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. :)

Chp 395. Mixed Martial Arts - Full Contact

So last Saturday we went to see Mixed Martial Arts - Full Contact Championship 5 held at Famous Studios, Mahalaxmi. If you’re a fan of Mixed Martial Arts (Bellator, UFC, StrikeForce etc) then this is like the best India has to offer.

Like any big social event where alcohol was served, we went there after first having a few drinks :)

The place was awesome, the crowd was awesome, and the music was awesome. With 1000 bucks a ticket, one didn’t expect anything less than that. The whole place and ambience had this underground look and feel, like the ones you see only in Hollywood movies about “illegal” Blood Sports, if you know what I mean.

The fighters may not be as awesome as those you see on UFC, Bellator, etc., but to see them thrashing each other right from the freaking ringside (where I could literally touch them), it was BLOODY AWESOME!

I want to write more but unfortunately my freaking PC crashed on Monday, so I am still currently reinstalling all my software, plugins, drivers, keygens, etc... Most of my essential software like MS Word, Photoshop, PDF reader etc are still throwing up errors...  But I managed to recover the pics and vids I took that night.

Here is a short video I took and edited using Sony Vegas Pro 10 (the first software I managed to recover). I used Skrillex as the soundtrack because it is so apt!




And here are a few pics I took. Like I said, my PC is a mess right now so I’m just simply uploading everything I took that night. No time to edit or caption them…















































I am definitely going again next year for FCC 6.

Cheers :)

Chp 394. My First Three Crushes

Admit it. We’ve all had our TV crushes. I still remember how crazy my elder sisters were about Corey Haim (L), Corey Feldman, NKOTB (Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre), Duran Duran etc. And then there was the “cool rider” Maxwell Caulfield who starred in Grease 2 (opposite Michelle Pfeiffer) and stole many ladies’ hearts.

Most guys of my generation in the 90’s had a crush on Winnie (Danica McKellar) from Wonder Years. They would go on and on about how crazy they were about her, and would even compare their girlfriends with Winnie, trying to find some resemblance between them (Oh she smiles just like Winnie, she talks just like Winnie, she farts just like Winnie and so on).

But not me. I found Winnie to be cute and sweet, but never went to the extent of having a crush on her.

 

My first television crush was actually Shannen Doherty, aka Brenda Walsh from Beverley Hills 90210. I was completely crazy about her all through 90210 and even when she moved on to “Charmed” and played the role of Prudence, the eldest of the Halliwell sisters.

I used to write short love stories based on my fantasy about her and the lead character was always named Shannen. I even used to write letters to her pouring out my feelings, and sent the letter with just her name and PO Box 90210 written on the envelope. I used to use some of my American stamps from my stamp collection album since it was going to USA, lolz!

This was the Shannen Doherty I had a crush on then.


[Pic Source]

If you do a “Google Image Search” of her now, you will see many photos of her in scantily clad bikinis and lingerie. Yeah she’s hot in those pics, but I still prefer Shannen Doherty in her old Brenda Walsh avatar.

 

My second crush was none other than VJ Nonie (Ruth Winona Tao). From MTV Asia to Channel V, she was the reason why I would stay glued to MTV Most Wanted. (That, and also Headbangers Ball and MTV The Grind.)


[Pic Source]

Apart from a few sentences about what she had done written on Wiki, nothing much is known about her. There are even Facebook groups like “MTV VJ Nonie Tao… where are you? and a Whatever happened to Nonie? article at msn. The pic above also says “The only image of Nonie available online” at the source, lolz (although I found another photo of her signing an autograph for some dude).

She is definitely an enigma, and one of the rare cases of TV celebs who managed to completely steer away from the media and paparazzi spotlight.

 

My Third crush was Stephanie Seymour. She’s Axl Rose’s ex-girlfriend, and even appeared on November Rain and Don’t Cry music videos.


[Pic Source]

The mid 90s was my Guns N’ Roses phase, and I used to have a special notebook where I had written down the lyrics of every single GnR song, some of them copied from “Year Books” and some by myself, using a walkman and Reynolds pen to rewind the cassette.

I even had this popular poster of Axl Rose and Stephanie Seymour on my bedroom wall.



So… was I crazy about Stephanie Seymour because she’s hot, or because I was crazy about GnR? Frankly speaking, I really don’t know, but yeah, I had an immense crush on her back then.

But just to bring the good old times back, I’ve painstakingly taken screen-grabs from November Rain and compiled them together, and yes, as you can see from the strip below, Axl and Stephanie were about to get married in Church, and suddenly they went to a pub and got drunk, and then they came back to the same Church and finally got married, and then as they were cutting the wedding cake, she licked the knife from Axl’s hand, cut her tongue by mistake and died from tetanus infection… :P



Cheers… :)

Chp 393. Remember the time…

An empty room, even a vacant floor of an under construction building will do, as long as there is a working plug point nearby. If it is a furnished room, the guys push the sofa, tables, vases etc to the side. If there is a carpet, the guys roll it up and move it to a corner too.  

After that, one requires an old tape recorder and a couple of audio cassettes. Most of the audio cassettes are “collections” that consists of all their favorite songs “recorded” by the owners. Sometimes a quick telephonic call needs to be made…

Hello. Oh hi Mrs. X. This is Y speaking. Can I please speak to Z?

(Z comes to the phone…)

Dude, you’re coming right? Great. And oh, don’t forget to bring the new La Bouche cassette you bought the other day ok? We’re depending on you. Ciao.

And after that, ladies and gentlemen, your “house party” is ready! :)

Man, those were indeed the wild times! That’s what it was like rocking the party scene in the mid 90’s. Unlike most people of my generation, I was exposed to the party scene pretty early in life because I have three elder sisters.

I still remember that big house party my eldest sister threw at our house. It was her 16th birthday party, so that would make me 7 years old then. After she got permission from dad and mom to throw the party at our sitting room (and a promise that dad and mom would not interfere and step inside the room), her friends started arriving one by one. Oh those bell bottom jeans and leather jacket days :)

So I was at the far corner of the room playing on my Atari... I think it was “Space Invaders”. Most of the guys my sister invited were sitting with me playing the game turn by turn! Lolz… I remember the chicks trying to pull their guys away from the videogame so that they could dance with them, and finally my mom had to come and pull me out of the room because my sister probably went and complained to her about me :)

On MY 16th birthday, I threw a party in that same room. Of course one big difference was that, that day was extremely cold and wet due to the winter monsoon. There was booze but since my folks were kinda strict, we could drink (secretly) only in the balcony. So we ended up battling the freezing climate outside just to take a quick sip. :)

The highlight of any house parties back then was THE CIRCLE.

Yeah, somehow we would always make this circle as we danced to the rhythm of whatever’s playing on the tape recorder, and one by one, somebody’s gotta go to the center and do his/her "special move", no matter how goofy or wacky it is.

That was so much fun then.

I’ve seen how house parties are in Hollywood movies. Well, the parties we used to have then were nothing like those, but still it was fun for us.

And then of course if it was getting late, the parents would start calling up the host’s house to say that it was time for their son/daughter to come home. My friends always used to make fun of me because among the guys, my parents were usually the first people to call up the parents of the place where the house party was happening to tell them to tell me to come home. That kinda sucked.

The Role of a DJ:

Sometimes, to listen to “continuous good music”, while one song was playing on the tape recorder, the “DJ” had to sit nearby, rewinding or forwarding a cassette with a Reynold’s pen. He had that special talent of looking at a cassette and based how much reel had been wounded on one side, knew exactly what song would be playing next! Sadly, such talent became extinct when digital music overtook the industry.

This was so much fun those days –



Yeah move that finger, you slick slick DJ. Spin your pen rewinding the cassette with one hand while playing La Bouche, Toybox, Whigfield, Dr. Alban, KrisKros, Snow, Mr. President, Outhere Brothers, E-Type with the other hand, one finger on the play button and another on the stop-rewind-forward buttons. Oh yeahhh DJ, you’re killing itttt! Awesomeeee! DJ Rox! DJ Rox! DJ Rox!

And as the party moves towards its end, the DJ changes the music from dance to slow.

Ah… this is the part where couples slow dance to songs like “Purple Rain” (Prince), “Room in your heart” (Living in a Box), “Something about you” (Bad Company), “Take my breath away” (Berlin), “Sukiyaki” (4PM), “So much in love” (All-4-one), “All out of love” (Air Supply), and so on…

Young kids who’re in love slow jam together, cheek to cheek… girls too ask their crushes if they like to dance with them… guys looking for an opportunity to make out with somebody, anybody, too look forward to this section of the night…

Also, that was the part where guys like me were always the “Forever Alone” guys, sitting in one corner of the room admiring the guys who got the ladies… :(

To me, it was always like…

Dammit gurl, why won’t you slow jam with me? What’s wrong with me? I thought you like to listen to me humming Super Mario Bros opening theme when we’re dancing together? And five years ago you told me you found my GI Joe and He-Man collection impressive, now you suddenly have a change of heart and find them childish? Arrghh woman, make up your mind!

Hehehe…

Anyhoo, today being Valentine’s Day, I kinda remember all those great songs of yesteryears, and here is me wishing you all a very happy (and successful) Valentine’s Day!

Cheers!

Ps. Here are a few “slow” music videos to end this “blog party” :)