Of Fun and Friendship.....

19th may 2007.
Thats the day we had the last party in Ashish's house. And it was at that time, somewhere between a few of ur being high and happy, some of us being not high, but "TALL" lol, somewhere between Ashish yelling, "YOU'RE DRUNK YOU STUPID ASRE" (yes Ashish is known to be very helpful towards his drunk friends and an expert in dealing with situations like these, so much so that he has been nick-named "PAPA"), between fooling around with the camera, making sure we have a lot of memories of this day, that it hit me...This might never happen ever again....
Have you ever longed to be a grown up? I have. The thought of no school, no boring History teacher, no examinations, being able to sleep at any time you please, not having to close your eyes when "kissing scenes" come up on tv..haha...and above all not having mom picking out what clothes you should wear....it all seems like so much fun...so much freedom...
And then growing up happens, sure it seems good for a while, until you realize growing up is not all it's made out to be. That most of the details were hidden from you, left to you to discover yourself.
It doesn't seem that long ago, when everything seemed relatively simple. It's unfair how fast things change.
Back then the choir was 20 people, instead of 3. Ashish D'mello never worked, and now he's working till 8pm?!!? Entertainment consisted of poking fun at each other (it still does) Back then curfew was 10pm, vodka was unheard of (well atleast to me, considering I was always the "bachaa", the difference now is that Ashish and Victor will not pay 2 rupees, just so that I can pee!!..LONG story, I shall not elaborate further!!)
Not so long ago I remember these people, these friends, the laughter, the tears, the silly jokes, and long hours spent together, even the embarassing moments that we are reminded of over and over again.

Most of my friends are now in different places, in different parts of the world. One more person in search of their dreams, their own purpose in life. And even though these things are supposed to happen, things like growing up, it's sad to think, that there won't be another day, where all of us are just hanging out in Coffee House, enjoying yet another coffee, doing the same crazy things we used to!
And then you think, what if, what if things never go back to how they used to be?....What if little things like choir practise become a distant memory? What if I never want this to end?

And then these memories of Sunday coffee, or dinner at Hot Taste, or long drives, or picnics to Swami's. Barbeque parties and dancing all night. Of drink nights and drunk nights, of fights and arguments, or moments of laughter and those of tears. Of bitching about people and making fun of each other. Become just that --- Memories to cherish always...

I know everyone thinks that their friends are the best, the greatest. And I am one of them too. I love these people, the people I call close friends....

One of my favourite tv shows of all time is "The Wonder Years", that aired when I was a kid. It was about growing up, going where life took you. Kevin Arnold, finally didn't end up with the girl he'd loved all his life, Winnie Cooper. And maybe thats just how life is. Unfair. But most often everyone's story, usually ends with "a happily ever after", even though there maybe a lot of shit in between. This is how "The Wonder Years" all ended, with a grown up Kevin Arnold saying--
"Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back....with wonder."

And now we are 18!!!

Ha!...yup officially an adult!....from the 2nd of may,(and hey by the way me and "The Rock" from WWF, happen to be born on the same day......haha there's something you don't know) I shall not be treated as the bachha of the group anymore...na-uh!...All you Victor's out there pay attention!
So How did my birthday begin?...
The whole gang drops by my place at 7 in the morning! and starts to sing "Happy Birthday"
And I woke up! Probably the earliest I've woken up in months! (and mom struggles to wake me up at 10 every morning...lol ;) So after waking me up much before the civilized world awakes..lol...Im forced to get my butt off the bed, and brush my teeth, just so that everyone can wish me!...sigh!
After that of course we moved on to more intresting, not to mention tiring things, like ticking Nicole! (Ha for once Im not the target, everyone most often just ends up ditching me and ganging up on poor old me =( Hot coffee and a good breakfast.....nice beginning to a birthday
Sadly the rest of the day was the usual, my shift in the shop (God know's how much I hate that, but you gotta do what you gotta do, plus mom and dad have to pay me for my services now, coz guess who's 18...haha =)
Dinner was a whole lot of fun, drove down to Dunlop, our favourite dhaba, had big plans, but then a certain younger cousin tagged along, and spoilt all my plans of getting drunk..lol...
Although Scott was a lot of entertainment!....All you need is a drunk Goan at a birthday party, no need for clowns!
So my 18th birthday was....pretty boring actually...lol
Now i can legally drink and smoke ( yea I mean legally, but we all break rules right? ;) I can drive my own car (But owing to numerous accidents, that were not even my fault coz i wasn't even the one driving!....I think I'll stay clear of that), I can vote (*sarcastic* whoo-hoo), and I can get married (but then why settle for one, when you can have many?!?! lol)

All in all, just another birthday, mom still has to pay me though! 10 rupees an hour, 4 hours a day, 6 days a week!....ha!

Goa...and Good times ;)

So it's around this time that I started to have too much fun, and couldn't update this...
But in the end I did see pristine beaches and gorgeous sunset, stayed opposite the Marriott (sadly not in it =(, joined a salsa class, and even performed at the Kala Academy....
But above all I met some CRAZY people and I do mean CRAZY, but then again they are Goan's after all, what else can you expect?...the 1st time i think that I haven't met too many "Aunties and Uncles" in goa and instead hung out with people my age!....Who else would scream "I LOVE MOUNTAINS"! while driving on the road, or sing La Bamba...and that to not in tune!....
I love Goa for the fact that noone know's me and I can be as insane, "bad" and stupid as I want to be, without bothering about "what will people think" Then ofcourse the other things that Goa has to offer, beaches (and all we have in Nagpur is Telangkhedi lake!!!), Bars ( and all we have in Nagpur are restaurants!!!) Boys ( and all we have in Nagpur are "Horrible and Terrible", only a few know what Im talking about here...haha)

All in all, the beaches, urrak, feni, vodka, beer, garam, salsa, latin american music, goan food, the pee smelling place (lol it did smell of pee), the great place to hang out by the Britsh cemetary haha and the craziest of people that I'll never forget!....AWESOME!
"But all good things come to an end", who even came up with a line like that! No other work in life, than to ponder over lifes sorrows!!! Sad but true, all good things do come to an end. Nagpur, a train ride to Nagpur, and it's 44 freakin degrees outside...again what more could I possibly want!!....Goahhh NOOO..come back, this must be a dream...dammit, no it's not. Oh well atleast Telankhedi lake will still be there ;)

Goa!!!

GOA!! The land of fun, feni, fish and football!!!

After all that running around from place to place in Mumbai (although I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it) it’s time to retreat to Goa. Goa looks and feels like a small town, where time runs at it’s own pace. The lifestyle here is so unhurried. A complete opposite of what Mumbai was. I intend to enjoy myself here. Who wouldn’t? lol…

No, this isn’t my first trip to Goa; every summer of my life, ever since I can remember has been spent here. So much so, that I’ve never seen Goa during any other part of year. (This year of course it’s April instead of May, and although I’m hoping it’ll be a little less humid, I doubt that’s gonna happen). Despite that, Goa never seems to lose its charm….I still can’t wait to get out, explore, and find new things!

The rustle of the coconut trees and the breaking of the surf on the sea shore…ahh I could get used to this (I’m sure of course in a little while I’d be pretty bored of it all…sometimes Goa seems to be a bit too slow, but maybe that’s only because I’m vacationing) Goa welcomes anyone, everyone, everything blends happily with the sun, surf, sand, and that special feeling Goan’s call ‘susegad’ which roughly translates to, ‘why do today, what you can do tomorrow?’ Pretty sensible don’t you think?

Which brings us to the Goan’s!...they are a CRAZY bunch of fun loving people, in love with life, and all that it has to offer! All they need is some ‘FENI’ (which is Goa’s favourite four letter word by the way ;). Some good Goan music (galyan sangli sonyachi, hi pori konachi??...is some Goan song, but I don’t really know what it translates to, sorry) and above all else, how can anything that is Goan be complete without A LOT of good Goan food!!....yummy!

Yes, I myself am a crazy Goan, but my craziness is a bit toned down, being born and brought up in Nagpur and all… ;) I sometimes enjoy getting carried away with the whole “Goan-ness”, a welcome change from the usual boring stuff I’m used to.

Goa’s so pretty and has so much natural beauty, you can walk out of the house and at once you’re surrounded by ‘green’. And if you wanted you could even go climb a little hillock and explore nature outside. In Nagpur all you see for miles are tarred roads and tall buildings. So this is most definitely a welcome change.

I’m gonna be staying with some relatives, in a place called Thivim, in the north of Goa. It’s a pretty quiet place, and I’m sure it qualifies as a ‘village’ here. (No, people here do own televisions and computers (phew, thank God for that), but it’s very different from anything in Nagpur. It’s surrounded by mango trees and vegetation, even has a little river flowing just opposite the house, but it’s always dry in the summer, and guess what everyone knows everyone. Ryan will be showing me around Goa. He’s promised me pristine beaches, long drives, partying, a lot of adventure and even a chance to attend a traditional Goan wedding (not that I think it’ll be any different than Goan weddings in Nagpur, but this Goan wedding will actually be in Goa, I’ll be surrounded by ‘high’ Goans and the booze are on the house so, even better, yay!!) Speaking of which, the Goan’s are such nice people, that the booze around here is as cheap as water….go figure..lol ;)

All set and ready to begin!.....

Mumbai reminds me of New York....ummm altho I've never been to New York...haha

Ok so here’s what I thought of Mumbai, it hits you in the face as soon as you enter. You can’t miss it. The dirt, the smell, the pollution, and the people. It’s a city of such paradoxes, you look out the window of a high rise and you see the breath taking Mumbai sky line, until you look down and then see the little huts that dot the ground below. You see a sleek car (pardon me I have no knowledge of cars whatsoever) parked out somewhere, and poor street kids playing around it. Shopping malls and swanky restaurants go hand in hand with slums and extreme poverty.

They say New York is the city that never sleeps; I imagine those people have never seen Mumbai. When the people of Mumbai pause to do something silly like sleep, the dogs continue way into the night. Nothing ever stops.

It’s no wonder that a person like me, from a slow paced city like Nagpur, finds Mumbai way too fast, I mean when do people around here stop and just breathe for a bit? I guess all that their lungs breathe in is smoke anyway so they don’t really mind ;) But ask a Mumbaiite and he’ll tell you that he loves Mumbai just the way it is, the noise, the pollution, the crammed houses and jammed roads, he wouldn’t exchange it for anything. Guess that’s what gives Mumbai its charm and beauty, different people, from completely different places and backgrounds all trying to make it in Mumbai.

Day one...was a lot of fun!

Ok lets start with day one which was the funnest day of all. I We head down to Andheri where we meet Charlene and Trudy(oh sorry I mean Trecia...haha....is that ok Trudy??). And now Im all prepared to enjoy myself, the time has finally come. We take a pukkee bus ride to Charlene's cousin Jenny's house. And we talk and laugh and then, Dominic (Jenny's husband) takes out the vodka!!...whoo hoo!! But Trudy being herself decides to over do it!...actually no it was only 2 small shots wasn't it Trudy? ( By the way for those who don't know, it is long standing rule that Trudy and no other can be the butt of all our many jokes...) You're so important to us Trudy, if not for you, who would we make fun of??..lol...She takes it well though, I guess all that practice most definately makes you perfect doesn't it Trudy??...haha
Anyhow, now picture this, drunk Trudy (for all those who know drunk Trudy this will be very easy to picture..lol)and now after picturing drunk Trudy...lets move on to picturing Trudy puking in the loo...what a pretty sight I must say! So after a whole afternoon of entertainment consisting of helping Trudy puke, stand up and go back to sleep, of making her smell some lime, drunk some water, and eat some food, we have got a 25 mintue video of it all (not to embarass Trudy but just to remember how much fun we had...haha ;)
Trudy I must say though, you're a born entertainer, even when drunk you managed to keep the show going!!...Keep it up I say!
In the evening Dominic paid a 120 bucks for Trudy just to sleep in a multiplex and not actually watch "The Pursuit of Happyness" I’ve never been to Mumbai, and hence I’ve never been to McDonald’s….(no, Nagpur doesn’t have one yet) But food is second on the list of “Things I LOVE”, losing only to music…

Let’s take a look at the menu shall we? Yummy, I say! Now my parents own a bakery, so I’m surrounded by food, all the time..I mean ALL the time (no points for figuring out where those few extra kilos come from), cakes, cookies, pastries and patties do get boring after a while, but in no way do they make any difference to how much I love food! Girly chatter, French fries, talk of the plans ahead, and making sure we remind each other that this trip is gonna be FUN (a word I shall be using quite often in my blogs, here onward)

And finally the night ended at 4am, with Charlene, Trudy and I talking about everything we could think of!

The next day Charlene decided that we should go down to InOrbit and check it out. And so we did. We (I) was like a kid in a candystore. Yup I have to admit!...and maybe I'll let you in on this embarrassing piece of information...I didn't know how to turn off the taps in the washroom, until I realized that they turn themselves off..Yup there you have it!...silly but true! and now you can start laughing....ok and now you can STOP!!
Then next door we check out Hyper City, and my brother being his usual Bum-ish self, is running late. So we sit outside Hyper City waiting for 3 hours!...Going in now and again to enjoy the AC, buy water, eat icecream, or just get rid of boredom...all thanks to Cliff!! Oh lets not forget random weirdo, desperate to have a converstion with us!!
Yup and then finally Cliff arrives and it's his idea to go to Fun Repiblic, which wasn't so much fun after all coz nothing seemed to be happening there. So we just plonked ourselves on the steps and waited for it to get dark..lol...and then took a one hour train ride to Charlene's place in Nerul! She's admitted that Nerul is pretty boring but has promised to show me a good time!
Nerul according to Charlene was a village, but actually it's not. It's perfect for a family with 3 little kids, coz there's more gardens't here than there are roads. Anyhow we walk the empty roads at 2:00am, which is good, coz in Nagpur we can't do that, lest someone we know sees us and reports it to mommy and daddy!! Thankfully noone knows us here and we needn't be on our best bahaviour...great huh!
So the night comes to and end finally, Charlene falls asleep while Im filling her in on Nagpuri gossip...and it's probably after 15 minutes of talking I realize that she's actually asleep and not really "listening with her eyes closed"...haha....say it Charlene it was all because of "Fuel and leechee" wasn't it!!

Ok ok imagine this, 3 girls, who have nothing else to do, and then Trudy suddenly feels the urge to play "Antakshari", and so there we are singing, "Rukmini, Rukmini, shaadi ke baad kya hua" on the top of our voices and Trudy was well err singing like she always does, but but we have to admit that she was the strongest player there, coz none of us even knew of the songs she started to sing!...she even got patriotic with "Aye mere vatan ke logon" again I say what would we ever do without you Trudy Trecia D'souza!

Now I’m not much a shopper, once I know what I’m looking for, it takes me just a couple of minutes, half an hour max, to pick, choose, try on and buy what I need. So I was kinda dreading what exactly ‘shopping’ was gonna be. It turns out, that when 2 girls get together, with some money and a lot of time on their hands, shopping can be quite a pain in the ass and you end up shopping for your sister more than yourself, and after 2 hours of walking around, you realize your too tired to shop for yourself and end up going home!…

The gate of India, travelling by local, getting gallis from the women coz of my gigantic backpack in the process, all were pretty good in the end and all worth it. Now I can actually say that I've travelled like a true Mumbaite!! Which is really painful but I guess you get used to it right?
My time with Charlene is now coming to an end, Trudy's goin back to Hyderabad, and Im going to be staying with another friend. But memories remain ;) (remember the 25 minute video??...haha ;)


Ok this is day 4, and Im meeting friends that I met at a camp 2 years ago. Im pretty happy to be meeting them again. Esther and Ruth. Esther is pretty sane, maybe a bit too much for me..lol...but she makes a wonderful ballerina..and Ruth, well she's your normal 12 year old, except maybe she's 10 times more hyper, and is able to bend and twist her body in ways that normal people have never known!! (All thanks to gymnastics) I knock on the door, and Ruth opens it, and then screams "YAYYY"...Yup quite a welcome, bear hugs and all. So this should be fun.
Lots of catching up, and so little time to do it. I had a pretty good time. Saw a nice play, got to watch Ruth at one of her gymnastics classes (very impressive i must say), met some nice people....Was taught how to put on makeup by a 12 year old....(yup I'm clueless in that area)....good food, even better company...what else could I want!

My last night in Mumbai was spent seeing the better side of Mumbai, yup we went clubbing, and Im really not the type who likes trance and dance music, but it was "Retro Night" and so the music was a lil better. Cliff and I even started to jive, till we realized that places like these are only meant for jiggying in one place!..Nevertheless it was one beer and a lot of fun!...I arrive home at 3am..and I have to get up again at 5 coz my trains gonna leave soon. Startved of sleep Cliff and I wait at the station, I can hardly wait for the train to arrive so that I can sleep my way to Goa...and there it is....Ahhh Goa is now just 10 hours away....

Oh Mumbai!!!

Oh Mumbai!....

So I’ve never ever really been to Mumbai, except for spend a few agonizing hours on the platform of some station (Kalyan, I think), waiting to catch the connecting train to Goa….

Goa, by the way, is the next place I hit after Mumbai…..whoo hoo!...but getting back to Mumbai, yes I know it’s pathetically sad, that I’ve seen nothing of it, but this is my chance right?....

I reach Dadar, late, but it’s the Indian Railways, what else can one expect?...

Cliff’s there to pick me up, after the usual, ‘how was the journey?’ and ‘did you get into any trouble?’….(me, get into trouble?...quite possible, yea.. ;) so, Dadar east, west?...who know’s?...I just try to make my way through the crowd, making sure my eyes always stay on Cliff..lest I lose sight of him, and get lost! It’s funny, how Mumbai can turn even a lazy ass, like my brother, into….well a “Mumbaikar” (for lack of a better word..and knowing that everyone will probably understand what I mean by the term)

I’m tempted to look at the chaos all around me. One of the platforms filled with atleast a 100 people waiting to catch the next ‘local’, scheduled to arrive in exactly 30 seconds, vendors, porters, and random people carrying on their day to day business. No one really takes note of you, (unless ofcourse, if you came dressed up as Big Bird) everyone’s too busy with their own lives.

So we plan to meet Charlene, a good friend, also studying in Mumbai, but way out in Nerul, New Mumbai, which she admitted is pretty boring, but she’s promised to show me a good time.

Trudy’s flown in all the way from Hyderabad to join in the fun. We’ve got 3 days to paint the town red, blue and even green if we want!

Sweet sweet Freedom!

I had said I'd keep my blog updated, but due to lack of a freakin computer, besides the fact ofcourse that I was either too tired, sleepy, drunk or having too much fun to sit in one place and update this thing...
But there were a few times that I tried, in bits and pieces, but they didn't get posted coz Gavin's internet connection put me to sleep every single time man! So here it is, extremely overdue, to the point that some of it may not even make sense.....and now Im jus blabbering...so here even though it comes after all the fun's over and done with....

Ah the taste of sweet, sweet freedom...and now it all begins. Lorraine drops me off at the station, and i almost missed my train..sheesh! After months of begging and pleading, with my expertise in the art of pataoing parents (hey don’t look at me like that, I told you I didn’t know too many “big” words) I have finally managed to be under 18 and still get permission to travel ALONE!!!..... I promise Dad I’ll be careful..and after receiving about a dozen cautions, the train finally begins to pull away from the platform..I wave goodbye, sit down in my seat and think to myself, “Shit! This is gonna be some trip!..by this time tomorrow I’ll be in Mumbai, just 24 hours to go, for fun, food, and blissful drunkenness!” Ha!

My maiden journey alone. No one to depend on, but myself. Just me, my backpack, some good music on my mp3 player, the window of a sleeper train…and the beautiful Indian country side, all mine for the taking!

Sitting in a train, the wind (hot wind) blowing my in face, I strain to look at the first few bogies of the train, as it takes a turn. It’s funny how thousands of people travel by train everyday, I wonder how many actually look out the window. There’s so much to see really, the whole desi feeling that traveling by trains gives you, is a long forgotten one. Taking in the picturesque Indian country side, what more could one want?.. Oh yeah, peace and quiet, the baby howling in the next compartment is slowly getting on my nerves. Nevertheless I don’t let it bother me. It seemed everyone had an opinion as to how the Indian cricket team should go about winning the World Cup, men, women, children, eunach's (did i spell that right). My interest in the game of cricket being almost non existant I begin to conentrate on the sun thats setting far away in the distance, and it’s only then that I think of the camera tucked safely inside my backpack. A few good shots and I prepare for the long night ahead of me (remember the baby?) Tomorrow, Mumbai, here I come!