Restaurants and Hotels in Bangalore - My Reviews

You can find reviews about restaurants close to your area in the popular forums like http://www.zomato.com/

Here, I put my experiences with Bangalore restaurants.


1.) Aagamam Veg Restaurant (Just opposite to Indira Nagar Metro Station)

Address:

3rd Floor, No - 545, C.M.H Road, Near Metro Station, Indiranagar IInd Stage, Bangalore
Timing: 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm Phone: 9742346664, 080-40956662

 Offer:
      Snapdeal offer : (Rs. 40 to avail a Buy-1-Get-1 offer on veg lunch buffet)

 Review:
      We, group of 8 people went on May 31, 2013 (Friday) for Veg buffet lunch.  The final bill without any hidden costs comes around Rs. 150 per person !.  They greeted us with the butter milk.  Then, they gave Tomato shorba soup which was not good.  After complaining to their manager, they replaced it with the babycorn soup which was good.  Then, we had Salads, Starters, Rotis, Rice items and Desserts.  The quality, quantity, taste, service, ambience, number of items all are good.  Kids can enjoy the metro train view as this restaurant is located just opposite to the Indira nagar metrostation.  I was thoroughly satisfied with this place.  It is really a steal offer ! enjoy.

Rating : 5 / 5

2.) Tamil Hotels in Madiwala :

There are 4 good Tamilnadu style hotels in Madiwala.


1.) Karaikudi Mess. - My Rating 4 / 5.
This is a lesser known Mess in that area. 
It is behind Gangothri hotel.

Taste             :  5 / 5
Atmosphere  :  3 / 5
Budget          :  4.5 / 5

2.) Surya Hotel - My Rating 4 / 5

This is a small hotel and always busy.

Taste             :  4 / 5
Atmosphere  :  3 / 5
Budget          :  4 / 5

3.) Hotel Pongal - My Rating 4 / 5

Taste             :  4 / 5
Atmosphere  :  4 / 5
Budget          :  3.5 / 5
 
4.) Madurai Vinayagar Hotel - My Rating 3.5 / 5

Taste             :  3.5 / 5
Atmosphere  :  4 / 5
Budget          :  3.5 / 5

All these three hotels are in the Maruthi Nagar Main Road in close proximity.
If you go from St. Johns Hospital (Hosur Road) to Udupi Garden (Inner Ring Road), You will go via Maruthi Nagar.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                          Outer Ring Road
----------------------------------------------               ---------------------------------------------------------------

                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                    +--------------------+         |  
                                    v                     |      |          | 
                                Karaikudi Mess |     |          |
                           ------------------------+               +------------------------------------------
                                                              Gangothri
                                                                 Circle            ===> Towards Udupi Garden
                           ------------------------+                +-------------------------------------------

                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |      |         |
                                                            |      |         |
                                                            |     v         |    Pongal Hotel
                                       Surya           |   Maruthi|
                                       Hotel            |   Nagar   |
                                                            |  Main Rd|
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                   Vinayaka         |                |
                                    Hotel               |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
 Madivala Ayyappa                           |               |
Temple                                                |               |               
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Hosur Road
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                             St John Hospital 
                                                                                                                       Signal

Temples In Bangalore

1.) Someshwara Temple, Madivala :

                This is one of the ancient temples in Bangalore.
This temple is not known to many people even in that locality !.
It is a small temple, and Yoga classes are conducted in that temple every morning.
I like this temple very much.

>>
History: That’s Madivala in Bangalore. The temple is said to be a Chola period structure, making it one among Bangalore’s oldest. The earliest record dates to 1247 AD and refers to lands donated ''below the big tank of Vengalur'' by a resident of 'Veppur' (Begur), writes Meera Iyer
>> 

More info : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/14855/tv-talk.html

2.) Ragi guddada Temple, Jaya Nagar :

               Must visit temple.  It is located close to Central Mall in JP Nagar.
It is very clean and well maintained.  In the entrance, they give a plastic bag to keep our foot wears.
Also what ever the small money you give to the priests goes to the Hundiyal (Money locker) directly !.  It is a calm place in the bustling surrounding !

More info : http://www.ragigudda.org/

Desktop Screen Capturing and Audio Video Recording Softwares

                People and knowledge can be acquired only at a premium in this age.  Reusability is the mantra and we are accelerating our routine activities to do something new and interesting. 

                If you are one of the senior members of your team, chances are that your considerable time is spent on imparting the project technical knowledge again and again to your juniors.  How it will be if you could record your technical presentations and ask your juniors to refer those videos first before asking any questions ?  You feel you will be having a great time, isn't it ?

                 These are some of the Desktop screen and audio recording software available in the market.

        1.)  Cisco WebEx Player for Playback
                   * Nice tool to record and playback. Recommended.
                   * Guide : http://www.communiqueconferencing.com/webex_editor_guide.pdf

       2.) CamStudio - Desktop Screen Recorder

                   * Free Open Source Software
                   * The output video consumed so much disk space in my test run.
                      I might missed something; May be I need to reduce the screen and resolution.
                    * In general, it is good.

  
       3.) Microsoft  Expression Encoder
                     * Paid software.

       4.) Camtasia Studio
                    * Good features.
                    * Comes with hefty price tag.

India's Mobile Price Comparision Websites

Do you want to search mobile prices across leading online stores in India ?

I see this facility in Sulekha.com, 91mobiles and in mysmartprice.com.

http://mobiles.sulekha.com/nokia_asha-205_compare_prices.htm

http://www.91mobiles.com/compare/Celkon/A95/vs/Samsung/Galaxy+Y+Duos.html

http://www.mysmartprice.com/mobile/nokia-asha-205-msp2396


Enjoy.

Once I bought cheaper 'spice' mobile phone for Rs. 1200.  It has hell lot of features for this small amount.  But it emanates lot of heat if I talk continuously for 15 minutes.  This problem was not seen with my older Nokia 6030 Express music phone.  So, I stopped using the cheaper phones.

So, check the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of your new phone before buying it. More the SAR value, more the radiation you would feel.  So, choose the low SAR value phone. 

Nokia phone SAR values can be found here,

http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/people-and-planet/emf-health/sar/sar-information/

Must Have Firefox Add-ons

Firefox is my favorite browser.
Here, I listed my favorite Firefox Add-ons.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/sarpalan/favorites/?page=1

These are the MUST have Add-ons for any Firefox user.

1.) Downloading 

• Easy YouTube Video Downloader    - To download video from youtube.
• Download Now                                - Quick download
• DownThemAll!                                  - Awesome quick downloader !
• FlashGot                                           - To download all videos in a webpage.
• Download Statusbar                          - Mini download status bar.
• FireFTP                                            - Nice FTP (File Transfer Protocol) interface in browser.

2.) Dictionary lookup

    Answers                                                 - (Alt + double click on any word in a webpage)
                                                                      to see the word's definition.  Very Good one.


3.) To take notes and to manage information (productivity)

•    Evernote Web Clipper                            - To take notes from webpage and store it in Evernote.
•    Zotero                                                    - To organise files
•    Grocery List Generator                           - To prepare a grocery list.

4.) Privacy, Security, Blocking Ads

•     Adblock Plus                                         - To block ads.
•     Collusion                                               - To see the active cookies in a diagram. nice !

5.) Bookmarks and Password 
 

•     Xmarks Sync                                        - To backup your bookmarks and password.
•     Go Parent Folder                                  - To see where bookmark is stored in the folder hierarchy.
•     Show Parent Folder                              - To see where bookmark is stored in the folder hierarchy.

6.) Browser & Internet Related Stuff

•     FoxyProxy Standard                            - To switch between different network proxies quickly.
•     IE Tab+                                               - Internet Explorer inside Firefox !
•     Session Manager                                 -  Stores the opened tabs and session information.
•     Broadband Speed Test and Diagnostics - Network speed test.

vinayagar chathurthi celebrations

Vinayagar Chathurthi Celebrations near my home in Koramangala in Bangalore. (September 4, 2011)
This is a typical kuthu dance. See the energy of these dancers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RqSsqP1Dq0

Kannada classes in Bangalore

Where I can learn Kannada in Bangalore ?
     When I asked Google ji, he gave me this list. :-)


1. Kannada Prasaara Parishat (B.V. Ragahavan)

Kannada Prasaara Parishat has commenced its next batch of Spoken Kannada, Kannada script learning and higher Kannada classes. The classes are held only on Sundays from 10 am to 1pm, at the Hosmat Hospital premises, Magrath Road, (Near Mayo hall Garuda Mall), Bangalore. For further details contact B V Raghavan - 94488 78569 / H V Nataraj - 98456 80958.


I attended Raghavan sir classes conducted in Hosmat Hospital (near Garuda mall) on every sunday from 10 PM to 1 PM.  He has 40 years experience in Kannada teaching and his experience simply glitters in his classes !.  Recommended for beginners.

2. (By omishra)

Near brigade Tower on Bridage road, adjacent lane has one English medium school. There "Kannada Sahitya parishat" Conducts spoken Kannada classes on every week end, Sunday morning 9-12. They also teach to write Kannada.

Spoken Kannada classes

December 22, 2007 — ellakavi

3. SJR Group of Institutions 
It conducts free classes to teach Kannada for non-Kannadigas in various parts of the city. They have 3 centers: one each at Shantinagar, Koramangala and Basavanagudi.

For details contact Ph: 9845989533.

Few links:

Kannada Learning Center

Learn Kannada

Source : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/38501-relocation-local-orientation-help6.html