Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts

01 May 2010

You Know You Grew Up in India in the 90s When…

I was on Facebook the other day and stumped upon this page 'You Know You Grew Up in India in the 90s When...' and this is the content of that page... its just too beautiful to miss if you were indeed one of those who grew up during the 90s... :)

You Know You Grew Up in India in the 90s When…

1) You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart

2) Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly

3) You have read at least some Chacha Chaudhary or Tinkle comics

4) You’ve watched Shaktimaan on TV at least once in your life. And you can immediately recognize the character when you see him.

5) You have some ‘NRI’ relatives.

6) You couldn’t wait for it to be December so you could have the Toblerone chocolates your NRI relatives brought you

7) You watched Cartoon Network, and then the late night movies on TNT that came after Cartoon Network ended.

8) You watched corny dubbed versions of Small Wonder, Silver Spoon, and I Dream of Jeanie

9) You were THRILLED when McDonald’s opened in your neighborhood (or even eight kilometers away)

10) A visit to Pizza Hut used to mean a special treat

11) You have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun at least 5 times each

12) You still remember the theme song of Hum Paanch. (Hum Paanch, Pam Pam Pam Paanch!)

13) You have played hours upon hour of running and catching, chor-police, lagori, saankli, ‘Doctor, doctor, help us!’, ‘Lock and key’

14) You have seen girls play ‘Amina Super Sina’ more times than you can remember. (And you still don’t know what it means!)

15) Dog ‘in’ the bone was your favorite co-ed game.

16) Much of your free time in school was spent playing UNO.

17) You collected trump cards of wrestlers, cricketers, and airplanes, and did not quite understand why your younger siblings were obsessed with Pokemon and the other Japanese trends that followed.

18) Your summer vacations were often synonymous with visiting your grandparents or cousins

19) Your parents, at some point, told you ‘Dark Room’ was a bad game to play. But you still loved playing it.

20) Bole mere lips, I love uncle Chips!

21) You know the song ‘Made in India’ by Alisha Chinai

22) You have seen many many many episodes of ‘Antakshari’ on Zee TV and know the only thing constant in the show is Annu Kapoor.

23) Many evenings have been spent watching little kids gyrate vulgarly on Boogie Woogie on Sony.

24) You were the coolest thing in class if you had a computer in your house while it was still the 90s.

25) You learnt LOGO and BASIC in school!

26) You couldn’t wait to start 4th standard so you could start writing with PENS instead of with pencils!

27) You often used terms and phrases like ‘two-say’, ‘same to you, back to you, with no returns’, and ‘shame shame, puppy shame, all the donkeys know your name.’

28) You most probably saw Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge at the cinema at least once. You also fantasized about singing songs in mustard fields as in the movie.

29) You have seen David Dhawan and Govinda movies and laughed at them.

31) You have said ‘haw’ or ‘yuck’ when you saw people kissing in English movies. (nowadays kids are used to it!)

30) Titanic was your FIRST favorite English movie.

31) You thought seeing English movies and speaking English made you the coolest thing ever.

32) You remember the Gujarat earthquake very clearly and could possibly tell everyone EXACTLY what you were doing when the earthquake occurred (yes, this happened in 2001, January 26, 2001, to be exact — but this group is about the things that Indian kids that GREW UP in the 90s remember and identify with).

33) Barbies for girls, and GI Joes for boys were the ultimate status symbols. You just wanted more more more and more. And how can I forget Hot Wheels, for both boys and girls?

34) You thought ‘imported’ clothes were definitely way better than ‘made in India’ clothes (never mind that a lot of clothes brought from overseas by NRI relatives were actually made in India, before ‘Made in China’ started appearing on EVERY existing thing)

35) "Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai Pata Chala Hai! Chaddi Pehen Ke Phool Khila Hai Phool Khila Hai!" You watched "The Jungle Book" every Sunday morning at 9.a.m" and just loved mowgli, bhalu and bagheera. A few years later, you watched Disney Hour, which had cartoons like Aladdin, Gummy Bears, Tail Spin, Uncle Scrooge!

36) At some point or other, cool was your favourite, and therefore, most overused word.

37) Captain Planet was your first introduction to environmental consciousness.

38) You have tried to convince people around you to not burst crackers on Diwali, and then gone straight back home and burst them yourself.

39) You have had endless packets of Parle Gluco G biscuits, and of Brittania Little Hearts biscuits.

40) You loved licking off the cream from the centre of Bourbon biscuits.

41) There were no Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma- Bata and Liberty was the way to go for your sports shoes.

42) You have probably consumed more Frooti in your lifetime than there is oil in Iraq.

43) You watched Baywatch on Star World when nobody was home even though (or because) your parents said you shouldn’t watch it.

44) You bought packets of potato chips for the specific purpose of collecting Tazos. And you had Tazos depicting everyone from Confucius to Daffy Duck to Daffy Duck dressed as Confucius.

45) For the longest time, the Maruti 800, the Premier Padmini, THE Fiat, and THE Ambassador were the only cars you saw on the road, and the Contessa was cool because it was bigger.

46) You would literally jump up in excitement if you ever chanced upon an imported car (Oh my gosh, is that really a MERCEDES?)!

47) You spent a good part of 1998 drooling over the Hyundai Santro and the Daewoo Matiz , debating which one was better.

48) You used to Fuzen gum. You also chewed Big (big) Babool and/or Boom Boom Boomer chewing gum. They were bright pink and disgusting tasting, but you loved them for the temporary tattoos.

49) Talking of temporary tattoos, you sometimes had contests with your classmates about who had more tattoos on their arm, leg, knee, hand, forehead, wherever.

50) You thought Mario and Contra were the coolest things ever invented, especially if you were a boy.

51) You knew that having the latest Hero or Atlas bicycle would make you the coolest kid on the block.

52) You can imitate Sushmita Sen’s winning gasp to perfection.

53) You have, at some point of time, worn GAP clothes (real or fake) like SRK in KKHH.

54) Seemingly senseless acronyms like SRK, DDLJ, DTPH, KKHH actually make sense to you..

55) You have at some point debated who was more beautiful- Aishwarya or Sushmita.

56) Baskin Robbins ice-cream was THE thing to have!

57) You know what Campa Cola is. And you also knew that Coca Cola was THE drink.

58) You would watch WWF keenly every evening/afternoon and loved Bret Hart "Hitman"! really thought Undertaker had seven lives and he made an “actual” appearance in the Akshay Kumar- starrer Khiladiyon ka Khiladi.

59) When all backpacks (or ’schoolbags’) and water bottles and tiffin boxes had strange cartoon characters that were hybrid versions of seven or eight different characters, and you still bought them, because a green man wih a water pistol, boots, a jet-pack, Johnny bravo hair, a rajasthani mustache, gloves, and underwear (long johns) over his pants, called ‘Mr. X’ was OBVIOUSLY a status symbol.

60) You remember the Nirma tikia jingle.

61) You remember the Nirma girl.

62) You remember the ‘doodh doodh piyo glass full doodh’ ad and also the ‘laal kaala peela, gulabi hara neela classic hai badia bristles wala’ and 'roz khao ande' ads.

63) You grew up reading, if you read at all, some or all of Nancy Drews, Enid Blyton books, Hardy Boys, Babysitters Club, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Sweet Valley series, Judy Blumes, and Tintin, or Archie comics. Because naturally, reading foreign authors made you much cooler than reading Tinkle.

64) Towards the late 90s (1998-99) at least some of us started our Harry Potter obsessions!

65) You absolutely HAD to go to Essel World if you were with cousins! “Essel World mein rahoonga main, ghar nahin nahin jaaonga main!” (I never went but always dreamed of going there!)

66) You watched the Bournvita Quiz contest on TV pretty religiously. The smarter ones amongst you actually took part in it and had your entire school and your entire extended families watch you on it!

67) Maggi 2 Minute Noodles = ultimate snack (and tiffin, lunch, dinner)!

68) If you grew up in the early 90s, you recall the nation’s obsession with Mahabharata on TV

69) In the later 90s, you religiously followed Hip Hip Hooray on Zee. Maybe Just Mohabbat on Sony too

70) You remember parzan dastur sayin "JALEBI!!!!" in the Dhara Ad

71) You eagerly awaited Friendship Day, so you could give friendship bands to all your friends, and get bands from them in return. Then, of course, those with the most bands loved to show them off.

72) Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games" was one of the first English songs that you LOVED!

73) Andaz Apna Apna is and most probably will always be your favorite comedy flick!! "Aila Jhakaas!!!"


And I miss that age, it was sooo awesome!

14 January 2010

hhhmmm.... Interesting...


So I had this thought running in my head today.. and I thought (thought again??) why not share it here on my blog... so if at all someone accidentally stumbles onto my page, they can be part of this insight I am sharing on this little public space here.

I have realized today, that when you ask someone for a favor, there are only 2 answers you can expect - Yes or No. But nobody tells you that upfront. They make a lot of excuses before you know you gotta find someone else to do the job. And I have come to learn of it that there can be only 2 reasons why someone wouldn't want to help you out when you need them to -

1. They are really not available
2. They really don't wanna do it.

There are no other explanations other than the 2 I have mentioned above. And I have further cleared it out by coming to the conclusion, most of the time it is because of the kinda person we are and the bond that we share with them. If you are the greatest pal they ever got (or at least try to be one) they will totally love you for who you are. And before you know it, they would have walked an extra mile for you..

Oh yeah.. but to be that 'great friend', you gotta walk the first mile with them... ;)
So wish you this new year that you would be a great friend to your pals and stand by them all through it... :)

28 October 2009

How do I make friends?

There is one question that I have been asked by so many people - How do I make friends? We all need friends, and we all need to know how to make friends, especially when we move to a new place, a new school, a new college, new church, new workplaces, new building... no man is an island. He needs somebody. I don't know why people ask me this question, perhaps its because I can make friends easily, and maybe because I can just talk to almost any kinda person whether they are old, young, highly educated, not so educated.. I realized this pretty late in my life that it was a gift that I could do that, considering the fact that I stammer. So today I thought about it and have jotted down these steps that I think I follow when meeting a new person.

Step1: Greet the person with a smile - Nobody likes a grumpy face. A smiling face always welcomes.

Step2: Introduce yourself - just a casual introduction about yourself.

Step3: Listen carefully - when you introduce yourself the other person would also introduce himself/herself. Listen carefully and pay attention to every single word the person is talking to you.

Step4: Find out his/her passion/interests - Based on the conversation you are having, listen carefully and find out what are the person's passion and interests.

Step5: Ask Questions - Ask questions that the person would love to answer.

Step6: Give an open ear - Always give an open ear. Everyone likes to be with someone who listens to them.

Step7: Follow up - Do bump into the person occasionally and follow Step 3 thru Step 6.

Take care to follow these 7 steps very carefully and you will have surely won a friend.. :)

18 October 2009

Lot of things to say...

It's been a really long time I have blogged. There is so much to write, some of them I have forgotten what it was all about. Some I am little hesitant to write on a public space. But this blog is about how life really is worth living so let me share a little thing I learned...

As most of my friends know I am an ardent 'How I Met Your Mother' fan and have watched almost all the episodes of all the 4 Seasons. There are many things I don't agree with but some thing I have learned. One of the things I have learned is how to value my friends... I learned no two persons are the same and will never have the same characteristics and quality. Cause they are unique, every one of them. And there is nothing you can do to change them. But you can still love them cos they are your friends. It wont be long until you realize the only reason you love them is because they are different from you.. they are.. they are special to you in their own way...

There is something I learned from this sitcom also from my own relationship with some of my close friends.. sometimes you might love them so much that you begin to dislike them cos they are not like how you want them to be. Well... don't let them be different. And STOP PRETENDING that you are living... and START LIVING... its totally worth living... :)

12 August 2009

Ain't it cool God listens...

Yesterday was the 'doubts & discussion' week at my Kid's bible study place. It's really fun, I have this bible study week with a few teenage boys and its been really nice as it helps me to understand them as I teach more about the bible. Usually the kids are very mischievous and in their own world, so it takes patience and their sense of humor to deal with them. But I have been enjoying every moment of it... Thanks to them they love me... :)

There is this one peculiar boy, Savio. He is very brilliant but hardly ever serious about the study. Yesterday he was in his usual funny mood and wasn't in a mood to have some serious study. So I asked the kids if they had any doubts and he replied they knew everything and didn't have any doubts. I was like, 'fair enough then we could spend some time praying' and asked Savio too initiate the prayer. Savio didn't really wanna do it. but we insisted him to and gave him 3 points to pray for - pray for the rains, for the swine flu and for more people to come to church. Well Savio did pray, though his each point were just a one line prayer. And right after he finished his prayer I told them, 'alrite boys lets get back to our discussion... so where were we?'

We had a crazy hearty laugh. We had put Savio in his place. But when we came back home it truly began to rain. And I texted Savio saying how God had honored his prayer and it was raining. He texted me all excited, "Ain't it cool God listens... :D "

Yeah I think its totally cool that He listens... and that's why He is our God... :)

10 August 2009

Crazy Busy Weekend...

Vio, Mike, Gina, Chris at Silver CoinLast weekend was pretty terrific and lovely... it all started with my friend Carmeline's birthday on friday. We gave her a pretty good surprise throwing her a party, which lasted pass 1 am. I woke up at 9am the next morning, watched a couple of episodes of 'How I met your mother' and headed off to a lunch with Mike and the gang. One of our friends, Christopher had come to the city for a few days and so we met up for lunch. It was a wonderful time we spend talking about our childhood memories.

We talked about how as kids we fought with our siblings, troubled our teachers atBarney & Ted school and how we all were a mischievous lot and tried doing the impossible things. Some of the things I am not sure if I can post it here due to privacy issues.. but soon after that I had my church band rehearsal. Finishing that came back and watched more of 'How I met your mother'. Yeah I love watching it, but its so cool and besides Barney reminds me of my Animation professor Mr. Lloyd from Arena Multimedia. Lloyd used to try to hook me up with all the women I met just as Barney tries to hook up Ted with every girl he comes across with.

Sunday we had a good worship, after which Laura, Dave and I gave Katherine a farewell lunch as she is leaving back to London next week. There was this very funny thing that we encountered. When Dave, Kath and I picked this rickshaw the rickshaw driver just looked back and saw these white folks and immediately pulled out a mask and wore it. It was so hilarious to find this guy trying to cover up in order to protect himself from the Swine Flu...

Laura joined us at Silver Coin, she had to catch a flight at 3pm but she stayed with us until 1.30pm. There was this really interesting thing I witnessed at the restuarent. I was having Chicken Steak while these folks were having Roti and veg Kadaai. It was such a cross culture thing - me using the fork and the knife and having a western meal while these folks using their fingers to have an Indian meal. It was a lovely time again.

I came back home and joined for a 2nd lunch time with the guests I had my home. Well, Katherine already had predicted about that when she came to know I had butter chicken and Chicken Tandoori prepared at home. Well I didnt wanna prove her wrong... so I did have a second lunch at home... ;)


17 July 2009

Pretty Cool..

I was just about to write to my friend on gtalk... that's when I saw that her profile pic is so similar to another friend of mine's pic. So I thought il just put it up here... ;)

Click on the image above.

16 July 2009

Happy Birthday Ann... Belated...

Well... since my internet is down since 2 weeks now and I have nothing to do, I thought about working on Ann's birthday video which has been pending since last year. And I came up with this. I think its pretty fun, but I can't really judge my own work. So here it is, judge yourselves and have fun... :)

13 July 2009

Long Sunday...

I don't know how to begin this post, but it's been truly a great weekend and a great Monday... :)

To begin with, my dad celebrated his birthday on Saturday. So I took the whole family out for lunch... well the ultimate aim in taking them out for lunch was so that I could hog on my sweet delicious Chicken Steak, which I haven't had in a long time... On Sunday, we began with a kick-ass worship in church. Totally rocked the morning, it was so wonderful. We just had this really awesome time of worship.

In the afternoon, a few of my friends and I gave Abigail a terrific surprise party. We totally scared her by our weird, crazy, bullying love, and appreciation, that she almost got back in her room. We had dinner with her and played a few games, music and watched the DVD we made for her. She totally loved the moment with us. After finishing with them, I went for the Youth Worship. We had a wonderful Youth Service, and had some great activity round. I loved the view from the fourth floor we had. It was just simply beautiful - with light showers, and the sun rays passing through the clouds. Indeed a beautiful sight...

Soon after the youth service we all left to watch 'Ice Age 3' at InOrbit. But we were too disappointed to find it 'House Full'. Well it wasn't us who was disappointed but just Chris. Then we hogged onto some subs and salads and had a wonderful time together. It had been really long time we spend sometime together, So it was quite refreshing and wonderful. The best part was, I gotta have my second best - Chicken Salad...

I thought my happy days were over, but I was surprised to know that it had just begun. Today, being Monday usually is such a dull day. But I happen to meet my dear friend Tracy Pereira on yahoo. And we chatted for quite sometime. We never got to chat so much. It was such a blessed time with her. Totally loved it. Well so its 18:23 hours here at work. And I am more than happy and excited bout the last 3 days that just passed, I can't wait to see what this evening and the week has in store for me... :)

29 June 2009

99


Saturday was like any other day... BORING!!! Morning I had nothing to do, afternoon left for my church practice and I was back in the evening by 7pm and didn't know what to do. So I began browsing thru my movie collection that I had and stumbled upon this movie '99'. I have heard quite a lot about the movie but wasn't so keen on watching the movie... but it was a good decision to watch it. It is by far one of the most wittiest comedy movie ever. Very well directed and leaves your bones tickling every sec. The best part is, it isn't even a non-sense movie like many of the other comedy movies that have been released in the last few years. It's got a beautiful script and a perfectly timed comedy. Interestingly you will find every second worth of laughing.

99 is an original story inspired by real events. It is as much “what could have been” as it is “what really happened.” In other words, it is historical fiction – fiction being the keyword. It is a genre-bender – spanning a few genres – it is slick, fast-paced, realistic and importantly, very funny. It is the story of two different men in two different cities, who are bound by a common feeling of always being stuck at ‘99’. They never seem to make it to a ‘century’- figuratively speaking. It is a journey of two men who want to break away from the rut and ‘strike it big’. What follows is an unpredictable and hilarious ride through two cities with extremely likeable and very grounded characters, unbelievable circumstances, real twists of fate, small-time crooks, big-time conspiracies, fateful car crashes, a briefcase full of money, two cricket matches with hundreds of crores riding on them, ups of friendship, downs of love and a climax that will keep everybody on the edge of their seats.

This is a clip of the song 'Delhi Destiny' which I just happen to love a lot, so just thought about embedding here.


18 June 2009

Strange... but true.

Yesterday I happen to meet my ex-colleague and a good friend, Virginia. She had come to meet my boss and spend the evening with me in my office. I always had a love-hate relationship with Virginia. We didn't gel quite well when we first met, but gradually began to get along. What surprised me was, the excitement and the joy I felt on meeting her. Why was that hug so warm? Why do I feel so nice meeting her? Why was there this great pleasure in meeting her?

I began to read into it, and I realized its quite strange but true. If there is any two people you think who can't stand each other, the only best way to bring peace within them is to put them together working on a project for 6 months, and separate them. I bet my ass on it, they will miss each other like crazy. I think it was the same with Virginia and me. We had our own differences but we worked closely on the project. We worked so closely that somewhere down the line we began to understand each other and without our knowledge became friends. I quiet didn't realize it until she left the organization. But I learned something, its really not that tough to get along with someone. You just need to work it out a lil bit... :)

23 March 2009

Journey of this life...



The last few days have been really really exhausting for me... lot of things at work, classes, and also my relationship with friends took a toll... it was just too much of a thing going around. I had the most hopeless weekend ever... and today was not a great day either. I was running around and fixing machines and just thinking about everything that is messed around in my life. I was totally confused just didn't know what I have to do... and then I put on this song 'Zindagi Ka Safar' by some guy named Sheldon Bangara. I don't know what was about the song thatjust kinda broke me down but made me feel a lot better and made my heart a lot lighter. I didn't find the video so cool, but the song is so awesome and anointed... I thought il just put them up here for everyone to watch it.



Zindagi Ka Safar

Zindagi ke safar mein
Agar Koi saathi ho
Toh woh hai Yeshu
Yeshu

Paap ke Andhere Mein
Agar koi roshni ho
Toh woh hai Yeshu
Yeshu

Tera wachan hai prakash
Hum ab na honge niraash

Kyunki Tu ne paap par vijay payee
Kyunki Tu ne mrityu pe jay payee

Prem ki Aisi Chaaya
Karuna Barsaaya
Toh woh hai Yeshu
Yeshu

Zindagi Mein Aaya
Humesha Ke liye Samaaya
Toh woh hai Yeshu
Yeshu


Tera wachan hai prakash
Hum ab na honge niraash

Kyunki Tu ne paap par vijay payee
Kyunki Tu ne mrityu pe jay payee

Sin has lost its power
Death has lost its sting
From the grave you've risen
Victoriously


09 March 2009

Still Missing Dublin



I was missing Ireland a lot today.. so i thought about doing this video... as a tribute to this magical land and my beautiful friends I made there...

Please note that this is a low res file, hence the jitters in some parts of the vid. Please let me know if you need the High Res file. :)

02 March 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!




These are the list of my friends who wished me on my birthday... :)

Calls:
Scarlet Menezes - 23.50 - 00.00
Marlyn - 00.01
Laveena Rogtao - 00.02
Carmeline - 00.05 (Tried 6 times calling me before this)
Ann - 00.10
Disha Shetty - 00.15
Violet Pereira - 00.18
Savio John - 00.20
Annu John - 07.08
Hemangi - 07.09
Alice Edwin - 08.04
Pastor Joseph - 08.13
Anok - 08.16
Johnson Samuel - 08.20
Samy Joanes - 08.42
Sachetta - 10.37
Leticia - 12.27
Ashley & Liz - 13.01
Benjie Rajan - 14.23
Debbie - 14.52
Jis - 15.01
Diana - 19.13
Mike - 19.30
Reezelle - 21.09
Suraj - 21.27
Aaron - 22.09
Susan - 22.38
Alex - 08.42 (March 02)
Jos - 10.42 (March 02)

Messages:
Anisha Dias - 22.33 (Feb 28)
Melissa Dias - 22.48
Reezelle - 23.53
Mike - 23.59
Sonal - 00.00 (March 01)
Pooja - 00.02
Carmel - 00.02
Benjie - 00.06
Robby - 00.10
Malcolm - 00.19
Ravi - 00.28
Princy - 00.28
Chrislyn - 00.40
Hemangi - 01.48
Aarti - 05.31
Mohan - 06.01
Shruti - 07.30
Ashish - 07.44
Ryan - 10.41
Amanda - 13.25
Sherwin - 14.02
Ryan - 15.38
Susan - 18.53
Susan - 21.40
David - 22.13
Disha - 23.32
Chetan - 13.21 (March 02)

Thank You all of you guys... for making this day special... :D

And then I turned 25...

So this is the account of what happened hours before I turned 25 on March 01st 2009.

Friday evening I returned home after work and had this terrible headache because of the tough day at work. I hit the bed at 9pm only to be woken up by my boss about the antic we put up on Facebook. I really didn't sleep well after that. Saturday was pretty dull as I was really exhausted and tired. Mike came over in the morning and we talked a bit.. Carmeline was happy for everything that happened and thought 'God is just'. Afternoon I fell off to sleep while I was still having lunch with the plate in my hand. Was a terrible sight... never been thru something like that before. Evening we had our church practice as usual and then late evening I had went along with the IC folks to play guitar for a worship meet.

The worship meet was over by 9pm and we went out to Bamboo garden for dinner. Mike and Abi were make fun of me as Ben and Laveena began to take my case. But it was a nice evening with these sweet people. I came home by 11.30pm. And I began getting calls right after.

The first person to call me was my friend Scarlet who called me up at 11.50pm and continued until 12, as she wanted to be the first person to wish me. And then there were numerous other calls and sms following her. But this night too I couldn't sleep well. I have no idea why but I slept at 5.30am and woke up to go to church at 7am. Church was as usual. I didn't really feel anything special about this day. I came home after church and tried to sleep a bit but didn't really managed to get a wink as I had friends calling again to wish me. By evening 5pm I managed to get some rest only to be woken up by my grandma's arrival at 5.30pm. It was one of the most dullest day of my life until I went for the Youth Service in the evening.

The youth meet was fun... we didnt have the usual way. There was no word shared but we played games and had skit. After the youth meet I was taken over to Rob n Ann's place. When I entered the lights were out and the guys screamed 'SURPRISE!!!!" right into my ears... and I found this beautiful black forest with 7 candles displayed as 2 and 5 representing 25 on it. I cut the cake with everyone feeding me most of it. After the cutting of the cake we played a quiz game.. which is totally fun... i was really surprised to know how much we have known each other and how we have been really with each other for a long long time... and the more I think about it.. it becomes harder to think about being separated from each other.

Anyways... Joel won the quiz game.. obviously by cheating but he shared his gift with everyone. After which we played some more crazy games, had pizzas, posed for the camera... gave me group hugs, and tortured me by tickling me for over a minute... I thought I would die... And then they gave me the gifts they got for me.. the best one of it all was this one photo frame they gifted me where they collage all the pics of the people really close to me. It was the most beautiful thing ever... There are just so many people I would wanna be with at the same time but I can never be. But this photo frame was over whelming cos it had all the people I would love to be with on it.

All in all, all I can see is that this was my best birthday ever... and I wanna thank all of my special friends for making this day really special for me... I love all of you guys so much... :)

17 February 2009

Just Another Crazy Day...



Yesterday I had my friend Benjie Rajan come over to our office. He is a BMM student, an amazing visualizer and Digital Composer... He is working on a project for our organization and had come to our workplace in the afternoon and was here till late evening. After when we were done we found that Benjie's bike was missing. We didn't find it anywhere and found out that it was towed...
How did we come to know it was towed? well its simple, we found 'NPC' chalked out on the street where his bike was parked. But we didn't what NPC stood for, so we were trying to guess what it stands when I remembered how my bike was towed and was taken away to 'National Park Chowki'. So I told Benji that I think the bike could be towed to 'National Park Chowki' so we could try there.

Just then our building security gaurd comes to helps us out and asked us about the details of the bike. We thought probably he knew quite a lot, but it was so funny when he began to expand the abbreviation for 'NPC'. He was like... "I think 'N' stands for 'North'... now what would 'P' stand for..?? "

Benji, though was little upset bout getting his bike towed never missed an opportunity to enjoy the lighter side of life... he immediately exclaimed... "ummh... North Pole California???"

I have no idea what made Benji say that... but it was damn funny... and the security gaurd just nodded his head in agreement... We had this crazy laugh thinking about it all the time until we reached the chowki.

Once we reached there we found the bike and paid the fine. The RTO Officer was very nice to us and even offered to staple Benji's torn Driver License. We were glad to find such a helpful officer... but it wasnt for long until Benji asked him for the reciept for the fine he just paid and the officer shooed as away. Ben didnt want to get into an argument, so he began to start his bike but the bike just wouldnt start... after kicking for almost 5 mins the bike starts... and we figure out that the RTO guys not only ripped us of 200 bucks but also drained our petrol...

We were annoyed but just couldnt control our laughter every time we think about this incident. It was one crazy evening for us...

16 February 2009

How Did My Valentine Day Go?

Valentine's day... not really much of a happening day for me. I really never got to have a Valentine Day with my girlfriend ever when we were dating. But its always a nice time to spend with your friends and loved ones. The people who really make you feel special on this special day...

As you all know (all the folks who read my blog religiously) that the last few years haven't been really happening for me. On Vday 2007 I wrote and recorded songs in a studio, that was one of the best times I ever had (read about it here). But this year it was a lil different. One of my friend who celebrated her birthday on the same day, asked me out. Well it wasn't a date or something, just a beautiful time with my friend. So then we got into a rick and drove towards 'The HUB' at Goregaon.


While we were travelling in the rick she began to cover her face up to protect herself from the dreaded pollution of the Mumbai Streets. It began to worry me as I didnt want the cops to mistake us for some Qaida militants on the loose... But then it got interesting when she wore these sun-glasses over them... and it was totally funny and reminded me of Monica (from FRIENDS) of that episode where she tries on the turkey to amuse chandler... should tell you... it was a pretty funny sight but I didnt laugh... but it got difficult when she said that this is what all the hot babes did to protect their skin...

So we reach at Hub by 10.15am and we buy the tickets for '7 Pounds' for the morning show (begining at 10.30am) and 'Marley & Me' for the afternoon show (begining at 1pm)


The movie began at sharp 10.30am and ended at right 12.30pm, leaving us just half hour to finish off with lunch so we could be on time for the 2nd show. We placed the order by 12.35 but by the time I recieved my order it was 12.55pm. I tried eating as fast as possible but managed to burn my tongue... and hence went easy with the pastas. We finished the lunch by 1.15 and missed the begining 15mins of the movie.

We got done with our movie at 3pm and then we were just window shopping around the mall.. checking out stuff in there... we left the mall by 3.30pm with a takeway meal from Mcdonalds.

I reached church for our practise by 4pm... and finished with it by 7pm. Soon after that I met Mike... and spend some time with him chatting as usual and enjoying some 'seek kabaabs' from Ustaad's corner.

By the time I returned home it was 9.30pm and I remembered all the people I had not wished the day... and began calling them up. I am glad they were very gracious to me accepting my apology...

It was one mad hectic day I had in a long time.. but it was nice... :)

11 February 2009

Fun In Unpredictability




It so happened last Friday... Everything seemed as usual, I attended by Red Hat training at 7am and reported to work by 11.15am. I didn't really have anything particular in mind about what the day in store for me. I thought perhaps I would return home and laze around in front of my computer. But my 2pm Ajay pings me on gtalk and asks me if I am available to play the bass guitar for a gig that evening at Bandra, as their bass guitarist wasn't available for the evening. I asked what time is the gig and he replied it would begin at 6.30pm and I had to report by 4.30pm for the sound check.

I casually checked with my boss if there was any chance I could leave a little early for the gig. My boss was too cool to give me a break. I left from work by 3.30pm and reached Bandra, the National College Auditorium right on time with Abigail. We didn't get to do a quick rehearsal and played most of the songs Live. It was one crazy night... we loved every moment of it. It was a wonderful time with some of my friends and fellow musicians...

But the best part was the unpredictability of that day... with the surprising turn of events that unfolded that day. It was an amazing feeling. I so hope every day would be a very unpredictable packed with lots of surprises just like this.

13 January 2009

To My Best Friend...


Many people ask me who is my best friend. And I, without thinking twice answer them its my friend Alex.

They began to ask me why is Alex my best friend? there has to be a reason why. And I realized there is no reason why he shouldn't be my best friend. So here is what I think that defines a best friend and why Alex fits in well...

  • A Best Friend never tries to prove himself to be the Best.
  • He doesn't mind if you keep secrets from him.
  • He trusts you more than himself
  • He thinks you totally rock even tho you suck to the core
  • He is totally cool if you pick your girlfriend over him.
  • He understands if you forget to wish him on his birthday
  • He doesn't necessarily expresses his concern for you, but when he is not around you sure miss it...
  • He sticks along with anything you believe or want to do
  • He never speaks behind your back and never hesitates to tell you whatever it is on your face
  • He is never formal with you - if he is upset he tells u he is, if he is mad he lets you know bout it... and when he is happy you know it before he even tells you.

05 January 2009

Welcome 2009!!!

WOW!!! so here we are in 2009 finally... I have been really busy the last few days of Dec last year... Guess you guys figured that out since I haven't been blogging much.

I have no idea what to write about the year that just passed but... it was a beautiful year... am sure we all had our ups and downs thru the year, but its also been a year of blessing. When I look back for a sec I can't think of any good thing but when I take my time out to see all the possible good things that has ever happened to me... I think its countless... :)

But overall the month of December was the best... it all began with a youth camp at Khandala, followed by Rob n Ann's wedding and then a few Christmas programs and then Andrea's wedding... then Christmas itself.. and the new year's program... and of course the most special of it all, meeting our President's 13 year old grand-daughter Deborah Nazareth... She is one of the most sweetest kid I have met.

Well I think since pictures speak better (and maybe louder) than words... I'll stop boring you guys... and leave some pics here to see... :)

Camp at Khandala:





































Rob n Ann's Wedding:






















Andrea & Chagas's Wedding:






















New Year's Eve:


































1st Jan 2009:



































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