Author: Sunny Jaiswal

Mumbai Diaries – Part 1(The One with the Introduction)

Its a friday evening. 4 friends(Atush, Gaurav, Nauman, Karan) were talking in their Andheri office about how they never went on a trip, where there would be only friends, booze and carelessness. One of them, say Gaurav gave the idea ‘Lets go for a trip tomorrow to Alibaug by ferry. Everyone seemed excited, everyone looked onboard until Atush explained the plan, ‘So, I have heard that one has to take ferry at Churchgate at 7.30 AM as its very busy there.
Atush started to calculate loudly, ‘7.30 means, we will have to reach the place by 6.30, which means I will have to start from 4.30 in the morning, for which I will have to wake up at 2.30 to prepare myself, for which I have to leave office by 12.30 today.
Then they all looked at the clock, it was 11.30.
‘If I start now, I will make it to the ferry at 6.30’, Atush said.
Everyone’s face saddened. ‘Dude, leave it please’ Gaurav said dropping his shoulders.
‘Lets plan for a Sports Bar then’, Nauman advised.
‘Yeah’ everyone cheered.

 

That was life in Mumbai, where the most plausible hangout place, ironically was the office itself. But these guys were going to learn it the hard way.

So the next morning, Atush started by his car very early, infact earlier than everybody as he wanted to surprise his friends that he is not a late comer everytime. Gaurav and Nauman lived in the same area, so they were coming together via the very famous and reliable local trains. Karan had to come by bus as he lived in central line and the destination was in western line, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to take local and change it again. Gaurav & Nauman reached local train station at dadar and the intricate and intertwined queue was nearly the length of train itself. Gaurav & Nauman went for different lines, for obvious reasons. After fighting off the counter-guy for ‘change’, Gaurav comes off victorious and now they move to the platforms.

Karan starts from his home to the nearest bus-stop. Just as he is about to reach the stop, he sees his bus leaving. Karan runs a little, but in vain. He comes back to the stop cursing his luck about the bus timings. He looks at his watch, there is still a lot of time. Little does he know that Mumbai traffic makes you pay for every missed bus.

Atush starts his engine along with the music playing. He still is superexcited about the virtual get-together of the 4 Mumbai friends.
Well that is Mumbai, where meeting of a complete group is so rare that once a group accomplishes a full-show, it is quickly dubbed as a reunion.
Atush still is smelling like his deo and revs up his engine to full speed from his home. His excitement takes a full U-turn as he joins the auto and car lines crawling up at 20 kmhr. His mind quickly goes into calculation of 20km at 20kmph mode.

Image Coutesy: Google Images

Gaurav & Nauman are very close by their station. The train nearly stops at their station and just when they are happily stepping down on the platform, they are greeted by a rush of Virar heading commute, which is nothing less than the Kumbh visitors, ready to kill just for the sake of touching their destination. Nauman somehow makes it to the platform feeling violated, when he realizes Gaurav hasn’t yet made it yet. He shouts for Gaurav, hearing his faint voice amongst the shouts of ‘Pude station! Malad(Please don’t forget to add the irritating tone as well)!’.He tries to make out what Gaurav is shouting, he hears ‘BC….. is that my station?’. He thinks hard but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to him, so he decides to wait at the station for Gaurav.
As he turns around disappointed and kicking dust, he sees a girl who is nervously eyeing him. He smiles as the train leaves the station. He had no intentions of reaching to the Sports Bar now.

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.

 

Deciding Passions!


HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO IN LIFE?
Someone recently asked me this question and it got me in a tizzy. Isn’t life supposed to be easy? Why decide on life’s rhetoric questions?
But as it turns out, the world is not too kind to accept a person who doesn’t know where he will be after 5 years. The world seeks visionaries who can command and take us forward.
I believed I accepted this too. But after a lot of thinking, I now have a different take on this.
In my opinion, asking this question isn’t the way to go. Finding what you want for real, is not an obligation, rather it’s a baggage. I would rather concentrate on seeking what I like. There are hobbies and there is passion. The difference between them and the importance they hold should be known by all.
Ideally, the thing that you are most passionate about should be the way to go (and an answer to this question too). But life is more complicated than that. So, a major prerequisite is to decide priorities.
If your priority is money and fame in future, then you may need a plan to move ahead. Strategy would be required as it’s hard to satiate since there is no end to the accumulated wealth.
However, if one’s aim is happiness, then there is no need for all the hoopla. Just rely on your passion, it will get you home.
Difference between aim and hobby in this context is that aim is one or set of hobbies for which one is passionate upto that extent as Johny Bravo was passionate about his looks.
Aims in our life keep us focused sharply while our hobbies keep us stable. A synergy of both is a necessary prerequisite to a happy life. Well, not exactly life, but they keep us satisfied while still wanting for more in a sweet way.
Seek what you like rather than answering a much vaguer question, finding answer to which is typically hard to find even for the mature ones, let alone a confused teenager.
Life is really full of possibilities, if you have the strength to believe so.

My team in ILP!


When I look back at the last three months, I see a journey that has components of a lifetime…
I am not a fan of travelling, but even I would have to admit, it was a sort of essential experience to have. It was a different journey altogether. We wanted to learn; it wasn’t like it was for an exam or something. It was the start and we all wanted to make something out of it. We tasted apartment lifestyle and it was awesome. We acquiesced to the 9 to 6 schedule and so upon returning, all that

we could do was to play table-tennis. Some became serious players, while for some, it remained a kind of mini-badminton. During the learning, I found a group that, in simple words, was the most positive team (not group), that I have ever seen. I will accept that at start, we weren’t the most enthusiastic of batches, because  we all had our college groups with us, and hanging out with them more often, logically made sense. But as soon as we realized that our time to disband has come, everyone was like in a hurry to get to know about each other. We hanged out more often with each other and started making memories. We joined Gujaratis in their celebrations in garba, executed a night out starting with open-theatre and ending with dozing off at office canteen at 7 in the morning, going out for dinners more often than usual and many such more in relatively short span of time.
On the final day, we bid goodbye to various people, saw them crying, became part of their commotion.
Finally, when my time arrived, I felt like something was missing, which is a strong testament that I will seriously miss this part of life. I saw a lot of people leaving with smiles going home and on the contrary, saw people crying, on being separated from their long known buddies. Got an opportunity to meet various different kinds of people, some introverts like me, some dynamic extroverts, some exemplary team workers.
When you leave such a group that has been conflict free and remained positive during the entire tenure, you feel like its not enough yet, you need some more time. Since, we became a team a little late, so there were few interactions that were still incomplete; some wanted to make the most of the time, some wanted the memories to stay forever, while some wanted to stay back at any cost. But in the end, we all had to move on because career was calling. Everyone departed with the words ‘touch me rehna’.
There are times that you like to remember, as in that would make you smile, but you don’t want to relive those again, it was good when it happened, that’s all. And then there are memories that you want to relive over and over again. This was one of those times.

The unforgettable journey has made me stronger in multitudes of skills and that’s something that everyone would agree to. It has been like a gift that will help me in different ways. The gift that is the memory, laden with useful skills and great friends.
(With inputs from Geek )

Allah(ke)abad!

Allahabad, a city that every country deserves, but not the one it may need right now. While Allahabad is an excellent city per se, but has been clouded by some very unfortunate mishappenings. The wrath of bhaiyas of Allahabad still enounces on my mind even when I am 356 kms away from it. How a city welcomes a guest greatly defines a city. Allahabad welcomed me with dahi-jalebi and introduced me to the ever-tasty bun-omelette, which even after four years of continuous eating remains a favourite day-starting breakfast.

WHAT I WOULD MISS!
The discussions over bun-omelette and tea in the morning as well as evening. The serenity of Saraswati ghat was one I would crave a lot. Some destinations leave an everlasting footprints in your minds; Saraswati ghat is one such place. The people of Allahabad are also very versatile in giving opinions(reminds me of Gorakhpur, but Allahabad is a tad violent :p). If you are even a little interested in politics, this is a place to be. You never know, you may get acquainted by a future minister of state. Giving opinion boldly, come what may, is in the blood of an east UP person and Allahabad kinds of leads in that trait.
Being in the center of independence fight, gave this city a gift of great historic significance. The Azad Park commemorates Chandrashekhar Azad’s martyrdom. While the Sangam area and Naini bridge adds to the aesthetics of the place.

WHAT I WOULDN’T MISS!
Ofcourse the young successors of Indian politics, the student leaders…the most feared species in whole of Allahabad. Want people to concede to your demands, call the species; want to take revenge from someone who wasn’t giving you a pass on the road, call the species; don’t want to study today, call the species in havoc mode; want to get even with the professor for his tyrant ways, call them. From the innocuous thelawalas to the helpless VCs, they assert their authority everywhere.
Being crammed in the auto-rickshaws comes next in the list. You are living in the city, your girlfriend has called you to meet at this great restaurant, you did your hair, applied gel, worked on it for God knows how long, put on your best set of clothes and go to makeshift auto-stand feeling great about your life when suddenly an auto comes at the station, with the conductor yelling ‘tation-tation’ (in case you missed, its station with a silent ‘s’), you enter the auto and two sweat drenched aunties block the exit to the auto. You are thinking it’s just 10 minutes away, but the auto-wala will stop at the place where the scorching sun shines the most and make you pay for all the past life sins. He will wait for more unlucky souls, until his auto looks like a scene where we are attempting the Guinness Book of World Record for cramming the most persons in an auto.
Another interesting thing is that Allahabadis have adopted this system, they don’t mind sharing that seat with three more broad-assed individuals. Even if he gets one of his buttocks in place, he won’t complain.
But overall, Allahabad invites you and takes care of you if you adapt the city well, that’s an assurity I can give, being a former resident of this city. But still, do take care :p

Discovered happiness!

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but they seize us.” –Ashley Montagu

Recently, I got an opportunity to experience this quote first-hand. Well yesterday, we went for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ and what we thought would be the highlight of the day was totally eclipsed by what we discovered just before the movie began. We reached early to the mall and so we had solid one hour before the action began. We decided to go for KFC to have lunch. We were 14 in number and were deciding what to order and clearly taking a lot of space. A staff motioned us to get in line and then decide. He wasn’t saying anything, but just instructing us to get in line. I found it rude, but ignored it. Later on, I was told by my friend that he was deaf and mute. I realized it now that this KFC had a different aura altogether and it didn’t had the unnecessary chatter of the staffers that we usually experience in the franchisees. I observed that nearly every staff there was using sign language to communicate with other staffs or using gestures to communicate with the customers, and all that with a smile that will melt your heart. There was an air of confidence emanating from everyone working there, which was unaffected by the curious stares by the ongoing crowd. I was eagerly waiting for my turn to order, because I wanted to get the feel of communicating with the person and to see how they coped up with the standards set by KFC. And yes, as expected, the transaction was flawless. I pointed out my order and the person at the counter asked me the quantity and I gestured it too, then after confirming the order from the screen, he politely directed me out of the queue and proceeded to serve the next customer.

KFC’s initiative to employ deaf and mute persons in front-end jobs is surely commendable. Firstly, it gives them a respectable place in society earning their own bread and not depending on any relatives. And secondly, it gives them a lot of similar people in their company. This will ensure that they are in a community where everyone can readily communicate with them. The world certainly looks a nice place when you experience such nice chapters. We were so elated that we kept talking about them and agreed that this initiative should be carried on to every self-service franchises.

A little research reflected that this move was first initiated by Virag Joshi, CEO of Devyani International Limited, which runs Pizza Hut, KFC, Vaango and Costa Coffee chains in India. Really felt proud after getting acquainted with the fact that the move has been a great success so far, with the special KFCs at par with every other KFC in town. At Devyani International, they are given a training of 2 months to excel at communicating and handling customer requirements. Hats off to such an initiative by the man whose team was honoured for executing this successfully, which instils a ‘feel good’ factor in both customers and employees mind-set.

The world definitely requires such moves and positively enough there is no dearth of such leaders that can use such ideas and more to keep the spirit of humanity alive.

Intimacy… A need or just a hoax?

It’s a common conception that all human beings crave intimacy. It’s considered as one of the few important stuffs a human needs to experience… you know before they have their eulogies written. Everyone seeks this comfort, the comfort of human touch, the tingling pleasure of cuddling, the satiated state attained by holding hands, the mutual care for each other. I, being a human, also seek the aforementioned things as much, but I did something that always spoils these intimate emotions… I thought. I brought my brain into the arena that exclusively houses the delicate yet strong emotions. And the realities I discovered were so awesome that I thought everyone should atleast give this thought process some time. When I went into the depths as to why we seek intimacy that I got some answers. And it also got me asking these questions to myself: Should intimacy really be taking so much space in our minds? Does it really deserve the obsession and time we give to it? Isn’t intimacy over-rated? Isn’t there anything else that could fill up its place? Is intimacy irreplaceable?
 
Image Credit:: Sumaiya

In a perfect world; yes!

But, in the world we live in, a big NO. We have incorporated it so deep in our world that thinking of a life without it, is like a kid without a candy.
In my opinion, intimacy is just a part of life and shouldn’t be considered as something, which is as vital as breathing. If intimacy gets the place it deserves, the most apt analogy I can think of is of a very addictive parasite waiting for you to pass through it.
I believe that intimacy, like our other cravings is just an infatuation, which is fuelled up temporarily by our surroundings and should be given time to diagnose how much intensity is there. The most important element spreading such parasites are the movies that we watch, which are meant for entertainment, but are slowly becoming trendsetters. Everyone wants to incorporate the lives of our protagonists into our lives, the same melodrama, and the same level of connection.
It’s the movies that make every person crave for the physical as well as emotional intimacy. Not every person requires this stuff. According to my philosophy, every person has some tasks to accomplish, some goals to achieve and dreams to shatter. Some get intimacy in their lives, and some don’t. But what movies do is that they overrate these stuffs so much that getting a first-hand experience seems like a necessary thing to do.
For example, if a person craves, let’s say for something other than intimacy, then he doesn’t know how much that craving means to him because no movie has been produced that portrays/exemplify that particular trait. He would never know to how much extent he wants that unless he achieves it or ends up disgracing himself in the hunt. And if it’s just a slight appetence, he may lose sight of it in the wilderness of other desires.

 

My point is that some deserve it and some don’t. If one gets it, he should cherish it with all his might. For the “unlucky” ones, they shouldn’t forcibly try to explore that dimension, while they can actually be expending their time doing something that deserves their time. Going after something that is going to give them pain and hopelessness isn’t a great choice, especially when the world out there needs you and is calling YOU!

Make an appointment with yourself!

For the past few weeks that I became a morning person, I never seemed to enjoy the freshness that the morning used to hold, until last week, when I went for a solitude walk and boy!!! it was fun. Ya! I know we need to enjoy company of others and try to stay away as much as possible from/being a social outcast, but after such a long time I have felt peace within myself. I sensed calmness and serenity within myself which got me thinking about how in whole of my graduation life, I was never alone. One of the most prominent feature of college life is that you always have company. You don’t often get the peaceful time with yourself that you deserve.
Image Credit: Sumaiya

Though time spent with company, and I mean it in the sweetest of tones, is one that we cherish all our life and one mustn’t miss those opportunities, but here we are going to talk about the prospects that being solitude brings to the table. It’s sort of like a wisdom walk of ‘How I met your mother’ fame  and as Ted Mosby would say “I want you to go outside and simply put your hands on stuff that you interact daily, observe the beautiful rustling of leaves, feel the trees’ pulse, listen to the stories the streets are telling you.” I want you to do to the same, but with less dramatics and even less creepiness.

I have even started to look forward to such quality time with myself. The time gives me the chance to reflect upon my previous actions, think hard about a problem and take them down with well-thought out measures.
You can think of this as a modern day sibling of meditation. Meditation has long been known as a method to concentrate your mind and make it more focussed. And, since finding time specifically for meditation is a big impossibility; taking a solitude walk maybe a way to go.  I know that when I started doing this more often, it brought a remarkable positive changes to my whole attitude towards the materialistic world and its devised components.
 
Biggest perks:
* No risk of running out of topics.
* You can be 100% yourself.
* No one can judge you or your opinions.
* Hassle-free thought process.

 

The interesting part of this article is that I wrote most of the drafts whilst on the walks. Mornings are actually perfect time to have these conversations with yourself.  So if you ever need to talk about your problems, dig deep into them and actually need a solution, make an appointment with yourself.

It’s now Bale vs Neymar

4 years ago, when Ronaldo joined Real Madrid and confronted Lionel Messi, we thought nothing can top this. I mean seeing Ronaldo and Messi head to head in the same league was exhilarating enough, but now arrival of two best promising youths into the team has doubled the excitement, and tripled the anticipations. Neymar, already dubbed as the next Messi arrived in Barcelona earlier in the transfer window, while Bale was brought at the last moments to fill up the void created by the departure of Ozil and Kaka. The ‘transfer market enthusiasts’ were behind Bale from quite some time; well he’s a good catch and will prove that in no time.
It’s pretty safe to predict Bale to be a successor of Ronaldo (if he ever caved in to the homesickness he has for Old Trafford). Madrid seems to be one fully balanced team. Though fans aren’t very thrilled by the selling of Ozil to Arsenal, but with Isco and Di Maria performing well, they might not even miss him once the season’s on the way.
Tottenham have really dealt well with Madrid’s negotiators to have extracted 85.3 M£. With that price tag, Bale has crossed Ronaldo’s amount of 80M£ (paid in 2009), not accounting for inflation.
The Champions League has a solid chance to be in possession of one of these teams at the end of this year.

La-liga has never been so awesome and the rivalry between the two giants was never so fierce. The expectations have even superseded EPL limelight and it would be a treat watching how everything pans out.

 

As a matter of fact, both have started the season well, with wins without fault. In fact, Bale scored on his debut, promulgating his arrival and making a solid mark to commence another rivalry that will go long way.

A brand named India!

Its year 2030…and I just came across an e-article about Uttarakhand floods. Man! That was a real disaster. While researching around this article, I also realized that 2012-13 was a year filled with utter humiliation for Indian chauvinists. Newspapers crowded with news that could easily force your smiling curves inverted.
The dilapidating state of country was perspicuous in economic, social and humanitarian sense. My memory is fading and so it’s hard to remember how the shaking boat survived the drowning, but one thing’s I can bet on, we sure were close to reaching a deadlock where the scenario could have been described by even bad and ominous adjectives.
The political setup of India, both centre and state administration was seeing the lowest that it can be. I don’t know how we got through that horrendous phase where hopelessness, lawlessness and scrutiny of sincerity prevailed. Inconsiderate governance, apathetic politicians, slackly decisions, foraying into personal lives were just some gifts presented to citizens by our so-called ‘public servants’. The prevailing conditions were far cry from the promises of the incumbents.
The highlights of those times included falling rupee, the division of telangana, the national surveillance program, uncountable mid-day meal laxities, the disastrous National Food Bill among another national issues. In the local section the violence related with reservations, the suspension of SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal made the news constantly. Do you know, in UP, around 50 IAS officers are transferred every month. And this trend has been followed up for more than a decade now.
                Anyways these weren’t the only issues of let-down…these were following a long list of scams namely Coalgate, Commonwealth games, 2G auction, Chopper gate scams were just some major ones.
                Those were the times when utter helplessness and frustration marked over any discussions regarding India’s scenario. Patriotism was seriously taking lot of hits. I had seen the real patriotic souls on the verge of giving up on the country. The spark that enthused them was slowly fading followed by more impuissance. The times were so dark that leaving India looked eminent and substantial to a quality living. But as you can observe things are better now. The frustrated sense is no more acting now. The inevitable phase that no democracy has ever dodged was handled efficiently by our now developed India (of 2030). A new India rose from near ashes, with the efforts from bureaucrats, politicians and common man. Perhaps finding the right tuning to work with each other was the key.

 

It’s legen-please don’t wait for it-dary

With HIMYM drawing to a close with the season 9 premiering very soon in every television near you (Oh sorry! Not everyone has a DTH connection), it got me thinking about how naturally it brings about the comparison with one of the best sitcom ever, FRIENDS. Certainly there are no comparisons, considering the timeline differences between the two. But we, audiences can’t live without comparing the two. It’s like comparing Messi and Maradona, but then again, we do that and isn’t it fun? As Barney says: ‘New is always better’, it is better when it is this awesome. Well, better or not, I leave it to your judgement, but NPH and Hannigan’s impersonation deserve the biggest of applauses.
                First of all, congratulations to the producers of the show, for completing 8 successful seasons (Of course they aren’t listening…..but…just….just….OK) with the same cast. Most importantly it was the holy-mother-of-all-that-is-good-in-heaven relief to finally not force to personalize the mom of the two kids (whom names we still don’t know off!) of Ted’s through his words. We have seen her buying ticket to Farhampton. And I hope directors aren’t smiling wicked while the audiences are having this thought. It’s already hard to digest all the twists, especially during binge watching, that it might seem uncanny. What?? Why are you looking at me like that?? How it is not uncanny you ask? Yes, Every day can be legendary, meeting at the bar every single night is possible, being friends even if you want to see your friend’s wife’s racks, hooking up with girls in the same bar over and over again (and the bartender or the manager doesn’t mind), hit by a bus outside a hospital (that never happens :P).  
                Being the most well framed sitcom ever (with timestamps in every story), it kind of makes sense that the anticipations are high for the final showdown. The team has given us great laughs, sumptuous jokes, hilarious one-liners and the aggregation of theories of which some of them really make sense. The ‘cheerleader effect’, ‘the hot v/s crazy scale’, ‘Platinum Rule’ are as charismatically true as Barney’s repertoire to make his audience laugh. Ted and Robin’s enthusiastic and simultaneous salute on every mention of military lingo viz captain, private etc. is exasperatedly sweet.
                And how can I forget the most important and sacred of all ‘The Playbook’ and ‘The bro code’, both written by Sir Barnaby Stinson. One is the notorious collection of plots and the other, the code of conduct to be followed by two bros. The two sacred books once safe in the havens of Barney’s ‘fortress of Barney-tude’ are now at large. Playbook achieved martyrdom and Bro code soon will be obsolete for them.  
 Kids have listened to his story once but the loyal fans have vicariously lived his stories for only God-knows like zillion times.  I would call you a ‘blitz’ if have missed any of ‘awesomness-packed’ 8 seasons of laugh-riot.  The show’s worth of all the attention it has got. It’s nice to know that this love story is going to be even better than the previous love interests of Ted, better than his 2 minute date with Stella…..well that’s the dream!
So now I leave you with the image that I got somewhere from internet that quite aptly compares some characters.