Whats with Bangalore and Juice Joints ?

No where else in India have I seen so many juice shops, as many as I have seen in Bangalore. You have a juice junction, juice stop, or a juice bar in every street you go (and I might not even be exaggerating). I somehow can not comprehend the reason for this, could be the sudden upsurge of young people with disposable income, but I hear that the juice 'culture' , as I call it, has been there for long.

Bangalore is not a place with hot weather that you need juices to replenish your body fluids so often. And neither is Bangalore a place where we have fruit orchards, and neither is fruit cheap. If at all, fruits are costliest, if you compare with metros and other comparable cities (like Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmadabad) in India.

And neither is Bangalore a place for health freaks. Most denizens here are, in fact, obese people working in IT/ITES/BT/Govt sector and are mostly KFC/McD crunching junta. Don't believe me ? Just go at any McD and see yourself, you will find more crowd than in a juice shop.

So, whats the reason ?

I think it has more to do with the culture than anything else. People in Bangalore have been consuming juices more than at other places and the same continues. Well, this is my theory and I would believe so. When I came to Bangalore 5 years back, I was told Bangalore is famous for fresh fruits and juices.

Another theory could be the status of juice in the society now. Its a 'cult' . You see a juice shop and you are tempted to have a juice. Most juice shops display the fruits (or at least the posters) , some even hang them on the pavement to attract passers-by.And one is sure to be tempted. Add to this the pulling factor when the juice shop is crowded with people sipping juice/milk-shakes/ice-creams/custards etc. Money is no concern, as I believe, you will find millions of people with disposable incomes here in Bangalore. Also the juice does not normally cost much (6-7 rs for small glass, and 10-15 for a large).

I , in fact, remember falling to this cult culture some 5 years back, when I came here.There is a juice shop (not surprising) on the way to office, and every time I passed by, I was sure to have one glass for sure. Yes, I agree, I was tempted by the fruits hanging all over, and also I liked the taste. I was also lured into trying new fruits which I never tried before like 'butter-fruit', 'musk-melon' et al. Not that its bad to have juices, but for arguments sake, I fell into it and realized why the juice thing is a Big business here and having juice a cult.

Gmail Chat gets a new chat window

I like the audio and video chat buttons which come in handy. These were earlier very promiscuous.

The overall chat experience does not change much, as it is pretty much the same as earlier.

The look of the small window however changes because of these small images and now it looks like a cool widget.

Movie : Rajneeti

http://ruddhi-travelogue.blogspot.com/2010/06/rajneeti-movie-review.html

Watched this movie last weekend. Loved the first half but did not like the way it was getting stretched till the end. Prakash Jha could have done better. The star cast was awesome with stalwarts like Naseerudin Shah, Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpei and new ones like Ranbir, Katrina and Arjun Rampal.

The story was good and could have been better had there been a little less killings.

Loved a few dialogues though, the ones by Bajpei -

"Karara Jawaab Milega"

"Rajneeti me murdo ko gada nahin karte, unko jinda rakhte hain taaki waqt aney pe wo  bole"

Read a nice review here

Fuel efficiency of four wheelers in India - complete list

Fuel efficiency of four wheelers in India - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/82655-fuel-efficiency-figures-4-wheelers-india.html

Courtesy SIAM (and Team-Bhp-ian who posted it)

The table is sorted by engine capacity (in cc)

Interesting to note that new wagonR gives 18.9 kmpl. Mine (old one 2007 model) does not even touch 12.5 in city with A/C :( .

Like the new gmail chat window

Gmail Chat gets a new chat window

I like the audio and video chat buttons which come in handy. These were earlier very promiscuous.

The overall chat experience does not change much, as it is pretty much the same as earlier.

The look of the small window however changes because of these small images and now it looks like a cool widget.

Rajneeti - the movie

http://ruddhi-travelogue.blogspot.com/2010/06/rajneeti-movie-review.html

Watched this movie last weekend. Loved the first half but did not like the way it was getting stretched till the end. Prakash Jha could have done better. The star cast was awesome with stalwarts like Naseerudin Shah, Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpei and new ones like Ranbir, Katrina and Arjun Rampal.

The story was good and could have been better had there been a little less killings.

Loved a few dialogues though, the ones by Bajpei -

"Karara Jawaab Milega"

"Rajneeti me murdo ko gada nahin karte, unko jinda rakhte hain taaki waqt aney pe wo bole"
Read a nice review here

Fuel efficiency of four wheelers in India - complete list

Fuel efficiency of four wheelers in India - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/82655-fuel-efficiency-figures-4-wheelers-india.html

Courtesy SIAM (and Team-Bhp-ian who posted it)

The table is sorted by engine capacity (in cc)

Interesting to note that new wagonR gives 18.9 kmpl. Mine (old one 2007 model) does not even touch 12.5 in city with A/C :( .