i-flex picnic at Baltimore

Every time I got the mail from HR that there is going to be picnic at NY and whether you would like to come, I wondered why only in NY and why not in Baltimore. It seems someone heard my voice and proactive effort by few guys led to much waited picnic here as well.
I knew this is going to happen in end of October but there was no initimation. As I was opening my Inbox on Friday one mail with subject as Baltimore picnic excited me. Yes, this was happening just day after tommorrow. It was in a very short notice so I got mentally prepared for the show. There was Diwali celebration saturday evening and picnic celebration sunday afternoon so was going to have ball time this weekend.Few more mails followed on car pool and itineraries.
Sunday afternoon as per plan, we reached charles tower at 12:45 PM which was meeting point for all i-flexers. It took some time for everyone to arrive so meanwhile I played with my son on the front of Charles Tower. There was a pigeon eating grains so Aryan was very delighted and looking at it very curiously. Must be thinking, If I just knew how to walk I could have caught this unusual looking bird. Gradually more people came and I got myself introduced with these guys. Infact strength is not much in Baltimore but it's unfortunate people are not much acquainted with people from other projects. People are spreadout and may be gathering is limited to project level but this was a good opportunity to know each other.
There were queue of cars some self owned and some rented and then everyone got seated according to the plan. The destination was Shaheen indian restaurant at Woodlawn. It was a 30-40 min. drive so on the way had a chit chat with Rahul, listened old hindi songs and watched colourful fall leaves. Everyone almost reached at the same time and this restaurant was located in a big shopping mall so had ample parking lot of everyone. As there was Diwali yesterday, restaurant was well decorated with lights and one can see lot of asian guys dining with their familes. We were 25 people so an area was reserved for us. People were having introduction getting acquainted with each other and settling down and Nimisha started feeding baby yogurt to Aryan. It's his favourite food so eats like a gentleman and that's why we take utmost care to carry one when we have to feed him outside the home.
There was a buffet lunch for us and we started with starters chat, chicken tandoori, honey chicken, fish fry. After experimenting with starters now it was time to explore main menu Chicken Biryani, Pulao, Chicken Curry, Dal Makhani and the foods were delicious. Shaheen speciality is non veg and they live up to their name. I missed "Gazar Ka Halwa" on Diwali and wasn't sure when I will get next so had full bowl of halwa and kheer.
After our sumptous lunch it was time for photography session. Picnic is not yet over and there was a hindi movie waiting for us. We all rushed for Laurel movie theatre where two Indian movies Jann-E-Man and Don (The chase begins) were running. There was commom consensus to watch Don so got 25 movie tickets. We used to have so many known people watching movies only during our college days.
The movie started with zoom zoom sound and Aryan was pretty excited seeing what's going at big screen and different sounds coming up and he quietly watched for half an hour and then he got bored and was getting cranky. I was mentally prepared for this and infact one of the prime reason why I came for movie was to see his reaction watching big screen, hearing high pitched dolby sounds and sitting among the crowd with lights off. Good thing was that he didn't got scared but did got bored. I knew it and that's why I had choosed the back corner seat so as I won't trouble people watching the movie silently. There was a space at the back where you can stroll so I took him and moved a while and luckily he slept. When he slept, I came back to my seat and watched the movie till end. It seems he was bit tired so had a deep sleep.
The movie was average. May be I have seen original movie so compares dialogues and the style of Amitabh Bachan. Somehow I feel choclatee romantic Sharukh Khan doesn't fits in this role and may be Sanjay Dutt would have been the right fit. At the end it was full entertainment and the day well spent.