Chp 794. Happy New Year!

Aaaand this is my 50th blog update of the year!

With this post, I have now updated my blog 50 times annually for 14 straight years! I guess it is fair to say I have been consistent with my blog updates longer than most of your relationships. In fact, I've even blogging longer than most marriages out there, lolz.

I even know a couple of people who started reading my blog when they were single, got married, some had kids while others didn't, and then got divorced, and are now reading this very blog post as a single once again, lolz :D Ah the circle of life. :P

So, yeah, don't you dare make fun of my single status :D :P

This year had been good to me. The biggest milestone of this year for me was perhaps when I finally completed my gratuity (5 years employment) at a Corporation, and so it was finally time to hang up my boots and say goodbye to the Corporate World.

I've always wanted to complete working for 5 years somewhere, and I almost had that chance when I was at an Advertising agency. After slogging my ass off for 4 years and 10 months as a Copywriter, there was this sudden golden opportunity to create our own gaming Start-Up, with complete investor backing and mentorship from the best incubators in India.

It was a "now or never" moment. I could have just let that train pass and continued working as a Copywriter for another 2 months and get my gratuity, or I could quit right then and venture down a new path of game designing and face the unforeseeable future with my fingers crossed. I finally decided to do the latter, and it had been a dream ride since then.

After 2 years of being a Co-Founder of our own little Start-Up, we got acquired and after 5 more years of working as a Game Designer, I could finally retire from the Corporate World, with enough experience in both Digital Advertising & Marketing along with Game Designing and Production.

Next year onwards, a new chapter of my life will begin. I'll definitely be updating you all on my blog. But before I take on my family business related projects, I also plan to tour Mizoram along with some of the Myanmar border towns and get to know my own roots, something that I have never done in my life before, so get ready for a series of interesting travelogue next year.

So here is me wishing you all a very Happy New Year on this last day of the year, and may the next year bring much fortune and prosperity to you all. Love you all everyone, cheers!

Chp 793. Pimples

Exactly a month ago today, I wrote my last blog update from Pune and then packed up my computer.

A lot had happened since then. The movers and packers arrived at my apartment in Pune that afternoon and quickly packed up my entire belongings.  They were truly professional, making sure everything was packed properly, all fragile items safely bubble-wrapped and every single box water-proofed tightly.

Nothing was broken or missing when I received them in Mizoram 2 weeks later. I didn't even have to pick them up as they were delivered to my doorstep here in Chaltlang! I really recommend "Safe Express" to you all if you're also planning to send home your luggage to Aizawl. All in all, I spent 40K as I had a lot of stuff (my entire life belongings), but it was worth it.

I reached Mizoram on 30th November. The prodigal son had finally returned home, this time for good. However, there was no rejoicing or celebration, as I landed in Mizoram right in the middle of a political shitstorm. The controversial CAB/CAA issue.

Everywhere I looked, there were passionate arguments and fervent discussions. Mizo social media exploded with so much anger and protests. There were people protesting against CAB because they feared it will affect Mizoram anyway if it's implemented in Assam, and there were those who protested against it because it discriminated against a particular religion. There were those who criticized our Lok Sabha MP and were against CAB, and then there were those who supported our MP but were also against CAB. And finally, there were those who supported CAB itself, and I think that was just Pu Hriata Chhangte :D :P

Overall, yeah, the issue was everywhere, from WhatsApp status updates and Facebook posts to even Twitter rants and YouTube comments!

Meanwhile, I was facing a personal problem of my own. During the last 2-3 months of my time in Pune, I was starting to get a lot of pimples on my face. It first started slowly, one there, then another one, then another, and so on. There was no need for me to see a doctor as I knew the reason - too much alcohol and red meat consumption.

However, after I completed my Notice Period and left my Organization, I was in Pune for another 2 weeks, as I had some unfinished businesses here and there, and I needed time to pack and stuff. I spent that last 2 weeks binging on food & drink more than ever, along with different farewell parties every other night, such and such that on the night I was leaving Pune, all my pimples flared up!

Even my friends Teresa and Nitin with whom I had spent the previous day with were shocked and horrified to see how much worse my pimples had suddenly become when they came to pick me up to drop me to the airport.

That was how bad my life had suddenly turned to. I covered my face during my entire flight back home, and once I reached my house, I ran inside without even saying hi to my neighbours.

I made an appointment with renowned dermatologist Dr. Mathlengi, and when she saw me at her clinic, she immediately told me to get a blood test first. She checked everything, from my blood sugar to BP to liver to kidneys to a few other tests with acronyms I didn't understand, and fortunately for me, everything was fine! Phew!!!

She prescribed a couple of tablets along with different creams (expensive ones too!) for me, and she also injected steroids (that's what I heard her say) into my face at around 10 different places! Yeah that really freaking hurt! First time in my life I was experiencing that.

I followed her medical treatment regime strictly and also abstained from alcohol for 24 straight days! Right now, all my pimples have healed, but the scars are still there. Dr. Mathlengi told me it will take around a month for the scars to vanish too, so I am pretty happy now, pun unintended :P

If you want to see how I look now (day 27) versus how bad I looked on the day I reached Mizoram, here it is. See the difference. I'm also putting up the picture here because whenever I tell my friends that I can't meet anyone yet because of my pimples, they'd be like "i van lerh em em, a ho lutuk!" Trust me, if you had a face like mine in the first frame below, even you wouldn't want to step out anywhere!

Terrifying, right?

I looked like one of those extras in a survival movie or somebody who's just about to turn into a zombie after being bitten by one.

Other than my appointments with Dr. Mathlengi at her clinic in Chanmari, I remained confined to my house. I didn't go to Church or even to attend the Christmas service or the Christmas community feast the next day. I also cancelled my planned Goa and Bangalore trips, hence missing my dear Mumbai flatmates Sid and Shweta's big wedding! :( I was soooo looking forward to their wedding, especially since I was with them right from the very beginning of their romance and I was the only one from office who knew about their relationship and kept it a secret for so many years.

Also, I received just 18 bucks refund from cancelling my flight tickets. Aaarrghhh damn you pimples!

But being on a self-imposed house arrest until my pimples heal completely, I have come to realized how easily we take things for granted. How we must avoid taking selfies or how much we envy those who do. Now I understand why good looking people care so much about beauty products because not good looking people like me can also be affected. It's like that saying, "How can I face my problem, when my problem is my face?"

On the bright side though, my friends told me that this was the perfect time for me to actually venture out and look for a girlfriend because anybody who can love me when I look like this is somebody who will definitely love me for the rest of my life, lolz.

So until my next blog update with a hopefully much better face, cheers for now everyone.

Chp 792. Adios Pune

This will be my last blog update from Pune as I have to pack up my computer after this for the Movers & Packers to pick up. My first blog post after moving to Pune was this – "Of Pune and Blog friends" and man, just reading through it again brings back so many memories! (Daniel and Zodin, you have to read this and see how small your kids were back then)

I have written 235 blog posts since then, in a course of 5 years, and many of them will remind me of the magical moments I had in this great city. To be honest, as my friend Rami never fails to remind me, I did hate this city when I first arrived, but it slowly started growing on me, and by the end of my first year, I was already in love with this damn place.

My house :'(

Of course some of my Mizo friends say I love Pune only because I live in Koregaon Park. Well, living in KP, that too alone with no flatmates to split the rent and bills with may be expensive, but it has a lot of perks. Here are my top 10 reasons on why I love living in KP so much.

#1. First of all, I have complete privacy. I can watch TV shows naked or cook naked whenever I want because I live alone (though my dinner guests often complain about that so I started wearing at least an underwear when they come over :P ).

#2. Everything from the top restaurants and bars to nightclubs and spas are just walking distance away from my home.

#3. I can get everything home-delivered, from groceries and cigarettes to alcohol and even ready-made cocktails!

#4. No electricity blackouts or water shortages, like ever, along with seamless broadband service and mobile 4G data. Uber and Ola also arrive in less than 2 mins any time of the day.

#5. We also get soft water, unlike most of my friends' places across Pune where the water is hard. You know what hard water does to your hair and skin right?

#6. The crowd moving around my apartment are always awesome, cool and classy, even the beggars wear Gucci and stuff :P

#7. It takes just 10 minutes for me to walk to office and back home.

#8. No Temples, Mosques, Churches or other places of worship nearby, so there are no bhajan or azaan sound you can hear throughout the day. I know some of you may think that is not a politically correct thing to say, but I'm just being honest here. My apologies if you are offended.

#9. Have I not mentioned about the number of awesome eatery joints and roadside snack vendors below and around my apartment? It's not just the number of different eateries, they also keep changing! I have seen at least 20-30 different joints setting up and being replaced with a new joint during these past 5 years itself. And I am only talking about the shops below my apartment.

#10. "This is KP, mannn!" :D

I mean, living in KP is like living in paradise, and that's what some of my friends in Pune assume I am doing, living the Mizohican dream.

But actually, it is not always happy happy for me. I have never told anyone this, so I'm just going to mention it here in my last post for the first time -> Living in KP can get very lonely for a person like me.

I have a lot of awesome Mizo friends here in KP. They all live like 5-10 minutes walking distance from my place. But the thing is, except for a few students, around 95% of Mizos living in KP work in the Service industry. They're all here working their asses off at various hotels, day spas, shops, parlours, restaurants, pubs etc. And so, the two days that I am free from office - Saturday and Sunday, are the two busiest days for them instead. Hence there's nobody to hang out with in KP during the weekends, and so I would just stay at home alone, watching yet another TV series marathon. I even started hating the weekends because of this.

Yeah, like I said, loneliness can be deafening.

Of course I have a lot of other wonderful friends outside KP too, but then again, there's the distance, and another thing is, most of my age-group friends in Pune are all married, with many of them having kids and stuff. You understand what I'm saying. We still chill out together and have lots of fun, but you can never chill out like bachelors again because of so many commitments. But nevertheless, I will miss each and every one of them.

There are so many things I would like to mention in this last post, but I think I have already said most of them in my past blog updates. The shortest goodbyes are the sweetest.

And so, as I close yet another chapter of my life, I thank all my friends here in Pune who have made me enjoy living here so much. Thank you all for so many wonderful memories. I will miss all of you dearly, and hope that one day, our paths will cross again. I wish you all the very best, take care everyone. God bless you all.

Mizoram, here I come home, with my entire life's belongings. I've been staying outside the state since class 3, so be good to me Mizoram, be nice and gentle to me.

Signing off for the last time from Pune, Mizohican out.

Chp 791. One Last Ride to Lonavala

The first time I went to Tiger Point / Lion Point at Lonavala was two years ago when dear Esther dragged me out of my house and tried to make me see the finer side of Pune instead of just staying at home the whole day watching TV shows [Read: A Trip to Lion's Point].

Since then, I have been there many times again, mostly as fifth wheel or seventh wheel with friends, and usually drunk :D

Recently, my dear friend Sanga who had also retired from the Corporate Life earlier this year and went back to Mizoram for good, recently came down to Pune again, and we had our one last ride to Lonavala.

On the day that we were supposed to leave, we all woke up early at our respective houses. We went in two cars. Gary, Sanga, Christina and Tuli in one car, and Pazhiio, John and me in the other car.

We were all so pumped up that after Pazhiio and John picked me up from Koregaon Park and drove for around 30 minutes, we ended up back at Koregaon Park again! :D Yeah, I knew something was wrong when we passed Khadki Martyr Cemetery because it wasn't on the way, lolz.

So eventually we all switched on our GPS, took a U-turn and found the right route, lolz. Great fun. Picked up the good stuff on the way and we did the customary pose.

Ahhh finally the Expressway.

We took a brief pit-stop after the Toll gate.

McDees. Enough to keep our engines running.

And with that, we were off on our way again.

Finally, reached Tiger Point.

Cute wild monkeys everywhere, eating anything the tourists were feeding them.

Tuli and Christina having fun.

Lewlz. Some people never grow up.

After that, we decided to take our drive further to explore some of the other places around Tiger Point.

We found a perfect spot.

My awesome OnePlus 6 camera :)

After loitering around for some time, we decided to even go further.

Beautiful. Soon we reached Aamby Valley premises.

The entrance to the much exclusive Aamby Valley City.

For those of you who don't know, Aamby Valley is a private gated community for the uber rich folks in Maharashtra. So random tourists like us cannot just enter the place. They even have their own private airfield and hangars for all the private jets landing there.

For a private community boasting of billionaires and millionaires, it sure is funny to see nobody fixing the broken sign on top of the building :P

On our way back.

View from the car in front of us.

View of the car in front of us :P

We found another virgin spot on our way back. The place had a breathtaking view.

Off to take more pics.

Pazhiio in action. Now that is dedication when it comes to taking a pic! :D

We looked like we were about to drop our meanest album and this was the album cover :D

Christina posing.

Tuli also wanted to take pics at the same place :D Ah, the struggle you go through just to have a high like count on your Instagram update. :P

Pazhiio resting from all the yoga pose photography :D

Again, my awesome OnePlus 6 photography :P

We stopped by a pottery barn on the way back home and Sanga bought a couple of stuff to take back to Mizoram.

Sunset over Pawana dam.

And finally on our way back on the Expressway.

Such a fun time indeed, and is truly memorable to me as this was our last ride there together. I will miss all this a lot, and will always remember these awesome places once I head back home.