"Since god is one and could not be with all, he made parents to represent him, and since he could not share his angels, he gave friends...!"
What do you think?
As far as I remember, this was one of the oldest tricks that baffled me when I was in my second grade. A friend of mine would randomly ask me to think of some number, follow some of his steps and then bingo! he would get to know the result of the computations without he even knowing what number I had initially thought.
Step 1: Think of any number
Step 2: Double it
Step 3: Add 28 to the result
Step 4: Halve the result
Step 5: Subtract the initially thought number from the result
Come on... Its no magic... nor did I use some kind of a chart to find out that :P So its funny, today randomly I asked this to a colleague of mine and she was like I'm sure this is some kind of a numeric chart use for computations. Trick works ;)
"Wheat bread, with some light mayo please, no bacon and sprinkle very little cheese on it. No oil, just some salt and pepper"... that's my typical order for a sandwich, be it TOGO's, Quiznos or Subway, I've been enjoying sandwiches for lunch for a while. The other day, I was out to Cisco's Cafe to grab some Mongolian Sitr-fry. Unfortunately, the queue was too long a wait with my ever increasing hunger. I walked by the sandwich bar where I had the liberty to make my own sandwich.
Obviously, I looked at their meats section and then decided on to go for it. Curiously looking at the options, I picked up a bread roll, patted some mustard, hummus and light mayo generously over it.Then i relished it with some curried chicken chunks, turkey slices, fried eggplant and cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. By now it was a heavy slab of self chosen ingredients, which I neatly wrapped, and slant cut it into 2.
As I started to bite onto the first half, I realized I was biting onto just the bread and some of the toppings. Hastily, I finished the first half throwing off some bread away. As I bit into the other half, it tasted just as it should have. I could taste all the ingredients together and it was just what I wanted. Happily I finished off the sandwich and walked away.
What's funny is that this is not the first time it happened to me. Be it any sandwich, or for that matter any salad wrap, the first half has always not been the best. And I keep wondering, is it just me? Or my hunger? Or the sandwiches themselves?
Snowboarding.... yippie yeah! I'm gonna do this, its gonna be so cool telling people I did it, something to boast about and a sport you would only see people enjoy on televisions. I was all pepped up for this activity, when we reached South Lake Tahoe and saw the steep slope of Heavenly Resort. This was just a weekend before my trip to India in Dec '07.
The morning was a little rainy, skies looked gloomy and the news of light snowshowers at the Heavenly's put me off a bit. Now what? We found out that we could Snowboard at another resort close by... don't remember the name of the place, since I was really put off :( We reached the base of the slope where we had to do the payment for the equipment rentals, lessons and the lift charges (err some 120 odd bucks damages)
After spending some 10 minutes to get my feet into the boots, I did a moonwalk to the counter to deposit my wallet and the other loose stuff, keeping my confidence with me. As I walked out of the rental, I was surrounded by a crowd of people with skills from "hell no! do I get my money back" to "I can snowboard on your home roof" types. And the "I will do it easily, since I did skating last evening easily" me somehow walked on the new orientation of my feet (yeah! it felt like my feet were moulded with steel) towards my friends, who were waiting for me.
Within minutes, we were asked by our group instructor to follow the path to the lower lifts, from where we would be taken to the top. The excitement grew! We reached the top. Let the fun begin....
Our lesson started off (atleast for me) with the walk to the practice area. Yes, walking in those boots and keeping up the pace, and my dynamic center of gravity and the slopy path and the slippery snow and the cold wind and the shaky confidence and the.... damm, this is not easy :(( Somehow I managed to walk to the group and reunite there! By then he had already started off with the first lesson and cracking a joke on me in my absence.
Lesson 1 was easy, fit one of the boots on the board and wait there.
Lesson 2, move in a straight line with the board on! What?!? I never can do that with my walking, you kidding me? Well I tried it and did it quite well.
Lesson 3, walk up a gentle slope with the goddamm board on! HOW!? Ok its simple, your one leg is stuck to the board and the other is free. Climb up with the free one, and fix the board into the snow to get the grip. Huh??! Ok I reached 70% of the slope (= some 2 metres) and stuck there.
Lesson 4, slide down the slope. Nooooooooooooo!! this means I have to trudge up the 2 metres again? Ok let me wait here and let the others do it and I sat down.
Lesson 5... and I was sitting down
Lesson 6... and I am still sitting.
Lesson 7... I need to move, its getting cold in here and might become red.
I had to move away from the group, since I was blocking their slope path. Using my two arms and my one free foot, I walked... no wait, I dragged... no wait, ok I moved to my friend already sitting there, who had given up at lesson 2. Yeah! it was fun, we ate some snow, it was cold... hmm soon was joined by another friend of mine (he took a while to cover his insurance costs) and the 3 of us enjoyed snowboarding, not on the television, but watching it live!!
Mohit, I told you, having Steak at the steakhouse was a better option! Anyways, in the next trip to Tahoe :) The burger was not a bad option though while the lessons 14+ were on :)
Joke of the Day, sorry Year! Mohit took an additional $2 insurance for the equipment :))
A walk on Pune's
The stubborn kid I was, I remember crying right there, making a scene out of it, till mom would leave me there and start walking away :) Well a couple of times I would be convinced that it wouldn't work at home, but the sight of it sailing to the rhythm was not something I would walk by so easily.
Couple of years later, when my bro would do the same, it was time for me to walk up and say "I will make it work" and alas we bought the first putt-putt boat. Celebrations time, I ran into the bathroom, filled the tub, grabbed the matchbox, lit the wax filled spoon and there it went... "clitter... clitter... clitter..." as it sped off right into the tub.... yippiee... felt like Vasco-da-gama. And then followed the melting of candles, burnt tiles with wax spots, piles of carbonized match sticks and burnt fingers. Time would fly during the weekends lying besides the tub and see the tiny hull make rounds, reloading the fuel into it and then rejoicing over the next voyage!
You know how crazy one gets when Apple launches some device into the market, or when XBOX releases some game which was the talk of town, even before it was declared within Microsoft. Well, I try to stay away from all this, coz waiting a week or so after the launch to get a glimpse of the new hotcake in the market wont make much of a difference to me, when I can easily walk into the store and check it out with ease.
But yes, it happened so that I was actually waiting for the PSP to release. Not that it was something new in the markets, but yes, PSP's slimmer version was to hit the markets in Sep 2007. Ever since I played the older version, I wanted to buy it. But the news of the slim version releasing would make it all the more difficult for me to buy the older model. This was sometime in July, so 2 months seemed a loooooooooooong time for me.
On 10th September, with my eyes barely open, I got ready with my slippers on and got a drop to the nearest Fry's store. Like a kid in Legoland, I ran around to see where the launch was taking place. To my glee, they were lying right in the middle of the store and several pieces were kept there. Like a typical desi, I picked the one hid right inside the pile, checked the pack here and there to see I picked the perfect one and with a big smile on my face walked to the counter, paid some 220 odd bucks for it (which seemed like buying a gallon of milk from a 7/11 store) and rushed back home.
Opening it, and playing with it rightaway felt like receiving a toy I would crave for months and finally get it on my birthday! I love it so much :)
PS: Gone are those looooooooooong boring times in the restroom :D
The kid in me never grows and I don't want it to, coz every time I think of the pranks I do, its calms me... one more to the series, read on!
One of the college days, I drove down to a friend's place and was standing down at the elevator, waiting for him, so that we could continue to college together. I waited for about 10 minutes and then saw the elevator come down from the 4th floor. He was the only occupant on that floor so I thought of scaring him. I hid beside the door of the elevator and was waiting for him to open the door. The door opened, and I pounced out "Boooooo!!!"
Damm!! I was shit scared (and mebbe embarrassed), it was some chick who came down the elevator... "What nonsense?" said she with a frown on her face and she walked off...
Watches do get Jetlagged... who said NO! I can prove it, and that too for 2 months or so. How?? Read along..
So in Feb 07 I reached San Jose. Keeping track of the time zones I'd pass, I would update my Swatch accordingly. When I reached the US, I turned the shiny hands for the last time (...or was it not the last). Well I had to adjust the date too. So all set, I left the watch aside and went to sleep.
Next day (well not for the watch) I saw the day it displayed was the day before's, so I began to wind the date wheel to the current date. Ok, what next? In the afternoon, it would take off to the next day? Ohh no, my Swatch's screwed. Alright I can do that again, I adjusted the date wheel back to today.
Ok, this went on for almost 2 months. I stayed awake till 12 at times to adjust the date ticker, but the 12 hours difference was not readily accepted by the watch and it would just skip 12 hours and display the next day. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh I don't wanna repair it here :( It will cost me a bomb.
Tired of doing this everyday, one day I asked Tippul if he knew of any Swatch repair shop around, or for that matter anyone who could fix the problem. The guy stared at me and gave me a blast of laughter. "Dumbo", said he, "turn the hours hand 12 hours ahead and you're all set".
It’s been almost 7 months since I last posted. The single reason being, I’ve been running along with the ticking time. And finally today, when I have absolute 2 full hours to myself, I thought of covering the glimpses of this period of time here.
Yup, it’s a little weird considering everyone drives to Pune or Mumbai during this time of the year to blow cash on the most ridiculous parties. And I decided to go to Konkan with my family. Why? Hmm… no dance partner for New Years, as simple :) So decided to go to Malvan, which is famous for its Sea Food (major point of attraction for me), its distinct spices and the Tarkarli Beach, which was around Malvan. Also because all the places in Konkan I knew were already booked and packed. The drive was going to be long, almost 400kms from Pune. We reached the small town after almost 10 and half hours drive.
Malvan… the land of ‘not so virgin’ beaches, narrow roads and gay dogs :)) I had already spoken to Mahesh from Dariya Sarang Resort (I got the number from here). We were to be put up at someone’s house which Mahesh had helped us in getting the contact. This was after loads of searches on the internet. It was very surprising that a place like Malvan does not have a lot of web presence. Anyways, so as soon as we entered this small town, we were hit by traffic jams. No, not because of heavy traffic, but because someone had parked a car on the road :P
The apartment
The apartment was a nice one and the best thing about it was it was barely 20 meters away from the water that flowed from the sea into the land. It was low tide then, so the exposed land was seen, which caught my eye and started off shooting the pictures. We first hit the Malvan Beach that evening to have a quick bite and then explore the beach. The beach has nothing much to be boasted about since it is a fishing center with many fishing boats to be seen. The good thing was, even though it’s a little busy, one could enjoy the crisp sunset there, gazing at the gorgeous Sindhudurg Fort, built in the sea some 100 meters away from the shore.
The view from our room
We had a quick bite at Hotel Sagar Kinara (located right at the Malvan Beach) and we moved to the Chivla Beach (North) from here. At Chivla, the locals were celebrating the Koast Fest (an annual festival of the locals). I was expecting a lot of activities here, but it was more of a “stalls that sell local spices and stalls food” place. We bought a pack of dry Kokum here. The major attraction here was Santa made of sand. It was really well crafted by 2 of the locals there. We sat there for sometime waiting for the sun to go down. Ganesh Visarjan was going to happed there, which I learnt was done every year at this time too. We didn’t wait that to happen, since the folks were waiting for some VIP to arrive. We moved from there since there was nothing much to do here.
The Sand model - Santa
It was around 7:30 and we didn’t want to go back home. So I drove towards Tarkarli (which was on the to-visit list for the next day) and looked around for a nice place to eat. We stopped at a place called Chintamani opposite to MTDC resorts, after trying to barge into some other hotel, who very conveniently said “NO FOOD” to me, since we didn’t stay there. Chintamani served “home-cooked” food. No fancy stuff, just a nice Maharashtrian lady preparing food for people staying there and now for us too. Xerxes and I took full advantage of this and hogged a lot. We had 2 portions each of Prawn Curry and Fish Curry with Rice and some ‘n’ hot chapattis with a glass of Kokum Juice. And our entire bill came to some 300 odd bucks including a bottle of beer. After the hearty feast, we drove back to Malvan to hit the sack and to end my long day’s tiredness. By now, all I could see with my eyes shut was prawns, more prawns and the highway :)
Day 2 coming up in my next post…
Last week was one of the busiest weeks of my life, with literally no time to breathe. Yes, that’s coz my best friend Vishal was getting married to a beautiful and an adorable girl Shivani. And I was the “Best-Man” for the event (…ahem!!), which meant doing loads of shopping for me too. I was to attend the Sangeet ceremony apart from the wedding and the reception, each of them were on separate days. Thanks to my friend Risha, I could get things done as quickly as possible. From my suit trial, to buying traditional dress for the sangeet to buying Mojris and shoes, we did it all within 4 hours (which also saved me from paying an additional 5 bucks to the Pay’n’Park guy! :) )
Their wedding was my first complete hindu wedding I attended right from the Baraat to the Vidaai. The wedding took place at Sun n Sand, Pune on the 14th of Dec, 2006. I was to reach Vishal’s place at 4PM so that I could get some of his relatives to the venue. The baraat started just a block away from Sun n Sand (opposite the new Connaught Place structure). This would also be the first time I would actually be dancing on the roads in a baraat! Knowing my dancing skills I was a little tensed to start off. But seeing all the people around me dance and Raju with full enthu, I started moving my feet and this went on till the entrance of the venue where the bride’s father was waiting to receive the baraat. He joined us in dancing a little with each one of us and then with the groom. It’s a tradition for the groom to dance with the father-in-law.
As we entered the main entrance, the bride’s mother was waiting there with a thali. Here, the mother is supposed to pinch the nose of the groom and the groom’s side men have to avoid this from happening (by hiding the nose from being pulled). Raju did a good job here by being smart and prompt in avoiding the pinch and also smartly handling the distractions from the pujari :) Our groom’s eyes were filled with pleasure as the bride walked down the aisle towards him. We all walked down along the aisle following them and reached the mandap.
Our job started here. We were supposed to take care of the groom’s mojris, before the bride’s side (her sister and gang of cousins, 30 of them in total!!) could steal them and hide them. Before we could even get hold of the shoe, the bride’s side did a phenomenal job of snatching the shoe off (read as ripping us apart :) ) and running away with the shoes. Well as put by Raju in his words, they flicked the shoes in a record time of less than 20 secs. Soon, the actual wedding ceremony started. I didn’t know much of this apart from the Saat-pheres around the fire. The ceremony took close to 1 ½ hours.
After the ceremony got over, the bride’s side demanded for Rs. 30,000/- in return for the shoes. I tried my tricks on small kids bribing them with XBOX and Playstation 2 in return of letting me know where they hid the shoes. Naaah !! Didn’t work, kids these days are smarter :D The negotiations were on and they decreased the rate to Rs. 21,000/- This went on for sometime, when finally the settlement was done with the sis-in-law Shweta, who finally accepted to take the envelope with some unknown amount of cash in it, in return for the shoes. This also means that Mr. Vishal is going to get back to Raju and me for being unsuccessful in our task :)
For the next 2-3 hours, it was photo sessions, relatives and guests meeting the couple on the stage, people enjoying delicious Punjabi Veg food. Raju and I were standing by the stage in turns to collect the gifts and money-filled envelopes in bags.
The couple was to spend their night in one of the rooms in the hotel. And that was a little too much for some of us to digest :) So I teamed up with Vishal’s sister, Neha and we struck up a plan to stay all night in their room. First we went to the bakery and picked up assorted pastries for the couple, packed them and then kept it in their room later. I had talks with Vishal’s cousin Ketan to get some more ideas to trouble the two. We planned to stay overnight there in their room and call for room-service all the while. I was pretty excited about the idea :)
We all had dinner together with the couple and close family members. We were served some nice salads, great Punjabi food and the best of all, 3 desserts. I feasted on the sweets as usual not caring of the cal intake :P
The last ceremony was the Vidaai, where the bride’s parents hand over the bride to the groom. Its a little senti moment with mixed tears of happiness and joy in the bride’s eyes and her close ones. After meeting everyone, the couple sat in the car and her brothers pushed the car a little as a part of the tradition. We all left the place and few of us headed to Vishal’s house where the Griha Pravesh puja was to take place on the event of the bride entering the new home. The puja went on for almost 30-45 minutes and I was almost dead by now. With scary red eyes I waited for the puja to get over and them to get ready to leave for the hotel. We waited almost 30 minutes after the puja for them. By then 2 of his cousins (the ones who were going to accompany us all night, staying in their room) left and I was way to tired to stay back too :( We left the couple in peace and I drove back home after they left to hit the sack.
I wish both of them a very very Happy married life together!
One of the items on my hate-list is holding anything in my hand (except a soft fair hand ;) ). Whether its a used tea cup or flowers at someone's reception or my own camera case, the moment I’m told to hold something, my brain starts thinking of algorithms to get rid of it. Most of the people are already well-versed with my “Lace baandhna hai” trick. It works wonders sometimes.
ACT - I
The other day, I went down from the office with my colleagues Mady, PK and Rahul for a tea. I picked up 2 Marie biscuit packets on the way for my between-hours hunger. Seemed like the shopkeeper didn’t wanna give me a plastic bag for purchasing mere Maries. So I started walking holding the 2 packs in my hand. I somehow wanted one of them to carry them to the office. So I started!
ME: “Dude, hold these packs, I’ve got to tie my laces.”
Mady: “Sure!”
Just as he was about to get them, he saw my leather shoes (with no laces) and pulled his hands back. Damm didn’t work :) So we kept walking till target 2 (read as Rahul) got curious about the new brand of Marie’s I bought.
ACT – II
Just a few days back, late in the afternoon, we 4 college friends were having ice-cream in a mango shaped plastic cups, sitting in the car. I was sitting in the co-driver seat, so I had to hold mine as well as PD’s ice-cream cup. Both of us finished the icecream and I was to hold the empty cups. I'd already played the "lace" trick earlier, so I tried another trick. Turning back I said “Agni, hold this cup! PD’s cam will fall off my lap” and I gave him the cup. As I gave the cup, I grinned back at him :))
After a minute or so, he said: “Ruz, here, take your ice-cream”. Without realizing what I was to do next, I turned and took it back!
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shitttt, shitttttt, shittttttttttttt!!" was all that was left to say :(
After some 'n' meals, 'n+2' desserts, several glasses of Orange juice and wine, the long and lonely flight from
It's 12:30 AM now. Got my way out to the airport soon, since I was all set to sleep for another 10 - 12 hours. I went straight to the way that led to the lounge where I longed to spread my already relaxed body. So as luck always sits on the back of me, (did I mention the bad one :@) I found that the lounge was full. Luckily, I remembered that there was a "Relaxing settees that vibrate" room somewhere around. Dragging my cabin luggage, I swooshed towards the room. Again, the 'L' factor on me back. I had to look around for a place to sit first! Found one seat near a 'now shutting' cafeteria. Tried to shut my eyes, but I guess the relaxing seats didn't comfort my tooshie.
What's worse, it's just 30 minutes of the 16 hours halt that had passed. Dammit, what about the other remaining hours? I roamed around a bit, looking at some of the cafeterias and other fast food joints. By now I had developed an appetite of a Gargantua! I could eat anything at any time of the day. I decided to settle on a meal at Burger King. Went and had a meal, trying my best to kill the time. Was having one bite and then counting 30 till I could eat another. Worked for the first few bites and then gulped down the rest. Now what? This makes an hour? I could see some kids playing around some games at the console kiosks. So went to the XBOX console and tried my luck there, not to win but be lucky enough to spend some minutes there. Nope! didn't work... now what! Walked to the nearest PC to check mails. Chatted with a pal of mine with my webcam on, who by now had already told the entire office that I dont fit in one frame anymore! The one instance where I cursed high-speed internet connection, that got my work done in 15 minutes.
After some 30 minutes, made a second attempt to hit the sack. Walked up to "The room" which was still full. By now I had decided I would not sleep that night. Went to some place where some people were snoring to glory. And yes they were all apne Indians! Some of them snoring, some watching Star Sports on big screens and others, quieting their kids with their squeaky voices.... eeeks! So I had an option of 1) Watching Star Sports, CNN or CNBC 2) coil up and sleep like a snail on the chair or 3) think of the options of the next grub in sometime. I did neither, and walked off after sitting there for a while.
Now what??? My sight just slipped on a board that pointed to a theatre? Wow... that would be fun! Walked up there and sat there in a 'more or less relaxing' seat. This was like 4ish and my eyes were drooping now. The movie was fart and I had to walk off! NOW WHAT??? Walked to the main terminal and sat there on a chair and tried to sleep. Ok this worked and now its morning Yippee!!!... lesser hours to go!
Went to BK's again for a juicy breakfast. By this time, the female at the counter had already started giving me that "Noodle smile" of her's. Reminded of the "Allloo Welcome... come inside... what will you have today! We have chicken, prawns and pork today!" all this in a mere breath! in the funniest tone I used to enjoy hearing and laugh on, at the Chinese Deli's :)) Had a heavenly meal again.
The next couple of hours spend strolling around from one terminal to the other, making use of all the free facilities provided, checking and re-checking the prices of electronics and perfumes in every store that shelved them. By now it was lunch-time and went to some Chinese joint to have another round of meal. Finished the quick lunch and walked to the nearest store for a bottle of water. Paid the money and left the shop. Had to spend a few more hours here before I could fly back. Now the only source of time-killer was watching those "not so interesting" channels I mentioned earlier. Sat there for 2 hours, warming the seat and killing time. By then it was time for a coffee break.
It was 4, walked slowly dragging my bag to the cafeteria. Stood there staring at the long list of coffee's they offered and the oven fresh muffins. I ordered a Cappuccino and a Danish muffin. Reaching my back-pockets to settle the bill, I realized something was really not what I wanted after hours of stay at Changi.... I rushed away from the cafeteria... yes you guessed it... the wallet was missing!!!
To be continued.....
| since March '08 |
