Hanoi - Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant Review

A warm welcome from a warm ambience and from a smiling stewardess at Hanoi-Vietnamese Cuisine at Phoenix Marketcity, Bangalore, made our Sunday lunch a happy one.  The black and the red walls with the warm lights strike a chord as soon as you enter. We couldn't miss noticing the low-back chairs in the restaurant.

We, hungry as always, decided to order salads and appetizers. While we were working our way through the menu, a basket of white and crunchy tapioca krispies appeared on our table, which obviously, were gone the moment the basket was placed before us. It had a soy dip on the side.

We ordered the signature 'Nem cuon' or Vietnamese rice paper rolls, which were delicious with two varieties of sauces on the side, a peanut sauce and a sesame sauce. The sauces were absolutely creamy with the right amount of nuttiness and crunch, and the rice paper rolls neatly and delicately nestled the crunchy carrots, cucumbers, noodles, and chicken. The combination of the rolls and the sauces presented an eclectic mix of tastes. The mild rolls immediately burst into flavor when dipped in the sauces.

The 'Nom ngu sac' or the Five Colored Salad from the menu was a careful blend of tastes and colors. There were veggies, bean sprouts, and egg mixed with our choice of chicken that blended well in a soy based Vietnamese dressing. The crunch of the veggies balanced well with the nuttiness of the sesame seeds and the peanuts.

We were in the mood of trying out fish, and so, we asked for the Five Spice Basa preparation. The dish is called 'Ca basa ap chao' in Vietnamese.  I must say that the fish was excellent because its silky texture just melted away in the mouth.  It had the right amount of spices that accentuated the natural taste of the fish.

If you are stopping to think of a drink here while you are reading this, let me tell you that currently, the restaurant serves only wine. However, you can choose to sip on any of the delicious mocktails on their menu.

The main course for us was a combination of fragrant Jasmine rice served in a bamboo tube with a long handled serving spoon, and 'Hon hop rau xao,' a Vietnamese curry of veggies and chicken in an oyster mushroom gravy. The bamboo tube further enriched the fragrance of the already fragrant rice. The chicken curry in oyster mushroom sauce was sweet to taste and perfectly complemented the Jasmine rice.

We also savored a plate of stir-fried 'Banh Pho Xao,' or flat Pho noodles that had a lot of vegetables.

Any meal at a new restaurant is always incomplete without desserts. 'Chuoi chien' or banana fritters and 'Kem' or Vietnamese home-made icecreams added to our happiness quotient. The banana fritters were crunchy on the top with naturally sweet soft bananas in the core, the taste of which lingered for long. The 'coconut with rose petals' icecream was the winner between itself and the 'betel leaf icecream.'

If you are in the mood for fresh Vietnamese food which typically uses less oil and banks on a lot of fresh herbs, Hanoi-Vietnamese Cuisine is the place to go to. What makes it more authentic is that the place is run and managed by a beautiful lady from Vietnam, and her husband.

The Irony of the lost GPS Tracker

The techie husband (Sandeep) has been experimenting a lot with GPS trackers. The kid (Ryan) also seems interested in what papa dabbles in. As part of his experimentation, Sandeep put the GPS tracker in Ryan's bag today without the little one's knowledge. Ryan was also going for a field trip from school today, so the idea of sending the GPS in the bag made more sense.

Mid morning, Sandeep tracked if the tracker was working fine. Yes, of course it was. Afternoon, yes, of course it was. When the kiddo came back, viola!  The tracker was not in the bag, and not anywhere on Ryan.

A lot of tracking activities and voracious experimentation happened, in all of which, I also took part because it was important. Obviously it was! What was I thinking? We tried calling up the school, the bus drivers, the attendants in the bus, but to no positive outcome.

The GPS tracker is still showing where it is, around 6 kms away from here. The motive of the experimentation was definitely successful. Sadly there's an irony in there.

The purpose of the GPS tracker is to track, not to get lost.  Maybe, we need another tracker for the GPS tracker!

More reason to be sad: I dont have a pic of it to put up!

Soda Bottle Openerwala Bangalore (Restaurant Review)

It was our anniversary, and we decided to visit the famed Soda Bottle Openerwala at Lavelle Road. Needless to say, we had heard a lot of good things about this place, and we didnt want to miss getting a first hand experience of it. Here's a quick review.

We reached the restaurant at around 2 pm. It was a weekday, but the place was almost full and buzzing with activity. We entered into a fascinating Parsi charm land, with old world wooden doors, wood and wrought iron railings, and antique furniture complete with loud music, and a ceiling decor of hanging lights and lamps. What was most eye-catching for my little kid was an overhead train that was chugging along dedicatedly all across the restaurant on its suspended tracks very close to the ceiling. The little one could just not lose his focus from the train, not to mention it was playfully interesting for us too. Here are a few decor pics.

We were already hungry, and I wanted to taste the Bombay style sandwich. Therefore, we ordered the famous Bombay Rasta Sandwich which was delectably mouthwatering. We were suggested the Masala Pepsi along with it, and I must say, the combination was piquantly appetizing. Since we were only two adults, we didnt order a whole lot of goodies to dig into, though their menu has a wide variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options to choose from.

For the main course, we ordered a mild Sali Chicken (hoping that the kid would eat too), plain parathas, and a Chicken Berry Pulao from their menu. The Sali Chicken was perfect with just the right hint of spices topped with fried crunchy potato juliennes. The boneless chicken was succulent, and the paratha was soft but crispy enough to give that slight crunch when popped into the mouth.

The Chicken Berry Pulao was a very unique mix of slightly spiced chicken blended with nuts and fragrant rice topped with caramelized onions and berries. Every bite was a burst of sweetness and spices combined, and we almost cleared off the pan to the last grain.  We paired it with the Sali Chicken and to say the least, we loved what we ate.

The portions are good enough for two adults to share. While the kiddo still kept munching on the last  piece of crispy paratha, we decided to try the Mawa Cake. It is the famous Parsi cake that unarguably melts in the mouth. Warm and delicately buttery, it was the perfect finish to the meal.

The stewards and the waiters at the restaurant were warm and hospitable. They described to us our shortlisted dishes while ordering so we could make the best choice for ourselves.

What also deserves a mention is that they have a huge collection of candies that were available when we were kids. I was surprised to get 'Poppins,' a colorful set of hard candies rolled together that used to be quite a favorite with kids.

Overall, Im going to visit this place again soon. 

This restaurant should definitely be on your must-visit list too!

How did I treat 2014?

Warning: Sarcastic start!

Its fascinating how we all try to nudge the existing year to move out faster and usher in the new year with resolutions, booze, and highfalutin images of ourselves trekking in the Swiss Alps without winter wear.

 Well, due respect to all of you, but I don't make resolutions. Most of the resolutions I know we all make are related to our body. We all make fancy promises to ourselves for the upcoming year, and the one promise that tops the chart of promises is weight loss. Some of us go to extremes and resolve only to eat salads and sprouts for the whole year to trim down some fat, and what kickstarts the new year are bottles of beer and loads of meat. (I dont have anything against non-vegetarians; I was born a non-vegetarian and I will die one).


Knowing me, I cant make fancy promises to myself (of losing body fat and weight),

Well, to start off with, 2014 has been a good year for me. I loved watching Ryan grow up, talk more and more, gain a strong foothold on his vocabulary, go through emotional upheavals, grow more fond of his dad, and also challenge me in many ways.

I am so happy he is growing up so well!

I did a few great things for myself this year.

First, I learnt swimming. Call it a thrust on my leonine ego, but I did learn swimming after being laughed at a couple of times for not knowing how to tame water. Nevertheless, I am happy that I learnt a new sport. Otherwise, the only sport that I have in me is a spoil sport.

Second, I had given up driving. However, just a few days back, I rekindled the fire in me for driving, and more so, to fancy taking Ryan out for a ride.

Birthday at Hotel Aloft, Bangalore

Well, its been 4 years since my last post, and it feels that my blog is almost moribund.

I dont like it to die an unsung death, and therefore, here I am at it again.

I wanted to start off with something close to my heart and that led me to my baby Ryan, who just turned 3 this month. Sandeep and I decided to celebrate his birthday like we did the last two years, and we went on our rounds of getting quotations from banquet halls and hotels nearby.

We finalized on Hotel Aloft and till date, we are very happy with our selection. Especially since it was a poolside party.

The staff were friendly, right from the beginning, though, whenever we went to see the venue and discuss with the managers there, we had quite a bit of a waiting time. Nevertheless, it paid off!

The first time we were there, a certain Mr. Manoj (F&B) led us to the banquet halls. However, he suggested we do a poolside party adjacent to the restaurant (DotYum) there. The idea seemed great and we loved the ambience. The pool was probably a standard sized pool, but the wooden deck around it was long and open. There were capsule-shaped seating arrangements on both ends of the long pool and it's almost a bliss sitting there, watching the sun, and sipping on your cup of hot sweetened tea. Or coffee. Take your pick there.

We spent some time there to absorb the warmth the place had to offer, to look at the open skies above, and to hear the muted sounds of the pool rippling. The staff of the hotel were also very nice to offer us tea.  I was happy to think that I could spend some more time there before getting sandwiched in the traffic outside.

Manoj also let us know about the food options there. It was supposed to be a lavish spread with loads of food options (which was true). Since it was working well with our budget, we decided to go for the place. The booking process was seamless and they ensured quality of work. The staff were very helpful and understood

On the day of the party, we had a Mr. Kumar handle the party, and he too seemed very friendly. He agreed to pay the cake delivery guy, and also coordinated well with the decorator. The place was kid friendly. The kids at the party had ample space to run around and play safely. With the kids enjoying, the elders had some time to themselves enjoying their drink and walking around the place.

The hotel also arranged for drinks to be served to the guests both before and after the cake was cut, a live food counter in addition to the spread, and also an Indian snack counter which got a lot of attention from our guests. The lunch spread was varied with a lot of appetizer options, a whole set of colorful salads, a dessert counter with a host of assorted desserts, and a main course section that was a vast spread in itself.

Our guests seemed happy with the food options, and they poured in genuine compliments. Both about the venue and the food. We got to hear good words about the place and food from them a long time after the party.

Overall, it was an extremely pleasant experience, and I'd recommend this place to anyone looking for a nice poolside party. The courteous and helpful staff, the managers who oversee the comfort of their guests, and the place itself provide for a wholesome pleasant experience.

Nature Resort Orange County, Coorg

Sandeep and I waited for 2 years after marriage to set time off together for our honeymoon. Yeah, that sounds pretty procastinating right? Anyways, we decided to go to Munnar and Goa, in that order. I checked for hotels in Munnar, read their extensive reviews online, shortlisted a few, called them up, and almost decided on the Club Mahindra resort, when I realized Sandeep had always wanted to visit Coorg, and, therefore, quickly substituted Munnar with Coorg in the itinerary. Immediately, we started looking for hotels and resorts in Coorg. The one name for a resort in Coorg that we got to hear from a lot of people was Orange County. That got both of us really interested in the place and we decided to stay at Orange County in Coorg.

Right from reserving a cottage to checking out from the resort, it was a cakewalk for us. Nidhi, from reservations, seemed very friendly and was willing to answer all my questions with utmost patience. She detailed me on the reservation process, gave a lot of information about the resort and also told us how we could make our stay enjoyable at the resort. What was striking and different from other general commercial hotels was that she also called up a day before our trip to see if we needed something while in the resort and if we were all set to go!

Little gestures, but they make a lot of difference.

Here, I will skip the details of our journey to the resort considering that my post is a long one.

As soon as we got off the car and walked towards the reception, we were welcomed by a group of musicians playing resounding drums and traditional flutes. That brought a smile to our faces. We were also pleasantly surprised when the lady welcomed us at the entrance the traditional way with a tika on our foreheads and invited us inside.

Little gestures, but they speak volumes.

We were offered fresh sugarcane juice mixed with herbs. Unfortunately, Sandeep thought it was a medicinal potion more than anything else, but I found it refreshing!
The picturesque resort looked very neat and green, with coffee plantations all over, and a variety of trees. Just to let you know, Orange County Coorg is a nature resort, while its counterpart at Kabini is a wildlife resort. Coming back to us, the check in was simple and fast, and an executive led us to our cottage in a cute electric driven buggy. The buggy looked more like a ladybird to me, only white instead of red and without the spots. Got to know that you can take these buggy rides inside the resort.

The executive from the reception spoke to us about the resort on our 2 minute ride to our cottage. After we'd reached our cottage, she took us through the cottage and guided us on all the essentials that were provided for our stay. It was a nicely done up cottage very suitable for a couple.

Soon, we got a call from the housekeeping head introducing herself and letting us know that she would be available for any housekeeping help needed. The lady seemed extremely nice and friendly. In addition, Prasad, the ever-smiling housekeeping guy who was in charge of our cottage turned up to introduce himself and also asked if we needed something right away.

Below is a quick shot of our room. We had a minibar, a daily supply of complimentary fresh fruits, cookies, cashews, coffee and tea essentials.



The resort is serene and picture perfect. So, we decided to tour through the accessible areas of the resort on foot. Nothing beats taking a break in the lap of nature, and walking amidst greenery. It definitely was a welcome break from the noisy hurriedness of city life. One thing that was pleasantly striking was that every employee of the resort would greet us with a smiling 'Namaskara' (the traditional Coorgi way of greeting), wherever we'd meet them. All of them, right from the executives to the leaf-gatherer, would greet the guests with a smiling face and exude warmth. The resort is definitely beautiful, but such smiling and nice people around definitely add to the charm and the beauty of the place.

The 3 restaurants, The Granary, Plantain Leaf, and The Peppercorn are all worth visiting. While the Granary is the default place for most guests because it serves a variety of food, we also tried the Plantain Leaf. I must mention Veenu here who hosted us at the Plantain Leaf. We went there for breakfast, and he was the perfect host encouraging us to try all the fresh and hot breakfast items. He seemed to really like his job, and almost took it to heart when I specified that the Dosa was good. He was quick to ask, 'what about the rest?' He ensured that we had our fill and was keen on us having us eat more! Its the same kind of warmth and hospitality you get when you visit a friend or a relative for lunch or dinner.

Besides, the resort has a nice Coffee Lounge next to green paddy fields. Sip some hot nice sweetened Coorg coffee and enjoy the serenity any time of the day or night. Or, get some french pressed coffee stirred up in your cottage itself, sit out in the balcony and enjoy!

The nature resort is beautifully mapped with clusters of trees and plants. Some of these clusters include Pepper, Cherry, Mango, Coffee, Cinnamon and lots more. The resort takes care of the varieties of plants growing there and the large number of birds the green blanket houses.



Talking of birds, the resort has a great bird watching tour everyday that starts at around 6:30 in the morning. The mornings are beautiful, cold and misty. The guide Murthy, is another ever-smiling guy who is knowledgeable about birds. It was fascinating to see him whistle and generate responses from some birds! Besides bird watching, the resort also conducts a Forest Trail which is both fun and adventurous.



Few more gestures from the resort added to the great feeling I have for this place. I wanted a few clothes just dried and sent over while we toured through the resort. Prasad went out of his way to get them dried and also properly ironed at no extra cost and walked through the entire resort looking for us to get our permission to keep the clothes in our cottage!

One evening, the resort also gifted us a bottle of wine and a cake to celebrate our married life!

Also, we were to check out early morning at 6:30 and had asked for some breakfast to be arranged. They were more than willing to arrange for it. We found our breakfast immaculately packed and ready for us.

Another great point about this resort is, if you are taking your car along with a driver, they provide great boarding and lodging for the driver too at no extra cost! This is definitely a great way to ensure that their guests are happy and comfortable.

We had a nice stay for 3 days. The swimming pool is nice and serene. If you are a couple and would like more privacy and more calm, try the couples swimming pool. I suggest these pools are temperature regulated though! The water made us cold, but the warm sunbath after the swim made up for it.

Well, coming to the expenses, Orange County is a little on the seemingly-expensive side, and you may feel the big cavern in your pocket when you pay the entire amount in advance. However, once you reach the place, you really don't feel the pangs of having paid whatever you paid. At least we didnt. The place, the people, the warmth, the nature, and the hospitality will definitely sweep you off your feet.

Overall, the hospitality of the resort is great. No wonder the place has already carved a niche in the industry. I believe its a unique hospitable culture imbued in every employee that makes the place so much more than just a resort. If Im going back to Coorg, it'll be Orange County for me!

History as a Subject

How many of you would like to differ with this statement: 'I HATE History' ? Not many, I guess. Maybe a few will. But, only a few. The rest of us will surely want to scream even x years after school that we HATE history. I remember my history-studying years in school: I'd never, never think of touching my History book; let alone studying. Every history examination, every single one of them would give me heebee jeebies, and I'd feel as if I was eating dirt when I had to study the subject. The evening before every history exam, I'd have a crying session, around 30 mins, when I'd just remain quiet and feel the tides coming out of my eyes, eventually inundating my face. I'd refuse to look at anybody, but would make sure I was giving sly glances at my elder brother because he would help me with every other subject. But he wouldn't budge when it came to History. Finally, I'd howl, simply because I dreaded not being able to remember when Alexander had become the king, or how many gates the Sanchi Stupa has, and because I'd feel extremely unprepared. To confirm, this would happen only with History. Eventually, my mom would come to my rescue. She would console me, and read out every single sentence to me. Every single sentence from every chapter! I'd just follow her once and by some cosmic grace, I'd be well prepared in just a few hours. To answer follow-up questions in your mind, I would invariably score the highest in the subject.

Now I wonder, what was it about the subject that I dreaded (read 'hated') most? I also tried to figure out if I was the only one to feel this way or were there other folks too. Thankfully, I was happy to know there were lots of people like me out there who disliked the subject. Yes, lots of them. When I take a deep dive into why I hated it, I realize there were quite a few factors:
1. As a kid, I really didnt want to read about kings and their administrative system and their caste system and their financial system and their architectural abilities and strategic moves because I never realized what good came to me of it.
2. Though the books fed me with all kinds of dimensions of the domes, the gates, the stairs, the shapes of the temples, I could never visualize the architecture of temples and the innumerable structures built. Somehow I couldnt.
3. The only focus of studying history was because it was a subject set by ICSE, CBSE, State boards etc etc. Never was the beauty of the past highlighted. I knew about the security setup of Ashoka, but could never identify with the wars he fought, or why all of a sudden he despised the battlefield.

What I strongly feel about the subject now is that its not just a subject. Its a beautiful yarn that can be woven quite well, and quite beautifully. Id love it if my teachers would've not really opened the book and read para by para but told me in a story-like manner how Akbar or Jahangir fought battles, how Buddha attained Nirvana, or why Bahadur Shah Zafar wasnt as strong a Mughal ruler like his predecessors. Rather than being forced to gulp down these from pages in a book, had the education system been such that these were told in the form of stories, I'm sure a lot of students would love this subject.

In addition, rather than mentioning that the Mughal architecture had x, y, z kind of structures, a real field excursion will definitely help students in understanding the architectural styles of empires. Who would want to read about the dimensions of the Buland Darwaza, but show this lofty structure to students and tell them why it was built and why it was so called, and I'm sure the visual appeal will help students remember details. I mean taking students out for excursions to some of the most imposing and living structures and explaining the who's and the why's to them instead of asking them to learn by rote. Keeping the financial factor aside, I wonder how much the 'concept' schools of today think of how to better the education strategies.

BTW, just to let you all know, my mom has a Masters in Indian History. :)

Perfume Shopping

Couldnt keep this dialogue between the hero (of my book) and the saleswoman.

The hero goes to buy a perfume.
Saleswoman: What kind of fragrance do you like Sir, musk, aquatic, woody or..?
Hero: Umm, something really strong that can cover my f**t.

The girl shudders, her jaws drop, but somehow she gathers herself.
"Ahem, let me show you some of the brands we carry Sir..."
He cuts her short "You know, something, something really strong and long lasting. Which one do you think will suit me? And mind you, I want to test it, here, now."
"Yes Sir, I will help you test it."
"Ha ha, I doubt you will be able to help me with it."
"Then Sir, I suggest you go to the trial room and try it out!" She replied, visibly irritated.

...
...
...
Few more dialogues after which the guy buys a perfume. True to his traits, he buys the brand Fcuk.

Facebook fad about Bra Colors! Red, Black or Zebra Stripes?

We all must have seen the Facebook status messages mentioning colors. Red, Blue, Black, Silver, Gold and what not! Thats the latest fad. And innocent creatures who never really understood what they signify have been trying haplessly to find out the meaning of these colorful mumbo-jumbo of statuses! To give you a light-humored joke, there are males who never understood what these colors meant, and they put up colors as their status messages, only to try and hide under their desks when they were laughed at by friends! Apparently, its like a mystery which has been decoded and posted on Yahoo Answers and all over the internet too. Again apparently, its about spreading awareness about breast cancer. And how is this been done? Female facebook users are supposed to mention these colors and spread the word among their lady friends.

I wonder: Just creating an aura of mystery about some arbitrary colors and gathering 'oohs' and 'aahs' about them are by no means a way to spread awareness about breast cancer! Also, going by the kinds of comments on these status messages, if the motive is also to show how bold you by trying to create a peek-a-boo visual imagination of a colorful bra on a public forum, trust me, its not boldness to a nanoparticle! Let me ask you, Where is the boldness if you just mention 'red,' 'maroon,' 'fuschia,' 'Vibgyor,' 'tiger stripes' as your status? I'd rather say the 'Pink Chaddi' campaign was bold.

I dont even think the actual motive of spreading awareness is anywhere noticeable! Where is the awareness if my lady colleague comes to me and asks me 'what is this hoopla with colors as facebook status messages?' Maybe 30% of the women don't even know what this is all about! It appears to be just the farcical peer pressure of displaying how fashionable you are.

If awareness about a constant raging disease has to be spread, get up and gear up for it. Go to schools, talk about it, set up ways to have free testing for rural women, spread the awareness about it in your own home first. Its a noble cause. If you want to spread awareness about it, care for yourself and dont create a patchwork of colored status murals on facebook.

My First Spooky Feeling

Well, folks at office are gearing up for Halloween, and there’s the word ‘spooky’ everywhere. This reminds me of the first serious spooky feeling I had.

As a kid, I was never afraid of ghosts, or the darkness, which made me quite famous at home. And I used to enjoy the fame more so because my elder brother was quite scared of darkness.

This was the first ever spooky ghostly fear I had when I was in the eighth grade. I had watched this movie Evil Dead (dont remember which part) and the same day my uncle had added more fuel to the spooky fire already raging in me. He talked of another movie in which a hand, just the fingers, the palm and the wrist would be crawling and tapping at a table. I was scared to my blood cells!

Now, I was in the habit of getting up early morning before anyone else at home did, would exercise a little and would definitely skip with a skipping rope. That movie night was a difficult night for my poor soul, I couldn't sleep well. Nevertheless, I got up and exercised a little. However, nothing was taking that hand off my mind. I started skipping, but I'd find myself stopping and looking back at the window. I felt that the hand would appear suddenly and just tug at my skipping rope. I'd come to know of it when I'd feel the rope being pulled at.

I really found myself sweating, not for skipping because I'd stop every few seconds and look back through the corners of my eyes, but out of fear. Slowly the fear gripped me so bad I could actually feel myself seeing a white wrinkled hand slowly approaching from the window! No time to think, run, just run, I told myself. I just hurled the rope on the ground, ran back to my mom's room, got into bed, covered myself from head to toe with a blanket and forced my eyes to close.

I didnt know when I had dozed off this way. Woke up startled when I found my mom trying to wake me up! I was happy to see her and more so to see sunlight outside the window. Thank God that hand had disappeared!

'Jai Ho' A R Rahman Live Show at GMR Arena Hyderabad

A R Rahman Jai Ho Live Concert at Hyderabad.

On October 24, Saturday, there was an A R Rahman live concert held at GMR Arena near Hotel Novotel at Shamshabad Airport Hyderabad, also known as the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The live show was named 'Jai Ho' for reasons that need not be explained. Sandeep got two tickets for Rs 7,500 each, and all for free! That was more of an incentive for us to go :). Shamshabad airport is 30 kms from our home and though we had taken driving directions from Google Maps, we didn't want to drive back all the way at night. So we took the Aeroexpress bus from near our home deciding to take the Aeroexpress back again.

The show was supposed to start at 7:30 pm. Ours was a sudden decision, so we knew we'd be late by some 30 minutes or so. We were wrong in our estimate coz we had discounted the eccentricities of the Aeroexpress. The 7:30 pm Aeroexpress came in at 8pm (gosh!) and we reached the airport at 9 pm, only to know that GMR Arena was not close to the airport but a few kilometers away. God! We were stuck as to how to get through those few kilometers! How we wished we had got our vehicle. Nevertheless, there was this airport official who directed us to the airport shuttle that would take us around a kilometer to another RTC bus stop, where we would get another shuttle to the GMR Arena! So be it, we thought and took the first shuttle, and then the second shuttle. We were asked to drop off at a place, which was reeking with people, cars, noise, police, security, two wheelers, and a lot of dirty granular stony sandy land. It was the final stop beyond which no vehicles would be allowed, and you would've to walk all the way to the arena. So, you mean that wasnt the arena? Yes, you're right, that was not the arena; the arena was around 1/1.5 kilometers away. And you may ask, how did you guys get there? We walked. Yes, everyone had to walk from that point to the main arena where A R Rahman was singing! Good lord! So we walked. We saw tonnes of people coming back and feared the show may have ended. However, most of those returning were those folks who had the Rs 500 tickets with them. They had to watch the show standing. Standing? Yes, and that too from faaaar off where one could only see the lights at a distance, like we get to see tiny glimpses of lights in the dark from a train. We found lots of people standing at all possible places from where they could at least see just lights and lights and hear music.

We reached the category for the 7500 tickets and was allowed inside after a brief few seconds of what were supposed to be security checks. We entered, my legs paining after the long walk through the coarse sand. However, it was a bursting of the excitement bubble, coz even getting tickets for 7,500 category, all you could see were floating figures on the far off stage.

In addition, Rahman and troupe sang mostly in Tamil, though he has so many of the Hindi numbers. Well probably he did so considering the geographic location of his concert, however, I guess he may already have known by now that there is an equal mix of people from all regions in the job-rich Hyderabad city, and that geographies are mainly blurred lines when it comes to music. I'm sure there were lots of other people who would've expected to hear more Hindi numbers,(I think there were only 3/4 Hindi songs) considering that Hindi movies/songs reign all over the country and Tamil or Bengali or Assamese songs are mostly tied to their locations. No harsh thoughts or discrimination is hinted here, don't get me wrong.

We did enjoy some of the songs though, with all the dazzling lights and the dancing silhouettes, and the fireworks.

However, there was this character, I have no idea who he was, who popped up in the middle of the audience trying to grab attention by uttering some mumbo jumbo. He may have been an RJ, or a self-appointed rapper of sorts, but it looked like he wanted to grab the lens and the media attention, and was definitely the wet-blanket quotient of the entire show.

To top it all, when the concert ended at 10:30 pm. the place was a mess with cars trying to get out, tonnes of people running about, walking, sitting all around, and the police strewn all over with no idea of what to do and how to do the what to dos. The shuttles seemed to have been shut down and we had no idea how to get back, at least to the Aeroexpress stop, leave alone getting back home. We walked, and walked, and walked, through the granular pit-heavy sandy road, through the crowded lanes, through the parking, through snaking lines of people, and then reached the Aeroexpress stop at 11:45 only to know that the next bus would be at 12:30 am. We waited and waited and then finally reached home at 1:30 am.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz the entire of the next day, so tired were our feet.

Hubby's New Interest in the Kitchen

Sandeep has recently acquired an interest in kitchen appliances, and its nice to see his interest soaring. Last Sunday, he took me to an electronics appliances store to see some cell phones. I've been planning to change my cell phone since May of this year, and have been dilly-dallying between an iPhone, a Nokia E71, and a Google Android, but haven't really zeroed in on any. Anyways, we checked the phones in the store, remained as confused as ever and started looking at the other stuff those guys sold. When I went in to check a blender-plus-chopper (which, again, was on my mind for long), Sandeep was really impressed to see the effect to which this appliance could be used. He was up for it even before I decided on it, and he almost immediately bought it. After picking up the blender-chopper in an instant, he moved to the other appliances, seemingly very interested in the enormous ease they would bring to his wife's kitchen chores. He was excited about a microwave, a better quality mixer, grinder, juicer than the one I have, a toaster, a sophisticated blender-cum-egg-beater and what not! He insisted on a microwave then and there! Only after much convincing that I'd have to research a little on microwave ovens before buying helped me put off buying one instantly!

To add to this, he came back home, fixed the blender chopper he got me, cleaned it, peeled onions, chopped them, blended up some yummy lassi and felt victorious at the feat! I was amazed by his enthu. In addition, he searched for other modern kitchen appliances and I found him scouring through brand name sites like kitchenaid, cuisipro, cooking.com and so many more. I remembered working with these sites for quite some time, I had created account plans and optimized them a number of times.

Sandeep seemed really happy with his searches and we are planning on some new posh stuff for our kitchen! We have a microwave, a coffee maker (ha, ha)in our immediate buying list. Good gracious lord for getting such an amazing husband. Well, he understands how difficult it is for me to get to cooking and chopping at a stage when I'm still getting better with my right hand after our accident, and also how efficiently and technologically superfast these appliances can be.

Thank You Mr.Husband- From Your Wife. :)

P as in Pneumonia...

Disclaimer: No offense meant to anyone, no intention of mocking anyone.

A credit card company representative calls me to sell a card. Lets name this person A. This is the conversation that goes on:

A: 'Hallo Maam, naynu XXXXXX Bank nundi call chaysthunnaa....'

ME: (In my mind) XXXXXX bank is the keyword. I snap: 'ok hang on, English or Hindi please, I dont know Telugu.'

A: 'okaaay.' Silence, some fumbling, and then again 'maam, I'm calling from XXXXXX Bank credit card division. Do you have a credit card maam?'

ME irritated: 'Yes, I already have a few credit cards, I dont want any more please, thank you.'

A: 'But maam, do you have XXXXXX bank credit card? We have a good credit balance for you maam.'

ME getting super irritated, more so at the 100 'maams' in a sentence, and gearing up for some mischief: 'Okay I'd be interested. What info will you need?'

A Sounding very happy at getting a lead: 'Okaaay maam, we will send our representative at your home or office and you will have to fill out a form. Can I get your name and address please?'

Me: 'Yes yes, sure, that sounds good. Why dont you send your representative to my office on Monday while I give you my name and address now.'

A super happy : 'Oh yes maam, that will be okaay. Tell me your name.'

Me: 'Ok, my name is Phebe Kynx.'

A: 'What is it maam?'

Me: 'P-h-e-b-e K-y-n-x. Do you want me to spell it out for you?

A: 'Yes maam.'

Me: 'Ok, here you go.
P as in Pneumonia, H as in Hour, E as in escherichia coli, B as in Buttercups-butterflies-dot-blogspot...

A: 'The first letter is T maam?'

Me: 'No no, P, P as in Pneumonia.'

A: 'D maam?'

Me growling at her 'I said Ppppppp, P as in Psychiatrist'

A: A little confused and relieved at the same time, 'okaay maam, I got you. Then maam?'

Me: 'H as in hour'

A: 'R maam?'

Me: 'No, its H, H as in Hour.' I went on 'E as in Escherichia, did you get that?'

Silence. Some fumbling again. I realized she was getting super confused and nervous. Guessed 3/4 minutes may have passed and it wasnt worth wasting her or my time.

Me: 'Listen, I dont want to waste time. Call me later.' Click-I hang up.

I'm sure she would never call me.

More on Rains

Okay, so I am so excited to see, hear, and feel the rains today after a long time, I thought of writing another post. That's because on my way to office, I had a lot of nostalgic thoughts about a rainy day and I'm sure most of you have at least a few similar thoughts.

The first thought that refreshed my mind was a rainy day at school. All of us have had days when we were pulled out of the bed on a rainy morning by our parents or siblings and asked to get ready for school. I too have had similar experiences. I'd be a little grumpy to be out of bed at first, but I loved school. I'd never never want to miss school a single day of life, even if the Arctics melted and washed away the world or even if a volcano blew up near my school. So, I'd actually be quite upset if my school declared a 'rainy day' off for us, and I'd feel a little alienated from my friends who'd be so happy to get the day off!

Strange enough, things were different for college. I'd be immensely happy if my college would declare a holiday for the rains, though it never did. However, I remember my first year of college when Kolkata had been almost submerged, and I almost swam to college. It was the last day of my final exams and nobody had answered the numerous phone calls I made to college. I was waist deep in water and braved it quite well when suddenly I lost the elevated pavement I was walking on because I didnt know where it ended on the road and splash! I was down in the water! I saw my bag floating away. I got up all drenched and feeling heavier than I ever was and grabbed the bag. Thankfully, a gentleman and his daughter had seen my plight and rushed through the water to help me. They led me by the hand and all three of us walked through the water only to find my college had declared a holiday! Phew!

That was my happy-sad nostalgia. Today, my facebook homepage is full of rainy day updates, and how people got stuck on the roads. I'm sure the home-birds are having a great day, but those out on the roads are going to have a tough time.

Cheers!

Rains

Yes, it finally rained heavily in Hyderabad. The entire rainy season until last week went dry with constant fears of drought in the state. The truant nimbus clouds finally came back from their vacation last week, and it rained heavily last week and today too.

Today morning was awesome with heavy rains and a great cool air all over. However, for me (and a lot of you), the only spoilsport was having to go to office. You know right how it feels when its raining heavily outside, and the morning at 7 looks dark and gloomy like its just 5:30, and you are all wrapped up in thick blankets on the warm-cold bed! Aah, its just awesome. I'm a light sleeper, and so I woke up at 3 am at the pitter-patter of rains on my window. Slowly, I heard the rain intensify and growl, and the pitter-patter transformed into a heavy splash of water on the window panes. The rains continued alternating between heavy to moderate, while I alternated between sleep and half-sleep. I had the fan on and drew a blanket to enjoy the warmth of the cold. I think I dozed back at around 5 am when my alarm went off. I keep the first alarm at 5 am on weekdays. I usually love to keep it snoozing until 6:30. Every time it snoozes, I enjoy the thought of getting some more time to sleep until the next snooze. It continues until its time for me to finally leave bed at close to 7 am. Today was different. I dozed off at the first ring and slept undisturbed until I realized my cab would be waiting for me soon.

I woke up to see the nearby gulmohar tree wet and dripping. The dripping dark green leaves looked amazing in the not-so-bright cold morning. I loved the scene for a minute and hated office for another. Sad and heavy-hearted at having to get up early on a cosy morning, I was also happy to have enjoyed the beautiful morning weather.

Plastic Surgeons Have Lost an ATM

Well, I see marks of interrogation on your faces. Yep, if you guess who/what I'm talking of, I'll get you a pizza, and I'm sure you can't guess. :)

I'm talking of MJ. Well, he deserves a mention at least once in my blog. :) Dont gimme that look, you! I'm nonchalant to MJ's music, neither a fan, nor a hater (I know its a strong word).

What is striking is the media hoopla we have been noticing since his death. It's almost 2 months that the person has died, and people have been trying to get famous by supposedly seeing him here and there. TRP(television rating points) hungry news channels have tried to create a spooky air by showing a shadow of MJ walking in his home. Apparently he has been seen enjoying with his friends by his pool side. Friends, err...u mean souls or humans, I'd love to know! Or is that what we mean by soulmates?

The latest from the media stable is that MJ was supposedly a reincarnation of an Egyptian Princess. A statue of an ancient Egyptian Princess kept in Chicago's Field Museum has all of a sudden started making news from August 8, 2009. There are suppositions, ideas, thoughts that MJ was a reincarnation of this Princess. I wonder why it didnt make any noise when the supposed reincarnation was alive? MJ died on June 26, 2009. Was this Egyptian Princess excavated after this date? Or was the Chicago museum built between June 26 and August 8?

I fail to understand why the media has created this story after MJ's death. I'm sure had this story been unraveled earlier, the museum would've got a lot of coverage. A lot of people would've made tonnes of moolah too, keeping aside the plastic surgeons. A pic of this princess for your hungry curiosity:

Phew! My first Wedding Anniversary

Rolling back to July 9, 2008, Wednesday.
Sravani Saha and Sandeep Giri are married at Arya Samaj Mandir, Kolkata.

Fast forward (a little faster, please) to July 9, 2009, Thursday.
Sandeep Giri and Sravani Saha are still wonderstruck how one year has passed by. Nevertheless, now that it has already passed off, no use thinking how.

No, no, thats not how I (Sravani) am. I really traced back to find out that I spent 6 months with books, 2 months cooking, 1.5 months talking on the phone, 1.5 months fulfilling my basic human needs, and probably the remaining 1 month with Sandeep undisturbed. I still have to ask Sandeep about his breakup of the 12 months.

Now, Sandeep and I were okay-ish excited about our first anniversary. We didn't really plan anything though. I think that's why we were given a surprise by life :)

At 12 am, July 9, we cut a huge, cherry-rich, yummy black forest (yes, the pic you see up there).

Next morning, Sandeep took an off from work. I had already taken one. :)
We were tossing ideas at each other as to how we could spend the day together, and finally decided to take a long ride to Shamirpet Lake close to Hyderabad. The lake is 30 kms from our home, and both of us absolutely love long rides on our two-wheeler. I packed off some crunchy apples, some sweets, and a bottle of water for a small afternoon together. The lake was beautiful. We saw a few men fishing. When we asked about their catch, all of them said with pride: 'Pomfret.' Later, I came to know the black-skinned fish were nowhere close to pomfrets. Probably thats the one word that could make jeans-clad people feel proud about those fishing!

Cool lake with a cooler breeze, lots of rocks and very few people were the highlights of the place. We toured the entire place, climbed all the rocks we could, Sandeep even pulled me into the water to a distance, we clicked pics, munched on apples, I slipped on two slippery rocks in the water, Sandeep happily and bravely stood on one though. Some happy pics here.



After about 4 hours, we decided to make a move. We had another cake to cut when we'd get back home.

Since we had to take NH9, we came across lots of roadside eateries (dhabas). We had a spicy meal and started back. We had almost started to see civilization (yes, all this while we hadn't) when a three-wheeler overtook us from the left. Imagine, from the left! Simultaneously, there was a big SUV that overtook us from the right and hit our two-wheeler! I just had a glimpse of Sandeep falling, and before I could realize anything else, I found myself on the ground, and being pulled up by Sandeep. Standing on my feet, I could feel myself very dizzy, and suddenly our eyes fell on the blood all around me on the road. My eyes immediately darted towards Sandeep, fearing him injured. However, I hadn't realized it was my own right thumb that had got crushed with the skin, nail, and underlying tissue hanging from the rest of the finger. Soon, I realized something warm tricking behind my ears. I touched it with my left hand to see blood flowing from somewhere in my head. I looked at Sandeep and found him limping. He was injured in his knee and in his left hand. I then looked at my left hand and saw a huge bruise that was bleeding too. Sandeep seemed very tensed with the uncontrollable bleeding all over, and I tried to tell him that we'd be fine. All we wanted to do was rush to a hospital.

One helpful guy offered to drop us at the nearest hospital because Sandeep could hardly stand straight, leave aside riding. I tried to keep my hand raised to keep the rest of the thumb intact and also to reduce bleeding. We got to a hospital after around 3 kms, received first aid, only to know that I'd need an immediate surgery in my hand. Unfortunately, the two surgeons in the hospital were out. So, we had to rush to another hospital, where I had a plastic surgery in my thumb, a stitch-up of my head injury and other medications for 45 hours. I was almost immobile with my right hand in a cast, and my left with cuts and bruises. Sandeep didnt sleep a wink in those 45 hours, attending to all my needs and looking after me, and without seeing a doctor for his injuries! He turned absolutely immune to himself and his injuries, and I feared the injuries would harm him. However, he seemed absolutely nonchalant about himself. I still don't know how he could tolerate the pain!

We came back on Saturday evening. Sandeep was limping, and I was all in a cast and bruises. We finally cut the cake that we were to cut on Thursday. :) I felt so happy to come back home.

Its been 33 days, and Im still healing. I'm yet to resume work after all these days. Sandeep is still feeding me, helping me change, and helping me with everything. His injuries too haven't healed completely, but he hardly bothers. I'm completely in awe of this guy who has been doing so so much for me. Thank you dear, and love you immensely.
Some happy sad pics here:





We had not realized when we spent one whole year together, however, we'll forever remember how we spent the first day of the second year together. :)

Back after a Hiatus

Finally, I'm back after a hiatus. My last post was in May, 09. June whizzed past through a-better-not-talked-about-exam. Come July, and I was exhilarated and damaged the same day! Damaged? Sounds like a motor part. Yes, but Yes.

Will talk about it tomorrow in my next post.

Tricking Myself :)

There are times when I feel the need to trick myself. Yes, dont give me that look. I do trick myself often. I'll mention one trick I experimented and found that it worked!

It was a heavy-hearted rain-swollen Wednesday morning. I'm sure you know how professionals feel on week day mornings like these. Not to mention, I was sleepy (that's just an understatement, unwilling to move out of bed, absolutely irritated at the thought of having to go to work! Nevertheless, I pulled myself out of my sheets, got ready for office and got back to bed, waiting for my cab, and hoping to make the best use of the wait time.

Sometime later I was a zombie at work. Like all other days, I made a to-do list, though lousily. It included lots of things topped with some boring procastinated tasks from the last week which had to be sent out asap. And I was least in the mind to work.

Un-determined to finish my work, I facebook-ed for sometime. 'Sometime' turned out to be exactly an hour because you dont realize how much time you have been jaywalking on facebook visiting the viral strings of profiles and innumerable links! Looked at my to-do list. Screamed a "NOOO." It didnt work. It didnt make me any more kicked up to work than even an hour ago. Finally, rubbing my hands together, I geared up to trick myself. I pulled out the to-do list for the previous day (Tuesday) which had all pink-highlighted to-do's. Pink for me means done. Pulling out a bigger post-it, I wrote down all of Tuesday's to-do's and all of today's in one sequence. Marked each of Tuesday's to-do item broad pink and kept the list right in front of my eyes.

8 hours later. I rechecked my list. All of today's were marked pink too! Ruminated on how lazily I had started the day, and now all my tasks were done! Yep, I had managed to trick myself by saying this to my mind: 'See all the tasks in point # 1,2,3,4,5 are done. Wow. Just 10 more to go for today. Take baby steps, one at a time, and see you will have all 15 pink soon.'

It worked. Tried it many more times. Figured this out of the whole thing: The sudden unprecedented pleasure that the mind gets on seeing strikethroughs on to-do's or tasks marked 'done' is immense, and it keeps you going for the rest of the list.

Try it. It works wonders! :)

Half a Lettuce Leaf!

Ladies, excuse me for this post.

99% ladies- girls, women, aunts, moms, all of them are possessed with the idea of losing weight, no matter how much they weigh. Agreed that as many women as I've interacted with all my life, most of them needed to lose weight, however, this thought haunts them so much that they go to ridiculous extremes to have a few kilos off their arms or tummies! I understand that proportions can sometimes go off-limits, and this makes the N-dimensional individual the cynosure of all eyes, but often waif-thin people put me off by asking:'do I look fat in this dress?'

Nonsense.

Its, however, funny to see how these 'lose weight in 5 days' centers cash in on these people and earn gallons! Especially nice are their ads. I'd love to mention one of them here. So there is this fat-but-not-so-fat girl saying 'earlier people liked my face but rejected me for my fat body. Now they like me. Thank you xyz center.' I read it and this is the thought that strikes me: 'earlier people liked my face and rejected me for my fat body. Now they like my body but they reject my face'...ha hahaha...

I may sound sadistic, but yeah, these people, especially the women folk are easy cash-cows for these so-called-weight-management companies.

Especially funny are the things women do to lose weight, and in contrast, the funnier things they do under the influence of salivary glands. On one hand, they eat half a lettuce leaf for lunch and, on the other hand, ransack the icecream parlor in an hour! They order the sandwich guy 'ONLY brown bread please.' Leave them alone for sometime, and they'll gorge on vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce!

I'd say, eat well, but just stay healthy by exercising and not by starving and depriving the body and mind of goodies.

Please don't point fingers at me because I havent yet put on weight. The day I do, Ill remove this post. Promise. :)