Postcards From J

Wow, I haven't posted in over two months and I'm wondering if there has been anything interesting to blog about since that last post. Well, I had a lovely Diwali weekend (three days!) in Pune visiting a close friend who's in the family way. And a mad cousin accompanied me, so it was just fun-fun-fun. Aside from lining up outside Kayani Bakery at 7.30 AM for mawa cakes/Shrewsbury biscuits (and some more goodies) and battling a Diwali crowd at Chitale Bandhu for their famed bakharwadi , I had the opportunity to visit Fort Jadhavgadh . An erstwhile Maratha fort now converted into a heritage hotel, this almost-impromptu trip turned out to be a super break from the urban landscape of Pune and of course, Mumbai. The steps leading up to the fort's main entrance The story in short Shahu, the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji (the great Maratha warrior king) was imprisoned for 21 years by the Mughals and later released. One of his prominent army commanders, Pila...

Hi there! This evening, I'm off to Mohammad Ali Road and its environs for the annual food extravaganza during Ramadhan. Here are a couple of old posts I had done on the experience in the past: My first trip ever:  Fasting, Feasting .  Last year's iftaar tweet-up: Eat Street . And Fast Food - a favourite photo of mine (not from a technical perspective, but for how it eventually turned out with its limitations). Today, I'm accompanying a new group - most of them known via Twitter - to the southern corner of the city. It's Friday night, and I'm expecting it to be a bit crazy with the crowds. So, let's see how it goes. Will try and update this post on Monday or so. Not tonight or the weekend because I'm off to Kolad for an  overnight   'adventure' trip tomorrow. I was supposed to take it easy this week, but the social engagements have just been piling up one after the other since Monday. I really need to learn the art of saying NO...

Here's a little postcard from Cafe Mondegar's, or Mondy's as we lovingly call it.  I was there on Friday evening with a great bunch of folks, and guess what? I drank a full mug of beer for the first time ever. Not bad considering I'm not a beer guzzler at all. The artwork on the walls capture the world of celebrated cartoonist Mario Miranda. Absolutely love those drawings. This past week has been excellent. Just three working days, but some great insights are being worked upon. The Diwali holidays helped in relaxing the mind, and meeting a bunch of lovely people at a house party, over coffee/kebabs, over double peppermint chocolate, over beer (!), and at the warm Le Pain Quotidien (photos coming soon)... Ah! So much conversation and laughter with excellent company.  Have a great week, everyone. ~j~

All I really want to do tonight is write a long rambling pointless post. Just like that. But I must share... I had such a fun Saturday night - which technically lasted just two hours and the rest of the nine hours were actually part of Sunday (pointless information, I know). There was a house party at a friend's since her folks were off on holiday. And what a partayyyyy it turned out to be! You had to BYOB (bring your own booze). And there was tons of food. Everything was super! But the entertainment that happened thanks to the boys doing a song-and-dance was just hilarious. My jaws were really hurting with all the laughing that ensued. Imagine watching three grown up fellows doing crazy steps to Quit Playing Games by the Backstreet Boys! Yes, exactly my reaction. *grin* Oh, and I made a little experimental chocolate fudge and took it to the party. Most people who had it said it was nice. :) So, I'll try and blog the process in another post and maybe you could try mak...

Remember I mentioned that I was supposed to be working on Sunday, i.e. today? Yeah, that's not happening all thanks to the insipid performance of the Indian cricket team. Losing a Test match by an innings and way too many runs in under 4 days is just not done. This, of course, has pissed me off no end. First of all, the fools in white flannels lose miserably. And second, my travel plans were pretty much ruined with the whole you-might-be-required-to-come-to-work expectation. Long Independence Day weekend? What's that? Anyway, I'll admit it... I'm quite relieved not to be travelling to office. I mean, who wants to glide over Aarey Colony's potholes? You have to see these potholes. They are the ultimate torture. Will do a post on that very soon. So, I stayed home the whole of Saturday, and I ended up at a friend's place for an overnight stay. The idea was to do a TV show marathon, but got changed to some movie plan. Due Date and Band Baajaa Baaraat were the DVD ...