Chp 759. A Very Bed Experience!

It has been more than 6 months now since I've been sleeping every night on my bed with my legs up in the air. :D :P

Ok so I'm sure many of us had one of those really bad online shopping experiences, right? The shoes came in the wrong size or the dress came in the wrong colour or the vibrator came without the charger etc right? Well, I had the mother lode of all bad experiences.

On November last year, since it was Diwali, there were a lot of offers and discounts everywhere. I somehow decided that it was high time I have my own bed, instead of using the one my landlord had provided me. It was kinda like being independent, you know.

Plus, it would be a whole new experience if I can go up to a girl at a bar and tell her, "Hey sweetie, wanna come back to my place? I have my own bed, you know. Not the landlord's, mine. And maybe one day when you buy your own bed, you can keep it next to mine and you sleep on yours and I'll sleep on mine and we can look at each other as we both fall off to sleep."

I don't know if that pick-up line works or not but my dear friend Jacqueline of Ramhlun assured me that girls find that kinda intimacy hot :)

So coming back to my worst online shopping experience ever. I decided to buy my own bed for the first time. The offer on Flipkart looked really good!

It was around 10K after discount, which was not bad (I ended up learning a lot about the differences between Particle wood, MDF and Plywood bed). I immediately bought a Spring mattress to go with the bed, throwing in another 10K after around 70% discount (I also ended up learning a lot about the difference between Pocket Spring and Bonnell Spring mattresses).

The mattress was delivered within 1 day! It was a Saturday morning and I was at home. But the packaging was so huge that it didn't fit inside my apartment lift, and so I helped the two scrawny Flipkart delivery guys carry it slowly, step by step up the narrow winding staircase to my apartment on the 4th floor. Daymm that was tiring indeed.

The bed didn't arrive during the rest of the weekend though.

And then on Monday, when I was in office, I received a call that my bed was on its way.

So here's the thing you gotta know about me. I live alone. I don't have a girlfriend or a roommate or a pet, it is just me and me all alone at my apartment. I love my privacy, but there are times when I have to pay for my privacy, such as moments like this when I had to rush home from office in the middle of the day to receive the delivery.

I reached home and the delivery guys were there. Yayyy my bed had finally arrived. Surprisingly, the packaging was much smaller than the mattress and we managed to fit it inside my lift. Once delivered, they told me that the installation guys would come soon to construct the bed. Aaargh. And so I went back to office.

The next day, I received a call that the installation guys were there. I rushed back from office again. I greeted their smiling faces and we went up to my apartment. They opened the package. They inspected each part and realized the main part was broken!

After a long discussion with them and phone calls to their superiors including Flipkart helpline, they packed the stuff again and marked it "For Exchange" and left. I went back to office in a sour mood.

Two days later I received a call that the inspection guy was there. He wasn't even there to pick up the bed, he was just there to merely make sure the bed was properly packed and the reason for return was properly filled. I went back to office after he left.

And then a day later, the pick-up guys for the exchange items finally arrived and so I left office again in the middle of an important meeting and they came and picked up the bed packaging and left.

No words from Flipkart during that weekend.

And then the next week, while I was in a Call conference, I got a call from Flipkart telling me that the replacement bed was on its way. My boss said go, get done with it, and so I went home again. Same as earlier, they easily transported the package up to my apartment and left. I went back to office.

Two days later, I got a call from the installation guys again and I went back from office to my apartment. We smiled at each other as if we had been best friends for a long time. "Hope nothing is broken this time," they said with a laugh. I laughed back uneasily. They opened the package and inspected all the pieces carefully, and THANK GOD, none of them were broken. BUT. Fucking fuck. None of the screws and instructions were included!!!

I had a loooong, furious, expletive ridden call with Flipkart helpline. They told me to tell the installation guys to pack it "for exchange" again and I was like, why can't you just fucking send the missing screws and instruction manual and be done with it, but they were like, that's not protocol, the whole thing needed to be replaced, and finally I was like, fuck your protocol, and instead of again putting it "for exchange", I cancelled the entire order because I was in no mood to keep coming back and forth from office. The installation guys really understood my frustration. Flipkart didn't.

But I did have to go from office to home in the middle of the day twice, once for the inspection guy to verify the package and the second time for the pick-up guys to collect the package. The only thing that made me feel good was uninstalling Flipkart app from my phone. I had bought so many items from Flipkart but the way I was treated was downright appalling and it satisfied me to some extent that I would never be using the bloody app again.

Eight freaking times they made me go home from office, all for nothing.

At least my new mattress was awesome. I slept on the floor for a couple of weeks until my anger finally cooled down.

My friend Nghaka told me that he had just purchased a new bed from Quickr and it was cheap and the quality was good. I browsed on Quickr and finally found the exact bed I wanted, one without a storage compartment below (trust me, 90% of the double beds out there are with storage). I prefer a bed without storage because it was easier to clean beneath the bed, and I had no need for the storage space.

The Quickr order was soooo convenient compared to the bloody Flipkart order. They came within one day to deliver, and they themselves constructed the bed right there in my bedroom!

The only downside was that my new mattress was bigger than the bed!!!!

Ah you see, there lies the problem. Apparently, a "Queen Size" bed is NOT a standard size! There are apparently different sizes of Queen Size within its standard size range, or at least that's what I've been told.

Anyway, after all the trouble I went through with Flipkart, I had absolutely no energy to argue with Quickr or ask for a replacement or give my mattress for size adjustment. And so, till today, I sleep with my leg higher than the rest of my body, lolz. At least my leg is having a good blood circulation at night :P

What a bed experience indeed.

Chp 758. Pune Mizo Mothers Dinner

This is a post for food lovers :)

Earlier this year, the Pune Mizo mother's group of our PMCF church had a potluck dinner. For those who are unaware, a potluck gathering is where every participant brings along one or two dishes to contribute. It was a strictly mother's only event, and even the husbands were not allowed to participate. I was invited :D

And so this was how it happened.

My lonely single bachelorhood had grown to such an alarming rate that even the mother's group was concerned about me. "No bleeding heart should beat alone", that was the motto of our Pune Mizo mother's group (even they may not be aware of their motto :P ). So in the hope that my rusty frail heart might find hope again, they invited me and gave me advice and encouragement about relationships.

Left to right: Pi Remruati, Pi Carol Mazuali, Pi Teresa, Pi Baby Sainguri, Pi Athari, Pu Lonely heart, Pi RSPy, Pi Mateteii, Pi Rosy, Pi Zodini and Pi Madiki.

I loveee how Pi Rosy's son is looking at me in the above pic! :D

As Khalil Gibran once wrote, "Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls." Well, I am here standing and waiting by the sea, all by my lonely self, with the full support of our Pune Mother's group acting as the lighthouse that will guide the boat towards me… don't let me drown… :)

The mother's group had a prayer meet, which was followed by them learning a song they were going to perform at Church later.

I on the other hand was in the other room babysitting all their children. I managed to teach some of their kids Shakespeare and Quantum Physics, so it was a productive night :P

Once the mothers were all satisfied with their song rehearsal, it was finally time to eat! Here are some of the lovely dishes they brought to the potluck dinner that night. Thanks to Teresa and Zodini for giving me details about the dish and the names of the "cooker". All the moms were great cookers. But that night Teresa was under a lot of pressure, so she was a pressure cooker. :P

Yummy Pork boiled with Mustard leaves by the host Pi Baby Sainguri.

Drumstick buhchiar! The drumstick leaves were brought by Pi Madiki, and Pi Teresa turned it into bai buhchiar (kedgeree) at the venue. St. Teresa, the Patron Saint of Bai :D

Nice Mizo style Dal by Pi Baby Sainguri.

Delicious Beef fry by Pi Madiki, though I suspect her husband might have a role in cooking this :D :P

Chicken with skin buhchiar by Pi Teresa. By the way, is it correct to translate buhchiar in English as "Kedgeree" or are "Broth" or "Stew" closer to it?

Top: Chicken sausage by Pi Mateteii. Methi tauh by Pi Remruati. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, "Tauh" is a method of preparation by mixing crushed peanuts, garlic and chillies.

Bottom: Nutrela bawl by Pi Carol Mazuali. Bawl is another indigenous method of preparation where ingredients like Zawngtah (Parkia speciose aka stinky beans) along with Soda, Salt, Ajinomoto and Saum (fermented pork fat, Teresa said the English word for Saum is Saums) are added to the mix.

Clockwise from top: Tomato, Capsicum and Dhania mix fry and Mula salad along with Changkha (Bitter gourd boiled) with Bastenga by Pi Zodini. Hmarcha muh (grinded roasted chillies with some pork fat) by Pi Teresa. Chicken fry by Pi Athari.

Apart from all the delicious dishes above, there was also Alu Chops prepared by Pi RSPy, and grinded Baibing (Alocasia fornicate) prepared by Pi Rosy. However, I somehow missed taking their photos.

So I had to search on google for the images for those two dishes to put on my blog in case Pi RSPy and Pi Rosy feel left out. Here is a picture of Mizo style Alu Chop from Google image search:

[Pic source: Mizo online store MizDen]

And here is a picture of Baibing from Google image search.

[Pic source: Loughborough University]

Yeah that's Professor Baibing Li :D

Anyway, we really enjoyed the awesome dinner. Mothers are the best when it comes to cooking awesome cuisines. We all ate so much that night.

And so that was my memorable escapade with our Pune Mother's Group. They filled my empty stomach with food, and my empty heart with hope. I felt less lonely that night as I reached my single bachelor pad. I even listened to "Nobody knows" by Tony Rich Project only five times before sleeping that night, for a change.

Here's to the awesome support system from our Mizo community. Hope you enjoyed the scrumptious Mizo food. Cheers for now everyone, happy weekend.

Chp 757. Indigo Delicatessen

This is another post dedicated to saying farewell to my "naus" here in KP. Having known them since I moved to Pune, it is indeed sad to see them complete their studies and go back to Mizoram for good.

In my previous post, I talked about my recent experience at Cafe 1730 with Debbie, Remruati and Genevieve. And now with Jacqueline also gone, here is a post dedicated to them at Indigo Delicatessen, one of my favorite joints here in KP.



Since Jacqueline and Genevieve are so into modeling, here is me putting some of their high-resolution pics on my blog. As we all know, photos sent/uploaded on WhatsApp and FB are all compressed to a smaller size. Here at my blog, all you have to do is click on the images to see (and download) the high res quality.



Of course, I started the day with my favorite Bloody Mary.



Indigo Delicatessen makes one of the best Bloody Marys in Pune and you should definitely try it out. This particular drink is not on their menu but the bartender can make it for you if you request it. I am such a regular to this place that the first thing the waiter asks me as I enter the place is if I want a Bloody Mary :D

We ordered a couple of starters. What I like a lot about Indigo Delicatessen is that apart from their usual fixed menu, they also have a daily special menu list that changes every day.



Watermelon, basil and ginger with vodka Lemonade, and a Muskmelon and Kiwi with white rum Mojito. In front is a Tropical berries, triple sec with vodka Martini :)



More dwinks.



Photography time :)



Jacqueline trying to give that "pensive thought" looks.



Triple Halo Genevieve.



Every single pic I took of them was immediately followed by, "Khawi minlo thawn rawh". Ahhh I miss the good old days when the response used to be "Ka lawm e". Kids these days… :)



When you end up taking a lot of pics, sometimes you become good in finding the right props to go with the pic, like this one :D



As the saying goes, nobody is too old to learn new things. I learn a lot from my naus every day, like apparently there is this other app called Instant gram or Instagraham or something like that which is better than Facebook according to them. Genevieve told me that in that app, people upload photos, but unlike Facebook where you pose normally, in that app you have to exaggerate a bit while posing. She showed me one such example:



Ahhh looks interesting, but it also looks like you have to put in a lot of effort. That's probably why I am still not on it.

Anyway, our next order - Salmon steak with mashed potatoes and boiled veggies in tartar sauce arrived and it was really really good.





After a satisfying brunch, we took a walk across the street to my favorite shop in KP, the "Entertainment Store" (in my previous post too, this was where we went to after our lunch). This place is a goldmine for geeks and fans of Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, LOTR, GoT, Asterix and Obelix etc.





I was supposed to buy a Hogwarts related gift for my other friend Jacqueline, so Jacqueline helped me looked for a gift for Jacqueline. Hahaha, Jacqueline is such an uncommon Mizo name, and yet there I was, involved with two of them at the same time :D



Eliminatus apparelus! :D :P :P



And with that, we were done with shopping. I did end up buying a lot of stuff as always. Here's a picture of "Beauty and The Beast, part 1"



And here's "Beauty and The Beast, part 2"



And finally, here's "The Beast part 1 and The Beast part 2"



Aaahhh you see what I just did there? You get it, you get it, huh, huh? :D Yeah… this is why I am still single :(

Anyways, here's what I bought from the store:



Bobblehead baby Groot. Soooo cute :)



Dany's dragons. From left to right: Rhaegal, Drogon, Viserion, and Icy Viserion.



And so, that was a memorable end to a beautiful day spent with my dear naus Jacqueline and Genevieve. Here is me wishing them all the very best in the future and hope they graduate with flying colors. I will miss all the times we spent together and laughter shared, and hope they excel in life! Cheers.