Celebrating Life

We walk a million miles,
We hum a million songs,
We connect...and we smile,
We observe...and we narrate,
We experience. and we rejoice,
THE CELEBRATION CALLED "LIFE"

May the journey continue..

Wish you a Happy and Cheerful New Year!

Aurangabad: Meet My Metro

Standing by the roadside, I was waiting for the traffic to slow down. Almost every latest big/ medium/ small segment had hit the road. Even the public transport has undergone a design upliftment…

Seems to me like an uncanny resemblance to a metro city.
With broad roads and busier people, the city wears a different look…

3 years back the concept of departmental stores was new here. Today Big Bazaar, Spencer and “More” are a craze. Having heard these names, atleast a dozen times from different people, I planned to make a visit to “More”. The idea was to do a bit of “Window shopping of the shoppers”.
Hats off to the perfect positioning strategy of the stores, even a week days pulls in enormous crowd.
Post the checking and frisking, the first thing I noticed were the heavily guarded escalators.
Escalators are new to Aurangabad.
2 domestic helps, strategically stationed at the head and foot of every escalator. They assist the anxiety-laden shoppers to mount and descend safely.

With footprints of a big city already making grounds, we see the resident’s adaptation to changes. At the same time, they manage to leave a beautiful local feel with at every stage.

If metros are popular for a BIG “NO PARKING” in front of multiplexes, Aurangabad joyfully erects mobile ferry rides and chaat stalls outside them. For those familiar with the term, it gives a typical Anand -Nagari feel.

FM Radio is another revolution. To suit the taste of the city audience, the Radio Jockeys generously host majority shows in Marathi. The buses/ auto rickshaws tuning the FM for popular numbers, has become a value added service for the commuters!

Well, for those wishing to hear, if anything at all remains unchanged in this city, for nostalgic purposes, gleefully I say “Yes”.

Maximum people (here) still call it a day, by 6.30 or max 7.00pm.
Post 9.30pm, the roads give a deserted look, where, even the sound of a barking dog, echoes.
Independent houses score over Multi- storeys, as it has been for so many years.
Local Newspapers continue to shout on top of their voice, when a bollywood celebrity visits the city.
“Lokmat Times” hasn’t changed its supplements or style. Saturday Sizzler, Sunday Montage, Campus Carol….all are the same with handful amendments, if carefully noticed.

And thanks to these unchanged treasures, that the city remains SPECIAL for a few!!!

Planned Sunday

When you are working 6 days a week, your definition of weekend changes. Looks like, Sunday is accidentally dropped in between 2 working days. By the time you decide and plan what to do, the eve of Monday is already waving at you.

Having cribbed about this phenomena, for quite sometime, I decided to handle it slightly better, this time.
Guess, all it takes is to have a pre-planned Sunday.
This is how my first trial went by….

I had a book to finish. Wanted to catch up with the media coverage on India Gandhi (31st Oct marked her Martyrdom). Experiment with Twirl was on agenda. Sorting out of brochures collected in a conference 2 weeks back was a long pending task.

Started off with my most favourite…the book!
The first half of the day was taken up by Stephen Hawkins “Theory of Everything. From Aristotle’s Principles to Friedman's Models, in almost half a day, it was like to travel to the space and back.
Now to catch up with the Indira Legacy, I had to wait for the channels to oblige. Meanwhile, experimented with Twirl, did the usual mail checking, social networking and some quick digital journey on my favourite subjects.
Sorting of brochures was still pending. But no issues, half a day more to go..

The best part of a planned Sunday, is that, even some unplanned musings manage to find their way without hampering the planned schedule. For instance, book shelves and apparel wardrobes need regular touch ups. This Sunday they got their dues. More than 150 pics, waiting to get uploaded on the standalone, smoothly managed to do that.
While these small wonders were getting done, it was almost evening.

CNN IBN, NDTV, DD News all three had their exclusive coverage. Must say, this time, Barkha Dutt scored over Sagarika Ghose. Yes, I m saying this, despite my favoritism towards the latter. Neelam Sharma was at her best, or probably, the national language in her show makes a difference. Nevertheless 3 channels, 3 shows on Indira Gandhi’s journey, a good treat to end a Sunday.

A Sunday, that was a bit too planned, a bit too well executed. Well….miracles happen!

@ 24

On the eve of my 24th Birthday, listing, 24 things I did, over the last one year that I m happy about:

1. Joined Twitter and heavily following Journos, anchors, authors and editors.
2. Travelled substantially. Goa, Mangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Singapore. The year marked my first visit abroad.
3. Participated in the Navi Mumbai Marathon. Cause: Race against terrorism
4. Revived my sketching skills, after a gap of 5 Years.
5. Won the confidence of some of the toughest peers at work. They now come out of the way to help in times of need or otherwise.
6. Exercised my right: both at Assembly and State elections. Thanks to all those who worked hard in getting my name listed. (My own contribution was restricted to actual voting)
7. Earnestly did some blog promotion, by getting my blogs listed on Blog Catalog, Indiblogger, and Blog Adda. Must say: it works.
8. Reduced my count of Belated Birthday wishes. Realized that mobile reminders are more reliable when it comes to remembering birthdays.
9. Started Vyo’s World of Appreciation: though it is yet to gain momentum
10. Increased the circulation list of my weekly shipping bulletin (“Canopus Eye”) from 43 to 135. The elevating moment was when it touched the 100 mark.
11. Didn’t miss on the opportunity to click a snap with former Indian Captain Mohd Azzaruddin at Oberoi’s Delhi
12. Complimented Chetan Bhagat on his latest book. Very surprisingly received a thanks mail from him.
13. Learnt to recite “Hanuman Chalisa” without referring to the book
14. Hit the Gym for 2 months. Didn’t get the expected results, yet the Feel Good Factor remains
15. Utilized the paid leave at the right time for the right purpose.
16. Made it a point to thank Rickshaw & Cab Drivers, every time I hired their service.
17. Experimented with Google Chrome when its Beta Version hit the market.
18. Watched “Mumbai Meri Jaan”: a movie that will perennially remain in my list of favorites.
19. Managed to graph a family tree inclusive of 4 generations, on My Heritage.
20. Attended the Sunday Evening Mass at Our Lady Church, Mangalore.
21. Didn’t miss the College Annual Gathering that most of them gave a miss.
22. Got the taste of “Allen Solly”. Brand Loyalty to continue.
23. Captured some wonderful Kodak moments, and treasured them with Picassa
24. Successfully jotted down the above 23 happy moments and still left with some unwritten ones.

Wish u a happy and prosperous Diwali :)

Untitled (Readers are free to suggest a title)

2.5 hours ahead they race
And to catch up with them, I got to chase
As with the South East markets, I pace,
To office, 7.30 in the morning, I grace.

Internationally, I m a part of the eastern buzz
Domestically I avoid the local rush
At Lunch hours, when their markets hush
That’s when, with full vigor, our markets brush

Spanning across 2 time zones
To a new regime, my body is thrown
With challenging targets, the mind is sown
To fodder the creative ideas grown.

The lengthy hours don’t seem to matter
With each passing day, the excitement greater
The dose of experience is injected deeper
That blows the balloon of confidence bigger.

Snippets from Singapore

23rd Aug 2009: 13 Carpenter Street was relatively calm. Standing by the window as I sip the hot coffee, a cool breeze pours in…it disturbs the elevating steam from the coffee mug…. I look down, there is an unusual quietness on the road…it is also quite unusual of me standing by the window and sipping the coffee.
This is my 3rd week in Singapore and it marvels me to know, that I don’t need the morning tea or coffee, to get off my bed laziness. My body clock has been faring extremely well, even without these caffeine doses.
Call it a change of place or the change of routine, but a break from monotony surely works.

My thoughts are interrupted by a telephone ring…..its Nishith, I know…
“Nishith”, with an “H”, “people generally have the habit of leaving it on “T”….his trademark punch line, something that I have heard a dozen times now.
He is my colleague from India, who has accompanied me to Singapore, and this call is to remind me of the city touring plan of the day. Its weekend time and we have some plans. …His intentions are to rest for the day, which means I accompany my Boss’s son to the Snow City, Science Centre and Singapore Flyer. So well and so good…got 1.5 hours in hand to get ready and reach Raffles Place MRT. …which means, this snippet ends here, the only thing that I can think of now, is,
“Does my store card, have sufficient value in it?”
There have been many such snippets and numerable thoughts that inspired me to write….but what didn’t help them develop into a complete blog post, was my lack of efforts and understanding of threading them together.

The other day, I was in the company of a Jordan native, an Indonesian Hotel mate, and an Indian Colleague, discussing an entirely new side of the island city. What started off in a lighter vein gradually headed towards a host of serious issues, bringing out an entirely dark side of the city. The issues were strong enough to drive each one of us participate in the discussion.
Looking back what surprises me, is the uniformity of thought that blossomed despite the geographical and cultural diversity of the participants.

Courtesy and Hospitality is something Singaporeans practice with ease. On the day of departure one gesture made a distinct impact on my return journey. I had hired a cab for Sin Changi Airport. Tucking in the luggage and after the final good byes as I got into the cab, the cab driver enquired:
“Maam, just checking, since u are heading to the airport, u got your passport and ticket with you?”
One simple gesture, a simple question showing his concern, made me feel escalated. Clark Quay to Sin Changi was 25 mins drive. Throughout the ride, I tried to feed my feelings with words.
The feel could not be the result of the driver’s gesture alone. His generous words of concern, just added flavour to the already simmering moments of thrill…the moments that were bringing me closer to my country, my family, my people…
As the cab moved forward, I could sense a part of Singapore receding behind….

Lots more to write, a lot more to share. Many snippets remain unstitched, and they all form a part of a different story, different experience in Singapore. The link is missing, for me to add them with the above.
Attempting my best, to enjoin the missing links and shape them into a concrete memoir.

Showers of Happiness

With puddles of water on the way,
Up the sky, the clouds are gray,
Ahead of you, a wet path lays
For, the showers of happiness are at play!

When colourful shelters shot up the air,
And people don the rainy wear,
On the way you walk with care
And feel the showers of happiness everywhere.

You sense a joy that makes you sing,
It makes you dance or makes you swing
A moist smell, the soil brings
Yes, showers of happiness are pouring in.

So its time, for the lakes to fill
And its time, when the winds go chill
Haven’t you thanked the Rain God still?
For, the showers of happiness are His will.