Tushar Mangl

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 ...

Borderline personality disorder has been the theme of many books but Shabri Prasad Singh brings out a fresh perspective to it with an intriguing story, mostly based on reality.  It is a woman's emotional journey through the borderline disorder and the emotional upheaval it causes.  Borderline is about life of Amrita Srivastava. It is the journey of her mentality, her being and her soul. The book begins with Amrita's backdrop, her birth and family history. It shows the basic settings of a tender close knit family and how the family breaks apart due to a terrible divorce which impacts Amrita mentally. Thereon Amrita is fully reliant on her father and she worships him. Upon moving to America for further studies Amrita falls in love, due to her dependence and growing insecurities, the relationship does not work. Amrita comes to India on a holiday only to find her father dead the next morning. This turn of life shatters her everlastingly. She cannot move pa...

On the occasion of the World COPD Day, I visited an initiative by renowned air purifier company, Blueair. At Cyber Hub Gurgaon, the company set up a home experience zone with its entire range of air purifiers which is quite huge. COPD is basically Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Air pollution is a major health and environmental problem today. People with respiratory problems, especially children are quite at risk. The levels of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 have serious health implications such as asthma, bronchitis, chronic respiratory symptoms including, shortness of breath etc. Leading doctors and environmentalists, educated people at the event and urged them to take steps to control and combat pollution. I also met, Mr. Arvind Chabra, who is the country head, Blueair India. he emphasised the need of recognising indoor pollution which is way hazardous than outdoor pollution. Because of the simple fact that we spend most of our times indoors than outdoors and that in...

Stock markets in India are buoyant these days with excellent valuations and increased foreign inflows. Add to that the increasing number of households who are chipping in with Mutual Funds through the SIP route, the total money going into the share markets is escalating month on month. This has made the markets are an interesting place to park funds with a little high risk but much better returns. Indeed if you compare returns with FDs and real estate, the traditional investment avenues, stock exchanges are giving much better returns than equity . But many people ask me this question. How to invest in share markets? It should be simple right? More often than not, it becomes a hassle with multiple people giving you different opinions and the necessity to rely on a broker over the phone or physical meetings. One of India’s best broking houses, Angel Broking has come up with an interesting Investment Engine for this. They call it, ARQ . It is a technology-based hyper...

                                                                                        The weather was perfect for an outdoor activity, last Sunday but question was, where to go out and enjoy the outdoors? I took a friend's suggestion and went to visit the awesome new place right on the main Sohna Road, Frenzy adventure which has a tagline 'Treasure Zone for Adventure Seekers'. I think it is quite apt as they offer real adventure. Also liked the staff who went beyond their job descriptions to root for the adventure seekers and gladly handling our cameras to click some awesome pictures and videos. There was even one incidence, where the staff member, advised me that he will take pics but a video would be better so he will shoot one too. They were friendly and g...

Located next doors to the Gymkhana Club on the main road, Nagai opened its doors around 8 months ago, celebrating Japanese and International food. It is an effort by Chef Reina and Eleonara, two adventurers, from different backgrounds and walks of life, who have come together to set up this iconic food brand. The Gurgaon branch is the second branch of Nagai after Ibiza in Spain. I tried the specially curated Chef tasting menu. We started off with a special cocktail, based on Gin, recommended by the mixologist at Nagai. It was a perfect mix with a kaffir lime leaf. Next, I tried the Tom Kha soup which is Nagai's version of Thai Coconut Soup. It was not overly thick little clear and tasted yum. Started my meal with the Kushiyaki Chicken Skewers which tasted like our routine chicken steak with a delightful flavor of Teriyaki Sauce. The King Prawn Dragon Roll is something I would really recommend to all those who love prawns. Main Course I went with th...

Johnny Rockets has had a challenging start in India, with an all American diner feel and look and direct competition with many other fast food/QSR brands. Recently, they have done an overhaul to better the experience and relocated the Gurgaon outlet to The Grand Mall on the MG Road, very close to the Sikanderpur Metro Station. The brand offers high quality, innovative menu items including cooked to order burgers, hand-spun shakes, and American fries. The team has now come up with version 2.0 as a part of a large exercise to build a further connect with the new millennial customers. Foodies in town can treat themselves with the best of American cuisine at this outlet which seats 90 people at a time. But the impeccable service standards remain intact. For the first time ever, Johnny Rockets has launched an all you can eat menu. So for a fixed price, you can eat as much as want to. I personally loved their idea of customizing burgers. You can choose th...

What better welcome can you expect from a World class microbrewery and pub than a free basement parking in otherwise congested Gurgaon? Vapour Bar Exchange at Global Foyer Mall offers free parking to its patrons. The place is all decked up in a wood theme and with double height, ceilings send out positive vibes. The excellent music just adds on to the taste. I went to this place to meet a friend over drinks and we were really impressed with the quality of service. The staff is quick on their feet and humble with their recommendations. Vapor has a great bar with its own microbrewery where they brew with ingredients specifically imported from Germany. Take the example of the renowned Weyermann Malts which are imported for that special brew and adds well to the quality of Beer here.For other drinks, they have this uber cool app to show you a bar exchange where rates of drinks keep fluctuating basis of a demand, bid mechanism. What we tried - Nuts & Beans Masala -...

“Neither fire nor wind, birth or death can erase our good deeds” were the words said by Buddha and this has been proved in reality by Late Popi Bharali. She was an enthusiastic young environmentalist hailing from Dibrugarh, Assam. Born in the year 1974, 25 th January she was the eldest daughter of Late Dr. Hemanta Kumar Bharali and Late Mrs. Amiya Bharali. Miss Panna Bharali her younger sister says about her education and lifestyle that, “ Ba (elder sister) loved nature. From her very childhood, she had an unknown attraction towards plants and animals as if she could understand their language. This undefined love towards environment made her walk down the dreams of her life of conserving nature’s beauty ‘Orchids’. Ba did her post-graduation from Dibrugarh University in Botany. She was the lifetime member of Indian Orchid Society and a renowned writer and a researcher. She established the society “ Irab Kirab ” back in 2003 under WWF India Society Act to educate people about ...

Hon’ble Minister of Culture, Government of India Dr Mahesh Sharma will inaugurate SWAD SANSKRITI, a celebration of food culture and philosophy. Organised by Food and Beverage Buzz magazine SWAD SANSKRITI will be held on 26 November 2017 at Radisson Blu, Paschim Vihar (Saphire 1&2), from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. Curated by Dr Ashish Chopra, well known culinary historian, TV Host, Author and Senior Consulting Editor of Food and Beverage Buzz magazine, Swad Sanskriti as the  event will look into exploring the wisdom of our cultural philosophy through food that has shaped Indian history and which today has become the identification factor for us Indians.  Mr Pawan Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Media Private Limited, that publishes the magazine Food and Beverage Buzz, says, “Understanding our past is imperative to understand our present food habits. So, how do we come to an elaborate understanding of our cultural habits? These are some of the questions...