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:)

--
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!

--

kin…