Best of Year 2010

The Year 2010 will remain the most special year of my life FOREVER, Alhumdulillah! :)

I say so because some of the most important developments in and around me and the best of the things happened to me this year. Waise i am a person who would love to live life in the best way possible and would never miss a chance to celebrate each moment! But this year has been exceptionally great and i loooooooooved every bit of it! Now lemme take a recap of the year 2010 and say what was so great about this year that i regard it ' The Best year' of my life till date.

January : I got married! :D So you know the main reason for me to love this year. * wink wink*  The month was spent in shopping, shopping and more shopping! My wedding was on January 31st, so i had this whole month to indulge myself in the best. A south Indian family girl going to be a part of a North Indian family!! Such awesome times i had.

February : My honeymoon trip to Malaysia and Singapore! No doubt it was my best holiday ever. My hubby dearest showered me with everything that i wished and dreamt of! How can i NOT be happy then ;) Thank you soo much darling! :)

March : My hubby left to New York and my visa processing started - The only pain i experienced this year which is still going on!! But all is well and i would be leaving to NY soon, Insha'Allah :)

April : Tra la laaaaaaaa!! My hubby comes back to India to stay with me for one whole month! :D More reasons to celebrate! We enjoyed in my hometown - Mangalore for a week. We spent a week in his hometown - Gujarat for a week. We went on a fun trip with my family to Munnar, kerala for a week. The rest of the days were spent in post wedding parties ! ;) A fun filled month!

May: My birthday AND my hubby's birthday too! Since it was our first birthdays after marriage, we wanted to make it more special. We did celebrate it in the best ways possible showering each other with love, care and a whole lot of gifts! But unfortunately we could not be together for my birthday because he had to leave at the start of the month and my birthday was at the end of May! But nonetheless, he made sure he made my birthday reely special :) And now the tragic part of the month! :( I lost my dear friend in the Mangalore Plane crash :( She used to live next door and i had the keys of her apartment which i was waiting to give her on that fateful day. I will never forget that day :( May her soul rest in peace, that is all i can pray for now.

June : My visa processing was going on and i started my experiences in the kitchen full time! Yeah, till now i was busy with college and friends so i used to just be the assistant cook in my kitchen. But now i started taking the main jobs ;) I have a passion for writing and i wanted a platform to record events of my life and my thoughts! So yeah, started blogging - http://naazuk.blogspot.com/.

July : This month was spent in missing my hubby and my in-laws but i was enjoying being with my family even after my wedding ;) I know i was one of the lucky few who gets the opportunity to live with parents and siblings even after marriage, so i was making the most of it ;) My cooking sessions were going full on and my blogging too.My cousins flew down from Dubai and we had some of the most memorable weekends ;) 

August : I started baking cakes! One thing which i always wanted to do. I baked so many cakes in August and September that i got tired of baking them but my siblings were not tired of eating! So i went on and on!

September : Weddings, parties and get togethers. Caught up with school friends, college friends, MBA friends!

October : A very important month for me this year! My parents left for the 40 day pilgrimage to Mecca also called Hajj. So i was handed over the position of the 'Top chef' at home as my mum was on the 40 day leave from the kitchen! I knew it was a big responsibility for me as i had two working brothers and 3 college going siblings, an aunt and my grandma! I had to please their taste buds throughout the 40 days! And Alhumdulillah, it turned out one super splendid month for all of at home! We all gained weight! LOL! Not that while my parents were around we were skinny creatures, but the amount of chicken, paneer, cheese, cakes, desserts,  sandwiches and chaats that went into our tummies this month, we all bloated up! :p And not to forget my elder bro's birthday meal preparations! Just fabulous!

November : My younger bro's birthday! Again a special menu for all of us. I had such a good time cooking these 40 days! And guess what, i started this food blog ;) Chef Naaz - The Mistress of Spices!. My parents got back on Nov 21st and i prepared a special meal on their return which everybody feasted on! :)

December : My visa processing is in the last stage and once all is well, Insha'allah i would be leaving to NY asap. My blog turned one month old and i hosted the 'Trifle Event' on my blog :) I participated in various events in this month and i got to know so many amazing bloggers and their delicious recipes. I was so very happy to be getting followers, awards and such  lovely comments from fellow bloggers! It was such a good motivation. I also had a reunion with my MBA friends and we had a gala time.The year ended on a superb note with a family outing! :)

I would love to thank my hubby, my family, friends - both on and off the blogging world, for giving me so much of love, care and motivation everyday, to help me do the things that i love the most! :) Hope you all had a good time reading this post just like how i had a good time doing the recap! I wish you all a very happy New year 2011. May all your wishes, dreams and aspirations come true. May all that we cook be loved by all and may all of us stay good friends, help one another and spread peace and happiness around :)

My 40 days as the Top chef!

Top chef - The title itself makes one proud, Doesn't  it?

Since i am no exception in the list i too felt proud when i got to know that i would be the top chef at my place in my parents absence. They were leaving to the Holy pilgrimage - Hajj. Being a top chef anywhere is a great honor according to me, be it your own house, a restaurant or a reality show!! For me at this point of time, my own house was my target market, my kitchen was my playground and my siblings, my granny and my aunt were the target audience! And trust me that was no joke!

Having my grandma at home and making her love my cooking was the biggest challenge to me, considering her own experiences in this wide area of cooking! Plus she knows how exactly her daughter, i.e my mum excels in the kitchen. So i had this BIG BIG responsibility of pleasing her taste buds. Next comes ' The gang' - Yeah, my siblings! My motivators, my critics. Every child, including myself thinks their own mothers are the worlds best cook. So you see how difficult a task it would be for me to make these 'mom-cooking-freaks' to love my cooking. But i took up the challenge. Yes, it was a Challenge for me! A tuff one!

My parents left for Hajj on Oct 14th, the same day my sis was to be back from her school excursion. So my first task was to make this ' mummy's pet' be comfortable in my mum's absence.  It was not as difficult as i thought it would be. Alhumdulillah! :) Staying away from parents is so hard for every child but its such a good feeling to know that your younger siblings don't mind being away from parents when their elder sister is around! :) And to me it was the vice versa. Alhumdulillah, the 40 days went by smoothly just because i had my granny and my siblings around.

Although i had several other responsibilities, cooking was my top priority. Until two years back i was not as much a  great fan of cooking like how i am now. Alhumdulillah! I used to be occupied with college, friends, studies etc etc. But once i was out of college AND that i got married this year, the chef in me began to rise. Since then i used to always assist Ammi in the kitchen but never got an opportunity to do it solely. But now i did get one such opportunity and i wanted to use it optimally ( yeah yeah MBA effect) :p

So once i started my 40 days journey into cooking, i had to start with waking up early!! A thing which i wouldn't normally do. My sis used to leave to school early in the morn so i had to get up to give her breakfast and pack her off to school along with her tiffin. Next it would be the college going bro and sis's turn to get ready. By 9 a.m they both would be off too. And then i would think of having a short nap. But.. my hubby lives in NY!! It would be night for him and yippeee time to chat. Sleep can take a backseat :p Once he would be off to sleep, i would start my daily chores and then off to the kitchen.

Like every muslim family, we too literally live on non-veg food. :p Chicken, mutton, beef, fish, prawns,clams! And a veg side dish too ;) Friday and sunday specials would always be there. I got so involved in cooking and i developed real interest in it. Now i can proudly say i looooooooooooove cooking. :D And guess what, i started a recipe blog too :) Cook and post! Cook and post! LOL! That is what i started doing. Hehe

I sometimes would cook the dishes ammi used to cook but mostly i tried new ones! In these 40 days both my brothers had their birthdays and so i had to cook some extra special dishes on their days. And it turned out exceptionally well :D Alhumdulillah! Everyone loved the food that i made and i used to get so happy each time anyone would compliment my food. Quite normal rite? :p

Oh yeah the link to my food blog - http://chefnaaz.blogspot.com/

Its just in the starting phase but i am enjoying it already. Cooking has become a passion to me now and i would love to keep it as one of my top priority. The only person complaining about this is my hubby! Everyone other than him has tasted the dishes i have made. And he is soooooo badly waiting me to join him in NY. Alhumdulillah, it'l happen soon Insha'Allah! I will be moving to NY insha'Allah in the month of December or Jan. :)

It was the first Eid we celebrated without our parents being around and we missed them terribly! And to top the boredom , it rained on Eid, so we could not go out too! But now its all fine.My parents are back from hajj :D They had a marvelous time during their pilgrimage, Alhumdulillah! :) I pray to Allah (s.w.t) to give all of us a chance to do hajj soon too, Aameen.

So at the end of 40 days, i can say i have fulfilled my responsibility well because yesterday  i heard  my siblings telling my parents about how i cooked and how they all feasted on it. My happiness knew no bounds! LOL! I am elated to know my cooking has been highly appreciated and i look forward to making more people and their stomachs happy!

And to you my darling hubby- Insha'Allah soon :)

A shopaholic's trip to Mumbai!

It was a beautiful evening in November ’09 when my Ammi, Abba and I were talking, while relishing on Chai and ‘garma garam’ pakodas. And ‘The’ topic sprang up. Again.“Where are we going to shop for Mehnaz’s wedding?”Needless to say, my mood sprang up too! :D  Shopping!! Wow! And that too MY wedding shopping! Soooooooper!

We had talks on this topic many times before.But they were like just two-three minutes conversations like how we decide when we need to buy daily groceries. And this was my WEDDING!!Come on people, we need to actually DISCUSS! So NOW we got talking. 

Ammi’s choice- Mumbai. Abba’s choice – Bangalore. Beti’s ‘choices’ : BOTH! You know, the beti dint want to annoy neither mum nor dad. LOL! Beti gave all the possible reasons on why we should be going to both the places and my darling parents agreed. Buhahaha! I can MADLY shop! My excitements levels reached the clouds. :D 

I began preparing my shopping list. Well, LISTS. If anyone had a look at the lists, they would have definitely thought I had been robbed of ALL my belongings. The list included every other thing a girl needs. LOL! And then the angel in me spoke – “Why do you want to buy all these stuffs AGAIN? You already have like a dozen of each of the things written down. Now be a good girl and edit (read reduce) your lists”. The devil in me ‘counter-striked’: “Naaz! You are going to be a bride soon. And a bride is supposed to have EVERYTHING new in her wardrobe! Expand your list gurl”.

Now the ‘good-shopaholic-girl’ was in a dilemma. The Angelic Naaz and the Devilish Naaz were right on their part. But what should Mehnaz do now? I decided to listen to both. I brought my lists under my sister’s eyes. In other words, I got it under a scanner and within minutes it was reduced to half. Mummmyy!! But it was a good decision. It would be wastage to buy these ‘already-have’ stuffs again. Thank you Sista :D  Angelic Naaz tapped on my back. Devilish Naaz looked at me fiercely. I said ‘Hold on buddy, have a look at the list. The bride is still going to get new clothes, jewelry, accessories, sandals, cosmetics etc. Now smile’!! I was successful in emotionally blackmailing myself too!! Wow! I must be awesome. LOL!

Chhatrapathi Shivaji Intl Airport

The tickets were booked and we left to Mumbai on December 3^rd.My lovely friend Devyani – A Mumbaikar, who was our Guide for shopping in Mumbai, had confirmed our stay at a hotel in Dadar. And we would not have got a better stay in Mumbai. Thank you so much Devu! :) We headed to the hotel straight from the airport and freshened up ourselves and started the shopping spree. What excitement! Devyani had told us over the phone where to roam in Dadar until we meet her in the evening. So as directed, we explored Dadar- The Shoppers Paradise.  We went to a store named ‘Bharatkshetra’, which is exclusively for bridal shopping. My! My! What a splendid collection they had. Imagine a shopaholic’s state when such beautiful clothes were being displayed and marketed. It was just WOW! And before we could even meet Devu, I had chosen my wedding Sharara. :D  A magenta pink sharara with golden zardosi work. I tried it out and it looked so very beautiful and at that very moment I knew i was going to wear this for the wedding. :D

My Magenta Pink Sharara ( M trying it out on the top left) Hehe

Bharatkshetra, Dadar, East Mumbai

Once the main outfit was decided, we moved on to the ‘Bharatiya Naari’s symbol’ – The Saree. My fascination for sarees would reduce my dad’s wallet’s weight by almost fifty percent. But it got the nod from the financer coz it was worth it ;) So here I was, with my wedding outfit and sarees. Devyani joined us at the store too and once she saw all my dresses, we moved to a restaurant to plan out the activities for the next day. 

After the meeting at the restaurant, we roamed around with Devyani to some more shopping streets around Dadar and picked up few dresses for me and for my cousins. By then we all were tired and called it a day. We decided that we would be meeting after a day since Devyani had to go to Delhi the next day. So the next day Abba, Ammi, Bhayya and me got ready for some heavy shopping. :D Our guide for the day was Farhan- our relative. Mumbaikars have got this amazing knowledge of every shopping area and the places where we can get the best deals. ;) Farhan took us to ALOT of stores and since I had the freedom to buy anything, I laid my hands on everything that pleased my eyes and Lo! It was mine. Alhumdulillah! :D The shopping spree was followed by a delicious lunch at Delhi Darbar. 

Mumbai is a HUGE city and I had never visited it earlier to explore it. I used to be in Mumbai only to catch connecting flights and so I never got the chance to roam around. And this time too, we had come with a purpose and all our time was spent in it. But there was one place where I reeely reely wanted to go. The Chowpatty Beach. I had heard about it so much that I was keen to visit it. But, we had no time! :( The rest of the day was spent entirely in shopping and at the end of the day we all had a yummilicious dinner and thanked Farhan for helping us with all the shopping. We got back to the hotel and had a good night’s sleep. 

Devyani came back from Delhi the next day and we planned to meet in the afternoon at Amarsons. It was a real big store and we reached on time. Devyani was on her way, so we thought of going around the shop until she comes. Minutes later I got a call from Devyani saying she is outside the shop and that  she needed change to give the auto rickshaw guy. I went out to meet her and then my mouth fell open! I saw my friend Gaurav standing with Devyani and I was so very happy to see him there. And then I realized Devyani’s plan. She and Gaurav made this plan to surprise me and they were totally successful in their plan. But bechara Gaurav, It was his first visit to Mumbai and Devyani made him wait for her outside Amitabh Bachan’s house for a good one hour and we all burst out laughing when he was telling about his experience. Hehe! Since I live in Mangalore, Devyani in Mumbai and Gaurav in Bhopal, we used to always plan to meet but our schedules never allowed us to. Now this was one time when we three got to meet and it was fantastic! So after Gaurav met my parents, we all set out again- For Shopping!!!  

Needless to say, we girls had a good time but Gaurav and my bro were getting a lil bored. Obviously. We went to Bandra and roamed around for sometime and we made plans to go for a movie. But my parents were tired so we dropped the plan. We were contemplating where to go and then I said ‘ Chowpatty’!!! And we were there. I was so glad to be at Chowpatty Beach. Walked on the Beach, clicked pics, tried the Gola’s and ate Pav Bhaji! Slurp!  A beautiful day came to an end and we bid goodbye to each other as we were leaving back to Mangalore the next day. 

This post is dedicated to my awesome friends- Devyani Jagdale and Gaurav Joshi. Thank you so much for making my Mumbai trip a memorable one. :)

The next day we woke up early and packed our bags and set out. Nah! Nah! Not to the airport. For shopping again! Lmaoo!! :D Our flight was in the evening and we dint want to waste any time. ;) Optimum utilization of time you see ;) After our shopping spree ended, We had to buy extra bags to keep the shopped stuffs in. Later in the evening we left to the airport and headed back to Mangalore with happier hearts, smiling faces, excess luggage and lighter wallets. Alhumdulillah! :)

The Cake Story!

A cake symbolizes a party, a gathering of friends, family, neighbors. At least for me it defines itself that way. Every time a cake is being offered to me, i being a 'not-so-great-fan' of cakes, usually smile and pass the cake to the 'greatest-fan-of-the-cake-on-earth' soul-- My younger sister. I do take it, of course, just to avoid the bickering of my sister and make herself gorge on the extra piece of cake! What a sight it is to see when she gets that extra piece! :p

A cake reminds me of my sis, EVERY TIME! Its not that i do no eat it anytime, but i usually prefer spicy over sweet! I respect people who love to gobble up cakes, but i do not understand how anyone would love to eat a chocolate cake! I will NEVER eat that! I always get the ' OMG, you do not eat a chocolate cake??' kinda look every time i say no to a choc cake piece, but i just smile and say no. Its very difficult to explain people who love certain things about our non-liking towards it! So i do not even try. And it always ends up with the 'God knows how you cannot like this' look and in my mind i say ' God knows how u CAN like it'!

Once i was browsing over some sweet dish recipes and the recipe for choc cake popped up. I HAD to open the page, no prize for guessing, my sis was sitting next to me. Reluctantly, i went through it and without a second thought closed it and went over to another page. And i heard my sis yell. I was like 'What?!?'. She said ' Didi, Please bake a cake.. For me'! Now the latter part of the line melted me. You can imagine her with that ' You are not gonna say no to me right?' face. I HAD to give in. It was my sister.

The next day before leaving to school, she reminded me again and in my sleep i said ' Yeah Yeah'! :p I woke up later and was planning about the activities of the day, not even giving the slightest importance to the cake! I logged in to the internet and to my surprise i see my sis's status message on her IM window which read ' Yaaaay, today my didi's gonna make a choc cake for meeeeeeeeee'! I was like ' Oh so sweet'! and then immediately i said ' Damn'! I am her didi and i am the one who has to bake it! Baking a cake? And Me? ME?? God knows how, I wondered.

The next half an hour was spent in going through ' Easy Choc cake recipes'! :p And i finally found a good one. A normal choc cake recipe. Now i dint know what was easy and what was not! Forget baking, i had not EATEN one!! But then i HAD to do this. So i gathered the ingredients, some confidence, little interest and started! OMG! I was baking a cake! Hard to believe!

Trust me, it is not difficult. :D Yes, I am saying this! All you need is electricity - To beat the eggs, to powder sugar, to bake! And you need a motivating person! :p AND of course the basic ingredients. Whola! The cake was ready to be baked. The microwave looked at me with a surprised look and i replied back - ' Yeah, for my sister' ;) Ten minutes later, the microwave called out to me. I looked at the cake. Heavenly feeling!! I made a cake! Yaaaaaay! :D

So here it was resting on the dining table with my eyes stuck to it. It looked yummy, but i needed to know how it tasted. Before the main critic would be back home, i wanted somebody to give me the review. Unfortunately couldn't get hold of anyone for my experiment. :p And the door bell rang. "Damn, the cake-eater is at d door"!! I quickly hid the cake in the oven and opened the door. She came in and went straight to the kitchen, scanned the refrigerator and looked at me! I thought lemme kid with the kid. I said i was really sorry but i could not prepare it. She got a doubt coz she knew i would never do such a thing. But i made her believe in me ;)

She went to her room obviously with a sad face. When she went to freshen up, i went to the kitchen, took the cake out and wrote her name on the cake with fresh cream. It now looked yummier. But again, How did it taste?? She was at the comp when i brought the cake to her with a 'tan-tanaaaaa' background music. It was a moment to remember. She was very very happy! And i was happy to see her happy! :D So we ended up being the Happy Sisters! Alhumdulillah! :)

Now the tasting part ;) The most important one! My sis and my cousin sis, both fans of the choc cake tried it and showed me a thumbs up. No doubt, i was GLADDDDD!! Proud of myself ;) And then it was shared by every one in the house and all LOVED it. Seriously, i was very happy that day. :) It gave me the confidence to prepare more cakes. And within a week i made four cakes :D A cousin bro emotionally blackmailed me to bake a cake for him and i fell in the trap ;) But i loved the outcome coz he loved the cake! :D

All these compliments made me realise that nothing is difficult. If we have the will we can accomplish anything but of course with God's help. After a week one of my friend called me up and told me he was leaving to Bangalore that night. I said Okay kool and thought to myself ' Why not bake a cake and give it to him so that my friends can taste it there in Bangalore?' I told him about the 'Parcel' that he needs to take with him, not telling him what exactly i was giving him. I baked a cake and packed it well and wrote notes for my friends on the parcel and sent it.

Meanwhile i sent a message to my friend to collect the parcel Asap! I was a little worried coz my friend couldn't collect it on time and i thought it must have gone bad. I got a text in the evening saying the parcel was collected, but i wasnt happy coz i was very sure that it would have definitely gone bad by that time. So i replied back and told them that its not gonna be good, with a sad face. I was feeling bad coz i had made it with so much of love and care, but it would not be serving the purpose coz they would not be able to eat it! And then i got the following texts.

"If bad tastes so yummy, i wonder how would it taste when its fresh!! Its Awesome!!"

"Hey Naaz, the cake is awesome. Even next time when i come down , prepare this and give us"

Needless to say, i was elated. And from then on the cake stories went on and on and Insha'Allah i would want to continue it forever, of course with a happy ending. :)

The WeekEND that never came to an end!

Mangalore is beautiful. I do not say this because i belong here, its the fact. Its a city which has made my life so damn beautiful. Being born and brought up in Mangalore, it is obvious that everything revolving my life has happened here or it was linked to Mangalore in some way or the other. And I am glad about it.

I love almost everything about Mangalore (Of course, there are exceptions whenever we say we we love something) :p  The people, the places, the streets, the restaurants, the schools/ colleges, the malls, THE BEACH! Take a survey about Mangaloreans and ask them 'When did u visit 'Panambur or Tannirbavi' last?' 90.. umm.. 95% would answer ' Last sunday'! That's the kind of human traffic these two beaches attract every weekend.

Panambur Beach

It was a Sunday and as usual, all roads were leading to the Beach. We were among them too. 'We' were a group of 5. A crazy group of 5, to be precise. A black Scorpio, Elder bro steering our ship, oops.. our Scorpio, Cousin bro clicking pics and we three girls laughing on our cousin bro's jokes. (Yeah u imagined it right, the typical 'hehehehe' laugh) LOL! We zoomed our way through the city traffic and reached the outskirts leading to the beach.

We go to the beach every weekend, yet enjoy every single time and this time we were sure it would be an awesome trip, because of the magic our '5' member gang would create when we would get together. And this time 'We' were hanging out together after years. We reached the beach. The dark clouds reached too. And yes, it started drizzling. Our excitement levels rose higher. We were elated to be at the beach amidst the rains. We enjoyed every bit there. Spoke, laughed, clicked pics, teased each other and carved memorable moments together. And then it poured.

Rain Rain, Come again

Crazy Five

We stayed on for some time enjoying the rain and then, we were back in the car. Cousin bro asked ' Where to next?'. We all screamed for ice cream! :D The wish was granted. We stopped at 'Pabbas', the yummmmmmmmmiest ice cream serving parlour!  But then, there were many more people who had the same wish fulfilled! LOL! It was insanely crowded. We just parked the car and kept watching at the ice cream joint. People looked as if they haven't eaten ice creams for decades! We included.

Having contacts in ice cream parlors helps! LOL! We were in after ten minutes. The order was ready in our minds at the beach itself. The waiter came and we told him the names of our favorite ice creams. I said ' Parfait'! :D The chocolate gals ' farmaaished'! The boys- 'Gadbad'! And soon we were lost.. lost in the world of rains, ice creams, instrumental music and air conditioners.

Parfait

American Choconut

    

 

Tiramisu

 

A voice interrupted us, 'Sir, innu yen beku?' ( Sir,What else do u want to order?) and we were back to the real world. Cousin bro asked ' Second round of ice cream?' . We said yes, but lets do it tomorrow!! The thought of our extended weekend made our minds, hearts and stomach jump with joy! After roaming in and around the city, we were back in our nests, with a thought that we would meet again tomorrow ;)

And we did.This time in the afternoon on the pretext of picking up my younger sis from school! :p We picked her up from school, picked up few stuffs from the supermarket and waited for cousin sis's classes to get over. We kept calling her up to check if she was done with classes but the girl never picked the call! You should never make an 'ice cream crazy' person wait, That's what my cousin sis learnt that day! LOL! By the time she FINALLY checked her cell, she had reached home! And here we were waiting to take her along for the ice cream trip! 'Your loss', We said in consensus. She pleaded guilty like she had been accused for some major crime! LOL! And in few minutes we were back home, only to pick her up to go and gobble up the ice cream! But it was not that easy. Ammi dearest called up and gave me an earful because her darling younger daughter was supposedly ' tired' after her day of school and i had 'zabardasti' taken her on the ice cream eating session. Little did she knew how much this girl had bribed me emotionally to take her along. :p Like always, i was successful in 'maskafying' my mum and before she knew, her little girl had gone upstairs, changed her dress and was back in the car! LOL! 

This time we were in Ideals Ice cream parlor. Heaven. Slight changes in our order but the Chocolate girls dint even want to think of a replacement. This time we had ice creams in the second round! So what was the order in the first round, u ask? Hehe..Chatni cheese sandwich! :D Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! After that came the Ice creams. SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP! We were having a real good time and someone joked that we would come tomorrow too, to which my sis replied ' Crazy or what??'!.
 
She had forgotten what our group name was. It was Tuesday evening and we were out again!! This time at a different place.'Royal Treat'. And the treat lived up to its name. :D I guess someone put an eye on my 'maskafying skills' because this time Ammi dearest did not allow the younger one to join our gang. :p But the number remained the same. Five. How? There is no shortage of crazy people here!! LOL! A cousin joined us this time. And it was his treat. Buhahahhaha! :p We certainly knew this was our last 'day-out', because Ammi dearest would put us on curfew if we continued this further. And this new entrant swore not to join us again!! *Chuckles*

But.. Luck! Luck! Luck! Wednesday came and we were again spotted taking rounds of the school and college waiting for the two girls to get out of their classes. Yea Get out!! LOL! Once they both hopped in, we all burst out laughing! I am sure you all can imagine the scene. ;) Ideals Ice Cream Parlor was the venue again. The order transformed. I was with a ' Lychee with ice cream' request, the bro's with 'Dil khush' and the girls, Nah, they did not change, they exchanged! So yet again they ended up with their FAV flavoured ice cream. Now this time we were DAMN SURE that our ice cream spree would come to a complete halt.

Until.. Tring tring... A Cousin sis called up and invited the five of us to her place for dinner on Thursday!! God really loves us. Masha'Allah! :D We laughed real hard and waved at each other with an evil ' See You tomorrow Insha'Allah' grin. Who would not?!? ;) Thursday came and the crazy gang was back with many additions to it. Awesome dinner and desserts! Dil really khush! LOL! Finally it was Friday and our gang member cousin bro was leaving to Dubai, so we now knew for sure that our trips came to an end. Sad!

Friday. Cousin bro's flight was at 6.30 P.M and he came to meet us before he left. Yeah you are right. LOL! We went to Ideals again!!!!! This was the craziest ice cream trip because we had no time and were in a hurry but yet we added up to the ice creams parlor's revenue for the day! And it was my treat! ;) We laughed recalling the days from Sunday to the present day and each one expressed how much fun, joy, happiness it brought to them. We were surely a happy lot that week.

And yes, Cousin bro actually flew to Dubai that evening. LOL! There was never a week like this which either of us had experienced before. But as we bid goodbye to cousin bro, we promised each other that Insha'Allah, we would create a better week in the future when we would all meet again. :) Insha'Allah! :) 

Rajnikant!! ( Do i need to write anything more to make you laugh?!?)

'Yenna rascala', 'Mind it', 'Naan oru dhadavai sonna, nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri.’ (If I’ve said it once, it’s equal to 100 times), ‘Naan solrathaiyum seiven; sollathathaiyum seiven.’ (I will do what I say; I will even do what I do not say)

Yes! Only Rajni can deliver such mind blowing dialogues ( literally)! :D

I wont believe if there is a single person in this world who has not laughed while watching movies or clips of Rajni's movies! It just cant happen. If you think a blind person would not laugh, you are wrong. What if the person cannot see, he can hear right!! Aren't his dialogues enough to kill a person to death? Death by laughing i mean.

                            Before and After Make up! :p

Here i bring you some AWESOME facts of Rajinikant. I have not written it. Few points i got it from an article and the other 'one-liner's, I read it on one of my friend's fb profile and LOVED it sooooooooooooooo much that i asked him if i could copy n paste, like how he had done. LOL! Mind it!!! :p

Get ready! Here's Rajinikant and his deadly fact files for you. YENJOYY!! :D

P.S : Not for people with a weak heart. :p

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Rajanikanth makes onions cry.

Rajanikanth can delete the Recycling Bin.

Bill Gates lives in constant fear that Rajanikanth' PC will crash.

Ghosts are actually caused by Rajanikanth killing people faster than Death can process them.

Rajanikanth can build a snowman..... out of rain.

Rajanikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Rajanikanth can drown a fish.

Rajanikanth can play the violin....... ...with a piano.

When Rajanikanth enters a room, he doesn't turn the lights on,......... .... he turns the dark off.

Rajanikanth once had a heart attack...... ......... his heart lost.

When Rajanikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajanikanth and Rajanikanth.

Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards. Rajanikanth can throw Brett Favre even further.

The last digit of pi is Rajanikanth. He is the end of all things.

Rajanikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.

Bullets dodge Rajanikanth.

A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Rajanikanth and that you will be handicapped if you park there.

Rajanikanth' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Rajanikanth.

If you spell Rajanikanth wrong on Google it doesn't say, 'Did you mean Rajanikanth?' It simply replies, 'Run while you still have the chance.'

Rajanikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.

Once a cobra bit Rajanikanth' leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.

When Rajanikanth gives you the finger, he's telling you how many seconds you have left to live.

Rajanikanth can kill two stones with one bird.

Rajanikanth was once on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was the first to spin. The next 29 minutes of the show consisted of everyone standing around awkwardly, waiting for the wheel to stop.

Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs. Rajanikanth can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.

There is no such thing as global warming. Rajanikanth was cold, so he turned the sun up.

Rajanikanth can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

Rajanikanth has a deep and abiding respect for human life… unless it gets in his way.

It takes Rajanikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

Rajanikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, 'Bang!'

In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajanikanth could use to kill you, including the room itself.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man, there is Rajanikanth.

Rajanikanth destroyed the periodic table, because Rajanikanth only recognizes the element of surprise.

Rajanikanth got his drivers license at the age of 16 Seconds.

With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajanikanth is beginning to worry about his drinking habit.

The square root of Rajanikanth is pain. Do not try to square Rajanikanth, the result is death.

When you say 'no one's perfect', Rajanikanth takes this as a personal insult.

Outer Space exists because it is scared to be on the same planet with Ranikant.

Rajnikant has counted to infinity.. Twice!!

When Rajnikant does a push-up, he isnt lifting himself up, he is pushing the earth down!

Rajnikant does not wear a watch, HE decided what time is it!

Rajnikant grinds his coffee with his theeth and boils water with his own rage ! LOL! :p

Rajnikant once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink! LOOOOOOOL! :D

Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is Rajnikant, there is no other way!

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YENJOYED?  Jaws hurting? Stomach paining? I hope you all are alive. LMAO!!! If you are, do leave a comment below!!

Naan oru dhadavai sonna, nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri.’ !! :D :D :D

Snooze.. Stop.. SHUT UP!!!!'

"An alarm clock is a clock that is designed to make a loud sound at a specific time. The primary use of these clocks is to awaken people from their sleep in order to start their days in the mornings."

That is how Wikipedia describes an Alarm clock.

"An alarm clock is the most annoying invention of mankind which screams and shouts every morning when we are royally sleeping and helps us start our day with a fuss."

Now that's the 'real' definition -- My definition! :D

I have no problem in waking up early. My problem is being woken up BY the alarm clock. It is true alarm clocks help us 'wake up' on time. But they succeed ONLY sometimes. At least for me it works that way. I have never liked this 'helpful invention', coz  it always gets me irritated and cranky when i wake up by its sound. I actually prefer being woken up by my Abba or Ammi, because only a human can understand another and so, i am woken up with love and a sweet voice and i am up in a happy mood too! ;) A perfect start to the day!

My experiences with the 'irritating clock' has inspired me to dislike it. I guess i had last used it when i was in school.. Actually not sure of that too.. i guess i stopped it much before that :p When i think of my sources who/which would help me wake up, all i remember is my Ammi, Abba, miscalls from friends. If these sources would not work, the Almighty would whisper in my ears and i would be up on time. Alhumdulillah! :)

I stopped using the alarm clock because it would irritate me, lekin yeh itne aasaani se mera peecha nahi chodne waala tha!! Here enters my baby sister- A big fan of the alarm clock! She would set the alarm clock every night to wake up early. Very good Maddu, i am proud of you. But why dont YOU wake up when it rings?? Every morning.. plz read it carefully.. EVERY MORNING, it was I who woke up by the alarm clock while my baby sis would be sleeping to glory. And i would be soooooooooo damn angry on her and the clock! I complained about it to her and so she dutifully decided to change her means of waking up. She decided to take my cell and keep the alarm, but this time on vibration mode and under HER pillow. Lekin fayda kya hua? She would wake up, but along with her it would wake me up too!! :( Now there was no way i would hate MY sis nor hate MY cell.

In my pursuit of a peaceful sleep, i constantly found myself trying to avoid all kinds of alarms. But as of now i still havnt found a solution. Sometimes it would be the world famous 'trinnnnnnnnng triiiiiiiiiiing' to the latest bollywood songs! I seriously dont understand how can anyone keep a bollywood fast number to wake up!!! A guest who had stayed overnight had the 'Dard-e-Disco' as their wake up alarm, and when i heard that i was like "W.H.AT. T.H.E  H.E.L.L"!! Heights i say! By the way have you noticed people saying 'alram' instead of alarm? LOL! i heard it while conversing with a lady and the moment i heard that, i just couldn't stop giggling. Hehehe!

In case you love your alarm clock, let me suggest you to buy one of the following alarm clocks, which would get you out of bed in a very annoying fashion and i BET, you would join my gang of  'Alarm clock haters'! Check them out ;) [ref: www.uberreview.com]

1. The Sfera Alarm clock hangs from the ceiling above your bed. When the alarm goes off, you can reach up and touch it to activate the snooze function causing it retract towards the ceiling. When snooze goes off again, you have to reach higher to activate the snooze again. Each time you activate the snooze function the alarm retracts a little higher to the point that you get your butt out of bed.

Liked it? :p See what's next. ;)

 2. The puzzle alarm clock wakes you up by firing three puzzle pieces up in the air, then it is your mission to get the pieces and put them back in the alarm clock or it won’t turn off until then. LOL!

3. A laser beam aimed at the exact center of the target is the only way to turn off the alarm sound in the morning. When the laser hits the target the alarm is turned off for 24 hours and goes off at the same time the next day. The alarm will always do this until manually de-activated or the alarm time changes. When you wake up to an alarm and you have to concentrate to carefully aim the laser beam at the target, you’ll be suitably awake so as not to easily fall back asleep. ( try this folks!) :p

4.The blowfly alarm clock  escapes from a cage in your room, moves and produces sound around you when the alarm goes off. To turn it off you have to catch it and put it back in its home.

Would you like to own any one of the above four annoying alarm clocks? I am certainly not even going to think about it. When a simple alarm clock has irritated me so much, i wonder what will my reaction  be if i come across one such annoying piece of 'sleep-disturber'.


Moral of the post: Chuck the alarm clock and have a peaceful sleep. :)

P.S : I am not responsible if you are thrown out from your school/college/workplace for being late. Peace out!!

My Tryst with Monopoly!

Everyone loves their childhood. Its a time when you are carefree, honest, truthful, when you are loved for very word you say, adored for every expression, taken to amusement parks, ice cream parlors, taught rhymes and allowed to play games. The last thing i mentioned on the list is 'THE' most important. ;)

Games which take any form , take any length of time and any number of players. The only thing that matters is fun and excitement. I have had a beautiful and memorable childhood like most of the kids. Alhumdulillah! I loved playing games. As i have lived in apartments from the time i was born, i had a lot of friends. Four floors, Five flats on each floor and so we have a dozen children altogether. We would play games- Ringa-ringa roses, pillar to pillar, Hide n seek, marbles and what not! Anything we did was a game! Then came the board games stage. And here enters 'Monopoly' aka Mgame!! I have played Mgame so much that i have earned thousands of millions, and lost thousands of millions. Actually i have lost more! Thanks to my AWESOME luck in the game. :P

 

Monopoly - The game with 40 spaces including properties, 'Chance', 'Community chest', houses, hotels n my favorite hangout - The jail! :p I have played it innumerable times. I love it sooooo much that for my 12th birthday, i got 7 sets of Monopoly as gifts!!! So you can imagine my 'love' towards the game. ;) Most of the time i used to play it with my siblings and cousins, laughing as i collect rent and crying as i land on hotels and houses. But whatever it was, it was my FAVORITE. It still is!

I played it throughout school, undergraduate level, graduate level, post graduate level and now even after marriage!! And Insha'Allah i will continue playing it with my kids and grandchildren too! LOL! If i have to thank one person who has made me continue playing Mgame even now, its my hubby! You can imagine my happiness when i got to know Zuhair LOVES playing Monopoly!! Till my marriage i knew only one version of the game i.e the board game, But thanks to my gamester hubby, i now play the Monopoly Card game and the Monopoly online version. And my love for my hubby and Monopoly has deepened further! LOL!

We bought  the card version of Mgame on our trip to Cochin and its been a big hit in our house since then. Except for my Abba, who is just waiting to get his hands on the pack so that he can throw it away! I do not blame my dad for this. We play it sooooooooo much that any parent would want it in the garbage. I do not think there is any couple who is crazy about the game like us. We have played it at home, in the car, in the train and in the plane too!!!! No jokes here.We seriously played! Until the air hostess would come to us and say ' Sir, Ma'am could you please put back the trays, we are about to land'!!  LMAO! We would start playing Monopoly and the time would just fly. Its our favorite version of the game.

And now the online version. Its awesome too..After all its Monopoly! ;) Again thanks to my hubby for introducing me to Pogo.com! We play it almost everyday.That's the best version to play for a long-distance-relationship couple :p Its a four player game when we play it online and its super fun. We can play with real players or with comp's too. The best game for me is when i play with the people for whom this post is dedicated to i.e Zuhair and my two devar's, Junaid and Foorkan :)

So the next time you are bored of every single thing on the planet, you know what to do! Pick up a pack of Monopoly deal card pack and also register yourself at pogo.com and get going!! Trust me, its gonna be real fun! ;) See you on Pogo!

Now some interesting facts about Mgame: 

Monopoly was popular in Cuba until Fidel Castro demanded that all Monopoly game boards be destroyed!!.

The longest MONOPOLY® game ever played was 1,680 hours long. That is 70 straight days!

The longest Monopoly game played in a bathtub went on for 99 hours.

The longest Monopoly game played upside-down went on for 36 hours.

The longest Monopoly game played underground went on for 100 hours

Our record is on the way! ;) See you on the other side!

They are FAST and We are FURIOUS!!

"Lights,Camera,Action!!" The Scene: Abhishek Bachchan is on the lookout for Shah Rukh Khan and his mysterious vehicle which can neither be caught nor be seen because of its amazing speed! Until one day, Abhishek uses the Bugatti Veyron and finally catches a glimpse of the power vehicle with a statement 'Hum ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, na-mumkin hai'! Its the Auto rickshaw!!

People who have traveled in this roller coaster ride would swear by the speed of it. Our Indian auto drivers can be qualified for stunt and chase sequences in Bollywood and if media promotes them well, they have a chance in Hollywood too!! A recent ride in an auto literally had my heart in my mouth. I came home and prayed special 'shukriya' namaaz thanking God for keeping me alive!

There are certain 'characteristics' of auto-drivers here. Firstly they think they rule the roads. They have the ' Catch me if you can' statement running in their minds throughout the day. Their Style statement is so popular that they can create a brand name for themselves. They got a horrid selection of songs which i have categorized as 'Driver songs'. The moment you hear them on TV, you know where you can hear it next! Himesh Reshammiya is their HOT favorite. I don't understand how they can bear the trauma caused by his songs. Waise i am happy for Himesh, at least auto drivers buy and hear his albums, other than himself! LMAO!!! :p

Another amusing thing about auto drivers is the way they sit. They do have a comfortable seat for themselves but they choose ONLY to sit on the right edge of the seat. I seriously wonder why!! :O A recent trend among the Speedsters that i have noticed is the way they reject their customers. The other day me and my siblings had visited a mall and wanted to an auto to go back home. We saw an auto coming our way and signalled him to stop.The STYLISH auto driver reduced the auto speed 'a bit', brought the auto to the side and nodded his head. We presumed he was asking us where we wanted to go and before my brother could even tell the place completely he vanished with his speedcar! He dint even have say ' No', just turned his head and sped away!

We noticed another auto coming and we started waving our hands as if we were stuck on an island and wanted the helicopter's attention! He saw us but acted like we were invisible creatures!! The Nerve!!! Next guy came, stopped, atleast he had the audacity to open his mouth and ask us where we wanted to go, but the moment he heard 'Pandeshwar' he reacted as if we told him we wanted to go to Mumbai!! We looked at the others who stopped the same auto and told their destinations, but the auto guy reacted the same to all the customers!! He seemed to be enjoying looking at the irritated faces.

It had been more than thirty minutes and we had stopped more than a dozen auto's but all were 'style-marofying'! When i saw one soul driving the auto and enjoying rejecting, i told my bro ' Instead of telling where we want to go, ask him where he wants to go!!'. And he did. The auto guy got furious. It was time for us to enjoy! ;)He asked us again and we exploded. Hearing our story, he quietly said ' Please sit'. He felt so bad for us, i thought he might not even charge us! LMAO! :p But he did, Ofcourse. :p

The auto drivers have the new-found-attitude of their own and its here to stay. Their business now is not customized but Driverized. They do not go where we want to, but where they want to! Sometimes they drive like they rule the city, sometimes act like they are 'ekdum' new to the city, intentionally touring us throughout the city, whereas they would actually know the shortest route.

With this attitude and driving skills, they are sure to take over SRK! Watch out! Vrooooooom 3.. Coming soon! ;)

What's in a Name?

The Great poet William Shakespeare asked this in his famous work 'Romeo and  Juliet', And if i was given a chance to reply, i would say
'Mr. Shakespeare, Please read this post and you will know'.

MEHNAZ - Beautiful name, lovely meaning, easy to pronounce and easy to spell. I am sure my parents must have thought this when they named me. Indeed they were right. I love my name, the meaning, the way its pronounced, but.. easy to spell? I doubt! Thanks to all those who have been creating their own versions of my name!!

Its Easy actually. Imagine you hear my name for the first time and in your mind you see it written as 'MEHNAZ'. But unfortunately, everybody's mind do not run on the same lines. And that's the reason i was inspired to write this post! I swear, If i could sue people whenever they misspelled my name, i would have been a millionaire by now and a billionaire in the future! :p

I am glad maximum number of people get my name right. I love you all :)  Then come the 'MENAZ' writing types. I am a lil irritated with them but then i console myself saying 'Its OK, Just one letter is missing and it doesn't sound real bad.' Next on the list of the 'innovators' are the 'MINAZ' creators. Two letters gone wrong!! I am irritated, but again, its OK, its within the limits atleast. We move on to the 'MINAJ' inventors. I am ANGRY!!! 3 letters gone haywire!! And that too a 'J' instead of  'Z'!! Comeon!! Which school did you go to??
I hate you!

'NEHAZ'- The guy who fixed my laptop had this written on my lappy bag!! Dude, you need to go to either Dr. Kishore Shetty, he is the best E.N.T specialist in town or join nursery classes again!! What the hell?!? Even as i recall this and write it here,  my blood boils! :p Okay! Digest this now. The person who is the inspiration behind this post and she wrote 'MEHNG' - You can imagine what i went through when i saw my name written this way!! I saw this on the receipt of my aerobics classes and i got WILD! Seriously!!! 'MEHNG'?!?!?! How on earth did you think my name spelled this way? How? How? How?? I hate u sooo damn much!. Felt like banging my head to the wall but i was like 'Hey! why mine? I should take her head and bang it to the wall!! Stupid Lady!!'

All this made me think of some tips:

•  Keep our ears open when we ask or hear anyone's name.
• Open our mouths wide and pronounce and spell our name to others.
• However easy the name sounds, feel free to ask the spelling the first time you hear it and in case you have a doubt, then PLEASE DO ASK!
• Make sure we name our children keeping in mind the spelling aspect of it.
• If by any chance we go to China, Japan, Korea and such 'chinki' countries, PLEASE do not even dare to ask their names. Just refer to them as 'Hey', 'Dude', 'Dudette', 'Babes' etc!! Trust me, we will be saved ;)
• But if u want the best suggestion, here it is- Follow Shah Rukh Khan! 'My name is MEHNAZ and it is spelled this way 'M.E.H.N.A.Z!!!! 

Aakhir naam mein hi toh hamaari pehchaan hai! ;) What say Mr. Shakespeare? ;)

The Making of 'NaazukSpace'!

Its my first post! :) And its dedicated to my Love, Zuhair. Everybody wants their first post to be an interesting one. While i was thinking on what i can write on, i thought to myself ' Hey! Why not write on how 'We' created this blog!!'. So i told the co-author of this blog, Zuhair Kapadia- My darling techie hubby, about my idea & he said 'Great! that's a good idea!' and so.. here i am! :)

Ever since i heard about Blogs, i wanted to create one. But since i was.. umm.. i AM, a victim of procrastination, i am doing it now, which is like a year and 5 months later! :p Nah.. Its not that i heard about blogs for the first time then, but a friend's blog did the trick. I was soooooooooo in love with her blog that i thought ' I want to write posts too!' Writing has always been something which is very dear to me. I could just have a pen.. aha, not just any pen, It should be a Black gel pen ONLY! :p and a book and i could write for hours together.

Okay now how i FINALLY created one! Yesterday, i.e 15th June, 2010, 10 pm India time, my NY living hubby wakes up! As usual i got a text from him and i came online. We started our usual chatting session. Talks ranging from how my day went on to updates about the weather here in Mangalore and there in NY was being archived on my Yahoo messenger! And then, as the World's #1 football team Brazil ,was playing ( yea just playing, not winning!) against the 105th FIFA ranking team North Korea, i was checking my updates on my Facebook account and i stumbled upon a link! MY BEST friend CREATED a blog!!! Somehow God always enlightens me with the help of my friends! :p So here she was with her Brand new blog and i was loving it! http://prathimarao.blogspot.com/ . It said ' Prats Corner' and 'Prats' was the name i always referred her with. I was happy to see her blog. ( Ur welcome Prats, i know u love me for promoting your blog!) :p

I copied the link to my hubby's IM window & asked him to check it! He said its Cool. I said i am creating one too n added the word NOW to it! :p Having a techie as your hubby has a lot of advantages, and i got to see a few of them while he helped me create this blog :) I was happy again. He gave me the link to create the blog and i signed in. The next step was to give the blog a name. All the names we thought were revolving around my name, until i thought why not we have a shared blog? As in we both are authors in the blog and we both can post articles with our own names. I told this to him. He agreed. I was happy again :)

The excitement continued. Names rolled in our minds, some silly, some hilarious like ' Naaz ki mazedar khichdi', 'Na-Azaadi', 'Mehnaz nolastname'' ( Grrrr), 'Dangerously dangerous' , 'Naazuk ka blogging kaarkhana', 'Naazuk blogs- NYC to Mangalore' etc etc. Finally i said ' NaazukLand'!! Mehnaz's Naaz And Zuhair Kapadia aka Zuk- Naazuk and a Land attached to it. My hubby like a true techie said ' Let's make it 'NaazukSpace' since we are in cyberspace!! ;) I said ' Yeah! Awesome!'. Then a series of questions plagued my mind. My answer bank - Zuhair, Very promptly answered all my queries one by one. ( I would have lost my patience if i was in his place) :p

Templates were chosen, changed again and again though, designs were made, gadgets were added and deleted, fonts were edited, dragging and dropping continued throughout, columns were filled, picture was uploaded and finally when Brazilian fans screamed ' GOAL!!!" ' Our' blog http://naazuk.blogspot.com was ready. And now when i click on the ' Publish Post' option, our blog will be alive n kicking! Alhumdulillah!

Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it.

Love,
Naaz