Road Trippin

First, Tunu decided to make a trip to India. 

Then, Dumma decided to convert this into a road trip like back in the day

They decided to ask the rest of their friends

Soon, China, Munda and Pali got with the plan 

The foundation for this plan was laid out nearly 2 months ago, with even the car being booked as far back as that. I decided to keep the ride a surprise for everyone, given it was a Mercedes that turned out to be quite a head turner over the trip. 

The basic plan was for 4 of us to drive down from Bangalore to Mysore, and meet up with Pali's there. However, this involved coordination between all 5 of us boys, who were making a plan like this after a gap of 12 years. 2013 was the last road trip we went on, and that was to Mysore as well. 

Given how much our lives have changed in this gap of a dozen years, I was circumspect about the trip even happening, let alone coming together in the way that it finally did. 

First of all, it was really awesome how all 5 of us managed our family situation to seamlessly make this possible. All of us left our better halves with our in-laws at exactly the same time to ensure we get these 2 days for ourselves. Pali, Munda and China managed this in spite of their kids. 

Next, we stuck to the plan like clockwork, starting exactly at 6am on December 25th, the booking start time for the car, and dropping it back exactly at 4pm the next day, which was the scheduled drop off time for the vehicle. It's very rare a plan can be this well timed, as far back as 2 months in advance. 

So we began our trip in the wee hours of Christmas Day morning, a day I've always spent with family, but given Geet was working in Bombay, Jeeth was busy with Soha in Bangalore, and Pa and Ma were chilling in Kerala, it made sense to do this with the boys back home. 

I managed to wake up at 5am in spite of spending the previous night drinking with Bala and Tunu at Church Street Social, where 3 of us were behaving like Drug Lords who owned the place. Bala the kingpin made us down shots that is never a good idea, and we ate the Empire Dosa Chicken that turned out an even worse idea. 

However, it wasn't just me, Tunu was up and ready that early too, and I picked him up, followed by Munda and went to Indranagar to hire our ride, the Mercedes A Class for the trip. Then we drove to Banshankri to pick China, and began our journey towards Mysore. One of the reasons to start this early was to avoid traffic, but a lot of people seemed to have the same idea, and the roads were jam packed till Bidadi where we stopped for Thatte Idly. 

Easily the tastiest Idly's we've ever had, and China took over the reins of the car from here, something he stuck to till we returned the next day, and something that gave Munda enough fodder to take China's case given the way China drives. 

We reached Pali's by 1pm, good 6 hours after starting from Bangalore, and sat down with the Jim Beam we bought on the way as a gift for Pali, and gorged on the Chicken Curry that he himself cooked for us, along with Mutton Chops and Liver Curry that he purchased from a well known place here. 

The meal followed a quick nap, and we headed towards Pali's farm that he recently purchased here. Throughout the journey Pali would be greeted by the people here, as if he were the town Zamindar that cared for his subjects. We soon reached a point where we watched the sunset. It was one of the most amazing sunsets we've seen where the bright red sun submerged into the waters of the KRS backwaters. We then drove to the farm, which was actually just walking distance from the sunset point and realised we could see the exact same view from the farm itself. What it made it awesome, was that by time we got here, the moon rose, and it was a full blood moon, rising up from exactly the same spot the sun went down. 

The whole thing was the most spectacular thing we've ever seen. While walking towards the edge of farm, where the land touched the water, China and I noticed twinkling objects around the moon, that Tunu told us we're satellites in the sky. Through the night we saw many more of these, distinctly cris-crossing across the star studded night sky. The moon itself was so brilliant, that it looked more spherical than circle, and the 5 of us sat there chatting away.

Tunu was talking about how distracted we've been all day, thinking about the issues in our own lives, rather than spending this moment with each other. Then we spoke of how the brilliant sunset followed by an even better moon rise was so significant given it was the turn of a New Year, and the space we all were with our lives. 

It was an evening of connecting with people you've known for over 2 decades of your life in the most serene spot one could imagine. 

Reluctantly, we had to leave once we realised restaurants would close leaving us hungry for the night, and drove to Chamundi Hills to have the famous Nipput here. It turned out to be a long drive for little use, as the stalls were closed. But we still chilled out at a point where the city of Mysore was visible from the Hills, and then drove back and bought Dosa's from a night camp, which we had with the leftovers from lunch. Then we sat looking at our old photos, and wanted to recreate some of those moments, but given how passed out some of us were, left it for the next day. 

We woke up with just 4 hours of sleep, and post a scrumptious breakfast, managed to take a bunch of photos for memory, and began our drive back to

Bangalore. 

China was at his entertaining best, arguing with us that Troy was a true story, and giving some logic of how reality become fiction and that becomes reality all over again. He wouldn't let go of any argument, by saying "but still..." and trying to figure a compromise. It's something we kept ragging him about throughout the trip. 

Overall it was really amazing how China was just as entertaining, Tunu just as insightful, Pali just as caring, and Munda just as much a bully as they've all always been. 

A trip we were so glad we managed to put together, and a trip we almost know for certainty would never happen again.

Merry Christmas 2015! 

32 Birthday

I have never not looked forward to a birthday until this one. It’s the first for me, and the feeling of getting old has never hit harder than this year. But the good thing about being married to a rockstar like Geet is that she will make even this turn out to be the best birthday ever. I just cant get how someone can be so creative after 5 attempts of her own, to outdo 31 previous attempts I have already had! That seriously takes some level of genius that makes her so popular among peers.

What Geet did was to ensure that there were a lot of things I’ve never done and always wanted to (N) and a bunch of things I love doing but haven’t in a long time (L). Here’s the list:

• Handmade gift from Geet (N) 
• More flowers than Geet for her birthday (N)
• Sangeet turned upside down after the party, that too on a weekend (L)
  
  
  
  
  
• Doing shots with no hands (N)
• Getting insane high at a party (L – this really is true, I’ve been too old lately to go this out of control!)
• Waking up after 7am (L – no matter how late or how drunk, my body alarm clock rings at 7, but on the 20^th, I slept till 11am and missed all the call that people gave in the morning with the phone also being switched off)
• Batman cake (N)
• Superhero t-shirts for gifts (N)
• 1 gift for every day of the week (N)
• Starting the week with a party at K’s Hyderabad mansion (L)
• Lunch at the best ever Andhra cuisine restaurant - Rayalseema Ruchilu (L)
• Staying at company guesthouse in Goa (N)
• Chomping on a Red Snapper (L – the last time I had this was at Havelock, 7 years ago)
• Biking in Goa (N – it’s only been cars before this – never a bike)
• Visiting Fort Aguada with Geet – finally! (N)
• Eating at the famous Martin’s in Goa (N)

Yup, so that was the list! The whole party started on Aug14 evening when we headed out to Hyderabad to visit Geet’s grandma who wasn’t keeping too well, and meeting K, Indu and cute little Anika at their bungalow there. 

It was not a great fun ride trip as we were mostly making trips to the hospital to ensure we could do the best for grandma, but tried making most of our time there through meals in our favourite restaurants, and catching up with the comic gang of Apsi, Sudhir and his wife at the awesome Boat Club first, followed by a night of revelry at K’s place, exploiting all the fancy drinks stocked up by his dad there J

We returned from Hyderabad on Aug17 and then it was back to the boring Belapur routine for 2 days, during which time Geet ensured she gave me enough treasure hunt puzzles to solve and “earn” my gifts, which were well worth it coz they were a bunch of super-hero t-shirts that I’ve always wanted, but never had. Guess you just aren’t too old to wear them J

Aug19 night we called a few friends over at home – Parul, Neelam, Mallika, Nikhil, Janani, Shiva and Swaroopa. And while it was a really small gang given the parties we’ve normally had at home, which was understandable given it was a Tuesday, but the fun we had was really insane. I’ve been far to responsible and sober while drinking lately, and this was one of those times of letting go, which hasn’t happened in a long time!

Aug20 I woke up late (again something not done in really long) to a house so messy that I first had to clean it up in spite of my hangover, just so that I could find my phone in the mess, which I realized was out of charge and there was no charger lying around. Next had a shower and then sent some important mails coz I hadn’t planned a holiday this day and called in sick at the last moment. Then finally made a trip to Oberoi mall to buy a charger and connect to the world that was trying to reach me till then. Managed to return a few msgs at least, and the calls were a lost case, till Geet came home in the evening and we went to Yautcha that we’ve been wanting to for a long time.

Aug21 early morning I had a flight to Goa for a CM conference that turned out to be one of the best we’ve been on, coz it was the first time we made 2 trips out of the resort, once to a club called SINQ, and once to Martin’s. Usually we spend all our time in the confines of the resort itself, and never explore the city, and doing it twice this time was what really made this outbound fun. I was made in charge of the Martin’s session, which was pretty crazy given I’ve never been to this place and always wanted to in the last 5 years we’ve been coming to Goa for our conferences. But what I ensured was that absolutely the finest crabs and lobsters were served to every single person who I ensured came out of their rooms and hit the restaurant, and it was a lunch that people just thoroughly enjoyed.

Aug22 night Geet joined me at Goa and we had a chilled out time at the company guesthouse. Visited Infantaria, Aguada, Martin’s and did the usual chilling out at the beach. We didn’t go to the casino on Saturday night that we wanted to coz we heard the news of her grandma and both of us were just not in the mood for anything after that. So it was a far quieter trip to Goa than we would have wanted, but it was just unfortunate timing.. RIP.

But otherwise, the entire week, starting with Hyderabad and ending in Goa was really an amazing time we had. All I can say is thanks, and feel slightly less terrible about turning an age I used to, and maybe still associate really old people with – 32!

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!

30llywood Night

The run down to Day 0 – Friday, June 21^st

This was an event that was quite an ordeal to plan, simply because it involved hiding it from Geet! Keeping my phone close to me, handling most discussions with people only on mails instead of messengers like whatsapp or viber, deleting conversations soon as I've had them, and somehow keeping all of it clandestine till I managed to get that shocked look on Geet's face.

Anyway, here's the whole story, filled with a comedy of errors while going about the planning.

The premise behind the plans for Geet's 30 bday was that all the people she'd want to have around, and all the food she'd like to eat, to be present on the day of her birthday. Coz when I sat to think of what she would really like on this day, I knew it was the people who were close to her, and the gastronomic desires she's developed lately.

So the idea was to arrange 30 favourite dishes of Geet’s for her to savour, and all the planning began with me calling Naan and asking him to come down. I wanted him to be surreptitious about this even to his parents, as I wasn't very confident of them keeping it hidden from Geet for too long. But then he had to inform them, as they were planning a trip to Tirupati at the same time.

But somehow we all managed to keep it hidden from Geet till he arrived. There was even one occasion couple of days before the birthday when we were at her parents place, and mom was playing along asking where we are travelling for her birthday and stuff, because that was the story we were giving Geet as a decoy to plant the birthday surprise. Of course, not everything was perfect; Geet's dad almost ruined things on 2 separate instances. One was a week before the birthday he actually told Geet to tell Naan to get cash in Pounds and exchange into Rupees. Thankfully he stopped there and didn't give any further details of his arrival here, and thankfully Geet was too caught up with something else to probe further. Then just the day before Naan's arrival, I had bought biryani from Hyd and when Geet was on the phone with her dad, he almost blurted that we should save some for Naan. Her mom just managed to shut him up before he said that by taking the phone away from her and continuing the conversation with Geet.

So that was how the first and most important surprise element, Naan, was panning out. Next on the list was Parul and Aanchal. Parul worked out easily coz she had a meeting in Bombay that week, and we played her story with Geet by saying she would land only on Sunday, while the surprise party we were planning was the day before itself. Aanchal was a little tougher, but somehow in the final week of the birthday plans, she managed to pull off a meeting in Jaipur which allowed her to fly by Bombay before heading back to Delhi.

So that was 3 people coming from 3 different places, and I gave them a list of food items to get from where they were coming – Belgium waffles from London, Dal Batti from Jaipur and sweets from Delhi were some of the things Geet likes.

Next on the list was K. He was a crucial person, coz one, he was coming from Chennai, from where most of the food for Geet needed to be brought, and two, he was one of her closest friends for a long time, and along with Naan and the 2 girls, she would love it if he were there. So I went about convincing him for a long time, and he just couldn’t finalize plans as he was in between jobs, and finally confirmed his travel only days before the birthday. By then the flight prices were so high, that I had to book one way through my miles, and he used a discount voucher on the return in order to make the trip happen. I was really glad he managed to pull it off, coz he got the essentials (food from Murugan Idly and Thalapakati Biryani) and also played an instrumental role in ensuring Geet was really surprised on her birthday. More on that later.

I tried hard to convince him to bring Indu as well, but with a 6 month baby, it was always bound to be difficult. In fact, she had such little time, that when I made a trip to Hyd the day before the surprise party to get some of Geet’s favourite food from there, she refused to even catch up with me for a short while coz she was that tied up. Anyway, I managed to pick chicken and prawn starters from a restaurant there called Rayalseema Ruchulu that Geet hogged like crazy when we visited Hyd, and also picked the usual Paradise Biryani along with some other Hyd favourites like Boondi from Pulla Reddy and Bisticks from Almond House over the trip there.

So this was all the background planning with the people coming from outside Bombay and the food they were to bring. I then went about inviting people from Bombay – Ashok and Tejal who were her school friends, Sushant and Ankur who were friends of hers from Symbi, then all the people from office – Janani, Mallika, Ananya, Ajith, Ninja – all who would come with their spouses and other friends who always make partying at our place such good fun, and finally some of my friends too like Bangdu, Rikesh and Vyoma.

So it was a big gang, and at one point, while chatting with Parul, we counted nearly 30 of them which would have not only been the biggest group at our party, but also perfectly matching the magic number of 30 for the night. But the final number that turned up was closer to 25 given some drop outs, and even getting this many people to assemble in a manner that Geet didn’t have a clue was quite a miracle, especially coz she is really smart as smelling a rat.

I had mailed everyone on the group and given them options on the gifts that I knew Geet was looking for (things like Clutches, which she ended up getting 3 of, umbrellas, which she ended up getting 2 of, and other items like bags and soft toys, etc etc) and also split all the items that needed to be brought home between people. Bangdu was to bring the sea food from Gajalees (again a favourite for Geet), Rikesh the mixers, Ananya and Vyoma the alcohol, Janani and Shiva the items from Hyd that I handed over to them for safe keeping, Ashok and Tejal the food items from Dahisar that Geet used to enjoy as a kid and makes me have everytime we visit her family doctor there, and finally the cake from Westin which Ajith was to get, which was quite the highlight of the night.

The one thing I was struggling to stitch together was the gift that I was to get for Geet. I had a meeting in Delhi a week before the birthday, and used the opportunity to take some old photos of Geet’s to show it to Jeethu and Sachin there and get some ideas from them. Sachin printed the photos on an OHP sheet, and prepared a small box out of it, which I thought I could use as a lamp in such a way that the light from inside would reflect the images on to the walls. I thought it would be really cool if we could have her baby pics reflecting off all the walls. But I was circumspect about this working, and planned an alternate gift as well, which involved getting some sketches she had done as a kid framed, so that I could put it up on the wall on the day of the party. So I managed to give it for framing without Geet noticing, and also asked Rampal to send a guy to drill nails on the day of her surprise party.

I did all of this and thought that between the baby pics bouncing off the walls, and the framed sketches on the wall, I could have a decent gift for Geet, but little did I know both of these would completely bomb. Neither worked out on D-Day, and details will follow.

So with that, we landed at Day 1 – Saturday, June 22^nd

The day began with waking up as usual before Geet does, then going through my notes and planning the activities for the day, which included messaging everyone and reminding them of the activities that they need to do for the day.

Then once K called after landing in Bombay, I woke Geet up and we went to pick him up and bring him over to his maiden visit to our place, with one pit stop en route to pick some junk Bombay breakfast like Missal Pav and Vada Pav that K wanted to have.

Once home, K and I got a small window when Geet went into the loo to take out the food packets from K’s bag and stuff it into the fridge. This took a bit of time, coz I had to place them real deep inside so that Geet wouldn’t notice it, and we completed doing all of it just as she walked into the kitchen. We were so glad that I had just shut the fridge and K had just dumped the last chutney packet that we weren’t planning to use into the dustbin, but Geet noticed one packet of sambar that was left behind over the microwave and began asking what that was. Both of us covered saying we have no clue and it was probably something the maid left there, and promptly threw that too in the dustbin. We were so worried that she may suspect we were up to something, but somehow we managed to avert it.

Then around 10:30 I knew I would get a call from Geet’s mom who was waiting at the airport as it was time for Naan to land. So I began rushing Geet in to the shower so that we can leave on time for the “trip” that she and I planned. While she was inside, I left to the airport telling her that I will just step out for 10 minutes to meet a friend and get back.

That 10 minutes turned into nearly 1.5 hours, coz first of all Naan took an age to get out of the airport and after he came out and called me, we couldn’t see each other, and it took me a minute to realize that I was waiting at the domestic airport all this while, while he would obviously arrive at the international. So I immediately sped to the international and got there in record time to pick both of them up.

While on the way back, K messaged saying Geet is almost going to sleep waiting for me, coz I was avaoiding all of her calls not knowing what to say about my delay. Once we got there, I entered the house first, and the plan was that Naan and mom would ring the bell and Geet would go to open it. But when the bell did ring and we asked Geet to check who it was, she knew something was up. Somehow we pushed her to the door, and Naan moves in from where he was hiding singing “Happy Birthday to you”. Geet’s reaction was just priceless at this point. She was screeching and jumping like crazy. I turned on my phone a bit too late and missed out half the action, but the little I got was still one for the ages.

Geet by this time had packed our bags and stuff for the trip, and I had to tell her now that it was all a decoy to setup the surprise of Naan’s visit.

All of us were really glad we managed to pull it off and give her this surprise, and now we had to plan for the next surprise that was to happen later on in the day. I nearly gave it away this time, by almost blurting about the sambar packet that Geet found. Somehow we covered our tracks again, and all of us left to Geet’s parents place for lunch.

Parul arrived in Bombay while we were out, and she managed to let herself in as I left our keys at the neighbours without Geet noticing as we left our place. She was just about getting bored when I got back home after lunch and dropping K with some friends that he planned to meet.

I had collected the frames on my way which I had made of Geet’s sketches

placed them on the ground to tell Parul how I intended to put them on the wall, and just when I turned around to setup the “Happy Birthday” sticker on the wall, Parul steps on one of the frames and cracks the glass. I was so upset, but knew that it could get fixed before evening, and so gave it to the shop when I went out to pick K and bring him home.

By the time I got home, Ankur also had arrived to help with the decoration. I explained to all of them the things we need to do; arranging all the food, blowing the balloons, fixing the lamp with Geet’s baby pics that Sachin made, setting up the frames I had brought on the wall, and using the decorating streamers in as many places they can think of. For the food arrangement, I wrote the names of the items on 30 post it stickers and put them up on small stands I made with straws and flower holders. I explained to everyone how this is to be setup in the kitchen. Then I left Parul in charge of the frames, Ankur in charge of fixing the lamp and K in charge of rest of the decorations. I intended to then leave and pick Geet and come, who was waiting at her parents place for me. Just before I left though, Ankur blew the fuse at our place while trying to fix the baby pics lamp, and I had to move him to decorations as this was clearly not happening. This is how the first gift idea for Geet had bombed.

I then went to pick Geet and by the time I cut through traffic and got back, most of the junta had arrived home. However, I got a call from the carpenter saying that people didn’t let him set up the frames and when I tried to call Parul to check with her, she says that Aanchal stepped on 2 of the frames this time, and they couldn’t set it up because of that. I was so furious when I heard this, as this was my alternate, and only remaining gift for Geet, and even this was not happening. I realized later that the carpenter himself had come too late when it was difficult to manage him with all the people at home, but at that point I was so angry with Parul that I just slammed the phone on her. I was not even talking to Naan and Geet while driving home as I was so bugged with this thing not working.

During this whole time, K was being very effective in ensuring the surprise still works on Geet coz he called Geet and started yelling at her saying she was chilling at parents place and I was somewhere outside and he is getting bugged sitting at home all alone waiting for us. He pretty much made her plan the evening out for us by saying that we will all step outside for a drink.

However, by the time we got home, the first giveaway was one pair of slippers that was lying outside the door. As soon as Geet saw that, she got suspicious that were more people than just K at home. Then when we opened the door, she noticed all the decorations and grew more suspicious. I was wondering why people aren’t in the hall to shout surprise. I even turned my camera on to ensure I get her reaction this time, and this was the next giveaway, when Geet noticed me filming her. Then K had to pretty much had to force her into the room where everyone was waiting and this was when even I realized that this was probably the best that could have been done with the number of people who were waiting in the dark there to surprise her. There was no way that the carpentry work could have been done when I was away, and no way to avoid Geet getting suspicious when she entered the house.

But what was still worth it was her expression when she saw so many people in the house. It surprised me too that there really were that many. The best part was Parul and Aanchal hiding inside the bathroom, which was something Geet didn’t suspect at all, because on our way home, she was busy chatting with exactly both of them saying how Naan surprised her, and how we are planning to go out for a drink now taking K and Naan with us.

Once the surprise was done, we got everyone out of the room to the hall where Geet cut her cake. Then we took her into the kitchen to show all the food that was laid out for her. Then people who were waiting to leave soon, like Tejal and her husband, Ajith and his wife, pulled her to the room to give her the gifts they bought, and it took some time between that and my pouring everyone a drink, before we got to making our toast. Geet promptly said that she wishes she turns 30 every year coz this was the best surprise she had.

It didn’t take much time after this little speech for people to get drunk, and pretty soon, we were having dance off’s as part of the theme for the night, which was “30llywood Night”. This was a theme that Geet herself came up with, and invited some people to come over on Sunday for a party on this theme. She had absolutely no clue that people would be landing up on Saturday itself, and although she couldn’t get into the costume that she wanted to be in for Sunday, it just didn’t matter at all, coz all of us got drunk and began dancing crazy.

The party had everything; Shiva gyrating to his funny moves, Chaitanya proving how he just cannot dance, Bangdu doing his usual lustful steps, all the girls proving how they are so much better than us boys when it comes to shaking a leg – especially Tina with her belly dance and Aanchal with her full prong Bharatnatyam. Soon the party moved to the fun room with Ananya and her “le dibbi” which kept many of us occupied for a long time. Then people making funny poses in front of the camera, and finally moving to youtube to entertain the really late night party maniacs.

It was somewhere around the Youtube session when I think I passed out. I just couldn’t keep up with the energy of the rest of the guys, especially Nikhil and Mallika, who just went on and on and on.

The last thing I remember was heading into the room to just crash out, and finding a small portion of space in the bed that K was sleeping in on the floor, and crashed out next to him.

The day after – Sunday, June 23^rd

I woke up hearing Geet, K and Naan chat. So much better than waking up all by myself to a quiet morning most days. What made the morning even better was the hangover I had. Not a very bad one that would make it painful, but just right to know that I had a really good time the previous night.

Geet and I made breakfast for all 4 of us and we just chilled out, catching an afternoon nap, and waiting for Parul and Aanchal to join us in the evening for a night of chilled out gaming and drinks, this time with the right cutlery, and not the plastic cups that were used during the mayhem the previous night.

We had a really good time playing taboo. There were some insane moments. Like Geet asking what happens when air evaporates, and Aanchal actually responding to that by saying Steam. K was stunned both ways listening to this. Then there was K himself trying to explain Argentina, and he went on and on saying it is a city in Brazil! It was a real fun night, and finally when the clock was about to strike 12, we all headed out to the park outside, and in spite of a little rain, we still managed to give her bumps out on the park. Then we played one game of hide and seek like little kids and got back home to crash out for the night, which was finally opening up to Geet’s real birthday.

The real birthday – Monday, June 24^th

It was a rainy rainy day on Geet’s birthday. We somehow managed to get to her parents place and decided on making a trip to Madh island for lunch with her family, Parul and Aanchal. I had to work this day for a bit in the morning given some meetings I couldn’t avoid, and ended up delaying the rest as I got home only around 1p.m.

We got out of home by 3p.m, but given the weather, none of the taxi’s or auto’s were willing to drive to Madh island, and none of the car vendors like Meru, Mega were confirming on coming home either. We needed one of these as there were 7 of us including Geet’s family and Parul-Aanchal. We turned back home and called the company car vendor to send a car, and by the time that came and we left home, it was nearly 6p.m. Traffic had almost begun to build, and with a bit of difficulty, made it to The Resort in Madh island just before the sun completely sank in. We quickly captured a few photos and then had some tea with starters and drove back home.

It was a quiet birthday day, and rightly so given the mad party 2 nights back. It was so mad, that Geet and Naan got their stomachs upset, and looked immensely tired. Surprisingly I was pulling through. It was the rainy day concept in MVIT – when I was wondering whether I should get wet coz mom had frightened me my whole life about stepping out in the rain, and Sush tells me that if I just let myself go and blissfully enjoy myself, nothing would happen. That day I played in the rain, the first time I did that, and I didn’t fall sick. So the rainy day concept is that you can put yourself through anything, but as long as you are genuinely enjoying doing that, you’ll be fine J

Best Dream

I see a lot of dreams. I really like seeing dreams. I remember when I was younger, I would keep an alarm to wake up at 5a.m, drink some water, and go back to sleep, because that helped me remember my dreams better.
I love my dreams because I'm almost always a superhero in them, and saving the planet, a girl, or simply doing something extensively heroic! I do get an occasional nightmare - especially when there is a lot of tension at work, or I'm fighting with someone close. But the last set of "falling from a tower", "being chased by dog", "trying, but unable to scream" kind of nightmares I saw was way back when I was a kid. Guess at some point after watching a lot of movies, my dreams shifted to the superhero kind.
Anyway, I've tried recording my dreams every now and then I can. And there are some that can even put a James Cameroon flick to shame given the intensity and detailing of the dream I see.
But today I saw a very different dream - lasted just a few seconds, and somehow I woke feeling it was the Best Dream I ever had.
So it was very simple - I visit a travel agent, and he is showing me on his big screen "Paradise on Earth" - the best place in the world to visit. It looks a bit like the Boulevard of the Barcelona beach - with the pavement for girls in skimpy clothes to skate in, palm trees around, and a beautiful beach. I'm just staring at it and ask the agent how do I get there. He says.. and my alarm goes off. I wake up, and realize I got there.
I got to "Paradise on Earth" - and its right where I am right now.
My life in reality is the best place in the world to visit from my dream.
Now isn’t that a nice feeling to wake up from - a feeling of just having seen the Best Dream ever!

Fire & Ice

Took me so long to come up with one more.. Wonder how some people do it as a profession.. Anyway, here goes:

Whiskey, Vodka, Fire and Ice
Of them all, there’s a bigger vice
One soul tainted, one soul pure
Skin and sweat diseased without cure

Body’s shared in irreversible past
You lie reckless, curiosity lay cast
So many of them in so many places
Some of them today with multiple faces

The actors did exist, their kisses were true
Staged the same play, with a different crew
Once it was a way of life, it was very real
Different reality now, history seems surreal

No matter the life you’re trying to like
No matter the secrets you’re trying to hide
A life led with a hedonistic halo
Will follow you, as true as a shadow

Soul remains tainted, broke and tore
Your biggest vice, down to your core
Cover it up, fake it, move on
Shadows lurking, now here, now gone