Mealster - Review

[Updated with comments from Rohit, the founder]

Amazon's headquarter in Seattle's South Lake Union has a fairly large employee base, and surprisingly these people get collectively hungry right about noon time. To tackle this unusual problem there are cafes, restaurants, and food trucks dotting the area. However, demand seems to grossly outweigh supply, especially during the peak period of 12:00 -12:30 PM. Add to this the occasional lunch time meetings and the constant companion - Seattle rains. This gives rise to a demand for lunch delivered to your desk. Although this had been acknowledged for a while by one and all, it took sometime for a bunch of enterprising guys to come up with a business plan. 

Introducing Mealster. I'll let them explain how it works directly.

Fairly simple. And comparatively affordable, as for the same ~$10 price (inclusive of tips, taxes and delivery) you get food truck fare, usually less filling than the restaurant fare Mealster has been offering.

I tried them out for the first time today. Sign up and checkout was a breeze, you can use all sorts of cards and Paypal. Here's a snapshot of their menu for this week.

Meat option

Veg Option

And here's how it actually looked. If you have a 3D printer feel free to download a plate.

Bottomline:

Pros 

• convenient
• affordable (comparatively)
• filling
• tasty
• healthy (I'd like to believe!)

Cons

• need to warm the food as it can get slightly cold

Rohit: This seems like a hard / external problem to solve (e.g. esp in case of cold weather etc.). I would to add that the containers are microwaveable (and ecofriendly), so one can take out the raita and heat the container/food for 1 minute in the microwave (ease of reheating). We will try to look into options of having warmer bags that are used to carry the food boxes.

• no specific time mentioned (between 12-1 PM)

Rohit: Great point. We are planning to come up w a delivery window for each building (based on our delivery route). We will keep our subscribers informed about updates via our mailing list and website.

• lack of options as of now (tie up with only 2 restaurant - Chutneys and Sichuianese Cuisine)

Rohit: We are working to onboard new restaurants on a weekly basis, for the next few weeks. We will keep our subscribers informed about updates via our mailing list and website.

• flight food packing feel and flimsy plasticware

Rohit: I have passed along this feedback to Nitin, the owner of Chutneys. They will be looking into better options.

Will recommend giving these guys a try.

Movies Roundup 2013

And we've come to the end of yet another year and time to look back at what the silver screen had to offer. Saw a fair number of movies, and like in 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2012 made a quick note of initial thoughts and a rating on 10, purely on how much I enjoyed it. As always, very keen to hear your thoughts and exchange some notes. Welcome 2014 and let the show go on!

Let's start with the usual stats:

Year     # Seen Hindi:English:Bangla   Top Rating      Avg. Rating

2007     32               22:10:0                           9.0             5.78

2008     30               23:7:0                             8.5             6.35

2009     24               18:6:0                             9.0             6.85

2010     25               16:9:0                             8.5             6.62

2011     22               15:6:1                             8.5             6.77

2012     28               12:11:5                           9.0             7.33

2013     28               14:14:0                           9.0             7.12

Top honours go to (only movies watched in theatres):           

5. Gravity

4. Madras Cafe

3. The Impossible

2. Raanjhanaa

1. Prisoners  

All images courtesy of Wikipedia

Below you will find the detailed tweet reviews with links to original tweets, and also the Google Document with the completed data (the ones with the asterisk* were seen at home)




The Impossible - Makes you wince, grimace & hope as a family encounters one of history's worst tragedies. Outstanding performances. 8.5/10
Vishwaroop - Just another Islamic terrorism movie with a fake OBL. Couldn't get what the fuss was all about. Shabby but thrilling. 6/10.
Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola - Yet to make up my mind about this, 5 days after watching it. Pankaj Kapur brilliant, storyline shaky. 7/10.
Zero Dark Thirty - Starts slow and a tad long at 2.5 hrs but a brilliant hour long build up and climax. Perfect blend of facts & drama. 8/10
Silver Linings Playbook - Serious cinema meets romantic comedy propped by powerhouse performances & strong script. With a RNBDJ twist:) 7/10
Beasts of the Southern Wild - fantasy, heartbreak & hope packed in 90 minutes of brilliance. Quven is the best 6 year old you'll see. 8.5/10.
The Attacks of 26/11 - A horrifying & spine chilling cinematic depiction. -ves being the "filmy" OTT Kasab & Nana's preachy monologue. 7/10.
Go, Goa, Gone - macabre, absurd, slapstick but hilarious. One of the rare instances of a real 'hatke', with a message not overdone. 7.5/10
The Great Gatsby - The classic comes to life, with full justice to the grandeur and reverie of '20s America. A+ performances all round. 8/10
Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani - classic feel good, urban, Bollywood romantic comedy. Predictable, good looking and definitely watchable. 7/10.
Iron Man 3 - remains the funniest, most human superhero franchise. Never seen before scale. Ben Kingsley brilliant, as is RD Jr. 7.5/10
The Internship - Almost looked like Google's best marketing/recruiting material! Greatest tribute paid to a company. Proud. Nostalgic. 6/10.
Now You See Me - Hollywood's answer to Abbas-Mustan. Grand twists & suspension of disbelief, massive scale. Thoroughly entertaining. 7/10.
Raanjhnaa - Unconventional & heartwarming. Superb performances by Dhanush, SK & others. Strong story, iffy end, brilliant music. Watch. 8.5/10
Man of Steel - A good thing overdone, with the focus on style rather than substance. Not much of a plot but superb action sequences. 6/10.
Lootera - breathtaking, picturesque cinematography. Music that stays with you. Promising storyline that failed to deliver in the end. 6.5/10
Chennai Express - Unpretentious Bollywood (besides an out-of-place sermon), stretched climax, SRK recreating '90s humour & charm. 7.5/10.
Madras Cafe - A rare political thriller. Taut story-line backed by research. Brilliant camerawork. Solid performances by ensemble cast. 8.5/10
Prisoners - frightening & thrilling, you root for the characters & argue right vs wrong. Marvellous story telling, sounds & visuals. 9/10
Gravity - the greatest movie experience I've seen. Average storyline, consistent acting & extraordinary visuals, especially in IMAX 3D. 8.5/10
Captain Phillips- A tense drama, with power performances by Hanks, Barkhad Abdi & team. Bit stretched. Remains true to the incident. 7.5/10
Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Remains true to the series style & theme. Ups the emotional content. Jen shines yet again. Abrupt end. 6.5/10
Dhoom 3 - Aamir Khan's 1st "so-bad-that-it's-good" movie since Mela. Script's as weak as a kitten but some thrilling action scenes. 4.5/10
The Wolf of Wall Street - Stylish, hilarious, & takes its R rating seriously. Reminiscent of Great Gatsby. 1 hour too long. Do watch. 7.5/10

Episode 3 - Enter The Metropolis [From P For Pheesh]

I have been writing a weekly column for the Bengal based site - http://maamatimanush.tv - started by Derek O'Brien and associates since August 2013. I will be reproducing those articles here in my personal blog too. Here's part 2. [Original link]

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Every Kolkata taxi has a personal story to share with you and it does so through the ‘charms’ hanging from the rearview mirror, the miniature statues of idols and other paraphernalia on the dashboard carefully collected over years, and most importantly the cassettes (yes, they continue to live in these vehicles) that introduce you to the driver’s eclectic taste in music. While the scratchy music embraces you for the rest of the journey, the driver engages you with stories from his village or moffusil (a most favourite word in this part of the world) in Bihar, Jharkhand or Orissa. However, there are things that unite all of these black and yellow machines in their shared stories and that’s the unmistakable smell of rexine covered seats as soon as you enter, the rickety sounds the doors make whenever you close them or the taxi goes over a speed bump, the dirtiest piece of torn cloth, which had seen better days as a garment, tucked in the door by the driver’s side, or the ever popular “Jai Maa Kali” written in red letters on the ample behind of the car. 

Our taxi trundles out of the station compound, passing by the stalls with their charcoal stoves and narrow wooden benches getting ready for the lunch crowds to arrive. Every few minutes an overloaded yellow and red minibus with its destination stencilled in flowery fonts overtakes us. These are not manned by drivers, but by “pilots”. Don’t believe me? Check out the “pilot’s door” on any of these and put your doubts to rest. 

Dad would usually be sitting next to the driver in the front seat, with an air of authority over the roads of the city. My mom, sister and I would be sitting behind, suitably impressed with Dad yet again with that mighty skill every Bangali is proud of - knowing Kolkata’s roads and its millions of shortcuts. 

Although we would take the same route every time, the first view of the Ganga and the Howrah Bridge invariably drew a collective gasp inside the taxi. The ferries taking some of the late office goers into the city, across the watery lifeline of the capital. A few large ships floating around. Hundreds of bicycles, scooters, rickshaws, ‘thelas’, cars, buses and what not on the bridge. The sight never got old. 

We crossed the river. We entered the city. The faint winter humidity, sm