Monday, March 2, 2009
50 answers to stupid questions
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not really, but my name sure has some significance. My dad was a mathematician who was amazed by 'pi' and my mother was a physicist who specialized in studying frequency of waves which were measured in 'nu'.....That's how I was named PINU!!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? When I got stood up last weekend.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No it's worse than a doctor's.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I'm vegetarian
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No, not yet, but I would very much like to someday.
6. YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Umm... never really thought about it. Since I have such few friends I hope I would want to be friends with me since I understand how terribly lonely it can get.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? No never
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes I do.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No never, I am afraid of heights.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Corn flakes.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes always. That's why my shoes last forever.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Vanilla, when I feel a little adventurous I add a little strawberry or chocolate sauce to it.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their smile and their eyes, nothing is more mesmerizing than a woman whose smile adds a twinkle to her eye.
15. RED OR PINK? Red
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My tongue. It always gets tied up in a knot when I am talking to women.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Parents
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Yes, I would like to know more about others.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black trousers and black shoes, I am quite conventional in my dressing.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Kishore Kumar- Ek ladki bheegi bhagi si
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Black, it’s classic and universal.
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Frying, spluttering pakodas.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My Kaki.
25. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Not really she's just some girl who keeps tagging me in her notes.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Cricket.
27. HAIR COLOR? Dark Brown
28. EYE COLOR? Brown
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes sometimes
30. FAVORITE FOODS? Mutter Paneer.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings, especially since I am still earnestly looking for mine.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Slumdog Millionaire
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Off White
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.
37. DESCRIBE YOUR PENCIL CUP? It's a ‘World's Best Boss’ mug that my employee's gifted me.
38. FAVORITE ARTIST(s)? I'm not really into art
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Shantaram
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? It's just black with an arm rest
41. What did you watch on TV last night? Jeopardy
42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)? Birds chirping
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLE? The Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? America
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? No not really
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Delhi
47. FAVORITE PIECE OF JEWELRY? My birthstone ring.
48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? Haven’t met the one yet.
49. WHAT IS YOUR QUEST? To make Gaylord’s the best Indian restaurant in London.
50. WHAT IS THE AIR SPEED VELOCITY OF A BINLADEN SWALLOW? Bin Laden should die.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Night that was...
My cousin and dear friend Rajat was performing last night at this place called ‘Corks’ on Oxford Street. As I mentioned in my last post, I never miss Rajat’s performances and I was there, yet again!
I hardly venture out of the vicinity of my home sweet home and sort of ‘make friends’. Going for Rajat’s performances is always an experience as I meet a lot of different people from various backgrounds, this is indeed refreshing, due to my line of work and because of the amount of time it consumes, I mostly only interact with people that are related to food industry in some way. It is always fun and exciting to meet people on a more casual, social scenario and make a connection with them.
I was quietly perched on the ‘not so comfortable’ bar stool and was enjoying one of Rajat’s songs, when David approached me. David is an aspiring chef who infact has a passion for Indian cuisine! Normally I am always a little weary telling people that I own a restaurant, but this time around the conversation was so engrossing and interesting that it just slipped out, we spent the entire time engaged in a passionate discussion about cuisines from around the globe and I was so absorbed in my chit-chat that I totally forgot to applaud Rajat! David was fair and was well built. He spoke with a British accent and was very friendly. I told him all about my restaurant and how it was always my dream to run the best Indian food joint in London. David and I exchanged numbers before Rajat and I left.
While driving back home, Rajat told me that it was a Gay bar that we were at…..sweat trickled down my face as I wished for that statement to not be true. I dropped Rajat home and just waited in the car thinking about David.
I know I’m straight…but I’m still thinking about David….I would love to meet him soon…is that so wrong?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Goodness Gracious Me no more
I happened to chance upon a back issue of the Guardian and was shocked to see that Sharat Sardana had passed away. He was only 40 and an extremely witty writer. I absolutely loved Goodness Gracious me and Kumars at no. 42. Humor never came easy to me. I’ve always struggled to tell a joke, more often than not I mess up the punch line. I’m no good at making fun of myself either. I watch other people do it all the time. It seems entertaining and those listening are always in peals of laughter.
I’ve only seen one stand up comedian in my entire life and his name was Papa CJ. It was a slow Saturday night so I left the restaurant for a bit and headed to Corks which is this comedy club bang opposite Bond Street station. That night was stand-up comedian night. So we were all entertained by Papa CJ. I kept thinking to myself ‘Thank God I don’t have the dorkiest name.’ I also wondered how many kids this Papa CJ had.
Anyway onto his set. All he did was make obvious jokes about the Indian accent and our weird sounding names. I could do that. It didn’t seem so difficult but the next day when I tried to retell some of Papa’s joke I could barely recite a single one. Guess I was born without the funny bone.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
25 things you didn't know about me!
Monday, February 9, 2009
The line between friendship and professionalism
As previously mentioned I am the owner of an Indian Restaurant in London. Which means I am ‘Boss man’. I often wonder would any of my staff be this nice to me if I wasn’t their employer.
I’m not saying that they kiss ass, but they are all extremely friendly. Now even this friendship confuses me. Is it just for formality sake that they all invite me over to their homes or do they actually want to be friends?
Over the past decade my staff has been very supportive with my quest to find a wife. They’ve exhausted their resources. I’ve dated everyone right fom the bus boys single masi to my head waiters estranged ex-wife.
I try to be supportive to my staff and encourage them to open up to me but while everyone knows of my ttrials and errors they all seem a mystery to me. I recently sanctioned leave to one of the sous chefs. He has returned with a wife in tow. I don’t believe that he never even invited me to the wedding and everyone knows an Indian wedding is a great place to meet single women.
Where is the line between professionalism and friendship? Is it hanging out afterward for a drink maybe meeting up on days off for a game of cricket? Or is it sticking to pleasantries with the occasional invite of birthdays or festival celebrations?
My personal hell
The question is not whether there is life after death, but whether I’ll still get a Mc Donald’s burger when I get to the other side. The journey there could work up quite a hunger.
Hunger, that’s one thing that consumes my senses in their entirety. The lust for food makes me delirious, until I get some. That’s another thing I don’t get ’some’, just like that tabooed four letter word meaning intercourse - talk.
I find it hard to converse about normal everyday things with complete strangers. It’s intellectually insulting to constantly state the obvious in a bid to be more sociable. “Isn’t it hot today?” Well with the sun shining, it will be pretty damn hard to feel cold. Cold. They are the kind of people I get.
Public displays of affection make me cringe, which is why I don’t get some’, just like that four-letter word eaning defecation. I am surprised Oxford dictionary carries all its variation, just like that of the previously mentioned four-letter word. But it doesn’t bother me because ‘I don’t give a crap’.
Constipation it’s a wonderful thing. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to concentrate on that one thing, hard enough and long enough till you finally get it.
Concentration for me, that’s a bit of a problem. Anterograde Amnesia, I forget what it means. I forget quite often. I jump from one topic to another quite often and I choose to believe otherwise quite often. I choose to believe in people and don’t mind getting disappointed again and again. I choose to believe and that is my hell. My hell is a place where I know there are no monochromatic hues; it’s a place where I know deep undercurrents of reality and phantasm exist.
Where I know all is not as gleeful as it seems to be, but I still choose to stay.
I choose to stay for I believe in my hell, I shall find my heaven
The date that was
Sunday night was a bust. I've finally warmed up enough to talk about it. My friends set me up on a blind date. Leaving my expectations at home I set out with four layers of clothes on and decided to take the tube to the restaurant my date had chosen. I followed the directions to the T when I walked out of the tube station I was a little perturbed to find Dirty Dicks on my left and Bad Ass on my right.
Now this couldn't be right. My sweet Indian blind date couldn't have selected such a shady sounding restopub for our first meeting. Imagine telling our kids i met their mother at Dirty Dicks. To my extreme bad luck Dirty Dicks was her choice of dining last night. She swears by their fish and chips.
Well I'd like to talk more about Sonal(that was the name of my date) but she had to leave early due to her irrational fear of hypothermia. Since the snowfall didn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down and she'd brought her car to the restaurant while I'd smartly left mine at home in the garage. After her hurried early exit I finished my food then hers picked up the check and then I headed to the bus stop.
I waited in the freakin' snow for 2 hrs before the news of the bus termination got to me. By now I could have seriously developed hypothermia. Did my date care? No! I'm sure she was home tucked in her cozy duvet enjoying some hot cocoa while my nether regions froze.
Now I was left two options stand there and freeze or walk home. I figured walking would boost my circulation and heighten my chances of bearing children in the future. After a good 3 hours of ploughing through the snow I finally reached home and who should be waiting me for me on my door step other than Perry the cat in his woolies. Perry is my neighbours cat. He usually stays indoors.Talk about added insult to injury even the cat was more prepared for the blizzard than I was. And he seemed completely comfortable in his fur, hat and scarf. But the sight was so cute I forgot about my horrid night poured Perry and myself some warm milk and headed to sleepy land.