Chp 728. Sisters' visit!

Last month, my dear sisters Mazami and Dinpuii visited me for the weekend, and it was an extremely memorable moment. As I had been so busy with work, I did not have the time to go home to Mizoram since my previous vacation last year.

I do have a lot of leaves left (every year I waste around 10-15 days of leaves that could not be carried over), but the problem with my situation is that, I can take a lot of 1-week leaves throughout the year, but taking even one 2-weeks leave is difficult, as the whole project gets affected. And there really is not much point going to Mizoram for just a week, especially when 2-3 days are spent on travelling alone.

And so my considerate sisters flew to Pune from Mizoram and Malaysia to spend some good sibling quality time with their one and only golden brother. :D

My sister Dinpuii from Mizoram was the first to land in Pune, and I went and picked her up from the airport. Two hours later, I went and picked up my sister Mazami and her husband Nick from the airport again. One of the perks of living in Koregaon Park is that the airport is just 15 minutes away.

Dinpuii got for me a packet of dried bamboo shoots from Mizoram…

While Mazami got for me awesome packaged food products from Malaysia which we don't get here in India…

Including an authentic Arsenal 2018-19 jersey! :)

We had a ball that night, catching up with our lives and drinking merry. My brother-in-law Nick slept on the bed while the three of us slept on the mattresses on the floor. It was just like old times back in the 80's when we would all sleep together in one room. Such memories.

The next day, it was time to stock up for their stay duration :)

Day 1. Early morning selfies at my apartment…

I took them to Effingut Brewerkz for brunch once we had all freshened up, and it is my favorite microbrewery because it is not just 10 minutes walking distance from my apartment but they also have a large range of craft beers at affordable rate. We tried out all their free samples before deciding which one to have each…

Later, we moved on to starters and other cocktails. The starters were good, as we moved from classic house Fries to Jalapeño cheese poppers and Nachos with Salsa baked beans.

My usual Bloody Mary :)

The four of us enjoying…

For the main course, we tried out their cheesy Pasta Alfredo…

Skewered Lamb sheekh kebab spiced with fresh herbs. Yumm.

My sisters ordered light though… Tequila Lime and Thyme Prawns.

Oriental style BBQ Chicken Wings served with Iceberg lettuce…

As for me, for my main course, I went for the Pork Ribs, and it was absolutely dillu, as it was slowly cooked in honey glaze.

Once we were done with the awesome brunch, I took them for a short promenade across KP lane 6 and lane 5. We stopped at Nature's Basket to buy some stuff to cook at home. Bought a couple of good wine and IPA beer too.

On our way back home, I suggested that we stop at another favorite place of mine - Indigo Delicatessen. Hehe our family never says no to food and drinks :D

And so there we were, "chain-eating". Indigo had an excellent 2+1 offer on Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc, so we went for that immediately :)

We also had a few more light snacks :D

One more group photo of us at Indigo Delicatessen.

We went home and had a nice afternoon siesta. For dinner, I just had simple fried rice, with Fermented Soyabeans and Roasted Mizo Chillies.

We watched a couple of TV shows that night, including the first season of "Bodyguard" starring Richard Madden (Robb Stark of GoT and Cosimo of Medici) and it was bloody awesome.

Day 2. We started the day with home cooked breakfast – Mushroom Ham Omelette with Cheese Toast. It took away some of the hangover…

After that, we were off to Phoenix Mall.

Yeah this was the non glamorous part of their visit. My sisters shopped and shopped and shopped. I just tagged along, following them like a well trained chimpanzee. They bought this and that and this and that, and spent hours at a boutique without buying anything, or spent a few minutes at another place while buying in bulk. Ahhh the travesty.

Finally I did break away from their group and treated myself to a nice cup of Cold Coffee…

Peace… :)

Later, once we were all done shopping, we finally headed to The Irish House on the second floor and relaxed to a few dwinks. After a pitcher of Bira IPA, I switched to a Twisted Old Fashioned. "Twisted" because they used bourbon instead of whisky, and it was good.

After that, it was my usual Bloody Mary again :)

Group pic after a fruitful shopping session.

And then it was back to experimenting with different food from their menu… we tried out stuff like the Jalapeño corn and cheese fritters…

House onion rings…

Angry Bird Fry…

Minced meat and egg fries….

Grilled fish in Portofino sauce. This sauce was sooooo awesome!!!

And of course, their signature Irish Fish and Chips. Yummmm.

We went straight home after that eventful day.

Back at home, we relaxed a bit and then got ready for dinner.

I took them to this awesome place which is right below my apartment - Arthur's Theme.

My sisters accused me of being lazy because whenever my mom and other relatives visited me, I always take them to this place for dinner since it is in the same building as my apartment. But seriously, no, I would have taken them here even if it is miles away because the food is really really good.

I started the night with my usual Bloody Mary :)

After that I switched to a Mojito and Minestrone soup for starters.

We also had a pitcher of Sangria, which served four glasses exactly.

Cheers!

Our family pic.

With my dear sister Dinpuii.

After that, it was time to eat. Yeahhh.

The "Baldred" - Strips of carabeef tenderloin sautéed in garlic butter with cherry tomatoes and gherkins.

The "Danielle" - Grilled steak tossed in herbs, served with an exclusive pepper sauce and accompanied with roast potatoes.

The "Konrad I" - Chunk of Salmon cooked in Cajun with mustard paste and cheese finished off in an oven, served with seamed vegetables.

The "Eugine" - Grilled Prawns tossed with lettuce and sauce Napolitaine.

The "Lady Jennifer" - Char grilled butterfly Prawns topped with lemon butter sauce and served with mashed potatoes.

Like I said, I love the place not because it is below my apartment but because of the awesome food. Now you know :)

It took us 5 minutes to get back to my apartment upstairs and we ended the night with a couple of Bira cans.

Day 3. On the third day, we had very light homecooked breakfast because there was one thing we had been planning to do for a long time - to go to "Mineority by Saby" and drink their "Three Drunk Sisters" cocktail! :D

Ever since I blogged about this unique drink during my visit to this fine-dining restobar, my sisters made it a point to try it out one day. And finally that day had arrived. It's just a bit sad that my eldest sister Lapuii wasn't there, otherwise it would have been the perfect "Three Drunk Sisters".

And so there we were at Mineority. We immediately ordered four glasses of "Three Drunk Sisters" :D

Group pic.

The Grilled Chicken bucket was scrumptious too.

They also served us complimentary Bhel with Tamarind sauce. It reminded us so much of our Calcutta hostel days (my sisters were in La Martiniere while I was in St. Thomas).

Their bar menu was truly impressive…

We decided to try them all, lolzzzz….

The "Chotanagpur Toddi" - Gold Rum, Orange liqueur, fresh sweet lime juice, Palm jaggery, Apple juice, Tamarind and Beer foam to top-up.

The "Bend It Like Baichung" - Gin, White wine, Red wine, Old Monk rum and Palm jaggery shaken inside a football :D

The "Rat-Hole Mines" - Vodka, Tamarind, Red Chilli, Lemonade, Mint and Black salt rim, with the "Orange Till I Die" - Vodka with freshly muddled Kinnow orange, Blood orange syrup and fresh Mint.

For food, we ordered a few more starters, like the "Kolkata Club Paneer".

Our main course consisted of "Dehati Mutton Curry" with Buttered Kasundi sticky rice…

"Shillong Evergreen Chicken", again accompanied by mouth-watering Kasundi rice…

And "Chingri Malai Curry". So goooooddd…

We ended out fantabulous experience at Mineority with two desserts - "Cinnamon Churros in Toffee Sauce" and "Miner's Devil Cake".

We ate and drank so much that even the Chef came out to greet us :D

Once we were done, we headed out to Nitesh Hub because my sister Mazami wanted these special soaps that were apparently available only at this shop called "Nyassa Store". We roamed around the entire mall but couldn't find the shop, lolz, we even called their phone number from Google search but it wasn't active.

And so we finally headed home after that.

In the night, my sisters' two friends from their La Martiniere days came over to my apartment. Nobo and Patricia.

We all went out for dinner to "Sizzling China", which is again just walking distance from my house.

IMHO they have the best LIT in KP.

We ended up having at least 20 LITs that night, lolz. We also had some food… :D

And with that, the third day ended.

Day 4. This was detox day. Since they all had to go back that following night, we decided not to go out anywhere and instead relax at home and detox.

For brunch I ordered various South Indian dishes from "Madras Café".

And for early dinner, I ordered various authentic Bengali dishes from "Radhika".

We chilled at home and watched movies and other TV shows. Finally, I went and dropped Mazami and Nick at the airport around 10 PM and then I went and dropped Dinpuii again around 2 AM.

It was sad seeing them all leave, but at the same time I was really glad they visited me. It really refreshed me at work too, and looking forward to their visit again. To summarize my sisters' visit, it was a lot of sibling bonding time, along with lots of eating and more eating, lolz. Fun time indeed.

Cheers.

Chp 727. Free meal from Swiggy

How to get a free meal from Swiggy? I just got one the other day! :D

So here's what happened. Remember I wrote about working in a large Corporate Business Center, where we share the same office building with 7 other private companies?

There are two public cafeterias in our office building, and the food is really good too, and cheap (60 bucks for a chicken thali), but most of the time I order my lunch from Zomato or Swiggy and have them in the private confines of our office pantry room because being an introvert, I feel much more relaxed eating alone than in the midst of strangers from the other 7 companies.

In fact, I was such a regular Zomato customer that when I blogged about switching from Zomato to Swiggy, Zomato immediately responded and even paid me a surprise visit at work and gifted me awesome freebies and hampers! They assured me that my problem of delivery boys refusing to come up to our office floor to deliver the food would be solved soon.

Well, that was a year ago. Today, sadly, things are still pretty much the same. When we order from office, on an average, the number of Zomato delivery boys who do not come up to our office floor is around 70-80%, whereas that number for Swiggy would be around 20-30%. Having to go all the way down to the ground floor (that too during lunch rush hour when all the elevators are packed) and then walking all the way outside to the main gate to collect our food and then going back to our office floor can be a very unpleasant experience.

The two reasons why these delivery boys don't come up to our office floor is because either they (claim that they) don't have an ID, which is mandatory to enter our office complex, or that they (claim that they) don't have a helmet, as one must wear a helmet to enter inside the gate. This is our office building's CSR activity to promote safe driving among the employees and visitors.

Now most of the time, I'm sure these deliver boys have those required items (Zomato and Swiggy had both assured me that all their delivery boys have authentic ID cards). One of my colleagues even saw a delivery boy hiding his helmet as she went outside the gate to collect her food. In most cases, the delivery boys were just too damn lazy to come upstairs. And of course we cannot shout at them or order them to come up because YOU DO NOT mess with anybody delivering your food. Ever. Unless you want extra ingredients in your food, if you know what I mean.

So, yeah, that is why many of us prefer Swiggy to Zomato because they have a higher rate of making doorstep delivery.

Now the only time both Zomato and Swiggy cannot come upstairs is when there is a construction going on around our office building premises. This happens like once or twice a month when the visitors' parking space is occupied with raw materials. On such occasions, it is not Swiggy or Zomato delivery boy's fault since there is no space for them to park inside and they cannot just leave their bikes on the road. Hence, we have to go down to collect our order.

So last week, after placing a lunch order through Swiggy, I was in the middle of a conference call with our European team, when suddenly my phone rang. It was the Swiggy delivery guy.

"Sir, there's no place to park the bike inside, you'll have to come downstairs," he said.

Unwillingly, I dragged myself out from the conference call and went down to collect my food. There were around 4-5 other Swiggy delivery boys on their bikes outside the gate, all waiting for people from our office building to collect their lunch orders.

Being such a regular, I knew most of them. They waved at me and smiled. I responded accordingly. And then one delivery boy opened his bag and gave me my lunch packet. I said thank you and smiled, giving him the usual 10 rupees tip, after which he turned around and drove off to his next destination.

I too headed back upstairs, and after a few minutes I re-joined my ongoing conference call.

And then my phone rang again.

I hesitantly answered.

"Sir, I am still waiting, I have many other deliveries to make!" the voice said urgently.

I was like, WTF, I already came down and took my order. And he was like, no sir, I still have your order with me. And so I opened up my parcel. It wasn't what I had ordered! Lolzzzz, I had taken somebody else's order!

I went downstairs again, carrying my wrong order. I met the Swiggy guy and told him what happened. He laughed his ass out as he handed me my actual order. He said that poor guy was definitely going to get penalized. I asked him for that delivery guy's number, he said he obviously had no idea who that person was. And I couldn't call him because I only had MY delivery guy's number. And that delivery guy would have HIS customer's number, not mine.

I asked the security guards at the gate if anybody came down looking for an order and they told me "a sir" was there and he was angrily speaking on the phone and then went upstairs again. I asked them if they knew which company he worked for and they said no.

I asked my delivery guy if he could take the food back to the restaurant but there was no bill attached so we didn't know where it was from. Plus he said he had other orders to deliver. I asked him if I should leave the order with the security guard at the gate in case that other delivery guy returns and he told me the chance of that happening is very unlikely as everybody had a lot of orders to deliver.

"Just enjoy the free food", he told me and laughed once more as he drove off.

As I went back to my office floor, I started piecing together the series of unfortunate events that occurred. The first Swiggy guy probably called his customer but he took a long time to come down (like I said, afternoon lunch rush hour at the elevators) whereas I was really lucky to get a free space at the lift immediately without waiting. My Swiggy guy probably didn't expect me to reach down so quickly, so everybody assumed I was the first guy's customer. And since I am such a regular, they don't usually ask for my name. That was the main cause of this whole screw-up.

I even tried to reach Swiggy helpline via their app, but you know how unfriendly their app help section is. Unlike Zomato where you can chat directly with an executive, at Swiggy you have this whole bunch of answers to various questions, and after selecting the appropriate query can you only chat with a helpline executive if you are still not satisfied with the answer, and unfortunately "I have taken somebody else's order by mistake" was not on that list of queries. It wasn't "wrong items delivered" either since I did receive my correct order.

Screw it, I said, I was not going to go through so much extra trouble just because their app is not user-friendly enough. Later that night, I had the free food for dinner :D

So, to the dude working at Sky One who ordered an amazing Puri bhaji meal with other items on 18th September 2018, I owe you one. If you ever come across this blog post, reach out to me, Kima, working on the 7th floor. Your next Puri bhaji meal is on me.

Cheerios for now.

Chp 726. Emptiness

And just like that

you were gone, disappeared from my life.

You were the closest

I ever had to a soulmate, a partner, a wife.




My nights and days

you filled them with overwhelming satisfaction.

Now that you're gone,

I no longer have interests in social interaction.




Without you here

it is difficult to understand what life means.

But this is goodbye,

I'll miss you much, my fermented soybeans.


  -


*An ode to my empty bekang box*


  

Chp 725. Lushai Hills Headhunters!

So it was just another boring, lonely weekend for me at my apartment, just having my usual bachelor breakfast and bachelor lunch alone. Those of you who follow my food updates on Facebook will know what I'm talking about.

I was just casually browsing through my Facebook timeline, "liking" the profile pic updates of beautiful women from my friend list, hoping that I would one day have the courage to speak to them and that they would become the grandmother of my grandkids…

Suddenly I came across this awesome T-shirt photo posted by Lafikea. The T-shirt had a beautiful design, with the depiction of a Mizo pasaltha on it and the words "Lushai Hills Headhunters" written around the image. Oh man, it was sooo good. I fell in love with the T-shirt immediately and I asked Lafikea if it was possible for me to purchase the T-shirt online.

Lafikea asked me for my mailing address, and within a few days he mailed me the T-shirt, free of cost!

I was excited as hell when I received the T-shirt. As soon as I wore it, my boring single life suddenly transformed! I was no longer surrounded by food and a melancholic sense of loneliness. Instead, I was swarmed by these beautiful chicks who suddenly appeared out of nowhere! Whoahhh!

Where did they all come from? The deal was real! This headhunter T-shirt really did hunted heads well! From then on, everywhere I went, I was like…

Everybody wanted to take a picture of this awesome T-shirt!

Even at home, girls found the T-shirt irresistible. I was having a really difficult time fighting off all the beautiful ladies trying to remove my shirt.

Okay fiiineee, I am starting to make this blog post sound a lot like an AXE advertisement :D But truth be told, I am indeed promoting this beautiful shirt because I received it for free from Lafikea. And for that, I am advertising it here on my blog. Another perk of being a blogger I guess.

The T-shirt is really good, and I love the fact that it mentioned Lushai Hills. For those of you who may not know this, I was born in the Union Territory of Mizoram before it became a State, and before 1972, we were known as the Lushai Hills district of Assam.

The "headhunter" part of the T-shirt also really gets to me as we were once fierce headhunting warrior tribes. It was a tradition to collect the heads of slain enemies, and men who collected the most number of heads had the best chance of finding a suitable wife. Imagine how a matrimonial ad back then would have been like. "Groom wanted. Respectable warrior family looking for a groom for their beautiful virgin daughter. Must be at least 5'6, with not less than 20 heads collected across different raids." :D

By the way, if one Mizo headhunter wanted to borrow one of the heads his warrior mate had chopped off, does he ask, "Gimme head"? Lolz, just kidding :P On a serious note though, our headhunting tradition had been the interest of many notable historians and sociologists across the globe, because apparently, most headhunting tribes also practiced cannibalism, whereas we were one of the few exceptions who collected heads just as a trophy and to prove one's manliness. We also believed collecting heads was one of the ways to enter Pialrâl, our ultimate Heaven, pretty much like Valhalla in Norse mythology.

Hence both the Lushai Hills and Headhunter aspects of the T-shirt are a big part of our Mizo heritage, and I am so damn proud to wear it all across Pune.

Lafikea's shop is called Radical Inborn, and he runs the place with his designer-partner who is a Drawizart artist. They initially started as a customized bike project back in 2014, and from then on, they had been creating a line of really cool and creative T-shirts and sweatshirts along with customized bike parts.

You can have a look at their awesome line of clothing on their website - radicalinborn.com and even make an online purchase from there (if you are located at a serviceable area).  Or if you're in Mizoram, just go take a walk to Electric veng where their shop is located and you can also order a customized shirt of your desire.

So give a big shout out to Lafikea and Radical Inborn.

The T-shirt that he gifted me costs just ₹ 700, which is a very decent price for such an amazing bundle of awesomeness. It is 100% cotton and bio-washed for soft hand feel.

Trust me, everywhere I went, beautiful women wanted to take a picture with it :)

Seriously though, a big thanks to all my "naus" and nieces for willing to pose for a picture with the shirt and playing along. So this is it for now. I'll be back after hunting a few more heads. :P

Have a great weekend everyone. Cheers.

Chp 724. AMSC membership 2018-19

Yesterday I received my annual AMSC (Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club) membership goodies for the year 2018-19. Like every year, it was filled with the best stuff ever. Two years ago, I got these awesome Arsenal merchandise. Last year, I didn't get the time to post it on my blog because I was busy attending my niece's wedding in Goa and Mysore, but I did get to post a live video of me unboxing the parcel.

This year, what made my AMSC parcel even more precious was, renowned Mizo celebrity and the current Secretary of Mizoram Football Association Tetea Hmar came over to my apartment last night and he was the first person to pose with the goodies! :D

Tetea Hmar was completely overwhelmed by the stuff that AMSC had sent me, and when I told him AMSC is an officially recognized club by Arsenal FC and members can directly buy Home match tickets (in London), he decided to switch his fan loyalty from ManUtd to Arsenal right there itself. :D

This is the 10th year since AMSC was created, and I am proud to have been a premium member for 7 of those 10 years, even though I have now moved to Pune from Mumbai. The only thing I dearly miss are the weekly match screenings in Mumbai where paid members get free entry and % discount on drinks. Cheering for Arsenal along with other Arsenal fans on a giant screen inside a pub booked exclusively for AMSC was definitely the best way to spend the evening.

Like every year, the AMSC goodies this year too included the usual annual calendar, with Arsenal match dates and opponents clearly mentioned on all the months.

The next item was an Arsène Wenger signature neck-tie with the abbreviation "AW", as a tribute to what he had done for the club. Even though he may have a lot of haters, nobody can deny his record and passion for the club. You will be missed, Le Professeur. Salut.

This next item is my favorite because plastic bags had been recently banned in India, so this jute bag with an official AMSC logo will serve a good purpose. :)

And then there were three cute stickers including that of the famous Arsenal clock at Highbury, which had been moved to Emirates Stadium to honor the glory days of Highbury.

And here is my new AMSC membership card for this year, along with two previous membership cards. I thought I'll censor out my membership ID number but then again, I realized people will not be able to do much harm with it since I haven't linked it with my Aadhaar card, so… :P

Overall, this had been a great year and much thanks to AMSC for all the goodies. This year Arsenal is going to win the League, so here is to every great match. Wooohoooo! :)

COYG, COYG!