N#^@&*A

Hey guys, its been a really really long time. Ive been really really busy, and when you're doing your own thing, its always a good sign. Been really tied up and Vishal, sorry again, Am still to come overand give your kids a cool demo, just been crazy busy. Maybe this weekend ?

Parakh makes it to 34 on the 5th and we all wish him a very happy Birthday.Dude you get to see a cake cutting with all your friends looking on. Pretty cool eh ??So what if Manav is cutting the cake ?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE !




A funny thing happened to me last month. We got a call from A very cool mobile phone maker and my partner vivek told me"dude we got to meet these guys at their office" .So I said "Ok, I will call and make an appointment ,who should I speak to?'Vivek says, theres this girl called N#^@SHA". Hmmm.. N#^@SHA....WHATTTT !!!

I suddenly did a double take and asked him again "What !! What name ??"So he said again "N#^@SHA". Damn...Must be a coincidence...

So I took a deep breath and asked ..."Whats her full name ?"

Vivek " N#^@SHA... N#^@SHA Dutta" .

Deep breath...Panic..."Vivek,you're taking my trip right ?"( How would he know :$ )
Vivek "What what what ??"

I suddenly had visions of making a presentation to this N#^@SHA and could not believe
THIS WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING !!!! How can this be ???
"How will she ever give us a project after all of Rickys gifts We took back from her house ?"
After all that WE ALL went through together....!!!

With trembling fingers I called Vishal and explained my situation to him. With his ever cool drawl he says "Dont know Goth, Its possible...ask ayesha she might know"

Damn....

So I quickly dialled 0014043238146 and after the phone rang for 27 times(It was 2am US time) a sleepy voice answered "eh....helll....ooooo...eh..."

I screamed into the phone, "Ricky you dog, fricking wake up and tell me if N#^@SHA is working at XYZ company!!??"

Ricky "eh...gauti....kidey...mujhe bahut neend aa rahi he...I have to wake up at 6am..."

Me "Ricks, saley bata naaa, I need to know before I fix an appointment to meet this N#^@SHA..."

Ricky "eh...gauti....eh....zzzzz zzzzzzzzz"
"DAMN DAMN AND FRICKING DAMN IT !!"

To cut a long story short we did go to meet this N#^@SHA and I was on pins and needles in their swanky reception till the time we actually met her. Thankfully it was not the same N#^@SHA. On Monday I'm slated to meet a certain Guneeta......
F.kkk wheres Dhanda's phone number .....

Black holes and paper letters....

Guys ! Its been a long time since I posted something. I had the great pleasure of meeting up with Parakh and Vishal the other day, at Parakhs Sons 3rd Bday. They both looked extremely enthu(not) about the Blog too. Wanted to take a few pics, but Vishal was behaving Pricey about his camera. Parakh took a few, but we know we will never see those pics right?. I have this theory about the cameras Parakh owns. I think he has these special cameras that upload the images to a black hole in another Galaxy. So we never get to see them But somewhere in space there will be billions of pictures of our youth, floating around which have been shot by Puppetu.

Sumit mailed me this old envelope he had of a letter we wrote to him in 92. It made me stop and think. GUYS !There was a time we actually wrote letters to each other, went out and bought an envelope and some stamps,stuck them on, went and mailed it across. Sometimes it took a month before we got a reply. HOW COOL WAS THAT ?!! .Yeh Email kitna wannabe he na ?

So I have some incredibly cool letters from all of you and Im going to put them up too, in a section called "DAMN ! WHAT WAS I THINKING WHEN I WROTE THIS!" Dont cringe when you read something embarassing written by you. Its all in good spirit ! And Sumit has been very very helpful by digging out whatever old stuff he can find for the blog like pics and letters etc. I also feel relieved that someone else has vela time like me ! Thanks Bobs !

Oh and in this letter, you wont see anything written by Manav. Thats bcos he dint know how to write way back in 92' 93.

Vishal Has been promising to write my intro for a month now. Hes not done it for either of two reasons. Hes either too vela. Or hes too busy. Knowing him, Im sure he's too busy being Vela..

And someone was mentioning the Movie Rock On the other day, and how the band members reminded him of us in college ! I found this old picture somewhere...
(Parakh can actually look quite cool...enuff of this corporate shit,band shuru karna he kya guys ?)

HAPPY BDAY MITTUU......

Happy Bday Mittu, Happy birthday Dear Mittu Happy Bday Dear Mittun, Happy Bday to you Guys Mittun aka Manav turns 34 today, 2nd September. You can call him to wish at 9322473770 !

In case you dint know whom Mittun was, that was Manav in school bcos thats whom he looked like with his puffed up bollywood hairdo, Baggy pants, Stringy moustache borrowed from smiley, and fake white ankle high Mohan Singh place nike shoes !! like the ones below :)



Oh by the way I complete 7 years of marriage today too (2nd septP) today so call me at 9871774224 ! (check out Parakh in the Background), He catered all the f&B in my marriage !

Parakh....

Guys, its late at night almost 1am, and Im tired, but never too tired to introduce
my most favourite friend, Mr Gandhi.

The second eldest amongst the Legendary Gandhi Bros, Parakh became my friend
in 1986 ! Man ! The first time I remember Parakh is when I grabbed his 10 Rupee
Pilot pen and smashed it on the desk ! You see I was on this trip of breaking peoples
pens and writing in a copy, the value of all the pens I broke that year ! Well, turns out
Parakh Dint react or beat me up(everyone else did), he just gave his peaceful Gandhian smile . You see Parakh is the kind of guy, if someone slaps him on the cheek, He will turn not only his other cheek but all other cheeks for slapping, pinching or spanking.

The second very vivid memory I have is of Parakh in 1989 coming to me and asking..
Gauti..how do i Look..... (He had shaved for the first time in his life). Gosh, theres no honest
answer to that, even today. He looked so f..ked ,I dint have the heart to tell him.

Parakh was always intelligent and good at studies. Just that somehow, he could not pass
in a single subject after 10th Boards all the way uptil the 12th Boards. Did he stress out ?
No. Panic ? no. Just that cool smile. One day this study business got to him and he said
"Gauti, for the chem paper Im going to study all night tonight" Well, man of his word,he actually did. So what if he got 4/100 in that paper. Its the effort right ?

This dude is the epitome of honesty and truth and the Doodhwala incident proved his integrity
beyond doubt. IN a rush to get to college our man knocked over a Doodhwala with his car (not his fault, the car dint have brakes). Then Mr stopped the car, got out gave the Doodhwala cash,
his phone number, his email id (Email wasnt even invented then), Home and office address ,Pan card and passport details. needless to say, the doodhwalas arrived at his place and threatened to beat up all the three brothers. They left after Mr Gandhi Senior persuaded them in his gruff
fighter pilot voice. But they left with more cash(. (the doodhwala bought a bike I heard)

With his sweet, pity me, chocolaty looks , Parakh often got out of sticky
situations where others could not. School teachers , saw his cute unshaven innocent face and gave him that extra 33 grace marks needed to pass.

All of you already know all these qualities , but Im sure none of you know thats hes an excellent
sportsman. An incredible spin bowler, Parakh never completed an over in six balls, and his balls(I mean deliveries) never went anywhere near the batsmen. In fact his record was 38 wide balls in one go at the Noida stadium. Its in the Limca book of records.

Despite missing out on good times all his life since hes always been working,burning pizzas or waiting at parties, dude remains his calm cheerful self.

A few good men.

Guys, we all did some work after college,
and did hold some positions of responsiblity
during that time. This is the time from 1995-97.
Hard working, ambitious and with a fire in our belly(Bcos of Kaccha maggi)
we proved to the world (sector 25) that we were not the
run of the mill Amit store bums !


Are'nt we all glad Dhandu got out of the ticketing and travel business ?
Imagine the chaos in the country today, if our man was still doing tickets,
and tour planning for people. We all have to thank the Miss Graviera beauty
pageant for that one !


ABCD....EFGH....XWY, this puppy, blue blooded, ivy league NRI, NRO, Bisleri drinking, Green card holding yuppie was the son every mother wanted. But he never told anyone a deep dark secret. He actually did his batchelors from Dyal Singh College, in Bcom Pass.




Heck ! I was selling yachts, boats, trains, planes and hotels way back in 95, even before Visaal got some fuzz on his upper lip ! Visaal has now come a long way.
He has a full beard.





Man, The food KICKED ASS !! But every tandoori chicken we ordered always came minus one leg. Hmmm.. Kinda figuring out his 42 inch waistline now !



There was never the concept of a job in our mans life. Hence, Concept Studio, an aggressive film production startup which began operations in early 97 after getting 100% VC* funding.
*(Visaal chaudhree, not Venture Capital)




An empty mind is a devils workshop. Proving this beyond a doubt ricky was a natural mechanic. He would usually be found under a car(how did he fit ?) while his dad lay under another one. Camshafts, pistons, Rocker valves and Variable valve technology (VTEC) engines were 2nd nature to this lad from Patiala.

MAI THA MAI THA ...

Hi Guys,
Ajay says he doesnt remember the Mai Tha mai tha joke and Im not sure if
a lot of you do. So here goes....

Ext Night, 4th June 1992, Nirulas Noida, Gauts Bday.
Long shot of the guys sitting around Hot choc fudges and Ice cream sodas (remember that green one !)

Cut to Ajay,
Ajay " Abey salon, mein ek joke sunata hoon...."

Gang
"haan haan, cool, bata bata !!"

Ajay
"Ek baar ek businessman tha, uska ek beta tha"

Anuj( suddenly awakening from his sundae induced stupor)
"main tha main tha !!" (with much enthu !)

Ajay
"Chup kar motey , us businessman ne socha ki mein apney betey ko apna sara business dikhata hoon"

Anuj
"main tha main tha" (some suicidal streak)

Ajay
"theek he saley, to woh businessman apne betey ko apney factory le gaya aur bola, betey yeh saara factory hamara he. Betey ne ek toota phoota tractor dekha aur bola "papa kya yeh bhi hamara he ?"

Gautam to Anuj
"Abey motey tu hi tha na?"

Ajay
" baap betey se thoda irritate hoke bolta he Haan saley, yeh tractor bhi hamara
he.Fir Baap ne betey ko apne saare farms dikhaye aur bola betey yeh saare farms hamare hein. Bete ne ek half dead gadha dekha aur bola, papa kya yeh gadha bhi hamara he ?"
Baap aur irraiate hoke bola, Haan ch....tye yeh gadha bhi hamara he!!"

Gautam to Anuj (really piling it on)
"saale saand, tu hi tha na ?Bol ? !! "(Anuj starts looking worried at this point)

Ajay
"fir baap ne betey ko apna poultry farm dikhaya aur bola, betey yeh poultry farm bhi hamara he, betey ne ek dead chicken dekha aur bola, Papa kya yeh dead chicken bhi hamara he ? Baap bahut irritate hoke bola, Haan suar, yeh dead chicken bhi hamara he !!"

gautam to Anuj
"Tu hi ho sakta he saley, aur koi itna ch@#*ya nahi ho sakta"

Ajay
"Fir baap ne betey ko apna pork and meat processing plant dikhaya aur bola,
betey yeh hamara pork processing plant he, yahan pe machine me ek taraf se suar dalo to dusre taraf se sausages nikalte he. Bete ne pucha, papa koi aisi machine nahi jisme ek taraf sausages dalo to doosre taraf se suar nikalta he ?
Baap bola - Haan b@#*c..*#@d , teri maa he na...."

Gang
HOo HA HA HA ,heee hee hee heee, hahahaha....
HOo HA HA HA ,heee hee hee heee, hahahaha....
HOo HA HA HA ,heee hee hee heee, hahahaha....
Anuj
"f....kkk, im really screwed now, yeh gauti sala zindagi bhar...."

On a more serious note

Guys, I just realized that all of us may not be so comfortable with our names
and past life splattered online, more so for professional reasons. Most of us are
employed with someone today, some at very senior posts(not me luckily!).
Anyone can run a google check and run into our(y..our) names.

Is this is real issue ? Let me know, and then maybe I can think of some other way to post
and still keep it fun, the idea being to share old pics, stories and memories and keep in touch.

THOSE BIRTHDAYS !

THE HAPPENING thing those days,
The gang used to beg for money(200 bucks ) from parents, hitch hike to Nirulas for dinner, and then
maybe icecream there, or At Dollops (remember that famous joint
where Anuj walked in with "Gobar" on his shoes and smeared Dollops of it all
over their marbled floor ?).

Had some Great times at these Birthdays, with the Target of course always being Anuj,
I remember on one bday bash, Anuj had dressed up in formals, and everyone was
taking his trip continously and me and Pankaj would squeeze the ketchup dispenser
tightly with one finger on the nozzle, and suddenly release the nozzle under the table
on his cream coloured pants(all the while giggling hysterically while Anuj looked at us in irritation). He was'nt very happy with the ketchup mustard wash( He was fricking pissed off)
"Meri oxemberg pants ki ..........maar di ! "

Another funny one was the "Mein tha Mein tha " joke Incident ! Does anyone remember that ?
Ajay was telling this joke which went like this

"Ek time ek banda tha" and Anuj goes "Oye mein tha mein tha" and Ajay says
"Chup be" and continues with his joke "Uska baap ek rich business man tha" and
Anuj goes "Mein tha mein tha !" (Why was he doing that?) and then Anuj kept saying this
at every point in the joke until the joke climaxed and it was a very embarassing ending for
Dev. ( Tell me if you guys want the full joke!)

So birthdays were generally, leave home, take anujs trip, reach Nirulas, Anuj's trip, order Pizza, take his trip, go for icecream, Take his trip, Go for paan Take his trip, hitch back home take trip and so on.

And of course there was the legendary Bedi finger bowl Nimbu paani Incident.
This was at Host restaurant in Atta market. After an awesome dinner of Naans, and
butter chicken and daal makhani and tandoori chicken , while waiting for the bill everyone suddenly saw Bedi squeezing the lemon into his finger bowl and gulping it down! Nimbu Paani he thought ! They never had finger bowls in Sadda hoshiarpur da dhaba !

The night used to end with a thorough ASS KICKING in the form of Birthday Bumps !
PS. These pics are from My Birthday, 4th June 1992 !

Introducing Vishal !

So Im going to start introducing all the guys and I
start with Vishal Chaudhry, The slick ,chic, Uber cool
Dude who was born with the proverbial silver golf club in
his mouth. Legend has it that his family took delivery of the first
maruti van (dark blue) in india.

Vishal was swanky, sexy and cool until he started hanging out with
us in college around 1992 (cant reveal which one, too embarassing ).
After that things went downhill for him as he learnt the elite arts of the middle class,
like eating samosas from a roadside vendor, Hitching to and from college and drinking
water from roadside taps. Heck, on a bad day you would have even found a DTC ticket
in his pocket !

An incredible dancer and a complete chick magnet we never realized why we(losers) never managed any girlfriends when we hung out with him over 10 years !

Slickass,kickass and Uberchic even today vishal remains unchanged as a person I met 17 years
ago, a real gem of a person !

NOIDA DAYS

Some of the best days of our lives from 1990 -95, with the best gang evah, hanging around sec-25
Amit store, Priya store, 21 sector , F block market and of course each others
houses ,and redefining the word "Vella Punti" ! I think ThumsUP owes its survival to us !

The crazy Manav, the Posh Vishal, The "thulla" Parakh, The Nerdy Pankaj, The terrified of "Maasii" Ajay, The clumsy and accident prone Anuj, The" forever in M BLOCK " Ricky, "The forvever been in U ASS ...AA" Sumit, the pain in the ass Gauti and the Academically inclined Bedi who got 33 in english in the 12th Boards ! (How did he manage that ?)
(In fact he just confirmed a 34 in commerce too ! ) made for some real wonder years !

So im going to put up some pics from those days and hope you guys like em and of course send
in pics of you have and such. And do put in comments. Will be cool.

None of these animals were harmed in the making of this blog.