All Set

Yes it was all set! Millenials ka sabse bada addiction and hum bhi uske 100% addict – that’s TRAVELING !

As per my mom, she justifies this addiction by saying, jab nalayko ke haath jawani mein itna paise aayega toh woh toh aisi hi awaragardi karenge..

Humari khasiyat yeah nahi hai ke hum ghar/gaadi khareedne mein interested nahi hai .. but because of our such ‘awaragardiyaan’, we can never afford those 2 necessities of life !

Ok so this travel – road trip thi and mind it.. GOA nahi thi !!!

2 wajae thi

#1 - stand up comedy dekhke muzhe pata chal gaya hai, ke Goa ka roadtrip sirf DCH ke gaane mein 3-4 min mein khatam ho sakta hai ! actual road to Goa is worse than maharashtra parivahan ke laal dabbe ka safar. Because, laal dabbe mein driving seat pe toh aap nahi hote ho..

Hoon na mein iissmaart..

#2 so this travel was a 9 days roadtrip to Gujarat. Haan abhi family audience hai na.. so destination tweak karne padte hai.. it was with my 2 kids and one more family with same configurations. Younger kids were around age of 7 and the elder ones around 36-37 ! ok for the mand-buddhis it was me, hubby and my child.  that’s a new way of tagging nikamme husbands.

 Everything was planned – route, night stays, attractions to be covered, vehicle, budget and all..

On the day of travel, we got up with all things set and found out, the self-driven car which was booked with expected speed limit as 120 km/hr was actually with 80 km/hr speed limit!

Wat that meant was!! On all set highways of Pune Mumbai, we had to wave even at an Alto !this got worse when we reached the deserted kutch! Duur durr tak koi gaadi nahi thi so ekdum se zindagi slow motion ho gayi ! if you are a Bollywood fan, aapko yaad hoga, ZNMD mein jab kalki Spain ke road pe drive karne lagti hai toh kaisa tha.. abs waisa !

Hogaya pehle hi din, hum-mese ek ne hands up kar diya .. nahi nahi police ke saamne nahi.. ‘apne haath khade kar diye’  bahot poor wala that toh maafi.. but hinglish ke chakkar mein, kahawate translate karni padd jaati hai..  koi naah.. woh haath khade karne wala m sure hare ek group mein hota hai.. I call such people kammo (abb jo extensions/interpretations karne hai who kar lo. i’ve full faith in your wild imaginations). So yeah Kammos na har cheez pe crib karte hai.. they are the well earning professionals who call a transfer from their cozy homes to cozier office through their cosiest car a ‘frustrating travel’

So Kammo was super annoyed, disheartened and dejected when we realised humara kitna bada popat ho gaya tha.. we had to cover approx. 3500 kms in 9 days.. but now with this supernova that looked impossible.. kammo ko uske khane, sone, nahane, dhone mein koi discomfort nahi chahiye tha.. kaise toh convince karke we started. (contri jo aani thi kammo se)

But we got our next Kammo moment after 2 days itself. The hotel which we had booked, was not with an in-house restaurant! The room was a nice 18X18 feet big, the bathroom was bigger than kammo’s kitchen but still Kammo was cribbing as he had to walk 10 steps to get food. That’s disastrous. After dinner, kammo called everyone in a room, standing as if he was <>, he started ‘why’, ‘why’ are we so poor at our choices! Why didn’t we check all basic parameters before choosing this place. After making him understand that it wasn’t a big deal, Kammo went to bed like a grumpy child.

Aise kai kammo moments trip mein aate rahe..  but inn sabko dekhte and 80KM/hr ke speed pe chalet chlate, mera gayer kahi aur hi shift ho gaya.

Computers pe kaam karte karte humne humari life itni algorithmic bana lee hai ke ‘all set’ chahiye.. everything has to be perfect, everything needs to be planned, everything has to be at its best! Algorithm se ya plan se kuch bhi hatke ho jaye toh exception handling hum kar hi nahi paate!

Yeah “all set” expectation, yeah “kammo characters” spontaneity khatam kar dete hai. We are killing our ability to face unexpected unpleasant situations, on a bigger note, we are losing our ability to face the failure ! ohh jyada ho gaya shayad, lets change the gayer.. kya hi kar loge, kitne bhi gayer change karo .. accelerator pe khade ho jao.. gaadi toh jaani 80km/hr speed pe hi!

So kitne bhi zande gaad lo, kitne bhi assured plans bana lo, life toh apne surprises ke saath hi aayegi! so always stay all set to unset !

Being Thirty!

October 18, 2013 at 8:45am

In this brand conscious world, where people flaunt brands from their toothbrushes to their dog's leash, I thought of creating one more!

One more brand to flaunt ??
One more to pay 10 times more than the cost price ??
Or one more brand to make yourself feel good about you!

I think the last option suits the brand that I'm going to create today..
Being Thirty!! oh my did I hear 'omg, is she outta her mind.. gals shud not disclose their age'
See I didnt utter 'age' still you understood what the number in my tittle hints at.. :P

From this I see my brand crashed worst than 'Launchpad McQuack' from duck tales!!

Still lets try to do it again.. are you thinking of liking this page? Think again!
Do you know how big is the risk of liking this page??
If you click the nine years old 'Like' button, it implies
- you are thirty
- you like the idea of being thirty
- you are post thirty!

So my brand crashed again!

Now let me tell you what am I aiming at in front of this doubly warned reader..
My plan is to write week long punches about 'Being Thirty' !! Punches? - fun things that I've learnt during this looong journey of THIRTY years!!

The objective of creating this brand-BeingThirty is very similar to any other brand!
I want to 'flaunt' how fun it is to become 3 decade old!!
I want you to pay 10 times more attention to my lines about 'BeingThirty' than you would pay for a 'BeingHuman' handkerchief !

So keep watching this space!!
I'll b back soon!
Cant write a punch today cause I forgot what I had thought about .. BeingThirty!!


cyup!


punches :

1. 19Oct2013 : BeingThirty hits you when the only set of songs you can hum along are the ones played during the 'retro hour' on the FM music station!

2. 20Oct2013: BeingThirty hits you hard when a young friend visiting your city calls you for the names of the happening clubs in town and all you can think of is fine dine restos or biryani take away outlets - that too in 5 KM radius around your house!!  RIDICULOUS!!

3. 21Oct2013 : BeingThirty is fun when you have tried 'age miracle' creams from atleast 2 cosmetic companies in market before you hit thirty and on top of that you deny it when asked :D !!! HYPOCRISY!

4. 23Oct2013 : You should infer you are BeingThirty when your nightmares are no more break-ups or 5 likes for your new selfie on FB but your maid's vacation, long grocery bills and never ending visitors :D 

 

5. 24Oct2013 : You are definitely BeingThirty when you are suppose to submit your "recent" fotograph for some formality of publication and you give one which was clicked five years ago!  (The foto in the blog was clicked five years ago :D )

6. 22Oct2013: Yes here I'm! Proud BeingThirty! Hoping to retain some immaturity and black hair till I celebrate BeingSixty !!! Love you all! Thank you for being there while I'm celebrating BeingThirty !

One Love

 When was the last time we did only 'one' thing for days long?
When was last time when we had only 'one' thing in our 'todo' list?
When was the last time we focussed on only 'one' thing?
Yes you may bring as many wrinkles on ur forehead and try thinking..  try to recollect..
Vacation? naah.. u cant say vacation! Because when you were vacation, I bet you carried your mobile phone and definitely got calls from office/home/relatives for some or the other work, isnt it?
Think harder and some of us might find an answer or two..
Board exams?? hehe, during those 'important' years of life, I never bothered to stop my extra curriculars and balanced them well (well?? may be average marks was doable for a girl like me than missing those wildlife camps.. ;) )

So honestly telling I never focused on only 'one' thing at a time.

Yes, thats the result of the fast world's epidemic called 'multi-tasking' and me being the struggling victim!
I'm and may be even you are victimized by this disease of 'multitasking' so badly that we forgot the fun of indulging in only one thing at a time!

While many of you might still be in the grip of this dangerous devil, I found freedom from it a month ago!
How? Wana know?
read on..

16May2012.. After rigorous suffering for hours, my savior came into this world! My savior - my daughter Pari! She was born and from that very moment rescued me from the tangles of 'multitasking' disorder!
Since that day I've been doing one and only one thing, taking care of my baby - Pari! Thats my One Love right now!

Pari cries, smiles, poops, pees, feeds, sleeps and my only job is to take care of her while she does all this!
Trust me it was difficult for a girl like me who wants everything at the same time!!
Job, infinite number of best friends, hobby clubs, family, home to manage, kitchen, finances, neighbors, facebook, shopping.. ! phew! i think i would need a hyperlink for the list so that I find space of the ongoing write up and not get diverted to anything else!
But Pari made me experience the long forgotten fun of 'Single-Tasking'(dont know if such phrase exists but bhavnao ko samzho and aage badho!)
i mean focusing on only one thing and forgetting all other things in the world!
I got engrossed in her so deeply that I forgot that I'm a working woman or have relations to maintain!
My mobile phone lied in some corner of the house, my FB account got rusted, my shopping list included only baby stuff!

Since last one month I've been a FULL TIME MOM! thats it! nothing else! I have to say it has been the most cherish-able period of my life!

I enjoyed when initially people said, Pari is just like her mom and hated them all when they changed party to say that Pari is like her father Vj!!
I felt clueless when I took Pari into my arms and all elders said 'yes now feed her'!! cumon someone please exhibit how to start!
I was on top of this world when she slept after i rocked her in my arms for one hour, singing all known lullabys and shooing off all visitors and noise making agents!

I've gathered such endless memories in just one month! And dying to experience the upcoming ones!

Right now, I just want to spend every moment with Pari.
Dont wana think that my maternity leave is gonna end one day and I've to join office!
Dont wana think of my unpaid bills or unanswered calls or even petrol prices!
In short I dont wana think of the 'multi-tasking' world right now

coz 'I don't wanna miss a thing' (Aerosmith style! )

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Where every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure


Don't want to close my eyes
I don't want to fall asleep
Cause I'd miss you babe
And I don't want to miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you babe
And I don't want to miss a thing


Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes
And thank God we're together
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever
Forever and ever


I don't want to miss one smile
I don't want to miss one kiss
I just want to be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just want to hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And just stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time Yeah yeah yeah


Don't want to close my eyes
I don't want to fall asleep
And I don't want to miss a thing

Eventful end to Eventful 2010!

Oct2010 - dimaag ki batti jali that new year is approaching...
Nov2010 - all anxious
Dec2010 - Panic attack - no plans yet for new year !!

Yes, like every year, my close friends started scratching their heads and staring at India map from Oct2010 itself!
Then came up the plan of Ooty, thn coonnur, bellikkal and finally we finalized on Coorg!

as per tradition, Nikhil was our chief planner!
after 1month of rigorous travel plans, shopping, phone calls, chats, a fool proof itinerary was created for people coming from Delhi, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Chennai!
Yes all the clowns of these towns were suppose to meet at the head-quarters of clowns - Bangalore!

30th Dec : all clowns reported to chief Vj at Bangalore !
the co-ordination among cities(Delhi, Hyd, Chennai, Coimbatore) was much easier than co-ordinating in the webbed city of Bangalore !
Finally after loads of waiting.. travelling we all met at Bannergatta road and did Shri Ganesh of our much awaited New Year trip!!

Next stop.. no u guessed it wrong.. it wasnt coorg.. it was a resto hardly 2KMs away from our meeting point!
thn after every 500Mtrs we had good old reasons to halt !
We were 9 of us - MP, Rajesh, Nikhil, Sudheer, Priyanka, Arsh, Divya, Vj n Me !
2 cars for a surprise were not at all racing! cause all of us were busy looking for halts! (if u wana knw the reason for the halts.. contact our chief planner Nikhil)

In Mysore we got our 10th guest.. Sathish. He was the one who arranged for our accomodation / food for the complete trip and now we needed him desperately for the road directions!

It was already dark whn we left Mysore. We had covered only 140Kms of our 250KMs journey! That too the easy one was covered. The tough one.. was through dense forest and bad roads!

The forest was really dense.. plus the darkness made it eerier ! We were giving ourselves courage by playing the music aloud.. :D
Nikhil had illusion of seeing a Jet black elephant in the jet black night on the road side!!
Forest was not enough when the ghat roads started.. absolutely deserted.. pot holes u cannot miss and hair pin turns !
With all these challenges. we reached the dark town of Virajpet at around 8:30PM. It was literally dark and we had no idea what kind of place surrounds us!
we left it to the morning light and with a sigh of relief slept calmly !

31Dec2010
Next mornin 31Dec2010! The last day of the fateful year!
I was hoping for a cheerful day so that I can celebrate all good things of 2010 and forget all bad things of 2010!
and it was exactly the way I hoped for!

The morning fog enveloped the coffee estate and made it look pristine !! yes we were staying a house surrounded by a coffee estate! This home stay was arranged by Sathish, our guide for the trip! He had chalked out complete plan for the day and at breakfast table we all were eager to start the day!

After a heavy breakfast we started for trek! It was a 18KM trek to the tallest hill of coorg - Thadiyendamol! This hill is the second highest in Karnataka! First one being near Chikmaglur. KAKKARE was the name of the place from where our trek would start . listening to 18KMs trek the delicate darlings of the group were red-faced! But let me tell you this! These darlings completed the trek with full energy and really cheered the morale of the group! The trek was cakewalk for Nikhil so he decided to make it spicier and started climbing against a small water fall! MP like a true friend accompanied him and rest of us were happy with the cakewalk! We got the icing of this cake when we reached the top of the hill and were amazed to see the view of the surrounding hills! The photos would tel the rest of the story!

Now after having so much of fresh oxygen, the trekkers started feeling hungry! Arsh tried to give best possible deadlines to us but the scenic hills and fresh air conspired to miss all the deadlines! We all came down to the car park and hogged on all possible snack left overs in the car. Then Sathish announced that the packed lunch would be served at the waterfall!! woah.. then no stopping.. we left the trek place in no time!

but the hungry trekkers had to wait more.. cause on the way there was one more place we had to check out.. It was the hide out come hunting lounge of the local Hindu King Langaraja! The Palace looked like a typical south Indian mansion with slopping roofs and wooden pillars in the verandah ! The name of the Palace was Nalnad Palace! This was mainly built as an emergency hiding place in case the King ever needed a refuge ! We were wondering what a normal looking house can do to keep king safe! But we were mistaken when we saw the house closely from inside! There were absolute dark rooms where even if some one is standing next to you wont be able to see you! These rooms were not dark cause there was no electricity inside but were purposely built remotely so that no light comes in! There were hidden rooms above the ceiling whose doors were very difficult to locate! It was really interesting to see these ideas!

After seeing this 18th century house/palace we couldnt resist our hunger and skipped seeing the tribals who are believed to be bought by King but were originally from Ethiopia ! Any ways after this straight to the waterfall named Chelavara ! After the strenuous trek the waterfall really looked soothing and we couldnt resist from plunging into it! But first things first! Lunch! We had no track of time! I never wear a watch when I know the Time is Good!
We were all set to get in the waters after the quick lunch! Best part was, the place was clean and no one else was there! Now there was no stopping! Someone wanted to go and stand under the fall, someone started sliding on a natural water slide! I was happy sitting in the knee length water watching all! Then came my turn! Vj took me under the fall! Me being a non swimmer, he had to bare the burden on his back! I really pitied Vj for marrying such a dumb non swimmer.. :( But all together ensured that I stepped on every stone where they stood! I thoroughly enjoyed the fall! While Vj was bringing me back to the shore, we both started flowing towards the deeper part and I started screaming! Nikhil and Arsh timely dragged us both out and literally saved our lives.. !! Oh my that was scary :(

Phew even after this water plunge we were not ready to call it a day! Our host, Satish told us about a adventure camp on the way back! That triggered the adrenaline and we were all set to check out our next place! It was called the Now or Never Land! He he as the name said it really had something interesting! The place was basically a HUGE estate owned by a British person and he had cleverly utilized the estate to host a Quad biking track and also an elevated hurdle crossing game! They called it as Jungle Gym ! There were 12 hurdles to complete the first level! The hurdles were all 20feet above the ground tied between tall trees! They looked scary and actually walking on them was scarier! Same time it was huge fun as we all knew that wont fall! The security measures were excellent and we were tied with the rock climber's style ropes! Best part was.. ALL were ready to do it! It was amazing fun watching people balancing on a single rope, climbing on net! Over all it was all great monkey act! Hey how can I miss the highlight! Priyanka crossed these hurdles in record time! She was so swift and steady while crossing the difficult levels too! We all bowed down to her! Even the estate owner was mesmerized looking at her perfect balance! She was the Lady of the day! Simply Superb! This complete activity was really innovative and I loved doing it! Adventure with minimal risk! Donnot miss this place at any cost when you visit Coorg!

Woah! The only way we came to know the time was from the darkness! Yes it was dark now and we felt tired. It was more than a day! Full of fun and absolutely eventful! Just when the thought of calling it a day was about to enter our minds, we all remembered.. - guys its new years eve!! so we all had to put on other set of batteries in us to bring in energy for the party at night and to be awake to welcome the new year 2011!
We couldnt have asked for a better day to end 2010 !
Gasping, hungry, thirsty we reached our dwelling place and awesomely hot tea and coffee awaited us! We ate all possible biscuits and snacks! Only for one hope! Chicken Kababs were being made in the kitchen! A true booster for all of us! We decided to rest for a while and get ready and meet on the bungalow balcony! Done deal! paining hips, cramped legs, headaches, back pains couldnt stop us and we were all relaxing at the balcony chatting about the day's events! The kababs did exactly what they were meant for! All were recharged and all set for the campfire! Campfire was organized just few steps behind the house! It was a small ground surrounded by plantation. There was music, fire and friends ! Woah what else you need to celebrate! It was cold but the burning logs kept us warm all night! We raised toasts, clicked crazy snaps, discussed how bad resolutions could get, reviewed the year that went by and chatted on and on and on ! It was lovely unwinding for all of us! At early morning around 3am we called it a Day and with a warm welcome to 2011 crashed in our beds!

1Jan2011!
yuuppiiieee.. New day New year New world Same old start.. :D
got up late.. wanted to sleep some more... queue for bathrooms.. same mrnin sickness :P

But there was no time to cry over this coz few enthusiastics were already ready.. :D so had to hurry!

At breakfast table we decided on the plan for the day and started for a Monastery in a town named Kushalnagar around 50KMs away from Coorg! Yes A Monastery in South India! I was really curious about its existence in this part of India! Sathish told me that at time of Tibet War, Indira Gandhi had given shelter to few Tibetian refugees and gave them some land here in Kushalnagar! The Tibetians cultivated the given land and prospered! The complete locality is like a small tibet and excellent blend of the various cultures is seen! The Monastery was very well maintained! The eye catching colorful paintings reminded me of Ajanta caves! I really felt sad for the caves. Had they been maintained well, they could have been like the ones which I saw in that Monastery! (Sigh)
Anyways I didnt leave any chance to 'window' shop in those tibetians shops! When my bargain for a monk style kurta was almost in final stages, I was called and I had to run to the car as we were getting late for our next visit! The elephant sanctuary !!!!

Yes next stop Dubbare! By now my memorizing brain had surrendered to the not so easy names of places! So I had started writing these names! Rajesh was equally enthu about the names and wanted to keep track of them! Thanx to the roads, we took 1hour to cover distance of 30KMs and finally reached Dubbare around 4:30. Dubbare was a crowded place. We had to cross a river to see the elephants which were on the island across the river! The river was pitiful! Pitiful because huge number of people were trying to soak in that calf length water! There were young girls drenched and looking out for changing rooms. There were young boys ogling at every possible girl out there! Disgusting! When Vj was looking for a parking place in that crowded area, I saw a man carrying awesome looking some thing familiar! I couldnt believe my eyes! It was... It was... Masala Dosaa!! The starving glutton inside me rose!! I ensured everyone in the car saw that Dosa guy and in no time we were at the Dosa counter ordering the same! We had seen familiar food after a real long time! I was almost in tears when that HOT.. Crispy.. Golden backed dosa came in to my hand! mmmmm :P !! By the time I realised that where others were, I was standing alone in middle of the road and enjoying my DOSA! Now I gave a DAMN to those oglers! I went to our gand and saw them long faced looking at the river :( I didnt understand the reason. With my mouth filled with Dosa, I asked them what the matter is? Why arent we going to the island just 500Mtrs away from us! The park was closed :(
Last ferry was at 5PM and it was 5:15PM that time :( ohh!! we all were heart broken.. :( I was trying to hide my Dosa plate so that no-one could start blaming my innocent dosa for the situation.. :( We were helpless standing on the bank of that river and looking pitier than that river now :(
Niks and Arsh recovered from the shock and suggested trying this next morning again! We all echoed and finalized!
With heavy hearts we said bye to those unseen elephants and started for journey back home! we decided not to let Dubbare dampen our moods! we did all crazy things on our way back! played loud music.. sat out through the car windows.. excuse me, not when the car was parked but when IT WAS MOVING !! and not just us but even Vj did it while driving in second gayer and juggling accelerator and break with one leg and other leg on the seat.. :P oh myyy!! theres a video of this on his FB profile too! It was fun! Fun because we knew we were in safe hands and the car was absolutely slow moving! It was total mood buster for us! After reaching home we gathered at the balcony and the mehfil began! Everyone relaxed and our never ending chats started! Sudheer and Arsh narrated their fabulous stories and were literally on the floor laughing ! It was absolute laughter riot! Then came the surprise from me! I had got some liqueur chocolates from Finland and had safely kept them untouched till that day! I had no clue how they tasted but was hoping people would love them! And they did! Everyone fought like a child for the chocolates and relished them to the core! The mehfil became more colorful after this and went on till midnight again! Thats not it! There was one more attraction waiting for us! Our host had prepared the famous Coorg Pork! I couldnt gather courage to taste it but boys feasted on it well! It was midnight and in a hope to start the next day on time and not miss the elephants we slept quietly!

2Jan2011!
Where thrs hope theres a way.. :D (I know 'WILL' is always there but hopeless wills hardly realize.. ::P)
We got up ON TIME!
Got ready ON TIME!
breakfast ON TIME!
said bye to our wonderful hostess ON TIME!
hit the road ON TIME!
Yes things were absolutely going as per schedule TILL we remembered that we had to buy coorg souvenir stickers :D! We started enquiring at shops and finally found a stationary shop which had the car stickers of coorg which we were looking for! We bought all of them that the guy had :D ! Done! now no stopping. Straight Dubbare! but again I counted how many we bought and found we are falling short of 2 stickers!! NOTHING DOING! we had to had to find more stickers! Towns after towns we searched! The other car had lost hopes on us and sped ahead to reach Dubbare on time! So now only our car with me Vj, Rajesh and MP continued our search and finally SALVATION!!! we found a perfect store for not just car stickers but also with good coorg tshirts! All 3 guys bought amazing T shirts and we sped to catch our parted car! We just made it to Dubbare! Last boat for morning session was at 12:30 and we were at the ferry stand at 12:20.. :D He ha ha! We sat in the boat and before our victorious smiles faded we had already reached the other shore :( Yes it was that short boat trip! To add to our frustration we saw people crossing the river by simply walking in the shallow water.. so that means even boat was not needed! Cursing the 'commercialization of tourist places' we tried seeing what exactly that place had to offer us! We saw a LONNG queue! The queue was for... elephant ride that too on tired, chained elephants :( ! What! again What!! we had pictured elephant 'sanctuary' as nice forest with bathing baby elephants! and here a chained baby elephant with sunken eyes was forced to ride humans on its back :( I felt terrible looking at the scene! Seeing our disappointment, a gentleman came up to us and gave us some information about the place! Then we learnt that this place is not a 'sanctuary' but a elephant training center! Here they train wild elephants and the best performing elephant would be sent to Mysore for the Dasera processions! Few trained elephants would be made to work in the forest for lifting the logs and the worst performers were in front of me carrying the burden of the intelligent species on their back! I felt extremely angry! and remembered the famous lines, nature can satisfy human's needs but not the greed :(
I satisfied my Dosa greed again and started our return journey! It was time to say good bye to this wonderful region! The coorgis are also known as Kodagus! The ancient warriors! this place offered us a variety of places! from trek to waterfall ; from adventure to forest realities of today! It was fun packed and same time harsh! Approaching the end of trip made us sad :( polished Office, suffocating cubicles, killing deadlines.. all these jargons came to life again :( we had locked them all in the remotest corner of our minds when we started this trip! And yeah it was time to unlock them again and become their slaves!
But yes going by the correct phrase.. where theres a "WILL" theres a way ; with a hopeful will of having such a break once again in coming months we said adieu to each other and left for our respective cities !!

Tall Tale!

Tall Tales [written for Toastmasters Tall tale Area level contest in 2009. It is suppose to be illogical and unbelievable! ]

[fast pace]

gooooodd mmoooorrrning Hyderabad...

this is RJ tanu and m here to make ur monday morning merrier !

u r listenign to 911FM.. today is dec 11th and the time is 26:11 oops 11:26 am and u r listening to the breakfast show..

[normal pace]

i turned the volume low of the car radio... i was stuck in traffic while goin to office.. already late.. and now the traffic was makin the matter worst

mondays are always sad but today after listening to this RJ Tanu I felt the sadness was moving towards eeriness..

while listening to car radio .. I felt eerie becasue of the figures she mentioned.. 9/11, 26/11 and dec 11 are really engraved in history for some dark acts.! Brushing out fear from my mind.. I tried concentratin on wat the overexcited RJ had to say...

[fast]

SO dear listeners.. todays question is "what is the first name of the terrorist Laden" (ofcourse it is "Osama" I said )..

so wat ru thinking.. (‘yes true we need not think for suchan dumb question u’ve put up’ )..

pick up ur fone and text us the answer..

Dont knw wat prompted me from within and I SMSed her the rite answer.. almost all the listeners must hav answered this stupid question.. so without strainin my lilttle brain by thinking about the result or prize.. I continued my drive.. finally reached office. When I was about to surrender myself to the pending office activities.. I got a call from an unknwn number..i reluctantly picked it.. it was RJ Tanu from 911FM.. she told tht I was the winner of the mornin contest and now m invited as a guest on her show on sat afternoon..

Hellooooo.. m I talking to Ms Neha ..

Yes..

This is Tanu from 911FM.. ! I’m glad to tell u tht we’ve chosen u as the lucky winner for the contest!

Really! I never expected this to happen! And wat did I win.. holiday to goa.. with Osama ;)

(I felt lthe sea breeze on my back.. ;) )

Hahaha... m sorry not tht.. but u hav won a chance to come as a guest on our show on Saturday! You wil be on air during the complete 1 hour afternoon show with me!

Ok! I was no more in the goa air now.. I agreed for sat and hung up..

I was not sure whether I shud go for it or not.. thanx to the work load I forgot bot the contest..

On Friday I got a reminder call from the 911FM bot the show next day..

Sat I reached 911FM office around 12noon.. I was greeted by RJ Tanu !her voice on radio and her personality was absolute match ! funky… cheery.. chirpy ! she guided me to the studio and asked me to be seated beside a BIIGGG cockpit like console ! I was looking at those feeders and buttons like a curious cat.. only thing familiar I found there was the computer! She quickly xplained me how the show goes.. and wat m suppose to do.. even before my questions/doubts traveled from far corner of my brain to my mouth.. she opened the feeder and started her blarbur…

[fast]

Tanu : Helllllooo Hyd..

How are u doin!.. r u feeling bored.. bored with same old faces around u..

Wud u like to meet new people.. do u wana make new friends??

So here I’m to make ur wish come true..

Today I have a tiny little gal (I gav her bad looks).. whos eager to meet u and talk to u..

(my heart beats were on their peak..)

So lets welcome Miss Neha..

(I tried flashin my sindur.. to show her tht I was Mrs Neha… but no use, tht hyd exp had already reached Vikarabad.. )

Me : Hello everybody.. (shy)

Tanu : So Neha.. tell us wat u do..

Me : I’m a software engg.. (pause)

Tanu : ok I understand ( I don’t knw y tht sympathetic tone)

Me: And I work for TCS for last..

Tanu : Neha tell us about ur hobbies..

(I understood tht my answers needs to be pleasing to the listeners and reality and boredom shud be kept aside..)

The conversation went on..

Hiii.. whos there..

Caller : Hi Taannuu.. I’m a big fan of urs.. I love ur voice.. u talk soo nicely..

Tanu : can I please have ur name..

Caller : no .. how can I giv u my name.. its mine..

Tanu : (controlling her laugh) Ok Mr. caller.. can you please tell me which song u want me to play for u this afternoon..

Caller : yaaa.. please play ‘tere naam ‘ from movie ‘ ‘ and I want to dedicate this song to my friendz.. divya.. jyoti.. suresh..

Tanu : ok ok ..thanx a lot for callin 911FM.. we’ll surely play u ur request ! b bye!

Phew.. I didn’t understand why I was called on the show.. to answer such callers and play such crappy songs! Ws tryin to control my nerves when

Tanu told me tht I'm suppose to answer the next requests..

Tanu said lets take today's next caller.. Again she was faster than my responses and pressed some 5-7 buttons on the console and a voice came in..

A deeeppp.. serious voice..

Laden : Hallo …

I felt as if the world had gone dead ..

Tanu was promptin me to say Hello.. cumon evn I knw tht we are suppose to say hello when we answer a call.. but tht time it was not happenin at all..

I said Hello..

Laden : Am I talking to Miss Neha..

Me :Yes this is Mrs Neha.. May I know whos on the line..

Laden : This is the person because of whom u r on this show.. .. this is osama bin laden..

I couldnt believe my ears.. I looked at Tanu.. and was more scared whn I saw Tanu fainted !! tht excitement balloon inside her suddenly blasted and she was on the floor..

I didn’t know wat to do with tht cockpit.. how to disconnect the call..

The Eerie feeling which I got in the morning had turned in to great fear now..

I thought of runnin away form there.. slowly I collected myself and reminded tht this is just a fone call..

He cant shoot me from the fone.. may be this is just a prank call.. and now whatever was to be done it was to be done by me..

Me : .. Welcome to the show Mr. Laden.. Now can you please reveal your true name.. We liked ur joke though..

Laden : Silly gal.. u don’t believe me .. will u believe me if I blow a bomb in the building u r sitting presently..

Me : Mr Laden.. I was just kidding.. please don’t take things so seriously.. please tell me how can I help u..

( I forgot I was in a request show and started talking as a receptionist.. )

Laden : How can a simple gal like u help me

Me : Atleast try tellin .. u never knw u mite find a solution urself ..

Laden : I've grown old now.. and i've created soo many enemies for myself.. at the end of my life i havent achieved wat I wanted..

Me : wat was tht..

Laden : destruction of the world no 1..

Me : wat will u achieve by tht destruction.. u studied civil engg rite.. then instead of constructing why are u destructing infrastructure??

Laden : U dont teach me all this.. u just play my song on ur stupid show..

Me : ok which song u want me to play..

Laden : Goli Maro Bheje Mein.. from Satya!

Me : controllin the laugh.. ok i'l do tht.. but before hangin up.. do u always watch such violence filled movies?? Try watching movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai..

Laden : Ooo.. i'l do tht..

The call was disconnected.. I tried to searched the song requested.. and pressed the button which had triangle on it.. (thinking tht it must be a play button).. Accidently I played the song It was MJ's Heal the World. I was hoping tht Laden Uncle would listen to this! and think bot his acts!

Next day morning ..the sunday mornin I took the newspaper in hand and was flabbergasted by the headline..

'Laden declares retirement from terrorism, plans to preach gandhigiri to school children '!!!! I patted my back , smiled and sipped the hot coffee !

think??

छोटी छोटी चित्रायी यादें
बिच्छी हुई है लम्हों के लॉन पर
इतनी दूर चलते चलते आये
की अब भूल गए है
जूते कहा उतारे थे.

एडी कोमल थी जब आये थे
थोड़ीसी नाज़ुक है अभी भी
और नाज़ुक ही रहेगी
इन खट्टी मीठी यादों की शरारत
जब तक इन्हें गुदगुदाती रहे.

सच, भूल गए है
की जूते कहा उतारे थे
पर लगता है
अब उनकी ज़रूरत नहीं!

awesome poem from a “non masala”, “low budget”, “flop” hindi movie Udaan!
i wrote all the words in quotes with loads of pride!

I was really relieved after seeing this movie cause it assured me that some people still have the organ above shoulders! Its a well made movie with a simple story and great cast!

The best impact anything in the world can cast on me is, to make me write!
and yes this movie did it!
But it made me think, why do I need such triggers now and then?
Does that mean, while watching/listening/observing other things, my mind is sleeping and it has no thoughts?
No, thats not the case. Had I achieved that thoughtless state, I would have been sitting in an acres spread ashram and preaching people!
So that means, I think. I have opinion about each and everything I see! My mind can never shut up! But it becomes worth writing only when it is strong enough!
No! dont take me wrong. I’m not blowing my own trumpet! I’m not praising. I’m appreciating! my thoughts or the movie?
Actually both!
we are given a mind so that we can think. but we forget a small “*” of conditions apply! yes we can think, but simply thinking leads to nothing. analysing gives meaning to our thinking!
thinking is like creating random threads of different colors. But analysing is the mechanism that stitches all these threads together to bring out a colorful fabric!
too philosophical eeh.. thats not me, its the movie impact talking :D

my urge here is, dont just think, analyse, infer and keep creating such splendid poems!

Advertisement (CC4 Speech)

[Note : This is my CC4 assignment for Toastmaster's Competent Communicator certification.

This assignment has some objectives which are to be fullfilled. The speech below is written keeping those in mind. It is not a actual blog or article.. its speech with voice modulations, drama and pauses.. ]

[Sing]Washing powder nirma.. washing powder nirma .. Nirma!!!

You might be thinking either I’m out of my mind…or m the not-so-grand brand ambassador of Nirma

Don’t worry.. all is well with me as well as those companies..

I was just wondering about the great influence these Advertisements have on our lives and how long they've travelled.

Since my CC1 I’m trying to follow one common theme.. called ‘common things’ I know the name might not sound so appealing but my intention is to talk about simple things in our day-to-day life and make u think bot them from a diff perspective.. Taking forward this theme, today lets ponder over this wonder completely invented by mankind called ‘advertisements’ !

This is a vast topic in itself.. in-fact when i started thinking about this topic for my CC4 , I found so many perspectives and points to be covered.. I can rite 10 speeches on this one topic alone!! Don't worry I would like to confine myself to television ads in my speech today and take just 5-7 mins of your time to describe this wonder called advertisements!..

Advertisements : a straight dictionary meaning says : the action of making generally known; a calling to the attention of the public or a public notice or announcement! If you go by this definition.. you would call women the god made advertisement! cause they make sure any smallest action in the colony or office reaches every person related or not related to the action so as to call attention of the public !

OK, I'm getting very bad looks from all the gals here.. but hey its fun to crack jokes on ourselves !

anyways.. jokes apart.. advertisements are very crucial part of our lives..

we select every product around us by the advertisement! We identify every product with its advertisement! I know that's what the sole purpose of an advertisement is..

I feel we can categorise advt in 4 broad categories..

1. ads which play with our emotions

2. Ads which are crisp and intelligent

3. opposite of category 2, dumb ads! let me tell u this category is so vast and so varied it'll surely need sub categorization.. this proves the old saying, theres limit to intelligence but theres no limit to stupidity!

4. negative ads

1. starting with the first category, emotional ads.. usually the finance companies choose such themes. Na sar zuka hai kabhi.. aur na jhukaenge kabhi! 'mere des mein paisa sirf paisa hi nahi' very beautifully made ad or 'hum hai na..'

or the wonderful ad in which a boy in slums makes a ply er kind of thing from wires so that his mum's hands wont burn while making rotis. such an simple ad but it says a lot! Or even ads like.. 'papa mummy ko daanto' numerous example for this category!

We Indians are perceived to be more emotional, but have you ever thought how much does this emotion formula works in India ! surprisingly it doesn't work a lot ! Recently I came across a study article written by a market research institute called IMRB, International. It mentioned how Advertisements in India is a big challenge for companies. Indians prove the prejudice wrong of being Emotional! Ads with Rational and solution driven content appeal more to the public!

2. Lets move on to ads which supports this view of IMRB research! I mean Rational, Intelligent ads!

my favorite is.. 'daddu' ad! which takes us back to monolithic age! The Donkey is surprised to c the monkey getting evolved in a human being and above that becomes his master just by eating one mint ! 'Dimaag ki batti jala de'! What a fantastic connection they've found here!

How can I forget the 'Jago re' ad for the TATA tea! It was truly a revolutionary ad!

Next one might be the 'what an idea sir ji!' 'walk when u talk!' ad!

3. Hm.. Indian market is a land of contrast! where we have such extremely intelligent ads we also have the opposite of them.. Remember our 3rd category!

Let me remind you by some clear examples..

[with action]Gimme RED !

now how on earth can any body think that gimme red means advertising a battery!

or a ad of a new bike.. where a boy rides far away in the city just to reply to his girlfriend's SMS of 'good night'! too dumb!

one subcategory in this section will be ads featuring celebrities. Yes there are few good ads featuring Amitabh but i find it very difficult to believe that priyanka chopra using same shampoo as used for my hair or shahrukh watchin dishTV!

Have you noticed the ads which are done by our cricket players.. how can anybody expect dhoni to sell mobile phones, chyavanprash, .. or the latest Club9 beverage ad by <> is the height of foolishness..

on contrary to that, I loved the ad by a international watch company featuring Federer. He was not made what he isn't.. the ad shows some wonderful shots played by the great player.. then it is the responsibility of the narrator or punch line to relate to the watch! Atleast we dont make them look like a fool by delivering dead pan punch lines!..

4. Lastly I would like to bring to Ur notice some negative ads, these ads don't prevail for long.. I'm glad that some kind of social policing don't let them spread their negativity in the society.. i remember one unnoticed ad.. it was an ad for hair die.. a school boy comes home annoyed saying he is ashamed of his father cause his father has white hair! because of this his Friends tease him in school. what an ridiculous idea is that. company should not target such emotions just to gain some good product sale!

one more example is of a recent ad in which one elderly person is about to punish a boy for breaking glass with his cricket sixer. the boy rudely says punish me more cause next 3 balls are again going to be sixers! How can you camouflage rudeness with self confidence!

I wont give you any more examples of such ads. don't want to leave u with a bitter taste at the end of my speech...

The purpose of my speech is to make you think over these small things in our lives which cast a significant impact on us and our surroundings!

Lastly to show how significant advertisements are.. I would like to tell .. you must be knowing that there are 64 arts or kalas described in Indian Vedas. Advertisement has been considered as the 65th art of today's world!

So dont ignore these short-lived wonders!