Shaadi in London

I was on the Tube in London last night. The photo above is of an advertisement on the inside panes of the train. It was interesting to see Shaadi.com being advertised right next to an assorted set of cosmetics and other consumer personal products. Without access to their financials its difficult to know how the company is really doing, but they claim they are #1 in the UK, and one would hope they have managed that growth well. In hindsight what a perfect market opportunity - a large set of first and second generational Indians, stuck on a small island, lots of class and structure still in that society, highly divergent needs across generations within each family , and a fundamental, basic need that doesn't go away. In other words, a well understood and commonly articulated problem across an easily reachable large prospective audience - a marketer's perfect dream.

Yellowstone in August

There is something about animals in the wild. This week in Yellowstone we saw a few grizzlies, lots of moose, elk and other deer, and many many birds. The kids had a great time - scanning the horizon to see who would spot what first - playing a game - and rejoicing when we chanced upon the occasional beast. I recall zoos were major stops for us - in pretty much any city that we visited up through to early this year. Then there was that unfortunate accident at the SF Zoo where a tiger escaped and mauled a couple of youths. My wife promptly stopped any financial contributions to the SF Zoo and upon further reflection and deeper discussions about the state of caged animals that was prompted by this incident, we have stopped visiting zoos altogether. No wonder then, these now not common, animal encounters were all the more fun for our kids. Cant wait to take them back to Kenya and Tanzania one day....

The Grand Tetons

We spent a few days in the Grand Tetons this week - around Jackson Hole and north. It was fascinating. The Rockies are my favorite mountains in the world - spread out, accessible, and majestic. I love the Colorado Rockies north and south of Denver, my wife loves the Canadian Rockies - particularly around Jasper, and Banff. This was our first time in the Grand Tetons. There is a lot more water than I had expected - lakes and low gradient, winding rivers, and on this trip in August, the weather was absolutely spectacular. The photograph above is just off where the Snake River leaves Lake Jackson.

Outsourced - the Movie

Enjoyed it. Quite a laugh if you are in the subset of the population that knows India but lives far from it. First half was absolutely hilarious (particularly if you don't have great alternative options for your time). Very cleverly done, it seems to have won a ton of awards, definitely worth watching, higly recommend. I dont think its released in the US though. Probably need to order the DVD.

I watched it on a flight in the airspace close to and over Afghanistan yesterday. Ironic, the two most popular American exports around the world - military and business - nothing really to show on the cultural or historical fronts. Still if you ever end up with a headache thinking about all the foreign policy missteps from a few years ago, nothing like a light hearted comedy to get you in a better state of mind. Watch preview at http://www.outsourcedthemovie.com/videos.html

Best address in Mumbai

So the place to stay in Mumbai is the JW Marriott. Having stumbled through the Hyatt (too pseudo-American), ITC Maratha (convenient and good, but no extra punch), and the Taj & Intercon (just too far), I finally stayed at the JW last couple of nights.

Its in Juhu, admittedly from most business engagements, but it does afford the best beach access, as the photograph above will prove (provided you can get up at 5am and make it before it gets hot and crowded). And its nice. But what really brought it out for me is that this is the center of Bollywood activity. I saw Sunil Gavaskar eating at the next table (big deal for this blogger who grew up as a young cricketer), was introduced to Farah Khan in the bar (whom I didn't know before), and saw dozens of what looked like young and old film and modeling casts. This place has a real buzz that's difficult to describe in a write-up.

If you want the quintessential Bollywood experience in a hotel in Mumbai, this is the place to be.

T5 Heathrow versus T3 Beijing

Just flew through Heathrow's brand new Terminal 5 for the first time. I couldn't help but compare the experience on my last visit through Terminal 3 at Beijing's National Capital Airport. Built and opened around the same time, and at similar total costs ($4B+), this is a valid comparison. The net is this: T5 is a major improvement over Terminals 4, 3, and god forbid 2 and 1, both in aesthetics and check-in bays - in that it makes a real statement - the British seem to have oh finally caught up. On the other hand though, Terminal 3 is a major revolution, the largest building on earth, and the friendliest staff on top - in that it makes another real statement - the Chinese have reset the bar, and well, well ahead of the line for now. I would take T3 over T5 any day - so best now to go off to tackle the real problem - how to get more business out of China.

Souffles in San Francisco

There aren't that many men I know that are good cooks and enjoy cooking. A good friend of ours bucks this trend. Yesterday evening he and I made it to a hands-on class on French Desserts - Soufflés ! It was a good class - baking is not one of my strengths and wasn't one of my interests. This may change it. We baked (and tried) four different soufflés from savory to sweet and frozen to baked, but the best one was clearly the classic dark chocolate soufflé. I enclose a scanned copy of the recipe, in case you are interested in a personally tested-to-work version.