The Weekend when I attended the ‘Vivo HiFi Night’, ‘Westin Bartending Academy at The Story’ and ‘The Food Mela at Dilli Haat Janakpuri’
Forget those page 3 parties which were a rage in the capital, now it is the blogger meets which create more waves. There is no denying to the fact that I love attending such meets, blogging related events and brand launches whenever I get a chance. I really missed this aggressive blogging scene in South Africa while I was there for last two months. Now, that I am back in the country and before my domestic travels begin soon, I was really happy to catch up with lots of interesting events this weekend. Last but not the least, while I was hopping from one place to another, I did not miss upon any chance to party with friends and family. Here is all about the action of last four days.
Mondays and Tuesdays may be the low days but as Wednesday falls in, the blogging scene really gets exciting. In Delhi, if you have been blogging for long, it is definitely not tough to get an invite almost everyday. No doubt, you may be selective with your genre but even then its tough to keep up with the growing number of events. Sometimes, I have to choose one event over another. In fact its not just me but most of the active bloggers experience something similar. Also, not all events end up being as exciting as expected. As always, I will be very fair with everything that happened this weekend.
After three months of hiatus from Delhi social circuit due to my international travels, I was really looking forward to this blogging-ful weekend. Too many things were planned for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I managed to pick 7 different kinds of experiences. After a long time, I attended varied events, learnt about new things and picked on interesting experiences.
The VIVOHIFI party at KITTY SU
The #VivoHiFiNight was all about drinks, food, music, hi fi smartphone and selfies. Doesn’t it sound like a party night? I am sure it does. There was no formal launch. The event was planned to meet, chill out and explore some of the new features of the phone. No more selfies will be a problem in low lights because smartphones have become smart. There will be an inbuilt flash to make the selfies shine bright and beautiful. Its time to seize the moment even in low-light with 13MP single LED flash of #VIVO#V3! The Edjing app in the new phone was also quite fun for the music lovers. We were asked to pair up and each team was given a Vivo phone each. Then we were educated on the ways of syncing and mixing two songs. Next, we were asked to make some interesting mixes. I tried it with my husband and we did make something out of it and we were quite surprised to hear the final product. Overall it was fun. I had come back to Kitty Su after three years and I expected some good food but was disappointed. Overall, it was a decent event which gave a good break from the mundane.
SIX MACHINE! – The book launch that I had to miss
On Friday, I was excited about the special book launch – “Six Machine” by Chris Gayle as Chris Gayle was supposed to be there. I was at Gurgaon Cyber hub for some personal work and once done with it, I was looking forward to my cab. The pick up time was 3:30 p.m. I waited till 4 and then 4:30 p.m. however, the PR agency ‘Value360India’ was absolutely not bothered about it. They did not even have the courtesy to inform me that the cab was not coming nor they offered to arrange a cab. It was only when I called them up, they informed me that there were some serious logistic issues and offered apologies. By this time, I had entered CROSSWORD, Cyberhub and was happily reading the book- ‘Six Machine’. I was just not interested in going to the event any more. No doubt, I was having great time at the book shop and I was really not missing much. But I was pissed off at the unprofessional behavior of the PR agency. I hate it when people take our time for granted. It is need of the hour that PR agencies are made to understand that every event we attend, we compromise on our writing time. Thus, they must handle the logistic issues in time as well as keep us well informed.
The Grehlakshmi ‘Grand Kitty Party’
This one was an all day event and it invited a great footfall. It was quite a challenge to find a close quarter near the stage. I did manage a few pictures behind the scene because I had access to the media lounge. But yes, I must say the event had everything that excites women. From shopping options to tarot reading, from astrology to palmistry, from fashion show to cooking workshops, there was something for everybody. I could also see that women of all ages had come and especially the elder women were having a superb time posing with placards. I quite liked the fashion show from Reliance trends. It was good to meet some celebrities and television stars. However, I also felt that this grand show could have been organized in a better way and in a bigger hall. There was lot of chaos and not much space to sit around. Overall, it was quite an interesting kitty party. I came back surprised in many ways.
Here are some pictures from ‘Behind the Scene’ and ‘Media Lounge’
Westin Bartending Academy Launch
Westin Gurgaon had invited me over to attend the first classes of Westin Bartending Academy with renowned mixologist Mr. Jitender Singh. Mr. Jitendra or ‘Jeetu’ as he prefers to be called is responsible for the relentless innovation of new cocktails, mocktails and shots. After his schooling and college, when he expressed his interest of becoming a bartender, almost everyone in his family was shocked and surprised. But he was very passionate about his interest and he is a very successful story today. This bartending academy is first of its kind in the country.
Though he has been in the industry for 3 years, he has been associated with ‘The Westin Gurgaon’ for over a year. In these few years, he has won numerous bartending competitions and has consistently been in the top categories including being in the top 5 in the Bacardi Legacy bartending competition, first runners up in 1st Jagermiester cocktail competition and a Finalist at both the Corralejo margarita cocktail competition and the Top 20 Bartenders of India. At the event he taught us to make amazing cocktails and mocktails interesting fusions, tea and fruit extracts.
Purani Dilli Specialized Food Festival (Food Mela) at Dilli Haat, Janakpuri
The ‘Art and Craft Haat of INA’ is a lovely attraction of South Delhi and every Delhi loves going there again and again. When a second version of Dilli Haat became operational in Janakpuri, everyone was excited yet again. I did not get a chance to be there before. We had heard about the Food Mela going there and therefore we decided to go. Though Dilli Haat has a big area to itself, an open air amphithetrea and almost 100 shops, yet most of it unoccupied. I was quite disappointed to see that there were hardly any art and craft shops. The food mela was still showing some energy. Though it was a small affair, it had selective and interesting options of eating.
Attri Events had worked out on this food event. They had been successful in bringing some of the famous eateries from Old Delhi. The options were as below- Sita Ram Bazar ke Chole Bhature, famous Anmol Mughai Food Point, Indo traditional kulfi, Roller kulfi, Rajasthani food and Jalebi wala from Old Delhi. I would also like to mention that it was here that we ate for mere 310 rupees. In the times when food has becomes so expensive, we were really very happy to eat food without any extra taxes for vat and services. Some times it is so much fun to eat at food mela. Next time, you should definitely not miss this.
Behind the Bar in Faridabad
While I skipped a food review, I ended up at ‘Behind the bar’ in Faridabad. It was a dinner with family. I must say I was happy to see that Faridabad is getting innovative these days. The new trends in food have taken over all over Delhi and NCR but Faridabad still needs to catch up on all aspects. I am waiting for more to come this way. The food was good. If you get a chance to be at this place, I would recommend the veg platter for snacking options. In the main course, Bhojpuri Daal and Raara mutton was really worth a do.
So this was about my weekend.
The blogger really had a variety of experiences….
Some more travels begin tomorrow!!!
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Hats up to you Manjulika, the way you managing your time is literally appreciable.
thank you so much to sharing your fun time in vivo hi-fi night and food mela with us.