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An evening at the Sagar Plaza Formula One Sports Bar

Atul Karmarkar — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:40:51 +0000

Was chatting with a friend about the Turkish Grand Prix, and how some years ago, we used to watch the race each Sunday at a pub over pints of beer. The talk turned to the Formula One Sports Bar at the Hotel Sagar Plaza, and if it was worth a shot going there again.

It was ages since I’d been there of course, but a quick call to the hotel confirmed that the bar was very much in existence, and the receptionist sounded almost shocked when I asked the question. As expected, there was the usual faff about coming early and stuff, first come first served and all that blah.

Come Sunday evening, and there were a few drops of rain, but nothing much as it turned out. I reached a bit early and headed straight for the bar, and oh boy… what a change ! The seating arrangement was not like before and it seemed much more crowded and stuffy, like they had decided to just dump as many seats as was humanly possible !

There were around 15-20 people already in the bar, so anyway, the race started on time at 5.30 pm, and so did we. There was a cover charge of Rs.250/-, but what pissed me off was their insistence of serving only Fosters beer during the race. I wasn’t too keen to have a vodka or whiskey that early in the evening anyway, so we settled for a pint of Fosters (Rs.80 each), along with some fries (bloody expensive).

The projector screen wasn’t all that great either and the weird railing on one side of the seats made it difficult to see the lower half of the screen so we shifted to a different location. That was only only marginally better, as someone’s head was nicely obstructing the screen. Just when I slightly shifted my chair to get a better view, another guy came and plonked himself behind the first guy, a little to the left, which meant instead of seeing the lap timings and track positions, I only got to see two bobbing heads in different directions !

We decided to order stuff to eat, and though there really wasn’t much choice, it was ridiculous to see a chicken sandwich and chicken burger being priced the same (Rs.150). Wasn’t too great anyway, with the burger patty spilling out of the buns, and watery tomatoes to boot, which totally soaked a couple of tissues as well.

The race itself was ok, with Button taking the title to grab his sixth win in seven races this year. An amazing turnaround for the Brawn GP team. Towards the end there was a bit of excitement as Vettel, who started on pole and then lost it during the pit stops, tried to hassle his team mate Mark Webber. His race engineer even said, “Don’t push it, Mark is faster”, but Vettel didn’t seem to care and only went even faster. Webber, till then coasting along, got a rude wake up call and upped his pace, but only just, and finished second with Vettel grabbing the final podium place.

Was an ok evening I guess, though we certainly ain’t going back to the Sagar Plaza F1 sports bar anytime soon.. and yes, the icing on the cake for the day was Federer winning the French Open… Finally !!

Rajiv Rao, creator of the Vodafone ZooZoo

Atul Karmarkar — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:53:20 +0000

Anyone watching the recently concluded IPL T20 matches would’ve got used to the Vodafone ads with those funny little creatures in white.

Though somewhat slow to take off, those creatures, called ZooZoos, have become an instant rage among people and Vodafone has been quick to cash in, with several spin-offs, campaigns and merchandising focussed on those ZooZoos.

But wait a sec, who is the man behind this campaign?

It is Rajiv Rao, executive creative director at Ogilvy India, and he came up with the name ZooZoo because,

“We wanted something that sounded cute, lovable and a bit mad like the characters”

Rajiv has been in the ad business for almost 16 years, the last 10 with Ogilvy, where he was also the person behind the memorable Hutch pug campaign.

Read on for some more interesting insights on the man himself.

Google Wave, coming soon

Atul Karmarkar — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:32:02 +0000

Google has announced the launch of it’s exciting new product, Google Wave, a real time platform which it says will be a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web.

To be launched later this year, Google Wave seeks to combine email, IM, wikis, social networking and project management into an all-in-one solution, right from within your browser.

So what exactly is a ‘Wave’ ?

According to Google,

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

You can ask to be notified when it’s ready.

Say Hello to Microsoft Bing

Atul Karmarkar — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:51:03 +0000

Microsoft has unveiled what it hopes will be a Google killer. After months of testing a new search engine under the code name ‘Kuomo’, they have taken the wraps off this new product, christened ‘Bing‘.

Doing the honours at a conference in Carlsbad, California, CEO Steve Ballmer said,

We’ll have what I would call a big budget — big enough that I had to gulp when I approved the budget.

There has been speculation that Microsoft is going to spend close to $80-$100a million on their advertising, though predictably, they’ve declined to comment on this.

They say Bing will be a ‘decision engine’, one that will present results and some intuitive tools aimed at making the decision process easier for the user.

Some initial thoughts:

The first thing I noticed was the picture of a snow leopard, which I thought was weird considering Apple has an OS by that name.
The search results, initially a bit wonky at first, seem to be getting better.
Bing does not seem to have plans for going mobile, at least not yet. This is a huge mistake, considering the number of users who use their Blackberry and other smartphones to access the net nowadays.
The addition of a new navigation menu to the left, called an ‘Explorer Pane’, which adds links to aid you in your decision making process. Decent enough, but I’d rather not have it at all.
Quick Preview – a feature located to the right of the search result that enables one to see a snippet from the actual site. This hangs at times, though.
Integration of it’s Farecast Technology (a company it purchased last year) to search for lower airfares and other travel queries.

Too early to tell whether it will actually be a Google killer, and there have been quite a few that have attempted this, albeit unsuccessfully. Let’s see what the coming weeks hold in store for this new product.

Google Chrome gets faster

Atul Karmarkar — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:52:34 +0000

The folks at Google say they’ve been working to make Google Chrome run faster, and they’ve updated to a new version which they claim loads javascript heavy pages upto 30% faster.

Here’s a video which shows some of the improvements…

Chrome is good and getting better, but for the time being I continue to prefer FF and Opera…

Bangalore nightlife rules relaxed… a bit

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:28:05 +0000

Yay !! Folks in Bangalore have a reason to rejoice !!

The administration has relaxed it’s nightlife rules to an extent, so Bangaloreans can stretch their time till midnight as far as movies and dining out are concerned. Booze lovers and those who like to burn the dance floor will still have to wind up by 11 pm however.

All pubs and restaurants with liquor licence have to stop serving drinks by 11 pm, though food can be served till midnight. Not sure how many hotel wallahs will actually yank off that drink from your table at 11 pm sharp !!

Restaurants at the airport, railway station and bus stand will be open 24/7.

Spoke to some friends in Bangalore and though they’re happy with this move, it’s no secret that they obviously want the bars and discs to be open till then as well…

Seems a tall order for now, but then you never know.. Time will tell.

The KKR Blogger: An Update

Atul Karmarkar — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:53:45 +0000

I guess there has been enough speculation on the KKR blogger and the fact that he was ultimately going to reveal his identity. At the time he said he was going to retire from all forms of cricket at the end of this IPL and that he would disclose his identity on the last day of the tournament.

However, in a recent post, he seems to have had a change of heart.

One last thing. I had mentioned about my decision to reveal my identity at the end of IPL. However, many of you wrote back saying that you’d rather this remain a mystery. Several of you also asked me not to chicken out and stick to my word. Now, while I created FIP, your participation by way of comments, love, appreciation, feedback, criticism, jokes, converations, brickbats, abuses etc have made FIP what it is today. FIP belongs to all of you as much as it belongs to me. And whether FIP’s identity should be disclosed or not, or how it should be taken forward, is as much your decision as mine. So, I’d like to throw the question open to all of you. I am putting up a poll on the right side. Pls take a few seconds to make your decision. One small request, please honour the democratic spirit of this blog and click only once.

You can read the entire post and also vote for who you think is the Fake IPL Player. Personally, I think this whole thing has been entertaining to an extent, but I care a damn for who this really is !

What the hell is wrong with Ferrari?

Atul Karmarkar — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:12:14 +0000

The recently concluded Spanish Grand Prix was probably one that left millions of Ferrari fans stupefied. Not because the team again struggled for points as they’ve done this entire season so far, but for the amateurish manner in which their entire race was managed.

A goof up in the fuel calculations meant Massa literally struggled to finish the race. It was pathetic to see him having to yield positions to other drivers like Vettel, and then incredibly, even Alonso, who was almost 13-15 seconds behind. One can imagine the frustration Massa must have felt when his race engineer said over the team radio, “Let him pass, Felipe, let him pass”. From a potential 4th place finish, Massa had to be content with 6th, only the second time Ferrari got into the points this year.

Last year, a horrible screw-up in the pit lane ruined Massa’s race in Singapore, when the fuel hose was unhinged and got stuck to Massa’s car like an anaconda. This, when Massa was in the running for the championship.

For a Ferrari fan like me, all this is sheer stupidity and I recall marvelling at the amazing pit stop strategy during the time Michael Schumacher was driving for them, with Ross Brawn and Jean Todt managing things. They had a fantastic team and I can remember the excitement each time Schumi came out of the pits as well as the sheer delight when he managed to get the jump on his rivals.

Brawn of course, now has a team of his own, and Todt has also left Ferrari. All the expertise and implementation of strategy is only too obvious with the trail blazing way Brawn’s team has performed this season. Schumacher of course is still visible in the Ferrari pits but his exact role or the extent to which he has a say doesn’t seem to be quite clear.

What does this mean for Ferrari? Is this the end of the road for them? Early days, but they certainly have to get their act together if they are to remain a competitive force in Formula One.

Autorickshaws be damned !

Atul Karmarkar — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:15:24 +0000

Autorickshaw drivers have been on a strike the past 3-4 days now. As if this torrid heat wasn’t enough, commuters are faced with the harrowing prospect of a long wait in order to get some form of transport to reach their destination.

This strike was called to protest the cut in fares (Re.1) announced by the RTO due to a fall in prices of petrol and diesel. The RTO also rapped some of the rickshaw owners who had not yet converted their autos to CNG.

The hypocrisy is so obvious that it’s not funny. All across the country, each time there’s a fuel price hike, these buggers rush to increase prices arbitrarily at the stroke of midnight. This includes the petrol pump owners as well, who hoard their stocks, shut their pumps in the evening and then open for business at the revised prices. Why can’t they show the same enthusiasm to lower rates when fuel prices fall?

In Pune, a lot of people depend on autos for their daily commute as buses are not at all regular or reliable or simply don’t ply in some areas. To that extent, people’s lives have definitely been thrown out of gear, the marginal increase in deployment of buses notwithstanding.

As far as autorickshaw drivers are concerned, they are in a class by themselves and I have little sympathy for them. Although some of them coule be safe drivers, the majority are mavericks, who drive like they own the road, without care or caution. They have a nasty habit of suddenly turning their vehicles left / right without any indication of doing so, leading to accidents due to this ’bindass’ style of driving. They are also extremely rude, refuse to ply short distances or in certain areas and above all, either have tampered meters or meters that don’t work at all.

The sad part is that for the time being, there is no other cheap option available that can give the autorickshaw a run for it’s money. PMT buses are affordable, but hardly quick and convenient enough and certainly not available at one’s beck and call. Another option: Call / Radio taxis, which are already a way of life in other cities. They exist in Pune too, but the cost is quite steep at the moment. However, a friend has been facing problems with them as the cabs don’t always report on time, throwing his entire schedule out of gear.

Some months ago, I recall there being a hue and cry over the number of two wheelers in Pune and even when the Nano was launched, about how there would be a plethora of personal vehicles on the road, causing traffic / parking problems, pollution etc etc. Several people opined that public transport was the way to go. Sounds nice, but what are people to do if public transport is not available due to a strike?

In 1997, these auto-wallahs went on a strike to protest plying of six-seaters within city limits. At the time, they lost the goodwill of people because of the reason as well as timing of the strike (peak school season), and they are likely to lose that goodwill now as well.

In the current scenario, do we give in to their demands ? Do we also just grin and bear it each time someone else decides to go on a strike? I think not, and it’s time these auto-wallahs got a hard kick up the rear. I’m aware it will be inconvenient for those who depend on autos but I hope the authorities do not cave in.

Nauman Sait wins MTV Roadies 6-Hell Down Under

Atul Karmarkar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:59:10 +0000

And finally, MTV Roadies 6 – Hell Down Under comes to an end. The winner - Bangalore boy Nauman Sait !!!

I’m not that big a fan of Roadies or Splitsvilla, but do watch them from time to time for sheer timepass…

I think a lot of people expected Kiri to win, but in the final task, in which both were chained at their hands, neck and legs, it was Nauman who finally prevailed and grabbed the MTV Roadies flag.

He also won a cash prize of Rs.3.52 lakhs, a pretty tidy sum.

A friend of mine had an interesting comment to make; she said the winner would probably go on to become a VJ, in which case, Nauman was anyway favoured to beat Kiri. So was it fixed? Go figure !!

Atul Karmarkar.Com

An evening at the Sagar Plaza Formula One Sports Bar

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