The family dropped by at Coffee Day the other day for a steaming night cap, after dinner. When the coffees came, my son pointed out to the smiley poster on the wall. The message there was interesting : If you don’t see a smiley in your cup, the coffee is on the house.

As you can see, my cup had something that looked like a coffee bean - not even remotely close to a smile. I alerted our friendly waiter about the smiley and sure enough, they didn’t charge me for my coffee.

Net takeaway : If there’s no smiley in your coffee cup, there’s bound to be one on your face … when you see the bill. Nice gesture.

(Not sure how long this offer is open, so do check this out the next time you’re at Coffee Day.)

There’s a link to “latte art” here, if you’re interested.

- Celebrations of the 6th International Jawa Yezdi Day on 13th July at Cubbon Park, Bangalore at 7am

The International Jawa CZ Yezdi Day is an annual celebration of those 250 cc Jawa & Yezdi bikes that were sold in India from 1960 to 1997. They are popular for their reliability and low maintenance costs. They were manufactured at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore.

To commemorate the 6th International Jawa-Yezdi Day, the Jawa – Yezdi Club of Bangalore is organizing a rally. The following is the route: Cubbon Park - MG Rd - Brigade Rd - Richmond Circle - Lalbagh - Corporation Circle - Mysore Rd - Chennapattana Coffee Day and back

Get-together at 7.00am
Flag Off at 8.00am (Sharp)

For more info, pls contact: Lokesh-9880033994; Sam-99451 44774; Brian-9886101005

I have always appreciated Girish Karnad’s plays, and have watched some of them in many languages…and so it’s a pleasure for me to put up this announcement from IFA about his new play….

Puravankara Presents

Wedding Album

Written by Girish Karnad

Directed by Lillette Dubey

Organised by

and in support of

India Foundation for the Arts

Bangalore – July 10th & 11th, 2008

Time: 7.30 pm, Duration: 90 minutes, Language: English

Venue: Chowdiah Memorial Hall

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As a proud resident of Malleshwaram a few years back, the only the other place I ever wished to live in was - you guessed it - Jayanagar 4th block. For vegetarian middle-class souls, these two areas in Bangalore are worth Paris, London, and New York rolled into one. And not without reason. There are few such places in this universe where one can go around with a list of tasks and get them all done in a single walk. From getting clothes altered, to sipping a cup of coffee and tucking in an idli or two, to saying a hello to a desired God there is a little bit of everything for the mind, body, and soul.  Because of the restrictions of space and patience of my readers, I am going with my  gut feeling and writing about that one thing that you, my readers can never have enough of - great food that is light on the wallet. Read more

Let me confess first that this actually began as yet another attack on the auto drivers, their methods, their rude ways etc. But then I realized that there is so little written about the positives of the auto drivers of Bangalore that it does seem to feel that every one out there is evil. There are a few guys out there who are generally nice & do some good deeds if not always at least once in a while. And there have also been times when we have not looked at them as aliens from the outer world & been nice as well. Some instances:

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I was at VV Puram a couple of days back & decided to visit the famous area near VB Bakery to eat something. This area is called by different names. Some call it Food Street & others like my friend who resides in that area calls it Circle. It is basically one small stretch of road where hawkers & small hotels sell varieties of food ranging from capsicum bajjis to ‘obbattu’ to the regular idlis & dosas. This specific area has been written about previously as well in Metblogs. (you could check those posts by searching for ’street food’)
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If yes, do something about it. NOW!

Can’t stop cribbing about ruthless traffic, mounting garbage or lack of infrastructure? Come Sunday, you can see for yourself how to make a difference. If you care the least for Bangalore, come out and join the historic Leadership March, says this bunch of IITians and IIMs, who have come under the banner of Leadcap.

One can talk and talk ( or write, for that matter ) but to effect changes requires action. For too long, citizens in India or Bengaluru have grown used to seeing our ‘elected’ leaders talk but baulk at action. Except, of course, when it was a matter of their own ’self-preservation’, usually, lasting a couple of generations at the least. Its time now for citizens to say ‘enough is enough’ loudly to cause them acute discomfiture, raise doubts in them as to their ability and protest against apathy and insensitivity in solving day to day problems. Its time to wake up, folks; else the whiff you get will be uncollected garbage and not coffee.
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Elsewhere on this blog, in a different post, a reader had commented about Veena Stores in Malleshwaram. When yours truly was passing by the place, it struck a tiny bell. However, due to circumstances, I could not stop to check out the place. Managed to take a pic, though. From first impressions, the place - no more than a hole in the wall, it appeared - strikes you at first go as a) it attracts customers from all strata of society - from the arriviste / nouveau riche right down to the humble daily wage earner, as represented by the SUV and the bicycle in the pic below and b) patrons seemed content to stand outside, oblivious to the heat, dust and passing traffic, sporting very satisfied looks as they ate!

Obviously, it called for a repeat visit. And that opportunity came by during the previous Saturday when your’s truly made it a point to stop and visit this well known and highly recommended place.
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From the first of February to the tenth, Niche Art Gallery will showcase a promising young artist from Belgaum. At this exhibition, Dilip Kale brings to life a free-form interplay of lines and moods that seek to depict surreal dimensions.

Mr Milind Nayak, one of Bangalore’s most distinguished painters, will inaugurate the exhibition at 6.30pm on January 31, 2008.

Dilip is from Belgaum and has a strong art background: Art Master Diploma, Diploma in GD Art, BFA in Creative Painting from College of Visual Art, Gulbarga. He also has a string of awards from notable events - 15th All India Art Exhibition, Nagpur (2001), All India Fine Art & Craft Society, Delhi. Central Lalitha Kala Academy, (Delhi) and KSKA Bangalore Millennium Exhibition, Bombay Art Society Merit and many others.

With a long series of individual and group shows all over the country, Dilip brings to this exhibition, a freshness that captures a rare visual expression.
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Money, money, money! Everybody out there seems to be hell bent on making money. According to people out there everybody has loads of money, so charge what you want, ask what you want, quote what you want and you’ll get it. Yeah that is all. People will buy it, consume it & pay for it, no questions asked.

A few incidents over the last few days have completely stumped me. To me it just doesn’t make sense. Let me know if it does to you.
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