I booked my tickets to come to Mumbai last month, when my plans for a trip to the USA and Canada fell apart due to my crazy work schedule.

My past two trips have been on British Airways, but this time I booked tickets for our very own Jet Airways. I booked a cab to the airport and reached Heathrow Terminal 4 with time to spare. I must admit that I missed the awesomeness of Terminal 5.

The flight was very comfortable, though I did feel the service was all over the place. The flight was a good 10 hours with minimal turbulence and I did catch up on some sleep and three movies, viz. The Lincoln Lawyer, Rio and Pay Check.

I prefer landing at Mumbai Airport over any other airport in India because of the really quick immigration counters. During my last trip to Bangalore Airport, I spent a good amount of time waiting to get through immigration and then had to wait for my baggage. This time it was only the wait for the baggage that I had to handle. What can be improved is the pre-paid taxi desk at which I had to wait nearly 20 minutes.

Now, I need to book tickets for my trip to Mumbai in December. And, the prices are already over the roof!

I began my trip in Mumbai by going for Sunday mass in my church. It sure has been a while… Sunday continued to be a very quiet day with me spending the rest of the day at home.

August 15 is the Feast of Annunciation of Mother Mary as well as India’s Independence Day which we love to celebrate The day began quietly with mass in the morning and lunch at home. Mom and me went over to my Grandmas place. I also met up with Cloreisha after a long long time at Mocha Mojo in Bandra. Mocha’s definitely has a whole new atmosphere now that hookahs have been banned in Mumbai. Another stupid rule after the "no serving alcohol to persons below 25". I am waiting for Starbucks to set up shop in Mumbai.

Dinner was back at my Grandma’s place, who is always enthusiastic to order in! So, I had my first taste of Indian Chinese cuisine after a long time.

I celebrated my 29th birthday on August 16. This time it was a lot different from the years before. Last year, I had a very sad birthday stuck at work till 2am. This time was a lot different. I brought in the day with true geek style by redesigning this blog. I have a bit more website and WordPress work to do in the next two weeks.

Birthday lunch was with Ramya at Global Fusion in Bandra which is a place I will definitely recommend. The prices are a bit on the higher side and the place only has buffet. But, the food was really amazing and the ambience is pretty good.

Next stop was to buy me lots of really cool gifts at Shopper’s Stop. I was definitely disappointed because I didn’t find anything good at the sale. Managed a pair of jeans and some good Adidas deo, but the place was rather dry. I plan on visiting the one at Irla to see if I can find something good.

Spent the rest of the day at my Grandma’s place followed by dinner at home. A quiet, uneventful day to celebrate my birthday.

Yesterday and today have been quiet days with some bank work that didn’t happen and an internet connection that didn’t work and lots and lots of rains!

Christmas week is always busy and the week this year did not disappoint. Began the week meeting a friend for lunch. Went over to Lil white mouse‘s place the next day to help wrap presents. Sat at home and coded and blogged the day after that.

Sneha came over on Christmas Eve for a while before mass. Mass was relatively short and sweet. The choirs have improved since the past few years, which is a good things. Returned home immediately after mass.

I met Lil white mouse and Ruth for dinner at the 5 Spice in Bandra. Being, Christmas night, we had to wait a while before we were given a table. We definitely ordered a good deal of food and desert, a lot more than our normal capacities

Went over to Lil white mouse’s place on 26th morning to prepare for the engagement. We went over to the church in the morning itself and engaged rings and vows. After a good deal of furniture movements, to accommodate 30 persons, I went over to my ENT for a follow-up.

The party at Lil white mouse’s place was fun-filled like any of our other parties. The only difference was that we had my part of the family there too.

Got a host of presents for Christmas from Lil white mouse and her family. It was like sweeping the Oscars!

Spent the night over at her place. And, the next day we went over to her grandaunt’s place for lunch. After a bit of rest, my weary feet found their way home.

I have uploaded more photographs of the engagement. Check out the engagement album.

Our friend from Moira, Juze Bostiaum, appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the famous ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ hosted show. Juze had miraculously reached the end of the rounds by saying all his Rosaries & Novenas & had already won Rs. 50 lacs.

“You’ve done very well so far,” said Amitabh, “but for Rs. 1 crore, you’ve only got one lifeline left – Phone a Friend. Everything’s riding on this question… will you go for it ?”

“Sure,” said Juze. “Aum ek last chance, marta!”

“OK ….. The QUESTION is ….. Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest ? a) Robin,(b) Sparrow,(c) Cuckoo, or(d) Crow”?

“Heje maayinchem caazar … I not knowing dat,” said Juze, “so better use my last life line, and phone to my friend, Pedru Pochok (actual name: Pedro Pacheco) from Mumbai. He’s East Indian, but a Bandra boy, & born & brought up in Mumbai, so he’s too smart-a real shaana buggar.”

Juze called up his friend in Mumbai, told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.

“Arree Baba Anton !” cried Pedru, “Sarko Endo Mure Tu, Simple it is .. it’s a cuckoo.”

“Ah-vois, sure mure Pedru ?” asked Juze.

“Arre Baba, hundred percent sure re ! Pakka !”

Juze hung up the phone and told Amitabh Bachan, “I tell Cookoo.”

“Is that your final answer ?” asked Amitabh.

“Sarkem sure, Sir !”

There was a long, long pause, then Amitabh Bachan screamed, “Cuckoo is the correct answer ! Juze, you’ve won Rs..1 Crore ! !”

The next night, Juze threw a big party for all the people from Moira, at the Moira Club. Pedru was specially flown in from Mumbai, as the Chief Guest.

Time for speeches …

Juze takes the mike and asks Pedru, “Saang mure, Pedru ? Foo told you ? How you know cuckoo isn’t building its own nest ?

Says Pedru, “You’re sarko bondo re, Juze. Everybody knows a cuckoo lives in a clock! ”

Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

The last few days were spent meeting people. Lil white mouse came over the last few days to meet me.

Met Sneha on Wednesday for dinner. Dinner was at the Happy Singh, which is a part of Pop Tates. Decent enough joint, but the long island iced tea was ice tea!

I met up with Idea Smithy for tea on Thursday. We met at Crepe Station in Lokhandwala which has recently opened. IMO, while the place is decent and the food too, it is over priced. So, you need to pick and choose what you would like to eat. The conversation resolved around blogging, writing, education and a bit of food.

I met up with Lil white mouse after this and we headed over to Bandra to Sheesha. We ended up sitting at the same place as we had during our last visit. The food is definitely good and so are the mocktails, however they really need to put a few fans and lights in that place!

Went over to Lil white mouse’s place on Saturday afternoon. Before that we stopped at the Airtel “relationship center” in Bandra. The relationship center is a real joke because for any support you need to call up the customer. For all users of Airtel, make sure you check your bills carefully. I was billed Rs. 100 for downloading two games which I never did and more, don’t even know to download from where. This isn’t the first time I have seen Airtel incorrectly bill users. Had to yell at the customer care dude who promised that it would be rectified in 24 hours. I am totally clueless as to which planet this 24 hours belongs to. I have decided to discontinue this account. I’m not sure which is worse, Airtel or Reliance! At least Reliance didn’t try to bill me incorrectly!

We also went over to the Vodafone center, which in my opinion is a much better service. I guess that is what differentiates a multinational company than a company run by a bunch of greedy Indians. I guess this is one of the things that pisses me off about my country. If this was the US or UK, you could take the company to court and win! Out here, you don’t have the years of your life to do that.

Lil white mouse and me, along with her family and Rixon, caught the late night show of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past at PVR in Phoenix Mills. I will write a review of the movie sometime later.

I stayed over at her place and we returned home the next day. I spent the last few hours at home getting an haircut and a shave. Set off for the airport to catch the Go Air flight to Bangalore.

The flight was perfectly on time, unlike on my journey to Mumbai. Mumbai looks really beautiful from the air and even better at night. The new Bandra-Worli sealink has beautified the landscape and it was my first view of the link.

If you haven’t seen Mumbai from the air, then check out some beautiful pictures of the same. But at night, it is even more beautiful. I could see the entire shape of South Mumbai. The journey was comfortable except for the occasional bit of turbulence that we faced.

The Airlift that I had booked was already at the airport. I had to wait a while for the remaining passengers and we headed back. Reached home in about an hour. Did a bit of blogging and then went off to sleep.

And, Monday, work began as usual!

However, Monday was a bit eventful. Vincent managed to get the road tax for my bike done on Saturday and so we set out on our bikes to the Bajaj Service Center which is in HSR Layout. They did a good job on the bike and it is running beautifully! We both headed home after work at about 12am and I froze in the cold. Didn’t have my jacket, but I also realized that I need to pick up a thicker jacket.

Yesterday, I was the only person in my cab so I reached home rather quickly

Lil white mouse heard of Mumbai Times Cafe, which opened a while back in Bandra, near KFC. So, we decided to check out the place for dinner.

Parking in that area can be a pain, but we were lucky to find a spot for my bike. Mumbai Times Cafe is located on the fifth floor of Crystal Shoppers Paradise which is diagonally opposite KFC in the same lane.

We were greeted the moment you step out of the elevator and led to a table for two in the “sand” section. I call it the sand section because sand covers the entire floor out there. You also have a tiny canoe there as well. The place is built with the idea of dinner by a beach, I guess. You won’t find one on the fifth floor though.

We ordered the Seafood Pulao, which is a mixture of clams (cockles), prawns and rice. It turned out to be a good deal spicy and this was washed down by mocktails and a margarita.

The quantity of the dish was really good for more than two persons and the service too was pretty good, which is always something I look forward to in a restaurant and sadly, there aren’t many that fulfill this.

The prices are on the steeper side, but then again that’s the case with most of the recent restaurants I’ve been frequenting

Anyway, I recommend this place if you’re looking for non-veg food, especially sea food.

No, I am not talking about the movie, but just the last 20 days of my life; life that has kept me so busy that you haven’t read about any personal updates.

So, here’s a quick round up of the last two weeks of my life.

The week from 19th to 24th of Jan was like any other week of my life. Spent all of it blogging, reading, eating, talking and sleeping.

23rd was the first and last test of this semester. The test was on Strategic Marketing. We were given a choice between a two simple questions and a case on TESCO. IMO, education should be practical and case based to ensure that people actually apply their minds to everything. A healthy mix of theory and practicals is ideal. However, MBA turned out to be primarily a learn by rote, which is something I simply can’t do. Hence, was forced to understand and write exams where results took a hit. No regrets on that, because I put in my best and did well so far

Aditya, Sneha, Namrata and me decided to go out for dinner on 23rd. After much pondering we went to Haka’s on FC Road, Pune. The food sucked completely and totally. Really felt like I was cheated of my money.

Took the early morning Volvo to Mumbai on 24th to spend the long weekend at home. Met up with Lil white mouse on 24th evening for dinner. I had to get the taste of the horrible Chinese food out of my mouth. So, we headed off to our favorite joint Dynasty. As usual the crab meat soup was delicious. We ordered the Seafood platter and it turned out to be sizzling and not dry, though I would have sworn it was dry the last time I ordered that.

Sunday, the 25th was a quiet day. Lil white mouse came over in the evening to spend some time.

26th is the Republic Day of India and so a public holiday. As a result the roads are usually empty and people stick home. This weekend was different because many had left the city for the long weekend.

I went over to Lil white mouse’s place in the afternoon and we then went shopping to Westside, near Opera House as it was the last day of their sale. Following this, we returned home and then to 5 Spice in Bandra. We were seated at the Non-Smoking, Non-Alcoholic sections of the restaurant, which didn’t make a difference, since it was a dry day.

The service here was a lot slower, possibly because the design of the place is such. The however, remains delicious

I initially planned on returning to Pune on 27th, but postponed that to the next day. Spent 27th at home, working almost all day. Took the earliest Volvo I could to find my way back to Pune.

The last few days has been dinner at Tamanna, dinner at Mezza9, a class and presentation for Strategic Marketing. Looking at my mention of that subject you may tend to think I’ve shifted to Marketing. Well, no, I remain a Finance graduate. That is just one subject

I’ve given Techtites a new look yet again. So, will be spending tonight working on that one.

Been tied down all of this week with either gallivanting or working on my technology blog. So, here is a day-by-day summary of the last week or so.

25th December

It’s Christmas day. Because of the Terror Attacks in Mumbai [Photos], almost all places in Mumbai canceled their Christmas dances. Not that I went out a lot, but this time we decided to just have a quiet dinner.

Dinner was at the usual spot, viz. Dynasty. Lil white mouse‘s sister Ruth joined us for dinner.

26th December

I had planned in advance to dedicate this day to technology shopping, which is exactly what I did. Went over to Lil white mouse’s place in the morning and after lunch we took a trip to my vendor in Lamington Road.

Picked up a DVD Writer and a 500GB WD Elements for Lil white mouse, a 6-cell battery for Akshat‘s laptop and pendrives both Akshat and Aditya.

I also bought a Notebook Cooling pad, which is this cute plastic pad with three fans that has been effectively keeping my laptop cool. I do however, need to open the same and dust it properly.

27th December

My dear cousin Seema is down from the US and she decided to drop in to my place. We then headed over to my Grandma‘s place in Bandra. Picked up lunch at the Subway on Linking Road. The sandwiches sure cost a bomb especially when you are looking at two footlongs but they fill you up well. Spent the entire day at my Grandma’s place.

28th December

Sunday, once again. Began it as usual with mass in the morning. Lil white mouse came over in the afternoon to spend some quiet time at home.

29th December

This day Lil white mouse’s parents celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary and I joined them for dinner. We decided to go to Amrut Punjab, but being a Monday, the place was closed. So, instead we decided to go to Gajalee in Phoenix Mills. I have been to the one in Seepz, Andheri several times, but this was my first at Phoenix. And, I was disappointed by the service.

The food was good as usual, but the waiters were totally disorganized and unresponsive and we had to wait a long long time for food. For the prices they charge!

Desert was jack fruit ice cream at Natural Ice Cream.

30th December

Spent the entire day at home and went over to Lil white mouse’s place to fix the DVD writer. We then went to Maroosh in Phoenix Mills. Dinner was kababs and biryani. The food isn’t as good or maybe it doesn’t fit our taste buds. Desert was once again ice cream at Natural which is the shop next door.

31st December

We decided to spend New Year at home, our respective homes i.e. I was also tired with the activities of the previous week. So, on 31st, I decided to unveil the brand new look of Techtites. I have great plans for that blog. In spite of it being on the web for well over two years, it hasn’t really taken off. I’m trying to get new talent to blog for me, but it is always difficult to find good technical writers.

So, what do you think of the new look?

1st January

A new day in the new year. Lil white mouse came over and we ordered pizza from Smokin’ Joes’. I think they have among the best pizzas. Only problem is that they don’t have great offers which makes regular pizza eating expensive!

2nd January

Today. Decided to finally get down and complete this blog post. Plan on spending the rest of the day blogging. May also work on a plugin or two if I have the energy!

So, what have you been upto this New Year?

Landed in Mumbai on 11th itself. The visit to Mumbai would consist of a lot of time spent at home, some bank visits, a lot of traveling, a roce, a wedding and a birthday.

Lil white mouse‘s friend Priyanka‘s marriage was on the 15th and as part of our custom, both the bride and the groom have an individual roce which is a traditional function.

The roce was held on her building terrace in Kurla, which required me to ride in terrible traffic out there. Got there very early in spite of this.

Early did mean that I had to wait for a while before the function actually started… an hour later.

The usual dirtying of the bride-to-be took place followed by dancing. We left the place and I dropped Lil white mouse home.

The next day was rather silent. Saturday was the big day of the wedding. Being free in the morning, I decided to head over to Big Bazaar, this time in Mulund. My last two experiences were rather bad. However, since I had Rs. 1,400 in discount coupons, I had to go make and expense. Picked up a black sweather that shall hopefuly assist me this winter. I spent last winter borrowing jackets from Ravi.

Also picked up a salwar piece for Mom, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday.

Saturday evening was the wedding. The reception was held at St. Josephs in Bandra. Lil white mouse’s sister and dad were trigger happy and I was able to collect quite a few images.

For more photos check out the photo gallery.

Stayed over at my grandma’s that evening and convinced her to come back with me on the bike. That would have made an excellent photo

Sunday was Mom’s birthday. Just a quiet lunch to which Lil white mouse came over. She left in the evening.

Spent Monday visiting banks and my barber in the morning and the rest of the day at home.

Caught the first bus from Mumbai to Pune on Tuesday morning and reach here by 10am itself.

Classes began yesterday with a full four hour class from 6.30pm on Advances in Supply Chain, followed by Strategic Marketing and Advances in Supply Chain lectures today. Thus ends the lectures for this week.

Placements is just around the corner and well I kinda tensed. A well kept secret atleast on the blog was my Preplacement Offer from the company I was in for summers, which I rejected last week since it wasn’t up to my expectations. The scene is bad this year, so my fingers are crossed.

Finished off my FSA paper on 23rd and awoke early Saturday morning for some last minute preparations for the SAP-BIW paper.

This turned out to be a very comfortable paper to write in 90 minutes. Had a quick breakfast and got down to packing for my journey to Mumbai. I love travelling light and infact that is what I did. Picked up my laptop and a few essentials and caught an extremely crowded 11.15am bus from college to Aundh.

Was fortunate enough to get a Metrolink volvo to Dadar immediately. Ticket prices were hiked considering that everyone is rushing to Mumbai for their Diwali vacations.

The bus was quick and we got little traffic on the way back and was at Sion in about three hours. Caught a rick from there to Bandra to my Grandma’s place. Had plans to meet Lil white mouse in the evening.

Met up with Lil white mouse and her sis and went to 5 Spice in Bandra. The prices have been jacked up there as well and it’s definitely more expensive than the one in town. We did eat and drink well, paid well and got back home. Was so zonked that I crashed almost immediately.

Awoke early morning (well not that early) to go for mass at 10am. Mass has become a lot shorter with shorter sermons

Lil white mouse came over for lunch and spent the rest of the day with me before she had to leave for a wedding reception.

The next few days are packed well. I really hope to get some studies done, but vacation can be a real big hurdle to cross when you want to study!

Have plans to go to Big Bazaar tomorrow to shop for anything I can lay my hands on. Got to redeem my Rs. 1400 in gift vouchers. So, what should I buy?

Went out with Lil white mouse after work on Tuesday. We decided to go to Sheesha which is on the terrace of Shopper’s Stop in Bandra.

The place is dark and expensive. Food was good. So no complains.

While we were there, the skies decided to open up and Mumbai got its taste of the monsoons this year. It poured cats and dogs for well over 30 minutes. I decided to spend the night at my Grandma’s place in Bandra itself.

Came back home in the morning to find my internet down as usual. Went to work only by 2pm. With just a few days to go, it wasn’t such an issue

My darling Flame turned four on the 4th of June. She is still giving over 46kmpl which is excellent.

Saturday was the last day of my Summer Internship in eClerx. I’ve spent two fulfilling months out there where I learnt a great deal and also decided to take the plunge into the world of Finance!

Had invited all the higher ups in the organization for my presentation and most of them turned up in person or on phone so I am totally pleased

Fingers crossed.

Spent today with Lil white mouse. We then went to watch the new Indiana Jones movie. Will write a review tomorrow