Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Magic of Millions of Fireflies

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The memories of my Enai's ( that's my maternal grand mother) home in Meleng, Jorhat are many and one very vivid memory that I still have in my mind is that of hundreds of twinkling fireflies. Enai's home has quite a big ground in front and there were paddy fields around. I am talking about 1985 here. In our summer vacations all our cousins would gather at her place and spend some time there. Electricity was erratic and it still is. Evenings when there was no electricity, we would sit in the long verandah and listen to Puthau's ( grand father) stories. And then fireflies would come twinkling. Some of us would run after them to catch them in our hands. Enai would shout " Don't touch them. Otherwise in the night you will have to go to the toilet!" Now that's something all of us wanted to avoid. The bathroom was outside of the main house. Just outside in the backyard. But if you had to go to the toilet at night, you had no option but to wake up an elder. If there was no electricity then, imagine the shadows on the wall from the flickering light of the hand lamp! No way.

Last week, I and P had been to Purushwadi. We heard about the place from a friend. She said " You have to see it to believe what I am telling you." We were intrigued. Every year just before the monsoons, millions of fireflies come to this tiny village and put up a spectacular light show, which now I also say " You have to see it to believe it." 

The Valley


We went to Purushwadi through Grassroutes They aim at , in their own words, " to create 1 million livelihood opportunities in Rural India." They have various stay options available. We opted for the canvas tents. There are shared western toilets with running water too. But please donot expect all the luxuries of the city life that we are used to there. That is NOT the idea and we must respect that. 

Valley facing Tents

We went by local train to Kasara from Dadar. In Kasara there are shared jeeps available which will drop you till Rajur, the nearest "town" to Purushwadi. From Rajur another jeep to Purushwadi. You can take your own vehicle too. Purushwadi is about 220 km from Mumbai in Ahmed Nagar district. The jeep travel part can be a bit harrowing. They stuff people into one vehicle way more than it's capacity. 


Lunch
We reached the camp site by afternoon. All your meals will be at the village at a villager's home. Our hosts were ready with lunch. It's a simple vegetarian meal of what they also eat. We loved every bit. We thought of lying down for about an hour as were up since 4am. But it was too hot. But to our surprise, by 4pm we could clearly see the clouds coming in. The breeze got cooler and suddenly the sky opened up. It started pouring heavily. We enjoyed the weather with local mangoes. Since it rained we were in two minds about the sunset trek. But thanks to another couple that we met there, we just went out for a hike. Grassroutes assign one household in the village for each of the guests and that keep rotating thus making sure that everyone gets equal opportunity. All four of us were hosted by the same family. We went up to the Sun set point even though there was no " sun set view". But for all of us, we enjoyed the small hike, rains and the weather. 


Our gracious hostess


There was no electricity in the village after the storm. The camp site was lit by solar lamps. As we walked to our host's home for dinner, already the tiny twinkling lamps were everywhere. Our guide told us that it was just a trailer and the full show was still to come. How true was that. After dinner we started our walk to witness the magic of million fireflies. All along the way there were thousands of them. Then we were there. Standing across a bridge, we saw a light show put by amazing nature. The tree looked like glittered with thousands of tiny Christmas lights. The fireflies were illuminating all over.  But it was so synchronized that we were awestruck. We just stood there silently witnessing this phenomenon. We returned to our tents happy.



Magical Fireflies


Next morning after a delicious Poha breakfast, our guides took around the village giving us a glimpse into their daily lives. Even though it had stopped raining, the weather was little humid but thankfully not scorching hot. We walked till the river, but we did not take a bath. Just sat there remembering Enai - Puthau and the fireflies.


Friends met there and our guides Sandip & Avdesh


Saturday, August 5, 2017

Monsoon Potluck



“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” 
― Mark Twain


Meeting friends for a potluck during monsoon or Bihu or any special occasion has become a ritual since last few years now. This year was no exception; but this year we decided to get surprised items but surely "not desi"  but try to keep it as Asian as possible. 
Of course we decided on who was getting starters or main course or dessert. The result and the spread was simply super. 
Bonding over good food with varied conversation with good company make all the difference. 
Here are the photos of what we ate..

Starters : 

We had Devilled Eggs with a Mayo and Tuna twist.
Noodles with stir fried vegetables and chicken in orange juice.
Grilled Chicken with Kaffir Lime
Garlic and Orange Mint prawns with Avocado and Wasabi Guacamole.

Starters
My plate of Starters
























Main Course :

Main Course
Chicken Rendang
Nasi Lemak
Malaysian Sambal
Roasted peanuts, salads and boiled egg.

















Dessert :

No bake cake with Icecream and Mascarpone Cheese
Coconut Macaroons


Dessert




















Every dish was simply delectable and the love that had gone behind preparing and presenting shone through each one. 

One Confession : Both the starters; Grilled chicken and Prawn with Guacamole were prepared by my better in kitchen half. I just ate. 




Sunday, November 6, 2016

Make a wish and mix - Christmas Cake mixing at Renaissance Hotel




Thank you Renaissance Hotel and Convention centre, Mumbai for giving me the chance to be a part of my first ever Christmas Cake mixing ceremony. I have always read about it, seen photographs and wishing how I also wanted to be a part. That wish came true today and guess what, this gave me a chance to make another wish too.





 It is said that the Christmas Cake mixing ceremony dates back to 17th Century in Europe. This ceremony marked the arrival of harvest season and lots of fruits and nuts were harvested and then preserved for the next harvest season. This turned into a family get-together where everyone would join hands, literally, to soak the dry fruits and nuts in Rum, Wine and Brandy. Over the years it became of big ceremony which fall well in advance of Christmas so that the fruits totally soak in the liquor and thus when mixed in the cake, they add to the whole taste of it.

Roasted Pork Leg
My lunch
Before the ceremony actually started, we were treated to the sumptuous Italian brunch spread at Fratelli Fresh. I loved the roasted Pork leg with the apple sauce. The Ravioli and Gnocchi were phenomenal. I had 2 new desserts Crostata di Fruta and Zuccotto; and I liked the former more. 














Desserts


Then the bell went "ting ting" marking the beginning of Cake mixing ceremony. The guests were given chef caps, aprons and gloves before everyone put their hands into the large trays of fruits and nuts. Bottles of Rum, Wine and Brandy were poured into the fruit trays and then there was lots of laughter and giggles all around. We all joined our hands with the chefs and mixed the fruits and nuts into all those booze. These booze soaked fruits and nuts will be kept in air tight containers for 3-4 weeks. By the that time they will completely soak in the booze and be ready to add much more flavour to the final 
cake. 

The guests getting ready
In action


And yes I did make a wish as I was mixing. That I would like keep as a secret for the time being. 

All set

Friday, December 4, 2015

A Very Cheesy Affair - Go Cheese Tasting Event


Cheese and Wine - That Classic combination and add to that a chance to meet an old friend. Cherry on the cake, Master Chef Judge and Celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar was going to host the evening. What more could you ask for when all these came together and served to you on a platter. Thus I was at Blue Frog on the last November Saturday in the afternoon looking forward to a wonderful session of Cheese and Wine with an old friend Aditi. This event was organized by Go Cheese in association with Femina India. There I also met Geeta Sridhar a fellow blogger and a wonderful human being. Girl, wasn't I happy! Blue Frog was full of beautiful ladies and few gentlemen too; all ready to enjoy the afternoon full of Cheese and Wine.

Met Aditi after ages

The event started with Angad Singh Ranyal who goes by the twitter handle @piratedsardar. He sure brought the house down with laughter. The mood was set and we all were even more enthusiastic and looking forward to the events to unfold. Mr. Mahesh Israni, the Chief Marketing Officer of Parag Milk Foods Pvt Ltd spoke at length about "Go" the brand and Go Cheese. He gave a very insightful speech about Cheese and it's place in India. In countries like France the per capita consumption of Cheese is approx. 2 kgs a month whereas in India it's only 200 gms. That too because of eating out, cheese is yet to find a permanent place in Indian kitchens and Go Cheese is exactly aiming at that.
Friends and Conversations over Cheese
Parag Milk Foods started with products like Milk Pouch, Dahi,Ghee etc under the brand name "Gowardhan". As they themselves say " GO is derived from Gowardhan and has a dual meaning - apart from resonating with the Sanskrit word for Cow, it also embodies an energetic spirit with the act of going." Go Cheese is made from cow milk hence it is leaner than other cheeses made of goat milk or buffalo milk.
Chef Ranveer Brar
Keeping with this energetic and on the go image in mind, Go Cheese now has Chef Ranveer Brar as their brand ambassador. Mr.Israni invited Chef Ranveer to the stage. Chef talked extensively about different types of Cheese and Wine and also how Cheese can be used in Indian kitchen. For him, this classic combination of Cheese and Wine is a holistic experience. Indian snacks offer a great opportunity to experiment with cheese and chef recommends blending cheeses while using them in your kitchen. Meanwhile we were served with a Cheese Platter with the option to choose wine, red or white. I chose white. I loved the different flavoured Cheeses from Go that were served apart from the Gouda and Mozarella.

 My favourite was the Go Pepper cheese.


Cheese Platter

Snacks Platter

As the event progressed, there came a plate of completely "Cheeseful" snacks. So cheesy. The eating session was wrapped up with a very interesting Fruit tart and a mousse.













The audience which was mostly comprised of women asked a lot of questions to Chef Ranveer during the Q&A session. He very patiently answered everyone. Everyone wanted a selfie with the celebrity chef and he obliged all with a smile.
My moment with the chef!



The session was over by 5.30pm and Go Cheese presented us with a goodie bag full of Cheese and more Cheese. I just loved that goodie bag.




Wishing Go Cheese all the very best and hope they achieve what they aspire to do - find a place in every Indian household.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

3 reasons why I love BNLF and ALL IndiMeets!

Finally I could make it to BNLF (Blog Now Live Forever), the mega event for bloggers by IndiBlogger. Yes. I thought I wont be able to. You know with a day job and the other things ( read household chores). But I could and aren't I glad about it. Actually to say "glad" will be a little too less. I am super happy, excited and very very thankful to P who agreed to stay in a mess of a house for one more day. You see we were home just 2 days back from a week long vacation to hometown in Assam. I kept the cleaning part to the weekend as usual; forgetting about the BNLF. Then I realized while cleaning my mail box that I have to attend BNLF this weekend. P the good guy he is, said no problem. But I am also not a bad girl either. Hence skipped the second day to clean the house and the whole mess! You see marriage or any relationship it's is all about this only, right? You adjust somewhere for the person you love / care for.


Nonetheless I woke up quite early on Saturday 31st Oct which I normally don't do. Weekend after all. I reached the venue, The Lalit near airport at 8.45am. There was already a queue. There were people woke up before me. Wow. Wasn't I impressed. The morning crisp air was bubbling with the enthusiasm of the bloggers. I plunged in too and what a day it turned out to be.


Here's the 3 reasons why I so loved attending the BNLF even if only Day 1.
The stage is set
THE Bruce Dickinson
1. Blog Now Live Forever / BNLF was epic. From the day I received an email few months back I knew I had to be there. This was going to be THE event for bloggers. And then with the line up of speakers and sessions this was sure a not to be missed event. I promptly signed up and confirmed my attendance. It was inspirational listening to all the speakers. Those witty but honest confessions of Purba Ray, Arnab Ray, Kanan Gill, Preety Shenoy and the insight of  Anshul Tewari, Jeff Bullas, Christoph Trapp and Bruce Dickinson really made an impression on me. All the speakers talked about things we as bloggers would surely take home as guidance. I learnt so much and looking forward to more such sessions.

2. I admit I am a very lazy blogger. One can have look at my blog and can easily make that out. I am really ashamed of it and trying hard to "do something " about this. However somehow it's just not happening. Yeah I have a full time day job. I know it's not correct to be this inactive and hence whenever I get the chance to be in these wonderful blogger meets I try and be there. Meeting all those enthusiastic bloggers really inspire me and I come home energized and super charged. This goes in fact for all meets and BNLF was the biggest of all.


3. Living in a city like Mumbai and with a full time job, I find it a bit difficult to physically meet people to stay in touch. Thanks to phone, whatsapp and social media that atleast staying in touch is possible. I have met some wonderful fellow bloggers over the years in such meets. Some of them out of the city. I knew many of them would be attending this event. Thus I met Maniparna from Kolkata after an year. Met Zainab and Tina too. Though they are from Mumbai, we hardly meet each other. There I met these lovely bunch of ladies Somali Radhika and Irene 

Kanan Gill recommends "THIS" book


Cheers to the whole team of Indiblogger for #BNLF. More power to you!


PS:: All photos by Zainab Attari. Thanks girl.

Friday, August 28, 2015

A monsoon drive and 2 chance discoveries


Monsoon is THE month for Maharashtra. It turns the state into a lush green wonderland with places like Lonavala, Khandala etc coming alive with water falls and the hills / Ghats turning into a very bright shade of green. It is only after shifting to Mumbai I realized the love for Monsoon that people can have. I come from Assam, where rains are abundant. I used to love rain when I was younger. I was always fascinated by the sound of falling rain drops on the tin roofs of our "Assam type" houses. I said houses, because all my relatives, grand parents stayed in such Assam type houses. Gradually after moving out of Assam and staying the hostel in Gwalior, and then flats in Delhi I lost that fascination. It's only after staying in Mumbai, I fell in love with rains all over again.







So as the monsoon was bidding adieu for this season, we went out on a small day drive to Igatpuri. My father in law had been to Mumbai many times. But he had never been out of the city during rains to see how amazing the places turn to be. We started very early in the morning. It was not raining when we started. But as soon as we were out of city limits and reaching Shahpur it started to pour. The drive itself was amazing. We stopped at Krishna's Udupi restaurant for an amazing breakfast of fresh idlis, vadas and upma.
The bridge on Vaitarna river




P was at that area few days ago on work. So he lead the way. We entered Vihigaon. Saw the sign board Ashok Dabdaba but we did not head there as to reach the water fall you need to walk downhill for sometime and my father in law was not fit enough for that adventure. Instead we went further towards the bridge on Vaitarna river. It was beautiful. For us city weary souls the quietness that it offered that stroke me the most.
FIL on the bridge on Vaitarna





The main gate at Vipassana Center
Then we drove up on the road for sometime towards Upper Vaitarna. But did not go upto Upper Vaitarna and returned as we wanted to go to Vipassana center at Igatpuri.



We reached the Vipassana center only to come to know that the center was closed for visitors that day. They allowed entry only till the hall. Point to keep in mind every alternate Saturday the center is closed for visitors. It is advisable to check once before you plan on a Saturday. As we were returning after spending about half an hour there; P just asked the security guard at the gate for his suggestion as where we could go to get a clearer view of the mountains. He said "Railway dam". We drove along the railway track asking people the way. Finally we were there at railway dam. I don't know if it has some other name. But the place is breathtakingly beautiful with a clear water body, lush florescent green fields and am amazing view of the hill. Besides that, there was no one else. Only us and so many butterflies.






"Railway Dam"
Father in law was exhausted. So he decided to stay inside the car. I & P sat there for a while soaking in the nature, the silence and the breeze. It was a feeling I cannot put in words. You must experience this to feel that.

While going to Railway dam we had crossed one very interesting looking old church. While coming back we stopped there. P and I opened the closed gate and entered the church premises. There was a small hut but no one came out. A dog came running to welcome us. There was an old cemetery. Peeping though the church window we could make out that it was a functional church.






The grey clouds, rustling of dried leaves, the curved crosses over graves and an old church dated 1892 - it was a perfect setting for some "para normal" activities. P commented " This is what ghost stories are made of ". We have to admit, we were so intrigued by the church and the surrounding. There was a letter box at the entrance of the church. We thought may be in old days, the church also acted as the post office for the village. Stories we would have loved to hear if got a chance.
The old church


Waiting for his master's mail!




Sometimes just wandering may lead you to places you do not find in guide books. The Railway Dam and the old church were such discoveries. This sure hardens my urge to wander even more!









Saturday, April 25, 2015

Pacha Manga or Raw Mango curry

The Mumbai Summer is here full on and with it comes the season of Mangoes! The other day we got 1 dozen juicy aromatic Alphonso Mangoes and since then both P and I are being complete Mango people. To make the best of the season I thought of experimenting more with mangoes. Quite a bold move for me; I admit. So one quick search here and there and I decided to try the simple Kerala dish of Raw Mango Curry or Pacha Manga curry. It goes very well with steamed rice too. So done and decided, this weekend it's gonna be raw mango curry with hot steamed rice.

Ingredients :

One Raw mango chopped into cubes.
One tea spoon of turmeric powder.
One tea spoon of corriander powder
One tea spoon of red chilli powder
Two table spoon of cooking oil.
One and a half tea spoon  of mustard seeds
One string of curry leaves

For the paste :
Grated coconut - one cup
Green Chillies - 3
Garlic cloves - 3 / 4
Cumin seeds - half tea spoon.

Salt as per taste.

Wash the chopped mango pieces thoroughly. Mix the turmeric powder, corriander powder and red chilli powder with the mango pieces and let these marinate for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, boil the mango pieces. Use water just enough to cover the mango pieces. Boil till they are tender; which will take about 5-6 minutes.

While the mango pieces are boiling, make the coconut paste. Grind the grated coconut, green chillies, garlic cloves and cumin seeds with little water. Grind to a fine paste. 

Drain the water from the mango pieces. Do not throw the water. This is to be used in the curry.


Raw Mango Curry
Heat oil in a pan. Let the mustard seeds and curry leaves splutter. Add the coconut paste and cook for 2 minutes. Now add the mango pieces. Mix gently. Add the drained water as per the thickness of the gravy that you want. Add salt accordingly. 

Let this simmer for 5 - 6 minutes. Serve hot with steamed rice.





Trust me, the aroma which fills your home while the curry boils away is heavenly. This is one easy and very tasty and very "apt for summer" dish.




P loved the curry. Me too. :)



Pacha Manga curry with steamed rice and a papad.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

For the love of Food- Potluck at Prims

There is no sincerer love than the love of food..Said GB Shaw and I being a food lover, cant agree more. This love becomes even intense and interesting when you have like minded friends. For our love of food, we decided to meet for a Potluck lunch on a weekend. The potluck was planned a month ago. Only condition, everything has to be home cooked. A whatsapp group was created, date chosen,menu decided, venue fixed. We 4 girls were to meet at Prim's place at Wadala. 

This year Mumbai Monsoon arrived a month late. Entire June went without rains and on almost everyday in July, it poured and poured. On the D day which was yesterday 12th July it was no different. To confess honestly looking at the non stop rains, for once I thought of ditching it. But then we all had decided a month ago, I was infact the initiator, how could I back out at the last moment! Not done and aren't I glad that I didnot do that. 

The moment we entered Prim's home, the dining table was set for the grand spread. The mood for fun and food was set with this colorful table.


The menu was continental. Prim made the starter, Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup. Shob made garlic bread. No she did not bake it. But to turn a regular brown bread to garlic bread, you need to work on that. She did and did that wonderfully. 


Garlic bread with Cream of chicken & Mushroom soup
With the rains pouring outside, we gorged on an awesome spread talking about a dozen things. The main course comprised of a whole chicken roasted and baked basa fish with potato wedges and sauteed beans. The roast chicken was by Gits who is a super duper food enthusiast and an upcoming chef who specialises in delicacies from North East India. The Roasted chicken with onions and herbs was the show stopper for sure.


Roast Chicken
 By the time we finished gorging on the soup, garlic bread and the chicken we were full. So we took 15 minutes break before hitting the dining table for the fish. Yes, I prepared the fish. Its simple quick and easy. Fillet Basa in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and dill with a hint of butter. I used the oil only to grease the baking dish.


Baked Basa and Potato wedges with sauteed Beans
As per my regular weekend ritual, I even took a small afternoon siesta too. Come on, now this is one luxury people like me could afford only in weekends and holidays. It was time to wind up the fun get together. The gracious hostess made us Kashmiri Kahwas. Shob had got some brownies too. A fitting end to a wonderful Saturday potluck. 


Kahwa and Brownies. Pic by Prim.

Food brings people closer and I so strongly believe that. Here's to many more get togethers; potlucks or otherwise....Cheers!
































Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Dove Play Date

The time was set for 3.30pm; the venue JW Marriott; the date 11th May and The Event - A play date with Dove for the bloggers. Organised by Dove and Indiblogger. Fun part - Its ONLY for girls!!

So there I was along with 100+ other beautiful women bloggers, all in whites; different shades of it!! Few of the bloggers were flown in to Mumbai by indiblogger team from other cities like Kolkata, Indore, Delhi too. That's so cool. I even got to tweet from the Dove official handle too.

The event started with registration and we were handed over the itinerary and a ribbon mentioning team numbers. I along with 2 of the lovely ladies whom I had just met there got the same Green coloured ribbon with Team 1 mentioned.At least we knew 3 of the members of Team 1. The activites began with the emcee on stage dividing the teams officially. We had to name our groups in hairstyles and we named our Team 1 as Waves. And the fun evening began.




The stage is set

2 Zoomba instructors took the stage and urged all of us to join when they swayed to perfection. What energy.... what moves. Most of us were doing Zoomba for the first time and we all managed Oppa Gangam Style. The mood was set; everybody was geared for some fun. The first game was Hoola Hoop; which I failed miserably but had absolute fun trying. We found and threw white Dove balls among pools of colourful balls;tried our hands at hair styling each other; race against time to complete the pieces of a puzzle. We laughed, giggled , behaved like little school girls out on picnic.

After all these, we got our hairs pampered by the Dove hair stylists. Sipping into a glass of White Wine I got my hair done. Bliss.

The Team 1 -- Waves


Then there was an announcement of another fun activity by the poolside. The poolside At JW Marriott is the place to be during evening. One member of each the teams had to make a drink and name it. The in house Bartender gave us tips on mixology. Full on Mixology gyaan, we all enjoyed the fun contest to the core.
Now again back in the main hall. Dinner was served. JW Marriott put a wonderful buffet with a live pasta counter. The Bar was open too. It was the time to enjoy food, drink and wait for the announcement of the winning team. The prize vouchers of Rs. 5000 for each of the 10 team members. Team 2 won as we all cheered on. Well deserved I must say.

As we all were sitting back just sipping our glasses of cocktail or with the dessert plates; there was a flash mob. Whoa..few girls went to the middle of the hall and started dancing to Pharrel Williams' "Happy"..Girls..Weren't we happy to clap along like a room without a roof.

Clap Along Happy
Kudos to team Dove and team Indiblogger for such a wonder event. They even took care of the transportation back home too. Thats not all; while leaving we were handed over a lovely goodie bag with Dove products, a hair straightener, Indiblogger Tee shirt and a cute Dove pin. Thank you so much for this lovely Play Date.
The Goodies :D

I reached home happily singing. Husband loved my hair style and I loved the look on his face.
I declared " Yes it is Dove !"






Monday, December 16, 2013

Jab We Met

It all happened with a simple post on the FB page of "our Group". Our group is the IITTM 2002-03 batch group. IITTM - Indian Institute of  Tourism and Travel Management. We all were in the Gwalior branch of the Institute. The main branch. Our course PG Diploma in Tourism Management (PGDTM)

It was a year that all of us love to call " A year long package tour". Yes we had fun, went to 2 Major trips and few small trips. We studied about Tourism, tours, packages, cargo! Not to forget a foreign language. I took French; and during the 10 long years, never used once. Well I donot blame the teacher. She was a wonderful lady. Its just that I never had to use French in my professional life.

It seems like yesterday at times. We all were in Gwalior, in the sprawling campus; fortress like hostels, classrooms,a mess, a lawn. We even had our own Marine Drive. During the unbearable summers, all the girls had to sit inside the rooms when all the boys would loiter around the campus (some out of it) like free birds. We would be jealous. Icing on the cake was those hours and hours of power cuts. The deadline for girls' to enter the hostel was 9pm. Believe me there was a whistle which the hostel warden Sushma Ma'm would blow sharp at 9pm All of us would run back to the hostel.

Honestly dont exactly remember studying hard during that year. Only may be during the 2 semesters, had to go through the notes, the books. In second semester, I had to take up "extra classes" for Accountancy as I was and still am really bad with numbers. Thanks to Ruchira, Nitya and Sushmita, I managed to score the passing marks. In that one whole year, I was the one who spent most of the time in the Girls' Common room; watching TV or talking on phone. Yeah; even would talk on "wrong numbers"...those were the days.

The campus selection placed all of us in different places. Most of us landed in Delhi. After 3years in Delhi, I moved back to Guwahati, my hometown. Then in 2010 I reached Mumbai. All these years never really stayed in touched with each one of the batchmates. But trust me even though we hardly met, all of us surely remained connectoed somehow. After all how do you not think of that One Year of Packaged tour that we all had spent together in Gwalior.

We all had gone our own ways. But on 14th Dec, many of us managed to come and meet at Nehru Place. It was a simple affair. Nothing fancy. But meeting whosoever could come was so wonderful. So glad to know what the other was doing or who is where.

We all have changed. Grown up, mature, more cautious with our words, appearances changed. Have become wife, husband, father, mother. But I am sure when we sit down and look back, there will always be a year which all of us had spent in Gwalior;just being us. Simple as that.