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Hi ,

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Thanks a lot for your time and money :)

THE Wedding ;)

As you all know, we went to a far-far wedding on a weekday last week and it was quite an enlightening experience. I have no patience go through all of it again,but here are some highlights

1) To start with, my Elimination theory. If it is a bother, eliminate. I refuse to elaborate any further for fear of being branded a wicked & bad person ;)

2) Sandeep was passing by us in his car while we were waiting and Rash saying "oh hogta iddane, hogta idane". I pointed at an auto saying "Look, Sandeep" and for a second, Rash went towards the auto :D

3) Prabha asking us where the wedding is :P :D

4) When Sandeep asks all of us if anyone knows the address or at least the marriage hall's name, we all looked at each others' faces (So much for mocking Prabs). Then we had to get help from Sneha and her slow-pdf-opening PC to get directions.

5) Sandeep's vents out his frustration at the traffic "Its nice and cool to sit in a car. Only when you are driving will you feel the heat" . But its thanks to him the trip went smoothly for us . Dropped everyone back home too :)

6) My explanation of Practice at Shanti Sagar. The story goes thus : If Krishna, Ashwini ad me only 3 of us go to Singapore on a trip, it should not end up being awkward. So we decided we 3 will practice meeting up at Shanti Sagar regularly and getting a feel of the entire thing. Its another thing Krishna has no idea bout this :D. John, you are also included for the trip by default ;)

7) Rashmi's weekday , far-far theory of attending marriages. Its now a full-fledged algo. Check out
    http://chaos-is-forever.blogspot.com/2010/02/ultimate-wedding-attendance-algorithm.html

8) Vids threatening to kill all of us if we don't reach in time for her wedding rituals. 7 AM in the morning ;)

9) As we near the stage to wish the couple, Sandeep had genuine doubts if we even know the guy or we have traveled so far into some random wedding. We had our doubts too :P

10) Vids talking in Kannada. From now on, we are supposed to converse with her only in Kannada. Learn something Divya Kamath :P

11) Prabha's story of seeing a look-alike of me at her office. It seems she stared at that guy so much that finally he smiled back at her :D

You can add your own experiences here. Those who did not have the 'privilege' of attending the wedding can comment :D

A memorable evening :)

Finally made up my mind to write about the get together(GT) at my place . I have been planning to do this from so many days and had asked Pavan to send across the photos , so that I can add them in the post. But he had clicked ONLY 3 pics :P .

So, this GT was being planned from long time. There were lot of complaints from everyone that I never invite anyone to my place ;) . To my bad luck , I did invite DIvya and Sandeep for "Tea" , but due to unavoidable circumstances , that event also didn't happen :( .

Also , though I have picked up some cooking skills after marriage , nobody was ready believe that I can cook :P But why should only my culinary skills be tested :P Let everyone prove that they can cook :D So , it was decided that everyone should get at least one food item for GT ;) . Then started fights over chain mails as to who will get what :D Myself and Div were fighting over vada and myself and Vid wanted to make payasa. Looks like I was only fighting with everyone :D So , finally after lot of discussion , the list was finalized :

Me - vada , pulav

Sneha - gulab jamun

Pavan - khara pongal

Divya - mlore bajji

Vidhya - payasa

I called up Prabha to invite her and told her the rule. She threatened me that she will send a mail to everyone asking them not to get anything and make me cook a proper dinner :D I got scared that she will influence everyone into not bringing anything and the whole plan will go wrong ;) So , I asked her not to get anything but simply come to my place :D She relented :D

Finally , we decided the date and time for GT . Sad thing was , Ashu and John couldn't be part of this plan since they were out of station :(

The D-day arrived. First to come were Sneha and Maneesh.They were in a hurry since they had some other plans as well after this GT. Sneha had got yummy gulab jamuns :) I was still preparing pakodas when they arrived.

One by one everyone arrived . Divya was working that day ,so she couldn't get Mangalore bajji . Div , it is still pending on you ;) Krish got chocolate ice cream , Prabha and Surya got Potato Chips.

We started off with UNO . Some people were new to the game , so there was a round of explanation ;) Maneesh and Hari seemed to be experts in the game , and were coming up with lot of new rules in every round of the game :D .The pakodas and chips were gulummed during the game ;) Then Sneha , Maneesh and Div wanted to leave . So it was time for snacks ;) So out came Khara pongal , pulav , Hari's tasty payasa , gulab jamun , ice cream and chips ;) Everything tasted wonderful and we ate and ate ;)

Before Sneha,Maneesh and Div left , we got a group photo clicked ;) .

The rest of us continued with the fun. There were great rounds of singing by Vidya,Hari and Yashu :) Then we started of with our favorite game dumb charades :D After another hilarious 1-2 hours spent , it was getting late for everyone. It was time to say bye for the evening. Expression on Prabha's face before getting onto Pavan's bike was priceless :D

Another great evening with lots of food , fun and happiness :) Hope to have more such get togethers in future :)

EDIT (by Pavan) : Rash, seems like you don't remember the DC round much ;). This was one of our best DC game ever :D. And there were new players too. Me, Krish, Yashu, Sandeep,Surya were one team & Vids,Hari,Prabha,Rash were the other. Rashmi was in great guessing form I should say :D Recollecting some of the hilarious ones enacted here:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of the fleet street & Cloudy with a chance of meatballs : Both by debutant Hari. He was trying to enact 'ball'  ad guesses were bowl,throw, catch etc :D
The Prestige : Me. I tried enacting Prestige cooker and Yashu guessed the movie name "The cooker man" :D
The Manchurian Candidate : Prabha. She enacted "chat item" and thenVids rattled off all the chat items there are - panipuri,bhelpuri, pav bhaji,vada pav etc etc :D
Ittefaq : Me again. I took the easy way out on this one. Split it and enacted the F-word. We are a very,very,very clean group BTW :D


Any other funny ones? Please add if anyone remembers. For the TFTs, Dumb Charades will never go out of fashion :) Lemme see :D

10 years later...Part 2

Part 1

John saw Surya sitting silently and said loudly "Surya, kyun aise chup chup baithi hain? (Helps if you read it in John's Hindi accent) Tera machli ka business kaise jaa raha hai?" Surya giggles "Jaa raha hain nai John,chal raha hain. Actually woh toh doud raha hai" (Surya has moved to Bhubaneshwar and has taken up machili business. She has literally hit gold. In fact, she is so rich now that all she does is sit in a chair and count the moolah) John "Tu aur bhi white aur gol gol ho gayi hai. Lagta hain bahut paisa kama rahi hain. Main bhi pustak likhna chod ke tera business partner ban jaata hoon" Surya panics a little and says "Haan John,jab zaroorat pade main tumhe bulaloongi . Tab tak tum jo kar rahe ho, you continue that" Krishna smiles and pointing his finger towards Surya says,"Snota, you are right,you are right"

"At least you listen to me Pavan. As usual, nobody is interested to know what I am up to" ."Hey its not like that Vim.So Rajni's Rascals are a big hit Down Under huh? The Australian PM gave a public statement last week saying he approves of the Rascals" (Reacting to the racial attacks in the Oz, Vimala got together a gang of Tamilians and decided to give it back to the miscreants. This is their Rascals' daily routine : Watch Rajni movies throughout the day, catch the news for any attacks and carry out the vendetta that night itself. Vim is totally dedicated to this cause now. Vim's motto is "No law,no justice. Only JUDGEMENT!" The judgement included gruesome punishments like making the culprits eat spicy sambar-rice, make them say Rajni dialogues and torture them until they get them right and have Australian beer without offering them .Vim says dramatically "They shiver when they hear Vimala Muthiah's name. Our punishments are so horrifying those losers will never lay a hand on anyone again, let alone ask a woman to sit pillion"

Ankur heard only the word Tamil and started off "Anji,rendu,mooru, idli sambar, dosai" and started laughing (Ankur was doing the most admirable work among all of us. With an MBA degree up his sleeve, he felt he should do something for his native,Rajasthan. He sat through several sunsets wondering about it. And one day, it all came to him. Now he is heading a Govt Of India project to research growing Aloo in Thar desert). "Our state would not have to export Aloo from others states once this project is under way. Rajasthan will become self-sufficient in Aloo. And where did this start? I had nothing when I came here. Sirf ek rumaal aur ek MBA degree leke aaya tha idhar" Ashwini suddenly chimed in "Hey you sound like Mallika Sherawat". Ankur glared at her and did not crack any more jokes.

Krishna was silently listening to everyone till now. Suddenly he raised his hand "I'm next, I'm next" (Krish is a head cashier in syndicate bank in Suratkal. He says he loves the bank job as he wil get to interact a lot with people only to realize people rarely go to bank nowadays.In the evenings he transforms into the lead guitarist of the band Navoo Barsteevi, complete with a spiky hairdo, silver chains in his nexk, and dark tatoos on his face and arms and have rock shows in Udupi and Mangalore. Much like the two SRKs in Rab Ne....) Vidhya asked "Krish, dont you get bored with no people coming to the bank?" "heh,heh not at all, not at all. I listen to music,watch videos of sachin batting, eat mangalore bajji and sleep. Also occasionally when a customer comes, I chat up with them, tell them to go to Bharat mall and see the bich"

It was my turn now. Divya "What is your current profession Pavan? You are shifting careers so fast we have no idea what you are upto now :P :P" (After I quit my job, I could not quite decide what I should get into. I love traveling, so I got work with a big Tours and Travels company. Once I lost my sense of direction so much I suggested this Punjabi family to take a flight to Gurgaon when they said wanted to see a beach.I was promptly asked to leave. Next I took up wildlife photography, but then somehow the animals would appear only when I am having food or snacks,which was very often. By the time I finish and pick my cam, they are gone! Next I took up a job writing columns for a reputed newspaper. But then everyone thought I only cracked stupid jokes and made no sense and there was a heavy backlash again the paper itself. Sooooo.... )"Now I am running a business chain dealing with popular anime merchandise - Naruto orange color jump suits, Naruto orange caps, Naruto t-shirts even electronic goods with Naruto themes!!! We even have a website http://www.shopdattebayo.com where you can shop for such stuff to your heart's content!!!. Great,isn't it?"
Ankur sounded very confused "I have only one question. What is this Naruto???"
                                                                

                   (LOUD ROCK MUSIC  WHILE END CREDITS ROLL)
                                                                

And for those who don't remember Naruto

A note to TFT's

Just thought to write a note on TFT's...

Thanks to Rash for introducing me to this group!!!
Must say ..TFT's are amazing with thier high enthu...all time
one good thing is they often get-to-together/keep in touch...inspite of their bizi schedules.
Believe me.. not all gang's do this even though they are in touch thru emails,phone rarely..

A group with a blend of talents- photographers, singers,mimic's... and just adores each others talents..

You rock guys!!! keep going...

Happy to join you on any trips, get-togethers!!! haha :-)

The Marathon continues.....

I thought for a week to find an incredible topic other than our usual tarley's topic;)), finally I end up writing about my loved one (which is again highly discussed in third floor)...Ya its a tribute to Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who is completing 20 years in cricket today, for his dedication,passion,devotion and his genuine Love for the country.20 god damn years,I cant even think of such a longevity by any cricketer with so much love and commitment.

This is just an insight to what Sachin is meant for billion fans out there. I am not writing here about his statistics or his records (there may be a millions of sites where u could find) but a little erudition about him as a person from his disciple's perspective.

I proudly say that I am one of the ardent fans of Sachin, my cricket watching career started with Sachin ;) and may end with Sachin's retirement as well. I still remember hw I came to knw about Sachin and hw this little genius became integral part of my life. I started following his matches when he went to a series in England in 1990.In those days Live cricket in DoorDarshan was just a dream and my father used to give me the cricket updates from news paper. Slowly I started following each of his score and his batting which actually took me to a level where I hate cricket when he gets out.

There must be something about this India's proudest possession which stands him top among all the cricketers (I am saying it again "among All the cricketers" :)), it’s not just his records or his batting style or his responsibility or the burden that he carries himself but his endeavor for betterment in each of his game (he said once "there is no shortcut for success"), his genuine love for the cricket and country and his humbleness. Despite his fame and success his feet are firmly grounded, when he speaks about cricket/country, he puts his heart out.The Greatness of Great ppl is they never say they r great. I read his wife Anjali's interview where she says "ya I know how much it affects him when he does well but still the team losses which induces a terrible devastating feeling in me thinking of Sachin’s emotions”. This shows what must have been going on in Sachin's mind when India looses.He just wants India to win at whatever condition.

Usually Sachin doesn’t show much of his emotion when India loses or wins but believe me he is one of the happiest man when India wins. Once Mangrekar said that when India lost a match, Sachin couldn’t control his emotions and locked himself in a bathroom for half an hour or so!!

For his followers Sachin is like "what Black for the blind, water for fish and for Bowlers he is tiger in the bush, a hidden dragon"

All the bowlers who got hit when he was young must have relieved now that they r thrashed not by an ordinary player but by a cricket God ;)

I have seen many ppl saying ‘ya Sachin's best is yet to come’,’ After a long time I am watching Sachin playing like his young days’, ‘when will he beat this Record’,’ When will he get us a world cup’,’ It’s the time for him to retire’. People never appreciate what is right in front of them, they put a blind mask

around them and search for something extraordinary. It’s delightful to see even a single shot from Sachin's bat. Wow!! the perfection, delicate balance and his confidence which he exudes when he executes a shot is just amazing which is getting better and better each day. I really pity for those who crib about his records or his match winning ability when they can’t enjoy the BEST which our generation is blessed with. Each of his blistering knock is a Chocó cake and his mind blowing shots add hot chocolate fudge over the knock ;).He usually brings an amazing smile on our face and makes our day when he is batting. That kind of influence he induces in our daily routine.

There is a quote in ‘Thousand splendid suns’

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls."

— Saeb Tabrizi (explaining abt Afghanistan)

We have One little Sachin whose greatness can’t me measured and whose charisma equals thousand splendid suns.His contribution to the country put India in a commanding position in world map, made us feel proud about our country.A day may come when we miss his batting but the aroma he has put in our heart will remain forever.Till then watch the Cricket God himself in action :)

10 years later... Part 1

A little background here. Five years from now, we all got bugged of our corporate jobs and decided to quit the industry and start afresh. We all actually put down our papers on the same day. We went our ways pursuing different careers and interests. Though few of us kept meeting up regularly, the entire group meet-up only happened five years after that,10 years from now. Here are some excerpts from the conversation as I could recollect :
(Kids,spouses not mentioned here intentionally :))

It started with everyone congratulating John. Finally he had decided to tie the knot! Also the publishing date for his long delayed book - 1001 Excuses to fool ANYONE has been finalized. On being asked how he was inspired to write the book, he said "No da, no inspiration nothing. I had fever for two weeks and I could not go outside the house. So only I decided to write this book". For those who didn't know, John has been taking courses on giving excuses for last 3 years now. The advanced course comes with a free 3 hour lecture on "How to pataofy girls and not lose money". We all got a free copy of the yet-to-be published book,signed by John. Here is the front cover :

Next everyone's attention turned to Ashwini - "Ashu,  last episode of Chindi Chitranna was amazing. We thought you are out of the show only!!! As always, you seem to be the audience favourite this time also. (Ashwini is a HUGE reality show star now in kannada television. Apparently a big Kannada TV producer saw her 27- minute marathon fight with an autowallah and called her for the audition of a soon-to-be-launched reality show, Chindi Chitranna. Ashwini has been the winner last 3 seasons and this is her 4th season on the popular show. The audience can't get enough of her "hilarious" one-liners and histronics, not to mention the large male fan following she has garnered) Ashu "Gottilla kane, I am just being myself .The audiences are being nice to me asthe. Adre last episode, a one-movie wonder koti naa nodidiya, heng adta idlu. Nanne tamashe madtala avlu.......................................................................................................(blah blah)"

Meanwhile, Divya "Rash, howz business at your grocery store?" (Rash started her gorcery store  years back. Well, as promised before, she offered me the job of managing the grocery store. But  she would give pay me only once in 3-4 months,so one fine day I didn't turn up) "Ayyoooo, en business-o eno. Last week I was sitting at the grocery store. Suddenly I realized the weighing machine in front of me is missing. I was wondering what happened. Then it struck me. I had dozed off for two hours while someone stole it and ran. Asthe alla, last week,yaaro 10 kg onion tagond bittu, 5 kg ne tagondidini anda nambsi asthe duddu kot hodru. I realized it only that night" Divya, as a habit, turns to Surya and translates the Kannada sentence to her "It seems someone took 10 kgs of onion from the store and paid for 5 kgs " "Aisa kya!?"

"What about you Divya? How is the teaching job going on in Mangalore?" (Divya has taken up a teaching job at an international school at Mangalore. Her subject is Moral Science. She has taken on the school authorities that they have one hour of moral science lessons everyday of the week she told them she'll continue only if they comply. They had no choice).
"Hey its going on well yaaa. All the kids are really cute. And they are awesome too".
"And do the kids like you,Div?"
"What nonsense! Of course,they love me. Infact they all have all affectionately kept a nickname for me too"
"What?"
"GODMOTHER" (with a hint of pride in her voice)

Vidhya was trying to say something from a long time now. She would start a sentence "Heyyyy yyyyooouuu knnnoowww..." and then suddenly someone would start their own story and then she would trail off. Now she took advantage of the silence that followed the GODMOTHER reply and started off. (Vids is a mini-celebrity in the local circles now. She has done several singing stage shows in and around Bangalore ) "Hey you know what, yesterday I had an audition for a  song for this recently launched Kannada movie Kunidu Kunidu Baare. It went welllll only, but dunno yaar.That producer was talking some bakwaas. I should sing faaaast it seems. Improve pace of the singing. I have no idea what he means by that. One idiot only".


(I realise the post has become a little lengthy. Lets have a Part 2 - Vim, Ankur, Surya, me, Krish , very soon :D)