Ginger & Cardamom

What happens when a blogger goes to one of the spiciest parties in the town, he takes pictures and he blogs about it. Now what happens when two bloggers go to the same party they discuss, take pictures and blog about it. Now Imagine 10 bloggers in the party and you have fun, drama, humor, satire, comments, and obviously the pictures and the blog. The Pictures you can see above and blog you are reading right now. So I got a chance to attend one of the exclusive party from Fosters called the Art of Chilling, the invitation was courtesy Indiblogger and man I am more than thankful to them not only because it was a great party and I had a time of my life, but also because I met so many people and had an amazing time and conversations with them.

So now here I put in 5 steps to throw a great party which I learned at the Fosters Art of Chilling Party-

1- Venue & Music - Choose the venue in one of the most happening locations in the city with a huge pool. In our case the venue was Koregaon Park, Club Solaris (If you are from Pune and wondering where the heck is a club solaris in KP, don’t worry I was asking the same question. Club Solaris is right near the HRC). Get a great DJ who knows how to play for a pool party, and people we had amazing music for our ears, though in brief moment I felt a number of times he was going to play “Saat Samundar Paar….” But every time he managed to save the sanity, I am sure one of the Muscle Shops (read Boxers at the party) was standing right behind him.

2- Attraction- Now step two you get a pool, no don’t expect the people invited in the party to dive right in. Get eye candy models from the Firangi land throw then in. Oh and also ensure the swim suits are nice. Now for the early arrivals would do nothing but at least would keep their attention in the pool. Now ask these models to come out and actually hand over the can of beer. Make sure there is a Fosters logo at the right places, guys would be guys they are bound to stare that’s called promotional placement yam bee yay people right?

3- Beer & Food- Now the major attraction unlimited beer and a pool side barbeque on the house. Well an amazing spread of barbeques covering varieties of vegetarian and non vegetarian eateries with beer and drinks, by the pool side with beautiful people all around you and in the pool. And you get everyone hooked.

4- The Glitterati- Invite everyone who has the taste for the party and may be the dresses and figure to enhance the spice in the party, if you know what I mean. I mean the crowd of the party was one of the best combinations of Pune’s glitterati.

5- Bartender Repeat- Well the step 5 is to repeat the above 4 steps at regular interval. So basically this is the point where I tell Fosters to ensure the party keeps happening again and again (and yes I am hoping to get my invites other times too)

So this is basically what was the party about or as the fosters might call it, The Art of Chilling. Now I come to the part of what the bloggers do, basically 10 bloggers were invited from Pune, and what fun we had. As a matter of fact none of us had an idea what this party is going to be like so a lot of us were not dressed according to the mood (which by the way closer to being undressed :-D). We all met and commented on how we guys are going to have fun except for the girls who were asking a relevant question.

You know as they say guys enjoy easily in life throw a couple of beers and a women in a swimsuit and we have our Nirvana and in this case we were over drafting our enjoyment account by twice of the size of debt which Lehman had when it went down under be it beer or the women.

Within the first few minutes of the party we decided it would be a futile effort to discuss the effect of social media vis-à-vis traditional media or the emerging trends in search engine optimization. Though Kiran made a very genuine effort to pull in the blogging based conversations when he asked one of the swimsuit clad models if she blogged. She gave him a look as if he just had dissent from the Mars, I am sure she would be aware of men are from mars thingie but Kiran’s Direct dissent was a tad too much for her and she eloped back in the safe haven of swimsuits, pool and beer.

Then we had a lot of pointless but hilarious conversations and actually I came up with a whole new section of Bhavya’s joke of the day, a joke reflecting the contrast between two sides of her as a Java programmer and her as a person-

Now I have death threat issued against me by her if I am sharing any of my jokes. To start with I am trying to share one and if I am found dead, missing you know who to find-

So basically in the party we found Bhavya was really averse to her pictures being taken, ironically she was carrying her own camera. So I came with the following jokes-

Why is Bhavya averse to getting her snaps clicked in a poolside party? - Because by orientation she OBJECTS. (For non Java programmers Objects are an important part of the Java Programming)

So the bottom line is all of us had a lot of fun and it was really awesome to meet a lot of fellow bloggers. As I said when ten bloggers meet at the party all they do is have fun, conversations and everything to make a great day.

I met the following blogger at the party (I am missing some names would update as soon as I get their blog links)

Bhavya

Dr. Roshan

Sahil Khan

Prasoon Kumar

Neeraj Jain

Kiran Pillai

Ravish Mody

Aditya Marathe

31 days ago, I decided to take a step which seemed to be very challanging and thought would have minor impact on my life. This challenge was National Blog Posting Month where I was supposed to post 31 posts in 31 days. Given the fact that generally number of posts by me in 6 months also do not touch this number, it was a huge challenge. When Preeti told me about it, it seem to give me a you can’t do this look. And when I get this look from anything I am generally feel the rush of Adrenalin and I result in saying yes to the weirdest of challenges.

This time as it turned out, that it was less of a challenge and more of a fun. And what I thought will be a minor Impact on my life had a major one. I actually relaized why I really blog. How close and at home I am when I am with my blog. Though this was totally a wrong time to undertake such a thing, as the month of may has been one of the very crucial months in my professional life. This was my first deliverable as a project manager where I had a major bottomline of failure (yeah success as well), and as expected for the first 20 days of May, I actually had to slog to amount of 14-16 hrs a day at office to ensure my deliverables and miraculously I still did find time to write a post. Though I agree some of the posts were too lame, but then sometimes I really couldn’t help it because so many things on my mind.

Apart from everyone who reads my blog and comments there are three lovely ladies with whom I actually share the credit, of my successfully Completing NaBloPoMo-

Preeti- She is the One who started it all. If it would not been for her I would have been living in my comfort zone in a blissful oblivion with one or two posts in the month of may. So she is the one who started it.

Monika- Actually I started interacting with her during this period, when we both of us were doing this challenge. I could so well relate to her and her posts that I actually look forward to read her posts and felt a peer motivation kind of phenomenon

Tanvi Udeshi- Now she is a gem of a person, poor girl actually tracked me on Blogs and twitter and kept on reminding me when I was heading towards missing the deadlines. If it hadn’t been to her constant tracking I would have missed posts for at least coupe of days on the account of work pressure or laziness.

At the end of the day, it was a good fun activity and yes I do paln to do it again. As a matter of fact I plan to go on a break till this Sunday and would be back to blogging by Next week. Another NaBloPoMo, well Its on the cards will think about it further for sure. Till then keep enjoying the Pics & Picks of Life.

I saw this tag on Monika’s Blog and then on Preeti’s Blog, as a lot of you would be knowing that I am writing a post a day for like almost a month (have to do it till its completely a month) I take all the tags where I have been tagged. So I do this one, and as it turns out it was fun too with the strange voices in my head giving weird comments, so read at youur own risk-

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

Damn I look good, (Voice inside my head: Only if you lose 10 kgs)

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

Had to count Rs. 5227/- Only (including all the chiller)

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?

Adore, Sore, More, Core, Shore, Galore, Floor, Pour….

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

The HDFC Credit Card lady, missed her call as I was in a meeting. Later I agreed to take the credit card if she comes for a coffee with me. Damn she refused, she knew I am not going to get the CC and would not be able to pay for the coffee, so considerate no?

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?

Rihaana – Umbrella,

Beatles- I wanna hold Your Hand

Phil Collins- You’ll be in my heart

Rembrandts – I’ll be there for you (Friends Title Song)

6. What are you wearing right now?

(Why the question sounds too corny to me??? What are you wearing baby types…..and we all know where this goes) Clothes, this is 2009 not 10000BC where I would be wearing a leaf okay two leaves front & back.

7. Do you label yourself?

Oh Yes, Prateek Gupta- Cracking bad ones since 1982.

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?
Formal Shoes- Hush Puppies & woodland

Casual Shoes – Reebok

Non Marking Squash Shoes- Reebok

Floaters – Adidas

Chappals- Osho Chappals from Koregaon Park Pune :-D ( I have 3 of them )

9.Bright or Dark Room?

Alone – Bright Room, with someone hot – its better to turn of the lights :-)

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?

Well two of the people took it-

Preeti – She is an unbelievable portrayal of a picture perfect life.

Monika- A very genuine & fun loving person

11. What does your watch look like?

Formal Watch- Chronograph from Swatch, Black Dial and golden brown leather strap.

Casual Watch- Time and Date From Tommy Hilfiger, Metallic Grey Dial with a very heavy look and feel.

There are couple of others most of them metallic and heavy round dials. And I am supposed to get one more Chronograph from a contest I won last month.

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Watching Rush Hour

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
Save the settings & Rstart your IDEA phone to Njoy the world of internet. Get FREE Ringtones on http://wap.ideafresh.com/free Brwsing charges as per plan.

14. What's a word that you say a lot?
Loads of them – I, Hey, Excuse me, Thank you, Fuck, Hell, Crap, Damn, Okay, Exactly, For the sake of assumption/understanding.

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse , family, children)

Tanvi

16. Last furry thing you touched?
Will toothbrush count as furry (I guess no). Well a Yak on the shimla trip two years back.

17. Favourite age you have been so far?

Imperial Age in the Age of Empires

In Real life I haven’t seen anything other than the Iron Age, where men demarcate nations with boundaries; they learn the arts of navigation and mining; they are warlike, greedy and impious. Truth, modesty and loyalty are nowhere to be found

But the Golden Age sounds fun, defined by justice and peace.

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?

You should watch Paycheck & Thank you for Smoking, amazing movies both of them are.

19.The last song you listened to?

Aaj Purani Rahon Se Koi Mujhe Aawaz Na De Dard Mein Dubey Geet Na De Gham Ka Sisakta Saz Na De

20. Where did you live in 1987?
Kanpur: In my home

21. Are you jealous of anyone?

A lot of people.

22. Is anyone jealous of you?

I wish they were.

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

A locket from the temple my family believes in, an armband from the same temple (people see it as my arm has been bandadged, everytime I wear a T, people ask me about it), My hair.

24. What’s your favourite town/city?

Well Kanpur would top charts as I grew up there but otherwise, Hyderabad & Pune.

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

4 Years back on a greeting card.

26. Can you change the oil on a car?

Yes, I can change the oil, clean the oil & air filters too. My dad made me to go to the garage for couple of days so that I learn the basic parts of the engines.

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?

Well, I don’t remember. Never bothered to find out, Kind of dead issue out of the system .

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?

Yeah my right knee, twisted while playing yesterday

29.What is your current desktop picture?

Deccan Charger Wall Paper

30. Have you been burnt by love?

Yawn!!! Good Question, Next one please??

I have always been very fond of Hindi Kavi Sammelans, the sense of humor of Indian poets is really unparalleled. Its been 2 years since I have attended a Kavi Sammelan and I so much want to attend one as soon as possible. Till then enjoy one of my favorite poets who actually had so much passion for Hindi poetry that he dropped out of an REC (NIT now) to pursue to be a poet. He is one of my most admired combination of Hindi Poetry & Philosophy with a passion for the subject. So Enjoy Dr. Kumar Vishwas, a legend of Hindi Poet.

I have always been a very passionate driver all my life. My interest in cars started quite early on, and I was 12 years old when I drove a car for the first time and never stopped after that. Hailing from a family where there has been an excellent drivers be it my dad or my mamaji both have been an excellent drivers. I have followed their legacy and have been always willing to drive at any opportunity possible. So over the years my total driving experience would be over 200,000 Kms. I used to be a very reckless driver early in my life, and then gradually I matured to be a very safe driver. I have become generally very cool minded and precise on the road taking only calculated risk and accounting for errors on road. So tonight I was heading back from the office and I had promised a friend to meet her at a given time. Now as you would already know that I hate being late, so I sped up as soon as I gate of the office. There was a guy, in a black Alto and I sped across him and moved quickly. I took the first turn on the highway and suddenly I saw in my rear view mirror he was very close to me. Within two seconds he carefully slid to my right covered my movement space and sped across ahead of me, forcing me to slow down. And my instant reaction was, that was clean. Suddenly, I felt adrenalin rushing though my head, this generally doesn’t happens to me that I get in road brawls either physically or with machines. But I guess today was a different day, this was a different guy. Something similar to me, as I was 8 years ago. I sit erect and got involved in a street brawl. He was driving with awesome dexterity and I actually was behind him quite some time where we actually got ahead of each other quite some time. Then as soon as we were crossing the Highway I got a small space and I sped past him and took a lead. He also sped back and was soon tackling just at the tail of my car. Then I swevered left getting non driving side of my car on the raw ground and the driving side of my car on road. I overtook the a long lines of cars from the left. Speeding across through the rough ground. He also followed suit and was behind me, then he came forward and was overtaking from the right. There was a divider ahead and I didn’t moved to give him space and Finally sped past him when my exit came into the colony. This was the end of an awesome ride, and I had a smile on my face when it ended. The smile was not because I actually won it, or I managed to stay ahead a lot of time. The smile was because I was 19 again, I still had the fire and insanity to cross the line, I still had it in me to be 19. I so much wanted to step out of my car, and thank him for giving me an awesome 25 minutes of adrenalin rush, giving me 25 minutes of my teenage years back. Given the fact, I have moved away to be a professional, a person who is practical, who looks for a reason to do everything, who tries and drive as safely as possible. For a person like this it was so much fun to be 19 again. So my friend who works in my company, has a black Alto with an MH number in ET series you are awesome driver and you gave me some awesome moments of my life. Thanks a lot.

Monika tagged me to write about the domestic horrors. Well I have been a very civilized kid throughout. My lazy self and averseness to do anything in the kitchen which includes lighting the gas stove, they are really complicated procedure and should be done only by the trained professionals (Read: Mom). Then upholding of family tradition in taking laziness to new levels, I never experimented with Ironing of clothes or anything of the sorts. Even all the electrical circuitry experiments which was the most I did along the house were carefully handled.

So I have not involved in major domestic disasters, except for a fact where I almost try to burned the house down by leaving a switch open for a fan which had its coils burning or the other time when I burnt down the Hostel room with the incense sticks (Agarbatti) which I left burning on my room after the prayers. But there is one disaster I managed which was not very deadly, but yeah it’s a paramount display of my care and concern for the family, health and hygiene, despite that I got thrashed badly by my mom Hitler V6.0 22^nd Reprint. So here is how the story goes-

I was a kid then you know something like 8-9 years old. The time around May used to be a happening time in the house, as my holidays would have been going on and my cousins Ekta & Shweta would come to live at our place and I used to get someone to play with me and boss around for some time. This was also the time when my Mom used to prepare a lot of delicacies, specially different kind of Achars (pickles). Now my mom is an amazing cook and she puts in lot of effort to ensure that whatever we eat is home made this generalizes from daily meals to sweets to ghee to pickles to papad. As a matter of fact I have hardly seen any of these being ever bought in my home.

Getting back to the story, so this may the mango produces were good and my mom decided that she would prepare aam ka achar (mango pickle) for everyone in the family. Undertaking this mammoth feat she actually put in pickles in a tub must have been around 10 kgs of kacha aam ka achar. I don’t know where and why, but during some part of her preparation this pickle needs to be left out in the air for drying or fermenting. I don’t really know why, so mom actually made place for the huge tub which had all 10 Kgs of Achar on the table and then she left for some work outside home. At this time me and Shweta were at home playing around the house and having fun, when my sharp eye for details noticed the biggest fallacy done by my mom. She left had left the tub with all the Achar open, and there were mosquitoes all over the achar.

Being a diligent student that I was, I remembered my teachers telling me that mosquito bites can cause malaria. Well and I didn’t wanted everyone eating the achar to be sick, so I we decided that we would set it right. So we got which was proclaimed to be the best solution for mosquitoes on national television aka doordarshan, the Odomos and with all due diligence we applied odomos on the achar where the mosquitoes were sitting.

Being the humble person I am, I forgot to report this incident to mom, No point making her feel guilty her responsible son had covered her tracks and the achar was good to go. When my mom saw the achar she tried to figure out what went wrong. She also thought if butter had fallen into the achar. Then finally she asked me, if I knew what happened. Well I surely did and I being a true gentleman, I obliged and narrated the story in full detail. Man what happened after that was real disaster, I got a well deserved thrashing and mom had to throw away a lot of her achar.

Everyone in the family including my sis & mom we still laugh like crazy, over this incident. But deep down I just thank god, the hit & baygon Sprays of the world were not invented, and bombarded from the TV at that time. God knows what would have happened then.