Uptown Hangouts -- Part Deux!

Yepp finally decided to update the blog once again.. lets hope can be more regular on it from now.. Past few weekends have been all about enjoying the typical IT crowds lifestyle. Monday to Friday its about spending time in front of your 15" monitor and weekends about nice fine dining experience.

Ok, now lets begin with the part deux of uptown hangouts.

Not Just Jazz by the Bay

Me and my buddies might not be the kind of people who can jazz up the place nor can we enter and be the center of attraction of the whole room, but we surely can pay up for the food we have had!! I really feel that the folks at Jazz by the bay thought we wont be able to pay up. Hence, we just had a couple of beers and were out of the place thanks to all the eye balls requesting us to be out as soon as possible. So next time you wanna go to Not just jazz by the bay, I suggest you better suit up apparently jeans and tee is not good enough for the folks there!

Le Meridien

The mid-night buffet at Le Meridien is quiet exquisite . It cost 570 bucks and is open only on Friday and Saturday nights from 12 mid-night - 3 am. The place is good the staff is extremely courteous. You get a complimentary pint of beer and an pint of corona cost 275 bucks. The best thing is to rake up a good appetite before you head out to such places so that can enjoy from the wide variety of starters, they had everything from Squids to Turkey. The Chicken and Lamb were perfect with the wide range of dippings that you can choose from. The only disappointing item was the Pork, as it seemed to be under cooked but the keema pav which they server was just too yummy. They could have improved the main course menu there were 2-3 choices for vegetarians however for die-hard non-vegetarians they had to be content with Chicken Biryani and in gravy for some reason they had Fish Manchurian!! ooh and ya they served some mango chilli drink, dont try it! Its gonna ruin your appetite. To drown it all the desert menu consists of 4 indian sweets and 4-5 preparations of deserts with chocolate and a couple of pastries and fruit salad. All in all its a good place to hang out with your friends if you have a night out planned

And ya they serve water from "Chandi ka Patila", guess thats why the water they serve tastes funny!

TGIF

If you wanna get yourself ripped off TGIF would be the place. A pitcher costs 595 bucks and serves approximately 4 glasses. The beer served is nice and chilled and the Chicken southwest we had ordered was brilliant. The happy hours are till 9:00 wherein its a straight one on one offer across all drinks. The DJ who was playing music seemed to be more interested in the food being served to him rather than the music being played. I think he had just inserted a random CD and turned the shuffle on. Ok, moving to the main course we ordered a sizzler which was best described by my friend kunal as "Sukha chicken with rice" it was absolutely bland! For deserts we ordered the desert platter which cost 299 bucks, the deserts were nice they had whipped chocolate served with 1. Oreo biscuits 2. Snikers chocolate 3. Mint

All in all the place is fun but is extremely hard on the wallet, would cost atleast 1000 bucks per person for a dinner, also the badges that the staff at TGIF wear has absolutely no significance just incase you wondered.

What’s my age again?

Well, probably when I would read this blog after 5 years, I would probably feel vindicated. For the starters let me get go on record and say “Being 25 & single is not a crime”. Off late most conversations with the people of this age group revolves around how badly their job sucks or how badly they want someone to suck on to them!!

On one of the binge drinking session that we had the topic of what is the best way to cope with quarter life crisis and the only solution in sight was to have someone from the opposite gender by your side and the suggestion were unanimously made by all those who are still single! I would completely endorse that yes it’s good to have found someone with whom you can connect, relate and really open upto and save money on visiting a shrink. But just because you are single does not mean that you have to go out with the next person you see on the road, because you are heading into the wrong side of 20’s.

Am currently in the phase wherein I strongly believe that one fine day a girl is just gonna fall into ma arms without any hassles. No seriously! Why is this not a possibility? Is it not too much of a pain to first of all make loads of small talk such that you earn a ticket for next meet. All the time only thing on your mind is damn, let me be careful with the words I choose gotta impress her/him. You are probably going to be in your 5-6 date when you realise that, nopes it’s not going to work out, there you are again inviting friends for another session with the Old Monk. I should really stop paying at such gathering.

So here are certain stages of “Relationship” (based on inputs for the fairer sex):

Phase 1: Hunk!

“A girl makes first impression based on aura you carry” [Well don’t really blame the girls out here, it’s really a big ask for them to judge the size of wiggly through the trousers] Suit up Bro!

Phase 2: Sweet!

“If a girls likes someone she will give the guy hints!!” [Yea girls, if the guys really understood that don’t think there would have been so many broken hearts] Well no one really explained what exactly those hints are, but apparently it’s true!

Phase 3: Fear!

“Don’t tell ma girl that I drank” [Well really, do you really think lying is the answer...How long will it sustain, why is it so difficult to clear the air? Coz the girls can’t stand the truth or the lie] Headed only one way...spiralling down!

Phase 4: Reason!

“There can be a boy friend and also a good friend...who happens to be a boy” [The most clichéd of all statements, it’s never acceptable to a girl that a guy speaks about his girl and friend who happens to be a girl in a single statement. So how can a girl expect that a guy should accept it...Then again who said life is fair] Geez.. Pick one!

Phase 5: Introspection!

“Was never meant to be.. All men are dogs” [Raj palace, Friday evening?]

Well in SDLC terms, the entire relationship process works on a spiral model. You keep going in circles unless the realization happens and requirements are met.

Yepp, so on that note am happy to be single also ready to mingle! Age is not the criterion for getting into a relationship.

P.S.: Ok, my approach is not really gonna work!

Creatures at Work!!

It’s been approximately a year and half since I have started working. When you are a fresh pass-out and join a company with more than 1.3L employees it’s scary. I remember my first day walking in all suited up with halo of confidence around me and everything came shattering down the moment I saw these bald scalps just popping out from the top of the cubicles...

Ya so coming back… 1.3L employees means you are gonna have people of all categories around you and listed below are some of those categories:

1. Mr. Riddler:

These are the type of people who can’t have silence around them; they always have to break it by asking some question. picture this the dude walks up to your desk you look at him give him a customary smile and continue to peep into your desktop hoping that the next link you click is not blocked by websense… now the dude will start so you are an MBA naa… you would look at him and say "yes"... Heard yours is a good college… You reply trying to be modest "well yea but there are better colleges also"... then the awkward silence… broken again… what’s the fees?... reply: around 6-7L... well that is too much and that’s why I don’t want to do MBA...

The best thing being he will never question anything on Work it would always be on useless topics!!

2. Mr. Know All:

This kind of creature would most probably be an MBA.. Just because he has attended more GD than anyone else thanks to numerous attempts to get placed he would have an opinion on every damn topic. But the worst quality being at end of any catastrophe instead of helping he would reply "I knew, this was gonna happen... this was all wrong… it should have been this way" all you wanna say to that guy at that moment is dude shut the f*** up!!!

3. Mr. Superlative:

Ok since a couple of guys from workplace follow this blog let me give out a statutory warning: It’s not directed at any particular person… any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental....

This is the kind that makes you laugh... Everything with them has to be at the highest order... If you are discussing a tragic story.. the dude would say "Ye toh kuch nahi... mere saat ek baar naa..." and continue to rant about how badly his life sucks... on the other hand if you are discussing a happy event he would again start by saying "Ye toh kuch bhi nahi... ek baar naa...." so it’s like if you say you leave home at 8:00 to get office this dude has to say I leave at 7:55

Scenario 2: I went out with a couple of girls... ooh I went out with 6!!!... You say but the party sucked!!... Superlative dude say......"People were discussing saas bahu serials... could it be any bad"... Dude how about your company was bad and hence they had nothing else to do, to kill time!!! (Peace gandaa bhai)...

4. Mr. Always Right!!:

The most irritating kind... more or less gonna be your boss... There is no scope of having a dialog... it is gonna be a one way sermon... no debates only orders... But it’s an entertainment to watch when you have Mr. Know all and Mr Always right discussing (yelling)... Sparks are bound to fly...

5. Mr./Ms. Friendly:

Mr. Friendly would be the dude whose only job in the day would be to visit 10 different cubicles, once before lunch and once after lunch... This is the dude who is gonna have the most of the gossip... and since he has been so courteous towards you it would be in your agenda to meet him at his desk (if he is not on his round that is) while you go to the wending machine or loo... Can be one of the most resourceful people in office

Ms. Friendly... Well she is the one who would like to be a part of the all males club just to show the pretty women that she’s got the oomph.... Well the guys will just about accept any girl considering the male to female ratio...

6. Ms. Snob:

This would have to be the high expectations... career oriented woman... All she would be interested in is how to I become a better manager... and it would come naturally to her... would be a master in exploiting her feminine attributes... most of her chores would be done by unsuspecting IT nerds who would probably have only never sat beside a girl for 8 hours in a day...

7. Mr. Cool

Well I guess this is where I fit in :D… the one who thinks he does not belong to any of the above groups and is cool enough to write a blog on how he has to put up with some seriously un-cool shit everyday!!!

8. Pissing...

Aaah don’t know how to classify them... but these are the kind of dude who have to first unbuckle their belts then unbutton their trouser and then finally unzip it… All this just to pee!!!

I wonder what the hell they have at their crouch region, that they are forced to unbutton the trouser to pee... Aren’t their zippers big enough??!!

Well in case you feel if there are any more such creatures... do reply!!

Who would you like to be?

What are the things that people generally dig?

Occupationally:

1. College Student: Damn! Am too obsessed with college... There is nothing more satisfying than being a college student... Nothing is too complex... Lead a simple life... Go to college; meet up friends... spice up your life with idiosyncrasies of friends... It does not matter what the world thinks of it as long as your friends love it!

2. A Writer: There is something about the life of a writer that people simply adore... You get loads of opportunity to give "Gyan"... You actually get paid to speak your mind out!! This is a complete opposite to my current line of work where you are paid to speak what your boss says!!

Gender based:

1. A Woman: Don’t get me wrong... But there is something about being a girl that fascinates every guy... any detail however inane gets a lot of publicity!!! How else does one explain the list of "Can I be your friend" requests that girls get!!

2. Be a woman who smokes: I guess most guy would disagree on face of it... But it is something about a woman who smokes that guys completely fall for... Its like being way too cool for guys... And if you couple it with a woman who is not afraid to use man words in public and for icing says that she might be bisexual!! uff... A dream come true for every guy’s fantasy!!

Skill based:

1. A Public speaker: Again more like a writer but simply more flamboyant and impromptu... Its people who have this skill that can leave an excellent first impression on you... And that is enough for you to carry that image of his for the rest of your life!!

Appearance

Can’t really comment on this, but based on my limited fashion taste... It is relatively safe for a guy to be a metro sexual... I wonder what happened to the age old style of the moustache and the beard!! Whereas for a woman... well just be a woman... that is enough for a guy!!

Uptown Hangouts

It’s been long since the last post... Well nothing much has changed apart from the weather... Mumbai continues to get flooded... Job still sucks... The feeling of stagnation continues to haunt... now that nothing has changed its difficult to write about the same old stuff...

But there are certain things that have changed... like friends willing to pay after dinner... There used to be a time when the Rs. 5 Paratha and the Rs 2 Paise 50 cutting chai was beyond reach... Today a Rs. 1000 bill is paid off without a blink of an eye... In college we used to always wonder if ever we are gonna visit these pubs of south Mumbai... Recently we did visit some of them and this blog would be my take of uptown "Hangout" places of Mumbai...


Cafe Mondegar:
This was the first "Uptown" place that we went to... Neat place... loud music coupled with a lot of chattering noise... Nice place to look at chics... Food is also decent.... Recommended items Pitcher with beef chilly and some French fries...I remember the first time... Amazing fun... There were 6 of us the seat just next to the entrance and we just could not get our eyes of the firangi chics in spaghetti tops!!! The key is to gulp some beer and head out to Mhmd. Ali streets Cafe Noor Mohammadi for some Sanju Baba chicken and Roti... This place is also memorable as was quite high and was Jaywalking for the first time and twisted my ankle badly!! Damn those dividers....

Hard Rock Cafe:
HRC had always been a dream place to visit and to be honest was quiet disappointed with it. The music was not great and no pictures!!! WTF.... Anyways key is to reach before 7:30 [Happy Hour] timings and order buckets. The key is to order them at one instance coz they don’t allow you to order the same item till the previous one is finished as its considered "Stocking" once again WTF... And a word of caution anyone who tell you HRC is near from Lower Parel is kidding and yes its not a walking distance. This was again a memorable place as we got Sandeep drink at HRC. In food don’t ya ever order Onion Rings at HRC... it’s horrible... Instead the chicken is good...

Well these are the two places that we have visited and the next target is "Not Just Jazz by the Bay" till then....

Myth vs. Facts

These are some of the question for which I really need answers....

• Is it true that you cannot end up with your first crush?
• Is it true that everyone ends up hating their first job?
• Do all chemist shops have sanitary napkins on display under the counter?
• Is it true that for women size is not a criterion?
• Do all Gay men prefer tight Tees?
• Is it true that a man can never be satisfied by a single woman?
• Is it true that life always makes sense?

Being the Cool Dude!

For most part of my life I have tried to follow a traditional path, I am a south Indian who loves Math's studied Information Technology and works for an Technology Company, could it get any more clichéd. Well after being a follower for most part of my life, I have finally taken a stance to do things differently so that I can be that cool guy.

I along with one of my friends had come up with a scale to measure coolness: According to this scale a person has to rate on 5 parameters each with I point and depending on your final cumulative score you can ascertain you coolness quotient.

1. Books (Novels):
The books that you should have red must be of varied genre. You should have read a minimum of 20 books by unique authors. It works better if you have a collection of dog eared paged books.

2. English Movies:
This one comes naturally to me. You should have watched most of the crappy movies shown on HBO and Star Movies apart from that you should have seen some cult movies which is mandatory to show off. Also you should know list of movies which were nominated and won the Oscars. Also having watched shows like Happy Days, Cheers and Coupling will earn you brownie points.

3. Rock Music:
Preferably you should listen to retro ala Beetles, Jim Morrison and should have the biographies of these people memorized. Utterance of bands like Boy zone and Back street boys should evoke the response ?Gay?.

4. GK:
This helps in starting and sustaining a conversation. You should be highly opinionated about everything under the sun and should be able to agree/disagree with conviction.

5. Formula 1:
This is necessary for the guys to look upto you. If you can list the race locations in the order they are conducted and couple them with jargons like throttle, nose, and wing it?s going to be killer!

I think someone should come up with a book on ?How to be a cool Dude in 21 days? It should cover a gist of the above areas as in provide synopsis of select 15-20 books, story line of the movies with some interesting facts, lyrics of songs etc. Best seller in the self motivation section!

Feel free to post any more criteria which you think defines/measures coolness.

Now & Then!

“It’s been 2 and a half years since we have passed out”. It seemed just like yesterday when they were engulfed in childish Leg pulling, un-warranted controversies and most of all I don’t care about my future attitude. Everything seemed so oblivious then, life seemed to be straight of the “Friends” sitcom. We were unaware/chose to turn a blind eye towards the realities of life.

I still have the certain memories etched in my head regarding how we used to kill time at the canteen and made what seems stupid now oaths to always remain in touch, be friends for life all that clichés. All this at a time when we showed amazing camaraderie and at a split of second shedding tears at pointless differences. Life has come a full circle since the rains of 2003 brought us all together and summer of 2006 each one of us traced a different path and the journey of life resumed, from being a bed of roses to a road strewn by thorns.

So much has happened in these two and a half years that I have kind of become a stranger to the person I was. I don’t know if the change has been positive of negative but yes I know “I have changed”. May be it is the ageing process which has brought out the subdued facets of our persona which I guess none of us would have ever imagined existed in us, thanks to our need for being an obsessive conformist.
I would like to ask you guys, is it good that we have lost the soul of beliefs and identities that we had? Have we started to take our lives seriously?

Recently one of my friend decided to play a small prank on another of my close friend, I do agree that these pranks are uncalled for and should not cross a threshold but thanks to the prank this dude easily received one of the best verbal volleys and most of it was because it had interfered in our friends’ professional life.

Hence I wondered since when did our professional life started taking precedence over our friendship. Why do we increasingly find it difficult to keep in touch with the friends with whom not so long ago dreamt of sharing a little part of our life? For me these friends were people whom I could call at mid-night without even thinking twice. Now before calling them on a weekend I need to think twice about it. Now even if I get a mail from any one of my friends I consider it a privilege.

May be its just me. But yes given an opportunity I would definitely like to drag the clocks back by 5 years and relive the carefree no holds barred, dreamy, hazy, outrageous life that I lived!

This is Mumbai

Let me start off in the bureaucratic way by saying I condemn these attacks on Mumbai. It’s really saddening to watch these horrible acts of terror. More than hundreds of people dead and we are yet not sure, if this is the end.
I remember watching TV, India had just wont the cricket match and was happy India are 5-0 up in the series. As I was preparing to hit the bed I was just channel surfing when suddenly saw a breaking news firing reported at café Leopold and CST, I thought it is another one of those incidents and as I watched and grasped the magnitude of these attacks seems to become clear that this was something grave and not something Mumbai would forget easily. In my memory I guess there were two incidents that have kind of made me sit and think of terror in India are Hijack of IC 814 and The Mumbai riots
I remember the first few flight trips after the hijack incident used to make me nervous. Where as I have very hazy recollection of the Mumbai riots. I remember we had nice 2 weeks of holiday from school, I really did not understand what riots are, for me it was just groups of people fighting. I remember our building members had stocked bricks and glass bottles on the terrace. People say these riots had changed Mumbai in such a way that its glory can never be restored again. I say heck with it. I have never seen a much more vibrant city than this in India. Even after the serial bombs rocked the local train at peak hours the very next day these same trains, the life line of Mumbai were up and running. Mumbai get marooned literally every year still people would venture out to their offices hoping against hope that the rains would stop and later end up cursing their luck.
For an outsider and also some Mumbaikars this might seem that Mumbai is too thick skinned and has no heart. They have an opinion that Mumbai has started taking all these atrocities bending down and is probably too weak to standup and retaliate. I want to ask them what can the “aam aadmi” do? Should he come out on road and hold a dharna outside the mantralaya? Am pretty much sure incase it would have been some of the other states in India there would have been a bandh called, some of the people would be out in the roads closing down shops shouting political slogan whereas most of them would have stayed back at home had a good lunch and enjoyed a good afternoon nap.
Mumbai is different! The stories of the fighting Mumbai spirit have already started appearing on the news. They say Mumbai never stops and I completely endorse this feeling. Even the next day when I was traveling to my office there was freaking traffic on the road! People say this is out of Compulsion of Commerce; I want to ask them what is wrong in it? There are thousands of people who are daily wage workers if they don’t go to work their children are going to sleep hungry for no fault of their parent. Mumbai is the financial hub of the country; it has a responsibility that it has to fulfill. If Mumbai stops its ripples would be felt across the nation.
Mumbai has a big heart; I clearly remember the stories of how unknown people gave shelter to each other when the city was marooned. There were people out in the roads serving tea and biscuits when the rail line was targeted. Even now when the NSG guards arrived at the locations they were greeted with thundering applause and cheers. Hence you can’t say Mumbai has no heart.
So what is next? I guess the bureaucrats have provide answers not because Mumbai is going to question them but it would be their moral responsibility to let people of Mumbai know why do they end up paying with their lives.

Appropriate Gifts!

The single most obnoxious gift that one has gifted me would be a Greeting Card... I never really understood why gift someone a glossy paper with some wise ass quote in it... And the thing that annoys me the most is what do I do next with this card? In case the answer is keep it in my desk... Then how long do I have to keep it? Probably people gift greeting cards because they are cheapest! Now not to sound cheap people gift utility item! How can someone else decide what is the thing that I need? That's why a bouquet makes sense [not sounding all girly]... But it makes life so simpler... till the flowers are fresh and blooming you can keep it and once its shelf life is done... No one is going to tell you that you are being insensitive by throwing it away! And the best gift that I would appreciate the most would be plain hard cash!... Life is so much easier...

So now you guys know what to gift me!!

Wild Hog Diaries

One lazy Sunday afternoon conversation between couple of us turned into a reality when six of us [Pebbles, Jane, Old Monk, David, Barbie & Wise Ass] finally decided to hit the road.

Rewind:
All I remember of that night was getting drunk and making calls to all my friends and fortunately Sandeep had not picked up the cell that night. Hence next day he calls me up and that’s when we decide that we have to go on a road trip to Alibaug! We had done a similar trip to the same place couple of years back and wanted this trip to be a much better than that. We decide that since we are going to have a long 57weekend lets plan out such a trip that the entire BSc. IT class can join us. Plan was put on table and Sandeep decided to take up the ownership or co-ordinating the event, which by no means an easy task considering the people compatibility issues [Yes, we have passed out of college 2 and half years back but certain people compatibility issues still remain].
What followed were series of chain mails & conference calls for fine-tuning the plan. A word has to be mentioned of Mr. Saurabh Mantri whose ass must have burnt considering that he was a part of all the mails and concalls whereas he had to slog it out at hell called Chennai. It stared with 12 people agreeing to come on the trip as days passed number of people deciding to join us on trip dwindled. It stared with the usual suspects rejecting the offer to join us. Then 4 days before the departure Trupti & Shweta backed out and hence Vaishali had to back out. Sultan and Kunal backed out 3 days prior to the trip. Next 3 days were crucial every mail or phone call from the hogs used to make me think about the worst. Luckily there were no more hiccups.
We decided to travel on our bikes (one Hero Honda Splendor and a couple of Bajaj Pulsars)

Play:
Day 1
One of the inbuilt habits that we hogs have was to arrive late. The departure time was decided to be 7:00am. I am pretty much sure that not one arrived before 7:15. Sandy and Alan were the first to arrive at Andheri police station; to our amazement the next person to arrive was Siddesh (I was more or less convinced that this guy is not going to come and is going to ditch us at the last moment, but thanks siddesh to prove us wrong!). I arrived at 7:40 not bad considering my standards and as usual dhiraj and nitin arrived last.
It was decided that I and Sandeep, Nitin and Dhiraj and Siddesh and Alankar would travel together. Even before we started on our journey series of abuses started flowing (I feel throwing abuses at each other is one of the best ways to bond). We wanted to break a coconut before the start of the journey but never really performed that ritual. I guess that was forgotten in the process of deciding the route. We filled up petrol at guru nanak petrol pump and were off!
After traveling for 3 Kms we had our first break, in front of powai lake to take pictures. After a brief break of posing in front of cameras and loading our mouths with chewing gums we started riding towards our next halt panvel naka.
At panvel naka we took our first official break for breakfast. Breakfast was heavy, ordered vada pavs, kharwas, missal pav (which was too spicy) and tea. Later helmet was off and the ride along the picturesque countryside began.
There is something about the bike and the country road that has always fascinated me, probable that is one the reasons why I kept giving Dhiraj excuses to not travel in car. The drive was exciting and one of the biggest advantages was stopping wherever we felt. For once we all guys who pretend to be macho felt like women and wanted our pictures taken at every landscape that seemed exotic. We stopped at this deserted water treatment plant located at the NH-17 highway, none of us really had the guts to enter the spooky place, and hence we just water the plants and started out modeling sessions. Alankar was the leader as he had this urge to take “Single” photos. Being the downtown guys that we are no one owned a digicam and as a result had to be satisfied with Nitin’s cell phone, which gave our next reason to argue, “Who would click the pictures?” By default Nitin had to click most of the pictures as phone belonged to him, Dhiraj also volunteered to showoff his photography skills.
Next pit stop Vadhkal Naka. Vadhkal Naka is the spot that splits NH-17 into 1. Road to Alibaug 2. Road to Goa. We decided to take a 15 min break here. As we were waiting we saw the convoy of the agricultural minister of India passing by. He was seated in a swanky BMW as his sped at more than 70Kms on a road made of clay!
The road from hereon was horrible! We were riding at less than 40Kms/hr now carefully trying to avoid the potholes and preserve the tyres from puncturing. At 12:15 pm we reached alibaug. As we had decided to stay at Kashid it meant we had to ride another 50 Kms.
The road from Alibaug to Kashid it excellent, like Alankar had once described “It looks like roads from NFS”. After riding through the winding road we finally arrived at Kashid and the search for a cheap accommodation began. In Mumbai itself it was decided that in spite of having booked a room we would hunt for cheaper accommodation. Dhiraj and Nitin along with myself and Sandy started the hunt but Siddhesh and Alankar had other ideas. These guys went to same guesthouse where we had booked room at a slightly higher price and confirmed our reservation! Anyways we all were tired and wanted to just rest our bottoms and get a good lunch and we headed to the same place where we had booked room and went out for lunch.
Lunch had to be sumptuous. We ordered 6 chicken thalis and 2 fried fishes along with couple of bottles of cold drinks. The lunch went on for one and a half hour and we decided to proceed for Murud-Janjira fort directly. Murud is 15 Kms from Kashid and one the way we found ruins of a palace/fort/bungalow. This placed seemed straight out of postcards of Goa and being the girls that we are wanted ourselves to be captured posing with this ruins.
Dhiraj is a kind of guy who loves exploring new locations. I guess Siddhesh and myself are a bit to orthodox and do not like any deviations for the decided plan but we more or less succumb looking at Dhiraj’s enthusiasm. The place was kind of cool and Dhiraj as usual could not keep his feet on ground and had to climb on the walls that would have given away at any moment. Nitin, Siddhesh and Sandeep were the other courageous blokes to climb the wall.

Alankar meanwhile identified a spot where he could get his “Single” photograph clicked. After spending about 30 mins and listening to constant nagging of Siddesh as he wanted to go visit Janjira fort we decided to leave.
Fate had different ideas. Dhiraj’s bike refused to start. Siddesh and Alakar had already reached Murud and we were still stuck at middle of nowhere. Sandeep informed them to come back along with a Mechanic, but these guys had different ideas. Siddesh on coming back minus the mechanic started showing off his knowledge on bikes and in the process broke one of the spark plugs. Watching Dhirajs and Siddeshs face was pure bliss! Dhiraj face had gone white and I guess he never really recovered from it for the entire trip. Later Siddhesh went back to Murud and this time arrived with the mechanic and voila the problem was fixed in a couple of minutes. We next went to Murud and gat the little niggles in our bikes fixed.
Meanwhile Nitin and Me decided to go on an Alcohol hunt. We decided to buy half bottle of Rum and half of Whiskey. Whiskey was too costly and decided to go with full “Old Monk” rum along with 3 beers. Nitin and I were in a kind of moral dilemma as only 2 of us were going to drink tonight. Alankar had vowed not to drink until one of his wishes is not fulfilled, Sandeep was being sandeep giving all kind of excuses not to drink with us and surprising Dhiraj opted out! I did not want to push him as generally he is open to drinking but must have had a solid reason not to drink. So that left Me, Nitin and Siddesh, who by the way is a very light drinker considering the standards Nitin and I have set. Completely loaded with alcohol and cold drinks we made our journey back to Kashid. On our way for some reason Sandeep felt this sudden urge to share ghost stories with me. Let me tell you people apart form my genitals I am a woman inside. I love romantic comedy movie, Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives are some of my favorite shows. Hence all the stories scared the shit out of me and in support of Sandeep the rain gods let out a nice little burst of rain, just about enough to get us completely drenched. After freshening up and most importantly changing the wet under garments we decided to uncork the beer. Around 9:30 we started our drink and the food (Chicken gravy) arrived shortly.
There is one thing about alcohol; it makes people on the table gel. With the alcohol slowly sinking in me, we started this stupid game wherein one person would ask a question and everyone has to answer. The question invariably would revolve around girls i.e. your present crush, past crush etc. It always intrigues me why is this question so important to guys. I think guys like to showoff that they are committed and that they have been successful in proving themselves worthy in front of a member of the opposite gender. Again if a guy were to be committed he would be very modest about it and would like to pass it by saying its nothing. I seriously don’t understand why hide? Are you not proud being committed? Are you afraid of losing your girlfriend?
As we started with our questions I realized that only couple of us were answering the questions honestly this I can say, as I have known some amount of past history of each of them. Personally speaking this was the very first time I came out clean in front of my friends. Felt Good! I am really not proud of my non-existent “Love” life but what the heck; every dog has its day. By around 1:30 am we had finished our drinks and went out for a small stroll and were in bed by 2:00 am.

Day 2
Next day early morning Siddesh wakes us up at 6:30 as he wants to go to the fort. I was probably the only one to rise. By the time I was done with my morning rituals Siddesh was also busy sleeping. Finally at 7:30 I decided to wake everyone and head to the beach. There something about water that all of us have loved be it Goa, Akasa or the previous Alibaug visit we have always enjoyed the water. Even if it meant getting sun burns. We all saw a changed Alankar the same guy who was normally shy natured went out and spoke with group of girls, pretty impressive considering the fact that apart from him and Siddesh no one else in the group would have mustered courage to do it!
After spending considerable amount of time in water we decided to hit the shacks for some breakfast. During breakfast it was decided that we would go to the fort [Again thanks to Siddeshs persuasion] without changing our wet clothes. Alankar and Siddesh went back to room to collect money to pay for breakfast and to our horror when they came back they were all decked up in fresh clothes. That is when we decided to teach Alankar a lesson by getting him wet again. After a lot of acting and cribbing we finally managed to get the valuable like I-pod, wallet and watch off Alankar and handed them to Siddesh. We carried Alankar for some 500 meters before throwing him in the sea. On looking that he was wet in brand new clothes and Siddesh was all fresh Alankar caught hold of Siddesh and pushed him water. Siddesh stood up completely drenched and uttered the words “OH! Fuck! Alankar I have your I-Pod and its wet” Kodak Moment! Alankar lost all his color and was completely pissed with us.
Well it took 20 minutes and more persuasion before we finally left for Janjira fort. It was some 20 Kms from Kashid. On the way to the fort Sandeep shared quiet a few things. Prior to this conversation Sandeep and I shared this very complex bond, I don’t really know how to put it but its not easy, I guess what we lack was trust. With Sandeep opening up I felt things would be much more clearer in the future.
Siddesh the historian wanted to pen down his experiences. He has compiled the next part.

I apologize to Sai that I intercepted his chronicle here just because I felt the incidents from here on amazed me a lot and being an amateur writer its easy for me to continue…I don’t remember writing a journal after passing out of school, this brilliant write-up from my friend [Wise Ass] urged me to jump out from my b-------ed at mid-night and pen my memories down, as the string of thoughts flown out of my head
First of all let me tell you i never expected trip to be so good as it turned out to be…It remains one of the best places I have ever seen. Like Wise Ass mentioned before, even I myself wasn’t sure that I will be able to make it to Alibaug trip, I had been to Matheran and Naneghat recently so I was doubtful that I will be allowed for another night out. I was excited from the day I was told by the hogs that we were going to Alibaug, being a history freak I was curious to see the fort that I heard, was an island, so I gathered all the information to get to the fort. Coming back to interception.
It had become all the more difficult to persuade all of them to go to the fort. After hogging the breakfast all the hogs did was lie on the hammocks. Dhiraj didn’t recover from the trauma day before when his bike broke down; Alankar was all the more furious at me after the sacred immersion. All of us were drenched and dirty, every one desperately wanted to go for a shower while I wanted to visit the fort in any state, no one seemed eager except Sandeep and Sai. Nitin went with Alankar to the room for a quick download session & to get wallets and the license’s, Dhiraj wanted to stay back at the beach. Somehow after some serious discussion we decided to head towards Murud in the same pathetic state we were in, my soaked jeans weighted 5ks, we told Nitin and alankar to join us on the way.
Finally there was some hope that we will see the fort, we decided not to hault anywhere in between rather then final destination Murud. Finally the jinx was broken we had passed the palance of Ahmandganj which lies on the hillock where the bike was broken day before. I heaved a sigh of relief.
We halted at the small shanty, to ask for direction as the road was forked and inquired about the road, our expectations dashed down when a villager told us that there is nothing interesting about the fort it was just a compound with crap inside. Our shoulders drooped but we decided to stay put. We decided to stick to the coast line road, the road was all screwed up but the view was breathtaking…one side bounded by hamlets and the other side with sparking sea fringed with Betelnut and coconut trees…I also learnt that Murud was one of the biggest supplier of Betelnut in our country…as we approached Murud we found out it was a sleepy fisherman village. After riding through the hills and going through the winding roads you will discover small hamlets and tiny towns, clean, green, and quaint, set amidst sleeping fields and swaying palms dotting the jagged coastline.
As we reached the other side of the hill as we descended we halted at the toll booth not to pay the toll but Dhiraj and Nitin had spotted an ice cream cart, we cooled our body engines with much needed stick Kulfi’s [the good old ones we used to get outside our school premises] and headed towards the shore again…Much to our surprise we saw a huge sinister standing tall in the middle of the sea…its amazing how a pile of ruins can trigger your imagination to such an extent. I couldn’t get my eyes off…It was a dream come true… We could see the fort in the offing, I couldn’t wait to reach there…we parked out bikes when a grumpy rude villager approached us and asked for parking charge, he looked like the descendent of the Siddis [The builders of Janjira fort]. Then we crossed the inclined where a boat bridged us to another sailboat. We encumbered one side of the boat not too long after that we were bifurcated by a cranky boatman to balance the boat...Dhiraj, Sai and Sandeep were on one side and Alankar Nitin and me were on another. Camera were out and we tried to capture the mystic view of the fort isle and the prosperous coast…
But like Sai mentioned we only managed to click few snap of ourselves rather then natural landscape. It was a pleasant drift towards the fort and out of nowhere we hear a splash of water PPPhewww…nothing fell in the water…but Dhiraj spat water on the uncle next to him, wonder how that happened? We all busted into laughter couldn’t control ourselves. Our fellow commuters started giving us disgusting looks and wondering what was so funny. Dhiraj apologized to the uncle and offered him his handkerchief and the uncle handed his kerchief in return.
The boatman unleashed the main sail and the wind gently floated us towards the majestic fortress, we looked on, as the walls grew taller and taller. It was strange how the walls resisted the rude waves of the Arabian Sea… Then we could see a huge atrium that had two monster doors to seal it up... The boat was wobbling to and fro by steady currents and we had to lighten the boat and jump on to the slippery steps, but hogs managed to hop out safely. It was quite a challenge for the women in burkha to try the long jump in the adverse conditions... The boatmen guided the passengers out, another localite looked like a nigga joined in to get the people down to the fort. I was wondering why so many people helped without a reason.
*Siddesh is trying to dig out some artifacts from the island and hence let me finish it.

The people who run these boat services are bloody cheats, they charged money for practically every possible thing. They even charged us for helping to board and alight the boat! I never knew Siddesh was so interested in history for starters he was one who persuaded us to visit the fort and second he never let the guide out of sight, he followed him like his shadow. I personally felt the story the guide told was biased.
Every story has two sides and the story our guide told was iffy because he kept bringing religion in between and accusing people of a particular religion. We were not able to spend more time on the island as one has can spend only 45 minutes on the fort, they has to come back to the mainland on the same boat that they used to reach the fort.
On our way back we decided to pack lunches and have it in our room. Alankar and Siddesh brought 12 plates of Bhurji Pav which was finished in 15 minutes time by us. After a quick bath and altercations with the owner over room check out time we left Kashid at 4:00 pm.
Nitin and Dhiraj started this trend of giving names I am “Wise Ass” thanks to the enlightening post drink sessions, Nitin is “Old Monk” dedicated to his favorite brand, Dhiraj is “Pebbles” based on his ‘Rock’star image, Sandeep is “David” of the David and Goliath fame, Alankar is “Barbie” thanks to his requests for “Single” photographs and hence Siddesh got his name “Jane” for being Alankars ‘partner’.
As we approached Panvel the rain gods were again in mood to shower us their blessings. It started raining cats and dog the moment we reached Panvel. The raindrops seemed to be like rubber bullets it was getting irritating to ride in this weather. As we crossed New-Mumbai and entered Mumbai there were no signs of rains. Somehow even in those torrid condition Siddesh was able to ride at 60 kms/hr and reached Andheri station a good 40 minutes before us. Hence we decided to disperse and not meet at a common arrival location. Dhiraj decided to drop Sandeep at Goregoan and I decided to drop Nitin at Andheri Station. We made the switch of partners at Sher-e-Punjab. I would not have more than 100 meters that my bike started wobbling. As a final nail pierced the tyre my frustration grew, all I wanted was reach home as soon as possible so that I can have a nice bath and rest my acing ass. I asked Nitin to catch a rickshaw and leave, as he had to cover more distance than anyone of us. I wasted 50 more minutes in searching for a tyre shop and getting the puncture fixed.

Finally I reached home at 10:00 pm had dinner and was off to sleep with sound memories of a memorable trip!

MBA - Part II

Starts with Placements for seniors...oooh man was it a eye opener for many...It was a mixed reaction from many, some disappointed on not having a 100% placements [it was achieved later] and some proudly boasting that they expected it...The only thing I would have loved is to all the Bhavans people being placed, but as fate had it some of them did not get placed on placement days and their performace was extrapolated on 4 of us...By this time we were branded as "Normal BSc.'s" who had no business to be in this course...and to be honest, Yes we were lucky to be in this course but ya we felt we were no less...The day placements ended was Ananth Chaturthi 6th Sep..I would never forget this day...This was the day, I ended up hurting one of my closest friends..by not speaking with her, now I think about it and am like what the fuck was I thinking!!!Why?? Lemme tell you guys there are three things that guys can gel on 1. Sports 2. Drinks & 3. On sharing the misery of being single :) and there only one thing that can break this bond 1. Girls...This was the time when I lost one of my closest friends of three years..Am I sad about it..aaah..Yes I am...Was it my fault..No & Yes it was my fault...I could have acted in a much better way...but certain things are destined to happen, you really cant change many things...Well the not speaking thing lasted to 5 whole days...On 11th Sep got a blasting of a lifetime...and life was normal as usual...but ya in the process of getting life back on track..Lost a Friend...For the next one month was easily one of the best periods of my life as College was like bhavans routine...wherein we were free by afternoon and plus used to spend nights talking with friend about shitty topics...Made numerous trips to Knowledge City (CCD next to Fame Adlabs) was enlightened on numerous topics..Man was I ignorant about stuff...I have to mention the BI lectures that were on at this time...There were harldy 5 people listening to him in class...The poor prof. believed that all of us were paying attention...I am not proud of it..but am sure that I did not listen to a single word he said in class..October came in all excited about going to Gita Shibir...hahahha..was it a reality check the moment we reached there...horrible rooms and as icing filthy Toilets...The Swamijis lecture were tough to handle, thanks to the topic he used to speak on and add the heat to it...It was really difficult to look at swamiji..He had three fans blowing cool air at him and we were sweating like pigs and that our asses burn even more...One thing has to be mentioned incase anyone suffers from Insomnia, he has to visit the ashram...His sermons can put the best of people to sleep....It was at the ashram that made a friendships that I hope lasts forever...My friendship started with Shiju over a bottel of CocaCola...I also had my first interaction with Madame Azavedo here...We were seated on the last row and were discussing our own views on sermon & reading The Godfather...The next thing to happen would easily be one the best things to happen to me...Team Advitiya (Brain: Shireen, Creative Head: Sonaal, Articulate: Marietta, Resource Manager: Saurabh, Financial Strategist: Ankur & Me), and you know what guys we won at IIM-A Confluence...I still remember ankur giving me the news that we have been shortlisted..we were working on a paper for IM-Zine...the moment we heard the news..we stopped working on the paper and started celebrating like mads...Trip to IIM-A has to be really a memorable one...Six of us wearing SPJIMR sweatshirt set our foots at "The IIM-A"...Met many influential people right from the education minister of gujarat to the Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation members, all thanks to Saurabh...The night before the presentation, we kept going through what we were gonna present...I still remember getting up in the morning and getting all decked up and making that journey the hostel where we were put up, to he classroom where the presentations were to be held..It was a agonising wait, we were the second last team to present...I did goof up in the presentation, while explaining the financial model I said 1 million instead of 1 lakh...oooh, I can never forget the way all five of them in unision in middle of my presentaion yelled its 1 Lakh...and to be honest after the presentation, had lost all hope and felt it was because of me that we would lose...The moment of truth arrived...and the presenter said winner is "Obviously Team Advitiya"...Felt like Heaven!!! We had WON!!! That entire evening was spent on calling up everyone...Next day..We had made it in the newspapers of Ahmedabad...Right from the Indian Express to local gujarati paper..we were in it....Well once were back in mumbai it had to be party time...Had my first glass of Vodka at Salt & Pepper in the gracious company of Ankur, Tiger and Ami....By this year end MIT Fall semester was almost done..and was kinda sure that would escape to pass!!! December arrived had our DOCC projects...This was one of the best parts of the Syllabus...We had to work in the slums..We decided to work on empowering people with the tool called "RTI"...It was a good learning experience...We spent one whole week there...Was surprised to see that these people in slums had no sanitation facility but had to have a TV!!! Was more than satisfied with the effort that we put in for RTI and as a result we managed to file around 50 RTI applications...New Years break came...Spent New Years eve with friends of bhavans (Kunal, Dhiraj, Ami & Tiger) at Saguna Baug...Althought the name sounds all shit...but the place was real awesome!!!MIT Results were out..Had passed with 3.13 GPA...

MBA - Part I

The past two years have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. It began with the jubilation of getting into one of the premier institutes of the country [it does not matter that you make it in the second list]. Then began the agonizing pain of waiting for the college to begin and also planning ways to start off with the pre-requisites syllabus given by the college, this is the time when I started to dream big [thanks to all the newspaper printing about the hefty packages these MBA's get] where nothing short foreign placement would have made me happy. Finally the day arrived to reach college for the very first time. I still remember the day clearly as I was late on the very first day for registration, as soon as I opened the door all my eyes would search for is the sight of my classmates from Bhavans and I clearly remember Saurabh calling my name out and asking me to sit next to him [his voice never seemed so sweet], thats when I took a deep breath and started looking at the people I am going to spend my next one and a half years [Our course was later converted into a 2 year course]. The first non Bhavans classmate I met was Ganga, the first thing that one would notice is how articulate he is, after a brief introduction with him I decide to leave and make a dash towards Bhavans which was home not so away from home. What followed was a series of ragging session by our seniors right from making stupid introductions about yourself to B-Plans. After our induction we had our pre-requisites test, oh ma gosh!!! I will never forget that exam. No one from our group had any clue of what has to be done and will never forget the Java code written by Ambar, the code was of 5 lines and supposedly it covered all the features of a calculator, thats when I realized how difficult its gonna be. Next we had a trip to Lonavala with the theme from "I to We", the best memory I have of that trip is the series pileups that we did apart from that we had the first fight of our class the "Bharari Vs. Imprintz" I still fail to understand how people were not able to look at the funny side. Also went on my first trek to dukes nose & was a part of the team that came last in the treasure hunt. The entire time we were at Lonavala all I could do is think about my Bhavans friends maybe it was because was too emotionally attached with them was more than happy to come back to Mumbai as it meant an opportunity to spent time with Bhavans friends. After some weeks we had our semester-I exams and thanks to this I was able to make my first friend at SPJIMR "Ankur". The reason I and ankur became friends was in this competitive class only two of us were open to coping in exams as both were desperate to copy in exams, man did we copy in the exams. Even if the invigilator was standing behind us, we could not care less about it and continued copying and when the results came and was more than happy scoring 3.0 just about scrapping through.

In pursuit of Happiness

The moment we enter this world we are always in quest of something or the other...Be it food, clothing, money, attention or as simple as happiness...So what does it take to be happy..When can we say that a person is happy & when does a person stop being happy....Yesterday I saw an old man buying a balloon for possibly his grandchild...The expression on the child said it all...The expression was as if he had conquered the world..I guess on seeing that even the grandfather could not contain the smile on his face...for the child balloon meant the world but for the grandfather it was his grandchild's happiness...So when does this happiness change into sudden sorrows...What happens that suddenly from being so happy we become so gloomy..I guess humans can never be content..human life for me runs on fuel of quest...In this quest everyone tries to better whatever they themselves have achieved till now...and mind you every human is capable of achieving more than what he has achieved previously...but for me one falters when he tries to achieve something more than what someone else has achieved... for me its this struggle to achieve that causes the temporary gloom and its the same struggle that makes this happiness so sweet when the goal is achieved...There is nothing that can be achieved without any struggle..In case human started achieving everything without any struggle then whats the difference between them and GOD...

When you sit alone after 10 yrs...you should smile with content...and your heart should sing for what you have done !!!!

Aim High but Shoot for Reality

Right from our childhood days we have been brought up by asking us to aim high...But what they dont prepare us is how to deal with the dissapointments...Higher the aim higher are the chances of falling...
They say everthing has a time and only time can tell you if are going to hit the bullseye or not..So what exactly is the right time?? All we can do is fire in the dark incase it works out then hola "It was da rite time" and incase we missed its either "too fast" or " too slow". Even if we have missed I would say its better to have fired "too fast" than being lethargic and watching the oppurtunity go in the drains. Either of the cases the feeling of having lost all chances of what you had dreamed and wanted so dearly sure SUCKS !!!
I recently did the mistake of aiming too high and firing in the sky, I should have known only you dont decide your future, there are other factors which influence it or like people say it just wasnt my time. I do not regret that fact that I aimed high because having those dreams day in and day out sure gave me a purpose to life..what is regret is I fired knowing that the target is out of reach...Its like one can see the stars in the sky but it doesnt mean he can touch them...Now that I have realised that I cannot touch the stars...I have lost all the pursose and beliefs which used to drive me...

So what is it next after falling in the drains?? For one it should be Get up then....should you decide on a new realistic dream and try to achieve it or should you aim for the same target hoping that your time would come?? I would no doubt continue to hope that my time would come!!Just cant let my dreams vanish so fast !!

I've made up my mind...To live in memory of the lonesome times...It's useless to say...So I'll just live my life in dreams of yesterday

Things I miss the most about life at bhavans

1. Having the Key for the locker....(I miss being the CR of theclass..I kno i might be sounding a Narcassist buts its true ;) ..)

2. Having the afternoon Cutting with Tejasvita, Aniket and Kunal....Sitting in da BCG for hours together and having jus one Cuttin on da table & tab tak rukkne ka jab tak anna aake uthatha nahi hai :D)

3. Copying in Exams from Sandy's paper !!....(Saala har exam kepehele bolta tha ki kuch padhke nahi hua hai..par har exam mai bhar bhar ke likhta tha)

4. Shreya & Shweta ke Fights !!! (lol..Sherya dont kill me..but itstrue re..tum logg ke fights ke baare mai sunn ke hi mazaa aa jaata tha..remember wen u started walkin back home and i came runnin aftr u ... hahahaha)

5. Losing all those Cricket Matches !!!...(Kitne baar fest mai haarehain yaar..kitne baar 500Rs. barbaad kiya hai !!btw apne team ka captain kaun tha..Me or Saurabh or Allan...hahaha..but saurabh lets agree to da fact re..Allan was a better captain than us ;))

6. Sagar ka Call....(Harr shaam ko sagar ka call pakaa aata tha,asking "Kal college kitne baje hai, aur kiska lecture hai". I really admire him re..no matter wat happens he would definitely call and ask abt college..jus loved ur dedication dude..hats off to u..)

7. Takin wit Tejasvita about future Entrepreneurship Oppurtunity !!! wat comes to ma mind is " Ur Beautiful, Ur Beautiful...its true......it's all bcoz of u..lol..)

8. Kunal and Farhin ke Fights.....(Man it was like fireworks..ppl remember banglore ka incident..but donno by the time we came to TY they had stopped fightin...shaay..but none the less it was fun..Directi ppl are missin some serious fun ;))

9. Aniket ka performance....(be it ur Jokes or ur Himesh songs...am ur biggest fan dude !!!)

10. Vaishali ke questions....(tujhe pasand hai naa vo...bol naa mai kisi ko nahi bolungi !!! lol..itna try aur kisi aur ne nahi kiyahoga...for all those u want to kno wat hav i said to her...it's a secret !!!)

note: this is not in ne order..i hav written it in da order it came to ma mind...

We always knew that lookin back on da tears would make us laugh...but we never knew dat lookin back at the moments we laughed together would make us cry !!!