Ampa Skywalk Mall

This was a long-pending visit!

Managed to make it to Ampa last Sunday.

Spent a couple of hours in the mall and was impressed. Spencers Plaza has been my hunting ground for books, chats and "hanging out" for a long time. City Centre and Express Avenue brought in a refreshing change with the added benefit of a movie-experience!

In all the noise on development, "big-is-huge syndrome", mega-brands, parking-space and all that, the developers and promoters forgot the common man. Remember Irrfan Khan in "Mumbai Meri Jaan", what is it that one gets without paying for in a mall?

I know "eye-candy", window-shopping and the occassional glimpse of a B-grade heroine or a forgotten cricket-star etc can be optional answers. How about the basic need "A glass of clean and cold purified drinking water" - the elixir of Life.

Ampa and the folks behind it, a salute to you!

Ampa offers purified drinking water and clean well-maintained rest-rooms with signs for a wet-floor. The big brands are there - Landmark, Westside and the usual electronics and designer boutiques. Great dining area with a number of brands selling their food. PVR with its movie-screens seems to be exciting!

Star Bazaar, Tata's answer to retail stores seems to be a huge success with seemingly endless rows of stuff from fruits, vegetables, food and provisions, clothes, cosmetics and perfumes. They definitely seem to be better organized than Big Bazaar.

All-in-all a great Sunday at the mall! Looking forward to seeing more outlets which can cater to the lower middle-class income group.

600 and counting

600 posts and a number of friends who continue to read and post comments, have lost out on a few who have distanced themselves away from me, but I am sure they still read the blog but their massive ego prevents them from emailing me or posting a comment on my blog.

I thank each and everyone who still continue to spend some time and read my blog, SMS me asking when is the next post, or suggest ideas about potential topics to write.

Thanks to everyone:

Ashwin - college-mate and dear friend.
Antony - Social networking king :)
Priya - former colleague and friend who writes on a wide variety of topics.
Kavitha - former colleague and friend whose blog is a delight for food and photography lovers.
Rajesh - former colleague and very good friend.
Neha - former colleague and a very good friend - do post comments :)
Nithin - Who's blog sparked this pursuit.
Shiva & Sudha happily wedded in matrimonial bliss now.
Revathi & Sukumari at SFY whose early reviews and encouragement were of great help.

Life goes on and I hope I get the time and energy to maintain and monitor this blog.

Thanks again to everyone !!!

A splendid tie

Any team that does not manage to defend a total of 338 runs in an ODI match, has some serious soul-searching to do. Dhoni's captaincy was absolutely pathetic. Two wickets when Dhoni simply forgot to appeal. UDRS decision that was over-turned. A lot of pedestrian fielding, too many negatives for India.

Sachin's century and Yuvraj's batting form where the only positives. Piyush Chawla bowling the 49th over was a wrong decision. Why did not Pathan get more overs to bowl? Munaf is a new-ball bowler and his quota should have been completed in the first 30 overs.

I hope Ashwin gets to play the next match and opens the bowling with Munaf at the other end. Team India - buck up or you will be bowled out by the real opposition not the minnows.

All credit to Strauss and Beresnan and Shahzad's six!