Vijay Basrur

Dinner with Friends

Vijay Basrur — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:29:25 +0000

Snehal & me went for a play a few weeks back. The play was Dinner with Friends with Tisca Chopra & Perizaad Zorabian in the lead. We enjoyed it immensely.

There is something great about watching a play. You can see the actors up so close and there is no room for mistakes. Its all in your face. The performances were stellar and they had a standing ovation at the end of it.

I was amazed at how they changes the setting on the stage in complete darkness and along with a change in wardrobe the actors transported us into a different phase of the story.

Here’s to hoping that we can get to catch more plays.

Watching Inflight Entertainment

Vijay Basrur — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:14:50 +0000

Mansi had a great time watching cartoons

Jet Airways

Vijay Basrur — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:35:30 +0000

I used to be a big fan of Jet Airways and have been a loyal Jet privilege member since 2001. I use their co-branded credit card and redeem the miles for free tickets once in a while. I think the service levels of Jet were truly path breaking, years back, and as a business traveler I was more than happy to prefer them over any other airline.

What happened last week has changed my impression. We traveled to & fro Hyderabad by Jet. While the on ground service was pretty quick, the in flight service was quite pathetic. Some of the highlights were

- They frantically gave a last call for boarding a good 40 mins before scheduled time and made everyone wait 50 mins inside the airplane before it finally took off. Everyone seemed frustrated.

– One air hostess started the cold towel service (which is a nice relief in the summer) and abruptly stopped it after servicing 4 rows.

- The food served was probably the worst I have EVER had on a plane. I was curious as to what it was made of since it was pretty unrecognizable. I asked the flight attendant twice. He said he would confirm and let me know. He passed me nearly 5 times but didn't bother. While disembarking when I finally checked with him, he replied with a smirk, that he had no idea. And probably no one on the flight had.

- Jet used to make every kid on the plane feel special. They did nothing for my 3 year old daughter. They even expected her to eat the horrible food (which was oily & spicy). Other than the customary "hello baby" there was nothing.

The list is a bit longer but I am in no mood to continue the rant. I seriously hope Jet pulls up their sleeve and gets their act together.

On a random note the Hyderabad airport is really amazing. Not only the airport but even the facilities around it (bus, taxi services etc.) are so well planned. Coming back to chaotic Mumbai airport was such a horrible end to our holiday.

A Muslim Wedding

Vijay Basrur — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:31:38 +0000

I had never been to a Muslim Wedding. I got a chance to attend one on Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised with the simplicity of the wedding. No huge decorations, no blaring music, no display of the "in-your-face" celebrations. The number of guests were neither too few nor too many, making it a fairly intimate gathering for the families of the bride & the groom.

My inspiration to drive to town on a Sunday morning for a wedding was the hope of an interesting lunch. And interesting it was. The menu was simple yet grand. The hosts were sensitive to the vegetarian guests and had organized a separate section. For the non vegetarians, the seating arrangement was round tables with chairs around & food placed in the center. It had a very communal feel to it. There were 2 starters, 1 main course, bread & biryani. All lip smacking good. We ended the meal with 2 types of dessert. This was such a welcome concept compared to the 7+ cuisines & 100+ dishes on the menu, which has become so in vogue.

I am curious to attend a Bohri Muslim wedding & a Sikh wedding. The former for the food and the latter also for the food

The Mobile Startup

Vijay Basrur — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:29:07 +0000

It's been about 7 months I've been at my latest startup, Synqua Games. We make awesome games for mobile devices. One of the reasons I jumped at this startup was the inflection point at which the entire mobile industry is in India. I had experienced the Internet growth and was very curious to understand how the mobile economy would shape up.

In my opinion, the primary difference between Internet & Mobile businesses lies in the monetizability which is mainly due to the operator billing possible. And that is also the problem for business owners since the Indian operators take up nearly 70% of the revenue share. Alternate payment models are still emerging and we'll probably know in a few years which would be the dominant mode of payment over the mobile. Another big difference is also that the mobile is always with you and always on. That makes it a very powerful medium to consume & use digital products.

I've learnt a lot over the past 7 months especially about how the mobile ecosystem works. Things are getting consolidated (standards, OS etc.) and fragmented (resolutions, OS versions etc.) at the same time and that's what is making it even more interesting. You can't have an Internet business without a mobile access or a mobile component to it. Some very interesting startups like Square & Bump have recently raised pretty decent funding rounds which hopefully should be big businesses in the years to come.

The mobile space is getting hotter and there couldn't be a better time to dive in. Will update our progress as we go along

Beer in Brussels

Vijay Basrur — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:25:41 +0000

Even before I left for my trip, I had read a lot about the types of beer in Belgium. While I was keen on visiting the Hoegaarden brewery, I couldn’t manage to. But I ended up sampling quite a variety of beer. If there’s one thing I’ll visit Belgium for, it will have to be for the beer.

Brussels

Vijay Basrur — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:54:48 +0000

My trip to Brussels started on a pretty bad note. While the original plan was to leave Eindhoven at 10, I finally ended up boarding the train at 12. Interestingly while I boarded a train bound for Maastrich, I ended up at Heerele. Turns out that 1 half of the train travels to Maastrich while the other heads to Heerle. Whoever heard of one train going 2 different ways? Since I had to catch the train from Maastrich to Brussels, I lost 30 mins and another 30 waiting for the train to Brussels Central.

Arriving at Central I just couldn’t spot the tram station and ended up losing my way miserably. After calling up the hotel a few times, asking for directions, via the metro and then a tram, I finally ended up at the hotel at 5 pm. Turned out that the hotel was a hole in the wall and the room barely enough for 1 person.

I had to get myself a beer for all the hard work. I started the evening with a Leffe. Took a tram to the Grand palace, had a lovely dinner of mussels & fries along with a pint of Maes beer. I then wandered to the famous Mannekin Pis and then ended up sitting in one of the cafes nursing an amazing pint of Chimay.

Trivia around Germany

Vijay Basrur — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:29:56 +0000

I was amused to find some really interesting stuff during my short stay

2 way escalator
I saw this at the station I was boarding from called Josephburg. It had a 2 way escalator. It helps that there are hardly any people around but its a huge space saver. It would be disastrous to have it anywhere in India.

Connection metro trains
This one is pretty cool. There are a few guaranteed connections on the underground metro. Basically if you are on the one that’s coming in, then you have another train waiting for you on the other side of the platform. Though its just 2 minutes but the co-ordination is what’s amazing

Jet spray in the loos
The hotel we stayed had jet sprays in the loo. I’ve got frustrated with no options during our last 2 Europe trip. So it was a great relief.

Encouraging group travel
The Metro offers a huge discount for group travel. Euro 5.20 for one person and Euro 9.40 for 5 people. No wonder everyone takes the public transport.

Exit
Different word for exit for people -Ausgang and different for vehicles – Ausfahrt

Driving on the Autobahn

Vijay Basrur — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 12:42:35 +0000

When PJ suggested I drop my Munich Brussels flight and drive back with him instead, I was more than glad. I wasn’t going to pass an opportunity to get on the Autobahn.

For the fact that there are no speed limits in some patches on the Autobahn, the traffic is still quite disciplined. We touched a max of 160 and while we were just about feeling good, a red ferrari zoomed us by in a microsecond making us look like a bullock cart The thrill of seeing cars zip past slowly waned off and I actually fell asleep for a few patches while PJ drove on.

The facilities for drivers to pullover and take a break are quite amazing. Along with clean toilets, there are also benches where they can grab a bite and shaded areas where they can catch a nap. The petrol stations are usually attached with a full fledged restaurant. We caught an excellent bite at one of these. (Chicken fillet with mushroom sauce for me and penne for PJ) Another station we stopped by we had an amazing pastry with coffee.

Long distance driving is a thing of joy in Europe and in Germany its even better since you get to really floor the pedals while enjoying the drive. Must do a long road trip in Europe sometime

Music at the Oktoberfest

Vijay Basrur — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:51:03 +0000

Music seems to bind the crowds at Oktoberfest. Ein Prosit (German for Cheers) is the standard filler along with something that goes Chiki Wiki Chiki Ho Ho Ho. There were a few popular numbers like Hey Jude, Oh Caroline, We are the champions to which the crowds glady joined in Chorus. I was quite surprised when at one of the tents the band belted out a cover version of Gypsy Kings Volare and then followed it up with CCR’s Proud Mary. After a few beers, even the cover versions sound pretty good. Another artist with mass appeal at the Oktoberfest was Robbie Williams. The chorus for ‘Angel’ was probably the loudest I heard in any of the tents.

Without music the tents are a totally different experience and totally not recommended