The lovely Bengalis - Bongs and their “Adda”s

‘Bongs, don’t you love them?’- Vir Sanghvi

Its unlikely you have never met a  Bengali (or bong as the nickname goes) if you’ve been brought up in India.  I had the pleasure of getting to know a few of them in the industries I have worked in, as well as the schools and colleges I studied in. It was a ball getting to know them.

How does one describe a bong? You really cant fully – has to be experienced firsthand, and boy, can that be a great experience!!

Chinese food - Indian ishtyle (or Sino-Ludhianvi food, dont ask!)

I think every Indian has their favourite memory of Chinese food - mine is of my visit to Matheran with a bunch of young teens during my first stint in Mumbai.  The evening the entire tourist visitor group were sitting in line waiting for this Chineese stall guy to cook their order, and watch how he would expertly prepare rice, noodles in a jiffy - literally a minute or two - toss it into this huge ultra hot Wok and expertly swish them around, throwing sauces, vegetables, and other ingredients (paneer, chicken, meat etc.) and then serve this out - into a plate, into our hands.  The food would be steaming hot and un beatably delicious.

After working in South East Asia for some time - and eating the real thing (well, whatever they can muster up for a vegetarian!!!) - I miss the Indian-Chinese food like crazy, and whenever we get a chance I gobble them up to make up for lost time.

The genius of Mindy Kaling

Dr. Mindy Lahiri (created and played by Mindy Kaling) inhabits a parallel universe created solely by herself - and I really badly want to get in!! 

Its a charmed life and she is reveling in every moment of it, and surprisingly its worked as the Mindy Project is one of the most popular series of recent times.

                                 

Ilayaraja - The quintessential God to my generation

As I write this, I cant help examine the paradox, herés me -  a non-expert in Music, who cant speak in any of the south Indian languages - writing about one of the legends from the south Indian movie industry. 



So there's my disclaimer. But then, I think Ilayaraja's achievements was simply that. I cant think of anyone down south in my generation who has not been moved by his music. 

Krishna by Colonial Cousins

This song is one of the ever green and outstanding compositions that will stand the test of time. Colonial Cousins was a collaboration between Lez a musical wizard mostly making ad jingles, and Hariharan a ghazal singer. 

However when they came together I think they got the combination absolutely bang on and produced some outstanding stuff.