That is why We have The "IV" !

Paying the entire money for the IV and IV still is a long wait cause you have exams- Irritating!
Seeing the countdown on the CSI FACE IV application for Android - Priceless!

Just one day to go and not having packed anything - Scary!
Just one day to go - Priceless!

Rickshaw from home to Bandra Terminus - Rs. 80
Meeting friends after 7 days at the station - Priceless!

Buying jackets and sweaters and thermals - Rs. 2000
Still feeling freaking cold despite of wearing it all - Priceless!

Having a D-SLR with you - Rs. 33k
Capturing moments that remind you of the IV for a lifetime - Priceless!

Ice creams while going to Mussorie and coming back - Rs. 60
Enjoying the ice creams in freezing temperatures - Priceless!

Buying food at each and every station the train stops - Rs. 100
Running behind the train with the food held tightly in hands - Priceless!
Giving committee members hell of a time - Priceless!

Rafting in River Ganga - Rs. 500
Jumping in the freezing cold water, not giving a damn to the cold water and thinking you are having the time of your life - Priceless!

Having samosas and hot tea after rafting - Rs. 300
Beating the cold with the hot tea and samosas - Priceless!

Buying a wonderful hat at Mussorie - Rs. 120
People snatching and running behind you for the hat - Priceless!

Buying Pepsi (and not hard drinks) on New Years' - Rs 300
Getting high even without drinking just cause you have the people you like the most with you - Priceless!

Uploading 500 photos after the IV - A lot of internet bandwidth
Friends liking and commenting on the pics, reliving the IV once more - Priceless!

Cost for the IV - Rs. 6500
Irritating people with broken English but still enjoying - Priceless!
Narrating the IV experience in totally broken Marathi but still having people cry with laughter! - Priceless! 
Fighting with best of friends and patching up - Priceless!
Having tea in the middle of the night at some random station- Priceless! 
Returning back to find out, whatever the time is Mumbai locals are still crowded - Priceless!
Returning back to find out you have more friends, stronger bonds with the old ones and experiences which you just cannot stop blabbering about - Priceless!

Knowing that the IV is over - Depressing
But knowing that you have one more IV to go - Priceless!

There are hell lot of things money can't buy, and that is why we have the IV! 

S.E.Comps!

It was Legen-JustCannotWaitForTheNextOne-Dary! 

Food, the Mumbai way!

                  Mumbai , I call Mumbai a mad city. Whatever happens the city is still running 24x7. If you ever wondered what keeps millions of Mumbaikars going, well its the Food! 
The specialty of Mumbai food is that not only the richest but also the poorest have their stomachs filled in their own little tight budget.

You don't have to find food in Mumbai, every road every galli has something delicious in store for you.
In Mumbai you get every kind of food, Indian (Duh!), Mexican, Italian, Thai, Lebanese, Chinese and the list goes on. If you want to find where you can get all this, go to burrp.com . One awesome site to find all restaurants in Mumbai.


But but, if you really wanna taste what Mumbai food is all about, step down on the streets. The essence of Mumbai is it's street food. Unhygienic at times but its cheap and taste is lip smacking! And with friends the joy of standing and hogging away street food is priceless!



But what defines Mumbai street food? What is that which makes it in most of what we it?

Yes, It's the Pav! 
Lemme tell you how important 'pav' is for the Mumbai Street Food 'industry'.

1)The Vada Pav.
Mumbai literally lives on the vada pav. Starchy potatoes with masala's added, a bit of garlic, mixed and rolled in ball shape and deep fried, then green, brown chutney applied and red hot lasoon sprinkled inside our favorite pav the vada goes inside the pav and when served hot, Heaven! 

Every Mumbaikar has their own favorite vada pav wala and every individual believes that his/her favorite vada pav stall is the best Mumbai has, no one can beat it.
Initially priced at 5 rupees the price has now increased to 8/9/10 rupees. At 9 rupees also its a cheap and quite filling snack.
The most famous line heard when we buy a vada pav,
" Bhaiyya medium banana, jyada theeka nahi! " :P

2) Pav Bhaji
Believe me, you step out of Mumbai, the complete definition of Pav Bhaji changes. Pav Bhaji does not taste awesome anywhere else than Mumbai! 
A mixture of variety of vegetables smashed into a tomato, onion and garlic gravy. Served with butter dipped pav's and a small bit of melting butter on top of the bhaji, garnished with onions and a drop of lemon... Absolute Delight! 
And yes the standard dialogue,
"Ek plate extra pav laana" :D :D 

For the best pav bhaji's in Mumbai go to Amar Juice centre, Parle West, Maruti Pav Bhaji, Parle West, Sardar Pav Bhaji, Tardeo and my mum's Pav Bhaji! :D 

3) Samosa Pav: 

Based on the vada pav, the big samsosa also makes it's entry inside our favorite pav!
Only question how does the big samosa fit inside the pav? :P

Delicious as the vada pav it is fast gaining popularity! 

4) Misal Pav:

Maharashtra's favorite delicacy, Misal means mixture, its full of pulses and onions.

Its hot, delicious, sets tongues on fire and makes nose and eyes water. Served along with 'Pav' it is truly amazing.

Quite a lot of Marathi food joints sell fire breathing Misal Pav.

5) Bhaji Pav, Omelette Pav,  Anda Pav, Dabeli:

Fresh crisp potato bhaji, 5-6 of them, all stuffed inside one pav, makes it the Bhaji Pav.

Omelette Pav and Anda Pav: Quite delicious! :D 

Not quite originated in Maharashta, its awesome to taste as well

6) Bun Maska:

For all those you haven't tried please try it once:

Butter applied inside sweet and soft bread/pav, makes it a wonderful morning breakfast! 

7)Sandwich:

Another Mumbai specialty, Sandwich is a great snack.

Various variety includes the Toast sandwich and the grilled sandwich.

Yet again the standard dialogue after finishing our sandwich,

"Potato ka ek tukda dena, masala daal ke! "

Here ends the pav saga! :D

Next up,

8) Chat! 

Sev Puri, Pani Puri, Bhel Puri, Ragda Puri, Dahi Puri

All time favorites of quite a lot.

They are tangy and spicy.

Can be made as you want, onion or no onions, theekha or meetha! 

You might have noticed vendors carrying big aluminium things on their heads! Well that's the all in one chat guy! :P
Again the standard line after finishing your plate,

Again the standard line after finishing your plate,

"Bhaiyya ek sukha puri dena"

If you haven't asked for it, next time surely ask, never miss out on free stuff! :P

9)  South Indian

With Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka bordering Maharashtra  South Indian food was bound to have an impact over here. With more than a hundred varieties of Dosa's available, it's difficult to choose one. Fusion Dosa's have also become quite common, Chopseuy Dosa, Pav Bhaji dosa etc.  Mithibai dosa's are awesome! Though more expensive than a restaurant, they are still awesome!

This was a brief of the main Street food available in Mumbai!
There is much more tasty, much more delicious food out there!
In the Cultural Capital of India, in the City there never Sleeps, there is always something special for the food lovers
Enjoy eating! :D

You know its FE Comps!!! Part II

Continuing from the previous post,

If at all you haven't read the previous post, then here it is,
You Know its FE Comps!! Part I


17. Where birthday song ends halfway and the birthday cake is consumed as soon as it is cut!

18. You spot a child, but oops he is not a child, Parin Sanghavi it is! :D

19. He says its correct,then it has to be correct, an ultra smart fellow and a great guy, he is Yashasvi Alladi!

20.  A great business planner, wants everyone to contribute and buy new things for the class and also
       if a philosophical lecture going on, yes it one of us only, Akhsay Jain!

21. Someone from whom even Arjun fears at times! Suhani Singhal ( Along with her brother :P ).
      (Sorry Arjun again! )

22. You will think her dad owns a mobile network company, cause she never runs outta balance, always
      talking on the phone, Aayushi Acharya!

23.They share a name which is almost the same, and is quite a lot of fun at times,Chinmayee and Chinmay!    
     :P

24. Ask anyone whether a boy named Vivek is there in the class, everyone will say there is No Vivek in the
      class, a guy whose surname is more famous than his name, Pandey ji!

25. You see a rickshaw flooded with thrice its normal capacity, yes, 8 in a single rickshaw! Ritika, Nirav,
       Chintan, Sanjana, Anish, Akshat and me! Hell of a ride! :D

26. You spot a range of world class phones from S2's to iPhone's to Ace's and Desire S', with almost all of
       them in whatsapp group doing nonsense all time! Has to be FE Comps!

27. Suhani, Supriya, Sunaina, Surabhi we call the four of them the "SU sisters! " :P

28. We go to the have coffee when lecture starts and return 15 minutes later and yes we do succeed in
      getting inside, well almost! :P

29.  Wanna eat chicken? We have a group ready, Arushi, Prateek, Mahesh and Vasu, every ready to stuff in
       non veg food!

30. We have jain food facility tooo , EX CR Mr Akshat Shah and Zeal Doshi, cry for Jain food every where
       they go! :P

31. Girls go mad on seeing Harry Potter in SPIT, but on close observation they see the scar on his forehead
       is missing, great resemblance with Harry Potter and an awesome singer and writer as well, Soham it is!

32. You see a guy wearing skirt and roaming about in college, surely he belongs to FE Comps!
                                                   
33.Half the class goes to watch a horror movie, Paranormal Activity 3, the manager comes and tell all of us
      to behave, but we still continue laughing, shouting and getting scared, that class is definitely FE Comps!


The following describes FE Comps 2011! :D


Awesome
Brilliant
Crazy
Dumb
Eccentric
Funny
Genius
Horny :P
Intelligent
Jafastragam!
Kamina
Lame
Mad
Nasty
Original
Pure
Quick
Richly Poor
Sarcastic
Terrific
Useful
Valuable
Witty
X Rated :P
Yummy!
Zesty

One of the best classes ever! :D

You know its FE Comps!!! Part I

We all are now known as S.E.Comps!
But the last one year was a fantastic!
Toooo many memories, way tooo much fun!
So my post is a dedication to the fantastic last year we had!

You know its FE Comps if,

1. You enter the class and hear words like "stucture" and "electon". Yeah, RD mam!

2. Be it any lecture, if you hear a song which goes like, Vasuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Vasuuuuuuuuuuuu Vasuuuuuuu
    Vasuuuuuuuuuu....... It definitely is FE Comps.

3.You are walking and you discover a bunch of people standing, yeah just standing and talking crap! They
    have to be FE's. No one does timepass better than us!

4.You hear a girl shouting and crying with real high frequency, Arushi Gupta it is! :D

5. You see a tall boy running behind every lunch-box possible, Yes its Mahesh Belnekar.

6.You see people strumming guitar and only around three to four people singing genuinely, the others just
   creating havoc, Akshay, Nirav, Mahesh, Ritika, Zeal, Soham.... you guys are great! :D

7. You see a guy bringing, packing and taking projector back to where it belonged, collecting assignments  
    and requesting teachers to cancel the lectures, its the CR, Akshat Shah!

8. You see a dangerous guy hanging around with electronics people more than computers! Arjun Sharma it
     is!  (Sorry ha Arjun :P ).

9. You spot two idiots fighting and being thrown out quite often due to their mischief's. Kevin Desai and
    Sanjana Agarwal!

10. You see a girl with absolutely the same expressions in all cases, Abhilasha Mittal.

11.Some guys breaking into a random dance around a guy, while the music plays "Tidin Tidin Yaye yaayeeee". Pranav Kundra is the guy in between!

12. If someone says, Systeeeem, it has to be HBV sir or it might be Siddhant Doshi as well! :P

13. You get tired of writing Schrodinger's equation but you still have to write again and again, Parag Mistry
      sir it is!

14. You see people bursting out in laughter and a lecture having maximum attendance, my favorite teacher,              
      Madhavi mam it is! :D        

15. You see people having coffee and Bingo at weird times, don't worry its official, its Natasha mam's break          
       time!

16. You see a girl climb the table do perform her mechanics experiment, due to height issues, Ritika Nevatia!


17. Pass a sheet regarding any event and we make sure it does not go empty, yes you have passed the sheet
      in FE Computers! :D

All in all its a great combination of weird, awesome, fantastic, intelligent and smart people.

(P.S. - Others will be covered in the next part, releasing tomorrow! )

Teko kitna aaya?

One of the most dreadful days in a students life.... A day which even the brightest of the student fears.
Before result everyone says... "Yaar ab bore ho raha hai, ab results aane chahiye!"
Lemme describe today's scene only,
With pass or fail declared Friday very early morning, we expected the results to be displayed in the college by the end of the day! But we learned SPIT was lazy and Saturday being a holiday it added to the ever increasing wait for results. And with friends from other colleges continuously asking "Kitnaa aaya?", it surely adds to the frustration!
So Monday it is and the first thing people do on entering college is check the display board!
But No! The results still weren't out! Lectures and practicals went by! It was lunch....And yet again we rushed down! But NO! Still no results! Now we were seriously cursing the exam cell for being so lazy!
2 o clock PCT lecture! A guy from our class who is standing down messages that results are out! And ya within no time the word spreads. We request (order) mam to leave us early and yes she does! Half of them rush out as fast as they can while the other half try to figure out from the sixth floor whats going on at the ground floor! And still the results are not out!! Ritika and me try pulling of a prank... We go to every class and secretly the students who are sitting close to the doors that results are out, spread the word. Creates amazing desperation amongst students sitting in lectures to just run out and check their results! ;)
We all go back to classes and unfortunately as soon as the lecture begins, results were out! This time the source was trusted! :P
And then drama begins!
No one sits normally...everyone sits half out of their benches trying to blast outta their seats as soon as teachers finishes taking the roll call!
Facial expressions begin to change, even if people laugh, they are just trying to hide their tension.
People start tapping their feet, hearts start pounding. And everyone's least bothered what the hell is going on in the lecture.
30 minutes into the lecture I couldn't understand why wasn't the teacher able to make out the disinterest on everyone's face.
Five minutes more into the lecture a student gathered courage to tell teacher that results are out, please let us go! And the other 40 erupted simultaneously, "Please mam, pleassssssssseeee! "
A little hesitation and then we were allowed to go!
So off we go! I hardly think anyone even waited for the lift....Climbing down steps as fast as we could we reached the ground floor! But then we saw other 200 students battling out with each other to get one glimpse at their totals. This didn't dim our hopes as we also joined the battle and fought hard to see the results!
Then begins the process to search the names! Assume my surname Desai, we search for a D then De, and then Desai, Desai, Desai and yes! Name has been found. Keeping a finger just below the name we start moving the finger left to reach the total! Remember the total, rush out of the crowd and remove cell phone and open the calculator on it! Divide the marks and get the percentage!
Time stops for a moment. Then someone taps from the back and says, "Teko Kitna aaya?"
And then we round off our percentage and tell him, fearing ours will be too less compared to him we dont even ask that person sometimes! Time passes by (slowly). Many are sad, many joyous. Some start crying while to some it just doesn't matter. If you see a big crowd around a person then two things, either someone has topped else someone is crying too badly.Congratulations and "Chalta hai yaar, next time phaaad dalenge" continues as time passes by. Crowd lessens and then we see individual marks which are even more shocking. Time stops yet again, till a random friend from other branch comes up and asks, "Teko kitna aaya?" :D 

On Cartoons!

Cartoons!

Well any one can talk on this topic on and on and on for hours together. And cant get tired of discussing it again and again. It is something which has ruled our childhood. Everyone in his childhood has spend large amounts of time watching cartoons. The most basic channels being
1.Cartoon Network
2.Pogo

3.Disney Channel
4.Hungama
And for the ones who understood fast paced English in their childhood :P
5.Nickelodeon
6.Animax
Yes the first four channels came in Hindi, at that time atleast :P
I'll list almost all cartoons I watched and loved the most!
( If i miss anyone, it is purely unintentional! Include them in the comments)

1.Bob The Builder

Bob the Builder kar ke dikhayenge,
Bob the Builder Ha bhai haa! 

Aired on Pogo, I would schedule my lunch time so as not to miss the show!

One of the most awesomest cartoon ever made. My personal favorite! (There will be more personal favorites ahead! Every other cartoon seems better than the previous one!)
I remember the whole song! I suck big time at Antakshri but every time the letter b comes in I never fail to sing Bob the builder ka song!

2.Swat Kats

Story of two humanly figured cats flying an awesome plane and using funky missiles to destroy enemies!
One named Bade Miya and one named Chote Miya, one of the best cartoons on Cartoon Network!
To watch their episodes - http://swatkats.us/

3. Oswald

One octopus named Oswald, a sunflower named Daisy and a penguin named Henry in a town full of strange buildings and people!
One of the most famous dialogues of Henry,

Do marshmallows, Na Kam Na Jyada

4.Pingu -  Short stories of a stupid penguin named Pingu!

5.Pokemon

One of the most epic cartoons ever made! All time favorite of any kid!
It was a story of Ash, Misty and Brock on a quest to earn 8 badges which allow them to enter the league and become the Ultimate Pokemon Trainer!
Pikachu was easily the most loved Pokemon of all times.
Pokemon was aired on cartoon network for many years, which included repeat telecast of episodes so many times, but we still watched them!
The brilliance of Pokemon forced us to buy Pokemon cards. Whenever I got a 10rs note in hand, I would rush to the nearest store and buy a packet of cards! Then started trading of cards! Took hours to seal a deal!
A-"Mere paas to Blastoise hai "
B-"Haaaaaa, mere paas Charizard hai! "
A-"Please dena , please please please de na, dekh mein teko 5 cards deta hu, baas Charizard de de!"

Gotta Catch'em All, Pokemon! 

6.Beyblade - Small metal tops rotating at high speeds and clashing against each other in a small circular stadium! Also made childern buy beyblades from the market!
First came the plastic ones which were quite big, then the metal ones which were small.
Took tava from the kitchen and played in it! :P

7.Tom and Jerry- Naaaah! I didnt like Tom and Jerry Sorry to all Tom and Jerry lovers but I couldnt see Tom losing almost every time. :P
8.Dragon Ball Z- I havent watched that much, all I know is Goku, Vejeta and Kameyaa-Meyaaaaaaaa!

Some more amazing cartoons,
Flintstones
Captain Planet-"Captain Planet he is the Hero, iske samne sab hai zero! "
Johnny Bravo- A cool guy with weird hairstyle, crazy behind girls :P
Dexter Laboratory -Another cool cartoon in which Didi disturbs Dexter in his highly modern science lab!
Noddy - "Aa Gaya Noddy, Noddy! :D "
Thomas the Train
Mr Bean & Mr Bean-The Animated Series! - Again a favourite, I can watch Mr Bean episodes again and again!
The Looney Toons Show  -Using Acme products to get rid of the Ostrich
Galactic Football on Animax!
Ninja Hattori on  Nickelodeon
Phineas and Ferb - Two brothers making huge things!
Garfield  - Story of a lazy little cat! 

9.Doraemon
A futuristic cat who tries to help Nobita by gadgets brought from the from the 22nd century!
Fantastic cartoon!

10.Shinchan

Ole ole ole :P

The craziest, naughtiest cartoon ever made!
Banned in Japan due to what you can see above!
Amazingly Hilarious! It is still a delight to watch!

The below mentioned ones are not cartoons, but still great fun to watch! 

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven, Wizards of the Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Kim Possible, Shaka Laka Boom Boom!
All featured on the Disney channel and were awesome fun to watch! :D


These were all the cartoons I watched in my childhood. I still watch some of them! :P
I hope I haven't forgotten any, if so please include them in the comments!


Hope this post of mine helps you remind your childhood days for sometime atleast! :D