Pune Trip - March 2013!

Barely 7 months after my sister got married, we decided to barge into her house in Pune. K and I headed to Pune for the Good Friday long weekend. We took the last flight out of Chennai and landed in Pune around 11 pm. Gave Sne the tightest hug possible when I saw her :) D drove us straight to "Fantasy" where we ordered chilled, thick milkshakes that tasted right out of this world. I say we made a great start to our trip. We headed to their apartment in the Baner area. They live in a beautiful high rise building right on top on the 8th floor. The balcony offered a fantastic view. I loved to sit and relax there. Once we settled in, another suprise awaited us - Sne had made lovely Gulab Jamuns to welcome us. So incredibly sweet - both Sne & the GJ's! Slurrp.

Once we had popped a few in our mouths, we were tired. We crashed and this time had ensured my alarm was OFF. Wohoo. 

Next morning I woke up to find my hubby gone on an early morning walk(He's mad, don't ask). Sne & I cleaned up the kitchen, made dosas and sambar, had yummy coffee by which time K was back from his walk and poor D had been woken up from a deep slumber. Sne had to head to clinic, D said he had taken the day off for our sake(so sweet) so the 3 of us decided to hang out at home. Which meant the boys were just going to be perched on a mattress each while I just sat around and stared. Yes, poor me. Sne finally came home around 2:30 pm by which time we were all starving and enjoyed her lunch of rice, sambar, potato curry and of course GJ's(I tell you, it was the highlight of our trip, they were delicious). Post lunch, we decided to watch the movie "Nadula Konjam Pakatha Kanam", a hilarious comedy movie which K & I had already watched at home but didn't mind watching again. The 4 of us kept laughing, if you haven't watched the film, do go watch it. Worth all the time & effort! In the evening, Sne had to go back to clinic for a few hours and I refused to rot at home. So I encouraged D to take me out for a walk - He finally agreed. We walked around the apartment complex, watched loads of kids playing, aunties walking(trying to rather!) and headed to an old Vishnu temple. We talked about his work, about Sne and how he was enjoying being married to her. Touche! We finally reached the temple, was a very nice one. In the evening, we went to a restaurant called "Polka Dots" where we enjoyed delicious lasagna, hummus with garlic naan(a Pune thing perhaps?) and chilled iced tea. 

Day 2 got off to a slightly different start. K, being a total sweetheart, walked many kilometres to bring us back Poha for breakfast(Poha being their State food!) along with a fresh tea cake :) What pleasure it was to sit out on the balcony, sunning myself, gorging on that tea cake. Bliss. We had decided to do a spot of shopping in the afternoon so headed to buy wafers from the famous Budhani Brothers waferwala, K showed me Kayani Bakery, we went to Lakshmi Road.. Basically K took me down a trip to memorylane(He was born in Pune, that's why). We also visited the famous Dagdusheth Ganapati temple - the mouse outside the temple where it looks at the deity was absolutely adorable!! Too cute for words :) 

In the evening, we ate at a fancy restaurant called "Oakwood Lounge", buffet style dinner. Salads, fondue, tikkas and the likes. 

Day 3 was going to be action packed. We ate breakfast at Goodluck Cafe, which in my opinion was a fabulous fabulous breakfast! Simple buns, butter and jam, bun maska, omlette etc. So satisfying and different. We were driving to Lavasa that afternoon which takes about 2 hours. The place was wonderfully scenic. We reached around 2 pm and were starving. Drove straight to the Fortune to eat. Which turned out to be an unfortunate choice - here's my tripadvisor rating on it. However, what followed was a full on "funny photos" session courtesy my hubby! Here's a sneak peak :) Hope you enjoy them. We had the time of our lives! Thanks Sne & D for being such superb hosts!! =)

Happy Us 

Hey sistah! 

Love birds

Kabab me haddi? 

Goofiness Part 1 

Wohoo. Flying high! 

Up..

Up..

Up he goes, finally! 

Classic one for keeps :) 

Goofiness Part II

I know u guys are newly married BUT! 

Yea.. D's the man! 

Nadu road la! 

Goofiness unlimited! 

Lean on me.. 

We've got the look! 

A great weekend and a restaurant review!

Hi guys,
I do know it has been a while since I posted anything nice, cheery and fun in here. What to do? Life's kinda been that way :( Oh well. No more brooding. This past weekend was a good and fun one! What did we do?
Friday night K called from work and said he was going to bring back dinner from one of our most favorite joints in Besant Nagar. Its not the kinda place you sit down and eat. Its a seedy, shady joint that serves yummylicious food. So naturally I was only too happy to oblige because it meant no cooking and it also meant eating great food in the luxury of your own house. Saturday was another good day - well for the most part we just stayed home. Woke up late, did a lazy breakfast and cooked lunch, cleaned etc. And then met Krish & Sethu for dinner at Chap Chay(one of the main reasons for the post). Well what can I say? It's a pleasure to review the restaurant.
Chap Chay is a new restaurant at Raintree, St. Mary's Road. The cuisine is Pan Asian - notice I didn't say Chinese. That is because its got flavors from China, Japan, Thailand etc. And I must say we all came out very impressed. The decor was nice, simple. Thank God there was no Buddha, at least I didn't see one! The place reminded me of a restaurant in St. Louis that I used to frequent - Stir Crazy (Remember I wrote about it here?). Basically, you choose your own veggies/meat, they have about 16 different types of sauces, choice of noodles or rice and the food gets cooked right in front of you. It was such a lovely sight to see the different colored fresh vegetables - broccoli, carrot, snow peas, red/yellow/green peppers, corn, lotus stem, water chestnuts.. I could go on & on. Some of the sauces were black pepper, chilli garlic(what I picked), Thai Basil(all hot ones) and some not so spicy ones such as Kung Pao, Hunan etc. My recommendation would be to take small portions of veggies and mix up one or two sauces and keep trying various combinations because it is unlimited. The mistake we did was to fill our bowls with all sorts of veggies and took just one sauce and by the time I finished my bowl I was completely stuffed and had no room for more. So be smart and have fun experimenting. Also, don't bother with starters of any sort - they just fill you up. We tried Dimsums(give it a miss) & Honey Glazed Vegetables(which was very nice). For dessert, the 4 of us dug into one plate of yummy fried ice cream!! The flavor was darn delicious. Service was very good. Priced at 650INR per person for the main course alone. Will we go back? Of course we will. But will be smarter next time around :-) We enjoyed and relaxed with drinks, good food & laughter. Overall an ideal way to spend Saturday night. Do give Chap Chay a try, I assure you won't be disappointed.
Sunday was another super busy day. We were spending the day with K's colleagues at Shilpa's house. Her folks had gone out of town and had invited a few of us over for drinks and lunch. She was a lovely hostess - her cook had made yummy egg pakodas, paneer pakodas, grilled chicken, masala peanuts, we had taken along some chips, juice, chocolate milk shake.. Sigh. As you can see, I was feasting! The afternoon was great fun. Mathangi & Michael are expecting a baby in May and were obviously the centre of attention - We discussed baby names, their maternity classes, heard all their work stories and kept laughing till our stomachs hurt! A great afternoon indeed. Post lunch, I was heading to see Ammai and my parents. Played carrom, cards and badminton with Vishal, Ammai and my mom. Very relaxing :-) I got home around 7:30 in the evening and was going to clean up and prep for Monday morning when Mathangi called to say she and Michael were going to Velacity for dinner and if we wanted to join them. K and I said ok and we got picked up, went to Tadka Talk in Velacity. To Michael's biggest disappointment, the place was vegetarian. Haha. Mathangi and I enjoyed the paneer tikka and mushroom soup. But we couldn't bear to see Mike's sad face. So we told him we will go to another place just for the main course. At 9:30 pm in the restaurant we were discussing where to go. Haha. That's how funny it was. Finally, we didn't have too much choice but to head over to Snow's Park in Velachery(an old haunt of mine and K's). Decent food, saaaddd ambience but fast service! Lol. So we went there, had garlic naans, dal tadka and of course Micheal ordered some Chicken Tikka and was happy :) By the time we reached home it was around 11:30! Needless to say, K and I crashed. Longgg day. But awesome weekend after a longgg time. Sooo worth every minute of it. K and I are heading to Pune this Thursday, so more updates on this space next week. Keep up with it, I promise some lovely pictures from Pune city :) Tata! 

*Disturbia*

There have been a few "incidents" in the last one month that has left me wondering where our country is really headed. They are simple things but left such an impact on me nevertheless.
Scene 1 - At Chennai airport
It is 11:30 pm. K and I had just returned from our trip to Delhi(was great fun,btw!). I was standing in line to get my cab and K was standing away in a corner. There was this dude(hereby referred to as "moron")  all dressed up formally in a business suit. He goes near K and SPITS right next to him. Now those of you who my husband can guess what follows :) He blew his top! And rightly so. Here's how the conversation went
K - (furiously) - Excuse me, what do you think you are doing?? Aren't you ashamed?
Moron - (Nonchalantly) - Well everybody else is doing it! Why are you asking only me?
K - (Raising his voice) - Well you seem educated! Don't you have any sense not to spit in public? Plus you are spitting right near me! And I of course have a problem with that!

Well basically moron didn't want to admit it but honestly it was so embarrassing for him because by now everybody was staring at him. Yes my husband can be VERY loud! I panicked because I had no idea what had happened. But when K explained I wished he could have actually slapped that idiot. Honestly man, get a grip on yourself, wherever you are!

Scene 2 - Sathyam Cinemas
K and I watched Vishwaroopam this weekend. The theatre is full(Saturday evening). Most of the families had come with KIDS. Mind you, it is an Adults movie, lots of violence and gore. I don't understand how parents can actually think of bringing those tiny tots to such a movie and how theatres don't even object.
But anyway, there were kids in front of us and at the back row as well. The kid in front wouldn't sit quiet for a minute. He was probably around 3 or 4, obviously he wants to explore. The mother tried her best to get him to sit quietly but no such luck. Finally, she grabbed him and took him outside. Good girl. Now there are about 4 kids sitting at the back. And they kept pushing my seat. I was trying to be patient. But they just wouldn't listen. I'm turning and giving looks at the mother(she is too engrossed with the movie to notice my glares). Good thing is I had watched the film earlier. It was K who was watching it for the first time. And then it reached a point where the kids started screaming. High pitched squeals! K lost it. He got up and turned to the mother and said "Excuse me, can you please keep your kids under control"? The lady just called to her kids and simply said "please come sit here quietly". YEAH RIGHT. They are kids for God's sake, woman! They went on screaming and K got up again and this time in a very menacing tone said " Listen, if you don't get those kids to shut up, I'm going to get the management to throw you guys out"! That probably did it. Coz you will not believe, that lady finally got her act together and ensured her kids shut up for the rest of film. Not one word came out! Phew. My point is I'm not blaming the kids. But if you can't control them, take them outside the movie hall or get them to behave. As simple as that. And please definitely don't take them for such noisy and violent movies. Even my 10 year cousin wasn't allowed to watch it at home. Not appropriate for him. Simple no?

Scene 3 - LB Road(A very busy road in Chennai)
K and I are returning home. At the junction, there is a cop vehicle coming in exactly the wrong direction. Due to which traffic is held up for a few seconds. Cars simply give way. My hubby was the only one who stopped the gypsy and showed his finger to the cop. Ok not finger but he made it obvious to the cop(s) sitting in the Innova that it was simply unacceptable and shocking that a cop(who is supposed to tell others to follow rules) is happily breaking one and holding up traffic because he was too lazy  to make a U turn. Shocking no? The cops were a little shocked but of course in true Chennai police style, glared back threateningly. I was a little scared because I had heard stories of how they take away your car keys and slap you. But then I was proud of my  hubby for standing up to those goons. I wish I could have taken a picture of that van and posted it on the Chennai City Traffic Police page and made a mockery of them. But like I said, it was a busy road and I had no such luck. Sigh. Pissed me off so so so much.
God save this country. Ok I'm done ranting. On that note, February was super super busy. My bestie, M got married. Yay! Congrats! Another friend, Shan, got engaged. Yahoo! And then K and I took off to Delhi for his cousin's wedding which was also great fun. Bread pakodas, masala chai, samosa, kachori all at 6 degree weather. Blissful combination, no? :-)

Dear Thatha...

My paternal grandfather

When I heard the news on the 2nd January that you have been taken to the hospital due to chest pain, I wasn't majorly worried. Deep in my heart I knew that you would somehow make it back home like you always have in the past. Little did I know you were tired of fighting...
On the last day(19th of January) when I saw you at the hospital, you couldn't speak, you had absolutely no energy... yet you were smiling, you solved complex math problems and watched cricket. A funny incident comes to my mind as I think back to that day at the hospital..I remember there was a door mat outside the bathroom which wasn't kept properly. You called me, kept pointing that way and I could not for the life of me understand what you were trying to convey. Ammai came to my rescue and said "He wants us to put it in its proper place". And you know,that did not surprise me. You were always a very very systematic and organized person. You kept cleaning up after folks at home, you arranged and rearranged book shelves, you ate your meals at the correct times, you rarely ate out, you never missed your evening walks at the beach.. Gosh I could go on and on. You probably inherited this from your mother(Paati).. you were such a good son to her.

The evergreen couple

You were also a very caring husband... The day of your funeral, the 21st of January also happened to be your wedding anniversary. I am most worried about Ammai. You were so protective of her, you literally held her hand through all these years and she looks so lost without you. I'm afraid she will never be the same person in your absence. But I am glad that she has sons and daughters in law to look after her. They all looked up to you so much and are all hurting inside because you were a very loving father. Proud of all 4 of them too. I'm glad they have inherited good qualities from you.

Brothers! 

Daughters in law! 

As for me, I knew you best as a fun loving grandfather. I couldn't have asked for someone better. I've lived with you as a baby, I've lived with you as a school going kid and I lived with you again while I worked 2 years ago. Things were the same.. You would knock on the door, wake me up, scold me(very gently!) about waking up late, ask me to bathe and pray and get on with my day... I loved all the pampering even as a 25 year old ;-) You had unbelievable patience Thatha.. Nobody could have taught me math/accounts problems as patiently as you did! You were so active till the end.. You wanted to learn how to email, you wanted a Facebook account, you kept wanting to learn and that is so amazing!! Kudos to you.

Happy Days

 I'm happy for you in a lot of ways...thanks to your children, you could visit other countries.. I shall cherish all the lovely memories of our US trip, you had a grand 80th birthday, you took an active part at my wedding(I will always remember how you fished out a suit at the last minute to wear at my reception since it was part of our dress code, such a sport you were!), you witnessed Vishal's poonal function so proudly and most importantly did not suffer too much in your last days. It felt very strange being in your room last night. I could sense your presence all around.. your cell phone, your glasses, everything reminded me of you.. I know you're always going to be around in spirit to guide us. I know you were tired of fighting to live and that's perfectly ok. I'm happy you're in a much happier place. Sleep well dearest Thatha. Love you very much and thanks for all that you've done for us.
Aishu
PS Leaving you with a few family pictures :) 

My going away party, August 2006

He loved family get togethers as is evident from his big smile - 2007 

With a very goofy Thatha at the Niagara :) - May 2008

At the temple in our hometown in Palakkad, Kerala. A trip which I missed out on - Aug 2010

A big gang at Vishal's Poonal function - June 2011

Tagging myself!

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before? 

I managed to keep a “Golu” at home

I traveled to a place I’ve been dreaming of visiting since I was a teen.

Attended a Tam Brahm wedding in Goa!

Watched a beautiful sunset with my hubby. So romantic. 

2.Did you keep your new years resolutions, and will you make more for next?

Can’t remember having made any resolutions. I know I’m too lazy to keep them.

3. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 

May 29^th 2012 – It’s not every day you get to celebrate your 1^st wedding anniversary J

 4. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I made my family dance to a 2 minute Tamil song at my cousin’s wedding! It was exhausting, let me tell u!

. 5. What was your biggest failure?

Being irregular with my workouts! I am bone lazy, my husband will vouch for that. However, this year was extra bad – could never manage to consistently follow a routine.

6. Did you suffer illness?

I wouldn’t term it as an illness per se; however I do suffer from PCOD. Which means I need to watch what I eat and stay healthy, which is probably why I term #  5 as my biggest failure.

7. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? 

Appalled – our so called rulers of the country. They disgust me. Period!

Depressed - My MIL’s – because of the way she wants to give up on life so easily. I want her to become that strong woman that I have known her to be. I pray for her each day so that she bounces back to life quickly.

8. Where did most of your money go?
Vacations – We did quite a few trips last year. Even though most of them were in and around the South, each trip cost us money in terms of fuel costs, eating out, accommodation in nice places etc.

9. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 

Sne and Dee’s wedding. Our trip to France.

10. What song will always remind you of 2012?

“Oh Baby Girl” from the movie Malaipozhuthin Mayakathile. Will always remember dancing away at Pasha with Mosh and Sne.

11. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?

Sadder – that my smoothened hair has worn out and looks like crap. The problems people have, I tell u :P 

Ok I’m kidding. I don’t know if I am happi(er), but I’m definitely happy at the moment.

12. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Working out. Being more organized. Listening to my husband. Cooking yummy dishes. Keeping in touch with friends.

13. What do you wish you’d done less of? 

Procrastinate. Eating out so much. Being so lazy.

14. Did you fall in love in 2012?

Yes! With my bestie’s baby girl, Rafa. She is absolutely adorable!!

15. What/Who was your greatest musical discovery?

Listening to Kadri Gopalnath’s saxophone during the Margazhi season. I have never sat through an instrumental concert and I’m glad I did. He was brilliant.

On the other extreme, I loved “Gangnam Style” by PSY! J

16. What did you want and get?

I wanted a holiday in France, which I got all thanks to my hubby.

17. What did you want and not get?

My extended family coming together. A new job. Flat abs(who am I kidding!). Smooth, shiny, straight hair.

18. What was your favourite film of this year?

2 movies stand out – English Vinglish and Pizza. Former coz it was such a simple story and one of those movies u can watch with family. The latter because I love horror and mystery and ghosts(even though I’m s#i% scared of them) and this one was brilliant! So good that we screamed in the theatre!

19. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Was very special! Read this for all details – I turned 27.

20. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Getting that perfect, kick ass job cos I feel like I’ve made zero progress with my career.

21. What kept you sane?

Blogging. Reading about others lives and what they go through made my life seem so much less complicated.

22. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

That family is most important. Come what may, learn to stick it out. Accept and respect each other and not give up. Most importantly, be there for each other always! Gosh, I sound like a Kjo movie! :P

23. Which new places did you visit in 2012? 

Rameshwaram. Dhanushkodi. Paris. Normandy.

24. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Main Pareshaan, Pareshaan from Ishaqzaade coz I spent most of my year worrying about my job!

25. Tag some bloggers you would love to read these answers from.
Tagging my bestie, coz I know she is as jobless as I am and would love to see her write! 

A bad start

I'm sorry. I should have waited and posted something bright and cheery as my first post for 2013. However that pretty much sums up how these couple of weeks have been. Stressful. First, Thatha fell sick. Like "we didn't know if he was going to make it" kinda sick. In fact, K was the only soul who kept telling me to keep the faith. And believe it or not, he was right. There was a turnaround. Touchwood. Praying for his recovery. 

Next, I hear Keith fell sick. You know how close I am to the Haseltines and I was shocked to hear he had a heart attack. Not good. He is stable and doing better but its been a wake up call in terms of the lifestyle changes they have to make etc. Depressing. My bestie has been going through some real crap. I wish things would improve for her. So is my MIL. I pray for her to bounce back to life, just like how I have seen her in 2010. She is going through a lot. I don't know how much more she can handle. I wish I can help.. not sure how though. I hear K's good friend's father is also very very sick, he visited him yesterday. Dunno if he will survive. K's best friend is also sick. He had a surgery last week, thankfully is recovering well and is back home now. So as you can see, I've heard of so many people being sick. Too many hospital visits between K and me. Enough. Its been super stressful just hearing so many people going through health issues. Can good health prevail for all please? 

2-0-1-3..Bring it on!

Gosh where has 2012 gone? Whoosh. So quick! To herald a brand new year that brings with it lots of hope, joy and holds promise, I'm doing a special post - 6 categories under which are listed 6 things- why 6? Coz 2-0-1-3 adds up to what again, silly? :P Alright, here goes..

6 "Awesomatic moments" in 2012 - in no particular order.. 

- Sne and Dee's engagement/wedding - 4 fun filled days with family and friends.. togetherness, fun, laughter, food. Just how a wedding should be. 

- Standing in front of the illuminated Eiffel Tower on a cold, windy evening, gazing up at the night sky - something I've always always dreamt of... 

- Waking up on 29th May 2012 and realizing I've completed one full year of wedded bliss with a man I love to bits! 

- Driving a new baby home.. Our Swift! 

- When my bestie told me she was getting hitched! 

6 songs from 2012 that gave me a real high.. 

- Nenjukulle from Kadal - I can't enough of this. Period. Waiting for the movie. 

- Pareshaan from Ishaqzaade - Lovely voice, awesome music by Amit Trivedi, hum worthy.. 

- The Disco Song from Student of the year - An eternal favorite, remixed really well. The dance steps are mind blowing and a great workout number! 

- Paani Da from Vicky Donor - gotta a very different feel to it.. Ayushmann has done a fab job with the vocals. Very enjoyable. 

- Skyfall - Adele - <3 div="div" nbsp="nbsp">

6 driving rules I will keep up this year 

I can't understand how indifferent people are while driving these days. It's no surprise that everyday we find someone dying. I mean it's as if people don't care! Well I do. I promise to drive safely and follow all rules! 

- Stopping at the red signal.. yes even if it is after 10 pm I don't care, I will stop. 

- Staying on the "slow lane" and let others overtake from the right and NOT FROM THE LEFT. People. It's basic driving rules. I get super pissed when this happens!! 

- Carry my papers correctly - including my license, insurance papers etc - err, ok K knows what I'm talking about! And oh yes, always always will wear my seat belt no matter how late I am!! 

- I will let pedestrians cross even if it means braking sometimes. I've seen that in certain roads, it's almost impossible for them to cross over. Of course this requires discretion because sometimes you see these retards that jump from one side to the other, I will never stop for them. But if I see some old person struggling to cross and if it means stopping for one minute, I will most certainly do it. Why? This is something I would HAVE to do if I was abroad. What stops me from doing this here in my own country?? 

- Not honk unnecessarily! Argh. Especially happens when you're waiting for the signal to turn green.. even before the other side traffic has stopped, the guys behind you start honking as if their dear life depends on it. It annoys the crap outta me!! So I will not honk unless absolutely necessary. 

6 things I will learn this year 

- Learn to click nice pictures in a bad@$$ camera ;) 

- Learn to stitch or knit 

- Learn to cook especially bake - yeah yeah - I have a long way to go.. 

- Learn to tie a saree - Stop laughing. Have a lot of weddings to attend this year! 

- Learn to decorate my house - I know the basics but I have a lot to learn in terms of making a house into a home like changing flowers everyday, dusting frequently and keeping things in order 

- Learn to be organized - Haha! ok I sneaked it in here.. It's almost next to impossible for me but hey I'll try. that's why the new year is special, coz it brings hope! :) 

6 "events" I'm looking forward to in 2013 

- Relaxing in a brand new home.. yes yes, my parents have bought a brand new house and the house warming is in January and I can't wait for it to be done up! 

- My bestie's wedding in February!

- Followed by a trip to Delhi for another wedding.. which means yummy chaat and lots of shopping! 

- A Pune reunion - Meeting Sne and Dee in March! Ashwin too, possibly. Hooray! 

- Possible travel to Hyderabad, a city I've never been to for another wedding! Biryani, chudi bazaar etc etc 

- Watching a Mani Ratnam movie and listening to ARR music on the big screen.. Kadal.. I'm waiting! 

6 wishes I have this brand new year...

- A new job!! All my fingers crossed for this one. 

- To be able to wake up early and walk for 30 minutes. Not a big deal in reality, but so very tough especially the waking up early part. Yawn. 

- My family coming together. A sincere wish for this one. With this comes happiness and cheer.  

- Connecting with my friends from school - You know I've not met so many of them in a long, long time. Will be great to have a reunion of sorts! 

- Good health for all - physically and mentally. 

-  And last but definitely not the least, adding a new person in our lives, maybe? Just saying... but hey...you never know.. stay tuned ;-) 

Here's wishing you guys all good things this new year.. Laugh a lot, be happy and live it up! 

Happy 2013 folks :-)