Somehow I always wanted to see and to be part of Ganpati Puja & Visarjan; and this wish came true in Tokyo. I couldn’t have imagined, even in my distant dreams, that I would get such a chance to be part of Ganpati Puja in Tokyo; when I didn’t get any in Mumbai.
How it started? One day, Tarun-san said that he’ll organise Ganpati puja this year, in his house. I don’t know how serious he was at that time. But his wife, Rakhi insisted that once he committed, he should definitely keep Ganpati. And this was the beginning…
Finding a Ganpati Idol: Now the question was how to get a Ganpati Idol, which should be made of clay / mud. Available options were to get one from India through courier or to search in Tokyo itself. The easiest option would have been to get from India, but the risk associated with it was that courier company wasn’t ready to give any guarantee for safety of idol. So Tarun decided to first search in Tokyo. Later he and I went to a Japanese store selling Indian handicrafts and believe-it-or-not we found the Idol in the 1st attempt itself. So first milestone was achieved…
The delicious Prasad / Bhog were prepared by Manu Bhabhi; it included Modak, Besan Laddu, Gari ke Laddu, etc. For lunch and dinner, we had Poori Sabji, Kachori Damaloo and Chole Poori, prepared by Manu Bhabhi & Tarun; other significant contributors were Hemant, Puneet and Puran.
Next morning the series of Puja, Aarti and Bhog started again and continued till evening. After doing 5 Aartis and Bhogs in one and a half days, time came to say goodbye to Ganesh Ji, that is, Visarjan. 
Later on our way to Shani Shinganapur, we enjoyed the fresh Ganne ka Juice (Sugarcane’s Juice)… It was something which I was witnessing for the first time in my life, that is, Ganne ka Juice taken out by a Kohlu ka Baail (An Ox tied to a lever which is generally used for taking out juices and oils).
Finally we reached back Mumbai around 4 a.m. in the morning…
Next day, almost all the invitees, who were expected there, reached on time… Although the party delayed by 1 hour since the dish wasn’t ready but it was definitely worth waiting…
The people who enjoyed these delicious dishes on a Saturday evening were Ankit, Bhavana, Mayank, Mohit, Niraj, Sakshi and me. And now after viewing the pics, guys don’t be jealous of us…The selection process started almost 4 months back when I sent a SMS to some special number and later got 9 questions, one after the another (did I mention that I got all the answers correct).
After few weeks, the organizers decided a cut-off and called approximately 9000 people from across
I reached the venue, i.e. Rang
In the meantime, I observed few fellow participants; the participant list included everyone from teenagers to senior citizens, from house makers to professionals like me. Some people came there, to support their children while some couples brought their kids along with them. I also listened to the conversations amongst few of them...
While standing outside, some were tensed while some were excited, by the thought of clearing the written test then try their luck and knowledge for the huge prize associated with the title “Bollywood Ka
While standing outside, I saw one gentlemen taking out his laptop, the other guy with him was taking out the Reliance Data Card while the third one was just trying to remember the names of some of the Filmi websites. As soon the laptop started, the thinking man came up the idea to search on indiafm.com while other one suggested some other names. But the gentleman operating the machine opened Wikipedia.org and started searching something. I was simply amused to see such fantastic use of technology…
Looking around, I found people revising something from their registers and notebooks; I still can’t believe that people prepared notes for this contest. Even some people were reading Filmi magazines and newspapers like Screen…
People were also busy in discussing the cut-off scores, which would have decided one’s candidature for the written test and also about the pattern of the written test, which was yet to take place…
Once the entry was open, the mob was on fire. I’m using the word “mob” since everyone was so tired waiting outside and at the same time also excited, eager and in a hurry to get in that we all behaved like a mob… During this entry process, someone just asked the question, “Who was the actress in Hunterwali???” Few people tried hard remembering the name of the actress while few made wild guesses. One of the guys searched his book and was disappointed that he had wasted hundreds of rupee by buying that book… (FYI: Nadia was the actress in Hunterwali)…
While standing in the queue, one of the gentlemen gave an offer to the volunteers that if they allow him to enter then he’ll give them Rupees Fifty Thousand out of the prize money of Rupees Fifty Lakhs, which he’ll be winning soon…
After struggling for more than an hour, I finally got the entry into the auditorium. The scene inside the audi was no different from outside; here too, people who got the entry at the starting, were shouting at the volunteers and the organizers, everyone was asking the same set of questions: “What time the test will start?”, “What’s the pattern of the test?”, “How long will the test continue?”, “Where’s the washroom?” and the most common one was “Will the test be conducted today itself?”
Meanwhile, the guy sitting beside me shouted a slogan several times, “Filmy flop hai, Star Plus top hai…” (Filmy is a flop channel while Star Plus is at the top). Different people were shouting different kind of slogans…
Finally Boman Irani, who is the host of the show, entered the auditorium and then all those who were shouting, again started shouting but this time, in his praise. Few called him “Lucky Singh” while others called him “Dr. Asthana”…
After Boman left, the test finally started and I too completed it before time since I knew the answers of only, half of the questions. I knew that I’ll not be selected since it had been proved that there exist more ardent fans of Bollywood than me...
My best wishes to each and every participant of the show and I hope that this show becomes a HIT !!!
We never had parties without reasons (just kidding, we don’t need reasons for parties instead we only need venues), so we had one reason for this one too: - We all will be completing two years in our company on 7th November, 2007. Hence, there should be a party…
The venue for this special party was “Happy Singh (HS)”, it’s a sister concern of Pop-Tates and is just next to it… The difference between the two is that HS serves only the Indian cuisine and waiting time is zero…
So the party began with our usual masti & bakar over the drinks… The bakar was in full flow for more than three hours… In middle of all this, we were joined by our special guest from
Just like our every party, one special bakar happened in this too… Atleast it was special for Ankur and me, we got 19 & 18 out of 20 respectively for our decency level… Actually it started when Niraj, in his words, “wanted to expose me in front of all the ladies…” Then I asked both of them present there, to rate me for my decency between 1 and 10, 1 being the lowest… To my surprise, I got 9 out of 10 from both Sakshi & Bhavana while Ankur got 10 from Sakshi & 9 from Bhavana… Although there is no competition with anyone but then I’m happy to get 9 on an average… (Point to remember: Anyone who is interested in giving me more than 9 marks is welcome…)
PS: Today is our 2nd Anniversary, for which we had the party… Congratz to all my Batchmates for acquiring atleast 2+ years of IT experience… And Thanks to them for being such good Frndz...
I was surprised to know that Niraj had made Bread – Omlette for everyone before coming and it was really very delicious… He also brought other readymade snacks but no one seemed interested in them… After coming back from the trip, Tammy and I decided that the title “Husband Material” suits Niraj perfectly…
We gave these gifts to Rohit on Friday night… He too became a little senti but didn’t cry… (If anyone of you has doubts about it then we’ve the video of the same too…)Rohit, we all once again wish you all the best for your bright future !!!
Party:
As usual that week too began on Monday morning, with lot of last minute activities to be completed for making the party a huge success. A usual checklist mail from Santanu was there in my mailbox and I began my day with completing those items present in the list. It almost became a routine to remind each other about the tasks which needs to be completed by the other one.
After rounds of checklists, approvals, meetings and reviews, arrived the final day. It was a day, for which our team had been working atleast from past one month. I don’t know about others but that day there were butterflies inside my stomach.
The excitement for the party started building up quite a few days back with posters put across the office and the mails sent from time to time kept the momentum going and set the grapevine buzzing about the most happening party of the year.
And a rocking party it was… with a packed house with people turning up in full strength accompanied by Family and Friends. The party began with full of enthusiasm and energy, where people also played games. Later they all set the dance floor on fire.
Kids section was another place which was really rocking; people playing with their kids, kids jumping & dancing all over the place. The party gave equal amount of space to all the parents & their kids, dance lovers and also to the people who just wanted to chill out with friends and colleagues.
The party came to an end around 2 a.m. And by God’s grace none of our efforts were wasted, everyone seemed to have enjoyed the party.
Alibaug Trip:
Eleven of us finally agreed to go to Alibaug on Saturday. Each of us was equally excited to enjoy this trip.
We nominated Rohit as our Event Manager for the trip. He planned all the necessary requirements and even made the proper arrangements for them. He tried to cover the minutest details and even planned our scheduled; frankly speaking he proved that he deserves to be an event manager. A Tempo Traveler was booked to carry all us, to our destination.
In the morning, travel agent ditched us. After trying hard for hours, for hiring another car, we somehow managed to get a Scorpio and an Indica for us. We were late by more than 5 hours as per our schedule inspite of the delay; it didn’t affected much since everyone was very keen to go there. We started our journey from J.B. Nagar around 12 noon instead of 6o’clock in the morning.
After hours of traveling, the first beautiful sight which we came across was the Sunset: the most admirable one which I’ve ever seen in my life. Next was the
Around 8 in the night, we reached our destination – Nandgaon, a village forty kilometers ahead of Alibaug. The cottage which we had booked was awesome. After having dinner, we had camp fire. You guys won’t believe that for putting the fire, we used Blender’s Pride Whisky instead of kerosene oil, ask Nishant and he’ll tell you how bad he felt at that moment. Our discussions, jokes & singing continued till 3 in the morning.
Next morning, most of us were ready by 7:30, for going to the nearby beach. Meanwhile others got ready, we all warmed-up by playing football, cricket and flying disc. Now came the beach time, most magnificent beach I’ve ever seen, greenish-blue water, white sand and mountains at the sides. What an amazing view, it was? Initially we played at the beach but once we entered into the sea, we had the real fun…
Afternoon was the time to visit Murud Zanzira Fort, located at an island. We reached fort by a boat and hired a guide too, who told various stories, which weren’t sounding true to us. Even though the view was good from there but it was a tiring too. On our journey back to Nandgaon, we had supper in a beachside restaurant, Anand Vatika.
Finally we left, Nandgaon at 8 o’clock in the night for coming back to Mumbai with only one slogan on everyone’s mouth, “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Agle baras tu
Although the whole week was very hectic and tiring but it was one of the best weeks of this year.
It was 7th November, the day we joined i-flex, a year ago. The first anniversary of my first job, not only mine; but for most of us it was their first job, hence it was a special day. Last year, 27 of us joined together as freshers and most of us were strangers to each other. Everyone ready to prove their metal in the organization and raring to climb up the ladder to success. Time passed and we became friends, infact good friends, even though some of the guys moved to the
We decided to do something special that day. Something which should be different and out-of-box (actually I heard this phrase here only a
nd it is one of the most commonly used jargon used here). This was followed by number of chain mails and also lots of conversations happened. After much discussions and debate, finally we decided to distribute sweets to our teammates, seniors and acquaintances in office. One more thing we decided that we’ll be sending out the same mail and approximately at the same time too. And it all happened according to our plans. Nishant suggested that atleast on this day; all of us who are working in the same office should have lunch together. Later we had photo session.
The day ended in carrying out all these activities and now was the evening time, meant for partying. We, actually 15 of us who are still in Mumbai, went to Bowling
Café @ Hiranandani Gardens for bowling. Later we went to PopTates for dinner. The spirits were so high that we fitted ourselves at a table which was meant for only 8 people. Rounds of drink began, followed by dinner. I’m unable to express the emotions, spirit and the amicability which were present there. We missed all our batchmates who are not in Mumbai. We reached home around 1:30 in the night, with all the memories of that last one year. I always heard that people in Mumbai work hard and party harder, and I too realized that is true atleast for all of us today.
