When My Mother Came to Visit Me

Thursday
I asked her before falling asleep, "Mummy ap karogi kya kal pura din, I'll be in office and you'll be alone".
I live in Pune-a stint of 3 months. I live in this small place of one room, an unfurnished kitchen and all the neighbors are my age, working or studying. The rent is one-fifth of what there is in Mumbai and I spend half my day in the office and rest of it by sharing bed with my laptop. I have figured it all.
"Tu chinta na kar. I have my iPad :D", mom replied with a smile. Wow, she too has figured it all and better.

Friday:
"Hello mom, I'm having lunch. Apne kha liya?", I WhatsApped her from the office cafeteria. "No, I'm sleeping. Tere message ne neend tod di. Ab nahane jaungi".
This was a 180° U-turn in events. Usually mom would call me from her work and I would respond like this from my college hostel's bed, which was very uncomfortable during nights but heavenly during afternoon lectures.
After dinner, mom asked me to play her favorite movie Kabhie Kabhi on laptop. God, I love that movie too!

Saturday:
"Vinti, doodh ubaal diya hai. Mug de daal du". I handed her two beer mugs. Why do I have beer mugs? Let's just say they are Rs.29/- a piece and it wouldn't hurt to break or throw them away. Yes, let's just say that is the reason :D
In the evening, I took her to Rock-On Concert, sponsored by my company. "It is Farhan Akhtar's movie", said mother and I nodded. She loved Dil Chahta Hai, and she maintains Farhan Akhtar is a better director than he is as an actor. Anyway, it was an evening well spent.

Sunday:
After talking about a 1000 different things, including the very irritating idea of "Tu boyfriend bana le, hum teri shaadi us se kara denge happily", we talked about the concept of "Urban Poor". I told her about how the world is now mostly about showing how 'happening' one's life is on Facebook. Although she's a tech-savvy mom, better at gadgets than I am, thankfully she's not on Facebook. It's a proud achievement, given most people her age are hooked to FB. We talked hours and hours, and I couldn't help but smile. For someone who goes to bed at 9.30 pm, mommy chatted with me animatedly till 1 am.

Monday:
The background story here is that Mom has a 20 day vacation post Diwali which she spends every year with her parents in Delhi. But this year she decided to spend some 10 days with me. Meanwhile, my father's company has sent him and a few others to the company headquarters in Dehra Dun. These are the employees who are nearing retirement and it's a week long program on "Happiness After Superannuation". Basically moh-maya se dur Himalaya pe gaye hain.

Dad called and talked about how lovely his day was. He spent the day with people like him, who have spent 30-35 years working, taking care of families, worrying about bills and taxes and children's education and career and marriage and what not. They all now have to 'chillax', be healthy and happy. Yep, that's Himalayan talk. And he is really looking forward to this.

Whereas, mom and I spent our evening e-window-shopping, something neither of us are interested in. I have never shown any interest in anything girl-like and she always buys sarees from unke jan-pehchan k logo se. But this exercise turned out to be fun, as we basically laughed at every customer review. I'm stating this: Customer Review sections and YouTube comments are the best sources of comedy :P

In between watching old movies, talking about US election, being horrified by pollution in Delhi and enjoying mom's cooking, I realized how both my parents are living a great life and that just makes me happy.

My modes of transportation

It's been 20 days since I moved to Pune. From my past experience in this city, auto-rickshaws should be avoided because auto-wallas scam you. But after 2 years and 3 months in Mumbai, autos had become the mode of transportation for me.

Of course Mumbai has the local trains too but I have ridden a local like 4 times in all. Each time- against my will. No, no one forced me in a bad way, but there were situations where only local made sense. And it was always with friends. Whereas autos in Mumbai, I ride with an ease. A similar ease that I have developed for cab rides in Pune. I can take a cab alone and I can share it with total strangers. For someone, who feels like a stranger with her own first cousins (except a few of them), many of her classmates (from all the schools and both the colleges) and all her neighbours, travelling everyday to and fro across the city with total strangers (2-3 new facesa day) feels like a big achievement. To her it does.

I used to be the person who didn't even have any cab apps in her phone until a few months ago. Yes! Well I did install Uber and Ola and Lyft so that my friend and a classmate and elder brother respectively could redeem a discount on referral. But after the free rides, I never used them; in-fact uninstalled them right away. Why? Because I had my family's car or the autos to go about anywhere. My friends used to call the cabs when too many of us had plans and too less autos were around. But, I hated riding cabs then. Since I was the fat one, obviously my seat was the passenger seat, cutting me off from rest of the gang who would sometimes crack jokes that never reached the front seat. Silly reason, I know. But necessity and new city have changed the way I look at cabs. They are my lifeline now-a comfortable and affordable commute. Just like when I thought I would never travel in a bus until I had to one fateful day.

My engineering college in Surat was some 4 hours train ride away from home, Ahmedabad. It was just before Diwali holidays, when some girls in the hostel mess were discussing how they couldn't get their train tickets confirmed and would have to take a bus. They lived in other states of the country, some 12- and some 24-hours away by train (Ok I admit, I don't know distances in kms and so I use number of hours via train to judge how far the cities are). They had no choice but to take a bus trip home and I very bluntly said: "I can't imagine sitting in bus for even 1 hour!" That same evening, I went to the railway station, to catch my train to home, which got cancelled. Engine Burst. True Story. Now, I had an option of boarding general coach of another train because hello, it was only four hours journey. But, I didn't. Right opposite the railway station was the bus stand. With 3 suitcases and 2 bags (girls travel with a lot of luggage), I didn't want to enter the crammed general coach of some train which would leave some 5 hours later. Instead, I ran towards the crammed state bus which was leaving in another 5 minutes. And after standing for 6 hours straight in that bus, I knew I can ride any bus.

Also, when I went to Delhi last weekend for a family function, riding in a cycle-rickshaw was really a trip down the memory lane- memories from when I was a little girl, going to school in the open air cycle rickshaws, wondering how kids travel in suffocating matadors, vans or bus. And yes, of course when we moved to Ahmedabad, I went to school in a school bus, which turned out to be the hub for school gossips and pranks. Yep, whatever I eye-roll at today, I will end up doing it tomorrow.

So this is Me. Living in different cities and embracing their modes of travel. And since I'm an indoor person, so only when I travel or commute is when I really look at the city. I look at the roads, the graffiti on the walls along with resumes of local hakims and propaganda of local politicians, the electric polls and a hundred wires on them, the trees, the people. 

Movie Review: Happy Bhag Jayegi

I have to admit I never really thought I would watch this film. Of course I didn't know it had my favorites Abhay Deol and Jimmy Shergill in it. I had no idea about the plot either. Needless to say, I went in with minimal expectations, only because it had gotten good ratings and I was bored of sitting at home.

The Review:

• From Rohit in 'Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai' to Raja in 'Tanu Weds Manu' to now Bagga in 'Happy Bhag Jayegi', Jimmy Shergill excels at being the man who chases the leading lady, who is supposed to marry him but who wants to be with her love. 
• [Spoiler]No matter what, Bad-man Bagga chases her in the entire course of movie only to end up being the good guy and smarty pants local politician, who lets the girl be with her love. Jimmy has mastered the craft of being this guy, in all these previous movies and in this one, with excellent dialogue delivery and powerful acting.
• Ali Fazal plays the sweet looking lost boy Guddu, who impressed the feisty kudi Happy by playing 'tuntuna' in college and being the ultimate hopeless romantic. 
• Abhay Deol, clad in kurta and jacket, looking every bit suave, plays the role of Lahore's political leader "Janab Senior" Javed Ahmed's son "Janab Junior" Bilal Ahmed, destined to "change the history of Pakistan". 
• 'Happy'ness has arrived in Bilal's house, in a tokra as a token of love from sarhad-paar India. To save his family's reputation, his engagement to Zoya- his childhood friend and to help the crazy gal Happy reunite with her lover Guddu, Bilal brings India and Pakistan closer through his very own little band of faithful servants, fiancee Zoya and a funny cop Usman Afridi.
• Momal Sheikh, who plays Zoya, has such a pretty face and acts with her eyes! One of the best roles of the film. From being the rich and confident girl of a big businessman to being a headstrong fiancee of dad's pet Bilal to helping out in making Happy's love story a success, while her own love story is headed for a failure, the character Zoya definitely makes a mark in this film. 
• Piyush Mishra is the helpful, funny and self-confident cop Usman Afridi. It's a very relate-able portrayal of a common man of India/Pakistan not wanting to be in Pakistan/India, not wanting to even eat the other nation's "namak" but ultimately knowing that the neighbour is just like us. 
• Afridi's dialogues are funny, giving us delightful doses of Urdu.
• The Punjabi tone and situational comedies make the film a fun watch.

Battle of Bambai ki Barish

Red Ikea Umbrella, Pink Guess Tote-Bag and Black Bata Chappals. All the weapons she needs in this Battle of Bambai ki Barish.

Umbrella, because obviously!

Guess' bag, as in this corporate world, impressions matter. Her chic firangi purse is a tool of psychological warfare. Atleast that's what she thinks. Female colleagues look at it. Some try to match it the next day with their Esbedas, while others enquire its origins: "Link Road se liya?" "Nahi, Los Angeles se", she replies with an air. Conversations about her trip to LA happen and someone narrates their holidays in Paris and Pataya. It's a continuous war humans have against each other in order to validate how happening their lives are.

Bata Chappals, because in her Sales stint, in Mumbai slums, in the rains, no other footwear can survive.

(1)
It is a bright sunny day. The MBA graduate, Ms. Vendetta Kumar, in her new kurti and with an enthusiasm that only resurfaces at the beginning of new things- first day in college, first day at gym, first day of internship and now first day of job-finally catches an autorickshaw that would take her to the marketplace in shanty locales of Malad.

"Good Morning Vandita! I'm Sudhir. Welcome to Team Force. Suno ye Vandita Madam hain, yahan training ke liye ayi hain".

 "Hello madam". "Apse mil kar bahut khushi hui". "Kitne din ke liye ayi ho yahan?"

This is the only time Vendetta heard Sudhir utter a sentence, without a cuss word or a fake compliment. Sales is all about gaaliyan and taaliyan.
But this is not the last time the salesmen tried to treat her like an uninvited watchdog from the Corporate office.
As for the rest of the sales-force, Vendy is just like all the good looking trainees who come every year, struggle initially and then after some time act as pretentious pros.

(2)
5.5 km, 45 minutes. "This is the fastest route", the Google lady says. A mental calculation tells Vendy that the average speed of her auto would be 7.33 km/h. "Wow!", she sulks but makes peace with it. #mumbaitraffic

12 km, 2 hours. "There's unusual traffic on your route". "Awesome!", broods Vendy as she's about to have a bout of headache.

Leaves office at 8 pm. Reaches home by 9.30 pm (it's a miracle!). Has a family dinner in a classy Bandra restaurant, where she reaches by 11.15 pm. There's great food and fun cousins, so she ignores the nausea she's feeling. Back home by 1.30 am. "Oh, can I bunk office, like we bunked college ?" is her last thought before falling asleep.

Leaving for home at 7 pm. It's raining and no autowala wants to even look at this drenched lady who is obviously desperate to catch a ride. Uber-Ola have this insane 3.7x surge pricing. Travelling in locals is not Vendy's thing. Maybe a BEST bus. It's 7.42 now and finally an auto agrees to oblige the woman with lal chatri, whose tears are mixed with the raindrops, a saving grace for her. 9 pm, she's home and heads to the toilet. Is it nausea or just hypochondria?

(3)
Day 1: Vendetta posts a photo on Instagram: "Besties, at Palladium Phoenix Mall, Lower Parel"- with Ira and Malvika.

Day 7: Vendetta updates her Facebook status: " Tapur Tupur...pitter patter... tip tip barsa paani <3"

Day 24: Vendetta WhatsApps Ira: "Babe, I really wanna see you, but it's raining heavily :( Let's catch-up some other time".

Day 46: Vendetta tweets: "How can people find rains romantic? Rains bring mud puddles, mosquitoes and the walls stink. #fedup #mumbairains".

Day 52: Rashi calls Vendy: "Vandita babe! I'm in Mumbai, let's meet ya! Sherry ko bhi bulate hain.. girls gang reunion!! :D"

Day 53: Vendetta concalls Rashi and Sherry: "Girlies, count me out. It's flooded outside my place. Kab tak ho Mumbai mein?"

Day 61: Shashank surprise visits Vendy. Saturday Night. Date Night. Marine Drive, bhutta and barish. Rains are romantic again :) So this is how you win the Battle of Bambai ki Barish :D

Day 70: "Acchoo!" Vendetta bunks office takes a sick leave. The Rains rise again...

Trip Diaries: 45 days in USA

My first international vacation

For someone who didn't have a passport less than an year ago, my first visa is of the USA. And before this spring, I had travelled in an air plane like 2 times. As a baby!

In a sentence, the 45-days holiday at my brother's place was pure fun.

The daily temperature ranged from 7 to 28 degrees Celsius. In winters, it's negative.This image sums up the weekly weather. So pack your clothes wisely. A mix of every season wear. Or you know, pack lightly and shop stuff, make the retailers happy :D

One point: Chicago is called the Windy City, and it is the windiest. My friends on Instagram and Facebook have seen the chance good pictures, but most of the unpublished photos have my hair defying gravity. So many kodak moments :P

On the way from airport to home, I noticed a few things.

1. Left-hand drive, as expected.
2. The houses are horizontal, unlike Indian 'kothis' that are vertical. With lawns. There's so much land and so few humans. Lesser people, no litter. And American hobby of lawn-mowing and gardening really shows. 
3. There's a McDonalds, a Dunkin Donuts with Baskin Robbins and a Starbucks at every nukkad. 

Shopped at many retail chains. Whole Foods, Costco, Target, Sears, Macy's, JC Penny, Best Buy and of course Walmart.

Note: Everything in USA is a big SKU (jargon alert). And has many SKUs . Saw giant onions (so big, you buy only one onion). And three-four different kinds of onions. From 5-6 different nationalities. Same with other vegetables and fruits. And other stuff.

The people hold the door. No GoT reference. Basic courtesy in their everyday lives include holding the door for the next person, be it at the building you stay in or the mall. It takes like 3-5 seconds but it's polite.
The people love their pets and love their sports. Every weekend, a train form suburbs to Chicago is packed with Chicago Cubs supporters: gangs of teenagers cheering loudly or dads with their sons and daughters wearing the team jersey or ladies guessing the odds in favour of their home baseball team.

Speaking of weekends, people can take unlimited train rides to and fro Chicago for $8 each weekend. Made great use of that in the long Memorial Day weekend :D

Went on road-trips to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and Holland, Michigan. Took a flight to Atlantic City- city of resorts and casinos, across the Atlantic Ocean. From there, took a bus to New York City, which by the way, is another world. Took a road trip across New York state, to the Niagara to Philadelphia to Washington DC to back to NYC.

Lake Geneva was the classic TV/movie scene with people picnicking at the beach, sunbathing lying on the grass and ships and food and breeze.
While Holland had its Tulip Festival, with heavenly blooms in all colours.
Niagara took my breath-away. But they say, the view from Canada side is THE view. So fingers crossed, one day I'll see the better of the best falls :)
Philadelphia was a touch-and-go for me as we spent only so much time to see the historic Liberty Bell.
Washington DC is different from all these. It tells you that it's the nation's capital, it means business. All buildings grand, and government's. Saw the White House. And black helicopters. Took a cruise to see all the notable, historic buildings of DC. Visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean Memorial. Went to the National Science and Aerospace Museum.


And then NYC. The people, they are running. The roads, they have traffic. The walls, filled with graffiti. The skyscrapers, kissing the clouds.
Times Square-One World Trade Center-Empire State Building-Manhattan-Brooklyn-Statue of Liberty-Wall Street-Broadway.

Foods/Eating Places I explored
Buffalo Wild Wings:Sports Bar- chicken, beer, sports
Chipotle: Mexican- great rice bowls for vegetarians and non-vegetarians, affordable (my fav)
Garrett's Popcorns: a Chicago favourite
Giordano's: Chicago's famous stuffed deep dish pizza (you can't eat it all alone)
Quizzno's: Subs- good veg option
Tostada: Mexican, another veg option
Panda Express: Chinese (love the tangerine chicken)
Chai-Tea Latte: Starbucks' Indian tea offering
Oberweiss: Ice-cream
Rocky Mountain: Ice-cream
Steaks N Shakes: I tried shakes :)

And then there's Chicago: my summer home, Windy City, Navy Pier, Skydeck on 103rd floor, John Hancock Observatory on the 94th, Lake Michigan, Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Chicago Bean, Magnificent Mile, areas where Gotham City is based on.

So many memories. Mid-West and the East Coast, check. Next time (hope): LA and Vegas baby :D

Cooking for Kitchen Jon Snows: Recipe #1

This one is for my parents,

"To my mother who handed me novels instead of kadhchis and kadhaais and my father who found his pride in my little feats in academics and co-curriculars. I have been a pampered kid."

Except for a few neighbors and some relatives, no one ever made me feel that cooking is something I MUST know. Especially my parents. And only their opinion mattered. After my engineering, my mother started feeling the need for me to grow up and start learning the art, for job would take me far and no one succeeds with an empty stomach. But MBA happened, and for another two years, I didn't learn anything in the kitchen.
A few neighbors have turned into most and some relatives into all. But now, my parents too want me to be able to cook little things to fill my Punjabi tummy which will help me focus and succeed in my career too. Again, only their opinion matters :)

So all the Jon Snows of kitchen, you can consider the following weblog either as an ego-booster or a morale booster, because like you, I know nothing (about cooking).

Recipe One: Alu Matar (curry), with Rotis

"Seeing the colors and understanding the smells is the key"

-my mummy                   

Step 1: Chop 1 onion and a few garlic buds (or ghiyakus them)
Add one tablespoon ghee or olive oil in the pressure cooker
Cook till onion turns into golden brown

Step 2: Chop or ghiyakus 1 tomato
Add to the golden onion and stir at medium flame

Step 3: Add 1/2 teaspoon dhaniya powder (coriander powder),
less than 1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric),
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
and salt to taste
Stir well

Step 4: Chop potatoes (1-2), put them in water to avoid blackening
Add some matar (peas) with chopped potatoes
After rinsing, add potatoes and peas to the cooker with onion-tomato paste
Add about 1 glass of water




Step 5: Cook on medium flame till the whistle comes
Simmer  for 10-15 minutes
Before opening the lid, check to make sure no steam is left

                                   

Enjoy with non-round but self-made rotis :)

TV pe ajkal...

Let's talk about TV. Specifically, the Hindi shows, because I have no idea whatsoever about other languages' and would like to refrain from generalizing. 

I have a few questions, for which I try come up with some sort of answers. 

Firstly, I wonder why there are no shows about government, bureaucracy and politics? And before you say, "hey! who wants to see that?", let me tell you about a show named "Ji Mantriji". It starred Late Farooq Sheikh as the Minister and Jayant Kriplani as the Secretary of his department. This politician-administrative officer duo were part of a satirical sitcom that had political plot-lines and was filmed in front of live studio audience, aired in 2001. That, right there, has it all. Before the advent of Social TV (use of social media for and with TV), the only way to gauge real-time reactions of the audience was by filming in front of live studio audience. Also, the show had everything from SAARC and Commonwealth to everyday challenges and achievements of our administration, in a light hearted manner.

Still, if you are like, "dude politics is not my cup of tea", tell me, are you a fan of American TV shows like "House of Cards" and "Scandal"? There you go. They may be of different genres and have brilliant storyline and actors, but they are political dramas. And just to reiterate, "Ji Mantriji" had brilliant storyline and actors. 

                                                   
Next, why don't we have any talk shows? Not the ones on news channels. We did/do have "Koffee With Karan", "The Front Row with Anupama Chopra" and "Rendezvous with Simi Garewal". But they're mainly cinema-centric. Where are the all-round entertainers like Shekhar Suman's "Movers and Shekhars" or "Surabhi" hosted by Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak? The former had a monologue on popular events/happenings of the week, loaded with puns and punches and fun interviews of actors, musicians, sports-persons and leaders alike. While the latter was a cultural show with music, art and quizzes, and was featured in Limca Book of Records for receiving the largest measured audience response ever in Indian TV history. As someone who has an appetite for all this, today I have no desi option, but to tune into the US exports like "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and "Late Night with Seth Meyers". 

And now let's address the elephant in the room. The daily soaps. 

Two days ago, on 3rd April, it was 28 years ago that IAF Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma had strapped himself in the Soyuz capsule to go to space. Our Mangalyan is orbiting Mars since 2014. We are the nation who has had a female President.  The biggest cultural export, Yoga, is from our country. All this and many more feats have taken India to heights and the world finally sees us more than the land of snake-charmers. 

And then Indian TV throws shows like "Naagin" and "Vishkanya" in our faces. I mean come on! Okay okay, the argument is that dragons and magic may not exist but we love "GoT", but please do you really think "GoT" and "Naagin" should be in the same sentence? LOL, I think not.

Things that I have learnt from our daily soaps are many:

• Be it day or night, the ladies have no bad hair days. Even when the protagonist wakes up from bad dreams, not one hair strand has moved. When I wake up, my head looks like the creatures of the night played tug of war with my hair. Also, make-up: same story.
• Family: Mothers-in-law are wicked witches. Husbands blindly love their moms. Or did not want to get married to their wives but didn't tell their moms as they didn't want to hurt mummy. The bahu, no matter how much educated, stays at home to do chores. The family has multi-billionaires, but it's bahu's duty to cook. And sweep floors. The dads have no say. Hell, they have no role. A bhuaji/buaji is always there to join hands with the dominating dadi in creating havocs for bholi saas.
• Every show has a character who goes to jail. Like our society is filled with aunties fit for imprisonment.
• Saree: Every lady sleeps, eats and washes in heavy sarees. Those kind that my mother saves for occasions like weddings. As a woman, I know the difficulty of handling a saree. And even if it's easy for some to flaunt, dhobi charges Rs7-10 per saree to iron it. So, who has all this patience and money? And vamps get to wear sexy blouses while the good girl has to put a pallu on head? 
• All shows start with a good theme. Evils of child marriage, single motherhood, a girl trying to pursue sports, etc. But everything boils down to getting married, saas-bahu and death-rebirth.
•  And people easily procure things like pistol and sleeping pills. Don't you need license and prescription for that? 
• The makers are not even putting any efforts to choose a title for the show. Play the retro hits album, choose a song and there is the title for my next show. Or an old movie. Like the iconic "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi", where it all started, borrows its title from a movie "Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi".

There is enough literature about how the 90s kids saw the best of cartoon shows. So I don't want to clutter the internet with more on that. 

Instead, I'll talk about the teenagers. Remember "Hip Hip Hurray"? Or "Remix"? Now we have sadder shows about relationships and infidelity, because these days school children are dating while us college/office junta is still single :P Remember robot "VICI"- the "Small Wonder" from the eponymous show? Now, we present to you "RAJNI"-the bahu, from "Bahu Hamari RAJNIKant". 

While I was growing up, MTV and Channel V had these cool VJs playing music on requests, solving love problems (beautiful Malaika and quirky Cyrus) and playing pranks (Bakra and Just for Laughs-Gags). Now there are as many music channels as the media houses, with no VJs. And that is because we have YouTube and Gaana.com and SoundCloud on our phones. So, poor music channels cater to TV viewers by reality shows. 

In the simpler times, we had "Antakshari" and "Sa Re Ga Ma", now we have have 10s of these, both for adults and kids. And dance shows- celebrity dance-offs, celebrity pair dance-offs, kids dance-offs, mom dance-offs... 

Mummy loved cooking shows and maintained journals of those recipes. Today we have cooking reality shows, again both adult and kids versions.

There is a lot more I would like to reminisce about, from spy show "Karamchand" to comedic "Shrimaanji-Shrimatiji", but in this age of micro-blogging I've already said a lot. But these two points I must:

1.    The only constant in Indian TV from then and now are the mythological and historical shows. They were addictive then, they are addictive now. It's good that Gods and our human heros like "Akbar-Birbal" still have an audience.

2.   There is Life Cycle curve for everything. The delightful imports from Pakistan like "Zindagi Gulzaar Hai" or the American TV series we all are addicted to- they all have a finite number of episodes, and a finite number of seasons. Reason- sometimes the story ends. This should be a lesson for our show-makers. If your show is good, you can get infinite re-runs, but please keep it short. 

Coming of Age

If one thing that higher education has done for me, it's my coming of age. As a fresher, MBA has been an extended B.Tech, and I can easily draw some looks for saying these two years have been more fun than those four years. 

As an under-grad student, going to college was the first thing that I did outside of my parents' love and care cocoon. I was lucky to find great room-mates and Kasturba Bhavan's mess food was not bad. I found a hang-out in Surat city's famous Kavi Narmad library, an easy time- pass in walks around the lush green NIT campus, an addiction of American TV series and a solution to all problems-college k bahar galle ki chai. Having day-scholar friends met rides around the city and home food. Engineering didn't excite me but college fests and hostel celebrations and student council were fun. Basically I was a kid trying to live on my own.

Then, NITIE Mumbai happened. Hanging out with ladies and gentlemen, three-four years my senior, has been an experience. These species have been to office, seen the world-some of it at-least and are not students. They are professionals. I got to meet an ex-Army man, a twitter celebrity, people who had good government jobs, a lady drummer, a girl whose dream's to be a Formula One racer, professional photographers, poets: both kinds-romantic and self-deprecating, those who always wanted to live in the city of dreams, the social media slaves, some slaves of their own expectations, people in love, people married. Yes, I met adults here. 

In an environment where classroom studies were as real as a work of fiction, campus so beautiful with green and a pond, nested between two beautiful lakes, located in one of the chic-est locales in Mumbai and housing hundreds of people who left their pay packets to grab a bigger slice of pie; I grew. 

Some takeaways

• Dad was right. Listening is more important than speaking. 
• Lord maketh every one different. Observe all his creations, for each one is a mystery greater than the Universe. Plus, it's fun to stalk hot-looking peeps ;)
• Don't just be yourself, be proud to be yourself. 
• We all need a high. Some find it in booze, some in books, some in friends, others in shopping, still others in themselves. We all get high.
• Cool things are often underrated. Case in point, NITIE.
• Post-placement, B-School final semester means every one is getting married. Yes these adults I met, many of them used higher education as an excuse to postpone their marriages, but in the end, their parents emerge victorious. Or, many of them were in a relationship and now have gotten a fancy qualification and a sexier job, so they are ready to marry their sweetheart. As a younger adult, I am not in this phase.
• I make good power point presentations :D 

Unleashed

As the college comes to an end, nostalgia is expected. But when you ask people to scribble in the Class of 2016 Yearbook, beans are spilled, the town is painted red, inside jokes come out, unheard of friendships speak tons in 100 characters, emotions are unleashed!

As is human nature, each person forms an opinion of others. Some you know inside-out (my GANG members are laughing at this double entendre), while some people are a 50 shades of surprise. Sometimes you read between lines and realize a conversation some x months ago in some y context had some z meaning. Whereas most of the times, you know where you got your hands dirty from and that your partners-in-crime are just airing your dirty laundry in public :P Even if you or your friends aren't involved, but your crushes are, your brain cells are so active you'll just read the entire book of testimonials and connect any and every dots.


You start seeing people in a new light. Like a guy seen as a man of few words is really an encyclopedia  on Rock music. Or a guy I knew as a tough task master, focussed on work work work, has a romantic side.

And then you see yourself through others' eyes. Boy o' boy! You and your close friends are the wild animals who have seen each other naked in the field (well, figuratively). They know your harkartein, they know your takia-kalam, they know your soch-vichar. And you too. So you are mentally prepared for whatever comes out of their "shabdo ki pichkari". And they too.
But when rest of the junta writes about you, many different chemical reactions take place in your "khali-dimaag-shaitan-ka-ghar" :P And when your friends read out stuff written for you, the "chamak" on their chehre only indicates a night long session of leg-pulling and assumptions and conclusions and predictions and endless laughter.

So in the process of creating memories, we create memories.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 16

Title: The Positive Negative Reaction

The Gist: Bernadette tells Howard that she is pregnant, to which he freaks out. Boys try to calm him down and girls try to cheer Bernie up.

Key Points:

1. Even though Howard has always wanted to be a dad, it is natural that he is freaking out. Especially as it wasn't planned. (Though how she conceives is a fun story :P)
2. The men try to drink and celebrate and the women too (except Bernie, who now can't have her favourite sushi or hot tub dips too).
3. Drinks lead to some cool scientific brainstorming.
4. Sheldon; "Forget helium, you know what's a super-fluid? This fruit punch". :D
5. All the friends get together and enjoy a karaoke night to welcome the baby with their renditions of various "Baby" songs.

My Say: 

1. It seems that after focussing the first half of this season on ShAmy love story, the rest of the season would revolve around Howard-Bernadette's baby and the pregnancy related struggles and excitement of to-be parents. 
2. What's expected though is that now the writers bring back some geek stuff, especially when Sheldon's love life is sorted, Leonard's married track is boring and Raj is single again. I mean, in real world some scientists discovered a new planet. Sheldon and I agree that Raj should be digging that kinda stuff. 

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 15

Title: The Valentino Submergence

The Gist: Sheldon and Amy celebrate Valentine's Day with a "Fun with Flags" episode live streaming. Penny and Leonard do it by discovering that they are neither young nor have anything to do. Howard and Bernadette decide to break into their hot tub and this is what I'll talk about. Raj is Raj and finally breaks up with Emily and basically I am at peace now.

-ve points: Leonard and Penny track, which once was the fun core around the science stuff the boys were into, now is so repetitive, it's boring. I mean they are the stars so you gotta write some part for them in every episode, I get it. But they just plain bore me.

+ve points: 

1. Raj broke up with Emily. Finally. Because of the movie girl he met last time. As I suspected. The other girl didn't say yes. As I expected. Raj is single again. Let's see how this can-speak-with-women-without-alcohol-Raj deals with it.
2. ShAmy are back with an episode of Fun with Flags. It's Valentine's Day and Sheldon finds it the hard way that today the viewers would flag questions related to love and loneliness, not flags.
3. Howard and Bernadette are the only couple who make sense now. Their relationship has evolved so naturally over the years, it's real!
4. The couple decide to dip in the hot tub for Valentine's. What they find is a surprise in there.
5. Bernie has a surprise for Howie, which will change the course of the show. It makes sense at this point in their lives and I am excited to see what next.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 14

Title: The Meemaw Materialization

The Gist: Sheldon's beloved Meemaw visits, 'to size Amy up'. It's Meemaw v/s Amy, people. In the side track, Raj meets a girl at the comic book store.

My Say:

1. In the classic girlfriend v/s guy's mother/grandmother face off, Amy doesn't knuckle under the old lady. Take that, Indian TV shows on 'working bahu' who 'tolerates saas ke taane, pati ke khatir'.
2. Sheldon stands up for his woman. And he understands that his Pop-Pop was a difficult man to live with. There are times when I miss the Sheldon of yore, when science and games ruled his heart. But it's situations like this, when Shelly acts as the wise one, that I continue to enjoy the Sheldon 2.0- the non-robot, human.
3. Don't get your hopes too up, Amy :P Sheldon gave you his virginity, he's not giving away his Meemaw's engagement ring so fast :D
4. Raj brings back those olden days where he would just see a girl and imagine about their kids and grand-kids. The last season had ended with Raj trying (and failing miserably) to end things with Emily because of her morbid fantasies. Whereas most of this season showed them doing just fine. Maybe if this other girl comes into picture, Raj can think through and sort his romantic life.

Movie Review: Airlift

" Sir, kucch mila? 

Haan, Iraqi biscuit, Klecha".

Director: Raja Menon

Starring: Akshay Kumar (Ranjit Katyal)
               Nimrat Kaur (Amrita Katyal)
               Purab Kohli (Ibrahim Durrani)

Recommended for: people interested in war-based stories or rescue operations

The Gist: Rescue operation of Indian-origin people residing or working in Kuwait in the Iraq-Kuwait war backdrop.

+ve points: 

A refreshing break from stories highlighting how the rich and affluent do not care for masses, or party all night in their Guccis and Pradas and un-real dance sequences in foreign locales.The movie had a hero Ranjit Katyal, a big businessman, who though initially wanted to flee with his family when the war broke out, stands up for his workers, their families and lakhs of strangers of Indian origin. This shows that people with riches and position should neither be seen as apathetic to society, nor should they give up in weak moments, if they can, in any way, contribute to society.

All the characters are so real.

• Ranjit- the character shows that 'rich' people with 'comfortable' lives are very valuable to society. It means a lot if such persons with the right contacts, excellent negotiation skills, business sense, an understanding of people, power and money and good amount of funds put these things to use in crisis situations.
• Amrita- the wife of rich businessman Ranjit, who is crazed when her husband won't flee but 'save' his workers and their families.
• Ashok and Kurien- other businessmen who much like Ranjit in the beginning want to escape and not get involved in 'social service'. Very real human nature. If we have means, we always try to save ourselves first and rarely try to involve ourselves in helping others. And it takes guts to not run away. 
• Sanjiv Kohli- a 'babu' in Ministry of External Affairs in India, who is not 'in-charge of Gulf division' and so wouldn't like to get involved just because some guy from Kuwait had Kohli's desk number. Again, human nature- why should I get my hands dirty when it's not even my job. The man though has a heart and does try to seek help from mantriji, other babus, aviation department etc. Another character which shows that educated civil servants of our country are not just super intelligent and hard working, but very valuable to society, if they have the will to get the job done.
• Air India pilots- outraged to fly civilian planes over war-zone, ultimately showing courage in this risky undertaking of evacuation. 

My Say: I cried all through the first half and the Tiranga in the climax put a smile on my face. The story was about Indian-origin people who had been living as Kuwaitis, but realize that Indians they really are. It made me be proud to be an Indian too. A good feeling, specially when Republic Day is round the corner :)

An exciting night

Powai to Colaba, via the free-way at night. The lights in the background, viewed from a fast moving car, with a cool breeze through the window through my hair. Friends mocking the RJs of all the FM stations.

Marine Drive, some of my friends chewing sliced raw mangos, one having cotton candy, another one getting her pictures taken and yet another one glued to the phone. Enter two strange men, one tuning his guitar strings while the other one gazing into the stars and a few flying lanterns. The men sit next to us girls, facing the sea and start jamming. And suddenly we all are singing to their tunes. It's midnight and we and more strangers all around are One under the night sky, in front of the sea, with the music.

As someone who gets sickness in the Mumbai traffic and is averse to being out after eight, this experience just blew me away.

A few of my friends enjoyed getting ready for the night, make-up and accessories and everything girls do, some of them ticked the 'Colaba Social' experience off their list and probably many other things. But I wasn't really into it, until the ride on the free-way and the jamming by the sea.

In the hindsight, these happy experiences came out of some begrudging choices. I hate to be the one to always sit in the passenger seat when we book a taxi. I know why that is, because I'm fat and it makes no sense for other girls to be cramped with me in the back-seat. So by default I sit next to the driver. But then the free-way happened. Also, I wasn't really keen on going to the Marine Drive, as it was late in the night (by my standards). Good thing I tagged along with my group, or there wouldn't have been any starry musical night.

Sometimes it's good to go out of your zone, do things you don't want to and see the world a little differently. Well, sometimes :)

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 13

Title: The Empathy Optimization

The Gist: The gang is hurt from Sheldon's meanness, despite taking care of him when he's sick. Amy helps Sheldon realize his insensitive behaviour. Sheldon then takes it upon himself to apologise to every one.

+ve points: 

1. The episode addresses the series' elephant in the room- Sheldon's attitude towards people doing the thankless job of taking care of a sick Sheldon. In first few seasons, we have seen all hell break loose for Leonard, Penny and others whenever Sheldon contracts an illness. Although enjoyable to see our socially retarded hero irritating others, in real life, we all would find such a person absolutely abominable. It's good that he's shown to understand and work on it at this point in his life.
2. Unlike initial seasons, where the guys would cater to his whims while hating him in silence, they now stand up against him, vocally expressing their displeasure. This too is in tune with the changed tides. All these men have grown up over the last 9 years- Howard and Leonard are married men, Raj is no more the nervous nelly and even Stuart has sailed through financial ups and downs and now seems to be doing well for himself. It's good to see each character go through a phase of personal growth. 
3. Emily has always been a strong woman. But I have always hated her: morbid fantasies, hate for Penny, cruel Clogzilla incident with Howard, enjoyment of Howard-Stuart tiff during Prom do-over. The writers should be applauded for changing my sentiment for her in just one episode. Every character has faced Sheldon in different ways, this was Emily's turn. 

My say: It's great that the writers are keeping Amy away from Sheldon after their big night. The first half of this season was too ShAmy. Amy, who used to show reverence to Sheldon in her pre-coitus days, is now shown to be a fox, overstaying in Detroit to avoid nursing the ailing Sheldon. Personal growth for her too.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 12

Title: The Sales Call Sublimation

The Gist: Bernadette and Howard remodel their house. Raj and Sheldon work together in astrophysics lab. Leonard and Penny see a psychiatrist.

-ve points:

1. After waiting through the euphoric holiday season, the latest episode was a lacklustre. The least exciting of all the other episodes this season and probably one of the least fun from the entire series.
2. It started off good. And there were some sparse funny moments throughout. But despite the usuals like science stuff and Leonard bashing, the episode didn't generate much laughs. 
3. The ending, where Leonard is shown smiling and giggling while skipping the rope, is plain stupid.

+ve points:

1. Amy and Sheldon are shown to be the same. She expects romance and he is disgusted by neurobiology. 
2. Since Amy's away, Sheldon's free to be 'entertained'. Which of the boys get their Sheld-ON? 
3. Penny uses Leonard for work, much like the olden days, when the series was all about these two. Leonard is the laughing stock for the other boys. Classic stuff. So what's Leonard's game? 

• Low self esteem, social anxiety, sexual insecurity
• Denial
• Fear of failure, lack of confidence, kind of a wuss
• Pushover, spineless

Twist: Stuart makes a 'move'.

My Say: Sheldon had some good lines.

"Look, an Indian outsourcing computer work to a white man"

or

Raj: I should warn you. There'll be a lot of staring at a computer screen,..

Sheldon: You already won kid, stop selling it.