My "Cricboxes" @ Cricbay League !!!

Well, to add a little fuel to my burning desire of voraciously writing articles and blogs, I had taken up a simple, once or twice a month, article writing task in the Cricket league that I play on the weekends. The league is Cricbay and my team is called - THE IMMORTALS ... The blog was a different perspective and to write about cricket was just another feature that I wanted to explore... Especially after being a hardcore lover of all the articles that Cricinfo post on their website covering the international cricket arena.
(Psst: You can read about some of the stories about my team and the league by clicking here, here or here ...)

As you might see that I have tried to use some cricketing jargon, notions taken from Cricinfo articles and yes I have been a little successful, but no I still have not been the best... I need loads and loads of improvement I guess...

Anyways, the season that I just played in Cricbay is coming to an end, and I would be posting my last article for this season this weekend ... So thought of re-collecting all the articles in one place and post the links here ... This thought came out of just a little laziness by not being able to write a story about my recently concluded eventful Lake Tahoe Sking Trip on Valentine Day...

So until I get my act together, and post that story, following are all the articles that I have so far written under the umbrella of Cricbox for Cricbay League:

CRICBOX:: 28Feb/01Mar :: 09

CRICBOX:: 07/08 FEB :: 09

CRICBOX:: 13-14 DECEMBER : 08

CricBox :: 22-23:Nov:08

CricBox :: 18-19:Oct:08

I know some of them are long fetched essay type articles, but that is how I am, that once I sit to write, I just cannot get enough out of it ... I can just go on and on ...

The next season starts in March, and we have couple of new writers, and it would be exciting to see what new ideas come out from the think-tank of Cricbox writers.

Till then ciao, may god bless you, may The Immortals get their winning rhythm back, may I hit 20+ runs in each game, and may India win in NewZealand this time unlike last tour when I used to wake up so early in the morning in India, watch 2-3 overs, go to the rest-room, and come back to see India all out for a cheap total, and NZ winning the game lol ... (PSST: Please no comments as to how much time I spent in the rest-room, the above was just a exaggerated example) ;-)

(PS: I came back to edit this post with this link which mentions my name lol as a award winner - of-course not as a batsman, bowler or my team winning a finals, but just because I was contributing to these cricboxes :) - http://www.cricbay.com/article.asp?id=275)

Cheers

Samkit

Joker in the Pack - Book Review !!!

Book Review : Joker in the Pack - An Irreverent View about Life at the IIMs
Author: Ritesh Sharma, Neeraj Pahlajani

As a person who is fond of reading from time to time, and exploring the inner hidden writing talent in me (Believe me I myself did not know that I can take up writing as a hobby until lately ...), I found this book really inviting to be purchased and read ... The story took me so much into the eventful IIMs that I read it almost I can say in one stroke in just under 3 days ...

This post is just a short summary of the review of this book as per my perspective...

The name - Joker in the Pack - sums up a lot of information as to what this book could be about ... There has been a trend after "Five Point Someone", for authors to write about life at IIMs and IITs and other famous trendsetter institutions ... This book is nothing different where the entire story revolves around - Shekhar Verma - who hails from a typical Indian middle class family background, and who like others aspires but is fighting to find out the correct direction for his life ... While running in the so-called famous "rat races" as the IITians and IIMites have coined it, the story unfolds the all possible experiences that an averge student can go through while struggling to graduate - peer pressure, family pressure, relatives, love life, friends, break-ups, pin-ups, job hunts, interviews, graduating, dreams, realities of life etc ...

Everything has been described in fine details - life in the hostels, fresher batches, seniors, placements, job hunt programs, studies, outside world, inside world and mind you - the pen has flown just like a smooth talk from an average normal human being ... The usage of language and the way this book has been written, is very informal, very lucid, clear and loud !!!

Overall a book for the light mood, something that you can read at leisure, finish it quickly and yet learn something from it and most importantly travel down the memory lane of your own by imagining your own past and finding similarities in the pages and situations described in this book. Although the overall plot and the gist is quite redundant and at some moments of the book, one can surely guess what is coming next ... But yes it also has some surprises ...

Definitely a worthy one time read.

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Cheers
Samkit

Week 4 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 3.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, as it's said - All Good Things Has To Come To An End !!! :(
And well I was approaching the end of what I would say - a trip filled with fun, laughter, relations, emotions, anxiety, understanding - in all - a turmoil of different emotions with a pint of random thoughts - thoughts about what next? when next? ...

Anyways, leaving parents, leaving home, has always been a tough part for me (and I bet its the same for most of us), as that is one moment, when words just dont come out of the mouth, one cannot just express what he or she is going through, to be true, one also feels that its enough of the vacation mood, and lets get back to work, and after coming back, that person again yearns for his home and wants to go back ... Basically its always a see-saw battle, when here in the US, one is looking forward and dreaming about India and home, and while there, one is just sailing in the happiness of the surroundings and at the end, wanting to come back to the US, even though with a heavy heart ... Same has been with me year after year, and this time was no different ... Although Dipali was staying back, for 15 days (lucky girl), I wanted to do the same too but I think the economical meltdown, with some bad news about my company laying off people, just did not allow the practical side of me from inside to extend my vacation ... Nevertheless the idea of saving more holidays for another important event to come next year - My Wedding, that too made me finally pack my bags and leave my sweet home, the comfort of my Mom's hugs and Dad's caring hands on my head, and I came back ... But the last week was no different either just like the other 3 weeks and this post will be the final chapter of my entire trip ...

Week 4
1/15/2009 - 1/23/2009

Well after a tiring but fun filled first Uttarayan with Dipali, it was a time for celebrtations :) ... Being the first birthday for Dipali with us, and that too back at home, with mom and dad, it was a something special ... Of-course, I, having missed my last 4 birthdays with my parents, and I dont know how many more will I miss, this was fun to be at home and celebrate Dipali's bday on 16th of January... (I am just waiting for my permanent return back to India once I am done here in the USA, then I would be back to enjoying my bdays with my parents lol) ... My close friends - Jaishal, Bhoomi and Soham, Chirtali were kind enough to grace the celebration at midnight, and I got two cakes (of-course those who know me closely enough, one is meant for "eating" and the other cake is meant only for "hitting" lol) ... To tease this darling of mine, I also got some magic candles to take out the air out of her as she kept on blowing them endlesslely ... Sang a bday song, ate the cake decently enough, and then made all hell break loose on her ... I can bet a 100 bucks here, that looking at the pics one would definitely fall off their seats .. My gorgeous damsel was looking even more cute with cake smeared all over her face, her hair and the best part was - her eyes shaped up in a way just like two small marbles placed on her face lol ... Had some fun moments at midnight ...

The next day went to Vishala with mom dad, and to treat the food connosieur in me to the best of the delicacies that one can imagine ... In all the birthday celebration was a great treat after a long long time with just mom dad me and Dipali ... Psst: Dipali ate so much, that she was not able to stand up in one piece ... lol ... I am so lucky that she does not read my blog, I can write anything here lol lol ... She was in love with the ambience and the environment of Vishala ... And to add icing on the cake, I had also gifted her diamond earrings !!! So overall I had a expensive birthday celebration - but was worth it :) Sorry I cannot explain what I got in return gift from Dipali lol ... Ssshhhhhhhh ;-)

Well moving on, this being the last week, I wanted to spend as much time possible at home, and somehow I got this laziness into me, that I just didnt budge from my room, my home ... I did not even wanted to go out the door :( I knew I am gonna miss my home so badly this time ... And I still am while writing this post ... I happened to see the bustling Ahmedabad sky line from the 10th floor of my Grand-dad's appartment and also got a glimpse of the upcoming bus services on Nehrunagar road ... The view was quite amazing, and if one has pics from about 5- years back, one can make out a lot of differences to see that Ahmedabad has truly transfromed into a Mega City ... Took some great pictures here ... ;-)

Dipali's very good friend was also getting married in Ahmedabad (Jannie) ... Attended their wedding and for the first time ever, Dipali wore a saree ... Lol ... Sorry but I found it quite funny ... :P Nevertheless, it was a good 30-40 minutes spent by my mom trying to get the prefection in her saree ... That Mother-in-law-Daughter-in-Law scene was quite funny ... :P

All these days, I spent quite some time with Dad too, trying to understand more about our business and the dealings, the working, the methodology, practical aspects and what not ... Also tried to discuss certain future plans and for the first time felt the importance and the weight of responsibility on my shoulders for my dad's business ... That discussion, those talks and those wise words from Dad keeps me go on and makes me a better human being and gives me immense practical experience ... I would say hats off to someone who is running a factory, in India, as Dad rightly says that if you want to sentence a person to life imprisonment, dont go through the courts and jails, just give that person a factory unit to run ... lol .. Ironically true :) ...

With days coming to an end, my trip reaching its final few days, we also got a Snatra Puja done at our factory ... That few hours spent, with mom dad, Dipali, the workers, on the factory soil, in the presence of God, truly transformed my thinking, my intentions, my ambitions, my views, my moments of silence, and gave me the motivation and the aim for something that I want to achieve in my life ... With God's grace, I will work on that, and who knows, the God might just bless me yet again, just as he has been doing so at each and every step of my life ... Those moments were the most refreshing ones and were truly needed at the end of my trip ...

Having said that, the final day dawned, it was time to go back, to leave home yet again, to get out of the hugs and cuddles of mom and dad, to leave the fresh, hot, home cooked delicacies, to leave the comfort of getting your laundry done outside without even moving a muscle, to leave a world of free SMSes, to leave the bustling and hustling noise filled days of ahmedabad, the time to leave the moist soil, the time to bid goodbye to my birthplace, and the time to enter a world of cement, a world of green money, a world of slavery in terms of washing utensils, cooking food, doing laundry, the world of 9 to 6 and yet the axe on your neck, the world of :
Mournful - Mondays
Tolerable - Tuesdays
Waiting for Weekend - Wednesdays
Tolerable - Thursdays
Fun Speculated - Fridays
Sweet - Saturdays
Sleeping - Sundays
LOL ...

Well it aint that bad I know, I am just being a little exaggerate here, but still India is India, Ahmedabad is Ahmedabad, Home is a home, and the comfort of Parents and family is a boon and a blessing for people away from the motherland soil ...

With this, I bid goodbye to India, with tear in my Mom's eyes, with strong-yet-missing-me type emotions in my Dad's hug, with a strong-confident voice from me - and of-course the chubbly bubbly Dipali too being sad ;-) Mom's friend Pala Aunty and Niru uncle were also present to bid my good bye, and I knew for sure, that even though mom dad will miss me, they do have some great people in their surroundings and life has taught them a lot that now they know who is truly keeping them company in times of my absence ... A special thanks to those who know they have been there for my mom dad in my absence, and for me those people held a special value in my heart ... :)

Well that's it from my side to close this trip account ... Hopefully I have taken some of you down memory lane of your own, shared some of my personal feelings, emotions and moments all along this trip ... Hoping to hear back from some of my regular readers, and of-course as I always say, hoping to hear from my silent readers too ..

One thing for sure is, that this trip blog has surely made a couple of unknown silent readers come to front and made me interact with them ... Thanks for stopping by friends ;-) ...

My next stop is the recently made Lake Tahoe Ski Trip on Valentine's Day ... Kindly come back to take a look at some of the out-of-the world experiences as I share them with you in my next post ...

Till then, take care, keep reading, keep commenting, and May God Bless you All !!!

Cheers
Samkit

Week 3 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 2.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, well ... I never thought that the trip back home and the events that I experienced, would create so much responses from my readers when I would share it with them. Over the past few weeks, those of you who have dropped by my blog, and in fact requested for the links for the pics, I really am glad for that ... And a special thanks to those who have taken out a few minutes of their busy routine life and commented on my posts...

Week 3
1/8/2009 - 1/14/2009

To continue with the memories, Week 3 was just about going to a lot of places, relatives, friends, socializing, having lunches and dinners with them and spending some quality time - a time which one longs for having stayed in the USA. Such is the aura of the atmosphere back at home, that no one gets spared from the cliche social surroundings and like it or not, someone like me always yearns for that environment. That in fact truly describes how life in two entirely opposite countries are different for a common man - A Sunday evening in the US, is described as "depressing", "gloomy" and "stressful" - with people scurrying home in their beds to think about work or business on Monday - and just the thought of it gives you a low feeling...

On the other side, a Sunday evening in India, in Ahmedabad, is all about hustle and bustle of the frantic people flooding the awesome restaurants, movie halls, shopping malls as if it's a season of celebrations for no reason at all... Mind you, it is not that people are not working on Monday or people dont care about their businesses and Monday mornings, but it is just how we back in our country tend to ease out our stress and enjoy the real meaning of Sunday... In fact a lot of people work on Saturdays and so have only one day to enjoy as compared to the "weekend" notion of USA ... Its just we Indians know how to enjoy better !!! lol.

Well with the Gujarat Govt., spending money wisely and in a disciplined way, Ahmedabad now can boast about a lot of infrstructure developments and re-establishments. One such example being the famous old Kankaria Lake... I really wanted to take a look at it after it's restoration and took Dipali along too... What amazed to me was the fact that, people of Ahmedabad, be it any kind of recession the WORLD over is talking about, these people were ready to shell out 10 Rs. for an entry to the lake, and even further some 25 Rs. for a ride in the train. The train is the center piece of attraction and has been imported from some place(Sorry I dont know a lot of details here)... After you enter such a public place, the first generalized idea you get is - Oh man its gonna be dirty and all, people polluting the surroundings etc...

But mind you if you have not been to Kankaria, then be ready to get surprised - as people from whatsoever background they come are now aware of Public Etiquettes and not 100 % but atleast 60-70 % of the people gathered there for a quiet evening stroll, now make it a point not to spoil the image of Kankaria any more. For that I truly support the Govt., charging people to even enter the park. That is the only way one can maintain a truly beautiful public place ... I went in the night time, and so did not catch a clear glimpse of the water, but in the middle of the lake was a giant advertising screen - that showed how technology is catching up... It was a truly memorable evening and makes you fall more in love with Aapnu Amdavad !!! Pics surprisingly came out well considering it was a bit hazy and was in the night ...

Everytime I used to enter my house, the walk from the gate till my house, made me remember so many fond memories, moments that I had spent for about 21 years before coming to the USA... Each trip, each time, makes me feel so nostalgic about my home - "Champanivas" ... The compound walls, the Badam trees, the smashed window panes of my Uncle's bunglow in the front, the underbridge, the whole bunglow itself, in fact sometimes chokes me up with tears - just fondly remembering those childhood and college days spent there ... Summer time cricket, vacations, fast bicycle moments in the compound, learning my first two-wheeler, my car, flying kites, and what not ...

My cousin grand-mother (I hope that relevance means correct in English - its basically my Dadi-Kaki), had invited us for breakfast this week, and as usual her love was to the brink, when she caught my hand, and made me eat a typical winter delicacy which is good for health... My dad, my mom all are fond of her and now she too is fond of Dipali... If Dipali is not seen for some days, then she would immediately ask mom - "Where is Dipa" lol - yeah, she calls her Dipa !!! Such love, warmth and care, sometimes makes me feel as to what am I doing there back in the States, without all these emotions ... I truly believe that I am an emotional guy to some extent, but the stay in the US, did teach me a lot about being practical - but as one says - basic nature is never forgotten ... I took a lot of pics in and around my home this time with my new D-SLR to bring it back here ... The Great Champanivas ... I too have loads of stories to tell to my kids about this home, just like my Dad has told me all these years... Truly Nostalgic ...

Moving on, days passed by, with as usual the shopping trips, dinners at all the goody restaurants that Ahmedabad can boast of, and the day came when I started hearing familiar shouts of - "Kaipo che, Chal Lapet" (It's some of the words one shouts when you cut someone's kite during Uttarayan Festival) ...It was the 14th of January - The Uttarayan day, and this is one such festival which I really love, or rather time has made me enjoy amidst all that is happening in my life, the sole reason being that we the so called NRIs visit Ahmedabad during the months of Dec-Jan and this is the only festival we have on our platter. The rest of the festivals are in such months, where I can just think of enjoying ... But I have decided that maybe after my marriage next year (again which would be around Dec-Jan), I am gonna visit Ahmedabad in some odd month to enjoy some other festival - Navratri, Diwali, Summer Mangoes - anything but Dec-Jan's Uttarayan !!! lol...

My father rightly says "We, the NRIs are like the birds of Nalsarovar, who fly and come down during the winter in Dec-Jan, and as the season comes to an end, we fly back to wonderland" - How ironically true !!! Well, I wanted to take Dipali to the real show, the place where the night turns up aive, with shouts, music, cars honking their horns, people running around buying kites - Yeah - Its called "Katal ki Raat" (Meaning "The ULTIMATE NIGHT ever") ... To experience this one needs to visit some certain parts of the Walled City, and truly what an amazing festive mood it is on both sides of the road. Had to manage really hard to take some pics, but finally got some... Dipali was stunned looking at the crowd and how people were running around with their kites above their heads, and some getting their threads colored and sharpened for the important battle the next day - the battle of the kites and the threads !!!

Next day, we visited several places to be with friends and family, and of-course enjoy the kite festival ... Met my EC friends for a while, went to Dipali's family place in the afternoon and ultimately like all these years, went to Soham (Sotu's) place late evening - as he has a place inside the walled city - and believe me that is where the real Uttarayan is ... The pics speak for themselves ... Had great fun !!! But it was not over yet, my cousins had got together to fly what they call a "Tukkal" - its basically a cardboard type lantern, inside which you light up a candle and tie it to the thread of the kite and send it up - the one with the most number of such tukkals is the envy of others and people try to cut that with their own kites - so the trick is to send another guard kite for protection ... Amazing isnt it?

The week was filled with a lot of nostalgic, excited fun-filled moments, and I could give up anything to experience that again ... Its amazing how these moments are so fresh in my mind, that I can describe them to the tiniest details if asked for ... There are uncountable such outings to malls, restaurants etc which I am not unnecessarily describing here as that would just make me feel so much home sick lol :) ...

Well as always, enjoy this post till I come out with my last week at home - Week 4. As for the pics, you know what to do - just drop in a line at my email - samkit.s.shah@gmail.com OR just drop by a blank comment here on my post even if you dont feel like writing anything to this post.

To make it more interesting for me, I would like to hear about one of THE BEST memories that you would have you would like to put down here in my comments section - a memory from your childhood, a memory from any of your trip to any place, any thing worth remembering ... Do it and read it again - You would truly enjoy it till the end ...

Will be back with Week 4...
Till then - Sayounara ...

Cheers

Samkit

Week 2 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

...Continued from Week 1.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

So as you are still devouring the flavor of Week 1's eventful recipe, let me walk you over to Week 2 of my trip, and unfold the happenings, as we embraced the year 2009 with utmost caution, happiness, feeling nostalgic, and with some anxiousness towards the future. All these mixture of emotions, due to the recent meltdown in the economy and with news pouring from all over the world, about slowdown in the growth and people getting layoffs. If year 2008 had just ended with a downturn in the market and some great names going bankrupt on the financial sector, we just speculated the future of 2009 as we headed into Week 2 ...

Week 2
1/1/2009 - 7/9/2009

As I had rightfully claimed in Year 2008, that none of us on the Cricket team would be spared, none of us in our group shall remain a Bachelor (much to the envy of all the committed people), and come what may, none would be SPARED !!! And it happened so, that almost all of my friends, either got committed, engaged or married... It was GD (Gaurav's) engagement, and at home it looked as if Dipali was getting ready for her own event ... It took her 3 hours just to get out the door and into the car .. Grrr "ladies" !!! Well I don't have a lot of photographs for the first two days of the new year, as most of the day was spent going out for shopping, coming back home to eat Maa's home-cooked hot hot food, and then snore for a while in the mild coldish afternoon ahmedabadi's style nap, and then again go out for shopping ... It was fun, tiring yet amusing to see how the fairer sex can spend loads and loads of time going in and coming out of the shops, and yet purchase nothing, and when asked, have the world-famous answer "It would be better at some other place" - I don't know if that "other" "better" place ever exists for these women ? LOL ... So the tiring part of being engaged and having your fiance's parents not in Ahmedabad, is that you have to take care of the doll all by yourself, and be her chauffer everywhere she wants to go, be her porter by carrying her shopping bags, if anything has been purchased lol ... But it was fun, watching Dipali and taking her around to almost all the small and big places in Aapnu Amdavad - and to guide us with full zeal and vigor was my awesome mom - who has this never say "tired" spirit LOL ... Kudos to mom and Dipali's persistence ... :( grrrrr ... How satirical ...

Anyways, due to my tight schedule on work, and me not making to most of the weddings of all my friends, I was happy to atleast attend one wedding - Ronak's (and Payal's) marriage ... There were quite some events - Mehndi, Bethak, Drinks, Marriage, Reception ... It was fun at his Payal's house for the Mehndi program, with most of us being present there to dance a while .. While couple of my friends were getting tired with the busy schedule they had with all the marriages early in december, for me it was the first one of the season, and so was fun ... The same day as the Mehndi function, I also met my Nirma buddies... The friends from my Undergrad EC (Electronics and Communication) branch, and we met after a long 1 year time ... Meeting old friends, is always fun, especially when you meet after a gap of a year, and brings out a lot of stories, jokes, old memories - again a reminiscing time for me !!! I missed out on two marriages even on that side of my friends list .. But I could not blame anyone, and have no regrets on missing out any of these marraiges, as it was later to come, that my company had done 13 % layoffs, and all that had happened when I was there in India, basking in the glory of my laziness and enjoyment ... That sent down shivers down my spine ... So, in spite of the fact that a lot of my friends were upset and angry for me not making to their Life Changing events lol, they have all my support until I get married next year ... Come what may, the Bahelor pad even though at 50 % operating standards, is still open at Monte Vista in Milpitas here ... If you get thrown out, or get spanked, or are not in a mood to be at home with your worst half, just drop by and we shall have the time of our life lol - "CHEERS" - if that's what you might understand ... (Thank God, Dipali never ever comes down this blogging lane, as she is not fond of reading lol ...)

The 4th of January, marked a day, when another friend of mine, became a Martyr... I hold two minutes of silence here, for the loss of his freedom, for him getting deprived of his independence and for joining me, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to mount upon the band wagon of courtship, and embrace the tag of "Engaged" officially lol ... My heart feels for you Jaishal, and so it was yet another celebration, another day to get dressed up ... The event was fun, as this time I was on the other side of the world, and had complete freedom to harass my buddy as much as I can ... Food was great, Dipali devoured it at ease ... I even tried running away with the ring, which Jaishal's mom had given me to hold, but our Mr. Committed, wanted it so much, and was so desperate to change his status to Mr. Engaged, that he just wanted that ring to be on Bhoomi's (Bhalla) fingers ... Overall a Kodak moment ... Though we are still waiting for the pics from them ... Grrr ...

Next day, moving a step ahead in life, and leaving us - the "engaged" people to face the fire alone, one more of my friend now climbed the horse, and started his journey towards getting married ... It was Ronak and Payal's marriage, and to add to the fun, I had invitations from both the sides ... Payal's mom and my Mom are college time friends, while Ronak is my USC friend ... Well for me it was hard to decide which side to be on, but then I thought Trojans come first, and so it had to be Ronak ... Had a gala time, dancing in the barat, doing bhangra type shoulder to shoulder dancing fights with Bhupesh and Jaishal, stealing the Mojdis (footwear), and literally bombarding Ronak with flowers during his rituals .... I too got hit by some, due to a counter attack launched by Ronak himself, while completing his ceremonies... The reception was fun too, and Payal was a bit upset for me being a Trojan and not coming from the girl's side for the marriage ... lol ... Had fun with everyone ...

End of this week was a trip to Ambaji, to take Dipali to get blessings from Mataji, as we believe a lot in Mataji ... It was going to be my first long trip on road with the Indian stlye of driving - and I did not want to miss that chance AT ALL !!! After all, no cops, no tickets, no fear of being pulled over - and the best of all - NO SPEED LIMITS ... An added advantage was the roads, which I must say, Gujarat Government has done a tremendous job of maintaining ... I have a picture of my speedometer, taken when the pointer touched 120 KMs mark ... It was an awesome feeling, now, you must say that 120KMs is what we can drive here too in the USA for the equivalent value in Miles, but still, the feeling one gets of not being chased by anyone is just too much - a part of one of my wishes from the Bucket List post came true lol ... The darshan were great, felt completely satisfied, happy taking the blessings alongside Dipali, Mom and Dad together as a family .... Well the trip was not just about that, Dad took us to Abu for lunch, and that was another great experience ... They used to do that everytime for a couple of times last year, and had talked a lot about this place which serves amazingly mind boggling tasty food .. .And I was like, lets check it out ... The place is called "Mushkil-e-Aasan" (The translation in the literal sense would be - "Worries made Easier" ... Lol... Funny name, but surprisingly awesome, awesome and more awesome food .... Typical Gujju food, and I gobbled it up as if the world was just about to come to an end, and there were only some last minutes left ... Such was the effect of the food, that I literally had to take support of two chairs to get up, my stomach bouncing in front of my eyes ... Also visited the famous Nakki Lake and took a great amount of pictures ... Overall had an amazing drive, superb food and a great one day style picnic alongwith the blessings of Mataji ... Jai Ambe !!!

Well with this we come to an end of the road, but mind you, this is just a turn around the corner and not a dead-end ... Week 2 ended, in style, fashion, food, friends, engagements, marriage, dances, blessings and food again lol ....

I would really love to share the pics, and so am waiting to send it to all who would post a comment or just ping me on my email address ... It won't look good if I send the links to almost everyone on my Gmail account lol ... Believe me, the pics are awesome and I really want to share them ... So message me anytime ... :)

So by the time you come out of Week 2's happenings, I would be back in action with Week 3 ... I promise you even more fun, even more excitement and even more food !!!

Till then - Alvida !!!

Samkit

Week 1 - Reminiscing the Trip back Home !!!

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Its been a long long time, since I posted something worth reminiscing on my blog. There were some random posts here and there, but nothing substantial for me to sit back and remember later on. Well, well, well ... Now that I am back from a wonderful nostalgic eventful trip from India, from my sweet home, I have tons and tons of things to share, blog, post, describe ...

So overhwelmingly fun was the trip, and so much was the aura and the events surrounding it, that to be true, I find myself bogged down, as to where do I start, and where do I end, and on top of it - I always need to take care that I don't just end up writing a 10-20 page short novel type post. LOL After all its recession time, and there should be some discounts here and there, and savings does matter a lot nowadays, and so to save everyone's time and to save the never ending Google server space, I think I am going to describe my trip very shortly, and let some pics do that talking ... As such my readers are panicking and must be trying to save as much as they can during these crunch times, where every single day you hear about either some company's story being scripted into the pages of history for our children for them to study those stories as case studies, or about people around the world are getting laid... Ironically, its not the literal way where everyone is getting "LAID", but they are being laid from their jobs and being deprived from their daily bread and butter... I can feel that my readers have taken the conservative approach of trying to save their comments to and utilize them in the utmost economical way .. LOL ...

Anyways, coming back to the topic, so, I would surely try to be as much brief as I can in this post about my trip back home, but also hope that you all understand the dilemna I am in, where on one side I find myself all bubbling in excitement to share my experience and some worthy moments, for me to reminisce later ... I don't know how this post would turn out to be, but sometime down the writing lane, if I feel I have already written enough I would just put a "To be Continued ... " sign, and end it there ... Maybe then will follow our Indian Soaps format of writing 500-600 damn episodes ... lol .. No ways !!! I would just split it in some parts if the needs arises, and post it at frequent intervals, maybe just split it week wise ... That way I can descirbe more, and yet not make my readers run away from my Blog ... Lol ... So here we go ...

WEEK 1
12/25/2008 - 12/31/2008

Well it was Christmas day and I left with Dipali for a trip, a trip which would have a different dimension this time around, with me being engaged now. Uptil now, it was a careless, carefree, independent soul travelling everytime to India, but now, not only the load of the bags was more for me to carry (4 bags of 23 Kgs, 2 hand bags, 2 laptop bags grrr, and our Madam Dipali just walking as if she is the Queen of England - Lol ... ) ... Well Jet Airways was excellent, great food, awesome entertainment ... But then, we were in for a surprise ... Because our flight took of late from SFO, we were left stranded on Bombay airport for 6 hours and that is really agonizing once you are just 500 KMS away from your home :( ... Ofcourse we stuffed ourselves with the first indian style Paav Bhaaji at Jet Airways Lounge in Bombay, but then our feet were just restless to land in Ahmedabad ... The pics describe the happy and the sad moments and some glimpses of Ahmedabad from up above including the famous Narmada Canal from from up above ...

Dipali, was visiting my place for the first time, and so this made it even more special, and to make us feel all the more special, my lovely mom had decorated the house with her warmth and love to welcome her daughter-in-law (Bahuraani) lol ... Not only me, but Dipali too was surprised, but very happy to such a welcome ... The pics would speak for themselves ... Mom and Dad's close friends, Niru Uncle, Pala Aunty and Devi (who is surely gonna comment here I know ;-) ), were present to receive us too and due to the delay in the flight, they had get together in the afternoon, and so had to take lunch without my presence... My friend Sotu (again another person who would be commenting here) was also present with her wife Chitrali ... Overall it felt great to be back home, back within the comfort, the warmth and the protective surrounding of parents and Ahmedabad ...

The day I landed, I decided to put my brand new Digital SLR to use ... After all its gonna be a great trip and wanted to capture as much moments as I could to remember later ... So I started organizing all the pictures till the end, in a date wise format and ended up having about 4000-5000 total pics ... Ofcourse all of them are not uploaded, and have sorted just the clear and imp ones lol ... It was going to be the marriage season this time in my group, and on a head count about 11-13 of my friends were getting married ... There was this party from my friend Aditya Modi, and that was the one and only party that I enjoyed this time in Ahmedabad ... Had a great time and as I had the freedome to gulp down only two drinks from my better half, I had to put that freedom to utmost use ... And hell yeah I enjoyed a lot !!! The DJ was awesome, and the drinks even more better ... The best was the flaming shot which the bartender gave - to describe that, its a shot of rum, and there is fire on the bar top, the bartender passes the shot glass through the flame, and gets a small flame on the rim of the glass ... He then climbs the bar top, takes your mouth, wide open, pours down the rum from the glass through the flame.. It feels a little warm, but the kick that one gets is just mind boggling ... Also it was fun dancing with Sotu (After all we had a lot of DJ moments here in the bay area before he left for India) ... Overall the vacation just as I had thought had a kick start with friends, family and ofcourse Ahmedabad style dancing and music ...

As I had got engaged in San Jose, I and Dipali were supposed to meet all our family members from both sides in Ahmedabad ... And so we had planned just a small informal get-together type party at Kalhar Bunglows ... Just my mom and dad's family members, friends and Dipali's family... None of my friends were invited as this was strictly informal and restricted to only families ... (Ofcourse a couple of my friend's parents were invited based on my mom and dad's relations, but I felt so oldish sitting there amongst everyone who was atleast 5 years older to me...lol) We made a visit to the venue, and I showed Dipali the Ahmedabad style of living in a Bunglow scheme which takes an American type community kind of feeling ... As on one side we were planning the party, the other side, Dipali's shopping instincts were rising and so were the frequent trips to the Designers and almost all the top of the line branded/unbranded designer shops and boutiques ... For once I felt like changing my career to a full time designer ... Who would have the faintest idea, that by the end of my trip, I would have all the ranges, prices and contact information of about 20 different designer studios, and fashion people in Ahmedabad by heart ... Well I guess that is the price one has to pay of being engaged lol .. But it was fun, and for once I felt, that Ahmedabadis are surely upto the hype of fashion ...

Stores to go : Satya Paul, Shyamal Bhumika, Anuraag, Anuroop, Gamthi, Deepkala, Asopalav, Radhika, Purvi Doshi's Opium, Elaan, Sanskruti, Bandhej, Ethnicity, Bijouri, Kanisha, Utsav etc ... There are a lot many, but I seem to now have forgotten all those ... And mind you none of these, with the exception of Shyamal Bhumika, were something of my interest ...Grrr but it was fun lol ;-)

As I said above, 30th Dec was the day of my party, and co-incidentally it was also Aditya's marriage on the same day, and further to add to the band-wagon of co-incidences, it was to be held in Kalhar, and that too just 3 plots away from my venue ... Lol .. Some of my guests, by mistake entered Aditya's marriage, and were shocked to see a big party, and thought that Samkit was getting married or what ??? lol ... But it was fun to meet all my family members, cousins, elders, new borns ... Dipali was having a hard time remembering the relations and the names to tag with them ... lol .. The food from Gwalia Caterers was awesome, the decoration done by my Kaki from Bombay was just simply decent ... Overall had a great time to see myself at home, in Ahmedabad, with my family, with my parents, and get a feeling of "completeness" ... Totally Bliss !!! Ofcourse there were a couple of glitches too, the lights went off just 1 hour before the party, Dipali's dress was not ready a day before and a lot of things ... But at the end all was well !!!

The last day of the year, a year which had been full of events, on a personal front, on an emotional front, that on the morning of the 31st, I thought of writing a post, of certain events that touched me personally, and also to remember certain happenings that moved the world, terrorism, recessions, bankruptcies, cricket wins etc etc ... But changed my mind, as I was in no mood to sit down and write something while enjoying in Ahmedabad ... Just felt too lazyyyyy ... Well, it had been a great rocking year for me, in all aspects, Dipali, Job, Family, Friends, Job etc.. Since there were no good DJ parties this time around in Ahmedabad, me and my couple of friends just got together for a dinner at TGB, and then I went home to have a drink and welcome the new year with my parents by my side ... Somehow, for the past couple of years, I have been in Ahmedabad during 31st whenever I have made trips back home, and so I always felt that its more better to welcome the new year with Mom and Dad, instead of going to a Dance Party, as the fun is always there in the US, but mom dad are not to be during such times ... Add to it, I was also given an icing on the cake.. Dipali had permitted me to unlimited drinks on 31st, and what a perfect liquor I had instored for me - My favourite - VODKA !!! (It was a Beleverde Citrus Vodka) ... It was a great time enjoying with Dad, with mom and Dipali both looking with strange eyes at our drinks (Dad - hi-fi lol ;-) ) ...

Phew ... I just previewed this post of mine, and I thought that there are sooooo many things that I have not mentioned here, and yet this post is long enough to bore my readers down ... Well but then, there are some who would go to the extent of reading between the lines, and more interested to take a look at the pics ... Well you guys have a treat of both the aspects so sit back and enjoy !!!
This is the end of Week 1, and with it also the end of a Mesmerizing Year 2008 for me !!!

I would be back with Week 2 in some time ...
Till then Adios !!!

Cheers

Samkit

Apology Letter to the Blogging World !!!

To
Me, Myself and My Readers,

This apology letter comes from me, to myself and everyone, for not being up-to-the mark, in terms of getting into a long delay for the posts.
But given the fact, that I am enjoying and basking in the warm sun on my soil, my birth place, makes it even more interesting for me to come back and write stories about this trip of mine to India, and that too with my sweetheart fiance who just turned 24 today.

Well my hands are itching, to start writing long posts about this eventful trip of mine from day one, but I still have about a week to go, a week before I go back to a land which ironically for me is the land of labor, and where I often tell my friends, that we are all servants working in a foreign country, and just as our servants at our home in Ahmedabad, once a year go back to their villages (desh ma javanu), the same way, we too make yearly trips to our "Desh" ... Lol ...

Anyways, not to spoil my mood any further, this letter is just to indicate that I am still hale and hearty, and am alive in my senses, lol, and this long absence from the blogging world is only because I am having a GREAT BALL here at my home, with my parents, my fiance, and all my relatives and friends ... More stories to come in subsequent posts, once I leave the warmth of my abode and embark upon the flight back to Uncle Sam's land ...

Till then, adios, alvida, aavjo and buh-byeeeee !!!

Cheers

Samkit