TENSION MOUNTS

I am surrounded by Tension today,
The wave of tension is there around me.
When I close my eyes I can feel it,
Why is it affecting me?
I want it to go away from me,
My head is getting heavier with its burden,
I want to reduce it, How will I remove it?
How can it be taken away from me?
When will my mind be free?
When will I fly like a bird?
When will I see a free world?
Away from tension
Away from all the sorrows and worries
Away from this world
I wanna fly high and reach a world
Which welcomes me the way I am?
Gives me a chance to fulfill my thoughts, my wishes
When will life take me there, I am waiting
Waiting for the right time, the right moment

TRIP TO KANPUR

My Trip to Kanpur was been planned a month in advance, I had booked the tickets online and was all set to go. The reason going to Kanpur was to meet my roommate from Pune, she was insisting me to visit, but I never knew if I could make it to Kanpur. I was not sure till I got a leave from my TL a day before; I was very excited and packed my bags. The morning I had to board the train from dadar, I went in time to the station and was waiting for the train to arrive. For my bad luck the train didn’t stop at that station and passed in front of me, I was shocked, it was like I had made a fool of myself, then I went to cancel the tickets, to my luck I got the ticket for the next day and then again I was happy I could go and meet my friend. The next day I arrived at CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and boarded the train. The journey started and I quite enjoyed it, we were passing through different stations and excited to visit North India, as after Delhi which I had visited years before this was my second trip to North.

My train reached Kanpur an hour late, my friend and her father were waiting to pick me up, I was very happy to see them, after my journey alone. I had taken books, cd’s to pass my time in the train and they did help. The Kanpur station was very huge. When we went out the station, the Kanpur Station building looked good, it was typical kanpuri style. Then we took an auto, the autos over here had different colors then we see in Mumbai, they were cycle rickshaws all around the place. I was very excited to see all of these things around, Kanpur city looked a bit dusty and much unplanned, as compared to the places in western India. I reached my friends house her mom was happy to see me; I was meeting them for the second time previously had met them at Ambernath in Mumbai at her brother’s engagement. My friend stays at the Ordinance Factory quarters, her house was huge. I just loved it, was surrounded my huge gardens from both the sides and had huge verandahs inside the house. The house was beautiful which was built during the British rule. Then her mom had made breakfast. After that we had lunch, for lunch her mom cooked typical north Indian food like alu kobi ki sabzi in sarso ka tel, dal, garam rotis, kheer. The food was yummy. Then my friend had booked tickets for Dhoom 2 at Rave one of the malls in Kanpur. We went by rickshaw to the movie, I liked traveling on the rickshaw was fun. We crossed through Moti zheel, Lala Lajpat Rai statue, then Rajeev Udyan, etc.

The next day we had to go shopping to Gumti. We left in the afternoon at around 4pm. The Gumti market was like all other markets, filled with people for shopping. In Kanpur the market areas are mostly owned the Sikhs and Punjabi’s. I bought chappals, sandal, then a purse and a dress material. I liked the shopping there, the rates also were quite reasonable. The stuff I bought was very much Kanpur style, except for my purse. I wanted to buy a lot many things but then, I had just one bag to stuff all the things. After the shopping we went to JK temple, it is a huge temple filled with marble carving. I could not take any snaps there was not allowed, we sat there for sometime and camelback my rickshaw. The weather was very chilly and was enjoying the ride.

Then the third and last day, we had our breakfast and morning itself went out to see some market places. We went to Lalit market, this place was good to shop for leather, then electronic stuff, as I was not interested in any of this we had some snacks at Treat and left to go to Govind nagar. This was another market place there; we took the 6 seater rickshaw to get there. The govind nagar market was again having a lot of Sikhs. I shopped for a sari for my mom there and I liked the market there. I think Kanpur is good to shop; I would surely like to go there some other time. Then we came back and had lunch, slept for sometime. Then in the evening I had to leave, so started preparing for that. I finished all my packing and feeling bad to go, but I had to, the days went very fast. My friend’s mom gave me some dahi vadas and kachori to eat during my travel. On the way back the journey was very boring coz now I wanted to reach back to Mumbai. I reached home late at night with a good memory of my trip to Kanpur.

Trek to Lohagad Fort

Lohagad…this was one fort I always wanted to visit, as I had heard of its scenic beauty and also seen some photographs of this place. I was called for this trek by one of the organizers from the previous trek, as I had enjoyed the last trek I was very keen to go for this trek. This was an overnite trek and obviously my very first overnight trek and second trek in my life. I prepared to go, this time I never asked any of my friends, as last time no one had come, so I decided to go alone.

Day 1:
On Saturday 18th November’06 I met the trekking group at Dadar; we were 35 of us, in which 26 were boys and 9 girls. It was nice to see many of the people from my last trek also there, they were also happy to see me. We started at 5.00pm and reached a village named Bhaje at 7.30 pm, which is the base village and from there we began our trek. We started our trek at around 7.45pm and with the help of torches started climbing the mountains. The weather was pleasant and also all of us were very excited to reach on top. This was a 7kms stretch; we reached at the village Lohagaon at 10.15pm which is at the foothills of the Lohagad Fort. We all were extremely exhausted climbing this stretch, needed food badly. Our organizers had arranged for food and we were served with delicious marathi food with bakhri, pitla, patal rasa, etc. I was extremely relived as I did not eat from afternoon. Then the journey had still to go, we had to reach our ultimate destination. We left at 11.30pm and started to trek for the fort, this route was very difficult as the stairs we climbed were too big, to lift and climb was getting difficult, but somehow we were managing. The air was getting chilly, as we went high. Finally at about 00.15 am we reached the Maha darwaza of this fort. All of us gathered at the entrance waiting for the other members to arrive. Then we went higher up to the place where we had to do some star gazing, they had organized some people to show us the stars in the sky, also there was a telescope to show us the stars & galaxies. The sky was looking very beautiful the stars were so close to us, when we are 3400feet high. It was extremely cold there, so some of us decided to go to sleep, we slept in the laxmi kothi caves. The others were enjoying the camp fire outside. I got a good sleep after the hectic day walking.

Day 2:

On Sunday 20th November’06 I woke up at 7.30am, then went out took some pictures of the sun rise, which falls exactly in front of the laxmi kothi. Then we had our breakfast, after that we set out to see the vinchu kata (Scorpio’s tail) this was a beautiful spot to see, then from there saw a few more spots around the fort. In the afternoon we went down at the lohagaon village, had delicious lunch again from the same marathi hotel. In the afternoon after lunch we set out to walk down, the climate was hot, but pleasant. We left at 2.45pm and reached down at the bhaje village at 4.00pm. On the way back we saw how beautiful the fort looked and also the other fort which is Visapur, just opposite to lohagad. It has some nice caves too, but we were too exhausted to walk there, so would keep it for the next time. After that at around 4.30 we left to see the Manshet river, the Pawana dam. This was a wonderful place, extremely beautiful view. We sat there for sometime and set back to come to Mumbai. The trek was a really a good experience and this time I was not tired or hated to walk ( :)

CHILDREN's DAY

It was Children's day yesterday on 14th November 2006; this day is celebrated every year in India. It’s been celebrated on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday the first Prime Minister of India. I remember when I was in school I used to be very excited about children’ day, the reasons being many like it was a celebration day at school, then we got chocolates and also wore civil dress to celebrate. Our teachers performed for children on this day at school. It used to be very exciting to see your teachers perform. This was celebrated till I was in my Xth Std. Then I entered college, suddenly no more children's day, as now we were grown ups. But still even though our age keeps growing, but the child in us never goes. Atleast the child in me is very much alive, I just wonder it’s been 10 years now since I last celebrated Children’s Day, but still I feel like celebrating this special day. Sometimes it feels really bad as why did I grow up to face all this kind of life today, I should have remained a child. But yes life has to go on, but do not kill the child within you, keep it alive. It is the best experience in one’s life.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

I am on a Mission now…..I don’t know if its possible…..but I have started working hard on it…..hope it’s a success soon…..this mission is gonna take a longtime…..so I am a bit scared to how will I achieve success in this shortime…..Its cool to take challenges in life but to accomplish them and get a successful result is really difficult…maybe that’s why people take up challenges…..

My mission I have not mentioned here…because it’s strange and weird as my thinking is…..right now I just need to focus….My mission will be only revealed when time comes and it is accomplished… Hope that time goes soon and my mission is reaching the success it was destined to achieve……..its not like a mission that Tom Cruise achieved in Mission Impossible…..but for me my mission is nothing less compared to the tasks and efforts it would involve……

If this Mission Impossible is achieved, I will also go for a MI 2 & MI 3….:)

So best wishes to me for this Mission Impossible to make it Possible…….

Peace at Last

In the last few days, I was not very happy at the place I am staying now, so I decided to shift, even though I had recently renewed the contract of the house I stay now, but still I wanted to shift. I realized I was not getting enough space and peace for myself at the place I stayed. The idea to return home was painful to me eachday. So I was to see some other place for me, luckily for my relief my sister’s brother-in-laws place at Mumbai was vacant and I got a permission to stay there at his flat. I was overjoyed with this coz this place was also close to my office and I would get to live an independent life. I always was fascinated with idea of staying independent. My mom also came in, we got all the stuff necessary for me to shift in my new apartment. I finally got a TV, Fridge, some furniture, then some other stuff and now yes need to get a bean bag which I am looking forward to…I will have a party at my place next month when I set up properly at my new place. I very well know, that I will find my peace there at last.

Trek to Fort Peb

Trek – this sounds a lill odd to me…especially for people those who know me….. I am adventurous but also very lazy to walk….but this time I had decided would finally go for a trek…I never knew how it would be…but was quite excited….I gathered two of my friends also to join me…but unfortunately they could not make it to the trek….I was left alone…I was thinking now to go or not to go…..but then I decided I should….the trek was on Sunday 17th September’06…..I had called the trekking member through orkut and confirmed about me coming….I did all the shopping required for the trek and was set off to go…..

Sunday morning I woke up early at 5.30am then reached Dadar at 6.40 am….was supposed to meet the trekking group at a temple near Dadar station…..I saw a few people waiting near the temple….. all of them seemed quite young to me…..but then it was a trek…….we were going to a place near Matheran named as Fort Peb…..it was 2hrs from Mumbai…..all of us gathered and left Mumbai at around 7am….in the bus the trekker organizers told us a few details regards the trek and also distributed breakfast and lunch to be carried….I would say I liked the way it was organized…..we were around 30 of us…..25 guys and 5girls……

We reached the place to trek…….there were a few mountains around and that we had to climb…around 3-4 of them to reach the Fort Peb…it was one of the forts of Shivaji Maharaj…..when I saw the location it looked good…..but I never knew how to go about…we started climbing the 1st mountain…..I started getting tired there itself……when we reached almost the tip to continue….I also had a sprain on my leg…..then we started the 2nd mountain…..this route a bit tough...it was very narrow and steep…..we were walking though that now… also I was feeling like why the hell did I come…..coz walking was taking out a toll on me…..then we reached the 3rd mountain…..this was another adventure….it was completely filled with stones and it was also very steep and slippery….when I was climbing through that…. my shoes slowly started coming off and in no time…..I was off my shoes, as they had completely torn and come off….now trekkers with me were a bit tensed…I then started walking with my my socks…..first of all I was cursing for walking now I had to walk with socks…..oh what luck …..I was a bit disgusted but still the trek had to completed……then we reached at a point where we needed to climb on a rock and reach the next mountain…..there the trekking members helped us climb it…..I also got another pair of socks which a girl lend to me……thankfully they were of help……to climb and reach at one of our destination where we halted for lunch……it was a cave of Akalkot Swami……it was at a good height……the place was simply beautiful…..we still needed to climb higher after the break to reach Fort Peb…..then it started raining……so I decided to stay back…..when half of them left to go on top….I stayed down…I really wanted to go…as I had come so far…but as I had no shoes….I stayed back…coz I was not confident enough to climb on a slippery way…….

Then now was the way to go back……I was very happy we were to go down….but it was raining…..this time I had borrowed slippers/chappals from the local guide of that place who was with us…..he was given kito’s by one guy who had extra……I was now with a big challenge to come down of all the rocks, stones, mud through with the chappals…..I could not wear socks as it was not possible at all with the rain…..we started walking now….I was somehow confidently crossing the slippery areas…my track pants has become dirty like anything….to top all this it got dark…we still had more then an hour to go……there were 2-3 of them who had slipped while coming down….not major hurt but yes…..they slightly hurt…..I didn’t want to slip coz first of all I was in slippers and hated walking……slowly slowly we were going ahead with the torches we had……I had a torch in my cell used that to come down…it was even more difficult while coming down…as it was raining and also the route was tricky….but I had good confidence in the trekking group that I would reach me down safely…….we finally reached down through the rivers, rocks and mountains……finally we could see our bus at a distance….I was happy….that yes I could make it with no accidents or injury with my 1st trek in socks and chappals……..

I believe now after this experience I would like to go trekking again with the same group…..its called Jungle Lore…..it was quite a adventure I must say…….but for my good luck…I was saved by litchis, snakes…..or any other thing in the jungle…….so to wind it up it was a good trek……:)

Renewal of the 11monthts ------- ‘Lease and Let Agreement’

October 1st, 2005 was the day we shifted to the place where I stay in Andheri east now on the 6th Floor same building where we stayed on the ground floor prior to this one, we were three roommates, we got to know eachother when we used to stay in cot sharing basis in the same apartment on the ground floor. We were lucky enough to get the 2nd flat in the same building because the society also was good and the location very close to the station. Also we got the same facilities from this new owner as our previous one, with an added advantage of more privacy then the ground floor. All of us were very excited to stay in this new place and then we shifted.

Our new owner wanted us to legally sign a ‘Lease and Let agreement’ which was valid for 11 months. So as a new family we shifted on the 6th floor. We kept a new maid and also a cook. Life was going fine, we ordered things together and all are bills like electricity, grocery, gas, etc used to be paid in time. Also we were happy with the set up. On the 6th Floor the view was good, we had fresh air to breath and everything was just perfect. But as they say all good things don’t last long, we started having our childish fights and arguments. As 6months passed all are bills started pending, never the things came in time. Everybody wanted to enjoy their own luxury and comfort. None wanted to take a pain in getting the things in order. Slowly the cooking bai funda also was finished, like 2 of us quit the food coz of different reasons. Actually the main reasons being, the daily fights on who’s going to get what and stuff like that. Even the bai’s were suffering badly in this chaos. Everything was a mess, just like the way we had suffered in the ground floor flat where 6 girls were there to create a chaos, here we were just 3of us to create it. Ultimately due to no co-operation and co-ordination which is a management funda. As one of the girls was the main culprit who was creating all the fights and problem, the other 2decided to quit from this place and search for a place where we could stay alone by ourselves. But to our bad luck the places in Mumbai had become very expensive and were crossing our budget. Also it was not easy to quit to such a good place, in an affordable setup so we finally decided to stay back and face the consequences. But this time in unity, we won’t let the other girl rule us like the British’s policy of Divide and Rule as she did. What is the most important here is UNITY, CO-OPERATION & CO-ORDINATION.

So today again the 3of us along with the Owner completed the same legal formality of 11months ‘Lease and Let agreement’. This time it was a renewal of the contract at the Bandra court. We all reached there, but this time in the 3of us we had 2 teams. The ratio was 2:1.Ofcourse I come in the stronger force. The condition of the flat is worsening day after day. But still we leave our house each day with a smile on our faces and go to work as everything is normal. Actually staying outside like this away from parents, teaches us a very unique lesson about life. The need is to find a solution to this problem and stay happy. It’s now another 11months to GO.

Ganesha Festival

I remember since my childhood days I used to be very excited about Ganesh festival…I used go to my ancestral house…as we were a joint family we had a tradition of getting our ganpati in common….so I remember mom got me a new dress and then I used to take a bag of crackers along with me and burstest them along with my cousins....it used to be fun…we all cousins meet, burst crackers, played and then in the afternoon ganpati aarti and come back home…every year I used to be the first one to get ready and accompany my dad to my ancestral house…. my family ganesha is there just for 1.5days....then as I grew up the crackers thing was over…I used to go chat with my cousins and come back….but still the excitement of the festival never went…

Now as I am staying outside for my job, at mumbai from past 2years I have not been able to go home for ganesha….so for both these years I celebrate it here in mumbai at my relatives place….

The first thing which comes to my mind about ganpati festival are the Modak’s…we have different types of modaks…in marathi we make the modaks of rice and the stuffing of gudd and coconut…it’s a very tasty sweet and made only during the ganesha festival….the modaks have a unique shape…..we get even pedhas from sweet shops in the shape of modaks…..so I was lucky enough to eat them both the years at my relatives place…..so I didn’t miss on them.

I also visited a few of my aunts friends houses on the ganpati day…it is a fun festival with sweets, good food, new clothes and lots of crackers…..also the ganesha is celebrated by individuals, families and particular area people coming together. It’s also very colorful when ganesha is taken for immersion. The immersion accordingly to ritual can be done…after 1.5days, 5days, 7 days and 11days……so the festival is alive all these days….people go around to see different ganpati’s all over the place and enjoy themselves….every ganpati pendal is decorated with a lot of efforts from the people in that area….Ganesha is a festival where all the people come together and celebrate it at the best and there is wait by everyone saying…”Ganpati Bappa Morya….fudchya varshi lavkar ya”

BREAK UP

Break Up – To begin with I am referring this term to a break up in a romantic relation. I recently watched this movie Break-up starring Vince Vaughn & Jennifer Anniston. I never really intended to watch the movie but as my friend called me to, we went to one movie hall at malad west. Even though the movie hall was a bit old fashioned and out dated but anyways it was playing the movie, the sound was a problem coz in between we could not hear the dialogues clearly but still the movies went on for around 1.45 hrs.

I and my friend settled ourselves for the movie with some hot corn and pop corn. The movie started typically showing some romantic scenes of the couple which is into a live-in relation and later they face a lot of differences between eachother, even thought they love eachother, its hard for themselves to accommodate together, finally the outcome is Break-up. They just decide they can’t live together any further.

But are break ups easy.

Like the movie Chalte Chalte…where again Rani and Shahrukh get married. They are madly in love but then they have differences in this relation. The title song in the movie Chalte Chalte is simply amazing. It goes something like this “Pyar humko bhi hai pyar tumko bhi hai, toh yeah kya silsile ho gaye….bewafa tum nahi bewafa hum nahi toh yeah kya faasle ho gaye…..chalte chalte kaise yeah faasle ho gaye…kya patha kaha hum chale” These lines mean so much its like we love eachother but why cant we accept eachother and accommodate ourselves with the likes and dislikes of the other person. Why does it get so difficult sometimes for two individuals to compromise some things in life? Is it the Ego, the Attitude one wants to show to prove one’s superiority over the relationship, what are we getting in return loosing the person we actually have loved.

But yes maybe sometimes you have really chosen someone wrong in your life, maybe this person never seemed to have understood you. I always felt that if we love someone, even if that person hurts us, he or she loves us, but if that hurting process is infinite, its always hurting you now and then, then maybe its not love. If someone loves you they can’t hurt us often and keep us unhappy

Sometimes there must be a break up if the relationship is only heading to hurting eachother, the change is required. Its ofcourse difficult to go through the breakup pain, but then life goes on. Maybe you would become a better person who knows. So if things aren’t working just leave them and go on. Maybe something better would work out, then dragging oneself into an ended relationship.

SUNDAY FREAKOUT

It was weekend and as usual I was planning ways to pass it…..on Saturday I did nothing much….just went out saw a few houses at malad and then in the evening went out with my friend rajeshree....we went out partied and came back late……but I don’t know on Sunday I woke up very early, compared to another Sunday…..so then I decided to get my laptop repaired….but the shop was closed….so I went to my atya’s house…..she stays close by to my place……I went there at around 11.00am…..to my surprise another cousin also of mine was there……she had dropped in from Mangalore….she is quite elder to me…..so I was not very happy to see her……my atya had made poha….we had the delicious poha and tea……after that just was watching tv….Rang de Basanti was playing…..it was a amazing movie…..after sometime was lunchtime…..I was getting bored to eat at atya’s place as they are doing shravan…were they don’t eat non-veg….so I asked my cousin asmita to come out for lunch, she’s my atya’s daughther just started 1st year college…..she agreed to come out with me…..we decided to go to Pizza Hut…..

We left on my scooty…to chakala…..but I didn’t feel like eating there…so I decided to take her to Hiranandani Pizza hut……as I had not been to that place since longtime…..which earlier used to be my frequent freak out…..as it was noon time…there was not much of traffic and the weather also was pleasant….we had a nice ride…..as I was crossing powai…I don’t know but I was feeling very happy…as I am coming back someplace very dear to my heart……we reached Hirnandani Pizza Hut….had mast spicy chicken pizza, cheese garlic bread and cola…..then after that….I told my cousin I will take her around the place…..first we crossed by Hiranandani gardens…..then galleria…it was a amazing place to hang out…..then we crossed through Aura…..its a cool place too…..then from there…..we passed by DMart….I used to shop a lot of chocolates there…..then from there was the Go-carting place…..its a nice place to view Hiranandani…then from there this amazing building……Fairmont…..but I could not go on top there….as now they have increased the security there……after that we took a turn where there is this joggers park coming up…..from there is a small fountain like place……I showed my cousin the widest building in HN…..then from there we crossed by the reliance web world where you get nice coffee….after that we crossed by HN school…where again it’s a nice place to walk…..after the two restaurants…..Utsav and China valley and finally passing by Café Coffee day….ended the journey of HN……from there way back we passed through powai lake…saw hotel renaissance from there…which is nice view…..it was so nice to be back there…..it was a place where lot of my memories are attached…….

Then finally after this ride we went back to Vile Parle……then my cousin’s birthday gift was pending….so I took her shopping….after that went back to my atya’s house…..then had a cup of tea….as usually my atya’s house there were some guest for the evening tea….after that….my atya had to go to Hutch Shop….so took her there….and also to some other places where she had some work…..finally came to her place…had dinner…..and came back to my flat…..overall I had a nice day……where many things started off quite unexpected……

Marriages????

The first thing when I think of the term “marriage” is that are marriages made in heaven as they say and also that someone, somewhere, someplace is made for all of us......we just need to wait for that someone to come into our lives…..even I am waiting for that special someone….I think the toughest decision in anybody’s life is to select a life partner because we need to live our entire life with this person and once we decide on this there is no looking back….its harder then anything else and only 50% of the decision is in our hands and the rest 50% on the person we are planning to get married to…its harder then any exams we give coz in that atleast we get the marks we actually deserve and examinations are very predictable…but marriages are very unpredictable we really don’t know where with whom we would end up with…..its not necessary that we get married to that one person we would be happy all are lives……there are both sides for this also the good and bad side…..but this marriage stuff is very difficult…..many people take a very quick decision on this and some take a long time to decide….but whatever be our outlook its always one sided and the other side together can only get to one unanimous decision…..so marriages are actually depended on fate and destiny…..we just need to wait for the right time to come…..

DECISION...

Decision has to be taken by each person one day or the other, some people start taking decisions at an early age and some a little later, but all of us have to make decisions no matter what. Decision is nothing but to make a choice. Like one kid was asked to take a decision at the age of 10 whether he wanted to continue in Hindi medium school or switch to English medium. I was pretty shocked to know that, but yes the kid took a decision to switch to English medium and was also successful in this decision. So I believe to take a decision is not confined to anybody’s age, it’s the maturity level which is counted. Some people can never take any decision, also if they take a decision they cannot stick to it, then its not a strong decision, it’s a weak decision, any decision to be taken must be a strong decision, this again relates to the personality of a person, whether he is totally sane to take a decision or is insane. Like today I need to take a decision whether I have to marry or not, I am still confused with what kind of a guy, is a decision which is important, but still I am not finding the right answer to what kind of a person can really keep me happy. But I very well know that once I make up my mind strong then only I can stick to any decision I have made, and would reflect my maturity. Another thing is any decision we take we need to strongly stick to it and be firm, then it would have value and we will get a focus in going further, so the ultimate thing is there must be control over our own mind and everything’s there in the mind!!!

Please Leave Me Alone….

The World is so huge, filled with millions of people around us and yet I want to be left alone…..recently I felt that ….I am tired of helping people and living my life for others and I want to live my own life and I want to be left alone…..I didn’t understand that first but now even I feel that taking anyone’s responsibility is not easy…….when someone is depended on us and then we need to be responsible for that person then life gets very difficult, first of all you have your own worries then added on that we have others worries added to our own…..so life gets all the more difficult……so the best part is that…just move out of all these tensions….these added responsibilities……don’t give anyone a chance to be so much depended on you that you need to carry the burden of their responsibilities also on your head…..I believe happy are those people who live for themselves primarily and then look at others……Its like if you feel like helping someone, without that person asking you for help then its not a burden or responsibility…in such a way you feel happy to help someone and also feel satisfied with what you are doing…..or else you need to run away from this world if you are already burdened with a million responsibilities…there are a very few people who would selflessly take up others responsibility on there head and be happy…..so the main funda here is Leave me Alone and let me be…..

One Beautiful Moment

This is one of my recent experience I had......I left to go to my hometown Belgaum.....I had to take a flight from Mumbai to Belgaum...it got cancelled and then I had to go home....my mom wanted to see me...she was not keeping to well and so then I decided to take a flight from Mumbai to Goa.....and then my journey began.....it was at 1.00 pm...the flight reached goa till 2.30pm......it was delayed due to some technical reasons.....then I took a pre-paid taxi to Panjim and rushed to the local Bus stop where I would get buses to reach Belgaum.....I had enquired from many of my friends how fast can I reach belgaum from Goa.....but there was no easy way out.....I had to spare around 4-5 hrs.....I decided to take the Chorla Ghat.....the conductor said the bus would take 5hrs to reach belgaum.....i was not very happy but.....I had to reach home......the bus left at sharp 3.30 pm......luckily the climate in Goa was good....coz it was raining....my bus journey started......and as it was a Govt bus......it stopped everywhere as it could.....it was moving at a moderate speed...then we left goa and started the Chorla Ghat.......its a very long ghat for around 1.5hrs....and it was beautiful.......it was surrounded by forests and as it was raining...it was green and every 2 feet there were small and big water falls........looking at that beautiful scenary I just forgot all my tensions and was amazed and happy........I was wondering how can things be so naturally beautiful.....they say we need to go to heaven to see the beauty......but for me this was like heaven........I didn’t realize how my time was going.......in between the bus stopped for tea at a small hotel......it was between the forests and the climate was so good.......I went there and ordered for coffee and had one wada pav and kanda bhaji...it was too awesome to eat that stuff there........slowly my destination was nearing......I was also eagerly waiting to reach home........but still hoping that I stay in this beautiful place forever.......I reached belgaum in the evening at 8.30sharp....my brother came to pick me up and then I went home.......my mother was relieved to see me and then I was happy to be home.......and also had a great journey back home.......

How’s it like being Rich???

Since my childhood I have always thought of the idea of being rich, maybe deep within me I felt that I must be rich. The reasons being many like I have always wanted a car to come to pick me and drop me to school, then also to any place I used to go and I always wanted to be a stylo person in my friends.I always wanted to stay in a huge bunglow with lots of servants and every possible luxury available. As far as my background is concerned I belonged to a very rich family but due to some family conflicts I could not get that luxury which I would have otherwise got, so maybe I thought that I was missing on something which I would have actually deserved. But the real sense is you always get what you deserve and what the fate and destiny offer to you. But the bottom line is that I always wanted to be rich.

I used to wonder how people earn so much and also spend it on different kind of luxuries I never had that enough money where I could plan to visit some place and stay in a 5star hotel and go around in a luxury car. It’s not like I am not happy with the way I am, but I feel that everyone feels the same where the richness part is concerned, everybody needs money, class and style. But still they don’t really open up and say this, coz they feel they can never get that lifestyle and they live the way they are, without really complaining in open. But yes they want to be rich and enjoy the exotic pleasures in life. Actually there is no set target of richness, it ends no where, it’s just a class to infinity, nobody can ever be happy. I know I am as such rich to a person who does not even have things which I have and feels I am rich and in turn some other person feels the same of that person and this cycle of richness keeps going round and round.

So actually most of the human beings are not happy with what they have and those who say they are now happy and content are just running from this fact to accept that they are not really all that happy. But I honestly feel that they are very few people who are really happy with what they are and don’t complain about anything. So this cycle of richness is just like something which has no limits and crosses a mark to infinity.

MUMBAI's Serial Bomb Blasts

Hello,

Wat can one say about these blasts, they where the heights of being inhuman....the no was 8 blasts in 10 mins and also the targets where 1st class compartments where the educated class of the city travels each day and yes not to forget the timing of the blasts was at the peak of rail traffic...I am not saying that the 2nd class passengers where to be targeted but the blasts was planned in such a manner that even the educated population of the country was affected badly....this has been very cruel and insane on the part of people who where involved in this, the media says this is a part of Mumbai and happens very often but I feel, why cant they say such things are to be stopped then giving details on how many times has this occurred...Our country government must be more cautious to prevent such things from happening which is the only thing I could say regards this blasts....

Last Evening...

Yesterday was a Sunday…I got up late around 12.00 in the afternoon…..then was just doing some timepass…then had tea…after sometime had lunch…after that I went to office around 4.30pm to finish up with some work I had…..not official though….kind of personal….I had to check some mails….do some chatting and also make some calls……as I came to office on Sunday there were just 3 people who were there in the office….I just sat and did my work till 7.00pm….then I left……
I was on the way to home….I had just started from office when my bike stopped…..I checked and the petrol was over……I was very bugged with my mechanic……I had given my bike for repair the day before and maybe he had taken off all the petrol…..I was a bit pissed off….coz then I had to involve myself in unnecessary work….u can say double kaam…..then I took an rickshaw till the petrol pump…I didn’t even have enough money so…first I went to the ATM…withdrew some cash……then I finally reached the petrol pump…I didn’t have a bottle to fill petrol…..I bought a bisleri…empted the bottle and then filled petrol……I asked the same rickshaw wala to take me back from the place he has picked me up….he took a turn and entered in some lane…I had never seen that place…I thought that must be some shortcut…so I sat patiently in the rickshaw…..he had a audio deck in the rickshaw so he played some songs when I asked him to…as usual they were some Himesh Reshammiya numbers…they are quite popular these days with everyone….I was just listening to them…..then we were crossing from that lane…it was very neat place and had small bungalows…it is very unlikely in Mumbai to find bungalows….I was amused to see them in the middle of goregoan where I was….then the rickshaw entered a small narrow lane…u can say as a galli….it was a very narrow road….it had shops on both sides and people walking on these roads….the road was as narrow as only one rickshaw and one bike can fill in that road tightly…then I just was noticing things around when I was crossing from there…..both the sides were small shops….this place belonged to the poor class in the city….the shops in that place could reflect that ….u could see grocery shops….with the price tags on rice like Rs16, Rs 16.50 per kilo…then also I saw some barber shops….then u had one small printing press there…..I also saw one very tiny sari shop…..one lady sitting and buying her selection….where the shop keeper was showing her saris from a bag he had….this was all amusing to see…..I had never seen this part of the city….as it was a Sunday…maybe was a shopping day for the people….there was lot of crowd on the road….my rickshaw was going slow…so I could notice all this…then again it took a turn from that galli…there came another galli which had roads a little bigger then the ones I had crossed…but this also was part of that…but here u had slightly bigger shops…again u had a grocery shop…barber shop and also some gold silver jewelers shops….also I noticed in this place was a lot many temples where there…like I saw a ganesh temple, then a datta temple….and also a shiva temple….maybe these people are very religious….then finally the rickshaw wala took a turn and we came on to the main road….we crossed the signal and were coming closer to the place I had parked my bike….then I looked around and saw one side were huge apartments and the other side were big showrooms of furniture for middle and higher class also rich class people…..this was just on the backside of those gallis I traveled…..it was such a contrast…on one side you had a total different world and on the other side again a total different world this is what is actual Mumbai…everyone has space to live here…just differs on the class you belong to in the society….so then I finally reached back to my bike and filled petrol and left…..with all these new experiences I had learned in a short time….

Film Festival

It was a Saturday another weekend had started. But this Saturday was a special one for me because I was looking forward to it. There was a Film Festival which was organized as a tribute to Renu Saluja. She was a film editor who had achieved tremendous success across the globe and had shown a different direction to Indian cinemas. The film festival was being organized by GRAFTII (Graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India) at Fun Cinemas. I had received a mail of the event almost a week in advance. So I booked the tickets in advance and didn’t want to take a risk to miss out on these movies. The kind of movies to be shown were mostly the art film types of which you normally do not get a cd or something so that you can watch them anytime. Many people around me feel very shocked as to how can one watch art films they are so boring. But I don’t know why, I love and enjoy watching them. The film fest was to start from Thursday evening, but as I had office I could not attend on Thursday or Friday. So I had decided to watch on Saturday where I had an weekly off.

On Saturday the date was 17th June 2006 I got ready and reached the theatre around 9.30 a.m. I went early coz I had made a tele booking and had to collect the tickets one hour in advance. I reached in time but the counter opened only at 10.00 a.m. Then the first movie “Dharavi” started at 10.30 a.m. The movie was simply brilliant, it started Om Puri and Shabana Azmi. The story of the movie was based on people living at Dharavi, which is the largest slum area in the whole of Asia and is in Mumbai. This movie was been shot in the year 1992 and after the movie was over the director of the film was present there Sudhir Mishra. Tom Alter he is a very old film actor he was hosting the show. He called upon Sudhir Mishra to share his experiences in making the film, when he spoke about the film, it showed the amount of enthusiasm this man had and the kind of depth he had which could reflect in the characters of the movie. It was very nice for me to see all this as I had not expected anything of such sort. I was very amused to be there. I was eagerly waiting for the next movie to start.

Sudhir Mishra again, he was associated with the second movie of the day. He had assisted the director of the movie Saeed Mirza. He again shared his wonderful experience related with this movie “Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho” which was released in the year 1984. This was a story of a senior citizen or an old man who files a case against his landlord for his building repairs. This movie also had a very nice feel to it, the way it was directed. The movie showed a wonderful chemistry between the old couple and his children who support him in fighting the court case against his landlord. It had a lot of comedy coupled wtih emotion. Overall I think the movie was amazing.

Then after the two movies it was almost 3.30p.m now there was a short lunch break. I went out for some snacks at the food court which was in the cinema hall. I was not at all bored or even tired. I finished up eating my snack and was looking forward for the next movie to begin.

After the lunch break was the most awaited movie of the day at 4.00pm which was “Bandit Queen”. This was a movie directed by Shekar Kapur who is an internationally recognized director. Bandit Queen this movie was based on the true story of a bandit named Phoolan Devi. It was hard to believe kind of a story, no one can ever relate that such a tragedy can happen with anybody. Also the way the movie was made was incomparable. The performances also were outstanding, overall this movie was a remarkable making by the director. The film fest had the largest no of audience present for the screening of Bandit Queen. The audience was typically from the film fraternity, so I guess I was a bit different, but yet was very much with the crowd.

Then was the time for the final movie of the day “Ardh Satya”. It started at around 7.10p.m but before the screening again Tom Alter came on the stage and announced for the director of the movie Govind Nihalani to come over and say a few words. He talked about the movie and shared his experience. This movie was released in the year 1983 that was way to back. But then when I watched the movie I felt nothing has changed here everything is still the same where the Indian corruption and politics is concerned. This movie had notable actors like Om Puri, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri. The movie was based on a story of a police officer based at Mumbai (earlier Bombay). The story focused on the way this cop performs his duties and what is the balance he had to achieve while performing his duties. It showed everything around him was a half truth and he either needed to live with it or die with it.

Finally, after watching the four movies I had to return home now. I was still feeling they could have screened a couple more. But the whole day was simply fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of the time I spent watching the movies, hope to get a chance soon to visit some more film fests.

FOOTBALL WORLD CUP

The FIFA World Cup has started on 9th June 2006. It’s played once in every four years. There are 32 countries participating in it. This year the Football World Cup is hosted by Germany. I personally do not know much about Football but looking at the enthusiasm around, I also feel like knowing more about it. I did watch a couple of matches and to say honestly they were simply amazing. Now I know why everyone around is crazy about this game. There is Football fewer everywhere, it’s a bit strange coz India our own country is not there to play, but the amount of zeal this game carries is simply tremendous. I have been in Mumbai for the first time when I got to see the way every person wants to add to this game. Across the city there is something happening to celebrate and enjoy this event. I go to any malls or restaurants I see the flags of countries participating in football hanging around. Then there are televisions playing and also large LCD players for people to enjoy and not to miss out on this game. Its fun to see all this happening, where you are not at all aware of this game but still its in your mind and around you, its there everywhere.

In my office also they are not left behind to enjoy the World Cup. My office website has the logo of football to remind us of it anytime we open our home page. Then the best part is at the entrance we have a football net and there is a board displaying the matches which are to be played. Also inside the office we see pictures of different football players. It’s so cool to see my office also to be a part of this event. Also on Fridays as we have casual wear I see around many of my colleagues wearing the football jerseys of different countries they are supporting or otherwise also. It’s actually all because of the football fewer which everyone wants to enjoy and celebrate. At the end of the day it is a game and no one is a looser, everyone tries their best and then its one team who would win this World Cup. For now we just need to sit tight in front of our television’s and watch the World Cup Football happening.

Weekends….

With the coming of corporate culture in our country the trend of weekends also has started. Okay for those,who are not aware of this term in corporate sense means simply having an off on Saturday and Sunday. So its 5 days a week u work and the rest of the days is a weekend that’s for fun. Everybody looks forward for weekends to come, and weekdays to get over soon. As I am also a part of this corporate culture I also look forward to them. There’s always some or the other plan for weekends. I always try to make some plans, and if I have none I prefer going for a movie. So most of the times I don’t have any plans, so I plan to watch movies and ultimately I end up watching all the new releases. That’s my hobby. Once a month I visit home and the rest of the time left I am with my friends over these weekends. Sometimes I get really bored, I do not know what to do. Actually weekends are supposed to be for taking rest, finishing your personnel work and generally for socializing with others and ofcourse meeting up with your boyfriend or girlfriend and for some others it’s spending time with their spouses, etc you can really do a lot of stuff during the weekends. But why do I end up messing the weekend, I don’t take rest, don’t socialize and there is no personal stuff as such to do. I usually get bored, if I go home that’s the only time the weekend falls short of time to me, the rest of the time I am doing nothing.

Last week, my weekend started off in a fast pace. I woke up early, even though on Saturdays and Sundays I prefer to wake up late. But I had to go for a movie with one of my friend’s younger brother. I was to meet him for the first time, so had to be in time. So I got ready, he called me up before time and than we met. It was nice to meet him, I think I did most of the talking. Then we watched this movie Phir Hera Pheri, I didn’t like this movie much because it didn’t make me laugh, but my friend liked it. Then the movie was over, I said bye to him and went to churchgate. I was to meet another friend of mine there, but my friend was busy with some work so could not come. Then I decided to see the place alone, I had been this part of Mumbai many times so I was comfortable. I first went to C2 its Crossroads 2 a mall and also has a movie multiplex Inox there. I was interested to see a movie there but had just seen one in the morning so I decided to watch the next time. I was also very hungry so from there I took a bus to VT. There I had a burger and coke at McDonalds. Then from there I did some road side shopping for some cd holders and all and then I wanted to do some shopping again. So I decided to go to Colaba. I took a bus from Fort to Colaba. I went to Cotton World, its one of my favorite places to shop. I bought a skirt there. Then was just walking around, then it was around 7.00pm so it was my coffee time so, I found a place to have coffee. It was called Leopold, its there in Mumbai since 1871, so it’s a longtime now. I liked the coffee and also the crowd was good. Then from there I went to Nariman point to sit on the seaside. I just love to be there and sit watching the sea. When I see the sea I feel that it never gives up, keeps hitting and coming back again. I also need to be like that never give up, keep struggling in life, okay that’s just my thought. From there I went back to andheri by the local train went home and slept. I had a very long day and also was a good day.

Then came Sunday, I woke up late in the afternoon. I made tea and than ordered for some food. I and my roommate we had lunch together. After that I sat down to read the book my friend gave me it was Ruskin Bond. I read a couple of stories from that and then again was lazing around. Time just kept going, I was getting very bored. I called up my atya i.e. my aunt, but she was also busy that day. So I could not go to her place. Finally, I was getting very bored, in the evening I had a cup of tea and left from my room for some shopping. I bought cards for my cousins and nephew’s birthday. I bought some groceries and than I saw if I could get the movie ticket, but all the shows were houseful. After that I was sitting outside that shopping mall at goregaon its called HUB. When I watched all the people enjoying together, I felt I was so lonely and lost in the crowd. I was feeling very depressed and then I started crying. To top this tragedy, my right eye lens came out and I was left with one lens in my left eye. I don’t know why, but I think I only screw up things and feel bad about them. I have decided now, that I will do something good and constructive during weekends. Like I am planning to join gym, then some music classes and take up some work assignments from home. So this is the story of my weekend, I hope others don’t mess up things the way I do at times.

Do You know Yourself????

It’s always a question mark to all of us whether we know ourselves or we don’t. It must be that many people around know themselves well, but I feel that really is it that we know ourselves. It is quite easy to relate about one’s ownself and make an identity of yourself and show that identity to all the people around us. It’s very easy for any of us to make our identity and live with it. But is this identity showing the real “YOU” or the real “ME” is this what we are, are we happy staying that way, or is there something missing. It’s very difficult to live the way we are because most of the times we are someone else, we pretend to be or we try to copy someone or we are just tying to be different. We run from our real self and hide behind some identity and feel comfortable with it.

To know ourselves we first need to try to be ourselves, rather than hiding behind some identity which we have created to live with. Why is it so that portraying the real “U” becomes difficult for us? Why can’t we be the way we are? Probably because we think that the way we are would not be accepted by others around us. But the true happiness would be in staying the way we are than trying to hide behind some identity. I believe that people who believe in their true self would always look back and know that yes they have achieved their true identity and lived with their ownselves than pretending to be someone they are not. This is where we find the true happiness, the true ourselves and the true peace within us. So, start knowing yourself, your true identity and start living a whole new life, have a whole new experience.

Vacation At Home

I had a long weekend this time…i.e. Saturday, Sunday and also Monday I was having an off…so the best thing was I decided to go home to Belgaum…..most of you who don’t know where belgaum is, it is in Karnataka State….

I left from Mumbai in the evening at around 7.00p.m by bus…which takes a overnight journey to reach Belgaum….I was eagerly waiting to reach….but yes the journey was to be made no escape…..I was going home after a month’s time…which I normally do…..and am all excited to meet mom….my doggie and my brother and also a few friends who are still there….the journey from Mumbai is always very boring….as usual the Mumbai roads are always blocked coz of excessive traffic jams…..it took around 2hours to leave Mumbai city and reach panvel where the bus halts sometime to take a dinner break for half an hour…after that it leaves and reaches belgaum around 6.00a.m. in the morning……

Finally, the bus reached Belgaum at around 6.30a.m. got late this time…..I called up my brother to pick me up…my house is pretty close from the bus stop…so when I was waiting for my brother to come….it was raining in belgaum…the city was looking beautiful…..it really is amazing during rains….to be at there….I felt the warmth and the attachment I have with the city…….in sometime my brother came and I reached home…..my mom was very happy to see me and had prepared tea for me…also had prepared idli for breakfast…..my dog also was there but he didn’t seem to have re-acted when he saw me….so anyways than I was home……I just sat in the hall chatting to my mom for hours and had breakfast……after sometime I was very tired went to sleep….the weather outside was just too good….it was a change for me from the crowded dusty and extremely humid Mumbai…where we have everything but still the warmth of belgaum cant be compared to it……I was there in belgaum for 3days…met a few friends, freaked out a bit and of course mom made a lot of tasty food to eat…..after all this it was really very difficult for me to come back to Mumbai and again face the busy…very routine life….but yes I had to come…..so now back to Mumbai with the same old job, same old routine life…and of course waiting to go to visit belgaum again as soon as I get a chance to go……..

DEATH

Death is natural and we are scared to accept it, the sole reason being survival. We want to live and live Life in a different way. We are scared to die and fall someday into ashes. We all know that death can come to us at anytime and take us away, irrespective of what we are a beggar, a rich man, god’s devotee whatever. Why don’t we have control over this factor in life Death? What is that which makes us all mortal, why we can’t be immortal and live or die on to our wishes? Why is that we can’t control on this factor of life which is the most important. There is science which proves a lot many things, there have been medical studies to save the survival of human beings but yes when death has to come to us, nobody can save us, nor would we know that it is so close to us.

It happens at times that someone decides to leave this world and go away and die, but still he may not die, as he was not destined to die, he had to live longer. But why?? Why can’t he be free when he really wants to be free, he wants to go away from this world, wants to end all….why can’t he be freed, but yes no one has the answer to this? They say there is God who brings us into this world and takes us away. We all are here his puppets where we perform our role and when our role is over we are taken away. If we do believe in this fact of life than why do we crib and try hard to do something’s in life. Why don’t we just stay calm and perform our role and go away one day. If god has created us, why has he given us those extra thinking powers to think, to fight and try hard to overcome difficulties. But ultimately, it so happens that we give up and he takes us away. And we do nothing but preach that yes we are like this and ought to live like this and still like useless puppets that we are we keep trying hard.

There are many questions in our entire life that remain unanswered and still we are comfortable with this fact. As humans we keep inventing and framing many ideologies in life which lead us to be better and teach us comfortable ways of survival and keep ourselves falsely satisfied and comfortable of what is happening around us. But somewhere we know that all these are just means to fantasize our own self and our own dreams. We are here to die and just live for the time we are supposed to or are destined to. No matter how hard we try for survival, death is awaiting us with open hands. The best way is live life every second, every minute, every hour and each day at its best, so you can laugh and be happy to die when death welcomes us, we need to be prepared and not scared.

Life....

Every person comes into this world for some reason.....with different kind of blends......let it be the country he lives, the language he speaks or the religion he follows......but somewhere deep inside him he has a feeling of belonging, a cry to be loved by someone and wish to live his dreams....but I always have this question to myself and is it really possible for us to succeed, to fulfil our dreams.......what has destiny got in store for us...no-one can guess.........so is it that we need to live life as it comes......or just live it....or fight for it......there is so much to know........

As human beings we see all sort of people around us....some very successful...some struggling with life and the others hoplessesly messed up.......there are many such categories which can be made but is it that we really belong to one kind of a category......life keeps us all confused of what we are and what we want to be.....there must be hardly anyone around in this world who are satisfied with what they are......there is always a greed in all of us to be bigger and better and known eachday we live....no-one likes to take in critisicm, no-one wants to be unsuccessful in life or just screw it up well.....everybody struggles eachday........deep inside is the spirit to fight....that is strong in some but weak in others.....but yes.....everybody wants to try hard and acheive a goal.....a mission....a life.........