Marriages are Made in Heaven - 11th Dec 2009 !!!

[PS: Warning: This is going to be a long one ... Come on fellaws, it's about my marriage after all ;-)]

A person in his/her entire life, comes across many such events, experiences a lot of such occasions, wherein some of them are truly mesmerizing and some undoubtedly life changing moments. These series of events, these Kodak moments are truly and fondly remembered for the rest of the life and talked for many years to come and go.

One after other a person goes through such important deviations of life, walks through such bends round the corner entering a different lane across the long journey that he/she has already begun since their birth. As the saying goes, there is always a first time to everything, and an auspicious and important moment that took place in my and Dipali's life was also one of those first time things [ and with everyone's blessings will be the first and the last for both of us :) :) ].

In continuation to my previous post, the pre-wedding celebrations had just ended the night before the D-day and I was lazily loitering around my house wondering about the next day. People have been there for tons of generations before me, and in spite of marriage's own sweet bitter taste of symphony, people are still going for it :) :) :) !! Well the entire week had been exciting, fun and exhausting too. But what was to come would definitely have it's own new fresh set of zeal and enthusiasm of celebrations.

11th Dec 2009 - The day dawned with a fresh stroke of sunlight only to find me sitting in my shorts and a sleeveless tee, in the middle of the room, with about 15 ladies around me, smearing my face, hands and legs with what is said a typical entity made out of Turmeric and Flour, yellowish in color and definitely the worst aroma it could have E V E R !!! No one left a tiny patch of skin neglected as these lovely ladies put their best effort in to perform the ritual of "Pithi" on me. This brings a great shine to the face - that is what everyone seems to instruct me whenever I would refrain from getting this done over and over again for 30 minutes or so. I was just dreaming about a hot shower with a floral essence while all this was happening.

I heaved a sigh of relief right after a nice bath and adorned the clothes of the groom with pride and instantly felt goose bumps coming and going. With a lot of hustle and bustle going on outside my room, the cameramen setting up the living room with their studio lights and people chatting and bantering, trying to have their own little fun amidst the event, I was sitting quietly, all dressed up, wearing the best possible outfit that a male could ever get blessed with (for once and for all in his lifetime lol), thinking about the life ahead. Well you must be thinking is he insane or what right ... To be true, I was not at all thinking of my life, but only thinking about my wife to be ;-)

Well the entire wedding procession was suppose to be in 3 parts.. The first was at Champnivas my home, as per the auspicious time, the second one at Amaltas, where every one was officially invited to be a part of my celebration, and then the third one at Rajpath where the actual ceremony was going to be held. After almost a 100 clicks at my home in all kinds of Bollywood, Hollywood, Gollywood and Kollywood poses, I finally was allowed to tap my feet with my cousins and a couple of friends at the beats of a "dholi". Thereafter a long trip along with two of my sisters to Amaltas felt like never ending, especially when those two kept on talking endlessly about 50 different topics and I was lost somewhere else. (No offense sisters, but try n understand a groom's feelings lol .. lots of love ... ;-) )

The break at Amaltas felt nice, and I got some time to have a breather from the hype and hoolah of the entire event. All my friends, relatives, cousins and dad's friends were present at the venue. The police band was playing all the famous tunes and the dance lovers were leaving no stones upturned as they swayed to the beats and my aunt (Mrs. Ila Jagdish Dalal) made sure that all of them had their hands, hips and legs tapping to the music. I just could not resist and in spite of some big no-no from a couple of people, I just pushed myself into the crowd to give it a go for 10-15 min. That was all, when the right time came to move on with the "Jaan" and proceed to the final destination.

Once again, as we approached Rajpath's Diamond Hall, the auspicious place for the marriage, the music started again, and this time, it was not just us, but for a brief period of time my in-laws joined in too. After the Pandit's interruption only, the band stopped playing, and as I stepped out, my Mother-in-Law approached me for the rituals. Well now, this is the moment that no son-in-law would never ever want to go against him. In this small ritual the bride's mother while performing the rituals tries to grab hold of the son-in-law's nose and tries to squeeze it. The groom definitely has to save his nose and for that, my good friend Vivek Patel did a nice job, as he literally blindsided me with a napkin to cover my nose. At the end it came through nicely and I held my nose high with my mother-in-law staring at me and Vivek lol.

The bride was already waiting with a garland in her hands as my friends made sure that it's gonna be difficult for her to simply put the garland around my neck. Kunjan and Aditya lifted me on their shoulders and all I could do was tell them to hold me carefully and not cause any harm to my sensitive parts of the body ! Well Dipali was not be left out either, as two people ushered her up too, to be face to face, and put the garland around me !!! With that, we the boy's side were given a warm welcome into the hall and the marriage rituals had begun.

The ceremony in Jains lasts hardly 30-40 minutes as after a couple of other rituals, the time came when both of us were instructed to get up and take the rounds in front of the holy fire. With that, came an instant bombardment of almost all the flowers, petals, leaves etc etc etc that my friends, Dipali's friends, cousins could get hold of, and Dipali was literally blinded by that attack on us. There were hardly any strands left on stage which might bear some flowers in them.

Putting garlands onto each other, and with the rings exchange, the entire ceremony ended as we were declared Husband (Has-Bandh - stop laughing) and Wife ... Well, I wondered if I had got married as per the American way, I might have got the opportunity to kiss the bride too, but alas, that would have to wait ;-)

Fast-forward ...
With plenty of blessings from the old members of the family, with lots of hugs and love from the younger ones, and after about 100s of camera clicks, the time came when my in-laws would be bidding Dipali farewell, and I was waiting to see the sad scenes :( But, as my luck would be, Dipali did not shed a tear as people around her were almost down to a bucket full of tears !!! Even her brother managed a few (might be thinking that it's a compulsory ritual lol) ...

With that, we came back home, for a last ritual, where both of us would have to dip our hands in the auspicious red water and hunt for the coin/ring. It's like a game, best of 5, the winner is supposed to dominate the other half for the rest of their life. Well, as it was supposed to be "naturally", I won 4 times and let her win 1 time for the sake of just not calling her a loser 5 times in a row :)

Phew !! Even as I am writing this, I am just smiling and grinning from ear to ear, remembering all those flashes and missing home even more !!!

Thanks to each and every single person, for being a part of the most important occasion of my (our) life, thanks for being there physically and/or remotely and sharing my happiness and joy, and for all your well-wishes and blessings !!! For those who could not make it to my wedding due to unavoidable circumstances I have uploaded some very few pics to share and I hope my description above did made you feel as if nothing was missed :) :) :) !!!
(Sorry due to privacy issue I am not uploading a whole bunch of other pics, but if you have not yet seen those just drop an email to me : samkit.s.shah@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to share those with you !!! )

Click Here for some very very few Pics at a glance !
(The rest on Facebook / Orkut)

More coming up in the next post, but a short version, of the Reception Dinner and how much our haw line bore the pain of smiling through the entire event :)

Cheers
Samkit-Dipali

An Exclusive New Blog for The Immortals !!!

Well, as we are all gripped in this economy meltdown, there is one thing we all here in the Bay Area look forward too, and by all I meant only the males, and not the fairer sex, who by now have more ingenious ideas and tricks in their kitty bags to enforce upon us the negative effects of cricket ... But, who says we listen to them? Lol ... (I know deep down, all of us, no matter what kind of kings we are on the field, at the end, on the home ground, on the home pitch, we are just a mere spectator when our better halves play their innings) ...

So anyways, to add some spice to our cricket team The Immortals, I proposed this idea of creating our team's own exclusive blog - A blog, a stint which would cover the basics - Articles, Updates, Team News, Match Reports, Statistics, Comments, Analysis - and above all just something to have on records - as I always say - to reminisce for our later ages when we all players can sit back and are watching our children play this game (hopefully under the same name - The Immortals Juniors) ... So here it is our own exclusive blog and I hope to maintain it with all the latest information ...

http://immortals11.blogspot.com/

Follow the Immortals, on this blog, and you will never miss out on a moment of our cricket action :)

Cheers
Samkit

Moving on ... Yet another move !!!

Amazing how it has been, but the fact is I moved once again and I bet there are plenty of you out there who have been through the same painful routine of moving your apartment/house plenty of times. Yes, its painful, tiring, frustrating at times and at the end you just wish you had not moved and continued staying at your current place. But surprisingly it feels great when you mesmerize and try to recollect the memories that you had spent at those previous places where you lived and how you try to go back and travel down the memory lane to relive those precious moments - good or bad, it does not really matter, the only thing that matters is that you can pen down certain events during your stay in those places which you would always fondly remember till the end of your life and would tell tales about those delightful recollections from the past to your children and grand-children for years to come. LOL !!!

Well that is what I am gonna do with this post. I am gonna try and recollect my past experiences and memories that I have carried with me as I moved on from one place to another and I bet this post would sum it all for me. Of-course knowingly or unknowingly there would be a lot of people out there who would be reading this post and would be a part of my trip down this memory lane.

Crossroads of Life - "Champanivas" : 1983 - Present
Well everyone loves the place where they are born, the place where they grew up and most importantly the place which gives them a feeling of security, satisfaction and tons of memories to share about their younger years, wonder years and teenage years. It turns out to be a perfect cliche trend. Well the most wonderful memory for me about this place back in my home city Ahmedabad, is the big big compound where I used to break window glasses while playing cricket, where I used to ride my Hercules MTB bike in full speed during rains to splash mud and water all over, a place where I used to steal lemons from my neighbor's gardens, a place where I learnt driving my two wheeler and my car, a place which gives me a sense of historical importance about my forefathers when I listen to my dad's stories about his memories for this place, a place where I had my biggest celebration of winning a drawing competition, a place where I have fell down, got hurt, risen up and again fell down from trees, balconys while running away from the wrath of neighbors and relatives. This place has given me everything - memories, good and bad, a feeling about turning back home every time I feel lost. It would be sad to leave this place in some time, in the near future, and if it were in my hands, I would have never let this place go and would have re-built the Shah's Manor for me and my family to live here for more wonderful years to come. But I think I would have to part ways with this wonderful place in some time and mostly my trip to India this December would turn out to be my last stay at this place. Truly a nostalgic rememberance.
Places nearby to remember: Fashion Corner, Sanman Restaurant, Daandwalas, Tripathi Paan House, Bhatias, Deepavali Center, Mahavir Book Depot, Satar Taluka Society, Samruddhi, Sakar.

The First Pit Stop - Artesia, Shailesh Uncle's Residence, California.
Well, amazingly the first time I stepped out of the comfort of my residence above, I landed up in Uncle Sam's land, the land of dreams (concrete dreams), and I found myseld staying at my Dad's college friend's place in Artesia, Los Angeles. I remember the first 10 days I stayed at this place, and I instantly felt that this is going to be my second home equivalent to Champanivas and will be the center around which my future years will revolve. I stayed up with a friend of mine initially, and remember making everyday trips to "Surti Farsan" just round the corner on Pioneer Blvd for a treat of Indian snacks and delicacies. My stay at this place really got me settled well, and uptil now I always try to make it a point to visit them even for 5 min whenever I visit Los Angeles.
Places near by to remember: Surti Farsan, Cash n Carry, Naz8 Cinemas, Tirupathi Bhimas, Rasraaj.

The Second Light - 2717 Orchard Avenue, # 3, Los Angeles, USC.
When we initially signed up for the lease at this apartment near to my university (University of Southern California), we never knew, or did not even have the faintest of ideas, what was to come in the future years. This place was, is and will always remain closest to my heart, and no matter what, you would never ever find me get tired while talking, bragging, boasting and recollecting memories from this biggest party place that I have been a part of. I know a lot of readers of this post will go down shoulder to shoulder with me to recollect the memories spent at this place, and will get a big smile on their face just remembering those days. So I would leave it to them to post their comments for this heavenly abode. Partying, Movies, Music, Cooking, Torturing, Fighting, Cricket, MTA, USC Tram, USPS Cart, Greme (Cards), Poker, Laundry room goof ups, Mr. Bob and his station wagon, Amazon Shopping fiesta, Skipping the Rent Cheques, Bird Watching and ofcourse "studying" are a few components that make up for this place. Amazingly it is this place where roads crosses for a lot of us out here, a group that I am a part of, close friends, and as I always rightfully say - it is 2717 Orchard that gave me a second family to belong to. I really wanted to write a lot, but it would be a big big post if I try and recollect my memories in this villa. LOL.
Places nearby to remember: Electric Lotus, Santa Monica beach, JH Bazar, Mexican Hair Cutting Salon, 710 Parties, 2611 Portland, Ralphs, Several high schools for coaching, Dennys, Subway, Cromwell Cricket, Leavy Cricket, Smirnoff Ice, Malibu Rums, Bloddy Marys.

Exit Number Three - 138 N. 8th St., San Jose.
Well after spending 2.5 glorious years at USC, I found myself on road once again, travelling and shifting to a new place, a new city, a landing which would turn out to be my permanent residence till I stay in the USA before shifting back to India. The Silicon Valley as it is famously coined, the Bay Area, a place which controls almost 70-80 % of the entire planet Earth and which amazingly can absorb almost everyone who has a desire to succeed in the industry. So I stayed with my school friend (who happens to be my next door neighbor back in ahmedabad) at his place near SJSU, and those 3-4 months spent there, really helped me once again to settle down in a new environment. If you have been a true follower of my blog, and know me personally, then you can imagine how hard it would have been to part ways from Los Angeles, departing from 2717 Orchard, and getting settled in a new place, but 138 N. 8th St. gave me no time to think about all those, and I instantly got into the groove. Met a couple of past friends, used to get the biggest laughter dosage every night before sleeping and above all made some great new friends for years to come.
Places nearby to remember: SJSU , La Tequiera, Vivid Club.

Stop Sign # Four - Metro Gardens, San Jose.
Although a very brief and a short stay at this place, it gave me a wonderful feeling and memories worth mentioning as it involves my parents. We stayed here for just one month and the purpose of their trip made it all the more special. It was my graduation ceremony that they had to attend and that made this place a very memorable one to stay with mom and dad. I took them to almost all places in and near Bay Area and as an icing the graduation ceremony was the most enjoyable and proudest moment for them. For the first time in my life, I felt a great great feeling of personal satisfaction for having done something for them.
Places nearby to remember: La Tequiera, Chinese grocery store, Derasar (Temple), Santa Cruz, Napa Valley, Sausalito, San Francisco.

The Fifth Junction - 1406 Birchmeadow, San Jose.
Moving on, I along with my oldest friend from high school, and another new friend, moved into this wonderful place, a place which I would truly call the "Bachelor's Pad". The best memories of this place to start with is Partying, Partying and More Partying. One year spent at this drunkard's dungeon, brought out the real bachelor not only in me, but also in some of my friends and gave me the most wonderful freedom year of my life. No studies, only job, no girl friends, only partying, no one to bother you - just you and your freedom. Also this place saw the birth of The Immortals - the cricket team that I am a part of now, saw a lot of poker, and saw the coming of age for me personally by getting settled down in a nice little easy pace for life. Again, as always, new friends, new relations were built upon and will remain in place for years to come. But the best memory that stands out in this place, is the dance routine that was done after Thanksgiving last year in 2007. By then, certain dance styles had become trademarks for certain people.
Places nearby to remember: Taste Lounge, Milan Restaurant, Fluid SF, Stanford beating USC, Garba Nights, Mammoth Lake, Yosemite, Long Islands, Red Bull with Vodkas, Tequillas.

The Sixth Turn - 211, The Americana, Mountain View.
Ahem !!! No words how lucky and hard this place turned out to be - Lucky because the bachelors of the Bachelor Pad above got committed/engaged as soon as they started living at this place, and Hard because the FREEDOM was lost !!! LOL ... This place saw the rising of the Martyrs, people became brave enough to face the Matrimonial front, and amazingly all did good, and here we are at this last turning point in our life, where we departed ways from being a full-time bachelor to a full-time-answerable-to-fiance type person. Lol. Of-course - No regrets, no worries, and no repentations. Even though stayed at this place for only 6 months, but shared some of the greatest moments with my roommates about the banalities of marriages. We have decided to throw a party on May 15th when the lease for this apartment gets over "officially", as it did give us a hard time when moving out to a new place. But nevertheless, some great memories to cherish, immortals winning the gold cup, people getting committed, I getting engaged, shifting the rooms 6 times in 6 months lol but above all, the end of the Partying Era and the Freedom Dynasty !!!
Places nearby to remember: Chaat Paradise, Amarin Thai, Temptation, Washington Park, Remington and Mary, Lucky, Namaste Plaza, Americana Hall, Apt 511, 1 $ Scoops, Madras Cafe.

The Seventh Mile - Monte Vista, Milpitas.
Phew !!! Well here I begin a new chapter of my life, the last chapter before I get married in Dec 2009. This year to come shall see a lot of wonderful memories shape up, moments worth reminscing and events which shall be written down as time goes by. I just moved in this nice place, the center of the bay area, 3 days back, and it has already begun to show flicks of the best time I would have here before I enter the wonderful phase of marriage in almost exactly a year's time. By this same time next year, I would already be hunting for another apartment for me and Dipali to move into, to begin a new verse of my life, and also the most important one. So lets see how this stint goes around for one year.
Places nearby to remember: Derasar, Milan Restaurant, Great Mall, and many more places to come.

Well, so till next year, its the last lap for me in this race of being a half bachelor, the last pit stop for me to refil my tank with all the energy that I can gather before marriage, the last light to pass and go to the other side of the heavenly bliss(marriage lol), the last exit to take and enjoy my courtship, the last stop sign where I will halt before moving on, the last junction to cross with friends, the last turn before entering the bondages of marriage, and the last mile to walk alone before I start the walk of my life hand in hand with Dipali.
The next destinaton would be the move into a new home for me and Dipali.

Cheers to all of those wonderful people with whom I have shared my life's amazing memories in all the places mentioned above. You people rock and so does our memories !!!
Feel free to mention any places worth remembering that I have left out and you have been a part of, feel free to point out any moments which stands out whether or not I have been a part of it or not, and above all free to comment on your experiences about moving into new places as time goes by.

Samy

Life at what it does the Best - Creating Memories !!!

Reminiscing the year and a half which went by ...

This blog will include a lot of names - friends' names of-course - who have been an integral part and without whom this blog post would have not existed in the first place ...
So people who might read this post, could be or could not be knowing these people who will pop up now and then as I write this long script ....

Click "READ MORE" to read the entire post ...


Its been almost a year and a half since I landed up in this place which is famously coined as "The Silicon Valley" ...
Of-course this notation is more prevailing amongst people around the world who really fantasize about this so called hyped place where it is said that the world breathes because of the technology and innovations which are fostered here in the Silicon Valley ...

For most of us - the fun loving, enthusiastic young crowd its just simply termed "The Bay Area" !!!

Yep ! Its been a long time since I started working here and shifted out of Los Angeles. LA was like a paradise to me and gave me some of the best moments of my life which if I have to pen down then would turn out not to be a long long blog but instead I can write a book on those splendid years which I spent at USC... But I didnt knew, that I was going from a paradise to another heaven itself, and this new place will sketch out even more memories which I can talk about and remember for years to come ...

I was just chatting with my friends Nirmam and Suhani(Bhabhijiii) and its during this conversation that we discussed what should be the next topic of my blog ....
Why not recollect some memories from the year which just went by ...Ofcourse bhabhijiii's topic was something different which I am still working on .... (Ha bhai) !!
Is this a good time to do so ? Well some would agree some wouldnt - But I think any time is a good time to sit back and remember those moments and just have a laugh about those ....
I personally feel that "Life Kya thi Kya Phonchi Gai" .... How our life has traversed through Stop Signs, U- Turns, One-Ways, Right Turns, Left Turns and some times just Stalled , waiting for something exciting to happen - which is where I would exactly place my life to be today !!!!

I don't know where to begin, but for starters, I used to live with a group of SJSU buddies, all of them being students, initially when I came to San Jose, of-course there were my USC buddies too, who had already shifted but couple of them were already married, and/or were living far from my job ...
So I started living with Vivek Modi (My next door neighbor back in ahmedabad, my high school friend), Sahil, Kunjan (i was scared the first time I saw him), Jimmy, Sanato (Viral) ... Had loads of fun ... as straight out of USC, I was still not willing to give up my student life style ... I just wanted to njoy the way I used to do at USC and so I really enjoyed every bit of my stay in downtown San Jose...Its during this time I met my old high school mates - Nirmam and Karan(Batti as he was used to be called) .... I still remember that one party I had with them in a club called Vivid in San Jose, and I didnt knew this was just the beginning lol !!!! There were MORE to come later on ....(People who are aware of it might understand it already ..... hahahaah lol )... I also met Gaurang (Tanna), and when I saw him the first time I was like - WHAT THE HECK !!!! He had converted to a Hip Hop star ... hahaah just kidding ...
So yeah those couple of months, living the exact same student life, got me in the groove, helped me settling down ... I still remember I used to go to LA almost once a month for sure, and sometime twice a month .... I still do now .... That thing for a matter of fact has not yet changed !!! (Damn I already have like 28K miles on my Camry ....) ....

Further moving on, we had a great trip to Lake Tahoe with almost all my USC buddies, skiing, hot tub in the backyard.... was a great fun trip .... Meanwhile, my high school buddy Vivek (Patel) also got a job here in the "Bay Area" and we decided to move into a new appt in May/June .... Amidst all this, my parents visited me for my graduation .... That Moment when I took the Walk , being a USC Graduate, Parents with me - I have no words to express that moment, those 2-3 minutes of moist eyes, happiness, if someone knows why I felt it that way its only because they would understand and know what I had gone through in order to graduate "FINALLY" !!!!
I enjoyed every bit of those moments with my parents ...

So me and Vivek moved in with Harsh (Harshya) in San Jose .... Meanwhile Nirmam was also in the loop .... and Then started the partying circuit .... Me, Nirmam, Vivek, Harsh, Savan and ofcourse SOTU (Soham) .... No matter how much one would be getting frustrated during the whole week at job, but come thursday/fri, everyone would get Guestlist emails in their inbox saying "You are on the guestlist" .... No matter what, we partied hard almost 2-3 times a month ..... Those moments in Taste Lounge and Fluid in San Francisco would be remembered a lot .... The first DJ Aqeel night, where Sotu got us in by just yelling "Leena" (Nirmam and I were like what the hell !!!!) .... Oh Man !!! Those were the days of complete freedom (ofcourse I still do have that freedom) ..... (Psst : Pun Intended) ....

Moving on, Sotu announced that he is moving back to India - "Permanently" !!! Oh man shit !!! We were all like - Come o Yaar Sotu yaar, No yaar , There is nothing in India yaar .... Ofcourse inside we all knew, that someday we will be lucky too to announce "I am going back to India permanently" !!!!! But yeah, we still sometimes - and PLEASE MIND ALL only "Sometimes" do miss Sotu King !!!! But then in came Bimal Lal !!!!
Bimal bhai, and his round the clock Tea Service, and those Poems and Small Funny Stories ..... It felt that for the first time there was no age bar ... Bimal bhai was our roommate for a good 4-5 months and even though he was older to us (married and has a child) we never felt it that way, nor did he felt that we were too young... in fact he always used to say "I have become younger for some time now" !!!! hahahahaah Nirmam is a fan of the daal-bhat he used to make, we still remember the great Mammoth Lake Trip we all had - Me, Vivek, Nirmam, Bimal bhai, Harsh, Ravish, Kalgi, Karan, Suhani, Bhupesh, Chinar, Darshil, Avani, Lichy ? (hope i didnt miss someone ?) ....I also had a great November long weekend, with my college buddies, Kartik and Jai visiting California, and we travelled like what almost all of Northern california, with Jaishal Bhoomi Jeet Ruchi Rucha Vivek etc ....Bhaskar one of my other college friend, also was here for some time ... How can I forget the great great "BOYS NITE OUT", and the funny moments at Naan n Curry later on that night, in SF !!!

Then came the trip to India, which saw further surprises and changes .... Sotu got married, Nirmam got committed - This seemed as if the partying is gonna end or what ? NAH !! I was wrong I guess....lol ...Bhupo(Bhupesh) also got committed. .... So it was the season of love I guess in India !!!! Came back, finished one year at job, got a new title at work and above all my own matrimonial front was getting active and there was a lot of buzz that I might get married too even before I would leave india .... but still here I am - very much single !!!! ;-)
Bimal lal left, and while he was there we also had Ankit (Aghro as bimal bhai used to call him) ....Well life was going on pretty smoothly I would say ....

Well there was no excitement - and suddenly out of the blue, we thought why not register to play cricket - why not have our own team and play the tournament .... Whoa !!! THATS IT ~!!!!! All The Hidden passions, desires, talent and what not started surfacing and the only buzz amongst us was "The Immortals" and how we can WIN !!!! Thats it... Some of you might have already followed my blog and would be aware of this .... So every weekend after weekend, it was like Partying and then Cricket !!!! We had a great pool of talented players - Savan(Captain), Darshil(Vice Captain), Ronak, Keko(Karan), Bhupesh, GD(Gaurav), Ravish, Aditya(DOG), Vivek (Patel), Vivek (modi), Sanato (Viral), Kunjan (Kapad), Manan, Harsh, Nirmam, Karan(Batti) and ofcourse Me (Manager hahaahahah) .... Well this cricketing moments were real fun and made us fresh to face the torturing week to follow at job .... (Psst: Amidst all this, there was this big fight between me and Harsh too, and hahaahah the funny part is Keko was almost thinking that I would go and hit Harsh or do something like that .... But let bygones be bygones ....) .....

Then we decided to shift, to a new place, well and no one would have guessed that this new place called "The Americana" in Mountain view, would have to be the platform for a love story to build upon, a place which one of us would remember for the fact that it is this new surrounding that let the love in the air blow in all directions .... Yes as most of you know by now,... Vivek (Patel) has found his partner ... Aarohi .... So this was like the prem kahani of Appt 211 and 511 brought under the roof of Americana !!!! Meanwhile, Aditya (The Dog) also shifted permanently to the "Bay Area", and just recently we had a BLAST at his surprise bday party which Paula his better half had organized .... That party relived some of the older USC memories some of us had and also relived some partying memories too which we used to have last year ....

So just looking forward to what is gonna come next within a few months, by the end of this year ....
Vivek getting engaged (could be getting married too - who knows - this is life !!!!)
Nirmam getting married
Karan (Batti) getting married
Bhupesh getting married
Aditya getting married
Ronak getting married

Phew !!! Tired already ??? What a storm or events !!! Whoa !!! Damn !!! That's what I and Nirmam were discussing ... Life Kya Thi Kya Phonchi Gai Che !!!
Hahahaahahahah !!!

Its amazing to just sit back and think for a while as to how our paths have crossed each other, how have we found each other, how and where life is taking us - together or alone !!!!
And the tequilla shot here is - No Matter what we think, or we do, we have no control over this series of events which surround each of our life !!!

So just looking back to these small events surrounding most of us here in the circle I just have one quote which I found somewhere on the net :

“Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.”

Cheers

Samy

(Disclaimer : There have been a lot of other events but I thought lets keep it short and simple LOL ;-) ) !!!!