Urban Indian
Recession Blues 
So, the true Sardar is going to rule the country once again. We just hope that he is able to do so for the whole of the next five years. Given the sycophancy that exists in the Congress Party, it seems certain that sooner rather than later, Rahul Gandhi will be promoted to the Raj gaddi.
What sort of a democracy is this, where the default option is the winner, where DMK wins after it promises rice at 1 kg and free color TVs to all. Can we ever expect an Obama in India. I doubt it. Primarily because the Indian political system is a very closed circle. Being a part of this circle is tough and being able to make a difference after being a part of this circle is tougher.
The commentary on TV is saying that the people of India have voted for stability and that they are far more intelligent than what we presume. Its just another example of the intellectual paucity that we face as a nation. The gaurds of our culture, tradition and the so called mouthpiece of the nation – our media is going gung ho because what they wished to happen, did happen. I fail to understand how the Indian junta is responsible for this verdict and how they voted for “Stability”.
Personally, I wished well for Gujarat and Modi’s comprehensive victory has proved that nothing works as well as development does. All credit to the smart Gujjus who know where their money is. Moving a little further with that, it is really sad albiet a bit expected to see that MNS did have an impact on the votes in Maharashtra. With the kind of tactics that they have resorted to gain votes and attention, it would have had been nicer if the Maharashtrains would have thrown them out too.
Am in Gandhinagar these days and this time too, there have been a lot of changes in my city. It is surprising to note that every time I come here, I see a lot of new things happening and the proactive Gujarat government seems to be working really well nowadays. Mr. Modi rocks. And Gujarat seems like heaven compared to Mumbai and Pune now. Hope this continues.
How Tibbs came into being
“The year 1967 Mr. Amarjit Tibb on returning back from England had a stopover in Beirut. During his brief stop there he stumbled upon a very ingenious Lebanese preparation, which was a pita bread wrap, with a variety of stuffing’s, this fascinated him. Upon his return the idea still lingered on and he kept innovating it to suit the Indian palate, after a year of research along with his wife they hit upon the perfect concoction. This Indianised wrap was soon tried among friends and family and after testing brilliantly it hit the markets. That was a new era to the term fast food in Mumbai, it caught on like fire in the Jungle, people accepted it and kept asking for more.
Now came the problem of naming the product, again a number of brain storming became the order of the day till a unanimous decision on the name was taken i.e. Frankie
This name went on to become synonymous with taste/quality/value for money, and till date stands for the same.
Frankie was then registered as a trademark to Mr. Amarjit Tibbs Company.”
Mr. Amarjit Singh Tibb, introduced Tibbs Frankies to Mumbai with a single outlet at Vihar Lake, which today has spread to numerous outlets all around the country.
The chain of Tibbs restaurants has made Frankie very popular around the country.
Tibbs Hyderabad
The Tibbs restaurant in Hyderabad is a small shack near the Lifestyle store building in Begumpet. The restaurant has a very simple menu which apart from the Frankies also offers sandwiches and ice creams. The Tibbs restaurant is also present in many other locations in Hyderabad. One which I used to frequent quite regularly was at the STC – Satyam Technology Centre canteen at Bahadurpally.
Tibbs is usually a takeaway joint or a small shack with the now famous – albeit a little outdated Tibbs logo staring at us from all places.
Tibbs restaurant in Hyderabad is always heavily crowded, primarily because of the hordes of blue collared workers who work in the building adjoining it and frequent the place regularly. Another reason could also be the fact that in spite of having some really good restaurants, the area near the Begumpet flyover does lack a fast food joint where you can have a bite and run.
Now, we come to the food part. The Tibbs Frankie is as delicious as ever. The best part of the Frankie, I personally have always believed is the special Frankie masala that the Tibbs guys add to the Frankie. It is the one thing that gives the Frankie its special tangy, spicy taste.
The Tibbs Frankie at Begumpet was good, but not as good as the one at Churchgate station. This is the one reason why I always salute McDonalds. They have probably the best franchisee system that I have seen. More about it and the Jumbo King vada pav later.
If you want to eat at the Tibbs Frankie in Begumpet, I will strongly suggest you go for the cheese vegetable grilled sandwich which was one of my favourites. The other was the almond something ice cream cone that they give there.
Nevertheless, Tibbs Frankies are an institution and all thanks to Mr. Amarjit Tibb. My restaurant ratings:
Ratings:
Ambience : 6/10
Food : 7/10
Price : 7/10
Quantity : 7/10
Strictly so so….:-)
Ohri's Jiva, Somajiguda, Hyderabad
Just like Rajdhani and Taj Tristar, this Hyderabad restaurant also provides a sumptuous buffet lunch that has everything from starters to desserts – and loads of it. The best part about eating here is that the food is sumptuous, the service is quick, the sweets are plentiful and most importantly, there are no limits to how much you eat. Ohri’s Jiva is located near the Somajiguda flyover. It is on the right side of the Rajbhavan road after you take a left from under the Somajiguda flyover.
Ohri’s is one of the biggest chain of restaurants in Hyderabad. They have a wonderful Ohri’s restaurant at Banjara Hills which specializes in providing some of the best Punjabi food I have eaten in Hyderabad. But Jiva’s Kitchen, as the Somajiguda outlet is called, is clearly the more famous of its restaurants. Ohri’s Jiva kitchen is famous for its unlimited buffet lunch and I did feel that it really was a wonderful experience eating there.
Jiva’s kitchen has a small counter in the front where they serve fast food and also different variety of dishes and plates that need to be ordered. That area has space enough of 20-30 people. In this space, you can have your fill of various combos like Chhole Puri, Pastas, Biryani and other fast food items. In the back, though there is a huge space where they serve buffet and you can load yourselves up on all the sinful delicacies on offer there.
The starter is served with the soup and then there will be a variety of rotis to choose from. They serve the phulka roti – which I felt was the best part about the restaurant. Serving the phulka is tough because making them is tough. For one, they are small sized, next they need to be turned over and over again – unlike the tandoori roti or kulcha. They take a fair bit of time and you need to cook a lot of these in order to be able to serve them to your customers continuously. At Ohri’s they had a guy who was constantly engaged with only the phulka rotis. Other than phulka, there are the usual butter roti, puris etc available.
The next course was the longest for me. The sweets were Rasgullas, Rasamalai, Gulab Jamuns, Cake, ice cream with toppings and some fruits. I experimented with having a Gulab Jamun topped over an ice cream and it tasted delicious. Recommended recipe from Chef Loony.
Finally, there was the trademark Biryani and a few other types of rice, a few dals too. There were atleast 3-4 different subzis. Different variety of pickles, Raita, Dahi, salads etc. was all available. All in all, Jiva had a huge variety of food available and I made the most of it all.
The food was delicious, not very high in oil, well cooked and with enough sweets for me to call it a sure fire paisa vasool.
Ratings:
Ambience : 8/10
Food : 8/10
Price : 8/10
Quantity : 10/10 – Cant complain here ….. right 
