Cold Cochin

I woke up by 7:30 am and watched the movie that I had just started to watch last night but fell asleep after 12 minutes – Star Trek : Nemesis. Since I was watching a copy of the movie on a dvd, I could watch it later. I just felt like watching it for the last few days and so I did. Can’t wait for the new Star Trek movie to come out; it had better be good!

Weather wise it is actually something more to what I like. It’s a bit cold, you don’t sweat as much as the air is cool. It has been raining a lot the last two days. Last night I got caught in the heavy downpour while heading home from work. As I sat in the bus, it started to rain and increased in intensity. By the time I reached Kacheripaddy, it was almost a storm and I was wet thoroughly as I braved the wind and made my way home.

Today morning as well it started raining almost as I woke up and I was feeling like going back to sleep with the sheets wrapped around me. But I watched the movie on my computer and then had coffee and breakfast. I took a hot shower and went out later to Cafe Coffee Day, where I oggled this pretty girl who was chatting with her 3 friends. I went to Planet M and got a movie; the cd selections are leaving much to be desired. Lunch and vodka followed soon after as I relaxed & read 4 chapters of John Grisham’s The Broker, which I bought at the second hand book store near Padma. I also got a copy of Stephen King’s Hearts In Atlantis.

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Then it was back home for a little nap and more reading. I woke up by 6:30 pm and went to watch some football on the telly. I also watched a movie which I shall review a bit later. Overall a nice day, I’m liking the cold weather and it feels so good to relax in my room.

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A Couple Of Drinks

It’s been some days since I last had a sniff of a drink. Illness ensured that my favourite vodka and I were miles apart. Last Sunday I was supposed to go out on a trip with a bunch of other cats and have a booze party. It came to naught since other guy and I were not feeling all that well. By Sunday evening I was feeling all fine & dandy and raring to go. Yesterday evening, while coming back home I thought of having a couple of drinks to quench my thirst but I came home without drinking. Tonight it was different though. I was quite busy today and by 7 pm when I was leaving the office, I thought of having dinner out. Then I thought, why not have a couple of drinks? So I got myself to a bar near the bus stop at Kacheripady and had some vodka before I had some dinner. That felt good! Smirnoff is Russia’s gift to the rest of us.

Rain In My Drink

Today was a a tough day at the office, me being too busy from 9:30 till 7:20 when I left the damn place. We had the new Manager for training & quality for our center and another center, for the very first time. The DGM was also there and she was pleasant enough; we will be having a 4 hour session with her tomorrow that I am actually looking forward to. She has had a lot of experience with Motorola and another company and I am guessing could give us a lot of useful download. I had to do a lot of work today and I am hoping that tomorrow’s session with help me in dealing with my usual work in the forthcoming months.

On a damper note, Livi was leaving for her 2 week vacation and although I think that she deserves it and that I wish she would have relaxation & fun, I am gonna miss her. That much is sure, I am very fond of her. I can’t wait till she comes back. I also had to sit with two other people for some project that our clients gladly dumped unto our laps. I was so sleepy and tired during the 2 hours+ that we sat in that room.

Anil called me up around 6:15 pm and we decided to go for some drinks and a little dinner. By 7:15 I was outta the office and in a bus headed for Lisie Junction, where he was waiting for me. Once I reached we left on his bike to Malabar House, making a short stop at the ATM for some cash. It was raining cats & dogs and no doubts a few cows & goats! We reached the bar wet to our toes and went to their roof top garden bar. The rain continued it’s heavy onslaught on the streets of cochin, as we had our drinks and ate some light but good food. By 11 I was home, soaked to the bone and dried myself.

Song for the day – “Bad Seed” – METALLICA

31 Going On 13

I just turned 31. So here I am a 31 year old man…with a ton of regrets and a whole lot of ‘if i could only do…’! Well for just this day, maybe I can forget about all of these things and just have a little fun. Vinitha was the first person to catch on in the office about my birthday, since she saw the pop-up in Orkut. So she sent me a message last night. Also my beloved Cathy called me at 12:30 am to wish me before she went to bed. That was sweet!

I didn’t want a big fuss for today and wasn’t even planning on letting people know that it was my birthday, cause it’s 31st and not my 21st. What’s so ‘happy’ about it? But since Vinitha already knew about it, I thought ‘ok’! I bought some chocolates and gave it to people in the office. I got a card and they got a cake for me. Imagine the embarrassement of having the women fuss over some silly birthday. I was decorated with the multi colours of my cake. I also spoke to my beloved Asha before she had to start her work shift.
Evening time rolled over and it was time for me to take leave of the office and go drinking! Anil & Madhu were due informed two days in advance and we met up at the Executive Bar @ Park Residency in Kalamassery. Brandy for Anil, Whiskey for Madhu & Vodka for me. Two rounds of drinks & food and as usual making fun of each other, chatting about old friends and women! More jokes, more drinks & more food followed by lots of laughing. In the end we had to leave and go home as they both had an early day and I wasn’t off from work tomorrow. So, I am now safe & secure in my room, having braved the cold winds, rain & terrible road conditions on Anil’s bike.

Goodnite everyone! My world grew older by a year!

Song for the day – “What A Good Boy” – BARENAKED LADIES

The World Goes On

Anyone who has read my blog for a few entries would know by now what I like to do on Sundays. The routine changes very little and it might be a little sad but I do not get that much free time and working 6 days a week only leaves me with Sunday to relax and do what I want. However, what I want to do normally takes a lot more money so I just do the simpler things.

Today I headed over to have some triple sec frappe and a muffin before I went to get my hair cut @ Mama Mia’s. My hair was growing quite a bit unruly and difficult to manage, what with the balding spot & the condition of my scalp! Dandruff, my dear friends – it comes and it goes. I do not have a permanent remedy for it. Anyway, I had it cut short so that it is easy to manage and I must admit, I look a bit younger. But the hair is going at an alarming rate and my threat to shave it all off is looking more and more likely to come true. Why not? Just shave the damn head clean and shrug off the balding! If I wasn’t fat I would have done it a long time back.

After that and being astonished at the amount of hair that I had left on the ground, I went to get some rum & pepsi for a change. But to tell you the truth, I am so conditioned by vodka now that nothing else really tastes good enough. And also, I seem to have lost the desire to drink pepsi or coke! It tasted terrible on it’s own.

Three deaths by accident in the span of three days – a former colleague of mine lost her younger brother & sister when their bike hit a road median and they fell onto the path of a speeding bus. The tires of the bus snapped their heads and they both died instantaneously! The boy was just 18 and his sister was 21 or so. I had seen the boy once last year. Then today while I was speaking to a friend, he got a call saying that his uncle had died as a result of a truck hitting his scooter in Thrissur. And you say that there is a god?

Song for the day – “Row Him Home” – NICKY MEHTA

Seeing My Cousins

After a gap of 7 years, I saw my cousin Sandhya today evening. After a gap of 5 years I saw my cousin (and Sandhya’s brother) Navin today evening. Oh man, how the years do roll on by. I normally chat with Sandhya on MSN whenever we both manage to be online at the same time but Navin has been a stranger since 2002, when I saw him last. For many years, the three of us, along with my sister & their brother Manoj were inseparable and we spent many weekends and holidays together. How I wish those good old days coule come around again. In a small way, it did tonight.

Sandhya & Navin were on a visit to India from Wales and they reached Cochin last night. I was supposed to spend a drunken two days with them & others in Bangalore but work intervened. So meeting up in Cochin it is! Me, my sister, her three kids & husband, Raju & his wife & kid, Kannanchettan and his wife & son and our cousin Roshni all went out to have dinner at Avenue Regent with Sandhya & Navin. We met around two, said the usual “hi’s” and then us guys went to have a few drinks. The Regent has this truly excellent lounge called ‘Loungevity’ and it is amazing! We had a margarita each and then moved onto vodkas + sprites.

We joined the ladies & the kids for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful & fun 2 hours, while talking about the future and rehashing old stories. Me, I was in fine form, embarrassing Navin with stories about his adventures during his childhood and I didn’t spare Sandhya either. I missed them a whole lot and the only downside about this get together is that I am gonna miss them a whole lot more now.

Anways, we ate dinner, although for the life of me I can’t remember what I had! Then we had to say goodbye and went home. I must say goodnight too since I have to get up in just a couple of hours to get to work.

Song for the day – “Top Of The World” – VAN HALEN

Take your soup elsewhere

I slept like a baby last night…well more like from early this morning at 2:00 am but I did sleep so peacefully and woke up seven hours later at 9 am. I still did not want to wake up as the past week I was busy working and wanted to rest as much as I could. I stayed in bed for an hour more until I just had to get up. Not sure if I should go out for a little while or just stay home and watch a movie. Going out for a while won out in the end but I was in no mood to anything other than have a few drinks & a nice lunch. So I headed out to Oberoi and had a few Muscovy vodkas and some food.

I am usually not one to eavesdrop but I just couldn’t over hear these loud Americans who came into the bar about an hour after I did. Well actually, it was actually more like a loud couple and much quieter three others. Anyway the lady was too loud and she spoke in a very exaggerated American accent and she had some not so nice comments about her travels in India. Infact I would say that it was downright insulting! She was making fun of a waiter (not in this bar) who did not understand when she said that she wanted “soup to go”! Now that is not a common term at all in India and I was wondering if she did not know that. But yeah, the waiter was at no fault, lady. I am not going to go on about much of what she said but she was kinda annoying and I just wanted her to leave as she was quite loud and seemingly so full of herself. And the guy, who could be her husband was almost as loud as her!

Bah, what does she know! I tried not to let that ruin my afternoon and left around 3 pm. I came home and went to sleep for about 2 & a 1/2 hours, satiated with drink and food. In the evening, coffee followed along with the movie (look below).

Song for the day – “Santa Monica” – THEORY OF A DEAD MAN

Drinking On The Roof

Today I was just heading out the door to head for the office when I got a call from my manager. It seemed that due to some emergency we would have to start the training for a batch of new recruits today instead of Saturday as we had planned. It was 10 o’clock and he asked me to hurry to the office. I reached there as fast as I could, in 30 mins. I spoke to him and found out that our clients were upset about the fact that we were running short of agents – much less than we had planned. The salary at the call center agent level is not that much, hence we had people leaving our company to join ones that were offering bigger salaries.

So due to pressure they decided to step it up a day ahead. Thanks! No prior notice, no shit! Anyway, the new recruits had to be summoned to the office and that took time. We had to wait for a couple of guys who found it hard to come to the office so suddenly, when they were expecting to start only on Saturday. Hence I could only start the session at 1:30 pm, after lunch, and continued till 6:15 pm. I don’t like it when training is rushed as it usually leads to below-par results. But somethings are just beyond your control.

By 7 I was ready to head out of there when I got a call from Madhu & little after that one from Anil. Would I be free for drinks at a roof-top garden bar quite close to my office? Am I ever! By 7:45 we were up there (quite a nice place, they had done a lot of renovations and the restaurant & three bars in the hotel were really looking cool) on the roof and had ordered a couple of rounds of rum for Anil, brandy for Madhu & vodka for me. We had some snacks of beef & chicken & peanuts. And there was some lightning although no thunder or even the hint of rain.

Chatting about work, the weather, health etc finally lead us to a big debate on the anti-encroachment demolition done on M G Road in the past couple of days. It was quite a debate and went on for an hour atleast. By 8:45 our glasses were empty and were being refilled when we started talking about work and I just happened to mention about Sajith, my colleague and friend since January. Turns out Sajith & Madhu had studied Hotel Management in the same college and were friends who had lost touch over the past few years. Natural since Madhu is from here and Sajith is from Bangalore. So I called him up and he said that he would join us.

So now we were a foursome and the talk shifted to Sajith rehashing to us stories of him & Madhu during their Hotel Management days in Chennai and we had a good laugh. Pretty soon it was 11 pm and time for us to head home, so Anil dropped me at Kacheripady on his bike. That was an evening I will never forget.

Song for the day – “Rock Of Ages” – DEF LEPPARD

Buzz Beer

How many Drew Carey Show fans are out there? Not owning to the fact that he and I do have similarities in apperance (expect for the crew cut), this show and Drew Carey himself are among of my favourites on television. Among the many funny anecdotes and running jokes in this brillant comedy series, lies the total genuis idea of Buzz Beer. Buzz Beer was invented by the makers of the show (meaning Carey) – a Microbrewery beer first seen on episode No. 22 “Buzz Beer” (5/8/96) on the sitcom. When Drew Carey’s department store (Winferd Lauder) looked like it might be bought out by a Dutch company, he began brewing beer as a sideline to made extra money. He called his brew “Buzz Beer” – a coffee-flavored beverage (that cracked me up)- and placed it for sale around the Cleveland area especially at the Warsaw Tavern where Drew hung out. Other partners in the Buzz Beer venture included Drew’s close friends Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles), Oswald Harvey (Dietrich Bader) and Kate O’Brien (Christa Miller).

Initially they manufactured & bottled the coffee flavoured beer in Drew’s garage but the brewery was moved to Lewis and Oswald’s house. Eeach bottle of Buzz Beer contains 12 fluid oz (355ml) of beverage. The recipe for Buzz Beer is listed on its label: “Brewed from nature’s choicest Grain, Malt, Hops Yeats, coffee bean and water.” The word “Buzz” not only means that Buzz Beer gives you a “Buzz” when you drink it, but also that it’s the beer everyone’s talking about…as in “What’s the buzz?”

Motto & Mission Statement :
The motto of Buzz Beer is “Stay up and get drunk all over again!”.
Drew once jokingly noted that the original motto was going to be “This doesn’t suck.”
The mission statement that the initial four members decided on was 4 Friends, 4 Ever, 4 Beer.

Lift-me-upper

Going out today was a good idea to just let me be me. Going out around 12:15 pm is however not; it is still so fucking hot outside that you want to jump into a pool of ice water a few moments after you step out. But I think I needed to go out just for a few hours and so I headed for some coffee and a muffin, listening to music at CCD and relaxing on their comfy couch.

Nothing remotely interesting & new happening in terms of music, the shelves of the music stores looking pathetic. They have started their seasonal re-issuing of classic albums or cheap cds of best of collections. This is the only thing that looks even a bit exciting. Really the state of the music industry is so lousy and fucked up. But the Chennai music masters seems to be having a ball; churning out silly, stupid music with non-sense lyrics that wouldn’t tax a 2 year old. How low must you be on the IQ to even buy a tape of this garbage?

Next was to head out to get some books to read and John Grisham won out. Both The Client & The Runaway Jury are really excellent books that I have read before and even seen the movies. They will be welcome additions to my personal collection. And Grisham seems to be winning the race in my small & humble library; I have many books of his.

Hot & humid as I was I needed a lift-me-upper and by golly who should answer the call of the thirst – London Strong. A couple during lunch really hit the spot and I welcomed the golden nectar down my throat. Then it is home for some music and watching a movie or two. Cheers!

Song for the day – “You Learn” – ALANIS MORISSETTE

London Strong

After almost a month I guess, I had some beer today. Vodka had ruled my life for most of that which is actually I guess three times in the last 45 or 50 days. Not that much drinking to brag about. But anyway, since today I was taking an off for working on Sunday, I woke up late and almost decided to spend the day just singing along to some music and watching tv and reading a bit. It actually felt like that kind of a day. But by 12 I was feeling hungry, not having had any breakfast, and thirsty for something stronger than water and coffee. So a bath later I headed out, first to the ATM and then to my fav bar. I hadn’t been in there since April 8th and decided to have some beer this time & ordered a chopsuey for lunch. They did not have any Kingfisher or Haywards or any other kind of beer, other than London Strong. I can’t find any images of the label or bottle and no website either on this one. A shame cause this is one mighty tasty beer. I am not an expert but dare I say that this is a kind of Belgian beer (help me out her you beer technicians) – I venture to say this cause it is brown or amber in colour and I think that is what Belgian beer is supposed to be like. The picture on the right is approximately what it looks like.

Anyway, I liked it so much from the very first gulp. Now, funnily enough, after reading the best beer blog in the world, I always smell the beer first and get a nosefull of it’s essence. I breathed in the flavour and then took my first mouthful and let it rest in my mouth while my tongue danced in it. Damn this is good beer! I finally understand what they say when they write about ‘fruity’ taste in beer! You get a little taste of pear & apples. Also, it had a strong foamy head that remains there for a longer time. I loved it so much that I had three and they went straight to my head. But until I was halfway through the third I tought I was ok. However, the walk home was not quite steady. But I absolutely loved the beer and am going to recommend it to anyone who hasn’t had it yet. Cheers!

Late Winner

Sunday surely is the laziest day of the week. There sure is a great feeling to sleep late and be lazy on this day. Even though I woke up by 9 am, I could have gone back to sleep for another couple of hours. Wake up I did but the laziness got the better of me; I was supposed to go to Thoppumpady and collect my relieving letter from the old company as I have submit it to my current place of work. I later decided to postpone the trip to tomorrow and then laid back and read the newspaper at leisure. I spent most of the morning chatting with Kichu & his mom; since they had a mic I could hear the two of them through GoogleTalk but they couldn’t hear me. Kichu was playing his guitar and pretending to be Dave Murray, Adrian Smith & Jannick Gers all at the same time.

The afternoon sped by as I ripped my CDs slowly one at a time. The evening was up for grabs; my parents went to see Sherine and her kids. Madhu was indisposed for a few days, so Anil & I decided to head out for a evening on our own. We met at the HDFC ATM at Kacheripady and took an auto to Menaka. We went to the bar @ Hotel Sea Shells which, the only time we went there had a great ambience and great food. So we settled down and ordered two vodkas for me & two rums for Anil. We had some beef & egg burji to accompany them and we started out usual chat about the same stuff – work, career, money, women, marriage & the three of us! It’s funny how it seems like we are having the continuation of the same conversation when we get together. Anyway, both Anil & I wanted to leave earlier than usual so by 9:45 pm we were outta there.

I came home in time to catch most of the Arsenal vs Manchester United match. I was hoping for Liverpool to beat Chelsea yesterday and they did. 2-0! And then I wanted to see Arsenal beat Man U. And they did! Both Robin Van Persie & Theiry Henry scored goals and the Gunners edged out Manchester 2-1. Man U took the lead in the 53 minute when Wayne Rooney headed in a goal but 30 minutes later Van Persie equalised for the London side. Then, deep in injury time, captain Henry headed in a goal to clinch it for Arsenal and the Emirates stadium went wild. This means that both Liverpool and Arsenal do have slim chances of winning the league.

Song for the day – “Bad Boys Running Wild” – THE SCORPIONS

86 Rules Of Boozing

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1. If you owe someone money, always pay them back in a bar. Preferably during happy hour.

2. Always toast before doing a shot.

3. Whoever buys the shot gets the first chance to offer a toast.

4. Change your toast at least once a month.

5. Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake.

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