MJ - Tribute

The man I grew up watching, the reason I love dancing.



Oh did I tell you, Raiders won the Aid Tournament yet again.
Who had the last laugh mate? :)

Nostalgia!

Remember the time when the entire family would gather in the living room, 8:00 PM -Wednesday, Chitrahaar. Uninterrupted film songs till 8:30 PM, really, I am serious, no Advertisements. At 8:30 PM, the family would disperse, Mom into the kitchen to heat up dinner, the kids into their rooms to make a last gasp attempt at homework, Dad probably would stick around, the only soul still interested in Hindi Samachar. 9:00 PM and everyone's back for Byomkesh Bakshi. The man with the plan, the Bengali detective, (one of the coolest guys). Dinner is consumed and so are our nails. If your family was the late night kinds, then it didn't stop at that. 10:00 PM - Surabhi. Siddharth Kak and Renuka Shahane, travel the country and show us every tradition and 'rithi rivaj' associated with places, and who can forget the question of the week, and the lakhs and millions of correct letters in which the man would literally dive into before picking up the winning letter.

T.V and Doordarshan meant the same thing to us. Multiple channels was not a concept and we were happy being ignorant. Series like Nukkad (the cool guy Guru), Mongarilal ke Haseen Sapne, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zhabaan Sambhalke, so many more to mention, the entire country watched one and the same thing. And then there were the Ramayan's where in the battlefield, Ravan or one of his sidekicks has just launched this nasty black, violet-purple arrow and our hero Mr. Ram, is cooly in his prayers before launching his bright white arrow (time-lag not a problem). Even better, the white arrow is now 10 white arrows. Now comes Ravan's turn to pray and get his 10-black ones and they clash!!

Back then in India, there was only one white guy, American or English, we had no clue, but there was only one white guy, name Tom Alter. Any and every serial that needed a representation of white coloured guy would have to be Tom Alter. A legend in his own right.And who can forget the Sunday morning educational animation series, the 'Ek Thithali, Anek Thithiliya..... Sooraj Ek, Chanda Ek, Taare Anek' ... :). Priceless!

Growing up in the 1990's had its own perks, the biggest of them being that family time was a given, an effortless activity. I think my generation has been the most blessed generation, no?

"Jungle Jungle Pata Chala Hai, Chaddi Pehenke Phool Khila Hai, Phool Khila Hai"
:)

These Punjabi's I Tell You

Palak Paneer, Aloo Rasa, Parantha, Roti, Bhaigan ka Bhartha, Chaval, Ghee.
Rubdi.

Aaah!!!

Long live the Kakkar family.

It started really at 10:30 AM. By 2:30 PM, it was picking up. At 5 PM, I would define the situation as amply satisfying. 7 PM and now I was in exceptional domain. 9:45 PM it peaked. Happiness as happiness should be. 11 PM I got the reward.

I am dazzled.

I was on the verge of blasting some egoistic and hypocritical malfunctions. I was this close to losing my cool. And then nonchalance took over.

Phew!!

Go Raiders!!

We won. Raiders won the semi-finals. My trip was every bit worth it. No points for guessing, I am going back to Portland this weekend for the finals. :)

Perfect scenario! We meet our old foes Ghillies!
Let me back up a bit. So Ghillie was the team I first played for when I first came to Portland (I know the name is yikes!! Completely agree) . Well not really Ghillie, but Ghillie Rockets, the B-team of Ghillie. That same year, we met Ghillie (A) in the semis and defeated them. Three of us from that team, Sushant, Munish and myself struck such amazing camaraderie that we knew we couldn't be part of the Ghillie formation. The statement after the league, "Tum log agle saal Ghillie (A) mein khelenge", especially irked us to go out and form a team of our own. Thus came about Raiders and it's been amazing ever since. In our first year, 2008, we won the Aid's Tournament. The spirit in the team has been fabulous, the fun quotient ;second to none and last but not the least, we made the team. This was the story till last year.

And like it always happens, all good things come to an end, I took up this new role within Mentor, moved to Boulder. Sushant, our captain, had enough of US and was India bound. Raiders lasted that one year and we achieved it all. Well it was supposed to end this way but not. :) . So recession hit, Sushant came back to US. We formed the team again and this year too, we made it to the playoffs. I went back this weekend for the semis and the trio was re-united. Exciting stuff, right? Well if not, just play along, cause I am loving every moment.

And now we meet Ghillie in the finals. Come full circles eh! Another adrenaline filled weekend and I am desperately hoping it's a happy ending. Well whatever be the outcome, I am thankful to God for everything. I have made some fantastic friends here, a point worth mentioning cause I always thought I could/would never again make the kinda friends I made till graduation.

I am hoping this weekend God gives me another moment to freeze in memory.
Let's go Raiders!!!

I have become a fan of Mohit Chauhan's voice. After Shaan's of course.

August 11, 2009

One of my good friend's gone back to India, for good. I am so gonna miss her, at least till the time I go back for good too. It's almost like I lost a friend. I know communication now is not a problem, global village and all that jazz but honestly I wish life just came to a standstill at college days, I wish all this would just disappear and transport me back in time to when life was all about which restaurant today, Sinhagad or Mulshi, football or football, tennis or cricket, Anoop's place or Ashish's?

I don't understand how people cope with growing up? I don't think I will ever grow out of being a kid. There are a lot of things that have fallen into place but as time has gone by the things that were a part of your life, by default, now no longer seem to exist.

On a lighter note, another set of fun trips coming up. Again I have to cramp up more than I can in the Portland trip, no complaints there. Miami-Orlando should be fun. Aachaey re-union in Maryland - DC - NY should be kickass, I have a lot going on before that but October end when I make the trip to DC, I am beyond doubt, that's gonna be the best of the lot.

I just realized I am gonna meet Ani for the third time in 6 months. Seems like the bugger has always been in University of Maryland. I remember during my NC State days, I had seriously considered getting transferred to University of Maryland, College Park, just because. We are so accustomed to calling each other once in 6 months that actually meeting thrice in the same span seems weird now. Crap, I just said "NC State days", which was like 2 years back. How do I control time??

Yep, Again and Again and Again and Again.

You know the reason I will not brush tonight is that I do not want the taste of awesome goat curry to leave my taste buds.

Aaah bliss!

Raider Time

Weekend was the awesome-ness.

And now Portland beckons. Raiders get back to business, we got a title to win. :)

I know a lot of vintage cricketers will disagree with me and to some extent I do get their point, but tennis-ball cricket is lotsa fun too. I am actually sacrificing season cricket for tennis-ball cricket to help my team win the championship. Totally worth it, Raiders are every bit the fun-loving team that I am proud to be a part of.

Lotsa adrenaline, passion time. Aaich! I like!!

No Offense but it's Hilarous

Scenario: Facebook

Friend 1 status: "I am tired."
Friends 2, 3, 4 (random): Put the "Likes this" tag to the status

Friend A status: "I am super-excited."
Friend X, Y, Z (random): Put the "Likes this" tag to it.

Friend 1 status: "I am at the airport."
Friend 2, 3, 4 (random): Again, the "Likes this" tag attached.

Really!!!! Hehe, I apologize if this comes across as judgmental but you guys are the reason I have a lot of fun on facebook.

Someday I will get down to putting random "Likes this" tag on random status messages, just because.