Blog

  • New In Lonavala: Enjoy Hillside Sundowners At Marquee, Radisson’s Plush New Sky Bar

    Mumbai folks, if you’re tired of seaside sundowners, how about heading to the hills for a special one? Imagine watching the sunset over the lush Sahyadris as you sip on exquisite drinks and enjoy elevated comfort foods. Echoes of mist and rain enhance the landscape, making it all the more relaxing. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Well, if you stay in Mumbai (or Pune, for that matter), you don’t have to travel too far for this experience. You just have to go to Lonavala. A unique rooftop lounge called Marquee recently opened its doors at the Radisson Resort & Spa in Lonavala. This elegant establishment is Lonavala’s first-ever sky bar, and it promises a sumptuous escape. Thanks to the resort’s location away from the main town centre, guests can truly enjoy a sense of seclusion not commonly found in this popular hill station.
    The lounge has a variety of aesthetic seating options. The striking 25-foot-long rock-carved bar complements the semi-celestial theme also reflected in the cocktail menu. There are two adjoining al-fresco areas on either side, offering views of the hills all around. The glass roof is bound to offer stargazing opportunities after the monsoon.

    At the far end, guests can peek into the proceedings in the live kitchen and enjoy glimpses of various treats being prepared. From the theatrics of mixologists at the bar to the culinary creations on the other side, the space feels animated and energetic. When we visited, there was a charming live music performance that enhanced the mood further. Inspired by the ever-changing hues of the sky, the ambience shifts fluidly from golden hour to a starlit soiree.

  • Chennai’s Classics on Her Plate: Mithila Palkar Relishes Dosa and Filter Coffee

    There’s nothing more comforting than a good old plate of dosa. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside – the staple South Indian dish always hits the spot. When you dip the potato-filled crepe in tangy sambar and creamy coconut chutney, the flavourful explosion in your mouth stays with you for a long time. Don’t know about you, but Mithila Palkar agrees with us wholeheartedly. On her recent visit to Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the ‘Little Things’ actress had an authentic culinary experience as she indulged in a plate of lip-smacking dosa. She dropped a set of pictures and a video on Instagram, documenting her gastronomical escapade. 
    The crispy and soft dosa was presented on a traditional thali. It was served with three bowls: traditional coconut chutney, sambar dal and spicy red chilli chutney. Mithila Palkar completed her foodie venture with a glass of hot filter coffee. In one clip, she was seen pouring the rich and aromatic brew into her glass. Her delightful expressions were clear proof of how much she enjoyed the delectable combo. “The real love story = food + me,” read the side note.

  • Bizarre Saag Milkshake Video Trends, Chef Faces Mock ‘Jail’ Demand

    Milkshakes are a heavenly respite in the hot summer season and also a refreshing saviour when the monsoon humidity kicks in. When you think of milkshakes, it’s the classic flavours that instantly pop into our minds: chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and so on. But what if you were served a glass of vegetable milkshake? No, we are not kidding. Thanks to popular digital creator Pushpek Sidhu, social media users have come across a bizarre drink, aka Saag Milkshake. A peculiar twist of leafy, green vegetables to the classic shake.  

    The video opens to a voiceover saying, “Have you tried our brand new Saag Milkshake?” It was followed by Pushpek Sidhu’s shocked reaction, which did not come as a surprise. The preparation involves adding a “generous scoop of luxuriously creamy” vanilla ice cream into a blender, followed by “pure, organic, hand-stirred saag”. The cook claims the vegetable to be a “secret ingredient”. Next, the two items are mixed uniformly before the concoction is poured into a glass and topped with whipped cream. Adding to the uncanniness, the Saag Milkshake is then garnished with “a fragrant sprig of coriander” for that final touch. 

  • Swiggy Customer’s Lost Faith in People Revived by a Restaurant’s Small Gesture

    Online food delivery has become the new norm. But sometimes, the service just fails to hit the mark. The paneer tikka you ordered comes soggy, or the tandoori chicken that arrives is overly roasted. On such occasions, the customer’s first thought is to seek help from customer care. However, the solutions given often leave them dissatisfied. A Delhi resident recently had a similar experience when the chicken curry he ordered from Swiggy came “half-filled with oil”. But his story had a happy ending. 

    The social media user shared a long note on Reddit. He wrote, “ (The chicken curry) looked super unhealthy. I spoke to Swiggy, sent relevant photos, and they refused to help, citing that I would have to write an email to them. How is this so common now? Why is the help section called the help section, then, if they can’t offer help? I thought, let’s just leave it and not order from here again.”

    The man’s fate changed when he called the restaurant directly. “I spoke to the manager — explained what I felt. He listened and said he’d talk to the chef. Five minutes later, I got a call from the chef himself. He genuinely apologised and admitted that something may have gone wrong. I told him I’d already eaten it—after removing as much oil as I could—because I had no choice. He understood and promised to send me a fresh dish tomorrow, on the house, and assured it would be up to the mark,” he recalled. 

  • Qwen VLo AI Model Released, Offering Advanced Image Generation and Editing at No Cost

    Alibaba’s Qwen team released a new image generation artificial intelligence (AI) model last week. Dubbed Qwen VLo, it is a successor to the Qwen 2.5 vision language model and comes with several upgrades compared to the older models. The latest AI image model supports both text-to-image and image-to-image generation. It also supports text input in multiple languages, including English and Chinese. Apart from image generation, the AI model is also capable of making inline edits to generated images as well as input images.

    In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official handle of the Qwen team announced the release of the new model. The model’s technical name is Qwen3-235B-A22B, and it is available on the company’s chat interface for free here. Users can also use the model without logging in.

    Gadgets 360 staff members tested out the AI model and found its image generation capability to be on par with Google’s Imagen 2. The instruction following and image output quality is slightly lower than Imagen-3 and OpenAI’s GPT-4o-powered image generation feature. However, its generation time is faster than both of them, and it has a higher rate limit than them.

  • Bribe Bust Followed by Health Scare: Delhi Cop Suffers Chest Pain, Hospitalised

    A Head Constable of Delhi Police, currently under treatment at Burari Hospital, suffered chest pain after he was caught red-handed while taking a bribe at Burari Police Station.

    According to the Vigilance Department of Delhi Police, a head constable was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 and subsequently suffered chest pain requiring hospitalisation. The incident occurred at the Burari police station in North Delhi on Friday night. The team rushed him to Burari Hospital, and now he is under treatment, officials added.

    A team from the Vigilance department had laid a trap for the head constable after a local businessman complained about the officer demanding a bribe of Rs 75,000 to not remove the mobile tower from his terrace. The complainant was instructed to offer the bribe in three instalments of Rs 25,000 each.

    The head constable was arrested while accepting the bribe, but he suffered chest pain and was rushed to the hospital.

    According to Vigilance, the officer is currently stable and will be arrested once discharged from the hospital. An investigation is underway to determine the full extent of the officer’s involvement in the bribery case.

  • Mumbai Woman’s Horror Story After Glutathione Treatment: “I Almost Didn’t Make It”

    In a tragic coincidence, Shefali Jariwala – known as the “Kaanta Laga” girl and a reality TV star – passed away last week, reportedly after taking glutathione injection while fasting. However, the post-mortem report is awaited. 

    Now, a Mumbai woman has come forward with serious allegations of medical negligence against a cosmetic clinic administering glutathione drips – an increasingly popular but unregulated treatment marketed as a skin lightening and detox therapy.

    Speaking exclusively to NDTV, 40-year-old Maggie says she is still reeling from the physical and mental trauma of the treatments, nearly a year later. 

    “After the first session, my cough and cold got aggravated. I kept calling the clinic and messaging the doctors, but there was no response. I didn’t know what was happening to my body,” she recalls.

    Despite her symptoms, she continued with the second and third sessions, attributing her illness to weather changes and pollution. She even underwent a PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) facial treatment at the clinic, which she describes as “badly done”, alleging that the plasma was injected late, leading to scars on her face. 

  • Public Servant Assaulted in Odisha: Dragged, Kicked; Three Face Arrest

    High drama unfolded in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office today after a senior official was assaulted by a group of men. In a shocking video, the men were seen dragging the additional commissioner of the BMC, Ratnakar Sahoo, out of his office, repeatedly hitting him and kicking him in his face.

    Mr Sahoo was allegedly attacked during a grievance hearing. He has alleged that while the public hearing was going on, some people barged into his chamber and grabbed him by his collar and assaulted him over claims that he allegedly misbehaved with Jag Bhai (BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan). He also claimed that the men tried to forcibly take him to their vehicle.

    “While I was conducting a grievance hearing around 11.30 am, five to six people, including BMC corporator Jeevan Raut, barged into my chamber. As soon as he entered the chamber, the councillor asked me if I had misbehaved with Jag Bhai. But when I refused, the people accompanying him misbehaved and manhandled me. They dragged me out of my office, thrashed me and were trying to forcibly take me to their vehicle,” Mr Sahoo said.

    Visuals showed the men pushing him to the ground, kicking him and dragging him down a set of stairs to a vehicle

    A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed in the case, and three people – Jeevan Raut, Rashmi Mahapatra and Debashish Pradhan – have been arrested.

  • “It’s Okay to Fight Ageing, But Let’s Not Lose Ourselves,” Says Khushbu Sundar

    Actor Khushbu Sundar has pointed at ‘fear of missing out’ or FOMO as one of the key contributing factors that adds immense strain on the lives of young people and those in the entertainment industry to stay in top shape externally, and in the process fall prey to anxiety, panic attack, depression and a host of other serious health issues.

    She said there are two kinds of pressures that people in the entertainment industry face – from within, and from outside.

    When people expect you to look a certain way, present yourself in a certain way, whether it’s your makeup or clothes, when they expect you to have a designer, a stylist, etc that’s what can be called pressures from within the industry, Mr Sundar told NDTV.

    “But more than that, I think the pressures are more from the outside world. In today’s times, when we talk about social media, this is where the pressure comes from,” she said. “… If you’re not properly dressed, if one hair is out of place, if your mascara is running down, if you’re not wearing your lipstick, then I think the pressure builds up that you don’t know how to handle yourself.”

  • SpaceX Gets Regulatory Clearance, Starlink Set to Enter Indian Market

    India is on the cusp of a major leap in digital connectivity as SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service inches closer to operational status in the country. 

    In an exclusive conversation, Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), which is India’s space regulator, confirmed that most of the regulatory and licensing requirements for Starlink have been addressed. 

    The final approvals are expected to be wrapped up in the coming days.

    The meeting between Dr Goenka and Gwynne Shotwell, who is President & COO of SpaceX, held during the latter’s recent visit to India, focused on resolving outstanding issues related to authorisations. 

    While the groundwork is nearly complete, Dr Goenka emphasised that several technical and procedural steps remain before the service can be launched. “Even after authorisation, it will take a few months for the service to become operational,” he noted.