Naive

I just don't know how to start describing this restaurant - Naive. Oh! I was so taken in by it. You know, when one is looking forward to something for a long time and when that something actually happens and it turns out to be just as amazing as one had expected it, if not better - that is exactly how our visit to Naive unfolded. It was a long pending visit, which when we finally visited, matched up exactly to how I had expected it to be.

Situated on East coast road, opposite to Katong Mall, the restaurant cannot be missed. I particularly liked their name board done up in black and white.


And while we are on the topic of the location of the restaurant, most of the posts on FoodieExpress so far have concentrated on restaurants in the eastern part of Singapore. That is mainly because we stay in the east and there are many restaurants that are yet to be explored here. That is one of the main reasons I shifted to the east :P Although I would like to mention that we are willing the travel the entire country in search of restaurants which serve up good vegetarian fare. If you know restaurants in the north, north-east or the west which meets this need and is non-Indian(preferably), do leave a comment and we will try to visit place and blog about it!

Okay, back to Naive. I am feeling a bit lazy and at a loss of words to compose this post. So, I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

The owners have a nice vision for their restaurant as can be seen from this picture and I was quite impressed.


The cover page of the menu.


I generally like glancing though reading the menu. I usually take my own sweet time to do that, like I am studying for an exam. After studying the menu, I am invariably confused on what to order because there will be atleast four or five items which I would want to try but I cannot, since I have a small appetite (being a foodie is not exactly about the quantity. Its about quality and variety!). So I generally bully my friends into ordering what I want and yell at politely remind them, if they touch the dish before I can take a photo of it :P

The drinks menu had interesting names for the drinks on offer.


We ordered the Passion of Life


and the Sour Power


But, Passion of Life tasted more sour than Sour power. LOL! While both the drinks were quite good, I liked Sour Power better!

Before the start of every meal, they have a Japanese inspired "Bloss" ceremony during which the diners are provided with a mortar and a pestle, which they use to grind some toasted sesame seeds, which can be sprinkled over the meal later.


Sayesha partaking in the "bloss" ceremony.


For starters, we ordered Penang Rendang along with some steamed buns which were very soft.


You can either tear a piece of the buns and dip it in the gravy and eat it or you could stuff the bread with the gravy(like a pita bread) and eat it.

We also ordered a plate of Mega Mini Mushroom, which is the recommended dish. And boy! We were so enamoured by this dish that we promptly ordered another plate of it. The dish comprised of succellent Lingzhi mushrooms fried and then mixed with a spicy szechuan sauce. Oh! It was very tasty. This is definitely one of the must have items at Naive.


Moving on, we ordered Wolfberry soup, Tom yam soup and a Organic mushroom miso soup! The soups were very well done. I personally liked the Wolfberry soup and it has a very comforting feel to it. Like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day!


For the main course, we ordered a few bowls of Olive rice (creatively named as Oliver Twist on the menu) and a bowl of brown rice along with "Spice of Life" and a plate of Sambal Broccoli respectively. Spice of Life comprised of vegetables which were sauteed in a spicy kongpo sauce. The sauce was quite similar in taste to the sauce in Mega mini mushroom dish. Nevertheless, it was quite good and went along very well with the Olive rice.



The Sambal Brocolli was quite good too!


One might notice (especially an Indian customer) that the vegetables in most dishes are quite raw. Infact, that is a very common complaint that I have heard from fellow Indian colleagues and friends. They feel that the vegetables are not cooked at all and that is one of the main reasons why they dont like eating the local food. As Indians, we are so used to eating dishes where the vegetable have been cooked tender along wth the spices in such a way that the flavour of the spices are more prominent than that flavour of the vegetable. This is not the case with many south east Asian dishes as is explained in this post.

Moving along to the dessert, we noticed that they don't have anything specifically mentioned on the menu. But, they do serve a dessert of the day. On the day we went, the desserts on offer were a pumpkin based item and a pear based item. We ordered the latter and this is what we got -


It was maily boiled pears along with some chinese almonds served in a mildly flavoured broth. We didn't like it so much. Maybe we should have ordered the pumpkin dessert.

Dinner costed us about 140 bucks for six of us, which boils down to about 22 buck per head. Not at all expensive considering and is definitely worth a visit. I am surely going to visit this place again!

Naive
99, East coast Road
Singapore - 428795
www.naivecompany.com

Check and mate!

A fire (of revenge) had been ignited within me ever since this happened a year ago. And now, I can say that I have taken my revenge. Details are here.

Badle ki jo jawalamukhi bhadak rahi thi, woh apne anjaam ko pahunch gayi. Haye! Dil ko thandak pahunch gayi.

:D :D :D

Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe

Another restaurant which is very close to my heart is Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe (XWHKC). It is no wonder that it had to figure in FoodieExpress. This place came into focus from the time Sash was raving about the Iced lychee tea and the glasses they were served in. Another dish which pushed this restaurant onto our foodie express list was '/\'. Patience my dear readers. You will find out what '/\' is soon. After all we have to save the best for the last ;)

XWHKC have a couple of branches around the country. We chose to visit the one in Siglap since its the one closest to our homes. Located at the junction of East coast road and Upper east coast road, it is quite easy to find. Siglap is full of restaurants and XWHKC is one among them.


The place is nicely done up and has a chic ambience. They even have booths. Although, it required some amount of squeezing oneself between other tables to reach them. But once reached, one can park one's ass comfortably and look forward to a nice meal.

As their name suggests they serve food local to Macau, Shanghai and Hong Kong(I can't wait to go there) and do have a few vegetarian options. But I guess one has to be able to eat non-vegetarian food (also known as food here in Singapore) to enjoy most of the dishes. Amongst the common veggie items, one item which stood out was the Papaya soup. I hadn't heard of it before and was quite eager to try it. It comes in a huge bowl with vegetables, a cob of corn and a few huge chunks of papaya in a white coloured broth with ramen noodles inside. I have a soft corner in my heart for noodle soups. So its no wonder that I enjoyed the dish. Although, I felt it was slightly bland for my taste. The other dishes ordered were a baked veggie lasagne, a curry maggi dish and a chicken dish. Good food. Very fast and efficient service.

Oh! I forgot to talk about the drinks. Two items which must not be missed are the iced lychee tea and a cold Ying Yang. Many would have had the iced lychee tea, so am not going to describe it. But, many may not have had a Ying Yang. Before telling you what it is, I think you must know that it tastes delicious and is very refreshing. It has to be had cold and in a special steel tumbler that they serve it in, which I guess may be characteristic of Hong Kong.

Ying Yang is actually a mixture of Coffee and Tea! Weird combination no? But, trust me, it doesn't taste weird at all. After you take a sip, it is the flavour of the tea which hits you first. The coffee flavour hits you later once you have almost swallowed it. Since it is served cold, it can very refreshing on a hot day and still keep you alert at the same time. Both the flavours are not very intense. Very pleasant. This is my favourite drink at the restaurant!

And now, let me present to you the highlight of of the meal - the '/\'


Yes, its a mountain of shaved ice on a bed of mango pieces with mango sauce/puree dripping from its sides and a scoop of mango ice-cream on top. Mango lovers, this is a treat for you. One word to describe it -YUMTASTIC!!

It cost us about 80 dollars and we were totally 5 people. But, let me tell you that a couple of us hardly ate anything. So on an average, it might cost you about 20-25 dollars per head. Worth it!

Bangalored!

It was just about three months since my last visit to India. But then on the night of 8th May, I found myself back at the swanky Bengaluru International Airport. After all, it was my yaar's wedding. And since both of them are close to me, it was inevitable that I had to attend the wedding. A bunch of other close friends also joined the dulha and me, and we flew down together from the hot and sweltering Singapore to the hot and happening Bangalore.

Now, when Viv is around, Dumbcharades are all the more fun. After some non-family friendly enactment in the plane, I was successfully able to decipher which hindi movie title Viv was trying to mime. It was Saajan Bin Suhaagan. Oh! How we laughed. I think Sash will put up an entire post on that. You will have to wait till then for the details. Ahem!

We had exactly 7 days in Bangalore and most plans were already made. The plans mainly comprised of food places that we must all eat at :P Sash had already mentioned that she would be quite happy if she got her daily dose of road side pani puri. Food street was one of the highlights of the trip. We ate so much there. Urv and Ved had joined us and all of us hogged as if we hadn't eaten in days. We started off with dose, followed by holige, jaljeera flavoured with kalakhatta, gobi manchurian, pani puri and ended the meal with some butter-gulkan. What a meal that was!

Then came the wedding and it was another eat session. Viv did proper justice to the food and even the cooks at the wedding seemed very pleased with him. I don't think he ever said no whenever he was asked for second helpings. Apart from eating, we also managed to enjoy and take part in the wedding festivities. It was quite sometime since I had been to a traditional tam-brahm wedding. What made it even more special was that it was two of our close friends getting married.

Post wedding, we went on a small trip along with newly married couple. Sumanth has promised us that he would show us around rural Mangalore and also take us to visit a few of his relatives. Morning coffee and tea was at relative-1's house. Breakfast was at relative-2's house and lunch was at relative-3's house. We ate and we ate and we ate. And just when we thought we couldn't eat anymore, we ate again. It was exhausting!! Sash even said that she wouldn't eat pani puri that day :O The amount we have eaten in that one week in India, we wouldn't have eaten the same in two weeks in Singapore. Now that we are back in Singapore, we have to exercise with a revenge.

It was one heck of a memorable trip and it all seems like it got over too soon. Trips to India are always special and close to heart. This was my second trip in this year and I don't know when I will be visiting next. Maybe in the end of this year. Or maybe not.

The Animal

We have all had instances where we hear the lyrics of a song or a dialogue in a movie incorrectly. Some of them sound silly, some are hilarious, some are ridiculous and then there are the ones that sound downright embarassing. Let me tell you about one such embarrassing goof-up by yours truly!

You may have watched the hindi movie Aitraaz. Its a Indianized version of the english movie Disclosure. Anyway, there is this scene in the movie where Priyanka Chopra is trying to seduce Akshay Kumar (and is almost succeeding). At this precise moment she utters a dialogue in a very husky voice.

What she says: Show me you are an animal Raj, show me you are an animal.

What I hear: Show me your animal Raj, show me your animal.

My reaction: WHAT??!!! :O Did she actually say that?? She calls 'it' an animal?? How how... corny, kiddish and ridiculous. How did PC even agree to mouth such a dialogue and who even wrote that dialogue??? Yikes!!!

Hey! In my defense, the audio wasn't very clear and her voice was all husky.

Looking for Flatmates

Remember this post? Go on, read it and come back.

Now that you are back, I am sure you would have noticed easily how much I have gushed about the apartment and my excitement to move into that house.

Well, my dear friends, I am renting out two rooms in the wonderful apartment described in the post above. If any of the readers are looking out for renting out a room, please email me at pizzadudeblogs at gmail dot com and I will get back to you.

Ek jaam, dosti ke naam

A close friend of mine emailed me recently saying -

Hellooo! When are u updating ur blog magga? I know u are too busy dating around and sleeping around, but there's life beyond that too :D

After recovering from the trauma of being referred to as 'magga' *GASP* (will save that for another post), I remembered that the proper reaction to such an email would be to say - Jeeeeeeeeeeez!

*GULP*

Yes, my dear friend, its been a while since I blogged. The lack of inclination/interest has made me neglect my blog for so long. But, now that you have emailed me and asking me why I haven't blogged, here I am, blogging. This one's for you.

Dear V,

I had never thought that you and I would end up as such good friends, considering the scenario we met in. But, now that we are, I couldn't be happier. Its been a great 3 years knowing you.

I cherish all the wonderful moments that we have spent together. Eating out, talking nonsense, gossiping, shameless leg pulling, exchanging gyaan, shopping, confiding in and speaking direct dil se. Thanks for being there when I needed your support and I will be there when you need mine.

Being the F.R.I.E.N.D.S fanatic that I am, I cannot help but recall this song at this moment -



Here's to a great friendship
*clink*

Cheers,
PizzaDude.

Gurkha Palace

This month's halt on FoodieExpress started off with "Gurkha Palace", a place serving authentic Nepalese and north Indian food. A friend of mine had been raving about the momo's served there and so we decided to check it out.


The restaurant is situated bang in the middle of Little India, along Chander road (its Chandler minus 'l', for people like me who struggle to remember the name). Take the second right while walking along Race course road (from Little India MRT) and then left. Walk down this road till you come across the restaurant to your left. Also note a ridiculous sign "Hurry! Hurry! Fish head curry" in front of one the restaurants along this road. Jeeeez!

The restaurant was a bit small and we had to squeeze a bit amongst the other tables to get to our table. The walls are adorned with pictures and Nepalese handicrafts. It had a very homely feel to it. Once I sat down at the table, I felt very comfortable in the surroundings although the restaurant was quite packed. We also happened to bump into two friends of ours, Sri and Appu at the restaurant. This came as a very pleasant surprise and they joined us for dinner. After all, the more the merrier.

The menu was very very similar to a north Indian menu and many of the items were quite familiar. When we quizzed the manager about the difference in the two cuisines, he opinioned that while the north Indian dishes were quite creamy and made use of more spices, the Nepali dishes were less creamier and made use of some different spice and were more subtle.




We started off with a some Mix pakoras, Veg momos and kukhara momos (chicken). While, I thoroughly enjoyed the pakoras (they were light and not oily), the momos were just about ok. Looks like it was an off day. These came with some green and red chutney, which went very well with the dishes.


Since, we wanted to taste some unique dishes, we ordered things whose names werent familiar. On second thought, we must have asked the waiter for recommendations. Vegetarian items on the main course comprised of Aloo Dum(marinated potatoes cooked in Nepali spices, onion and tomato), Mismas tarkari(Mix vegetables cooked in Nepali spices) and Simi Tama(Steamed kidney beans and bamboo shoots cooked in tomato and yoghurt) along with Naan. I liked the food. It was quite light and flavoured in a subtle manner. Like I said before, it had a very homely feel. The best part was that I didn't feel like I had eaten a godown of spices, unlike in some Indian restaurants. My only grouse was that the quantities served weren't very large. Could have easily finished a couple of side-dishes by myself if very hungry.

Aloo Dum and Mismas Tarkari

SimiTama along with a basket of Naan

I would definitely come back here. Like I said before, very light food and a homely feeling. And quite away from the maddening crowds of Little India on a weekend. We paid about S$15 per head for the meal, which comprised of starters, main course and tea. Very cost effective in my opinion. We didn't try the dessert section though, but will definitely do so on our next visit.

Speaking of tea, check out this funny description of Himalayan tea in the menu -

Hehehe!

Should you visit? I would say Yes! But my friends were a bit skeptical. Shub felt that the food was slightly bland and so-so. Sash did not find it all that great and was of the opinion that same food would be much better at other restaurants in the country. Sumanth felt the place was very cost effective. Only Viv echoed my opinion.

So, I would suggest that if you are around in the area, do visit the place.

Blooie's

This restaurant was the second stop on the Foodie Express and was suggested by our resident consultant, Sayesha. Situated in a quintessentially very residential neighbourhood along Jln Tua Kong, it is a place to visit to have some American styled food in the eastern part of Singapore. To reach Blooies, take a left from East coast road after Siglap Road along Jln Tua Kong and drive for about 300 to 400 metres. Initially it appears as if the road leads to a dead end very soon. But, be patient and take the road. Very soon you will arrive at a set of shops, which appears like a garage (or was it a garage?). Amidst this setup, you will be greeted by the brightly lit neon signs of Blooies.

This restaurant has been started by an Canadian expat and is named after his pet dog. Infact their logo is the profile view of a dogs face. The place has got a very relaxed atmosphere with soft music being played in the background. Add in the backdrop of the quiet neighbourhood and we have a very nice and chilled out place to hang out at. They even have a pool table. The walls are almost covered with photos of people who have visited this place. I don't know if they are celebrities and didn't bother to investigate. But to my amateur eye, they looked like common people who had come there to generally chill out. Oh! Checkout the poster stuck in the restroom.

LOL!

Their happy hours are till 8pm, during which there is 20% waiver on all alocholic beverages. Trying to make maximum use of this, we ordered the first round of drinks. Blooies (their signature drink), Kamikaze, Lychee Martini and a jug of beer soon arrived at our table. Excluding the Lychee Martini (which was more like lychee juice), the other drinks were very good. Would easily be rated as 4 on a scale of 1 to 5. Being a sucker for citrus drinks, I found the Kamikaze (which contained lime) very refreshing. Although, am a tad bit disappointed with the quantity of the drinks served. I was expecting slightly more quantity. So, what to do when this happens? Order another round of drinks! This time, Long Island Iced Tea, Woo Woo and a Mai Tai arrived at the table.

The hilariously named Woo Woo!

They have a decent vegetarian selection as is obvious from an entire page from their menu which is dedicated to vegetarians. Impressive stuff!


We started the meal with some Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese and deep fried. The Jalapenos were so spicy. The dish in itself wasn't great though. It was just fine. The same item at Cha Cha Cha (that deserves an entire post) or El Patio are much better. We also ordered Quesadilla (mozzarella and cheddar cheese between two tortilla's along with salsa, guacamole and sour cream) which was totally YUMMY! A must have at this restaurant.


Main course comprised of a Mushroom burger, Veggie Sandwich, Pasta Primavera, Chicken burger which were all quite good. I was super excited because they had a vegetarian burger! I was quite curious as to what kind of patty will come along with the burger. It turned out that the patty was just a huge roasted portobello mushroom. I have had a love-hate relationship with this mushroom. I love the taste but kind of detest the smell. Thankfully, it turned out to be love this time and boy, was I glad or what!! Check out the burger -


The veggie sandwich


The service was very fast. Quite impressive. Although it must be noted that the place was not very crowded. In my opinion, this is a lovely place to hangout and spend a time on a sunday evening.

Cost wise, this restaurant is on the expensive side. An average of 45-50 bucks per head (drinks and desserts included). You won't be disappointed though.

You can checkout their official website here.

Foodie Express

Being a vegetarian in Singapore is not an easy task if you must know. Not only is there a lack of places serving vegetarian food, even if we do find one, it will invariably be an Indian food stall. Now, I do not belong to that set of Indians who insist on eating only Indian food wherever they go. I have seen people pass comments like - Lets go to a place where we can eat a real lunch. Bah! If you ask me, we must try to eat as many varieties of food as possible. Infact, a visit to a place will not be complete without sampling the local cuisine.

Many of us chose to remain or turn into a vegetarian for various reasons. I happen to be one among such people. So, to make life a tad bit easier for people on the lookout for vegetarian food in Singapore and who don't want to stick to just Indian food, let me present to you a set of restaurants serving vegetarian fare among others in a series of posts spanning over a year.

A bunch of friends(Shub, Sash, Viv and Sumanth) and I, have decided to visit atleast two new restaurants every month. I will be reviewing each restaurant on my blog (accompanied with photos) and may also recommend a couple of drinks/dishes which have to be tried out at that particular restaurant. Needless to say, all the restaurants that I review will have a couple of vegetarian dishes. In the process, I hope to take you all on a veggies-guide-to-food-in-Singapore tour through my blog. All such posts will be tagged under 'Foodie Express' and can be viewed by selecting it under the "Tags" section.

Watch this space for reviews and our experiences at "Siem Reap 1" and "Blooies" this month.

Uh Oh!

So the other day, I was chatting with a Filipino colleague(FC) of mine who had just returned from a long holiday in Philippines.

PD - Hey! How was the trip back home?
FC - It was great! Had lots of fun.
PD - Nice to know. You must cribbing to be back at work after the fabulous holiday.
FC - Yeah! Waiting eagerly for the Chinese New Year holidays.
PD - Oh! Planning one more trip back home?
FC - Yeah!!! But not to Manila. This time I am going to a resort.
PD - Cool!! Which one?
FC - Boracay. Its a beach resort.
PD - Oh! I vaguely remember hearing about it.
FC - Ok.
PD - Is is one those place having white sandy beaches? I love such places.
FC - Yes!
PD - I must plan a trip to Phillippines sometime. Looks like it also has its fair share of white sandy beaches.
FC - You should. It does have some great places.
PD - So what all can you do at Boracay?
FC - The place has got a great nightlife. Bars, clubs, discos.
PD - Oh! I see.
FC - But YOU can also spend your time reading over there.

What the..??!!! Is that what people think of me as? A geek. A GEEK! Oh dear lord!

Thank you!

Urv has bestowed upon me this and this award. Thanks Urv! I feel honoured and flattered. This is the first time I have been given an award in the blogworld.

In other news, Does anyone remember this ad ?


Courtesy: Mugitaz

My favourite part is at the end when the frog goes "We meeth again darlingaay? Whatre doing?" Just can't stop laughing. Did you people know that the guy who plays the role of the king is Vinay Pathak? Whoa!

Eastward bound

Have you ever had the feeling where you set your eyes on something for the first time and fell in love then and there? I had the exact same feeling when I first saw this area of Singapore. That was more than a year ago. During the course of the year, this love and fascination was strengthened considerably due to my frequent visits to this area. Somehow or the other, I would end up going there almost every weekend. The fact that I used to reside on the opposite end of the country didn't deter me at all.

Ever since I confessed my fascination to the place, she has been telling me to move there at every single oppourtunity which presented itself. Given the fact that the area has an abundance of restaurants, it is of no wonder that I would gush about it whenever I went there. The best part of the place was its proximity to the beach. Just a short 15 min walk away. I have always loved the beach and can spend the whole day next to it. Staying in a place like that where I can wake up early on a sunday morning(Stop that eye rolling! I can get up early if I want to!!!), take a brisk walk to the beach, spend some time sitting next to the shore and head back home after breakfast (Yes, I wholeheartedly believe than an outing is not complete until I eat outside) has always been a dream.

So, a couple of months back, we started searching for a house in this area (which is in the east). Looking through classifieds, calling up agents, viewing houses kept us kind of busy is the last one month (and that is NOT the reason I have blogged less. I was just plain lazy). And then the whole "love at first sight" happened again when we saw a lovely apartment. We decided to rent out the place almost immediately and were doing bhangra or to be more specific, we were going Tanah Merah Tanah Merah (my friends had become more obsessed about it than I was, Buhahahaha!!) in our heads. But the owner decided to think about our offer and told us that he would tell us the outcome by noon the next day. We were a bundle of nerves by noon next day and were literally jumping with anticipation each time the phone rang or a message was received. Finally, after many such 'false jumpings', we finally got the good news. It was such a relief. We couldn't wait to move in.

The much awaited day came and we moved in amidst much excitement. It took a couple of days to sink in that we live in the east now. Now that it has, here is a list of things which explains why the new house rocks and why we are so head-over-heels in love with it.

1. The beach is just a 20 min walk
2. The whole set of restaurants that I spoke about earlier is just a short 5 min bus ride away.
3. Changi airport is just a 10 min taxi ride away. Yipeeee!!! No more of the hour long journeys to receive/drop friends/family at the airport.
4. The new house is clearly the best house compared to all the ones that I have stayed in all my life.
5. It is huge with plently of light and air.
6. My room had got huge windows. The absence of building next to ours ensures that we don't peep into other houses and vice-versa
7. From the dining room and my room windows, I can see flights approach a landing. Just a couple of days back, I saw the A380 approach a landing. Wow!
8. The lady at the western stall in the food court nearby asked me if I wanted "Veggie burger" when I ordered a "Chicken Burger without the chicken patty but with a hash brown". I think I almost cried!
9. There is an Indian shop nearby who sells fresh coriander amongst other Indian items. This came as a very pleasant surprise. I don't have to frequent trips to Mustafa Centre.
10. We finally made this a reality.

Whacked out!

There is a MRT station in Singapore called Tanah Merah. Whenever I hear that name, I feel like putting both my hands up in the air and rotating my palms like I am screwing a light bulb into place. No, seriously!

Am a total whacko! I know.

The Music Tag

Urv has "tagged" me with a music related tag (Actually, he hadn't. When I saw the tag on his blog, I jumped up and down three times screaming "I wanna do this tag! I wanna do this tag! I wanna do this tag!". The dude had no other option but to tag me. Hehehe!)

Here are the rules -
1. Put your music player on Shuffle mode
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. Write the song name no matter what
4. After you've answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged.

If someone says "Is this okay", you say?
Chori chori chori chori dil le gaya haio rabba haio rabba le gaya

What would best describe your personality?
Pappu can't dance saala! (I really cannot dance)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
Keh doon tumhe, yaa chup rahoon, dil mein mere kya hai

How do you feel today?
Tu mere samne, mein tere samne, tujko dekhoon ke pyaar karoon

What is your life's purpose?
Tauba tauba ishq mein kariya (Hahahaha!)

What do your friends think of you?
Chak de chak de chak de chak de saare ghum

What do you think of your parents?
Zehreelay zehreelay, kaale neele peele (OH GOD! Noooooooooooo)

What do you think about very often?
Adaa aaye haaye adaa hosh udaaye adaa karde deewana (*wink*)

What is 2+2?
Jaane tu meri kya hai

What do you think of your best friend?
Sunnewaalon, sune aisa bhi hota hai, dil deta hai jo, woh jaan bhi khota hai

What do you think of the person you like?
Dil kya kehta hai mera kya mein bataoon, tum yeh samjhoge mein pagal hoon

What is your life story?
Yeh, tumhari meri baatein hameshaa yoon hi chalti rahe (talk about stability)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Dhoom tana tadum tananana dhoom tana tadum tananana dhoom tanaa (Errr... Aren't I supposed to be grown up by now? No, I don't have any intentions of becoming a dancer)

What do you think of when you see the person you like?
Yeh ishq haai, jannat dikhaye

What do your parents think of you?
Meri laundry ka ek bill, ek aadhi padhi novel

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Hanging with the girls in the weekend, trying to have a laugh and a good time. Why you calling me and stressing?

What will they play at your funeral?
Tu tu hai wohi, dil ne jise apna kaha, tu hai jahan, mein hoon wahan, ab to yeh jeena tere bin hai sazaa (Oh! I am so flattered)

What is your hobby/interest?
Tu bole glass aadha khali, mein boloon aadha bhara (Hahaha! That makes me look like a alcoholic, doesn't it?)

What is your biggest secret?
Aaoge jab tum mere saajna angnaa phool khilega

What do you think of your friends?
Kabhi kabhi Aditi zindagi mein yunhi koi apna lagta hai

What should you post this as?
Chala chala chala, mera jadoo chala. Hua hua hua, kuch toh mujhko hua (Try to take a guess which movie this song is from)

What do you think about this tag?
Maahive mohabbataan sachiyaan

There, am all done with the tag. I would like to tag Sash. She has a very impressive music collection btw. And also Pixie, who loves to do tags :P

Also coming up next is an account of my recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Yet another holiday...

I am of to Vietnam and Cambodia for a long pending holiday! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I have been :D :D :D since the past couple of days. Will be back in a week. Till then, all you children behave ok? ok.

The friends I have...

Presenting, exhibit 'A' - Shu-bhe-ray

Me: Yen re, tiffin-giffin aayitha? (Had tiffin-giffin?)
Shub: Tiffin aayithu, giffin aagilla. (Ate tiffin, but not giffin)
Me: Yaak ree? (Why not?)
Shub: Ghee illa maneli. (No ghee at home)

Yes, I know you all want to give her one whack on the head! Don't worry, I will do so on all your behalf!

Oh! This post was taking revenge for this post.

One Year Later....

14 September 2007. I landed in Singapore to start a new life. For the first time in my life I was going to be staying by myself. I was going be leading the kind of life that I was dreaming of for quite a while. With lots of hopes, excitement, travel, the feeling of not knowing how I will cope up by myself. Far away from familiar surroundings, family and close friends. Not that I didn't have close friends here, but you get what I mean.

It has turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. The freedom that I have, to do what I want and at whatever time I want is one of the things that I am most thankful for(apart from cheesecake). From loafing around the town at 1am, cooking exotic looking stuff, looking around for amazing places to eat, shopping to my hearts content, loads of oppourtunity and like minded company for traveling to new places, stress free commuting around the country, hurting my leg and not being able to walk around, coping up with the change in working style, to watching almost every hindi movie released here. One heck of an experience it has been.

I still feel the same way about this country as I did when I first came here. It still takes my breath away. Although, one thing that I miss is the feeling of anxiety and awe. The first month here was full of the unfamiliarity feeling that I get when I go to a new place. The excitement in discovering something new, the feeling of how I am going to cope up with this change in environment. Add to it the awe of everything around me, from sexy roads, disciplined traffic, absence of horns, to an extremely well organized system. Now that it has been a year, the anxiety and awe are hardly present. I miss that!

A big shoutout to all my friends here without whom, my life here would never have been as interesting and fun as it currently is.

Oh! Today is the third birthday of my blog. 3 years and 100 posts. Hoping to increase that number and the frequency of my blogging in the coming year. Did I just see someone roll their eyes?

The 'S' factor

Recently while talking to a friend of mine, I realized that, all the people with whom we used to pull her leg with had their names starting with the letter 'S'. Another friend joined us and I also realized that many of the people she had fancied(that I know of) had their names starting with the letter 'S'. I was laughing in my head at this phenomena and was wondering whether they find out the persons name, and start to fancy them only if it starts with 'S'. I was thoroughly amused. And that is when it struck me! All the people whom I had fancied when I was in college had their names starting with 'S'. Holy Cow! :O

What is with this 'S' phenomenon? I mean, are all people whose name starts with 'S' very fanciable? I don't even know if that is a word (Dear Editor, Help!), but you get the meaning right? Is it because the words 'Sexy', 'Sophisticated', 'Smart', 'Stylish', 'Successful' start with 'S'?

How many people have you fancied whose names started with the letter 'S' ?

PS: This is the 100th post! A century! Yaay!!! :D

Tagged!!!

Urv has tagged me with the Unspectacular Quirk tag. Here are the rules of the tag followed by my quirks.

Rules -

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
   
3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
   
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
   
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers' blog, letting them know that they have been tagged.

Quirks -

1. I get royally bugged when I see e-mails/text messages which start with the word "hai". Its "Hi" for godsake!! Aaargh! Don't ever expect me to reply, if I ever get a message starting with that non-word.
2. When ever I keep money in my wallet, all the notes have to arranged from the highest to the lowest value and kept with the front facing upwards and upright. Also, the notes cannot be folded over the edges. Else, I don't get sleep at night.
3. When I wear lenses, I have to first put the lenses on for the left eye and then followed by the lens for the right eye. I never wear otherwise.
4. I hate it when I see travel bags with airplane baggage tags still on even after a couple of moths of undergoing the journey. YOU, yes YOU, remove that SQ airline tag from your bag. I know it is still there.
5. I just cannot work on the PC with more than 5-6 windows in the task bar. I get very disoriented.
6. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I always study the menu and take my own sweet time for that. Once I am done, I am very confused on what I want to eat.
   

There, I am all done :D

I have no idea whom to tag as the people whom I would have probably tagged have already done this tag.