Nostalgia

29th July'07. Off to the highway dabba for one last time with Sam's gang for a night of drinking.

The participants:-Sam,Nishant,Rajat,Kunal,Arvind sam's collegue(can't remember his name) and your's truly.

We guys just drank the night away.It's quite amazing how people lose all their inhibitions and introvert nature after a few pegs.Everyone was having a go at each other.The night was dedicated to the last one year,these guys spent together.

The night just passed by as drinks flowed and the stories got more n more interesting.

From their first time in Pune drinking, to the time they got wanked by an ACP and not to forget the time they had to drive a puntured car all the way home from the highway.

Man listening to these short stories and knowing Sam's flamboyant casonova persona, I was just left amazed and a bit jealous about this group.

Anyways after having our fill and catching a bit we guys headed for home at around 1 am in the nite. Arvind who was totally drunk, accompanied me on my bike and the rest came in the car.

I picked up Annshul who was coming from Mumbai and headed home to by beloved bed.

To think of it was the last of the drinking sessions of this group.

Fast forward to 4th August '07.

Place :- Dadar barista.

I meet up with Sam and Neha and her fiancee...Have a chat over coffee and then it was time to part ways and off we were ( Sam,siddarth,Sarthak and me) to banana bar to catch up with Karan and his friend over drinks.

In my opinion Banana Bar is one of the best bars and lounge around town.If it's ambiance doesn't appeal to you, their buy one get one free offer till 9 pm will definitely vibe well with anyone who appreciates his drink.

It was a great evening and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

The Weekend with Sam!!!

The weekend of 23rd and 24th of Jne was a rocking one...
Not only did I start that weekend with my favourite activity i.e playing football with the Infy team but also met my school friends after a gap of like 6 yrs...
Plus Sam stayed back at my place in Mumbai for the weekend due to rains and hence I got a chance to spend time with him too;with him going to states in a couple of months i guess this was probably the last time for a long time...
Have known that bugger for the past 11 yrs now...
Well lets rewind now...
I started the weekend with a match against Wipro and KPIT combined team against Infy and we beat them 6-1...
Sounds a really unrealistic scoreline isn't it, but it's true.
Caught the 12.30 pm MSRTC vovlo for Dadar alongwith Ajit where I met Divya.
Spent the afternoon at Mocha's in Bandra and then walked all the way to Linking road to get hold of some football jersies with Divya in tow.
Bought a Milan jersey for myself and a C Ronaldo jersey for Sam.
Met Sam at my place in the evening and then we ventured out in the nite after feasting on some chinese at home.
Met Bunty( Sam's friend from his old building) after a long time n we guys had rum with few of his friends close to Sam's old building.
After that around 12 in the nite mw n Sam embarked on our way to Darshan's place at andheri East on the invitation of Karan as a few of my school friends were there celebrating and ushering in Ankit Shah's birthday.
I went to Darshan's place after i guess 7 or 8 yrs.
Met Karan,Darshan,Rushi and Khyati after I guess some 4-5 yrs.
They were having full on house party and I and Sam gladly fitted in.
we drank till 3 in the nite after which it was time to get back home.
Punked on my way back home.
Actually rite inside my building.
The next day started at 12 in the afternoon and we spent the afternoon watching "Black friday " on cable.
In the evening I drove down to Dadar with Mom,Dad and Sam.
Dropped him at his place and went to attend suvidhya's wedding!!
Yup one more meber of the 83 squad in my building got hitched taking the total count to 4 now.
It so difficult to digest that the guys I grew up playing cricket with,were one by one getting married n starting a new family and a whole new chapter in their life.
Guess I'm not as young as I think I am...
Time is running ahead so fast.
But still it seems like I justed passed out from school yesterday.
Meeting the guys from school after such a long time brought back fond memories but also made me realize that everyone has moved on with life...

Weekend Bonanza!!

The weekend started as usual with me waking up early for football practise at Range hill grounds for team Infy.It was a pleasant morning and we guys played against a combine team of KPIT and Wipro.

In the end of the game we emerged victorious with a margin of 6 goals to 1.It was wonderful to be playing without any pressure after a long time, since the last 2 months has seen us play against other IT teams in competitive matches in the various tournaments we have participated in.

After the match I rushed to Mumbai and met Divya at Dadar station.

Ajit gave me company from Pune to Mumbai in a MSRTC volvo and we spent that time catching up our sleep.

Once I touched Dadar, I met up with Divya and we spent the next few hours at Bandra mocha's sipping on a Chocolate shake and hukka and helping ourselves to some delicious chocolate servings.

After indulging ourselves at Mocha's the two of us set off to Linking road by foot to shop for some jersies for myself.

In the end of it all I ended up buying 2 jerseys and Divya too bought a jersey for her brother.

After biding her goodbye I took bus no 200 for home.

Sambit had been waiting for me in Lokandwala since 5 in the evening and I met him at my home ard 7.15 pm.

But before we guys could make up any plans for the nite the floodgates from heaven opened up and we were stuck at home.

It was only after mom n dad got back from the club and I got the car, did we leave for Sam's old building to meet up with Mr. Bunty.

The nite seemed destinyed to be like any others that I have with Sam.Drink booze in the car and then go home n sleep.

But just when everything seem to be happeneing as always Sam got a call from Karan, yeah that's rite(Karan:-school friend whom I hadn't seen since STD XIIth).

He had called to invited the 2 of us to Darshan's place in order to celebrate Ankit Shah's birthday(ZeaZa for us).

Now I had last seen or heard about these guys during my 2nd or 3rd year of engineering when I met all these NM lads at a football match at Juhu beach.

So this invitation to meet up with them came right out of the blue.

After having a drink or two the two of us proceeded to Darshan's place at andheri east.

It was after 8-9 years that I was going to his place.

The anticipation of meeting up with old school friends after 6-years was killing me from within.

continued in the next post---Weekend with Sam...

Back to Bogging...

The last time I started Blogging was in September last year but alas couldn't maintain the habit for a duration of more than 2 months...
This time the resolve is greater to continue with this new found hobby of mine...
Well where do I start this one from...
Life in Infosys is still the same.
Very less work even lesser pay...
But the year has been a good one for my football team in Infosys.
till date we have competed in 3 tournaments in the Pune IT circuit and have come up trumps in all 3 of them...
Also this year me and Annshul shifted with Namit and Saurabh(my batchments from training) into a swanky new 3-bedroom fully furnished flat in Pune and finally after a period of 15 months I can say I am staying in a home and not a room.
Many of my friends have succeeded in fullfilling their dreams of pursuing an MBA this year and most of the guys in the States have finished their MS and got themselves well paying jobs.

Life's been pretty chill since the time I joined Infy in October of 2005.
It's been about 20 months into this job but still I haven't really developed the corporate side of my persona.
I'm leading my life still the way I used to in college except that denim have given way to pants and jerseys have given way to branded shirts; and I kind of like that.

One thing that I am really proud of though is owning my own bike which I bought in November of 2006- a black Pulsar 180 DTSI. The thought of owning your own vehicle just boost your confidence to new limits.It's been just over a year since I started riding.

I guess the only thing keeping me in Pune and Infosys is the football team of Infy which I am a part of and the calmness and greenery of Pune.
And the best part is, I get the best of both worlds since whenever I feel homesick I can just pack my bag and jump on the next Volvo to Mumbai...Neat isn't it.

Till next time...Adious