stint in Seoul.

During my early days here, I was quite enterprising in trying to find out about places to visit and other stuff. Interestingly, I also managed to locate a local friend because after going alone everywhere alone is not so much fun. So one of our first joints was the Beach. It was less than a kilometre, no waves and dark grainy sands. I was not pleased for sure.

Then came the Malls. Visited the first one. It was great. Visited the second one in Deira. Waited for a Cab for two hours. Vowed never to visit the same again. Friend talked about visiting a third. I said " Go Jump".

So nowadays I have immersed myself in Crime. That's the genre I like best when I watch DVDs and so one by one I am in this process of exhausting my local library. I have selected the next one, because this one perhaps is going to last only for another month or so.

So people ask me as to how do I spend my weekends. And I used to answer differently every time. Nowadays they have stopped asking me. The curious few ask me about the movies I have seen. But thats mored due to social etiquette rather than any special interest.

Why am I writing all this? Its just that I have not been writing for sometime now. I thought I should start. Its my fault that this piece is of no interest to you. But give me some warm up time and I will be back with a meeaaaooowww.

By the way, its still hot out there!! Sphere: Related Content