Spelling Fame & Success

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding - R.L.Stevenson.

True Indeed! My aim of keeping on writing, and getting published some day seems to have moved a step forward. "Diligence is the mother of good fortune".

It feels really great and honoured to be interviewed and published - a small step to fame and success; I have started tasting it, I guess.

I was almost stunned when I read an email from WebNeeTech team about interviewing me as a blogger and featuring it on their website. I had no reason to say NO. Why would one? Having composed myself after the excitement and smiles and giggles, I finished completing the questionnaire (this took me 4 days to complete). Read the interview here.

My interview was finally published on 6th November, and again the smiles and giggles and various other gestures of satisfaction dawned on my face. The glow on my face that day could have put all Doves, Fairglows, Men's fairness creams, Fair & Lovelys to shame ;-]

I sent the URL of my interview to all my known and unknown ones. "When you have it, flaunt it" - I say. Of course, there is no need for m to iterate it here, once again. However, many of my readers bombarded my inbox (Email and SMS) with complaints that they couldn't read the entire interview, just the intro, and that they could not post any comments, and today the "post comments" section itself has disappeared. I couldn't face the agony of my readers anymore. And hence, I post this post. Can't afford to leave my readers disheartened. You can leave your comments on my blog and feel good about, and also make me feel good.

Thank you for all the appreciation and support. Cheers.

London Dreams - My Experiments With Truth

Taking over from the hangover of the histories that I mentioned yesterday, I am now going to pen down my experiments with the icons of that history. Yes, indeed, I did try every single type of drink - I practice what I preach, you see ;-).

It will not be possible for me to express in precise words what the experience was like, when tasting some of those beautifully blended, well mixed, scrumptious drinks. Hence, I will constrain myself to just exhibiting my experiments with truth :-D

Standing (L-R): That is some nalla blended scotch whisky, this was my first trial in an attempt to save some pounds. I don't even remember the name of this whisky - not important anyways.

Red Label: Laal cchhadi (stick) maidan khadi, kya khoob chadhee, kya khoob chadhee (kick) . That says it all and I am sure you all will agree.

Smirnoff Ice - a pre-mixed Smirnoff Vodka with some lime flavour. It tastes ok. Just chill it, gulp it, forget it.

Teacher's Highland Cream Blended Scotch Whisky - one of UK's favourite blends, they say. In the UK this goes in smooth, tastes best when consumed ON THE ROCKS.

That chintu little thing in the center is Martell Cognac, a brandy. My initial days in London were chilling enough; I was transported straight from Mumbai's 35 degrees to London's 15 degrees. I needed this brandy then, though the fancy was only short lived.

"Lo ho gayi tayyar hamari Army" Beers! Beers! Beers! Ooo la la la! I simply love beers, they are my favourites and I was fascinated with the variety that I found there in London. At times, I used to get so confused at the supermarket stores that it used to take me more than 30 minutes to decide on which beer to take.

The names are very much evident from the picture itself, so would excuse myself from repeating and writing about them. Most of these are now available in India, except John Smiths, Tetleys, and Abbot Ale (this on a special recommendation from a very special friend). Just recently I saw Stella Artois in one wine shop near Powai, just opposite our elite IIT Bombay.

My best pick among these - John Smiths, so much so that I had started calling it Uncle John. Ameet and I used to often joke; "kya re, kya kar raha hai"..."kuch nahi yaar, uncle John ke saath baitha hoon" :-)

These are some exotic ones, at least from their names. Morgan's Spiced is a flavoured rum, usually to be had with soda or cola. I love rums too, Bacardi being my favourite.

Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, in a desperation to taste a champagne and in an attempt to find the most affordable one, I picked up this one. Can't really comment on the taste, as this is the only one I had tasted for the first time, no benchmark to rate. Read more

Mateus, a sweet rose wine from Portugal. It is believed that Saddam Hussain used to stock this wine in his palaces. I liked it too.

Thwaites Wainwright, this is a golden ale (a beer of course). Thwaites is the brewery that manufactures this cask ale. Interestingly, Thwaites has around 450 pubs of its own across North England.

Mission Saint Vincent Bordeaux, a crisp and light wine. Bordeaux is a region that produces most of the wine in the world, with more than 9,000 distinct châteaux totaling over hundreds of millions of wine bottles per year.

 

Our good old Mr. & Mrs. Bacardi. And that's the best man sparkling soda next to Mr. Bacardi and Gordon's Gin posing next to Mrs. Bacardi as the bride's maid. As you can see, Gordon's is London's special dry gin, and it really is. And that I am a great and loyal fan of Bacardi, I am going to flaunt about it a lot - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacardi

 

That is an assorted wine cellar rack stacked with best liquor from various parts of the world. Psst: did you notice the familiar bottle at the top, apna Old Monk re, no fun without desipan, even when in London.

 

You have seen them before too. Only change, uncle John has turned bitter now. And that Canti Pinot Grigio is a rose Brut, a wine obviously.

 

The best beers I have ever had. Duvel - a damn damn good beer. It is an ale from Belgium with golden colour similar to that of hay. Looks beautiful when served in an over sized wine glass with a large white foam on top of the golden layer. It tastes amazing as well, for its soothing citrus tang added with a tinge of green apple flavour.

Leffe, again a Belgian beer brewed with some nice floral notes. There 6-7 varieties of this beer, and the one in the picture is Leffe Blonde with 6.6% of alcohol by volume. The other types include Leffe Brune (6.5% ABV), Leffe Triple (8.5% ABV), Leffe Radieuse and Leffe Vieille Cuvée (both 8.4% ABV), Leffe 9 (9% ABV), Leffe Ruby (5% ABV), Leffe Christmas (6.6% ABV) - content courtesy: Wikipedia.org

 

Strongbow, this is not any rum, whisky, vodka, wine or beer. It is cider and can be drank like a juice, one glass enough to give you an enjoyable high. A cider is basically an alcoholic beverage made from apples - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider

The Isle of Jura - Taareef karun kya uski, jisne isse banaya. The most amazing single malt whisky I had. I got to know about this when I was touring Scotland. Jura is an island in Scotland, in the Inner Hebrides, from where this wonder originates. Isle of Jura is a smooth and graceful dry malt, with a honey and/or coffee like taste. I had once thrived on the "king of good times", however, this truly is the "emperor of all times".

Cheers!!!

Drink Responsibly; Don't Drink & Drive

London Dreams - A Brief History of Nassha

Tired of passing away my time indolently, I browsed some folders on my computer to cleanup unwanted stuff.  I jumped from folder to folder relentlessly because suddenly everything appeared important to me. However, soon my agony was vanishing and lips turned into a smiling curve.

I found a folder that had pictures of my London trip. Aww! Nothing is so very special about it. Yet some pictures made me feel proud about my use of camera, creativity, and presence of mind.

I had been too a pub once (I mostly preferred my drink at home, that made it economical as well), and found the secret to elixir of life. Until then I had fancied various types of drink that I had taken, I had simply loved them; they were utterly awesome. This pub, however, helped me understand what drink is what. I could have used the Internet to find out about drinks, but koun itni takleef le. At this pub, all the required information was available ekdum bana banaya.

Fortunately enough I was carrying my digicam at that time and I quickly clicked pictures of the most important information that I ever came across in my life (pun intended). And here I present to you, a brief history of all the types of nassha I had...errgg....I enjoyed while in London.

Pimms - I simply loved this. It is a must during London summers. Consider your trip a waste if you visit Britain during summer and dont taste this. Know more about Pimms here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimm's

Ales - the utterly bitterly, yet delicious form of beers., and light on tummy as well. Learn more about ales here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ale

 

Lager - this is what we usually drink in India and I am sure you know a lot about it. However, still, in case you are curious to dig in more, see this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lager

 

Wines - do I mention anything about this drink of "The Rich & The Famous"? ;-] I may not be able to do enough justice explaining wines due to my poor exposure and experience. Find it out yourself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine

Coffee - what? why not? People do get addicted to coffee. So ain't that a nassha as well?  Why do injustice to this class of nassha, please read a little bit about this as well :-D - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee

 

Ho gaya! What other nasshas are you waiting for? I don't smoke, by the way ;-)

Few Change To Some Change

Travelling between Mumbai and Pune has become kind of a routine, as I have been doing it since last 3 years. There is no new wonderful or exciting experience about the journey anymore. However, yesterday when going back to Pune from Mumbai, I had a refreshing occurrence.

As usual, dear darling Neeta Volvo took her regular halt at a food mall after the Khalapur toll junction. Neeta Volvo sucks, by the way, yet I travel with her to beat the afternoon heat and also that she drops me just at the doorstep of my Pune home.

At the food mall, I wait in the queue to buy a coupon for snacks and tea. I see four to five people in front of me walking away with the coupons, some currency notes, and few Éclairs. At my turn, I buy a vada paav and a coffee. In that Neeta food mall, a vada paav costs Rs. 15, by far the costliest vada paav I have ever had (I have had vada paavs since my childhood starting from 50 ps. to Re. 1 to Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 to now Rs. 15), and a coffee worth Rs. 22. I buy snacks worth Rs. 37. I give Rs. 50 note to the boy on the counter. He gives me Rs. 10 and 3 Éclairs. I did not understand what the 3 Éclairs were for. My previous experiences were about Chloromints, Mentos – the 50ps category mints, and I used to walk away with one or two. The boy at the cash counter used to bestow chocolates on his customers under the pretext of “chutta nahi hai”.

Like other normal days, I started to walk away with 3 Éclairs, which amounted to Rs. 3. Having taken two steps aside, I was reminded about my friend, Prasad’s blog, which I had just read in the bus on my mobile. One line in his post had appealed to me a lot – “We do not subscribe to many things from within but just let them go by”. Though Prasad’s post does not essentially talk about making a change, something about his writing had ignited and inspired me [you can Prasad’s blog here – “http://prasadtalks.blogspot.com/”].

I turned back to the cash counter and asked the boy, “hey kaay ahey” (what is this), opening out my palm to him showing those 3 Éclairs.

“Sutte nahi ahet” (don’t have change), he said arrogantly. I protested that I need three rupees and not these chocolates, I don’t eat chocolates.

“Nahi ahet sangla na” (I told you I don’t have change), the cashier boy blasted.

“Mala nako hi chocolates. Hey coupon parat ghya ani majhe Rs. 50 mala parat dya” (I don’t want these chocolates. Take these coupons back and give my Rs. 50 back to me), I said with very bleak expression.

The cashier boy was startled. He looked puzzled for sometime. I asserted again that I do not want these chocolates, I need my money back.

The boy opened his drawer; put his hand inside some bowl, made some “chan-chan” sound of the coins, and came out with one Re. 1 coin and one Rs. 2 coin. He gave me Rs. 3, my deserved money change. I enjoyed my vada paav & coffee, and relished the sight of others demanding change and refusing to take chocolates.

I was happy and smiling – a few change had brought about some change.

Speak WELL but Spell ILL

Trying to find an address in some of the “chiggy wiggy” lanes of Borivali (W), I took a halt under the shade of a bus stop to figure out exactly where I was and where I should proceed next. With the little visiting card, on which was the address where I wanted to go, I tried to fan myself for some cool breeze – no use, though. I began to wipe the trickles of my sweat that streamed down from my forehead and went on to kiss my cheeks. After a few “phews” and “haaas” and "husssh", I started looking around again. My eyeballs bounced upon an advertisement on one of the wall on the other side of the road. That was the only ad on that wall, the rest just said “Yethe Mutu Naye”, “Yahan Peshaab Karna Mana Hai”, “Kripaya Paan Khake Na Thukein”, “Stick No Bills”, and other similar warning messages. No one really cared to read though – three men were standing facing the wall pouring their warm feelings on the warning message that told them not to do so.

Coming back to the ad that I saw, I read it and found something seriously wrong. My retina scanned the ad again, and I just couldn’t stop laughing. Next immediate thing I did was taking out my mobile and capture a picture of that advertisement, see image given below.

“SpeakWell English Academy – 20% DISCUNT”??? OMG! OMG! An institute that calls itself an Academy of English, making such an error. And what a word they chose to misspell :-]. I wonder what quality of English they must be teaching.

Or do they think, aaah! we teach spoken English, so who cares what we do with written English?