A thought for food: foodiebay.com

Not so long ago, there were a few maverick boys. They were quite an intelligent bunch and had learnt the lessons of hard work very early in life. There were things in common among them, they wanted to make it big, had the zeal of the entrepreneurs and they were all Foodies!! That is why the universe conspired and brought them all to the study at the kingdom’s premier education Institute.

As they burnt the midnight oil and fuel in the day, they ended up with extreme hunger pangs. The food at the mess was not what they would settle for. Food wasn’t what these quality seekers would compromise with, they were Foodies after all.

There was once a time when they had a huge collection of menus in their drawers. The idea to file them together wasn’t quite fruitful either. Now since they were a perfectionists by nature, they came up with the most efficient deal. And this was when Foodiebay.com was born! A unique and a promising website with a database of over 1500 restaurants and food joints from all over the Delhi and NCR region. From actual scanned menu card to directional maps, from reviews to detail ratings, one can find everything here. The site also offers discounts on few selected outlets and for it you don't even have to become their member.

The foodieboys have been a blessing to people working in the service industry in all metros are increasingly becoming net savvy and look up to the internet to provide them with information concerning all their foody needs. The efforts of these Foodieboys have kicked off back-end operations in Mumbai and Pune. Hyderabad and Bangalore are on their hit list as well.

Foodiebay.com’s focusing on one city at a time and trying to achieve penetration within that zone rather than being spread too thinly in too many cities. This gives its customers a choice of restaurants which no other portal can currently provide. It also provide quantitative ratings to all restaurants which are listed on foodiebay.

The biggest USP is that they have menus for each restaurant that is listed on the site. Each listing under the feature tab also includes, whether the restaurant does home delivery, what the average cost for a meal for two would be, whether credit cards are accepted or not, whether liquor is served or not etc. A user can write reviews, rate restaurants & restaurant owners can even upload their menus sitting at home.

The database of foodiebay.com is updated frequently, adding up nearly 20 new restaurants per day and checking up already added restaurants once in every four months. The student team of foodiebay.com does all the execution on the technology and the content front while the mentor team helps establish relationships with investors, restaurants and also pitches in with marketing.

The product which we see online today is a result of a very extensive study and intelligence on what will potentially work in the Indian market. The revenue model is mostly advertising based. Foodiebay.com being a niche website with a targeted set of ‘hungry’ customers is a perfect platform for restaurants to promote their offerings. Our boys have proved themselves that they aren’t just any other foodies, they are the ones who fulfill both the, ‘eat to live’ and ‘live to eat’ school of thoughts.

Pikachu

My little niece introduced me to Pikachu, we apparently found his Mom.

DevD: A Perfect Film

It is not very judicious to defend yourself when you find yourself ion a minority of 9:1. I committed that sin yesterday and suffered the consequences of being called the odd man out. I felt like Henry Fonda in the classic ‘12 Angry Men’. I still hold on to my opinion with utmost conviction that DEVD is the most wonderful film I have come across in life. Although I missed the version of Bimal Roy and Saigal but then it is certainly steps ahead of what Bhansali had created out of Sharat Chandra’s Devdaas. I might have an edge over others for having read the book in the mothertongue but that does not in anyway make the movie look alien to someone who’s been virgin on the subject of Devdas.


I would argue with my contradictors as to what makes a movie good or bad? Story? The story remains an eternal saga of an anti-hero. The book itself has been translated to numerous languages and remains immortal even after 100 years. Its Screenplay? Well, we commend the screenplay of movies like, Requiem for a Dream, Love and Loathing in Vegas, Dazed and Confused, even Ghajini for that matter. Was DEVD too difficult to understand? ‘No’, said my opponent. Does the background music make a movie good? Yes and doesn’t the movie have a great music. My adversaries will have to buy this point for it is they themselves who have been singing the songs of the movie. In fact the music score was never forced on to us, it spoke the soul of the movie. That is one point which made me love the film. I found a soul in it which I miss in many a movies. Any piece of art is a creation and giving it a soul is a very tough task. The legendary directors of the likes of Ray, Guru Dutt, V. Shantaram, Rakesh Om Prakash, have always laid emphasis on this. Anurag Kashyap comes out as a director who has had his lessons learnt really well.


My friends would agree that the Actors make a movie great. Abhay Deol did not take it long to establish Dev. Scene 1 was sumptuous. He does not make an extra effort to ascertain his character. I saw the rawness in him which is Devdas. Even after being in London, he remains the natural, impetuous, impulsive and reckless being. It was very much correct when Shahrukh Khan had said during his time that ‘everyone of us has a little bit of Devdas in us’. The phenomena is that the viewer does not sympathise with Dev but empathises with him. We reveal the same ego which Devdas has in situations alike. Devdas finds Paro beautiful however she’s not so physically. What makes him love her so much is the sensuousness and affection he has fathomed while growing up. The fresh Mahie Gill says all of this without any difficulty. A wonderful actor; I wouldn’t be wrong to say that I saw Smita Patil in her.


The special effects which showed the psychedelic Dev in intoxication and drunkenness are something new to the Indian Film Industry. The colours have remained dominant throughout the movie and it looks so dazzling and intense because of it.


Rarely did I find in Indian movies characters showing the sensitiveness, subtly projecting the feelings and expressing themselves without the dialogues. They have done it here. The scene where Paro standing on the door after washing his clothes says to Dev, “Tumhari aukaat yad dila rahi hun”, is too natural. It comes out with such an ease. Paro’s eyes and expressions say more than these words. Paro has taken her revenge. There is malice and contempt in the heart of both these people and equal is the love that they have, but the ego takes over them that moment. The scene so innocently drives on to becoming so strong and powerful.


It’s the beautiful mind of a very intelligent director which has given birth to a miraculous film. The consequences? Devdas still remains a rage in Indian cinema, but this time round He is DevD the Dude!

You'll be a man my son.

IF

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

-R. Kipling

Lines from Kipling's 'If' appear over the player's entrance to Wimbledon's Centre Court. reflection of the poem's timeless and inspiring quality. I was introduced to it by my brother. It 's his favourite. It is now mine as well. The poem was inspired by Dr Leander Starr Jameson, who in 1895 led a raid by British forces against the Boers in South Africa, subsequently called the Jameson Raid. This defeat increased the tensions that ultimately led to the Second Boer War. The British press, however, portrayed Jameson as a hero in the middle of the disaster, and the actual defeat as a British victory.

Throughout the poem, situations are described that all relate to the theme of self-belief and perseverance. The first line of the first stanza reads, “If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.” This line fundamentally sums up the entire message of the poem. Believe in yourself and never surrender to those around you. Second, the message also is not just standing firm and never budging, but doing so while all odds are against you and all circumstances point to stoppage and letdown, as well as having self-confidence and belief in one’s abilities. The first two lines of the second stanza read, “If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; /If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,” imply a nimbleness in one’s resolve and fortitude; that is to say, standing firm whilst keeping a goal in mind, and not allowing one’s self to get distracted.

The first four lines of the third stanza read, “If you can make one heap of all your winnings/And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss/And lose, and start again at your beginnings/And never breath a word about your loss,” suggesting that willpower and determination are a stipulation even after fiasco or a loss. Even when all is lost, never cede, but build back up with what you have. Lastly, the first two lines of the final stanza read, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue/Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,” stating that one can keep their origins in mind and never get too big. They keep integrity and never put themselves above others.

“IF” acts as a panacea for me. I have always driven inspiration from this poem. I read it each time I sin, I lose, quit or withdraw or feel low. It gives me the thrust, the courage to stand alone against all odds. And each time I do rise like the phoenix full of spirit, zeal, confidence and determination.