I love Christmas. As far as I can remember, Christmas has been good for me. I have some of the fondest memories of my life associated Christmas. It is little wonder that I look forward to Christmas every year.

This year, Christmas was different. Different because, for the first time in my life I was not at home for Christmas.

I began Christmas this year by going to Westminster Cathedral for the 6pm mass on 24th. The church was decorated with a huge Christmas tree, but it was also rather cold, since Christmas Eve was cold this side of the world. Met up with a college pal for a quiet dinner. Was home before the clock struck 12.

Pavlos had invited me over for Christmas lunch with his family. Christmas lunch was in the traditional Greek style with caviar, soup, sweets, desert and a full roasted and stuff turkey. I don’t think I need to say that I ate to my fullest

My plans for boxing day went for a toss with the tube strike. However, I plan to finally go out and see London tomorrow, before I report to work on Tuesday.

With that I’ll leave you with this beautiful song.

Friday at 12am we brought in Sneha‘s birthday by cutting her cake and dirtying her.

After a long day of lectures on Friday, in which we gave two presentations in Strategic Management, we headed out to the city. Sneha and Namrata had finalized on a joint called TC’s in FC Road. We had booked the place for eleven people.

Caught the 7.30pm bus from college which drops us at Atur Center from where we caught rickshaws to the place.

TC’s is decently sized place with a good ambience and service. However, I really wonder why they needed to have the lights fading into various colors!

The prices weren’t that high compared to the other places we have eaten at, but then again, neither were the portions. We were offered 11 tequila shots on the house, a pity only five were consumed.

Then we desperately hunted for rickshaws back to Atur Center and rushed to catch the last bus back to college.

Woke up (or more like was woken up) early Saturday morning as all these folks were off to Alibaug for the weekend. I’m not much of an outdoor person and had tonnes of work so decided to stay back.

Went with Maria and her sister Tina for mass on Saturday. Was asked to and did the Prayer of the Faithful. After mass, we decided to go to Mainland China, which is close to where we had to catch the bus back.

This is my first visit to a Mainland China. The food was decent, so was the service. However, they really need to understand the meaning of the word “spicy”.

The bus back to campus was jam packed, but we were fortunate enough to get seats.

Sunday was a quiet day. We gathered together to bid farewell to Maria, who is the first among all of us to begin her job.

Am really exhausted now and will be hitting the bed soon. Have to still get my hands on photos of the birthday. Will put them in my album.

After a quiet two days at home, I finally ventured out on Sunday evening for mass. I?ve realized that I can spend days at home without evening stepping outside and not even think twice about it. Pizzas always get delivered, don?t they?

Anyway, Sunday the 4th also marked the 28th Wedding Anniversary of my parents and since Dad isn?t here I decided to take Mom out for dinner. However, she chose to order home and so be it.

Dinner was Chicken Manchurian, Prawns Masala and Chicken Fried rice. We tried a smaller new restaurant near my place instead of the regular one I ordered. While the chicken was good, the prawns was terrible. Note to myself. ?Do not order sea food from small places?.

Monday and Tuesday were normal days. Aditya was in Mumbai yesterday on placements work and dropped in after that was done. Took him to InOrbit, Malad whose sheer size had him all amazed.

Got back home, bid farewell to him and got ready for Seema?s birthday party. We were at her place gossiping and chatting till post 10.30pm before I drove back home. Had no energy to make any of the blog posts I had originally planned. Had also decided to make my way back to Pune and so needed to get some sleep.

Caught the second Volvo to Pune. The last time I was on my way back the bus tire was punctured and the driver and cleaner spent a good hour fixing that. Fortunately, today I didn?t face any such problem, though the bus that I missed by a minute broke down on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. After our driver lent a hand, we were on our way.

Reached here in the morning, met up with friends and then got down to making those blog posts. The count of unread posts in my RSS reader is slowly mounting. As is the case of my Gmail inbox which seems to be locked due to Google detecting unusual activity. Now, me not checking my email for 20 hours is characterized as unusual Hopefully, this gets unlocked by tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a long day with a lot of lectures scheduled. We also have a so called Finance paper to work on tonight.

The last time I could spend such a prolonged Christmas vacation was two years back, when I was preparing for my MBA.

Spent a quiet day at home on Sunday as well as a good portion of Monday. Painting work in my house began on Sunday and carried on till late Tuesday which meant lots of dust, smell and work.

In spite of that, I went out to meet Lil white mouse on Monday evening. Met up with her in Bandra and we stopped by at a Handloom Expo at Reclamation. However, unlike last time, we did not find anything good.

We then made our way to Shopper’s Stop, where we did a bit of shopping including a Christmas gift for me

Lil white mouse’s sister Ruth joined us for dinner at 5 Spice. This has become one of our regular joints. The quantity was fantastic, as usual, which resulted in “doggy bags” yet again.

Met Lil white mouse yet again on the Eve of Christmas Eve. Picked her up from Dadar and we headed to her place where I helped her with completing some jujubes (where’s my cut Lil white mouse?).

Spent all of yesterday cleaning up the house. First vacuumed all the rooms and my computer (I sometimes think my computer was made to attract dust!) and after a lot of deliberation, I decided to swab the room as well.

Went for mass this morning instead of last night. Having lunch at home. Mom‘s cooking biryani. Lil white mouse comes over later and have dinner plans with her. Will post details then

Fourth semester at SCMHRD is one of the most relaxed semesters. We have Neev just around the corner and so I am relatively free. Decided to go to church today. Maria was pleased since she has been after me to do so for a long long time! Am sure my Mom too was pleased.

Today was the feast of Christ the King as well as it happens to be my brother’s birthday. The feast of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year. This is usually a big event in my church back in Mumbai. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. I can finally start playing some Christmas carols

We took the 5.05pm bus to Atur Center and then went to the Food Bazaar at Pune Central to pick up some eatables and other essentials.

Mass at St. Anthony’s in Model Colony was over an hour. However, it was filled with singing, something that I haven’t indulged in a long time.

Met quite a few other Catholics of SCMHRD of both the juniors and senior batch who landed up for mass today.

Caught the 8pm bus back to the campus and grabbed a simple dinner of double full fried eggs in the cafeteria.

We have a company on campus tomorrow morning. Have to attend the pre-placement talks before I decide if I should signup with them or not.

Wish me the best of luck. Will provide details tomorrow or day after. I plan on going home on Tuesday since the rest of the week is relatively free. Also have to pickup my final installment demand draft.

Lil white mouse came over last Saturday, as well as this.

It’s been a while since I had a pizza, so we ordered two pizzas from PizzaWay, which is where I normally ordered because they are tasty and cheap. This time I was told there was no deal available, but bargained my way into it. Hey! I am a regular customer when I am in town!

Went for morning mass on Sunday. It was a surprise because I normally don’t wake up in time.

Lil white mouse wanted to go shopping. I hate shoppping! But, …

Went over to her place in the afternoon. The place to shop: Bandra

Caught a bus back to Bandra. First destination was Hill Road. We roamed along the streets hunting for shoes and clothes for her. Finally zeroed in on two shops an picked up two.

We decided to visit the Reliance Trendz out there, which opened a little over a month back. The deals are amazing. I picked up a tshirt from there from just 199/- which was well worth it. I am surprised they are still giving deals like this despite running at a loss.

The week at work has been good. My work on the first project has been well appreciated so I am happy. My second project which is in the field of Operations has taken off well. It isn’t something I expected, but it helps me learn other processes at eClerx.

There have been a lot of immediate small tasks which come up on and off so the pace of my second project isn’t as good as I hoped. Have to work really fast in the next two weeks to complete it.

Elective selection is going on at SCMHRD. The entire batch is confused about what to select. I’m taking Finance and Operations subjects mainly, however am still not completely clear on which to take. Don’t want to take on too much of a load.

Foreign language also seems to be compulsory. I really wonder how I am going to manage Spanish

Yesterday and today have been quiet days at home. Lil white mouse came over yesterday. Grabbed a small lunch and then went over to Lucky’s for dinner. Decided to eat tandoori chicken and kababs. The food and the service wasn’t up to the mark yesterday. Went over to Natural Ice Cream on Hill Road

Woke up well past 10.30am this morning, and have been taking it easy at home today. Have to go for mass in the evening and have decided to head back home instead of wandering about the city

Tomorrow is Monday.

AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone knows.

BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass.

CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish to lip-sync.

HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY.

HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation’s range.

RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often sung a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left.

INCENSE: Holy Smoke!

JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to find colleges with good basketball teams.

JONAH: The original “Jaws” story.

JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.

KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava. (it means Lord have mercy)

MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower.

MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn’t covered by an HMO. (The Bible’s way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.)

PEW: A medieval torture device still found in Catholic churches.

PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats.

RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusio n of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot.

RELICS: People who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel, and stand.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top Ten list not given by David Letterman.

USHERS: The only people in the parish who don’t know the seating capacity of a pew.

Little known facts about the Catholic Church in Las Vegas :
There are more churches in Las Vegas than casinos. During Sunday services at the offertory, some worshippers contribute casino chips as opposed to cash. Some are sharing their winnings – some are hoping to win. Since they get chips from so many different casinos, and they are worth money, the Catholic churches are required to send all the chips into the diocese for sorting. Once sorted into the respective casino chips, one junior priest takes the chips and makes the rounds to the casinos turning chips into cash. And he, of course, is known as The Chip Monk.

This last week (since Saturday) has been rather painful in some aspects. For some strange reason my head started throbbing Saturday evening. I assumed it to be lack of sleep and so headed off home from Lil white mouse‘s place.

Went for mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Worli on Lil white mouse’s invitation. She wanted me to do the reading there, so did just that. Didn’t realize I had a singing session coming as well!

Tried to get rid of the headache with enough sleep and water, but neither worked.

Had to go to R’s place as she had invited all of us over to her place. The ride the Thane was fun, big empty roads. The two crocins before helped for a few hours. Had plans to go to Worli but wasn’t in a position to do so and headed back home.

Two crocins in the evening and a ton of water did end the headache, with just lingering splits all through Monday.

Was perfectly fine on Tuesday. Also completed the project I was working on and have been assigned another.

We received our cheque for our stipend yesterday. Money finally

And today yours truly managed to get a catch in my neck. It sure has been a pain in the neck.
I’m hoping it is good tomorrow.

The last week has just flown by with most of my time was spent not studying.

Wednesday – Party 1

On Wednesday, we were singing for a Silver Wedding mass. The mass was held at Atma Darshan and the reception was at Le Royal Meridien, for which the entire choir was invited.

Had just dorned my normal formals for the mass, so went home to pickup my blazer as well as drop off the bike (Never drink and drive my mama said )

U. Conrad picked me up and we were among the first to reach the reception. Ate, drank, danced and feasted on food and desert.

Got dropped home a little after 1.30am and came home and crashed into bed.

Thursday – Dinner 1

Spent the entire day at Melody‘s house working on her blog. Convinced her to add adsense (which is performing really bad overall for me currently). Also added some internal pages and top CSS navigation bar (I’m getting good at this).

We went out for dinner to 5 which is near Yoko’s in Santacruz. The place is posh and the food is good, however the service is simply pathetic. It took us 10 minutes to find someone to take our order and then it took another half hour to get served. In addition he messed up the bill, by not informing us for an extra charge. At the end of it we were pissed off.
Expensive places!

Friday – Party

Saakshi threw a “Welcome Home” party for Melody and invited a good amount of the junta from the Indian Bloggers’ scene and their friends. Met a few of them for the first time, while others for the second… well I’m not a regular.

My phone came handy to click a few photos, though the quality wasn’t too great. Anyway, here are a few: Knocked off on request.

Saturday – Lunch and Dinner 2

Met up with Krupa, my ex-office colleague for lunch and a movie. We went off to watch Life in a Metro which tells the tale of several people in Mumbai. The movie was rather slow. Can’t say it was great, can’t say it was bad.

Watched the movie at Chandan in Juhu. It has been several years since I have been to Chandan. The theatre remains the same, but the area surrounding it has developed a lot!
We went to Pizza Hut in Juhu for the late lunch and got a drink free because the guy forgot to put it on the bill.

Lil white mouse came over after work and she stayed for mass. After mass, the two of us went to Lucky’s for dinner. It has been a while since I visited Lucky’s. Tried some different dishes this time which were yummy.

And then there was Sunday

Lil white mouse came over today for lunch. Mom seemed to outdo herself today. Lil white mouse left in the evening and I got down to getting some work done.
Tomorrow I study.

We slept quite late (infact early in the morning) after the barbecue on Saturday and it was quite a bit of a problem awaking by 7am to make it for the 8am mass.

However, we did struggle out of our beds and get ready.

Now Thivim Chapel is right on top of the hill, which means a great deal of walking indeed! I had received strict instructions from Lil white mouse to wear formals. Walking is bad enough, walking up a hill is worse, walking up a hill in the heat can be a real pain, but walking up a hill in the heat in formals is a real killer!

By the time we were at the top we were totally drenched in perspiration. And the chapel was also overfull and we didn’t have any sitting place.

We ended up sitting in the corridor which had one lonely fan that did throw some breeze. Crispin and Valley arranged for some chairs, so, thankfully, we didn’t stand the full hour.

We headed back home after mass, glad to have a good fan over our heads. Lil white mouse wanted to visit St. Christopher?s Church, which is the main church in Thivim. However, before that I was treated by the friendly neighbourhood witch doctor for a major catch in my neck, the result of me sleeping on a soft pillow on hard ground! (for some strange reason sleeping in Goa was a problem)

Got some pictures of the church, which was all locked up before we headed back. Had to pickup some provisions and we treated ourself to fake orange fizz.

We also stumbled upon Valley who was drawing water from the well and so I decided to give it a shot (for the photo ofcourse).

Also found some touch-me-not plants out there so indulged in shutting their leaves… hey it’s been a while!

It’s late now, so I’ll keep the beach stories and pictures for another post. Until then…