As I write this,I am completely in a state of shock as I have been viewing the live pictures from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. It is downright ugly and even though I am sitting thousands of miles away, I am slightly shaking with fear.

I don't know why but somehow this attack feels different as if the perpetrators want to hammer in the message that you o' people of India, it is not safe enough for you to even walk on your own streets. This is indeed one of the saddest days in our history.

Saddest of all was to see my favourite hotel, The Taj , burning away. It was not the building on fire in my opinion but a page in history of this great city that was being reduced to ashes. I am too appalled right now to write anything more. Sometime later in the future I will write something about my fascination with Mumbai.

Let us show some solidarity countrymen. Jai Hind.

The best part about engagement and marriage parties is the food. Chand Palace in Parsippany has the best Indian food in NJ.

So one fine day Vishal, my roomie comes up to me and says he has to attend his cousin sister’s engagement which incidentally was at Chand Palace banquet hall, Parsippany.
‘So, what’s the problem’ I asked him
He said he needed a drive to the place since no public transit facilities are available, its almost 20 miles away (32 km for you metric maniacs). Actually there are buses but they are too infrequent to be taken seriously, besides he is too lazy. No, the fact was we were moving house, so we would be busy in the morning. He also informed me that his aunt had invited me, the driver for the day, to attend the event and have lunch as well. Like a fish, I took the bait and agreed to drive him there. After shifting we got into my new black Honda Civic(yes I am a show off), and drove west along I-280.

Eventually we reached there (2 hours late). Vishal introduced me to his relatives whose names I forgot as soon as I heard them. I congratulated his sister and her fiancée who seemed pretty happy giving their umpteenth smile even after seeing my uninvited face. I felt like a fool over there. There was a musical arrangement too where two singers were crooning melodies of yesteryear, those pyar-bhare nostalgic poetic moments like kabhi kabhi, yeh ladka hai allah, and many more. It was sad that no one was listening to them since they were doing a pretty decent job of it. They were to put in kind words ignored people. They were like the background noise as compared to the incessant felicitations and artificial smiles that the couple were receiving.

Then came the big announcement, lunch was served. Almost immediately, there was a sound of furniture dragged along the floor as people pushed their chairs backwards to get up from their seats and make a queue at the buffet table, me included. After all wasn’t that the only reason I was there? Vishal and I, took our plates, filled it up with more than we could manage. The mughlai paneer got mixed with the dum aloo and raita. The papad was sogged by the streams of unrelated gravies flowing left and right. There was Punjabi kadhi with biryani along with tawa fried veggies. It was a concoction so muddled that I at one point was dipping my nan into the kadhi infiltrated biryani thinking it was an exotic combination . I unabashedly gulped it all down with two full glasses of mango lassi. Delicious !!

The by now completely forgotten male singer announced that after lunch he would like all the people to assemble on the dance floor for a round of boogieing. Ironic I thought, as I saw a man with a belly as round as a barrel, walking towards his designated table with what I assumed, was his tenth plate of mughlai paneer. The hungry crowd couldn’t care less. I did manage to shake a leg(not to mention, a satiated stomach) but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

The party finally ended with the two singers officially declared extinct.We gave our customary greetings to the newly engaged couple and made our way out who were still trying to make out who the heck was this freeloader. Thanks Vishal.

The best part about engagement and marriage parties is the food. Chand Palace in Parsippany has the best Indian food in NJ. (Have I mentioned that before?)