diniz's Xanga

Welcome to merrildiniz.com

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:18:49 GMT

Finally, I have my own domain! Am posting my usual snippets at www.merrildiniz.com. However, I don't end up writing that often these days. Since, my office has relocated 500 miles away from my home, life proving to be one big blur when I am not in office!

The good news: you can leave a comment on my new blog by login in with facebook connect!

SALT WATER THRILL

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:20:44 GMT

THIS week I discovered THE most mouth-watering, flavourful food EVER, which does not cost the earth. I sincerely hope no one reads this review and actually visits the place, for fear of the accolades going to the chef's head, following which he shall raise the pricing and start charging the earth. I went over to meet a friend post lunch with the intention of just give him company, while he ate. But after tucking into a morsel, my taste buds went berserk. We had tenderloin carppaccio and smoked oyster, and some sort of to-die-for cheesecake.

Update:

On a crowded Saturday, I had a bit of a tiff with the manager, post which he apologised. However, the service was not up to the mark. The waiter could hardly pronounce anything on the menu. But the flavourful slivers carpaccio was still to-die-for. So is the chocolate fondant, which oozes chocolate sauce that mingles with some creamy white concoction, once you tug at the crusty exterior.

18

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:23:35 GMT

SO, my extra-curricular life has moved up a notch from Youtube and Facebook. We headed to Ruby Tuesday in Sector 18, which seems to be the epicentre of consumer activity in Noida.

It has most of the restaurants, club/ pubs, banks, street food, banks, shops and the like.

We had mojitos and shots, quesadillas and chicken wings, cigars and cigarettes. And post, we spontaneously landed up some a certain person’s house, and had some very good North Indian type of khaana at 1 am.

PARTY

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:06:48 GMT

MY social life has moved from clubs and house parties and plays and movies and dinners and dancing to Youtube and Facebook. SOS!

MALL

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:51:23 GMT

SO, I spent all of yesterday mucking around a pretty big mall called The Great India Place. I visited a hair salon, where I received a very interesting tip from the gal who did my eyebrows: use aquagaurd water to use your face, not regular water. Apparently, the cold weather coupled with the hard water here in Noida, makes one’s skin very dry.

Post the retail therapy (I can’t stomach too much), I walked towards the line of green and yellow autos parked outside. There were two guys sitting in auto no 1, both dressed a tad too nicely to be driving an auto, I thought. They had good skin, too.

I proceeded to haggle. But they both looked at each other and at me and each other, again, before bursting into wide, quizzical smiles. It turns out that they were two random guys, probably waiting for girlfriends or wives to finish shopping. I smiled back.

LASSI

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:55:41 GMT

I had a fairly adventurous day. I travelled in a rickshaw, not the yellow and black ones we have in Mumbai (those are referred to as autos). This contraption was more like a tricycle. There's no engine and the driver just huffs and puffs his way through, which did not give me such a good feeling. Yet, this is how he earns his daily bread. I even walked for 30 seconds when we travelled uphill.

I also had the best lassi ever at a lacklustre looking mall called Spice. I met a friend's friend who has lived in Noida for four years and she gave me the lowdown on what to expect of people from different communities. Pretty insightful stuff.

CHILLY

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:06:14 GMT

My relocation to Delhi is akin to a whirlwind romance, in terms of the pace at which things have moved. Well, the honeymoon is now over and I need to get down to the business of daily living and only time will tell if the city will grow on me.

Most of the folks I know have said such terrible things about the city, that maybe, things are a lot better than I expected. When I got off the flight and got in my cab, my left hand clutched my deodorant (might work as a temporary reaction on an assault!). Maybe I should be grateful to these folks for putting the fear of God in me. The going has been better than I expected.

The weather is gorgeous. On my third day in office I bumped into me 'ex-ex-ex colleague' who has sort of taken me under his wing, giving me the lowdown on how people function in this city. His insights have been useful.

I also attended this very interesting 'Ladies Sangeet', where the family of the bride enacted several Hindi film song 'items'. The DJ was a certain Funky DJ Janakpuri

MUMBAI

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:10:05 GMT

The last time Mumbai burned (July 11, 2006) I was heading back from Goa to the city by train. We left Margao station by around 6 pm and by the time we crossed the Northern border, some passengers received text messages from friends in Mumbai about the ongoing train blasts across the city.

An old man in the same boogie grew paranoid and asked his son who had just seen him off, to drive down to the nearest station, so he could return to Goa. He got off the train a few stations ahead of the border. The rest of us prayed and commiserated like victims who were possibly approaching a terrifying eventuality. When we entered Mumbai at 5 am, everything was silent and the stations were empty.

This time round, I was returning from Delhi airport on 27th morning to Mumbai. Passengers were glued to the flat screen TV watching the coverage on CNN-IBN, everyone wondering if they were making a mistake by entering a city under siege (a taxi blew up near the airport). But we took a chance and headed back anyway.

At the domestic airport in Mumbai, people looked glum and the rickshaw driver quoted three times the price. But I decided to pay him, since he looked sufficiently miserable. I felt relieved to be alive. My friend Slug was constantly on the phone with me, until I reached home.

I asked the rickshaw driver (in Hindi, my version of it ie)," Don't you feel scared to drive with all this terror?". His response was rather philosophical," Ek din marna hi hai, tho kya karega?" (someday we need to die, so what can we do about it?)

BREATHE

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:38:34 GMT

Things are happening fast and I need to keep telling myself," Breathe, Merril, breathe".

More details as the plot thickens.

UNIFORM

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:53:38 GMT

My faith in men-in-uniforms is vaguely renewed, this week.

One policeman helped me get a cab; I was trying to hail one for 20 minutes, but the cabbies sped off in a jiffy; they had their own destination in mind. Then the policeman offered to flag a cab, and pretty soon, at the sight of the uniform the first cabbie slowed down and I hopped in.

The second instance, was at Khar station. I forgot my purse and hence, my railway pass. Of course, since it was the only day of the entire, when I forgot my money that I got caught. The man in asked me to step into his office. I confessed that I forgot my wallet and my money, too. He very rather empathetic and took about Rs 100, with receipt, and the fine was apparently, Rs 250.