Piccolo Posts

Source: Far East Hospitality Back here in India, while I see all those mouth-watering culinary pictures of the ensemble of food available in Singapore , I can only wait for that magical ticket to Singapore to land in my hands. We all know that there is the Merlion, the Marina Bay Sands Skypark, the Singapore Night Safari, the Universal Studios, the Singapore Flyer and the list can go on for ever. But there is also the Roti Prata, the Oyster Omelette, the Chicken Rice, the Chilli Crab, the Barbecued Stingray and even this list can go on for ever. Singapore is a food haven and all your gastronomic desires will take a deliciously deep breath when you’re in Singapore. So which is the best out of all the lip-smacking delicacies? The question is, why are you trying to pick just one; pick more and in all conscience you just won’t settle for one when you are kept in the middle of a culinary orchestra. We’ll just try to fit in five of the most fabulous Singaporean delights on y

Main aur meri tanhai Aksar ye batein karte hain Tum hoti to kaisa hota tum yeh kehti, tum woh kehti Tum is baat pe hairan hoti tum us baat pe kitni hasti tum hoti to aisa hota, tum hoti to waisa hota Main aur meri tanhai, aksar yeh baten karte hain These famous lines by the famous Javed Akhtar portrayed on screen by the one and only Amitabh Bachchan expresses that even in his loneliness he is thinking of her; what she would have done if she was with him; if they would have been together. Togetherness brings in so much hopefulness to us. I always look forward to be with people that I love. At school, I had many friends. I made quick friends. Did we even need someone to be a friend to talk to in school? I would absolutely talk to anybody and everybody. Being together had a completely different meaning in school. I do not remember what we talked about when we were children. Even today, when I see children walking in groups and going together to schools babbling

Change is inevitable. Change is for good. There are many situations in life where you sit, think and decide. You adapt to something very different than your existing routine.  Risks are important to do good and live better. These risks are nothing but changes to #StartANewLife. A big decision in my life came when I decided to buy a home . I was not sure but I had to make this purchase sometime in life. It was just that I had not decided what time. The increasing retail rates were the obvious reason that convinced me to buy a home immediately. Buying a home is an interesting task that can get boring if you overdo it. Many of my friends have already booked a home a home. The common mistake that everyone makes is looking at too many homes. They all had seen so many homes that they were spoilt for choice and in the end the negotiation would be – konsa bhi le le, bohot ho gaya . Even I came upon this situation because the investment Is so much that we spontaneously go on looking if

Source: Mashable Often thinking positive and thinking forward can solve a mighty portion of glitches in your life. When nothing is going your way, you still have to continue working towards that hope which drives you from failure to failure. Dreams are relative. When I was in school, I thought getting an engineering degree was enough to rest for the rest of my life. In college, there was a new task other than studying – getting placed. There would typically be four rounds; aptitude test, group discussion, technical interview and personal interview. For these four rounds there would be four hundred students from different branches of engineering because even if you select any branch for those four years, you end up coding software programs for the rest of your life. Nobody knows the reason for this spectacular phenomena because the day somebody cracks the reason, we will not have fresh electronics engineers thinking – “Why did we study diodes, transmitters and semi-conduct

Running away from truth is probably an easy way but not the farthest.  The easy way also has that feeling of guilt that crushes you from the inside. Your conscience nudges you constantly that you did something which is not quite right.  On a lighter note, Akshay Kumar quotes in the movie Entertainment that ‘Truth hurts because it has a point !’ Pun intended in that line! Circumstances force us to lie. These circumstances are mostly avoidable beforehand but when we do not do that, we lie. Talking of experiencing circumstances makes me remember a circumstance which forced me to lie. It was a fast paced evening just as any other day in Mumbai; full of people with no time in hand running haphazardly. I and my friend Amey arrive at Thane railway station. There was a huge queue for tickets. We were short of two things; tickets and time. To save time we skipped tickets. We were so unaware that after 30 minutes at Bandra railway station, even the ticket collector will skip all others to

Print Ad 'Key' for Road Safety in Brazil In the first Global Status Report on Road Safety (2009), the World Health Organization (WHO) identified road accidents as the “biggest killers” across the world, which will assume an endemic proposition by 2030. It also recognized that more people die in road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world. In their second edition, The Global status report on road safety (2013 )  confirmed that road traffic injuries remain an important public health problem despite progress in a number of countries including India. About 1.24 million people die each year on the world's roads. Each year nearly 400 000 people under 25 die on the world’s roads – on average more than 1000 a day. The report estimates that more than 231000 people are killed in road traffic crashes in India every year. These are solid statistics which shout out to us to think seriously about a topic which is otherwise neglected -  Road Safety .  The below

Source: The NY Times The scene starts with camera focus on the floor. A man comes walking on the plush granite flooring. The focus is still on the floor. Black leather shoes polished perfectly to shine just as much needed. As the camera moves upwards we could see the trousers that are plain, elegant and pressed to roll out even the smallest crease on the fabric. The left hand is in his trouser pocket and the right hand is still not visible in the frame. Shirt neatly tucked in, full sleeves, straight collar and matched the trousers. An outfit that will make the women turn their heads; that will make even a man envious. As the camera moves further up, the excitement amongst the audience increases. As the camera finally reaches his face the audience is disappointed or perhaps disgusted. After such a brilliantly groomed entry, the audience least expected a man with his hand on his cheek, scratching his shabby beard. The man is Amit Puri and the audience are my classmates from my

Children teach us a lot. Their innocent and curious souls may throw light at things that you may have never thought of. Childhood memories are pleasant. I was a slow learner as a child but learning slow was fun. We didn’t have that inner voice telling us constantly that we have to score well in exams. All came at a constant pace and came naturally. What helped was the tunes and actions associated with the rhymes. The actions were not mere face gestures and little hand movements; they included running at one place, jumping, laughing and clapping too. I loved this particular rhyme: If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands. Watch the video below, Clapping, jumping and saying hurray with whole heart was so much fun. I remember the last day of school - Class 10 in 2004, we decided to revisit this rhyme amongst others. The entire class sang the rhyme; clapped, stamped and said hurray till the time our teachers interfered and stopped us! There is a very famous s

When a child is born into a family, there is a wave of excitement that keeps the entire family cheerful. The happiness is infectious. The baby is the centre of attraction. Every day starts and ends with the baby. Some days don't even end when the baby decides to spoil everyone's sleep by crying his heart out. Such a wave was in our family when Mr. and Mrs. Fernandes had their first child - Ronald. Ronald is 13 now. About twelve years ago, Ronald's typical day started off by crying. He might have felt like he has arrived into a completely different universe when he woke up; or he might probably be freaked out when he asked himself this simple question and failed to answer it - Where was I until now? Ronald was a healthy child and feeding him was never a problem. While aunties in other houses would think of different ideas just get a morsel through their little one's mouth, Fernandes aunty would finish off her job sitting in one place because Ronald did not do any

According to the Global Consumer Banking Survey 2014 by Ernst and Young, over 70% of the respondents used Internet banking and almost 50% used mobile banking versus a mere 36% who used branch banking. Banking is already online. We have internet banking, mobile banking and app based banking services. What’s new is that you can now be friends with your bank. Kotak Jifi is a new age banking advancement that has given banking a new perspective – social banking. Jifi is just like any social networking site. It’s comfortable and easy to use. The innovative minds at Kotak Mahindra have given a new face to banking where users can access bank details just a tweet away. Jifi is a zero balance current account with features that ease banking.  Banking is now social. No Minimum Balance Balance-free accounts. No need to worry about the maintaining a minimum balance in the account. Social Banking Tweet based banking Once you connect your Jifi account

Black is the most misinterpreted of all the colours.  It is unfortunate that this colour is often seen negatively due to unjustified reasons related to superstition, racism and culture.  Black signifies mystery, sophistication and elegance.  When combined with other colours, it not only enhances the aspects of the other colour but also improves the entire visual. A woman in a traditional saree looks even more beautiful when she adorns a black bindi; a child looks even more innocent when his mother smudges black kohl on his cheek. Black is beautiful and has always been popular with the designers; be it from the fashion, automobile or the consumer electronics industry. These are the five best things in black that I would love to possess and cherish.. Range Rover Evoque Source: Evoque This beast on four wheels is the classiest machine in black. It has an outstanding design and the black colour demands nothing but respect. Sony Wearable HDTV Source: Sony Thi

Source: Lavery Rowe It was 2 o' clock on a Sunday morning. Ravi slept off while reading a novel. Suddenly a light gleamed into his eyes. The light was coming out of his mobile phone which he had placed on the novel. The light was so bright that he was unable to open his eyes. Has my phone turned into a superhero? Ravi thought his phone has developed super powers. He was still subconscious but was exultant that he was being the only witness to this superpower introduction. "O wizard of the deadly night! Who art thou?” he asked his phone with his eyes still struggling to see beyond the light and hands trying to cover the eyes. He got no reply. He asked once more - still no reply. By this time, he had opened his eyes enough to see that it was Sujesh calling him. Sujesh was drunk and was in the minimum sense of recognizing the person and the reason he had called; Ravi hanged up. What was I thinking when I questioned my phone? - Aftereffects of reading childre