Being Farzi... A Farzi Experience

I had read a lot about the Farzi Cafe so when I saw the restaurant/cafe in Cyber Hub, Gurgaon I wanted to go right in unfortunately I had already ate at that time so I just planned on going in next time.

The next time came on Sunday 10th April 2016, I just drifted towards Cyber Hub I went in to check Smash first and after spending some time in the gaming hub I stepped outside. I suddenly realized that it was a good time to go Farzi.

I walked in Cyber Hub checking all the places to eat, there it was Farzi Cafe in all it's glory. I walked in and immediately met with the friendly staff. My server was Anup and he was a joy. I took in the ambience and it was lovely work done through the entire cafe as it was done in wood. Entire cafe had an old world charm and the best thing there wasn't a TV in sight.

I was presented with the menu and as I don't drink, I did away with the drinks menu and focused solely on my tummy so only the food menu. The menu was vast so I needed few moments to find out the order. The staff was awesome.

For starter I chose Bombay Bhel 2.0, I was promptly informed that since I was alone Bhel would be a little heavy but since I myself am heavy I pointed the same to Anup and thus having only ordered starter for the time being I started reading a book on my mobile.

I was momentarily disturbed not for my order but a treat on the house, my very first gastronomical treat a sweet dish treated with Liquid Nitrogen I was asked to just chug the treat like a shot it was like an egg with red colour on it. I did as I was told and voilà it melted in my mouth.

Next came my order Farzi interpretation of Bhel Puri called Bombay Bhel 2.0 and it was a mountain of flavours. I loved it and also it was also treated with Liquid Nitrogen as a powder was sprinkled on the bhels. It was lovely, it was tasty, it was flavourful and it was heavy.

But I had a little space in my stomach actually a lot so I also ordered a Mains course. After lot of deliberation also because I am vegetarian I chose Good Old Paneer Tikka. but before I could have my Tikka there was again a gastronomical wonder Hajmola on a stick, it was lovely it was tasty and it was there o make me ready for my dinner.

There came my Paneer Tikka with a Laccha Parantha and there was a gravy as well lot of gravy actually and I was done away with just one Parantha, I was offered more bread too but I was done for, because I don't waste food I finished at least the Tikka and left a lot of gravy.

It was the time for the check and I was full but before I could get my check I got another treat a mouth freshener a Pan Gujia where Gujia was made of Cotton Candy i.e. Budhiya ke Baal and there was Pan Mouth Fresher in it so naturally it was a nice finish to an awesome experience. But that's not all.

The bill was presented in a Farzi Typewriter. In all I would love to visit Farzi Cafe again because #BeingFarzi is fun.

Dilemma

Dilemma

dɪˈlɛmə,dʌɪ-/

noun

noun: dilemma; plural noun: dilemmas

Situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are equally undesirable.

"he wants to make money, but he also disapproves of it: Den's dilemma in a nutshell"

 

So, now that the definition is out of the way, let me tell you what's my dilemma. As a occasional blogger I have few blogs and one of those is a short story blog called Story Teller now as you already know inspiration can hit us any place and at any time.The problem which I am facing is that I get the story ideas all the time but then again if I post them or write them right away then what if that theme comes up for some contest then what else would I do? 

So, although I keep a small description of the idea in my phone the posts are still far from the blog because I don't want to commit the idea to the blog making it used and I can always reuse and increase the scope for my personal use the post and idea would no longer be of any use for using in any contest as most of them need a fresh post. Well in the mean time after a very long time I posted two new stories on my blog and also two new blog posts on this blog here after all I thought that the stories may be limited but my thoughts are definitely not limited.

After all the blog is called Vikas Khair's Diary, the blog name changed to "The Sixth Sense" to increase the scope but the domain remained the same. So what I will try to do is keep my diary kinda updated with the going on but of course neither it's a proper diary and nor have I considered it such. So the thoughts would be there but no normal diary stuff like I did this and I did that. Well that's enough rambling for  a day and if I use all my words in one post what else would I write on the next day and the one after that. So take care you all and wish you all again a Very Happy New Year 2016.

Time to Look up to the future

This entry is for Look Up

                  When we talk about the future we are either pessimistic or optimistic about it. What we never are is sure of it. After all the term future itself means that we can't know about it. And we don't have many opportunities to be hopeful about the future if we look at our present.

              And when I look at the current scenario in our country it's very hard to be positive about the future. The crime rate all around us is very high and every other day we come to know about one scandal or another. It looks like that politicians are only concerned about securing their seat and about filling their coffers with as much money as possible before their term ends.

        But just like night is darkest just before dawn, we have silence before the storm and Things get worse before they get better. I sincerely hope that this is the worst condition our country can reach in and from now on we would be better and do better.

             What really fill me with optimism though is my little son and my young brother and his friends and my friends. My son who is only 16 months old is the most intelligent and considerate toddler I have ever seen. He fills my heart with joy when I see his intelligence in action. My son is so courteous from this small age and I would spend all my time with him to ensure that he turns to be the perfect gentleman who knows how to treat people the right way.

            My brother who is an aspiring singer uses his band and his friends to do the good through his music and organizes charity shows and his most favorite shows are the ones he does in old age homes and orphanages. Seeing a smile on those lovely lonely faces brings such joy to the heart is it's almost impossible to describe in words.

            Almost all of my Friends who married and many of them have become parents. Seeing them being the best parents to their kids and trying to ensure that their daughter or son be the model citizen that our country of future deserves. We have to understand that we have the country all to us and we have to leave a better country and world for our kids better than what we received.

Just like a drop at the time becomes an ocean, similarly I am sure that when all of us would consciously work towards building a better future for us and for our children then no power in world would be able to stop the positive march of progress and prosperity. We all have to stop our negative thoughts and look up collectively towards a common goal of happiness and peace. I am sure after all that all of us want the same thing in life. A peaceful family life with the ones we love.

This entry is for Look Up

Together forever

This post is written for housing

Generally speaking I am a happy go lucky kind of guy, who is happy in his thoughts and happy in his own company. People know and believe this too, I would rather read book than talking to people or watch movie all alone. And I realize that I am kind of a loner. But even loners need company someMonotype Corsiva and who better to provide that company than the one to share her life with me, my wife.

We have spent many a wonderful moments together and have given each other strength when we needed it. We have a wonderful son together who is little over 1 year old and we spent our days enjoying our time with our little angel. In our Monotype Corsiva the work load is immense and someMonotype Corsiva it becomes very hard to get time for family as you run from one meeting to another and from one assignment to other.

During one such period of time where I was busy with office I suddenly got a chance which refreshed me. This break came to me courtesy of weather and before I knew it I found myself free and at home. Although it was supposed to be post winter/spring, it rained out of nowhere. We woke to a cold morning and our son shrieked with delight after seeing light rain in the morning and wet ground in the wake of rains throughout the night. I sat with my wife in the foyer and watched our son play. Ensuring that while he enjoyed himself, he shouldn't get wet lest he catches cold. 

And just like that I felt immense peace coursing through me while sitting there in the room with my wife and watching my son play. They are the ones for whom I work and I should make regular time for them as we are together forever. 

With rains, pakodas works magic and so it was pakode time and we sat talking and snacking on delicious eatables. Anyone who gets to enjoy these moments know the importance of being with the ones they love and nothing can replicate the feeling of being together. 

Finally the rains let go and allowed us to venture outside and though it was cold but it was enjoyable cold and we planned to utilize the day further and to go and enjoy at the malls or movies. Since our son is only 16 months old we dropped with to enjoy with his grandparents and me and my wife moved forward for our dinner-date. It's very important to get these small moments away from others just in the company of each other. 

An evening spent watching movies with dinner afterwards turned a wonderful morning into a splendid day. Days like this makes you realize the importance of the company of the people you love. That one day recharged my batteries completely and I was ready to tackle the world once again and I know I have my family with me and we are forever together.

This post is written for housing

5K Pageviews Yay!!!!

So although I am far away from being a popular blogger still my friends keep assisting me by visiting my blogs.

Notification in Blogger

So once again another milestone, my non-fiction blog "The Sixth Sense" has received it's 5000th page view today.

I would like to thank Indiblogger.in and BlogAdda.com to give me opportunity to participate in contests and thus bringing in more readers to my blog posts. Thanks to these wonderful platform and to all my friends. I will keep on striving to be more regular on my blogs thus giving you reasons to keep coming back to my blog.

Page View counts on my blog

Hunger vs Education

• I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

If you have to choose between hunger and education, what would you chose? No child should have to face that question but unfortunately in our country that is the reality of millions of kids who have to answer that question on a daily basis. 

In India there are millions of people living below poverty line and struggle daily for their survival and in order to do that they rope in all of their family members to assist them but due to that kids can't attend school and miss out out on the future which education would've provided them.

In order to attract kids to school many programs were started like mid-day meal to make sure that kids are provided a healthy meal during lunch and they could build their futures too with the gift of education. Unfortunately in spite of valuable effort by many good people and organizations kids in classes still go hungry.

In order to make sure that no kids go hungry in our school's classrooms we need to ensure that we run programs and ensure that we are able to provide healthy meal to the kids without fail. This aim would only be possible if everyone joins hand and take oath to ensure that no food is wasted ever again. We need to improve storage and infrastructure all across India to ensure that we safe as much as good right from the start. We lose millions tons of wheat every year as it’s stored in open fields rather than a closed warehouses.

Sadly we are a wasteful society, just think about how much food is wasted after a wedding function and we have thousands of weddings each month and we can make sure that instead of wasting that food it is used for feeding kids in school. Once again everyone has to join hands to ensure that we make our dream India of future.

Just think of the possibilities if we are able to ensure that each student is fed and educated. Education is solution to most of our problems and if everyone is educated we can be a hub for skilled labor too and provide a tough competition to countries like China and Taiwan etc. in production of highly technical products like computer parts and smartphones etc.

I am really glad that BlogAdda.com has provided us bloggers this chance to help feed a child for a year and I applaud this initiative and hope that all the bloggers India have come together to help kids have a future.

Update: 23 Posts in a day...

So its final at the end of the day with this entry there would be total 23 blog posts by me in a single day.

I am saving the last entry of Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2014 for my photography blog for tomorrow.

I had two blogs in the contest and I have completed the challenge for my stories blog and hopefully would complete the same for my photography blog too.

Somehow I stopped updating my stories blog at the letter L and my photography blog at the letter Q. And since there were only two days remaining in April which meant I would either have to hurry or fail the challenge.

I chose the first option and wrote 23 posts in a day, Yay!! for the spirit.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2014 made sure that for most of the month I posted at least one entry everyday on schedule. So I have 26 posts for the month which is maximum for me like ever in a month.

13 short stories in a day.. phew

So finally I did it I was stuck in a rut and was not able to contribute daily to the Blogging from A to Z April challenge. 

So I did what anyone serious in finishing the challenge would do. I raised my chin up and finished the challenge for my short stories blog I drummed up 13 shorts stories in little more than 8 hours to finish the challenge. 

Now on to my photo blog which needs 9 entries to be completed.

So wish me luck..

I hate these 10

This week's IndiSpire's topic is #10Questions i.e. '10 Questions you hate being asked' so let's dive right in.

India is a curious country after all everyone is so curious to learn everything about you and your family, in fact your entire background. I would have to really think to find out the 10 questions which I hate the most but hopefully I would be able to list them sooner than later.

So these are 10 questions which I hate the most

1. What's your Cast?

2. Why do you love being alone?

3. Why do you buy so many books?

4. Why do you keep on reading all the time?

5. How can you read such a big book, don't you get bored?

6. Why do you listen to english songs or watch english movies?

7. How can you watch movie in theater alone?

8. Why don't you eat non-veg?

9. Why can't you work out to stay fit?

10. Why don't you save money?

So there goes my list of 10 questions which I hate to be asked. Some may be justified some may not but my list is my list :)

Getting Ready for A-Z April Challenge 2014

So its just 1 day away ... i.e. 1st April and official start of April A-Z Challenge 2014. I have two blogs listed for this challenge.

1. https://vikaskhair.blogspot.com (Story Teller)

2. http://cameramythirdeye.blogspot.com (My Third Eye)

First one is my blog for short stories and other one is my photography blog. Hope to be able to complete the challenge at least for one blog. Last time I tried to post at least one thing daily my internet went away for 18 days hopefully this time would be different.

What I want to achieve by this challenge is to be regular with my blogging and even more spontaneous so that  I am able to improve as a story teller and as occasional writer. My aim is simple at least for the story blog, I will be writing a short story for each day. Photography would be a little tricky so I would be relying quite a bit on my photo bank too.

So all the best to fellow A-Zers and may you all finish the challenge.

Milestones

Another Indirank refresh and again some milestones thanks indiblogger.in for this. Quite few of my blogs are ranked in top 20 blogs in Bhopal now. Actually its 4 of my blogs in Top-20 blogs in Bhopal across all genres.

Not only this but I also had happiness on national level too to as Genre specifically my blog is ranked wonderfully too.

here goes ... 

If we search indiblogger for blogs under 'Fiction' genre then my blog Story Teller is ranked 51 in 681 blogs all across India.

Fiction Ranking in India

Now if we search for 'Stories' genre then my blog Story Teller is ranked 50 in 1129 blogs all across India.

Stories Ranking in India

Now the interesting and wonderful things of all the blogs in Bhopal my blog 'Story Teller' is ranked no. 10.

Rank 10 for Story Teller

Now out of blogs in 11-20 range I have three blogs which make it 4 blogs in Top-20 blogs in Bhopal, India. The blogs are

No. 13 - My Third Eye (My Photography Blog)

No. 15 - The Sixth Sense

Rank 13 and 15

And last but not the least I have my photography blog on wordpress on No. 19. 

No. 19 - Vikas Khair Photography

Rank 19 for Vikas Khair Photography

I am making a conscious effort to be more regular with my blogging and IndiRank results show that. When you see the results of your work so quickly then it encourages you to go further and do much more.

I Congrat all the top rankers in Bhopal and everywhere in India and hope that everyone would keep on blogging and keep the scene alive.

Take Care and keep on blogging.

Smelly Encounters

This post has been written for the contest organized by Racold and Indiblogger.in

As soon as i saw this contest, my mind took me back among 400 students all sitting in a single room studying for PET (Pre Engineering Test) or IIT.

You can very well imagine the situation where in you pack 400 kids together in a room at 6 AM in the mornings.

Seating for Boys and Girls were obviously separate and how fatal was that for me.

One fine sleepy morning I found myself sitting in the class trying to focus on the topic been taught between the bouts of sleep.

And then I had that Smelly Encounter which scarred me for life and I found myself gagging due that reeking body odour and I uttered "What's that Smell, Boss?"  

Everyone looked towards me and I looked towards the floor willing to go through it.

Well after few minutes the class continued but my nose was gone for the week. I had no choice then to lean forward a bit and whisper in the ear of the smelly guy in front of me.

"Boss, try to bath once in a while. I hear there are some very good water heaters available in the market." I then I fell silent trying to kill the smell in my mind.

But that particular day was ruined to the core.

It was that day 16 years ago and its now and I still sniff around the room if I am gonna sit among lot of people after all some 'Smelly Encounters' are very hard to forget.

This post has been written for the contest organized by Racold and Indiblogger.in

Just Another Day

So I haven't been posting anything personal on my personal blog .. irony. Do you know that I try to manage some 8 blogs and out of all those blogs this is the blog which has won me not one but two prizes. First I got a lovely 8 GB pen drive and wait for it .... A trip to Thailand .. yes my first win and that too all the way to 2nd Prize ... Now waiting to finalize the date for my maiden foreign trip.

So Life is swell..

I am swelling too or rather bloating or rather just expanding. Have to start cricket regularly soon enough if I want to be mobile. I can join the Gym too but my shift timings take care of those activities coupled with my laziness.

I know these are all excuses to cover for my laziness but have to do something before my body become too stiff to move.

But lighten up its not like I am 300 Kg heavy no sir not at all I am well below 100 I think :P the problem is that the weight coupled with lifestyle means that I have little to no stamina or flexibility which should be necessary to feel healthier.

I want to feel that way, may be I will start the morning walks again at least i would be mobile for few Kilometers at least.

Well enough ranting enough self loathing but not quite, I am happy, its just a little introspection, because its always good to consider your weaknesses and work on those.

So till the next time ... Enjoy.

Winner takes it all

It was another lazy sunday morning and the entire family was spread in front of the TV waiting for the snacks to arrive.

India was again playing Sri Lanka as we watch all cricket matches especially India's so the match was on.

"Papa why is that we play Sri Lanka so often?" Asked my son

I had no easy answer for this question may be it had to do with the International Cricket schedule or it was all about money.

"Beta, the schedule is made such." That's all I could manage.

"What's the point of winning if you win against just one opponent?" pat came another question

"Winning is winning, but I suppose you are right too." This was getting exciting

"Why is winning so important?" I love my son

"Because beta, we have conditioned ourselves to recognize the winners and forget the losers." I said

"Huh?" Of course my son is still a kid

"See, beta, Winner takes it all." I was bracing for another question

"Sixer, wow what a shot." My son was again lost in the match as another six went past the boundary

But now I was lost in my thoughts

It was actually true that we care only about the winners. 

Achievements of losers don't matter to us anymore.  

After all its true Winner Takes it all.

This post is written by me for contest organized by India Today and indiblogger.in

Winning - The Way of Life

What does winning mean to you? ask someone that question who has never won. But that is simply not true as we are born when one sperm wins the race to reach the ovaries, so the life begins with a win. Then you win by actually being born in the world.

So to say that someone has never won is simply not true.

But it is something different when you experience the win yourself. Winning is passing an exam, winning is winning a race or a match, winning is success. 

After All its only by winning small battles you win an actual war.

And its not empty words too, you study to pass exams. You prepare to get through the interviews. Then you get to be the lucky one to get that coveted job. So, see how you won those small battles all those years to win a big war finally making you feel successful.

We all know that no. of successful people is way less than the people who didn't make it. So being successful is being a winner. And that is what India Today Conclave 2014 is all about, its a celebration of winners and all about winning. 

Its not about showing people down who don't feel like winners but a platform to encourage people to understand and identify the winner inside of us all so that everyone can be a winner in their own way. After all not everyone can be an actor, musician or writer. But There is enough space and opportunity for people to do their own work and be successful in their own right.

For me winning is everything and is nothing. Don't get me wrong I do love winning, I am a human after all. But winning is not all supreme to me. I would never take a wrong way to win, I would never cheat to win a match or to get a job. I love winning but I know that the inner satisfaction I get by winning with my own hard work is supreme and I can never get that feeling if I win by wrongdoing. 

Winning is Power. Winning is Success. Winning is Life. Winning is Satisfaction but winning is only satisfaction if its bring you Inner Peace.


This post has been written for the contest organized by India Today Conclave 2014 and indiblogger.in 

Indian Traffic - Ki Condition Serious Hai

There are so many things in India jinki Condition serious hai but nothing can beat our own Indian traffic. How can one define Indian traffic, how else other than by this simple photo.

Credit - E9fun.com

That photo is so funny because its true. Just look at the photo below

Credit - Rediff.com

And you never know when you would meet an animal on the roads from Dogs, Pigs, Cows and even to rare sights in a city like camels and even Elephants. And they just keep on walking rest of the people have to find their own way as might know Elephants don't believe in giving sides.

Credit - Rediff.com

And when there are no animals which is never the case then your way may be blocked by some celebration - march of a party or mostly by a wedding.

Credit - http://enjoyingindia.com

When some foreigner comes to India beside our natural beauty and religion they are most enamoured by our Traffic and they unanimously agree that Iski to Condition serious hai.

May be we can give all a Cadbury 5 Star to cure this Serious Condition. After all it's a known cure to treat all kind of Seriousness.

This post has been written for #ConditionSeriousHai "Condition Serious Hai!" contest organized by Cadbury 5 Star and Indiblogger.in

Back with a bang .. well sort of

Well well well what have we got here with the new update to the Indirank .. admittedly I fell behind a little with the birth of my child and stopped with the blogging somewhat. This resulted in my indirank being downgraded across all my blogs.

But then I started working again on my blogs.. and the result was very quick .. very quick in deed. Now it may not seem  a lot to you but for me it is enough .. for now at least LOL.

so what happened, you ask?

well what happened is that now 4 of my blogs are in Top-30 blogs of Bhopal. I know I know where I stand and my ambitions are local for now, but for long if I get serious about blogging I would make sure that my blog is one of the top blogs on India too. But Alas my attention span is too small that is good news for all the awesome bloggers around India most of them are my friends. 

Here are two of blogs in Top-20 blogs of Bhopal No. 16 and No. 18.

and here goes:

And there goes my no. 21 and No. 30 blogs rounding off Top-30 blogs of Bhopal and I have 4 blogs there .. once again 4. That is more than 10% of Top-30.

So let's now come back to the earth. Yes it is not ground breaking achievement but it is for me in some measure because two of these blogs are the ones which I resurrected from dead and now they are nearing top of the blogs in Bhopal.

I am little bit proud but not at all arrogant as my tone for this post may have indicated. My message to all my fellow bloggers in Bhopal and all across India.

You all are doing awesome work keep on doing it.

Nothing Today

Unable to post a proper thing today. Net is not working at home. Still it counts as a post doesn't it?

Trip of a Lifetime

This post won me a trip to Thailand as 2nd Prize in the contest, Yes I am a winner :)

This entry has been written for "Creating Happy Travellers!" contest organized by yatra.com and indiblogger.in


Travelling is one of the most popular hobbies all around the world, and when someone comes back from a wonderful place they feel lighthearted and happy. Yes great travels create happy travellers.

So if one has to create a travel plan for their family, what would it be? Where would we go? How can we enjoy to the fullest? these are only few questions which come to mind as soon as you think about going on a holiday.

Same is the scenario with me as I have to plan a wonderful holiday to anywhere on the planet. This present a very interesting problem as our planet is graced with such wonderful places that choosing just one is next to impossible, but in order to make sure that if we actually go there my family can enjoy themselves without much problems.

I would love to take my family on a great travel to Rome. The reason why I chose Rome is very simple it has been one of my first ever choice for an International holiday forever. Rome is full of History and my family loves historical places. My Dad always wanted to go to Rome too finally I would be able to fulfill his wish too. 

Credits - www.starhotels.com

For the most convenience I would prefer booking the entire holiday with an International touring company like yatra.com because they have a knack for 'Creating Happy Travellers'. After all who wouldn't be happy if all their worries about hotel booking and sight seeing etc. are handled well before their arrival on destination. This way we could focus solely on enjoying our holiday and taking full benefit of the tour to the faraway country.

First stop in our awesome tour of Rome would surely be Coliseum, after all its one of the most recognized sight in Rome.

Credits - www.wikipedia.com

After the amazing Coliseum we would love to visit the wonderful city of Rome after all the best way to know a place is to walk among its people and to use the public transport. Rome is famous for its statues and ancient buildings. Italy also has Vatican City, Venice nothing can be missed.

Credits - accunet.org

After thoroughly enjoying the local cuisine and local places no one could stay unhappy and on top of that if you are with yatra.com then there is no chance at all that you would have even a slightest chance of a complain. When you can have no chance of complain and you spend your time enjoying the sights and storing them forever as pictures. 

Credits - raileurope.com

Other travel companies may learn from yatra.com the way to proper arrangements and way for "Creating Happy Travellers!".




Note - This post would also be acting as my 5th post for the month of September on September 5 2013. I am working to post at least one entry on anyone of my blogs on each day of the month.

25K done towards another milestone...

Awesome news my page ... 'Story Teller' http://vikaskhair.blogspot.in just had its 25000th visitor, isn't it amazing. Thanks to all the amazing people who checked my work. Mind it you guys are not a or another number you guys are my friends, who give me inspiration to write and to grow. Thanks to you guys now the number is more than the screenshot and I hope that it keeps on growing.

Keep visiting.
Vikas

Story Teller