Monthly Archives: January 2009

Looking back and going forward

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Slowly, I am getting to know that more and more people from media sector in Oman are reading my blog. Some of them have mailed me personally, while other feedbacks I am getting it though my sources or whenever I bump into them personally. Imagine having a handful of readers in my office itself! Blogging with my own name comes with a price – I can’t blog about topics I really want to. Some topics are very subjective – things which are ok for me might be uncomfortable for others. And, I don’t indulge in any PR stunts here, which means I might be highly unpopular with some folks around. Never mind. Attracting bouquets and brickbats in equal measure, I do hope to continue what I have been doing till now.

With nothing much happening this week in Oman, I didn’t have anything worthwhile to blog about, and my focus drifted to Twitter. I have been using Twitter for more than a year now, and it suits me perfectly – it short, cute and to the point. Now, many of my blogger friends from Oman are active in Twitter too, and this makes scene all the more merrier.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kishorcariappa

Oman gets new brand mark

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I neither thrilled nor cynical about Oman’s new national brand mark which was unveiled yesterday. For the first cut (initial effort), it looks ok for me. Logos or brand marks are always frowned upon until we get used to it. Let me put it this way –– beauty of a logo lies in the eyes of the beholder. MNCs like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Intel, etc have been regularly changing their logos to suit global trends and business needs. Every time, hue and cry is made of the new logos initially. After sometime, they are accepted and life goes on. Similarly, Oman’s brand mark is a maiden effort to brand the country globally, and in a few years down the line they can be redone or changed completely. Nothing is final.

According to Oman Brand Management Unit:

Looking at the brand mark from right to left, the first colour, dawn purple, represents the dhow; Musandam aquamarine green is inspired by Oman’s rich marine environment and the turtle in particular; sky blue is taken from the silhouettes of the mountains; and the Salalah green is the essence of frankincense.

I am surprised there is no mention of “magical mountains” in the brand mark, which, according to me, is the ‘USP’ from tourism perspective. Also, like India’s “Incredible India” or Malaysia’s “Truly Asia”, an appropriate tagline below the brand mark would make the creative livelier instead of plain “Sultanate of Oman”.

Blue Chi and Sangeetha have blogged about the new brand mark, here and here.

Restaurant review: Silk Route

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When in a mood to relish Chinese cuisine, what are your options in Muscat? I have tried Golden Oryx, Wok of Life, Chinese Garden and China Town. I am done with over-hyped Golden Oryx. They seem to be using some funny tasting oil now. One thing, no one can beat their ambience. Wok of Life food is okey-dokey, but pricing is a bit steep for kind of food they dish out. The remaining two are Chinese Garden and China Town. These serve Indianese food (Indian+Chinese). Chinese Garden is more of a Malayali-run Indian restaurant and less of Chinese. Food is cheap. China Town has a fancy for oil – I can’t get over their oil-dripping drums of heaven, yikes!


Looking for more options, upon recommendation from another foodie, we landed up at Silk Route, the Chinese-Thai restaurant, located at Al Noor Plaza in Madinat Qaboos. The interiors of the hotel are very oriental, seating very comfortable and ambience perfect.

We started off with chicken clear soup with vegetables. I am not great fan of soups, but this one stumped me. It was perfectly done. For starters, we had chicken satay (Thai dish) and drums of heaven. Both tasted good, and portion decent. Peanut sauce to go with satay was awesome.


For main course, we ordered mixed fried rice, vegetable noodles, chicken in schezwan sauce and stir fried vegetables. No complaints here too, everything tasted good. Fried rice was superb.


We rounded off with plain lychees. For 2 soups, 2 starters, 4 main course dishes and 2 desserts, our bill came up to RO 28. Not bad at all. Prices are reasonable. Impressed, I have decided to extensively try out Thai cuisine next time.




Stir fried vegetables



Vegetable noodles.



Mixed fried rice.



Chicken in schezwan sauce.

A game of missed chances

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I’ve always wanted to watch the Oman soccer team playing –– live in the stadium. It didn’t happen during the recent Gulf Cup (thanks to my work schedule). Yesterday, when I got a pass for the Oman versus Indonesia AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, I jumped at it. Going by recent form, I did expect Oman to score half a dozen goals against their less fancied opponent. Half a dozen scoring chances were created during the whole match, but Oman failed to convert those easy sitters into goals. The match ended in a goalless draw.

Omani fans, in colourful paraphernalia, had come in large numbers to see their team continue its great form. Around 40% of the Bowsher stadium was occupied by fans. The atmosphere was great with sounds of drumbeat reverberating across the stadium. Indonesia too had their share of crowd support, but their team looked as if they were keen to avert a possible defeat than play some attractive soccer. Oman had 70% of the ball procession, and they fumbled time and again in the Indonesian citadel.

Ali Al-Habsi wasn’t there, so was Badr Al Maimani. Imad Al Hosni was trying very hard to regain his form. Goalkeeper Huwaidi Sulaiman was very impressive like in the previous few friendly matches. I was very impressed with Fawzi Basheer, Kanu and Rabea. They look rock solid. Post-match press conference saw Claude Le Roy not very happy the way the game was conducted by the Bangladeshi referee. “I can write a book about him,” he said in utter disappointment. The Oman coach admitted the boys were exhausted after the last game which saw more than 120 minutes of on-field action. I hope Oman will do well in qualifiers against Australia and Kuwait in the weeks to come. I feel sorry for Omani players who didn’t get enough time to relish their Gulf Cup win.

Men for all seasons

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These folks are very familiar to the people of Muscat. Sunshine, rain or storm, they are always in the thick of things –– struggling to keep ‘Muscat is a clean city’ tag intact. They are up to their task every morning at 5.45am sharp when the mini truck of Muscat Municipality drops them at assigned places. During summer, when most of us duck under air-conditioners to beat the sweltering heat, life is normal for these guys –– with drenched clothes they go on with their task. Every summer, I feel like walking upto them and say “thank you” (for keeping the city clean). But, till now, haven’t had to the courage to do so.