Swad zindagi ka!

Name: Paratha (with filling based variations - Aloo, Paneer, Onion, Mix)

Trip to Switzerland of India!

Out of habit you tend to ask your friends/colleagues, "so how was your weekend/week?" and generally I don’t have much to say. This time I had so much to say that every time this q pops in I start from where and when I started this jorney/vacation/a trip. Ever since I have landed on my working home, Pune, I wanted to compile this short some-type-of-logue (not exactly a travelogue) that summarizes my north trip with my sweet little family.

So here it goes:

Day 1: Start from Pune DC to Mumbai airport to catch the 2nd last flight to Delhi. I reach 2 hrs before schedule and the flight is late by 40 mins. Songs/writings/magazines/snacks kept me busy and long 3 hrs passed away in a jiffy, happily (happiness was more bcoz it was a much awaited trip to North. Especially so bcoz im classified under the North Indian category had never really got a chance to taste the real NORTH INDIAN FLAVOUR)

Day 2: Starts from midnight 0030 hrs, waiting for my luggage. GoAir sucks! Met bro after a long time. Had food from a dhaba and slept. Travelled all across Delhi from Gurgaon to visit the Taj for some session. Visited Qutab Minar, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament house and The India gate. Wanted to witness a sunset behind India gate which was happily defeated, thanks to Delhi traffic. Had to rush back to New Delhi station to catch train to Bhatinda. Unfortunately I again reached station 1 ½ hrs before to find the train is late by 3 hrs. You wont believe this. I paid Rs. 10 to charge my phone. Sounded funny but was in desperate needs. Train was thankfully only 3 hrs late.

Day 3: Got down at one of the oldest city of Punjab, Bhatinda. With temperatures dipping drastically since past 2 days, it was a tuff morning in a comparatively crowded city that still looks like the oldest city in the country let alone Punjab. Drove straight to Amritsar, enroute witnessing the “kanak” of the country (they call kanak = wheat = sona). Wanted to visit the Golden temple before/during and just after sunrise. All plans in vain thanks to Indian railways! Nonetheless was a great experience in the holy city of Amritsar. Visited Jallianwala Baugh too. Speechless. Bullet marks are still evident. Then we had to travel a mammoth 5000 fts above sea level in just 83kms from Pathankot (It is a meeting point of the three northern states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir). Entered “Himmachal ki vadiyaan” and headed straight to Dalhousie. Locales say that their prime season is May/June but you can still enjoy the weather in November, trust me. I wanted to witness snowfall in Dalhousie. Unfortunately temperatures came close to 3 degrees but it dint snow! L

Day 4: 1000fts above, 24 kms away from Dalhousie is Khajjiar, Mini Switzerland of India! True! Havent seen such landscapes till date! Superb! Very picturesque. Zorbing was fun too. Came back to the small town of Dalhousie and visited local market. Amazed to know that Himmachal Pradesh is known for its loyalty and truthfulness. Koi chori dakaiti nahi.

Day 5: Started for Dharamshala, located on the foothills of Himalayas. We were getting closer to the Himalayas by the day. Reached Mcleodganj, the Tibetan government-in-exile is headquartered here. You feel you are in Tibet. Visited Dalai Lama’s monastery, local sight seeing, local market. Local market has a lot for you girls out there. Crazy stuffs! Only one shop for we football fans! Still cudnt find MANUTD’s home jersey. Out of stock!

Day 6: Journey to temple circuit begins. Chamunda devi > Kangra Devi > Jwalaji (Researchers still dnt know why there is a never ending Jwala in the temple. Strange but true!) > Chintpurni > Nainadevi. Then on our way to Chandigarh visited the holy shrine of Anandpur Sahib and reached the Union territory cum capital city of Chandigarh!

Day 7: Mansa Devi. Temple circuit ends, tp begins. Met a few friends at Chandigarh DC. Couldn’t meet all of them. Was in a hurry!

Day 8: Didi ki shaadi attend ki aur ghar aa gaya yaar.. !!Punju wedding!! ;-) In all it was a great trip with almost 1600 kms drive (not me re.. taxi tha)! Reached Pune on time for office this Monday!

Not sure how many will have the patience to read this! Still have penned it down!!

Have fun and do visit Punjab! Any help, always there!
Keep Smiling!!

Bogadya!

Whoa! Guys am back and quiet excited to pen down my thoughts which has overflowed my already over loaded mind of unlimited dreams!

We have now settled in a city, which was once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, which is very much evident in the climate (June-September), geography (located 1800 fts above sea-level) and how can I forget its locals, infact Pune or Poona aka Punyari-Nagari, I should say, has accepted us.

Today on my way back home, instead of planning about my weekend tasks (that my mom has already planned ) I stopped and looked back. Back at those college days when I had my own set of perceptions about some people around me (infact a particular guy) which refrained me from knowing them more. (Reminds me of a line: You only see what others want you to see of them)

There was this guy who had a sick wardrobe (red/orange lowers), (you don’t expect them from new collegites,to be engineers), cheesy sense of humour and frequently used roadside language in public. He portrayed or had within him this aura of being among the bad-boys of the batch. But then eventually we became friends thanks to a common friend. In the gamut of those 4 years at college we played football, had fun trips together, also a long train journey but never understood him, and that this image of him stuck with me!

It all ended when he gave me his piece of mind on my bad days in the last 8 months mostly during trainings. Didn’t change my attitude a bit but then definitely moulded by baseless perspective which all plummeted recently when he faced a hard situation. Situation where he had to lift a mountain of hope and courage. He did that with strength and a positive attitude. It was that day he won me! Hats off yaar! Learned a lot from you in a very short span of time,which was an important lesson in life, had already read about it but experienced the true essence of it in you mate! My bestest wishes with you! May you live long and all your dreams come true! Continue in your believes, they have the power to take you there!

Signing off!

P.S. – Please don’t ask me his name, he himself will comment if he comes across this!

My Playlist

Indian Ocean – Torrent

Aao wish karein – Reh jaane do

A.R. Rahman – Kaise mujhe tum (Instrumental from Ghajini)

A.R. Rahman – Bombay theme

A.R. Rahman – Maa tujhe Salaam

Raghu Dixit – Hey Bhagwan

James Blunt – Goodbye my lover

Richard Marx – Right here waiting for you

Amit Trivedi – Nayan Tarse (from Dev D)

Robbie Williams – LOTR theme

Jagjit Singh – Aur Ahista

Greenday – Time of your life

Scorpions – Send me an Angel

Neuman Pinto – Phas gaya (from Aamir,music composed by Amit Trivedi)

Null Friction – Madras

Kishore Kumar – Mere Sapno ki rani

Decibel – Naagin

Shaan – Le Chale (from My brother Nikhil)

Junoon – Lal meri pat

Kings of Lion – Sex on Fire

OST Goong - Ice Pond

Swanand Kirkirc - Baanwra mann (from Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi,music by Shantanu Moitra)

Yanni – A walk in the rain

(Not necessarily in that order)

This just cannot be an exhaustive list...many more to come!!

Quantum of Solace

Sick and tired of life...roz roz ki khitpit...dhakka mukki..Find some solace here!

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

Enjoy..Hav fun!!

Good wishes and good will!!

Why do we keep working on building rapport with our friends and relatives? Sometimes even with those passerby's,strangers next door (/Im a Mumbaikar/), train wale uncle and so on and so forth. Its because their good wishes and good will might save our day from the most miniscule'est of the trouble coming our way. Its because the environment gets influenced (courtesy) or maybe (unimportantly) because it gives us a reason to smile in todays hectic life schedule we follow. At the end of the day, it does help...but mind you,only from the miniscule'est of the troubles because for everything else HE is there!!

As a man thinks

You will be what you will to be;
Let failure find its false content
In that poor word, "environment,"
But spirit scorns it, and is free.

It masters time, it conquers space;
It cows that boastful trickster, Chance,
And bids the tyrant Circumstance
Uncrown, and fill a servant's place.

The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul,
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene.

Be not impatient in delay,
But wait as one who understands;
When spirit rises and commands,
The gods are ready to obey.

This inspirational poem is written by James Allen,thought of sharing it with you all as soon as i read it!!

Just a blink of an eye and I was into school, another blink took me past senior secondary, another 1, past engineering….whoa!! Hold on, too much of nictation; here’s the reality! Come December 19^th and Ill leave for my “FIRST JOB.” Man,this is some realness! It wasn’t on 24^th Feb last year(when my name was included in the recruited candidates list), it wasn’t when I bagged a second job at TechMahindra, it wasn’t when wishes were flowing in from all over: friends, family, relatives, it wasn’t even when final sem results were announced, it wasn’t when I got my railway bookings done; it was yesterday (24/10/09) when talking to my mom while we were strolling around in just another mall nearby that she said, “Ab mera beta bada aur (probably therefore) kamane layak ho gaya hai”,that I realized I am grown up now. Bada to main tha hi aur shayad kamana chahta to kama sakta tha but never knew that this would come one day! Amazed but the feeling of pride has just not sunk in. Proud of the fact that I finally have some family responsibility to carry on my shoulders. Don’t worry, family…Main hoon naa!

On this light, and sticky note ill finish this untimely and weird post! Untimely because theres not much of an responsibility to carry in immediate future and weird because its too personal to be posted online still did it …… Ditch!!

Caution: It is not advisable to conclude that the editor of this blog site is some famous Bollywood actor’s biggest fan and has therefore used of one his famous dialogue from one of his (so-called) blockbusters!!

Ronaldinho10!!

Today after nearly 2 years saw him play against Real Madrid. Since leaving for Milan, at the beginning of last season, I had almost stopped following FCB for some time until my friend told me about the overwhelming success at Nou Camp, all owing to one man Pep Gaurdiola. Never had heard of him till that day. Then slowly began following the extraordinary show both home and away! Got so engrossed in the proceedings at NC, almost neglected one of my favourite players who actually brought my attention to Barca. Well, for all non-football-following readers, I am talking about Ronaldo de Assis Moreira popularly known as Ronaldinho or Ronnie.

It was a treat to watch him play and as a proud Ronnie fan I can say that it still is. His deft touches, last minute shifting gears, dribbling style, intensity on his face before a free kick, runs from the far left corner of the field into the box, impeccable passes, an inspirational figure for both the teams on the field, same long curly hair, and to top it all that “UGLY” smile after fooling a couple of mid-field players n defenders can still be witnessed. Its pleasure to see all this in todays world of football. Not many can emulate this Great, Immortal… Long live Ronaldinho n May his football career never ends!!