London Diaries 4 | The Festive Frenzy!

The festive season in India starts around August and continues to spread its fervour and joyous spirit up till November when it reaches its zenith with Diwali. So while we have ‘Id’, ‘Janamashtami – Dahi Handi’, ‘Ganpati Pooja’ in Aug/Sep, we immerse in the ‘Navratri/Durga Pooja fever in Oct and cap it off with Diwali celebrations in Oct/Nov. There is one festival after the other that keeps the festive spirit high. Though, after school it has been tough to be at home for all these festivals but Diwali celebrations have always been reminiscent with lots of exciting pre-Diwali preparations and much sought after celebrations. So to think of a Diwali without being at home has been a rather not thought about scenario.

But if you aren’t in India you hardly get a hang of this festive euphoria. London, however is a bit different in this sense due to its cosmopolitan nature and a large Indian diaspora in the metropolis. So although, Janamashtami, Dahi Handi and Ganpati Pooja might not be as widely celebrated but during Navratri and Diwali, places like Wembley and Southall hardly give you a feel that you are not in India. The pre-festive chaos in  the markets, the spread of rangoli colours, a variety of diyas, decoration lights, bevy of interesting crackers, sumptuous sweets and snacks clearly reinstate the fact that Diwali has arrived, pretty much like any Indian local market, days before Diwali. So in this sense you don’t quite miss all the Diwali fervour and the associated build up but there is a lot more to it which actually keeps you longing for your home back in India.

Most importantly you miss your parents, your friends and the very idea of being with the family at this time. You miss those sumptuous delicacies that your mom cooks specially for Diwali, you miss your close friends and acquaintances coming home to meet and greet for Diwali. You miss the symphony of that noisy cracker lit Diwali night, you miss those messy roads on the next morning. And you miss that sorry feeling that you got to wait for 1 more year for Diwali to come back again and engross you in its magic.

But on one hand where you experience this festive void being away from India, you do also have this amazing opportunity to cherish and experience something totally extraordinary being here in London. The Christmas & New Year frenzy out here is simply unparalleled and out of this world. So while we prepare for days and weeks for Diwali out there in India, people out here plan and prep for Christmas for months in advance. Right from October end the festive lights start coming up, the market and the houses alike are all decked up and readied for the festival season ahead, the festive spirit keeps on rising exponentially and you can feel a sense of joy and excitement in the air. There are sales and discounts everywhere and people come out and shop in such proportions, as if there is no tomorrow. By the time Christmas arrives the entire city basks in the same glory as a newlywed bride does on her special day. And interestingly where all this while we have been watching and experiencing the festival time frenzy of the west through Hollywood movies but in reality it’s much more than that. In fact, it’s a phenomenal atmosphere and an experience worth living at least once in our life time.

It would be unfair to compare the Diwali frenzy back home with the festivities at west. But I always feel Diwali has a unique smell and a peculiar feel good zing attached to it that we all experience days and weeks before its arrival and I could easily figure out that people out here also feel the same excitement for December festivities. It probably has to do with the biggest festival of the year everywhere. Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic state to be in and how we wish we can be in the festive mode year round and feel the same happiness all around.

Though, given a chance and choice I would prefer being soaked in the Diwali fervour back home despite a near equal euphoria out here during Christmas. After all heart is where is home isJ.

Happy Holidays!

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kin… 

..those were just children!!!

How do you feel when you see a kid falling down and getting his elbow and knees bruised while playing with his friends? You skip a heartbeat, you feel concerned, you feel sorry, you instantly empathize and feel like taking that suffering from him immediately. Kids are undoubtedly god’s most beautiful creation and they make this world a much better place to live with their innocence and infectious energy. So to imagine somebody causing slightest of harm to such innocent souls is unbelievable. And further to this, if somebody intentionally targets and harms these beautiful creation of god, it’s an inhuman task of unpardonable degree.

So what happened in Peshawar when a gang of psychotic idiots barged into a school and brutally killed over 130 odd innocent souls brought the entire world in state of shock. Not even the barbarians of mediaeval era would have done something this heinous , this scary and this shameful. Supposedly, the Taliban cadre to which those barbarians belonged claimed that this act was executed with an intent to teach a lesson to the masses (specifically state army) to understand the pain they themselves were going through due to army’s activities against them. Really? So to teach a lesson you kill school children? Children who probably don’t even know what a terrorist is or what a gun is or for that matter what jihad is. To kill them as brutally as they have done is unpardonable, no act of remorse or punishment can justify the sin they have committed. Any kind of genocide is unacceptable and abhorred universally but a genocide of this proportion has left one and all gasping for life.

Spare a thought for the parents of the kids who lost their lives in this massacre. That morning they would have sent them to the school, the holiest of all places in the world, with a sense of safety and security in their hearts and a belief that they would come back home having learnt something new. But what transpired that morning was actually the worst thing that could have happened to them and their families that day. I doubt any amount of healing or reprieve would help them overcome this tragedy ever in their lives. It was a indeed a black day for the entire mankind irrespective of the boundaries of the nations and supposed veils of different religions. Anyone who has a heart and a sane conscience would have cried as much as those bereaved parents. Surprisingly, the mastermind behind this brutal act is himself a father of 3. I wonder what on earth gave him the audacity and strength to execute this gut wrenching act.

But then a large reason behind this unfortunate incident is Pakistan’s own inability to do something concrete to fight this terror menace. They just don’t know what to do and which path to traverse for the larger good of their nation. They continue talking about good terror and bad terror, good Taliban and bad Taliban but is there anything like good sin or bad sin? Its sheer stupidity and as Hillary Clinton once rightly said, ‘you can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. Eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard’. Hence, unless they themselves  get their act together, which seems highly improbable, they can’t expect these tragic incidents to stop haunting them.

For god’s sake those were just children, too innocent, too delicate and too naïve to face such brutality.  To see such a miserable event take place is a collective loss of the entire mankind. It’s not just the death of the of those 130 odd innocent souls but it’s a death of the humanity. I pity their philosophy of committing such brutal acts by the name of religion, I wonder if even Hell would give them a place when they leave their mortal avatar.

The heart bleeds and the soul cries... 

RIP those innocent souls. RIP Humanity.

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kin…

The Appraisal Razzmatazz!

The appraisal time razzmatazz in any salaried setup is the most buzzing event of the year. Not so much in the government/public sector scenario perhaps, as those setups are being driven primarily by the pay commission concepts but in a typical corporate/private sector setup it’s no less than an action packed, high voltage TV drama.

So like with any good, popular and a successful drama series the appraisal drama also has a few protagonists in the form of ‘ Suddenly invisible but loaded with some unbelievably irritating facts, Manager aka Villain’ , ‘Highly hopeful and self-proclaimed best performer, Employee aka Hero’ and a ‘ I know you well, stop faking, friend/colleague aka Joker’. And then with such a startling star cast there ought to be some good plots as well to complement the former. So we also have some interesting plots as well in the form of – ‘Plan as never before and shut the yuck out of the manager, plot’, ‘Manager goes missing, plot’, ‘Promote me and who else, plot’, ‘Double digit hike is a minimum, plot’, ‘ You decline, I resign plot’ and if it’s an IT setup we have an added attraction in the form of  ‘Now, at least send me to onsite, plot’. So  let’s breeze through each of these plots and how these protagonists fare in these plots.

‘Plan as never before and shut the yuck out of the manager, plot’. The main protagonist of this plot is ‘Highly hopeful and self-proclaimed best performer, Employee aka Hero’. So although there is still about 3-4 months to the appraisal process kick off, the hero plans hard well in advance. He collates all kinds of appreciations from his key stakeholders, he tries and goes beyond the normal call of the duty and makes his presence felt everywhere, he for sure picks those pieces of work that everyone else in the team hates to work, he even stretches his back to work late hours and on weekends, all with a plan to nail it down in the final showdown. So much so that he even rehearses and equips well for all the what if scenarios that the villain might come up with in the final combat. All this while the Joker keeps on motivating the hero to continue with his approach and when not around he also laughs out loud on his hyper active cynicismsJ.

‘Manager goes missing, plot’. So all this while when the hero is planning, plotting and getting ready for the final showdown through all kinds of attention seeking gimmicks, the villain all of a sudden disappears, not literally though, but in the most funny ways. When our hero proactively participates and drives lot of initiatives to catch Manager’s eye, the villain turns a blind eye to it, as if he has hardly noticed this much anticipated pro activity. And while the hero has been busy planning perfectly, the villain is on his own is taking note of all the weird things that would go on to haunt the villain in the final showdown. Expectedly so the Joker keeps giving some false hopes to the hero by comforting him with those hypothetical acknowledgments from the villain that he has actually never ever given J.

‘Promote me and who else, plot’. So finally comes the D day, the day of final showdown. The hero enters, all well prepared, well equipped with a strong script in mind covering all the good and oh so good things he has done throughout the year which will eventually win him all the cash cows of the year. The manager aka villain on other hand comes equally prepared (much to the dismay of the hero), having done a crash course on company policy and being well briefed on the company’s financial guidance for the year, all this without an amicable expression on his face, at times even with a disgusted one. So when the hero starts his well-rehearsed winning narrative to take it to the zenith and claim for the ‘Promotion’ reward, the villain seems disinterested, almost to the point of being inattentive. And when the hero starts getting a bit restless, the villain throws up his ‘lack of quota card’ this year due to relatively challenging year for the company. This not only stumps the hero big time, even takes him off guard for a while. Joker however, who has already faced it all in his previous encounters, enjoys this anti-climax to the hilt.

‘Double digit hike is a minimum, plot’. Bruised, but not lost, the hero resorts to his Plan B and asks for a double digit hike for all the good things he has done throughout the year. And almost as if he is obliging the villain by taking the bitter pill of not getting promoted this year demands for a fat double digit hike that he is pretty much worthy of. The villain now comes to the front foot, diplomatically acknowledging hero’s efforts, hailing him as a senior member of the team and then smartly bracketing all these exceptional efforts under the minimum expectation bucket. After all a senior member of the team is expected to do much moreJ. So the double digit demand also goes for a toss, though in turn the wicked villain tries obliging the hero by comforting him saying, despite nothing exceptional from your end I will still and push our case with the higher management, just as a personal favour.

‘ You decline, I resign plot’. By now, the hero has already had enough. All these months where he was harping the hopes of getting promoted and grabbing a fat hike through his well-planned efforts, the villain has put all his plans in disarray. With a sense of frustration he throws up his trump card and threatens to resign for being not rewarded for his best in class performances and unparalleled efforts in the team. The villain being a seasoned campaigner tries to cool him down and advices him to not act hastily and rather think again. And promises him that any which way he will still try and do something for the hero. Joker finds this moment of rage and false assurance ever so familiar and fittingly hilariousJ.

‘Now, at least send me to onsite, plot’. The hero by now has lost it, he is dejected, shattered and broken. All his well-planned dreams have been broken by an experienced game player who is a pro at this. However, being in the IT setup there is also an additional carrot that serves equally good as a good hike or grade promotion and that is onsite. So the hero throws his last dice and negotiates with the villain for a quick fix onsite movement as a probable alternative and a supposed reward for his self-proclaimed beyond best in class performance throughout the year. Manager aka villain being an seasoned player instantly agrees to it and asks him to be assured of his onsite movement sooner than later. The Hero comes out with some sense of accomplishment, the villain feels good about his ever so well executed ways and Joker being a joker in the pack just laughs out loud J.

It’s a different matter though that by the time the hero eventually gets travel ready, the next appraisal cycle is on his head and he has to forego his next promotion/double digit hike as well as a trade-off for his last years promised onsite travel J. So more often than not the villain has the last laugh, unless of course if the hero in consideration is lucky, licky or just way too good to be ignored and maneuvered J.

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kin…

63 Not Out Forever, RIP Phil!

Penning down an obituary isn’t an easy task, not just because of the emotions involved with the beloved passed by but more so due to ones inability to rightly express the sickening pain that this demise has brought in. And to do so for somebody whom you don’t know personally, haven’t met ever at all and neither were marvelling about ever in your life, does emphatically conveys the inconsolable grief that this event has caused. None of us would be able to see Phil Hughes bat again because of that fateful Tuesday afternoon. But to imagine that he lost his life playing a game he loved is something unbelievable. This can’t be real, this is grossly unfair, it’s a shame!

He wasn’t representing his country in a war nor was he out on a dangerous space mission, he was just playing the game he has loved all his life. But what has happened has not only moved his team mates but have affected the people across the globe irrespective of their love and interest in the game of Cricket. And anyone who has ever held a bat or bowled couple of bouncers would probably take a long time to overcome this tragedy. His family and friends are obviously going through the toughest time of their lives, coping up with this indescribable tragedy but spare a thought for his team mates and his opponents with whom Phil has played some part of his Cricket. And spare a thought for Sean Abott, will he ever be able to pick up a Cricket ball again and play this game like he has always done? He would be a really strong man to do so and would need as much support from his friends, team mates and family to overcome this grief that might haunt him for the rest of his life, as Phil’s family would need.

It’s not a time to talk about how good a cricketer Phil was, what feats he has achieved in his short career and what more he could have done as a Cricketer, it’s a time to lament, grieve and condole this tragedy. We should in fact pray to the almighty that no one ever comes across this again and may Phil’s soul rest in peace for ever. It has well and truly shaken the Cricket fraternity and its quite evident from the down pour of tributes and emotions in the last couple of days. it’s also truly heartening to see the gestures, support and concern that cricketers and officials irrespective of their nationalities are conveying for Phil. There are talks about the looming threat of 1^st Ind - Aus test being called off due to the mental trauma that this tragedy has caused to the players. And although Phil himself would have loved the game to go on but it should be better left to the players to take a final call on this, as this now is beyond the logics of commercials and entertainment.

It surely has been a sorry week and no words can express the deep infliction caused by this tragedy. This will stay in our memory for long and Phil will always be remembered. The call of the hour though is to show our support and care for the Hughes family and equally so for Sean Abott who should come out of this as a stronger person and not as guilt struck broken man.

Perhaps, the almighty felt that Phil was way too good to bat for the Australian team and play with the mortals out here, so he called him up to be the opening batsman for his own line up.

RIP Phil, you ll be missed!

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kin…

Clean India - Dream India!

I was interacting with one of my friend sometime back and was ruing the fact that we don’t have a super long weekend, as it is India due to Gandhi Jayanti & Dussera on consecutive days. But I was taken aback by her reaction, she said if I was to vote today, I will vote this Modi guy out of power. I asked her the reason for her anguish and was bemused by her reply, she said it’s a pain now to be a government employee, we don’t even have a holiday on the October 2nd ! All for Mr Modi’s visionary agenda of ensuring all the Indians, including the government employees take a pledge for a Clean India on Bapu’s birthdayJ.

So what’s new about Mr PM’s new initiative. To keep it short, it’s simple but a brilliant initiative, a much needed one that should have been in effect much earlier. No wonder its garnering support and involvement from all corners of the society, surprisingly from the opposition parties as well. And that pretty much sums up what Mr Modi said about this initiative, it’s not a political one but is rather borne out of his patriotism and love for India.

Cynics however fear this to be another photo op moment for the netas and bureaucrats which will eventually fade away like so many other initiatives. And this fear is quite genuine as well, today you see CMs, District Collectors, MPs, MLAs and every other individual posing in front of the camera with a broom in their hand. To make matters worse, in most of these places a bevy of sweepers and cleaning guys work for hours to make that specific area suitably clean for these so-called dignitaries to come and pose for a photograph. Can’t they for god’s sake not understand that it is all symbolic, you don’t have to hold a broom and get clicked to prove that you have taken the cleanliness oath, instead one has to inculcate that sense of ownership and cleanliness in the very way he/she leads his/her civic life.

Mr PM envisions a clean India by 2019, which will also mark the 150^th anniversary of our beloved father of the nation, and per him this will be our token of love for Bapu. But for this to happen people from all walks of life will have to understand the importance of such a simple yet essential thing. And it needn’t just be the people from the lesser privileged sections of the society, whom we normally accuse for all the filth and nuisance around us. The more privileged ones like us are also equally responsible, in fact a bit more since we don’t have the excuse of illiteracy and lack of right to education to shield us. And personally I feel we are the ones who contribute to this mess a lot more. How often have you seen one of your friend in the many  tapris outside our offices, throwing off the empty chai cups, cigarette buds and mint wrappers blatantly on the road? Are we not educated enough to throw them in the bins instead. Forget about the other bigger forms of mess we create day in day out.

To be honest neither there is anything new about this initiative nor the expectation from all of us is too demanding. Only if we can just mind ourselves and ensure that ‘I won’t create any mess in my surroundings and would try my best to keep my nation clean’, it will suffice. So all we need to do is to just mind ourselves! And even if half of us can manage to do so, Bapu’s dream of a clean India would certainly come true.

Though, brooms alone might not be sufficient to clean up the age old filth and mess of this vast country but more than the mode, intent of every Indian towards this noble cause would be the key determinant.

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kin…

MARvellous, Indeed!

O what a feeling it is when you reach office and your English colleague greets you for the success of India’s Mars Mission, MOM. Though, this greeting also comes in with a pinch of sarcasm of ‘Welcome to the league’ but then it’s all the more fun to correct the ever so boastful  Englishman with some real facts like -  we did it in one go and at one tenth of the priceJ. To which the Englishmen replied, though I find the ‘doing it in one go’ part as really surprising one but I am least surprised with the pricing part. You guys are ever so economical, be it IT, be it your lifestyle or then be it your space ventures. Rightly so indeedJ!

This feat is truly a remarkable one and easily the most memorable one of the year. It stands way ahead of the historic mandate that people of this nation gave through the recently concluded general assembly polls, much more significant than India’s Cricket World Cup win few years back and surely far more relevant than other individual feats that we have achieved in the recent past. What makes this mission standout is the fact that it showcases the length and breadth of our service spectrum, on one end we are working hand in hand with other developing nations on elementary issues like education, sanitation and building basic infrastructure for the masses and on the other hand we are clocking new research based milestones in the league of the most developed nations, in fact in this case in a much better fashion.

And the most staggering aspect of this success story is the cost at which we have successfully accomplished it, just about $70 million. One tenth of what US took to do it, much lesser than the Hollywood sci-fi flick ‘Gravity’, a fraction of what we invested in building the 1^st metro track in Mumbai and loads of similar analogies to emphasis on this unimaginable feat. It’s truly unbelievable how our scientists at ISRO have managed to strike a unique combination of a best in class, cost effective and an efficient space program.

But then the credentials of our scientists were never in doubt. Although, the celebratory images of the saree clad scientists at ISRO can be a bit misleading but then it just speaks volumes of our strong ethos, diversity and massive talent base. We have been the pioneers of many space related launches and missions in the last few decades and our prowess in this field is recognized globally. A lot of it goes to the strong technical education framework we have in India. Kudos to our great technical institutes (not just the IITs and the NITs) but even to our rich base of faculties who have contributed immensely towards India’s bright fortunes in this space.

 Undoubtedly, it’s a moment to rejoice and celebrate this exemplary display of technical prowess by our esteemed scientists at ISRO. Though, any amount of praise would be insufficient to do justice to this tremendous feat. May be we can just take some inspiration out of this MARvellous achievement, feel proud about it and celebrate it as we do for any cricketing or Bollywood moment of joy.

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kin…

Mahabharat and the 830 PM Void!

There aren’t many daily sops on Indian television that you can rely upon for a real good engrossing watch, unless of course you have a strong appetite for those overtly dramatic saas - bahu no brainers. There are a few like ‘KBC’,’ Satyamev Jayate’ and ‘24’ that one can watch with family for a gripping and a clean watch but despite that there aren’t many that can easily fall in this category. And this is all the more strange when we compare it with the ‘Nukkads’, ‘Buniyaads’, ‘Flop Shows’, ‘Ramanayanas’ , ‘Mahabharatas’, ‘Surabhis’ and ‘Chanakayas’ of the Doordarshan era, where every other show that was telecasted was a pure gem and a must watch.  

 

Strangely in today’s context, we have innumerable channels vis-à-vis 1 during the late 80s but still the quality of televised content is by and large poor and monotonous. And this doesn’t hold good just for the vulgarity aspect of it but even the safe bets in terms of mythological shows that have been televised in the last decade or so have been poor in terms of the overall quality. No wonder the ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ of the late 80s are still etched deep in our memories for the impact they still have on us. But as a pleasant surprise we do have some good mythological shows in The New Mahabharata and Devon ke Dev Mahadev, being telecasted off late and been received very well by the audiences, mainly due to its very good content quality and superb visual appeal.

The New Mahabharata, of course being the more popular one for its age old rich story line and its familiarity among the masses due to its telecast on Doordarshan in the early 90s. Though, when the new series started a majority of the viewers disapproved it stating that the muscular male leads with flowing tresses and jewellery laden female leads don’t appeal and rather seem unreal , the dialect isn’t as pure and impactful as the earlier version and so on. Naturally, the comparison with the former didn’t help in the beginning but the detail with which the entire story progressed was truly laudable. So much so that within few weeks it topped the TRP ratings and people across all generations got glued to the great epic, yet again. And very soon the enigma and mischiefs of Krishna, flamboyance of Arjuna, valore of Karna, arrogance of Duryodhana, viciousness of Shakuni and brutality of Bheema became the talk of every household once again.

The tone among the masses gradually shifted from comparative to enthusiastic. People once again started to seem a bit more interested in this magnificent epic, I for that matter ended up reading half a dozen related books on the epic. Although, the ones who have read some or the other interpretation of the epic might rightfully agree that this recently televised version of Mahabharata was a bit too Pandava centric and divulged on many occasions from the more popular narratives. But that was understandable if one takes into account the warranted masala quotient in the televised content these days. However, such aberrations apart, the series easily managed to capture the imagination of its detractors and supporters alike for almost a year.

Throughout the year, while the series was on air, the biggest enthusiasm was to know about what will be showcased tomorrow and the biggest fear remained that the series shouldn’t end pretty soon. The missed episodes were sooner than later covered over the YouTube, as if it’s on the school syllabus or  has been prescribed by the doctor. The 8:30 PM slot every day was easily the most anticipated one, however just the 20 odd minutes episodes didn’t do justice to the long wait. There was hope that this rich and enchanting storyline will continue beyond the 18 day war as well but eventually when the news came in that it will end immediately after the war, it was a heartbreak. There was already a strong connect with the characters, an eagerness to know more about the greatest Indian epic and a desire to hear a bit more from our beloved and divine Lord Krishna. But someday it had to end. It may not be just to compare it with the yesteryear series in terms of the quality and the authenticity but one can safely say that the manner in which this televised version of the epic captured our imagination around 2 decades back, the new series has also managed to keep the present generation captivated in the same capacity. Such is the greatness and richness of this age old epic.

But this 8:30 PM void will surely haunt us for a while!

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kin…

Independence. Yay!

Independence Day for us has always been a synonym for 15^th August, a holiday, PM’s red fort speech, sweets and a fluttering Tri colour. In fact, as we have moved on from school, it has just become a welcome day off in our busy lives and if you happen to be outside India you don’t even have a day off to remind you of this historic day. Hardly do we think about the sacrifices of our martyrs that has allowed us to lead such a convenient life. But does Independence just means breaking free from the shackles of a super power and running one’s own country? No, Independence means a lot more!

 

Independence is when you are not bound by the liabilities of home loan, personal loan or car loan, which in turn forces you to pursue a job for a living, even if you are not buoyant on pursuing it. If one can make a living out of something he/she really loves doing, that for sure is Independence.

Independence is when a wife can shop whatever she yearns for without a frown on his Husband’s face. Husband’s might get uncomfortable and not buy this philosophy but if they can let their wives do what they wish to, they will not only make their wives happier but will also earn for themselves some Independence credits, that they can leverage for their benefit in futureJ.

Independence is when an employee has a free hand to do his job his way rather than doing it his boss’s way. No wonder managers who give their employees this independence are the more successful and popular ones. Some may argue that employees can misuse this independence but this is a trade-off which surely reaps benefits in the longer run.

Independence is when a husband has the liberty to enjoy his boys night outs without the fears of his wife’s repeated calls and painstaking interrogation. However, this level of independence is very tough to achieve and hence can be graded as the highest level of independence :P.

Independence is when you can go out on a vacation whenever you want, wherever you wish for, without worrying about your work, family or any other commitments. Howsoever, enticing this idea seems, our social and economic obligations make it a very arduous and an unviable one.  

Independence is when you can gulp your favourite ice cream without worrying about the associated calories. Independence is when you can be in the playground for ever without caring about your studies. Independence is when you can drive on the highway without worrying about the maximum speed limit. Independence is when you can read your favourite book without losing sleep about being disturbed by anyone. Understandably, there are lot of rules and ethics that have to be taken care of but in a nut shell Independence is a state of mind. A free state of mind to be precise.

An Independent state of mind allows you to unwind, rejoice and pursue life with an assertive perspective. So one should not only refrain from treating his Independence for granted but should also value and respect it to the core. And for the price we pay to achieve any form of Independence, we should celebrate and cherish it every single day.

Happy Independence Day!

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kin…

PS - And in present day context, Independence is when your wife happily allows you to be active on your WhatsApp groups J

Last seen at.....WhatsApp!

I still remember my high school days when internet was a new phenomenon and internet cafes were popping up all across the town. Although, the superficial motive of the visits to these cafes was to keep a tab on several entrance exams application dates and their results, the real motive was to explore  the exciting world of chatting, surfing and testing the newer avenues of recently found  adulthood. As a matter of fact owning a mobile phone was considered to be a luxurious proposition, forget about making outgoing calls,  even the incoming calls were chargeable. STD/PCO booths were the only medium to unwind oneself and to keep ones teenage romance bloomingJ. 

Howsoever exciting, these were not so cheap options, more so being a student. An hourly slot at any internet café costed an upward of  Rs. 50/-, a black and white print out of the hall ticket amounted up to Rs. 15 per page and an incoming call on your rich friend’s mobile costed Rs. 4 per minute, local outgoing being over Rs. 8 per minute.  The world though was still very beautiful despite such high communication tariffs and life certainly was a tad less complicated. 

Those were the days when we used to wait in the internet cafes for our turns to log on to the yahoo messengers and start chatting with random girls with the customary Hi, asl (age,sex,location)please? messages. Any responses with ‘As’ under 25, ‘S’ being ‘F’ and ‘Ls’ being Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore were the most cherished and treasured ones. Romance, friendship and love were the most sought after chat rooms, obviously notwithstanding the more popular adult chat rooms. As the times passed, the internet became cheaper, newer medium of socialising came in and Orkut became one of the most talked about platforms of those times. People were valued by the no. of scraps in their accounts and ones with a handful of testimonials on their account were considered to be the god’s chosen souls. Queues for late night calling at STD/PCO booths also dried up with free incoming and cheaper outgoings on the mobile phones, as if the telecom ministry itself now wanted every youth of this country to have a flourishing and hassle free love lifeJ. 

And in the last decade or so things have changed drastically. Today, one can’t imagine a life without a smart phone and 24*7 internet access. Howsoever, nuclear our lives have become, mediums like Facebook enable us to know all the tits bits of every individual’s life. One might have not spoken to his graduation batch mate for over a decade but he is well aware of all his dates, vacations and promotions very precisely. Thanks to Facebook, thanks to the new age internet. And things are moving so fast, that what Facebook and Twitter did to Orkut might happen to them tomorrow. WhatsApp being the flavour of the last few seasons! Forwards jokes, personal messages, school groups, college groups, hostel groups, office groups, family group have made people so engrossed in this app that they hardly have any time for themselves. Thankfully, WhatsApp now provides the option of disabling ones activity tracking by opting out of ‘last seen at’ display, much as a relief from those annoying snoopers. 

Some may argue that these advances in technology and information industry has had a lot of detrimental effect in our lives, largely true as well unless we leverage them in the right proportion. But personally it gives me a lot of joy when my Dad & Mom, who were once sceptical about accessing internet or handling a smartphone over their hammer-esque mobile phones, can today confidently call me anytime for free using the Vibers, Skypes or other VOIP apps of the world. So much for the Rs. 4/- incoming and Rs. 140/- ISD calling of yesterday. 

And we just don’t know where we would stand, say 5 years from here. Probably we would be laughing over these WhatsApp days, as we do today for our not so old SMS daysJ.

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London Diaries 3 | The Lords Extravaganza.

Right from the beginning, one of the high priority items in terms of To Dos in London was a trip to Lords. Not just for the sheer love of the game and the rich history associated with Lords but more so with the kind of perception we have had while growing up and watching the Lords matches on TV. For instance, we were quite sure that there is a clear mandate here of 4 claps for a boundary, 6 for a maximum, 10 for a wicket and may be 15 for a half century and so on. Similarly, one couldn’t enter the stadium in anything but formal clothes and naturally the idea of taking off ones shirt and twirling it in air by some Bengali (not so) gentleman has been documented as the darkest day in the history and sanctity of  Lords – The Home of Cricket! So with such a rich baggage of perceptions in mind, who would not want to visit the Lords sooner than later, with a lot more fervour though, if India is playing a test against the hosts here.

The Build Up. I teamed up with one of friends for this match and booked the tickets a week in advance for the 3^rd day of the test. Assuming it to be the most riveting day of the test with a high probability of getting to watch both the teams batting that day. Although, the 90£/- billing of the ticket did cause a minor earthquake back home but for me it was all inconsequential keeping in mind the excitement attached to the overall experience. The build-up to the match in the media wasn’t in the favour of India, mainly due to our horrendous record here, having registered just a  single win here, that too around three decades back. That however didn’t had any bearing on our unbridled excitement, as the key focus was on experiencing the Lords magic.

The Apprehensions.  Once we got the tickets we countered a set of unique apprehensions. The instructions in the ticket spoke about not turning up for the match in fancy dresses, a subtle way of saying that be formal, its Lords. Not to carry any musical instruments like drums, trumpets or siren, a polite way of saying behave yourself, its Lords. The instructions also clearly stated about not moving from ones allotted seats between the overs, a mild way of saying we mean real business, its Lords. And many such uncharacteristic instructions like not to carry a camera, the hats should not be bigger than the prescribed limits, not to carry more than 2 pints of beer bottles and so on, again a very English way of saying, Gentlemen its Lords! We were confused on the fact that are we actually going for a Cricket match or for a Viva-Voce, nevertheless the excitement to experience the Lords magic was overpowering.

 
Day 3. Finally the much anticipated day arrived, arrived with a downcast morning and wet roads. I had a lump in my throat looking at the dark skies, fearing for the worst that it might actually be a rain curtailed day. Nonetheless, I got ready, put on a shirt to keep myself as close as possible to the Lords code of conduct and set out for THE destination. Thankfully, as the day progressed the skies cleared up and we had a perfect day in hand with full days of Cricket being played. We reached the stadia well before the schedule start of play, giving us ample time to have a look at the magnificent and historic stadium. When we reached our allocated stand, the first look of the lush green outfield, the famous Lords balcony and the grand media stand blew us away. It was all for real! The scene we have been watching for years on our television sets is all there to be seen with our naked eyes. It was certainly a great moment and with team India doing there warm up drills just in front of our stands, added to our excitement. We quickly lunged to the 1^st row, just yards away from the players, where MS was showcasing his great dribbling skills, Virat was as always in full style looking nothing less than a Bollywood star, muscular and tattooed Dhawan was twirling his moustaches with pride, lousy Ashwin was struggling to keep pace with the much fitter members of the team and the lanky Ishant Sharma was struggling to manage his locks in the brisk early morning wind. The fun, camaraderie and the friendly banter among our beloved stars was indeed a treat to watch and promised of a great day ahead.

The Cricket. In the morning session India did well to wrap up the England innings and much to our joy we got an opportunity to see our boys both bat and ball that day. So the ploy of coming on Day 3 worked for us. The post lunch session was a slow progress with Indian batters focussing on consolidating, leaving the spectators on the ground bored to death. However, the third session was a complete contrast with India losing a flurry of wickets and in turn giving away their position of strength and leaving the match in the perfect balance at the close of play. All in all it was a perfect day of Cricket, pretty much to the delight of connoisseurs of Test Cricket and nothing less than what a first timer at Lords would have asked for.

The Epic Moment. The match started with a backdrop of an ugly spat between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja in the previous test and hence the focus was naturally on these two players. So when Jadeja turned up to bowl to James Anderson , the English fans booed him vehemently. But the epic moment arrived when Jadeja got his prized scalp on his very first delivery and went on his customary celebratory run after that. It was indeed THE cricketing moment of the day for us, much to the dismay of the English fans.

Fan Club Tussle. It was one of those rare occasions for any India match where the no. of non -  Indian fans outnumbered the Indian contingent, so much so that the ratio actually stood to be around 80:20. So to cheer team India amidst such a sea of English fans was an effort none less than battling Anderson and Broad on the green Day 1 pitch. The stern stares from the neighbouring English fans every time we cheered an England wicket or an Indian boundary  told the entire story. To be honest it wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences but definitely a memorable one.

The day eventually ended and we headed back home with loads of photographs, lovely memories and an experience to savour for life. It wasn’t one of the most electric atmospheres when I compare it my other live match experiences in India but it still stands out. It was indeed a Lords experience. An experience that one can acknowledge and savour only by experiencing it. And two days later this experience turned all the more memorable and historic when India went on to win the match and achieved this unique feat after a gap of 28 long years. Only if we knew that they so desperately  wanted our presence in the viewing arena to win a match here, we would have turned up many years earlierJ.

The only thing that I missed though was the presence of The Sachin Tendulkar on the ground.Looking ahead for my next trip to Lords!
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London Diaries 2 | The notorious tendency to convert!

Prior to my UK travel I was getting plenty of very useful tips from my friends on what to take and what not to take while travelling and what to do and what not do while being in this new country. Some of these tips were quite obvious, some were quite new but all of them were surely handy. Some of the tips that are still fresh in my mind are -  to not take loads of warm clothes, as Indian woollen hardly works there, carry a pressure cooker as it is tough to find one there, carry handful of Maggie packets and more importantly a variety of pickles, as that will be ‘THE’ delicacy with the otherwise bland dal-rice. But the most emphatic and unanimous tips of all was to not convert or multiple anything and everything in rupees there.

 

Howsoever, innocuous and trivial this tip seemed at that point, it actually became a mind-boggler ever since I landed at Heathrow. And all this when I have a free hand while spending and almost extravagant ways while shopping, even despite that it’s too much of a task to ignore this conversion mania. And even if you succeed to ignore or by pass this through a strong resolve, your family and friends in India will ensure that you know how much you have spent in Indian rupees on such a trivial thingJ.

For instance, my relatives in India were shocked to know that I will have to pay over a lakh rupees (over £ 1000, considering 1£ = 100) just for my house rent, so much so that out of concern they even asked me to let them know in case I need any financial assistance to lead a good life out hereJ. Though, I finally managed to pacify there concerns but that probably made them believe that I am earning a bomb out here in LondonJ. Unfortunately, I didn’t had the logic and the patience to subside such grave misconceptions.

Similarly, when on one fine Sunday evening I couldn’t resist the temptation of feasting on my favourite samosas (4 for 3 £) and out of excitement I proudly called up my friend to tell him about this samosa binging in London. But rather than being happy about the fact that I have managed to locate a samosa shop  here, he was quick to mock me on the fact that I have spent around Rs 75 per samosa. I was a bit irritated and retorted saying that this is approximately what you pay for a samosa in a PVR or INOX, so why this fuss. Though it’s a different matter that neither at PVR’s and nor here at London, samosas are as sumptuous as they are in any of the local shops in India but then a samosa is a samosa, irrespective of the currency it is bought inJ.

My mom who was understandably worried about my eating arrangements here was delighted to know that I have managed to identify an Indian restaurant that serves home style ghee chapattis that I can eat with whatever curry I cook at home daily. But she was equally curious to know that how much it costs here, when I told her that its costs 1£ for 4 chapattis, she got furious swore and told ‘its costs just Rs 5/- here, I don’t know what is the point of leading such a painstaking life, so far off’. I couldn’t do much other than laughing out loud on this, however she was quick to call me back saying, ‘you don’t worry about money and the high cost chapattis, eat well, as health should be your top priority’J. So much for the London Chapattis!

The other day I casually told my wife that I am planning to go for the India England Lords test, scheduled to start later this month. She encouragingly told me to not miss this great opportunity at any cost but was also quick to ask me the cost of the ticket. I tried avoiding this question, but failed hopelessly as always. I smartly said ‘it’s just for hundred bucks’, to which she said ‘hundred rupees for a lords test match is a great deal’. I was happy that the storm has passed by and hence I tried hard to close this discussion then and there. But much to my misfortune the Sherlock in her woke up and she vehemently enquired again, is it 100 Rupees or 100 Pounds? And it’s a needless task to explain that what her reactions would have been on knowing that it’s for 100 PoundsL. After all, smartness in front of one’s wife is a thing of Chetan Bhagat’s overrated novels!

And the list of such experiences is a notoriously long one and this is something that you just can’t avoid in the first few weeks of your stay in any new country. You tend to compare, you tend to multiply and convert. In retrospect, it’s really funny at times but I have found out a rather interesting way to tackle this tendency – consider everything in £ as Rs. So 4 samosas for Rs 3, a lords test match ticket for Rs 100/-, 4 chapattis for Re 1 and a fully furnished flat for just over a 1000 Rs., makes it a beautiful world and a much easier lifeJ.

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The Magic of 100!

No other number has a similar ring attached to it as the number 100 has, neither 99 nor 101 nor for that matter any other number. There is some magic, some joy, some melody attached to the number 100 that makes it so very special. Be it securing 100% marks in any exam, be it scoring 100 runs in a Cricket match, be it some movie grossing 100 crores at box office or be it achieving 100% in any walk of life. There is a sense of pride, a sense of joy and a sense of accomplishment attached to any form of 100 clocked in life.

Achieving a 100 of any kind not only gives you a kick and immense happiness but it also makes you realize about your own capability and competency in that trade. It gives you a belief that you too are capable of doing something worthy in life, if not extraordinary. And this in turn gives you a strong reason to work much harder towards that trade, not only with an objective of not letting that slip through but also with an aim to maintain and possibly improve upon it, too.

This happens to be one such stage for me, as this is my 100^th blog post or essay as some notoriously call it. Though, I have always cherished penning down my thoughts on anything and everything since my school days but this exciting blog journey started around 5 years back with the advent of the blogging culture. Exciting, as it not only provides you a platform to share your thoughts on various issues and topics but it also lets you know that how many of your friends/colleagues are actually reading your posts and what are their views on the those issues and more importantly their feedback on these blog posts. And seriously it can’t get any better! You get an instant feedback and that kind of instils you with lot of confidence and yields a chance to proactively do a course correction.

Some of my close friends and critics have often accused me of resorting to Bollywood, Sports (Cricket) and Politics as the key themes for my blog. And in all fairness that is true too, I follow these fields more religiously and hence the comfort level. Also, my interest and knowledge in some of the other fields like art, economics, fiction etc. is pretty limited, so naturally such a bias. Although, I have been trying my best to diversify across fields and refraining from focussing more towards the Tendulkars, Khans and Kejriwals of the world but then it’s not easy to stay away from the such spicier cordons.

Interestingly, every time I read any of my old blogs I feel embarrassed for the very fact that how badly it has been drafted and how well it could have been otherwise shaped up. No wonder that’s the reason I don’t like reading my own blogs, though there are a few of my old posts that I myself find not as bad tooJ. Nonetheless, this feeling of embarrassment hardly deters me from continuing this habit of blogging. In fact, with such a vibrant media, plethora of social networking options and a bevy of well-connected and intelligent friends, it becomes quite easy to choose a topic and share my thoughts on it. So a lot of credit about this special 100 goes to my friends and colleagues for constantly sharing their earnest feedback on my work either online or offline. I hope, I continue to clock many such 100’s, possibly much quicker and with a far better quality.

Till then it’s time to enjoy and celebrate this moment of special 100:)

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kin..

 

 

London Diaries 1 | Heartache of leaving behind your beloved City!

The last two months for us have been very busy, in fact more than busy, very tiring and unsettling to be precise. On one hand  where we should have been filled with unbridled euphoria of relocating to the magnificent city and the global capital of the world, London, these thoughts were certainly not on top of our minds. Not to sound too smart, the thoughts of packing up , wrapping up, winding up and closing shop from OUR city took precedence. 

OUR city? Well, any city where you spend a good bit of time becomes your own city. But what do you call a city where you have a bevy of good friends living, where you got your first job, you have spent most of your professional life here, you started and spent all your marital life, you bought your first car, you bought your first house, you built your own home here, you got the most precious gift of your life, your child here and many such treasured priceless memories? This had to be among the most precious places of your life, easily among the best, if not the best. So to wind up and depart from here, even though for a short while is nothing short of a severe heartache!

And it isn’t just about the emotional connect but equally so about the ease and the comfort related to smallest of the things that this lovely city of Pune offers. The cosmopolitan culture, usually soothing climate and a variety of culinary and tourism attractions around makes it all the more lazily comfortable. And hence, every passing day to the departure day, made it very tough and heavy, it wasn’t just about leaving a city but more about going out of your comfort zone. No wonder when the day arrived it wasn’t any different, was rather even heavier and sombre. 

But over the years, the best part about leaving Pune has been that it calls me back. It has happened thrice so by that logic, hopes galoreJ. But as they say the show must go on, the transition to the new place hasn’t been a bad one. Though, there were scares about early adaptability issues in a city as diverse and huge as London but with a favourable weather, loads of Indians around, variety of eating options, plethora of beautiful places to visit, handful of good friends to guide and above all a cheap India calling facility made it a bit easierJ 

But this doesn’t mean that it’s all hunky dory from the outset.  To gear up to the much famed English school of etiquettes and mannerisms is highly awkward to say the least. Blazers every day? A shave every morning? Cans full of thank you(s) and sorry(s) in every walk of life? And a quick to appear, quick to disappear smile as a courtesy gesture? Boy! That is some change to adapt to. Nonetheless interesting times ahead, a beautiful country to explore and an far too interesting culture to adapt toJ. However, deep down the heart the beloved city and its comforts would still be missed!

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