Dhoni's Adieu as Captain!

India as a cricketing nation generally used to always be a touch submissive and never really in charge when facing a crunch. Panicking was inherent and many a time we have lost our way needlessly handing over matches to the opposition unceremoniously much to the chagrin of cricket lovers. There was always an urge that we needed a leader who could shield us and handle any kind of situation in the most sangfroid of manners.

With Ganguly came being aggressive where India didn't take anything lying down and knew how to fight like terriers. But it was truly with the arrival of this burly milk loving drinking man from the town of Ranchi that India really 'upped the ante' and gave the much desired confidence to it's fans. With Dhoni came a new found resoluteness and pride that India could test the surface of any waters and come out unscathed.

He re-defined leadership and just that simple swagger was enough to inspire a legion of fans. His eyes spoke so much and the control he had over proceedings was totally remarkable. That uncanny knack of being unfazed in the most difficult of occasions was part and parcel of his game and the master strategist was always at play inducing fear in the opposition camp everytime he was involved.

There was a certain charisma about MS which made even people who knew zilch about cricket swooning and falling for him. That magnetic persona in him struck a chord and binded the entire nation. There have been many a time you've felt this guy was simply not a human with the way he kept his emotions under check. He was a man of steel and beyond emulation when it came to coolness.

Take it in writing, it just wouldn't have been possible to win the T20 World cup, ICC World Cup and the Champions Trophy without him being under the helm. He changed the face of Indian cricket and the results achieved under him are unparalleled. It's hard to even imagine that India conquered so much in his captaincy tenure of less than a decade.

Simply put, there was no one like Mahi.
Captaincy will miss you.
Leadership will miss you.
And we definitely will miss you.
Thanks for all the memories and playing your own takeaway by making many of us to be confident in our walks of life all because of getting inspired by you

Aki's - Eating by the Wharf!

The Wooloomooloo wharf is engulfed with restaurant's aplenty catering to various kinds of cuisines. It's quite a buzzing sight to see a line of restaurant's one after the other in a huge stretched surrounding. All of these eateries have seatings both at the outside as well as the inside but seating amidst the breeze on the outset overseeing some really tall buildings is what seems to appease the attention especially during the night time. All of them are dim and ideal with fire lit and lamp lit lamps.

Aki's Indian is the first restaurant in this scenic wharf area. The menu is predominantly to do with a host of tandoori dishes from the North, a skosh of traditional South Indian and bits of sea food and coastal cuisine too added to the fray.

The menu is fairly simple and divided into the following forms: Entree, Main, Sides, Accompaniments and Tandoori Breads. They also have sub sections in the entree and main category with the tag lines contemporary, classics, Tandoori, platters etc. They also have a couple of elaborate thali's within their ambit.

Under the entrée section, we ordered for a crispy dosa which was done up pretty well with onions and potato masala in abundance. The onion chutney to go along tasted nice and so was the lentil based sambar. On the Tandoori side told for a cottage cheese panneer cube starter. This was more of the traditional Panneer tikka which was nicely marinated and the tinge of chilli, cumin and fenugreek leaves added a rather nice touch. They were 4 cubes cut into 8 pieces and went along well with the green chutney. For mains had a plain naan and a garlic naan with black dal for company. The breads were done up well and the lentils were simmering in an aromatic gravy and was esculent. It went along really well with the Indian breads.

Overall, the food passed the test and we were happy with the outcome. However felt the service to be a wee bit slow as it took a lot of time for our food to arrive on the table. On the price side also felt it to be a tad on the expensive side. But blips aside, Aki's can be said to be a good Indian restaurant in an ideal setting and if you're looking to gorge on sone delicious food over a laid back environment, this restaurant and the scenic wharf ambiance works very well.