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The fun part... know what excites me most.

 

[Loves]     [Books]     [Movies]     [Food & Drink]     [Music]     [Places]     [Everyday diversions]     [Giving back]

 

 

Loves

 

  • Fine dining, sampling diverse cuisines right from the street vendor up to the cosseted restaurants
  • Strengthening relationships with people I cherish
  • Traverse the Internet aimlessly
  • Just letting go at the dance floor
  • Soaking in the tomes of the prodigious writers
  • Dunking in water bodies
  • Escaping the rat-race for the woods, beaches, hills in search of Shangri-La
  • Trotting around the globe mingling in the diverse cultures
  • And settling down for a mug of frothy chilled beer (or a bowl of hot soup as per the season) confabulating with buddies in a quiet tavern at the end of it all

 

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Books

 

 

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Movies

 

 

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Food & Drink

 

 

  • The modest Mumbai ‘Vada-pav’ (a bargain Indian version of a burger) washed down by a glass of nimbu-pani (lemonade) tops my list. Nothing comes close. Oh well, there are other delicacies which satiate me. A random listing –
    • Steaming ‘Varan bhaath’ (Pulses mixed in rice topped with a dollop of ghee) accompanied by pickle
    • A stack of ‘phulka’s and a dry spicy vegetable with a side-dish of the fiery green chilli, coriander and peanut chutney (named ‘Thecha’)
    • Hot ‘Jalebi’s drenched in milk in winter
    • Chilled mango desserts for the summers
    • Sizzlers (any mix of toppings thrown in)
    • Thick soups with crunchy bits of edibles
    • Cham-cham and rosogolla to pamper my sweet tooth
    • Red wine (the intermittent sour sips complement the frequent nibbling of cheese portions)

 

 

  • Major put-offs are dishes swimming in oil (the bane of most eateries, road-side and otherwise), and raw animal stuff

 

  • Yes, I do cook. And I eat whatever it turns out to be – usually pastas, vegetable curries, lentils, soups, salads, dosas, gulab jamuns, jalebis. Have yet to master the true test of Indian cooking – baking chapatis (the traditional bread).

 

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Music

 

  • Enjoy most tunes. The following are impulsive picks at the time of writing, with a rough taxonomy. I guess these are the usual suspects.

 

  • Pop, Rock, Rhythm & Blues, Country, Retro
    • REM, Phil Collins, Sting, BeeGees, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, Roxette, Paul Young, Whitesnake, Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna, George Michael, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Savage Garden, Cliff Richard, Air Supply, A-Ha, Shakin’ Stevens, Neil Sedaca, Alanis Morisette, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Queen, Eric Clapton, Foreigner

 

  • Dance
    • DJ Tiesto, Sasha, Paul Van Dyk, Duran Duran, Moby, Vengaboys, Robbie Williams, Chemical Brothers, Modern Talking, Scatman John, Real McCoy, Ace of Base, Abba, Boney M, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Robert Miles, Indi-Pop including remixes

 

  • Guitars
    • Aerosmith, Jon Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd, Guns and Roses, Cranberries, Scorpions, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Billy Idol

 

  • Classical
    • Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Bach

 

  • Hindi
    • Asha Bhosle, O P Nayyar’s compositions, and of course, Lata Mangeshkar

 

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Places

 

 

  • Have been here
    • Western India: Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Lonavla-Khandala, Jalgoan, Ajanta, Malkapur and its surrounding villages (Tembi, Datada, Edlabad, Ruikhed, Dudhalgaon, Jhodga), Buldhana, Nagpur, Alibag, Nashik, Akola, Murud-Janjira, Bhandardara, Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad
    • Rest of India: Agra, Jaipur, Cochin, Chandigarh, Chail, Hyderabad, Rishikesh, Bhubaneshwar, Kharagpur, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Ranchi, Raipur, Bilaspur, Gauhati, Shillong, Chennai, Chandipur-on-sea
    • Rest of the World: Singapore, Sydney, Hongkong, Shenzen, Beijing, Bangkok, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, The Bay Area (San Francisco, San Jose, Monterey), Portland - Oregon, Hawaii, London, Dhaka, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chittagong, Seoul, DMZ at the 33rd parallel in Korea, Colombo, Ahungalla (Sri Lanka)
    • Out of this World: Hope to at least while still alive... else already have that one-way ticket for kicking the bucket

 

  • Bus: Bus trips amidst strangers evoke weary feelings. Not charming enough as the train nor private enough as a car, the bus straddles in between. It fulfills an important need and has done so for me many times over. A mention must be made of the Indian roads where might rules and logically bus drivers take the crown for rashness (it is safer to be inside a bus than outside).

 

  • Train: The romance of the trains is unmatched. Accentuating it is the hooting of the train horn, the rhythmic motion of the loco (possibly the defining trait, if you know what I mean ;-)), the communal gaiety of the crowds within, the gaping of the plebeian folks outside, the immediacy of the changing landscapes, and the speed. The train (be it the crushingly jam-packed Mumbai local trains or the slick underground metro or the cross-country carriages) remains my most preferred mode of travel though compulsions often dictate otherwise.

 

  • Airplane: Sure it is functional and fast, but there can’t be a more duller way to reach a place

 

  • Biking: Fancy pedaling and in younger days this used to be a daily indulgence. The longest I have cycled at one stretch is around 60 kms.

 

  • White-water Rafting: A rather refreshing activity, cruising the river, navigating the rocks, negotiating the rapids. It’s dangerous but fun.

 

 

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Everyday diversions

 

  • The long lists above get consummated (sob, sob) occasionally; but then, maybe that’s their charm, their very raison-d’être to be longed for. Yet the following is a set of my almost daily diversions in an otherwise busy workday –

 

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Giving back

 

 

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