Now that I am liking the idea of writing all too often in this blog, this time it is about Dee's Engagement, which happened on 3rd Aug. I went to Delhi on 31st night and reached home probably at 1:30 am and mom, dad were waiting for me. As always, my favorite Rogan Josh (Kashmiri spicy lamb dish) and Ma'ts (small pieces of rolled keema) was ready for my dinner. And as always, I straightaway went to the kitchen and asked mom to serve the dishes for me with some rice.
Next two days were hectic considering that was all the time left before the Engagement, although the place was finalised, menu was finalised, all gifts, the ring, clothes, everything was there. But then if everything had been done, there would be no fun in attending such occasions.
On the Engagement day, there were still many things to be done. Bua ji and Pinki didi woke up early morning to prepare wari. And it was quite delicious. Pyara Bhaiya left early morning to ensure things were well at the engagement location. Dee went to beauty parlour early in the morning with Mishty, and was later joined by Sheena. Dad coordinated with the food service contractor. I was busy moving people here and there. Deva joined at about 10am. AK came late as always. Cheeky had to be brought from School at about 12noon. What happened at the school is another story, which I should write separately about. Meanwhile, Deva and AK managed to run the music system, which somehow was not working.
Just after noon, my would-be-jijaji arrived along with some 70-75 relatives and friends. We welcomed them all. And some time later, Dee arrived. She looked great. I really wonder sometimes, how girls manage to look like that, whenever they are supposed to be the center of attraction; be it their engagement day, or wedding day.
At the ring ceremony, me and Deva and AK sprayed the bottled Snow spray and other items on the couple and the people around when the rings were exchanged.
Then started photo sessions with everybody. Anybody and everybody came up the stage. Dad, pyara Bhaiya, mom, aunty, dada-dadi, all mamas, raju bhaiya, meghna dee, everybody was busy treating the guests. And when Mrs. Ramsay asked me at 3pm," Nitin, did you have your lunch?", I replied,"Aakhir ladkiwaale hain, abhi kaise kha lein..".
Things went well and as planned I was supposed to accompany Dee to her would-be-in-laws place, along with Mishty-mithu-pearl-cheeky-sheena-mannu, since more relatives were waiting there for her, and also some ceremonies were to be performed. I could only see others enjoying the lunch, and asking everyone if they had food. So, I headed home to change along with all of them who were going to accompany us. After reaching back, Cheeky said he didn't want to come. But couldn't fight Dee's tears, and had to come along.
We were all going to Dwarka to Dee's would-be-in-laws. On the way, all the kids (being 25 now sometimes makes me feel like a 40+ in front of all my younger cousins) asked for someting to eat. None of us could have the delicious looking lunch. So, I got the car to stop at McDy at South Ex. and got some burgers/coke for the crowd.
We reached the place at 6pm where it seemed a whole crowd was waiting to see Dee. All 8 of us were asked to sit and then started the unstoppable session of food items/hot milk with badams/buiscuits/sweets etc. etc. One or the other relative just kept on coming and forcing us something to eat. Forcing is supposed to be good mannered in such cases. And we tried to say no/share sweets to the best of our ability. Finally Dee went into another room, where she changed clothes and as soon as she came out, started another session of jewelery putting on her. This went on and on till about 8:30 when we were served dinner. And it was awesome food.
We all headed back home and all Mamajis, mamis, were waiting for us along with our family. I had to wait till mamajis left, in order to join pyara bhaiya and jijaji for the tequila shots. The night ended with me/pyara bhaiya/jijaji/pinki didi singing old Kishore Kumar songs on the balcony and then we slept at 2am.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
This space is about my first boss, Shrikant Choubey, who has now officially revealed that he would be moving on to his new assignment in a few days... Although we all knew about this, his announcement was something which I personally wanted to get delayed... Not that he is a great friend or anything like that, which makes me too attached to him; just that there are a few people with whom I would always want to work; and definitely Shrikant is one of those...
They say first bosses have the biggest effect on one's professional personality in the long run... We all try to be like our first bosses... We all tend to think what would they have done in a similar situation... We all want to follow their footsteps... We all learn from them, remember their first appreciations, and their first firings, their directions as well as misdirections...
It was an honor to have Shrikant as my first boss...
They say first bosses have the biggest effect on one's professional personality in the long run... We all try to be like our first bosses... We all tend to think what would they have done in a similar situation... We all want to follow their footsteps... We all learn from them, remember their first appreciations, and their first firings, their directions as well as misdirections...
It was an honor to have Shrikant as my first boss...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Bangalore trip
Seems like I am really liking this idea of using the virtual space more often than not... My blog entries below are really giving me a great way to recollect the details of some of the memorable events in last few months, and this also tells me that I should not miss any in this blog... I missed writing about my cousin sis' marriage, two engagements of my closest friends, my trip to nagarjuna sagar lake, my feelings on my bro's 10th results, my office outings (especially to Lahari resorts) etc. etc. this year... Just hoping I would be able to write more and more events and that should help me feel good when I read back after a few years...
Now, this is about the Bangalore trip last weekend. I reached on Sat evening and it was nice to get the welcome by Chaurashiyas, Mittals, Kothari and Goyal... The only point to be noted here is that there is no "s" at the end of Kothari & Goyal as of now... Here I will be just writing down a few details in chronological order that happened over my time spent with them:
At the end of it all, I came to know a lot about Ankita; lesser about Vikas & Kothari; nothing much about Deva, Shakku and Piyuss (getting too much used to them now)... But enjoyed in their company as always...
Love you all guys,
Muahhh to all the Men named above and Namaste to all the Women named above.
Now, this is about the Bangalore trip last weekend. I reached on Sat evening and it was nice to get the welcome by Chaurashiyas, Mittals, Kothari and Goyal... The only point to be noted here is that there is no "s" at the end of Kothari & Goyal as of now... Here I will be just writing down a few details in chronological order that happened over my time spent with them:
- People greeted me with a nawabi styled welcome.
- Once again Deva failed miserably, when I gave him the "remote control of my life". The night was supposed to be full of Whiskey; and all he could muster up was just two pegs for both of us.
- I had some paneer and sewaiya which was prepared by the ladies that afternoon.
- Four men were sleeping besides me that night, which reminded me that I must try and find some girl in near future.
- Next day morning, Ankita prepared a nice tea for me...
- We went to Hoge Nakkal and I had some of the best Vadas in the last 25 years of my life on the way at a restaurant.
- Without being specific so that I am not labeled a racist, Hoge Nakkal did not have the kind of people I normally like to see.
- The dash under the water fall on the cane-boat was nice.
- Some of us changed clothes on the way back to Bangalore in the car itself.
- Our lunch was at 5pm
- Deva and Shakku were so irritating that Ankita, who had plans to come to Delhi and Bagalore again in August just to see them again, is reconsidering her options and has already started thinking of reasons to give. In fact, she may not even come to India just to ensure at least the distance between India and Abu Dhabi is maintained between herself and the irritants.
- Ankita prepared another tea for me on my request, which was strongly protested by the women rights activist, Maa Shakuntala Devi(l), but my perseverance won at the end
- Kothari was not sure why his face and throat were swelling, if they really were swelling. Some people said it was ghengua, while others just dismissed the thought.
- We all went to Royal Orchids, where surprisingly Piyuss had some sort of membership and we sat at the Gazebo.
- I was told that Mittal's love story wasn't as simple as everyone had thought. I need more details on this, since I had missed this part on Saturday.
- Mittal told me that I had called him "An Egoistic" on the last day of our college, and that had been trying to correct the same since then.
- We all played a game to ask questions to anybody in our group. While I asked the real questions, others just thought they knew the people already. Possibly we now know where Kothari belongs to and calls as his home place(somewhere in Nepal).
- Donno about others, but at least I spoke to Ankita for the first time for a longer session than a few seconds/minutes that evening. Others seemed to know her already.
- Ankita tried to do a bit of face reading, which was only 50% correct.
- The food was great at the Gazebo especially the Chicken and desserts.
- After coming home, I was guilty of playing my part in damaging Shakku's lungs.
- We watched the CDs of Piyuss & Shakku's wedding. Was great to see a good coverage of myself. But not too great to see that my shirt was completely wet with sweat. I wanted to copy the CDs but forgot.
- Mittals brought a nice gift for Chaurashiyas, which was tested by Deva, the techie. I wonder, when will I start getting such gifts??
- Again a night with four Men; and again the same thought as in point number 3 above.
- Next early morning, Mittals, Kothari & Deva left for their destinations.
- I also left for my Bangalore office that morning.
- I came back at about 8pm and found Piyuss and Shakku waiting for me. We all went to Royal Orchids again, but to their Chinese Restaurant this time. Incidentally, Shakku had come back pretty early from the office (her normal timings are 4pm to 1am) so as to spend more time with me.
- I tried to teach the Chaurashiya family about how to use ChopSticks (something I had picked up well in Vietnam and hadn't forgotten), without much success.
- Piyuss ordered a nice white wine for us, and Shakku taught me how to drink it. It was disgusting to know the correct way of drinking wine.
- The food was again great especially the rice and Thai curry.
- It was embarrassing while leaving the place Shakku was holding both mine and Piyuss' arms.
- We all changed clothes after coming home and went to the roof. Maybe we were drunk, but we called Shashwat, Deva, Kothari, Toi, Dhvani and tried to make them feel as if we were really really really drunk.
- Again guilty of playing my part, this time for both Piyuss & Shakku, in the lungs damage exercise.
- We did our usual bitching on our regular subjects.
- When we came down, it seemed that the abstinence of Chaurashiyas was getting too much for them to handle; still they made me sleep besides their bed and thus had to keep abstaining at least for another night..
- We slept very late, maybe at 1:30am after I was told that I had fallen asleep while talking in the middle of a sentence.
- I had a flight to catch in the morning, so I left early.
At the end of it all, I came to know a lot about Ankita; lesser about Vikas & Kothari; nothing much about Deva, Shakku and Piyuss (getting too much used to them now)... But enjoyed in their company as always...
Love you all guys,
Muahhh to all the Men named above and Namaste to all the Women named above.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Our daily conversations
She had called twice... My cell phone was on silent; I came to know only about an hour later when I saw the missed calls... And I immediately called back my mom, or maa as I have started calling her in the past year or so...
Even though we talk daily now, she would always ask about my day, my food, office, workload, friends, health, exercise, next trip to delhi etc. etc.... I would also try to ask her about her day, her daily chores, about her husband and daughter, her plans for Dee's engagement... Even though the answers to most of these questions are same and repeated everyday from both sides, none of us seem to stop asking...
When I was small and cute and had red kashmiri cheeks, I remember calling her Gaatajio... Probably that was a twisted form of Geeta-ji, which I heard from everybody calling her... I used to wake up in late afternoons and would start crying if Gaatajio wasn't around... I would look for her and start screaming Gatajiiooo if she left me without her company in a public gathering... In my class 1, my elder sister taught me that I had to stop calling Gaatajio as Gaatajio and call her mummy instead... I was also taught to start sleeping in a separate room and not with mummy... I assumed I had grown up... I couldn't cry from then on if mummy wasn't around...
It has been a few years since I am outside home mostly... And if I don't speak to maa for more than a day, it feels something's missing... Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth being so far away from her... I get to see her once in 2-3 months... Is that enough, I ask myself??? Maybe that's what makes me want to speak more to her... and ask her the same routine questions, again and again; sometimes i repeat questions even within a single converstaion... I always thought she felt strength with our daily talks... But now, I know it's the other way round... Talking to maa brings a calmness in me...
I am going to see her at the end of this month when I go home for Dee's engagement... Waiting for the month to get over...
Even though we talk daily now, she would always ask about my day, my food, office, workload, friends, health, exercise, next trip to delhi etc. etc.... I would also try to ask her about her day, her daily chores, about her husband and daughter, her plans for Dee's engagement... Even though the answers to most of these questions are same and repeated everyday from both sides, none of us seem to stop asking...
When I was small and cute and had red kashmiri cheeks, I remember calling her Gaatajio... Probably that was a twisted form of Geeta-ji, which I heard from everybody calling her... I used to wake up in late afternoons and would start crying if Gaatajio wasn't around... I would look for her and start screaming Gatajiiooo if she left me without her company in a public gathering... In my class 1, my elder sister taught me that I had to stop calling Gaatajio as Gaatajio and call her mummy instead... I was also taught to start sleeping in a separate room and not with mummy... I assumed I had grown up... I couldn't cry from then on if mummy wasn't around...
It has been a few years since I am outside home mostly... And if I don't speak to maa for more than a day, it feels something's missing... Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth being so far away from her... I get to see her once in 2-3 months... Is that enough, I ask myself??? Maybe that's what makes me want to speak more to her... and ask her the same routine questions, again and again; sometimes i repeat questions even within a single converstaion... I always thought she felt strength with our daily talks... But now, I know it's the other way round... Talking to maa brings a calmness in me...
I am going to see her at the end of this month when I go home for Dee's engagement... Waiting for the month to get over...
Monday, May 11, 2009
My best friend's wedding
Before someone starts thinking of the Hollywood movie, which shares the same title as the one above, and thinks of any possible similarities, let me clarify: Only the title is same, nothing else... :P
Okay people, here I am again to write something... Even though I personally feel that Blogging and sharing thoughts online is really a great way to feel connected and speaking your mind out, I am guilty of not using this platform too often, which the coming generations are going to take for granted... In fact, I had forgotten that I had once posted something in this blog. But then Shakuntala Bhabhi reminded me, and I had it in my mind for last few days to come back again... Just needed a happy feeling as the thrust and here it has come... My best friend's wedding.
It all started a couple of months back (March beginning) when I came to know that the engagement would be in Kol in about 2 weeks. It all came as a bit of surprise and then a few arrangements, which got managed, were needed to reach for the event; in no time, I was there, watching Piyush & Shakuntala exchanging the rings... Felt good for both of them.... And they were both happy.
Again a bit of surprise came up when the world came to know that the marriage would be in May... Again a few arrangements had to be managed, and were done... And I was on my way to meet a few friends, along with the would-be-bride, at the Railway Station in Del last Tuesday... We had to catch the night train and reach Kota the next morning... Had one of the best train journeys of my life, with all of us chatting/bitching/bickering/joking and sharing our thoughts... We also had coke & sprite courtesy our dearest Deva (TOI*iya kahin ka)...
Was nice to be in Kota the next morning... Our darling Piyush tried his best to get us some comfortable rooms... but he failed!! There was no Jacuzzi, or a swimming pool attached to our room...
Surprises were not to leave us anywhere... It was told to us that there would be at least 6-7 different ceremonies over the coming two days... And I realised I had planned for too fewer than that... Had too lesser a clothing to cover all the ceremonies... After a few rounds of discussions and clarifications, I realised I had only one option for that morning: to wear a Tee, which I had flaunted to this world more than the required number of times; in fact, some people even thought that I needed to donate it somewhere and get rid of it...
Then we all started getting into the thick of a Rajasthani marriage... So many people all around... Piyush had such huge number of cousins running around that he preferred to introduce them to us as "They are all my cousins"... I didn't understand the ceremonies that day but they were followed by a round of feet touching and aashirwaad taking by Piyush & Shakuntala from all elders, many of whose exact relation Piyush claimed to be unaware of...
In the evening, we took Piyush for some make-up-for-men... He probably had facial for the first time in his life... at least that's true for me... The evening was for Baraat (mandap was next day morning)... And we came in our new Kurtas... When we went to the location, Piyush was already sitting like a Dulha on the Ghodi... And it was time to dance to the tunes of the band-baaja... We danced, and danced, and danced for the next couple of hours until it was midnight and everyone was tired... All this dancing was away from our would be Bhabhi, as she was asked just to stay in a room and take care of people's belongings... During the dancing, Rajat and Nipun also joined in coming straight from Delhi... After all the dancing and food, all of us (Piyush, Shakuntala Bhabhi, Deva, AK, Dhvani, Nipun, Rajat, Pranay) came to the room allotted to us and we just chatted... Some of us also had Scotch (on a dry day!! thanks to Piyush's uncle), while some didn't like it; others just had soft drinks...
The next morning was hectic... Shakuntala Bhabhi had to be taken early to the Beauty Parlour, which was found pretty late the last evening by Deva and me... Others too had to start getting ready and reach the mandap by 8am... Somehow everything got ready at the right time and reached the place; saw Piyush and Shakuntala Bhabhi exchanging garlands... Both looked stunning... The best part was when the Pandit ji started saying loudly the promises Piyush had to agree for Shakuntala... The look at Shakuntala's face while this recitation was going on was just awesome... And we all laughed... The second best part was when at least a dozen kids were fighting for space with cameras and mobiles in their hands, clicking the couple... Paparazzi was all around at that time... Donno how both of them managed to have dazzling smiles on their faces all through the morning in front of the havan n all...
After the marriage ceremony was over, and Piyush & Shakuntala Bhabhi were pronounced husband & wife, another round of back bending and touching everybody's feet started for them...
For me, the afternoon was spent getting some of my owm work done... Piyush's dad helped me soooo much... That too on the marriage of his son... I could just marvel at the helpful heart of uncle...
That day I also went to Deva's home and had an evening sleep... His mom helped me digest the heavy lunch by making some cool drink (forgot the name)... I also took some home made achar to bring to Hyd...
The evening promised another round of dancing during the reception... I was all prepared for it with my evening rest at Deva's... And who better to start the dance floor than our group... We danced and danced and danced and just danced... Oh, I forgot, Piyush had never looked better than that night, in his black striped suit; Shakuntala was beautiful as ever in her Rajasthani styled saree... Coming back to dancing, we danced on "Bhootni ke" song as we had planned, it was all amazing; In fact, I missed the great food that was served to all the guests, just because I wanted to dance a lot on My best friend's wedding... Finally, I had to catch the night train back to Del with Rajat, AK, Dhvani... and so ended the Kota celeberations for me...
One of the best weddings I had ever been part of... Did so many things, so many memories to take back, so much fun n dance, everthing was so different... And I saw Piyush & Shakuntala Bhabhi step from one phase in life to another... Feeling so happy for both of them...
God Bless the couple
Okay people, here I am again to write something... Even though I personally feel that Blogging and sharing thoughts online is really a great way to feel connected and speaking your mind out, I am guilty of not using this platform too often, which the coming generations are going to take for granted... In fact, I had forgotten that I had once posted something in this blog. But then Shakuntala Bhabhi reminded me, and I had it in my mind for last few days to come back again... Just needed a happy feeling as the thrust and here it has come... My best friend's wedding.
It all started a couple of months back (March beginning) when I came to know that the engagement would be in Kol in about 2 weeks. It all came as a bit of surprise and then a few arrangements, which got managed, were needed to reach for the event; in no time, I was there, watching Piyush & Shakuntala exchanging the rings... Felt good for both of them.... And they were both happy.
Again a bit of surprise came up when the world came to know that the marriage would be in May... Again a few arrangements had to be managed, and were done... And I was on my way to meet a few friends, along with the would-be-bride, at the Railway Station in Del last Tuesday... We had to catch the night train and reach Kota the next morning... Had one of the best train journeys of my life, with all of us chatting/bitching/bickering/joking and sharing our thoughts... We also had coke & sprite courtesy our dearest Deva (TOI*iya kahin ka)...
Was nice to be in Kota the next morning... Our darling Piyush tried his best to get us some comfortable rooms... but he failed!! There was no Jacuzzi, or a swimming pool attached to our room...
Surprises were not to leave us anywhere... It was told to us that there would be at least 6-7 different ceremonies over the coming two days... And I realised I had planned for too fewer than that... Had too lesser a clothing to cover all the ceremonies... After a few rounds of discussions and clarifications, I realised I had only one option for that morning: to wear a Tee, which I had flaunted to this world more than the required number of times; in fact, some people even thought that I needed to donate it somewhere and get rid of it...
Then we all started getting into the thick of a Rajasthani marriage... So many people all around... Piyush had such huge number of cousins running around that he preferred to introduce them to us as "They are all my cousins"... I didn't understand the ceremonies that day but they were followed by a round of feet touching and aashirwaad taking by Piyush & Shakuntala from all elders, many of whose exact relation Piyush claimed to be unaware of...
In the evening, we took Piyush for some make-up-for-men... He probably had facial for the first time in his life... at least that's true for me... The evening was for Baraat (mandap was next day morning)... And we came in our new Kurtas... When we went to the location, Piyush was already sitting like a Dulha on the Ghodi... And it was time to dance to the tunes of the band-baaja... We danced, and danced, and danced for the next couple of hours until it was midnight and everyone was tired... All this dancing was away from our would be Bhabhi, as she was asked just to stay in a room and take care of people's belongings... During the dancing, Rajat and Nipun also joined in coming straight from Delhi... After all the dancing and food, all of us (Piyush, Shakuntala Bhabhi, Deva, AK, Dhvani, Nipun, Rajat, Pranay) came to the room allotted to us and we just chatted... Some of us also had Scotch (on a dry day!! thanks to Piyush's uncle), while some didn't like it; others just had soft drinks...
The next morning was hectic... Shakuntala Bhabhi had to be taken early to the Beauty Parlour, which was found pretty late the last evening by Deva and me... Others too had to start getting ready and reach the mandap by 8am... Somehow everything got ready at the right time and reached the place; saw Piyush and Shakuntala Bhabhi exchanging garlands... Both looked stunning... The best part was when the Pandit ji started saying loudly the promises Piyush had to agree for Shakuntala... The look at Shakuntala's face while this recitation was going on was just awesome... And we all laughed... The second best part was when at least a dozen kids were fighting for space with cameras and mobiles in their hands, clicking the couple... Paparazzi was all around at that time... Donno how both of them managed to have dazzling smiles on their faces all through the morning in front of the havan n all...
After the marriage ceremony was over, and Piyush & Shakuntala Bhabhi were pronounced husband & wife, another round of back bending and touching everybody's feet started for them...
For me, the afternoon was spent getting some of my owm work done... Piyush's dad helped me soooo much... That too on the marriage of his son... I could just marvel at the helpful heart of uncle...
That day I also went to Deva's home and had an evening sleep... His mom helped me digest the heavy lunch by making some cool drink (forgot the name)... I also took some home made achar to bring to Hyd...
The evening promised another round of dancing during the reception... I was all prepared for it with my evening rest at Deva's... And who better to start the dance floor than our group... We danced and danced and danced and just danced... Oh, I forgot, Piyush had never looked better than that night, in his black striped suit; Shakuntala was beautiful as ever in her Rajasthani styled saree... Coming back to dancing, we danced on "Bhootni ke" song as we had planned, it was all amazing; In fact, I missed the great food that was served to all the guests, just because I wanted to dance a lot on My best friend's wedding... Finally, I had to catch the night train back to Del with Rajat, AK, Dhvani... and so ended the Kota celeberations for me...
One of the best weddings I had ever been part of... Did so many things, so many memories to take back, so much fun n dance, everthing was so different... And I saw Piyush & Shakuntala Bhabhi step from one phase in life to another... Feeling so happy for both of them...
God Bless the couple
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