Kala Ghoda Festival 2016, Mumbai : PhotoStream

Hello fellas! Presenting an artsy post today featuring the Kala Ghoda arts festival 2016, Mumbai. FYI, Kala Ghoda literally means Black Horse.

Check out the raw unedited PhotoStream here. (Pardon the photo quality since its taken with a cheap phone camera)

The festival which is held every here in the Kala Ghoda area of Fort neighborhood, Mumbai. It features a variety of entertainment programs like :

• Street art fest featuring unique sculptures and installations.
• Poetry and book reading sessions
• Street plays and dramas
• Music shows
• Workshops
• Theatre shows
• Food and cuisine tasting sessions and much much more...

The official schedule can be found here. Also do check this map for a quick location guide. Make sure you visit it since 14th Feb is the last closing day, in case you missed it.

Luxury Uber launches in Mumbai

Uber - the luxury pickup company has launched its operations in Mumbai. The current car fleet will feature Audi A8 and Mercedes E-class as well.

Signup now at this link and enter the promo code UberMumbaiLaunch to avail 2 free rides, valid till March 31 '14. Make sure you own an iPhone or an Android fone.

Costs : 

Base price : INR 100

For every kilometer : INR 17

Per minute surcharge : INR 2

NYE Party nightmare @ Tulip Star, Mumbai - Groupon Refunds

People who bought online tickets of the Tulip Star's NYE party from Groupon, here's some good news you could use.

Please check with Groupon's customer support regarding the show's refunds. A few customers have received an email confirmation that they would be refunded the money. Finally some silver lining to the dark clouds :)

Email support@groupon.co.in or call toll-free 1800-108-3000 

Hope it helps.

NYE Party nightmare @ Tulip Star, Mumbai - Media Coverage

Tulip Star's NYE fiasco has been the talk of the town with the horrible disaster getting pounding media coverage. Here's a compilation of articles that features the event in print.

Mid-Day : Angry mobs wreck New Year's Eve parties

Times Of India : Irate revelers go on the rampage at three venues

DNA : Party organiser, Juhu hotel owner booked for cheating revelers

Mumbai Mirror : Crowds, bartenders hurl bottles at each other over lack of food and alcohol

Indian Express : New Years Eve turns sour as organisers play spoilsport

Business Standard : Hotel owner, event organiser booked for cheating

Angry customers are uniting on social media by forming Facebook groups, online petitions to get a refund. As of date, an FIR has also been filed against the organizers PurpleStone Entertainment at Santacruz police station.

Facebook Group : Complain Against Fraud Done by Tulip Start Hotel & Purplestone Entertainment

Facebook Group : Against Tulip Star

NYE Party nightmare @ Tulip Star, Mumbai - Bookmyshow Refunds

Folks who have bought online tickets for the Macau Midnight Madness NYE party at Tulip Star Mumbai, please check the following piece of information on Bookmyshow regarding refund of cancelled shows.

Make sure to call the above mentioned Bookmyshow customer care number 022 39895050 and ask them about the status of refunds. My 2 cents. Hope it helps.

NYE Party nightmare @ Tulip Star, Mumbai - Update

In our previous post, we reported about the horrible fiasco that happened at Tulip Star NYE party in Mumbai. Some more information has popped up about how callous and irresponsible the management was.

Thousands of customers who had bought the tickets were frustrated and angry to know that the show was cancelled. One such dissatisfied and angry customer Bharat Shah shared his bitter experience. He was waiting in the queue to enter inside since 8.30 pm and kept standing for about 2 hours. And finally, when he reached the entrance counter, he was shocked to see no person around. There was no person at the counter to check the entrance formalities.

It was then, when he, along-with thousands of other revelers realized that the organizer had cheated them. Some people had come to the event, all the way from as far as Nashik, only to be utterly disappointed. When he entered inside he could see how the stage and other setups were vandalized by other angry customers.

The customers are now scrambling to get their ticket refunds. IronCladZone intends to guide disillusioned customers and help them share their views across and dispense useful information on getting justice.

Check out some pictures below of the mismanaged event.

Image Credits : Bharat Shah

NYE Party nightmare @ Tulip Star, Mumbai

Juhu Tara Road of Mumbai, which houses multiple 5-star hotels, was crowded last night with party revelers out on street. Turns out, one of the organizers which organised a NYE party - Macau Madness at Tulip Star, cancelled the show and fled. It seems the people were cheated of their money who had paid as high as INR 8000 for the show. Many consumers felt disgusted and frustrated and are contemplating legal action against the organizers.

A detailed report can be read here. The canceling of the show resulted in huge crowds spilling all over the Juhu neighborhood. Cops were constantly patrolling and monitoring the crowds. The traffic police had their hands full, trying to manage the mess. This resulted in traffic moving along at a snail's pace.

All-in-all, it turned out to be a New Year's nightmare for all the folks, who were enthusiastically looking forward to welcome 2014.

New Year 2014 - The Countdown

Ola! Como Estas? Well well well, 2014 is just around the cornor and its time to say 2013 a goodbye forever.

So folks, what are your new year resolutions?  Any memories of 2013 you would like to share? How was 2013 for you overall - Good or Bad?

How do you plan to welcome the new year 2014? Which NYE party you going to?

Do drop by your valuable comments... Ciao

Dominos Pizza India Coupon Codes

The next time you're craving a Dominos pizza in India, I suggest you order them online. Infact, here's a small list of coupon codes which almost always tend to work.

RMB25 - Sitewide 25% discount on most orders above 400 bucks. 

al20a - a flat 20% discount.

MOBAPP25 - 25% disocunt when ordered through the mobile app.

Shawarma Factory, Mumbai

If you're in Mumbai and have some craving for Mediterranean cuisine, a quick fix is the Shawarma Factory located in the Andheri neighborhood. Just a few days back, it was getting late at night and I was damn hungry. So I quickly ordered a delivery parcel for the vegetarian Combo platter.

The platter came in a nicely packed compartmentalized box. It had the following food items:

• Paneer Shawarma
• Veg Biryani
• Fattoush Salad
• Arabic styled pickles
• 2 Falafel balls with hummus
• Pita breads
• A small piece of the semi-sweet pastry 'Baklava'

Take a look :

The Biryani (rice preparation) was decent and had a few paneer cubes (Indian cottage cheese) in it.

For the Paneer shawarma, you can see the Paneer pieces (top middle compartment) which we are supposed to put in the pita bread alongwith other veggies to form a roll.

The falafel balls were nicely cooked with a crunchy texture. Oh and the small piece of Baklava pastry was way too small. I suggest they increase the size of it by atleast an inch.

All in all, a quite decent platter package for a competitive price of ₹ 199. They do have a chicken shawarma platter for about ₹ 250 bucks

Check out the listing and reviews of this establishment here.

Pav Bhaji @ Juhu Beach, Mumbai

Juhu Beach is one of Mumbai's open public spaces where people come to relax on the beach, stroll on the sands, jog around listening to their iPods and of-course to relish authentic street food.

Check out the following video to see the preparation of most popular street food - Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is essentially a fine mixture of potatoes of tomatoes with spices and lots of butter.

Debonair's Pizza - Versova, Mumbai

Just a few days ago, we wanted to try out something from the 2-month-old outlet of South African pizza chain Debonair's Pizza in Mumbai. We were kinda bored of the same old pizzas from Smokin' Joes or Dominos or Papa Johns. So we thought of checking out Debonair's Pizza unique pizza offering - the Triple Decker. Picked up the phone and ordered a large ₹645 (taxes extra) Veg Triple Decker. We were told that the delivery would take approximately 40-45 minutes.

I was quite excited to taste it since the marketing photos on the menu card looks quite tempting enough considering its a 3-layered stacked pizza with a variety of toppings. Quite a unique offering for the Indian market. Ok so in roughly about an hour, the bell rang and here came the pizza. The delivery boy asked me to check the bright red spot on the box indicating that the pizza was freshly baked and hot.

Now lets analyze the whole pizza experience.

• Packaging

The above picture of the box was clicked after feasting on the pizza, so you see the black spot on the box which means the temperature inside is cold. At the time of delivery it should be glowing RED, which was red as promised. No issues about it. Honestly it adds a certain level of WOW-ness to the package.

Note: At the time of delivery, if the round spot is Black, your pizza is FREE.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

• Visual Appearance

Lets look at the menu photo found at their Zomato listing. The picture is so visually appealing, it increases your appetite.

Now lets look at what the pizza actually looks like. The 3 layers are quite thin in thickness. Its like 3 thin crisp bases topped on each other.

Lets take a closer look from a slightly different angle. Yes the colorful oozing melting cheeses does a fine job of stimulating appetite. The yellows, reds, greens makes up a pleasing picture.

Rating : 4 / 5

• Taste

Here is the most important part - taste. At the first bite you can relish the delicious 3 cheeses if you start eating from center towards the border. After a few bites you can feel the complex symphony of tastes of toppings - mushrooms, pineapple, olives, tomatoes, onion, chillies, corn etc. The pineapple sweetness is sometimes interrupting while you feel your tomatoes and olives and corn and the blended cheeses. Otherwise its a decent tasting pizza which I could rate 3.5 on a scale of 5. Next time I'd like to try their localized Indian pizzas like Pudina Paneer and Chicken Makhani.

The whole pizza is super filling for one person - my belly was full after eating 2/3rd of the portions.
I would recommend eating the triple decker on an empty stomach or sharing it with your friends.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

• Pricing

The price tag of 645+ taxes came up to approx 750. I think the pricing is still on the costlier side. Its local competitor Joey's Pizza in the neighborhood offers same-sized delicious pizzas for half the price tag. Also there is no online ordering facility like Dominos, so you have to phone-in and order one.

I think most people would pay the premium, just to check how unique the Triple Decker is.

On the pricing front, I believe the prices have not hit the sweet spot yet, its not alluring enough to sway Joey's loyalists or attract repeat customers.

Rating : 2.5 / 5