Tushar Mangl Media

UCH Rewind has achieved quite a fame in NOIDA and has been on my list since it opened its doors in Gurgaon a few months ago. They have outdoor as well as indoor seating, but indoor is quite better. The interiors are all done up with loads of wood and blues and it gives a warm feeling to the place. The Mushroom Cappuccino is a delightful soup but with a milk froth on top, which might dip its temperature. The menu of the place is a quite old school with a mishmash of Indian, Continental, Chinese, Italian and Mexican dishes. And that is perhaps too overwhelming. Considering the fact that they are good at almost everything they do, a thick menu can be confusing. Makai Malai Seekh is one of my recommended vegetarian starters on the menu. It is a seekh version of corn rolls and tastes absolutely great. Especially because they have the goodness of cheese and corn and like corn rolls, they are not fried. Patiala Paneer Tikka is our routine Paneer Tikka but if you like a tinge o...

Search for Delhi’s Best Student Bands Young Artists Across The Capital Participate & Initiatives Announced To Bolster Ladakh’s Development Live to Love , a global respected not-for-profit organization, while launching their India Chapter hosted a search for  Delhi’s best college bands  for the ‘ Celebrating India, Celebrating Youth  ’  festival at  Weightlifting Indoor Auditorium, Jawahar Lal Nehru ( J.L.N) Stadium.  This was also part of the celebrations for India's Independence Day. Live to Love, as a not-for-profit organization, which has been involved with the activities centered around Women’s empowerment, environmental & Heritage conservation, & Education, organized  Celebrating India, Celebrating Youth  2018 contest.  The organization also supports the  Druk Padma Karpo school  (in Ladakh) popularly known as Rancho’s school in the film  3 idiots. Live to Love  provides cutting-edge educ...

Renowned Architect Adreesh Chakraborty released his first book ‘The Adventures of Inchy Slim’ at Oxford Bookstores Connaught Place on the 14th of January 2018. The book launch event was attended by authors, along with the author’s friends and family. The Adventures of Inchy Slim is a coming of age story of 4 boys growing up in the 90's in Kolkata. The story is a fictional retelling of the author's childhood adventures and experiences while trying to discover himself and his identity. The protagonist Inchy Slim and his friends – Clumsy, CalC, and Tomato get themselves in and out of trouble while dealing with teachers, bullies, sadhus, and a local goon. The story is inspired by author's childhood adventures and experiences while trying to discover himself and his identity and includes an assembly of characters including angry teachers, drug-peddlers, sadhus, and even the local goon. The story unfolds against the backdrop of a complex colonial city; from its grand...

Lohri away from Punjab is not a Lohri et all for me. So this time around I was delighted at the prospect of spending the Lohri night at Smaaash and the newly opened Gurgaon Pub Exchange. About Gurgaon Pub Exchange Trade like a pro is the underline theme of Gurgaon Pub Exchange. Like many other speculation driver bar exchanges in the city, Smaaash has got itself its own version of stock market like pub exchange. The place is tucked away at the back end of Smaash which is famous for its games. The bar has a comfortable and lounge setting with live music playing throughout the evening. TV screens adorn the walls of the place. These show you the ticker, a live mechanism showing fluctuating prices of drinks and liquor based on demand. And as it often happens in the stock market, here too market crashed. So at times, when prices go very unstable, the market just crashes and rates are reset. The Food The food is quite good and surprisingly I enjoyed the vegetarian fare ...

Our society is breaking up into tiny isolated fragments where people are more comfortable in silos (read small homes in gated, locked neighborhoods) and their own ideologies. Bullying and rise in bullying incidents don't come as a surprise as individuals pass down a self-centred or me first kind of attitude to their children.  Nazia Erum in her debut book goes beyond the bullying lines to expose a much deeper malaise. Bullying or undermining people on the basis of their religion. And it is really a matter of concern that this is happening to kids at a very young age and in cosmopolitan cities and big schools. Also, how schools are seldom taking this problem head-on. In my school, we hardly had any person practicing Muslim faith, so personally, I have had no friends or acquaintances who are Muslims. But to see that people are choosing not to become friends with someone just because he or she is a Muslim is going to be disastrous for our country. Segregation in schools,...

Feel Alive, one of the leading restro bars in Gurugram introduced a new in-house microbrewery to express their love for the freshly brewed beer. Not much time it has been that they have captured the local market and have a huge demand for their ambiance, mouth-watering food, obviously the impeccable service & the welcoming location. The prime purpose of the launch event was to showcase and show off their brewing capabilities. The brewery was launched in coordination with HotBot Studios which is a digital outreach company who ensured good reach to the audience and media, also through the esteemed members of the digital fraternity. The freshly brewed beer and freshly served food were the show stoppers. What do we say about the Dj it made the crowd going Oolala. Everyone with a few jugs down, full on food took the floor and you know what happened next. In just a matter of a few minutes, everyone jumped to the floor and had a blast. The evenin...

Sharath Komarraju's book Tree Bears Witness was released last month and I just copy last evening. Liked it so much, I finished it in a single sitting. So what's the book all about? Emperor Akbar has just married the Rajput princess Hira Kunwari and one of the wedding guests ends up dead. The man, Sujjamal is also the princess's favorite brother but disliked by most of the party. That he is found dead in mysterious circumstances in his own palace could have serious implications on the political and personal life of the King.  Himself a suspect, the King turns to his favorite and reliable courtier, Birbal to solve this mystery. Even for the witty Birbal, this is a challenge. For, the garden in which murder happened, the two guards on duty have different versions to tell. The murderer simply vanished into thin air.  Everyone from the King to the cousins of the dead man, to King's half-brother. Motives aplenty but how the murder was done, remains elusiv...

DLF 5 and Tasting India Symposium recently organized an evening session with a featured talk with the great Madhur Jaffrey (the global first lady of Indian cuisine) and Kaveree Bamzai, the reputed editor of Robb India.                                                     It was 8. 15 by the time I reached the famed DLF Country and Golf Club, the venue of the talk. The courteous staff at the place welcomed me into a meet and greet party. The guests were all assembling, sampling some fine wine and Indian starters. I met people I knew, circulated around and saw Kaveree and Madhur sitting in a corner, talking. A friend and I debated to intrude or not, but eventually, we just went ahead to introduce ourselves. And like good fans requested a photograph for memory which was so graciously permitted, that it left us truly humbled.        ...

I know I haven't been writing too often and 2017 was just a dull year on the writing front. I finished with Hey Honey Bunch last year this time, and haven't written anything exciting ever since.  The year is passing by and it's almost over.  It has been a good year as far as workshops which I have conducted, which have been quite well received and I have met many warm people in due course and I swear, when they write back to show their new blogs or any positive feedback, it softens my heart and touches my mind too. Now that I want to focus back on my writings, I might cut down on the workshops. Let's see where the path leads to. On the personal front, like I wrote above, met loads of new and awesome people this year, especially over workshops and due socializing. We introverts are a sad minority which no one wants to acknowledge or accept. It is like you are afflicted with a disease and everyone should feel sorry for it. Still, to go out and come across so...

Olive Bistro at Cyber Hub in Gurgaon has been serving top-notch Italian food for long. It has plenty of space at the corner of the Amphitheatre side, right on the first floor. The ambiance is perfect with an option of spacious outdoor as well as indoor seating. The staff and service is par excellence. I even met chef Jeevan who manages the kitchen and ensures quality and tasty food. Especially the desserts. I think desserts are the chief highlights of their menu. The Godfather is their signature dish which comes in a cool looking pet jar which holds one of the best Italian Tiramisu's you would have had. Mr. Chocolatius is the thing for all chocolate lovers, this is a chocolate fondant with a rich fudge as a center and comes with a scoop of ice cream. The dash of blueberry sauce just adds to the rich flavor. The sizzlers are new addition to the menu and frankly they do not live up to the lofty expectations. The other items on the menu are still way better...

Chaayos recently celebrated their fifth birthday and crossed the 50 outlets milestone. One of the highlights of their success is to successfully innovate their menus with changing of a season. With the monsoon menu now retiring out, I recently went to taste their brand new winter menu. The menu consisted of many superb items, including Gur Wali Chai Gur Wali Chai, is your normal tea with jaggery added instead of sugar. The consistency of tea and preparation is perfect as always. Paneer Bhurji Bun Paneer Bhurji Bun, reminded me of home. Cottage cheese scrambled and prepared well and spread over a bun. Chicken Cutlet The best way to start the meal. I had The best way to start the meal. Little spicy to my taste, but those who like spicy stuff, especially in winters this is a great snack. Chicken Keema Loaded Open Parantha The open paranthas are the highlight of Chaayos menu. They are crisp, tasty and base just fades back to let the toppings ...