Chp 489. You Reap What You Sow

My first Blog Post in Mizo :)

December ni 31, kum tawp a lo ni ta a, tun tum chu Mizo tawngin kan han blog ve teh ang, a vawikhat nan :)

Kar hmasa khan "Movie Corner" chuan ka hna chungchang min rawn zawt nual a an magazine a chhuah turin, khatia Mizo tawnga kan chhan khan ka vei zawng dangte pawh Mizo tawnga ziah zel ka chak ta a. Bakah naktuk January ni 1 hian kan company din ve hi kum khat a tling dawn a, kum khat a tlin hma hian tlem kan han thlir let ve duh a ni. Mahse Mizo tawnga thu ziak mi ka nih loh bakah ka la tih ngailoh bawk avangin ka tawngkam hman leh a thu kalphungah hian engamah hma in hriatthiamna kan dil hmasa phawt a ni e. 

Hengte hi ka vei ve te chu an ni e...

Tunlai khawvelah hi chuan Zofate pawh private company hran hrana thawk kan awm nual tawh a, mahse Mizo te zingah hian kan ngaihdan thenkhat hi chu kan thlak deuh chu a ngai in ka hria. Entirnan, mi pahnih heti hian lo titi ta se...

"Nu Khum, i dam maw?"

"Aw dam e, Pa Ram. In fapa chuan enge a tih tak a?"

"Phai ah company ah a thawk a."

"Ekhaiiii a va ropui ve, a va ti tha em em ve a..."

"Ni e, kan lawmpui khawp mai..."

Hei tak hi a nia. Company a thawk han tih tawp hi thil ropui tak a nih theih rualin hna tha tak a ni vek kherlo. Hrehawm deuhvin phai ah eng private company ah emaw dinhmun hniam angreng tak, ei hmu ve hram hramin an thawk pawh a ni thei tho. Chutiang bawkin "Phai ah Spa ah a thawk a" han tih hi chuan mi thenkhat chuan kan han hmusit nghal ringawt thin a. Mahse Spa tih hian a huam zau lutuk. Spa zawng zawng hi thil thalo a thlenna a nihloh mai bakah five star, three star tih vel Hotel Spa a thawh te phei chu hna zahawm tak a nia, hetiang hmuna mi malistu nih dawn ringawt pawn qualification tha tak neih a ngai a, chu bakah managerial level a thawk te pawh an awm thei bawk. Hna zahawm tak te chu an ni ngei e.

2003 khan Computer Engineer ka ni ve a, mahni inchhuang ve tawk takin Mizoram ah ka haw a, mahse in lamah chuan computer chhia siamthiam tur chauh hian min ngai a nih kha. A hmasa berin computer chhe siamthiam hi thiamthil  'sial'  tak a nia, a chhia siamthiam te chu ka zah hle a ni. Chutih lai chuan kei chuan computer chhia ka siamthiam hauhlo! Windows pawh ka reinstall thiam tawk. Kan zir te chu programming leh language hran hran coding lam te a ni daih. "Programming lam a lawm kan zir chu", ka tih lah khan min hrethiam an awm manglo.

Engineering ka zawh khan CAT exam ka pe ve a, kum khat chhung Hyderabad ah nitin coaching class taima takin ka kal mai bakah Mock test te ka in pe thina. Vanneihthlak takin IIM Ahmedabad tihloh ah chuan IIM zawng zawngah seat ka hmu ta a, IIM-B chu ka thlang ve ta a, mahse tih lai kha chuan ka thiante leh ka chhungte pawn min lawmpui ve em em lo. Ka pa tak ngial pawh khan, "IIM te chu diploma course mai mai a lawm (dik chu a dik ve ngei), MBA tih i chak em em chuan a aia tha college dang a tam a sin", a rawn ti heu. :)

MBA lam ka tui vaklo tih ka han in hriat kha chuan ka zirlai ka chhunzawm ta lova, UPSC lam te hi ka rilru ah a rawn lang ve leh a. Kum hnih khat vel chu UPSC coaching kan bei ve leh a, Aizawl lama mi ten ka chanchin ka chhungte an zawh hian, "Aw, UPSC coaching class a kal mek a", an tih chuan min han ngaisang leh ta em em lawi si! UPSC coaching kal ringawt kha enge a ngaihsanawmna ka hrethiam theilo. Lo tling ta pawh ni ila IAS han nih vel hi chu thil ropui tak chu a ni ngei a, mahse kan Mizo society ah hi chuan IAS/MCS nih te hi hna zahawm awmchhun emaw kan ti tlat te hi kan ngaihdan chu kan thlak ve a ngaiin ka hria. Hna engpawh hi taima tak leh thlan tui chhuak khawpa thawh hi chuan hna zahawm ah ka ngai e.

Kha lai hun atang khan tun hun hi han thlir leh ta ila, kum 5 lai India rama Digital Advertising Agency zahawm ber (lian ber chu ka ti kherlo, zahawm ber ka tihna chhan chu kum 2008, 2009, 2011 leh 2012 khan India rama digital agency tha ber anga puan kan lo nih vang zawk a ni) ah khan ka thawk ve a, chuan chu kum 5 chhung chuan vawi 5 lai ka kaisang ve hman a - Copywriter trainee > Junior Copywriter > Copywriter > Senior Copywriter > Copy Supervisor > a tawpah phei chuan Creative Trailblazer ah ka kaisang ve ta a. Hetiang company ah chuan promotion zawng zawng te hi thawh that hlawh (performance appraisal) vek a nia, "seniority" tih vel hian kawngro a su ve lem lo.

Kan hriat phak china Mumbai leh India rampum ah pawha thilthleng rapthlak berte zinga mi, 26/11 kha kan hre theuhin ka ring. Kum 2008-a terrorist hovin Mumbai min rawn do chiam ni, kha ti khawp a mitthi, indona boruak leh buaina karah khan mi tamtak chu a tukah office hna thawk turin an kal leh thlap. Hei hi mi tamtak chuan "Mumbai Spirit" ti in an fak em em a ni. Mahse thudik tak chu maw... khami tuk kha hna lo kal lo ta i la kan ai awh tur mi an awm ran reng a, chuvangin kan dinhmun veng tura pisa kai hram te pawh kan ni tlangpui e. Hei hi a ni Corporate World an tih tak chu.

Khami company a ka thawh lai khan nitin zing dar 9 atanga a tuk zing dar 2 vel hi office ah ka awm ziah thin. Hetiang hi a ngai ve tlat a ni rang deuhva promotion hmuh duh chuan. Chutih lai chuan Aizawl lamah advertising ah ka thawk tih an hriat chuan newspaper vel a advertisement message (ex: "Mosia tui thianghlim kan sem thei e", "septik tank khat kan paih fai thei e" etc) siam thin hi emaw ka nih an lo ti tlat bawk. Thenkhat hnenah "Mainline (print) advertising lam ka khawihlo, digital (internet) lam a ni ka thawhna chu", ka tih chuan spam advertisement email thawn tu hi emaw ka nih an ti leh bawk. Huihammm, a va han hahthlak thin tak em! 

Advertising industry ah hi chuan creativity, Mizo in a "a va han idea ve" kan tih ang hi a pawimawh hle a, chutih laiin creativity lam nilo talent tamtak neih a ngai tel bawk a, thil namen lo tak hi chu a ni. Designing, illustration, animation, web development leh programming, social media, SEO leh SEM, UI leh UX, brand management, product positioning, consumer behavior analysis, event planning, brand research, competition analysis, client servicing etc etc zawng zawng hi digital advertising chuan a huam tel vek a ni.

Mizo te hi heng industry ah te hian kan la tlem hle a, kan creative tawk lo emaw kan in tih chuan a diklo hulhual ang. Kan creative zia hi chu hnial rualloh a ni. India ram hmun hran hranah hian ka awm kual ve zek tawh a, Vai thian te pawh ka ngah hle. Mahse a huho anga thlir chuan Mizo te ang tluk a hnam creative hi ka la hmu lo. Entirnan, fiamthu sawi leh kan thiante han kah/bawl ringawtte pawh hi creativity hmang vek a ni asin! Ka company hlui a ka boss, kan Creative Director thinin a min la hrilh ka la hriat reng chu - "Creativity - Either you have it, or you don't" a ni tawp mai. Creativity hi a zir chawp theihlova, mi creative lo tan chuan Advertising industry a thawh rei chu a har. Chutih rual erawh chuan mi creative tan chuan he industry hi i talent hman tangkai theihna ber te zinga mi a ni thung.

"Brand positioning", "TV ad scripting" tih te hi chu tuna lo hriatlawk pawh a ngai lemlo. I kalna tur lam a nih chuan company te hian nangmaha thiamna awm sa kha an lo man chat ang a, i kalna tur leh a tangkai theihdan tur bera hman dan an lo zirpui mai dawn che a ni. Kei pawh he Ad company ka zawm tirh kha chuan advertising lam engmah ka hriatloh mai bakah work experience engmah ka nei hleinem, mahse interviewna a zawhna thenkhat ka chhan dan atang khan ka boss te, kei ai a experience ngah tawh ten hmantlak ka ni dawn tih an lo hre nghal a, hna ka hmu nghal mai.

Ka tawnhriat te hi rawn sawilan ka duhna chhan chu Mizo thalai tam zawkin khawvel zau zawkah, kan la tih ngailoh leh hriat than lemloh lamah hian hming kan la chher belh zel theih beiseina vang a ni a. Advertising-a thawh nuam ka tih em em nachhan pakhat chu min ruaitu (advertisement mamawhtu company) te duhzawng kan siamchhuah theihna tura hriat ngai hi a tam a. An hnathawh, an thil siamchhuah, anmahni dawrtu awm anga ngaih, dawr tura an beisei etc etc. te kan zir hrep hnu ah an lawmzawng tur advertisement kan han phuahchhuak a; brand/product hi a chi a tam bawk a, hna ninawm hi a ni hmanlo hrim hrim. Tin advertising industry ah hian mi creative tak tak an tam avangin an organization structure hi a thawveng thei hle bawk a. Duh ang thala thluak a vahkual theiha, mi la ngaihtuah chhuah ngailoh rilru hneh tak tur si ngaihtuah chhuak tur chuan nuam ti taka thawh theihna hmun hi mihringin kan mamawh tlat avangin sorkar pisa te anga strict ren run hi ni lovin, office boruak zangkhai takah kan thawk tlangpui. 

Hetiang lama rilru nei chuan han chhin ve hrim hrim teh u'n :) 

Tunah a tawp nan thil pakhat chungchang chiah sawi leh ka duh, chu chu Mizo te ngaihdan tlangpui, dik a ka hriat siloh chungchang tho a ni.

Hetia corporate world a kum 5 lai nuam ti taka ka thawh hnu hian tun kum tir khan banna ka thehlut a, ka thiante nen company thar kan din ve rup a! Rei deuh kan ngaihtuaha kan inbuatsaih fe hnu ah mahni a ding ve thei tur chuan kan in ngai ta a. Kan thawhna hmasa nen pawh kan hna a inanloh avangin anni pawn min support hle a ni. Tichuan Android mobile games kan siam ve tan ta!!!

Kan company din hi kum khat pawh a la tlinglo deuhva, Android games paruk lai kan siam tawh bakah kan games pahnih ("Nikal Padi" leh "Where's My Cat?") chu tun kum India rama "Game of the Year" a tan an nominate hial bawk. Kan games te hi mi maktaduai riat chuangin an download tawh bawk a ni. Khawvela Start-Up Accelerator (company thar tanpui tu ti tawp mai ang) lar ber leh zahawm ber zinga mi "Start-Up Chile" pawh chuan ram 68 a company thar 1577 atangin keini hi min thlang ve hlawl bawk. Thla sarih chhung Santiango, Chile-ah office sawn turin min sawm mai bakah USD 40,000 (India pawisa chuan cheng nuai 24 vel) in min lo sponsor dawn bawk! Mahse India rama thawh zawm hi kan thlang ta zawk a ni. Pathian zarah kan la kal tluang zel e.  

Tun hnai a thil pakhat ka tawn tak fo chu, Facebook ah te leh ka thiante hnenah thla tawp lama ka broke zia ka sawi te hian min awilo reng reng a nih chu! "Engtin nge i broke theih, dawt sawi suh, i hausa tawh ngawt ang company te i nei tawh sia!" ti te hian min rawn zawt thin. Hei tak hi a lawm han sawifiah ka duh chu. Company din hi thil namen a nilo, hna hahthlak tak a ni. Film velah te company neitu emaw CEO te'na nuam an chen kan lo hmu tawh thin a ni maithei, mahse a takah chuan a lo ni teuhlo tih a takin ka hre chho ve ta. 

A hmasa berin kan sawi tawp ang - ka hlawh hi a tlem lutuk. Kei leh ka thian pahnih he company dintu te hi kan hlawh chu sawi tham a ni lo. Tuna kan chhawr mek te hian keini aiin an hlawh hnem nual mai! A chhan chu an thiamna hi company nun nan kan mamawh tlat. Anni tan chuan pawisa lam chauh a nih avangin an hlawh lama an lungawiloh chuan company dang min zawmsan daih thei a. Keini a dintute chuan kan thei ve lo. Chuvangin hlawh tam lutuk nei anga min ngai te hian ka rilru a ti na ve thin a ni. 

A dawt leh ah chuan he company hi "ka ta" emaw kei leh ka Co-Founders te "ta" a ni lo. Private Limited company ang chuan kan in register ve a, mahni puala neitu nihna chhete chu ka nei ve. A bak "shares", a hlawk ve theihna tur ho chu kan investor, sum lama kan kal zel theihna tura min puitute hnenah kan hralh chhawng vek tawh. He company chawm nan (hnathawk zawng zawngte hlawh, office luah man, electricity, office equipment, overhead expense etc etc) pawisa kan mamawh avangin shares hralhlothei kan ni bawk si lo. Investor te chuan nakina kan company in pawisa a siam huna hlawk an duh vangin pawisa an rawn thawh tihna a ni ber a. Chuvangin business hlawhtling ngei tura an rin ah chauh hian pawisa hi an rawn dah thin.

Pathumna - aw he company ah chuan thu ber pawl chu ka ni ve, mahse ka duh duh zat in ka hlawh ka ti pung theilo (Ka Nu, helai hi lo chhiar ve teh :D ). Ka hlawh ka tih pun duh chuan kan Board of Directors ho in rem an tih a ngai. Nia, duh duh hunah office ka kal thei, duh duh hunah leave ka la thei, duh duh danin company thiltum leh hnathawh dan pawh ka thlak thei, mahse ka tih theih hian chintawk chu a nei teh meuh mai. Investor leh Board te chuan keini Co-Founder te min ring thlapin, kan company kal dan leh hnathawh danah an rawn inrawlh miahlo a. Pu-te hnuaia thawk tawh lovin keimahnin tha kan tih anga kan rel kha min pawmpui thlap. Mahse kan hlawh chungchangah erawh chuan company in hna a thawh that a, hlawkna a siam hnu chauhah keini, a mawhphurtute hlawh chu a pung thei thung. Point 1 na a ka sawi tawh ang khian, kan company-a hnathawk te chuan hlawh tam an phut chuan an hlawh tih pun a awl fe zawk keini Co-Founders hlawh tih pun aiin.

Palina - Co-Founder nih hi chuan mahni in boss kan nei tawhlo tihna chu a ni na a, boss neih aiin a hahthlak zawk tlat asin. "Kha kha lo ti rawh", "chu chu ti rawh" ti a min lo hrilhtu an awm tawhlo a, keimahni'n enge kan tih dawn, tunge kan hmuh dawn, khawiah nge kan kal dawn tih hi kan ngaihtuah vek reng a ngai thin. Chu bakah conference neuh neuh, meeting neuh neuh, social dinner neuh neuh tih vel ah hian kan kal reng a ngai a, hlawhtlin beiseia pawisa sen belh zelna a lo ni lehzel nen... a tul tlat bawk sia. 

Heng te hi a ni kan rawn share ve mai mai duh chu. Pawisa siam hi thil awlsam a nih loh mai bakah "Company a din ve a" tih vang hian "mi hausa pawisa ngah tawh lutuk" tihna a ni ziahlo. Eng hna pawh hi, taima taka thawh hnu ah chauh hian a ni hlawhtlinna rawn thleng thin. "You reap what you sow". Nakin zelah kan company hi Pathian zarah kan tih that zel chuan, Ni e, ka la hausa ve mahna. Mahse tunah tak hi chuan hmana Advertisement Agency-a ka thawhlai ai khan ka sum dinhmun chu a la chhe zawk fe.

Mi lo hriatpui ve mai mai atan :)

Ka'n duh tawk phawt ange, helai thleng thleng i lo chhiar anih phei chuan lawmthu ka hrilh nghal bawk che.

In za vaiin Kum Thar Chibai ka buk a che u! Thuthleng-s :)

Ps. Thanx Rini for proof-reading :)

*Photo for representative purpose only :P 

Chp 488. A Bachelor’s Party to remember

If you’d ask me who made me what I am today in terms of career, I would name three people, all from Webchutney.

Nishi Kant, our Creative Director then, who interviewed me in spite of the fact that I didn’t have an appointment or any work experience for that matter, with whom I spent countless evenings and nights brainstorming on various products and clients, both in office or at shady bars that cops raid often :)

Meghana Bhat, our Copy Head then, who took my inexperience as a junior copywriter and nurtured and guided me into writing better and more powerful copy while keeping branding and positioning in mind, who would be up till 5 in the morning just to review a concept note I submitted at 4 AM.

And finally, Amit Basak, our Art Director then, who would spend relentless time guiding me in Photoshop and Design concepts, even though I was from the Copy department, eventually giving me the skills to do my own wireframes, UI/UX design, webpage layout and banner designs directly for clients, earning me a unique designation in Webchutney - Creative Trailblazer, basically somebody who does concept, copy, art & design, coding and sometimes even servicing, for a client :)

So when Amit announced his engagement (to the beautiful and dear friend Girija Naiksatam) a few months ago, I was truly ecstatic for the two of them.

And what comes before any wedding?

A BACHELOR’S PARTY of course!

And so there we were yesterday, most of us Webchutney and ex-Webchutney peeps, all close friends of Amit, at the coldest place I’ve ever been to here in Maharashtra – Rusticville Camp at Tikona, around 25 km from Lonavala.

Here’s the groom-to-be, having the time of his life on his bachelor’s night!

But wait, let’s rewind a bit here, à la Hangover Movie style, and retrace our steps back to see how he ended up like this :) Here’s our travelogue:

We started the day on Saturday. I reached Sharad Kalawar’s place at Bandra Reclamation around 12:30. Saw this cute doggy outside his apartment.

Sharad and I then proceeded to LPQ at BKC, where Roopesh and John were already waiting for us. Nishi arrived soon after us. Roopesh was one of the organizers of the bachelor’s night and he was all tensed and frantic. He kept mumbling, “Comon where are the others, comon man, we gotta leave soon, arree we must reach there before dark so we can see the sunset, uuufff ya, how long are the others taking, this is a picture of my 4 months old daughter, isn’t she cute, arrreee when are the others getting here mannnn they’re so late…”

LPQ - La Pain Quotidien, an awesome French bakery right adjacent to California Pizza Kitchen at BKC was the rendezvous point for all of us. We were all supposed to leave from there at 1:30 PM.

Unfortunately, I guess only the five of us got the memo :)

We made use of the time by ordering good breakfast at LPQ. I had Belgium Ham and Cheese Omelette, which was awesome.

Nishi had an egg toast in bread, and that’s exactly what it was – It came in a large bread crust shaped as a spherical pot, and the inside was filled with egg, cheese and risotto rice. None of us knew how to eat the damn thing without making a mess, lolz. Damn gourmet :P

Finally the second car comprising of Anoop, Mustafa and Jonathan reached LPQ. And the reason they were late was because dear Mustafa was… giving his showers of blessings all over Mumbai roads, including at a Toll gate! :D

Here he is trying his best to sober up… so he’ll be fresh enough to get sloshed later that night :D

We decided to go ahead in two cars, with four people in each car. The others, including the bachelor boy himself, were definitely going to be late. In our car were Roopesh, John, Nishi and me.

We made a short pit stop at the base of the Western Ghats, before proceeding up towards Lonavala. Here is the journey ahead

Due to the delay and last minute shopping here and there at a highly congested traffic jam at Lonavala market, we were definitely not going to make it to Rusticville before sunset. Here are a few pics I took on the Western Ghats, watching the sun slowly go down between the scenic hills.

By the time we crossed Lonavala, it was pitch dark. However, data connectivity was good on my Vodafone network (Airtel people kept losing signal here and there) and so I ended up navigating the entire route for Roopesh who was driving. Trust me, it was dangerous to drive blindly because everything was dark, we’ve never been there before, the winding roads were small, and one wrong turn meant flying off the precarious cliffs to thousands of feet below.

We finally reached Rusticville Camp site around 9 PM.

My first reaction was that of a tad disappointment because everything around the campsite was dark so we couldn’t marvel at any of the breathtaking scenery around it, like those pictures we saw online. Here’s the first glimpse of our tents…

And yes it was freaking colddddd

Here’s the first batch of alcohol for the bachelor’s party. The second batch was on its way along with the latecomers :)

Some ice for the drinks. You might be thinking, why the heck would anyone drink with ice when it was so cold already. Well, we needed ice because of reasons. :P

I ended up drinking more Jägermeister than Old Monk rum because of the cold. It really kept me warm and going! Of course I wasn’t stupid enough to have a Jägerbomb and puke like how Mustafa did all the way from Mumbai to Tikona :D

Jonathan with the chicken for the BBQ

Marinating the chick

Our DJ console for the night :) Two different music system speakers connected to one jack input.

Finally, the rest of the guys arrived. After wishing the bachelor boy, he was welcomed with a special Rusticville cocktail (that John made up) which comprised of 30ml Jägermeister, 30ml Old Monk, 30ml Smirnoff vodka and 30ml Double Black whiskey. Man, that was one lethal concoction!

Amit had to gulp down the content in one go, as we all shouted “CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!”

This happened thrice. Now you know how he ended up like that in the first photo above :)

A few photos of the BBQ below…

Nishi on BBQ [video]

Anoop Menon and Johnathan Sreekumaran on BBQ [video]

Anddddd the food was gone as quickly as they came :D

These battery operated lights really came in handy during the BBQ…

Meanwhile, all this time, our bachelor boy was drinking and drinking and drinking, enjoying his last few nights of freedom (remember he had that weird concoction in the beginning too)…

FINALLY, he ended up puking everywhere while making abnormal retching noises that sounded like an Orangutan raping a Gorilla (photos cannot be shown for the obvious reason). And then it was lights out for him.

That was the end of the night for our bachelor boy.

We on the other hand continued partying, having the time of our life on Amit’s expense :)

Finally it was time to sleep, and we all headed back into our respective tents. The inside of the tent was warm and cozy.

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.

.

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Next morning, I woke up early to catch the sunrise…

…only to learn that East was blocked by this mountain (below), so we could see the sun only once it was over the mountain! :(

Everybody’s still asleep, the camp certainly looked different and “dead” compared to the fun and noise we had the previous night…

Finally the sun started appearing above the mountain in front of us…

People started waking up one by one and groggily came out of their tents…

Bachelor boy too woke up, with a tremendous hangover and no recollection of what took place the previous night…

The tea wasn’t strong enough to wake him up properly…

…when suddenly his face lit up!

Ahhh… it was this pretty damsel on a neighboring camping group that managed to bring a smile across his hungover face :)

And then of course he was immediately back to depression when he realized that was one of the last times he was ever going to smile at some random woman, otherwise Girija would go all Naiksatam on his ass.

Anyhoo… the rest of the guys kept drinking more tea to refresh themselves…

I on the other hand preferred Jägermeister as my early morning beverage :P T’was ghooood!

Some leftover alcohol…

Tikona dogs scavenging for leftover meat…

Soon it was time to pack up and leave…

Bye bye, Camp Rusticville!

On our way back, a few random pics from the car…

The two cars below are Menon’s and Amit’s actually!

We stopped by a roadside Tea stall right on the banks of Lake Pawna. The view from there was breathtaking.

Here’s a short video I took of the lake…

After we had our fill, we made our way for the Mumbai Pune Expressway. There was this really beautiful “tunnel” on the way…

One incident to remember – So after we left the tea stall mentioned above, Amit the bachelor boy couldn’t find his iPhone! Their car went back to see if he left it behind at the tea stall while we waited for them near the Expressway intersection. They couldn’t find it there either.

And then they called us up to check online since none of the guys in their car had data network. John and I created hotspots from our phones and Roopesh logged into his tab using our network. From there he accessed Amit’s iCloud account, and using the “Find my phone” option, we saw that the phone was still RIGHT THERE at the tea stall. We called the guys there immediately but they couldn’t find it.

And then the freaking phone moved.

Right then we knew somebody had the phone and was hiding it. So we rushed back immediately, and the moment we reached, we jumped out of our cars like FBI agents looking at our phone’s GPS and pointing to the area where the phone was located. It was on a slope. We scoured the entire area but since the accuracy of the GPS location was 100 meters radius as Amit wasn’t having proper data connectivity, we weren’t able to find the phone. By then, one of the waiters of the tea stall was starting to sweat.

The others from our group explained to the waiter in Marathi that in today’s age and technology, every phone could be tracked and that the cops were on their way. By then, a small crowd had started to build up, including an old woman who we assumed was the waiter’s grandmother. She said something to him menacingly too. Finally, the waiter, along with some of the local kids, went to the spot nearby (within the GPS radius) and pulled out Amit’s iPhone from behind a bush!

Mannnnnnn… I’m probably one of Apple’s biggest critics, but for THAT, I really got to give it to Apple. That was one neat feature (even though all the devices we used to find the GPS location were Android devices :P )

You should have seen the look on Amit’s face when he got back his phone. The last I saw of the waiter, it was of the old woman beating his ass with a stick and tears rolling down his cheeks. Ahhh happy New Year you thief.

After that, we made to the Expressway…

Man, that as one truly awesome and memorable bachelor’s party. Wishing Amit and Girija all the best in their future!

Cheers!