Chp 409. Woohoo… Four years in Webchutney!

My my… it feels just like yesterday when I wrote my “Just completed three years at Webchutney” post this same time last year!

And with a few senior people (in terms of duration) leaving last year, I am now in the Top 10-15 list of employees who have worked the longest here at Webchutney, India’s leading digital agency. In fact, in our Mumbai office, only five people have worked longer than me. And trust me, in our highly competitive industry, people move on (or asked to move on) from one company to the other very quickly.

I don’t know about people working in other digital ad agencies, but for me, these past four years had been magical. I joined this company in 2008. That year, we were adjudged the number 1 digital agency in India! Then in 2009 we retained our title again, becoming the undisputed number 1 digital agency again.

But we could see our competitors drawing closer and closer. In 2010, we were knocked down to third position! That was indeed a dark time for many of us.

In 2011, the year when I blogged about completing three years here, we pulled up our sockets and worked extra hard, fought for bigger pitches and slept more nights in office trying to meet crazy deadlines that truly mind-fucked us.

Two months ago, the verdict came out, and YES we retained our title and were declared the number 1 digital agency in India for 2011!!!

And yes, party we did! Me being the shameless creative trailblazer, I was present in both the Delhi Office party and the Mumbai Office Party. Hehehe…

This year had been especially awesome for me because, apart from working on many new accounts and coming up with awesome ideas and campaigns (the usual things that we always do), I discovered that I was a bit more versatile than I thought I was :)

For the first time, I worked on a digital + TV production house campaign for one of my clients! It was a totally new experience for me as we’re not a mainline ad agency and the only TV shoot experience I had before was as a copywriter where I was more of a spectator, not getting involved in the scripting or directing. But I believed I could pull this one off, and I had a lot of moral support from my awesome bosses. And so I spent weeks in the brain-storming room and Studio with the clients and production crew, planning for the shots that we required for the digital campaign.

Plus the client was awesome. More than an agency-client relationship, we became friends through the course of the project. And the best part was, the director was very open to my suggestions. Telling the extremely cute model “K” what to do and how to act or move got me high a bit, lolz. The director knew very well that when it comes to TV shots, that is his expertise, but I know how things will pan out and how consumers will react when it comes to the digital world because that is my domain.

I can’t mention the name of the client (or model) yet because the campaign hasn’t officially launch yet. Until then, I’ll leave these photos taken on that day.





















The other big project not related to digital advertising that I’m currently working on for the past two months is mobile gaming! Other than that I cannot say anything else for now as things are not “officially official” yet.

Yup, that’s the reason why I’ve been going up to Delhi and back at least 20 times the past two months.

I am itching to blog about all my experiences, but don’t want to until things are confirmed. Will be in Delhi again next week, so hoping to catch up with all my Delhi friends again then, except, it’s awesomely 27°C here in Mumbai while it’s freaking 43°C in Delhi! Aaaarghhh.

Anyhoo, this is my rant for today about completing four years in this awesome place. Now you see how this is related to my previous post? Yup, these past four years had taken a heavy toll on my health. Will be going for my medical check-up this week. Until then, take care y’all.

Chp 408. I need a doctor…

Not the “I’m about to lose my mind, you’ve been gone for so long, I need a doctor, call me a doctor” Eminem’s type of doctor love, but an actual doctor.

I’ve always considered myself to be the healthy type, even though I do nothing to take care of my body. And I never fall sick. Of course “never” would be an exaggeration, but you catch my drift right? I’m one of those who can eat all the junk food in the world, sleep in front of an AC with wet hair, drink binge almost every single night until I’m piss drunk, finish 2-3 packs of cigarette a day, yet sometimes work in office for three days at a stretch without sleeping, and yet I hardly fall sick.

*Touchwood* yeah I guess I have been really lucky…

I always thought I’m like this because of my “jock” past, regularly playing basketball, football, volleyball, handball, and every other possible sport every day since I was in class 3…

If you’re a gamer, then consider it like you’re sending your hero who is a paladin or mage or whatever, out on a long quest, and you buy as many health packs as you can for him to carry along. As he fights trolls and goblins along the way, his health reduces but you simply keep rejuvenating him with your health packs, until one fine battle, you’ve run out of health packs and so you need to play cautiously now. Otherwise, he’s going to die.

Well, the game of life is pretty much like that. In the gaming world, you can still buy more health packs later but unfortunately that is not possible in real life.

Due to my wayward lifestyle, I guess I too have now run out of health packs.

Four days ago, I got my first “attack”. We were moving a fridge in our office and it was a bit humid as the AC was not working properly. After lifting the fridge, I started becoming dizzy. I sat down immediately. I couldn’t breathe properly, everything was spinning around me and I was sweating profusely. Finally, I recovered, much to the delight of my boss. Later we found out I had either low BP or high BP attack.

I mean, I know many people who have faced panic attacks, but I never imagined it would ever happen to me. Comon, I’m 32 but never actually grew up mentally beyond 18, still loves partying and pushing myself to the limit. And there I was, a warning given to me.

My dear friends keep asking me, “Why are you so afraid to get a full body check-up?” Well, it’s not that I am afraid to go for a check-up. I’m just afraid to know my result. What if… you know? Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.

But now my hands are tied. I consulted with my cousin Dr. BT who prescribed a few medicines to take temporarily.

Then I looked up on Lilavati Hospital’s website, which is one of the most renowned hospitals here in Mumbai. I checked out their check-up packages, and shortlisted two that applied to me. I then sent that list to another cousin, Dr. Mahruaii, who suggested I should go for the first one…



Option 1. BASIC PACKAGE – RS.2500/-

I. LAB TESTS
* CBC
* ESR
* BLOOD GROUP

Screening Test for Diabetes
BLOOD SUGAR FASTING

Screening Tests for Liver Function
SGOT
SGPT

Screening Test for Kidney Function
SERUM CREATININE

Total Cholesterol
Urine - Routine / Microscopy
Stool - Routine / Microscopy
Screening Test for Cardiac Function
ECG

II. IMAGING TEST
* X-RAY CHEST
* VISION CHECK

III. CONSULTATION
* PHYSICIAN

------------------------------------------------------

Option 2. ADAM’S PACKAGE – RS. 4500/-

I. LAB TESTS
* CBC
* ESR

Screening Test for Diabetes
BLOOD SUGAR FASTING

Screening Test for Kidney Function
SERUM CREATININE

Tests for Liver Profile
TOTAL PROTEIN
ALBUMIN
SGOT
SGPT
BILIRUBIN
GGTP
PROTHROMBIN TIME
ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE
ACID PHOSPHATE

Total Cholesterol
Urine - Routine / Microscopy
Stool - Routine / Microscopy
Screening Test for Cardiac Function
ECG

II. IMAGING TESTS
* X-RAY CHEST
* SONOGRAPHY Upper Abdomen

III. CONSULTATIONS
* PHYSICIAN
* SURGEON

Healthy, Delicious Breakfast & Lunch

------------------------------------------------------



So hopefully on the first week of next month, I will go for my check-up, my first ever in my life, and see exactly what my condition is. Wish me all the best, lolz.

 Right now I’m thinking, how the hell am I supposed to take my stool sample for the test? Any suggestions? Creative ways will be appreciated :D

Chp 407. Delhi Journal - 6

So here is my final Delhi comic strip before I go back to home sweet home Mumbai tomorrow. Oh wait. I don’t have a home anymore! :(

Anyhoo, I think this post is really apt, especially after yesterday’s hotly discussed news from the Ministry of Home Affairs. :) 

Cheers  :)

Chp 406. Chinki/Chinky in the limelight again

It’s been six years since I wrote my blog post “Chinky: What me insult?” which appeared in “NE Sun” and a couple of other renowned magazines. And today, everybody’s talking about this again because India Today published an article that begins with the sentence… “The next time you decide to call a person from the North-East a ‘Chinki’, you could end up cooling your heels behind bars for the next five years.”

India Today:  North-East racial slur could get you jailed for five years

Growing incidents of racial discrimination and verbal abuse against citizens from the North-East have forced the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to send a letter to all the states and Union Territories, asking them to book offenders guilty of atrocity against people from the region under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since a significant number of persons from the North-East belong to the Scheduled Tribes.

The Indian twittersphere responded…

@samar11 tweeted - Five years for calling someone chinki. I guess racist india needed extreme punishment.

While @mojororo stated truthfully - You can now go to jail if you call a North-Easterner a chinki. You can also go to jail for no reason if you are just a North-Easterner.

I had an interesting discussion with my good twit-friend @twilightfairy too who replied - @Mizohican i know and fully agree that politically incorrect terms shd nt be used. but Jail is too much. so many other words deserve jail no?

And I find @aatifsumar’s wisecrack really funny - If I were a North Eastern Indian, I would rename myself to Chinki just to mess with people.

-----------

On the question of whether the slur chink, chinki, chinky etc. is offensive or not, well, I have been called such names many times even at the comment section of my blog, and you can judge for yourselves if you think the usage is offensive or not…

This one was when I wrote the aforementioned blog post [Comment link]

Oh, let’s start by getting things straight, what is this? A Whining little chink from North east? What happened can’t get along with the realities of life in India? Your ugly aids infested wh0rish women and your ugly men, including your butt ugly face and nose, and eyes clearly deserve the word Chink.

Or when I wrote a normal blog post about the internet…  [Comment link]

India doesn’t need whining chinks like you, we just need your land to be the buffer zone , not you. We poured out crores of rupees into Mizoram every year, and what was the result? No industries, nothing. You are just leechers.

Or even this post where I was celebrating India’s diversity… [Comment link]

and where are your chinko mizos? I don't see them anywhere else in the world or even lol in hind-fuk-sthan either, sitting and jumping on bamboo sticks and eating dogs for dinner ?

And there are so many more on just my blog alone, I don’t even want to talk about the rest of the internet…

After being verbally abused like that almost every day and reading such comments everywhere, it’s quite easy for most North-Easterners to assume this is how the rest of India feels about them.

Vice Chancellors of reputed Universities have stereotyped us over and over again. Police racially profile us. Even newspapers continue to stereotype us. Remember “Mail Today” that reported, “The next time a drug peddler knocks on your door to deliver drugs, it will not be an African but a girl from the North East”? [my response to that report]

It’s not just about being called a chinky, but about people whom I’ve never met or known before calling me from the roadside  “Abey watchman”, “momo”, “bahadur”, “ching chong”, “waiter”, and laughing their asses out…

And then comes some of the prominent Indians on twitter, like @gkhamba, who immediately tweeted today -

You can now go to jail for calling someone from the North East chinki. Personally, I prefer "waiter".

…and even got many retweets from his 20K+ followers, making more crude jokes about people from the North East.

And of course if we protest, we are told to grow up or that we lack a sense of humor. I wish these people could put themselves in the shoes of somebody from the North East for just one day and see what we have to endure every day. Haha yeah that would be utterly hilarious. Where’s the sense of humor now, huh?

Overall, when my close friends call me a chinki, I am not offended at all. I know they mean it affectionately. I’ve been outside Mizoram all my life and have more non-Mizo friends than Mizos. I know for a fact that there are many broad minded and politically correct Indians out there. But will this new law stop the few deranged ones from verbally abusing North Eastern people on the streets and restaurants?

Only time will tell, I guess.

Maybe if an example is made of, say, a stand-up comedian who takes pride in calling people from the North East as “waiters”, maybe things will change? Hah, who will have the last laugh then? :)

Nah, just kidding. @gkhamba can be really funny sometimes and I’m sure he’s a really nice guy, and that’s the problem with being a standup comic – sometimes you have to insult certain communities for the sake of wringing out a few laughter from your audience, after all, truth be told, we’re all a little racist inside. As a Mizo, I can laugh to harmless jokes about our Mizo Christian community, our accent, our hot temper, or even about eating dog’s meat (even though many of us don’t eat it). But lines must be drawn and it’s hard to laugh when somebody refer to northeastern women as prostitutes or the men as watchmen or waiters.

But I think most of us are MISSING THE POINT here.

Everybody’s discussing about how chinki can be a racial slur etc etc… completely missing out the crux of the statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

@laajjo tweeted - I gather it's in a bad taste to called NEs chinki. When are we banning the sardar, sindhi, South indian, marwari, gujju, baniya jokes then?

@twilightfairy tweeted - Abusing someone does not a baal baanka, but calling someone chinki can land u in jail?

@lifetimefe tweeted - If we go to jail for calling north eastern people chinki, then all north Indians must go to jail for calling south Indians Madrasis.

@kmanojmenon replied - @Mizohican @northeastblog he is extending law to sections to whom it does not apply, will he apply to Biharis, in Mumbai & Delhi ?

 

See, see, see… this is NOT about the word “chinki”, per se. This issue is not just about uttering racial slurs. This is not some new law the MHA made up, out of the blue. It is not suddenly giving people from the North East special status and protection. Many of us are not aware of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 which protects SC and ST people from discriminations and atrocities from the upper castes, like verbal abuses and racial slurs.

If you find this Act unfair, then hey, you can speak to the law makers of our country and tell them to scrap this law or amend it. I didn’t chart this Act. I had nothing to do with it. But as long as this Act is in place, then that means SC and ST people are protected. And most North Eastern people are ST, so that is why you cannot use racial slurs like chinky because according to this Act’s atrocity definition, the one and only reason why you’re abusing him as a chinky is because of his identity, WHICH is indeed an offense under this Act.

Yes, my friend. This Act has always been around, and what India Today did was merely reminded the citizens of this great country about the existence of this Act. 

I hope this tweet by my good friend @MansinghNepram clears some of the confusion…

"Chinki" could get you jailed for five years according to SC/ST act - > Dont belong to SC/ST, no protection for me? :D

He’s from Manipur, a Meitei. Hence he is neither an SC nor ST, unlike his Mizo and Naga neighbors who are all Scheduled Tribes. Therefore, TECHNICALLY, if somebody calls him a chinky, then that perpetrator (unfortunately) CANNOT be punished under this same Atrocities Act.

Hope it’s clear now.

Cheers, y’all. And I’m sure some of the racial abusers will comment on my blog again. Haters gonna hate. :)

Chp 405. Delhi Journal - 5

Sometimes I think it is very important to weigh the pros and cons of a city before deciding which city is better… And those factors differ from person to person.

Cheers!  :)

Chp 404. Delhi Journal - 4

Don’t you guys wish you have some super power too? 

Cheers  :)

Chp 403. Delhi Journal - 3

Urrrmm… yeah sometimes people hear different things, especially when they’re at a new city. The new culture, new environment, new surroundings, new people, new language, all these add to misinterpretation sometimes…

Kinda lame, I know… I just needed something to update today :)

Chp 402. Delhi Journal - 2

You like momos? Me too. I LOVE them… Delhi roadside momos are the best because they are cheap and tasty as hell, especially with their spicy momo chutney. Back in Mumbai, the momos are either not that good, or you’ll find the tasty ones only in expensive Chinese restaurants…

But then, I had a recent experience here in Delhi…

Hmmmm… :(

Chp 401. Delhi Journal - 1

Day 9. Still in Delhi. What was supposed to be a 4 day visit, has gone beyond a week now. I am skin-burnt, homesick, and gaining a lot of weight because of all the yummy (and cheap) street food. The words “bhen chod” seem to come out of my mouth automatically now. When in Rome, speak like the Romans, I guess. 

To make up for inactivity on my blog for the past two months, I’ll be posting a Delhi Journal comic strip every day for the next one week. Cheers :-)

Chp 400. End of an ERA

Perhaps it is quite apt that my 400th post is about the end of an era. An era of living at Greenfields, one of the best apartments in the suburbs.

I was staying at Greenfields for the past 4 years, until 3 days ago, and before that my sister was there for 3 years and I used to visit her occasionally after dropping out from B-School. In fact my association with Greenfields was almost as old as my blog. The apartment outlived two relationships of mine, churned out a new one and saw a lot of my friends come and go - Happy times, sad times, sleepy times, but mostly, drunken times.

Some of the things I loved about Greenfields Society - the people were awesome. From the time I stayed there till the time I left, I didn’t have a single issue with my neighbors. In fact when I went to renew my rental agreement last year, my landlord and I had to get an approval from the Society President. The first question the president asked me was, “Why was there not even a single complaint about you for the past three years? No loud music playing, no loud partying, no loud noise, no nothing. What are you up to?” Lolz.

Trust me, I wasn’t that pally with my neighbors either. There were three families on my floor. At the most, we were just on a “hi-bye” relationship. But we knew each other very well, and knew where to draw the line. Of course there were loud parties at my pad sometimes, but my neighbors never complained because they knew I was just a bachelor trying to have that occasional fun (before it’s too late), and they also knew very well that I wouldn’t be doing that regularly. We understood each other and co-existed peacefully.

And then there were other things like 24/7 water supply, 24/7 electricity, and it was extremely peaceful and quiet. No loud dhantanakakakaka festival or marriage celebrations were allowed inside. And on the weekends, there were 2-3 flats in my building who would blast songs like Here without you, November rain etc, and even the latest hiphop songs. I never got to figure out who those people were, but it was nice to have such people in the building.

Situated right on the prime Jogeshwari Vikroli link road, Powai was just a few minutes away on one side and the Western Express was around 10 minutes away on the other side. And then there were Goregaon’s HUB and Oberoi Mall not very far too. It was the perfect 1 BHK apartment. Cozy, fully furnished and good vibes. Seven years of comfort at that place.

All that ended this Monday.

Why did I take the extreme step of shifting out from such an awesome place?

Well, I am still not at liberty to talk about what I’ve been up to the past one month, until things are confirmed. But for now, I’ve moved into my CEO’s place temporarily, an amazing duplex apartment at Khar West. So that means partying and binging every night when you have such a kickass awesome CEO. :-)

Here are some pics I took that day – my last day at Greenfields…

With some of my neighbor’s kids who regularly hangout at my pad and call me “Cool Uncle Kim” :-)


Woke up early on my last day. Took a photo that I always saw every day for the past 7 years.


Hehe… Trying to get rid of all the eggs before the movers and packers arrived…


All the warmth, all the coziness… all packed and gone now :-(


My bed… it never got lucky, if you know what I mean…


The morning after, at my CEO’s duplex -


One of the perks of staying (temporarily) with a CEO. He has to be informed. Hence, there is no dearth of daily newspapers.


Cheers :-)

Chp 399. Birthday at AER

I’ve been EXTREMELY busy this past one month, but I cannot mention the reason why I was busy yet… Maybe on my next blog update when I have the green signal to announce whatever I’ve been up to for the past one month, I will do so then…

Meanwhile, here is me just updating my blog for the sake of updating.

Yesterday, 21st April, was my birthday :-)

I flew down from Delhi to Mumbai on 20th night right after a hectic meeting with clients, and went directly from the Airport to AER, where the CEO of my company had organized a birthday party for me!

He purposely made AER the venue for my birthday bash because he knows how much I hate AER, purely because of the reason that it is uber expensive. One freaking drink of Old Monk costs 2000 bucks over there (!), and I have always refused to go with my colleagues to AER because of that.  That’s where all the who’s who of Mumbai’s Page 3 and lah-di-dah society hang out.

Even if people were planning to treat me, I just couldn’t picture myself drinking Old Monk with such an exorbitant and outrageous price. Until two nights ago, that is…

:-)

In fact, Sidharth, the CEO of WebChutney (where I work), refused to tell me the location of the birthday party he was throwing for me, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was at AER. And once we reached the place, I really couldn’t say no anymore because after all, it was my birthday party and we were there. :-)

I didn’t take that many pics, especially since I was a little bit self-conscious and didn’t wanna be THAT dude clicking pictures of all the celebs around, if you know what I mean.

At Four Seasons.


The ticket - ok the background pics were honestly unintentional.




The loo :-P


A view of Bandra-Worli sea link from the 34th floor terrace




My cake :-)


I remember sharing pictures of Naga Chilies (from my phone) with a producer of NDTV Good Times, who was this really adorable chick with a bob cut. She won my heart with her charm… daymmm I forgot her name :-(

Through Sid’s friend P, I got to meet a lot of high society people, all wishing me a very happy birthday. The highlight of the night was definitely when the oh-so-ever-cute Shenaz Treasurywala turned up and hugged me a happy birthday!!!


[This pic was not taken that night :P - Source]

She was sooooo sweet and nice… Had a really good time hanging out with her, listening to her, making her laugh to my corny jokes etc, though most of it is hazy…

But I do remember getting inside Shenaz’s car since AER closed at 1am, and we all went to a couple of other places. I don’t remember much because I was having such a blast, but Sid assured me the next day that I didn’t do anything stupid with Shenaz or the other celebs (lolz). One of the places we went to was Blue Frog, and frankly speaking, I don’t remember how we got there, what we did there, and where we went from there, but the next day I was going through my phone and I found this video…



Lolz, I really don’t remember taking this vid at all!!!

All in all, it was an AWESOME birthday, and a HUGE THANKS to Sidharth for throwing me that monster party. You are the bestest CEO everrrrr! :-)

Having a HUGE hangover the next day was definitely worth it! Ahhhh… :-)

Chp 398. The UPS schemozzle

It was just one of those lazy Sunday afternoons.

After a long night of partying at Aer, there’s nothing more relaxing and peaceful than just chilling out with my three friends Anil, John and Shaan over a couple of beer at Shaan’s Bandra cottage. Sunny outside, thighs sticking to the leathery bean bags inside, enjoying the breeze from the rickety old fan spinning above.

You could feel the air becoming sultrier with every passing day, announcing the arrival of summer here in Mumbai. The humidity was aptly countered by the chilled beer.

“Hey guys,” Shaan suddenly said. “Remember those days when we used to use UPS?”

“Aaah…” the three of us reminisced in unison.

“I think it’s been a really long time since I’ve last seen one!” John expressed.

Gulping down a refreshing swig of cold beer, I corrected John, “It can’t be that long. I think it’s just two to three years ago, I’m sure. But yeah, technology is improving so fast that it kinda seems like a long time ago.”

“True”, Anil nodded in agreement.

Working together at a digital advertising agency for more than five years now, it had indeed been a long time since we last saw somebody using a UPS. First of all, we all had laptops at home now, since it was easier to carry around between home and work and to client meetings.

And even in office, everybody’s either using a laptop or iPads and Android tablets. The very few people who use desktops and macs do not use any UPS since we’ve never had any power outage in office. That’s one of the perks of renting an office space with a 5 crore monthly rental.

“Hey, so what does UPS stand for anyway?” Shaan asked again.

“Urrrrmmm…”

We all rolled our eyes trying to remember, and then suddenly realized we had forgotten!

John and I immediately took out our Android phones to google the answer, when suddenly Shaan interrupted us, “Wait! Stop. Comon guys, we should know this. Let’s try to remember what it is, the good old fashion way, by racking our brains.”

We grinned back as we placed our phones slowly on the table.

“Hmmm… I think UPS stands for Unlimited Power Supply”, I said.

“Unlimited? But it isn’t unlimited at all. It goes off after a few minutes, giving us enough time to shut down our desktops”, Anil said.

“I agree with Anil,” Shaan said. “It isn’t unlimited…. But yeah, the P and S definitely stand for Power Supply, that much I remember.”

“Ok how about this,” John joined in. “Uncertain Power Supply? Because, you know, we never used to know when the lights would go off…”

We laughed.

“Underground Power Supply!” Anil blurted out. “Because I think it has to do with electrical and wiring systems, you know, when we earth the power line in case the electrical insulation fails, hence… Underground”

“Underground…” I replied, “That’s how we call groups like ULFA, NSCN, HPC, PREPAK, UNLF etc. in the North East. Underground. I don’t think people over there would buy a UPS if it means Underground Power Supply.”

We laughed again.

“Ok how about… Unbelievable Power Supply! Because it’s hard to believe that our PC is still running even though there is no electricity!” Shaan quipped.

And after that the rapid round of guessing started…

Anil: “Unauthorized Power Supply, because the Electric Dept shut down electricity and yet it’s still functioning, hence this power supply is not authorized!”

John: “Ulterior Power Supply – Because it has an ulterior motive of giving us electricity even when there is no electricity!”

Shaan: “Ultimate Power Supply, because, hey, there’s no power and yet there IS power. Isn’t that that most ultimate power supply you’ve ever heard of?”

Me: “Umbrella Power Supply! Because we use umbrellas only when it rains, in times of emergency right? Hence… Umbrella!”

Anil: “Unpleasant Power Supply, because it makes that really awful and irritating *peep peep* noise once the electricity goes off!”

John: “Utopia Power Supply – Because in a Utopian world, everything is supposed to be perfect. Hence even the power supply is perfect!”

Shaan: “Unsung Power Supply, because they’re like our unsung heroes. Nobody praises them or realizes how useful they really are.”

Me: “Umbilical Power Supply! Because it acts as the umbilical cord of power supply, protecting us and feeding us with electricity!”

FINALLY, we gave up and I slowly reached for my Android. “Google UPS”. Anil, John and Shaan looked at me and waited in great anticipation…

So which of us got it right?

As the search result showed up on my phone, I gave myself a hard facepalm. And then I told the others what UPS means: “It’s Uninterrupted Power Supply.”

They too immediately facepalmed themselves, groaning in disbelief. Frankly speaking, it was very embarrassing for us to forget what UPS means or even unable to guess it correctly. I guess we all become dumber with age.

We clinked our pints for one last toast before heading out to the balcony for the BBQ lunch. A lazy Sunday afternoon indeed, but it will be a couple of years before we ever forget what UPS means again. Hopefully.



Ps. Not an entirely true story. A work of semi-fiction. :P

Chp 397. Zonking out

Ever experience that moment when you suddenly zonk out while remaining conscious? You’re just standing or sitting still, lost in your own world but at the same time not thinking about anything in particular, just staring at something and not hearing a thing that your friends are telling you?

It’s as if time suddenly came to a brute halt and everything is stuck in some kinda limbo or warp zone...

…only to be broken by her screaming, “Why the hell did you suddenly stop? Continue or get off me!”

Just kidding... :P

But yeah, sometimes when you’re in that inanimate mental state, it is really embarrassing when you suddenly snap out of your blackout only to realize you have been staring at some woman’s breast, and that poor uncomfortable woman is giving you the “You dirty pervert” looks.

And then you try to mentally communicate with her, “I swear I wasn’t staring at your… I mean my eyes might have been looking there, but I didn’t notice anything!!!” which only seems to make the situation worse.

But hey, at least that is better than snapping out to realize you have been staring at some dude’s crotch…

…and that guy grins at you and changes his seat to move right next to you…

:)

This zonking out can happen to you while you’re in the middle of anything, and you’ll forget what you were initially doing once you come out of your trance. I’m just sitting in office writing this post to update my blog and…



















































…I think I’ll order pizza. I’m kinda hungry, all of a sudden.

Chp 396. Networking dinner II: Mediterranean

For the second time since becoming a member, I took part in the “Networking dinner” held at India’s leading Ad film maker Prahlad Kakkar’s bungalow at Bandra last Saturday, organized by Coral. The theme was “Mediterranean Cuisine”.

The eight participants of last Saturday’s exclusive networking dinner were –

Deepak Goel – Founder of Drizzlin Social Media Solutions
Sushil Cherian – Social Media junkie and Founder of Pet Pujaris
Snigdha Manchanda - Tea Sommelier and Chief Storyteller at Story Ninja
Joanna Irzabek – Journalist at Polityka, a renowned Polish newspaper
Neha Toteja - Corporate planning and BD at Times Television Network
Pawan Deokule – Managing Director at Digicat Digital Marketing Pvt Ltd
Megha Goyal – Founder of i2Cook and Head Chef at Coral Networks
Kima – Lover of Old Monk

:P

Most of the pics below were taken by Megha from i2Cook. In fact, photography was her initial passion and she started the company i2TakePhoto, but the name didn’t hit off well, so she switched to cooking… just kidding :D

[Click on the pic for higher res. The ones Meg took are extremely huge by the way, warning you…]







After the initial introduction and exchange of pleasantries (the usual “Oh you work there? Do you know so and so? Oooooh!”), I was welcomed with this exquisite “gazpacho” shot, which is a cold Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable drink. It’s apparently very popular in Spain, Portugal and parts of Latin America. All I say is, it was really good and refreshing and I could feel my stomach agreeing with the solution immediately. The taste still lingers in my mouth as I sit in office writing this blog post.



Now a little flashback: The last time I took part in “Coral: A Networking Dinner” was on June 3, 2011. That was during the time I was on my “One Month No Booze” pledge. I even live-blogged about that event at my Posterous blog (which was dedicated to the pledge). That night was a Coorgi cuisine theme, and the Coorgi Pandi Pork was awesome. But unfortunately for me, I did not have that much fun that night because since I was on my no alcohol pledge, all I could think about was the alcohol everybody’s having while I sat there like a shipwrecked sailor on a dry deserted island, mouth watering and hallucinating.

But this time, there was no such pledge, so alcohol really helped a lot in socializing with the others.



As we all sat around the table discussing about Mediterranean food options in Mumbai, which was the official topic of discussion, Meg served us with starters – Greek style zucchini fritters with tzatziki, and Spanish sausages along with Turkish yogurt hummus and lavash. They were très excellent!



Meg made the tzatziki from strained yoghurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. She served it cold, just like how it’s supposed to be, and the zucchini fritters blended perfectly well with the paste. It was amazing eating the zucchini fritters that look so much like potato pancakes, except there was no potato used in this.



And if you think the zucchini and tzatziki have too much of veggies for a hardcore carnivore like me, then there was the other starter - Spanish sausages with Turkish yogurt hummus and lavash. For the Spanish sausage, Meg used Chorizo (available from Nature’s Basket, Hill Road, Bandra) which she sautéed with some red wine, oregano & pepper. Once I started eating it, it was extremely difficult to stop because it was so good that I could literally feel the Heavens opening up and a chariot of gold descending amidst the loud beating of drums and trumpets, to tell me that my time on Earth is over because I have tasted the food of the Gods.



I shamelessly kept gobbling up the Chorizo while the rest talked about their favorite Mediterranean recipes, the best way to make Polpette using extra virgin olive oil, cheaper places in Mumbai where one can buy Sombrassada sausage etc. And of course the discussion went from food to politics to sports to digital marketing and so on. All in all, I had an extremely good time with the discussion.

Soon it was time for the main course.



For the main course, Meg served Moroccan meatballs with herbed couscous garnished with feta cheese. Vegetarians were given an option of sautéed zuchinni served on a bed of couscous and there was also an option of basa fish served on a bed of couscous.



Couscous – oh how I love thee! First of all, I love the name! Pronounced “kus-kus”, it consists of many tiny granules made from steamed and dried durum wheat. It’s a North African staple diet and is used instead of rice and bread as the main course in countries like Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia. It went extremely well with the Moroccan lamb meatballs Meg served, especially since the couscous had been garnished with awesome feta cheese.

I’m not a food expert here, but if the “suzi” we eat in Mizoram or the “upma” in South India is prepared dry, then it would taste quite similar to couscous I think.





Here is me enjoying the food. In fact I loved it so much that I never tried the other main courses -  sautéed zuchinni and basa fish, a decision I regret now because an opportunity like that will not come again in the near future.

 

The dinner ended with desserts - Poached strawberry with cinnamon spiked ricotta cream cheese. I am not a big fan of strawberries, but poached strawberries were definitely something else. And the ricotta cream cheese blended so well that I had to go for seconds. The hint of cinnamon is what I liked the most. A simple yet exquisite dessert that was not too sweet for my taste buds.



As we bid farewell to Prahlad Kakkar’s cottage, I gave a high-ten to the scuba diver hanging from the ceiling.



I really love the way he had decorated the place, especially the lounge. Hell, I even took a pic inside his loo! :)



We ended the night with the usual complimentary gifts from Coral Networking Dinner. This time I got Pink Mustard and Pesto (crushed garlic, basil and European pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano). They go extremely well with bread, for those lazy hung-over Sunday mornings, or even with pizza and scrambled eggs.



 

So it was really great meeting Deepak, Sushil, Snigdha, Joanna, Neha, Pawan and Megha, and getting to know them. Until the next Coral Networking dinner then. Cheers y’all. :)