Nexus Diaries

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Dear  Nexus 5,

It feels silly to write about you. Instead of writing about people, I write about a phone whose shelf life is not more than two years. But I have given you way too much attention and you have paid it back by serving me well.

I bought you out of sheer need. Yes, need indeed. My previous phone's battery was misbehaving and sometimes I felt helpless. I wanted a high end phone with all possible features that it could have. I really wished for it and maybe the universe granted it.

You came and you blew my mind.

I instantly fell in love and that too with a phone.

I must admit that I had to spend a hell lot on you and your fancy screen gaurds, silicone cases and hard cases - batman, avengers and joker themed ones. But I don't regret any of it now.

Enough on money. Your value is much more than the bucks spent on you. You made my life easier. The android updates first came to you and I loved the various versions of KitKat. The tracking of the couriers and the packages came on Google now and it was something new for me. You tracked my activities like a possessive boyfriend and gave me suggestions on my likes. Be it the cricket and the football match schedules or the study suggestions for GMAT, you gave me a pretty good story/search on every topic I could think of without any substantial effort. You made me lazy and sometimes I wished I didn't have you. The sound quality was superb and I entrusted in you my music collection which was at a whopping 4.5GB. Your energy levels were always stable - read battery and I was happy with 36 hours of continuous function without any charging. I loved playing Gun Zombie hell and Clash of the Clans on you. And even after this much gaming, your energy levels were stable. The HDR+ mode in the camera delighted me and yes, I did show it off to people who didn't have you ( bad me, tut, tut). My daily walking time was recorded and i was given congratulations messages for completing an hour of walking a day. All my google accounts were clubbed and I became happier for the easiness in managing all my accounts.

"I am crazy, stupid and happy." Indeed I became a gone girl.

And then Lollipop came.

You became an altogether different phone. Though I totally loved the multiple user profiles in a single phone due to this new update, I  slowly fell out of love with you. Majority of the apps were misbehaving and to top it all, my customized ringtones became obsolete and I couldn't hear my phone ringing for a day or two. You refuse to get on the silent mode and the lowest possible volume was accompanied with the default vibratory mode. The flash stopped working with the camera and the good pictures only came in ample lighting. And the best part - battery. Your battery became way too mischievous - asking for chargers twice a day.   

still I held onto you. I gave you time. I wished that the new updates will straighten you up. But you refused to be parted with the charger for more than a day. And the flash continued to disappoint me.

And one fine morning, you fell from the safety of my hands to the cruel concrete and asphalt road where your screen got broken. Heartbroken I was. Yet the touchscreen was working fine with least time lag. I got the damaged screen replaced instead of buying a new phone.

Marshmallow, from which I had least expectation, revived you to an extent. The Do not disturb feature is amazing and is responsible for giving me sleep filled dozes and naps. The touch lag which came because of Lollipop vanished and you feel as good as a new phone.

But ohhhh dear, the poor battery.

You are nearly two years old and your battery requires charging every four hours. I have to be extra vigilant while traveling because you might get switched off any time and I don't want to feel helpless again. During the marshmallow update, you got stuck in the process and I had to perform a factory data reset which removed all my non backed up data(including the 4.5GB of music).

My whole day is spent in taking care of you. And I am tired of it. I can not keep caring for you like a new born baby. I have loved you and stood with you through all the android updates as well as the damages. But now I am exhausted.

I want to move on. I want to let go of you. I will tell your stories to my children and grandchildren (if I have them) and to whomsoever I meet. I will tell them that I had Nexus 5 which made me more tech savvy. I will tell them how you accompanied me on my journey on Zomato from a #1 to a #10 super foodie. I will them that how you gave excellent photos during my trip to Andaman, Dhaujh and Lucknow. I will buy a new phone with a better battery and a camera with flash.
You filled my lonely days and sleepless nights. 

I will miss you.

So stupid of me to write about you - a phone, a non conscious being.

"Stupid is, as stupid does." Gilderoy Lockhart says well in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Till then, bye for forever

Yours truly,

Your first owner,

Shreya

Bohemé, Vasant Vihar

Share So at my third Zomato Meetup, I get the opportunity to visit the Bohemé at D block, Vasant Vihar. It is supposed to be a Pajama party going with the relaxed environment on Sundays.

First of all, it is pretty difficult to find this restaurant because the board for this one at the ground floor doesn't look very prominent and can be easily missed. The moment you enter it, you'll get a very chilled out vibe coming from this place. The couches, the wooden interiors and the soothing colours will give you a holiday sort of feeling.

Now coming to our main point - food. We had a fixed menu for this meetup. We were served complimentary breads with garlic sauce, gouda cheese dip and the beetroot dip alongwith the rose lemon mocktail. The rose lemon mocktail was sweet with very small hints of sourness from lemon. It was refreshing to taste. The breads were in pretty interesting shaoes and the garlic sauce was the best.

We have had Kerala Pepper Chicken, Zesty Prawns, Lettuce Parcels and Crostini Platter. The Kerala Pepper Chicken was fried in coconut oil along with the curry leaves which gave it an authentic Kerala kind of flavour. It was way too tangy for a North Indian’s palette but somehow I liked it. The chicken were juicy too. They had also used white pepper in it. But it could have been a bit less tangy. The Zesty Prawns were cooked in Thai spices as the menu specified and they were a delight to eat. They were sweet as well as a bit sour and cooked well. The Prawns were very small but way too good. In the Lettuce Parcels, I got to taste the Chicken and the Cous Cous ones. The parties were wrapped in Lettuce leaves and were sandwiched between cucumber and tomato slices topped with cheese dips and sauces. They came along with the beetroot sauce and the pesto sauce. The chicken Patty was burned in our case though it was a bit soft and juicy. I didn't like the Cous Cous patty at all. In the Crostini Platter, the chicken and sweetcorn one was good with the minced chicken being more prominent. The chicken was spiced well with black pepper. The bread on which it was burned and that's why I would give it an average rating. The tomato salsa and the caramelized onions with cheese was okay - not very flavourful for me.

In the main course, we had the Fisherman's dream, the Vegetable Nut Roast, the Pesto Mustard Fish, the Veg Kokum curry with Malabar Parotta and the Florentina Pizza. The Fisherman's dream was a small piece of fish wrapped in banana leaf and had a saltless gravy on it. It was served with steamed rice and Kerala Masala curry. It was very bad - sans spices. The Kerala masala curry had no masala at all. The Vegetable Nut Roast was actually a crispy Patty of roasted nuts with pumpkin and water chestnuts on a bed of mashed potatoes. The sauce served with had flavour of curry leaves. The Patty was crispy and the water chestnuts in it gave it a good taste. The mashed potatoes were pretty fine and good to eat. A mediocre dish I would say. The pesto Mustard Fish was okay with a very small piece of basa which wasn't cooked or grilled very well served with Cous Cous. This dish again had the flavour of curry leaves. The Mustard sauce was good though. The Veg Kokum curry served with Malabar Parotta was excellent. The Kokum curry was fine, had hints of sourness alongwith sweetness and had good amount of potatoes and beans. The Malabar Parotta was soft and chewy and well cooked. The Florentina Pizza was the best - thin crusted topped with chicken, green olives, spinach and sun dried tomatoes. The cheese was ohhh-so-melt-in-the-mouth and delectable to eat. We reordered it quite a few times.

In the desserts, we have had the Coconut Puff with Vanilla ice cream and their home made ice cream served with Flac seeds and fresh fruits. Their home made ice cream was way too hard - a difficult task to cut it and then eat. But the Coconut Puff with the Vanilla ice cream made our day. The Coconut Puff was subtle in taste and very soft to eat. It went well with the Vanilla flavour.

A special note on the service - very poor. They had only two to three servers serving us and they were overburdened with trying to serve around 40 people. We had to ask them multiple times for the courses, water and the cutlery. The dishes were taking a lot of time to come out of the kitchen counter and some of us didn't even get to taste a few items on the menu properly. For e.g. the lamb Lettuce Parcels were only served once.  Many of the dishes we asked for were finished in just one or two servings. And their serving size was very small considering there were around 10 people at each table. Our fellow foodie Neelaakshi was actually standing at the kitchen counter to get the courses for our table. A big thank you to her!

We also got to witness a live performance. And I really enjoyed this part of the Meetup apart from interacting with the fellow foodies.