Lonavala Trip 2012

The cheapest trip of our group (It cost us on an average Rs. 2200 on our previous trip to Lonavala whereas this one cost us Rs. 450)

Confusion

The idea of night-out at Nikhil’s place turned into a series of confusing phone calls. It all started when Nikhil sent an email to Viraj, Aditya and myself, informing us that his family would be out of Mumbai for few days, so we could have a night out at his house on Friday. Since, Aditya and I were having holiday on Saturday, we immediately agreed (It doesn’t matter for Viraj whether he is having office next day, though it was good to hear that he will have Saturdays off from April ’12). Afterwards, Aditya asked us if we were going to have dinner together with everyone initially agreeing to the idea. On Friday though, I told Nikhil that I will be having dinner at home as Nikhil was going to be in office till 9 (which meant he would be back to CST by 10). Now, here is the list of chats/calls which started at around 8.45PM -

1. Chat - Aditya was chatting with me and asked when where we would be going for dinner. I told him that I was going to have dinner at home, but will join them afterwards. This irked him and he checked with Viraj he was going to come with him.
2. Chat - Nikhil told me on chat that he will leave by 9.15
3. Chat – After half an more, Nikhil replies that he will leave by 10
4. Call – Nikhil calls Aditya and tells him that he will be very late, and asks him not to come.
5. Call – Aditya calls up Viraj and tells him that Nikhil wants us not to come for night out as it is too late.
6. Call – I am taking a walk after dinner and I get a call from Viraj. He asks if I am coming or not. We decide that we are going irrespective of how late it could be. He asks me to be ready so that he will come to pick me up, on his bike.
7. Call - Viraj calls up Aditya and asks him also to be ready for dinner.
8. Chat – I return back to home and begin to get ready. My brother sees the latest chat and asks me to check it out. Nikhil had posted that the plan was cancelled.
9. Call – I call Nikhil but he doesn’t pick the call.
10. Call – I call Viraj and tell him about the “latest” situation. He asks me to tell Aditya to have dinner at home.
11. Parallel Calls – Viraj calls up Nikhil and I call up Aditya. Viraj convinces Nikhil that we are ready to come to his house late night. I tell Aditya the opposite, that night out is cancelled, not knowing that Nikhil had already spoken with him. (“अरे सिद्धेश, हे चाललंय तरी काय?” इति आदित्य)
12. Call – Viraj calls me, tells me that the plan is still on and he will tell Aditya to have dinner with him.
13. Call – Viraj calls Aditya and asks him to have dinner with us but he has already decided to have dinner at home. So its just Viraj and me.
14. Call – Viraj comes to my building and calls me. We buy Kebabs and are on our way to Girgaum when we get a call from Nikhil.
15. Call – Nikhil tells me that he is at Vikroli station, and would take more than 1 hour to reach. But he asks us not to bring any non veg at his house.
16. Call – Viraj and I , decide to go to Marine Drive to eat Kebabs and Parathas. After reaching Marine drive we call Aditya and ask him to come to Marine drive.

There were few more calls before we actually reached Nikhil’s house. We walked from Marine drive to Fort, even though it was post mid night, reached his home at 1:10AM. I guess this was the only night out where we were looking at the laptop for more time than we talked, if you know what I mean.

And yea, I finally watched American Pie

All The Best

Just came back from the Drama, "All The Best". The cast included Adinath Kothare, Mayuresh Pem, Vaibhav Tatvavadi and Manava Naik. I had not seen the original, which had Sanjay Narvekar, Bharat Jadhav, Ankush Chaudhari. It is a musical comedy where a deaf, a blind and a mute fall in love with the same girl. It is complete entertainer, with really good acting by Mayuresh and Vaibav. But it seemed that Aditnath wasn't really at his best with the Blind person's role, especially in the first half. The songs were OK, but the last song where both Mayuresh and Vaibhav dance, was choreographed pretty well. All in all, it was worth the money spent.

Coincidence!!!

I was just cleaning my part of the cupboard today. I saw my father's old folder containing some files/receipts. I found his salary slip of 2004. I just saw his date of joining. It was 7th February, 1969 :)

Joke of the Picnic

We had gone for a picnic last weekend. It was an all boys trip (as usual). But this time, the difference was that this time around we had a friend who is in a relationship with another of our school friend. After we reached the SBI holiday home, we found that it was amazing and beyond out expectations (especially since we had paid just Rs. 30 as rent). So probably, Susmit must have told his GF about this and she would have asked if she can join us with few other girls from our class. So Susmit asked us the following question. Just before this Viraj and I commented that we would have Lavani when we have Aditya's bachelor party. Nik got confused with the 2 contexts, but the way he asked counter question to Susmit was amazing-
सुस्मित: अरे, मुलींना बोलवायचं का?
निखिल: काय?
सुस्मित: अरे, मुली!! मुलीना बोलवायचं का? पिकनीकला?
निखिल:"मुली" हे तू सामान्य नाम म्हणून वापरलं की विशेषनाम म्हणून?
A big laughter followed by Anand and I shaking hands with Nik!!!

A Month To Remember

It has been pretty hectic month or so since 19th December last year. First cousin's wedding to attend, then my first official (and unofficial) tour outside Maharashtra, amazing 31st night with my best friends. I did miss the Vengurla trip because I had to go to Bangalore for official work, which was extended by 2 days and thus eliminating any hopes of reaching Vengurla even for 1 day. Then met a few VJTI friends who are back in India for holidays. It was amazing watching सवाई एकांकिका at Ravindra Natyamandir on 25th night. Of course, one cannot simply forget the cheapest picnic of their lives so easily :) Lonavala 2012 was one of the best trips I had in last couple of years. Today I watched "शाळा", the movie I was waiting for last one year.Hrushi came home for 4 days. And finally, my dear friend Susmit went back to US tonight.
All this and more in detail, coming up....

Pending Items

Due to the Gurgaon and Bangalore trips my Google Reader count has breached the 1000 count barrier. Usually I go for the "Sort By Magic" mode which allows me to read 9GAG and other important blogs first. When I tried the Older items first mode, just found that I news articles from 20th Dec, 2011 to read :)

Reading

Today morning I completed the second book I had borrowed from Nik - "Johny Gone Down". It was fast paced novel, where the protagonist is an MIT graduate who goes to Cambodia for vacation, ends up being a captive in prison. After 2 years he does manage to flee, but loses one arm in the effort. Saved by Buddhist Monk, he himself decides to be a Monk. The story then moves to Rio, then to Minneapolis, back to Delhi. The name of the protagonist keeps changing from - Nikhil to Nick to Buddha to Johny. Its just the way story is told, however unrealistic it might seem, is amazing.
Before this book, I read Ashwin Sanghi's historical fiction "Chanakya's Chant". There are 2 parallel tracks in the book, one describing Chanakya's journey to make Chandragupta Maurya, the emperor of India. The other one is about a modern day Chanakya - Pandit Gangasagar Mishra - who wants to make Chandani, India's Prime Minister. This one is also good book, though I didn't like the dialogues which had copied quotes from various sources.