Current Tune: Do Pal Ruka Khawaabon Ka Karavan Aur Phir Chal Diye Tum Kahan Hum Kahan – Veer Zaara
Treating you all to my dearest Neeraj’s favourite sweet, gajar ka halwa. 
Ab koi poocho toh sahi ke kis khushi main khilaya jaa raha hai yeh halwa? 
I will tell you the reason as Neeraj ki Poonam ko uski India ki ticket mil gayi (Neeraj’s Poonam has gotten her ticket to India). 
I have been in Chicago since Thursday and on Friday, I had gone to the travel agency and picked up my ticket. So now finally its in my hand and no tension in life. So get ready India and desh waasiyon, Poonam is now officially on her way.
Just got back home from Chicago today. We had a great time with my cousins. Thursday was Thanksgiving and Friday was A’s birthday. Thursday night, we did not sleep. 
Why you might ask?
The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year, otherwise known as Black Friday. So we did not go to sleep thinking that if we did, then we will not be able to wake up in the morning. We left at 4.30 am to get to the shops that opened at 5 am. First shop we wanted to get a DVD player for $17 but unfortuanately we reached 10 minutes late and they were all gone. 
Next shop, WalMart, opened @ 6 am. E and I stood in line for 30 mins in order to get a Kodak Digital Camera (5 megapixel) for $ 197. We were able to get that as there were only maybe 20 people ahead of us in line. Wondering how its like when the doors open? The best description would be to imagine any mandir (temple) in India. Jab darshan karne jaate ho aur bahut bheed hoti hai aur log dhaka maar rahe hote hain, gaali deh rahe hote hain, bilkul waisa (When you are try to to pray on a special occaision and everyone is pushing to get inside to pray, its just like that). My god, it was really crazy what people will do on Black Friday. Then we went to Circuit City, which also opened @ 6 am.
We had sent Suraj and A there so that they would be able to stand in line while we were @ WalMart. Because we had time to kill prior to our grand finale, Office Max, E and I went to Circuit City. It was so crowded basically with all Indians (of course, its an electronics store). We were able to get A’s birthday present without him even knowing and some video camera tapes needed for their family and ours for free (yes free through mail-in rebate ).
@ 7 opens Office Max where they were selling > 10 items for free (see above for definition). E and I left early as Suraj was paying @ Circuit City to see the line at Office Max. My god, there had to be atleast 100 people standing in line when we got there. Well, we thought that if we went to the back of the line, we will not get anything, so what we did was we stood around near the front of the line until the doors opened. People that stood in front of the line always get very cranky when people like us come (mind you we were cutting in line for the first time in our lives ) and usually say very bad things to you. But you have to ignore and just be bindaas. Just as the doors opened, you don’t even have to move because the person behind you is in such a hurry that they will push you right into the store.
We then split up and got almost everything we wanted (CD-Rs we were not able to get as they ran out). Then we went to the checkout line, which was very very very long and going very very very very slow. We stood in line to have our items checked out for 3 hours. Oh my god, we thought that our time would never come. Do you know why this happened? There were only four workers and > 150 people standing in line. 3 out of the 4 employees were senior citizens so you can imagine the speed of their work. Finally we got home, had breakfast, and went to sleep.
We returned to Morton on Saturday and our college friends, Vishal and Anshu (no they are not a couple) came over and we watched my favourite, Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Vishal shaadi karne ke mood main hai isliya usko dekhni thi (Vishal is in the mood to get married so he wanted to watch that movie 
). Movie ended @ 1 am and thought we would prank call someone. So we called one of our friends, Paritosh, and Vishal started making kissing noises on the phone. What a riot he is! You could hear Partiosh saying, “kuch locha hai”.
Now they have left, and I am getting ready to go to bed. My dear sweet Neeraj is even today at job, hopefully his bug fixing will be completed as of today. Talked to Mumma and Papa as well on Thursday. They are fine and enjoying in Bhavnagar; must have returned back to Mumbai by now.
Alvida. Enjoy the halwa. Jai Mata Di.
oh my goodness, my mother and I realized that digital camera deal at walmart too and tried to check it out – around 10:50 AM!
Hey Kristin.
Why are you up @ 7.14 am? 
Going to church? So you saw the deal @ WalMart as well eh? Hey the Kodak digicam that you got is nice too. I don’t think that the megapixel is that big of an issue between 3,4, and 5. Ya it is hard to get up in the morning and I might have not made it if I was in Morton, but being with my cousins was so different this year. They were all wound up because it was their first time going so staying up all night and playing board games was fun! 
Did you go shopping in Peoria? We have an overabundance of WalMarts, you could have gone anywhere and might have gotten that one. 
Will talk to you soon! 
Well, I was not up to go to church – one of my roommates from last year was down visiting,
but she had to be in the Quad Cities early for a family brunch so I was seeing her off. And as for shopping, I was still at home, so my mom and I went to the WalMart in Peru, which is about the closest one to us (and it still takes at least 20 min to get there…. around home we do not have the… overabundance… of WalMarts – or STeak ‘n Shakes… like Peoria does! 
But we still had a good time – I’m glad you had a good weekend though! Oh, and as for being awake early, after my friend left, I went back to bed – and JUST got back up! 
anyhoo I need to go find some breakfast… or maybe lunch, by now! I’ll talk to you later!
Very interesting
damn damn cool…
but hey…stop showing such yummy looking thingies man…my mouth is still watering…
cudnt go for the tgiving shopping cos was travellin dat time…but no regrets!!!
Well , I was out in the line at 3:30 AM, and there were already 68 people in front of me.It was freezing cold and I almost died, but it was definitely an experience ! But then, I got my favourite notebook at almost half the price, and a watch I had my eyes set on for almost 1/4 th price.
And yes a DVD player for $ 15 and an MP3 player Free ( thats with mail-in and free gift coupons)
Oh got it Kristin. I thought maybe you were up early for church.
That was very nice of you to get up early for your friend. 
I am glad that you also got what you wanted during Black Friday shopping. 
Thanks Ankur.
You like gajar ka halwa Priya? I don’t like it at all but I have told Neeraj that I will make it for him anyway..if he doesn’t make me eat it.
So you were out a whole hour before me Sameer!
What store did you go to? Don’t tell me your favorite notebook is a Compaq??? 
Did you get the MP3 player at Circuit City?
Ms. Poonam, ur blog has been censored for showing breath taking pictures very much injurious to people with weak hearts n growling stomach. plz remove any such material or we will be forced to shut tis site down.
-abhi.
pres of the khana lana committee.
Great Sameer
Poonam you need to take some tips from Sameer for next year’s ThanksGiving Day
Very funny Abhi.
I changed your name from Abhi to Abhishek for my blog stats. 
Don’t mind.
Ankur, what tips should I learn from Sameer??
I did some great shopping as well (i guess you did not read my post properly 
). 
Is it so
Sorry! But I remember you missed out on DVD Player.
But still one thing you can learn…
to be in queue at 2:30 AM
Oh ya that’s true that we didn’t get the DVD player.
2.30 am?? in 20 degree F weather???
cheeee never 
I will go early but not that early. Three cheers to Sameer for being that brave customer and standing at the store in the middle of the night.
Hmm, thats interesting. 15 $ for a DVD player is damn cheap.In Germany, even when they have special offers. It cant be that low. Lucky you guys.
Btw, Poonam you did nt told us what you are going to take with you for “Neeraj”. Have you already bought a gift for him?. Or still thinking what to buy. ;)
With the mail-in rebates Govind, it really helps us get low prices here in the US. But you know what, most people forget to main in their stuff and end up paying full price for something they could have gotten for free or dirt cheap. Don’t worry, I am definitely not one of them.
Gift for Neeraj?
Well, I got him his b’day present (his b’day is on 12th Jan). Then my Mumma wants me to get him a dress shirt from her. So I am going to get him some dress pants as well that goes well with the shirt. Then I got him one other thing which is a surprise so am not able to disclose. Lastly, if I can find Age of the Empires, the original, for PC then I will bring that as well. 
When I asked Neeraj what he wanted from here, do you know what he said? He said, “mere ko sirf tum chaiye.” Aaaye haaye meri jaan…isn’t he so sweet??
WOA !!!
this is one reason i want to come to USA… u can get the gizmos for dirt cheap rates !!! sameer which notebook did u buy ? is this just one day sale or it goes on… do let me know asap… n also what price n config…
poonam,
i loooooooooooooooove gajar ka halva yummmmy but but i dont like all the dry fruits on top…
o finally i got the passwd thingy u sent working… thx…
electronic stuff is so damn expensive n there is abs no concept of rebates ! plus if u buy fr grey market there is no guarantee !!!
hey one more thing i need to ask u guys/girls in US do the websites also offer rebates ? n can u gv me some websites to buy fr ? like i recently bot a watch fr overstock.com n really happy with it… but i need to know some more sites which gives really good discounts…
Age of empires a cool game, I use to play that a lot earlier latter can Rise of nation that also superb .. I remember playing for hours can say totally addicted lol, now rarely get time to play games on comp? only games I get to play these days are the games on cell phone
Electronic good in India gets expensive coz of Duty etc. ?That must be contributing to 20-30% to the cost of the goods must be I think because you buy same thing here and else where anywhere in world there huge difference in cost
Oh yes it was cold like hell, but it was the experience that I was looking for. I did most of my bargain hunting from BestBuy and then went on to OfficeMax and CompUSA. I avoided Circuit City as it did not have too many exciting offers except a HP notebook that did not look very tempting at that price.
Kunal I got a Toshiba primarily cause it has extensive support in India and I am planning to go back soon. It is a Intel Centrino M, 80 GB, 512 MB, 15.4″ VGA and other standard stuff. Its light and has better battery life than the standard P4′s.
As for the deal, this was a one day thing, infact it was only given to the ones who were in the line.Maybe 15 pieces or so.The best deals all around the year are always on the websites.Ofcourse, for Dell laptops you cant beat Dell.com, for others I guess you just have to keep fishing.I dont know much about websites that offer discounts but deals2buy.com is one general site which will show you the deals going on at different places. What you can do is go to froogle.com and type in the notebook model that you want and it will show you all the options available.
Poonam I got that MP3 player from BestBuy itself and the DVD player at CompUSA.
I now wish I had bought more stuff that day.
The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day in the USA Kunal. They call it Black Friday because when you go to shopping, everything is black because its so early in the morning.
Some stores only do it that Friday but others have two-day sales, Friday and Saturday.
The store that does most of this mail-in rebates stuff is Office Max. They might even have the rebates for stuff you buy online.
So you like gajar ka halwa as well??
Its Neeraj’s favorite sweet. I am not a huge fan of it myself. First time I went to Neeraj’s home, they had made that for me and him. 
That’s when he found out that I am not fond of it! 
I have heard Puneet that Age of the Empires is a good game. Neeraj has played it when he was in college and really likes it. Now they have so many new versions such as Age of the Empires II and Age of Mythology, don’t know if I will find the original.
The Toshiba notebook is a good one Sameer. Nice job on a great deal.
The MP3 player is a good deal too. I always think the same that I wish I would have gone to this store or that store, but no problems, there is always next year or the day after Christmas. 
nice deal, i remember last dec when i was going to india, i had this whole list of things i had to buy on black friday, by the time i was done, i was so exhausted that i spent the remaining of the weekend sleeping and chilling out
and the tune u are listening to right now…is my current fav too…really well sung, its sonu nigam i guess.
wowww so many comments aur woh bhi within 2 days:smile: And certainly because of Gaajar kaa halwa
Hey Poonu yaar ab yeh virtual mithaayi begairh se dil bhar chuka hai ..ab toh khilaao kabhi banaa ke tabhi kaam chalega 
Aur tum banaana bhi padega aur khaana bhi padega:rotfl:
Anyway I guess Sameer had a great day on Black Friday in terms of shopping and all. I was surprised to know about the prices of all that he bought on that day.. In India they cost too much, may be because of Duty charges etc. whatever Puneet mentioned.
When Poonam told about her last friday and shopping, I was not in favour of going so early to do all that. May be when she will be with me, we will atleast not get up so early, will go around 8 and if we find something then that’s good otherwise no problem. Atleast we will be having a nice sleep till 8:rotfl:
ah poonam i kept wondering y its called black friday :)
woa sameer thats a nice piece u bot ! how much is it for ?
i hv chked out dell… its a lil expensive…
I really love this song Jai. Its written so beautifully. :smile;
Neeru tumhare paas gas toh hai nahi..gajar ka halwa kaise banaaongi tumhare liye??
Chalo koi baat nahi..shaadi ke baad khub saara banaaongi sirf tumhare liye. 
Mere se jyaada umeed nahi rakhna ke main khaaongi..thoda bahut tumhare saath loongi. 
Saath khane main mazza hi kuch aur hai..hai naa neeru? 
Kunal, the PC that i had recently bought for the family was a Dell. It was less than $500 bucks. Right now you can get a Dell Dimension 3000 for 350 bucks.
hey poonam
ur comment has been truncated…
Fixed Kunal. It didn’t like the “less than” sign.
Thanks for letting me know! 
u welcome :)
hmmm thats interesting… but i was talking ab the laptops :) i thinkthey are a lil expensive…
i got me dell dimen 2400 abt. 500 – 550 last yr. arnd this time. So far workin gud!!
Wow… you guys are lucky… a dvd player for 17$… whooa!!
I was also planning to buy a laptop for myself… but they are quite expensive in India… Poonam, whats the cost of a decent laptop there in US?
Gaurav… you use a dell dim. 2400 as well!?!? woww… suddenly I’ve started feeling good about mine as well…lol… all along I thought that I was the only person in the US of A with this big fat dabba!!
..
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