We woke up early the next morning excited about visiting the youngest city in India. We were all set to visit some good views (not girls....I actually meant views). We had a different kind of feeling on that first morning on our first visit outside Goa. A little tensed, a little afraid, somewhat excited and many such feelings coming together and filling our minds with so many different thoughts at the same time.
I am always amazed by the capabilities of our mind, how can it handle all different feelings simultaneously and we now in the cyber world speak about multi threading and such concepts in a tech saavy manner as if we were working on a world changing project. In the haste of admiring all the technically complex things around us, We forget to admire the most beautiful, complex but easy and the most configurable thing manufactured and evolved on this earth - the Human being. Truely a wonder produced by God.
With all this going through our mind we were totally unaware of what was going on outside our rooms in the hotel. We heard a knock on our door. It was Nandu again with his smiling face. We were not staying in an Ashram where Nandu was the head saint and hence we promptly came to a conclusion that he had come to our rooms to gain something. He said to Manesh "Kya sahab...Neend kaisi rahi?". Manesh was quite impressed and happy with Nandu as he had brought us to such an nice place at very reasonable rates. Manesh replied "Bohot achee neend ayee..." and then turning to us said "Goyan sudha itli bari nhid yena mare". Nobody was interested as we all were engrossed in getting ready. Manesh realizing that his joke was not good to attract anyone of us, turned back to Nandu. Nandu said "Sahab, be ready at 9:00 AM as our bus is leaving at 9:00". With this sentence we all except Farooq turned around with double respect for Manesh, as we never knew he had also arranged an Bus for us. We all thought "He surely possesses great organisational skills". We were standing besides the next Dhirubhai ambani. Looking at each of us faces he shrugged and asked Nandu "Which bus, what bus....Humne koi bus nahi bulayee...hum apne aapse ghumne jayenge" to which Nandu prompty replied "You cant do that sir, Speak to our boss". All of a sudden Dhirubhai Ambani had disappeared and Manesh fokto had taken its place. We all along with Manesh went out of the rooms to have a conversation with his so called boss. I felt this getting scripted like a movie scene where we are being called by a boss from some mafia who had kidnapped our heroines. I was expecting a final fighting after which we walk out of the hotels with heroines by our side.
But this was not to happen, the boss did not look like a gabbar singh or a mogembo who will require a Dharmendra or a Mr India with special powers to fight against. He looked more like Prem chopra or a shakti kapoor who loose against the meagre heroes as well. We were relieved a little and thought lets see what he has to say.
The boss started. "Look boys, I am the owner of National travels and our bus is leaving at 9:00 and offering you a package tour to Bangalore, Mysore, ooty, kunnur and kodaikanal. Just 1000 is what you need to pay for this tour of 4 days. This proce will include everything i.e. Bus and staying in hotels".
Manesh interrupted "Wait a second Mr. We do not need your package tour and are happy travelling on our own. So please...thanks."
The boss was enraged "This is a very reasonable deal that i am giving you and very cheap as well. You will get to see.....".
Manesh interrupted a little sternly this time, "Thats fine, however we do not require your services, we are fine with moving around on our own...."
The boss this time turned red in anger, the redish tint seen even on his dark coal colour face. He said "Zhant....salo tum kya samazte ho....ye jo maine tum logon ko saste mein hotel diya hain woh kya aisehi hi diya hain....Tum log yahaan mazein mein reh rahe ho...rickshaw bhi free di...woh kya tumhe akele apne aap ghumne ke liye....Tum log muzhe nahi jante.....I can sittt here and a call will get you arrested in no time. You better go with us or else watch out...marke bharta bana dega mein"
To this we all were confused of not knowing what to do, frighted as well as a little angry and now we thought this boss only looks llike prem chopra, however is no less than a mogembo. Nilesh our jackie chan or thats what he thought himself to be, took a march towards the boss saying "Do whatever you want to...we aren't travelling with you. You cant force us..."....Our mogembo was not to be taken aback by this sudden resurge from Nilesh...he said "Okay lets see then how you get out of this hotel".
Manesh, until now quite and shocked by the events taken place, got himself to his own senses and went down to Nilesh to calm him down. After a short discussion we decided that we compromise with him such that he wins 100% and we loose 100%. So it was a 100% deal. After analysing the consequences that might take place considering that he is a localite, we thought of taking his package tour. Nilesh was not be calmed down he said in Konkani "Fonya yo re...Tuka dakhaita @#$%%". That could have again taken the situation out of hand if Manesh had not interrupted. Thats the reason why I call Nilesh a witty character. He said everything in Konkani and not in Hindi. This had two advantages ...First, All his frustration was dumped. and second, we looked upon him as the bravest among us.
So finally with all our excitement down to the X-Axis and frustration at the infinity point on Y-axis, we were in Bangalore with the mogembo gang (with no Mr India among us), getting ready for the tour with not knowing whats in more for us during this package tour.
More to come in the next blog. Keep tuned!!!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
7 friends in Bangalore - Part2
As soon as we reached Bangalore we could make out the difference in the climate. A little towards the cooler side. Until that day we were aware of a place called Mumbai which was well known for its criminal activities and since we were not in Mumbai we were quite assured that we are safe in this small IT hub of India. As soon as we got down from the bus, a man in his 40's introducing himself as Nandu approached us and offered us help. We were impressed by the Bangalore's hospitality and were very excited at the thought of exploring Bangalore.
Since we were just out of a hectic 8 hours travel, we wanted a hotel to freshen up before going out and having a great time in this sweet city of Karnataka. Again Nandu was our saviour and inquired if we wanted to hire rooms. Obviously we had seen life to such an extent that we knew he was not offering it for free and Manesh our leader took the initiative of asking him the amount we need to shell out. Being students, money was always on top of our minds and always looking and searching for ways to save it in order to enjoy the maximum extent with the minimum available wallet space.
He was prompt and said, "Dont worry about the money Sir. You will get the most reasonable lodge in Bangalore". Manesh was still adamant and wanted to know the amount. We all looked at Manesh with respect and he as well acknowledged it with a small tilt of his head. With this motivation from us Manesh was now not going to spare him until he tells the rate of the lodge.
Nandu obliged and said "Sahab sirf 250 per room and we give you a rickshaw until the hotel with you not needing to pay any extra". We discussed among ourselves and thought the price was actually less compared to what we had known about Bangalore city hotels. So we all decided that we take two rooms and pay him 500. We were happy with our achievement, giggling and laughing and thought we were not all that bad on our first trip outside Goa.
Nandu got us an Rickshaw and worth mentioning here is the thrilling auto ride we had. We forgot all the engineering concepts. It seemed like the forces we learnt in theory of machines or the stress, vibrations, couples and overturning couples we learnt were all a waste of time. The auto driver was changing the direction of the vehicle at his own will. I understand it is his vehicle, however he had forgotten that the 7 lives were not his property. Our hearts were in our throats for most of the time in the vehicle. Possibly he was planing to open a business of his own something like Essel world or something on the same lines where people pay to get frightened. I forgot I had a back in "Theory of Machines" to answer, Manesh had forgotten all his coconut making abilities I mean that he had a job in Marico. Ketan and Nilesh were the only fearless as they had closed their eyes tight and hold their fists tight. Farooq had the courage to smile sitting in that rickshaw, quite possible he had worst experiences in engineering. Atul as usual having a look on his face making me feel calm that nothing is wrong and it is just a few moments of fear and good is always on the wait after the bad. I only hoped that this good does not come in heaven. Sandeep, I am sure must have forgot that there is a female species existing in this word for those few moments . I always thought this guy Sandeep must have taken birth with his elbows ducking behind.
Finally with a screamy ride until the hotel, we almost hastily jumped off the rickshaw so that he does not take us again on that bamboozzling ride. We reached the hotel and Nandu took our bags to our rooms. We paid 500 bucks at the reception. Rooms were good and were more than worth 250 per room. At that point we thought we were the most clever persons in the history of mankind. We were of the impression that the einsteins and the newtons might have become famous by bribing the governments to market them as brainy guys.
Our plan that day was to freshen up and just go over Bangalore for sometime and sleep tight that day due to tiry travelling from Goa. We had planned perfectly how we were to go over the city, what to see and what not to. So accordingly we were back from a small walk close by. We slept early that day as we were to wake up early and waste no time. All really excited!!!!
Thats it for now. Keep watcing this space. Guys it is going to get damn interesting in the next blog.
Since we were just out of a hectic 8 hours travel, we wanted a hotel to freshen up before going out and having a great time in this sweet city of Karnataka. Again Nandu was our saviour and inquired if we wanted to hire rooms. Obviously we had seen life to such an extent that we knew he was not offering it for free and Manesh our leader took the initiative of asking him the amount we need to shell out. Being students, money was always on top of our minds and always looking and searching for ways to save it in order to enjoy the maximum extent with the minimum available wallet space.
He was prompt and said, "Dont worry about the money Sir. You will get the most reasonable lodge in Bangalore". Manesh was still adamant and wanted to know the amount. We all looked at Manesh with respect and he as well acknowledged it with a small tilt of his head. With this motivation from us Manesh was now not going to spare him until he tells the rate of the lodge.
Nandu obliged and said "Sahab sirf 250 per room and we give you a rickshaw until the hotel with you not needing to pay any extra". We discussed among ourselves and thought the price was actually less compared to what we had known about Bangalore city hotels. So we all decided that we take two rooms and pay him 500. We were happy with our achievement, giggling and laughing and thought we were not all that bad on our first trip outside Goa.
Nandu got us an Rickshaw and worth mentioning here is the thrilling auto ride we had. We forgot all the engineering concepts. It seemed like the forces we learnt in theory of machines or the stress, vibrations, couples and overturning couples we learnt were all a waste of time. The auto driver was changing the direction of the vehicle at his own will. I understand it is his vehicle, however he had forgotten that the 7 lives were not his property. Our hearts were in our throats for most of the time in the vehicle. Possibly he was planing to open a business of his own something like Essel world or something on the same lines where people pay to get frightened. I forgot I had a back in "Theory of Machines" to answer, Manesh had forgotten all his coconut making abilities I mean that he had a job in Marico. Ketan and Nilesh were the only fearless as they had closed their eyes tight and hold their fists tight. Farooq had the courage to smile sitting in that rickshaw, quite possible he had worst experiences in engineering. Atul as usual having a look on his face making me feel calm that nothing is wrong and it is just a few moments of fear and good is always on the wait after the bad. I only hoped that this good does not come in heaven. Sandeep, I am sure must have forgot that there is a female species existing in this word for those few moments . I always thought this guy Sandeep must have taken birth with his elbows ducking behind.
Finally with a screamy ride until the hotel, we almost hastily jumped off the rickshaw so that he does not take us again on that bamboozzling ride. We reached the hotel and Nandu took our bags to our rooms. We paid 500 bucks at the reception. Rooms were good and were more than worth 250 per room. At that point we thought we were the most clever persons in the history of mankind. We were of the impression that the einsteins and the newtons might have become famous by bribing the governments to market them as brainy guys.
Our plan that day was to freshen up and just go over Bangalore for sometime and sleep tight that day due to tiry travelling from Goa. We had planned perfectly how we were to go over the city, what to see and what not to. So accordingly we were back from a small walk close by. We slept early that day as we were to wake up early and waste no time. All really excited!!!!
Thats it for now. Keep watcing this space. Guys it is going to get damn interesting in the next blog.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
7 friends in Bangalore - Part1
I wanted to write about this since a long time now. This story took place when I was in my engineering final year, when we 7 friends together had gone for an outing to Bangalore. None of us had a good touring experience until then.
Since it was our final year, we all decided to freak out together and capture these valuable moments for the rest of our life. It is tough to meet up and get together after college when all the messy creatures like office, family, money, investments, taunting bosses take priority in the short rational stuff called brain, the topmost portion of our body.
So here we were, Manesh floated the idea and we all agreed to it. Manesh being the more organized fellow among us took the responsibility of making this trip happen. Sandeep gave an Helping hand to him, while we all were given the job of environment creation which meant we were supposed to stay excited always about the trip scheduled in December.
With the date now decided Manesh came to us to show us the tickets of the Bus from Goa to Bangalore. Now we were on Cloud number nine, especially me, because I was travelling for the first time out of Goa without my parents. I was sure it will be a good experience besides a lot to learn about touring and the bad bad world outside which we were going to be a part soon after our engineering.
As the day approached I had already become a good listener as my parents are very good orators. All the instructions, lessons, chapters, do’s and don’ts were imparted on me and taken care that they were revised at least once a day. My mom said “See you all boys are going….Do not get too excited and do wrong things there. Be careful of robbers and be alert”. My father with his deep voice said with authority “And do not waste too much money there”.
Our bus was to depart from Ponda and we all, from different parts of Goa, which is of course small, decided to meet at Ponda. The bus arrived on time with the driver quite a friendly chap welcomed us aboard. We looked at the driver as a lord and our whole sole, one wrong gear or an extra pressing of the accelerator instead of brake could do the next worst thing to engineering. The Bus roared its way through the usually empty roads of Goa.
All excited and looking forward to our first morning in Bangalore. We were not aware of what the destiny had in our plates as soon as we reach Bangalore. Will write about it in the next part of the Blog.
Since it was our final year, we all decided to freak out together and capture these valuable moments for the rest of our life. It is tough to meet up and get together after college when all the messy creatures like office, family, money, investments, taunting bosses take priority in the short rational stuff called brain, the topmost portion of our body.
So here we were, Manesh floated the idea and we all agreed to it. Manesh being the more organized fellow among us took the responsibility of making this trip happen. Sandeep gave an Helping hand to him, while we all were given the job of environment creation which meant we were supposed to stay excited always about the trip scheduled in December.
With the date now decided Manesh came to us to show us the tickets of the Bus from Goa to Bangalore. Now we were on Cloud number nine, especially me, because I was travelling for the first time out of Goa without my parents. I was sure it will be a good experience besides a lot to learn about touring and the bad bad world outside which we were going to be a part soon after our engineering.
As the day approached I had already become a good listener as my parents are very good orators. All the instructions, lessons, chapters, do’s and don’ts were imparted on me and taken care that they were revised at least once a day. My mom said “See you all boys are going….Do not get too excited and do wrong things there. Be careful of robbers and be alert”. My father with his deep voice said with authority “And do not waste too much money there”.
Our bus was to depart from Ponda and we all, from different parts of Goa, which is of course small, decided to meet at Ponda. The bus arrived on time with the driver quite a friendly chap welcomed us aboard. We looked at the driver as a lord and our whole sole, one wrong gear or an extra pressing of the accelerator instead of brake could do the next worst thing to engineering. The Bus roared its way through the usually empty roads of Goa.
All excited and looking forward to our first morning in Bangalore. We were not aware of what the destiny had in our plates as soon as we reach Bangalore. Will write about it in the next part of the Blog.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
God's own country - Part 3
After experiencing the beauty and thrill of Kerala, we were next onto Aleppy back water cruise which is one of the surely to do things in Kerala. As planned, early in the morning our driver, Marcos was on time and did not give us any single opportunity to complain. He always had a good smile on his way all through the trip and today was nothing different. With an "Okay Sir Okay" attitude he was always prompt on any task.
So here we were on our way to Allepy boat cruise, our last Kerala activity before we leave for Pune. Marcos took us to a boat owner for negotiations and we were on the boat with the intentions of having a relaxed time. initially, the backwaters looked dirty and with all the dirt closing in at the shore and why not be with we humans not sparing anything be it land, air or in this case waters. The start was not as we expected, however we were under the hope All is well that ends well.
Our boat started taking us deep into the waters and as the water started surrounding us, we were starting to enjoy every moment of the boat ride. It was pleasure to see the life on the shores of the backwaters. There was everything in it, that we did by staying on land. The children playing all around, the women gossiping, men having a good chat or working hard to improve their boating skills, so that they win the next boat race tournament that may happen in their "in-water" society. Children making the most of the waters and playing hide and seek. They went under water to hide. The business man and shopkeepers were busy attracting customers by either giving a loud shout about the attractions or by displaying enticing banners outside their on the shore shops. It was just the same, as if they did not feel any barrier due to the water. The land might be a barrier for them, but not the water flowing. The water also did not interrupt the neighbor fights. The ladies were shouting on the top of their voices from one shore too another with our boat cannoying through the middle, i just hoped that we were not the targets just in case they decide to declare war against each other and flung coconuts across.
We also got to see the paddy fields, now you might wonder, where the hell did paddy fields come from when there is all water around. The Boatman told us in Malyali which Marcos translated for us that those are floating paddy fields and since paddy is a kharif crop and requires good water and hence is just the crop suited. No wonder, Malyali's eat a lot of rice in their day to day food.
Another wonderful thing during the cruise was the boat races we witnessed. Since it was Onam day, there were many activities all around, one of those was boat race tournaments. All hefty and strong men, flexed their muscles to be first and reach the finish line in record time. It was amazing piece of team work and coordination on display. Boat race is all about team work and single goal focus. One fellow cannoying a little slowly can make a difference of minutes in the final result. One thought ran through my mind. Aren't we all Indians as well cannoying in the same boat? Then why slow down our boat or rather progress, by dividing ourselves on the basis of Muslims, sikhs and fighting within us. It is like all people in a single boat are cannoying in many different directions equally and hence we feel we are progressing, however, we are still at the same position.
So here we were finally at the end of an enthralling trip and at the airport waiting for our fight to Pune. Thank you Kerala. Will visit you once more for sure!!!!
So here we were on our way to Allepy boat cruise, our last Kerala activity before we leave for Pune. Marcos took us to a boat owner for negotiations and we were on the boat with the intentions of having a relaxed time. initially, the backwaters looked dirty and with all the dirt closing in at the shore and why not be with we humans not sparing anything be it land, air or in this case waters. The start was not as we expected, however we were under the hope All is well that ends well.
Our boat started taking us deep into the waters and as the water started surrounding us, we were starting to enjoy every moment of the boat ride. It was pleasure to see the life on the shores of the backwaters. There was everything in it, that we did by staying on land. The children playing all around, the women gossiping, men having a good chat or working hard to improve their boating skills, so that they win the next boat race tournament that may happen in their "in-water" society. Children making the most of the waters and playing hide and seek. They went under water to hide. The business man and shopkeepers were busy attracting customers by either giving a loud shout about the attractions or by displaying enticing banners outside their on the shore shops. It was just the same, as if they did not feel any barrier due to the water. The land might be a barrier for them, but not the water flowing. The water also did not interrupt the neighbor fights. The ladies were shouting on the top of their voices from one shore too another with our boat cannoying through the middle, i just hoped that we were not the targets just in case they decide to declare war against each other and flung coconuts across.
We also got to see the paddy fields, now you might wonder, where the hell did paddy fields come from when there is all water around. The Boatman told us in Malyali which Marcos translated for us that those are floating paddy fields and since paddy is a kharif crop and requires good water and hence is just the crop suited. No wonder, Malyali's eat a lot of rice in their day to day food.
Another wonderful thing during the cruise was the boat races we witnessed. Since it was Onam day, there were many activities all around, one of those was boat race tournaments. All hefty and strong men, flexed their muscles to be first and reach the finish line in record time. It was amazing piece of team work and coordination on display. Boat race is all about team work and single goal focus. One fellow cannoying a little slowly can make a difference of minutes in the final result. One thought ran through my mind. Aren't we all Indians as well cannoying in the same boat? Then why slow down our boat or rather progress, by dividing ourselves on the basis of Muslims, sikhs and fighting within us. It is like all people in a single boat are cannoying in many different directions equally and hence we feel we are progressing, however, we are still at the same position.
So here we were finally at the end of an enthralling trip and at the airport waiting for our fight to Pune. Thank you Kerala. Will visit you once more for sure!!!!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
God's own country - Part 2
Hush!!!! finally i have taken up Part 2 to write. It has been quite a travel filled month and just could not spend anytime for blogging.
So here I am to narrate some good experiences during the Kerela trip. I have already narrated the Munnar experience in my last part. I was pretty much excited after that because I had begun to expect more and more out of the world stay in Kerela. It is just a normal human tendency, when it gets better, he expects the best further up. Though this is not true always, this time in the God's own country it was surprisingly true.
After leaving Munnar the next morning, our plan was to attend "Madhu's" wedding the next day and have a look at Athirapally waterfalls. Here I also got an opportunity to see what a mallu wedding is like. Mallu's are believed to give education the utmost importance and that could be easily seen during the wedding. All Aunty's and Uncles had come up dressed with the best saree and the best lungi on the special day. All the Aunty's were busy engrossed in praising each other, obviously these praises were flowing in the expectation of return praises. Surely so women around the world, whether be it India or any other country this gossiping and praising stuff will always be there. All Uncles were busy discussing some political stuff in Malyalam and i regretted and dissappointed that I did not know Malyalam.
It has been said somewhere in the Purana's that Boy is interested in the girl's look, girl is interested in the Boy's strength so that he can protect him, girls father is interested in the Boy's bank balance to ensure that his girl will be happy and finally all others are interested only the food offered during the wedding. So as per this saying our eyes were searching for the finger biting malyali food. But that was not to come until all the rituals were completed. I always feel pity for the couple as they have to smile throughout the wedding even though they are tired. I must say Madhu has loads of energy and i respect him for that, even in those tiring times he had some humour to spare. When I was on the stage to congratulate him on his achievement, he whispered in my ear "Thanks for Representing everyone man"... This was a stinging bite to all his close friends who had not come for his wedding and unknowingly I was representing them all.
Finally all the rituals were done and we all headed towards our favourite destination, the dining hall and my god we were absolutely awestruck by the way it was arranged. We had banana leaves arranged and all were supposed to it on those. We sat without wasting any amount of time. It had in all 24 items on our plate ohh sorry on the leaves. We were in a state of confusion. We had to decide on what to start with. I imagined myself to be in an examination hall and I approached the food in a similar manner, eating with precise judgement as to which one would be the easier to eat so that I remain motivated to eat the rest of the food.
Finally it was time to bid good bye to the new couple and have them wished for their good future. There was some photo session as well, with Krishna boasting his new camera, though his photography skills are still under the scanner.
So here we were at our next destination, the athirapally waterfalls. I have not seen such huge waterfalls in my life (I know it is still a short one). It is here that the lovely aishwarya Rai and Stud Abhishek were shooted for their movie "Ravaan". If you remember the song "Beera Beera", yes you got it, thats athirapally. Krishna, was not in a good mood here and was not much interested even after he saw the waterfalls. Could be that he had met some of his history in the wedding. Not to go into the details, this is not the right channel. I was enjoying to the fullest extent and he did not object to it. I also respected his privacy and thought not everytime that a person can be happy as ever, downtime cannot be avoided each time. We had a nice time at the waterfalls and came to our hotel in the evening at a place close to Cochin from where we were to head towards alapuzha or allepy water cruise the next morning.
Thats it in this blog, will complete the final part with the boat cruise and the philosophical thoughts I had during the boat cruise.
So here I am to narrate some good experiences during the Kerela trip. I have already narrated the Munnar experience in my last part. I was pretty much excited after that because I had begun to expect more and more out of the world stay in Kerela. It is just a normal human tendency, when it gets better, he expects the best further up. Though this is not true always, this time in the God's own country it was surprisingly true.
After leaving Munnar the next morning, our plan was to attend "Madhu's" wedding the next day and have a look at Athirapally waterfalls. Here I also got an opportunity to see what a mallu wedding is like. Mallu's are believed to give education the utmost importance and that could be easily seen during the wedding. All Aunty's and Uncles had come up dressed with the best saree and the best lungi on the special day. All the Aunty's were busy engrossed in praising each other, obviously these praises were flowing in the expectation of return praises. Surely so women around the world, whether be it India or any other country this gossiping and praising stuff will always be there. All Uncles were busy discussing some political stuff in Malyalam and i regretted and dissappointed that I did not know Malyalam.
It has been said somewhere in the Purana's that Boy is interested in the girl's look, girl is interested in the Boy's strength so that he can protect him, girls father is interested in the Boy's bank balance to ensure that his girl will be happy and finally all others are interested only the food offered during the wedding. So as per this saying our eyes were searching for the finger biting malyali food. But that was not to come until all the rituals were completed. I always feel pity for the couple as they have to smile throughout the wedding even though they are tired. I must say Madhu has loads of energy and i respect him for that, even in those tiring times he had some humour to spare. When I was on the stage to congratulate him on his achievement, he whispered in my ear "Thanks for Representing everyone man"... This was a stinging bite to all his close friends who had not come for his wedding and unknowingly I was representing them all.
Finally all the rituals were done and we all headed towards our favourite destination, the dining hall and my god we were absolutely awestruck by the way it was arranged. We had banana leaves arranged and all were supposed to it on those. We sat without wasting any amount of time. It had in all 24 items on our plate ohh sorry on the leaves. We were in a state of confusion. We had to decide on what to start with. I imagined myself to be in an examination hall and I approached the food in a similar manner, eating with precise judgement as to which one would be the easier to eat so that I remain motivated to eat the rest of the food.
Finally it was time to bid good bye to the new couple and have them wished for their good future. There was some photo session as well, with Krishna boasting his new camera, though his photography skills are still under the scanner.
So here we were at our next destination, the athirapally waterfalls. I have not seen such huge waterfalls in my life (I know it is still a short one). It is here that the lovely aishwarya Rai and Stud Abhishek were shooted for their movie "Ravaan". If you remember the song "Beera Beera", yes you got it, thats athirapally. Krishna, was not in a good mood here and was not much interested even after he saw the waterfalls. Could be that he had met some of his history in the wedding. Not to go into the details, this is not the right channel. I was enjoying to the fullest extent and he did not object to it. I also respected his privacy and thought not everytime that a person can be happy as ever, downtime cannot be avoided each time. We had a nice time at the waterfalls and came to our hotel in the evening at a place close to Cochin from where we were to head towards alapuzha or allepy water cruise the next morning.
Thats it in this blog, will complete the final part with the boat cruise and the philosophical thoughts I had during the boat cruise.
Monday, August 30, 2010
The dawn after the Dead..
What I have found in my experience though not much, is that, people are afraid of two things:
1. Dying
2. Killing somebody.
While in all other cases humans are shocked and subsequently get tensed, one such reason is when they hear that somebody has got killed or when somebody has died especially someone very close to the emotional interface within each one of us.
I always wondered what could be the psychology behind us being transitioned to a shocking stage when we hear somebody is dead though each one of us knows that someday or the other this has to happen. Now, if I reason out that this could be because we as Human beings do not know the exact date and time in advance which is why we are bound to get shocked. However, if we know the date of our death in advance, we would be dying every day as the day approaches with the mere feeling of it.
It is like we know there is a defect in the system but still we are shocked when we see the defect. Why so? What could be a possible solution to this?
Here is where spirituality comes into play which makes our mind and soul stable so that we do not get distracted towards such emotional instabilities in life.
Get spiritual get emotionally stable is the fundamental principle to happy life.
Jai Shri Ram
1. Dying
2. Killing somebody.
While in all other cases humans are shocked and subsequently get tensed, one such reason is when they hear that somebody has got killed or when somebody has died especially someone very close to the emotional interface within each one of us.
I always wondered what could be the psychology behind us being transitioned to a shocking stage when we hear somebody is dead though each one of us knows that someday or the other this has to happen. Now, if I reason out that this could be because we as Human beings do not know the exact date and time in advance which is why we are bound to get shocked. However, if we know the date of our death in advance, we would be dying every day as the day approaches with the mere feeling of it.
It is like we know there is a defect in the system but still we are shocked when we see the defect. Why so? What could be a possible solution to this?
Here is where spirituality comes into play which makes our mind and soul stable so that we do not get distracted towards such emotional instabilities in life.
Get spiritual get emotionally stable is the fundamental principle to happy life.
Jai Shri Ram
Thursday, August 26, 2010
God's Own country - Part1
I have been on a plethora of tours for the past few weeks which has taught me lot many things which I would carry for the whole of my life.
One of the tours was to the God's own country, Kerala. The state known for its maximum percentage of literate population, the beautiful backwaters and the ayurvedic essence. No wonder especially Munnar makes the favorite destination for at least 80% of the newly married couples who want to enjoy to the fullest the best part of the new phase in their life.
It is quite amazing to watch and experience the two different sides of a single country. Towards the North we have Kashmir with lush green environment, cold climate, handsome men and beautiful women and is called the heaven on earth while well to the south of the same country you find a region which is exactly opposite in every sense including culture, language, dressing manner though equally beautiful and called the “God’s Own Country”.
The climate here is very much similar to Goa besides the churches, beaches on the way and the palm and mango trees on both sides of the road made me feel at home. The most important thing to note here is the way the population here maintains their own culture and language. Though most of them know to read and write Malyalam, a very few know English or even Hindi. My dramatic workshop lessons were tested here. I had to use my each inch of body to act and each pore on my face was utilized to display emotions so that they could understand what I wanted to say. We were lucky to get a decent English speaking cab driver which made our lives far more easier that we had imagined.
So here we were two bachelors in a crowd mostly consisting of either couples trying to understand each other and the ones who had already understood each other and were in their own comfortable positions. Munnar a hillstation with mighty views of the tree farms, lakes and can be readily identified as a perfect tourist destination with all the facilities like lodging, and shops and eateries luring the tourists towards them. We had real great time here with camera’s continuously ON for almost the whole time that we were at Munnar. It has a few typical tourist spots which display some awesome and breathtaking views of the tea plantations and foggy mountains.
I conclude this part with the Munnar and keep you all and myself reliving the Munnar experience. Will continue with the further experiences I had at this beautiful place situated at the foot of India. Especially the Allepy backwaters cruise.
One of the tours was to the God's own country, Kerala. The state known for its maximum percentage of literate population, the beautiful backwaters and the ayurvedic essence. No wonder especially Munnar makes the favorite destination for at least 80% of the newly married couples who want to enjoy to the fullest the best part of the new phase in their life.
It is quite amazing to watch and experience the two different sides of a single country. Towards the North we have Kashmir with lush green environment, cold climate, handsome men and beautiful women and is called the heaven on earth while well to the south of the same country you find a region which is exactly opposite in every sense including culture, language, dressing manner though equally beautiful and called the “God’s Own Country”.
The climate here is very much similar to Goa besides the churches, beaches on the way and the palm and mango trees on both sides of the road made me feel at home. The most important thing to note here is the way the population here maintains their own culture and language. Though most of them know to read and write Malyalam, a very few know English or even Hindi. My dramatic workshop lessons were tested here. I had to use my each inch of body to act and each pore on my face was utilized to display emotions so that they could understand what I wanted to say. We were lucky to get a decent English speaking cab driver which made our lives far more easier that we had imagined.
So here we were two bachelors in a crowd mostly consisting of either couples trying to understand each other and the ones who had already understood each other and were in their own comfortable positions. Munnar a hillstation with mighty views of the tree farms, lakes and can be readily identified as a perfect tourist destination with all the facilities like lodging, and shops and eateries luring the tourists towards them. We had real great time here with camera’s continuously ON for almost the whole time that we were at Munnar. It has a few typical tourist spots which display some awesome and breathtaking views of the tea plantations and foggy mountains.
I conclude this part with the Munnar and keep you all and myself reliving the Munnar experience. Will continue with the further experiences I had at this beautiful place situated at the foot of India. Especially the Allepy backwaters cruise.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Biking to Mr Aurangzeb's city – Part3
We were experiencing a terrible phenomenon called misplanning. It was such a situation there, that we could not do anything besides calculating. We tried calculating in all the possible manners in order to get a way out and we visit Lonark. However finally we came to a conclusion that we sit down in a hotel closeby and have tea before starting another long, tiring ride towards Aurangabad via Jalna.
We calmed ourselves down and said "Yeah never mind we have to miss Lonark. Lets reach Aurangabad by 10:00 PM and catch a lodging for some rest". We had already ridden almost 400 kms for the day. So here we were back on the tar carrying ourselves towards Aurangabad. The high beam stories had started on the road. The road was under construction, though it was good and we could ride comfortably. We stopped at Jalna for dinner at around 8:30. Next reached Aurangabad by 10:00 PM sharp.
Now was the question as to where do we stay. We had two options, one, we stay at Aurangabad city which was a good option. Two, we could go down close to daulatabad fort and stay closeby as we were planning to visit Grishneshwar and Daulatabad fort the subsequent morning. We asked a auto rickshaw driver closeby and he as well confirmed that there are a lot of lodgings at daulatabad. We said in that case we go down to Daulatabad as we could also wake up a little late in the morning.
We went up asking for Daulatabad and went along a road that would take us there. We took a right as per the directions given by most and we were on a road with no one around. A very dark road with no street lights, no homo sapiens seen in the vicinity. We were riding continously in the hope of getting a lodging and we believed the auto driver more than ourselves. It seemed like a nightmare. We could not see a single lodging or a place to stay or a house anywhere on the way. It was now already 12:00. We went up the road which goes to Ajanta caves to find onhe loding, however that was not to happen. We came back the same route towards verul. We found many lodgings here finally just to find that all were fast asleep and into their own dreams leaving us here to look after our own night mare that we were into.
Deepak, a little more "samazdar" and uses a little more intellectual rational structure within his head than me, called me up after pitying my desperate and tired looking face. He asked me now what are you planning to do and I was so frustrated at that point of time that a spontaneously answer cropped up saying "Lets go down to Pune". It was wonderful to see Deepak's face though neither me, nor did he have the energy to try anymore. He ignored me and said "Now lets go back to Auranagabad. We wil surely get one there". It had already clocked 1:00 AM. I said let me give a final try and with faith in God got into another lodging and gave a shouted with all the might I had until then. One of the worker there woke up. I ran towards him as if I had seen Lord Ram and I was Bharat his younger brother. Until now I was never so happy as much as after I saw him wake up.
He quickly gave a room containing two beds. We did not have the strength for anything now. We were content with whatever we got. It was then we understood that to sleep you dont require a deluxe room, what you need is just a bed. One new thing we learnt was that in a new city never wait until late night to get a room. Take a lodging by 10:00 or else you might have to face with such learnings. And why do you want to take the same experience again when we have taken it for you :).
We went to the temple the early next morning and pleaded lord not to give us anymore excitements today as we had already finished all our excitement quota for this month the last night. Temple was pretty clean and was quite an old one. Very nice architecture all around the walls of the temple. We spent some time there before we went to visit Daulatabad fort.
Daulatabad was our next destination. We reached there at around 9:00 AM in the morning. It was a very good experience. We never knew that Mughals also could be so very intelligent. The fort had in all 5 layers of safety mechanisms. The most outer wall was the first exposed to the enemy. The best that i loved was the final obstruction for the enemy which consisted of a cave. It is so dark that even the most familiar person will topple down without a torch. It seems the Mughal troops would hide in the cave and in case the enemy crosses all the 4 obstructions earlier, it is from here that they will never be able to cross as the hidden troops would chop off their heads as soon as they reach this dark cave. Beautiful fort.
Finally we were on our way to Pune without any further problems or experiences or learnings or excitements whatever you call it. We reached Pune at 6:00 PM in the evening with a thought that we need to visit it again during rains.
I conclude the series saying "Aurangabad is all in all a beautiful city".
We calmed ourselves down and said "Yeah never mind we have to miss Lonark. Lets reach Aurangabad by 10:00 PM and catch a lodging for some rest". We had already ridden almost 400 kms for the day. So here we were back on the tar carrying ourselves towards Aurangabad. The high beam stories had started on the road. The road was under construction, though it was good and we could ride comfortably. We stopped at Jalna for dinner at around 8:30. Next reached Aurangabad by 10:00 PM sharp.
Now was the question as to where do we stay. We had two options, one, we stay at Aurangabad city which was a good option. Two, we could go down close to daulatabad fort and stay closeby as we were planning to visit Grishneshwar and Daulatabad fort the subsequent morning. We asked a auto rickshaw driver closeby and he as well confirmed that there are a lot of lodgings at daulatabad. We said in that case we go down to Daulatabad as we could also wake up a little late in the morning.
We went up asking for Daulatabad and went along a road that would take us there. We took a right as per the directions given by most and we were on a road with no one around. A very dark road with no street lights, no homo sapiens seen in the vicinity. We were riding continously in the hope of getting a lodging and we believed the auto driver more than ourselves. It seemed like a nightmare. We could not see a single lodging or a place to stay or a house anywhere on the way. It was now already 12:00. We went up the road which goes to Ajanta caves to find onhe loding, however that was not to happen. We came back the same route towards verul. We found many lodgings here finally just to find that all were fast asleep and into their own dreams leaving us here to look after our own night mare that we were into.
Deepak, a little more "samazdar" and uses a little more intellectual rational structure within his head than me, called me up after pitying my desperate and tired looking face. He asked me now what are you planning to do and I was so frustrated at that point of time that a spontaneously answer cropped up saying "Lets go down to Pune". It was wonderful to see Deepak's face though neither me, nor did he have the energy to try anymore. He ignored me and said "Now lets go back to Auranagabad. We wil surely get one there". It had already clocked 1:00 AM. I said let me give a final try and with faith in God got into another lodging and gave a shouted with all the might I had until then. One of the worker there woke up. I ran towards him as if I had seen Lord Ram and I was Bharat his younger brother. Until now I was never so happy as much as after I saw him wake up.
He quickly gave a room containing two beds. We did not have the strength for anything now. We were content with whatever we got. It was then we understood that to sleep you dont require a deluxe room, what you need is just a bed. One new thing we learnt was that in a new city never wait until late night to get a room. Take a lodging by 10:00 or else you might have to face with such learnings. And why do you want to take the same experience again when we have taken it for you :).
We went to the temple the early next morning and pleaded lord not to give us anymore excitements today as we had already finished all our excitement quota for this month the last night. Temple was pretty clean and was quite an old one. Very nice architecture all around the walls of the temple. We spent some time there before we went to visit Daulatabad fort.
Daulatabad was our next destination. We reached there at around 9:00 AM in the morning. It was a very good experience. We never knew that Mughals also could be so very intelligent. The fort had in all 5 layers of safety mechanisms. The most outer wall was the first exposed to the enemy. The best that i loved was the final obstruction for the enemy which consisted of a cave. It is so dark that even the most familiar person will topple down without a torch. It seems the Mughal troops would hide in the cave and in case the enemy crosses all the 4 obstructions earlier, it is from here that they will never be able to cross as the hidden troops would chop off their heads as soon as they reach this dark cave. Beautiful fort.
Finally we were on our way to Pune without any further problems or experiences or learnings or excitements whatever you call it. We reached Pune at 6:00 PM in the evening with a thought that we need to visit it again during rains.
I conclude the series saying "Aurangabad is all in all a beautiful city".
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Biking to Mr Aurangzeb's city – Part2
We woke up early on Saturday morning as our excitement to ride all day ahead was more compared to the joy of being in the bed until 9:00 AM. So here we were on the tar at 6:30 AM with high and right spirits filling up our mind.
Waited on the way for a cup of tea where we also got an ST driver (as only those are the ones awake on a Saturday morning besides some crazy fellows) to confirm the Road going to towards Aurangabad. The road was very good, until now we were wondering as to why all the people around India curse the Indian Roads. The roads were smooth and so wide that we could drive almost together side by side.
Before 8:30 we were at Aurangabad. We thought of having ourselves full in “Aum Shiv Ganesh Idli Wada stall”, before focusing ourselves towards our next destination which was Ajanta Caves.
On the way we also saw the Delhi Darwaza, where we did not waste any time to think as to “What was Delhi darwaza doing at Aurangabad” because we were fully aware that Mughals were a crazy bunch of people who could do anything for their wife’s at the cost of the people in the kingdom. We assumed that Delhi Darwaza must have been a result of a wish by a Mughal king’s wife to see the Delhi darwaza (which was obviously at Delhi at that time) and hence to fulfill this wish we see this Delhi darwaza besides HP petrol pump in Aurangabad.
So enough of history and we were looking into the future and eager to see Ajanta caves which we had heard a lot about. We had known that the main attraction were the ancient paintings on the walls which were drawn some many centuries ago. Though we were not any great lovers of art or homo-sapiens with great creative instincts, we thought we should stamp our bike wheels on this area as well.
However, I would say we were quite amused with the monasteries with various different architectures and the care taken to preserve the ancient paintings and monasteries by the Archaeological survey of India. They had special mild focus lamps in the caves to ensure that the paintings are preserved, no camera flashes or any other bright light is allowed inside the caves. We were also surprised to see that even during the 5th century they had the concept of balconies and floors, there was seriously a monastery that had a first floor.
Our creative heads were so much engrossed in the caves that we forgot about that time until we realized at the end that it was 2:30 PM. We came to the MTDC restaurant and had our lunch and until 4:00 PM we were still at Ajanta Caves.
Now we had to rethink on our plan to go to Lonark. Asked a policeman there who told us that Lonark was only 80 Kms from Ajanta caves which meant we would take to reach there just 1.5 hours. We were excited that everything was going as per our plan and we were looking forward for Lonark. We had to go Via Buldhana from where we would get a road to Lonark. We reached Buldhana and it was only then that we realized Lonark was still 164 Kms from Buldhana. Terrible…..We blamed everybody we possibly could and especially the policeman. I was still of the opinion that we go to Lonark, however Deepak controlled me and my outrageous thoughts. So here we were with already 350 Kms travelled for the day and another 150 Kms remaining until we reach Aurangabad. And mind you the time was 5:30 in the evening.
Enough for this moment. I will mention about the darkest night we had in our lifetime in the next part though we learnt a lot from that night. Next part coming soon.
Waited on the way for a cup of tea where we also got an ST driver (as only those are the ones awake on a Saturday morning besides some crazy fellows) to confirm the Road going to towards Aurangabad. The road was very good, until now we were wondering as to why all the people around India curse the Indian Roads. The roads were smooth and so wide that we could drive almost together side by side.
Before 8:30 we were at Aurangabad. We thought of having ourselves full in “Aum Shiv Ganesh Idli Wada stall”, before focusing ourselves towards our next destination which was Ajanta Caves.
On the way we also saw the Delhi Darwaza, where we did not waste any time to think as to “What was Delhi darwaza doing at Aurangabad” because we were fully aware that Mughals were a crazy bunch of people who could do anything for their wife’s at the cost of the people in the kingdom. We assumed that Delhi Darwaza must have been a result of a wish by a Mughal king’s wife to see the Delhi darwaza (which was obviously at Delhi at that time) and hence to fulfill this wish we see this Delhi darwaza besides HP petrol pump in Aurangabad.
So enough of history and we were looking into the future and eager to see Ajanta caves which we had heard a lot about. We had known that the main attraction were the ancient paintings on the walls which were drawn some many centuries ago. Though we were not any great lovers of art or homo-sapiens with great creative instincts, we thought we should stamp our bike wheels on this area as well.
However, I would say we were quite amused with the monasteries with various different architectures and the care taken to preserve the ancient paintings and monasteries by the Archaeological survey of India. They had special mild focus lamps in the caves to ensure that the paintings are preserved, no camera flashes or any other bright light is allowed inside the caves. We were also surprised to see that even during the 5th century they had the concept of balconies and floors, there was seriously a monastery that had a first floor.
Our creative heads were so much engrossed in the caves that we forgot about that time until we realized at the end that it was 2:30 PM. We came to the MTDC restaurant and had our lunch and until 4:00 PM we were still at Ajanta Caves.
Now we had to rethink on our plan to go to Lonark. Asked a policeman there who told us that Lonark was only 80 Kms from Ajanta caves which meant we would take to reach there just 1.5 hours. We were excited that everything was going as per our plan and we were looking forward for Lonark. We had to go Via Buldhana from where we would get a road to Lonark. We reached Buldhana and it was only then that we realized Lonark was still 164 Kms from Buldhana. Terrible…..We blamed everybody we possibly could and especially the policeman. I was still of the opinion that we go to Lonark, however Deepak controlled me and my outrageous thoughts. So here we were with already 350 Kms travelled for the day and another 150 Kms remaining until we reach Aurangabad. And mind you the time was 5:30 in the evening.
Enough for this moment. I will mention about the darkest night we had in our lifetime in the next part though we learnt a lot from that night. Next part coming soon.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Biking to Mr Aurangzeb's city - Part1
Somebody has rightly said "Four wheels move just the body while two wheels move the soul!!". Similar sort of experience is what I got when I visited aurangabad on Unicorn on 5th and 6th of June.
Most of the trips are fun when they are absolutely unplanned. You just decide just in a split of seconds, surf through the internet for a couple of minutes to know the route and then the whole world is yours, just ride until the road takes you to the destination.
The best thing about biking is that you are a free bird with no barriers besides the traffic rules you need to follow. It brings in you the excitement, the pleasure of simply riding along the road enjoying the wind, sun and the fragrance. I read a quote recently saying you do the best communication when you are on the bike alone. That is absolutely true. You communicate to the fellow driver the fear of a danger you expect, you warn him with signals, you give a stern look asking him to come by quickly or also you signal to him with a sweet expression if you come across by a sweet girl along the road.
I pinged Deepak (another bike enthusiast) on Friday Morning whether we should try and explore a place this weekend. We had a lot of places in mind like Nashik, Bhandardara, Satara, Sinhgad etc etc. Finally surfing through the internet we zeroed down to Mr. Aurangzeb's city Aurangabad and get a feel of the powerful Mughals who ruled most of India. I have always believed that though Mughals are considered for most of the wrong things that happened to India, they also should be given the credit for the most flourishing culture and art they have provided us.
So we left the same evening and decided to stay at Ahmednagar and take over the route to Aurangabad the following morning so that we do not end up travelling a lot on a single day. The road from Pune to Aurangabad is a National Highway and i thanked the road ways for the first time in my life for constructing such an convenient highway. Otherwise the road ways are always thanked for the wrong things. We reached ahmednagar at around 9:30 and slept soon after a days work and 2 hours of riding. So in short no exciting experiences during the first part of the game and the most exciting things besides some mighty bitter experiences were to follow which we were unaware of until this time.
Read on in the next part the best learning experience we had on this trip. The next part of the blog to follow soon.
Most of the trips are fun when they are absolutely unplanned. You just decide just in a split of seconds, surf through the internet for a couple of minutes to know the route and then the whole world is yours, just ride until the road takes you to the destination.
The best thing about biking is that you are a free bird with no barriers besides the traffic rules you need to follow. It brings in you the excitement, the pleasure of simply riding along the road enjoying the wind, sun and the fragrance. I read a quote recently saying you do the best communication when you are on the bike alone. That is absolutely true. You communicate to the fellow driver the fear of a danger you expect, you warn him with signals, you give a stern look asking him to come by quickly or also you signal to him with a sweet expression if you come across by a sweet girl along the road.
I pinged Deepak (another bike enthusiast) on Friday Morning whether we should try and explore a place this weekend. We had a lot of places in mind like Nashik, Bhandardara, Satara, Sinhgad etc etc. Finally surfing through the internet we zeroed down to Mr. Aurangzeb's city Aurangabad and get a feel of the powerful Mughals who ruled most of India. I have always believed that though Mughals are considered for most of the wrong things that happened to India, they also should be given the credit for the most flourishing culture and art they have provided us.
So we left the same evening and decided to stay at Ahmednagar and take over the route to Aurangabad the following morning so that we do not end up travelling a lot on a single day. The road from Pune to Aurangabad is a National Highway and i thanked the road ways for the first time in my life for constructing such an convenient highway. Otherwise the road ways are always thanked for the wrong things. We reached ahmednagar at around 9:30 and slept soon after a days work and 2 hours of riding. So in short no exciting experiences during the first part of the game and the most exciting things besides some mighty bitter experiences were to follow which we were unaware of until this time.
Read on in the next part the best learning experience we had on this trip. The next part of the blog to follow soon.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My Love
I have always believed that the intellectual or the rational faculty in me called mind, is made up of such matter that will always drive me away from love. However for the last few days I have a feeling that I am in Love. Yes you heard it correct. I am in love.
My days are not over unless I meet her almost everyday and when I dont I feel real nervous or a sort of "Something missing" kind of feeling. I am very possesive about her and get paranoid if anybody says a word against her or that he/she understands her better than me. Cymbals start ringing into my head almost half an hour before i am to meet her. I reach the decided place a good 15 minutes earlier so that I am prepared in the best possible manner to meet her.
Now something about her. Considering the scope of the blog I can mention hardly 1 percent of what she is and all of you I am sure will fall in love with her which is the reason why I dont want you all to meet her so as to keep the competition under control. She is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen or met on this earth. Yes I say thing because I have tried comparing her with almost every "thing" and everytime she comes out full marks. She understands me more than anyone, rather i will say we have great mutual understanding within us. She does sometimes hurt me to such an extent that I dont feel like meeting her the next day.
Even while I am in the office I think of her and also google many a times about her. Oh by the way did I mention who is she above? She is BADMINTON, the game. It is just a game tailor made for me, testing each and every bit of my body and mind. It is a great combination of skill, power, strength and stamina that you require to handle her.
I Love you Badminton!!!
My days are not over unless I meet her almost everyday and when I dont I feel real nervous or a sort of "Something missing" kind of feeling. I am very possesive about her and get paranoid if anybody says a word against her or that he/she understands her better than me. Cymbals start ringing into my head almost half an hour before i am to meet her. I reach the decided place a good 15 minutes earlier so that I am prepared in the best possible manner to meet her.
Now something about her. Considering the scope of the blog I can mention hardly 1 percent of what she is and all of you I am sure will fall in love with her which is the reason why I dont want you all to meet her so as to keep the competition under control. She is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen or met on this earth. Yes I say thing because I have tried comparing her with almost every "thing" and everytime she comes out full marks. She understands me more than anyone, rather i will say we have great mutual understanding within us. She does sometimes hurt me to such an extent that I dont feel like meeting her the next day.
Even while I am in the office I think of her and also google many a times about her. Oh by the way did I mention who is she above? She is BADMINTON, the game. It is just a game tailor made for me, testing each and every bit of my body and mind. It is a great combination of skill, power, strength and stamina that you require to handle her.
I Love you Badminton!!!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Humpty dumpty had a great fall
It was just a normal day as I would have imagined…with nothing new happening and I am suppose to put in all efforts in the office in order to earn my bread. But by evening I knew that it is not designed to be so.
I completed my daily job at office and was planning to go home when the instrument besides me rang. One of my friends wanted my expert advice for the flat he is purchasing in Aundh. I promptly agreed as I was happy with the importance I was getting and agreed to accompany him to the flat with my resale flat buying experience along. And since I have bought Unicorn last month all distances seem so small to me that the thought riding from Pune to Kashmir does not look weird to me anymore. So it did not matter to me though I might have to travel around 10-15 kms more and also the true friend within me jumped up saying “The distances should not come in the way of helping your friend”.
So finally we decided we meet at Bremen chowk in aundh and then go together to the flat he had short listed which is very close by from the chowk.
So the Unicorn, It does not have any starting problems, is very balanced and also very attractive. Ohh I am sorry I just can’t stop myself while speaking about Unicorn. So where was I? Yes I started the Unicorn with electric start and zoom!!!! In no time I was on the Senapati Bapat road cutting through the Pune traffic with ease especially juggling the ladies driving insanely on pune roads is in itself an act of bravery and should be duly recognized.
I was about to stop at the decided destination when from nowhere a lady appeared through the traffic as if with an expression “Zebra’s are meant to be in Zoos and not on roads…I am going to cross the road from anywhere I like”. I tried my best to stop the unicorn which the manufacturers say from 60-0 in 5 secs until I realized that I did not have 5 secs as well. Here was the time I felt now there is no use trying to stop the bike and literally closed my eyes (though I am not that spiritual) with my bike already leaning to the left due to the brakes applied. So, now I being an young rider, was ought to be fired be it anybody’s mistake as mistakes are always done by youngsters is what is inbuilt in Indian culture.
So here I was surrounded by around a 1000 people firing lectures, suggesting the lady to file a case against me and what not. One of the ladies had an theory to tell. She said “We were standing at the bus stop, but still we could not see you…That indicates how fast you were riding”. That kept me with my mouth open for about 5 mins thinking “Where was this lady when Einsteins and the newtons were fooling us with theories like laws of motion and distance and speed formulae. She is the only one who could challenge them and save us from studying those huge books during our school days”.
I was just praying to god asking him for his help and suddenly I heard a voice I was very used to, it were the RTO, I thought this was the last thing that can happen, how can god send a RTO to my help. I thought I am going to be in the lockup soon. But that wasn’t destined to be. They were here sent by god to speak in my favor and got the zebra’s from the zoo convincing the woman that it was her fault to cross the road without even checking where the zebra crossing was.
I was relieved and felt like I should wipe out all the pollution on RTO's face with a face wash. However controlled my emotions at the right time and zoomed out from the mess.
Moral of the story: Beware of ladies on roads they are always seen either falling or making someone fall. The only solution to avoid this growing hazard is travel by public transport.
I completed my daily job at office and was planning to go home when the instrument besides me rang. One of my friends wanted my expert advice for the flat he is purchasing in Aundh. I promptly agreed as I was happy with the importance I was getting and agreed to accompany him to the flat with my resale flat buying experience along. And since I have bought Unicorn last month all distances seem so small to me that the thought riding from Pune to Kashmir does not look weird to me anymore. So it did not matter to me though I might have to travel around 10-15 kms more and also the true friend within me jumped up saying “The distances should not come in the way of helping your friend”.
So finally we decided we meet at Bremen chowk in aundh and then go together to the flat he had short listed which is very close by from the chowk.
So the Unicorn, It does not have any starting problems, is very balanced and also very attractive. Ohh I am sorry I just can’t stop myself while speaking about Unicorn. So where was I? Yes I started the Unicorn with electric start and zoom!!!! In no time I was on the Senapati Bapat road cutting through the Pune traffic with ease especially juggling the ladies driving insanely on pune roads is in itself an act of bravery and should be duly recognized.
I was about to stop at the decided destination when from nowhere a lady appeared through the traffic as if with an expression “Zebra’s are meant to be in Zoos and not on roads…I am going to cross the road from anywhere I like”. I tried my best to stop the unicorn which the manufacturers say from 60-0 in 5 secs until I realized that I did not have 5 secs as well. Here was the time I felt now there is no use trying to stop the bike and literally closed my eyes (though I am not that spiritual) with my bike already leaning to the left due to the brakes applied. So, now I being an young rider, was ought to be fired be it anybody’s mistake as mistakes are always done by youngsters is what is inbuilt in Indian culture.
So here I was surrounded by around a 1000 people firing lectures, suggesting the lady to file a case against me and what not. One of the ladies had an theory to tell. She said “We were standing at the bus stop, but still we could not see you…That indicates how fast you were riding”. That kept me with my mouth open for about 5 mins thinking “Where was this lady when Einsteins and the newtons were fooling us with theories like laws of motion and distance and speed formulae. She is the only one who could challenge them and save us from studying those huge books during our school days”.
I was just praying to god asking him for his help and suddenly I heard a voice I was very used to, it were the RTO, I thought this was the last thing that can happen, how can god send a RTO to my help. I thought I am going to be in the lockup soon. But that wasn’t destined to be. They were here sent by god to speak in my favor and got the zebra’s from the zoo convincing the woman that it was her fault to cross the road without even checking where the zebra crossing was.
I was relieved and felt like I should wipe out all the pollution on RTO's face with a face wash. However controlled my emotions at the right time and zoomed out from the mess.
Moral of the story: Beware of ladies on roads they are always seen either falling or making someone fall. The only solution to avoid this growing hazard is travel by public transport.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Identity..
Was in discussion with one of my friends, when thought of writing about this post.
Identity, the exact dictionary meaning says "The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known"
However if we think about this for a while we understand that no person is definitively recognizable by his personal or social characteristics. So in other words we are recognised by different persons with the help of different set of social or personal characteristics. So I can say that we do not have single, but multiple Identities. Each person that we meet each day or the ones who know us identify us with a unique set of characteristics which are different from others identifying us.
So are we breaking the social ethics by acting in a different manner with each new person we meet? The answer is No....It is just that we have many different facets of our own and each facet comes out sharply with different percentages in different situations. So each person gets to know one or only a few of these facets depending on the situation by which he concludes that this particular person is "Fun loving" or some other person may say "He is very emotional" or may be "He is rude".
As a matter of fact we have all of these social identities in us with varying quantity. Depending on the situation we use a particular identity sharply or in a very noticeable way which makes the persons around us to believe that that is your identity.
It is conclusion time now. Why do i say all this above? I want to make a point that no person knows any other person perfectly, he/she knows only a few facets/identities in him. I would say a mother as well does not know her children well or a very close friend saying "I know you very well" is just dreaming.
Identity, the exact dictionary meaning says "The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known"
However if we think about this for a while we understand that no person is definitively recognizable by his personal or social characteristics. So in other words we are recognised by different persons with the help of different set of social or personal characteristics. So I can say that we do not have single, but multiple Identities. Each person that we meet each day or the ones who know us identify us with a unique set of characteristics which are different from others identifying us.
So are we breaking the social ethics by acting in a different manner with each new person we meet? The answer is No....It is just that we have many different facets of our own and each facet comes out sharply with different percentages in different situations. So each person gets to know one or only a few of these facets depending on the situation by which he concludes that this particular person is "Fun loving" or some other person may say "He is very emotional" or may be "He is rude".
As a matter of fact we have all of these social identities in us with varying quantity. Depending on the situation we use a particular identity sharply or in a very noticeable way which makes the persons around us to believe that that is your identity.
It is conclusion time now. Why do i say all this above? I want to make a point that no person knows any other person perfectly, he/she knows only a few facets/identities in him. I would say a mother as well does not know her children well or a very close friend saying "I know you very well" is just dreaming.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
My first one..
I have always thought myself to be a good writer and hence finally here I am to take up writing more as fun and to put in some serious thoughts of my own.
The advantage of blogging I like most is, nobody can stop you from writing what you want to in this space. It is your space.
So keep visiting this space lot of topics in mind to write about.
The advantage of blogging I like most is, nobody can stop you from writing what you want to in this space. It is your space.
So keep visiting this space lot of topics in mind to write about.
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