Give me more such weekends

Since I’ve been trying to discover new places in Mumbai, we decided that we will go to Redlight in town. I haven’t been to that place for a long time now and really wanted to go there or some other place in town for the weekend party. But we got late and hence we decided against going very far. We thought of hard Rock for a while but the fact is that its getting boring now, simply because of the fact that I always land up there.

 

It is said that in Mumbai, when people are confused where to go, they land up at shack. And we are no exception. So we reached shack at around 11pm. And to be honest, it was the best parties in recent times. I’ve always felt much better at shack simply because of the fact that you see so many familiar faces whenever you go there.

 

I just hate alcohol. I honestly think it tastes like shit (not that i know how shit tastes). But recently, I’ve noticed that I like the feeling of being high. And since I cannot enjoy my drinks, I always mix my shots to get high. An hour into the party and I had had more then 7-8 shots (whiskey, vodka, tequila all mixed). I vaguely remember meeting few friends there.

 

Though I was really high, I remember being introduced to few hot women who were from Pune but now settled in Mumbai. And I remember two of them walked up to me when I was waiting for the car outside (after the party got over) and asked me about my plans for the night. They told me they were going to cater road with some more alcohol and that they love having alcohol watching the sea. After that they would head home and watch some video there. One of them took my phone and gave herself a missed call from my number. I told them I would let them know if I feel like joining them (though I had no intentions of joining them as I had my own plans with my friends).

 

Thenafter I went to “Sun & Sand” with my friends for dinner. And to be honest, though I was high, I fell in love with the place. We had great food there and thenafter we were sitting at their sea facing lounge till 4 in the morning. In the meantime, I got a couple of calls from those ladies also but I excused myself.

 

And now when I think about it, I feel that I should have gone with them after we were done at Sun & Sand. There is no harm in knowing new people and they seemed like fun loving gang. And since I’ve anyways decided to make new friends (10 things to do before December), I could have gone out with them. So, next time if I get a chance like this, I will take it.

 

Anyways, Sunday early morning, we all left for River rafting. The guy who did all the bookings and knew the way backed out at the last moment and hence we left for our destination without knowing the details. We were 8 of us – 4 ladies and 4 men, in two cars.

 

It took us 4 hours to reach the place. In between, we lost our way many times. There was a time when our phones were not working and we lost the other car. But we did manage to reach just before they were shutting it.

 

Trust me guys, it was so much of fun. It was a 13 km stretch and it took us almost 2 hours. In between, we fell in the river few times, few of us got hurt also and we also swam for some time.

 

While coming back, we had food at a roadside “dhaba” and enjoyed the beautiful drive. When I reached home at around 10 pm, I was dead tired and slept off withing minutes.

 

All in all, an exciting and fun-filled weekend. I honestly feel such breaks help you recharge your batteries and prepare you well to face the heat at work the whole week. With River rafting over, I’m looking forward to para gliding now. And we have already started planning for the first weekend after Diwali holidays.

 

10 things to do before the new year

“We all work hard today for a better tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will say the same thing to ourselves and this will go on. We will keep working hard, making our today difficult, for a better tomorrow which never comes.”

 

And I guess I’ve had enough of this. I wish I could leave everything, pack my bags, and travel all around the world seeing new places and meeting new people. I know I cannot do this now. But there is hardly anything I’m doing anyways. I work the whole day, go back home, meet few friends at times, go out on dates few times, go to parties on weekends, or just watch TV the whole day.

 

But I want to do new things now. There are so many options but I’m content with the life that I live. So, I’ve decided I’ll try and change few things. I’ll do new things and try and make my life more interesting.

 

So, I thought of few things that I would like to do in the near future (when tomorrow comes), and do these things now and not wait for the tomorrow which never comes. Hence, here are the few things that I’ll do before this year ends.

 

I’ll go out on a vacation of at least 15 days in December – and hence, I’ve set short term goals for myself so that I can complete them before I go out on a vacation. Though I don’t want to discuss my professional life, I’ve also included my short term professional goals in the list. These are the things I will do before I go out on my vacation –

 

Professional –

• I’ll set up a 40Mn/month channel from alternate sources (internet, mobile, etc)

• Set up an online budget tracker for my regional marketing spends.

• Start the Loyalty program for my 4000 DMAs in the country

 

Personal –

• Will give at least an hour to physical fitness everyday – already started – went for swimming this weekend

• Read at least 4 books – any four books to start with – started with “When a tree shook Delhi” on the weekend

• Make 10 new “good friends” – Men & women

• Learn a new language / any form of dance – this seems difficult because of lack of time – but I’ll try, I don’t promise

• Learn about new cuisines – am not a foodie – but I’ll develop taste for new cuisines

• Discover 5 new places in Mumbai – to eat and to party – though there is hardly anything left to “discover”

• Go for river rafting and / or para gliding

 

I also wanted to add few more things but I guess I shall start with these. These are very simple goals which are very much achievable till December. I might add few things in between but I’ll not remove anything from the agenda.

 

I’ll give the updates on the things and my progress at least twice a week. I shall complete all of these so that I can go on my vacation peacefully. Once, this is done, I already have things in mind – things I would do from January to April.

 

PROGRESS REPORT – 1

PROGRESS REPORT – II

PROGRESS REPORT – III

PROGRESS REPORT – IV 

FINAL REPORT

 

 

The party starts on Monday itself

 

They say life in Mumbai is tough. They also say that people here work hard on the weekdays and party even harder on weekends. All you have to do is to step out on Friday & Saturday nights and you’ll find each and every place in Mumbai – from Multiplexes to Restaurants to Discos and Bars filled with people.

 

Hence, this Friday when i went out partying, i wasn’t surprised to see that the place was packed. Thankfully, we had a private place reserved for us and were saved from being crushed by the mob.

 

Next day I went to Carter road ccd to meet a friend of mine in the evening at around 6. And guess what, there was no place at all. We had to wait for 30 minutes again to get a table.

 

In the evening also, when one of my friends suggested we go out partying (dancing, to be precise), just the thought of so many people around me, all trying to find some space to move – trying to convince themselves that they were dancing – terrified me. Hence, instead of going out dancing, I went to TGIF with few other friends. As expected, TGIF was also packed. But thankfully our table was booked.

 

After TGIF, we decided to go to Nariman Point for tea. It was close to 2 in the morning but we still couldn’t find a parking there. People were sitting and chatting and luaghing and singing all around us (at 2 in the morning).

 

But I wasn’t surprised. People do party on weekends. Nothing unusual about it. But then, i went to an old hangout in Bandra called TOTO’s. It was a Tuesday evening. And I was surprised to see so many people. We had to wait for 30 minutes to get a place. My friend is in Media and she knew a lot of people there. She told me that most of the guys were from Media & Advertising fields. And when we left at around midnight, people were still coming in.

 

Yesterday again I went to this place called “Firangi Paani” as one of my friends was in town from Delhi. And we again had to wait for 30 minutes to get a place. This is a huge place with a capacity of more then 200 people and it was all packed (and it was a Thursday evening). I could see some familiar faces as most of these were either TV actors or struggling Models (i guess its necessary for them to be seen around in order to get work). But then again there were others like me – who had to go to office tomorrow morning. But it seems nobody was bothered about office. everyone was having a good time drinking and dancing.

 

We left the place at around 1 and went for a drive to Powai lake when suddenly few cops standing in the middle of the roads stopped us. One of them looked inside the car and came close to me ( I was driving). He was trying to figure out if I’ve had alcohol. And he was disappointed to find out that I was not drunk. I generally asked the policeman why was he wasting time on a Thursday as he would find more such cases on weekends (as mentioned earlier, i believed that people in Mumbai party harder only on weekends). He looked at me and replied – “Mumbai mein Monday to Sunday party chalti hai bhai”.

 

And i guess he was right. In fact i know it myself. Its just that i never thought of it. Every time I have gone out on weekdays I’ve seen hundreds of people partying. Yes, people wait for weekends, but that doesn’t stop them from finding a reason to party on weekdays.

 

And as one of my friends say “You don’t need a reason to party. If partying make you happy, then party everyday. Why wait till weekend?” I guess he is right. And it doesn’t matter whether I agree or not because Mumbai agrees.