Homecoming

A friend and my ex-roommate, Nanda, returned from the US of A today for a small vacation after a gap of 6 months.
My first reaction as I entered my apartment, and saw him staring at me in my face, was - "What! You are still in the same clothes you left India in!". And the memories of the past flashed by. Happy Memories.
I could not even imagine that I was meeting him after such a long time.6 Months!

This is what Nanda is saying:
Airport se bahar atey hi maine bahar road pe construction dekha....
Arrey yeh Nile shampoo ki bottle abhi bhi shelf pe rakhi hai.
Yeh bathroom mein geyser ka switch abhi bhi rtoota hua hai.
Mujhe papad khane hain.
Mujhe to neend hi nahin aa rahi hai.
Arey yeh right hand drive.....
Main yahan pe gaadi nahin chala sakta.
Mujhe lag raha hai main mota ho gaya hoon.

Welcome home Mr NRI. Have a comfortable say. This is what I can say!

Of Ramlal, food, music, literature and celebrity spotting

It is very rare that you get to enjoy literature, good food, theatre and celebrity spotting; all at one go; under one roof. If you are wondering what place am talking about, just walk into the compound of Prithvi Theatre.
Tucked away in the calm surroundings of Janki Kutir, at a stone's throw from the hustle bustle of neighbouring Juhu beach, Prithvi is an art lover's paradise and I am in love with this beautiful place.

When at Prithvi, one has so many options to explore that time seems to fly by.

We (Me and R) went for a play "Salesman Ramlal" starring Satish Kaushik and Seema Biswas. The play has a somber story revolving around the life of a common salesman - Ramlal (played by Satish) who like many of us, dreams of making it big. Ramlal's entire life is a mirage and it comes crashing one day. Though there is absolutely no positive note in the story, it does gets us to realise that "(इंसान के ) कुछ न होने में कुछ गलत नहीं " (There is nothing wrong in being a mediocre). The problem is in not accepting the reality and chasing the mirage. Seema Biswas’ and Satish Kaushik’s performances are impeccable as the husband-wife duo.

If theatre is not your muse, the Prithvi Cafe - an open air cafe - is a great place with its reasonable prices and the modest spread of appetising preparations. And if you are looking for that "something more"; look no more. Just look around; and the flute rendition by a sexagenarian seated under a banyan tree - Suhas Joshi (an architect by profession) - is something that would definitely take you to a different world.

If you are still yearning for more, Prithvi also offers its visitors a quaint book-store which houses one of the most amazing collections of literature. I am in love with their collection of Hindi authors.

You also get to spot many celebrities enjoying a cuppa at Prithvi. Me and R were able to spot Makarand Deshpande (the Fakir in Swades), Vrajesh Hirjee (the Anthony Gonzalves in Golmal Returns) and Madhurjeet Sarghi (Santosh Bhabhi from Na aana iss des….). There were many more known faces whom you could remember but not recall where were they seen last on the silver screen.

Prithvi is untouched by time. It belongs to an era bygone!

Of Mumbai, friends, birthdays and stray dogs

Mumbai
It is a city of dreams, glitter, local trains, fast life, slumdogs and millionares. Though I love every bit of my stay in this city, which I would prefer call by its maiden name - Bombay, I was rather disappointed when my parents told me that they found "Apnu Amdavad" better compared to this "Maximum City". Guess Bombay put all its efforts just being called Mumbai and Karnavati never minded being the uber-metropolitan and well planned Amdavad.

Friends
Mumbai (Bombay) has given me my share of some very close friends. As much as I would like to write in the names, I would not like to succumb to the temptation lest I forget a name and regret it later.
We have shared innumberable laughs and bucket full of tears. We have been there for each other when we celebrated our birthdays and promotions; during break-ups and during the engagements; while shifting our houses to cooking yummy meals together; in enjoying the street food at midnight on the Juhu beach when someone's parents were visiting or in the times when someone hasn't got the big bonus they were expecting.
Thanks guys (and gals) for being there. You are a BIG support system here!!

Birthdays
Birthdays are always special.
I just returned from Tushar's place after wishing him a Happy Birthday. It was fun. We literally had a virtual party. Wouldn't get into the nitty gritties but me and Ruchika (one of the virtual participants) had a good time with Tushar. After a long time we wished someone Happy Birthday the XIMB way.
We, me and the bunch of friends that I have here, have always been innovaitive in the midnight celebrations. Then be it cutting a Pizza on Marine Drive (Am sure, Ruchika you would remember this all your life) or literally running out of air blowing the magic candles!

Stray Dogs
An obscure topic to talk about, but then a stray dog (even worse would be a bunch of them) chasing your motorcycle in the dead of the night on a dark road is the last thing you would like to encounter as you return home after a long day at work. I was reminded of many such wild chases I have had while I was retuning home from Tushar's place today. Each dog on the road was (and there were tens of them) a potential threat. Thank God, none of them tried racing with me else I would have had to zoom my poor bike (its an old 100 cc TVS) at whatever gear it was in with my legs up in the air!!!

Nostalgia - Served hot on the platter!!

We met after a long time - Me and T. It was a long day at work and I was counting each second. As soon I wrapped up I and was at the basement, just about to give that first kick to my motorcycles, I remembered that I had forgotten to mention something important in my past mail to my client. So, back I went; frustrated and cursing myself for being so careless. As soon as my mailbox’s sent items folder confirmed that my mail was out from our server, I ran back to the casement with the cake (it was A’s birthday as well) in one hand to rush home, lest T would have to wait outside (as indeed it turned out to be).

When I reached my apartment I saw T standing there, may be cursing me for not being thereJ.

Before I proceed, let me also describe the commonalities that I share with T. Me and T were the part of the same conglomerate before wee joined the MBA course at XIMB. We were neighbours during the two year course. We did our summers in the same company and got the final placements in the same company.

But now T is moving out (as S did a week back) and is shifting his base to Mumbai. It was in this regard that T was visiting Mumbai for a short duration over the weekend. So after the day’s work we met like long lost friends and had so much to catch up. Post the birthday kicks to A, I shifted with T to his hotel, where our banter continued till late in the night.

The following morning we had the regale breakfast at the hotel. All thanks to T and his new employer J The evening was packed with good times and nostalgia. R had come over and the three of us chatted over a long dinner at the hotel. The discussions meandered from our current bosses to former friends; from our future life partners to the friends getting married; and from our roommates to life in Mumbai. The food was good and was unlimited. We had everything from soup and breads, salads, pasta, pizza, noodles, fried rice to even our very own aloo paratha. The “icing on the cake” were the desserts. We would have tasted some 15 variety of desserts that night!! While we were savoring the desserts it was getting late for R. So we decided to drop her back home. This gave us some more time to sit and chat. None of us was in a hurry and we simply did not want this dinner to end. When the service staff came over to tell us that it was close to their closing time, we proceeded for our final course of our lovely meal. The ice-creams! R was super-excited and created a very personalized scoop which we ate to our heart’s delight. Thanks T for that great dinner treat!!

And then came the goodbyes!! We dropped R to her home and then tucked ourselves to a peaceful slumber. The next morning saw us at the same place, where we had our dinner, munching away some bread over the breakfast.

It was around 10 or 11 when T checked out to meet another friend who was visiting Mumbai. I bade him farewell with the wish to see him soon in Mumbai and have more such (may be not this lavish) dinners!!

Thanks again to T for the treat.

A "Union" disintegrates

"S" has quit the company and that leaves only the three of us at the lunch table. Till now, even if one of us was on leave it would be a crowd of three having lunch and the post lunch walk. But, now onwards, on such occassions it would just be the company of two.

Over the past 18 months, we have shared everything from personal life to professional life over the lunch and snacks sessions. We have played pranks; been more-than-often to the nearby Naturals for those ice-cream breaks; celebrated birthdays and weddings; and shared our thoughts about others rather loudly.

While S moves on to be with her dear P, we wish her a great life ahed. We will miss her in our very dear "Majboor Union" of Four.....

The Invisible Gift

Never in my life would I have felt this blank as all of us did after we got off from the rickshaw that Saturday night.
We had been invited to a friend's house over dinner cum birthday treat. As is customary, we - me, A and R - had a bag of goodies as a gift for our host for the night. We got a rick and were chit chatting all the way to Mulund, where we had to change to another rickshaw to reach G's house in Thane.
I called up G when we reached Mulund that we are standing in a queue to get a rickshaw to Thane. This (queue), in our view, was the most absurd thing that we had come across that day - at least till that point in time.
Our turn came pretty quickly and soon we were trotting all the way to G's home. Half way through I called up G to tell her that we would be reaching in another 10 minutes.
As we got down from the rickshaw, and I was settling the bill, A asked the BIG QUESTION "Where is the bag?"
In all this rickshaw hunting and queuing up, we had conveniently forgotten about the gift which we had left in the first rickshaw.
My mind went blank.
This rickwallah was saying aomething about change and I son't remember how much I gave him over the fare.
I was still blank.
As we made way to G's house I could see the disappointment on A's face and astonishment on R's face. We could not believe we had done this, and there was no way that we could trace the rickshaw back.
We went up to G's house and were greeted by the warm smiles of G and her mom and grandmom.
The jaws dropped when they heard our deeds and we got our share of scoldings from Maanti (as A and G call her) and G's mom.
For G, we had nothing but an invisible bag from Lifestyle, an odourless perfume by Marks & Spencer and a colourless eyeshadow pack by Maybelline. Guess G would not have been too happy flaunting these.. neither we gifting them to her.

V, R and Me

Time flies. It was about three months back that my friend V told me about her wedding planned in September. That got me, and another common friend making plans for the wedding and at the end, both of us ended up not attending the wedding.
As luck would have it, this other friend also got engaged and is now busy preparing for her own wedding and thus could not make it to V's marriage. Why I never made it - that is another story - which I would rather not discuss :(
The bottomline being, that we didn't make it to V's moment of happiness.... I can only imagine V clad in a rich silk sari with heavy gajra (God knows if she would have worn jewellery on her marriage or not - she was always a no-jewellery person) sitting in the mandapam amidst the sacred chants with R by her side, clad in a white dhoti ("Topless" as V describes the look).

God knows if we ever will meet again.... All three of us together again, like we used to when we were in the college - over a lunch at Shrikunj or for that pao bhaji at the Unit 1 market.
O! What fun it used to be. Going all around the city of Bhubaneswar in an autorickshaw to visit various temples, or a trip to the far flung forests of Simplipal and the adventurous Hirakud dam excursion, or the innumerable visits to Puri and shopping at Raghurajpur, or (as a matter of fact!) the various assignment where we played those you-did-not-do-anything blame games, getting caught by the professor for helping each other and sending apology mails to clear the mess - they will all be the sweet memories that one can never forget.
Am sure V and R (not V's R) will agree to this.

जल्दी आओ Dube!!

It was well past twelve midnight and I was dreading the Monday that was awaiting the daybreak. My laptop's almost dead speakers were trying hard to make me enjoy Jagjeet Singh's Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi. The song was in the first paragraph and I was about to explain to my room-mate what the lines meant when suddenly "A" - my other flatmate - screamed. Jaldi aao Dube!! Trust me, my heart just froze for a moment. The living room was dark with him standing there with the flash light of his cell phone switched on. I thought some strange insect, a smake probably, has entered the house. As my eyes searched for the supposed snake and I moved further in the living room I was surprised by a bunch of friends screaming "Happy Birthday". For once, I didn't realise what was happening! It was a big surprise. Dunno when and how they managed to sneak in.

So there they were, the five of them. A, A, A, A and V (R). While A (my flat mate, the jadi aao guy) was busy shoting a video, A was helplessly trying to light a match - a proxy for a candle :)
The message on the cake read : Belated Happy Birthday Debbey। But this was not all. More was to follow.

On some other friend's birthday, I had told my friends what I wanted as a birthday gift and lo! here it was - a painter's tripod। They would have gone around places to find one, am sure। but here it was, right there in my arms.

I had been thinking for quite some time to update my blog। What better moment than this to write about, especially when I have now become the owner of a prized possession.

Two summers ago!

It is one of those days at work when I don’t seem to be having any work. Guess this is what disguised unemployment means.
I have been thinking to post something here on this blog, but there were no stories to tell. So, when this friend of mine invited me to her birthday bash I thought I would blog about it.

Her birthday has a history. A two summer old history.

That was at Marine Drive in Mumbai. Some 6 of us decided to give this lady a surprise party and broke as we were during summers, we decided to treat her to a modest Pizza from Pizzeria and a pastry on the Marine Drive.

So, this (another) friend of ours was entrusted upon the responsibility of getting a Pizza while returning back from work and we would meet her at a pre decided place. And as we would have expected, she lost her way and created a big confusion regarding her whereabouts. After a mile long walk, we did meet and tried setting up candles and all on the marine drive when we noticed that the couple sitting next to us was getting quite cosy (ahem!) and we had no option but to shift our place.

So after all the mehnat mashakkat our birthdaygirl did “cut” the pizza and we had a good time giggling and screaming while we savoured it. And now was her turn to return the favour. One among the gang suggested a modest looking restaurant and we walked in.

Well, it didn’t turn out to be that modest while our budget was. So finally after a lot of brainstorming we settled for sum soups (three-by-six, I guess). The sauces and water were free, so they were used in copious amounts. The giggling and laughter continued in this fine dining restaurant, right under the pricey Ambassador Hotel on Marine Drive. The waiters gave us side long glances, as if we cared! :)

After we were done (with our soups and the payment) we gifted her some unique cards that were available for free at the restaurant… and wished her a soupy birthday.
And from them this story has been pretty much a wonderful memory of our summer of '07 at Mumbai.

Recipe to a perfect Rassam and Tamarind Rice

Well if you would have asked Little Johnny he would have said "isme kya naya hai babua! yeh to kisi bhi Tarla Dala cookery book mein mil jayegi" but then the Rassam that I am talking about is different.
It is different because it's not just a meal, it is an idea of enjoying your time with friends... So, this is how you go about making it.
Wake up real late in the weekend. This is a must, else the Rassam wouldn't taste yum!
Get some friends.... any number above four would do.
Get two of them to go to the market to get the ingredients.
If they forget to get some things that you had asked for.... don't worry, send them again :)
Once you have everything in place, get one of them to chop three tomatoes.... and if they seem to be taking eternity, which in all possibility they would, get the knife and do it yourself :)
Ask the guy, who was earlier making futile attempts to chop tomatoes, to wash the kadhai and put some oil to heat.
When the oil is hot ask the other guy to get some rai (mustard seeds) and when he picks up any random masala give him one of those killer single-liners... Soon he would pick up the right jar :)
By now the oil would have got hot enough for the rai.
Add some curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric and red chilly powder.
Add tomatoes and ask either of the idle fellows to stir it till the tomatoes get cooked to a paste.
Don't forget to add some hing to this. It would give that typical aroma to your recipe which you would have imagined for a perfect rassam. Your friend would definitely not know what hing is... so explain it to him again.... no need of one liners here :P
Now ask this same person to put some tamarind to boil... and get the pulp separated from the seeds thereafter.
Boil some arhar daal in the cooker and then blend it.
Add this daal to the tomato masala that you have prepared.
Add Rassam powder to taste.
Add some sugar. Very little amount.
Add water and tamarind juice and bring to a boil.
When done, add a tadka of ghee, rai and dried red chillies.
A perfect rassam should have a watery consistency with very little traces of daal and taste more or less like the sambhar.
Well Well..... if you think you are done... you are not.. The rice is yet to be prepared..
So while you are making rassam you may prepare the seasoning for the rice.
While you were preparing the rice and rassam, your other friends (who do not stay in you apartment) would have prepared a potato recipe (for which I would ask the readers to contact them).
For the rice seasoning, heat some oil in a pan. This can be done by your friend who has been standing idle for quite some time now.
Add dried red chillies, rai, curry leaves, green chillies, chana daal, udad daal, groundnuts, little bit of turmeric and red chilly .
If you see some strange crawling creatures in the packet where you had stored chana daal, probably you would have to throw away this seasoning and prepare a new one without the chana daal.
When the lentils get crisp, set it aside.
By now your rassam would have got ready and the burner can be used to put on the rice.
When the rice is ready, mix the seasoning, salt and tamarind juice for a delicious tamarind rice.
Hit the shower, get fresh and when you are ready - Bingo! - find your living room full of friends all fighting for the limited plates and bowls that you have.
Duly acknowledge any compliments that you get :)
Slip into sweet slumber induced by the rice and the rassam....
When the maid comes in the evening for cooking.... remain asleep and don't open the door for her.... to get a phone call from her later in the evening after you have made plans for gobhi paratha for the dinner :( .....
Call up your friends (who do not stay in your apartment) to appraise them of the situation only to know that an awesome dinner awaits you at their place!!
Put the recipe on your blog to make your oter friends feel J!!! :)

The Photo Frame

They say pictures are worth a thousand words... and this post would prove that!!
There sits on my desk a photo frame which was gifted to me by one of my closest friends - "P".
How me and P became such good friends is something even we wonder many-a-times.
Long years ago when I was doing my engineering I met this girl there who was sitting next to a schoolmate, "N" (who was also going to be my batchmate for next four years) and I was like - N and P would surely turn out to be the best friends. And as luck could have it, that turned out to be the case.
I got introduced to P through N. I still remember all of us being at P's first birthday at the college when we had gifted her some weird assortment of gifts. In between the four birthdays we celebrated were the four "Ganapati" (As P calls it) that we witnessed at her Nani's place.
Life moved on.... I got a job at L&T and P couldn't make it. I remember the day when I told P about the offer from L&T. She immediately hung up the phone. I knew she was crying.... not because I got it but because she didn't.... silly P.... and then we heard from her that she has made it to Infy....
She moved down south and we hardly got to meet.. in the next two years till she shifted to Pune I went to meet her and other good friends "S" and "R". And we had a gala time... It was then that I saw the first signe of transformation in P.
I am reminded of how I had asked P to make wada and nariyal chutney for me.... and also her famous rajma with rice (that she would serve twice to you). P is an excellent cook!!
I moved on to XIMB and P told me that she was moving to US. I remember that time S had also gone to US. Suddenly I realised that I had no friends to talk to.... B-school was a new experience and I was yet to come to terms with it.....
Life moved on.... 2 years flew by...
P switched her job and then I knew she was never to return back.... But we did get to meet her... She had come down to India on a vacation and we met.... and this is when she gifted me that frame....It had Friends written all over around it!
I searched for a suitable pic, with the good ol' bespectacled P giggling in there....
She has changed over the years... but its just the outer being... and she has changed for good.... but then she is still the same good ol' P deep within.... and I know we are going to be Friends Forever!!!

Summer of 2007!!

Yesterday, I met a friend from my alma mater and we were having a casual discussion when suddenly he referred to our small stint at Mumbai almost a year back. I could see that twinkle in his eyes and my thoughts went back to the summer of 2007.
What fun our gang of 9 had!!
Well this post is the story of 7 guys and two girls !! This is dedicated to all my friends with whom I had one of the most memorable summer of my life.
I would cherish remembering:

1. The mouth watering dinners at Bhagat Tarachand
2. The pastries at Theobroma
3. The soupy birthday at marine-drive
4. The alumni meet and trip back, finding ourselves locked outside our hostel
5. The visits to the art galleries around Mumbai
6. The walks on Colaba Causeway
7. Chinese food at 5 spice
8. The late night movie session in our hostel room
9. The visit of ladies to our gents' hostel and its afternath
10. The trip to Elephanta caves
11. Movies at the multiplexes and the not-so-multiplexes in south Bombay
12. The veg-grilled sandwitch near VT subway and the McDonal burgers
13. The golas at Girgaum Chaupati
14. The dinner at soul fry casa and the upset stomach after that
15. The walks on marine drive

Thank you folks for being there and making them one of the best days of my fife !!

The Chilika Lake

Incidentally Orissa, which is backward economically, is well endowed with a rich heritage and natural beauty. Chilika, the largest salt water lake in the country, is one of the major tourist attraction here.. So when we found that it was the new year eve, and we had nothing to do for the day.... The plan to Chilika was conceived !!!
So we started at around 8 in the morning... And what a trip !!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves !!

The road surprisingly was superb....And the Cumo that housed the eight of us was not as uncomfortable as I had thought !!

And such scenic views made the journey fun !!

And then we experienced what most Indians in Delhi and Mumbai face on a daily basis...We waited and waited but the traffic wouldn't move...All this when we were just a kilometer form our destination.

And while we waited..we saw this group of laborious Oriya women carrying dry wood for their chulhas.

And then we were there finally....And the sight of these boats was shocking !

And we searched for that one boat which would be fit to take the weight of the eight of us....but to our dismay .....

And then we met the CHUPA group !!! and then the 24 of us began our maiden voyage on chilika.

And try hard as we did to spot the Dolphins which our guide cum boatman was trying to show us...we managed to see these little black sea birds..the sole group to be seen in the entire sanctuary (Yes, Chilika is a bird sanctuary)

And we sailed on !!!

And on !!!

And Mr. Boatman finally brought us back to shore !!!

And how we had a tiring journey back to the Insti.... andd then we waited to the beautiful night to fall and we JLTd ...Nachenge Sari raat style !!

Photos (C) Shikha Khangarot & Mayank Madhur.

A Walk On Golden Sands

Sea never fascinated me. May be for the reason that I have grown amongst them. Gujarat gave me ample opportunities to be on some of the most lovely beaches for hours...
But there is a charm that the Chandrabhaga beach near Konark has.
The clear blue waters with pure golden sands, were a sight that one remembers for his life. The sun shone bright and high. The breeze was cold and the so was the water. Tall waves splashed the shore...the sound of the sea was music no organ could replicate..And, the moment we thought that we were at a safe distance from the waters sea would come to you in a big splash...wetting your folded trousers and more...
Huge masses of water would wash the shore and leave behind creative patterns on sand..Nature has immense creativity.
It was a delight to walk on the beach and observe the life at sea. A boat tied on the shores rocked everytime a wave brought waters to the shore. The fishermen were busy with the fresh catch of fish. The distant din of the trawler engines like drums accompanying the music of the sea...The group of people on the beach busy taking photographs...the crabs busy shunting between the sea and their eggs....everyone was busy but for our group of eight...we were the most vella souls ....and how we seemed to be on a picnicing spree...It had been a hectic week for most of us...and how we enjoyed being free with nothing to do, not even studies !! Unfortunately for us, we din have our star photographer with us !!