The Joy

How old are you? 
If you are above 20..and below 60 then I am talking to you.
Lets start with few simple questions.when was the last time you behaved like a 10 year old kid? when was the last time you tried to learn something by actually trying it ? when was the last time you laughed like no one is noticing and without bothering what people around you will think? when was the last time you opened a Calvin Hobbes or a Garfield or Chacha Chaudhary comic to pass your time and lived moments without bothering about past-present-future? 


Simple questions but not so simple answers right?


If you haven't done it in recent past all i can say is DO.IT.NOW. its sheer joy to be child again. :)  

About Choices

At some point of life,you would be asked to make a choice and there will be two windows to choose from.one will offer you more money than the other window.the 
other window will not give you more money option but will have a relatively better 
life.Don't know about your choice.I am always tempted to choose the former one but end up choosing the latter. pointless to say, life has been good.


Talking about some more choices in life.. 
if at some point of life, you are asked to make a choice, between your job and your family, Always choose your family. they are the ones for whom you do job. jobs come and go, family always stays.


Also, at every moment of life, you have two options. to crib with what you have or be happy with what you have. stay happy because if you see people around you,many of them won't be at the stage where you have reached. so be happy about it. also,you are part of competitive world, so stay in the competition and march ahead.you will cover more distance in less time this way. 


On choice between your friends and your girl friend..choose your girl friend.because friends will be your friends no matter what..so you don't have to worry about them and if your girl friend asks you to choose out of two. choose your friends because they will be the ones who will tell you that its time to make a new girl friend ;) 


you have read this post.now to make a choice.to close window after leaving a comment or without leaving a comment.choice is yours. ;) 

One Life. Live It.

why this thought came? In last 45 days,four souls in my friends families left this earth for their heavenly abode.words fail to come out while writing this.but then this thought in mind raises lot of questions.why would god take someone away who has a complete life ahead or someone who is there as pillar of family.someone who has just completed college education and have dreams of successful career ahead.but taking someone away at young age is harsh.cruel.its law of nature i agree. a life has to end.no questions asked if someone sees four stages of life and lives life completely and then goes away but its so unfair on part of people who are left with memories and vacuum people who go leave behind.


In last one year i did not even meet anyone who has gone. but i knew they were there.doing well or on bed, they were still there. such tragic news coming one by one and so many in such short time, for me it has been tough time. very tough.i don't know what to say at such times. I don't have anything to say.tears refuse to come out.they ask me to be strong instead.i try.


jio jio tera hukam tive teo hovna.

Six Places - 10 Day You Challenge

Six places I love. lets start right away.


1. New York - recently i saw the movie 'New York I Love You' and fell in love with NYC. since then the city is on my list.the culture and the experiences my friends living/been there share make me visit the place and enjoy the buzz in the air.new york, see you soon.

New York I Love You  - Shot by Pooja Ganeriwala

2. Amritsar - Born and brought up in Amritsar,the city attracts me like magnet and i would not mind staying in the city for lifetime.The city has my people, golden temple and food and combination of these three is impossible to be found anywhere.


3. Goa - Goa is awesome.one needs to visit the place with friends and enjoy the time there.I visited the place in april this year and had an amazing time.goa is definitely one of the places you would wish to go again and again.so plan anytime and everytime you get the opportunity.

A Collage of Memories - Goa 2011 

4. Maldives - too many honeymoon albums in my facebook from maldives.lovely place it looks in those pictures.so i want to visit the place.NOT for honeymoon but.

Maldives - A Dream . Shot by Pooja Ganeriwala.

5 & 6 & 7 & 8.  Europe - I want to live in Europe atleast for an year to absorb the beauty especially Athens(5),Paris(6),Rome(7),Bern(8).the fascination and attraction to Europe is credited to all the Hollywood movies shot there which take  you to these places.definitely on my radar and will not miss any opportunity to visit these places.

An evening in Paris - shot by Harman Boparai

so many more places to visit..so much to explore.

NOTE : No photograph from this post should be used without prior permission of the photographer. All Rights Reserved with the photographer. 

Seven Wants - 10 Day You Challenge

Ahem..look who is back to his own blog.staring at edit window for almost two hours and then finally deciding to break the block to complete the you challenge.time to talk about seven wants.my first expression is only seven? but then when i think about it, i am not able to pen down seven things i would WANT.


1. World Tour - It would be nice great awesome to visit all the places which are on your 'places to go' list and it would be equally awesome for Thomas cook or cox & kings to sponsor one.i promise i will blog about my trip and do shameless promotion about them. :) 


2. Time travel - yes, i want an ability to time travel.many a times watching a movie, you see a place.and you wish you were there.exactly at this time i want my superpower to activate and take me there.


3. One week exile every year - I want one week long vacation/exile every year somewhere where there is no signal and there is no internet. it would be great to live stress-free life. no tension. just be with people you like/love. for one week. :) 


4. Credit card free life - I want to live life without any tension of credit. nuff said.good enough money in debit card to buy anything i like so i can spend till last penny and by the time that happens, god brings back the second last day of month so salary is credited and debit card is recharged. ;) 


5. Revamp Wardrobe - I want to revamp my wardrobe every six months.


6. Chitranghda Singh -  but then she is married..so may be in some other life..


7. finish the challenge - you bet. i want to finish this 10 day you challenge.


then there are regulars like world peace, loads of gadgets , happy life, etc etc..

Eight Fears : Ten Day You Challenge

Right So we are on day 3 post 3 of ten day you challenge.and this is the most difficult post for me to write.I fear what? 


1. Losing - who doesn't have a fear of losing ? losing your near and dear ones. people who you love.people for who you pray for 


2. Water - i dunno where i heard it but its stuck in my head that i have water accident in my life at age of 35. and from that moment i fear water.i just can't get myself to learn swimming.fyi i take bath everyday. 


3. Height - you can take me to 100 story building but don't ask me to look at the ground from there.  that fear of height i carry with me. i have lived on 5th floor..8th floor...13th floor. but have tried best every time to not look at the ground from windows/balcony. scares me. 


4. Expression - fear of expression is what I fear the most. i can't express myself. i will have emotions i will have feelings but i will not express them. there is a fear always. at times of losing someone. other times of not being sure if that is right time/right person to talk to.


5. Double-faced people - you know people who are sweet to you when they talk and talk about you behind your back.i fear to make friends with such people.they kill your belief in trust and friendship. 


6. God - i fear god. a lot. and because of fear i believe in 'when when what what happen, that that then then happens' . :D  this fear also lets me believe in myself after i do anything wrong. after all i am not god. :D 


7. Hospitals - i don't like the hospital environment. it freaks me out. but at the same time utmost respect for doctors and people who support them in saving lives.


8. Horror/Ghosts - I don't like listening to horror stuff. although i know ghosts are non-existent but then the fear in mind is there. whenever i fear ghosts, i remember god. and that helps me fade out this fear.  



My 4th fear has ensured i don't write a detailed post about my fears. next up is seven wants. 

'The 6 PM Slot' - Book Review

Take a popular youth channel which will show you all uncensored stuff claiming it to be youth oriented content, another popular news channel which shows everything except the news, one star journalist anchor whose aim is to make his news channel the best and himself a brand in Indian media, an ambitious girl who wants to make mark in industry.mix it well. And you get some hilarious, some surprising, some oh-my-god moments and of course, a good novel.

‘the 6 pm slot’ revolves around Tania, a supervisor producer at YTV the channel which brands itself an entertainment channel targeting the Youth age-group, gets a chance to handle a show hosted by scantily clad host to solve love problems at a slot when nobody watches TV.6 PM. Series of events take place during each episode and the book is journey of events and the consequences .The show gets an attention when Rajneesh Tiwari who runs a news channels targets the show in a well-planned plan to increase the TRPs of his news channel. What happens after that is for you to read.

Naomi being a TV journalist has used very indianised vocabulary in the book and at times, it makes a good laugh for reader. There will be few moments when you will just stop reading and laugh at the situation and few when you will stop reading but this time think about situation and go Darn! what-the-beep! why! why not!! .’the 6 pm slot’ is one of very few Indian books where an Indian author doesn’t makes an IIT or an IIM campus its location, doesn’t base the story on an IT guy and makes an interesting read even without any single chapter of sex in it. And when someone who rarely opens a book to read finishes it in two sittings, you better believe it’s a good book to read.

I am not an avid book reader and when it comes to books written by an Indian author, I definitely give them a second thought before reading them. Because there is only recipe which every author has cooked in different way and presented to you. But 'the 6 pm slot' turns out to be an exception. It’s a book you will enjoy reading. More so because you will be able to relate to some live examples that you see on television every now and then.

When I started reading the book, I did not know that Naomi Dutta works as TV journalist but while reading you can make it that writer is someone among them since the description and way the story has been narrated gives an impression that writer is one of them. The vocabulary used is interesting and very clear picture of what happens behind the scenes and what impact it has on what we see on TV .I hope Naomi writes again and on a different subject and moves out of TV industry plot.

Book Rating - 3.75/5 

*this rating is just a random figure so don’t bother. Go. Read the book*.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Nine Loves : 10 Day You Challenge

9 Loves

1. Family : There is no debate on this point and everyone loves their family. same goes for me too.and they come on top of my 'love' list.


2. Golden Temple : I totally LOVE it.For those who have been to the golden temple, they would totally agree to this. and for those who haven't been, PLAN and visit this abode of god. the experience is amazing..

4. Home : Home Sweet Home. :) 

5. Maggi : Maggi should be declared national food of India.most of indian population is young/unmarried and survives on what? Right. Maggi.  and this 2-minute noodles actually takes more than 2 minutes to make.Maggi Zindabad thi.maggi zindabad hai. maggi zindabad rahegi. 

6. Madhuri Dixit,Shireen Bhan, Steffi Graf and Chitranghda Singh : Give me one reason to not love these lovelies.i haven't found any. :) 

7. Ipod : Not much of Apple fan but totally love my ipod.I had ipod shuffle 512 mb when this love affair started.now I have an ipod nano 8gb.and am more than happy with it.

8. Tea : I am tea addict.and I can drink tea anytime and everytime of the day.or night.

9. Few Friends: and there are few people in life who I don't have blood relation with but still are part of my life.I don't think they know or will ever know  but for me,they are special.will always be. :) 


I made this wordmaze.you will find all my 9 loves in below pic.especially the 9th love.few of my friends have their names hidden in it. :) how many could you find? 

dan dana dan done... next up is eight fears. :)

Ten Secrets : 10 Day You Challenge

So after reading Preeti’s and Prateek’s blog posts on 10 Day YOU challenge, I thought to give it a shot. This tag requires you to write 10 posts about 10 different things in life. One each day.

Starting with 10 secrets.

By the way , If I post them here, then they are no longer a secret. So I will modify this tag as per convenience ;) and will share 10 things that you may not know about me.

1. I have taken most of my decisions in life at first instinct. Whatever thought came in my mind first, became my decision. And I can’t say I am disappointed with my decisions. Life has been good and I have enjoyed.
2. I don't throw my boarding pass.Although I am not a frequent flyer but whenever I travel,I try to save my  boarding pass. 
3. I want to perform dance/act/stand up/voice over/MC in big crowd. By big I mean really big crowd. Stadium crowd.
4. I talk to people before I make an opinion about them. People behave different with every individual so if someone is good to you doesn’t implies that he is good to everybody.
5. I have many ‘girl’ friends but no girl-friend. Also I have many ‘guy’ friends but no boy-friend. :P
6. I prefer watching stuff which would make me happy. Bring on good comedy, romantic, cartoon, sitcoms over thriller /action /sci-fi any time of the day.
7. I am proud of being a Sikh and like to share knowledge about my religion with everyone who is interested to know about it. On similar note, I like wearing matching turbans and I have got 9 different colors. And I plan to add few more on my next trip back home. :)
8. I totally love Calvin and Hobbes. And I have been hunting for Calvin Hobbes T-shirt for ever now.
9. If you play/sing an English song, 95% chances are there that I’m hearing it for the first time. Also if I haven’t heard it, I will not pretend. My face expression will tell you. Either I will be enjoying the beat without caring what lyrics offer or will be trying to find out the lyrics and enjoy it. But I like Enrique, Rihanna and few selective singles.
10. One thing I have always asked myself but never got answer to. Why I don’t have long lasting friends. Most of people I was once friends with are now acquaintances and I hardly have any friends who I can call anytime and talk about anything. That’s one secret of mine that even I don’t know.

Yaay. I managed to write ten things.

p.s : If you like the tag, do it. :) 

Go Goa - The Movie !!

4 days.16 people.G.O.A.  :)


Fun Unlimited. 





Vacation : 21st April to 25th April '2011
Location : Goa.
Junta in the video : yours truly, amit, shashi, pranjal, gaurav, sagar, ankit, gurbani, rashi, priya, harshjot, vijay, shreya,ninad,najib and sangam. 

Special Thanks to Amit for making this wonderful video. :D 

Thank You Allen Solly

One day I saw this tweet in my replies tab: 

For a moment looked a spam tweet to me since the handle @allensolly wasn't much active on twitter and out of nowhere they randomly chose two people to give gift vouchers to.Then after some research this looked like a valid ID so replied back with my email address and they sent an email to share all the address details with reason to be selected for one  :

"Wondering why we selected you? Isn’t being yourself a reason enough :)"

Full marks. Ten days later I get an Allen Solly voucher with condition that it can only be used in Allen Solly Exclusive showroom ONLY. I was travelling continuously with voucher in wallet but did not find any allen solly 'exclusive' showroom to use it. Luckily i visited home and they have one 'exclusive' showroom in town. I managed to make a visit just in last week of voucher validity. The showroom staff was little hesitant to redeem the voucher probably because they never had seen one but after checking with their owner, they agreed to.So out of limited stock available, I managed to select one shirt and that was it. Gave the voucher. and Happy Me returned back :)

Thank You Allen Solly for the voucher. :)


Note - I wrote this post on April 7th and then missed publishing it. :D

Winning in Style - The World Cup Story

2 April 2011.India witnessed biggest ever celebration in its history.India - Cricket World Cup Champions.


Till the moment league games finished and India got a quarterfinal berth with Australia,Everyone had their money on aussies to win the fourth world cup in the row. But Motera had different history written that day when India played like a unit and made australia pack their bags to return back home.That was the confidence boost that every Indian got and the world cup dream actually started looking like a real deal.Australia OUT.Next up is Pakistan.In Mohali. Clash of the Titans.It wasn't a game.It was a war.and there was one week between quarters and semis so the pressure was built, hype was already there and stakes were really really high.Winners gets to play for World Cup.Since match was on working day and there was no chance of getting a chutti, plans were made to see it in cafeteria.Company was kind enough to install BIG Screens and Sound system for employees.All the work for the day was niptaoed before 2 and seats were grabbed before the first ball was bowled.That was the day when every employee spent maximum time in cafeteria in a single day. We cheered for India.and Indian team did not disappoint us with their performance. India beats Pakistan, enter finals for clash with Sri Lanka who comfortably reached finals beating nzealand by 9 wickets.For me that semi-final win was our world cup in itself but now there was real chance of grabbing the cup and we were just one match away.


Just two days break and a grand final, With such high pressure semi-finals, exursion and then travel from chd-mum and getting ready for the big finale,Sri lanka had clear advantage over them. India's advantage was home stadium and home crowd which supported Indian team every single moment.


02 April 2011.Saturday. chutti in office. but there was a mailer that match will be shown in cafeteria. made a plan with friends to watch match there only.Also, the hunt began to look for a more happening place.hence the hunt began. Friend managed to get seats in Soho's.In kalyani nagar.2 PM was deadline to reach since toss and pitch report happens that time. Very important to know both the things since thats what your next eight hour expert opinion is based on.
1.50 PM. Outside Soho's. Amit wore Indian team shirt but had a superstitious fear that India may lose because of him wearing it. coz thats what happened when he went to see the south africa match in nagpur.Amit, Ninad and I were the first ones to reach the place.and actually wondered if they really are showing the match here.because it was empty pub then.First shock,Screen is there but no Audio.press panic button.much drama. we missed the pitch report.And the toss too.some drama on the pitch too.It looked like we were watching a silent film and making own stories outta it. and then within seconds another toss. what the ...i mean how can you toss twice? where is the honesty? Sanga called something which no one listened. He lost. and when dhoni asked him again, he refused to tell what was it.Clearly batting first in wankhede was big advantag.Mahi being the gentleman and the expert 'toss-loser' tossed again.and history repeated itself.He lost.Result Sri Lanka batting first.Just at that moment, all the goodwill and respect for sri lankan captain went off. You are in a world cup final and you want to play this way.


Coming back to Soho,DJ arrives.plugs in the audio and silent movie turns stereo sound action film.What fantastic start in first ten overs.Brilliant bowling by Zak and safe hands of veeru hit the first nail.We(India) were in complete control of the game for first 40 overs.We cheered for each wicket and celebrated brilliant effort in field by team.and then from 170 odd in 40 hours to reaching 275 in 50 was nothing less than a shock.I had expected them to restrict lankans to 240. Even then a decent effort in batting was required to win the match.275 was way too much for second inninga in wankhede. Add to that 20 runs save from sri lanka in fielding and another 20 runs for factors like humid,breeze,slowness in pitch.


First innings break.We just kept wondering how will India make those 275.and no one wanted to think negatively.This was the moment everyone prayed for a good start and good batting performance.


Post interval all the hopes in my mind were set on sehwag and sachin. and boom second ball, one of the hopes dashed out by malinga.but soon after Sachin played some amazing drives and the classic straight drive for 4.Few balls after that poetic shot went GOD. Sachin Tendulkar. OUT. Damn. 31/2. Mother and Sister of Malinga remembered by almost every indian watching the match.First feeling there goes the world cup. but instantly, the nedt moment, was this hope that we have beaten aussies and pakistan and we still had long batting line up.yuvi, raina, gambhir, kohli and mahi still to play. on their home soil. in front of their home crowd. and they will give their best to win the match.The dream run can't end like this.support the team. For next 43 odd overs,one slogan that went on and on 'jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega'.Gambhir and Kohli took india to 100 and we were cruising on good run rate so that confidence started building up. Kohli gone.and what a surprise entry by Mahi.everyone was expecting yuvi considering his brilliant run in tournament but mahi had different plans.I never considered dhoni a proper batsman. but his luck and his destiny has given him power of turning anything he touches to gold.that day he proved me wrong.He went on to stabalise innings with gambhir and played some amazing cricket.and just when we were 50 runs short of winning world cup, gauti got out at 97. Another shock.because of the shot he played to get out.It was bizzare.You are in world cup final,three runs short of dream century and you play a weird shot and get bowled out. Bad luck but clearly innings he and whole india will remember.always.Yuvraj came and played master strokes.Yuvi and Mahi on crease and the magic show was on our screens.Cruising towards the victory.4 runs required in 11 balls and then this shot came.

INDIA WINS THE WORLD CUP.  YES !! WE ARE CRICKET WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni did for the country.led the team from the front. kept his cool and brought world cup back home.and the world cup was won not only by individual performances.Team India won it. every person played and performed. yuvraj proving everyone wrong and scoring 400+ runs and grabbing 15 wickets. Zaheer taking wickets at crucial times, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina contributing with both bat and field, Bhajji, Ashwin, Nehra and Munaf bowling well and taking out wickets at regular intervals. Gambhir playing a master stroke in the finals. Sachin and Sehwag blasting pakistan and scoring well in league games as well. Truely a Team INDIA that won. much deserved win.




Celebrations Began.We all sang our national anthem. Followed by Dancing on punjabi numbers, hugging everyone around in celebrations, and loud loud cheering.Amit and I went to Magarpatta to witness the celebrations later.Everyone was on streets.Every single person.I have never ever seen Indian public getting united and celebrating like we did that day.That was the day when I saw Happy India.That is how I want to see my india.That is the day history was written.after 28 years.and I was happy to be part of it. 

and It was pure delight to See Sachin Tendulkar part of winning team.21 Years.Dedication, Passion and Perfection and Six world cup appearances later, he finally gets a world cup champion medallion.Virat Kohli put that brilliantly in an interview moments after we won the cup "Sachin Tendulkar has carried Indian cricket on his shoulders for 21 years. So it was fitting that we carried him on our shoulders after this win ".and every player shared the same feeling.


One month today to the win and I still cherish those moments of us winning the world cup and all those celebrations. 


P.S - There have been some brilliantly written posts on world cup win.I enjoyed reading world cup posts (in no particular order) by @sidvee , @gkhamba, @daddy_san, @a_traveller,@shaaqt, @livetimeefe, @ujj, @tantanoo, @sunainak 


Cheers India !! :) 

The Unreal Reality

If you have been a regular visitor to this not so regularly updated blog, You would remember 'ever donated creativity?' post, in which I shared about one of my friends using her creativity and doing an awesome job.I am going to share some more awesomeness on my blog as and when my friends share it or I notice it.Starting a series and tagging all such posts in 'young top' tag. 'Top' in english means at the highest point and 'Top' also is punjabi word for 'canyon'.So both ways 'young top' justify their talent.If you have any other tag in mind, do share. Its just second post in series, so can edit the tags and use the suggested ones.  

This post is all about artwork which for me is very creative and astonishing.I am talking about making miniature paper models.Models of Rifles, Pistols, Bikes, Fighter Planes and anything that you can think of.and Atamjeet portrays brilliance in it.Atam started making all these models during his high school days and got passionate about it in graduation.Till then I knew him as table tennis champion. Brilliant player of the game turned brilliant artist making state-of-the-art paper models.I have seen few of his creations and they are brilliant. Atam has displayed his art in many exhibitions and also creates models on demand if one wishes to buy them.He wanted to become a pilot (his site says that) but then went on to do engineering in very uncommon field (his site doesn't says that) and eventually landed up in IT Industry(We work in same organization.but in different cities.;))

Talking about one of his models,have a look at this M41A Pulse Rifle which is a 10mm pulse-action air-cooled automatic assault rifle.This 1:1 Scale Paper Model is completely made out of 320 GSM thick ivory paper and is one of his favourites. An approximate effort of 2 months on this and he started building his arms and ammunition portfolio with this Rifle.Talk about more awesomeness, The ramrod can freely slide to and fro and the magazine can be removed as well.

So Go and Visit Atamjeet's Website (http://www.atamjeet.com) for all his creations which include so many helicoptors,fighter planes and space shuttles and buzz him with your wishes/queries/compliments. :)  

Muskuraiye. Aap Lucknow mein hain !!

The best part about life is that it is full of surprises.Surprises which make you feel good about the small decisions you take.surprises which bring the best moments in your life. My decision to take 5-day training in Lucknow turned out to be one such pleasant surprise.

6 people from 6 different projects from 3 different locations,we met for first time in Lucknow. And till the last day, all of us explored Lucknow like we were on recce for some food documentary.These 6 days were enough to make us understand that Lucknow truly is city of nawab, kebab and shabab. : D and also of statues and mayawati.We all were there for official work so mornings were of company and evenings were of ‘my time’ for everyone. I love food. ‘Acha khaana khaane ke liye hum kahin bhi jaa sakte hain’. and thats what inspired everyone to make a move every single day out of campus to enjoy *food-e-nawabi*. Taking you through journey of our exploration and not taking gurantee on how you feel at the end.lengthy post but very short one if you ask me to write everything.

Lucknow Food Diary:

Day 1: Dastarkhwan in Parivartan Chowk was our first stop. First day in Lucknow and we  took two autos and asked the auto-wallah to take us to any good place. He dropped us outside tulsi theatre and asked us to check out places near by.we saw this place and thought of trying it. Our thought was good and food was awesome. One great advantage of going in group of foodies is that you order anything and everything.We ordered first six items in the menu. One for each one. From ‘galauti’ to ‘shammi’ to ‘seekh’ to ‘kakori’ all the kebabs were yummylicious. To go to Lucknow and not try all the kebabs is a sin.no photos clicked since we just met each other and weren't planning to actually have a foodie tour. 

Just to play safe with our respective stomachs, we decided to try other stuff from day 2.

Day 2 Evening. Stomach status check: all is well. Destination: Hazratganj.

Hazratganj is probably the only place in India where you will see all brands and logos in one color combination: black and white. Be it Café coffee day or blackberry or any other brand, every hoarding in the shopping area was black and white and roads and footpath were well constructed with bench on every few meters to take rest which is quite impressive considering the impression Uttar Pradesh gives in news.Our first stop was Royal Café. My first thought, it’s a lounge. I am wrong. It’s a local chat shop and famous for its ‘basket chaat’. We all had ‘fountain batasha’ which is nothing but lucknawi name for golgappe or paani-puri.

And then we all had world famous ‘basket chaat’ which was INCREDIBLE and DELICIOUS and FINGERLICKING GOOD. A basket made of fried sev and ‘tikki, dahi bhalla, paapdi, loads of khatti-meethi chutney and dahi’ added to it. must must eat when in lucknow.Next stop Moti Mahal.just 50 steps from royal café, this shop is famous for its ‘matar tikki’,‘falooda’,’rabdi’,’emarti’, ‘badam milk’ and ‘ras malai’. Yes, we ordered all of them and tried and tasted everything on their menu. Yet another discovery and another place you should not miss out.'falooda’ and ‘matar tikki’ tops my charts there. From Moti Mahal, we all went to ‘Mint’ in Arif Castles. This lounge was recommended to each one of us by our friends. Our group was a tea-totaller so no drinks taken. Food was pretty average; Sheesha (Hukkah) was good, Ambience pretty good. Resulted in good time pass for around two hours and our group of trainers became a gang. Quick visit to ‘tunday’s kabab’ in Sahara ganj mall happened and all kebabs and few dishes tried out. What we heard of tundey’s and what it turned out was bit of conflict but then we were asked to check out the original shop in aminabad to resolve this. which eventually happened the next day.

Day 3. Back to Hazrat Ganj. Back to Moti Mahal. Back to ‘falooda’ ‘emarti’ ‘tikkis’ and ‘ras malai’. 100 steps from the place and on the opposite side, there is one batasha stall. Famous for his water of 5 types. And everyone just jumped on it. Full on fun. Next stop a popular dahi bhalle stall near GPO. Few metres away from Ganj is this stall which serves super-tasty dahi bhalle and chilla. After so much of oil and kebab stuff, yummy dahi bhalle were awesome. We had one. And two. And three plates before we moved to aminabad to try the original tunday’s kebabs. First look at the shop and we wondered what’s so special in it. Soon we realized that something definitely is there and the aroma and taste of kebabs especially the galauti kebabs is different. We had kebabs with sheermal which is an orange colored parantha sweet n salty in taste. Followed by awadhi kheer.slurp.slurp.Bill for 6 people came out to be a shocker since we are not used to give 600 bucks for such a treat.

Day 4 Due to fantastic knock of sachin tendulkar and India scoring decent score, our committee decided to stay back and enjoy the match. so this diary entry has no food to write about on DAY 4. :)

Day 5 Lucknow being hometown for one team-mate so he invited everyone to his place and then have dinner together. That’s where the ‘Nawab’ style and quotient was witnessed and experienced. Free flowing conversations and interesting talks with gang and his parents and stupendous dinner at Barbeque Nation turned out to be a memorable one. We have had team dinners at BBQ but much fun in this one. We started at 10.and continued till 12.30 and were last to come out of the restaurant. Must try the goan fish curry, dum biryani, barbeque snacks are standard everywhere but main-course had bit of Lucknow touch in dishes. I term it as Sexy Dinner since it was different ;)

 Day 6 Marksmen – The place one should try only if you are okay with experimentation. For a first look, it’s a shocker. Marksmen is famous for everything desi-fied. Especially Chinese food. We tried Marksmen special sandwich, marksmen special noodles, veg, cheese and chicken burger, and fried rice. Turned out to be gala treat for the stomach when we ordered vanilla shake with ice-cream. All this came under 100 bucks a person and 5 smiling faces were ready to shop at chowk. Went shopping and got decent stuff at pretty okay prices. Half the junta thinks we got looted. Rest think better shopping luck next time. ;)
“When men go shopping, last thing they do is bargaining. When women go shopping that’s the first thing they do.” :D :P


Day 7 Sweets bought from Moti Mahal and Chowdhary Sweet Shop and bid farewell to this food heaven.

Cheers Amit, Tushar , Sathya,Arthy and Pritish for such an amazing time.

Muskuraiye, abhi abhi aap lucknow ki sair kar ke aa rahe hain  !! :) 

Coming Soon : Lucknow Food Trip in Pics :) 

The Mind Factory

You wish for something.
You don't get it.
So you fight.
By the time you end your fight, you no longer want it.
and then you get it.
long after you wished for it.
Excitement comes and leaves.
In few moments.
Life moves on.weird weird way how the mind and emotions work.

2010 - The Year It Was

Quick recap of the year that went by.
-The past year was little less exciting as its predecessor but glad that year went well with more smiles and joy than cries and depressing moments.
-Went on stage to perform as stand-up. It’s not easy to stand on stage and it’s not easy to make people laugh. When you do both and step down with people clapping for you, it’s a different high. In this busy life, if you make anyone smile or laugh, you have done one good deed of theday. It has been memorable experience, and would definitely give more shots at stand-up.
-Got an opportunity to write an article which eventually got published in ‘education times’ by times of india. My friends have said that its’ not a big deal and all which is somewhat right but when other people read the article and appreciate it, it’s certainly a good feeling. From one article last year, lets target few more articles in more publications in this year. :)
-In Professional life, Received SAPEX Reward which came as surprise but a very good one.
Also missed my promotion last year. Was very disappointed and felt bad as well. Well I never wanted my appraisal or money to be the reason to leave my company. So am here, still with the same company. Completed another year with it. And being in IT,it definitely is a big deal :P
-Talking of travel, I travelled to Bangalore and Mumbai this year. Mumbai twice, Bangalore
thrice. Chennai got planned and canned once. Bangalore trips were fun but Mumbai trips were amazing. First trip in April and Second in Aug-Sep during rains and ganpati, I’ve had memorable times there.
-Another year of social networking with twitter and facebook. Met so many twitter handles :p ,made few new friends. Some amazing amazing meet-ups and tweet-ups happened. Will try to add faces to some more twitter handles this year as well. If you use twitter well, nothing beats it.
- First half of year dedicated to emails and writing letters. Absolutely amazing thoughts
exchanged through emails with friend and some great times came along.
-Only one person thought to send me a diwali gift this year. a box full of home-made
Chocolates.So cool. And no thanks to Courier Company which failed to deliver it and also did not return it back to sender. So not cool.
- Had absolutely amazing times every time I went back home. Every.Single.Time. Amritsar
totally rocks.


For Arrivals and Departures – This ratio of new people arriving and old mates moving away has been very uneven and disturbing at times as well but then that’s how life is and three words sum it. Life Moves On. Started the year as ‘single’ and ended as ‘single’ and let’s not talk about the time between. ;) Some wonderful arrivals happened this year. No names to be written here but glad we became friends. Actually a book can be written on this. Also, I can go on and on to write about JA’s maiden trip to India but for now...moving on to next point.


Shaadi Viah and all – arrey yar... everyone decided to get married last year. Attended four
weddings last year and missed wedding of a very good friend. I wrote about the case of
invitations as well. Chalo.. Tussi vi viah karao hun !!

2011. Press Rewind. 2010. Check. Forward.

2011 is already 11 12 days old.


Made any resolutions? Actually I don’t get this funda of making new year resolutions on first day of every year. So that you follow them for whole year and then make some new resolutions on your birthday as well so that you follow them till your next birthday. What if resolutions you make on Jan 1 are completely opposite to ones you make on your birthday?


Anyway, Instead of resolutions,I made a ‘things to do’ list last year and this post is just to update the progress bar :


1. To get interviewed- oh well... does job interview count? did not happen in twenty ten.Setting the same for this year as well ;)


2. Shot at dream companies – Oh I did I did. In feb. made shot at one of my dream companies. All went well till the decision. :p but am glad I made a shot and had one of the best interview experiences. So this point is ‘Check’


3. Read and Write – Reading..if you know me and I say I have read more than 10 books, you will actually laugh but to my surprise I actually read few books this year which is big thumbs up to me.Winning, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Such a Long Journey, Second Degree, Connect the Dots, Of Course I love You, Dork and Open: Autobiography of Andre Agassi and few more. I think the best read this year was ‘Open’. So Big Cheers to that. Writing...well this blog is still up and running and getting updated quite often  once a month, one of big things that happened last year was an article coming in Times of India. So this point is also ‘Check’


4. New Wardrobe – Abbey Yaar.. got so many new shirts, trousers, t-shirts, shoes, sweaters and now I think I need a new wardrobe again. So the wishlist remains the same for this year.also Check .


5. Bring AmritSarovar back – Almost back. Working on it whenever getting time. Managed to get all the content from archives, site will hopefully be back very soon. Uncheck.


6. Travel Show – Did not happen. Mainly because I was not in one city for long time. Koi na. this year again, it remains on ‘things to do in 2011’.


7. Less of Crying and More of Laughter – Definitely. May be. I did not count so theek theek laga lo. ;)


8. Travel Travel Travel – I did.I did.I did. Three trips to Bangalore, Two to Mumbai, Two to Ludhiana and So many to Amritsar :p .


9. Gain Knowledge – Lets mark this as ‘Check’ and continue learning.


10. Learn a dance form – Did not even make an effort to do this. Hopeful to do something about it this year.


12. Talk Less- Are you kidding me??? :D


New Year. New Hopes. So far So good. Hope its going good for you as well.

Happy Reading

I am quite regular on google reader since most of the sites are blocked in office and am dependent on RSS feeds to read stuff.So sharing few blog links which are on my Google reader :


On my regular reading list are Exalted Soul, Outlandish Musings, Youth Curry, Ujjwal's Blog & PostSecret for the funs and Gursimran & Shantanu for the puns.


I also follow blogs of Michelle, Shoe-Girl, Kristopher, Sumantics, Supreet, Sakhi, Anubha, Pari,Sagar, Anaggh, Sunaina, Gul and Preeti.


Technology front,I follow Digital Inspirations, Pluggd.in, Medianama and Quick Online Tips

On Creative Side, it’s fun to follow Mansi, Nithin, Anshul , Meera and Jasmeet

On Photography, I follow Tarun Chandel, Ashu Mittal, Big Picture and RSS Feed of 'Recent uploads from my Flickr Contacts'.


Happy Reading!!