My experiments with spirits

Looking at the title of this post if you are here to learn some strange voodo rituals to resurrect the spirits of the dead, then you will be really dissapointed because this post is not about that. www.supervoodoospells.com is probably a site where you will find some spells to do that. This post is about the other kind of spirit, a.k.a booze, alcohol or soro. Let me give you a brief idea about my booze drinking abilities. I am not a frequent drinker, there was a time not so long ago when a breezer was enough to get me high. Since a long time I have limited myself to one glass of beer or a bottle of breezer. It was a couple of month’s back that I tried my first hot drink, it was brandy and I tried it at home when I had caught cold. Since the brandy time I have tried a couple of different liquors (brandy, rum and whiskey) and analysed the effect of having beer, rum and whiskey all together at one party :). But what happened yesterday was a new personal best for me.

Yesterday was our company product release party. So free booze :). I have noticed that people go crazy at parties where there is free booze especially because liquor in Pune is way expensive compared to Goa. I started with a breezer to get into the mood, thanks to my frequent drinking (once a month) it was just like having orange juice. It was time to move to stronger stuff a.k.a beer. I had a fosters pint and that too didn’t do much damage so it was whiskey time. I made myself a small or medium peg of signature with pepsi. By the time the glass was over the familiar old feeling of loosing control was back, but I could still stand and walk straight. Was time for another drink, Jack Daniels this time and the cocktail was made by a friend Austin the builder (he is a Goan guy who works in the build team). It was a small peg of the whiskey half part soda and half part pepsi, stirred not shaken :P. It was not too sweet or not too bitter, just perfect. I sipped on two more of those cocktails while looking at everything in slow motion. This was the first time I was so high. Everything appeared to be moving slowly, the girls looked prettier and I danced :). I never dance, but when you are drunk, raising one hand in the air and jumping isn't that difficult.

The evening ended with my total drink count at 6. After dinner I could walk properly and since everything seemed to move slowly, I could really ride my bike better than when I am sober :).

The next thing I want to try is Absinthe, and I will probably be doing that in December. Until then Cheers...

How I almost went to Jail..

This is an account of strange things that happened last night. At about 10:30 in the night while I am doing something on my laptop, I get a call from a unknown number. This is the conversation that followed (to the best of my knowledge). The conversation was in Marathi (I didn't know that I could speak Marathi so fluently until last night) but I have translated it into English for convenience.

Unknown Dude: Who is speaking?
Me: Whom do u want dude?
Unknown Dude: Who is this?
Me: Whom do u want?
Unknown Dude: I am calling from the police station, who is this?
Me (A bit scared): I am Sarvesh
Unknown Dude: Where do u stay?
Me: Shastrinagar
Unknown Dude: Come to the Yerwada Police Station immediately
Me: Why dude?
Unknown Dude: You just come, we will tell you later

After this I couldn't take it anymore, I obviously thought that it was a prank and disconnected the call. After around 15 seconds I got a call from the same number. This time the dude was pissed coz I hung up on him the last time. This time I could hear some police station noises in the background (the screams and yells of people being tortured), I was pretty sure that this was not a prank call, I was pretty sure that the Unknown dude was a Unknown police dude.

Unknown Dude: Where do you stay?
Me: Shastrinagar
Unknown Dude: Where in shastrinagar?
Me: Opposite Aga Khan Palace
Unknown Dude: Don't lie to me dude, we will trace your address
Me: But dude I am not lying
Unknown Dude: Do you work at Kothrud?
Me: No
Unknown Dude: This phone number of yours 98907656**, whose number is this?
Me: It's mine ofcourse
Unknown Dude: Your? We have got a complaint stating that this number 98907656** is stolen
Me: What? I have been using this number for the past 2 years dude
(At this moment I hear someone in the background shouting '67')
Unknown Dude: What is your number?
Me: 98907656**, You can check with airtel
Unknown Dude: Ok ok we will check...

With that the call ended and i realized that it was a wrong number, the police dude wanted to call 98906756** and he called my number by mistake. Thanks to Maharashtra Police it was 15 minutes of shock followed by an hour of laughter :)

Eateries in Goa.

I received this as a mail from a friend, hope the information helps people in deciding on a place to eat when they visit Goa.

Top 5 individual dishes served in Goa:
1. Pomfret Caldeen - Viva Panjim, Fontainhas
2. Chicken Cafreal - Balgo, mapusa
3. Prawn Curry Rice - Cafe Xavier, Mapusa
4. Crab Sukhem - Starlight, Arpora
5. Mushroom Blue Cheese Quiche - La Vin en Rose (Michelle's), Ingo's Sat Night Market

Favorite value for money places:
1. Anandashram - Near Panjim GPO (Fish Thali Rs 25/-)
2. Silva's - Miramar Circle (Cream Chop Bread Rs 20/-)
3. Cafe Samrat - Saligao (Chicken Xacuti Pao Rs 20/-)
4. All India Radio Canteen, Altinho (Tea Rs 2, Bhaji Pao Rs 5)
5. Cafe Prakash - Panjim (Food avoidable, Gossip priceless!)
6. kalvam xacuti- cafe deepak , bastora, mapusa

Highly over rated hyped up joints:
1. Cafe Venite - Fontainhas (I'd rather have 10 fish curry rice delights opp at Anandashtam for the price of one pathetic pasta)
2. Britto's - Baga (Local food being tweaked to suit the palates of non-Goans)
3. O'Coqueiro- Porvorim (poor service, mediocre food)
4. La Calypso's Beach Shack - Baga (Criminal waste of money for insipid fare)
5. Sousa Lobo's - Calangute (Unless you like Paneer Makhani and Aloo Gobi)

Places I'd love to treat friends:
1. Ernesto's -Club Vasco Da Gama (Don't miss the succulent steaks and Draught Beer)
2. Mum's Kitchen - Miramar (Eat with your eyes closed)
3. RioRico - Hotel Mandovi (Caldo Verde Soup, Pork Chops, Prawn Curry Rice with Kismur and Nallachi Kodi!)
4. Lila Cafe - Baga (Finest croissants, breakfast spread,spaetzle, roulade)
5. Martin's Corner - Betalbatim (Never a let down!)

Enjoy..

Yet another journey.....

After the last exciting trip to Orissa, its again time to go on another journey. This time to the north of India, to Jaipur, Rajasthan. The reason for this trip is same as the last one, yes I am going to attend another wedding. This time its a super secret wedding of a college classmate. Only a handful of people know about the wedding, and I am one of those handful :) .

I will be leaving for Mumbai tomorrow morning to catch my flight to Jaipur. As of now I think that I am ready to travel, unlike last time I have checked that the pant that I am taking to Jaipur actually fits me :P. So just some packing left and after that will be all set to go. Well thats it for now, will try to update the blog from Jaipur. Over and out..

Trip to Orissa.. Day 4

Nothing was planned for the day so in the morning we decided to go to the Nandan Kanan Zoo. Its around 15 Kms from the place where we are staying in Bhubaneshwar. Nandan Kanan is well known because it’s the only place in India where breading of white tigers is done (this was told to us by the guide). The place was just like any other zoo that I have seen. It was sad to see animals in cages. The great thing about the zoo is that each animal in the zoo has been given a name, like one pair of tigers was called Madan and Mohan.

After the zoo we traveled to the other side of the city to a place called Dhauli. It is the place where king Ashoka adopted Buddhism after seeing the destruction caused due to the battle of Kalinga. There was nothing much to see at Dhauli other than the Buddhist monument depicting king Ashoka’s transformation from a king to a follower of Buddha. Interestingly it is also the place where some part of the bollywood movie Asoka was shot.

I spent the rest of the evening attending my friends wedding reception. Tomorrow plans are of visiting the Lingaraj temple in the city. It is a very old temple of lord Shiva. More about the temple in my next post. Tomorrow also happens to be my last day in Orissa, I will be leaving by the 3:30 Pm train…

Note: I had typed this on the 7th but was unable to post it.

Trip to Orissa.. Day 3

Today we had planned of visiting the Sun temple at Konark and the Jagnnath temple at Puri. At the end of the day we did manage to visit both the places. Both places are about 50 Kms away from Bhubaneshwar. We left bhubaneshwar a bit late in the morning, so we couldn’t visit the Puri beach which is supposedly very famous and always crowded.

Konark is a great place to visit if you want to see some great architecture. We had hired a guide who explained the architecture to us. There are lot of sculptures around the temple which reminded me of Khajurao and the Kamasutra. Our guide was not shy of explaining the poses and the meaning of the sculptures. One sad thing about the monument is its slowly eroding away. Our guide explained that it’s mainly because of the iron content in the stones that are used for building the temple. Since the temple is close to the sea the salt in the air causes the iron the rust and the stones erode slowly.

After Konark we headed to a small beach on our way to Puri. It was just like any other beach, white sand, lots of water but very few people. We headed to Puri and reached there in about 30 mins.

Puri is a really crowded place, well you can expect that regarding the fact that thousands of people visit the place every day. We were not allowed to carry cameras or cell phones inside the temple grounds. The Puri temple is surrounded by around 25 to 30 small temples. It takes around a hour to visit all the temples. The temple provides lunch to all pilgrims as prasad. Its called the Maha Prasad. We ha that at around 4:30 in the evening and then went for a walk to see all the temples. By the time we left the temple it was already getting dark so we dropped the plan of visiting the beach. We reached Bhubaneshwar at 8:30 and I am lazing around in the room since then. Plans for tomorrow are not finalized. We may go to visit some more temples in the city.

Trip to Orissa.. Day 2

The day began with me sitting in the waiting are of the CSI Airport Mumbai. That is where my last post had ended, so let me continue. I had to spend almost 5 hours on the airport, waiting for my flight. I almost fell asleep a couple of times while sitting. I guess I had not mentioned this earlier but I have never travelled by plane before this.

The plane was supposed to takeoff at 10:25 AM, but as with most of the flights and trains in India it was delayed by 1 hour. Well to summarize my first flying experience, really liked the view while takeoffs and landings, food was good and the air hostesses were really old. This was the only disappointing thing about flying by Indian Airlines. The flight reached Raipur, Chattisgar in about 1 hour 45 mins and then halted there for 40 mins. From Raipur it took us 45 mins to reach Bhubaneshwar.

After reaching the lodge it was time for lunch. Since I was already full with the food that I had had in the plane I chose to eat some snacks. Orissa like Bengal is known for its sweets and I thought of trying some sweet dish. I ordered the “Steam Cake”, had no idea what to expect but found it similar to a dish made in Goa, its called “Kharvs”. No time to explain about Kharvas now. After lunch I slept for a couple of hours and by the time I got up it was time to leave for my team mates baarat. Good thing is nobody forced me to dance (I cant dance). The food at the wedding was great. There were so many dishes that I had not tried earlier, and finally I had my favourite dessert, ice cream.. Yummy..

New dishes tried today – Dahi wada dum aloo, Steam cake and Rohu (Fish) fry

PS: Attached pictures of the plane that I travelled in and my team mates baarat.

Tomorrow I will be visiting the Puri temple and the Sun temple at Konark. Snaps will be uploaded on my picasa web album as soon as possible…