And that’s how 2013 ended..

December 20

It all started with a Christmas party at home with the NM gang. We were playing Secret Santa for the last 2 weeks, and some of the tasks done by people were absolutely hilarious. I’ve made a video compilation of all that transpired. This day was the coming together of the entire bunch to exchange gifts and have a party. The night started off slow with people trickling in late since it was a working day. I myself got home only around 830 since I was working from Belapur. But as the night progressed, it turned into a really neat Christmas party. Raju and Payal making us play funny group games, Bangdu giving people punishments for not doing their tasks, exchanging lots of really meaningful gifts (for example, I got playing shirts from Payal - my real Santa, and shot glasses from Boka - my fake Santa, and gave Isha my child a nice photo frame to put up her recent Ranvir Singh photo), and all of this against the backdrop of the Christmas tree that Geet and I decorated a week before.

The party went on till 4 am, after which, Geet and I had to pack (or rather, she did the packing for both of us while I struggled to stay awake) and rush to the airport for our flight to Bangalore.

December 21

Geet and I pretty much slept through most of the day and then completed some pending office work so that we could be in peace for the rest of the holiday. Towards the evening, we were supposed to meet Sony and prepare for the wedding the next day, or at least prepare a dance routine that she had requested us to do for the Sangeet that was to happen, but instead, all we did was go out for a quiet dinner, since our energy levels were all still too low.

Jeethu, Sachin, Geet and I went to meet Amachi in the evening, and after that headed to Peking restaurant, one of the first Chinese restaurants to come up in Kamanahalli. It still looked exactly the same as I last remember it, visiting it way back in the late 90’s. The surroundings were different, with new constructions all over the place, but little Peking was as is. Not just the looks, but even the food. Easily some of the best lemon chicken soup, chilly chichen, and hakka noodles I’ve had. Basic Chinese food, but never tasted this good any place else.

December 22

We got ready soon and left to SCM for the Haldi (called Nalang in Tamil) that was to begin at noon. We reached much earlier to see if we can help out with anything for Sony, but she herself entered quite late, along with Fred and his entire family. It was nice to see so many people from Fred’s side coming all the way from France for the wedding, and we boys welcomed Fred and got him into his traditional attire for the day. Soon the event started with a prayer meeting by the usual SCM priest, followed by a presentation of some dance numbers that some of Sony’s friends had prepared, then an Ice Breaker session from Arun, and finally the Nalang ceremony for both Sony and Fred. The entire day was chilled out and good fun. My only crib being Kumar’s lunch that we got to have at SCM didn’t include his infamous chicken fry, as only vegetarian was prepared for the day.

Once the ceremonies ended, Geet and I went for a drive to Lingarajapuram, to meet a friend of a friend of Sony – Christopher, who deals with vintage cars. We booked a 1938 Ford Tourer convertible that was going to be a surprise for Sony for the next day. He didn’t have any other cars to give us any other option, but we guessed that even if he did have any other, we would have mostly gone ahead with this cute little red convertible vintage itself. So we paid him an advance, and then drove back to Magrath Hotel on Magrath road where Fred’s family and the rest of the wedding attendees were staying, and went to Suraj and Asha’s room for pre wedding drink.

Sony and Fred joined us shortly, and we began playing “Moment of Truth” with them. It was quite a bit of fun, with the comedy elements being Suraj, Sachin and Sanu taking turns both at the seat, as well as with asking the questions.

After a few rounds with a 12 year old Old Monk (never seen this before, and tasted only a trifle smoother than the regular Old Monk we have) and some chicken shawarma’s later, we called it a night, as the next day was to start early in St. Marks church.

December 23

Christopher reached Magrath hotel well in time. He was there by 8a.m itself, while the rest of us reached only by 8:30, as we were to leave the hotel at 8:45 for the wedding that was to begin at 9:00. Everything went as per script that day; Geet and I took a thousand photos with the vintage car we loved so much, Sony expressed thorough shock and awe when she saw the ride that was arranged to take her to her wedding venue, and most importantly, the 75 year old engine in the car actually held out for the entire day!

The wedding ceremony was a quick one, with the same priest from the previous day conducting the proceedings. I was to be a best man, and all of us best men wore matching peach ties that Sony arranged for us, so that we would coordinate with the peach dresses worn by the brides maids of the wedding. We realized at the last minute that we were one best man short, and we ended up making Christopher the best man. He was as it playing backup driver for the day, since his regular driver could not make it, and now he was backup best man as well! He was really supportive the entire day, keeping the car sparkling clean at the end of every ride, taking photos of all those who wanted one with the car, and even playing best man to contribute for the wedding!

Once the ceremonies were over, another thousand photographs followed, and then we took mom to Koshy’s as she was feeling really hungry, and ate the most expensive breakfast I have probably had in a while, where each puff/cutlet was being charges @Rs. 200-400. Anyway, it was a good break with Vinu, Nandita, Jeethu, Sachin, Vivu, Geet and me with mom, before we headed to Magrath hotel for the reception that was to follow.

What followed the rest of the day was truly remarkable. Until this point, everything was going just as how any of us might have expected Sony’s wedding to take place. But beyond this point, it was a fancy, almost “French” wedding that we seemed to be attending.

For one, the reception hall had neatly decorated round tables, with wine and beer being served to everyone. Then Arun played host brilliantly, even making the most important statement by an MC at such occasions with ease - “here’s presenting Mr and Mrs Gibou for the first time”. Then there was a dance by all the family members, where I began with Geet, and ended with a small routine with the bride as well, and boy, did she look super happy that day! The food was great, Sony and Fred looked fantastic together, and the whole wedding went through beautifully.

What followed in the evening, was even more special. Post lunch at Magrath, we got back home to catch 40 winks given the lack of sleep the previous night, and headed back to Magrath for a party with the new family on the terrace-pool of Magrath hotel. Here again the setting was simply brilliant, with Fred’s family bringing an assortment of French wines for us to taste, and in spite of my aversion to wine, I ended up tasting all of them there, and even accurately guessed a wine tasting competition that Fred, and his wine expert brother Marc had arranged for us.

We then danced into the night, with a music system that was once again giving problems. This was another element that Sony would sure like to forget about the wedding, since even the previous day the music would just not play well. She made Vivu and me in charge of the music in fact, and we ended up doing quite a bad job of it. But that apart, every other element of the wedding was simply great – easily one of the best wedding’s my family has managed to pull through.

December 24

Geet and I woke up uncomfortably at 5a.m to bid adieu to ma, pa, Jeethu and Sachin, as they were headed to Kottayam. We just locked the door behind them, and continued to sleep given the crazy party we had the previous night. Our flight out of Bangalore was only towards the evening, as I had managed cheap flight tickets to Cochin, and decided to stick to flying than driving that the rest of my family was about to embark on.

Taking the flight gave us enough time to have breakfast with Amachi, followed by lunch with Valsa aunty. Both of which were really nice as we got to catch up with them, something Geet and I get a chance to do very rarely as we just about make 1-2 trips to Bangalore in a year. We bought benne masala dosa from Shanti Sagar and had that with Amachi, and Valsa aunty prepared Mathi fish with her trademark sambar, which thankfully even Geet seemed to really enjoy.

Vinu dropped us to the airport, and en route, we purchased a phone for mom, which was to be her Christmas gift the next day. Our journey that began at 3p.m towards the Bangalore airport, finally ended at 9p.m in Kottayam, taking 6 hours, while my family took 12 hours to reach the same destination. They were there since 5pm, and managed to entertain my school friends, who were going to be part of the Christmas-Kerala trip, after nearly 7 years of planning (I have been inviting them to Kottayam ever since our house there was constructed, and they finally made the trip this year – on the 20^th anniversary of us knowing each other!)

By the time Geet and I reached Kottayam, we were really tired to do too much, and everyone else seemed to be in too much of a listless state to move their butts either. So all we did was have some toddy and homemade wine that pa had arranged, along with some signature chicken fry that mom made.

We then went for a walk on the road, and wished each other a Merry Christmas as the clock went past midnight, when some of the neighbours burst some random crackers to remind us of the time. There were also some carol singers visiting home, playing really sad drums and singing, but at least it was in the spirit of Christmas, which was something I haven’t witnessed since leaving home in 2004.

All in all, it was a great start to Christmas – hanging with my entire family and my closest friends..

December 25

We had arranged a house boat for the day for all of us, and the ride was to begin at 11a.m. But by the time all of us got ready, had mom’s awesome poori pallya, and left the house, it was nearly 1p.m by the time we reached the boat. Lalu uncle was there was usual to welcome us, and handed over the stash of 10 beer cans he had arranged for us while we entered the boat. The boat by itself was really fancy, and when I mentioned it to Lalu uncle, he said it was a deluxe boat that he managed to arrange for us this time. I was so glad that he did this, as this was easily one of the best house boats of Kumarakom that I had been on. There was even a music system on the deck which played songs as soon as I plugged in my pen drive (the same one that I was carrying for Sony’s wedding).

The 3 boatmen were also really nice through the journey. The guy steering had Nived with him all the time, keeping him entertained. The other 2 who handled the kitchen kept our beer cold for us, and served some of the best food we had on the boat. While the fish is always kick-ass, this time it was served with a really neat presentation of a salad as well that really impressed all of us. The boat captain also stopped at an island shop en route to purchase some prawns that I asked him to get as people wanted to try it out, but since prawns were not available, he bought lobsters – a whole 5 of them for just 1500 bucks! Even this was prepared beautifully, and all of us ate and drank to our hearts content that day.

We were actually supposed to return by 5p.m that day, but we finally reached shore only by 7p.m, and ended up having to pay for the usage of the boat all the way from 11a.m to 7p.m (which cost Rs. 1300 per hour), all because we asked to see an island that Sush read about online. We only got to see the island from a distance, and frankly, not even sure if it really was that island, or just something the captain decided to fool us with and take us on a longer ride to charge us for it.

But anyway, we weren’t complaining as the hospitality they extended for the day completely deserved the money we paid for it. Once we got home, there was a pleasant surprise in store for us – Aash and China distributed Christmas gifts for all of us. It was really sweet of them to plan this out. While Aash gave out toys which left all of us fighting between the Ferrrari and BMW cars, China actually bought really thoughtful gifts for us. The one that he gave Geet and me was a lamp shade in the shape of a CTRL button that she can use to “CTRL” me! Sush was beginning to feel really bad as all she got for us was some chocolates the previous day, but it didn’t matter to any of us, and even this much was really sweet of them.

After the exchanging of gifts, which was truly the best way to wrap up Christmas 2013, China and I went to drop Jeethu and Sachin to the train station, as they were headed to Sachin’s place in Kanhangad. Once we got back, the rest of us stayed up to play teen patti. Somewhere in the middle of the game, Aash just disappeared without informing any of us. She seemed to do this all the time, and Vikram called her a ninja for doing this. Combining this with mummy calling her a “mature amma”, we christened her “Ninjamma” for the trip.

But although she went missing, the rest of us played on till nearly 2a.m, which Geet winning as usual, and China giving her company with his beginners luck at play. The rest of us kept losing, with Sush having the absolute worst luck possible. It was a real fun night, with China providing non stop entertainment, while the rest of us came up with variations and gambled away.

December 26

We began the day slow with a late brunch which included duck eggs, rabbit fry and avial, inter alia that mom made, and the avial completely stole the show. It was by far one of the best avial I’ve had, and I seemed to prefer it to all the other non veg options that were available. Post the scrumptious lunch, we had to fight the urge for an afternoon siesta as we wanted to shop a bit before driving to Allepey beach to see the sunset. This day turned out to be quite disastrous..

Pa arranged for a Qualis, as not everyone would have fit into just the Innova, since Sham uncle, Vicky aunty, Sagarika, and mom were also accompanying us on this day. Sush, Vikram, Geet, mom and I were the ones to leave first as we were the group that wanted to shop, and headed to Kottayam circle, where Geet did some quick fire shopping of dress material for Sush, Aash and Supriya, and some masala’s for us. Sush also purchased an expensive gold chain that she really seemed to like, taking the help from mom who was there with us.

Post this shopping, we headed towards Allepey beach. While we were coordinating with the other car, we got to know that they were stuck in a very bad traffic jam in Kottayam itself, which left us wondering if we should wait for them, or continue with our trip to Allepey. I decided to move on, since I would be a much slower driver than the driver in the Qualis, and they are likely to catch up with us, besides I had checked that the sunset was at 6:11p.m on this day, and it was already looking like we might make it to Allepey beach only by 6. All of this planning turned out to be completely wasteful..

While we continued our journey towards Allepey, the traffic jam that we seemed to escape in Kottayam caught us at Allepey itself. It was so bad that we really contemplated turning back. The only reason we went on ahead was because we were so close to the beach already. The other car had also cleared Kottayam and was pummelling towards Allepey.

By the time we reached Allepey beach, it was way past sunset, and we even figured what the commotion was all about. There was some sort of a fair going on at the beach, making it more crowded that Juhu and Marina put together. We were so tired, that we just hit a neat looking restaurant on the beach and order some chai and fries. The other car had now reached the Allepey traffic jam, and decided to finally turn around now, as we were also planning to leave soon after tea, and there was no sunset to see anyway.

On our way back, I began to play the lateral thinking murder puzzles with everyone. This really kept the journey going peacefully, as there were more traffic jams on the way back, with a Guruvayur procession replete with decked up elephants, a Christian procession, and a muslim celebration, all seemed to be out on exactly this day, completely blocking traffic all the way through.

What was intended to be a 1.5hour drive one way to Allepey, took nearly 7 hours to complete, as we got home only at 10p.m that day. I was utterly famished, and poured myself a drink the moment we reached home. Vikram joined me with it, and some good dinner later (which the other car picked up on their way back) all of us crashed out for the night.

December 27

Pa  arranged the same Qualis again to take us for a day trip to Cochin, which was to be the last leg of the trip with the school gang, as they were leaving back to Bangalore from Cochin in the evening.

As usual we began the day late, and left only by 10a.m instead of 8:30 as originally planned. We played more lateral thinking murder puzzles on the way, and reached the famous Lulu mall in Cochin first – around 1p.m. This was like any other mall we’ve been to, but there were 2 in-house stores – Lulu Hypermarket, and Lulu celebrate, which were some of the main reasons people visited this mall. Lulu Hypermarket is supposed to be the biggest single MT outlet in the country, and has visitors from HUL checking it out all the time, and Lulu celebrate is a designer outfit store that spans 3 floors, with so many employees that Geet had 3 women attending to her for a sari purchase.

So some shopping later, we headed to The Grand hotel, where Geet and I ate the last time we visited Cochin, and completely loved the food there. The hotel was celebrating 50 years of completion, and was as usual super crowded. We finally got our table at 3:30, with barely half hour left for the kitchen to close. We placed the entire order immediately, and sat sipping on our beers as they served out the spread which had a prawn masala that Sush was gorging on, fish fry, fish in leaf, appam and stew, biryani, all of it topped up with a caramel custard that everyone completely enjoyed. A great way to end the much awaited Kerala trip.

We then headed to Raju uncle and Sally aunties house to freshen up, where Geet and I changed into our wedding uniform to attend Jidesh’s pre-wedding function in Cochin on this day, and got completely embarrassed when we ran into a girl who was even present at Sagar’s wedding, and recognized us, as we were wearing the exact same clothes even on that wedding.

Geet and I got quite bored at this function as we really weren’t sure what was going on around. Anyway, we quickly had some dinner and left around 10p.m, as Raju uncle was waiting outside for us. He had dropped us to the venue and then went back to drop the rest of the gang to the bus stop, and then came back to pick us up. He was doing so much for us, that we really didn’t want to delay them any longer, and so left in spite of Jidesh asking us to stay longer. However, we were at least glad we got to meet him on this day and wish him luck.

December 28

Raju uncle dropped the 2 of us to the airport, almost in the nick of time, for phase 3 of our trip – to Delhi this time. It was going to the first time in Delhi for Geet and me post wedding, and only the 2^nd time in the city together.

We had a stop over flight through Bombay, and met up with Naan and Geet’s mom in Bombay airport and had lunch with them that Geet’s mom packed for us. We gave away the clothes we used up so far on the trip, along with all the items that Geet had purchased, and took from mom some warm clothes that we needed for Delhi winters.

We reached Delhi at 7p.m, and were welcomed with a biting chill, and Naan and Aanchal waiting to escort us to Aanchal’s house which was vacant these few days we were going to be there.

Once we reached her place, we freshened up, and hit a micro-brewery called Brahous7. Fresh beer always tasted good, and one mug down, we headed to a club called Rhino just opposite. Some typical ‘Dalli’ songs and dance moves later, we headed to a roadside paratha store, where paratha’s were being prepared at the rate of 5 a minute, and still we had to wait nearly half hour to get ours packed. Got home and had it over drinks and random chats. Geet was completely loving the paratha’s, as she was waiting to have the typical roadside Delhi paratha’s here.  Soon we covered ourselves up under the warm bed sheets, given the temperatures coming precariously close to 0 degrees, and crashed for the night.

December 29

We began the day with brunch at a place called Roots, which served basic food like bread burji, poha, rajma chawal, and masala chai, but somehow, they just tasted amazing. I really didn’t know that bread burji could taste any different, but it did here. I didn’t even know that the humble poha could be anything other than just a stomach filler, but over here I tasted what the Poha is actually supposed to taste. All of us became complete fans of this restaurant.

We then rushed back home to pack our wedding clothes, and head towards Naan’s friends house, whose wedding he was attending in Delhi, which was the reason for his trip here, and our reason to make the trip to Delhi as well so as to spend time with Naan.

So we reached the wedding venue and spent some time at a typical lavish Delhi wedding setup – out in a farm house, with over flowing alcohol and “jhankar beats” music. After partying here for a while, and hobnobbing with Naan’s B-school friends, we took the long journey back in the car that Aanchal had arranged for us, and called it a night.

December 30

We tried really hard to start the day early, so that we could get some sight-seeing done for the day before having lunch, and visited Rashtrapati Bhavan and took tons of photos there, with Parul, Aanchal, Geet and Naan, all posing like celebrities against the monumental backdrops. Many photos later, we went to Karim’s for lunch, a place Geet was completely uncomfortable with given its location, and where the rest liked some and disliked other dishes. Karim’s has always been polarising with their food offerings given their preparation which style is so different, that you either love or hate it.

Anyway, we got back home after lunch, and Aanchal went out for an office party, while Naan left for the wedding, which he claimed was one of the most extravagant wedding setups he has ever seen. Parul, Geet and I stayed at home and just stepped out for some Delhi chaat at Bikaners before calling it a night, as we had to wake up early for our flight the next day.

December 31

The last day of the year began with all of us waking up groggily and heading towards the airport where Parul dropped us before going back to her own place in Delhi after spending the last 3 with us at Aanchal’s place.

Geet did some shopping here as well, at the “happily unmarried” store, and chatted non-stop with Naan while I tried catching some sleep on the flight. Once home, had some nice home food after nearly 1.5 weeks away, got some sleep, and then dressed up for the New Year party at US club that Raju was organizing for us.

The entry was a bit steep at Rs. 3000 for each of us, but with the food being free, and the alcohol being charged at defence rates (@ Rs. 100 for a large of anything), we more than made up for it once inside. It was a suit and tie event, where a guard at the entry actually made a fuss at us for not wearing a tie, and the setup inside was really grand – taking me back to the New Year parties we used to have in the late 90’s at RSI in Bangalore.

It was a big gang of 17 people together, and all of us got completely wasted at the party. An absolutely great way to end the year, and the marathon trip of 3 weddings in 3 different cities, with different groups of people in each city that we began 10 days back.

Looking forward to an even better 2014 now. Cheers!