"I am a great believer in friendship. Friends are my world and my sustenance". This is what I used to say.
I still remember reading in a computer-generated astrology sheet about me at Fun World - "Friends will help you in everything. Don't expect any help from relatives." Oh how happy I was that day. My faith and belief in friendship had got official affirmation. The world was rosy. Unfortunately, I grew up after that.
My dad always tells me that my faith in friendship is unwarranted, over-the-top and that I am an immature fool who does not know anything better. I never listen of course. I don't want to. But I think he is right. There's no such thing as friendship and "best friends". We just fool ourselves everyday. We desperately try to cling on these notions to shield ourselves from the harsh realities of the world, the day to day struggle, the unfairness of it all, and to give meaning to our miserable lives. Hey wait! isn't that what friends are for? Yes, but this does not happen. How long are they going to listen to you going on and on about your life and how you don't have this and how you hate that. They mute you out after a certain point. Fair enough right? You change, they change. You have a different set of priorities than them and you think different. Everything becomes artificial and superficial. Friendship loses its meaning. You have to move on.
Maybe, it all comes down to managing expectations and more importantly, assumptions. You expect too much from them or the wrong things. You measure everything they do with the barometer of your own standards. They assume certain things about you and stuff everything you say down the hole of that assumption.
After the age of 24.42, everyone becomes selfish. Everyone views everything from the lenses of personal gain. Everyone is too busy for their own good. Friendship is flushed down the sparkling toilet bowl with the golden knob and shiny crap. And I think I have already done that. So should you.
Perhaps, that's why I want to open The Chocolate Shop. A dark one at that.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Chocolate Shop !
The past week, my mind has been furiously thinking of new ideas for business- some related to my existing business, and some not. The ideas have been just crazy and bizarre. However, in all this thinking I have decided that upon obtaining some change money, I am going to open up a one-off chocolate shop in Bangalore.
The aim is to convert my love for chocolates into a business opportunity. It will be an exclusive chocolate shop showcasing the best chocolate in the world and perhaps some home-grown too. Preceding this will be the start of a chocolate club which I plan to found and nurture. I have already thought the name for these ventures.
Any takers?
P.S.: Lewin is going to be my Guest VIP Taster. You hear me Lewin?
The aim is to convert my love for chocolates into a business opportunity. It will be an exclusive chocolate shop showcasing the best chocolate in the world and perhaps some home-grown too. Preceding this will be the start of a chocolate club which I plan to found and nurture. I have already thought the name for these ventures.
Any takers?
P.S.: Lewin is going to be my Guest VIP Taster. You hear me Lewin?
Monday, September 03, 2007
Evil, am I ?
How do you recognize that point when you have stopped being a caring person and have become an insensitive prick?
When do people start perceiving you as something you are not? And why?
What is right and what is wrong? And do I get to decide it?
In the most recessed part of your soul, there's an asshole residing. Waiting to take over your life at the slightest of slip-ups.
Even if you do realize this, can you do something about it?
When do you start becoming arrogant? Are you?
Where has that innocence gone? Where?
Why have we started caring so much? Like our life depended on it.
Do I hate you? Nah.
Do you hate me? I am sure you have every reason to.
I thought I was good. Now, I am not so sure.
No, I am not looking for pity. No, I am not regretful of who I am. It's about self-discovery. To look at your dark side and not be fettered. No, I am not going to change anything. I can't. Nobody can change oneself. No, you can't. Don't even try.
Am I evil? I think so.
When do people start perceiving you as something you are not? And why?
What is right and what is wrong? And do I get to decide it?
In the most recessed part of your soul, there's an asshole residing. Waiting to take over your life at the slightest of slip-ups.
Even if you do realize this, can you do something about it?
When do you start becoming arrogant? Are you?
Where has that innocence gone? Where?
Why have we started caring so much? Like our life depended on it.
Do I hate you? Nah.
Do you hate me? I am sure you have every reason to.
I thought I was good. Now, I am not so sure.
No, I am not looking for pity. No, I am not regretful of who I am. It's about self-discovery. To look at your dark side and not be fettered. No, I am not going to change anything. I can't. Nobody can change oneself. No, you can't. Don't even try.
Am I evil? I think so.
About: Barbecue Nation
Barbecue Nation is simply an amazing place.
Rownak (My Brother) had been speaking about it for a long time, but never got a chance to go there. Yesterday, after an already fun filled evening of dance classes (ballroom jive this time) and jenga (JENGA!), we decided to head down there fore a "light" dinner (as Shruthi put it). We ended up spending more than 2 hours there! The ambience was great, the service good and the maitre'd suitably impressive (it's amazing they are even there).
We started off with "starters" (I don't know why they serve anything else there at all) which was unlimited, and how! I being a veggie was served up paneer and the usually unsightly combination of carrots, cucumber, and cauliflowers (the originial gobhi, bindi!). But oh was it good. Every piece was delectable and gorgeous. The food looked so great that I even dug into the non-veggie fare of chicken, prawn and fish. All equally delicious. Oh! I can't stop raving about it.
We then proceeded to have the main course. There were a lot of choices but we had already laid our eyes the upon delicious assortment of desserts. We made sure we had a light main course, which also very very good, mind you.
The dessert was heavenly and was the prefect way to finish off a perfect meal. I was very happy. But I don't know what the real reason for my happiness was. Was it the food or perhaps the company of good friends who made the experience worth remembering. Perhaps for the first time after coming back to Bangalore, I felt that I was connecting with them again. Cheers to that! and Cheers to Barbecue Nation!
This evening of "fooding" ranks right alongside the evening at "The Melting Pot", where Bindi, Midhun and I had spent more than 3-4 hours eating to our heart's content and more.
Rownak (My Brother) had been speaking about it for a long time, but never got a chance to go there. Yesterday, after an already fun filled evening of dance classes (ballroom jive this time) and jenga (JENGA!), we decided to head down there fore a "light" dinner (as Shruthi put it). We ended up spending more than 2 hours there! The ambience was great, the service good and the maitre'd suitably impressive (it's amazing they are even there).
We started off with "starters" (I don't know why they serve anything else there at all) which was unlimited, and how! I being a veggie was served up paneer and the usually unsightly combination of carrots, cucumber, and cauliflowers (the originial gobhi, bindi!). But oh was it good. Every piece was delectable and gorgeous. The food looked so great that I even dug into the non-veggie fare of chicken, prawn and fish. All equally delicious. Oh! I can't stop raving about it.
We then proceeded to have the main course. There were a lot of choices but we had already laid our eyes the upon delicious assortment of desserts. We made sure we had a light main course, which also very very good, mind you.
The dessert was heavenly and was the prefect way to finish off a perfect meal. I was very happy. But I don't know what the real reason for my happiness was. Was it the food or perhaps the company of good friends who made the experience worth remembering. Perhaps for the first time after coming back to Bangalore, I felt that I was connecting with them again. Cheers to that! and Cheers to Barbecue Nation!
This evening of "fooding" ranks right alongside the evening at "The Melting Pot", where Bindi, Midhun and I had spent more than 3-4 hours eating to our heart's content and more.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A Business Idea - Social Networking Sites
It has become a regular feature now.
"Just a friendly reminder that I invited you to Shelfari. Come see the books I love and see if we have any in common. Then pick my next book so I can keep on reading.
Click below to join my group of friends on Shelfari!
http://www.shelfari.com/
someone
Shelfari is a free site that lets you share book ratings and reviews with friends and meet people who have similar tastes in books. It also lets you build an online bookshelf, join book clubs, and get good book recommendations from friends. You should check it out."
Invariably, every month or so, some jobless geek or some clueless organization hits upon this "unique" brilliant idea of starting a social networking site which focuses on one special interest or the other. One seeks to bring together book loving people on a single platform and the other claims to bring all the party-people together. Then, of course, there are the platforms which seek to bring together singles who didn't/couldn't find a life partner.
Barring the last set of websites, I find the others useless and pointless, and a sheer waste of an asset which could translate into a huge commercial success.
Even today, India doesn't have a good, reliable gifting chain (for good measure, let me acknowledge Kinshuk's idea here). If I have to send a gift to someone, I don't know where to look. Do I go look at a website? Do I visit a kirana shop or an archies? But then who will deliver my gift to my friend who lives in another city, another country, another time zone? If I go online, which website do I go to? Even if I do get to a website, locate a chalta hai gift and want to checkout, do you have any idea how painful it is to do so! I have to fill out my credit card details. Worse, I have to fill out her (I wont gift to a guy!) address which I will have to dig out from some dust filled diary, or one of the myriad, address books in my computer.
I digress.
Point number 2 being: Someone please start a good gifting chain which spread nationwide and anyone from any part of India can gift anything to anyone anywhere.
Point number 1 being: Enable me to gift to my friends with a single click through one of the hazaar social networking sites (e.g. orkut, facebook). Imagine - a birthday reminder of your friend's birthday pops up in your inbox. Next to the reminder, there are options for gifting - send flowers, send chocolates, send something! anything!, and all you have to do is click any of these options and voila! you are done!. Your credit card details were already fed in your profile. Her address was already in her profile. You need not know her address at all and yet the gift will reach her and you r card will be charged appropriately. What more could one ask for? I don't have to remember her address, her birthday, her likes/dislikes. Heaven.
Enable me to utilize my network on the platform. Let me do something with it physically rather than just exchange some messages and chit chat. Enable me to do this and the social networking site will rake in huge money. They can tie up with various businesses from who they can take a sign-up check. After sales commission arrangements would mean a perpetual flow of perfectly good money.
I had always found social networking sites frustrating. Now I know why.
"Just a friendly reminder that I invited you to Shelfari. Come see the books I love and see if we have any in common. Then pick my next book so I can keep on reading.
Click below to join my group of friends on Shelfari!
http://www.shelfari.com/
someone
Shelfari is a free site that lets you share book ratings and reviews with friends and meet people who have similar tastes in books. It also lets you build an online bookshelf, join book clubs, and get good book recommendations from friends. You should check it out."
Invariably, every month or so, some jobless geek or some clueless organization hits upon this "unique" brilliant idea of starting a social networking site which focuses on one special interest or the other. One seeks to bring together book loving people on a single platform and the other claims to bring all the party-people together. Then, of course, there are the platforms which seek to bring together singles who didn't/couldn't find a life partner.
Barring the last set of websites, I find the others useless and pointless, and a sheer waste of an asset which could translate into a huge commercial success.
Even today, India doesn't have a good, reliable gifting chain (for good measure, let me acknowledge Kinshuk's idea here). If I have to send a gift to someone, I don't know where to look. Do I go look at a website? Do I visit a kirana shop or an archies? But then who will deliver my gift to my friend who lives in another city, another country, another time zone? If I go online, which website do I go to? Even if I do get to a website, locate a chalta hai gift and want to checkout, do you have any idea how painful it is to do so! I have to fill out my credit card details. Worse, I have to fill out her (I wont gift to a guy!) address which I will have to dig out from some dust filled diary, or one of the myriad, address books in my computer.
I digress.
Point number 2 being: Someone please start a good gifting chain which spread nationwide and anyone from any part of India can gift anything to anyone anywhere.
Point number 1 being: Enable me to gift to my friends with a single click through one of the hazaar social networking sites (e.g. orkut, facebook). Imagine - a birthday reminder of your friend's birthday pops up in your inbox. Next to the reminder, there are options for gifting - send flowers, send chocolates, send something! anything!, and all you have to do is click any of these options and voila! you are done!. Your credit card details were already fed in your profile. Her address was already in her profile. You need not know her address at all and yet the gift will reach her and you r card will be charged appropriately. What more could one ask for? I don't have to remember her address, her birthday, her likes/dislikes. Heaven.
Enable me to utilize my network on the platform. Let me do something with it physically rather than just exchange some messages and chit chat. Enable me to do this and the social networking site will rake in huge money. They can tie up with various businesses from who they can take a sign-up check. After sales commission arrangements would mean a perpetual flow of perfectly good money.
I had always found social networking sites frustrating. Now I know why.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)