OH MY GOD .... I dont even know where to start .... This trip was so eventful that i think it'll end up being as long as a novel .... but ill try to keep it short :p
So basically ... I really needed this trip as I had been cooped up in a studio for 6 months working on my record "Lead the way", When it was finally done .... I needed some time off ... and PERFECT timing for 2 of my sisters to get married. I was so excited to leave ... had come back from Bombay and 2 days later i had to leave for Toronto. Traveling all alone is fun. I was chilling in the business class lounge, had a beer and was checking out whatever mixes had been mailed to me by Sid (as he was still in bombay at Yash Raj Studios). Anyhow, time came for me to board. Got on the plane, got served some Dom right as we took off .... Nice flight, saw "17 again" on the plane, nice movie. Then I landed in Brussels airport as i had a stop over there. Went to the duty free shop, bought some chocolates for my cousins, nephew and niece in toronto, chilled at the beer, had a local beer and was chatting with my brother on gtalk. After 2 hours, the time finally came for me to get back on the plane. Another 8 hours on the plane and then FINALLY i land in toronto.
Got my bags very quickly (even though the cart machine refused my US dollars, but i shoved it in anyway) ... As I walked out I saw Kammo Masi, Teddy Mamu and my cousin Bunny. I was so thrilled to meet them after so long. We got to the car and drove to their house in Mississauga. It is GORGEOUS , the entire neighborhood is amazing. Then we went to my cousin Bob's place ... I was sooo excited cuz I was meeting all of those guys after about 5 years or so .... My nephew Kabeer and niece Rubaina have gotten so big , it was a real treat to see them. And of course, Deepa Bhabi is still as fun as EVER !!!! (May i mention that she is THE PERFECT Wingman to take out to a bar :p)
Anyhow, the very next morning I had to leave for Vancouver for Ayesha's wedding. So Kammo Masi, Teddy Mamu and I left for Vancouver and as we reached there, we looked around for 45 minutes and 'what do ya know' .... NOBODY there to pick us up ..... lol .... Actually it didnt help that our plane was early, but still .... It was soooo funny, they all had a really late night and over slept. But no harm done, Anil Mamu lives in Richmond which is about 5 minutes from the Vancouver airport, so we just called him and he rushed to pick us up in shorts (might i add :p) . He is so awesome, as usual he took me to my fav. coffee joint "Tim Hortons" for a black coffee and a blue berry doughnut. I was sooo excited to be meeting Emily Aunty, Ryan and Kristyn, as they had just come to delhi almost a year back and we all had a BLAST together.
So, in the evening we reached Coquitlam, Uncle Reggie's house. There was a bbq there. I was so excited to be meeting all of them. I met Brian's family, they are all so cool to hang out with. It was such a fun night (unfortunately, it was THE only night in Vancouver that I was well enough to party, I was soooo sick for the rest of my time there, but we'll get to that later). It was so much fun .... Ayesha getting Mehndi (well actually it was Nivea cream .... lol), but whatever .... it was good fun smothering both of them with all that cream. May i mention that Uncle Reg makes THE BEST steaks in the world.
The next day we all were leaving for Agassiz, which is where Ayesha and Brian were getting married. Fraser River Fishing Lodge, it was soooooo beautiful there. But as it was the country side and it was harvest season, so there was all of hay particles floating around in the air and im highly allergic and asthmatic .... so i got really sick. But somehow made it through the rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding in one piece.
The day after the wedding .... it was a very special day for me, because Ryan, Chris and Kristyn took to Abbotsford, which is the town where "Smallville" is shot and we actually went to the "Kent Farm" .... For Smallville fans, thats a pretty big deal.
I had soooo much fun hanging out with my cousins ..... Kristyn is soooo sweet, she took me to the doctor's clinic to get me checked up and waited with me, went Sun Glasses shopping with me .... lol .... i love and miss her alot. Ryan is sooo awesome as well .... We hung out on my last day in Vancouver and he took me out to this AWESOME Thai place .... Great food and local thai beer called "Singha" ... I love and miss him alot too.
Now, comes my time to leave Vancouver .... and head back to Toronto .... Kristyn dropped me off and we said our goodbyes.
I reach Toronto at 6 am .... and knowing Bunny, the awesome person and brother that he is .... he insisted that he would come and pick me up ... even though i told him that i'll just take a cab since its so early in the morning. But sure enough, he was there to pick me up at 6 am. We went back to Mississauga and I slept and slept and slept .... cuz i hadnt slept properly in days. But by 1 am , Teddy mamu woke me up, because we had to leave for Nonu's wedding. I got ready in 10 minutes, and then we left .... picked up a burger from Wendy's and a coffee from Timmy's .... I think now is a good time to mention that for my first 2 weeks in Canada ... I had a burger and fries everyday for all 3 meals (regardless of whether i ate something else before or after those burgers, but the burgers were a necessity). We reached the church and attending Nonu's wedding. It was a really good ceremony. The reception was so much fun .... Honey, Bunny and myself ... we performed a few songs as well. Up until now, I still hadn’t really settled into any particular time zone cuz, India to Toronto and then Vancouver which is 3 hours difference from Toronto time and then back to Toronto. But I stayed about a week or maybe a little more than that in Toronto and got settled into it. Stayed with my cousin Bob and had a blast there … bbq’s and going out to bars and all, good fun. Met up with my friends Rudra and Pooja as well, we were chillin downtown. The next day I took a cab and met Honey, bunny and all at Niagra falls, cliffton hill. I never knew that place has so much to do. Earlier I always thought that it was JUST the falls, but cliffton hill is sooo cool. I basically had to stay in Toronto to receive the masters of the album from Sterling Sound. When I received it, I headed out to Vegas (I was supposed to head out to Florida first to meet my manager, but it didn’t work out).
On my journey from Toronto to Vegas, I was on “stand by” and had a stop over in Chicago … I had to wait for 7 and a half hours at Chicago airport, as I missed 3 flights on account of there being no room on the plane for stand by passengers, I finally made it on the fourth … and on that flight I was sitting with the most annoying British couple and to top it all off, I was on the isle, I hate the isle seat, I like WINDOW SEATS. But I survived, the only thing that kept me going was VEGAS BABY VEGAS !!!!!
It was my first time in Las Vegas … I had a BLAST … First night, I was alone as my cousins Jared, Tinku Bhaiya and Sonu Bhabi reached a day after me. So the first night, I just rented a limo for the night and the driver Warren was so cool. He took me around the town, showed me so many cool bars, hotels and casinos … I fell in love with Black Jack that night … lol. The next day my cousins reach and we hung out the whole night pretty much. I stayed at the “Imperial Palace Hotel” . Over there they have these things called “Dealertainers” , they are Black Jack dealers and impersonators of well known celebrities like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Pink, Alice Cooper, Britney Spears, J.Lo etc etc. They would go up and perform on stage and then come to your table and deal Black Jack. Tinku Bhaiya and Sonu Bhabi had to go back to LA the next day, but Jared stayed on with me. I don’t think I should write more about my Vegas trip … Just that it was awesome … I played a lot of BlackJack … Oh and Jared and I ate in this burger joint called “Fat Burger” …. It was sooooo amazing. We ate the triple, a 24 Oz. burger … with “Fat fries” hahahaha, couldn’t even finish half of it. On our last day there, I rented a car from Hertz and we drove back to LA, it was my first tme driving in the US and that also a left hand drive, it was weird at first but I got used to it in 10 minutes.
As we reached LA, we went to Holt Boulevard where Bev Aunty and Jason were staying. It was cool to meet Jason after 4 years. It was so awesome meeting so many people from the family (I have ALOOOOT of family in LA). Stayed with practically everyone … Reshu Didi, Tinku Bhaiya, Sonu Bhaiya, Jason and Jared … Drove to San Diego and stayed with Ashok Mamu as well. Met Sunjay Bhaiya and family and met Emrald Aunty and Mavis Aunty as well, had lunch with her twice. I had such a blast at Tinku Bhaiya and Sonu Bhabi’s place … they really know how to party … The kids Aisha, Ameya and Krish are soooo sweet. We celebrated Tinku Bhaiya’s birthday and played a lot of “Kings” and Poker there, good fun. Sonu Bhabi’s dad got them a poker table along with the poker set …. Sooo cool. Ate the MOST amazing Sushi , the angry Lobster … OH MY GOD … AWESOME !!! It was cool hanging out with Jason and Jared, just the 3 of us after so long. We grew up together and hadn’t chilled together in 4 years, so it was good fun.
As I drove to San Diego all alone from Rancho Cucamonga … I saw how beautiful the drive was. Stopped on the way in some town for some coffee which I managed to spill all over myself while driving on the freeway at 80 mph and it was HOOOOOT !!!!! Anyways, I reached San Diego and chilled with Ashok Mamu, Marianne Aunty and Aiyana. Aiyana has really grown up since the last time we met and she has matured and listens to some awesome music. We kept discussing music for so long and we both introduced each other to some awesome new bands. 4 am the next morning, Ashok Mamu and I left for the port as we went out for fishing in the ocean. It was so much fun, I love fishing. Caught 3 huge 15 Lb. Tunas. I had to leave the next day as I had to be back in LA for Sonu Bhabi’s birthday party.
It took me less than an hour to get back, I got the tunas with me as well … in case they wanted to bbq or fry it for the party. Had a blast at Sonu Bhabi’s birthday as well. We played so many games, one of which was “How well do u know the birthday girl?” … And I WON !!!! Last 2 nights in LA, we ordered the most amazing thai food from a restaurant very close to Tinku Bhaiys’s house ….. 2 nights in a row AND for breakfast … it was out of this world. Played some pool in their house too, specially on my last night there … we were playing pool till 2 am or something even though I had to get up at 5 am and drive all the way to LAX from Holt Boulevard. Returned my rental car at the Hertz drop off at LAX and then caught my flight back to Toronto.
As I reached Toronto, I was sooo hungry, I didn’t eat anything on the plane as I was sleeping through out the flight. So as I landed, I saw that Kammo Masi and Teddy Mamu were there to pick me up and then we went to the nearest Burger King to their house and I gobbled up 2 burgers … Ahhhh Satisfaction Personified !!! As I had learnt Black Jack from Vegas, I taught everyone about it and Poker and we all kept playing Cards the whole time even though it was with no money, but whatever, it was fun. I celebrated my birthday in Toronto. My friend Preeya came over to my Masi’s place to meet up with me on my birthday, it was really cool catching up with her as well. Bunny bought me a real original “Master Replica” of Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, it is sooooo real … its unreal. But as every good story has to end eventually, so did my trip. I said my goodbyes on the night of my birthday as I was leaving the next evening. On the way to the airport, Teddy Mamu drove through a McDonald’s and I ate my last proper beef burger for that trip … it was an Angus beef burger with cheese and bacon … Ahhhhh … He dropped me off to the airport and we said goodbye.
At the airport, I was hoping they wouldn’t give me any grief about carrying my lightsaber with me as carry on , but they were all cool with it. In fact, in brussels while going through security check, the guard used to sell these , so he was really excited about seeing me with it. As they saw me with a guitar, everyone kept asking me how was my tour, hehehe, it was funny even though I didn’t go for a music tour this time around, yeah but soon enough ☺
Right before landing in delhi, I was soooooo excited to be back home, when I spoke to my mom while I was at brussels airport, I told her to have Daal Chawal and Palak Paneer ready at home, I was missing home food like CRAZY !!!!! Had enough of burgers and steaks and beef in general, which is actually why I’m a fishitarian for a month or so, to de-tox. Anyhow, it took really long for one of my suit cases to arrive. Usually I wouldn’t care, but as I always buy loads of DVD’s when I go abroad, I didn’t want to lose that suit case. But 20 minutes later I finally got it and walked out … and saw that my ENTIRE family had come to pick me up, it’s always a good feeling to know that ur family actually gives a crap about you :p … and just like, I was back to reality, back to New Delhi, back to my family , BACK HOME !!!!!
