Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Yesterday was Diwali [1] and I celebrated it by visiting friends for dinner and a party. It was one of the most fun Diwali’s I have had in a while. We all drove to Edison to Aarti’s place and we got there at about 7pm. Once we got there we spent some time talking and meeting everyone. (I had Bhelpuri which tasted great) then we got together for puja. We did the whole 9 yards with the puja and the prayers and the lighting of the diya’s.

Once the Puja was done the actual party started and it was a blast. We danced for over 4 hours and it was a lot of fun (Though my body is aching a but today) A lot of people showed up and none of them were of the weird kind and they all just had fun (Including me). Yes I took a lot of pictures and they are on Aarti’s camera and I will post them when I get a copy. A couple of other people were also taking pics so we should have a good collection to choose from. I also took a couple of videos so will also post them if they came out good.

Well this is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

[1] Diwali is an Indian festival. Its also known as the festival of lights. It is dedicated to the Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, in most parts of India. Check out Diwali on Wikipedia for more info on it.

Last night I went out to dinner with friends to the Burmese place in New York called Village Mingala It was a lot of fun and the food was great.

The restaurant was recommended by Meghna and she was worried that she would be blamed if no one liked the food but she need not have worried as the food was good. Vinit, Surabhi, Meghna, Madhur, Aarti, Vivek, Pranav, Sandeep, Gaurav and myself all dug into the food and we all ate a lot The best part was that the place was pretty cheap too.

The only down side of this place is that they don’t have any good deserts… They only had three dishes for deserts so we went to another place to get desert. We got kheer and Gulab Jamun’s and took them home to enjoy them while watching this hindi movie called Don (No its not the new one, This one was the original one…) We watched it on our projector so for a while our living room looked like a cinema. (Actually it still does, ’cause we found the arrangement to be more efficient so we left it as such)

In case you are wondering about all the restaurants I am writing about then its just that we are on this quest to try every kind of cuisine in the world, and so far we have tried: Indian (Duh..), Chinese, Burmese, Thai, Italian, Cuban, French, American, Egyptian and Turkish. I have probably missed some others we have tried but… I will post about my experiences with each kind as and when I try them…

Well this is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

PS: If you know any good places to try any particular cuisine let me know so I can try it out.

Signs to know when you are getting old:

1. Most of your batchmates are either married or about to be married/engaged.
2. Some of your batchmates have already had kids or are expecting
3. You don’t find it strange when you see an invitation to an event that includes the line “Also bring your significant other”
4. You start to get pressure from everyone that its about time you married/engaged
5. You actually answer when someone calls you mama or chacha

– Suramya

Went out for dinner in New York yesterday with Surabhi, Vinit, Vivek, Meghna, Aarti and Madhur at this great restaurant called Cafe Habana located in Soho. Its a small place and If you go by the looks alone you will most likely walk away to eat at some of the better looking places around it, but that would be a big mistake as the food here is awesome and the service is really good. Too many times I have eaten at a place where the food is great but the waiters looked and acted like they were in a funeral. In contrast the waitress over here were friendly, cheerful and helpful.

The place is really busy so expect a wait when you show up. On weekdays its not that bad, though on weekends however the wait is a lot longer. One thing to keep in mind is that the larger your group is the longer your wait is, so don’t show up with a group of 15. The max I would take to this place would by 8 -9 people, any more than that would be a bit difficult so fit in quickly.

The corn over here is to die for and the rest of the food is also very good and filling. They play some really nice upbeat music so the atmosphere is very lively. The best part is that the place is not that expensive either.

If you are ever in the area check it out. You won’t regret it.

– Suramya

Today I bought the Second Season of I dream of Jeannie on DVD. I love the show and have been looking for it for a long time. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have released the rest of the seasons yet (Season 3 onwards). They should. Its a great show, a bit silly at times and still good for laughs.

I first watched this show in India where it had been translated in hindi. Surprisingly the translation was pretty good and the voice over wasn’t bad, unlike bewitched or some of the other shows where the voice overs were horrible. But I think I like the english version better as some of the jokes didn’t translate that well.

Well I am off to enjoy I Dream of Jeannie now… Will post more later.

– Suramya