Its the energy that strikes you. A force that seeks reckoning. There are people jostling everywhere, nightmarish from one point of view but unstoppable, undying and with a purpose. You know you are in India. And you appreciate this only when you have spent some time out of the country.
Yeah, the crowds only got worse, trains are more packed then ever, the roads are now crawling at a never before seen speed (i think walking is officially the quickest means), the system still sucks but India is home. Centuries of history blending in with the present to give the most amazing results every day.
Just one hour in the train, station and you see so many things at work at the same time that it overwhelms you. Normally you just tune yourself out to all these things. The least resistant path to just get over your day. But if you look closer, dig deeper you can unravel so many facets that you are amazed you never looked at it before.
This struck me one evening when i was rushing to meet friends in the evening. I land on the platform and have just missed the train. While i am waiting for the next one, i see 2 women and their 4 small girls sitting right there on the platform engrossed in their chore. Talking in my native gujarati, they are sorting out the 'bindis' to be sold to women in trains. They come over for a few days to make enough money to sustain for a few weeks and head back. Extremely tiny hands helping by methodically sorting out the hundreds of bindis to be sold later. Now it might be very easy to pity them and sympathise on them being condemned to a low life for the rest of their lives.
But i see some thing rare. They are happy & content. The mothers are feeding them good home made food from tiffins, the kids are laughing and making jokes as well. The elder sister tenderly helping the smaller one. Now, in all my travels i have seen that majority of people go through lives being unhappy and frustrated. A smile has probably become the most precious commodity nowadays..
Maye a domestic fight, love gone bad, not enough money, enough money but no people to enjoy it with, that elusive car, not enough time, no chance to travel the world and missing home once u start globe trotting...The big 'IF' written all over.But i seldom see people who are happy with themselves and life. You can make these out easily like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
So how well you are 'positioned' in life doesn't count for anything. For all those running in the rat race to get the 'most' and to get it 'quickest' it is time to stop and take a look around. The world doesn't give a damn and it is good to realise it before it is too late...
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Notes from the kitchen
Alright, i have been cooking for some time now and can now claim to have got fairly good at it. Though Italian is a bit of a struggle. However, some lessons are to be learnt only the hard way:
- Steel vessels in a microwave lead to some pretty spectacular fire and sound works.
- Using the oven to toast a slice of bread at full blast because you are late for office is like using an AK 47 to kill a mosquito!
- In the above process, the time difference between a superb golden brown toast and a charred black one is usually less than 10 seconds.....
- Exotic fruits at throwaway prices in the supermarket are cheap for a reason!
- There is no such thing as an 'authentic Indian restaurant' outside of India unless of course you have been out for so long that it really doesn't matter
- If you order curry & rice in a British restaurant, never ask them to make it more spicy. Chances are they will add as much black pepper as they can get their hands on
- If you walk in to a Chinese restaurant and order something vegetarian don't be surprised if you find seafood or eggs..After all they would feel bad at serving you only steamed rice
- There is no such thing as a 'good Thai vegetarian' dish or for that matter Thai and vegetarian in the same sentence is generally considered quite brainless
- According to a nice establishment just outside Victoria station in London there is indeed a 'vegetarian Chicken Fried Rice' with lumps of bananas painstakingly given the shape of the chicken! Available at a special price of only 15 pounds
- That book titled 'Indian vegetarian cooking for the NRI professional' is fake. It was probably written by a Marketing person who identified the most gullibe market segment!
- Free Range eggs & chicken refers to the fact that poultry is allowed to roam freely and who give eggs or their own meat quite freely and voluntarily. This is to improve the general happiness & liveliness of the animals (official definition) so much that they readily give their lives to solve the larger problem of hunger faced by mankind
- Free trade coffee generally refers to the fact that the organisation doesn't trade with those employing child labourers.But there is no problem in supplying truckload of arms to such impoverished countries. After all these kids are out of work and what better way to spend time than to practice your shooting skills...
Rolling stone gathers a lot of miles....
I am on the run again. Back in Queen's land. I remember it was 1st of April 2008, when i landed here for the first time and stood on the 'Waterloo Bridge' across the Thames. It was quite windy, had almost been run over by a high-speed bike, was sleep deprived and was damn hungry but i could not help admire the beauty of the scene. That was just the beginning of my travel haunts.
The more i traveled, more i realised how similar people are all over. Human emotions, needs, motivations are universal. Their manifestation is different in terms of language, dressing sense, greetings and also body language. So if you pick these up quickly, you can adapt to any culture, team and region quickly. You need not even speak the same language. What you require is the will to communicate, rest follows.
The 'will to comunicate' is so important because many (or most) people i see have switched themselves off. They are so enamored by their own self that they fail to notice people around them living just paces away. It has become a routine existence to drift through and just survive.
That is why people go so much importance to 'feeling alive' in special moments. It is strange how ALL the other moments have just flown by 'without feeling alive' . The question then is do we realise that it is 1 life, 1 chance to do what ever you ever dreamt of. Then it doesn't matter how much money you have, how big your achievements are or how beautiful people think you are. If you don't feel alive enough at this moment, then probably it is time to stop, take stock of things, maybe look around and say Hi to the person next to you if nothing else.
The more i traveled, more i realised how similar people are all over. Human emotions, needs, motivations are universal. Their manifestation is different in terms of language, dressing sense, greetings and also body language. So if you pick these up quickly, you can adapt to any culture, team and region quickly. You need not even speak the same language. What you require is the will to communicate, rest follows.
The 'will to comunicate' is so important because many (or most) people i see have switched themselves off. They are so enamored by their own self that they fail to notice people around them living just paces away. It has become a routine existence to drift through and just survive.
That is why people go so much importance to 'feeling alive' in special moments. It is strange how ALL the other moments have just flown by 'without feeling alive' . The question then is do we realise that it is 1 life, 1 chance to do what ever you ever dreamt of. Then it doesn't matter how much money you have, how big your achievements are or how beautiful people think you are. If you don't feel alive enough at this moment, then probably it is time to stop, take stock of things, maybe look around and say Hi to the person next to you if nothing else.
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Rolling Stone
I thought the writing bit was done. It wasn't that i ran out of inspirations but the impulse was absent. Trust a few authors to rekindle that. Those that make you think, introspect, ponder and force you to pick up the pen! Arthur Conan Doyle, Tolkien, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy and the most recent Joseph Conrad.
I have been at home now for almost 2 months feeling so comfortable and laid back as if i have never left this room for many years. It is that nagging lazy feeling that you get when you feel the absence of the zing in your life...It is quite surprising considering the past one year!! So i sat down and listed all the places that i have been over last one year and especially since working for TAS...
India
So there it is 30 cities, 17 in India and 13 abroad is where all life has taken me over the past one year. Definitely some doze to shrug off that sneaky feeling of laziness that was just crawling over. God Bless TAS :)
I have been at home now for almost 2 months feeling so comfortable and laid back as if i have never left this room for many years. It is that nagging lazy feeling that you get when you feel the absence of the zing in your life...It is quite surprising considering the past one year!! So i sat down and listed all the places that i have been over last one year and especially since working for TAS...
India
- Lucknow : Aaah campus, my heart & soul
- Mumbai: Lifeline, connect to all that i am and will be
- Pune: Notable for TAS induction and the resplendent TMTC
- Bangalore: It is difficult not to fall in love with the weather, cloudy, windy, its a crime to be single in this city! Plus i had damn good company here
- Chennai: Let me put it this way, doing retail market research in this town is not a good idea
- Kolkata: Just two words, Laid-Back, City of gardens and yeah beautiful people!
- Delhi: Awesome parks, best roads in India but could use some Mumbai junta to spruce up things!
- Babrala: A haven in the most notorious district in India
- Jamshedpur: A glimpse into what Tatas really are, the Tata Steel City and i absolutely love the Tata Stadium, i have probably run over a 100 kms in this place!!
- Mithapur: The most beautiful coastline i have ever seen!! Plus we had some very company and made some friends for life which was totally unexpected....
- Junagarh: I will explain Juna in gujarati is old and garh is Fort!
- Mt Girnaar: 10,000 steps. A humbling effort to climb them
- Gir Forest & National Park: The abode of the lions but sadly we saw none in our safari
- Rajkot: The city of morning jalebi ghatiyas and terrible heat in the afternoon. Rode half the city on a bike with some of the worst street driving possible
- Dwarka: The city of Lord Krishna, awesome temple!
- Amboli: The place with the heaviest rainfall in Konkan and also a city among clouds during rains...
- Madgao, Goa: My all time favorite destination. Retirement plans are definitely ON for this place
- London (UK): Definitely one of the most vibrant cities in the world
- Edinburgh (Scotland): Simply breathtaking
- Sterling (Scotland): William Wallace!!!!
- Port Talbot (Wales, UK): Land of meadows, hills and of course Corus
- Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire, UK): Industrial 'Garden' City, some good forests around
- Amsterdam (Netherlands): Also known as Sin City! If you want to foind out what you really desire, take $ 100 in your pocket and let loose on these streets...
- Haarlem (Netherlands): It is a quiet town for quiet people
- IJmuiden(Netherlands): The source of river IJ (eye)...
- Utrecht (Netherlands): The city of my sis Dharmi, jiju Kaushik and ofcourse Vidhi!
- Zaandvoort (Netherlands): The city of the beautiful beaches
- Den Hague (Netherlands): The cosmopolitan city of Netherlands
- Frankfurt (Germany): The land of cross-over flights!!
- Koblenz (Germany): The industrial city and of course Corus
So there it is 30 cities, 17 in India and 13 abroad is where all life has taken me over the past one year. Definitely some doze to shrug off that sneaky feeling of laziness that was just crawling over. God Bless TAS :)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Where merit is cheap and politics sells
India has proved it again. The Supreme court has approved 27 % additional quota for OBCs in all the premier institutions in India. The last vestiges of some intellectual fervor present in these institutions will all but vapourise. Institutes like IIMs, AIIMs, IITs are some of the last few places where an Indian could think of going by giving even the international institutes a miss. They are simply good because of the quality of students going there and the environment present. Where they lag far far behind other institutes is in infrastructure. One look at international campuses will show all the difference.
Now each one of them will have 27 % additional seats with almost the same infrastructure. One cannot imagine the overload on the already over strecthed infrastructure in these places. This is being done in the name of oppression and also in the name of humanitarian needs. It is all being done in the name of stinking bloody politics......Where you tell some one with 99 percentile to wait and admit some one else only on th basis of caste.
I am not against helping those who are oppressed. But, caste is not the way to do that. Recently while doing a project in rural gujarat, we realised that in about 42 villages of that area majority (80 %) were of general category. They had unimaginable hardships in life, no drinking water, no proper food and medical facilities. These people had 2 school rooms for over 400 kids being taught by just 2 teachers. Help them first, give them at least water to drink and yeah, give them a fast track full scholarship route to higher education. But admission is based only on the basis of merit.
What are we telling our future generations that it is provident enough to be born with a certain surname and it is alright not to be working hard...What do you tell some one from a middle class family who studies hard enough but only misses out on a life time of education ...Help some one like Kashmiri Pandits who have had a life on the run for a long time and have settlement pangs in a new world...Help out people who are landless laborers who do not figure out in any electoral lists but are in dire need of help..
No, but we shall eternally be grateful to caste politics. And people will even rush to take credit for such an action..
Now each one of them will have 27 % additional seats with almost the same infrastructure. One cannot imagine the overload on the already over strecthed infrastructure in these places. This is being done in the name of oppression and also in the name of humanitarian needs. It is all being done in the name of stinking bloody politics......Where you tell some one with 99 percentile to wait and admit some one else only on th basis of caste.
I am not against helping those who are oppressed. But, caste is not the way to do that. Recently while doing a project in rural gujarat, we realised that in about 42 villages of that area majority (80 %) were of general category. They had unimaginable hardships in life, no drinking water, no proper food and medical facilities. These people had 2 school rooms for over 400 kids being taught by just 2 teachers. Help them first, give them at least water to drink and yeah, give them a fast track full scholarship route to higher education. But admission is based only on the basis of merit.
What are we telling our future generations that it is provident enough to be born with a certain surname and it is alright not to be working hard...What do you tell some one from a middle class family who studies hard enough but only misses out on a life time of education ...Help some one like Kashmiri Pandits who have had a life on the run for a long time and have settlement pangs in a new world...Help out people who are landless laborers who do not figure out in any electoral lists but are in dire need of help..
No, but we shall eternally be grateful to caste politics. And people will even rush to take credit for such an action..
Friday, April 04, 2008
Rural files
It is strange how we take many things for granted in our lives. We never know the situation when one has to walk 2 hours to get drinking water from a muddy lake, watch your kids drink that and then those kids walk 4 kms one way to the village school where there has always been 1 teacher for all 7 standards and everyone squished in 2 rooms.. All this and the main occupation in the area is baval (wild shrubs and weds) cutting. Average daily wage Rs. 20 ($ 0.5) Well, that is life as usual for Okhamandal area in gujarat.
Inspite of all this, they would offer you tea when you go and insist on that. Will get chairs form their neighbours for you to sit and talk about their life in the village.
But not even for a second think that people are dull. This is a place where women of the village form Self Help Groups (SHGs) to make daily savings even of Rs 10 or so, continue to do that over a year and then give loans to those who require it and earn interest on that. Beat that!
Living life in total isolation is also therapeutic. Away from all friends (though had wonder ful company there), away from the usual haunts in cafes...But pure life in outdoors, by the seaside, a lot of think to mull things over and just be by yourself
That is probably what reminds you of vast English country sides, Sir Arthur conan Doyle's words or J R R Tolkien's imagery..
P.S. Next stop: London
Inspite of all this, they would offer you tea when you go and insist on that. Will get chairs form their neighbours for you to sit and talk about their life in the village.
But not even for a second think that people are dull. This is a place where women of the village form Self Help Groups (SHGs) to make daily savings even of Rs 10 or so, continue to do that over a year and then give loans to those who require it and earn interest on that. Beat that!
Living life in total isolation is also therapeutic. Away from all friends (though had wonder ful company there), away from the usual haunts in cafes...But pure life in outdoors, by the seaside, a lot of think to mull things over and just be by yourself
That is probably what reminds you of vast English country sides, Sir Arthur conan Doyle's words or J R R Tolkien's imagery..
P.S. Next stop: London
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Mithapur
Location: Mithapur, Gujarat.Work: Plan to make nearby villages self reliant in 5 years.
Duration: 7 weeks.
A day before leaving for mithapur, i travelled 5 hours in a flight for Mumbai-Lucknow-mumbai, sat at the amausi Lucknow airport eating fried peanuts waiting for a delayed flight, listened to a bemused flight captain letting his heart out on the in-flight announcement for 20 minutes (no kidding), wrote an appreciative letter to the flight captain on a tissue paper (no kidding again) to which he conveyed his thanks for 10 minutes again on the in-flight announcement system....returned home at 2:30 AM to unfinished packing and left again for Jamnagar the next day at 9AM. In short arrived in the 70 year old Tata Chemicals, Mithapur quite frustrated with life and quite unsure of what to expect.
Me and a friend start walking around the township and see a sign saying 'Seashore'. On walking for 10 minutes we come upon this huge white sand green water beach. Well, life does throw some pleasant surprises!
I am here for 7 weeks to work for Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development which works for nearby villages. Gotta prepare a business plan to make them self-reliant within 5 years. Big talk for a just-out-of-college MBA grad but lets see.
P.S: the white in the sands are actual sea shells and not the plastic bags that i am used to in bombay.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Chariots of Fire again!
The frequent readers would have been aware by now that the author is in love with the activity of running inspite of being a literal load on mother Earth. After running in way too many geographies like ring road of IIM L, the vastly populated and polluted Juhu beach, the Tata stadium at Jamshedpur, Grater Kailash community park in Delhi, Cubbon Park in Bangalore, Bhawanipur in Calcutta, Babrala, Pune and Chennai, the author felt confident enough to put up an attempt for the Mumbai half marathon spanning 21 kms.
So there i was in the huge crowd of about 7000 people mostly from the 40 plus age category on a chilly morning in Azad maidan Mumbai. It is a sublime experience running with such a huge mass of people, its inspiring in a way that is not expressible sufficiently. Now the thing with running at marathons is that the first 25 minutes are a breeze but then every gasp of breath, every stride, every second is an effort. And amid this, if you see a 65 year old man (not kidding at all) panting for his life but running past you with ease, it makes you feel like a cute little girl with pony tails.
So there i was in the huge crowd of about 7000 people mostly from the 40 plus age category on a chilly morning in Azad maidan Mumbai. It is a sublime experience running with such a huge mass of people, its inspiring in a way that is not expressible sufficiently. Now the thing with running at marathons is that the first 25 minutes are a breeze but then every gasp of breath, every stride, every second is an effort. And amid this, if you see a 65 year old man (not kidding at all) panting for his life but running past you with ease, it makes you feel like a cute little girl with pony tails.
But then the perspective changes as you trudge along.
Slowly time stops, every metre is an eternity and you know that you are running on some store of energy that was hitherto unknown. You are on auto pilot and unable to stop. You also realise that all this is possible because you are running only for the sheer pleasure of it.
Slowly time stops, every metre is an eternity and you know that you are running on some store of energy that was hitherto unknown. You are on auto pilot and unable to stop. You also realise that all this is possible because you are running only for the sheer pleasure of it.
It is not for a prize, any position or even for a social cause. You also realise that how futile is our race for most things in life. The absolute rat race for marks, ranks, right jobs, climbing up the corporate ladder, more money. You shudder to think at things you so easily sacrifice to attain these. The price of which you will realise only much later in life.
Also, how simple it is to find out the things that you really love and do them. It only takes a little courage to go away from well laid ruts and try to explore!
In the spirit of new exploring, a few lines from Jerusalem!
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Vagabond.
Strange thing is travel! i mean extensive travel...It puts things in perspective. Just travel for the heck of it. Initially one looks for comfort..Nice place to stay, nice food, good entertainment. Then one gets used to it. Then one starts looking for exhiliratio: damn good party, night outs, movie marathon. Then thats over too.
Then it strikes you. Something is missing. Aah,and that is the huge comfort of daily life at home sweet home. No, you cannot just plop down at your home and declare to people that you had a loong tiring day. Strangely, family listens to your every word..You come back to an empty house where there is no one to listen to your own self pitying BS. Its not only that, you have now got to prepare your own food. Its not a fancy event where there is a proud mother behind to say, 'Damn good beta' an you can conveniently eat what she cooked just for a backup. Here, you got to eat it too.
Amid all this, things start taking shape too. In your head that is. It is not necessary for all, for some the mumbo jumbo of staying alone does give exhilirating glee for days on end. But then, people have heard of psychiatric cases where things explode one fine day.
Anyway, you realise the economy of your actions, time, money, others time. And you realise what you really want in life. You strangely realise what you really want in life. It all seems clear . Home, family and friends get an all new meaning.
A thank you from a stranger now seems meaningful, helping someone stranded in a new city seems most logical, giving money to somebody who genuinely seems to have forgotten her wallet doesn't seem suspicious, people in city with a genuine language problem is NOT FUNNY, finding some one to trust in a new place gets a new meaning, finding a decent place to jog is well lucky, finding a place where you can feel closest to home is priceless!! Cos you have been there and done that.
Now it does not all mean that one becomes St. Patrick with a halo on the head and holy water in your hand. Far from it. But you do realise the limits of your vagabond life. You strangely appreciate it and moreover get used to it. Somehow that is the bigger learning than anything that you pick up...
Then it strikes you. Something is missing. Aah,and that is the huge comfort of daily life at home sweet home. No, you cannot just plop down at your home and declare to people that you had a loong tiring day. Strangely, family listens to your every word..You come back to an empty house where there is no one to listen to your own self pitying BS. Its not only that, you have now got to prepare your own food. Its not a fancy event where there is a proud mother behind to say, 'Damn good beta' an you can conveniently eat what she cooked just for a backup. Here, you got to eat it too.
Amid all this, things start taking shape too. In your head that is. It is not necessary for all, for some the mumbo jumbo of staying alone does give exhilirating glee for days on end. But then, people have heard of psychiatric cases where things explode one fine day.
Anyway, you realise the economy of your actions, time, money, others time. And you realise what you really want in life. You strangely realise what you really want in life. It all seems clear . Home, family and friends get an all new meaning.
A thank you from a stranger now seems meaningful, helping someone stranded in a new city seems most logical, giving money to somebody who genuinely seems to have forgotten her wallet doesn't seem suspicious, people in city with a genuine language problem is NOT FUNNY, finding some one to trust in a new place gets a new meaning, finding a decent place to jog is well lucky, finding a place where you can feel closest to home is priceless!! Cos you have been there and done that.
Now it does not all mean that one becomes St. Patrick with a halo on the head and holy water in your hand. Far from it. But you do realise the limits of your vagabond life. You strangely appreciate it and moreover get used to it. Somehow that is the bigger learning than anything that you pick up...
Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The after...
Hear closely an its quiet, no blaring music, no drunken brawls, no H9 guys comin an yellin 'H 10 ki maa ka....', no quirky neighbor who would listen to Bhajans at 3 AM an then graduate to highly obkectionable videos by 7 AM, no assignments, no exam tomorrow for which you don't have a clue, no batch meetings on 'serious issues', well this is called home. Its comfortable, warm and its back to civilisation with a bang...
Before you know it you have passed one complete time of your life and are headlong in to another.
Its been 2 months and i thought many times to update the blog...It was titled 'The Wonder Years' cos the first series that i downloaded an watched on campus was the same. Somewhere it also became a metaphor for the times spent, literally the wonder years.
Life is now spent in meetin up people an yeah jogging on the beach...
Before you know it you have passed one complete time of your life and are headlong in to another.
Its been 2 months and i thought many times to update the blog...It was titled 'The Wonder Years' cos the first series that i downloaded an watched on campus was the same. Somewhere it also became a metaphor for the times spent, literally the wonder years.
Life is now spent in meetin up people an yeah jogging on the beach...
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