Vacation Express!

Voila, it’s the time of the year, when everybody’s heading towards the mountains! So, for almost everybody who might be thinking of the usual destinations of Shimla, Manali, Mussorie or Nainital (for North India), I feel a little sympathetic. Why? Because, going to these locations is like getting away from Delhi (both from the scorching heat and the hustle-bustle of the city) and landing up in Delhi all over again! Yes, you do have the lake or the mountain, but what point is it when half of Delhi’s population is riding a boat in that lake or climbing up that mountain. I have been to all these locations and they all have the same problem (Shimla being the most oppressed, while Manali still makes some sense).

So, I am going to share some thoughts of my own for this holiday season:

1.   If you are looking for a quick getaway, think Jaipur or Agra for instance. Don’t yet raise the gun to my head, hear me out. This time of the year, the money you spend in staying at a two star hotel in Mussorie, might be able to get you a special getaway package at a 5 star hotel in Jaipur or Agra! I know it is hot as hell at both the places (worse than Delhi actually), but that is if you get out of the 5-star hotel you are staying at! And, if you are lucky, you might actually get a pleasant evening, in which you could explore the Hawa mahal or the Taj Mahal (Taj Mahal, by the way, in the evening under moonlight is an experience altogether). The sight might turn out to be much better than seeing your boss, with his family, in a boat in the Nainital (In summers, it gets so crowded, the boats can hardly move around without hitting each other!). This might be one of the rare chances when you could stay at a 5 star with your family, and not get ripped. And you get the best value for your money, whether it's shopping or food or other expenses. You could also indulge in a special theme holiday (Spa, Yoga, Culinary etc.). It is also very convenient to travel from Delhi to Jaipur or Agra. Check out special deals at hotels like Taj, ITC, Trident etc.

2.   If you are the beach kinda person you could head to places like Goa, Kovalam, or Kerala. Again, urge you to keep your gun down and read further! Yes, so, it might be hot as hell in Goa or Kovalam as well, but one, don't go out in the day and two, it will be definitely better than Delhi, with the sea breeze. These places will be less crowded during this period, you will get excellent deals and remember Monsoon arrives in those parts of India pretty early than Delhi. So if you perfect your timing, you could be holding hands with your spouse, walking on the beach, in a drizzle. Not bad, huh?

3.   You could always head off to the not so 'touristy' places. Some places i recommend are Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal, Sattal, Kasauni, Chakrata, Landowne etc. Not only will they be much cooler than Delhi, you can expect not to find hordes of people at these places unlike say Shimla or Mussorie. In addition, places like Naukuchiatal, Sattal, Chakrata offer something for the camper in you. You could stay in a tent, go trekking, do adventure stuff, learn fishing or just sit around the lake/moutain and enjoy the scenic beauty.

4.   Next, you could always go the North East states. They are cool, not too crowded and are unexplored. You could see and play in snow, have the special teas & drinks and enjoy exotic cuisines plus shop for the NE handicraft stuff. So basically, everybody's happy! Although i still yearn to make my first trip to this part of the world, based on what i know, i suggest places like Nathula Pass, Sikkim, Shillong, Gangtok, Tawang etc. Again, avoid Darjeeling, as it will be too crowded for comfort.

5.   Last but not the least, why go anywhere. Well, i don't mean, stay at your home and watch TV. Head out to a good hotel or resort in Delhi/NCR and chill out with your family. Just, don't get out of the hotel. Do indoor activities or laze around in their swimming pool, play board games etc. You could even take along your XBOX/DVD player and have fun with the family. Again this time of the year, you will find some amazing deals at these city hotels. Check at Radisson, Taj, Sheraton, ITC etc.

Hoep these are useful, and remember to have fun!

Memorable Pictures

Some of the memorable pictures i have clicked-Part1. Courtesy my Canon Powershot camera! More in next blog...




Nritya Mudra



Royal Sentry


























Rajmahal at Jodhpur



Sunset at a lakeside



Tree

What came first- Problem or Solution?

‘How are you?’ A question so ubiquitous, you hardly realize that you answer that everyday at least a dozen of times. However the only answers you might have heard or answered might be ‘very good’ or ‘very bad’, or variations therein. However, the answer that I have been wanting to answer for some time now is ‘I don’t know!’

For sometime I have been encountering a strange & confused feeling. Not to say I’m feeling neutral (somewhere between very good and very bad), but more like ‘I can’t decide’. I call this ‘vague perplexity’. Just in case somebody is interested in reading further; here are some symptoms of this advanced syndrome:
1. It starts when somebody asks you casually, ‘how are you?’ and you are bewildered as to what to answer. If you say good, you feel you’re over optimistic, and if you say bad, you start wondering, ‘why am I bad? What’s bothering me? Are my problems so big?’ Yes, the best answer to the question, in question, would be ‘I am ok’. However, you will still think after answering that, ‘I am not ok’. Worse still the second person might be a bit too poky and might want to ask- ‘Why just ok? Why not great? What are you facing?’
2. You feel very much like doing something (e.g. you buy a book you had been planning to read for a long time, for your upcoming travel plans). But when the actual time of travel comes and you open the book, your excitement dies down. You do not feel doing the planned activity anymore in spite of absolutely no change in the circumstances.
3. This is a stumper! You start seeing good points in bad things (or people) or bad points in good things (or people). Your confusion in life is accentuated. You start thinking a lot and every time without any substantial result!
4. You want time alone; to think through things or in refined intellectual terms- introspection. You long for your own time when you are with friends, colleagues, etc. When you are actually alone, you start missing people around you. All the thoughts of introspection go down the drain and you start catching up with friends over phone! Howzzat?
5. When you are actually alone and start your introspective journey, you think a lot. Thinking about how to solve the problem, what’s the best solutions only to find there are no solutions. Or worse still, there were no problems to start with. It adds heaps to the already existing confusions!

Well, to me all this is certainly strange. Please share your similar experiences & if possible any viable solutions. The only problem is, I do not know the problem, I am asking the solution for. 

Perfect Misfit!!!

This was the second time i saw it. The machine operator at my office who looks after our photocopying requirements, was drawing something with his pen on a rough printed sheet... and believe you me, he was good at it! Although i thought of going to him to appreciate his skill and may be encourage him to further pursue his interest rather than churning out copies of useless reports and documents that nobody will ever benefit from, i didn't do it.

Why? Because the simple fact came upon me that he might pose to me a question i would not be able to answer and take the discussion further. The simple question that how pursuing this hobby of his will ensure his two square meals and sustain his family!

This small incident made me think about the broader picture. Why is it that most of the people in India do not pursue their interest as their career. Why is that a kid who dreams of becoming a cricketer kills his dreams somewhere in his adolescence and goes on to become a CA or a Doctor or worst of all an Engineer (Every 2nd person who pursues Science these days becomes an engineer. Pure demand-supply mismatch with engineering seats going vacant. More on that in the future blogs).

And i am not saying that these people who do not pursue their dreams become bad professionals out of lack of interest. Almost all turn out to be pretty decent in whatever they do. And most do not regret their choice citing reasons like- 'oh i was a kid at that time/i didn't knew about the world/I am a happy man/woman today!'

This primarily can be attributed to our habit of keeping everything 'safe'. We tend to be a very non risk-taking nation. And I could think of a very strange reason behind this non-risk taking culture that we Indians seem to have believed in (Engineering is evergreen/ Doctors will never be out of work, blah, blah, blah)

The reason i have in mind is believe it or not- 'the British rule in India'! Even though i am not a historian (not even distantly related), i could see some trend that suggest to this reason. India was a great source of knowledge and enlightenment prior to the foreign invasions (i am talking somewhere about the Dravidian civilisation). Even during the Mughal period, we had notable scholars, musicians, artists and architects. It was only after the Europeans started coming to India, it became tricky!

In order to rule India, 'free thinking' had to be curtailed. And the right kind of education leads to 'free thinking'. The agenda of the British raj was to propagate an education culture which would effectively churn out not anything more than 'Babus' and 'Clerks' for the British Raj, so that these could be used by the white folks. I suppose that was the time, rote learning became the base of education. So, memorise hard, pass some exams and you are in line to become a babu for a Gora Sahib. Logic and analytical thinking which form the basis of any learning and development were taken 'out-of syllabus'. And most importantly 'risk- taking' as a process had to be brutally killed. And the result is the present education system that we see in India. 'Herd-mentality', 'knowledge free, 'exam oriented', 'logic-less', are some keywords that define the education system now. The result is fairly well-known, most Indian graduates and MBAs today are non-employable, have poor communication skills, can't reason and think analytically, and so their career and growth has a upper-limit.

The way forward is not to wage a war against UK, neither will cursing the system make any sense. The only way forward is that the government takes gigantic steps towards ensuring a paradigm shift in the present education system, rather than concentrating on 'enrollment figures' and number of graduates/MBA/Engineers India churns out. And we as parents or guardians or influencers need to encourage kids to pursue their dreams. To make sure that they fail and learn and are not afraid to fail again.

To end, a quote i had learnt a long time back-
"A ship is safe in a harbour, but that's not what ships are for" (William Shedd)

The shocking truth behind CWG...

Well, i am sorry to add up to the already gigantic pile of stories on Common Wealth Games 2010. But this one is much more than a story. It's a brilliant and thought provoking attempt to uncover the truth behind the mess called CWG. Is CWG a self inflicted wound? Yes, if you believe these conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theory no. 1
According to this theory the CWG 2010 was deliberately made a mess by none other than our sports ministry. They planned it out from the start. Right from bribing the international officials and presenting lowest quotations for getting the CWG 2010 awarded to India; to ensuring that the preparations are slower than a 150 year old drunk snail. All was planned. Why, they had to. The objective is that of deep emotional and patriotic value. To ensure that Indian players win all the medals in the games and make us all proud! However, even after making dogs poop on athletes' beds and ensuring that most of the bridges are faulty and fall down just 10 days before the games, some athletes have started pouring in with no intention of going back. The ministry has convened a meeting to tackle with this unforeseen situation and hopes to at least land 50% of the medals for India.

Conspiracy theory 2.
Well, it could be a shock to most economics students and scholars but according to this theory all this was planned by the planning commission in consultation with the finance ministry. It makes simple economic sense. For the uninitiated, we get awarded the CWG 2010, our politicians and VIPs make a fortune out of substandard infra, poor execution and planning, bribes for contracts, etc. etc. Then where do they spend that money? In a shopping mall near their home, or on a new car, or may be a helicopter, fifth marriage of their 8th son and so on. Only this demand driven economy is something that can take us ahead of China. (And yes every politician & official involved had to sign an undertaking that they will not spend more than 5% of their booty outside India, and that too not in China, at any cost)

Conspiracy theory 3.
For those of you who are die-hard Rahul Gandhi fans, it's time to switch to theory no. 4. NOW! Yes you guessed it right, the whole planning (or the lack of it) was a crop that nurtured in the young MP's fertile mind. He, very cunningly planned and executed this, of course without coming into the limelight and using the PM and his cabinet to achieve his goals. (Yes Smt. Gandhi tutored rahul on this tactical approach). The aim was to create widespread employment for the population of India. It was also necessary to do this to ensure success of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). So, bridges were built at exorbitant labour fees and it was ensured that they fall in due course of time, to be rebuilt again, by the same laborers at double the fees. You could not imagine how much employment this has generated across various strata. Right from a labor who tills garden to the Swanky Babu who is the project head for the common wealth games 'village'. What an idea sirjee!

Conspiracy theory no. 4
All this was the vengeance motivated work of our bollywood superstars, who formed a consortium to ensure that the infra being built for the games is not upto international standards, and that Delhi does not become a global destination with pedicured lawns, hi-end transport system, superb infrastructure and brilliant locales. Imagine if this would have happened, all the producers would have wanted to shoot their next blockbusters in Delhi, giving places like Switzerland, Australia, New York, London a miss. That would be a huge loss to the celebrities who like these destinations and like to travel there to shoot. The locales add to the (non-existent) storyline and help gain eyeballs (apart from of course the micro-minis the actresses have to flaunt). And believe it or not the consortium was led by the two people whom no one ever can think to be united on something- Shah Rukh and Salman.

Conspiracy theory no. 5
And this one is just too easy to understand. It was the Indian media channels and newspapers behind the mess. why? Imagine who would have seen their channel if everything had worked on well. The careers of many journalists and editors was at stake. The modus operandi was simple. They used to go out in the night, get the labor to eat, drink and enjoy the camaraderie and report the next day that work was still not complete. Some even took things in their hand by cutting bridge wires, mixing sand in cement, importing dogs, and themselves defecating in the CWG accommodation.

HAPPY CWG to ALL
(This is a light hearted take on the CWG mess. To anybody hurt by whatever i have written, please note that i don't care a damn!!!)

positive always?

Being positive isn't always good. Just to explain my point, let me narrate a short story.

Once i was not in the best of spirits and was feeling low about my personal life, my career, in all everything. One of my friends, whom i was sharing the problems with, concluded very surgically- 'it's all upon you maddy. You can feel bad and miserable or feel positive in spite of everything and smile and be happy and not anyone know that you are unhappy. These kind of problems come always, but when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!!!'

"Wow", i thought, yes i should be positive. In spite of everything that has happened i should chose to be happy. So that whole day, i was very cheery, happy, and motivated to face the problems head on! However the bad mood returned by the end of the day. I tried to be positive again, from deep within, but could not.

Since then i have this theory, that try to remain positive, but do not do it because you ought to. Do not do it because people around you will think that you are not strong enough. When situations are bad it is ok to be sad. Do not take everything upon yourself. Yes to some extent it depends on how you think, but do not try to think positive about something that is not positive. That is sheerly cheating yourself.

Let me tell you, why you should not be positive always and not blame yourself for everything. Suppose you go to a movie, and the movie sucks big time (think of any recent RGV movies). Now the movie is bad and that's the fact. You do not need to be 'positive' and see anything good about the movie. The movie is bad and that's how it is. There is no point saying 'yes it was not upto expectation, but there were some positives, blah, blah blah.' Just say 'it sucked and was a waste of money'

This might be easy to think in case of a movie but do that for life also. All of us appreciate the fact that life has ups and downs. So when it is down, we should acknowledge it is down. Do not fake it! And beware of friends, acquaintances, self-help books that tell you to be positive and blame yourself for anything negative around you. Do not take the crap- 'it is how you see it, my boy'.

There will be bad times, but they will pass by and good times will come. Till then just be strong, but acknowledge that it's not all good. And it happens, nothings wrong with your attitude.

So, forget about positive or negative, just be yourself. And it is ok to feel sad sometimes. Do not force yourself to be positive when you can't!

Innovation!!!

Recently came across this innovative thing which was a spoon-cum-fork. I am proud to be in India where people think out of box! Take a look at the pics...