Category Archives: Musings

Of Keftede and Kofta – Restaurant Review of Sassy Spoon

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Another semi-formal outing from office, this time for dinner. Someone suggested Sassy Spoon, and there we were, after office on a Wednesday evening, in our formal shirts and trousers, at the doors of a classy-looking place.

On entering, we found a pleasantly lit, welcoming place with ambience that was serious but not uptight, and lighthearted but not frivolous: perhaps it was the soft and warm lighting, or it was the music, or the wall studded with old suitcases (watch out for it), or maybe it was just the welcoming smile on the usher’s face. And in a moment vanished our mild regret at the drizzle not letting us take up the cane chairs arrayed outside.

So we went in, and the place felt very spacious despite there being nine of us, and quite a few other people. First up, we ordered drinks, of which there is a reasonably good set of options. As we got talking, we found the music too loud to our liking, and the waiter very helpfully obliged by turning it down for us.

The menu at Sassy Spoon is something worth checking out. It not only looks different from the usual official looking booklet that we expect at such places, but also contains several foreign sounding terms. These give a good sense of the variety of cuisines that are served at Sassy Spoon – keftede, tzatziki and gremolata share space with the more common ratatouille, ravioli and bruschetta. I couldn’t help googling keftede, and realized it has the same roots as India’s very own kofta. Not surprising, because keftede refers to fried meatballs from Greece! We also noticed that there were quite a few dishes with a tinge of wine or beer in them.

With all this, I must warn you that portion sizes are relatively small, so it’s best to keep in mind, while ordering, that you might have to order more. That said, the time taken to serve was not too high, which could also be explained by the fact that we were having a lot of fun and didn’t notice how long it took for the food to come. The dishes are served in plates of various shapes including squares. Mind you, the plates might look delicate but they are surprisingly heavy, and not just because of the food loaded on them!

Among the dishes we tried were gnocchi with black pepper, which was good despite being quite heavy on the powdered black pepper. We also liked the brown rice paella with beans, artichokes and olives – it is warm and filling, feels healthy and deserves a second serving! There are several other dishes described so well you would like to keep coming back to try each of them, one by one. Among the mocktails, the ‘Very Berry Khatta’ found two takers (which also says something about the number of teetotalers in office!) and it did look inviting when served. The desserts didn’t seem as promising, but then we weren’t keen on desserts, so I’ll be able to comment only after another visit!

The dishes were on the expensive side, but they seemed worth it. At the end of the meal, we were pleased to receive a token that consisted of a nicely-wrapped square of chocolate cake and a short note on the origins of the restaurant. Naturally, I was curious to find out more, and learnt that Sassy Spoon was started quite recently by two friends. I am glad they did that, because they have designed something rare – a place where you will be equally at home with colleagues and with friends!

P.S.: The above review of Sassy Spoon was featured on the front page of Zomato Mumbai, and I thought my readers might enjoy reading about the experience!

Time for Preparation

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“When do we start preparing?” asked one the students attending my guest lecture. And my answer was, “you should have started preparing already.” That is always my answer to anyone who asks about any sort of preparation. There is no right time to start preparing, except the moment when the idea occurs to you, be it the idea of writing a competitive examination (such as the Common Admission Test, as this girl had asked), or writing an article to be sent to the newspaper. There just is no point in delaying preparation. What one can do is start softly (such as reading a good English newspaper in the case of the girl who wanted to write the CAT).

 

A Gripping Tale: Review of Hilary Mantel’s ‘Bring Up the Bodies’

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For once, a non-business post after ages. Hope this makes for a good read…

Hilary Mantel’s second book on Thomas Cromwell is a stark portrayal of intrigue and politics, of people plotting against one another in their ambitions. Bring Up the Bodies, the Man Booker Prize winning sequel to Wolf Hall, itself a Man Booker Prize winner, is a gripping saga for those who appreciate Thomas Cromwell’s ways.

When the novel begins, circumstances in England are such that queen Anne Boleyn has not yet given birth to a baby boy, and the Tudor line of King Henry VIII is not secured. He wants another wife, his third after Katherine and Anne. Thomas Cromwell, as Master Secretary to the king, is assigned the task of clearing the way for the new queen. He arranges machinations in such a manner that a few young men at the court are alleged to have relationships with Anne. This is seen to be ground enough for the death knell to be sounded for the queen and the young men she favored. This, despite the fact that, over the last few years, Anne and Cromwell helped each other rise in the king’s eyes.

Readers of historical fiction will find the book interesting for the sheer amount of detail. The lay reader is sure to appreciate the perspective that the narration comes from: usually it is Cromwell whose perspective is narrated, so that the reader gets a good sense of what happens at the king’s court and what takes place in Cromwell’s mind. There are times when Cromwell misses Wolsey, a bishop of earlier times whom Anne plotted out of favor. There are also other poignant times when Cromwell thinks of his dead wife and daughters. But he has a way of making his facial expression “implacable” so that the other party does not get a clue to his feelings.

Mantel has her own particular way of playing with words, sometimes laden with meaning, sometimes implying something else. She uses metaphors and comparisons to drive the meaning in. For instance, the men at court who face the death penalty are phantoms, for they used to flit in and out of Anne’s privy chambers, and Cromwell is “master of phantoms.” And they are not even dead, when they become “bodies” for all practical purposes.

Overall, a good book, well worth the time spent. And quite a lot is spent, given the 400-odd pages loaded with words and meaning.

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P.S.: I had been hoping to read this book from the time it was released, since I had already read Wolf Hall. Hence imagine my happiness on finding this book at the first shelf in the first row at the library!

Growing with Integrity

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“You have to be in Germany to understand what Bosch means,” a friend told me recently. “They are like the Tatas in India,” he continued, “big, well-respected, old.” He was referring to the engineering and consumer goods company Robert Bosch GmbH. And comparing it to a large Indian conglomerate.

Both of them are standing testimony to what it means to grow without sacrificing values. As they grew, they would have made tradeoffs, they would have learnt the meaning of tough choices. Not all companies can do that. Many companies, at some point or another, give in to the pressure of shareholder results or top management self-aggrandisement. That is why we feel a strange sense of respect for companies that have maintained their values through thick and thin.

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The Benefits of Switching Off

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As incredible as it sounds, there are benefits of switching off connectivity to your mobile phone. There are at least two instances of doing this in a typical working life. The first is to go completely switched off on weekends. This is ideally done with a couple of like-minded, and preferably sports-loving, people (to keep boredom at bay) and/ or with a good book. By Sunday, you feel refreshed. Of course, this works only if you have aligned in advance with your manager and other critical stakeholders.

The second is to pay complete attention during conversations and meetings. That means keeping your phone in silent (ideally with the vibrator off) while talking to anyone, and during any meeting that you care to attend. Nobody I know does that. Nobody except myself! I find it very distracting to glance fleetingly at my phone while someone is telling me something important, and I value the present. In meetings, this practice of keeping my phone in silent mode lets me listen clearly. In conversations, this lets me value the other party. And then I call back the interrupter.

It is not that I ignore what my phone says. I just like my time and attention as interruption-free as possible.

Tell Stories to Sell

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Nobody sees the whole, nobody can, at least. And so we extrapolate without even realising we do so. Very often, it is this extrapolated version of reality that determines our action and reactions. In business, this means that companies end up telling stories in order to sell.

Both brands and their buyers (customers) tell stories to each other, about each other. A brand that provides a coherent, consistent story to its buyers finds that the customers stay loyal. And this, despite there being strong competitive pressure, and minor market mistakes on the brand’s part.

Telling the right story is as important as providing the right service or the right product. A Cafe Coffee Day experience consists of the not just the coffee, and not even the ambience. Today’s customers view the brand in the context of their own lives. For instance, a birthday celebration at Cafe Coffee Day as compared to one at an Indian food place. And then the photos posted on Facebook with comments.

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Business Schools – Training for What?

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Business schools across the world are finding themselves in a situation of introspection: what exactly is the need for their existence? More importantly, what do they teach?

Applications for this  year’s Common Admission Test (CAT) that is used as one of the key parameters for admission to the elite Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) came down to a record low of 190,000 this year. For whatever reasons, students seem to be finding b-schools less attractive compared to other options.

To the first question of what b-schools are needed for, there are a few things that business schools can teach. Firstly, there are the business subjects: marketing, finance, operations, human resources and systems, as any first year b-school student would be able to tell you.  Secondly, there is another subject that b-schools try to teach but don’t do so well: strategy. And the top strategy consulting firms end up trying to follow an apprenticeship model so that they fill the gap.

Besides the above, something that b-schools are yet to do well, is being a manager and a leader. That there is strong demand for people who can manage a good business and take all steps required to get things done is very real. Similarly, there is strong demand today for another factor that b-schools are not in the perfect position to teach: leadership.  And women’s leadership as well. Today, all of us – at least those who care enough to have a say in the matters – tend to preach the same old advice about leadership because we haven’t seen what true leadership can do. There is some hope here, though, as b-schools recognize the situation and respond to that.

As the first step, we need to realise that tomorrow’s leaders will face a completely different set of situations today. As I brought up in this thought experiment.

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Family Businesses in Transition

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In my previous post, I had pointed out cyclical changes in economies. Here, we look at family businesses and how these are undergoing times of transition. Unlike in the Western world, India has a large set of family businesses, although we now prefer to call them promoter-driven businesses. These are essentially businesses built up by the father (often alone), brought to maturity, and then handed over to the eldest son, or divided up among the sons.

There are some promoters who realise that the handover needs to be professional in order for the company to succeed in the new world. They also realise the value of a good education — both in a good institution and in the company playground — for the son or daughter to lead the company towards success.

Yet again, there are some promoters who realise that they know how to run the business even when others have mishandled it. These are the likes of Infosys. The company was built up by a team of five or six software engineers, so it was not seen as a family business. But when push came to shove, it was the Narayana Murthy who acted as if he had his own blood in the business. And it is he who has stepped in to put things right, along with his son. It is now a matter of waiting and watching to see what happens.

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Many thanks to the unwitting scion of a family business who talked to me all through a Mumbai-Delhi flight, rather than listen to music or play on her iPad, for helping form this post.

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Cyclicality in Economies

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The imposition of custom duty on flat panel televisions last month is seen in some quarters as a signal that the government is serious about trying to reduce the current account deficit. Similarly, the increase of import duty for gold, twice in fact, during recent months is being seen as a signal that the government does care about the economy.

However, these moves have not been without negative effects. Signalling could be either ignored or misinterpreted. In either case, it might not achieve its intentions. Not all of these signals reach their aim. For instance, the higher import duty on gold has led to instances of  smuggling of gold.

At times like these, it takes guts to say that India’s crisis could be a good thing, and to take the effort to explain why. Prof. Jayanth R. Varma of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has done exactly that in his post dated 29 Aug. The same post also points to three other links that are equally worth reading. His blog is worth following even for those who are not in the world of finance and business.

Besides this, there is also the history of other countries that we can consider in order to understand our own economy better. There is cyclicality which is seen in several economies. There are periods of booms and busts, and very often the cyclicality is something policy-makers might find difficult to act upon.

One country whose history is interesting for us to understand is Argentina. Apparently, Argentina is a country that has seen strong growth followed by political deterioration accompanied by economic decadence. For those who are even mildly interested, the Wikipedia page of the economic history of Argentina makes for very interesting reading. Many thanks to the person who pointed this out.

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