We had a great party season that ended with our traditional “Undhiyu” party on the 25th January. A common questions that friends, keep asking -

Q How do you manage to host so many parties successfully?
Q Is it difficult? Time consuming?

Besides the fact that I have a supportive wife & now daughter - both who are of great help, over the years have learnt & now follow those points that ensures the success of the evening.

So, all of you who have been asking, here goes, for whatever it is worth:)

A) Make sure enough starters, some are always more hungry than others - We normally have 2 dry/cold - peanuts, chips kind & 2 hot/prepared starters.

B) As the Host, ensure they are well taken care of. Top up the drinks, starters coming enough, juices & soft drinks, everything from ice, lime, lemon, juice, soda, olives & right enough glasses. Whilst, mostly parties do end with dessert, we always ensure that there is coffee or liqueurs to end the night

C) Music - soft - This is one point where there have always been ambivalent feelings, since mostly at our place, we end up switching it off as there is enough to catch up, meet, discuss that at times, it starts intruding.

D) Invite people from different professions, that’s one way to make sure party not office - This has been the mainstay of our parties. Whilst there may the usual close group, however a couple of new people get rotated which acts as a lubricant to great conversation.

E) Make space in your house - When you invite people, you have to accept that kids would need to sit separately, watch TV etc. so space would need to be made.

F) Rules - Avoid passionate debates about Politics & Religion. If it feels getting out of hand, ease somebody out. Yeah yeah, bad taste and all that but, has to be done.

So, Go on Party!

Last month I of all the people along with @chhavi was asked by Techtree to discuss the popular social media trends they expect to see in 2010. You can watch it here

And then in the same week, CNN IBN featured me amongst a lot others in Virtually yours. You can watch it here.

Do let me have your comments:)

2009 ended with a healthy me, however continuity, consistency, constancy are the key & decided to continue it whole heartedly. Made some points that I would update once a quarter, so here goes:

1) Start a health file
January - Completed & decided that would opt for Bi annual checkup beginning this year.

2) Enhance Health Insurance
January - Evaluated & decided to enhance when it comes up for renewal in April, though luckily have not had to make use of it.

3) Have yogurt daily
January - Am a bit of lactose intolerant, however have begun trying it out at least 2-3 days a week.

4) Maintain a food diary
January - This is happening post the discipline my doctor enforced from November & hope to continue it.

5) Snack more
January - This is happening, quantity is going down, whilst number of times has come up to nearly 4-5 which is a good sign.

6) Get a new haircut
January - Quite a good idea, however let’s see how things go

7) Drink 2 litres of water a day
January - Am practically there, if not everyday, at least 5-6 days a week. The target being 3 litres a day by 31st march.

Exercise for 30 Minutes 5 days a week
January - For the past month, have just found excuses, however am convinced that cannot avoid/delay it any longer.

9) Cut 100 Burn 100 calories
January - Cut is happening, Burn is where the problem lies.

10) Junk old Stuff
January - Thanks to the weight loss, the wardrobe is looking spacious, plan to do that to the other storage place also.

11) Add olive oil to kitchen cabinet
January - Done & at least 50% of the cooking is in olive oil.

12) Spend 15 minutes unwinding after work
January - A practice that is happening, but at a slower pace then would have wished for.

13) Spend more “ME TIME”
January - At least one day in the weekend, this seems to be the case.

14) Master a new skill
January - This requires thought.

15) Count to 5 before reacting
January - Once upon a time it was 10 & now it is 5, guess am improving:)

16) Avoid brooding over losses
January - The most difficult to do & probably needs the most priority.

I have been using E75 from the day it was launched & found it pretty neat & nifty. But the slide out Qwerty was a bit of a pain if long mails, messages had to be typed. Also the speakerphone & camera were not up to the mark - maybe I did not know how to use them. And the metal on the side was attached, so with a couple of falls, came out.

I was toying around with Black Berry Bold or the iPhone but somehow or the other was not completely convinced, in spite of having used both in the past.

And then, I saw the photos & review of E72 decided that I need to get this phone. With launch dates fluctuating etc. I made alternate arrangements & picked up the phone in the new Earth Brown color yesterday at 8.15pm in the evening.

By 8.45 pm the contacts, calendar, notes, messages, bookmarks were transferred; emails configured; latest version of gravity downloaded & my first tweet sent.

Within the next 14 hours, checked out the entire phone & am ready to share my views:

Setup is a complete breeze whether you use the wizard or do it yourself. Found the email options in setup better than earlier models. The setup takes a bit of time but once done, you are ready to go. There are options of connectivity in terms of want to check periodically (saves on battery) or keep it on.

The navi scroll takes a bit getting used to but is good & faster. In all there are 6 application shortcuts & 2 buttons that you can configure besides 4 which are fixed.

Getting used to the Qwerty feels a bit cramped after E75 but one gets used to it fast enough. The short cut to blue tooth, web, profile works fine & the browsing is better than E75.

The camera at 5 mp is a definite improvement but would know once I take more pictures.

A better quality of cover, longer USB cable (wonder if the south west Olive cost control was applied) could have been a value add on this business phone according to me.

Will update as I use it more & find other good things or kinks.

It had been quite a long time since we had gathered, so on popular demand we kept 28th & 29th of August as party days with mine & mehul’s houses as the venue, so that it could be a long innings so to speak.

All confirmations were received, plans in order, when in the evening Sonal calls that I have left from Santa Cruz & need to buy a cake. For a while puzzlement hit me, since the menu already had sweet dish some lovely kulfi from Taj Kulfi before it struck me that 30th August was her birthday & Tushar was coming straight from Delhi by 11.30 pm

So, off we went to search for a cake - dark chocolate only -  at 9.30 in the night….AND it is for no reason that I am good organizer….managed it, asked them to deliver & reached the venue.

The Party began…shall be described elsewhere in detail….And finally the Cake came, but could not be delivered since One phase of electricity had gone, so no lift & he refused to climb 16 floors (even I would). So the cake waited down till an hour later Tushar came from Delhi.

When he finally reached the venue, he was zonked on learning that the lifts do not work & it would be a couple of hours before they would work….BUT the Love overcame…..AND Tushar climbed 16 floors with the Cake so as to reach 3-4 minutes before the dreaded 12 midnight so that he was the first person to wish Sonal…..Kya love hai itne saal ke baad bhi yaaron…..Some photu to celebrate that….God Bless!

When I stand before God at the end I hope that I would be able to say, “I used everything you gave me”.

I have never been an athlete in my Life! though would always be on the playground, trying to be one.

I have never played sports in my Life! though played a bit of cricket, learnt a bit of football.

I have always been finicky about food - i.e. loved the good food,  but only cooked in a specific manner, at specific places etc.

I am a vegetarian who also eats non vegetarian:) but regularly irregular. I started eating chicken in 1981/82 maybe once in a month or so. Fish in 1990, with red meat once in a couple of months maybe! And this is primarily outside when entertaining or being entertained.

And learnt the Shotokan style of Karate (Brown Belt) for a couple of years.

Post college, work started, moved across India, traveling, so on! With the rapid growth on the professional level, came the sedentary life style, with the industry change, came more luxurious travel, entertainment so much so that for a couple of years lived out of the suitcase.

When traveling tried the delicacies there & then when back, wanted home cooked food that the wife made……AND the photographs say it better…….

Sedentary lifestyle; Partying; Entertainment did me in, so to speak.

During this period of 1988 to 2007 I had tried out the following:

1) Talwalkars’s in Mumbai during 1996-97…..on the recommendation of Mehul but the travel(which made it difficult to be regular) & the insipid trainer (who helped strain my back with his enthusiasm) put paid my gymming.

2) Anjali Mukherjee during the same period & 2000 when I consulted her & she in turn consulted me:) And Yes there were changes, however the near drastic lifestyle changes did not sit well with me, so left it at that.

Magar Abhi toh Picture shuru hua hai mere dost!!!!

With the wishes rolling in, time having passed, age creeping up, no longer have the fascination or energy to make resolutions which are normally broken within a month of the new year; hence decided for the first month to pass by before I pen down some thoughts….for the new year.

The last year with a lot of time spent with self, family, friends led to quite a realization & thanks to that, am beginning the year on a focused note.

1. Clean up - Having done so in the last 6-9 months, have seriously decided to continue doing so in the coming year.

Life - try and continue keeping it simple. It shall always consist of Paradox, Humor, Change.

Mind - forsake - anger, worry; respect others; work hard; honestly; be grateful - All of this just for today!

House - keep it clean, rid it off old things that may be of use to others, gives you more satisfaction.

Wardrobe - clean it every 60-75 days. Do not hoard, you will always find a better use for things.

2. Negative People - Avoid them like the plague, ignore them if that does not work or be upfront, brutally honest to them once.

3. Remove the confusion between friends; business contacts; acquaintances. Make time to connect with friends & those who matter. Besides the SMS, brief birthday calls; catch up for a coffee, drink, movie, dinner.

4. Increase the % of reading, the more serious kind, whilst still enjoying fiction.

5. Spend less time online surfing & more reading, writing about what you love.

6. Stop trying out all the Fad diets; start work out (after all the wife’s given you a birthday gift - gym membership).

7. Decide where you wish to go professionally this year & over the next 3 years & implement.

May this festival of lights protect you & your loved ones; fulfill your wishes, dreams & ambitions; bring peace, happiness, prosperity that helps you make a bigger difference in the coming year.

Wishing you Happy Diwali & a Prosperous New Year

An extremely disappointing discussion & meeting took place today that made me recollect a thought -

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person, is like expecting a lion not to attack you because you are a vegetarian”