Let me tell you a secret. You know why sun-sets are more popular than sunrises.
For the simple reason that for watching a sunrise you need to put in a lot of effort. I realised this when I was at Kanyakumari and had to get up at 5 or something to see the rising red sun. I mean the colour looks different but isn't it the same sun why bother seeing it rising and setting again and again? Anyway people told me sunrise at Kanyakumari is special so I thought it would be worth witnessing.
More on Kanyakumari trip.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A weekend adventure
Sometimes you fail to pen things as they happen, especially if you are as disorganized as I am.
But I think it is worth to wait a few weeks before you blog an event, sure you miss the small things but I guess what you remember is what matters the most.
One weekend I was invited to attend a friend's wedding, in a small town in another state. The guy, an NRI, was flying down to India just to get married. He sent an email to invite all the friends, I never noticed he didn't mention the exact venue he was getting married, all he mentioned was the town.
Four days ahead of the weekend when I tried to contact him to get the exact address, he had left for India. And anyone who knows how Indian wedding happen will understand that 4 days before the wedding groom can't respond to e-mails.
Anyways, I thought it could be a good adventure to go for a trip to this unknown town and figure out where this guy is getting married and surprise him by attending his wedding. Meanwhile I got an invitation from another friend who was also getting married the same day in a rural setting near the town. Atleast this one had a address and being a non-NRI he can be reached on his phone. Nothing to loose, let's go! I thought not knowing what lies ahead!!
An overnight train journey would take me to the town. I spend most of the night calling friends of friend to see if they had a clue about the the wedding venue. Most of them came to know from me about the marriage.
Next morning as I went to cyber cafe on the railway station and tried to test couple of my hypothesis:
1. Given an NRI banker status, he must be staying in the posh most (3-star, as this place did not have any 5-stars) hotel
2. He must be getting married in a marriage hall listed somewhere on the internet.
The first one did not lead to any clue, but the second one worked bang on.
I called and someone who couldn't understand english/hindi picked up. When I told him the names he said yes in one go. I was confused that he might have misunderstood me as someone calling to get the hall booked for a function.
I took calculated risk and went ahead in pouring rain to reach this place. After a couple of hours I could finally confirm that this was the place where the marriage is scheduled but that was supposed to happen next day latenight and there were many adventures awaiting me before that:
The weekend when:
I got locked out and had to yell hard for help!: Given that it was raining heavily outside I just asked the caretaker if I can wait for a couple of hours in the marriage hall and then leave. There were some rooms on the terrace for guests, I settled for one of them and went to take a shower in another one which had a working geyser. While I was taking a shower some one came for cleaning and locked all rooms except for the one in which my bag was kept. As I got out and realised the situation, I screamed for someone to come and open the door. But the rain and 4th floor location damped the voice from reaching ground floor. I also tried my hands at breaking the door, no luck though. I explored all options including the bathroom ventilator in the next half hour, all in vain. Then I threw some water out of the rear window and screamed at top of my voice. Luckily someone heard and rescued me!
I lost my wallet with all cards : Given an adventure trip, I thought this time I should not carry Jeans and rather feel comfortable in track pants. Later as I set for a bus trip to the other friend's wedding venue. Half way through the journey I realised that my wallet was missing. Frantic search for the wallet through the bag did not yield any fruit. The old man next to me seemed too old for the trick. Nothing beneath the seat. Search through the aisle and asking the conductor did not get any positive response as well. Just when I was thinking what to do next, a gentleman asked me what happened and I told him the story. He took out a wallet and asked "is this it?". I was relived to see my wallet and then he explained how he found it at the beginning of the journey and asked people around and also tried calling my old number scribbled on my visiting card. I thanked him for saving me and thought 'no more track pants in the next adventure trip.'
I dropped my camera with lens open: At the end of bus journey, I had a round of Chess games with the kids in the house and went to the room booked for us and slept peacefully through the night. The next day morning I was supposed to attend this rural wedding and evening the NRI wedding and leave back at night. As I was taking some snaps of my friend in the morning a push came from back and I dropped my camera on the concrete floor with lens open. The lens assembly got distorted and stuck out. It could only be repaired after I had come back and left a hole in my pocket.
After all this maneuvers, I spent rest of the day site seeing with some friends I met and made at the morning wedding, where after I headed back for the 'NRI wedding'. The wedding had a pompous show befitting for an NRI wedding. Then followed a long wait for the Groom and Photo sessions and blessings of elders and politicians before I could climb up the stage. My friend was truly surprised to see me and after a brief chat I had to rush back to catch my train in time.
On my way back among other things I thought this truly was an adventurous weekend!
But I think it is worth to wait a few weeks before you blog an event, sure you miss the small things but I guess what you remember is what matters the most.
One weekend I was invited to attend a friend's wedding, in a small town in another state. The guy, an NRI, was flying down to India just to get married. He sent an email to invite all the friends, I never noticed he didn't mention the exact venue he was getting married, all he mentioned was the town.
Four days ahead of the weekend when I tried to contact him to get the exact address, he had left for India. And anyone who knows how Indian wedding happen will understand that 4 days before the wedding groom can't respond to e-mails.
Anyways, I thought it could be a good adventure to go for a trip to this unknown town and figure out where this guy is getting married and surprise him by attending his wedding. Meanwhile I got an invitation from another friend who was also getting married the same day in a rural setting near the town. Atleast this one had a address and being a non-NRI he can be reached on his phone. Nothing to loose, let's go! I thought not knowing what lies ahead!!
An overnight train journey would take me to the town. I spend most of the night calling friends of friend to see if they had a clue about the the wedding venue. Most of them came to know from me about the marriage.
Next morning as I went to cyber cafe on the railway station and tried to test couple of my hypothesis:
1. Given an NRI banker status, he must be staying in the posh most (3-star, as this place did not have any 5-stars) hotel
2. He must be getting married in a marriage hall listed somewhere on the internet.
The first one did not lead to any clue, but the second one worked bang on.
I called and someone who couldn't understand english/hindi picked up. When I told him the names he said yes in one go. I was confused that he might have misunderstood me as someone calling to get the hall booked for a function.
I took calculated risk and went ahead in pouring rain to reach this place. After a couple of hours I could finally confirm that this was the place where the marriage is scheduled but that was supposed to happen next day latenight and there were many adventures awaiting me before that:
The weekend when:
I got locked out and had to yell hard for help!: Given that it was raining heavily outside I just asked the caretaker if I can wait for a couple of hours in the marriage hall and then leave. There were some rooms on the terrace for guests, I settled for one of them and went to take a shower in another one which had a working geyser. While I was taking a shower some one came for cleaning and locked all rooms except for the one in which my bag was kept. As I got out and realised the situation, I screamed for someone to come and open the door. But the rain and 4th floor location damped the voice from reaching ground floor. I also tried my hands at breaking the door, no luck though. I explored all options including the bathroom ventilator in the next half hour, all in vain. Then I threw some water out of the rear window and screamed at top of my voice. Luckily someone heard and rescued me!
I lost my wallet with all cards : Given an adventure trip, I thought this time I should not carry Jeans and rather feel comfortable in track pants. Later as I set for a bus trip to the other friend's wedding venue. Half way through the journey I realised that my wallet was missing. Frantic search for the wallet through the bag did not yield any fruit. The old man next to me seemed too old for the trick. Nothing beneath the seat. Search through the aisle and asking the conductor did not get any positive response as well. Just when I was thinking what to do next, a gentleman asked me what happened and I told him the story. He took out a wallet and asked "is this it?". I was relived to see my wallet and then he explained how he found it at the beginning of the journey and asked people around and also tried calling my old number scribbled on my visiting card. I thanked him for saving me and thought 'no more track pants in the next adventure trip.'
I dropped my camera with lens open: At the end of bus journey, I had a round of Chess games with the kids in the house and went to the room booked for us and slept peacefully through the night. The next day morning I was supposed to attend this rural wedding and evening the NRI wedding and leave back at night. As I was taking some snaps of my friend in the morning a push came from back and I dropped my camera on the concrete floor with lens open. The lens assembly got distorted and stuck out. It could only be repaired after I had come back and left a hole in my pocket.
After all this maneuvers, I spent rest of the day site seeing with some friends I met and made at the morning wedding, where after I headed back for the 'NRI wedding'. The wedding had a pompous show befitting for an NRI wedding. Then followed a long wait for the Groom and Photo sessions and blessings of elders and politicians before I could climb up the stage. My friend was truly surprised to see me and after a brief chat I had to rush back to catch my train in time.
On my way back among other things I thought this truly was an adventurous weekend!
Friday, June 11, 2004
Warm up!
Borrowed shoes from someone, emptied my college bag and put an umbrella into it along with my towel, diary, soap, pen-pencil-eraser, an empty water bottle and spectacles.
What are all these Grand Preparations for?
What is all this happening at 4:15 in the morning? Confused?
Not more that me as I was preparing to leave for an excursion to Bishnupur, but of course you can guess that my enthusiasm more than overpowered the prevailing confusion . What else can you call it when a hardcore sleeper of my kind wakes up at 4:15 in the morning, although the credit should partially be given to my alarm, but given that I was chatting till 11:55pm the night before makes it seem really heroic. And I think most of us know how easy it is to put off the alarm thinking "just five minutes and i'll wake up" and more so when you time-piece is one with a 'snooze' option. But this time I was brave enough to resist the The Tempation.
Thus begun one of the earliest mornings of my life and I went to Prag sir's home wherefrom we had to start at sharp 5:00 to catch the 5:30 train. This time as well it was just in time for us but the other people almost had a photo finish. Did i forget to mention that we were seventeen of us! We were seven school-going children, two adoloscents and six students along with a professor and his wife from IIT kharagpur. And only 6 of us had reached the station till 5:24 and we were worried that we would have to board the next train at 8:50 unless all others ( whose tickets had been bought) turned up within next 6 minutes ...
I went to the guard and asked him if he could delay the train because some small children were going on a sort of educational tour and they might not be able to reach just in time. He said that it was not possible but was kind enough to add that he can atmost wait for an additional 1 or 2 minutes.
And the countdown began... 5 minutes to go. 4 ... 3 ... 2.5 ... 2 ...
and finally we saw one of them coming pretty relaxed but we could not see others and the count down was still going 1.5 ... 1 ...
but all of them just reached before the signal was given and now i remembered that I had to fill my bottle (remember i took an empty one to save the trouble of carrying load to the station). And as I came down for filling the bottle and had it filled half, as you would expect it the signal went and waiting for a while I herd Shubo's call and rushed towards the door(which fortunately was just infront of the tap).
The fun that we had on the way would be a nice stuff for some other day but this was another additions to my list of interesting boardings and just-in-time appearance list which seemingly is growing pretty long, but then how else should any one start an adventurous journey.
What we did in the train?
What happened at Bishnupur?
What happened on the way back?
All this and more to come...
So keep reading.
What are all these Grand Preparations for?
What is all this happening at 4:15 in the morning? Confused?
Not more that me as I was preparing to leave for an excursion to Bishnupur, but of course you can guess that my enthusiasm more than overpowered the prevailing confusion . What else can you call it when a hardcore sleeper of my kind wakes up at 4:15 in the morning, although the credit should partially be given to my alarm, but given that I was chatting till 11:55pm the night before makes it seem really heroic. And I think most of us know how easy it is to put off the alarm thinking "just five minutes and i'll wake up" and more so when you time-piece is one with a 'snooze' option. But this time I was brave enough to resist the The Tempation.
Thus begun one of the earliest mornings of my life and I went to Prag sir's home wherefrom we had to start at sharp 5:00 to catch the 5:30 train. This time as well it was just in time for us but the other people almost had a photo finish. Did i forget to mention that we were seventeen of us! We were seven school-going children, two adoloscents and six students along with a professor and his wife from IIT kharagpur. And only 6 of us had reached the station till 5:24 and we were worried that we would have to board the next train at 8:50 unless all others ( whose tickets had been bought) turned up within next 6 minutes ...
I went to the guard and asked him if he could delay the train because some small children were going on a sort of educational tour and they might not be able to reach just in time. He said that it was not possible but was kind enough to add that he can atmost wait for an additional 1 or 2 minutes.
And the countdown began... 5 minutes to go. 4 ... 3 ... 2.5 ... 2 ...
and finally we saw one of them coming pretty relaxed but we could not see others and the count down was still going 1.5 ... 1 ...
but all of them just reached before the signal was given and now i remembered that I had to fill my bottle (remember i took an empty one to save the trouble of carrying load to the station). And as I came down for filling the bottle and had it filled half, as you would expect it the signal went and waiting for a while I herd Shubo's call and rushed towards the door(which fortunately was just infront of the tap).
The fun that we had on the way would be a nice stuff for some other day but this was another additions to my list of interesting boardings and just-in-time appearance list which seemingly is growing pretty long, but then how else should any one start an adventurous journey.
What we did in the train?
What happened at Bishnupur?
What happened on the way back?
All this and more to come...
So keep reading.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Chicken and Hen!
Today I find myself in a bit different mood after having completed "Count your chickens before they hatch(CYBTH)" yesterday and reading through the pdf version of Aesop's Fables today.
Believe me there was much I could relate in the two! And some things went to the contrary as one of the fables explicitly said don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Now to CYBTH:
Arindam Chaudhuri, the renowned management guru uses all the principles that he has learnt in management to give a text much easier to read comprehend and relate to our daily life. At times you can smell that the author's mind is hit by some or the other management principle that he uses to keep the reader engrossed. Though he has not put any extra effort to this effect, his understanding of Indian psyche is commendable wherein he chips after every five six pages, full-page posters with a few words scribbled on it giving the impression a graffiti and thus taking due chunk of attention. In fact in the whole book chaudhari has nothing apart from citing some inspirational and motivational stories of successful people and at times instances from his own professional and personal life. Other stuff about communication and effectiveness simply reminds what all of us mostly know yet forget at times. Still the book has a good point made in terms of dealing with the problems with an India-centric view and recommending solution on similar lines(which the author likes to call the Theory 'i' Management). I agree with his point that in solving any problem related to a country it is instrumental to first know about the culture prevailing therein. I also agree with his comparative analyses made in context of US-Japan-USSR/China and the culture prevailing there. He goes on to point that why each of the above things do not work in India and also mentions complacency as our biggest enemy.
The most realistic part of the book seemed to be his comments on the judiciary. He goes ahead to blame the judicial system prevalent in the country as dysfunct and responsible for the state of affairs and the mushrooming corruption. Although his suggestions in this aspect are radical but he has rightly justified the need of radical changes lest we end up with delayed, denied justice.
Reading towards the end I was forced to remember his lecture that I had herd in our technical festival at IIT kharagpur wherein he had pointed many facts from ramayana and mahabarata in an effort to compare Sri Ram and Sri Krishna. He points to the Bhagvad Gita as THE complete management guide and Lord krishna as the best manager the world has ever seen.
Altogether I don't think that he has portrayed by any means his skill of writing but yes his skill of story-telling comes to the forefront in the whole account. He stands abusing the judiciary and the media yet the initial and rear pages find space for the media's seemingly never-ending appreciation for the book and the author.
In short the book is good, but you need to decide on the right time and right phase of life when you really need such things.
Strong points : Precise Concise Eye-catching Easy to comprehend and thus can be easily completed in one two or at most five readings by an average reader.
Weak point : I believe at points the author tries to give a mix of many things which seemingly do not display a good amount of integrity, in other words some chapters are just not seemingly in the flow.
Believe me there was much I could relate in the two! And some things went to the contrary as one of the fables explicitly said don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Now to CYBTH:
Arindam Chaudhuri, the renowned management guru uses all the principles that he has learnt in management to give a text much easier to read comprehend and relate to our daily life. At times you can smell that the author's mind is hit by some or the other management principle that he uses to keep the reader engrossed. Though he has not put any extra effort to this effect, his understanding of Indian psyche is commendable wherein he chips after every five six pages, full-page posters with a few words scribbled on it giving the impression a graffiti and thus taking due chunk of attention. In fact in the whole book chaudhari has nothing apart from citing some inspirational and motivational stories of successful people and at times instances from his own professional and personal life. Other stuff about communication and effectiveness simply reminds what all of us mostly know yet forget at times. Still the book has a good point made in terms of dealing with the problems with an India-centric view and recommending solution on similar lines(which the author likes to call the Theory 'i' Management). I agree with his point that in solving any problem related to a country it is instrumental to first know about the culture prevailing therein. I also agree with his comparative analyses made in context of US-Japan-USSR/China and the culture prevailing there. He goes on to point that why each of the above things do not work in India and also mentions complacency as our biggest enemy.
The most realistic part of the book seemed to be his comments on the judiciary. He goes ahead to blame the judicial system prevalent in the country as dysfunct and responsible for the state of affairs and the mushrooming corruption. Although his suggestions in this aspect are radical but he has rightly justified the need of radical changes lest we end up with delayed, denied justice.
Reading towards the end I was forced to remember his lecture that I had herd in our technical festival at IIT kharagpur wherein he had pointed many facts from ramayana and mahabarata in an effort to compare Sri Ram and Sri Krishna. He points to the Bhagvad Gita as THE complete management guide and Lord krishna as the best manager the world has ever seen.
Altogether I don't think that he has portrayed by any means his skill of writing but yes his skill of story-telling comes to the forefront in the whole account. He stands abusing the judiciary and the media yet the initial and rear pages find space for the media's seemingly never-ending appreciation for the book and the author.
In short the book is good, but you need to decide on the right time and right phase of life when you really need such things.
Strong points : Precise Concise Eye-catching Easy to comprehend and thus can be easily completed in one two or at most five readings by an average reader.
Weak point : I believe at points the author tries to give a mix of many things which seemingly do not display a good amount of integrity, in other words some chapters are just not seemingly in the flow.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Opening !
YA! I knew you would wonder what is the 'd4' doing out there; but I know that if you could relate the title of this blog and d4 you would surely know that I am a chess player. More so you might relate the same with mukul anand's mindsport with an e4 heading.
Now about me, as every other boy of my age I have some dreams and passions. I love good food(who does not!) but I prefer the home-made Indian stuff, and the dairy products with ample nutrition value and also(for fun) the humble Indian Junk of chat, paanipuri et al over the pseudo-divine pizza and burgers...
No wonder I dream to be in Amul to enjoy the true "Taste Of India"
Music is another thing that I do like but with a different taste here too I like the fresh and old bollywood melodies and equally enjoy the lyrics music and the voice of the singer... not much into the english rock, pop and jazz things.
And when it comes to my hobbies apart from chess I love dramatics. I am not a great actor as well and am always in the learning process and one thing that I have learnt till now is that anything that you do passionately will let you learn the virtues much needed in life. Whatever may the path be, every art and sport will always take you towards being a better individual provided you take the things in the right spirit(am I straying into a lot of preaching?).
These days I have been a bit busy with many important things. The first on the priority list was sleeping, the second were movies, and third I have been doing some reading on financial issues. I have also been reading "count your chickens before they hatch" and I believe in a day or two i would be able to critically comment on the book(although it has been found that 99.99% of the times my review does neither match with the critics nor with the common mob).
I think that is all for an opening and hope to see you till the endgame.
Mood: Confused, Enthused.
Now about me, as every other boy of my age I have some dreams and passions. I love good food(who does not!) but I prefer the home-made Indian stuff, and the dairy products with ample nutrition value and also(for fun) the humble Indian Junk of chat, paanipuri et al over the pseudo-divine pizza and burgers...
No wonder I dream to be in Amul to enjoy the true "Taste Of India"
Music is another thing that I do like but with a different taste here too I like the fresh and old bollywood melodies and equally enjoy the lyrics music and the voice of the singer... not much into the english rock, pop and jazz things.
And when it comes to my hobbies apart from chess I love dramatics. I am not a great actor as well and am always in the learning process and one thing that I have learnt till now is that anything that you do passionately will let you learn the virtues much needed in life. Whatever may the path be, every art and sport will always take you towards being a better individual provided you take the things in the right spirit(am I straying into a lot of preaching?).
These days I have been a bit busy with many important things. The first on the priority list was sleeping, the second were movies, and third I have been doing some reading on financial issues. I have also been reading "count your chickens before they hatch" and I believe in a day or two i would be able to critically comment on the book(although it has been found that 99.99% of the times my review does neither match with the critics nor with the common mob).
I think that is all for an opening and hope to see you till the endgame.
Mood: Confused, Enthused.
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