Jhat mangni

“Jhat mangni- patt vivah”, have heard this enough…I cant really say its true in case of Abhishek and I. But the moment our folks came to know about us, they certainly said “jhat mangni”. We both took some effort to make the “patt vivah” after a break. At least we should have enough time to respect our current de-facto standard- “engaged- fiancé- would be husband etc” :)

Not sure which matrimony ad it is on television- but some ad says that “ab bacche maa-baap ko milate hain”- that’s exactly our case. Parents were quite confident that we would chose the right person for ourselves- keeping our family, status, education, outlook, mentality etc etc etc in mind. Well I do not want to comment much on this. Let this detail be a secret - on what basis we chose each other but 100%- the right choice.

Finally we exchanged rings and we were engaged. It’s an amazing feeling to tell the whole world that hey we’re engaged. Starting from Patna airport to Mumbai people kept staring at the deep maroon mehendi on my hands and legs. More than the color of my mehendi, our gestures were telling the whole world that we were engaged :)
Both of us arranged the engagement albums that mom had given. We checked out all the pics and I kept complaining that I was not looking good because of my nervousness during the ceremony. Abhishek was a sweetheart to make lot of tarif so that I get convinced that I was looking good :)

The next day was fun. We kept getting phone calls from all our friends and relatives across the globe. Either his relatives were eager to talk to me or mine to him. They were not merely interested in congratulating us rather eager to know how we were feeling after getting engaged. The interview sessions went funny. The most interesting session was between my nani and my honey as she doesn’t speak Hindi and he doesn’t speak Oriya. I had to actually translate the whole conversation so that they both could talk.

Dekhte hi dekhte the day passed and it was time for Abhishek to fly back to UK. Well I don’t wanna write more on this senti stuff. These days we are busy shopping for our wedding. In short, enjoying our de-facto engaged status and looking forward to the Most Awaiting Day.

Mumbai under Terrorism

The city that welcomes everyone with open arms need to be careful now. 11/26 terrorism has changed the face of the city. I saw silence in Mumbai for the first time in that last one year. There was no rick or taxi on the road. Everyopne was home with the television on.

It was around 8 when I left for the club. Had a nice time in water; nothing seems as good as swimming to me these days. I was supposed to go to Bandra after swimming for dinner. But Jiya , the three yrs old friend of mine , didn't lemme go. She kept insisting me to stay back for a sopu with her. As a matter of fact, I could not say No to the sweetest swimming champ and stayed back. I called up my friend Ram and informed him that I would meet him the next day. We had dinner and I started. I reached home around 10:30pm. My Didi called me up and she was sounding very tensed & restless. Asked me where I was. I told her that I was just reaching home. She told me to go home immediately as there was terrorist attack. It was sort of unbelievable to me. I just came back and everything was so normal, how could there be terrorist attck. I told her it might be some local fights and not something so serious but she kept telling me NO. I went upstairs and told this to my friends. Immediately there was call from home asking if we were safe. In next two hrs we heard about the ATS Chief, ACP and Eccounter specialsit were shut dead. This was really shocking. We could imagine the degree of fearfulness in the city. We got calls from collegues saying that they were stuck up in the office and some on roads as there were no modes of transport available. I was glad that I didnt go to Bandra. Thanks to Jiya.

We were watching news the whole night. Friends from all over the world calling us to confirm that we were safe. It was hard to see the city under terror. It was so hard to take that Taj and Oberoi were the targets. People at Cafe Leopard and Marine drive 're the victims. We were thankful that it had not happened the last weekend when we were hanginmg around in Inercontinetal till 3am and then in the coffee shop on Marine drive till 5am in the morning. It was scarry to think about the attacks in the places where we go very often. The city that never sleeps was so silent that night.

Next morning we got calls from office to avoid travelling and to work from home if possible. But we preferred watching the condition of the city rather than working from home. By morning there was hope that NSG Commandos would do wanders and save all hostages. With all their expert skills also it took them nearly 60 hrs to release all hostages. They were greeted by Mumbai ki aam janta after the operation was over. I had always read about bomb blasts and attacks at different places. This time I was the part of the city where such attacks took place.

Its nearly 15days after the attack but we can still see the sign of fear. The malls are not as crowded as before. The city is less crowded in the late eveninngs. We took part in the silent prayers held all over the city. We still read the terrorism attack news in the paper and listen to the same lines on FM radio "Mumbai will not sleep this time". We are hoping that this time things would be taken care of and we would not see any such day in this lively city.

Thing that brought me lots of compliments- Chocolate kheer

The Swiss kheer that made me famous in Patni for my culinary skills that I had to put it on our site… People started complimenting each other with regards to this kheer ...and not to forget that my Boss started mentoring me saying, “Gargee, do this assignment as good as your chocolate kheer.” God! I was amazed with these compliments :-) . Finally, I thought that it deserved place on my blog. So folks, lemme know after you try this out.

· Take a liter of milk and boil till it becomes half. Add 100gm sugar.
· Take a small cup of warm water and add 50 gm coco powder to it. Add 50 gm of chocolate powder to water of equal amount. Add it to the milk and let it boil for some time. Keep stirring.
· Boil very little rice (50 to 100 gm for thickness of the kheer) till it softens. Add it to the chocolate milk & let it boil for half an hr to 45 mins more. Add milkmaid and keep stirring.
· Fry 100 gm of cashew nuts in ghee and add it to the kheer. Add 100 gm of almonds.
· When it’s properly cooked, take it out of the gas stove. Garnish it with choco chips and refrigerate it. Serve it cold.
Hope all of you enjoy both cooking and eating it:-)

Few Tips for me!!!

There are a few tips that we should learn rather I should learn to avoid getting bankrupt!!

1. Live a balanced life and avoid overspending

2. Don't buy things we don't need.

3. Don't buy Branded goods.

4. Don't buy excess Food, Cloths, Cosmetics, Footwear, electronics and Fashion accuracies just think before you buy.Tip: World still has a lot of growth ahead and the future holds immense opportunities for us. Let us make the most of it and save and invest it wisely instead of wasting our precious little on things we don't need.

5. Try to balance life with work (No one is happy to work in their professions).

6. Don't stress out yourself, after work try to do some extra activities like swimming, yoga, walking, running where you can divert your mind from stress. A thumb rule: Health is more important than money.

7. Try to understand each other (Wife and Husband) in financial matters and help each other.Tip: As soon as you get your monthly salary, set aside a fixed amount, usually 35 per cent, for insurance, savings and investments. You can then spend the rest.

8. Not all loans are bad. Loans that are 'need based' (home loans, education loans) can always find a place in your finances against those that are largely 'want based' (Credit cards, personal loans, car loans).

9. Borrow only if repayment is financially comfortable.

A thumb rule: Keep EMIs within 35 to 45 per cent of your monthly income.

10. Health is Wealth and Its Tax Free...so do take good care of it.

Recent Economic Crisis

One of the simplest and nicest articles I have read on recent Global Economic Crisis!!!

These days the most talked about news is the current financial crisis that has engulfed the world economy. Every day the main headline of all newspapers is about our falling share markets, decreasing industrial growth and the overall negative mood of the economy. For many people an economic depression has already arrived whereas for some it is just round the corner. In my opinion the depression has already arrived and it has started showing its effect on India.
So what has caused this major economic upheaval in the world? What is the cause of falling share markets the world over and bankruptcy of major banks? In this article, I shall try to explain the reasons for recent economic depression for all those who find it difficult to understand the complex economics lingo and are looking for a simple explanation.

It all started in US…
In order to understand what is now happening in the world economy, we need to go a little back in past and understand what was happening in the housing sector of America for past many years. In US, a boom in the housing sector was driving the economy to a new level. A combination of low interest rates and large inflows of foreign funds helped to create easy credit conditions where it became quite easy for people to take home loans. As more and more people took home loans, the demands for property increased and fueled the home prices further. As there was enough money to lend to potential borrowers, the loan agencies started to widen their loan disbursement reach and relaxed the loan conditions.
The loan agents were asked to find more potential home buyers in lieu of huge bonus and incentives. Since it was a good time and property prices were soaring, the only aim of most lending institutions and mortgage firms was to give loans to as many potential customers as possible. Since almost everybody was driving by the greed factor during that housing boom period, the common sense practice of checking the customer’s repaying capacity was also ignored in many cases. As a result, many people with low income & bad credit history or those who come under the NINJA (No Income, No Job, No Assets) category were given housing loans in disregard to all principles of financial prudence. These types of loans were known as sub-prime loans as those were are not part of prime loan market (as the repaying capacity of the borrowers was doubtful).
Since the demands for homes were at an all time high, many homeowners used the increased property value to refinance their homes with lower interest rates and take out second mortgages against the added value (of home) to use the funds for consumer spending. The lending companies also lured the borrowers with attractive loan conditions where for an initial period the interest rates were low (known as adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). However, despite knowing that the interest rates would increase after an initial period, many sub-prime borrowers opted for them in the hope that as a result of soaring housing prices they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms.

Bubble that burst…
However, as the saying goes, “No boom lasts forever”, the housing bubble was to burst eventually. Overbuilding of houses during the boom period finally led to a surplus inventory of homes, causing home prices to decline beginning from the summer of 2006. Once housing prices started depreciating in many parts of the U.S., refinancing became more difficult. Home owners, who were expecting to get a refinance on the basis of increased home prices, found themselves unable to re-finance and began to default on loans as their loans reset to higher interest rates and payment amounts.
In the US, an estimated 8.8 million homeowners - nearly 10.8% of total homeowners - had zero or negative equity as of March 2008, meaning their homes are worth less than their mortgage. This provided an incentive to “walk away” from the home than to pay the mortgage.
Foreclosures ( i.e. the legal proceedings initiated by a creditor to repossess the property for loan that is in default ) accelerated in the United States in late 2006. During 2007, nearly 1.3 million U.S. housing properties were subject to foreclosure activity. Increasing foreclosure rates and unwillingness of many homeowners to sell their homes at reduced market prices significantly increased the supply of housing inventory available. Sales volume (units) of new homes dropped by 26.4% in 2007 as compare to 2006. Further, a record nearly four million unsold existing homes were for sale including nearly 2.9 million that were vacant. This excess supply of home inventory placed significant downward pressure on prices. As prices declined, more homeowners were at risk of default and foreclosure.
Now you must be wondering how this housing boom and its subsequent decline is related to current economic depression? After all it appears to be a local problem of America.

What complicated the matter?…
Unfortunately, this problem was not as straightforward as it appears. Had it remained a matter between the lenders (who disbursed risky loans) and unreliable borrowers (who took loans and then got defaulted) then probably it would remain a local problem of America. However, this was not the case. Let us understand what complicated the problem.
For original lenders these subprime loans were very lucrative part of their investment portfolio as they were expected to yield a very high return in view of the increasing home prices. Since, the interest rate charged on subprime loans was about 2% higher than the interest on prime loans (owing to their risky nature); lenders were confidant that they would get a handsome return on their investment. In case a sub-prime borrower continued to pay his loans installment, the lender would get higher interest on the loans. And in case a sub-prime borrower could not pay his loan and defaulted, the lender would have the option to sell his home (on a high market price) and recovered his loan amount. In both the situations the Sub-prime loans were excellent investment options as long as the housing market was booming. Just at this point, the things started complicating.
With stock markets booming and the system flush with liquidity, many big fund investors like hedge funds and mutual funds saw subprime loan portfolios as attractive investment opportunities. Hence, they bought such portfolios from the original lenders. This in turn meant the lenders had fresh funds to lend. The subprime loan market thus became a fast growing segment. Major (American and European) investment banks and institutions heavily bought these loans (known as Mortgage Backed Securities, MBS) to diversify their investment portfolios. Most of these loans were brought as parts of CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations). CDOs are just like mutual funds with two significant differences. First unlike mutual funds, in CDOs all investors do not assume the risk equally and each participatory group has different risk profiles. Secondly, in contrast to mutual funds which normally buy shares and bonds, CDOs usually buy securities that are backed by loans (just like the MBS of subprime loans.)
Owing to heavy buying of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) of subprime loans by major American and European Banks, the problem, which was to remain within the confines of US propagated into the word’s financial markets. Ideally, the MBS were a very attractive option as long as home prices were soaring in US. However, when the home prices started declining, the attractive investments in Subprime loans become risky and unprofitable.
As the home prices started declining in the US, sub-prime borrowers found themselves in a messy situation. Their house prices were decreasing and the loan interest on these houses was soaring. As they could not manage a second mortgage on their home, it became very difficult for them to pay the higher interest rate. As a result many of them opted to default on their home loans and vacated the house. However, as the home prices were falling rapidly, the lending companies, which were hoping to sell them and recover the loan amount, found them in a situation where loan amount exceeded the total cost of the house. Eventually, there remained no option but to write off losses on these loans.
The problem got worsened as the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), which by that time had become parts of CDOs of giant investments banks of US & Europe, lost their value. Falling prices of CDOs dented banks’ investment portfolios and these losses destroyed banks’ capital. The complexity of these instruments and their wide spread to major International banks created a situation where no one was too sure either about how big these losses were or which banks had been hit the hardest.

Mayhem in the banks….
The effects of these losses were huge. Global banks and brokerages have had to write off an estimated $512 billion in subprime losses so far, with the largest hits taken by Citigroup ($55.1 billion) and Merrill Lynch ($52.2 billion). A little over half of these losses, or $260 billion, have been suffered by US-based firms, $227 billion by European firms and a relatively modest $24 billion by Asian ones.
Despite efforts by the US Federal Reserve to offer some financial assistance to the beleaguered financial sector, it has led to the collapse of Bear Sterns, one of the world’s largest investment banks and securities trading firm. Bear Sterns was bought out by JP Morgan Chase with some help from the US Federal Bank (The central Bank of America just like RBI in India)
The crisis has also seen Lehman Brothers - the fourth largest investment bank in the US and the one which had survived every major upheaval for the past 158 years - file for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has been bought out by Bank of America. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two giant mortgage companies of US, have effectively been nationalized to prevent them from going under. Reports suggest that insurance major AIG (American Insurance Group) is also under severe pressure and has so far taken over $82.9 billion so far to tide over the crisis.
From this point, a chain reaction of panic started. Since banks and other financial institutes are like backbone for other major industries and provide them with investment capital and loans, a loss in the net capital of banks meant a serious detriment in their capacity to disburse loans for various businesses and industries. This presented a serious cash crunch situation for companies who needed cash for performing their business activities. Now it became extremely difficult for them to raise money from banks.
What is worse is the fact that the losses suffered by banks in the subprime mess have directly affected their money market the world over.

Now what is a money market?
Money Market is actually an inter-bank market where banks borrow and lend money among themselves to meet short-term need for funds. Banks usually never hold the exact amount of cash that they need to disburse as credit. The ‘inter-bank’ market performs this critical role of bringing cash-surplus and cash-deficit banks together and lubricates the process of credit delivery to companies (for working capital and capacity creation) and consumers (for buying cars, white goods etc). As the housing loan crisis intensified, banks grew increasingly suspicious about each other’s solvency and ability to honour commitments. The inter-bank market shrank as a result and this began to hurt the flow of funds to the ‘real’ economy. Panic begets panic and as the loan market went into a tailspin, it sucked other markets into its centrifuge.
The liquidity crunch in the banks has resulted in a tight situation where it has become extremely difficult even for top companies to take loans for their needs. A sense of disbelief and extreme precaution is prevailing in the banking sectors. The global investment community has become extremely risk-averse. They are pulling out of assets that are even remotely considered risky and buying things traditionally considered safe-gold, government bonds and bank deposits (in banks that are still considered solvent).
As such this financial crisis is the culmination of the above mentioned problems in the global banking system. Inter-bank markets across the world have frozen over. The meltdown in stock markets across the world is a victim of this contagion.
Governments and central banks (like Fed in US) are trying every trick in the book to stabilize the markets. They have pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into their money markets to try and unfreeze their inter-bank and credit markets. Large financial entities have been nationalized. The US government has set aside $700 billion to buy the ‘toxic’ assets like CDOs that sparked off the crisis. Central banks have got together to co-ordinate cuts in interest rates. None of this has stabilized the global markets so far. However, it is hoped that proper monitoring and controlling of the money market will eventually control the situation.

How it has affected India?
In the age of globalization, no country can remains isolated from the fluctuations of world economy. Heavy losses suffered by major International Banks is going to affect all countries of the world as these financial institutes have their investment interest in almost all countries.
As of now India is facing heat on three grounds: (1) Our Share Markets are falling everyday, (2) Rupee is weakening against dollars and (3) Our banks are facing severe crash crunch resulting in shortage of liquidity in the market.
Actually all the above three problems are interconnected and have their roots in the above-mentioned global crisis.
For the last two years, our stock market was touching new heights thanks to heavy investments by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). However, when the parent companies of these investors (based mainly in US and Europe) found themselves in a severe credit crunch as a result of sub-prime mess, the only option left with these investors was to withdraw their money from Indian Stock Markets to meet liabilities at home. FIIs were the main buyers of Indian Stocks and their exit from the market is certain to wreak havoc in the market. FIIs who were on a buying spree last year, are now in the mood of selling their stocks in India. As a result our Share Markets are touching new lows everyday.
Since, the money, which FIIs get after selling their stocks, needs to be converted into dollars before they can sent it home, the demands for dollars has suddenly increased. As more and more FIIs are buying dollars, the rupee is loosing its strength against dollar. As long as demands for dollars remain high, the rupee will keep loosing its strength against dollar.
The current financial crisis has also started directly affecting Indian Industries. For the past few years, the two most preferred method of raising money by the companies were Stock Markets and external borrowings on low interest rates. Stock Markets are bleeding everyday and it is not possible to raise money there. Regarding external borrowing from world markets, this option has also become difficult.
In the last fiscal year alone, India borrowed $29 billion from foreign lenders and got $34 billion of foreign direct investment. A global recession has hurt external demand. International lenders who have become extremely risk aversive can limit access to international capital. If that happens, both India’s financial markets and the real economy will be hurt in the process. Suddenly, the 9% growth target does not seem that ‘doable’ any more; we should be happy to clock 7% this fiscal year and the next.
However, one positive point in favor of India is the fact that Indian Banks are more or less secured from the ill-effects of sub-prime mess. A glance at Indian banks’ balance sheets would show that their exposure to complex instruments like CDOs is almost nil. In India, still the major banking operations are in the hands of Public Sector Banks who exercise extreme cautions in disbursing loans to needy people/companies. As a result, we are not likely to see a repeat of sub-prime crisis in India. Though there have been a presence of big US/European Banks in India and even some Indian banks (like ICICI) have some foreign subsidiary with stake in the sub-prime losses, there presence is miniscule as compare to the overall size of Indian banking industry. So at least on this major front we need not worry much.
However, a global depression is likely to result in a fall in demand of all types of consumer goods. In 2007-08, India sold 13.5% of its goods to foreign buyers. A fall in demand is likely to affect the growth rate this year. Our export may get affected badly.
A negative atmosphere, shortage of cash, fall in demands, reducing growth rate and uncertainties in the market are some of the most visible aspects of an economic depression. What started as a small matter of sub-prime loan defaulters has now become a subject of global discussion and has engulfed the global economy scenario.

Greed of some…woes of billions
If you think about this with a cool mind, you will find that the underlying cause of this depression is the greed of those who failed to anticipate the consequence of their actions. On a more ideological front, it is high time to have a rethink on the very idea of free markets and capitalism. I think the time has come to evolve a capitalism where everything works under a broad regulatory framework and we do not see a repeat of this condition where greed of some people can affect the lives of billions.
So here concludes my attempt to explain the current economic crisis which has started to affect the lives of all of us. The above explanation is very simple and by no means it presents an accurate picture of the crisis.

Reasons....

Abhishek- the name that you find one in every ten Indians; the name by which I had friends in all my classes even if the schools were different. Time changed and I came to college; there also I found friends by the same name. Joined CTS and found a friend; Oh my God! Again the same name. Shifted to Patni, Mumbai and found a friend…no not again; as if someone by this name has to be there in my life. But this time I found one of my best friends. I bet it’s not that easy to find good friends in a new city. But may be “A” is the friendship letter for me. Three of my friends out of five have their names starting with A- Aarti, Anup, Abhishek; Madan & Chitra are exceptions.

But life is not that easy; looks like its time to say goodbye to two of them Abhishek flew to UK and Aarti is getting married. It definitely calls for a toast but at the same time the Gang is broken. In this wireless world where distance doesn’t matter, we believe that a telecom between five of us is not as a big fun as it is when all of us are sitting together at one place.

My last weekend was absolutely dedicated to Abhishek. What to do...after all friends are forever. So have to look after all his shopping, all his packing. Not that he could not do it alone but by default girls are good at shopping, packing etc. In the last nine months, I bet I have thorwn the maximum attitude at him. I kept consoling Abhishek last-night when he was getting senti. I was sure that I would not feel low at Abhishek’s shifting to London. But I was so wrong; the moment he checked in, I could feel someone's really going away. Then there was no control over the wet eyes. Even if just one friend is missing from the group, it matters a lot when he adds a lot yo your life in a unknown city. Shall miss him in all parties, picnics, dinners and movies; and I am definitely gonna miss his morning wake up calls along-with “go home ...its getting late” calls in the evnings. Hereafter I’ll have to set my alarm everyday, shall have to look at my watch while I am working late in the evenings. Now nobody would stay awake the whole night just to search a song online, just because I love it and finally gets it downloaded from some paid site. Not just these few things, many things which I do not remember right at this moment will remind me of him ; rather a lot of things that I have to do alone in Mumbai going forward will ensure that I miss him. I am finding it weird to have lunch at home in a Sunday afternoon, I am home and not in any mall or theatre- these are enough evidences that Abhishek is not around.

Today morning, I was finding it difficult when went to see him off. It’s a part of life, people come and go; but not everyone makes such a big difference.

Thanks Abhishek…thanks so much for being such a nice friend :-)

Sometimes words are hard to find for someone like you !!

It was 2002 when I met this special friend for the first time. First time I was away from my parents; surrounded by the group of new people. First month in the hostel was very difficult for me. I took more than a month to start gelling with these people. I met this friend on the badminton court for the first time and enjoyed playing with him. Then in lot of projects we worked together. Started knowing each other more & more every time we met. Now it’s more than 6 yrs since we know each other. We have been best friends for all these years. Now guess who this guy is!! Yes, you are right. I am talking about Prawin.

We know each other in & out by now. The day I went to watch Jaane Tu yaa Jaane Naa, I missed nobody but Prawin. I could actually see Prawin & myself in the place of Jai & Aditi. We have made each other’s birthdays, New Year parties special; watched movies, go to concerts, go to every eat-out and classy restaurant in Bangalore together. Shall never forget my surprise Birthday parties that he had organized every year in a different way. There are only sweet memories when I look back.101 reasons of friendship are truly meant for him.

Things have changed after he met with a bad accident, after I shifted to Mumbai. We do not do everything together as we use to do earlier, yet we do most of the things in our old ways. Friends are forever- we are true followers of this. But we still believe that everything has to have a happy ending; if the ending is not good then it’s definitely not the end …picture to abbhi baaki hai mere dost :-)

Prawin I donno what to write about you, jitna likhoon kamm hai….I can only say that you are the person I know with strongest will power, honesty, sincerity and who values relationships more than anything else. Too much to add to this piece of blog ; not sure where to start and where to end. Can only say that its great to have you in life :-)

Mumbai ke rickshaw-wale bhaiya

It was the worst rain that I had seen in life. My alarm kept ringing. The moment I opened my eyes, I thought that I had set my alarm for some different time. But no, it’s ringing the regular time; I realized it when the clock phone started screaming again in next fifteen minutes. Then I bothered to see the time. Oh my God, I screamed, its 7 :30 in the morning. How do I catch the bus at 8. Got ready in next 15 minutes and started from home. It was raining as if it would never stop. The sky was dark like 5 in the morning. As if Indradev had cursed Mumbai again and this whole city would be flooded in next few hrs if it continues pouring like this.

I felt pity on myself as I had to go to office in that weather. It happens in everyone’s life who is in the IT industry and especially if he/she is in some Indian IT firm. Unfortunately my internet connection at home was not working that day. Patni has a strict rule of not allowing people to work from home (I still could not understand the reason behind this!!Anyways, it’s not a great idea to talk about this openly on internet). Though I have never regretted of accepting Patni’s offer over Capgemini; that day I definitely felt crazy abouit why we could not work from home at least during the rains. “Some major deliverable to onsite team, so I have to be at work”, that’s running in my mind then. Finally I put a full stop to all these complains and started for office thinking of the golden principle of my life. One of them is, “you should never regret of what you have done” and I didn’t want to break my own rule. Then suddenly I started feeling good about joining Patni as I could learn a lot here and as I had people like Vir , KP, Gita, Boss, Aarti, Anup, Chitra &Madan here. Ritu came to send me off till the gate. Her company- Mphasis was kind enough to declare it as a Rainy day.

I walked down the steps and stood in front of the gate in that rain for at least 4/5 minutes till I could manage to board a rickshaw. I had decided that I would sit inside the rick till my bus came. There was more than a foot of water standing on the road. I was amazed to see the crowd. People were still going to their offices (All those people might be from Indian IT companies). The rickshaw driver was really efficient to drive on the road with that kind of water-log. It took around 20 minutes to reach my office instead of 5/7 minutes. I finally reached my bus stop. I didn’t dare to stand outside the rick, just kept checking if bus had come. I waited for nearly half an hour in the rick and asked him to keep the meter on so that he would not feel bad about standing at the same point for so long. What amazed me in that half an hour, was this rickshaw driver. One of the sweetest rickshaw-walas I have met till date. While waiting there I saw him laughing again and again seeing the people on the road. I could not stop myself from asking him what the reason behind his smile. I finally asked him, “kyon itna has raheho bhaiya..?” Then he started laughing even louder and replied, “Madam, ye log saal bhar itna accha dress karke office jaate hain aur aaj dekhiye kese sab bhig bhig ke marte hue office jaa rahe hain, aaj main bhi inh logon se achha lag raha hoon, mazaa aaraha hai” (“all these people on the street get ready and dress up so smart everyday and go to office. Today all of them are so ordinary looking, clothes are drenched out in rain and I am looking better than them”). I was surprised at his answer but what he was looking was definitely right. He had got more liberty in driving his rickshaw over what liberty we have got at our work place. Then he started telling about himself that he his TY in B.Com this year and found this as an independent occupation than working in some small office. Then he told me “Madam main aap ke ghar ke paas hi rehta hoo, bas aap flat main rehte hain aur main chaali main. I am from UP but I am born & brought up in Mumbai”. I was listening to all that he was talking though I was busy checking if my bus had arrived at the stop or not. Looking at my restlessness he said, “Madam, aap baahar mat nikliye, hum dekh ke batate hain ke aapka bus aaya ke nehii. Bas aap apna bus number batayiye”. I told him my bus number and sat inside the rick little peacefully, thinking that this guy would lemme know.

I knew that my bus might get delayed because of the rain but I never thought that it would be late beyond half an hour. He immediately told me that Madam, aapki bus aagayee, the moment it reached the stop. By then I knew quite a lot about him and I knew that this guy definitely deserved a place in my blog. I handed him over a 50 rupees note. The last question I asked him was his name ; he replied Neeraj Mishra and I boarded the bus.

Sometime we just like some people; this likeness may be beyond our work or friend circle. But still we remember them. This guy probably belonged to that category. The next morning was better in terms of rain. I got ready and started for office, the moment I reached the gate, someone said Good morning Madam, it was not the voice of my watchman. I looked up; it was Néeraj who had again come.

My First B'de in this Fast city

Like most of the other Arians I am also crazy about Birthdays. Even when I am in a a restaurant and they play a Birthday tune, I go and wish the Birthday girl, no matter I know her or not. So when its my own Birthday I definitely want the whole world to wish me to make my day. I was not sure how my birthday would be celebrated this year as I was hardly six months old in this city. I had not a huge number of friends but I definitely had the best of all.

I went out for dinner in the evening and came back around 11o’k. Neha and Ritu were there at home. Both of them are younger to me so I definitely had not expected anything from them. But these two proved themselves two big Chhuparustams when Ritu kept me engaged in the bed room till 12 in the midnight and Neha decorated the hall. Exactly at 12 both of them gave me two big hugs and dragged me to the hall. I was amazed – almost in tears for the first few seconds when I saw dark room decorated with candles, cake, balloons. God !! that was just amazing. There were Bde gifts around. I got back another Pink teddy which I had left in Bangalore. Later when I saw my pictures taken during that moment, I could only remember the picture of Susmita Sen when she won the Miss Universe contest. It was definitely not some contest but both these girls had touched my heart with these sweetest gestures which was far beyond my expectations. Abhishek joined the celebration then. Of course these people are the part of my life in Mumbai. All of us had a gala time till morning 3 o’k. We clicked lot of pictures till we looked sleepy and decided to take a nap for sometime so that we look fresh in the party. Obviously I dint get break from the calls the whole night so I didn’t have a chance to sleep. This time Prawin wished me late as he was traveling that night. My sweetest Sheila, Rila, Mona wished me first. Then I spoke to Mamma. Didi, Jiju, Rili, Rosy, Vikash, Meenu, Chhottu, Jyoti, Pallu, Prithwi, Aakanksha (she ditched me & went to Pune though she played a major role in planning the whole event), Aarti, Lucky , Anup occupied the rest of my night. To avoid the late wishing punishment Ram had called me before he boarded the flight from NY to Mumbai. All the calls from my cousins helped me staying awake the whole night. That’s one advantage when you have 20 cousins like I have; you get lots of wishes on your B’de :-) .The maasis and mamis' turn came during the day.

In tye morning I could manage to get some sleep. Got up around 10 am and the best part was the excitement on Ritu and Neha’s faces. They were more excited than me on my B’de. God till this year I had always seen Prawin who was more excited than myself on this day. This year for the first time Prawin was not around but Ritu & Neha ensured that I didn’t miss him and that was well shown in their gestures.
Not only this phase with my friends but at office also I have the best of the people around. Boss remembered my B’de and kept asking me about the B’de treat since 1st April. My Bde without Vir & KP- not possible; they were definitely invited to the party. In this fast city when people have hardly time for each other, it definitely feels great when someone travels all the way from Thane to Andheri to attend the Bde:-)

In the afternoon I had all my favorite people sitting around me. That made me feel like a Princess. A big thanks all these people- they really made my day :-) All of us went to Pop- Tates where we had the best of our time. We sat there till evening 6 when Vir remembered that he had some other work and Tejal called me to say that she would meet me in Red Box in the next an hr.

The first phase of party got over and we went to Red Box where we met Tejal & Dhara. Red Box is one of my most favorite hang-outs in Mumbai; they play very good music and lots of Page 3 people come there too. There I had another cake to cut and all these people to celebrate my B’de together. We sat there till 11, till Ram’s flight landed in Mumbai. Then started another round of celebration. Most of the other friends were back home by then except Abhishek. We met Ram and went to Leela. We went to Citrus; had nice food, played Truth & dare and lot of other games the whole night. It was morning 5 o’k when we decided to go for a long drive. I had never seen the crowded city so silent anytime. Mumbai was beautiful in the early mornings. We went to Iscon temple, then to Juhu beach and then to Ban stand. Finally we were hungry. The next best place to hit for an early morning breakfast was The Hyatt. The breakfast went on till 12 noon. And we remembered that Ram had to catch his flight to Bangalore. We went to the airport to send him off and after that there was no energy left in either Abhishek or me. The 36 hrs B’de celebration had finally come to an end.

I was under the impression that this year I might have had the simplest of my B’des as I didn’t have too many people around in Bombay. But believe me or not I had the best of my B’des in this city. Thanks to all these people who made my day so special and rememberable. Now I absolutely agree the fact that, “It’s not the number of people who make life good but it’s the quality of people who make it so special.”

Mumbai ki pehli baarish!!!

Everything has a first time for me in this city… pehla friend group, pehla birthday and now pehli barish :-)

I am so fond of rain but somehow very scarred of the rain in Mumbai. I had watched on television before three yrs in 2005. Other than the Mumbaites, not everyone would remember the 25th July’s rain that continued for more than 24 hrs. But the new comers in Mumbai are definitely apprehensive about it. We have been complaining about the summers for the last there months. Now another session of complains begins- but this is not about the heat- this is about the rain.

Sometime I find this city really crazy. But the best part of the city is its crowd that keeps moving 24/7, 365 days a year- no matter its April’s summer, August’s rain or December’s winter. But one thing I must admit that Bombay grows over you. Once you area apart of Mumbai, you would not like any part of the country, for that matter any part of the world. I see lot of people in Patni, most of them prefer to live in Mumbai over Chicago and New York. I have come across many people from south as well as from the north part of India who would aspire to go to USA ansd settle down there. But I have never heard it from a Mumbaite. They love the city the way it is.

This year monsoon was supposed to hit Mumbai on 10th June but it started raining five days before it. 5th June ’08, in the morning when I started for office, I could feel the cold breeze. I was sure that it had drizzled in some part of the city last night. The day went on fine with a great weather. I remember talking to Anup in the early evening on the pleasant weather. In the next hour when I boarded the bus, it was cold outside. We have crossed most of the distance when it started pouring. For a moment I was so happy; after all saal ki pehli bearish aur uss main taazi mitti ki khushboo.

But in another few minutes looking at the speed of the rain, I was thinking why it started raining. Most of the folks in the bus were not carrying umbrellas. When we crossed Powai, I was actually waiting for the rain to stop as my house was another 15 minutes distance. There was water running on the new fly over but there is no difference in the no. of people traveling on it. Not everyone was in a bus, car or rickshaw but everyone was welcoming it. In fact the people on the bikes & bicycles were enjoying it in true sense. What impressed me was that Bindaas attuitiude – as if this heavy rain doesn’t make any difference to their lives.

Today morning it started again - guess the rain in Mumbai follows the official timings; it starts the moment we start going to work and again when we come back. But it hardly made any difference today. I had seen the bindaas attitude of Mumbai crowd yesterday and probably I had adapted it too. I got up in the morning and saw it was raining but I knew that it’s not gonna stop any of the activities in my whole day’s to-do list. I reached office and checked my emails and the first thing I did was writing this blog :-) another work got added to the to-do list of this Friday. So the morale of the stroy is that Mumbai is a Great City with Great People and Great Rains :-)

Happy Birthday Rohin :-)

Its 9th April. For everyone its just another day but for me its my Best friend's birthday. One of my most sweetest friends whom I came to know just before a year. Spoke to him first on my own B'de. Happened to be one of my friend's friend, stayed in the city which's most close to my heart. Thansk to my friend who sent me his email id and asked me to keep in touch since he was new in the city.

I think its enough of confusion by now. Me, my friend , his friend who becomes my best friend. Too many twists and turns right...?

Okie lemme make the puzzle a little simpler. Debashish is my friend and his friend is my Best friend. Rohin- the guy who is taking an entry in this post like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible (Take any part-1/2/3 , for that matter) :-)

Rohin was shifting to Bangalore when Debabshish gave me his email id and asked me to keep in touch since he was new in the city. But I never bothered to either say him a Hi or talk to him, at least to know his haalchaal , may be I was too busy in my own life!!

It went on till 3rd or 4th Aoril '07 (Sorry Rohin... to check when we spoke for the first time over internet , I'll have to check my gmail history or check all your emails :)) till we spoke for the first time. That night, I was not feeling sleepy and saw all my friends offline on both yahoo and gmail other than Rohin. Thanks to Debashish for introducing us to each other. Finally the conversation started and I conveyed the first message "Hi" (No wonder Arian women are the most friendly of the 12 signs). It took me hardly any time to understand that the person on the other siade was an Arian too. But it was late for me to ping him. He was not in Bangalore then. He was in Singapore on some official trip. Felt a bit guilty. Thought that I would have asked his haalchaal when he was in India but he was quite friendly not to take all these things into consideration. The first time I sopke to him, I knew that I had made a friend but in couple of more discussions I understood that I had made a friend for the lifetime. One guy who loved everything that I loved and thanksfully not as confused as I was then. Then the exchange of mails were very frequent. Everyday I go to office , I have an email from Rohin, thankfully Singapre time was 2 hrs 30 mins ahead of IST. Gradually, more than anything else, it was a habit to see Rohin's email first as soon as I raech office. Lot of times when I used to think that Rohin had not mailed me since 3 hrs, a mail would hit my mailbox. It felt nice when he called me on my B'de. We spoke for the first time. Then we used to talk almost everyday. Thanks to gtalk. But yes, we had not met till then. We met sometime in August. He flew to USA , just before I shifted to Mumbai, so had hardly had any time to spend with my best friend. But all of us knew that world 's too small for friends like us. We knew that we would anyways meet up.

Rohin, today its your Birthday and I am miles apart to celebrate your day with you organizing a party with a big cake, baloons, b'de songs and b'de bombs. Needless to say that my best wishes are always with you. I just wanna dedicate this one blog to you telling you that you are my best friend and one of the best persons I have met; one person who has the anwers to all my questions, who has the solutions to all my problems, who has always made my life easy whenevere I have difficulties and who has always helped me in making decisions whenever I am confused. You are the sweetest the sweethearts :-)

Thanks for being there for me, thanks for being my best friend!!!

Happy Birthday Rohin...May you be blessed with all the best things in life !!!

CHALTE CHALTE !!!!!

Some changes in life leads to changes in few things very close to me. I changed the name of my blog today. It feels a little weird to read a different name, from We Four to Chalte Chalte. It’s We Four, since the day I started writing. Definitely feels a little odd !! But one lesson I have learnt over a period of time that Change is the only constant in life. So its time for me to change the name of my blog too. When I had started writing, Meenu, Jyoti, Tejal and I were together in one flat. The site was dedicated to we four so the name was relevant but now it’s different. Its not like the rebranding that Hutch did last year after Vodafone acquired it. I remember the lines by Sam- the Director, Hutch that an old brand had to be burried so that a new brand could be born. It’s definitely not the Rebranding that I am doing for “We Four” but it’s a definitely a Renaming. Now its not about just the four friends, rather four best friends who were staying together, away from family and away from home.

Chalte Chalte- the name I chose. I really don’t know if I mean it; may be Yes. Is it because its’ the movie of my most favorite star- Shahrukh or its one of the most famous songs of Kishore..
"Chalte chalte…mere ye geet yaad rakhna, Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa…Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa" We come across so many people who become a part of our life, some get apart, some get added. But over a period of time we start accepting things the way they are. No matter we like it or not the journey never ends. Every time I am depressed I console myself saying , “life has just begun” every time I am happy, I say what else I need in life…though I need a lot in true sense:-)

The name of the blog looks germane to me at this point of time but I may think of changing it in the future. May be then something else will sound more logical to me. May be some more changes, some more people, some more places and again a different life.

But when I am posting this on the site I just wanna repeat the same line
Chalte chalte…mere ye geet yaad rakhna, Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa… Kabhi alvida naa kehnaa!!!

Mumbai rocks :-)

Now in Mumbai, in the city of dreams :-)
Left Bangalore long time back in last Sepetemember though I keep telling that I belong to Bangalore. When I was there I never realized thatI belonged to that place. Could not sleep the last few nights before I left the city, was not sure if I really wanted to leave it at that point of time..Was not sure if I wanted to leave everything behind..the friends, parties, everyone and probably everything. Every morning when I used to get up my pillow used to be wet. Never wanted to come here leaving everything behind but there was nobody for me in Blore then...everything was over for me.

Just kept convincing me that its a new start and new life, kept telling myself that things 're gonna be better in life. It was raining heavily when I was leaving home. I told my mami that the city's crying as I's leaving and our eyes were moist. Chintu, Babbloo, Nipoon came to send me off. My last look at Blore- the city where I have lived life in true sense, every First thing I had understood in this place, but I would not be called a Bangaloroian any more. It was one of the weirdest feelings I had ever experienced..just told others that Never say good bye and didnt look back.

Reached Mumbai. It was raining here as well. My red-blonde hair helped my friends to recognize me when I landed here. Reached my guest house and saw nothing familiar. Everything was so new and different to me. The only thing I could remember was my friends, my folks in Bangalore.

Got used to the guest house and joined office after a day. Completeed the HR formalities with Deepa and she accompanied me to the QDI practice. I met my Boss Venkatesh. His first line was Welcome to QDI and start your day with Chocolates:-) There was a party that day and Boss took the whole team out for lunch. Felt like my first day in the alst organization. Though I had the least of the expectations from Patni. Boss introduced me to the team. I met Gita, Veer, Abhijeet. Gita is The Sweetheart, Veer is another , so as Abhijeet. And KP was the icing on this cake. I met him late since he was in USA when I joined Patni. He is so systematic and disciplined that I feel its great working with him. Thank God!! what I had heard was right, Mumbai ke log bahot acche hote hain :-)

That's how life started in Mumbai. After that I met Aarti, Anup and Abhishek. Shifted to a nice flat with Shweta and Ritu. All these people have become a part of life. Gita is more like an elder sister so I love everything about her. I love the way Veer says "Tu suun meri baat..." and Abhijeet says "Let me take the exapmles- a, b, c " Boss's approach towards work has probably helped in bringing in a bit of perfectionism in life.

Its almost three months in Mumbai. Everytime I think of writing, I think what to write , about whom to write. I know some day I have to start. Since I have few good friends now, since I know good eat-outs now, since I know the city , since I know the people and most importantly since I belong to the city now, its time to start a new life now :-)

WE Two

One, two, three, four…well it’s not that I am learning counting; it’s just that how we four moved into the flat before two years. I still remember the day when I moved into the new flat; it was the house-warming ceremony. I shifted there from the company guest-house. It was a pleasant evening and I had a nice time with the flat owner and then of course a good dinner with them. I stayed alone in the three storied building alone as my land-lady had to leave for her home-town that night. I stayed there for almost fifteen days when another girl Chhotelal (Tejal) moved in. She’s a sweet girl, not very talkative and had newly joined work. I was thankful that I would have someone to talk to other than the four walls when I came back from office. We became good friends and later she became more like a younger sister to me rather than just a flat-mate. Few more days and another girl, Motu (Jyoti) came in. The first time I saw her, I found her very good-looking with beautiful hair. That day I didn’t have much time to talk to her since I had another place to go. The next day when I saw her she was looking sad with her ugly hair. She said that she had gone to some beauty parlor and the lady cut her hair very short. I felt bad for her. Then we’re three girls from east, west and north part of India and we wished no south-indian girl to come in. But finally a south-indian girl Motu (Meena) came to stay with us in the flat and we were little confused if the girl would get along well with us or not.

It took us not more than a week to become good friends and in another week we knew that we’re gonna be the best friends. And we were right. We became very good friends, in fact we became the part of each other’s life. I was so happy to move into this flat after staying alone for so long in a studio apartment. Food, music, movies and books were the things that helped in making the bond stronger and stronger between us.

Slowly night-outs became common. In the late evenings, we would have the insatiable urge to have the almond fudge, chocolate-walnut muffin, masala chai and hot chocolate and the Barista in Leela palace became our favorite adda where we used to sit till the midnight. We have had loads of fun in the first one year of our stay. After that we heard that Chhotu might get transferred to Pune. That was the first shock b’coz we were afraid that our group would break up. I started praying for Chhotu’s transfer not to happen and my prayer was granted, though for a short span of time and Chhotu stayed with us for the next six months. Then Motu applied for her H1B and we knew that she would stay with us for not more than six months, yet we were happy.

Finally Chhotu n Motu left for Pune and USA respectively. Now we are waiting for Motu’s wedding. We have decided that she’s to get married in the winter b’coz that’s the only time when Chennai’s not very hot. We are happy b’coz now Meenu’s wedding is fixed with the one,she likes. We are happy b’coz our Chhotu is going to be with her for sometime in the USA.

However with all these Jyoti and I have become tired. We are tired of seeing friends going away, we are tired of missing these two sweethearts. Life looks slow and of course different without all the night-outs, movies and never-ending conversations. I have stopped blogging, Jyoti has almost stopped watching movies; we are bored of reading and we are afraid of leaving each other and going away considering the fact that if one of us goes out then the other one will be left with nobody else but loneliness. To avoid this boredom now we have extended our interests and sometimes spend time in cooking other than shopping and eating. We are so habituated talking about We Four that we feel sad talking about We Two. With this seclusion, we both try to become each other’s world so we have decided that even anyone of us is getting married, the other one’s gonna stay with her, keeping the Godrej ad in mind- Godrej refriegerator ke saath Godrej cordless phone muuft… ab dekhna ye hai ke hum dono main se refrigeratpor kaun hai aur cordless kaun!!!.

Spices of the Midnight

Well...old days are never back...Tejal's absence can be felt everywhere every moment since then she has left our house and moved to Pune. No wonder we have never watched a movie since last December..have never gone out for ice-cream together..never have dropped into the Taj's midnight buffet or Leela's 24 hrs coffee shop. It was a normal Friday evening like any other day. I was back by nine, Jyoti came around eleven. I had some chocolates for Jyoti. As soon as Chudail came I handed the chocolates over to her else its risky to stay in the house. I was not feeling well that evening. Somehow something was missing. But as and when we sit together normally all these ideas about movies and food keep coming to our mind. Out taste-buds were normal that day (they were excited at the midnight) and Jyoti n I started searching some sweets in the. Nothing was looking very yummy on the shelves. When there is a way there is a way- this seems most appropriates when our taste-buds are exciting. immediately w called up Motu and she said that she would take care. She was half the way and immediately she turned to the airport to get something good from the airport cafeteria. Finally she got some chips, popcorns, cakes,sandwiches and of course those were enough to make us satisfied that time. All of us were happy to sit together and continue the midnight masala. The discussion was as usual diversified starting from bringing up babies in today's scenario to the natural sceneries of Karnataka. It was related to lots of matters starting from our marriages to our jobs, starting from books to the movies that we need to watch..a widely diversified discussion.

We were not surprised when it was four in the morning. The moment we saw the time on the wall-clock, suddenly were hungry. These days I was just trying to cook( at least trying to learn cooking ) few simple things. Fortunately things like aloo-jeera, bheendi n parval bhaji have come up well so I got the kick to learn cooking..I at least gained the confidence that I could something else other than Maggi in life. Then finally we entered the kitchen thinking to make Maggi..Maggi with tea have been giving us reasons to celebrate the midnight suppers..sometimes in the early mornings too.

We entered the kitchen and were disappointed not to find the Maggi. finally we thought of experimenting something new and saw the rawa dabba-onion-tomato- thats was good enough clue for us to understand that we would make upma-chutney. Immediately I started heating the pan to fry the rawa. The pan was overheated and the rawa was half-burnt while I was frying it. Then Jyoti chopped the tomato. I took the pain to chop the onion though Meenu was all set to do that. Jyoti took care to chop the ginger n green chillies and Meenu was arranging things in the kitchen. We didn't forget to capture all those sweet moments in our cameras. After the two tastiest things- upma n tomato chutney was cooked by the two greatest chefs , we saw the papad so roasted it immediately. our maid had kept the milk near the gas stove, so immediately coffee was made by the best coffee-maker Meenu. That was the icing on the cake. We served everything in one plate ..strongly believe the concept that ek plate main khana khanese pyaar badhta hai :) We have had lots of fun after a long time. Suddenly the midnight freaks were up that night after three months. Morning we selpt at three and up by nine. The fun that we had had that night didn't make us tired rather rejuvenated us well. Cheers to you all :)

Adventure or Nightmare...

Here it goes….the most unforgettable incident. It was 20th Dec evening and all of us reached home by ten- as per our plan to go to corner house, our favorite place to have ice-cream. Doston ko bichhadte waqt meetha khaake bichhadna chahiye...yaaden meethi rehti hain...that’s what all of us believe though we are not hesitant to accept the reality- khanewalon ko khaane ka bahaana chahiye.. The whole day was tiring, Meenu had to finish the work of the whole quarter in last ten days, Chhotu had to complete all her packing and I also had to do the packing to start for home the next day. The day was tiring and I had not had lunch that day so was very hungry by evening ten. All of us dressed well and started for the ice-cream parlor, after that we also had plans to go for a long-drive- probably the last night-out when all of us were together. But I suddenly wanted to go to Ice&Spice, another restaurant on the other side of the city as the Chocolate truffle there, was the best in Bangalore.

We were late when we started from home, though was not an unusual thing for us. But things took a different turn altogether when we were almost lost on St-Marks road searching the café and ended up somewhere near Commercial street. The story didn’t end there, rather that was the starting. Our Merc was not used to regular washing affairs- Meenu used to give it for servicing only once in a year, its early if I say once in every six months. Long time back we had met an accident where the car got a dent on its left and also the number plate got tilted. But we were never bothered, for anything Lenin mama hain naa…But every dog has a day and that was definitely not our day. Near Commercial Street there was a police patrolling van and it stopped us where we showed the Driver’s license and came off, thought of going to Taj to have something. We were near MG road when that van came and stopped us as the number plate was tilted both at the front and back side of the car. The dent on the left as icing on the cake for the police when they held us responsible for an accident. All of us were blank. For a moment we tried convincing them but it was of no use. The next thing to do was call of our home. Unfortunately the mobiles were switched off by 11:30 and Lenin mama’s number was missing from this new mobile I had bought. We were scarred to call up on the landline; everyone at home would get disturbed by this incident. Finally got Lenin mama’s residence number. But the problem didn’t end there; my mamaji was not there at home. After calling one number, we got another number, after three or four trials we could reach him. He was initially tensed to hear my voice at 12 midnight. Somehow we explained him the whole situation and he asked me to hand over my mobile to the police so that he could talk to him. We felt a little relieved and got back all our guts to teach a lesson to the policeman for stopping us in the middle of the night for no fault of ours. That’s when we started scolding the police man- how dare you stop us in the midnight- morons- at least should have listen to us once – and then our regular line- go to hell..dont have any etiquettes….the policeman started complaining that we didn’t respect him and my mama told us to leave the place without getting messed up with the police. We left the place and all of were trying to make the situation normal to get rid of that tension. We thought of dropping down the plan of going to Taj. We were just at the next signal when another patrolling van stopped us to ensure that we were not drunk.
Oh God…that was the end of it, Meenu was almost into tears this time , our mood was spoilt again. Finally we reached home and entered the house and Meenu started scolding all three of us. I still remember how angry she was. Tejal and me were fine or at least trying to neutralize the tension by calling this an adventure. We decided to say good-bye to night-outs. All of slept around morning three. Everything was fine when we got up in the morning; we were kinda out of the nightmare. We knew that Arians and Taurians would forget the last night’s anger by the next morning, so there was nothing to worry. Next morning we clicked lots of our pictures and went for desserts. All of us were laughing ha ha ha ha ha ha… remembering the last night’s nightmare as an adventure.

It’s Three now…

It’s Three now…it’s no more four- the gang of three girls and Not four. Definitely difficult for Jyoti, Meenu and myself to accept that Tejal is no more staying with us in Bangalore and she has shifted to Pune.

The time we spent before she went to Pune was very good. I remember when Tejal and I started from home towards Leela to have the Barista blast and Almond frappe at 10:30 in the night and caught badly by Meenu. Enough of scolding and then we had to get inside the car and all three of us had gone to the Barista there. I had Meenu’s share of chocolate-walnut muffin. Then we took some pictures and came back home after that.

The treat to Tejal was not over. We thought of buying her something nice and Meenu and I had gone to pick up a smart white winter jacket for her. Jyoti and Chhotu were terribly hungry and kept calling us to go for dinner. We had gone to Tandoor and had awesome Punjabi food. One of the best evenings we four had spent together and then we started discussing about our 1st day experience with each other in the house. Jyoti’s and my part was funny…Jyoti was surprised with the way I used to speak over phone for ours and I was thinking that girl was mad, watching me all the time in my house. Meenu thought that I was a girl with lots of attitude and emailed all her friends explaining the same. Thank God- Chhotu had thought all good about me. Now the first impression does not matter to anyone of us at all, rather it has turned into a laughter bag for all of us.

We had already started missing Tejal though she had not left Bangalore by then. I was afraid of the time when Tejal would not be around and I would have to do lots of things alone. Meenu n Jyoti work till late hours which makes the house even more depressing. When I go back from office, for the next four hours there would be nobody at home, it’s definitely upsetting coz I hate loneliness.

Two more days were there for Tejal to leave Bangalore. Two days prior to that Jyoti had to leave for Goa, and then Meenu, Chhotu and I were there at home. It was 22nd Dec when I was going home and Tejal was supposed to leave on 23rd Dec. On that Thursday night we again dragged Meenu with us to have ice-cream, but unfortunately the plan failed and Meenu sunao me so much. Next day morning everything was fine and three of us had clicked lots of pictures together in out room, with our Merc. Then we had gone together for lunch...our favorite place- Indi Joe. Meenu dedicated our favorite song, Phoolon ka taaron ka sab ka kehna hai…to Chhotu. Again clicked some pictures there and I started for the railway station.

All of us were upset but I was more worried for Meenu. After Tejal and I leaved, she would be all alone for the next couple of days, I was afraid she would be broken when Tejal left coz she had to face the same what I was going to face after a week- Loneliness. Our eyes were full with tears when I hugged Tejal for the last time but I held my tears back till I left home and boarded the train. The same had happened to Meenu, it’s not good to send people off. Meenu was sort of fine- lost a few kilos of weight though- when I was back from home. I have almost stopped staying in my house and most the time I am with my Mama- Mami after I am back from Bhubaneswar coz I hate the loneliness in the house when Tejal is not around.

Nobody is indispensable and it is a universally accepted truth. We’ll start living without Tejal in the same house yet we’ll miss her all the time. Things are still named after her even when she is not around- Tejal’s room, Chhotu’s cup-board, Chhotu’s smiley-ball and the list goes on n on n on…Chhotu just a line for you...the sky is dark when the moon is not there even if there are thousands of stars in it. We miss you…

We@Cloud Number Nine

Our best time is when four of us sit together, turn some nice music on with a mug of coffee/tea or may be some other mouth-watering snacks. Whether its day or night, evening or afternoon khoob jamta hai rang jab mil baithte hain Hum Charon Nescafe ke sang...that’s what we say. Music – nothing is as good as the soft n soothing music. Soft, romantic pop is my most favorite though would love to rock with Bryan Adam’s rock numbers as well. Meena is most fond of Savage garden and Jyoti is fond of everyone I guess…may be Backstreet Boys, Boy zone, Marc Anthony and now Bryan Adams, MLTR too. Our Chhotu is fond of Celine Deon and Bryan Adams, West life though she doesn’t mind the other bands like Venga Boys, Eagles. But I feel that special touch with Enrique’s numbers. Everytime i listen to him, I can feel the adrenaline rushing in the blood.

New day has come- is the most favorite of Chhotu whereas it doesn’t beat Meenu’s favorite Insatiable; yes I do agree. It’s one of the most romantic songs. Jyoti’s favorite, you sang to me is also a song of all times. But all of us agree with my most favorite-You say it best when you say nothing at all. The song took me six months to search it after I heard it for the first time on Radio city while buying something in Archies Gallery. But the song means a lot to me...a lot of memory with that song, in fact it means a lot to all of us now. After couple of months of the Archies Gallery shopping, one fine morning when I was watching MTV, I found out the song- the most famous of all Ronan Keating numbers- You say it best when you say nothing at all- the song from Notting Hills. That takes us to the cloud nine by making us feel so special. Let’s start humming it...

it’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart

without saying a word you can light up the dark…

the smile on your face let’s me know that you need me,

the truth in your eyes saying you’ll never leave me…

the touch on your hand says you’ll catch me wherever I fall….

You say it best, when you say nothing at all…

We enjoy living in another world with Enrique's numbers; either its wanna be with you or bilamos- we enjoy it everytime we listen to it though could never understand why he says love to see you cry in another song. I am so fond of that song that this has become my daily aerobics song. And my heart goes sha la la la is my walking song. I used to listen to it every time when I had to walk from my old office to my house. It has the most cherishing memory in it. When we are talking about songs how we can forget telling about the Bryan Adam- whether it’s summer 69 or please forgive me, coming back to you or everything I do; every song takes us into a different world when we listen to them. Tejal and I are the biggest fans of his songs- best of me and let’s make a night. Awesome songs- that’s all we can say. I should not ignore another favorite song – words, that’s more commonly known as smile in our house coz every time it brings a smile on our faces. Few months back when Meenu and then I started stringing our guitars we wanted to play hotel california but that day has not yet come. George Michel’s careless whisper and Abba’s dancing queen - are not exceptions to this list though.

All of us still agree on one thing that there is no comparison to Kishore’s romantic numbers and the duets of Lata n Kishore. Pal pal dil ke paas, Kya yehi pyaar hai, Ajeeb dastan hai yeh- are the other most favorite ones that we always listen to before going to our sweet dreams. Even songs like tere bin, jab koi baat bigad jaaye, never say goodbye, juda hoke bhi (the list goes on n on n on…) make our evenings more happening. Here the most interesting part is making Meenu understand the exact meaning of these romantic Hindi numbers. Hats off to Tejal, the way she explains the meaning of words like Izzat.

The exciting thing in all this is the way we search the song, listen to it, and watch the video after we overhear it somewhere on the radio. That again makes us sit together in the late evenings when we have desserts. Chhotu, who will listen to all the Bryan Adams numbers with me when you go to Pune…hopefully Mottu n Chudail will fall in love with Bryan’s numbers then. We reach cloud Nine easily with these songs…ae kya bolti Chudail & Motu…

The Mona Lisa Smile :-)

Life goes on as it never ends…eyes of stone observe the trend…well-said. We are all ready for Tejal’s farewell party now, though I am really feeling bad about it. I used to hang around with Chhotu most of the time. Tejal- a girl as free as me- even if she has lots n lots of p&d’s. That evening all of us were sitting together when we started talking about DaVinci Code- the ultimate fiction and most favorite book of all four of us. How we could stop discussing about Mona Lisa when we were discussing about DaVinci. All those secretes that we came to know about the most famous painting while reading the novel was shocking. The next thing we did was search about Mona Lisa on Google to know the secrete behind that smile.

Scientists analyzed the portrait of the Mona Lisa, a woman with famously mixed emotions, hoping to unlock her smile. They applied emotion recognition software that measures a person's mood by examining features such as the curve of the lips and the crinkles around the eyes. Mona Lisa was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry, according to the British weekly "New Scientist." Still, scientists will probably never know what made her feel the way she did.

The portrait was painted in Florence, Italy, between 1503 and 1506, according to the Louvre's Web site. Historians have long debated Mona Lisa's identity, with theories ranging from being Da Vinci's mother, a self-portrait or a Florentine prostitute. Research conducted in 2004 support a claim first made almost 500 years ago -- that she really existed and that she was the wife of a rich silk merchant. But what excited us most was what Dan Brown had written in his novel.

With all these information the discussion didn’t come to an end. It was more interesting after each of us started smiling like Mona Lisa smile. It’s really funny the way Meenu was telling me to smile like Mona Lisa, the way I was telling to Jyoti n Meenu. Oh God… I have to transfer all those pictures from my mobile phone to my PC to give you a real feel of all our Mona Lisa smiles :)

Let's make our time to remember !!!

Let’s make a night to remember- one of the most famous numbers of our favorite Bryan Adams, so true especially when we say this line together. It was Thanks giving in the US.
Everyone in my office was lazy so as I. Morning when I left home, Tejal was not well which was little upsetting, bechari bacchi bimaar padgayee thi. There was a chance to leave office early and I left office in the afternoon to take care of Tejal. When I reached home I was surprised to see Meenu sleeping till afternoon 2 o’k. Then I came to know that even Meenu was not well. I woke her up and then all of us had gone out for lunch. After a nice lunch Meenu was feeling little better (as usual). We came back home and fell asleep.

It was a Friday evening and seemed so boring to sit at home just with some regular music, books or internet. Our taste-buds normally get excited during the late evenings. With no exception to it, that eve around 10pm, Meenu and I were ready with all enthu to go out. Tejal- was almost ready to have dinner at home. But how we could leave Tejal when we were going out. We dragged her with us. She was typically in her night suit and bath-room slippers, Meenu was a little better- in a suit and room-slippers and I was in an even better outfit- capre n tee-shirt but no exception to room slippers.

We had never planned that we would end up at Cafe Mosaic in Taj Residency that evening. We tried to go to Cake shop- that was closed, then to Lake View- No- not to a place where we go everyday, then what’s good about a Friday eve. Tejal suggested a place on Cunningham road where we could get the best pastries and cake but after we reached there she remembered that she had forgotten the name of the place. We could just take few unsuccessful attempts to find the place. Meenu and I were enjoying the drive, roads in Bangalore were hardly so calm in the evenings- the music was making the drive very interesting. After that we had decided to end up in my friend’s café- Ice & Spice- but again the unsuccessful attempt and we could not find the place. Finally we decided to go to Hint- but it was nearing 12 am and Hint was closed by the time we reached there. We instantaneously decided to go to Taj then.

We were not bothered about our night suits or bath room slippers either. We reached Taj and handed over the key for valet parking. They looked at our Benz for a while (the last time it was washed in the rain- some time before two months). We entered Taj at quarter to twelve. All of were veggies on Saturday and it was just 15 minutes left for Friday to get over. When the pizza reached us it was five minutes to twelve. I still could not understand how I could finish that pizza before twelve. Meena had had nice muffins there. We were little worried about Tejal- she was little hesitant to eat outside because of her throat infection. But the muffins at Sugar & Spice were able to break her rules.

After we had the pizza and cake we were more hungry- the smell of pastas coming from café Mosaic was too tempting. We were all set to go there then. We went inside and checked the menu- buffet was also looking attractive. While starting from home we had no plans of Taj, so there was not much of cash lying with us, thanks to our cards though. The swimming pool was really good. Meena started teasing us that we could only go for walking at one side of the pool where the water level was below 5 ft. Meenu thought that she was a very good swimmer though she had entered swimming pool only once till date.

The time was good and we were driving down home when Jyoti called us up. We picked her up and went to airport coffee-shop to have something hot. We liked the coffees we bought there and sat there for some time. It was almost four in the morning when we reached home. The movies we watched after reaching home, made the morning even more interesting. All of us loved Gladiator though Brave-heart was also another nice movie that we watched. The whole night was so enjoyable. At morning eight we went off to sleep and that’s how our lunch turned into an awesome dinner at Angitti. All of us enjoyed so much that we were wishing the weekend to go longer and longer.

It’s actually the people who matters and not the place. Either it is Taj or Leela, Cake-walk or Lake-view; we have enjoyed it to the core. All of us add that extra fun each time to make the time unforgettable when we are together. No wonder that we are all saying…

Let's make out - let's do something amazing
Let's do something that's all the way
Cuz we've never had the fun like the way we have the fun
Now n never want this time to go...

Let's make our time - to remember
From January - to December
Let's have fun - to excite us
A memory - to ignite us
Let's make our time- to remember - all life long!!!