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!

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

It has been a while that I have gone out and it sure has been a while since I visited my Grandmom, so decided to spend Wednesday at her place.

As has become a trend, my internet was down in the morning (actually since the previous night) which basically meant that I couldn’t do any of my normal blogging that I had intended.

Set off at 11, dropped in at the internet guys… established nothing… and then continued the journey. Travelling to Bandra is getting really irritating now-a-days because of the traffic which is same at any point of the day!

Reached there after noon. Had originally intended to pickup lunch on the way but was strongly dissuaded from doing any such thing. Lunch was great as is the case with my Grandma’s cooking … so you can believe that I ate my fill and finished it off with some strawberry pudding =P~

And for tea there were dosas… I think i’ve put on weight

Met up with Melody after this to get her blog template redesigned. And finally ended the day with Chinese at Gondola’s in Pali.

They have done up the place since my last visit and the prices have also increased, which is possibly a direct consequence of the renovation, but the food was good, could have had a greater quantity though for the price.

Reached home at 11pm and got down to work after that. Thankfully the net was up at that time and could finally get some work done.

My Grandma (mom’s mom) turned 75 on May 9th and I am really surprised that my uncle succeeded in convincing her to have a party. The party was held at Seaside Hotel in Juhu.

Had an adventure on my way home from work that day and we were able to reach the hotel only post 8pm.

A good number of those in my family were already present there. Met my few young cousins after a long long time. The little ones are so cute!

The party was like our usual family parties. No dancing, mainly starters, dinner and desert. Ofcourse my grandma did cut her birthday cake after a lot of fussing.

As I posted below, I went over to my Grandmom‘s place on Monday night. Spent whole of Tuesday there and returned home this morning.

There isn’t really much to do there except watch a lot of TV and indeed I did that!

Tuesday evening went over to Melody‘s house to fix her comp as usual. Haven’t read her blog and so her new “baby” alsation (didn’t look like a baby to me) came as a major shock.
To be honest, I’m terrified of dogs and in the two years that I have known her I have kind of become used to having her three dogs around. Well Tanner is a different story because he kept jumping on me. Nearly got myself a heartattack! And the process of getting accustomed begins again…

Anyway, after that we went for Prayer Meeting. It’s been a while.

Yesterday was National Intercession day or similar which meant that prayer groups all over India were interceding for a few causes. Mervin led us into intercession.

Rushed back to my Grandmom’s place immediately after prayer meeting to ensure that I was there by 9.30pm.

Left this morning. Met up with Madam C and spent the entire day with her. Will probably end the day with a movie. Gonna get to bed early today and sleep well.
Tomorrow is the last holiday and Friday is yet another day before the weekend