Luck by Chance!

With the onset of May month, every year, the speculations of how much rain we are going to receive, starts. The intensity of the discussion keeps increasing with the passage of time. Discussions on rains take centre stage. Be it on television, MET department, politicians or household late night discussion while watching television.

Rains do have regional charms as well. When you say ‘Mumbai Ki baarish’ it is different! When it rains, it rains cats and dogs. The ever bustling city comes to a standstill. The pleasure of roaming in rains on a Marine drive can never be experienced anywhere else in the world. I am short of words in describing the satisfaction and peace you derive after getting drenched in rains sitting close to the sea. On the flip side, you have traffic jams, roads block, buildings collapse, false promises, casual off from work, hassle to catch local trains and the every moody and irritating Autowalahs!

Anuj Gupta, happy go lucky guy was on his way to office early morning with his friend on his friend’s bike. In midway it started raining heavily, suddenly. That’s the beauty of Mumbai rains. It can hit you at any moment without any prior intimation. Anuj got down nearby and asked his friend to carry on as he was wearing raincoat. Anuj told him that he would take an auto and reach office, ignoring the Autowalah murmur that was waiting for him.

After getting down, he saw umpteen numbers of people struggling to convince the passing-by autowalahs. 30 minutes passed. Rains stopped. No auto found.

“I should have asked Kunal to wait for some time. The rain stopped.” he cursed himself.

Lot of people got autos and they moved to their respective destinations. He cursed himself. He observed a girl in her mid twenties also struggling for auto since long. “Where are you going?” asked Anuj. “Andheri” She answered. “Oh then we can pool a cab and share the fare, if you are ok! I am going to the same place.” “Ya, that looks fine” she said in agreement. That’s another aspect of Mumbai. Seldom would you find people saying no, because people here are by and large likeminded. They want to reach office as soon as possible, keeping the fares low, and with minimal hassle.

“What do you do?”Asked Anuj casually as the two were on their way to office in a cab.

“I work at MightyHeart publishers. We are basically into IT books publishing.” She said.

“Interesting”, said Anuj with a nod.

“And how about you?” the girl asked.

“I am working with Elephant Softwares.” he said exuberating confidence.

And he continued, “If you would have been working in Novel publishing house, it would have been a lot more interesting!”

“You write?” she asked.

“Yeah kind of. I am looking for a publisher to publish my first novel” he said with a gentle smile.

“Wow. What is it all about?” she asked showing some excitement.

“It’s a love story. Actually a real one with lot of fiction put into it. It is based on my friend’s real life story” he said.

Silence surfaced for some time. The auto was stuck in heavy traffic.

“Is your work interesting?” Anuj asked taking the conversation further.

“Yeah, very much. Actually I am a project manager and managing projects. Books are our projects!” She said with a smile.

“How is yours?”She asked.

“Well….it is interesting…Actually it is good. From one angle it is mundane and boring however it is also a high profile work…! replied Anuj, scratching his head.

“Are you from Mumbai itself?” She asked.

“No. Jaipur.” “And you?”

“Faridabad.” She smiled.

“By the way, what is your name?”

“Anuj Gupta” he replied.

“I am Shruti Banerjee” She said.

With a pause she continued... “Actually Elephant Softwares happen to be my dream company. I want to get into an MNC.”

Anuj asked her experience and qualification and told her that he can give it a try.

“You can always give it a try, if you want, anyways you have a stable job, if nothing works out!” he said after listening her professional details.

Anuj gave his email id, where she could mail her resume.

Shruti gave her email id, “tapsya.kale@bhppublishers.com”

“But you said you are Shruti?”, asked Anuj hastily. “Yeah I am Shruti and Tapsya happens to be my friend who can help you in taking your novel to the readers!” She smiled.

“Wow… you completed your impromptu project (of taking my book to a publisher or at-least guiding for it) successfully. I am impressed!” Anuj exclaimed.

Today, Shruti is in Elephant softwares living her dream and Anuj is happy to endorse that he has authored a book which is taken well by the readers.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: Luck by chance! Yes it was. Life always has mysteries stored in it. We mere mortals always realize it after it becomes past! Life’s good… Keep rolling!

For the girl who turned one! :)

Memories flashed in front of my eyes. I, along with my sister use to take out album of old photos from a deserted suitcase having lot of good old memories captured and stored in it. We use to watch them and at times use to jump in excitement. “Hey look dad was so thin that time.” “Yeah and look at Mamaji – he had so many hairs on head!...look at mommy, she is as beautiful today as she was, so many years ago!” Our birthdays use to be grand celebrations. I do not recall the events as I was toddler, but the clicks do narrate them.

I was at a friend’s daughter’s First birthday celebration. The moment I reached there, I felt good. Walls were beautifully decorated with cartoon character cut outs pasted on them. Colourful balloons everywhere. I was with friends and we were chatting and clicking. In minutes the hall was full with guests. The birthday girl arrived. Yashita. She was as cute as her name is. She was having fun, carelessly hanging on her mom. She must be amazed looking at so many new faces and probably must be wondering, “Hey, what is going on here!” People tried to have a glimpse of her. Guest started making faces, dancing, teasing, and cheering just to draw her attention towards them. But a one year old child is one year old child! She was following her heart and paying attention to only those whom she felt like.

Magic show started and as it progressed, everyone was glued to what the magician was doing. The innocent kids were laughing, giggling and enjoying the show. The grownups were enjoying but probably were paying extra attention to catch the other part of his smartness. He was good at his business. Everyone cheered him by clapping at regular intervals.

A gorgeous girl, who was looking like Cinderella, passed from my left aisle. She moved swiftly. She was wearing a bluish white princess dress. She caught everyone’s attention. We took her photographs. And her palace was kept next to her. The setup was a beautiful cake kept on a trolley moving from back side of the hall till it reached the centre stage. It was time for cake cutting ceremony and everyone got excited. To date all my senses wakes up, whenever I get to know that cake is around. The magician did some trick and out of nowhere he presented hats to Yashita’s father and the birthday girl. Kids sang the birthday song on top of their voice and the memories got framed.

The dinner was open and we got busy. It was delicious. And an ice cream with the summers approaching was like an icing on the cake. All in all, I had a very good time. The reminiscences from the photographs of my birthday that I used to admire, flashed. These are the moments probably the kids don’t understand but joy of the parents is incomparable. The unconditional and deep love parents have for their kids is unparallel. Camera can only capture a moment but memories of parents capture a lifetime.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: It is damn true when you want to feel god, you have parents!

Beautiful Gift of Life!

“I reached near the scanner machine in my office. I found that it was not working. Hesitantly I requested to one of the colleagues sitting close to scanner that if she could help me with that scanner. I told her that I had to scan some important documents and it was a bit urgent.

That beautiful lady looked at me and realising the urgency of matter, she got up from her work station. In the next moment she was checking the scanner. I prayed hard in my mind to fix that scanner quickly, as I had to mail my documents to the prestigious IIM - K college. I hoped that things would just work out fine in moments. And it did.

I thanked her for readily providing me her helping hand. “I am Nivedita. My pleasure” she smiled and was out of my sight in moments.

I was in a hurry. I scanned all my mark sheets and certificates and mailed to the college address. Then I left the office hastily to prepare myself for the moment of my life. The big day. The then next day I was having my interview with the eminent panel of IIM - K college for MBA admissions.

30 minutes later, when Nivedita was leaving from her work place, she found that scanner was left on by me. Being particular about small small stuff, she put it off herself and as she was leaving she found corner of a document poking outside the scanner machine. She lifted the panel and read the document. “Aaryan Jain, IIT B – Final Year Mark sheet.”

"IIT Bombay and yet so careless attitude!” She thought.

Realising that the document could be important for me she decided to go back to her work station and search for my details in the company employee directory. “Seven ‘Aaryan Jain’ found” The system displayed output. Three working in Mumbai office. Two in the Powai office, Mumbai. “Oh one is a senior associate, but he didn’t look like” she thought and then finally she was left with one option and that was me. She got my desk number. Knowing the fact that I might have left for the day, she still gave it a try.

“Hello, is this Aaryan?”Nivedita asked, not sure with whom she was talking.

“This is Swapnil. Aaryan has left for the day; I sit in a cubicle next to his.” A heavy voice beamed.

“This is Nivedita. Aaryan has left one important document near scanner machine. This could be needed urgently by him. Can you give his number so that I can inform him?” She kept it short as she was also getting late for home. 

“This is his number. If you are unable to get through him, you can get back to me.” And the phone went blank.

Nivedita gave me a call. I was clueless as I never realised of my stupidity. The first 30 minutes, only she was speaking, rather shouting on me for not putting the scanner off and then being careless blah blah. I was happy that I would get my document, I was feeling lucky, I was also feeling stupid over my careless attitude and then silly over giving trouble to Nivedita. And then nervousness gripped me realising that the then 12 hours away, I would be facing the moment of my life. I told her that I had an interview next day and I was to carry that document with me. Then I asked her where she was staying. It was far from my place and also from where I had interview. It was not feasible for me to go back to office and collect due to time constraint. I requested her that if she could come to NM college next day morning around 10 AM to hand over the document. I was feeling awkward and I am sure she also felt so. But I guess that was the best option I could find out that time. At the back of my mind I knew she might agree as next day was a Saturday which meant an off from office. I made a small prayer.

She was reluctant and she wanted to shout at me. But realising nothing could be done then and probably I had a big interview next day, she agreed and banged the phone.  I felt bad and then good at the same time.

Next day, I met her at the NM college. She gave me my document and wished me good luck. I was expecting that she would again shout but probably she was more understanding than me. I smiled with rejoice and offered to have a lunch with her after my interview. I knew that she had come from far and it would be almost lunch time, by the time I would have finished my interviews.

We went to Pizza Hut. She was very angry, she scolded me for 20 minutes and I listened to her patiently. I was analysing her. She was pretty, prettier when she was angry. I admired her concern for me. We became friends. Good friends. I got into IIM - K. Probably she brought me all the luck. We exchanged our likes and dislikes. We dated for next 2 years.  I completed by studies and got a cool offer from Coco Cola Company. And then we got married. 

Now sleep, it is already late. You both have schools tomorrow. 

Eyes close. Sleep well, good night.” and the light went off.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: In the journey of life, we never know who will touch us, when and how. Life holds gifts for us, it is for us to realise and make the most of it.

Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister,

I am proud to be an Indian but not so proud with the way government is currently functioning. The budget is around and every stake holder is contemplating as to what it is going to be like. The country is in a situation it was never before with scams, corruptions, inflation and the list goes on, all around. Everytime a scam comes in light, the magnitude hits next level and politicians - the lowest.

I am tired of listening "the government should do 'something' this time" by the big shots on tv. I will be straight forward with you. Understand that the common people have VOTED you in hope that it will be 'for the people'.

As a 25 years young Indian who is contributing to the collection of tax department every year without actually knowing what happens with that money, I expect only two things from you. I understand you run a coalition government so pick-up 'any one area' out of the following and show some improvement in next one year - corruption, inflation, agriculture, Food wastage, pending scams and execution of policies for critical industries for growth. The second thing that I want is - choose any one attribute and ensure that only 10% of it is adhered by all ministers - Accountability and Transparency. The choices are difficult and so I am asking only 10% adherence.

The best planners are there with you, can we know what is your plan for the remaining tenure? Reforms done in 1992 are like 20 years old, can you propel a reform that we would be proud of 20 years hence.

The heart wants to go on and on - the plight of railways is unbearable but today I will leave you here itself.

Please let the country know what two choices you have made from the above mentioned options. I am not expecting a reply for this letter but I would be keenly watching your actions for next one year to make out what you chose.

Best regards,
Karan Agrawal

(The same letter has been 'posted' via CNNIBN site...)

What's your calling?

If you want to describe this guy, he would be called crazy, emotional, hard working, adventurous and a fun loving creature. I know him right from the childhood. I know so much about him that sometimes it becomes difficult to comprehend about him.

His sole motto of life is to be a good surgeon like his dad. He is extremely dedicated. The position that he is in today, wasn’t a cake walk. Worst of the situations surrounded him. Time tested this guy’s patients and endeavour. There was absolutely no doubt about his talent and knowledge. Getting a title of “Scholar number 1” in school farewell, speaks a lot and narrates about the potential our teachers saw in him, back then. It is the situation and your response to that situation decides your fate. And he took positively whatever came on his way.

Today he is in India’s one of the best Medical institute pursuing what he always wanted to right from the childhood - Surgery. He is in an institute he always wanted to get into - KEM Mumbai. Few people realise very early in their life what they want to do. And very few chase it. People fall. People cry. They give excuses. They blame people and circumstances. But this guy is absolutely different. He has shown his mettle everytime time tested him.

Today, I had some work near KEM Hospital, the place where this budding surgeon is refining his skills. I fixed with him and we decided to meet up for sometime. After my work, I reached the hospital. The thought of meeting charges you completely and I am sure the feeling was the same that side. I called him up. He didn’t pick up. He being a doctor, I understand that he might be busy. I called him again. I messaged him. Twice. Then I went to ward number 8. His room was right there, the last time I visited.

The last time I visited KEM, he took me around entire hospital, telling me about each department as they appeared. Radiology, Casualty, OTs, Anaesthesia, etc. Nothing that I can relate to, but his enthusiasm kept me going. He took me to wards where patients were lying in all kinds of situation. It wasn’t a site to be seen. An ordinary person like me would not appreciate. I mean, come-on, I came to meet him and he is making me see all kinds of patients. But when you look at it, this guy is so much into his work that he doesn’t look at it objectively. His emotions are involved. And then I realised – dude this is his dream place to work at, why wouldn’t he enjoy. They were not mere patients for him. They and their life meant a lot for him. Stories were shared by him and I met few of his friends.

This time when I went to Ward 8, he wasn’t there. I couldn’t see his friends either. Then I realised that he had told me his unit is now changed. Still I went into ward 8, looked at patients and asked a ward assistant, “excuse me, I am looking for Abhinav” He replied nothing and went abruptly. Something striked me. I went to an intern and asked her, “I am looking for Dr. Abhinav. Can you guide me?” The ‘doctor’ word uttered by me made me so proud of him. “Check is ward 6 or ward 7”, pat came the answer.

At ward 7, I was asked to check in Operation Theatre section. I entered the OT section. Few doctors and nurses passed by me. I finally sneaked into a room and asked one of the doctors who looked of similar age, “Do you know where can I find Dr. Abhinav?” He replied, “He is operating!” the answer kind of made my day. I just messaged him and left from there.

There should have been a feeling of disappointment because I couldn’t meet him, yet I was so happy with the answer that he was operating. This guy has finally reached there. It is still time to say that he has arrived full fledged but he is on the track and will be there soon.

I don’t know many people who have pursued what they wanted to. Who have dedicated their life to their love, their calling. Probably Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Jobs are the two entities I recollect who are dedicated to their work. For them work is their passion. I count him in the same league.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: Chasing dreams sounds cool. But the path is always difficult because you never dream for less. Chase your dreams and make your life large! Realise what's your calling and go for it!

There is always a Hope...

“You can’t do this to me! You gave me a life and now…!” shouted Radhika appearing in Rajesh’s room out of nowhere.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Rajesh was stunned looking at a stranger entering his room and shouting at him. He stared at her for a while. He was meeting her for the first time yet her presence made him feel as if he knew her.

Rajesh kept his pen down and closed his book.

“You don’t know me?” asked Radhika with broken heart.

Rajesh gulped water from the glass kept on his table staring her from the corner of his eyes. He tried to recall but it didn’t help.

“Pardon me but not that I can recall you now! Please reveal the identity!” Rajesh replied with a guilt appearing on his face.

“I stay at Vasant kunj. I am doing engineering in Mumbai. I like Saamy… Need I say anything more?” replied Radhika looking in Rajesh’s eyes.

“But how did you come here?” Rajesh pinched himself so as to check if he is dreaming or something.

“You are my creator. You took so much effort. You gave me such a beautiful life. Now why do you need to do this to me? All I am asking you is to give me my Saamy! Can you do that, please!” Radhika said to Rajesh and a tear rolled down her eyes.

Rajesh Purohit is a famous writer. He was busy writing his latest novel. He was writing the climax of the novel when the protagonist of the novel Radhika appeared before him.

“Sir, you gave me such an wonderful life. I thoroughly enjoyed my life… my friends… my parents… the struggle and the winning attitude that you gave me… but now as I am standing at the crossroads, it is time I get the love of my life!”

“Dear Radhika, you had been such a sport all this way. S Swaminarayan (Saamy) is a good friend of yours but he is a South Indian. And Aayush is your parent’s choice. Not just he fits in culturally but also he is charming and already won your parents heart. Try and understand.”

“And I like Saamy!” shouted Radhika. She composed herself and told her creator, “Aayush is a nice guy. I like him. He is a good friend but the chemistry which I share with Saamy can’t be matched. If you are trying to say that he being a south Indian and I being a Punjabi, cant marry, isn’t it such a conservative thought. The world is moving and changing every moment and here you are making your protagonist to suffer based on caste! Make this novel a landmark novel. You need to be open minded!”

“And what about the readers?” asked Rajesh with a puzzled face.

“Trust me they would enjoy it all the more. After all what matters is good people and not caste. It is we humans who have created casteism in the society and it is the learned like you who can help in changing the society’s psyche.”

“And your parents?”

“Ahhh… you are the creator of my parents too. You are the almighty! A twist is what is required and you are an expert!” replied Radhika cheerfully.

The novel went on to become a best seller in a month’s time. Mr. Purohit went on to receive several awards for addressing such a crucial issue existing in society through his book. The society needs to be freed from the hatred among the people because of different castes.That award night he thanked Radhika for defining the moment of his life!

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: It is absurd to differentiate human beings based on caste, culture or tradition. Love human beings not the name or race he is associated with. It is the humanness that matters.

Fashionable Delhi!

Tale of Two Cities (Part Two)

Delhizen

Delhizens love to live in style. Some let sophistication speak for them and others believe in the theory of more is less! And if you thought the word ‘fashion’ is limited to the wardrobe of a Delhizen, then you got to live here to see how the word works around. Fad for fashion can be seen in the mobiles we use, cars we drive, gym we use and how do we exercise!

Food also makes a fashion statement here, where to eat to what is the hottest selling dish in town. Consider this; we gave India its national dish ‘butter chicken’ and even created an Indianised version of Chinese cuisine and call it ‘Chinjabi’. We could be a contender for the top most sushi consuming city outside Japan and gol guppas got a new meaning when flavoured water was replaced by vodka. 360 at The Oberoi is the most fashionable coffee shop in town where you don't go because it has the most exotic & lavish menu but to have the likes of Rahul Gandhi as fellow diners. There are two reasons for a place to become popular in Delhi, It is the best in its specialty or is high on social scales; O’ neva mind about the name, it depends on where is the freebie party tonight ;).

And to make it to the Pg3 column next day all you need to do is air-kiss- muwah! Muah! Take-up profession of an artist, writer, designer, model or claim to be a rich socialite and you will get an entry to the city’s full-on fashion frat scene and will be there on addressed as gliterarti or literarti. Art and theatre too became hot among Delhizens after they became ‘must-be seen’ at places.

What we wear and from where we buy is another high point. When Zara opened its doors in Delhi the store sales on the first weekend reported by reliable sources was more Rs. 55 lac. I visited the store and fail to understand if all that fuss was about that stuff which looked like second’s ka maal. But then, I looked around and realized the latest fad these days is to walk around in your bedroom attire, ganji, shorts and slippers with unmade hair and well manicured nails!

We looooove to show off! An observation based survey proves Delhi has the highest number of total paisa lutao shaddis, high on glam quotient. Gupta, Jain, Khanna wedding will make it to news because they got a ‘B’ town B-class actress to stand by the newly-weds. Of course they are also the ones who buy the top-end designer wear.

Delhizens have created trends that make a statement and speak for the city and its niche aspects! Here are the latest top ones;

• Book cafés
• Tea Houses where you can also do a tasting of the most exotic flavours
• Fashion shows for hotel launches to charity events
• Farm house weddings with minimum ten functions
• High on glam parties with a mix of expats, glitterati & literati
• Fab India Kurtas, Jeans & jhola, designer labels
• Wine & cheese evenings
• Select City Walk Mall & shopping where you have all top International brands under one roof

Forever in fashion

• Shopping at Khan Market & Connaught Place, Chandi Chowk
• Dilli Haat
• India Habitat Centre for best of everything from the world of art/music/films/theatre …
• Indian Ocean rock band
• Karims for Mughlai, Kwality for choley Bhature, UPSC for Chaat, Oh Calcutta for Bengali food, Big Chill for the yummiest desserts, shakes and more grub, D’Pauls for cold coffee and Wengers for everything on its menu
• Delhi Metro
• Jahan-e-Khusrau festival
• Walks in Lodhi Garden & India Gate

Author of this post came to Delhi when a trip to CP was high point of a holiday, shopping meant hob-knobbing at the state emporias’, ‘21 Love’ & ‘Hot Chocolate Fudge’ at Nirula’s were the most sort after flavours of ice cream! Since then she has attended a fair number of Pg3 dos and has witnessed all that has been listed in the post. She enjoys the buzz but prefers to be an observer. Shop only at Vintage in CP as that’s the only place she finds regular waist, straight-fit Levis. Even the store manager tells her, Ma’am jeans of your style are very difficult to find. But what to do she tell him, “This is what is most comfy & goes best with my pair of Bata shoes!”

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: After Mumbai -The City of Dreams, here is an account on Fashionalble Delhi... completing the Tale of Two Cities series. The two cities can not be compared and both outsmarts each other in some or the other aspect. However, Mumbaites and Delhizens will always be seen debating, claiming their respective city is better - showcasing love for their city!

PS: This series will also be published simultaneously on Delhizen’s blog taxfreethoughts.wordpress.com