Chp 755. My Birthday :)

Just celebrated my birthday recently :)

This year, it was quite a different birthday celebration for me, mainly because my birthday fell on Easter. I did get a lot of invitations to go out and party on the eve of my birthday, which was a Saturday night.

First, there was the Starians Party hosted by my friend Kiripiri at Playboy where many of my Mizo friends were going. Then there was the party at T.W.T where my friend DJ Rajbeer personally invited me to celebrate my birthday there. And then there was always the option of calling my friends over to my place for some good time KP house partaay.

But the fact that the next day was Easter filled me with guilt to be spending the previous night that way. Don't get me wrong, I am not patronizing or acting like a saint here. I am the last person to be judging anybody when it comes to spirituality. Those who know me well, know what type of a person I am. I'm not the type who regularly attends Church services, nor am I the type who uploads a selfie with the caption "Thank you Lord Jesus".

But there are certain things I hold sacrosanct, where I draw a fine line, and this was one of them. No worldly pleasures at least during Easter.

I eventually did get to celebrate my birthday the next day with my Prayer Cell family and it was awesome :)

And so on the eve of my birthday, I got home from work, tired and completely drained because we had just launched our latest game (will talk more about that in another post).

I did things as usual, cooking my special Mizo bai along with my last 2 remaining pieces of smoked pork that I was saving up for my birthday :) Ate dinner, watched an episode of "The Rookie" (the season finale, so sad), and then I got ready for bed. I wanted to sleep before the clock struck 12. But just was I was tucking myself under my blanket, around 11:50 PM, my door bell rang!

I immediately knew it was related to my upcoming birthday because nobody turns up at my apartment unannounced just like that. My head immediately spun on who it could be, who all knew it was my birthday that night. DJ Rajbeer knew, but he was busy playing at TWT. Nitin and Teresa knew but they were busy throwing a farewell dinner for Krossi. My dear friend and neighbour Rini knew but she also knew I didn't want a party this time.

And so I switched on the lights again and walked drearily towards my door. Taking a deep breath, I opened my door, expecting some of my Mizo friends to be out there yelling "Surprise!"

Instead, there was this delivery man standing outside my door with a large box. He was grinning from one extreme end to the other and then wished me a happy birthday! It was a surprise birthday cake delivery from my sister Dinpuii!

Aaaaahhhh. :)

So sweet of my sister.

So she had the whole piece above specially made and to be delivered at my house right before 12. The "1 brother 2 sisters sumo" is an inside joke she and my other sister Mazami made a long time ago about starting a Sumo service with that name if we ever ended up living in Mizoram together :)

I did cut the cake that night, but since I was alone, I had to arrange the chairs of my dining table to hold my phone which was on timer, as you can see from the very straight-angled focus. Yeah I did a lot of retakes too :D

And so I slept with a very happy and contented thought.

The next day, I woke up with a big smile and wished myself a Happy Birthday :) And then it was time to get ready for Easter service. Since it was my big day, I decided to spurge a bit and ordered breakfast from Starbucks :P

Yeah, still, it was an overpriced piece of sh*t to me. The butter croissant above at 250 bucks was laughable at best. But their Espresso Frappuccino was awesome as always. Yummm.

I quickly got ready for Church and soon Nitin, Teresa and Rini came to pick me up. Off we went to Church.

The PMCF Easter service was wonderful. Miriami, of the Gosi Miriam fame, sang a beautiful solo, even though she started the note wrong :P And then the Praise and Worship team did an excellent job of pumping up the members of our parish, as they led us through joyful songs of Resurrection with complete body action and dance movements. "A tho leeeeh taaa... A tho leeeeeeeh taaa..." It was such an amazing experience.

Our PMCF Chairman Pu Chawnghminga also delivered a very good and reflective Easter sermon, while keeping it brief and concise. He cracked a couple of jokes now and then which was a really good method of getting everybody's attention.

After the Church service, we all headed outside where we were treated to these colourful Easter eggs painted by the children. Yumm.

I met a couple of friends and we all wished each other a Happy Easter. Now here's something funny. I was so used to wishing people who wished me a Happy Easter with "Happy Easter to you too" that eventually when people came to wish me a Happy Birthday, I ended up saying "Happy Birthday to you too" :D :D :D It happened at least 5 times by mistake and we all laughed so much.

Our Amosa Prayer Cell took a group photo together in front of the Church :) Click/Tap on all photos to enlarge them in high resolution.

With my Undri fam and my longest known friends here in Pune, Daniel and Zodini.

As I was taking a pic with my Viman Nagar fam and KP fam, Ahnei sprinted to be in the photo as well :D

He made it :D

With two beautiful sirens :) Lucky me, and at the same time, unlucky me.

We had our Amosa Prayer Cell meet later in the evening as we had to wish farewell to our extremely active members Debbie, Remruati, Genevieve, Jacqueline and Gospeli. They had all just completed their final year college and were about to head back to Mizoram for good. They will be missed so much. I took a couple of their photos as this was the last time they would be coming to this Church again.

Genevieve.

Remruati.

Jacqueline.

Debbie with the rest of the girls.

And with that, our Easter service was over. While Teresa and Baby headed out to buy meat and vegetables for the night's dinner, I headed back home as I had to pick up the Birthday cake my sister sent.

I was really hungry when I reached home so I ordered a 12" Pepperoni Pork Pizza from Greedy Man Pizzeria. Yay, another self treat birthday food :)

Finally, around 7 PM, Rini came over to my place and the two of us left for the Amosa Prayer Cell Meet along with my large Birthday cake. I was still stuffed from the pizza, I should have never eaten that much just before dinner! :D

At Pi Baby's house, Teresa and the others were busy cooking dinner. Beef, Chicken and Mizo delicacies, yummmm!

Soon, we started our Prayer Meet. Remruati was our Chairwoman for the night, while the others like Debbie and Jacqueline also had different responsibilities. Genevieve and Gosie couldn't make it as they already had other plans.

Our PMCF treasurer Pari and PMCF exec member Vincent gave the outgoing trio a very touching tribute and advice while reading prominent passages from the Bible. Rojo, Chhantea and I too stood up and said a few parting words to them, and finally our Amosa Prayer Cell secretary Mahlua gave them the final farewell message.

This was followed by a ceremonial parting gift presented to them by our Amosa Prayer Cell Leader Pi Baby-i.

We closed our meet with a group prayer, where the different topics to pray for were announced beforehand, ranging from sick members of our community to the outgoing members of our Prayer Cell to the terrible Sri Lankan Church and Hotel bombings which took place earlier that day. One of the topics for the group to pray for was me! :D It was a prayer thanking God for my birthday and for my future well being. I felt sooo awkward, but at the same time it felt so good to have the entire group pray for me :)

We ended our Prayer Cell Meet with the Lord's Prayer, and then we took our traditional group photo.

As you can see from above, the first photo of this post is an edited version of this one. Let's see that photo one more time :D

On the occasion of my birthday, I made all of us wear party hats, except for Debbie, Remruati and Jacqueline who are waiting for their exam results. This is my way of wishing them that they will definitely graduate with flying colours when their results come out.

Nitin and Teresa surprised me with a lovely birthday cake, and they made sure the cake had a Game of Thrones theme! Love them so much for this.

Here is a short video of me blowing the candles out :D

After that it was dinner time. The food looked sooooo good.

Unfortunately, I was still full from the Pizza I had earlier, so I couldn't eat anything. Once everybody was done with their dinner, we cut the other cake my sister had sent me and had it as dessert. Everybody was indeed full.

I also went next door and met my dear friends Margaret and Hriata along with their children and distributed my birthday cake to them as well. In spite of all that, there was still a large portion of cake remaining. That's how big the cake my sister ordered for me was.

And so, that was how I spent my birthday. It was such a different feeling. All my life, I don't think I have spent my birthday that spiritually, and I feel like this empty void inside me had been filled (I'm not talking about the Pizza :P). I am truly lucky to have such a loving Prayer Cell family here in Pune and here is to wishing everybody especially our five outgoing members the very best in life.

Take care for now everyone, God Bless.

Chp 754. Kim Curdashian

Last month, I went an entire week from Monday to Friday on just Curd Rice alone!

As most of us know, Curd rice is considered to be one of the healthiest food in the planet, as it is rich in proteins and carbohydrates, heals stomach upset and improves immunity, cools down the body, increases digestive process, reduces stress and anxiety, and so on.

At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but I really needed to detox from my recent Mizoram vacation filled with daily fatty pork consumption and fermented madness. Plus, it was a great opportunity to discover the restaurants around my house and office that serve good Curd Rice. And so, for a week, I became… Kim Curdashian. :D :P

Here is my documentation.



4th March, Monday.
Pocket Friendly Café, Viman Nagar.

Curd Rice (Full): ₹ 140
Egg Bhurji: ₹ 60
Egg Suicide: ₹ 60



My first Curd Rice order on Monday was from this place called "Pocket Friendly Café" and it was really good. I had it with small portions of Naga King Chilli pickle and it was the perfect match. Since this was the first time I was ordering from this restaurant, I didn't know the quantity, so I ordered another snack called "Egg Suicide" just in case the rice portion was small, and because I really love the name "Egg Suicide". However, it turns out to be just French Toast :D



5th March, Tuesday.
Chutney's, DP Road.

Curd Rice: ₹ 110



My second order was from Chutney's. I've ordered Curd Rice from this restaurant a couple of times before too, so I knew it was going to be tasty. I didn't order any other side dish with it, I just made some pork sausages at home, and devoured them with a sprinkle of Roasted Mizo chilli flakes. So good :)



6th March, Wednesday.
Rajput restaurant, Koregaon Park.

Tadka Curd Rice: ₹ 140
Masala Omelette: ₹ 80
Roasted Papad: ₹ 20



My third Curd Rice order was from Rajput, which is just walking distance from my house. Their style of curd rice is a little bit different as it is enriched with oily tempered seasoning of ground spices (tadka). The above picture may look a bit oily, but it is not so once you eat it (as the oil does not seep through the thick curd).



7th March, Thursday.
Chopsticks Spice Malabar, Viman Nagar.

Curd Rice:  ₹ 120
Roasted Papad (2): ₹ 60



On Thursday, I ordered Curd Rice from Chopsticks, which specialized in Kerala cuisines. Even though their tadka version contained a lot of ground spices, it had less oil compared to the Punjabi version from Rajput restaurant. I had the curd rice and roasted papad with some homemade chillies grinded with fermented shrimps and omelette. Yummmm!



8th March, Friday.
Dakshin Bhavan, Kharadi.

Curd Rice: ₹ 80
Gobi Manchurian: ₹ 90
Pongal Rice: ₹ 80



And finally, to end my week-long Curd Rice diet, I ordered from Dakshin Bhavan on Friday. Since it was just 80 bucks, I was a bit skeptical about the quantity and ordered Pongal Rice as well, but boy was I wrong. It was filling, and the taste was awesome. Their curd rice was also quite unique too, as it had pieces of pomegranate in it! The subtle sweetness was countered well with my King Chillies.



And so that was it, my tryst with Curd Rice. At the end of five days, I lost 3 KGs, all the pimples on my face disappeared, and I definitely felt rejuvenated. I think I might even have gained some X-Ray vision power as well. :P

You should follow such a diet regime too, it is really good for the body. Until my next post then, cheers.

Chp 753. Misheard.

You know, it's pretty normal to mishear some words and assume that is the correct one until years later when you realize you have been wrong all along. It can be such a shocking realization, right? Like, as if your whole life had been a lie?

This is especially common with song lyrics.

For a long time I thought the lyrics of Saigon Kick's "I love you" was "I may not have the grace of bread is stale, I may not have the mind of young". After all, those were the days when we used to write down lyrics of our favorite songs by listening to the song repeatedly on our Walkmans. And to rewind some parts, we would remove the tape cassette and wound it mechanically with our Reynolds pen and put it back in to save battery life :D

It was many many years later that I realized the correct lyrics of that song were actually, "I may not have the grace of Fred Astaire, I may not have the mind of Jung". In my defense, I didn't know who Fred Astaire and Jung were, and it made sense to have "the mind of young", though I did wonder why stale bread was considered graceful :P

Likewise, I can go on and on about many of my notoriously misheard lyrics. However, this post isn't about song lyrics.

This post is about my all-time top misheard sentence, and it is regarding a very common Mizo announcement that we hear frequently in Mizoram.

In our Mizo society, whenever somebody from a particular locality passes away, an announcement is made over the community loud speaker to inform everybody in that locality about the deceased. All this time, I have been hearing that announcement wrong!

So, during my recent vacation, my dear friends Jaqueline, Jerusha and Josie came over to my house. As we were just chilling and having fun and joking, I joked about one of our friends dying and mimicked the announcement of her death.

It was then that all three of them suddenly burst out laughing. They even asked me to repeat what I had just said, and when I did, they laughed even louder!

So you see… :D Here's what I ALWAYS thought that Mizo announcement said…

"Hriat tawh chungchang a…"

I just learnt after almost 40 years of existence that the correct announcement was actually, "Chhiat tawh chungchang a…"

For my non-Mizo visitors, "Chhiat tawh chungchang a…" means "Regarding the demise of…" whereas "Hriat tawh chungchang a…" means "Regarding what we've just heard…"

And so that was what I ALWAYS thought the announcement used to say - "Hriat tawh chungchang a…" Because by my logic and understanding, the PA announcer was informing the public with news that he had just heard, hence, hriat tawh chungchang a.

If he hadn't heard that news, then he wouldn't have been able to inform the public naw? And as he informed the public, he had to let them know that it was a news he had just heard, hence the reason why he was informing them in the first place. See, it all makes perfect sense. :)

Without hearing, Watson would have never heard Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone wouldn't have been invented (imagine no cell phones today!!) or… Horton would have never heard a Who! or… The Heights would have never sung "How Do You Talk To An Angel?" because he couldn't have heard her voice in his mind :)

See the importance of hearing!

Hence, "hriat tawh chungchang a" makes total sense now. In fact, I think our YMA should change it to this because of the amount of sense it is making. It is the most sensical thing to say in the history of senses! :D

Plus, "chhiat tawh chungchang a" sounds very… sad and depressing. We know the announcement is going to be about somebody's unfortunate demise. Do we really need to be blunt and direct about it? Instead, saying "hriat tawh chungchang a" sounds more soothing to friends and family of the dearly departed, don't you think?

My friends Jerusha, Jacqueline and Josie said they will start a petition to ask the YMA to change it to "hriat tawh chungchang a", and I wholeheartedly support them. Do they have your support too? Let me know.

Until then, cheers.

Chp 752. Montfort Mizo Reunion

During my recent vacation in Mizoram, I managed to find a free evening to have a reunion with my Mizo classmates of Montfort School, Yercaud, TN.

Ahhh our 20th year reunion!

Time flew that fast! It seemed just like a few years ago when we were all just playing football together at our school playground in Tamil Nadu, hanging out and having fun while trying to experiment on all sort of weird stuff.

That was us. Paul, Tlawmlova, Francis, Azuala, Notea, Byron, Hminga, Rempuia, Stephen and me. The 10 wicked Mizos of our Talofian batch of '99.

Much credit to Hminga (Mama) who planned the whole reunion in the last minute. He reached out to everyone and arranged the reunion venue at his own restaurant, Pemarin, at Millennium Centre.

I happened to forget I was in Mizoram time, so I reached the venue right on the dot, 6:30 sharp, and nobody else was freaking there yet!

Really nice of Hminga to book the private room of his restaurant for our occasion. I broke the rules and brought out my booze since nobody was there yet (kids, don't try this at home).

Just to be clear, this was my own doing and Hminga had no role in this and he wouldn't have appreciated of it. But I just feel like putting this pic up since Mizoram is now currently back to Prohibition. Wicked me :D

As soon as Hminga turned up, he was like, "Get rid of those damn bottles, the source of all evil and perversion, how could you stain the good name of my restaurant!" And so we broke all the bottles right there and no alcohol was consumed that night.

After Hminga, Azuala was the next to reach.

And then came my bro Stephen.

Notea too turned up, surprising everybody since we all assumed he would be more interested in playing his PC games :D

Tlawmlova and Rinpuii soon joined our merry crowd.

And finally, the red carpet for our much much beloved Paul!

And so, that was us that night. Hminga, Azuala, Stephen, Notea, Tlawmlova, Paul and me.

Francis was terribly missed as we talked about all the good times we had with him, may he always rest in peace, see you soon on the other side brother. Rempuia, now known as Edward, was super busy with his glamorous successful career and none of us had actually any idea on how to reach him. It would have been great if he could have been there as well. And then there was Byron, who could have made it for the reunion except he had passed out and didn't see Hminga's messages until the next morning. He regretted so much the next day for not being able to make it for our reunion. Typical By-a :D

The food and service were awesome that night, probably due to the fact that the owner of the restaurant was in our group :D :P

As Hminga mentioned, he had recently acquired a new Italian chef (to be precise, an Indian chef who specializes in Italian cuisines :P ) and even though he was expensive, it was worth the investment because the dishes he made for us that night were absolutely amazing!

Notea brought along his small digicam and the pictures came out really well.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, my dear cousin BTi got married the previous day. Her new home was just a stone's throw away from where our reunion was held, so I briefly left the restaurant and visited her. She and her in-laws were busy unwrapping all the wedding presents.

Like a good relative, I helped them shift some of the stuff up to their bedroom. :D

After that I went back to Pemarin restaurant and re-joined my bros. I don't think they even realized I went missing for a couple of minutes :P :D :D

We talked so much about our wild days back in School, all the crazy things we did, how we used to travel together by train (Coromandel Express) from Kolkata to Chennai and vice-versa, our holiday trips to Bengaluru, the surprise dormitory raids from our wardens, the most embarrassing stuff each of us did, bunking classes and even sneaking out from hostel, smuggling contraband back into hostel and so on. What a memorable night indeed.

One last group pic together before leaving.

We all went to Hminga's house after that, where we could finally drink. :P

We continued trading old stories there as well, while laughing our asses out most of the time.

Before leaving, Daduhi gave us all this really awesome detox concoction made from tamarind and lemon.

And as we all bid each other an emotional goodbye, I walked down to my rendezvous point below Hminga's house, where my other partners-in-crime Esther and Joe Mualchin along with Goosh came to pick me up…

We went to many places that night, but that is for another blog post :P

Even though I had a very tight window frame, it was such a momentous occasion to have a reunion with my bros after 20 long years. So many things had changed between us, but what remained strong even after all these years is the bond that tied us all together. Looking forward to our next reunion again.

Take care everyone, peace out. Cheers!