I am obviously not good at keeping promises! :) Random updates on life..



Avanee is 1. She had a wonderful party with family on the 30th and another one on the second with friends. She was spoilt by plenty of toys and some more clothes. I have reached a stage where if Avanee does not have about 12-15 outfits she has *never* used in her wardrobe, I feel like she is running out of clothes. Weird but true. I am so used to her having so many clothes that its become a norm ..



She is walking (started at few days short of ten months and now runs!) Says mamma, baba, papa, cheese(!!), fool (flower), boot, de-de (give), ghe-ghe (take) and a constant blabber for all the words we don't understand.



She throws tantrums that have me frustrated at times and laughing at others. Like they say that the 30s are the new 20s, 1s are the new terrible 2s. I mean she was supposed to be sweet for another six months atleast... If you see her crying because mommy wont let her put her toys in her dal, you would know what I mean.. I am going to video-shoot this because her grandparents refuse to believe what a monster she can be :)



Neeraj and I cut her hair, she does not have very many, but what she had was getting wild. Now her hair looks like this:



http://imdb.com/gallery/ss/0151137/Ss/0151137/1.html?hint=tt0151137



Funny, how I meant to post updates about me and posted only about Avanee!!

I promise to be regular..
I promise to keep my promise!! :D

Life, when you have a kid who is walking now, and a fulltime job and a house to manage, can become full. Avanee is walking all over the place now.. loves to go out and demands attention when awake. So I can sneak in work only when she is asleep. Blogging takes a back seat. :)

An incident has been lingering in my mind for sometime...

We were at a "better" restaurant the other day and there was a group of college kids( 20-21 years old) next to our table. They were obviously from affluent families. The entire conversation revolved around cell phones, models, mp3s, videos. We were there for about 15 minutes (a different post) and not even once did the topic change. They were sending each other songs, photos and discussing how cool person x was because he had a certain phone. They pretty much ignored us until the point Neeraj got his Palm treo out. After that, everyone kept on stealing glances at us..

After some really bad service, we went to Vaishali (a regular vegeterian joint) and there was another group of 5 (4 boys and 1 girl) next to us. They also were having a heated discussion. I could not help but overhear as they got louder. The girl said "more better" and the guys were discussing that it should be "just better" "Arre that superlative". Then someone brought up bad. "worst" promptly replied one. "What about in between bad and worst". The girl said "more bad" And they gave her a hard time until somebody said "I think its worse" "more worse?" asked the girl....

Two restaurants.. Two groups of friends.. Two lifestyles...

Life is good!! :) So glad and so relieved!!

Malabar Chicken

1/2 kg boneless chicken cubed.
2 tblspoon ginger garlic paste
4 medium sized chopped onions
100 gms tomato puree

20 curry leaves - more the merrier
1 carton dabur homemade coconut milk.
1 tblspoon Everest Malabar chicken masala - can be substituted with garam masala and a pinch of sambhar masala
red chilli powder - to taste
salt to taste
oil
hing to taste
turmeric to taste

Heat 2 tblspoon oil, add a pinch of hing and turmeric. Add the ginger garlic paste and onions. Let the onions fry for sometime. After they start to go from pink to brown, some the tomato puree.

Let this fry again till the puree starts to turn brown. To this add the malabar chicken masala.

Add salt and remove from fire. Put this in a blender and blend it to an almost smooth consistency. Keep aside.

Now heat another tblspoon of oil and add 12-13 curry leaves. To this add some turmeric and add the chicken. This keeps the cubes intact in the gravy. Add some salt. Let the pieces cook for about 5 minutes with lid on.

Now to this add the paste and a little bit of water. Let this come to a boil. Then reduce the flame and add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a couple of minutes till the coconut no longer tastes raw.

Ready to serve.

Tip: You can garnish with a tadka of oil+curry leaves + dried red chilli. Do not stir after you add this for a good visual effect :)

Thanks to my mavshi, Dr. Neela Desai! :)

The faceless people.

Last night, as I waited in the car while Neeraj was buying some stuff, I noticed a couple eating Pani-puri at a street side stand. The reason I noticed them was that the lady in her 40s was in a trackpant and very comfortable, and they seemed like people with moderate means. I thought to myself, that her husband must be really forward thinking. After about 5 minutes and a few pani-puri plates, I noticed the pani puriwala. He was not looking at either of them as he went about making the the puris, and they were not looking at him either. And it struck me, there are so many people we interact with on a day to day basis, and yet never notice them. Do I know what my regular laundry guy looks like? Or the guy who sells me my groceries? Or the guy who opens the door at the bank?

So many people and so many stories and yet, so many faceless people and so many untold stories...

I need help.

What do I do, when someone I know, who was once very mean to me, (for no fault of mine, none that I know of), stopped talking to me, and now, all of a sudden wants to be friends again.

I am not that forgiving to forgive and forget, but I really dont want to spend any more time fighting or arguing or explaining. So should I just give in?

Random thoughts.

It takes one kid in your arm to go from didi to aunty! I have crossed over to the dark side. Someone I met recently called me aunty, and I was like "who where???" Come to think of it, this girl is 15, and I am almost twice her age. So its ok, in hindsight. But at that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks!!

Have you ever noticed that when its one of those lucky draw thingys, you never get picked and when its one of those, pick someone to go to the gallows, its always you. Hmm. Odds, we have a love hate relationship with each other.

Can you really be friends with someone forever?? I mean forever and ever.. ? A friend's sis told us once, when we were planning to rent a place in Fort Collins, "if you want to remain as good friends, don't live together" interesting huh?

Are Puneris (or punekars) really that stuck up? These are the very words used by a mumbaikar about the people from Pune. There is pride, love and all the good things we feel about Pune. But why would punekars be called stuckup ? ( amchi kuthehi shakha nahi) :D

Listen to this..

if you have been in love for long enough.

http://www.blueyze.us/buymearose.html

Kid friendliness :

I have noticed the following when people are faced with a strange-kid-in-two-feet-proximity. Some people, prefer to ignore the existence of the child, and stare past the baby, and also the adult who carries the baby. When the child is persistent about attention, they smile about a millimeter and run for their dear life.. (remember monster's inc).

There are others, who like to play with kids, but from a distance. They make funny faces, noises, but avoid the child as if touching would contaminate them.

Then there are the I like kids, but don't know what makes them smile. They usually see a child, and think, hmm.. cute baby.. will she laugh if I tell her the latest joke from reader's digest? They really want to be able to entertain the child, just don't know how.

And then there are the i-love-kids-poopy-messy-goey-bring-em-on. They run towards an adult with a child (mostly new moms, new grandmoms and college girls). They grab the child making cooing sounds, playing, laughing, giggling. They usually can entertain kids for hours and would rather play with the kid, then make a conversation with the adult.

I used to be kid unfriendly before I had my daughter. I still don't know how to handle somebody else's child. I feel like a fool making funny faces and noises. And yet I am a mother... go figure.

Are some birthdates more common than others?

I know that by laws of averages, it is not possible. But I know sooooo many people born on the 15th of April, that I am convinced to think there is something about this bdate! I know about 10 other people born on 15th april. What about yours?

When you can't let go..

I used to have this email address that was primarily for junk and websites that for some weird reason require you to sign-up with a valid email id.
Eventually when 2MB changed to 2 GB, I started using this email ID for storing old emails, chat conversations and photos.

And then I moved onto a different phase in life with a different ID. This email account still held those memories which really meant nothing to me, and should have let them go. I wanted to delete the old stuff, but the email account stayed and so did the memories, though not visited in ages.

Given how life got hectic in the past 6 months, I did not log into the account and a few days back I logged in to see that the account was empty.

Strangely, I was sad and yet relieved. If you can't decide when is the right time to move on, someone (something) else will always do it for you..

Amrika..

I have noticed that while most people do not understand, why you quit your promising job when your visa had not expired, and not apply for a green card when you could get it in a matter of months, or your husband with his citizenship and again, an exciting job in Ebay, just quit it all, to move back to India, a lot of the folks here prefer to live in India and travel abroad for work or pleasure once in a while.

(Thats a really long sentence!) Most seem to first assume that our visas expired or we got fired, or convince themselves that we were crazy!! :) However, many of our friends have returned or are returning to India and are actually doing it without being kicked out of the land of oportunity!

A disposable world!

I am a firm believer in the disposable stuff. If you can avoid cleaning, washing, drying and then doing this again everyday, I tend to do that. Moving from US, one of the things that I was going to miss was having kitchen paper towels and orange wipes for the rest.

Fortunately, places like dorabjee, Ozone, Tru-mart sell these and once again, my kitchen is equipped with the things I love :) I knew that using diapers, wipes and nappy sacks goes against the mentality of the mom-generation. It was an uphill battle to convince some people why I like my baby to wear diapers when the temperature is 10 deg celcius. Back in september, when it was warmer, it was ok. But our house is quite chilly and I refuse to let her be wet or cold. See my logic is this: Because she is going to pee, you don't dress her in anything waist down and wrap her in a piece of cloth. Because she will pee, you place her on a plastic and then do not notice if she is wet. Because she is in a tee-shirt or even a sweater, it tends to ride up. So when the adults are wearing jeans and tee-shirts and sweaters, my baby is almost half naked!!

On the other hand, once she has a nappy on, she can wear tees, sweater, pjs or the likes and socks. And no one has to worry about getting their clothes dirty. And I don't have to worry about getting a maid to clean the tons of wet and soiled "duptas". Similarly, with wet wipes that you can easily carry, with moisturizers so soothe her skin, you can just bundle the diaper, the wipes in the nappy sacks and you are done. No mess, no hassle.

This was inspired because yesterday, when I was at the chemist to buy a new stock of nappies, there were about 6 other people there. Three were buying nappies and the 4th was curious about the bulk nappies that I was buying. I am sure, the generation here understands and appreciates the convinience of disposible. Its not a bad thing esp. if you are making the money and can afford it. Think about it. Pampers is about 10 rs a piece. If you use 5-6 a day, you still spend less than 2000 rs a month. Not much for the above mentioned peace of mind. One lunch/dinner at La Dolce Vita with dessert will cost about the same.

I am glad that slowly but surely, the convinience of working moms is gaining importance!

Is saying no that difficult?

I have always been the kind of person who speaks her mind. Sometimes a bit too loud and clear. Also, I believe that you should have the right to decide what you do with your time. If that means that you have some prior plans, then you tell that very clearly. I do not like the pressure of getting into something when I would rather be doing something else. So, I dont tell close people, that I will come if I do not really intend to. I tell them I can't. Esp. if its your parents. I mean, you got to be able to tell your own parents.

Yet, some people just can't say no. And that leads to a lot of complication.

I won't mind if someone says they wont come. I am a bit ticked off when someone says that they will come and dont show up. Not the 100 guest party where one person does not matter. Its the 2-3 friends reunion where one person decides to not show up and not call.

If you mean it, say yes..or no..not to hard eh?

On mother and motherhood..

"Mother" seems like a grown-up word now that I type it and see it in front of my eyes. They say having a child gives you a sense of fulfilment. I dont know if I feel that yet. I know it sounds silly. The nine and half months of pregnancy seem like a distant memory and I really don't remember how I felt then. And now that my child is a separate entity, I think that having her around makes me feel secure. I know, thats a lot of burden for a person who does not weigh 5 kgs yet and is amused by her own hands.

I know it does not make sense, but let me give an example. Remember your first trip abroad that you planned for a long time and looked forward to. The anticipation and the excitment in preparing for the trip! And then the actual date for travel arrives. I felt a little sad because now that the trip has started, it also means that the excitement of the first trip to the airport, the first immigration clearance etc will be over. You will never feel the same excitement again. No matter how many more trips you make..

Its like that. Now that I have gone through the birth process, I feel that its "been there, dont that". Silly I know..Call it post-partum thinking, not depression. Too much time to think :)

On a different note, when is the right time to remove the training wheels. Is it at 18, 30, 60 or never?

On mother and motherhood..

"Mother" seems like a grown-up word now that I type it and see it in front of my eyes. They say having a child gives you a sense of fulfilment. I dont know if I feel that yet. I know it sounds silly. The nine and half months of pregnancy seem like a distant memory and I really don't remember how I felt then. And now that my child is a separate entity, I think that having her around makes me feel secure. I know, thats a lot of burden for a person who does not weigh 5 kgs yet and is amused by her own hands.

I know it does not make sense, but let me give an example. Remember your first trip abroad that you planned for a long time and looked forward to. The anticipation and the excitment in preparing for the trip! And then the actual date for travel arrives. I felt a little sad because now that the trip has started, it also means that the excitement of the first trip to the airport, the first immigration clearance etc will be over. You will never feel the same excitement again. No matter how many more trips you make..

Its like that. Now that I have gone through the birth process, I feel that its "been there, dont that". Silly I know..Call it post-partum thinking, not depression.

On a different note, when is the right time to remove the trainer wheels. Is it at 18, 30, 60 or never?

Updates...again..

A lot has happened in the past couple of months. And to think of it, I have not really *done* much. Its feeding, diapers, naps, bathtime and again feeding and the cycle continues. Its amazing how busy you are with a child and I am still at my mom's place and I dont even have to lift a finger for other housework.

Avanee is getting bigger and heavier (ask my poor back). She likes to be rocked to sleep and gets cranky in the evenings unless we take her out for a ride in the car. She still has not found her thumb to suck and so she puts her entire fist in her mouth and then when it slips out, she cries in frustration. She refuses to turn on her side, forget flipping over, but loves to raise her neck as if she wants to sit up!

She loves having people around her and is at her best behavior with strangers. She gives the cutest smiles to anyone who smiles at her and attracts a lot of attention in her little car seat. (car seats are still a novelty here! )

More on Avanee later..

Another delayed update..

Busy with my daughter and no time to get online..but both of us are doing well. Will update more later.

Updates and more...

There have been no curve balls after the previous one and we are still recovering from the first one. But things are definitely looking up :)

My laptop crashed :( I adored my IBM T41 and it is now just not starting up. So much for the new 5 and half hour backup battery I recieved and never got a chance to use.

Rains in Pune have offically lost it. I can't imagine how it was last year. This year is bad and I don't even go out that much or drive. I pity the poor kids who have to go to school and college.

Tried a new restaurant over the weekend. SISA (Some Indian Some Asian). Will write a review on the new restaurant blog.

More later....

Unexpected..

Life throws curve balls at you once in a while. Its just that they are so unexpected that you just can't be prepared. Hopefully, a curved ball is followed by a few straight ones so you can catch your breath and relax.

I just found heaven in Pune!! :)

As some of you might know and rest will know, I have been missing Thai food a lot since I came back. Enough to have G send me some packet of spices so I could make it when we really missed it bad.

Past couple of times that I went out for dinner, my dad told us about this place called Thai House on Dhole Patil Road. However, we were always headed to some other specific restaurant and never really went to this place.

Last time we drove past the restaurant, we saw that the owners look like natives of Thailand. Neeraj and I went these last Sunday and were pleasantly surprised with decor. Its very much like the Thai restaurants in US. The ornate furniture, the pictures of the Thai King, the small fancy offerings.

The owners are from Bangkok who have lived in India for 6+ years. The menu is purely Thai. No impurities of Malaysian/Singaporean or Desi Chinese :) Neeraj and I drooled over the menu and I could not bring myself to read the entire menu. We were estatic to see Tom Kha Gai, Chicken Satay and Phad Thai. We started with an order of Chicken Satay which was divine..probably the best satay I have had ever.

The portion was sufficient for three people. Neeraj and I, managed to finish it ourselves :) We also ordered Tom Kha Shrimp and were pleasantly surprised to get a fairly big bowl of soup, unlike the "one by two" soups that you get in most Indian restaurants. The soup again was so good. Just the right amount of Lemon grass, galangal and coconut milk.

The next was an order of Panang Chicken, Chicken garlic and pepper, and rice. By then we were really full, but we wanted to try as much food just because we were so thrilled to see all the familiar names.

The chicken garlic and pepper was dry and deep fried. So, although we asked them to pack the panang chicken, we helped ourselves to a bit of it. We realized later that the menu did say that this was a dry dish.

The panang chicken lived up to our expectations and so did the other chicken dish. The rice was wonderful aromatic Jasmine rice.

Neeraj and I also tried the Thai iced tea and a fruit drink for about 25 rs. each. Would pass those, as that can kill your appetite for the food.

The whole meal cost about 450 rs. And this included one to-go dish which we ate the next day.

All in all, we could not wipe the grins off our faces for the next 1 hour :)

Directions:
Go to Dhole Patil Road and go past Ruby Hospital and Hotel Kapila. This is in the strip mall past the first cross-road on the right.

Haunted by Himesh..

Why can't I go to any place without having to hear this guy sing in the exceptional nasal voice?? Why is it that, frustrated with Radio mirchi, I turn off the radio and turn it on again after a couple of hours, to find Himesh songs..

AARGH..is this the only musician around. (If I may call him one). I refuse to believe that this is the only person making music. Play me some Norah Jones, please....The weather demands better music than Zhalak dikhalaja. Please. Please..I miss 96.5 KOIT :(

Bombay Brasserie

Beware all ye hungry souls..A food post coming up..

Went to Bombay Brasserie last night. Finally have started eating chicken and it feels good!! :) um..um..good.
When I got my visa for CSU way back in 2000, thats where my Mavshi took me for dinner. This was a new concept. BB had an unlimited kabab buffet where they charged 350 Rs for non-veg and 250 rs for the veg menu. They served 8 kinds of kababs, biryani, daal + roti and sweet (icecream, gulab jamun, firni and rabdi). They started with the regular kababs (chicken tikka, chicken shahajahani etc), moved on to a couple of seekhs. You could have unlimited portions of each and if you liked somethng, you could have more of a particular kabab. Each and every kind of kabab was unique and tasty. By the time you reached to Biryani, you really did no justice to it.

Last night, we decided to go there after much planning and anticipation, only to find out that they now have the kabab buffet only in the mornings..bummer!!

Although all the kababs are in the menu and cost about 160-180 rs each, you do not really order one of each kind of kabab. We ordered three and each one was awesome (especially the seekh pudina). The main course of chicken gravy etc was okay. Somehow since we were all prepared to dig into a all-meat dinner, it was a little disappointing.

My craving for kababs is not yet satiated and I am sure I will go there on a weekday for lunch!!

Directions to the place: Go up to Ruby Hall Clinic on Dhole Patil road. Drive straight to the end of this road where you will find Mainland China, La Dolce Vita and Bombay Brasserie.

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak???

My all time favorite song. Love it!! The reason I remembered this was because yesterday I was reading something and I came across the word "conceited" and I was like wow!! thats a word I have not heard in a long time. The everyday English that we use is so different than the English we learnt in school. I am not saying that one is good or bad, it hit me that such simple words are not in use..

Well..I guess its okay. I dont want to say "Jolly Good" instead of "cool" or "awesome" :)

Its all in the name_for_u_421

Disclaimer: All names here are imaginary and I just made them up as I wrote this.

With chat and e-communication taking over phone and letter conversations, online identity is getting importance since thats what you are known as in this parallel e-universe. When your parents name you, they give quite some thought in the whole naming process and come up with a name that best suits you, your background etc. However, what is it with screen names like XXX_for_you, or I_am_XXX. Why can't it just be your name or something that is sensible? What are you telling someone when you have a screen name like XXX4U4ever. HUH?? I just dont get it.

That 80s show..

Aashiqui ribbon, kabatuar ja ja dress, Friend cap with the pigeon, Hum aap ke hain kaun purple sareee....

How many of you grimaced at the mention of these outlandish fashions. As I type this, I was watching "Mere rang main" from Maine Pyaar Kiya. Channel surfing is what I do on weekends that Neeraj decides to work. The channel before that was showing a Govinda-MAdhuri Dixit movie. Her outfits made me look away and change the channel before it got too weird. Bhagyashree's furry, ribbony, netty clothes....what were they thinking..what were we thinking trying to ape them. Not much obviously.

What was it with bad hair with false hair implantations, bad colors, worse netted stocking with ribbons and bows and the Pooja Bhatt perm (although I still want curly hair once..for the heck of it:)).

Fortunately for my mother's sensibility, I was saved from committing some of these fashion crimes at that time. But I still remember wearing big dangling hoop earrings with florecent color tights with long tees. My mom had put her foot down when I insisted on buying those pink or orange cycling shorts..God bless her!! Who decided to make cycling shorts a fashion statement?? And what was with the dhoti salwar and balloon skirts? I remember that my mom finally compromised and bought me a skirt which was made in the tee-shirt material which did not 'balloon' as much. I must have worn it once, after which my mom cut it and made two skirts :))

Growing up, since my mom stitched most of our clothes at home (which we thought was uncool at that time), we always had unique clothes. And she tamed the current fashion craze into a more decent outfit...and yet..I did rebel once in a while..I wish I could get my hands on those photos and burn them..

I remember chopping off my hair that was below the waist to get the trendy bangs and shoulder length hair. I still regret it, because I never was able to grow it that long. I went further and got the Demi Moore Ghost cut. (I am not that ashamed of it!!:).

I guess only time will tell which of todays fashions will make us laugh a few years down the line..

For all of us who get 500 forwarded e-mails a week from certain people....... I had to share this:


I must send my thanks to whomever sent me the email about rat crap in the
glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every
envelope that needs sealing. Also, now I have to scrub the top of every
can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl
(Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the
1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the
$15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating
in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out
for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant
freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water
buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I
forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five
minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove
toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car
so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these
products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave
anymore because it will blow up in my face, disfiguring me for life.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a
perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our
American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number
for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda,
Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my
free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have
their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown
African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it
bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice "Andy Rooney" has given us. I can
live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the
parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting
underneath my car to grab my leg.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7
minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM and
the fleas from 12 camels will infest your arm pit's and crotch, causing
you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually
happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second
husband's cousin's beautician's daughter...

What makes you respect a person?

Wealth
Health
character
Personality

Something else?

Updates..

Interior Decoration
Finally its done and they are out!!! It took forever, loads of yelling, followed by indifference to get it done. We deducted the penalty clause and got the polishing done again (for the fourth time) for no extra cost from a differnt guy and they are out.

Eye update
I still see a few cells, I know its weird, but these are are cells you draw in a 11th std biology class. with circles and a dot at the center clustered together, but they are almost gone..

Latest restaurant discovery
'Polka dots' in Aundh. Its a small place, not much of a quiet sit down place, but good variety of food. I tried the stir fry veggies and Neeraj had the lasagna. I think the Italian food must be more popular. Entrees are in the 100-150 range and portions are not too big. But arrive early to find a place. Gets busy later in the evening. Their blue berry creme brulee was sin-sational!! :)

By far, most American tasting authentic Thai food has been at Flags..Plan to go eat Mexican there next.

IBM rocks..Nokia does too
My laptop battery is dying and I happened to get another battery from a new laptop, R series (not the T-series that I have) and boom..its back to 3+ hours :) I love it when things are standard. Nokia does it well too. Nokia chargers for any phone anywhere in the world are same. Unlike LG phones with poor battery life and inconsistent charger that you can't charge unless you have your model specific charger!!!

International cuisine - II

Happened to go shopping at Dorabjee's in Camp yesterday. This is one of those places that has been around forever and yet holds that firangi-parsi charm for the Puneites living in the more maharashtrian areas. Going to Camp used to always be associated like going to downtown. It was a common hang out place and I don't think the charm will ever run out..atleast not for me! :)

Anyways, so the cafe outside Dorabjee is one of those cake-sandwich-pastry places. Yesterday, there was a new place that sells Tibetian Momos. They are like Dim Sum and very tasty and extremely economical. I tried the veggie momo (they have chicken and mutton as well) and it comes with a red chilli garlic sauce.

This was very much like the potstickers you get in US..!! I am totally hooked on it. And, they are steamed, so no calorie problem.

This is turning out to be a food blog!! :) So what?? ;)

If you are missing international cuisine in Pune..

Check out 'Flags' near Inox. It is not that pricey as compared to the food that you get there. We have been to the more authentic Italian places like "La Dolce Vita" and "Merlot", however although the food is awesome, it sure does burn a hole in your pocket.

Flags has a 20 page menu, more like an encyclopedia of foods all over the world! :) The cool thing is though we tried Indonesian, Italian, Thai and Mediterranean food, everything was quite authentic tasting. Have eaten some of that food in the original country and US, I was pleased with what I got.

Phew, relief...Was missing Thai red curry and rice..Now only if the bird flu goes away, so that I can dig into non-veg food as well...

Mango season..

is fast approaching and I am in India after 5 years in summer, and Neeraj after 8. So we are mighty excited about it..Thenga to y'all who will have to live with mangoes from Mexico..:p

On a parallel thought, read Amulya Malladi's 'A Mango Season' if you get a chance.
Amulya Malladi's homepage

7 and 1/2 phere...

Happened to catch a pretty sidey movie called 7 and 1/2 phere on cable last night. Did not watch the whole movie but the last hour was quite interesting. It was inspired a little bit from Bowfinger. Basically the plot is that there is a family which is pretty drammatic which chachas, chachis, dadis, teenaged daughter, precocious brats..the whole nine yards. Juhi Chawla is an aspiring director, who either is short of money or ideas decides to shoot a tv serial based on their life from an apartment in front of this house (of course, without this family knowing). And then the chaos begins.

What struck me was a dialogue towards the end of the movie. She says that movies and tv serials these days can't just have something, it has to be a little more than something, can't just have rich people, you need very rich people, can't just have 7 phere, you need to have 7 and 1/2 pheres!! Everything has to be a little more...

How true!! past couple of weeks, I have had the time to catch up on saas-bahu type serials and yeah..The evil chachi always has to have weird makeup and is forever scheming against the larger-than-life father-in-law and miss goody-two-shoes bahu..Or they can't run into an unexpected person without the camera zooming in on both the characters from atleast 10 different directions!! Do we really see this kind of families and people and situations in real-life? Probably not!

Miss. Ekta Kapur sure has changed TV forever and I better rush to find out If Salonee gets to meet her ailing mother and if Bani's husband will accept her..

Back after a break..

After a short, unexpected break, I am back. Have been lazy for the past 10 days...and that felt um..um..good! Hopefully, back to routine in a couple of days...Will post more later

Interior decorator Woes - part 2

It only keeps on getting interesting!! The last visit from our interior decorator was on the 18th Feb. And like I previously mentioned, they abandoned the work and left. We were debating about whether we want to contact them, get the remaining work done ourselves or just forget about it. The nagging feeling of having been taken for a ride, just would not go away. It is an ugly miserable feeling to know that someone decides that your time and money is worthless. However, Neeraj, fed up with this man and his daughter, decided that we have had enough of him.

Now, kahani main twist!!

My parents also had some work to be done at their place. We had initially heard glowing references about this man from people. So, I make the BIG mistake of recommending him. And needless to say, they are doing a miserable job there as well. However, poetic justice is that my parents (smarter from age and our experience) did not pay them the full amount. For a job that was not done right, which needed to be redone, he had the nerve to charge money for doing the job twice!!

Now, Miss. Decorator lands up to collect money at my parent's place. My mom, tells her to get her father and then discusss. They vanish again for 10 days. Then, today, Mr. decorator calls my parents and says he wants to discuss money affairs and further work to be done. My dad calls me and asks me if he should hold this money hostage and have them contact us for our work. Why not?? We really have given up on him anyways.

As per plan, my dad asks him, about our work and he says it is complete. Thats when my dad says its not and that he should talk to us. Mr. Decorator calls us from there and Neeraj refuses to talk to him saying he is busy (this was because in the past 8 months, not once have they asked if we are free and if they should come over) and I tell him to come on Saturday. He wants to know why we feel that the work is abandoned when he thinks that he has completed everything!!!

I told him that I have a two page list of all the things not complete. He acts shocked..offended even..and says that he thinks there is not a single thing incomplete. I tell him, how does he decide that when no one has visited the site for almost a month! He says that communication should be two way and the fact that he did not even come to COLLECT MONEY is proof. I tell him, that can be interpreted in two ways. And please call us on Saturday and then visit, (almost tempted to ask if I should give him the address in case he has forgotten!!) and to bring darling daughther with him!!!! That should be interesting ...

So, then he tells my father that he is not intersted in doing any more work for them and that they should ask their conscience and then pay him his dues. My dad reiterates that he should complete the work and then collect the money. Isn't my daddy the best?? :)

Patriotism...or something like it.

I woke up today morning to a car speeding past our house loudly playing "Rubaruu" from Rang de basanti. I was like "what the #%$^?!". Whooshing past houses disturbing people with loud music was all that this song meant to them. Strange huh? The same song that some one wrote in their movie review, they could not listen to the song after having seen the movie..Are we taking this whole patriotism thing too seriously, I mean, a few weeks ago, some one was playing "jhalak dikhlaka" and I was amused and thats all..

TIME..
Ketaki Karpe-Kolgaonkar's post almost contradicts what I feel right now. Its like time has come to a stand still. Wish I could just fast forward a few months or atleast a few weeks...

That little voice inside you...

thats brutally honest and is hard to ignore. And yet, our interior decorator & architect seem to have successfully managed to block out any thing called as conscience.

Dont want to mention any names publicly, but if you are in Pune and want to get any interior done, and dont want to get an headache the size on mount Everest, then send me a message, I might give you their names. If you have been recommended a father-daughter pair, I could confirm if its them...

Even with a penalty clause of 3000 rs per week for every beyond 10th feb, (a step we were forced to take for work which was not done even in the middle of Feb, to be completed on 15th DEC!!), they have not bothered to visit the 'site' for over two weeks and frankly I think we have paid them more than enough to pay their fees and cover any unpaid expenses. So this father-daughter pair decide to disappear and leave work (some of which is crappy) unfinished.

IS there no thing such as conscience which does not allow you cheat people?? Is it so easy to ignore that little voice? Am I wrong in wanting to call them up and yell at them? Am I not being silly if I just let go to avoid any confrontations?????

Heres to a comeback ...again....

My dear cousin Radzee has blogged after a year...hopefully the next blog will come sooner..:p

Cooking in my own house..

People who know me, know I am not fond of the traditional poli-bhaji kind of cooking. Ask me to make Chicken Marsala or gobi manchurian or any kind of rice dishes and I am always up for it. However, since May 9th 2005, I have not really cooked in a kitchen I can call my own with my own utensils.

Finally the American pots and pans are out and I thoroughly enjoyed making and then eating mixed veggies bhaji and poli (not made by me!). Neeraj made a dish we customized back in US inspired by one of those fake-meat restaurants. If you love mushrooms, here it is:

Wash mushrooms and if you have the patience make cut the stem as well as the bulb into fours keeping them joint at the center. If not, just chop the entire mushroom in fours.
Chop lots of garlic into small pieces, the costco frozen, chopped garlic does not do this justice.)

Heat a little oil and add half of garlic to it. If you like the taste of burnt garlic, then you can brown it or just make it pink and then add lots of soya sauce to it. Let it get thick and start to caramalize. Then add mushrooms. They will start to sweat quite quickly and the soya sauce will stick the mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms look a little done, (depending on how soft you like them, I like them crunchy) Add the rest of the garlic, give it one toss and done! Serve hot with a sprig of basil at the top!

Yummm....

You can always call me on my mobile....
Walk down FC road, JM road or for that matter even Lakshmi Road...notice how people of all ages seem to cling to their cell phones like their dear life was some how stored in that little device. A few years ago, cell phones were something that people wanted to show off. Conviniently, in those days, cell phones were the size of a regular cordless handset and it was more than easy to flaunt them. On a side note, a few years before that, in the dark ages, cordless phones were a thing of glory. People used to talk on the phone in their balcony, lest some unfortunate soul miss the chance to see this devine device.
Anyways, now, since every soul in this country seems to have a cell phone, (In Korea or Japan, the national average is 1.3 phones per person????!!!!), its not something that is a reason of envy. And I digress again, remember that scene in Pushpak, where Kamal Hassan notices he is standing in front of a an old beggger and starts to play with a rupee coin..just so the beggar notices. And the beggar laughs and pulls out several notes from his pockets, under his shawl and triumphantly laughs at Kamal Haasan...Its like that, you might want people to notice your 2500 reliance b&w phone only to have your bhajiwalah pull out a flip phone with a wireless headset!
It has no longer become a luxury, is it a necessity though? I happened to walk past one of the prominent city colleges on a Saturday morning, only to find scores of students with their hands-free unit dangling from their ears or atleast one bud in their ear. And I thought, are they really expecting this life-altering, million dollar call, that they have to pick up within two rings? Am I really that lukkhi that I do not have my phone with me most of the times, or if I do, its not charged or the prepaid card has run out, and it seems fine? Do these 17 year old students really need those phone so badly that boys have it attached to their belt and girls have this pouch kind of a bag and the phone hangs off of their necks?
Was I not of their age? Did I not go to a college? "Call from a pay phone if you are late" said my mom and it worked well enough. Yet, not having a cell phone is almost frowned upon by teenagers who anyways live off of their parents money.
Upon discussing this with a friend, she said that most of them listen to radio mirchi or the match score...How would I know, I have a b&w LG phone with the most basic features....

My fondest new year was when I was in class 12. Shamala, a friend and I took our Luna's to our friend's grandfather's house in Aundh. (or was it pashan or baner?) This house had a nice garden at the back with a deck where you could play music like a dance floor. There was a huge dog who just refused to move, even when there was a stranger next to him.

We did not dance, I dont remember what we ate, what I remember was that Shamala got the cassette of Roja, heard the songs for the first time. We played the songs over and over again pretty late in the night, chatting and pouring our hearts out!!!

Can't believe that was almost 12 years ago...

Rang de basanti..

I don't usually like to write reviews about movies. First, I am not a movie buff, I don't go ga-ga over movies/actors. Second, reviews are available dime-a-dozen. However, this is one movie that makes you think. It is not a movie about the youth of India as most opinions say. It is a movie about any Indian living in these times.

It is a little extreme, a little far-fetched and yet very plausible. Definitely recommend it ..

Wada Paav...pickle on the side please..

Do you know that they make pickled gherkins in New Delhi and sell them in Ozone in Aundh. They also sell ranch dressing, zesty italian dressing, greek salad dressing, pop tarts, fruit loops..

What they don't sell is MTR ready to cook upma :) So, I am going to import that from US..hehe. Thanks to G!!

Talk about globalization that we can get American, French, Italian, Greek food and yet can't get South Indian food..

and some classic English ones..

They live outside the skirts of Pune!!
Open the doors of the windows and let the atmosphere come in...

Hindi chi chindhi..

Sorry for the very marathi post. But kay karnar..so here it goes..

Anaesthetist to patient: woh aise pair main mungee ayegi to bolneka
my doctor kaka: tum kayko gharbarta hain, main hain na
my very hindi medium educated mom: Woh isme bacchon ke ghadiyaal hain
My MIL: woh uska zhakkan dena

I am sure I have done that several times, however, these stand out..:D

Can somebody explain to me what this sms.ac thingy is?

I keep on getting emails from people I have not been in touch with for ages. Some people with whom I have never had any communication via email. Does that mean we can send SMSs to each other? Why an email account? What are the chargees?

HALP!!

Driving in Pune...

is like waging a war against every other vehicle on the road. They are all there to make sure that you are alert, on your toes and very very agitated. Ever since I have come back, I was avoiding driving the car making excuses like..I do not want to drive a stick-shift, I will save petrol driving a two-wheeler, I don't have the time!! However, with the heat and polution near University Circle, driving the car is almost imperative. I also tried the rickshaw, but last week, my rickshaw-wallah pulled right next to a truck at the light and for about a minute or so, the truck was spewing CO in my direction. Here, you can't sit in a rickshaw with your helmet on, or else atleast that gives a bit of protection.

And driving a two-wheeler on the Baner connector to the Bombay-Pune highway will scare the daylights out of you. The trucks and buses still have the inertia of having just left the highway. The BPO cars and taxi drivers feel like they are on a F1 track. And to make matters worse, there is construction going on which reduces the road to half. Fun Fun!!

Hence I finally gave in and ventured the zen into the traffic. Everyday, I have to mentally prepare myself to drive. It takes about 10 minutes. Its almost like meditating. Once in the car, when your hand is not on the gear, its on the horn. I liberally honk at fellow road users. Coz they don't care for their life. Thats not their responsibility. You are in the bigger vehicle, you have to take care of them.

At a light, leaving about half a foot between you and the car in front is a red carpet welcome to two-wheelers to squeeze their way ahead. So, the ideal distance to maintain between you and the other car is NONE!!

And the potholes make sure that you feel entertained and shook up!
Yet, the biggest lesson I have learnt is to keep your cool. When you are in the car, there are about a 1000 people on the road walking, on bikes, cycles. Speeding and getting upset is just going to drain your energy (if you have any left from driving). Instead turn the radio up, turn on the A/C and drive and let drive..

What do you do when someone you know and respect is doing something very wrong...

If its a person whom you know well, you know is fair and caring and yet is doing something that is totally wrong andis not going to do any good. Is it acceptable to step beyond the boundaries of friendship because you care and want to help. Is it okay to point out that it is a big mistake? Or should the limits of friendship be kept to friendship and not personal life...

I like to...

read the last page of a novel because most of the times I am too impatient. Then I finish the book I am reading, does that make it a lesser sin?

I like to keep jalebi in the fridge, let it soak and become soggy and then eat it!

I like to chew on sweets (especially hard candy) and not suck them for hours!

I usually hate to sit through movies in a movie theater. Too long and single track!

If I had magical powers right now...

I would make sure that our house would be ready in the blink of an eye. I am so sick of the mess that has occupied every inch of the place. I am normally not too finicky about cleanliness (read sloppy), but this is beyond the limit of my patience. ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH...

On the other hand, found some old MP3 CD which has some Indonesian Songs sung by Krisdayanti and Anang (I hope I got the names right). Very nice romantic songs..transported me back to the several summers we spent in Indonesia. Always associate that with relaxed vacations with a lot of pampering, getting fatter :) and fabulous shopping..Funny how we have associations with certain foods, smells, even weather..

Bath and body works "cotton blossom" will always remind me of anuja, my SIL. YSL's Paris will always remind me of my mom, foggy, chilly early mornings will always remind me of Indore, Crepes will always reming me of Fisherman's wharf although I have eaten it more often in Jakarta than US.....

This post has been written over a period of two hours..before and after lunch...hence the mood swing from ARRRRRRGH to cool!! :)

Jeez...the typos in the previous post made me cringe..as you can see, even my profound thought did not sound too profound...:)

Had my English teacher in high school read this, she would have probably had an earful to say. (or is it mouthful?? :)). Back in school, I used to be one of the academically better performing students. And yet, somehow the praise for that was always so scant and almost absent while criticism was abundant. When I won the an award for fictional writing at an International level at the hands of the then Vice President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, all our English teacher could say was "Yes, you, who is always winning awards, you answer this question".

Was that supposed to be praise? Or was that a taunt...or praise disguised as a taunt or the other way round?? Why would she say something like that. Yet, that is the sorry truth of some teachers. I know its petty to harbor this for so long....But wasn't it petty to say such a thing?

Is it always necessary to sound profound when you write something? Is this really a profound and deep thought or just a lame attempt?

Being fair-skinned in Pune...

Yesterday, I took my co-worker's wife, who is visiting Pune with him, Saree shopping. She had been to Shopper's stop and similar places and had not really been able to find a saree that she liked. Last time we went together for dinner, I had suggested that they should go shopping with me. Helps to have a local with you..

Paul called me and asked me if I had time. So I took Carrie to Lakshmi Road to buy a saree. I figured that no American would venture into that part of the city by themselves. Most of the times, they went to MG road (closer to the Osho Ashraam). We tried to get a Rickshaw outside the hotel and the guy looks at Carrie and goes 60 rs. I was like, WHAT???. I told him (in marathi, of course), that I would pay by the meter. He said no. I was like whatever and we walked away. About 5 feet away, we got another rickshaw and who agreed to charge by the meter.

It took us 21 rs to get to Lakshmi road. The kids who beg at the signals, would come running and want to know where she was from, whether there was something in her mouth (Her tongue is pierced!!!). Gori Gori..Angrez, they would yell. Carrie had learnt the art of ignoring them and not asking me questions on poverty in India. She had been in India for 2 weeks now. Here I should mention that she has grown up in Nebraska in a city with 68 people. :) And has never been to NY/Boston.

We went to Shagun, one of the older stores that I am familiar with. I, myself, am not too fond of sarees. More of a jean person. The guys at Shagun were quite excited to have a "gori" buy sarees at their store. Carrie was even more excited to have several sarees draped around her. She was very impressed with the Banarasi Shalu's that they showed her initially thinking she wanted to buy one of those. Finally armed with a beautiful green and gray saree, we walked around buy a matching blouse and "petticoat". People did stare at her, but not as much as a pair of Americans!! :) Their eyes almost lit after seeing her walk past them. "Good Evening" they wished each other..and I almost felt like I was back in Fort Collins, CO :), forgetting the dug-up roads, poverty and paan stains for a second. The rickshaw back was easy as well.

Later, I taught her to drape the saree. For once, I felt like I knew more about sarees than the person I was with :)...After I left the hotel and merged into the traffic, I was almost grateful to not be stared at....

Born with a silver spoon..

Why is that something that is always abused? Getting something easily seems to take away the fact that it was not something that everyone gets..definitely not as easily. And yet, this is something you forget and start taking everything for granted.

Appreciating what you have is so crucial to make sure that your feet are on the ground. Unfortunate is a person who has lost touch with reality..

Anyways, Wish you all happy holidays!

Dear Shamala and Shiva.
Wish you a very happy anniversary..and many more to come..

Love,
Ketaki & Neeraj..

For who don't know, Shamala is my best friend..known for the past 10+ years.

Dealing with change...

If I could change the world....I would be the sunrise in your universe...

Actually, No, I would not change anything. I like to be comfortable in my own little zone. That's me. Neeraj gets restless when things get too comfy..I crave to get comfy..and yet, leaving the jobs that we both have grown to love was hard for him and is hard for me. Although technically, I am not leaving, I will just join back as a contractor, I almost feel lost again..like that first day at work..the lost puppy...I have made some of my best friends at work, so although I will still work with them, and I know nothing changes for my co-workers, yet so much feels weird...Almost like an alien...I just need to log in on Monday, know that all my accesses and my email addresses are the same to feel better...till then, I guess the queasy feeling continues....And I had so long to prepare for this, and yet, I guess I will never be too comfortable dealing with change...

Want Vs Need...

As I typed my comment for Ketaki's blog, set me thinking..Does want overpower need when you are presented with an offer you can't resist? When I found the pair of trousers in GAP that I had drooled over for a long time, on sale, I bought it. Question is, Did I really need them? Probably no. Did I want them, heck yeah!!

Do we really need the IPODs, Blackberry phones, laptops, dozens of pairs of jeans and shoes, diamonds and portable DVD players?? ;)
Probably not. A friend, after a shopping binge, showed me her wardrobe and said, "Look at all the stuff I have, and I always wanted to live a life with minimum material footprint as possible" True, and yet, we seem to hoard up on all the stuff we dont really need and definitely want.

Whats worse is, the tendency to judge people based on what they have. So having the stuff you have, that you don't need, but is good to have, is an indication of how happy you are and how much happier you could be.

If we all just lived a life with minimal materialistic, would we all be happy? Would there be no struggle to make yourself "happier"? Would life be boring then?

Relaxing weekend

Went to Konkan for the first time. Spent two idyllic days at the beach..loads of food..fish and more fish..6 couples. Now I am working at 2 am :D

Will try and post some pictures of the trip..

When is opinion too much opinion?

Recently, I came across a conversation about someone where the person seems to have passed a very opinionated comment on something very irrelevant which hurt a lot of people. And I agree that the comments were a little under the belt.

Is it fair to pass judgements and opinions and advice just because? People usually are tuned with other peoples sentiments and yet, while passing a comment on something, it almost seems like they are bypassing any feelings or tact. What is the point in passing comments which you know do no good, spoil relationshops and make everyone uncomfortable? Do people usually do that out of a superiority complex or the other way, to avoid feeling inferior? In which case, it is usually silly, because they make it so obvious...

There I go making a judgment..and yet I like to think of myself as fair for most of the time..

Some plane observations..

Please note that the plane is deliberately misspelt. It is a precursor to what this post is all about. After a journey of 36 hours, I am back in India. The flight was long and tiring and having 32 kgs in each bag along with 20 pounds in carry on was no fun. I have never had my arms ache after a long journey. But this time, they are still hurting.

Observation 1: When you wish for something really hard, you don't get it. Hence never wish that you get an empty flight so you can stretch out and sleep.

I was hoping that since I was flying on thanksgiving day, it might be a fairly empty flight. Its the time to be with family, enjoy good food..blah blah. Indians don't care about thanksgiving and so there were tons of people and as usual the fight was fully booked. And there are several others who think like me!

Observation 2: Even if you fight for an aisle seat, it is no good if the guy sitting next to you is a 6 feet 5 inches tall american guy.

This is the third time this has happened to me, too many times to believe that this is a co-incidence. It is a conspiracy. So although, I managed to get an aisle seat, I was quite uncomfortable.

Observation 3: Every person thinks that its the other person's luggage which fills up the overhead compartments and so they look at each other in utter disgust.

How is it that everyone carries atleast two huge bags (pushing the definition of "reasonably" sized hand bag) and once their bags are in the overheard cabin, sit smugly in their seat and pass comments at others. I once heard an Indian air hostess pass a comment like " look at these Indians with all this luggage, they don't understand only"..so not happening.

Observation 4: Every person seems to think that they have been travelling the longest and have the right to express loudly, very loudly, how tired they are.

Strange, because the flight comes from US and almost everyone has been in the flight for the same amount of time. The funniest was when last year, during the last leg from Singapore to Bombay, we had some lady with a kid who joined the flight from Perth, who complained how sore she was from the 8 hour flight in a very fake australian accent. Neeraj and I were so tempted to turn around and ask her to shut up. :)

Observation 5: Every one seems to think that they are the experts in "foreign" travel and are willing to give advice (sometimes unwanted) on the ways of life abroad.

This is not an observation in flight, but seen commonly otherwise also. However, the effect is more pronounced in air. Its better to bury yourself in a book and not socialize too much on flight :D

Observation 6: Singapore airlines rocks. (This a personal opinion).

I have always seen the SIA air hostesses smile, make special effort to make you comfortable, help in every possible way, including hoist the heavy hand bags in the overheard bins. Cathay Pacific air hostesses, on the other hand, refuse to help passengers, even when there are old parents and women with kids, and if you do ask for help, look at you as if you are a pain. This is not a one time opinion, its built over time and each trip on Cathay seems to make this opinion stronger and stronger. Why is it that they can't smile?

As you can see, I had a fairly long flight and lots of time to make some plane observations :)

My big fat greek dinner..

Discovered a fun and quaint little greek restaurant called Athena Grill http://www.athenagrill.com/ . The place was full of the restaurant owner's greek relatives. While we were about to leave, they started some greek movie. It was fun to see some 50+ year old folks, about 20 of them, having a great time. We lingered longer at dinner than we meant to just because they were having so much fun!!

Highly recommend the stuffed capsicum (this is not on the menu) and the hummus. Fun place, you could go out on a date or with family :)

Going home..

After 4 months here in US, I will finally go back to India this Thanksgiving. Tons of stuff to do and no Neeraj to do it for me...:(( LOL.

Its going to be crazy, and yet very exciting. Looking forward to visiting Hong Kong in the layover. Slowly inching towards visiting all the countries in the world. :)

However, for now its crazy and load at work is not helping...HAAAAAAAAALP.

I have still not colored my hair...

But I did sell the car!!! It was crazy but I did it!! :)
Almost as crazy, the Habanero night at The prince of Wales Pub in San Mateo.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/11/PK72876.DTL&type=food

The habanero burger there is reputed to the hottest in the world. Folks at my company used to take new hires there earlier. However, these days its just on our own. I had missed about three opportunities to eat there. Heard ten million horror stories! :) Finally, I had to eat it. After all, want to make most of being 28. Refer previous post...

Its a really dingy place from outside, but once you get in, there is a "small town" feel to it. With funny posters, placards all over the walls. Our group of about 25 ordered 7 burgers in all. We shared one in hour and six other people had one each.

Its one of those common sense defying things that you do once. I tried the sauce with a fry and my mouth was flaming. Wasn't sure why I was eating the thing, but I guess its adrenaline, peer pressure and sheer stupidity. The first girl, ate it with much ease and we were like, hmm, maybe it not that bad. However, a few minutes later, she was sweating a lot. But she still seemed ok. The next guy had 3/4th and then the last bit was the worst. He was sweating, crying and in pain. When it came to us, I quickly grabbed the smallest piece and then it began. The first couple bites are where it is hot, but you are okay. And then it strikes. You don't stop, don't drink water and don't think, for sure.

I did the last thing for the last bite. I stopped for a second. I could not get my hand to put that piece in my mouth after that. Everyone was cheering and I did it and drank about 1 pitcher of water. The next 10 minutes were the worst. The heat of the chilli sunk in and it was sheer torture.

It took about 20 minutes to settle completely and I ate and ate after that. I figured the more I ate, the more it would dilute in my stomach and then make things easier the next day. However, I dont even want to think about the guys who ate just the burger for dinner. Poor guys!! :)

I think I can write this off as one of the craziest things...and something I will never do again!

You will never be 18 again....

Today morning I noticed one of my first white hair!!! It was not the partially white or golden. It was white. And I thought, well, as a child, I had certain things I wanted to do as a teenager and as a 21 year old. Those years zipped by and here I am today, with one ominous white hair, a precusor to many more...maybe not anytime soon..but there sure enough..And I realized, I am never ever going to be 18 again. Which means I will never be 28 again...D-uh. So, if there is something I wanted to do as a 28 year old, I better get my act together. So here you go..

1. Wear an evening gown kind of dress and attend a formal party. (Missed doing that last year). Maybe sometime in future.
2. Visit a lot more countries :)
3. Streak my hair...

Well the first two are not that easy..the third one is...lets hope I gather the courage to go do it!!

Himalayan Dawn.

There is something about Santoor and dewy mornings with the riot of colors at sunrise that just calms you. Listening to Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and its just amazing. Indian classical music brings the kind of peace like no other music can. I wish I had taken my mom's advice to heart and learnt classical music, I wish I could understand this art better than to just appreciate it. I wish I could tell you right now which raaga it is based on, so you all could nod and go, yeah we know what you are talking about. I can only assume its Bhairavi or Bhatiyar and these are only names to me...and for now..its a beautiful Diwali morning...

Wish you all a very happy diwali...

Enjoy all the pharal, phatake and new clothes..

- Ketaki & Neeraj

I have made myself proud....

I drove all the way to south San Jose (about 21 miles from my place) all on 101 :). People who know me, know that I avoid 101 because its just too crazy on my nerves. But today, after a lot of doubts and staring at the route at maps.google.com, I just did it.

The 26 minute drive took me 50 minutes, but only because once I got off of 101, I was lost. I think the map had a mistake. Because I stared at it so long, I do not think I could have gone wrong. But well..finally after making a couple of wrong turns, I reached my destination. On the way back, once I reached Santa Clara, although I could have gotten off at Lawrence, I actually drove all the way to home on 101, immensely proud and thrilled and in 26 minutes...shut up (too much 'what not to wear' :))

Things I learnt..
Always stay in the lane next to the right most lane, that way, no surprise exit-only lanes and stick to the car in front, even if they are driving 5 below speed limit :) That way you dont get honked at for driving slow....

Last name change..

After reading Ketaki Karpe-Kolgaonkar's blog, I realized its something that I have been struggling with as well. All my life, all the people I know, know me as Ketaki Kalgaonkar. The last name is unique enough, so this name is me, very me. However, I know that after I go to India, I will eventually start using Neeraj's last name.

It is going to be painful and I am going to struggle with giving up my maiden name. Maybe I won't...AAAHHH..why are things to complicated?? :)

Its not any feminism or girl-power thing. Its just that I don't associate myself with any other name. In my sis-in-law's wedding invite, when I read Ketaki Apte, I was like, who is that?? When I get emails from friends back in India, sometimes, I am like, who is that again? And then, it strikes me...hmm. I can't imagine that happening to me.

This Monday, I met a desi guy, who did not know that a name like Ketaki is Indian, complete and not some nick name. So, when it came to telling him my last name, I gave up and just said Apte. And he got it...thats it!!! Phew....it was simple...but yet very difficult....

Favorite food items I can eat any time in US


1. Rainbow trout cajun style at Fish market in Santa Clara.
2. Potato burrito at Big City Burrito in Fort Collins.
3. Clam chowder at pier 39 in San Francisco.
4. Tandoori chicken at Kabab and Curry, San Jose
5. Thai Pizza at Sierra Sam's in Sunnyvale (surprised? :))
6. Jamaican Black pepper shrimp at The cheese cake factory.

Made you hungry?

A little about me...

Long drive..three tired friends...what do we talk about. Not work!! :) So the conversation drifted and floated around topics that seem profound when you discuss them. One of them being 'what is your strength? and what is your weakness?'

So here it is:
I have been told that I would have made a good lawyer. So I guess I can talk to people. :)

weakness:

I can talk. :)

What do you think?

What really happened to my eye....

Just to get it on record. And for people I did not explain this completely to. :)

One Saturday morning, I woke up with a line in front of my eye. It was floating in front of my eye very close to my eye. It did not seem normal so I called my friend G and asked her to come over. She drove over and during the time it took, I tried to wash my eyes, but it did not help. We decided to drive to the ER. While there, they tested my BP which was normal and I was not showing other symptoms. I would like to stress that I was not feeling any pain or anything. They asked me if I had hit my head or picked up anything heavy. I had not done any of that. It just happened when I woke up.

The doctor in the ER said that it was not normal for a person of my age to have a floater, so she called the "on call" optometrist. The eye doc dialated my pupil and said that she could see bleeding behind eye, on my retina. One of the blood vessels had popped. She wanted to rule out brain haemorrhage and so she had me go for a CT scan. The tests came out normal, and finally, after about 9 hours in the ER, I was sent home. I was asked to be very careful and to return if the symptoms worsened.

After 10 days, the blood had been absorbed considerably and they dialated my pupils again and did not find anything wrong with the retina as well. After another 7 days, I had another test to test any loss of peripheral vision. Since everything was normal, this case has been closed.

The blood is almost gone and now I can see it only against a white background and if I move my eye. It can take upto 6 weeks to absorb completely.

I am fine now....hopefully this incident is behind me now.

So many things change...

Today, as I sit and talk to friends I haven't spoken to in quite sometime, I realize, there is so much of you, you leave behind as we grow older. So many things you cherished, so many pleasant memories, so many good conversations, so many common interests. In this high paced life that we lead, its so easy to leave behind delicate memories and friendships.

Only once in a while, you stop and look back and try to gather all you have left behind. Sometimes, when you pick up this lost thread of conversation and catch up, you realize that nothing really changed! You just did not look back....

England...

The bus ride was about 8 hours long and it was funny to see the driver switch sides after we crossed into UK. The ferry ride was fun, and we were famished. So it was a relief to get good food in the cafeteria including mutton curry and rice. With the lemon pickle. Finally back in UK, we were happy to get new clothes, eat home cooked food and have family around!!

In London, we went to Trafalgar square, a little over-hyped. The change of guards is fun! They did not play "the James bond theme" as my nephew expected! But its a fun event, though you have to go there and find a good spot. Also, the guards are a little rude. They are not too friendly in telling people not to stand on things. We also went to Hyde Park, which was more of a place to rest. The Tower of London was fun, especially the walk up the tower.

Madame Tussaud's was nice, except I cried when we tried to go in the "house of horror". Totally freaked me out!! Some of the statues are very real, like Morgan Freeman, lady Diana. The desi ones were not real at all. Its very small and very topical. They plucked Jennifer Anisten out of Brad Pitt's arms and put Angelina Jolie in. :)

We also spent a couple of nights in Poole in South London in a caravan park! This was fun with all the 2 pence slot machines, games, the Monkey park. The small misadventure was that my wallet got stolen at the West Minster bridge. I guess, its just us. Almost on the anniversary of the Alaska theft. Next year, gotta be really careful!! Also spent time in Hamleys, but its too small as compared to toy stores in US.

London's tubes, the bobbies, the stiff upper lip, loved it all.

This is the end of the travel blog...We will always cherish these amazing memories forever and ever...

An evening in Paris ...

Or 4 days! :) After a very fulfilling meal at "Samskara" we set out to do all the touristy things in Paris. First thing on the agenda was Sacre Coeur. Here I must pause to tell that I learnt French for 5 years in school but I really sucked at it. I had to use all the words I remembered to buy the cold medicine. The walk up the hill to go to the Sacred Heart church was very nice and we took frequent stops to sit and enjoy the city. There were people playing music, just chatting under trees, eating ice-cream (I was not allowed, but Neeraj had amazing Rum & Raisin icecream that I was just allowed to lick a bit! ). There is a place behind the church where there are painters who paint and sell of their art there. These are the times that I wished I could paint or do something creative. The folks are so talented. And expensive!!

Not that we would have bought it, especially since we spent a fortune for a painting we bought in Florence. The view from Sacre Coeur is nice though a little smokey. We were not able to see the Eiffel Tower from there. The church is nice and we did go in. However, we did not spend too much time. After that, we just walked back and on the way stopped at a grocery store to get some water, tissue and fruits. We just came home and I slept again since I was really tired by then.

The next day I was feeling a little better and so we purchased a three day pass for the subway and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel tower is beautiful and huge! The line was huge and so we decided not to go up. Also Neeraj wanted to go up in the night. From here we just kind of walked around up to Champs Elyses and spent time there and eventually made our way back. We had come to realize that the hotel was very primely located, and by then we had also moved into a better room.

The next day we rushed to go to the Louvre considering how long it took to get into Uffizi. Surprisingly, it took only a few minutes. Finally we were going to see "the Monalisa" ..The museum lets you takes pictures ..read, Neeraj went crazy. :) The first thing we saw was "Winged Victory of Somothrace". It has this musical beauty...almost as if you can see the lady standing at the helm of the ship. And then finally we saw her! We were not prepared for the number of people who were there considering how the other stuff was not busy at all. Its almost like the "darshan" at Tirupati. Where poeple push you to move the minute you see her up, close and personal. But she is beautiful!

After that we walked around all day. The Egyptian gallery, the Islamic gallery, the sculptures, the paintings, the Persian gallery, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities. Its like all the beauty in this world was put together in this one museum. As if thats not enough, there is Napolean's apartment which is like a mini-palace. Exhausted, we walked out feeling very happy.

In the evening we went to the Eiffel Tower and went up at 11 pm. Its beautiful up there and it was a quiet night with no wind at all. Every hour, they light up the tower for about 1 hour starting 9 pm. Up there, there is a gallery with the distance in kilometers from there to various cities, including Delhi, Bombay, San Francisco. Pretty exciting eh? Almost like a sign of how much more we had to go. :)

The last day, there was so much we had not seen. So we made a plan to go to Muse l'Opera which is worth buying a ticket and going in. The theater is covered in maroon velvet, everything in gold. We even managed to peek in when the artists took a break. Then we spent the time walking around eating crepes, icecreams, while the city of gardens. Late at night, we went to the l'Arc de Triomphe. Sat there in one of the cafes while waiting for it to light up. Its like being in Manhattan. As the lights came on, it dawned upon us that it was the last day of the vacation. Finally it was sinking in...

After the lights came on, we just sat there for a few minutes and then decided to make our way back. However, we were very close to the Lido show auditorium and when we asked them if they required formal clothes. When they said no, we went in. We had heard so much about it, but we had also heard that its a black tie event. However, there were all these people in jeans in tee-shirt.

The show was good, once in a lifetime...only ONCE!!!!! :)

Next day morning, we said good bye to Paris, and boarded the bus to London...Au Reviour Paris...

Into Paris...

The flight from Treviso to Paris was more than amusing. There were all kinds of people, loud Italian people, oh-so-prim British people, the fashionable French folks, the eternal backpacking American with the Rei bags with the shoes and water bottle hanging on the sides and then us!! Since we spent several hours at the airport, spent a lot of time observing these people.

One thing was clear, we were again going into the land of the well-dressed people. I, at that time, was too tired and feverish to feel dawdy. :) On the flight, there were was a group of loud French people. They were laughing, drinking, standing up on their seats. In general creating a big comotion. We got to see the beautiful snow-covered peaks, however, everytime the plane changed altitude, my ear hurt so much. The landing was the worst I can remember. My ear hurt so much that I almost cried, much to Neeraj's chagrin.

After we landed, it was still not clear where we were with respect to the city. Also, since I was going from one Shengen country to another, there is no immigration. However, the rude guy at the airport refused to answer me because I spoke in English. Amazing isn't it? In India, people talk in English to impress others, here, they look down upon them.

Finally, I was like, its their problem if they dont check if I have a visa or not. Turns out that this airport was outside the city and we all needed to buy bus tickets to get to the city. We had no clue how far it was and it was about 9 pm. As we sat in the bus, we both feel asleep exhausted. When we woke up, it was almost 10:30 and we still were nowhere close to the city. Again, worried, because we had no maps!!

Finally, at about 11:20, we reached the city center. It was not really quiet, there were still people, but we did not know how to get around. Having been warned about people not responding to English, and with my previous experience, we considered checking into one of the 5 star hotels we were standing near. We saw people on the bus getting cabs and so we decided to try our luck.

The other issue was that we had only 50 euros and if the cab ride was anything more than that, we were in deeper trouble. Finally we hailed a cab and got in it with a very watchful eye on the meter. The guy spoke good English and were a bit relieved. Asked him how far was the hotel and he said it was about 15 minutes. He was even nice enough to offer some tissue since by then I sounded hoarse and was sniffling like crazy.

Luckily, it was about 10 Euros. We tipped him generously and checked into the hotel. As bad luck would have it, it was an attic room with half the ceiling sloping and at 3 feet from the floor. So only when you slept on the bed, you could go to that side of the room. We were paying good money for half a room. But at that time, we cared less. Slept fitfully till about noon the next day.

We asked for a change of room and were promised one the next day. By then, we were sick of trying different food and just wanted waran-bhat. We looked for a net cafe, hunt down a desi restaurant and ate chicken tikka masala, naan, papad and rice and feeling very very pleased with ourselves, set out to explore the city..

Do labzon ki hain dil ki kahani, ya hain mohabbat ya hain jawani....

When you listen to this sond, close your eyes, what do you see? I see Venice. Fortunately the hotel in Treviso was a 4 start beautiful hotel with the largest room we had seen in the entire trip. Even the restroom was huuuuuuge. It was extremely comfortable. However, by this time, my nose was clogged and I think I had fever. Neeraj was just getting over this cold and I was fast getting one. I spent a very restless night, waking up every few minutes or hours with my nose clogging up.

So, the next day morning, I was so not in the mood to go anywhere. However, we were going to Paris that night and this was the only chance we had to see Venice. The hotel had a very filling breakfast buffet and we hogged on breads, fruits, cereal, omlettes.

We took the train to Venice. This was more like a bus, believe me, the train I am certain had bus engines. You could also hear the gears. :) Once we reached Venice, we had to take a bus to go to the "water" section of the city. Once we got out of the bus, we walked around this city of canals, gondolas, masks, people singing and playing accordions. I wish I was not feeling so sick. At one place, I just sat while Neeraj went around taking pictures. There were typical streetside cafes, only here, they were canal side. the water however is very unclean. Unlike Amsterdam, where you can get a glass of water out of the canal and its really clean.

The water buses are busy and very crowded. Its very crucial to make sure you know which one to take. We took the wrong one which was the slow one and that took us around the city. We did not have the time since we had to come back and catch a flight to Paris.

I got very paranoid thinking that we were going to get late. I made Neeraj hurry up and we rushed back to Treviso and inspite of the hotel folks telling us that the only way to go to the airport was to take a cab which would cost 60 Euros, we found a bus that took us back for three each :)

We had to wait at the airport for 3 hours. 3 precious hours we could have spent getting to see Venice better :(

Florence

The hotel we were staying in was away from the main city in the residential area. We had breakfast early and then set out to discover Florence. This is where my cold started showing its first symptoms. However, at that time, it was something that seemed very strange. My left eye kept on watering constantly. Believe me, I must have used up several hundreds of tissue on it.

We walked around the main church, but did not go in. The area around it was full of people and it was really hot. After the beautiful church, we went to this place like a courtyard which had replicas of the famous status including, the famous statue of David. The beauty just overwhelms you. We had made up our mind to go to Uffizi Gallery so we did not spend too much of time there. Once we reached it however there were about 200 people ahead of us. However, we slowly realized that this was not moving as fast as we thought it would.

At Uffizi, its a good idea to book tickets online since there is no wait there. The people in line were telling how the typical wait is about 3-4 hours. Since this was the main thing we wanted to do, we decided to wait. Made a few friends while waiting, a french couple from Canada, a girl from Korea who had come all the way to see the "birth of Venus". The reason it takes so long is because they allow only 30 people in at a time. Also, the constant eye watering was not helping.

We drowned a lot of coffee and lunched on the steps eating some Paninis. Finally once we got in, we were told that we could not take the camera in and so Neeraj was totally bummed out. I think he lost half the interest once he found out that he could not take pictures. We went around looking for the famous pictures like the "birth of Venus", a couple of Michelangelos. The paintings are beautiful. However the lack of knowledge of Christianity made things very confusing. Whenever there was a good picture, we stood next to the guided tour guides to understand more. We also purchased a book about Florence, so we knew the key paintings to look at.

Once in, we again had some coffee on the terrace and then headed out. We probably spent less time than average people. But Neeraj was getting impatient and my eye was driving me nuts.
When we came out, it was past 5:30. We took the bus back and picked up our luggage and came back to the train station to go to Treviso.

We were going there only because there was an airport there and it was close to Venice. Florence is a city that you need to give time to do justice. It has so many things to do, like the house of Michelangelo, museums, galleries. We will defnitely love to come back and spend idyllic time under the Tuscan sun....

Leaning tower of Pisa...

Once we made our way back to the Railway station, we purchased tickets to go to Pisa. It was about 3 in the afternoon. Pisa is about an hour from Florence. Once we reached Pisa, we ran to the Pisa Tourism Office. The lady gave us the map and asked us to hurry to make it to the last couple tours. As we set out, a British guy in his 40s asked if he could walk with us. As we got talking, we were amused by some of the things he disliked, Internet, cellphones, emails, online banking. Things Neeraj and I swear by. :)

As we made our way into the narrow alleys of Pisa, we did not have the time to stop and glance around. It seemed like a very pretty city, in our frenzy! Finally we were there. It was right in front of us and it was magnificient..and very much leaning!!

We purchased tickets to climb up. Never thought I would ever climb up the leaning Tower of Pisa. There was about 20 minutes and we roamed about taking pictures of the beautiful buildings. Finally, the tour started. We had to leave the camera bag in a locker. The climb up the tower was tiring!! It was a narrow winding staircase that was difficult to climb for one half and easy the other. This went of as we went up in circles. The only issue is that there is really nothing like a railing to hold on to. So it can be a little scary. Finally when we made it to the top, it was breathtaking. Only thing was that there was really nothing to hold on to but it was very hard to be scared. We had to climb another small staircase and finally we were at the top. It was so awesome!! Except that you are at the top of this leaning tower. So one way you are acutally walking downwards and you can't see the ground below...Weird!

After about 15 minutes and several photos later, we made our way down. This was terrifying and I was almost praying all the time!

As usual, when we got down, there was a frenzy to get to the train station, catch the train back. On the way, we caught a Lamborghini in one of the streets and Neeraj drooled for a few seconds!
We got train tickets and made our way back to Florence. Still could not believe we had been up the Tower of Pisa....

Train to Florence....

The initial plans were to rent a car and drive to florence. However, since we dropped those plans, we made our way to the railway station to book the train to Florence. We had been warned about thefts in Italy and we were atmost careful with our luggage. We bought two tickets on the Eurostar for the train starting at 11:35 and it was 11:15 at that time. We ran to look for the platform, needless to say language was a big problem. We found a guy in a uniform who looked at the tickets and said that it was running an hour late.

Finally we looked at the board with the timings and our train was actually going to Milan and there were two columns, guessed it was real time and delayed time.

We were still not very sure and there was a Eurostar office right where we were standing. I went in and the lady there was SOOOO RUDE. She was like "says on the board that the train is late? So its late." Unbelievable. Be warned!!.
Finally at 12:35 the train did not show up. The 12:35 train showed up and left. Since we were extremely handicapped with the language restrictions, we decided to stick to our train. Finally the train showed up an hour late and in the meantime, we (read Neeraj) found a Pizza place which was like MacDs. They served pizza by the slice with a drink and a fruit bar. I am really sorry to say but it was so bad ...never expected to find bad pizza in Italy however after the bad lunch, finally we were on our way. The train itself was quite nice and the A/C was a welcome. Neeraj had a Dan Brown for company and I had myself. I kept on falling in and our of sleep and finally to keep myself awake, I made my way to the pantry car and back balancing two cups or amazing coffee.

When we reached Florence, (we had the directions to get to the hotel for a change), we purchased the tickets for the bus to go to the hotel and with our small but heavy bags, stood in the line. It was sheer madness, there were people all over, it was hot and finally when we got on the bus, there were about 25 more people on the bus that there were places for them to sit. The streets of Florence are narrow and full of people on foot. Neeraj and I were standing right at the front of the bus and several times, I had to close my eyes when we got too close to a pedestrian or a bike. After about 15 minutes, we did not know where to get down and got very nervous.
I asked a lady behind me and it seemed like she knew the hotel and told the bus driver someting. He nodded and continued driving. At a certain place, the lady started talking to me in Italian and with some hand gestures, we figured that she wanted us to get down. We got down and started following her.

With broken English, we understood that she had her own restaurant, close to our hotel and that our hotel was not too good! :( And then she asked me if I was Spanish..!!!! I have been asked if I am Spanish, Indonesian, Persian and Canadian.....

Finally we reached the hotel and though we were extremely tired, we wanted to go to to Pisa and decided to make our way back to the train station.

Roman Holiday...

By the time we reached Rome, our jetlag was almost gone and we got up fairly early. Our hotel had a breakfast for 10 euros per person. But since we knew that we could get a fairly cheap dinner just outside our hotel, we skipped that. Once we stepped outside, we were hit what looked like a flea market, the oppressing heat was the other thing. It was hot and a little humid and it was not even 8 in the morning!!!!

We stepped into a coffee shop which was buzzing with activity. We tried to order cafe latte. However, the Starbucks training we get in US led us to ask us for Latte. The lady kept on repeating "latte latte??" and thought we kept on saying yes, she was asking again and again. Finally a guy who looked like an Asian, asked us if we wanted a latte and finally the lady shrugged a little and went into the kitchen. A little later she returned with two steaming glasses of milk and a big question mark on her face!! Latte really means milk in French (italian as well must be). Sheepishly, we drank the milk and stepped out.

We walked back to the train station and found hundreds of tourists, locals all waiting in a line for a hop on bus. We did not know what that was all about, so we thought we would be able to manage with a map and unlimited day pass like we did in Amsterdam. However, we were soon proven wrong. The chaos and the heat just did not make it worth it. We joined the several others and bought the day pass for the double-decker open bus. I think that was the wisest decision. They take you to the top 10 tourist destinations and you can hop on and off whenever you want.

The first few places were that we saw were the Piazza Venezia, another excavation site, an old market kind of building and then finally we reached the Colloseum. It was the one things that I was absolutely excited about being in Rome. You have to be aware of the several tourist guides who will try to get you to pay for the tours. We had to wait in the line to get in. People cut in the lines, and you just have to wait patiently. We got a guided tour where the guide rattled off how it used to be covered in marble, how there was hierarchical seating, where the clergy sat.

After that, we saw the king's palace, which is a bit of a let down and then headed towards Vatican city. It was amazing. No other word. Its beautiful and strangely peaceful. The only problem was that it was HOT. Fortunately the Romans made sure that there is fresh drinking water fountains. From there we went to the church with the face (remember Roman holiday?). But it was closed. I was not going to stick my hand in it anyways. :)

Finally we went to the Trevi Fountain which was breathtaking. After a very very long day, we found the perfect Italian cafe where we rested our tired legs. Finally we rushed to catch the last bus back and went to all the places again by sunset and night. The bus stopped at Vatican again and just waited there in the night..so peaceful!!

The next day, we stopped by the only thing we had missed, the Spanish Steps. It was okay. The thing that strikes you about Rome is how much its like India. Yet the charm that it exudes almost makes you think like you are a princess who has run away from home to have the time of your life....