Life after death

We all have our routines in life. More so at home.

Individually and as a family.

Your favorite seat on the dinning table. Your morning tea / coffee with the paper.

Today of course, you probably have a tab / phone instead of the paper, but the routine never varies.

Habitual activities after a long day at work. Some households watch TV, and some members may read while others occupy themselves in different ways. Be it music or spending time with your passions.

Families have set ways in how they function at home. Each person has a responsibility. Each has their likes and dislikes, their favorite brand of beverages, breakfast and dinner options. (left lunch out as families rarely get to get lunch together these days).

One only needs to take a moment and reflect on their own homes to realize that we all have a routine. That rushing to work, getting the kids to school or ensuring your parents are okay before you go out to conquer your world. 

Now imagine this perfect setting being completely destroyed. Shattered forever.

Cause: The death of someone in the family.

Imagine not waking up beside the same face you may have seen first thing in the morning everyday for the last 10, 15 or even 30 years. Not being able to say good night before you close your eyes.

Imagine that chair, now empty during meals. Imagine the paper being untouched. The tea getting cold.

Imagine the conversation at the dinner table not being carried out because someone is missing. That someone who your life revolved around.

Now there's no one to check on you at work, no one for you to call home and see if they have eaten lunch. 

Losing someone who you are close to is never easy. Your extended family and friends will be there for you for the first few days, standing by you but eventually going back to their lives.

Leaving you with that void. With the broken routine at home that your family had perfected over decades.

I lost my closest uncle 5 days back, who was almost like a father to me and while the entire family and friends stood by his family, I get this feeling in a few days / weeks we would move on.

But imagine his wife of almost 50 years now waking up, not seeing him beside her.

Imagine his son, who now will have to drink his tea alone.

His grand son who won't have his grand dad to regale him with stories of life.

His daughter in law who now has to ensure there' s 1 less portion of food made every meal.

How difficult it is for them to get over this loss. How painful an effort of starting a new routine where they miss him every moment and cope with the situation an yet have to trudge on in life.

Today I urge you, take a moment and appreciate that routine. The one that we all take for granted. Take a moment to savor those moments. For no one knows how long will they last.

Take a moment to appreciate your life. And thank whatever force you believe in.

For giving you a routine that has formed your life.

For 1 day it will all go away

Stories of Humans, TRULY meeting technology

Two 16 year old college drop outs. 

Set up their own company that provides parents an app to monitor the health and growth of their child.

Harsh Songra (now 19 years old) 1 of the founders was diagnosed with Dyspraxia & realized the importance of discovery & treatment of Learning & Developmental disorders in their early stages.   

In India around 13% children of all school children suffer from some kind of learning disability and most of it is largely undetected due to lack of awareness. 

3 years later the app has funding of $100,000 and is used in over 135 countries!

Overcoming the taboos and stigma around Menstruation.

A social stigma that plagues India even in the 21st century! Taboos that refuse to die down, myths that nobody is allowed to question. 

1 woman - decides to tackle this head on. 

Aditi Gupta. Hails from a semi urban town Garhwa in Jharkhand.

From a conservative middle class family at that.

To help women deal with not only the physical pains of menstruation, but also from out menacing society, she launched her website - Menstupedia

Using comic books & social media, she is spreading awareness & ensuring her friendly guide helps women have a healthy period. 

Today her book is used by over 50 schools, 10 NGOs reaching over 25,000 girls across India &7 other countries.  Not to forget the thousands who visit her website.

Today we will #SaveWhitefield. Tomorrow, lets #SaveBLR

What happens when the civic authorities who are entrusted with the job of maintaining the infrastructure around you, turn a blind eye to your woes. Where there are roads around potholes & not vice versa. 

When your children get stuck for 2 -3 hours in traffic every day while trying to get home. And your 9 hour work day is more like 13 as you wait for that log jam to clear.

YOU RISE!

A startling story of how the common folk of Whitefield, Bangalore decided, enough is enough.

In organizing an extremely peaceful protest to HIGHLIGHT to the government the lack of basic civic amenities and infrastructure, they gathered over 7000 people using nothing BUT social media. 

Today, there is progressive change with much more to follow.

All thanks to 1 team's sincere efforts to make a difference and their use of Social media to reach out.

All this & more is just some of the inspiring stories one got to experience at Social Media Week, Bangalore (2016). A globally affiliated event that is organised in India by the very passionate team of R Square Consulting. They also host these in other cities like Mumbai & possibly Delhi thereafter.

Social Media week is a leading news platform and worldwide conference that curates and shares the best ideas, innovations and insights, into how social media and technology are changing business, society & culture around the globe

If you closely see the above 3 examples they actually showcase real instances of the same.
From Menstrupedia that is changing society, to #SaveWhitefield that focuses on a culture of not giving in & accepting poor civic amenities to a whole new way of doing business where a 19 year old college dropout can help parents in the field of healthcare.

Stories of inspiration, courage, thought leadership and most importantly of the people brave enough to take the plunge. Who had the courage to stand up for what they believed in & not get pressured into following the herd.

According to me every one of these success stories, stems out of a common thread - most people go through problems & live with those. Then there are those who want to find a way to solve the problem. And find they do. With technology being the perfect enabler they go on to evangelize the solution so the world can become a better place to live in. These are the earnest, genuine few who deserve to have their stories told.
1 will hear of numerous start up stories that fail. In my opinion those are examples of people wanting to use technology as the force to setup a business and rake in the millions but how many times will greed over come goodness?

Just as the great ad man Prahlad Kakar said during the keynote speech that kicked of SMWiBLR 2016 - stories are what humanity is made of. If you can tell a moving story then your story will become legend. He highlighted how in today's hyper connected world where people increasingly have a plethora of information and sources, it is vital that whatever do you becomes interesting and relevant to them. It was 1 of life's privileges to get to hear the great man himself.

To share how vision converts into action, we were also privileged to have Sandy Carter (General Manager IBM Developer Ecosystem & Start ups) deliver 1 of the most insightful key note sessions on how IBM is using Social Intelligence and partnering with businesses to provide better, customized and highly personalized service to consumers by accessing their social profiles. Using proprietary tools, they can analyse a person by viewing just 500 tweets of theirs and provide for a personalized solution. And they are just getting started. 

The event also gave us a glimpse into IBM Watson's development of the Humanoid Robots. These humanoids are being designed to work at leading Hotels and Banks apart from other purposes & could soon be the customer service personnel you meet. They can talk and respond to queries just like humans. I had fun chatting with one and he did a little dance to showcase his talent. It was also interesting to see India's leading Mind Reader, Nakul Shenoy, play a card trick with Nao, the humanoid.

Watch the video below:

There were many interesting sessions but I have highlighted my favorite ones. From discovering apps like Blippar (Click to know more), to hearing about how technology has enabled a women to travel to numerous countries with tremondous ease and an extremely cost effective budget.
Other sessions also highlighted on how the future of communication will evolve into multiple mediums, will be highly customized and most importantly, personalized for people. One also got a glimpse of the power of Snapchat and how brands are increasingly finding it as a smart tool to reach out to their customers in a unique and time bound manner.
Another stand out example was how the promoters of the Kannada Movie - uTurn used only social media, which is completely unconventional in the industry, to promote their film and saw it go on to become a major hit. .

Social Media week, Bangalore is also well known to bring in social causes to the event. This time they joined hands with Respect the Road in order to promote safe driving, especially to not drink & drive. It also highlights other common issues that drivers create & urges them to inculcate safer driving habits.

Another feature of the event, is 1 also gets to meet some very interesting people. Who are on the verge of writing their own stories. Who have ideas, thoughts and sometimes just need that final ingredient to attain success. I call it engaging with the future because am sure many of them will be success stories and be featured at SMW in the years to come. 

SMW - where you can learn from the masters & champions and engage with the Future!

Also guaranteed to build your network, meet interesting folks and fuel your passions.

Finally a big shout out to the social media team that works with R Square to bring you live feeds of the event on Social Media and interact with viewers from across the globe. Their hard work, focus and undivided attention to every topic and session are beyond commendable. To be able to concentrate endlessly, pick the right and post powerful pieces of wisdom and then share it to the world at large requires special talent.

And lastly to R Square Consulting and team for their wonderful efforts in organizing the event that went off to absolute perfection. I wish them immense success and look forward to many more experiences stemming from their stable.

"Mixing" Art and Science with a lot of Skill - Presenting India's No.1 Bartender

A Perfect cocktail is a lot like Life.
You need to blend all the ingredients to absolute perfection to be able to really enjoy it.

And it takes one with tremendous skill and the right attitude to be able to marry the science behind making the perfect cocktail with the art of actually putting them together.

And in this quest to find the most talented Mixologist is Diageo.

Below is an Excerpt of the Press Release from Diageo which provides the best description of what the Competition is all about. 

Read on to know more about MY experience at the FINALS

About Diageo Reserve World Class

Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS is transforming fine drinking experiences and cocktail culture around the world and in the home. The industry’s largest, most credible investment in the luxury on trade, it discovers the next generation of bartending talent who set the latest mixology trends and bring these to the best bars worldwide. At the core is an outstanding, global training program and internationally recognized platform that elevates the craft of the bartender and builds careers in the industry culminating in an annual luxury landmark week where the Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year is announced. Launched in 2009, over 15,000 bartenders have been inspired and educated in the craft of mixology using the finest spirits in the Diageo Reserve collection. A partnership and collaboration with gurus, media, partners and owners, Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS is widely recognized as a mark of sophistication and distinction of international fine drinking culture by bartenders and customers alike.

The Diageo Bar Academy Program reinforces the company's commitment to the bartending community. Since launching the program in 2006, more than 5,500 training sessions have been hosted with over 55,000 bartenders trained. The acclaimed program takes an innovative and fresh approach to training, offering interactive and informative sessions led by the industry’s best.

Diageo Reserve World Class – India Competition

A unique platform, which aims to nurture the potential talent of local bartenders and enable them with the right knowledge. In the past Diageo Reserve World Class India has successfully helped local talent emerge as influencers and creators of fine drinking experiences the world over.The industry’s biggest and most prestigious bartending competition –now in its 7^th edition offers a gamut of luxury spirits from the Diageo Reserve portfolio namely Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, Johnnie Walker Platinum Label 18, Talisker , Tanqueray 10, CÎROC, KetelOne, Don Julio and the Singleton of Glen Ord 12YO.

Over the last 6 months, our International Brand Ambassadors have trained & mentored over 200 bartenders across the top 120 luxury accounts in India, on our Reserve Portfolio as well as modules on global cocktail trends such as Fundamentals of Flavor, Asian Flavors, Classics with a Twist and Fruits & Plants.The contenders have competed in multiple regional levels before descending in Bangalore for the national finals. Each bartender went through a rigorous training procedure to survive till the end of the competition and only the top 20 made it to the Finale.

The contestants were judged on the basis of three rounds – The Pantry Round, The Speed Round and The Mystery Box Round. The winner will head to Miami to represent India at the Global finals.

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I got to witness the Speed round as well the mystery box finale round.

In the speed round the competitors had to make 5 drinks in 6 minutes from scratch. That's right.
They were judged on various parameters that included Speed, Quality, Presentation, Cleanliness among others. And what a fine job they did. We got to taste the cocktails after the judges were done and some of the cocktails were simply astounding.

The best part was that none of the competitors had made any of these cocktails before & hence had to be at the top of their game in order to ensure they had done a satisfactory job.  

The pressure was immense & I could see a lot of hands shivering as nervousness was getting to them.

   As the dust settled & the results were announced we had our 3 finalists all from  NCR, Jitendra, Vikram & Dilbar (who was a crowd favorite & the most experienced )

A special mention about the 3 finalists whom I got to spend some time with while we were waiting for the final results. They are so humble about their achievements and success. One could see that they have put in sincere efforts to reach the pinnacle and respected the other participants too. While they may have been competing on the night they were brothers in real life and supported each other as much as they supported themselves. The mutual respect was beyond mere sportsmanship and showcased a true sense of togetherness amongst the 3 of them

Then came the Mystery Round. 

Here was an ensemble of ingredients put together by the Judges that the Final trio had no clue about and would only have 1 minute to choose from and a further 15 minutes to create 2 cocktails of their choice and to get the ingredients ready.

They would then get 10 mins to mix these cocktails and share their concept and thought process with the judges. Here we could see a new aspect to their persona - Creativity. The ingredients were not what one would find on a typical cocktail menu thereby ensuring all had to put their creative juices to the test.  

The winner Jitendra really showcased his flair, charm and confidence apart from his mixing skills. Bartending is a show mans profession and he showcased that he has the makings of a true showman.

   

More pictures from the event below: We had a free flowing bar, some excellent cocktails on offer, great food and off course the uber talented and eminent panel of judges.

The Judging Panel:
Feroze Merchant, Head of Luxury, USL Diageo, Nicholas Ord, USL Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador, Jamie Walker, USL Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador, Serhan Kusakisizoglu, Director of Corporate Projects, Shangri La, Nicole Faria, ex Miss Earth 2010 and Manu Chandra, Chef Partner Toast & Tonic (Bangalore), Monkey Bar (Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai), The Fatty Bao (Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai), and Executive Chef Olive Beach, Bangalore.

I'll let you go with this amazing Video. This was the moment they announced the winner. Take a minute to watch the video and you will know what I meant when I said that I just loved the support and encouragement they gave each other. More than what they did for themselves.

Signature cocktails recipes

Signature cocktails recipe: Courtesy United Spirits Limited   

Black and White: Orange and Mint Julep

45ml Black and White, 4 slices of orange, 8-10 mint leaves, topped with Ginger ale. This drink is built in a hi-ball glass over cubed ice and stirred quickly before service.

Share your love for scotch with this sweet and refreshing drink -grainy and sweet notes of this exceptionally smooth Scotch whisky combined with the citrusy notes of orange pronounced with an aroma of mint.

 Black Dog Black Reserve: Sunset Cinnamon

45ml Black Dog Black Reserve, 10 ml Cinnamon syrup, 2 of Maraschino Cherries, 5 dashes Angostura bitters. Stir all the ingredients over ice and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Unwind yourself with our twist on the classic American cocktail, a rich sweetness from cinnamon stirred with Scotch and bitters served on the rocks.

 Red Label: The Red Label Mule

45ml Johnnie Walker Red Label, 2 squeezes fresh lime, 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and topped with Ginger ale. This drink is built in a hi-ball glass over cubed ice and stirred quickly before service to mix.

This simple serve displays Johnnie Red label at its finest, marrying the spice and smoky notes with ginger ale, a squeeze of citrus and a splash of bitters.

 Black Label: West Coast Julep

45ml Johnnie Walker Black Label, 20 ml ginger infused honey syrup, 30ml apple juice, 10 fresh mint leaves, 5 ml lime juice. Add all ingredients to shaker and shake hard. Then double strain into a rocks glass, add crushed ice and serve with a fresh mint sprig garnish.

Our twist on the classic American cocktail, fresh mint and a rich honey sweetness are shaken with apple and served on crushed ice for this nod to a whisky classic.

The above content has been extracted from USL's #LoveScotch Press Release and all rights belong to USL.

Music and Mind games at #LoveScotch Pub Crawl Week 2

Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us. ~  Martin Luther

The same could just as easily be said about Scotch! Requires a specialist to make, can soothe the mind and has to definitely got to be a gift from God.  :) 

Kudos to the creative guys at USL and their associate companies to bring together a Musical Talent and a Mind reader extraordinaire for the continued advocacy of Scotch. Nakul Shenoy and Anushka Manchanda, both Scotch lovers, multi talented and extremely energetic and fun people.

 

Week 2 of the #LoveScotch campaign saw us heading to 1 of my favorite brew pubs in #Bangalore, Arbor Brewing Company but the event kick started at 1 of the new hip joints, The Permit Room.

What was really nice to see was that the patrons of the pub really get excited on seeing the #LoveScotch cocktail menu and I noticed a lot of people ordering off that and waxing eloquent about it. 

 

What they perhaps dint realize is that the cocktails were being mixed by master mixologist Andrew Qadri who is a reserve brand ambassador for USL.
I had the unique opportunity to not only interact with him but also with James Walker another master mixologist and USL brand ambassador. Needless to say, am far more enlightened and wiser about Scotch :)

Meanwhile we had Anuskha and Nakul mixing up a storm of cocktails at the bar surrounded by admirers who wanted to taste all the magic.

I also got to spend some time discussing scotch with Anushka and Nakul and had some interesting stories to hear. From Nakuls love for VAT69 to Anushkas passion for Black Label, stemming from her dad's love for it.
Extremely sweet and jovial set of people.

Was also nice of Anushka to have decided to do an impromptu gig at ABC which had the crowd get really excited.

All in all a very memorable evening thanks to USL. Made even more special with the amazing set of friends and cocktails that go hand in hand :)

I was lucky Andrew mixed a special set of Red Label Mule for me that has me in love with this cocktail, making it my all time favorite. Step aside Whisky sour.

History will confirm i have never been buzzed at 9.30 ever before, but hey there's always a FIRST  :) LOL

Looking forward to week 3 :)

Drink responsibly 

#LoveScotch... A splendid evening involving #Scotch & scotch lovers

                                                      Love, love me do

You know I love you, I'll always be true, So please, love me do, Whoa, love me do.

Nostalgic inducing lyrics aren't they.

Well, I had a nostalgic filed Saturday evening.

The occasion was a momentous one.

World Whisky Day.

United spirits launched a stellar campaign, #LoveScotch.

Scotch is something we love to savor and this evening was certainly one to savor. It resonated with us whisky lovers perfectly.

The stage was set at ShangriLa Bangalore. The perfect location. Celebrities graced the occasion of this momentous launch at India's Pub Capital "Namma Bengaluru".

The Spotlight was completely focused on  

International Supermodel Coco Rocha.

Bangalore heartthrob Dino Morea.

The Punjabi Beauty Mandira Bedi.

The brooding hunk Randeep Hooda.

We got to interact with them, learn about their favorite whiskey and how they like to drink them. Not to miss out the fun photo shoot getting to take #Selfies and sound bytes with these beautiful and absolutely wonderful people. So down to earth and friendly, it felt like this was more a gathering of friends which is the magic one experiences when you get to indulge in your favorite Scotch although that part was to come later.

 

  

Would you like to know how each of them prefer to have their drink? Here is how they like their Scotch:

Coco Rocha - Loves Black Label with Ginger Ale. I got to try this one and I can vouch for this. It tasted like Heaven.

Mandira Bedi - Loves Singleton with 2 blocks ice. That's it. The perfect way to savor it. Hearing about how she shares a drink with her Dad when in Delhi was a delight.

Randeep Hooda - Is a Black Dog guy. Loves it as cocktails in the day and with ice and Water in the evenings.

Dino Morea - Loves Black & White. Favorite Cocktail is Whisky Sour :) 

The panel discussion and interaction between them was extremely fun and really had the crowd cheering and wanting more. Hearing about their stories, anecdotes and incidents was the highlight.

Like Randeep Hooda owns a horse called Johnnie Walker.

Mandira Bedi has a ritualistic drink with her father every time she is in Delhi. 

And best of all is that when Rajiv Mehta, CEO Arvind Lifestyles ltd. was at INSEAD Singapore, he revealed professors used to allow students to drink alcohol in class if it helped them do better. 

Can you believe that?

The party then moved to Skyye Bar at UB City where the crowd went crazy on spotting the celebration. People were jostling for space to get a glimpse of their favorite stars.


The finale was at Sanchos UB city where we wound down our pub crawl with more celebrity mixing and scotch tasting. I do wish we could have spent more time at the pub crawls but all in all it was an extremely memorable evening. One that has memories to cherish for a lifetime.





To top it all we got to taste some extremely brilliant cocktails made by some very talented people behind the bar. A very well put together ensemble of ingredients left everybody wanting MORE!

        

We also got to see the stars mixing their own drinks and creating interesting cocktails. I wish we could taste them but Dino Morea assured me that they came out really well. 

                  


Looking forward to the next one.

P.S. ALWAYS #DrinkResponsibly and remember, Never Drink and Drive :)