A Delhi Girl's Diary

The place has a  great ambience with dim lighting and beautiful chandeliers. The music in the background is not imposing and usually adds to the feel of the place.

The lunch buffet (Rs 420/- after taxes) is a pretty good deal. 

To start with, the salads are absolutely amazing! They had caesar, pasta, raw papaya and chicken salad the day we went! The dressings are fresh and tasty

The main course laid out had the usual north Indian fair and the breads had to be ordered so that they come fresh. However, pastas and pizzas can be ordered. Earlier they used to give a menu with the main course however since they dont anymore you can just ask the waiters for what pastas and pizzas are available.

The Alfredo and Pesto sauce pastas are amazing! The vegetarian wood-fired oven thin crust pizza has a nice smoky flavour, however the toppings are too few and far apart, if you're a fan of toppings. 

Last but not the least, the desserts are to die for. They have 4-5 desserts on any given day, ranging from truffle to mousse, pastries and cheesecake, and each is better than the other. If you dont like their main course too much, and have a sweet tooth you can happily stock up on the desserts!

The buffet timings are 12pm-3:30 pm and prior reservation is recommended

A pretty affordable lunch buffet (comes to Rs 480/- per person incl of taxes). 

They have a good assortment of salads and breads. The main course is not the most exciting part but the deserts more than make up for it. The thin crust pizza is tastefully done and the pastas are made fresh on request. The selection, though, is very limited (only 1 veg and 1 non-veg pizza & 3 shapes of pasta and 2 sauces). They have 3 veg and 3 non-veg dishes too (2 of which i gave a miss, in favour of pasta and pizza)

The salads are delectable, russian salad and crispy potato in thyme salad are amazing. If you have a sweet tooth the deserts will give you the value of your money. A variety of cheesecakes, pies and ice-creams, it is indeed the sweetest part of the whole meal. The staff is a little slow and aloof but courteous and helpful. Also, its always better to book a table and go as the place is rather popular with office go-ers. The buffet ends at 3 p.m.

All in all a good experience

It has begun to freak me out, having free time that is. Some people wonder if that’s even possible when I tell them about it.

Okay so picture this-

When I was in class 9 I used to participate in debating, dance and dramatics, which involved either staying back at school or coming back home and working on tone and diction.Also, I had small class tests every week in school.

In class 10 I still had all this, plus tuitions for Math and Science and preparation for the Board exams.

By classes 11 and 12, I had dropped debating for the want of time to prepare for Engineering Entrances. If any of you have given IIT-JEE or SAT or any other such exam you would know what it entails.

Coming to college, I had stopped having regular exams which now came only at an interval of 6 months. However, I had taken up dramatics in a much bigger way. I used to end up coming back home by 6-7 pm, having left home at 7-30am. This coupled with regular projects kept me busy enough!

And let’s come to the present moment. I have given up dramatics or rather, I was chucked out for want of ‘commitment’. My parents keep denying me permission to go anywhere (since it boosts their ego). And I have more time on my hands than I ever did. I used to LOVE reading earlier, because I had to take out time from my routine to do it earlier. But now, owing to the excessive time on my hands I usually end up taking out time for reading to do other stuff, which has resulted in ‘The Excess of anything is bad’ Syndrom. Sadly, left with no other option I continue to read…

Signing Off

Whatte day!

Definitely the most fun I’ve had in a long long time. Even the college was fun today. :-P

The day revolved around discussing Govinda, Suneil Shetty and Akshay Kumar’s old movies. After an intense lol type discussion and mimicry of the three alongwith Sunny Deol (“Papa”-with a weird nasal tinge), Shakti Kapoor (“Main ek chhota sa nanha sa Balllllma”), Rakhi (“Mere Karan Arjun aayenge”), “Mere do do baap” from Gopi Kishan and “Mere Marzi” from some Govinda movie emerged the winner. A free well spent!

Having been bored out of my wits for the first time after coming to college, I set out on a mission in the break to find out someone vella enough to hang out with me after college. And then she appeared, her hair flowed in the light breeze of the day, her eyes shone like crystals and in her hand was a copy of H2G2. Excitement max! to be murdered only by the knowledge that it is the sixth part written by Eoin Colfer. Uff sadness. Anyways, let’s call this girl is called V. Now the deal with this V chick is that everytime I go near her I experience an aura of uber-coolness. She reads, clicks brilliant pictures, goes for lectures and to museums (so finally I found another girl who like all that, booyeah!).

So V tells me that I can borrow her book after she’s done with it but have to return it before 2 weeks. Now, being the usual confusedismo that I am I ask her why’s that. Hence, the discovery was made. It was from the Eloor library in South Ext, which happens to be a brilliant concept. They rent out books at 10% of the MRP and you can borrow for 2 weeks. Now, a lot of people would find it a waste of money but in reality its a really good bargain because: 1. Let’s say a book is priced at Rs 495/-, only Rs 50 has to be paid as rent. You can easily read and return 2. You save yourself the trouble and money of buying a book, reading a few pages and then regretting ever have bought it, because its just not your kind.

So well, the plan of the day was set. Visiting Eloor after college. Fast forward to INA Metro Station. We decided to walk to Eloor and ended up walking for a half hour instead of the 15 minute walk that it was supposed to be. Now after walking we got extremely thirsty and thhat was where Mr McDonald stepped in. The signature ‘M’ glowed like a halo even in broad daylight. We ordered an iced tea (the least expensive item on the menu) to check whether my last year’s meal vouchers would work. And they did. Wheeeee. You know what they say about a penny saved. We ended up hogging lots of stuff thanks to the vouchers, after Eloor.

This Eloor place is like a temple, so many books! OMG. Amazing. From the newest to the classics, they have everything. They even have course books (nerd alert). This place is so amazing that in one corner they have a whole shelf of Harry Potter 7s. Book-gasmic sight. Pretty much every book I’ve ever wanted to read can be found at this place. I pity thou college library, you shall never see me again. I got The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy (5 books in 1). 42 ahoy!

More about Eloor adventures next week.

Signing off

Aaaah a day of bliss

A visit to the salon today. Manicure, pedicure and head massage later I feel like this is the first time in months that I've bathed :P

Well I'm off for my beauty sleep now. Big day tomorrow. Best friend's parents' anniversary. wheeeee

Signing off

What a day!

Did everything I love.

Sleeping, reading and eating. 

After yesterday's indulgence I decided to give my poor stomach a break. Survived on khichdi, salads and fruit juice today. Not a bad experience at all. I should do this more often. Indulge and then take a break. Its much more fun!

Signing off

Little sister's birthday today. 

Day involved eating sumptuous Moth Kachori  from Tilak Nagar, a visit to the parlour and Shakarkandi on the way back. 

Also, awesome cake made by chachi, another one from Polka, Cheese and corn cutlets from McCain were had.

A fruitful day in all. Oh btw, just in case you're wondering, sister asked for spectacles from Titan Eye+ for birthday. Talk about expensive tastes. These teenagers I tell you.

Ready to be fleeced

Signing off

Aah what a day!

Legs hurt like hell but it was worth it. Dress shopping for the best friend's parents' anniversary function. Shopping=awesomeness.

Delhi's has something that Bombay, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore can pretty much never have (in the truest sense atleast). End of season sales. The bi-annual sales are the baap of all sales, including those that are perennially on at the likes of Karol Bagh. A brand, let's say Yara gives you a 30% off on an item priced at atleast 300% of what it would've taken them to produce it and you will hoard the shop like they do as if food packets are being distributed in disaster hit Lopan. But if you're an "M", "L" or a "XL" and you end up at the store any later than Day 1, well then you're in for a very serious disappointment. All you would find would be "XS" and "S". Yeah that's what its like being a Delhiite.

Also, before you set out for the sale expedition you must absolutely make sure that you have enough balance on your debit card. Or you would end up standing in the check out line for a good part of an hour and then the cashier would say, "Ma'am its showing Transaction Declined". And you will have to come out of shop cursing yourself. 

Well that and trying on over 25 dresses from CK, Kazo, Splash, etc etc was accompanied by The Best Friend and me hogging at KFC. And finally purchasing a black and white piece from Anita Dongre's AND! A great day and I'm off to sleep.

Signing off

An average day with the exceptions of Chhole Bhature and new shoes. 

The college was normal apart from the fact that for the first time in 2 years I issued a course book in the first week of college. An achievement, considering the earliest I've done that before is about two weeks before exams. *pat on back*

I was supposed to buy a new pair of shoes while coming back today. The mother had sanctioned it so it was a rather safe proposition. I dropped by my dad's office and while he wrapped up his work, I took a little stroll outside his office. The stroll involved me consuming a whole plate of oil-drenched bhature and chhole all by myself (no that's not an achievement, I've done it before. Booya! who's your daddy now) and then pushing it down with a tumbler-full of sweet lime soda. Amazing!

On my way back to his office there stood this little boy selling peanuts whose eyes were literally begging me to buy them (or maybe not). Well I bought, consumed and chucked the packet (in a dustbin, of course) before my dad could estimate the damages.

After we shopped for the shoes from the Bata showroom in Connaught Place The Mother called asking us to wait for her so that she can enjoy the lutf of the car-ride and avoid the jhik-jhik if the Metro. What were we to do? Obviously wait. Now the big decision-how to kill the time?(not with swords and spears of course, time hasn't done me any harm) After an in-depth analysis of prospective venues, their proximity from where we were and the damages which would be incurred, we reached the conclusion that a McDonald's would be our best bet. My dad bought his favourite McAloo Tikki, while I took a grave risk and ordered a chocolate shake, which proved to be a bad decision. Now the thing with McDonald's shake is that whenever you buy it from a conspicuous little outlet (if at all they have it), it'll surprise you, in a good way. However, if you decide to buy it from one of their biggest outlets bang in the middle of the biggest market in the city, it will turn out to be completely shitty. Which it did. Yet again. Never am I consuming a McShake again. If I want frozen soured milk, my maid would be more than happy to provide it to me (that way she will not have to go through the trouble of making paneer out of it).

Well a couple of sips of the concoction was quickly followed up by consumption of yummy Aloo Chaat, yet another pride of a Delhiite, which was in turn followed up with Shakarkandi (sweet potato) and Kamrak (Carambola) chaat. 

A day well utilised, and I am off to sleep. The Mother has begun her sermon again.

Good night folks

Signing off

A rather hectic day today. 2 hours extra of college for Employability Skills Training happened today. The much dreaded 2 hour session did not exactly turn out to be as bad as expected. Quite the contrary, in fact.

However, the silver lining came when my dad asked me if he could pick me up on the way back home. And very obviously, I did ask him where he was. As he replied Bengali Market my joys knew no bound, some of the best snacks in the city are found there. I promptly asked him to get me samosas and dhokla. Yayyyyyy treat (and calories *sigh*). Delhi, undoubtedly, has the BEST chaat in the country. I can say that with some amount of confidence having been to most of the ‘famous street  food’ states, or so I’d like to believe.

To that the comfort of a car ride instead of the usual jhik-jhik of the metro, was certainly an icing on the cake, though not the cake itself. Food is more important :P

As I took a bite into my second samosa I discovered it was a bribe to have me promptly upload(on facebook, of course) the photos of my dad’s first tryst with anything that involves ‘making fit to eat’ (cooking to laymen). He and my two jijus had toiled on the grill making Paneer Tikka for all of us. Don’t read too much. That’s all they did-turn skewers over the grill. Two samosas and a piece of dhokla into my belly, I didn’t really have a choice.

Well that was all about today

Signing off

Dilli Girl

I have come to the conclusion that I should probably not wait till the end of the day to write this, because by this time I'm usually sleepy, interested and don't remember a thing that has happened in the day. However, I'll still make an attempt.

First, today was Day 1 of the new semester. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Yeah the hour-long commute from my house to the college doesn't help either. But it wasn't that bad considering I found a seat in the Metro only two stations after I got on, plus I had the most reliable companion, a book! The Fountainhead is still going on!

Also, the result for the last semester came out today. I managed a feat I hadn't been able to for the last 3 years. 80% wheeeeeee. Its a good start! I have now started to believe that I might just be able to scratch a percentage good enough to get me a placement in the first round itself.

On the way back home, my Metro adventure included two old unclejis ranting about the horrid youth of the country, their attitudes and health conditions for all and sundry to hear. Amusing. And of course, how incomplete the conversation would've been without the mandatory mention of Anna Hazare and corruption.

Well that was my day!

Signing off

So well I really want to sleep but here I am, writing this. I don't want to break my resolution on Day 1 itself. I know I will sooner or later. 

After last night's revelry, my mum felt maybe, for one, she should let us sleep till 10. A huge sacrifice on her part. Awww mommie. As far as the events of the rest of the day go, I completely forgot to wash my hair in the morning. The mere thought of having to wash it tomorrow morning is giving me the chills. oh BTW college starts tomorrow so it'll have to be extra early, which sucks. BIG TIME.

To add insult to injury (or perhaps the other way round) I nearly punched the skewer through my right hand. Don't judge. I'm not suicidal. Was just trying to make Paneer Tikka, which, DID turn out very delicious. 

Apart from that I finished about 15 more pages of The Fountainhead, which is absolutely refusing to get over. Also, it rained last night. I love winter rain. 

First day of the new year was rather nice, I must say. Really looking forward to the year ahead...

After all the awesomeness that last year was, NOT. 

Signing off