The awakening

thanks to information from Rahul now i signed up for Jagriti Yatra. He is on the trip and I seriously hope that I am able to make it too. Hope I get a sponsor soon.

new house

hey i just moved into a new house. it is really exciting. left the lodging where i was putting up till now. this is a huge flat which i will be sharing with 5 others who are in the same college as me. Hope to have the pics up soon. It is exciting to have a home of your home isnt it.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we be blogging again....

havent been blogging frequently as i used to. Just found out that gul started blogging again. well it was just once that i chanced to visit her blog and it was then that i decided to blog again and so i started this blog. she had stopped blogging once and for all and even hid her blog. Now just read a couple of her new posts and again it has revived in me the spirit to blog. so i will make more of an effort to blog from now on.

22 years of being worthless

My blog now knows that our relationship is also of formalities. Only when there is an occasion is it going to happen that junat will turn up and log in and write a post. Ok so what is the occasion today? Well, it is Tanuj's birthday today. Its been 22 years since a disaster happened on this third rock from the sun. As usual, today, I do something that I should have made a practice of doing on a regular basis. I introspect on the time gone by. what is it? 22 years of being worthless. I just don't know what I am doing? I know I have not achieved a thing. All I have is all I was given. All that I do is condole myself that there is a reason why i am here. I say to myself that I am here for some purpose. that I have a guiding star that will take me to some where I will have something significant to contribute. I has been so and every year on this day all I say to my self is that it will happen. I would never say that my life has been a waste. I have learnt a lot but never put all that I learned into use. I always learned but what i never learned was how to perform. my life never allowed me to be just another face in the crowd. I always had the option of being at the top but I always chose the bottom, giving reasons that required a lot of character which i always lacked. I was not only a day dreamer but a person who always refused to wake up. My di always made me realize that there was an important stage of my life at every point of time but I just never cared and I know I never will. So just forget me now as I never existed just as you would when I wouldn't.

land of my dreams

The moment ended three centuries of British colonial rule. The land was no longer the summer retreat of British sahibs who fancied spices, shikar, elephants and snake-charmers. World came to know of a nation which it couldn't image can exist.

Independence was also the end of nearly a century of struggle for freedom, battles, betrayals and sacrifices. It also created a situation where we were responsible for ourselves. The struggle for freedom lives on in history books and memoirs, and on the tombstones of valiant martyrs. Politics has undergone a personality change from fiery idealism to a pragmatic cynicism.

Though every day is a day of festivity in this crazy country of ours, but this is a day when all come together and instead of saying hi, hello and good morning, we say JAI HIND. We all forget our daily troubles and take pride in singing the national anthem in front of the waving flag. All people I met today were dressed colourfullly and met with a unique sense of joy. Every vehicle I saw had the tricoloured flag leading its path. It is a great feeling to know that there is a bunch of more than a billion people that shares a same feeling as you do.



Every party has a hangover, let us have a big party today and make sure that the hangover lasts for a lifetime. Let this sense of belonging remain with you every moment. Just believe that your belief is supported by a billion people. There is no power in this world that can stop us.



We live in an Independent India and but this nation needs to be free of many a things that the colonial period brought with it. Though you might find some people who keep shouting about what we have not achieved in the past 6 decades but there are many who have worked together for that period and there are many working today and many will work for the years to come. And believe me we have actually achieved astonishing heights. There is a very small lot that is a little ill ( remember Munnabhai ki gandhigiri), so let us pray to god for their proper health and join the lot of healthy people. It might be just once in eternity that we might get the previledge to call ourselves INDIANS, so why not make the most out of it.



JAI HIND..

Welcome to xiss

hello Folks,
well I am in this small city which i believe upgraded from its town status when it became the capital of Jharkhand. For the course that i pursue at XISS, I have to spend two years here. the classes at college started middle of the last month. It has been a good time till now. the college doesnt have a residential hostel for guys, so we all have to manage somehow for the next two years. the good thing is that the course ends in march 2010, so that is less than two years.
The college looks decent for a college, but it is supposedly called a b-school. thus i prefer calling it college rather than an institute. To start of with we had an induction program of three days. The profs. are good though what is in store only time will tell. Our seniors are not back yet from their summer internships and so there is nothing on which to base our opinions. we are more or less stuffed in a small classroom. we are told that by next week we will have a larger classroom to sit in. our class strength too is pretty huge. there are 81 students in our class. The infrastructure ain't all that great, I would say. We are said that there is a football ground for guys and gals can play basketball. the common room is like i have never seen before. it has a couple of couches and a table. yeah we all are surely gonna turn into corporates here :grin: . Something very special for us would be the fact that we would be coming to college wearing a uniform. Good idea considering the dressing sense of the class. I mean I am not the most decent dressed person, but then I do keep my hairs short, dont wear denims hanging on my hips, that too with a pair of floaters. I mean I think I do have some sense of being presentable. BTW we are having personality grooming classes here. Our H.O.D. is a pretty dynamic person. Not to say of other persons. He is a painter and singer and has keen interest in poetry (the last thing is my observation).
We are told we will be required to do some social work as part of the culture of this institute. we will be engaged in teaching children in schools for two hours a day in the afternoon. Surprisingly we are gonna have less than 4 hours of classes daily. Sounds interesting!! I think not.
I know it is too early to form an opinion, but this place is like school where I don't think there will be pressure on students as is generally found in schools.
lets wait and see what the future holds...

My partner in crime

The last post was about my parents, and this one is about the lifeline of our family. My sibling, friend, guide or my second mother, my didi, my elder sister. It is great to have an elder sister. My friends say that it is great to have elder brothers. But from my experience I can say that it has been a pleasure having an elder sister. She is the most understanding person that I have ever met. I always idolized her and tried to be like her, just like all younger siblings do. But then she never really got frustrated but very smartly negotiated me. She had a very good way of handling me, she would get out the things out of me but then she had good control over the way I think and act. Just like all small siblings I wanted to be with her and observe her. But she smartly allowed me to be in midst her friends and made me realize that I didn’t have the same intellect as a her group of friends had and in a subtle manner made me realize that I couldn’t enjoy being there. Though there is something special that I always realized (which I don’t know how she does) that all her friends always pampered me. Many a times I felt that I am too young to her. There was occasions when I thought that she was alone needing someone who could understand her point of view. I always felt inadequate to instill her confidence in my ability to understand things. It was a lesson I learnt that kids can’t understand certain things. Every kid thinks that elders are for no reason underestimating their ability to understand. But I was always left feeling that I can’t understand things and so I am unable to do anything for her. But then she is such a fighter that she always comes out of anything on her own. So the smile on her face never perishes for long. The worst days of my life have always been when I in some way had hurt her feelings. I can hardly bear her being mad at me for any reason. Of course, there have been many a moments in life where she has put utmost trust in me and many a times I have shamelessly let her down in a big way. But then she has always been there as the rock to lean on, the pillar to support my dreams, the window that always opens to the beautiful world outside, the couch that always gives me comfort. All in all she is the house that shelters me from all the rains, storms, tornados, tsunamis and what not…

Many a times I feel bad for being such a bugger. I always feel so fortunate to know such a person, let alone the fact that she cares so much for me.

Just like old wine our relationship kept on becoming better with time. The last year has been the most special one. In the last one year this relationship developed into a two way affair. I realized that I too could stand up for her. I saw her putting more trust in my understanding of things; I could observe her from closer quarters. I better understand what she desires and how I can be part of the fulfillment of her dreams.

I can’t ever imagine not being there when she wants me to be there. I don’t have a great deal of really close friends because I have a part of me always dedicated to her. I might also blame her for me not having a girlfriend, because looking at her I know what a woman with substance is and so I got caught in a vicious circle wherein I set the bar at a very high level and then always found myself inadequate to match someone of that level.

It was a great period for me when I was living with her in her home. I always wanted to spend loads of time with her and I did it during that period. Though she was very busy but still it was great fun never the less. Frankly for her younger sibling it was a dream come true that there was a great deal of understanding that was developing. Apart from she taking care of me, there was something that I felt I could do for her.

I don’t know when I will be meeting her next, but I just hope that I can be with her whenever she feels the need for someone. Another irony, I was always there with her when I knew I couldn’t do anything, and I now wouldn’t be there when I know I can do something for her.

My folks

All my life (past couple of years to be precise) I have been looking to get out of my home. Student life had become very boring. More so staying with my parents was becoming monotonous. I had always had the problem of not being able to gain trust of my parents for the plain and simple reason that I didn’t have to much to do to prove myself. And there were not many avenues for me show them that I had become mature and could care for myself. So there had always been a want of liberation. I didn’t like that other’s life (my parents) is revolving around me. I am just too small a being to call for such resources. So I finally am moving out to study and it is a great feeling. The final few days were a little awkward though. No matter how logically correct it might be it feels a bit difficult to leave my parents alone and move out. I now understand how hard it would have been for my sister when she did the same quite some time ago. There were other things like self confidence and other personal emotions that generally get importance. But this is an aspect that is hitting me the most. The lives of our parents have always revolved around us. Even if it was something like watching movies or going shopping or eat out, it was more for our pleasure than theirs. Now with my sister already out and me leaving the city and going out on my way, what will really give them a reason to go to places and take the pleasures of life. This thing kept bothering me for a long time and finally had a talk about this with my mother. She said that the fact that we were happy is what gave them happiness. And I asked what about the time when we would go out to leave our lives. Well that is the way life is what she says. That is the cycle of life. Well I beg to differ. There are so many elderly people out there who like taking pleasures of what the new world has to offer. So why is there is just a sense of responsibility in every action of theirs. They are responsible to keep us happy and so they just think about us. She says that they too enjoy the outings that they have with us. Then why it is only my places of my choice that we go. Why we eat what I like. Doesn’t it seem to be like they are doing these things because they want me to feel happy and they just go about it as a responsibility? This thing stuck to me when even I saw that when I visited my sister and she too had developed such a psyche. I have been pampered all my life by my parents, my sister, friends of my sister, my cousins, my teachers, my uncle & aunts etc. the list just goes on and on and may include almost 95% of people I have met on this planet. What I find so interesting is that I have been a person who doesn’t want to bother others in any manner. So I constantly observe other people doing things for me and keep wishing that they didn’t take all that trouble. But unfortunately I keep finding people doing that. And so naturally I want my parents to look after their own life and start enjoying because they want to, instead of taking joy in my well being. It is such an irony again that I generally don’t find myself being happy in material things. Not many are able to please with a gift that they bring for me. It is generally taken as a formality by me. I haven’t ever learned how to enjoy eating in a restaurant or roaming about a new mall that opens up in a city. So I am a perfect mismatch for the caring nature of my parents. I always feel that they could have contributed a lot to the society by their services than they devoted in bringing up a useless fellow like me. Now I am annoyed by the fact that they will keep thinking about me wherever I go. And I know that this is going to happen because I have seen that how they always keep thinking about my sister since she moved out. I don’t know how she thinks and for some strange reason I can’t ever say a thing to her about this feeling I have. Ours being a very close family it feels really strange as this day comes. Just a family of four that needs three different places to stay. Laugh on Tanuj… If you don’t laugh on the ways of life then you didn’t get the joke.

banglore trip 2

In the darkness of the night I wasn’t feeling sleepy so I was just looking out side the window of the seat of the side berth. (The seat was empty for the time being.) It was an eerie feeling watching the stations of the suburbs where the train passed as if they didn’t exist. Those stations mostly had just a couple of benches and not more than 5 lamp-posts. It seemed deserted as if no one ever visited these platforms (though you can not imagine the rush that one can see here at dawn). The train drove past the villages but I would have easily taken them to be forests but for a couple of electric bulbs that peeped out of the thatched roofs of a couple of houses. There are long thin lanes which have a lamp-post at either ends. I see a motor bike riding through a road between long trees and there is no light except for that of the motorbike. In that darkness driving through such a path is like being off to the Himalayas and meditating (I don’t think I would ever be sitting on that bike and riding through that darkness). It is bewildering to witness such a scene as I am used to seeing the intoxicated night life of cities and this does strike me at once. But not all the world is asleep. Suddenly after a few stations I find a fair going on and that brightens up the whole place with the marry-go-around, giant wheels, load music and extensive lightings. In India everyday and night is celebrated by some community or the other for some reason often superstitious or religious in nature.

When traveling by train I seldom carry a book as generally I get to talk to someone or the other. Also there is so much to see and observe. The day starts with the caterers shouting chai and coffee. It makes sense to get up early and get down from the upper berth. Coz as I witnessed there would so many of these short trip travelers who find it convenient to get into the long distance trains instead of getting into a passenger train and of course they expect us the reserved travelers to make their journeys pleasant and make space for them. wont mind if there is a couple of them but there are so many of them that this train also becomes as crowded as a passenger train. And the agony never ends actually. I mean if someone gets down at some station then there are others who broad the train to go to some other station.

During the day I see a different type of marketing going on out there. A sentimental blackmail by the handicapped beggars. How many deformities they have and they show it in the most pathetic ways. Most of the people opt not to look at them and just at the other side to pretend that they didn’t see anything. Even I used to do that sometimes but now I don’t. I don’t know the reason, but even if I don’t give them alms I don’t ignore their presence. I don’t have an explanation for that, but I don’t do it. One girl I particularly noticed was what disturbed me. You know there are some deformities that you can attribute to diseases and malnutrition and things like that. But some are examples of human cruelties and that is something I never understand. How a person can be that cruel to another. This girl draped in green cloth from top to bottom just extended a hand with just a couple of fingers on it. Also from what could be seen, her skin below her chin was completely burnt. Something just told me that it was a brunt taken out on a girl by some insensitive group of people. I wonder if anyone can commit a crime grievous enough to deserve such things. It is just how some lives are wasted. Ok moving ahead removing that picture out of my mind. Also later in the day can be seen a group of girls (possibly muslim, don’t know what gives me that feeling) that come out selling pens and light emitting toys. People just stop and look at those things but never buy them. Also sometimes I see few energetic pre-teens boys that come on selling those things.

Banglore part 1

It was a great trip to Bangalore. Short and exciting never the less. I have been to that place before. It is pretty metropolitan not in the sense that it is very populated but also in terms of the way people live there. About half of the white collared job-holders population is migrants from other state. Though there are people from everywhere, a majority of them from the eastern and north-eastern part of India. Most of them have made it their home owing to lack of job opportunities in their hometowns. The city is well maintained and growing. There is a decent civil sense that prevails. Best thing is that due so many migrants this city is multi-linguistic. I can go around speaking Hindi or English. Mostly everyone understands English.

I left from Howdah station on 6th March. My train was scheduled to depart at 8.30 in the evening and thankfully it did. It is always a new experience to visit howdah as at every hour of the day and (most part of the night) there are people moving around. Just be there for one day and you will be amazed at the number of people that come into the city and go out of the city everyday. It is the gateway through which nearly a hundred trains carrying thousands of people and tones of goods come and leave. My coach was at the very end of the platform. Thankfully I wasn’t carrying too much of luggage. I was just standing in front of the coach and suddenly I heard a loud shriek of a lady. I turned back only to find that a thief had snatched the necklace of the lady and was running. The thief was well dressed (at least not rags as I just got a glimpse from a fair distance). There are pros and cons of escaping in a crowded place. Either you are not able to penetrate through the crowd or can get lost in the crowd. What happened to that guy is not known to me. Anyways, I got into the train and it was pretty much empty though I know it was fully reserved (It was full when I went to get the ticket). I got into the train and was waiting for someone from the pantry car to come and tell me that there was dinner available, because I hadn’t brought anything and I wouldn’t find a thing at the stations where the train would halt (at least not at this hour.) So after half an hour finally a couple of them did come up. Though, they didn’t bring anything for selling. But they said that they could get me vegetarian meals. Pantry car was far off (about 12 coaches) so it did take a lot of time. In the mean time I was chatting with one of the caterer guy. It was interesting to know about the life of these people. They are allotted a train for a season i.e. they will keep traveling on the same train for a period of about 3 or months. Their day begins at 3.30 am and ends at around 11 pm. The train leaves at 8.30 pm and they get in at around 6 pm and start preparing the food for dinner. Due to lack of berths to sleep they have to sleep on the floors on the pantry car and the passengers who get on the stations may have to cross the pantry car to reach their respective coaches so they can get to sleep at 12 midnight (after a particular station passes). Then they have to get up at 3.30 am and start the preparations for breakfast. They have to keep up with the schedule that they have to prepare about 6 or 7 items. They are done with the preparations for breakfast by 7 am. They start serving out things by 5 am as things get completed. Out of experience they have a decent assumption about the amount of the vegetarian food that they can expect to get ordered for. So they start preparing that by 7.30. They then send out caterers to get order for lunch. They have a decent enough idea about the order for non-vegetarian also but since it is more expensive so they better get orders beforehand so that there is no shortage of wastage. As the people are given breakfasts the orders are collected by 9 am by which time they are done with making the rice and vegetarian curry. Then as per the orders they make the rest of the food. This activity is over by 12 noon and they start packaging and dishing out the orders by 1 pm. Thereafter they eat whatever is left over or else they just boil some rice and eat that with curry. Within an hour of them having their lunch they start taking orders for dinner. They start making snacks for the evening till the order arrives and then while the snacks are being sold, they start making the dinner. They are done with the dinner by 7 pm and they dinner is distributed by 8 pm. Then they have their dinner eating the leftover and rice. They set up everything for the next day and then go to sleep by 11 pm and again get up by 4 am for the tea coffee that they serve the next day. The most interesting thing came at the end when he told me that they don’t work by clock but by the train station that comes along the way. For example they are supposed to finish the job A by the time the train reaches the station X. So they are always aware of which station has just passed and they can slow down a little when they know that the train is running late. What makes their job more tedious (though I would call it interesting and exciting) is the different kind of people that they need to serve. All kinds of people travel in the train and they get used to reading the nature of people and then accordingly talk to them. All in all I rate it as a very difficult job and frankly passenger who talk about them don’t quite consider them to be hard working and associate the same kind of lethargy they associate with the government employees. But these people are unfazed with that. They only know one thing and that is to sell as much food as they can and they work hard towards that. Of course they accomplish something that is not easy to think, preparing and serving food on train day in and day out on the largest railway network in the world. More so they meet the people of India in all their diversity.

banglored

I am going to be Bangalored. I will be visiting Bangalore over the next weekend.

visiting baba dham (contd...)

We woke up in the morning at around 4 and started to get ready. The water was really cold so we waited for the geyser to heat it up. Though the geyser didn’t seem to be working there, or may be not as effectively as we would have wanted. Anyways hot or cold we had to take the bath and be ready in an hour. So we all got ready and got into the car that we booked yesterday night. As we came out just out side the main gate was a chai- shop. So garam garam chai was really enjoyable in that chilling weather. Wonder what the condition here would be in the months of December and January when the winter is at its peak. Anyways it was Jharkhand and as we moved forward I saw the dhoni effect taking place with a gang of 6 or 7 girls, with tikka smeared on their foreheads and cricket bat and ball in hands gearing up for a battle on the pitch nearby, maybe. One thing that I really liked was the fact that the roads there were very well built. The driver said that they were built during the time when the state was born a decade back and this area of Jharkhand was well maintained, but also there is not much of heavy duty truck to do damage to the roads. It was early in the morning so the place was quiet but some people were to be seen near the small market place. We traveled for around an hour and half. Then we reached a small market-place where no shops except the tea shops were open. We left our slippers in the car and proceeded towards the temple. As we reached the gate we were flanked by four or five pundits who would want to take us through the temple. Basically the temple compound has 22 temples but we didn’t have to go through all of them. I often pity the lack of time when on a trip to some place. Anyways we went to the main temple (the temple of lord Shiva called the baba-dham). It was pretty crowded. We took the mugs containing a mixture of Ganga-jal, milk, sandalwood paste, bhaang etc. and entered the temple. It was a small door about seven foot high and the floor was very slippery because of the water that kept spilling on the floor with people finding it hard to balance themselves in the rush. That was the rush early in the morning; I wonder what would happen when the day grows. What people do inside the temple? Well there is the top of a huge Shiva-ling that is visible and the structure is not more than a foot tall. Thought they claim there is a huge Shiva-ling beneath. People pour the water, milk etc. on the ling. With such a jam-packed area the people are literally swarming over each other and most of the mortals are bathed in the holy mixture. The pundits who sit the closest to ling keep pleading and coaxing the devotees to put some money there and the pundits that bring people into the temple keep yelling at others to give space. Thankfully the enclosure is not really large and can accommodate not more than 30 people at a time. So we get out of that place and then we are guided to the Parvati temple just opposite the one we just visited. Here the idols are placed on a platform and there are stairs that lead to them. Though they are just three steps but they are each one foot high; again it is the same wet slippery floor. Thankfully it is coarse stones else people would certainly slip and hurt themselves. (Though that does seem to be a possibility is not a certainty). There is no sense to the climbing and descending of the stairs and that is what creates a chaos of sorts. On the high platform are a couple of idols carved out of the stones. The idols carved on the walls of the enclosure are bright orange (result of being smeared with the tikka for a long time now.) We come back and buy some pedas that this place is famous for. Then we make a move towards basukhi-nath (another temple of lord Shiva about 60 kms from baba-dham). It was pretty similar to this place except for the fact that it was smaller and had a lesser number of temples in the compound and the floor was covered with marble tiles and at the entry there was a person who was beating a big drum with some vigor. Wonder whether he can carry that enthusiasm though the day. We didn’t spend much time there either. We decided to make a move and reach the Jasidhi station where we had to catch a train at 11.30 am. We reached the station an hour before the scheduled departure. We had to get some food packed that we could have on the train. It was hard to believe that it was the same station that I came to last evening, with so much movement around. It was hard to recognize the place as it was pitch dark yesterday night. I moved around to different shops enquiring what they had to offer. Got the puri and sabzi packed and returned to the station to find that the train is running an hour late. We got a couple of seats in the waiting room. I went around the station just for some time pass. It was a pretty long station for a small town. Actually at the last track of the junction the goods carriage is lightened and loaded and thus to accommodate those long trains such a long platform had been built. Just as I was roaming about I found an assemblage near a shop. I wondered what it was all about. Then on closing in I found that there was a cricket match between India and Australia, final of a series and there was a television in the shop that was beaming it. Now that explained the occasional cheer that was to be heard. Finally the train arrived half an hour late than the delayed time. No need to complain at least it came.

Trip to Deoghar

My uncle and aunt arrived from Mumbai in the morning and i went to pick them up at the airport. Well just as is possible only here the flight scheduled at 9.15 a.m landed at 8.50 and the one scheduled at 9 am arrived half an hour late.Anyways waiting inside a centrally air conditioned area doesn't hurt and also some paisa vasool on the Rs. 30 entry fee that they charge at there.
We got a pre paid taxi that took the longer route to my house as the driver wanted to drop the so called helper (or some relative of his as it could be). No qualms from us as the fare was already paid and the road was clear so not much waste for time. And the driver too would be least bothered of the fuel burnt as they charge premium price for pre-paid services.
We reach home and everyone freshens up and we are ready to leave for Deoghar. We leave the home in perfect condition as it is on its own (& we hope it remains that way) for the next 30hours. We reched the railway station one hour before the departure and the train arrived 40 min. before the departure. ( it was the source station)We all got in to the train and so did other passengers on that platform and believe me waiting on the platform is better than sitting in the train and waiting for it to move.
We were 5 of us and my ticket was for a berth in the cabin adjacent to that accommodating my uncle-aunt and my parents.We sat together and had lunch (food we brought from home). Then we decided to get some rest. I went back to my seat to find another person sleeping there. As it turned out to be the person was traveling on an unreserved ticket. Such things keep happening on trains running in these routes. This I figured out a couple of hours later when i woke up from sleep to find that the seat below the berth that is supposed to be reserved for 6 people was accommodating 9 persons and of course i was sleeping on the upper berth. It was a mix of bengalis and biharis, that was good ammunition for war of words. bengalis dont want to leave anything under the sun and have an opinion about everything whereas just keep quite and nod their head in affirmative. but then they have better ideas about the ground situations and thus have simple logic about everything. Bengalis do most of the talking till asansol and biharis after that. that is when the train moves out of bengal and enters bihar!!
There is no catering service on this train and so whatever we bought was from the local vendors and we can bargain like anything. However at the end of it the quantity of whatever they give is very less and so it is only loss for us but then we loose less. The train was running late and it was dark by the time we reached.We were anticipating the arrival of the train at the Jasidi station and just then the train stops. We thought it was waiting for the signal to enter the station. Just then the lights on the station turn on and we realize that the train has already halted beside the platform. Train doesn't stop here for long and so we grab our bags and dash for the gate.We move through the freshly lit station and move towards the exit.though it was dark there was a decent enough crowd there.As soon as we got out of the station we got plunged back into the darkness of the night. some how the auto-wallahs saw us and came to us with their own proposals to loot us.Then we started to move on the road. Just then a vehicle which in true term was like a jeep that was running on the engine of a tempo stop by us. After a bit of bargain it agreed to leave us at arogya bhavan. we reached there at 8 pm and checked in . My dad is very fond of the place . Arogya Bhavan in some sense is the original health resort concept of India. It is a lovely place and I wish that we could have spend a day or at least a morning there. It is full of well maintained gardens and it is residing as close to nature as is possible. Next day morning we are to leave for visiting the temples.

book tag

No. Of Books I own
well i dont buy books . didi buys them and i read quite a few of them . like from me the answer wud be only my academics books.

Last 5 books I bought in my case dosent make sense.


5 Books that mean something

1. alchemist - paul cohelo . made me realise not to forget to dream and much more...

2. the painter of signs - r.k.narayan . had a very good message in it as I saw It.

3. freakonomics .. really freaky

4. 5 point someone ... hilarious

5. indian philosophy... I love reading about india.

checkout : my shelf at shelfari

visiting chennai

I was born in Mumbai but spent the first 7 years of my life in the crazy city of madras (was not named Chennai till then). Such is a chance that I am appearing for an exam and my centre is in Chennai. It is a strange feeling coming back to the city after almost 14 years. Not that I remembered anything much about the place. Also I had long ago forgotten whatever little Tamil I had ever learnt. Well started the preparation to go to the city. Trains are all booked up and so I decided to avail the bus service. After a whole lot of roaming around the garden city I finally got a ticket to Chennai in a Volvo bus at a decent enough rate. It was a first hand experience for me travelling in a bus (a so called luxury one at that). The seats were comfortable and A/C was reprieve from the heat. I had been warned of the torture of watching tamil movies played on the TV. There was a tamil movie going on there. As usual a night before the exams I never feel sleepy. So what better to do than watch a movie? It was decent movie overall. Though, the ending was a bit shocking. (Ok I understood all that was going on thanks largely to the English subtitles). Well the aunty that was sleeping beside me was very troublesome and another elderly couple at my back was not comfortable so I could say good bye to my sweet-dreams. So whenever the bus stopped I got down getting some fresh air. It was always a good site to watch a well maintained brightly lighted highway. Anyways I woke up (not that I slept too much) at 5 am and by 5.30 I am at the bus stand and then I called uncle (a former colleague and close friend of my father). He comes up on his motor bike. Well reached his home and freshened up and got ready to go to my exam centre. Aunty prepared some dosa for me. It was really tasty, can’t wonder where I will be able to so tasty chutney. Ummmm… Then uncle takes me to the centre.. It takes almost quarter to an hour to buzz through the busy roads on a scooter. We had great food in lunch and I was just hoping that I wont get sleep after having eaten so much food. Then we went to the examination hall and uncle sat there in the school compound till the exam got over and this entire period he was just watching the school students indulge in a close game of soccer on the school grounds.

Then after the exam I came out and we went and spent some time on the marina beach. My parents used to bring me here every alternate weekend quite some time back and today I come back to the place again. I hardly remember having been here earlier.

We have some snacks and talk a little and then we move back to home. Back though a maddening traffic we squeeze our way out on the scooter. Then we had a photo-session of sorts and had dinner and back to bus stand and going for catch a bus back to the garden city.

My sincere thanks to uncle and aunty for their assistance and hospitality.