Moments...

Yup me gonna speak out today. Before me do me gonna share a bit of history. My senior class guy and his wife they shifted to US like in 2000 or even earlier I am not sure but whatever they both teach there. They went for their PhD and started teaching. They then took up US citizenship. They have kids who are nearing teens. Now picture this - a citizenship means you are now that country. I can understand you will remember your motherland, you will recall everything but now you are that country's citizen. First you curtail yourself to a society surrounded by your own people create kind of a mini country there and then complain when your kids are confused. Obviously, they are US citizens they kind of wanna become friends with real US people but they are forced nah you are Indians you dont behave like that and like this. What contradictory statements. And then they are totally confused and best our country praise and host special events for all other country's cit...

I have seen and have heard this commented by many that why do we cover when any foreign delegate visit our country, why we dont let them see the poverty and the reality.... My answer to them is - what is a country its a extrapolated version of a family -  a home. Dont we believe in the concept that Athithi devo bhava. When any guests arrive we take extra efforts to look good and presentable, hide / remove the clutter from our homes...then why dont we ever question that why not present the house as its? The Gods place / temple sanctum is cleaned everyday but do we clean our minds / hearts. Do we sit and question there? A family is made by individuals the citizens of the country, do we do any of this in our homes then why do we question the country - they are doing what we have been doing as individuals and as families. There is a rationale also if you show someone the poverty and dirt they will interpret things the way they want...but you hide and show only what is approp...

Yeah.... I got this electricity meter fixed it took me 1.5 months of daily visit except Sunday's when they are closed..... The lady at the counter got so fed up of seeing me there that she requested - Stop coming we will change the meter tomorrow.....I was like up there the next day.....She was like we will definitely do tomorrow, so stop coming coz if you keep coming its not that we will do early. I was like no worry, I will stop coming from tomorrow. When your tomorrow comes mine will too. Finally they did it and me was thrilled but now its back to square one :( So now I have to start the run again :( And the plumbing thing again back to square one.... And my bank account they have closed the online, and the card also....:( And there are more.... And now opportunity knocked at my door but by the time me answered the door, it left :( Bagwaan chappar faad kar hi dete hain!!!

In the capital city, I took the Metro...and viola they have constructed such swanky interiors - the station and the train but as soon as you come out....especially the East Delhi region ....you know how it seems :) I enjoyed the ride though. :) It saves lot of time that one spends struggling through the traffic - the red lights ....it took me just 10 mts to reach cutting down the time by a good 40 mts :) Tomorrow me again take a ride to Pragati Maidan to check out the book fair there....so I am booked :)

Sad things don't seem to ever change....went to this cool mall and there is no way to cross the road to reach the mall...its been made only for people who drive cars :( For folks choosing to walk....keep walking and thinking about reducing carbon footprints and increasing your footprints :) Secondly inside the mall the people are crazy....they keep stepping on you as if you are invisible :( Back home... forget going out will buy stuffs later....

:( Ok before leaving for the passport office I read some good reviews; I dont want to locate them at the moment but wanna share the worst case scenario with you guys.... Dunno where I went wrong...anyways it was a bad start of my day....firstly it took me ages to reach the place and then went around figuring out the building and the counters...finally stood in a queue to get a token, the person said that my form was incomplete I needed some notary form too God knows what all I had read about from the Website and got a confirmation from my brother as it mentioned that it was optional in case I don't have any proofs but anyways one needs all the documents....Annexure I and H and blah blah....and me not going to cover everything today....but folks please read the details and then go and take as many documents you can even if its optional...now me will shut my gyaan and come to the point Ok the highlights of my not-so-good-day were - as soon as I came out of the office searching fo...

Serves Him right!!! I went to pay my bill. The counter opens at 10 AM. I reached there 7 minutes earlier and there was no sign of anyone. I waited next to the counter, and when there was just 2 minutes left to 10 AM, I wondered whether anyone would come or maybe they might delay. Scarcely had I finished thinking suddenly there was a commotion behind all the counters and people were taking their respective seats. A guy came to me and said excuse me, I moved aside and and and...he forwarded his bill at the counter. Man this guy just jumped the queue and went ahead. Duh!! I wanted to shout - Hello!! But words just didnt come out of my mouth and I kept wondering wow Not Bad...Its a good way to jump the queue. While I was doing this the lady behind the counter asked that man to wait for the change and took my bill instead. She got the change and pushed a bill out of the counter. This man stretched his hand to pick the bill but Ha Ha WooHooo!! It was mine!! The lady asked him to wait for 5 m...

Now this guy, he buys old newspapers...I called him yesterday and he arrived today after a reminder...I have been disposing off the newspapers to him for a long time now and he pays me @ 5 per Kg of old newspaper. My neighbour had told me that the rate is 6 or 7, why do you pay less. :( Ok so I decided I am gonna make him pay me the right amount. When he arrived, I brought up the subject to him, to which he responded, Ya, ok you want @6, I will give you. :! I was happy but apprehensive how did he agree so soon. He was smart, he weighed incorrectly, generally its around 10 Kgs and this time he simply said its 6 Kg. Talk about cheating!!! I told him again why are you cheating, he said...I am giving you @ 6. What the hell!! Why does he have to cheat?? Anyways some things and some people can never change.

All around people were seen in arguments...I left for college and enroute and saw this bus driver in argument with another car amidst busy street. Then after class one of our classmate went into an argument (actually it was more than just an argument) with an auto fella. There was no sign of our bus, took an auto (finally found one who was ready to go till our place) and reached home to find another argument happening right outside the main gate. BTW on the way back, a very educated (lemme simply use the word literate that would sound better...unfortunately a sizable population has failed to become educated...to get back to the story) remarked - a very absurd remark- on Maharastrians and Outsiders - the talk of the day! The other day this very person was sitting in the bus reserved for ladies and didnt even get up to give his seat to a blind man standing next to him and he is talking about showing respect and doing ones duty! Anyways I am all confused is the entire fight - anti-Marath...

“Where do you belong to?” This I find the most difficult question to answer. I usually reply – “I am an Indian!” But then people keep poking “Ha Ha that’s funny!!...wanted to know where you belong to…your place of birth or where you studied?” My forefathers were from Rajasthan but my grandparents and my parents were born and bought up in West Bengal. I was born in West Bengal and bought up in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. My work has made me stay in Tamil Nadu and Maharastra. People in each of the State treat me as an outsider. In the Southern and the Western part I am North Indian. In the North, I am not a Delhi-ite – maybe I don’t speak their lingo or whatever!! I guess I need loads of help to decipher myself where do I belong to? What prompted me to write this is not that I suffer from Identity Crisis but the recent shocking incidents happening in Mumbai and few other parts of Maharastra – labeling people from other states as outsiders and attacking them. Mainly...

Saturday, we celebrated the Republic Day ...we have the Republic Day parade at New Delhi...there was a lot of hue and cry about Sarkozy coming to attend the celebration with his girl friend...Carla Bruni ...loads have been printed all across the media about the couple and what would happen if they come together....what protocol we should follow...there are protocols for spouse / wife but nothing for girl friend :D I was pretty pleased to leaf through pages and pages of juicy gossips and what should Indian Govt do :D But sadly Bruni was absent. Then the much awaited news was whether she would join him when he visits the Taj Mahal - the monument of Love....She didnt :( After I wasted a considerable half of the day practically doing nothing - actually keeping a watch on Sarkozy and the missing Bruni :D, I went to attend the Bday of an adorable cutie pie - 1 year old Baby S. :D BTW I was invited a long time back...and only thing that I remembered was it on a holiday so do come. My ...

The journey to the airport was sans any event…a simple boring journey in the car…and even when I reached there nothing…easily got my luggage checked in got a window seat too…Passed through the security one to find that there was no sign of my flight’s status….asked a few they said we still have time…in the mean time I glanced through the news papers and waited for announcements…at about 1:30 the time my flight was scheduled to leave, I panicked having been so lost in the newspapers that I lost track of time…just then heard the announcement that the flight is delayed due its late arrival and will soon be announcing boarding call…So I folded my news papers and got ready for the boarding call…while I was lifting my backpack…I noticed a small queue at the other gate with my flight number and people were boarding there…while the announcement of the delay of my flight was in progress…I went to the counter and asked they said the boarding was on…I told them about the announcement…they heard i...

Monday evening - Since I don't have a cable connection at home, I don't watch Television and I am quite happy not watching. I was untouched by the cricket fever unlike others - I guess the entire country. For me Cricket Match means Cricket is that annoying pesky insect and Match is short for match stick. The match started sometime in the evening when I was leaving for my class. It took me simply 30 minutes to reach the class. I love the match! On other days, it takes me nearly and hour sometimes even more than that depending on the traffic. There were these Ganesh Pandals on every nook and corner of the city and they had installed TV sets. So instead of loud music playing all you could hear was Cricket. Hordes of people stood glued to the TV sets. Anyways me reached the college to find the campus deserted. You could hear the occasional cries from the cafe where obviously there was a TV set. We were just a handful of students - the committed ones like us. Best part was Sir, walk...

It was a wonderful Sunday :D Me got a chance to visit NDA Yippee!! For all those who don't know only a privileged few can visit the place and also get the royal treatment as we did :D We a group of 10 (my classmates from B-school) bundled into 2 cars reached NDA around 11ish. (Although had planned to reach much earlier and .... better me not tell all what happened - the usual delays, last minute cancellations, last minute joiners...) On with what we did at NDA. Now a little bit about the place, NDA is located at Khadakvasla, picturesque location occupying somewhere close to 8000 acres of land! Imagine the huge place. All green and silent settled far away from the hustle bustle of the city but replete with all the amenities - a complete self-sustained township. I wont be giving too much details about the buildings or places but will restrict to what we did. I would have loved to describe the buildings there but I am not too sure whether I can. If you want you can visit and read from...

Remember the Wednesday I told was my best day :D here's why - Me taking part in the Ganesh celebrations this year!! Please do not ask me details about the festival - the history and all, I have absolutely no clue about it :-( You can read from it here ... In fact, me have completed a good two years in the city and coincidentally, moved into this city during the festival two years back. This year, I decided to actually be a part of the city and find whats all about the festival...and voila me got an opportunity to participate too. My neighbour, every year celebrates at her home. This year, she requested me to help her with the festivities. :D That's exactly what me was waiting for and jumped at the idea! Thus begins my celebrations from Wednesday. Sadly me miss my camera and cannot share the pics or else me would have had the best collection of pics for all to see. The Wednesday - We went shopping for decorations for the home. We got multi-colored papers, confetti's, multi-...

If you remember I had shared about this , Manual Vs Mental Labour and the case of the watchman, how much s/he earns compared to the VP. I really wanted to know what exactly does the watchman do. They have to sit all day / night and keep a watch at what / on whom? I started to watch the person stationed in my society and I have noticed him do the following things - Now the question arises, what a watchman supposed to do? 1. He was asked to remove the mouse from the mouse trap 2. A lady requested him to come and open the tap which was not opening 3. Another one asked him to open a door which got jammed 4. He has to shoo away dogs from entering our building 5. This is the best one .... He was requested by this young chap to play badminton with him as he couldn't find any playmates :D I will add more to this list... BTW another bit of info....the cab drivers - call center cab drivers - they are paid less than 3500 and are PENALISED 500 for reaching late. They generally belong to the...

This came as an email attachment ...Kudos to the person who came up with this idea...

See this is the state in which we have brought our monuments. Here is the wall of the temple and see how many people have left their autographs. Isnt this a sad sight. Why do people do like this? The pic is shot by me @ a temple in Karnataka.

Yeah I felt that the world was coming to an end. I reached home, tried to connect to the Net in vain. I tried to call up friends and bother them. But sadly, I had chosen the wrong time. Finally I was bored and called up one of my friend and was successful in boring him :-D or being bored. He kept referring to mails he sent or some other topic which required me to be online. What a true friend I have!!! Finally after an hour of ranting, me called up the Customer Support to find the reason, and the automated voice mail told me that my calls have been debarred as I didnt pay my bill. What in the world do they mean that I didnt pay my bill. When did they send me the bill? I thought that this was the replay of my Mobile bill . Now I was in a big fix. I pay my bill online but couldnt as there was no Internet. I could pay through the Easy Billing Junction but they needed the hard copy of the bill. So what should me do. simple!! me called my brother and asked him to pay my bill online. G...

After reading this news..." Beggar Pays Rs. 36,000 as EMI "; I wondered how come such able bodied people take up to begging? Isn ’t it demeaning? Imagine, if we. Let me speak for myself, If I didn ’t have money I would either take loan or buy something of lesser value, which is within my reach, but never resort to begging. Why should someone opt for an easier way of earning a living? This route to earning a livelihood raises a lot of questions. To begin, are people forced to become beggars or take up this profession by choice? Well I guess there are both kinds. Some of the incapacitated people have taken up begging as they are unfit for any profession. Few of them – lepers have taken up because they are not provided any other work because of the social stigma attached with being a leper. Few of them who even though are able bodied or want to do some work – like become a maid servant are forced into begging. Few cities mandate police verification related proofs before taking u...