Weekend destination: Silvassa

Laxminarayan and myself planned and executed road trip to Silvassa yesterday... Laxmi was to spend the night before the ride at my place, n when I said it would be egg-curry for dinner he said he wanted to be around to see me buy the eggs... to ensure I don't feed him pigeon eggs :) Well... he was late and had to trust me with that...

Next morning... 24 Nov '07, 0530 hrs IST..

We're out of the house n hit the western express highway within minutes... couldn't speed too much as the trucks were pretty reckless.. however, we weren't too pissed with them cos their exhaust was thawing us out of the 5.30 chill... When we got out of Mumbai onto NH-8, trucks were fewer, it got much darker than before, and much much colder... Our windcheaters weren't good enough and my bare fists were practically frozen...

We stopped at a dhaba in Manor to heat up a bit.. had hefty alu parathas and tea...

By 9 o' clock we were in Silvassa, and our host for the day - Abhishek Desai picked us up n took us home.. An elaborate breakfast was waiting for us... Laxmi was already full.. so I helped him a bit.. :)

Our first destination after breakfast was Dudhni... about 40 km from Silvassa, through the mountains n trees...on a very well made up road... was an awesome ride... At Dudhni we sat together at a picnic spot discussing the hostel days... updating each other etc... had lunch, and went waterscooting in the Damanganga river..

Next destination: Deer Park... another lovely ride... but the gates were closed n we had to plan something quick for the one hour left until they opened...so we went to Bindrabin temple and had a nice refreshing dip in the chilled pond.. that was like the best activity for the sunny afternoon.. We felt so fortunate that the deer park was closed...

Came back to the deer park... Man! its tough to ride when the roads are not tarred...

Well... mud biking is real fun... but then it kinda hurts to ride your own bike on stones.. :)

Excited seeing some wild animals pretty close, and covered with dust, we got out of the deer park and went back to the town... and got onto the highway to head back home...

We missed seeing a camping site as it would've taken us too long.. Abhishek suggests we plan an overnight to this place... go with a big gang.. I'm game.. interested people please contact me..

The ride back to Mumbai was pretty interesting... we did the first 140km in 2hours... and the remaining 15 km in 90 minutes.. that is Mumbai's way of saying.. "Welcome back!" :)

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Birthday Bumps....This is not a joke....

Since I turned 25…(here forth referred to as N)….there have been a series of incidences that make me wonder about the humour of life and growing older…
Things that rub my age in my face…. This is my TRUE experience... I wish it was just a forward..

“Coincidence” 1: Date…24th Oct …1 day after my bday
While calling up my Tata indicom guy… after 1 month of yelling at them I take the polite approach...speaking slowly n politely in Hindi.. and saying please and thank you…
Result…? When he comes over to my house… he asked me If he spoke to me on the phone… when I said YES he says..
“Lagta tha ki main Aunty se baat kar raha tha” ...(Probably not the best Hindi, but this is my version)
Of course when I gave him the “Mel You look like Rajnikanth’s Wife” look he tried to cover up while filling in my details like DOB saying...”Oh 82.. lagta tha ki 85 hai..”
Yeah, right … too late!


“Coincidence” 2: Date…22th Oct …1 day before my bday
I receive a special offer courier from Ponds….”Try a product worth Rs.450/- for Rs. 200/-….if you don’t think it works we’ll give you your entire money back…”
Seems really nice tho the envelope said “Look Younger in just 7 days…or your money back”
Ponds Age Miracle.. yeah ... that’s my special offer….
I went semi-berserk and asked my receptionist if it looked like I needed it.. she laughed…

I didn’t laugh so much when I received the SAME courier 3 days later AGAIN!!!!! Talk abt adding insult to injury!!!

“Coincidence” 3: Date…25th Oct
My friend enters her kids picture in some website and asked us to vote for it…the website is IndiaParenting.com ….you have to register to login…
Oh well apart from icky details like your spouses name, if pregnant your due date…. (SERIOUSLY) ….there is the usual DOB field…I decided to treat myself to lying about my age…23 Oct 1983 is not such a big lie is it…?? Except that ...
…the dropdown for Year started from 1982! There was no option for anyone born after that!!! Apparently once you are N you are eligible to join this website and not before.. (I’m looking for a sue-this-site link)
I don’t want that kid to win the contest now.


Oh well… I laughed it all and said... I should blog about this... This is actually cute and funny na! HAHAHAAAAAHAHAA take it in Good spirit n all that jazz !!
I mean, 3 times can be coincidence na ??

Let’s laugh it off going shopping to Brand-Factory with Clyde for some shopping and my ego boost….
….So I did that...
Yeah, and the bill came to...(I swear I have the bill to prove it)…………
Rs. 1983/-

“Coincidence” number 4 ??????? I don’t think sooo..

Wish all my pretty lady pals a very happy Nth birthday

And here's a pic of d Pune Gang who shared my Nth with me... sad to say most of them are under-N....

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Recipe: Kabu Kabab Pariwala

Here is a simple recipe that you would like to try at home.

Ingredients:
Pigeon - 1 nos.
Onion - 1 nos.
Carrot - 1 nos.
Turmeric - 1 tbsp.
Coriander pdr - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 3 tbsp
Red chilly pdr - 2 tsp
Rava - 3tbsp
Oil - 30ml
Salt - to taste




Directions
Behead the pigeon, skin it and wash it clean. Cut the edible parts into average sized pieces. Rub turmeric, coriander powder, red chilly powder and salt and leave aside.
Go to the balcony and clear it of all the feathers.
Now mix the rava and garam masala. Heat oil in a pan. Roll the kabab pieces in the rava mix and fry for 20-25 minutes
Garnish with onions and carrots and serve hot!

Do try out the recipe and send in your suggestions for improvement.


Okay... now here's how I caught it:
we have an abandoned bathroom where I sprinkled a little toor dal and waited a few days.. the prey arrived, I sealed all exit points and pounced on it... It flew to the kitchen, saw the window closed, flew at my face, and I just caught it in flight. Cool eh?

Aakhir jallad bhi to insaan hota hai na....


Hunters don't normally care for tiny pecks.. but yes.. for the record... that b@$#!% pecked me... and it hurt... :-(

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