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 :)