Oyaji

Oyaji

3123 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121, (415) 379-3604 I loved Oyaji! Set aside the minimalistic decor reminiscent of the traditional izakayas and the tasty looking Japanese pub fare and you have Oyaji, himself. The term "oyaji" in Japanese can mean dad or an unrelated older man who's like a father, and sometimes can be used in the slang sense such as "sukebe oyaji" (dirty old man). And that's exactly what the owner, Hideki, is and quite proud of it, I must say. Hideki is a riot and very endearing. He regales you with humorous anecdotes then...

PETA

PETA

A few days ago we had a discussion in this space on zoos, circuses and bullfights. Researching for more material I came across this disturbing video and write up here and here.As for fights using animals it is another horror story - read about it here.Please visit PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) to learn about the cruelties inflicted on animals for the amusement of humans.As the banner line on one of the sites says:"Please say "No" because Animals cant!"As you come out of the Bannerghatta national park in Bangalore there is an enclosure...

PJ's Oyster Bed -- CLOSED

PJ's Oyster Bed -- CLOSED

737 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122, (415) 566-7775 We've all heard that silly bit of info about only eating oysters in months that end in the letter "r." Well, screw that bit of nonsense! I've been...

Dragonfly - CLOSED

Dragonfly - CLOSED

1809 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 498-9200 Who'd have thought that the day before Valentine's Day would be such a busy night for eating out? And on a Tuesday night in the burbs at that?...

Born and rest equal?

Born and rest equal?

Can Woman exercise all the professions as Man?It was Simone de beauvoir who said "one is not born a woman.One becomes a Woman."("On ne nait pas femme, on le devient") When I read it first I was about 20 and I interpreted it to mean that through cultivated behaviour and training which makes her gentle, charming and beautiful she flowers into a woman. I thought it was a positive thing to do train oneself and become that kind of woman. Little did i realise that it was precisely this that Simone was criticising - the conditioning which makes a person...

V day and D day

V day and D day

Well , love is in the air once again whether you like it or not - red hearts, red roses and teddies with the request " be my valentine" adorn shop windows.Culture police is getting active in some cities to protest this "assault" on our culture.Tv channels and newspapers are stopping people on their way to their business demanding their opinion on whether V day should be celebrated. No one has ever asked for my opinion on such important issues so I decided to use this space to air my opinion.(All those India today polls on such important issues...

Animals for Amusement

Animals for Amusement

I know I have been distracted with dogs and cats and their names while I ought to have been studying. But I had a genuine reason for needing this distraction - I had classes over the weekend and on Sunday on the way to class I lost my purse with all my credit cards, debit cards and my driving licence and it has been stressful making sure everything is in order. yesterday, there was a bandh call in this state and I could finally sort out things only today. So now I can get back to more serious issues for the argumentation.Are you for or against...

The Name game

The Name game

Names, as I have said before, are, like the third variety of greatness that Shakespeare spoke of, "thrust upon you." Well in my school days i'd have liked to be Yamini, Kamini, Ragini or at least Nalini which would have allowed me to share my name with a favourite teacher. But no, my folks had decided that I'd be a Usha. They had a Ravi and Chander before and they probably decided to explore the space in-between and came up with Usha! Or may be it was just that every 3rd child was named Usha in my days and voilà, I was the third wasn't I? Anyway,...

Media and Neutrality

Media and Neutrality

Can media be totally neutral?At first sight I found the question totally ridiculous as in my opinion, all media is ethically bound to be non-partisan and simply report facts. Well if it is that simple why is it that we have so many versions of news and why is there a following for each of them? Why is it people snigger about the dull news reports from the government owned channels when all it does is present the news like it is: without any frills? We used to hear a lot of jokes about the dull and over cautious reporting by the newspaper The Hindu...

saying it all

saying it all

"Should a couple tell each other everything?" Is it important for a happy life together that the couple discuss and share everything?When we were growing up, we had not seen much of discussion between my father and mother. My mother was aware of the general information on where my father was going what he did and how much of money he could provide for the family, what annoyed him and what made him happy. The details were never known.Sometimes when he asked her opinion on whether she was ok with a certain decision of his she invariably said "ya....

Science vs diseases

Science vs diseases

Do you think one day Science will find a cure for all diseases?One of the many questions I have been thinking about these past days. in case you are wondering why I ponder over such serious issues all of a sudden, it is because "Science and human progress" is one of the many subjects on which I may be asked to write an essay or make an argumentation about in my forthcoming French examination - Fourthcoming is more like it as the exams are on the 4th.As my head was getting more and more muddled with issues relating to culture, society, science and...

Link love

Link love

Most bloggers write in order to be read. When I started my blog, I had all of 6 readers and since the comment feature was not available then, they would respond to my post via email. And if I didnt hear from them 2 days after posting, I would forward the post by email and make sure that they read it! I never felt any sense of impropriety about it because I wanted their opinion on things I was writing about -I wanted their point of view. It just seemed like an online forum among friends. Then the comments feature came in and once in a way someone...