Techie or Foodie?

The last time I went for an indiblogger meet , I didn't really get the chance to blog about it due to work and all that. But this time I just couldn't resist sharing my experience of the awesome Sunday , spent with so many nice people mainly because there is a prize, it was SO much fun .
  The ever charming , Vikas Khanna and Rajiv Makhani were the hosts for the evening and it was one hell of a night. The question of the evening was Techi or Foodie ? With the Masterchef and Gadget Guru in the house there were bound to be fireworks.
Indiblogger always has these amazing memorable meets and something new to offer every single time . This time with Nokia partnering with Indiblogger , the event was bound to be grand. With about 250 bloggers attending the meet it had to be about " Connecting People " . The food and wine along with the energetic vibe didn't hurt at all.
  As I walked into the event , a little nervous and a little perplexed about getting bored. I see the grand venue and Nokia's blue carpet , welcoming us . The ambiance was brilliant. ( location : Taj Lands End-Mumbai) This time the meet was all about having fun with Apps , Nokia Apptasting was held at many cities earlier and this time in Mumbai it was like a celebration . Celebration of us bloggers :D Rajiv and Vikas , showed us many of the newest Apps in the Nokia OviStore. My favourite and cutest App was easily the Charlie Chaplin movie App , It just makes a movie for you within seconds. ( Plus Vikas Khanna did a real cute yet awkward ramp walk :P ) Also the which wine goes with which food App was brilliant. I never try wine cause I don't know what to order. So this App is truly a blessing. 

  Besides AppTasting there were contests and Onion cutting sessions , Vikas taught the crowd how to cut onions with a new technique and many people embarrassed themselves when they tried it themselves. Prizes were given away for witty lines and introductions , contests and games , Nokia was pretty generous that way. While grilled fish and white wine was being had I suddenly felt my hand go up , to go on stage and make a fool of myself for 30 straight minutes.:P

 The cute Ramp walk I spoke about >

 Vikas and Rajiv quizzed four teams with Techie and Foodie questions , and the outcome was embarrassing and in my defense the Foodie questions were really difficult. From the national soup of India ? to in which state of India is the Halwa City ? Me and my team mate were bound to lose terribly until ofcourse the savior of all rounds , the Fourth round of the quiz was the famous Masterchef challenge where I was blindfolded and made to drink a soup while my partner was asked to write down the ingredients I could identify from it. . This magical round got us from the shamefully low score to the third position. I guessed 6 ingredients of the 9. Not bad at all . Right? The first team won a Nokia Lumia :O More than the winning it was an awesome experience :) Rajiv and Vikas are funny , witty and hot !! very charming :)
       



The contest was followed by a scrumptious dinner and an open bar ;) . The chocolate mousse was to die for. But the night was truly amazing , we also got our person Indiblogger Tshirts :D.
Me and a few friends also connected with Poonam Kaul ( Nokia - Director Communications). She shared her very cool visiting card with us ( Nokia employees have cool cards :O ). She was very sweet and asked us to be in touch.




 ^ On the stage while the other team danced for two extra points :P

 These Guys won the Lumia ^ :D

Indiblogger turns 5 :D The Cake was YUMM *slurp slurp* >

The Lucky maskot of Indiblogger events ( Anup of Indiblogger's baby :D )

Vikas Oh so CUTE Khanna :D

Pictures of me with my friends who are also Bloggers :D

Also what is the procedure for getting to marry a hybrid of these two awesome men ? One can make you laugh and one cooks awesome food . What more can a girl ask for :P
   Waiting for another Indiblogger meet in mumbai soon. :)
It was great to connect with the amazing bloggers who blog about various things, from food to fashion , to technology . There is so much talent out there :)



PS : You can read about the experience of the other bloggers here 
PPS: Nokia is coming up with the " Your Wish is Our App" Contest , So if you ever dreamed of a App which you would like to download , here is your chance to get it made for you.
 

Where Hibiscus Grow in Abundance.

From the huge window of my terrace room , I could see the gulmohar bloom.

I could see the sun kissed ripe fruits perched on the branches of the dates, mango, chikoo and papaya trees waiting to be plucked.  The milkman paddling his old bicycle to the village as the ladies open the huge teak wood doors with a creaking sound, at early dawn to collect the milk and make the first cup of morning tea.

 The twitter of birds and the squirrels atop the tile roofs or jumping from the pillar to the branches into theirs dwellings on the tamarind trees sets the morning in glory. The silence,  the serene calm , fresh air , tiled roof houses, the sugarcane fields , the dust they all rhymed in grace , harmony, peace and tranquility.

From a distance the trees and the summer flowers look like as if the Almighty has set up bouquets in a newly opened flower shop.  The dried lake in the centre of the village becomes a venue for flee market. This happens a week where the village folk from around 10 kilometres  bring their wares like earthen pots, the vegetables they grow in their backyards or in small fields they own. The splendor of colorful wares, fresh vegetables, the men and women in their ethnic tribal attire is a sight to behold. These small entrepreneurs set up their stalls and transform into very shrewd negotiators. It’s pitiable that the rates they fetch is one fourth of the price, their commodity could fetch in a city.  However the most successful venture and busy enterprise is that of the pakora, made from onion and potato which is served with sliced fresh onion, mint chutney and green fried chilies. Every visitor would have a morsel of these fast food at the fair and also take it home for the family. This also becomes the starters or biting for the young at heart toddy ( local brew ) lovers in the evening. To beat the summer heat the runner up enterprise is that of sugar cane juice crushed in wooden mechanism powered by the no other than the farmer’s best friend, the bull. Round and round the bull moves to quench the thirst and provide the fresh sugarcane juice which is blent with lemon and small pieces of ginger.

As the evening sun turns the sky into a vibrant pastel with  fluorescent hues, the cattle make their return journey. The proud farmers return from the fields on their tractors and the tools, their harvest of mangos with the winning team of farm workers eager to collect their daily wages. The elderly in the pure white attire gather around the corner under the huge Banyan tree to head start their daily evening walk to the river which is minutes away from the village.

 As the day ends the supper is cooked on the wooden fire in earthen pots with finely diced fresh vegetables from the fields and some from the backyard filling the air with the aroma of the manually grounded spices and the mother’s recipes.

The day is not over yet and the night is still young, the elderly sit together in their white attire to discuss on issues related to improving the village infrastructure, about arthritis, the knee jerk approach of the government to improve the village, and the headlines in the daily newspaper. They share experiences on how they faced a tough life when young and hide their sorrows and loneliness as their children and grand children do not come to the village as they like the urban lifestyle. Among them are the bachelors who could not find a suitable bride, become the laughing stock and with pride they carry on life with little hope and despair in their eyes of finding a partner as no one would like to offer their daughters to these so called jewels of the village , the 40 plus.

On the other side the woman folk start gathering, discussing about their seldom appreciated hard work and issues related to the community, problems they face in work, food they prepared today and what they would cook tomorrow. Share recipes of the pickles and the papadam they have prepared for the complete year to follow, how they have oiled the rice, wheat and the pulses to store for the future use, tell stories to their grandchildren who sleep in their laps. Their mellow whispers sound like a lullaby for these angels.

 As I step out of the terrace room to the terrace and see the sky full of stars, the moon showering the radiance all over the village and the fields till the eyes reach the horizon. Not a glimpse of modernity, no tall buildings hugging each other in the narrow lanes of my city where I stay. The cool breeze of the Arabian sea caressing not only the skin but the soul within, the sound of drums from the hamlet of farm works although not visible in dark. The breeze carries their sounds some times of gaiety and other times fights when their empty stomachs are filled with the toddy. The ambience in the hamlets truly reveals the joys and sorrows of these poor farm workers can be felt in the air. They are the real souls of the countryside ever smiling and happy mostly left at God's will and very few choices.

As I retire to bed thinking about the return journey to the city the next day.

It is nothing less but like an enchanting novel coming to an end. The fear of misssing the fresh air, to miss the sight of dancing peacocks, the sounds the squirrels make, the songs of the cuckoo bird, the blooming gulmohur, the river, the bouquet of flowers, grandma, grandpa, peace, tranquillity and all the things which rhyme in grace in this mango village.

Tomorrow I return again to the jungle of concrete with a hope to return soon to witness the humming honey bees, the care free Papillion’s,  the exponents of firework the fireflies, as they glow in rhythm in their short hop, skip and jump routines, eat the pakora at the flee market  and where the hibiscus bloom in vibrant shades in abundance.

Life ends journey begins.

" They say as you grow older , you lose your sense of wonder.

The world becomes a habit . 

How tragic that most people have to get ill before they understand what a gift it is to be alive.

Yet we prefer to immerse ourselves in the mundane.

We battle with deadlines, get stressed, complain about lack of time . 

What a waste of a life. "

We just soak ourselves into the dull routine, and forget how beautiful the world is around us in its own simplicity. Wait for a minute, stop running , absorb and soak no more =) 

This post is for the Surf Excel Matic - #SoakNoMore contest organised by Indiblogger.

On running and all that .

YOU ARE ADVISED NOT TO READ THIS 

I've been running from no one or nothing in particular but I just seem to be running from the truth, from people , from myself.Maybe I think too much into things, maybe its not true at all, maybe I just don't see the sunny side of things. I don't know I just don't feel happy. Like , nothing really makes me happy anymore , no goal to work towards, no event to look forward to and no satisfaction of something well done. Stuck in a rut? Maybe.

    Stuck in making a career which doesn't interest me , but don't know what I'd rather do. Want to get out of it impulsively., without a backup plan. Hundred things to worry about and hundred questions to answer to various people. Why? Why should I answer anyone's questions , My Life and My Decisions. Doesn't work that way. No one literally NO BLOODY ONE bothered to tell me growing up would be THIS bad. I would have done so much better with my childhood, like invent an anti aging mechanism with all the free time I had back then . Don't roll your judgemental eyes at me , I could do it . I was a smart kid ok? Ok.

    I feel talking to anyone is too much work so I don't . I feel doing just about anything is too much work. Add a annoying back ache to that which refuses to go away and you have a couch potato. I can't even lie around on my couch anymore in peace. The newest addition to the family , my adorable Cocker Spaniel pup refuses to get off me if I try to sit anywhere in the living room. So if I want alone time it has to be locked up in  my room only , which also annoys me on many levels. I see a text , I just let it slide. I see a missed call and I say to myself , I'll call back and never do. I want a holiday. But guess what a holiday won't help either cause I know I have to come back to this annoying rut all over again.

  In school when they used to ask what would you like to be when you grow up , I would say something new everytime , and maybe that is exactly the problem. I want to do too many things and so I am never happy where  I am , no but seriously who is happy about auditing accounts. :\

   Sometimes I feel I'm just doing it all wrong , and somewhere down the line it will all magically make sense. But the wait till that magical place is killing me . Literally. I even tried to quit my job and try something new. But my boss needed time to decide about whether he wants to let me go or if we can work something out. I do respect him and so couldn't say no. I'm so awkward at these things anyway. How do you go ahead and quit your job? How do you tell your boyfriend you don't feel like speaking to him for sometime without hurting him? How do you avoid texts with BBM letting the world know that you read the message but still aren't replying. ? I feel so responsible for little - little things. This blog for instance , I feel so guilty when I don't write for a while. How does it matter anyway, I always say I started this blog for myself and I don't care if anyone reads it or not and suddenly I see myself checking if I have a new follower or feeling bad when my last post was more than a month ago. All this is just getting to me now. Also I am suffering from a block , of ideas , thoughts and emotions. So I have nothing to write about either. I have no time for myself at all and I'm still twenty. I don't have a life beyond work and attending classes. I am always picking between two or more things , I can either sleep till late atleast on Sunday or I can go for class , I can either watch a movie or study for the exam next day. I can either eat dinner out and sleep late which will ultimately lead to no college the next day. I literally have to steal life out of the moments that are just racing past me in a ferrari. 

 Reminds me of this awesome poem I had in school ,  I used to love it and I used to think to myself I would never be too busy to do the things I love. Well if you want to make life laugh tell her your plans. Bite Me :D

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

                                       -W.H.Davies

Yes I just ranted big time , and you lost 5 minutes of your life that you will never get back.

 Say hello to my Baby :D , her name is Coco she is going to turn 3 months old soon and is probably the only thing that is keeping me sane :) We got her a month ago.

I wanted to share this happy news earlier but just couldn't , my apologies.