P.S. I Love you - Cecelia Ahern

Reading is one of the hobbies which keep me occupied when i actually feel bored. It keeps me company when i feel all left alone. Books are no doubt said to be man's best companions. I will not say that i am a voracious reader considering the fact that i have seen people so absorbed with reading, i can find then with books wherever they go, but yes i can say i read a good number of books to say that they are my best companions. Ok fine... I never thought i would be writing a review or an abstract of a book, but some books are so naturally adorable, that you just cant stop mentioning about them.

I normally read the brief description behind the book before purchasing one. And it so happens that i end up picking up books which have an intriguing storyline or the one having some information related to leading life peacefully. I was never a reader of Mills and Boons and hence do not read romantic stories. I happened to go to Odyssey store in Pune to buy some novels to satiate the reader in me. I bought a variety of books and then happened to see the book P.S. I Love you - by Cecelia Ahern. "Oh! Another of those love stories" i thought... but on second thoughts thought of reading the prologue. Instantly the subject seemed to be intriguing and i thought of buying the book.

The book tells the story of a Gerry and Holly. A lovely couple who were childhood sweethearts, married to be inseparably in love for seven years. And then as fate would have it, Gerry dies due to a brain tumour leaving Holly devastated... The once bubbly Holly now forgets to live. She forgets to eat making her all bones. She forgets all the charms of life and starts living life like a zombie.

Holly finds no meaning in life till she gets a package given to her by her mother. After opening the package she comes to know, that her dear Gerry is still with her. He has written her some 8 letters each to be opened on the 1st of every month. These contain tasks to be done which she would earlier either be embarrassed off, dread or just yearned to do.

The author has written the book in a clear crisp language, and you feel as if Gerry and Holly come alive and the book starts unfolding their life right before your eyes.
After reading quite a number of books, i felt this was the book which directly touched my heart and make me feel that life is just not about working, hating and criticizing, but there is just more of life to love, be loved and enjoy the company of your dear ones. The author has portrayed a beautiful story in simple words which looks so realistic.

Ok coming back to our Holly, Gerry even in his absence drives Holly out of the lonely life that she has put herself in. His letters are like the Bible to her, she follows each and every command mentioned to her by Gerry. Gerry in turn knowing Holly in and out, has written all those things for her to follow that she has either been fearing to do or just wanted to do from her heart...

She has bad memories earlier of a Karaoke concert in which she makes a fool of herself. But, following Gerry's advice she enrols herself again and faces the fear she had felt about it... Gerry also before dying arranges a voyage for her along with her friends. This was the one she was so eager to have earlier...

Holly starts living her life slowly... In one of the letters, Gerry makes Holly take up a job(unlike the one she had earlier which she used to hate) that she whole heartedly likes. She starts supporting herself...

Also there are her family members whom she never felt so close before as she felt now... She spends time with her brother(whom she always disliked), her sister( whom she never was in sync with)... her dear brother whom she adored so much... her mom and her dad who support her so much. Her friends who are there for her in such bad times of her.

Then there is this guy whom she starts liking... But then the guy is passing through a rough phase of relationship and then, finally makes up with his wife. And in the end Holly is shown to have become more strong mentally... her relations have taken a new dimension and she lives her life remembering Gerry and the time that she spent with him.

The author has so diligently highlighted the events in Holly's life that it makes you feel like her life is slowly unfurling in front of you. The turn of events in her life makes you think about your life. How would one cope if such a tragedy befalls him/her? I couldn't stop tears from flowing down my cheeks reading some of the pages... The book churns out the stronger of the human emotions... Love, Friendship, relations and life itself...

So... I'd say, this book is a must read for people who feel they can't live without some special person. Its for those people who have a stronger inclination to emotionally connecting storylines. This book will remain in my ever increasing collection as the one which made me see life through a different angle. Kudos to you Cecelia...

TV serials close to my heart..

A couple of weeks ago I was going through some blog regarding the favorite TV serials the author used to enjoy watching. The author mentioned some serials like Nukkad, Buniyaad, Hum Log etc... I have a faint memory of Hum log being played when i was small... but they are very faint memories and i don't remember the story at all...

I thought it would be really cool to post the list of serials i enjoyed watching right from my childhood till now. Though now, it is very rare that i watch any serial, and even if i do, i lose interest so very soon due to the same boring storyline and same "women-are-always-vamps" plots. Though there are a couple of stories i do watch now and then, and i'd definitely like to share my thots across on this blog.

As i said, i don't much remember the Nukkad's and the Buniyaad's... What i remember watching when i was a bit old were serials like Waagle ki duniya, Hum panchi ek Daal Ke, Mr Yogi, Mongeri laal ke haseen sapne, Kakkaji Kahe etc. There were all time favorites like Chitrahaar which used to be broadcast every Wednesday and i remember completing my homework right on time so tht mum would allow me to watch it. Another craze was ChaayaGeet, the old Hindi songs used to be telecast. And yes, Rangoli at 7 on sunday morning... Though Rangoli is still telecast, it has lost all his antique touch, no longer excites me...

Waagle ki Duniya... i remember we used to all watch it... those were the times when there was no Cable TV and we had compulsorily had to watch the good old DD1. The entire family used to sit together to watch Wagle and his antics. Even today when i see Anjan Srivastav on TV, i fondly refer to him as "Wagle". "Mr Yogi... Mr Yogi..." The title song would play and i would start singing along with it. Mohan gokhale played an excellent role in it, and when he passed away at a very young age, we still referred to him as Mr Yogi... So also i remember Om Puri as "Kakkaji".

Another serial i remember watching was Oshin, the story of the Japanese(or chinese?) girl. I used to not understand the wordings so much, but i used to love watching tht sweet girl :). Then there was Alif Laila which used to be played late night at around 11pm(imagine 11 pm was late night at that time). I used to bear all my Mom's scoldings to watch that serial. There was Shekhar suman's Reporter and Dekh Bhai Dekh that i used to love watching.

Ajnabi was my favorite serial which used be telecast on monday night at 10. Danny, Sooraj Thapar and that cute female... And yes, how can i forget Shakur Rana.. My blood used to boil when i used to see him :).
Mitti Ke Rang was a serial of all short shories...Arun Govil as Vikram of Vikram and Betaal...Sudesh Berry in Suraag...
Then here it comes... "Ta na na tana na na na... tana na na na na na na..." Malgudi days. Oh Gosh... i feel like going back to those old DD1 days...

Detective serials were so interesting... Byomkesh Bakshi , Sam D'silva with "Gopi" as his assistant in Tehkikaat etc etc. hey and yes... Mile sur mera tumhara... to sur bane hamara... Can you remember Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar singing it?

The mythological serials were so nice... Ramayan, Mahabharat etc... Chandrakanta, was one serial i used to never miss... It used to be telecast on Sunday at 10 in the morning. Chandrakanta and the Prince and all those wizards and conspiracies...it used to be followed by all the serials for kids... I remember watch Potli Baba ki, alice in Wonderland, duck tales and yes, who can forget Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and Mowgli, Bagera, all the monkeys and the wolves?

Saturday afternoon used to be time for Oshin, Turning point, Ank Ajube. Saturday evening was the time for "He man and the master of the universe", followed by Sports world. Then there used to be Surabhi which was so informative and episode, they used to make some nice designs of the lakhs of postcards they used to get as reponses from the viewers. Then there was "Bharat ek khoj" i remember it coz i used to see Nehru in every episode :). Samandar was another of my favorite serial.

Later started the daily soaps. I guess i was somewhere in the 9th 10th standard that these soaps started their telecast. I remember Shanti and Swabhimaan prominently. I used to start studing only after watching these serials.
This was also the time when DD2 or Metro started its telecast. Sea Hawks became my favorite.

Of all the serials that i mentioned, i would specially like to speak about "Kashish" A very short serial featuring Sudesh Berry as an egoistic director and "Mona"(i dont remember her name). the story of how he secretly falls in love with her and is very egoistic to let her know or even admit it. This is the serial i remember so distinctly. Wish i could watch it again... I used to love that female lead... she was so cute and starry eyed.

This is not the exhaustive list of the serials telecast on DD1, i just could recollect only a few. But i have missed out on a lot of nice serials which i couldnot recollect due to my faint memory now. And now let me speak about some of the serials i enjoyed watching recently...

"Bani is so sweet and docile..." My mom would say everyday. So i thot of joining her one day to watch the serial and the leading lady she so adorably adored... The leading lady was "Prachi Desai" and the serial... Ekta Kapoor's Kasamh se... it featured the stylish but heavy Ram Kapoor. The serial went on well.. til one fine day i was so pissed of with it, i just stopped watching it... mite be because i lost interest due to its never ending episodes.

and last but not the least, My all time Favorite but recent serial is... "KMH" or Kitani Mohabbat hai... I loved the pair Arohi and Arjun (Kritika Kamra and Karan Kundra). I just couldnt understand how well the chemistry went between them. again it was all ekta Again. This serial was telecast on NDTV Imagine, started in Jan 2009 and got over in August 2009, only 8 months :(. It was a short and sweet tale of both protagonists... So cute couple.

So here i think i should put an end to all listing of all the serials since i can just go on and on and on... Now even though we have so many choices (MTv, Channel V, Zee, Sony etc etc etc... but i hardly watch them. Its like we have lost interest now since every serial is at our disposal, just connect to the net and watch them online or download and watch it later...

The good old DD1 days when the entire family used to sit and watch serials... get so mingled with the characters that they would think them as one amongst them is now no longer witnessed. The wait for the serials to be telecast... the anguish when suddenly there would be a power cut while watching the most wanted episode... the long discussions about the actor's and Actress' life... nothing seems to be the same now...

DD1 has always been special wil remain close to my heart. Wonder if it was all like before, how would it be?? Wish i could once more witness all those crazy times we spent in front of the TV...

My Maggie Experience

A very queer topic to write something about? Well, this stuff was going on a long time in my mind and finally i thot of writing this down. "Mummy bhook lagi hai..."... "Bas 2 minute?" and then Maggie ... thus would go the Maggie noodle Ad on TV a couple of years back. Maggie is presumably the oldest and the tastiest easy to cook snack.

Ok so what made me write this blog about Maggie? A couple of months back, Maggie came up with an Ad asking people to send their "Maggie Experience" to them. The Maggie experience of people and their photos would be printed on the Maggie packet. It sounded a bit interesting to me, since i always found Maggie to be close to my heart, rather to my stomach.

I have so many such experiences with Maggie. I just find it so handy when my stomach growls, and i need something tasty to satiate my taste buds at the same time. My first experience with Maggie was i guess when i was about 8 years old, when Maggie had come advertising the noodles in our school. I remember each one of us getting one packet and immediately after going home, me asking my mom to cook it for me... Though i dont remember having liked it very much that time. I guess after that till my college , i had Maggie only ocassionally.

My stint with Maggie started when i attended my Engineering College: Goa Engineering College(GEC) and had to stay as a hostelite. My college and hostel were situated on a hillock away from commercial shops. The only link to commercial world to us was Ponda... And travel was equally difficult for all of us. We had to either have our own bikes, walk up and down the hill or stay dependent on the College busses which ran on certain timing. One such bus for the hostelites used to start at 7 in the evening and it used to ferry up the hill at 8.30 back. So we had to rely on tht bus itself.

There used to be a dearth of Water in the hostel sometimes. No water meant no Mess.. and hence no food cooked for us... we hostelites had to either make arrangements going to Ponda(Cafe Bhosle or Hotel Sanman) or hav nominal biscuits in the hostel itself. And when it was Semester time, it used to be difficult to go to Ponda, since the bus would be crowded and we couldn't afford to walk up the hill and waste our time. My mom came to my rescue .. She bought a hot plate for me and there i was, started cooking Maggie..rather Maggie to the rescue...

Eating Maggie in the Final year hostel was fun. Me, Rowee and Shilpa cooked Maggie whenever there was a water problem. Thank God we used to store ample water. Chatting with each other during Maggie break(Dinner break) and then studing.. burning the midnight oil :). It was so much fun to have Maggie with friends... We used to pile a stock of Maggie and keep!

My maggie stint continued when i reached Pune. We at I2IT used to stay awake late in the night completing Assignments and projects. Me and My group used to always go down to the Cafetaria at 1.30 in the night to find something to Eat. and that something used to be always Maggie... Rajesh Bhaiyya (The Cafetaria manager) had got so acquainted with our group and our timing... I used to always ask for a Tikhi(Pungent) Maggie. And the moment i used to go to order one, Rajesh Bhaiyya used to say.. "One extra tikhi Maggie"... I wonder how i used to eat it.. it used to be laced with chilli powder... and then my friends used to order banana milk shake for me... I used to hav 2 glasses... The Maggie we got in our Cafe was the best... so many different types... Plain Maggie, Chicken Maggie, Egg Maggie, Omellette Maggie, Cheese Maggie and so many others...

My best Maggie experience was high up in the Himalayas... how?? Well after Marriage, me and sriman had gone for a trip to Manali. High up in the snowclad mountains, there are shops selling Maggie. That is the best maggie i ever had in my life. Its so chilling high up there, and the hot and tasty maggie makes your day. I remember that Maggie everytime i remember Manali. The plain normal Maggie is priced at 80Rs per plate there, but it is all worth the cost.

And Last but not the least, my final Maggie experience in Pune. My Brother told me that one of his friends makes very tasty Maggie, and he just tosses it in Butter immediately before taking off the stove... I tried it and yippie... I made another Maggie recipe... "Butter Tossed Maggie" a delicious one...During my deputation in Pune, thanks to my hectic work , i used to wrap up my work at odd hours when there wouldnt be any restaurants open. And when my Lead asked me about dinner plans, i would meekly say with a giggle.. "Maggie"...

So Friends... here are all my Maggie experiences. I know all of us love Maggie and will have so many such tales to tell.. This is a tribute from me to one of the tastiest and wonderful snack i'd love to have... Thanks Maggie for being there whenever i feel hungry and therz nothing sensible to eat... you make my day...

I felt sad today...

Today i felt sad the entire day. I knew the reason for it, but i couldn't do anything to come out of this turmoil. Its not normally that i have too much Coffee, but today in Office i had 3 cups and still i couldn't get my spirits high up...

My mom had accompanied me to Pune last week when i returned back from the Diwali vacation at Goa. The past month and a half was very tiring for me... Office work and work at home... I had to everything on my own at my brother's flat... Right from Cooking, doing the Dishes till cleaning the house. And though i can cook, somehow i dont enjoy eating it... And the biggest thing is, my Bro is a silent kind of guy who doesnt talk much. And me being the talkative lot had to yearn to speak :( . My woes continued till my mom came here...

Suddenly, it was like how it used to be at my place back in Mapusa... the only missing person was my Dad... Poor thing... had to manage all by himself as he is also totally dependant on my mom for all the household chores and becomes helpless when she isn't around... Back in Pune, it was Me, mom and my Bro...

Suddenly the house has become chirpy and full of life... Me and mom we both like to speak a lot and now it was only the two of us who did the talking and my bro was a mute listener :) . He is of the type who just keeps quite listening to all that you talk and that makes you silent with just a small discrete and compact statement...

Since office work was hectic, i used to reach back home at about 10 or so in the night, and there i had my mom waiting for me... She would cook the niciest of food for us, The house sparkled all week long as she took care of it now... My house work was reduced to running errands for her... getting all the things that she required for her daily cooking n cleaning and also helping around with the cutting n stuff...
And She also oiled my scalp after a long long time... It felt so nice... the mother's touch

And today... she left for Goa... :(. Today in the morning when i was leaving for office, i had an odd feeling. I just dint feel like going... Neither could i concentrate much on anything... Me, Preeti and Sheetal took a long T break since neither felt like working... I called up a couple of my friends just to come up from this... and i felt better though momentarily.. And it was because of which i had the 3 cups of Coffee.. :(

As decided, My mom reached my office at 6.15 from where we were supposed to go to Swargate. My bro had decided to join us there... A mild shock awaited us there... We were informed that the bus to Goa was cancelled. Her designated Sleeper coach bus had had a flat tyre. So they made her arrangement in a semi sleeper volvo. At swargate where we were waiting for the tempo which would ultimately take her to Padmavathi, she met another lady who was also going to Goa... they both got on very well with each other and i had some comfort thinking that there is some person travelling along with her and she is not alone...

The wait of about an hour and a half was full of scolding for me :(. She just dint want us to stay back late in the night, though i had planned to see her off at Padmavathi. Finally when her tempo arrived, we thot it better to go home rather than go to Padmavathi... We Then said Bye to her and started on our way back... I dont know somehow i bro was in a mood to ride... He rode at a speed of 100Kmph on the flyovers of Pune and i was so so dazed... This was the first time i had travelled on a bike so fast...

I reached home and jus couldnt bear the silence again... I cried in sobs... very very much. It was kind of a rude silence which i just could not bear. I called up Sriman and just cried for about 10 min on the phone and then was normal back... My mom had already made arrangement for our dinner and so as per her instruction, we had dinner immediately after my crying session... I was so damn tired with the day's happenings and so drained of energy that i collapsed in bed immediately after the dinner and slept like a log...

So this was the day i felt very sad about... The day my mom left for Goa after giving me some nice time in Pune which was otherwise become monotonous. Sometimes i feel, what would i do without my parents being around... Though we arfe brought up to be so independent of anyone and can survive anywhere round the globe, i feel there is some special force which probably was left behind even after the umbilical cord was ruptured... Mother is the most wonderful gift God has given to everyone...

I wonder if i could anytime do justice to thins relation. I could have easily sent her on a flight, but somehow i couldnt convince myself that she would be better on her own. Shez grown old... i can see all the wrinkles on her face... shez grown thin... i can still remember her youthful days when her skin glowed... And i feel its my moral responsibility to take care of her...

When i think of moving out of Goa for a job, i always have second thoughts about it... Wonder whether its worth the job outside, if i couldnt be wid my mom when she needs me at the time she feels alone... and the same holds true for Sriman too.. What are we going to achieve anyways??? Anyways...

So last week for me was a very nice one, when i felt so wanted and cared for... Another thing bothering was i'l be leaving for Goa this weekend. I have grown attached to this place and the time spent with my bro here at Pune... Wonder whether i should go back or stay here... thats a different thought process though :)

So here i m guys... with some more updates from my side... Hopefully i wil be able to post more frequently on this blog... This blog remains as a place where i can write down come real nice memories which i traverse sometimes when i feel down...

Pune updates: August 30th till date

Hey there...

Its been real long that i put something here, the reason being obvious: My deputation to Pune for a period of 2 months. It looks like I have become oblivious to the world outside Pune. I am nearing completion of my deputation term, and here I am penning down the rendezvous of my tenure here at Pune.

Initially before leaving for Pune it was a mixture of feelings for me, at one end i was going to be away from home and Sriman and at the other end i was gonna revisit my memory of the best times of my life that i spent here... I was gonna see all those places, that i could recollect... All the time spent at ISquareIT with friends, the movies (E-Square and Inox), the visits to Natural Icecream Parlour, My College, The company where i completed my internship, Burger King, the visits to the temple on the hillock of hinjewadi, the late night drives in across the IT park around my college, CCD visits, Our birthday parties..late night maggie... Midnite Christmas masses etc etc etc Gosh I had so many memories of this city. and I was going to be staying there for a month.

Pune... The city which always mesmerised me with its efficasy and grandeur makes me nostalgic. It is here that i spent 2 years of my post graduation days, and it is here that i got placed into CA, my dream company which also gave me my best pals... So many memories associated with this place.
Another biggest advantage i had was, my brother had just moved to Pune for a new job just a month back and I already knew it would be a homely environs for me... These were the thoughts that made my decision tilt in towards Pune work and i was at my usual self, calm and composed.

I left Goa on the 30th of August with Preeti. The plan was to catch a flight from Goa to Mumbai, meet my friend Dhiru at Mumbai and then take a cab to Pune. I was already running late and the web check in would not work on my GPRS and so was the Phone checkin not working. Dhiru to the rescue... thank God. He did the Web Checkin for us. We reached Mumbai at 5pm. Chatted with Dhiru at the Mumbai Airport and then we took a cab to Pune at around 7pm. Our Colleagues who had were also on deputation along with us had already reached Pune tht morning. We reached the company designated hotel at 11 in the night. There i had landed back to Pune and my stints with this City started.

Pune has changed a lot over the 3 years that i wasn't here. I was so surprised to look at Aundh... It has turned into a commercial center. Earlier it was just another village in Pune. So many shopping centers and eateries. Pune has always been an education hub and is always full of students everywhere. Looking at the groups, i could embed my group's faces into theirs... My college life was just passing in front of my eyes and i was yearning to be there again... with all my friends.

My Group here in Pune consisted of Me, Bharath, Preeti, Mahesh, Harsha, Sheetal and Nitin...The Goa Group. I have always noticed some kind of bonding that links people of same locations when they meet outside their location of comfort. And the same happened to us. We gelled so well with each other, that we din't feel we were working out of Goa. The familiar faces had now turned into pals. The coffee breaks, the visits to cafe's, the birthday treats, pulling each other's legs during lunch and cofee...

My work over here is very hectic with sometimes we staying late too, which was not a common phenomenon back in Goa. But thanks to our Goa group, working was also fun. In the meanwhile Sriman had paid me a visit after 15 days in Pune, kind of a change for me..Work interspersed with fun... and time seemed to just fly. We just didn't realise that a month had already passed by. and it was time for Harsha and Bharath to go back. Mine, Preeti's and Mahesh's stay had been extended for a month. The evening these 2 people were supposed to leave was a sad kindof... It meant that 2 members from the Goa group were going and we would just be another 5 of us. It meant less fun :(

Since 2nd October was a holiday, we planned our much awaited Goa trip. 2 days in Goa and we were totally replenished. Another 15 days was normal for us, Since it was Diwali time, it meant lots n lots of shopping. Sriman paid a visit again over the weekend before Diwali and it meant more shopping :) . Diwali visit to Goa was fun with so much festivities going on... The only regret was, i just reached Goa on the Diwali morning at about 7, missed out on the Narkasur Competitions. It also meant culmination of Nitin and Mahesh's deputation, so now it was only me, Preeti, and Sheetal. And the Goa Group was reduced only to the 2 of us, Me and Preeti, since Sheetal was now on a permanent transfer to Pune.

Its just another week more in Pune and we will be back to Goa. I can see the ecstasy on Preeti's face wen i mention the end of our deputation. Shez desperately waiting to go to Goa and continue with her normal lifestyle which has all turned topsy turvy. Frankly speaking, it does not make any difference to my lifestyle whether i am in Goa or Pune or Hyderabad... these 3 places are so very close to my heart. I just feel like myself wen i visit these places...

All my initial thoughts of visiting the places in Pune that i had once roamed about took a backseat. Somehow i couldn't come to terms about roaming alone on those streets which once i used to visit with my entire group of six. and believe me, I did not visit any of those places including my college, Its just that i can't make those memories resurface again, as it would mean a pain deep down somewhere... The pain of being in Pune without all those friends...

Pune will always remain an integral part of my life wherever i go... and i don't think so the city will be alien to me even if it changes its face so frequently...
Pune will always remain the old Pune for me, the place where i had spent the best 2 years of my life...

The Cup of Coffee

The topic sounds a bit weird i know, but then i think I'd like to explain further, the of Coffee. I got a beautiful forwarded article a couple of days ago in my mailbox, the Subject of which was, "The cup of Coffee". Being of the inquisitive lot, i decided to read it till the end though it was a bit lengthy.

The story goes like this... It seems for a college party, a Professor who was always surrounded by his students, asked them to choose a cup of Coffee. The coffee was served in different cups, some of them very attractive, of myriad shapes, brilliant colors, while some of them were very plain and unattractive. The students shoveled and pushed each other to get the best of the cups. The ones who got the plain unattractive cups resented them and jealously eyed the beautiful cups in their classmates' hands. The Professor who was looking at all this happened to ask the students what was most important to them, the Beautiful cup or the Coffee inside the Cup.

The students in their bewilderment told him that they wanted the Coffee. The Professor then explained to them that, in life we actually go for things which are of less importance, leaving out the more important things. Our basic aim of survival takes a backseat due to this. We tend to fight more for physical appearance and on what the others feel about things. Rarely do we go listening about our own soul and in the melee we become confused and irritated.

The Coffee symbolizes our need while the Cup symbolizes the medium through which we try to get the need satisfied. We try to concentrate so much on the medium that we forget what our basic need is. Does the Coffee change its taste if served in Beautiful cups or in Plain cups? The answer is simple.... "No". Why then we think of choosing the best cups any envy someone Else's cup if it's beautiful? Probably humans are meant to have their thoughts that way...

Take examples of our day to day things. Starting with our house. We try every possible means to make it as beautiful as possible. We forget that the basic need is just to have a roof over our head. Of course I am not talking about those, who can afford posh houses, I'm talking about those people who though staying in humble but decent dwellings which serve all our needs, resent the ones staying in posh houses and would love to do anything to have a house like theirs.

Our clothing supposedly symbolizes our upbringing and education. The basic aim is to cover our bodies. But we tend to think beyond the basic need and sometimes make fun of people who according to us are not dressed up to the mark or dressed for the occasion. Our clothing thus becomes a status symbol or style material. But then why do we mock at people who either can't afford to buy the costly dresses or are not dresses appropriately according to us? Also, why then we resent those who according to us are dressed better than us? I know people will have some objection here, but what i want to say is, Dressing is our own will. What clothes we wear and how we portray ourselves is solely dependent upon us. I have seen some people so plainly dressed, made me think twice about their status in society, but the moment they started interacting and talking, I could feel the intelligence and the upbringing. Why then sometimes classify people only depending on the clothes they wear?

Coming to Food. The basic aim of food is to fill our stomach. Why then do we make so much fuss about it? Food in any form is recommended for us to stay alive. but, we think so much of our taste buds that sometimes we even tend to insult the culinary art of the person cooking it. We forget that it takes lots of effort for a person to cook something. Be it your mom or the chef in the restaurant. Why cant we eat without complaining? Why can't we eat thanking God for providing us every morsel and thank the cook we gave it in our plate? Why do we forget that the basic purpose of food is to fill our stomach?

Life in its most primitive form is very simple. It is we who make it complex. In the name of technology, we hide our greed and jealousy and strive to make a better living. A better living in terms of good clothes, a beautiful house and tasty food. Why then we forget the basic need of life?

Why do we then become unhappy and covet the Beautiful Cup of Coffee when God has given us the same Coffee albeit in a plain simple looking cup?

What if there was no money at all?

Have you ever given a thought to this concept? What if there was no money at all? Well well, long long time ago in the past u'l say there was no money at all. But, there were other forms of currency if you recollect your history books in the secondary school. We did have something called as the "Barter System" something like i exchange part of my rice stock with 5 of your earthen pots. sounds familiar? Also if you could recollect the golden coins which had some faces on it, dating back to the kings and princes. So lets take a look at how life would be, according to me. You might have some different opinions about this, but i will try to put down all that i feel here...

We all say, eat to live, not live to eat. But, can we stay alive without eating? even for a day? No, we can't. So basically all the robberies happen because we all need some livelihood. but what if food is freely available and is not an issue at all. Only condition is, you need to do some kind of work on this earth. If you do so, you are entitled to take all that you want to, to cook for a week. Let me start with some examples....

Lets start with a bright sunny morning... The milk boy comes to your door, rings the bell. You get up, collect the milk bags, give him a nice good morning smile without paying anything. He smiles and greets you and leaves. He stops a passing auto, gets into it and reaches the destination. Thanks the Auto fella and starts delivering packets to some other household. This is his schedule early in the morning. The same Auto fellow goes to the supermarket, collects all the things he thinks he will need for himself to cook for say a week, thanks the counter boy who is present only to keep the store organised and leaves.

You boil the milk, of course you don't have to pay for the gas person and the electricity that you use in the house. The electricians are present only to see that the system is working fine and there are no breakdowns in the service. He too just goes to the super market, takes all that he might require for a week and leaves without paying, but yes ... with that now-so-familiar smile.

Lets see the education part of it. Since food is no longer a concern, we can all think of going for some education, the one which are heart yearns for, and not governed by "social status related education". I think i want to be a potter, i pursue my dream. I make pots and sell them for free. I have all the basic elementary school education so that i will be called a "literate" person. Since i like to work with my hands and make different kinds of pots and utensils and want to try my hands at shaping them, I become a potter.

Say I am very much interested in making Rockets, I go to the proper college which gives me proper knowledge without asking for any fees. and i come out graduated as a rocket scientist. I Like farming, i form a group with other people who like farming and we take turns to plough the fields, which are of course not our own, but we do it, jus to get personal satisfaction for us. I want to be a goldsmith. I go the miners who mine Gold and ask them for a supply. Gold is no longer that expensive metal, but now available free of cost. I make all those designs which i feel will look good on people and keep it on my shop. Well, a lady comes, looks at the designs, selects one and leaves, giving me a nice smile.

So how will it be? I want to travel to the Rain forests or the Deserts of Sahara or the sail in the Atlantic ocean, I can do so freely. I will be provided free transport, free food etc, only condition i have to put some efforts in rendering some service to the society. I want o invent some instrument so that i can think of using it to communicate with someone, so i make the telephone, but i get all ther necessary equipments and apparatus from the person who makes them out of his own interest. I don't pay him anything, but i dont take any money either for making a couple of them and giving it to someone...

Sounds interesting? Well, you will feel that, in such a case, people would like to do only those jobs which they can consider as white collar jobs. They would not like to do something which can be considered as hard labour jobs. So so what then? simple, there will be some people who will really be interested such kind of jobs, they will get together and give the necessary service. Also, since machines will be available free of cost and on service basis, everyone, rich or poor will be bale to use them.

Imagine how creative the world will be... equal opportunities to all without any regional, language barriers. If each person thinks of a unique way he wants to build his house, we will have so many different types of houses. The only condition here, we will need to acquire the bare minimal skill set required to accomplish it.

Imagine, there will no longer be any poverty. Because, the main reason "hunger" being taken away people will be able to pursue their dreams. It is said that many of the terrorists who take to guns, do it because they co me from poor illiterate families and they want to come out of it. so they get brainwashed so easily. Now, if everyone is self sufficient, and can get a meal if they do some kind of work.

All will be able to follow their own faith and no one will compel anyone to change their faith or whatsoever. The world will be a better place to live. We will not require any political leader or any policeman since we will be mutually dependent and will have better things to take care of...

But what about the other human traits. What about those people who are always so lazy and do not feel like working anyways... I don't have answer to that :( !!
Can there be a way out of it? Is there anything else that i have missed out while thinking about this "No currency" style of living?
Well i just don't know whether this will be successful or no, but 1 thing is for sure, we will not have as many problems as we are facing today. Money is the reason for all problems... literally thats what i feel. So if we put an end to this nuisance, will we be in a better world?

My Ferry boat ride to Office

I am blessed with a unique road to office. And that is by means of a ferry boat. It's not always that i take this route, but yeah... now it has become almost 2-3 times a week every week. My office is about an hour and a half travel one way daily if I take my company transport. But company transport has its drawbacks, we need to adhere to its strict timings. If we miss it, it becomes so difficult to travel to office since my office is located in an industrial area which is not easily accessible by public transport. And the lazy bone in me always makes sure that i miss my bus. So the alternative that Sriman has is this Boat ride, an enjoyable and pleasurable trip to me... Read on to experience my Ferry boat ride...


I mostly take the morning 8.30 ferry. Since this is the shortest possible route to work for most of the population in the nearby villages too, at this time there is a huge rush in the boat. The ferry has about 6 wooden benches, 3 on each side and its so nice to occupy a seat on those... I normally am the quickest to rush and get a seat and enjoy the treat to my eyes...

Well, first of all, there are many who don't know the concept of a ferry boat.

A ferry boat, as can be seen from the picture, is a boat which is used to transport people, vehicles etc from one river bank to another. The vehicles range from cycles, to cars to even trucks and pickup vans. Its so convenient to use the water way. Its a huge saving of petrol and also precious time while guaranteeing a clean pollution free and peaceful ride to office. I just love this ride and the sights which it offers on the way.

The most remarkable things that i notice along are the schools of Fish. So many of them swimming together, rather jumping in and out together. I wonder how these small fish have the energy to continually jump for so long, also they do it in perfect unison, as if doing it in musical rhythm. All of them jumping in and out together. Occasionally, you c an find some single fish doing the jumping acts. As if performing solo. You will always find the small fish together and the slight big ones swimming alone.

Then we can see the poles which extend into the river, which are put up by fisher folks to plant nets to get a good catch. And sitting majestically on top of each of these pole is a white crane. Looks like there are sitting for some conference over there, a round table conference. They look to be in a perfect harmony unlike the normal board room conferences of ours. Once in a while you can see one of them getting up, swooping over the river and catching a fish for a meal. But most of the time they are on the poles. There is a nearby uninhabited isle. We can only say its not inhabited by humans. There are cranes here which continually stand in the water with one leg just to catch fish...

Then we can see the black fishing canoes with one or two fisherman on each. They row their boats and when they fill there is a good catch, they pull out the net, looks like they need a lot of effort to do so... They sing and hum merrily while doing their job. Then across the horizon where it is difficult to make out the difference between the sky and sea, you see a lot of ships sailing across. They are so many of them, but so very far.
Then comes the small motor boats with tourists in them. The locals have made this as a business to give tourists a ride in the river with these motor boats, though there are just about 2 or 3. The tourists wave at you in their ecstasy and you feel like returning their hello with one of your hand waving to them. Also passes along is the other ferry boat commuting people in the opposite direction.

The blades of the fan beneath the boat disturb the water tearing out a way for the boat. It is a nice scene to see the water getting back to normalcy once torn part, giving us a message of unity. Even though we are one, sometimes there are incidents which tear us down, but ultimately we have to become united some or the other day.
The water, so very serene... the green salty non polluted water of the Zuari... sometimes some fallen leaves are carried along with the water or even sometimes there is a small trace of oil left behind in the otherwise clean water...

Surrounding the river in most of the places is the green mountains and land. You can sometimes see some plantation on the hills, or some factory emitting smoke. You can also see some 3-4 churches all standing magnificently, each telling a century old Goan Life story. and at some places, we can just see the vast river and the horizon where the sky touches the river and we can only see the faraway ships.


The Zuari has 2 parallel bridges on it. One for the Road vehicles and one for the Konkan Railway. The one for the road vehicles is a busy one, Buses, bikes, cars etc ply on it busily.


The konkan railway bridge is beautifully built and is not so busy. sometimes you can be lucky enough to see the train passing over. It looks so beautiful. Sometimes you can see Goods train crossing over...

The Dabolim airport is close to the Zuari river, so you can many a times see an airplane passing by. you can also sometimes hear the loud sound of a jet speeding.
Sometimes in the late evening you can see a flock of birds passing by...
Late Evenings is the best time to travel. Various lights start coming up and the rives looks really enchanting. There is a soft breeze which blows and the sky color too is very inviting.

My travel time is approximately 30 minutes. These 30 minutes is a lot of time to do something which you like. Be it listening to music, playing a mobile game, or chatting with friends or just preferably enjoying the Zuari and the nature and doing some self introspection...
Well this is how my travel by the ferry is, a lively experience. Hopefully it will continue to enchant me for more time to come.Everyone should some or the other time take this experience...

A date with life - 1

Today m going to write about one of my date with life. I know it will raise a lot of questions regarding what this blog is about. Its nothing new that i write, could be just old wine in a new bottle. I will keep adding chapters to this series as and when i feel i had a date with life...

When i started gathering my thoughts as to how to put them across, an incident happened which totally changed my thought flow. Well folks, today i am going to write something about life, a god given gift and how we can date it to get the maximum pleasure out if it.

I met a school mate of mine online a couple of days back. I am frank to tell that this blog is dedicated to him, but might be a case with lots many people. People are so frantic about life now a days which makes me feel that life is much cheaper than death. Life has really lost its value. Well coming to my friend, i didn't know this guy much when in school. I left that school to join another one in my 8th standard that's a whopping 14 years back. So we were not at all in contact. Thanks to Orkut somehow we met online. and started chatting at times on GTalk.

Things were proceeding pretty fine enough when one day this guy comes and tells me that he doesn't want to live any more and that he thinks he will put an end to his life. And the obvious reason being "failure in love". Well... I was a bit hysterical first... didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this particular case. It has always happened to me that people come and tell me their woes and i try to help as much as possible. I was once upon a time a so called as Agony aunt... So if i sometimes feel like changing my profession it could be something like counseling people. That way it wouldn't be so boring cause each person behaves so differently irrespective of the other. Jokes apart...

Well I listened to his inputs and decided it was time for some thoughts to brainwash. My friend was in no mood to listen tell me that he has stopped thinking. I just thought of penning this down so that if at all someone who has a same problem reads this, it might be useful. What is life? What is its lifespan? what is it that keeps us going... emotions, energy? and what is like dying? what is death actually?

Fine let me try to answer these questions how i feel about it. Life is something which is very rare and short. We are born only once (Religious psychology apart, we can't be sure whether we will be the same person in the next life if at all there is one!)

Well, I tried to convince him to my level best. Life is not as serious as we make it to be. Life is very simple if we want to make it simple. We try to pursue things which might possibly be out of our reach and when we feel we can't get it, we become frustrated. Same thing applies to love... We pursue it... until we get it we don't rest... When its evasive, we try to follow it. We just cease to understand its value the moment we get it. When we get it, it loses its value at times. People soon forget the struggles(in case they had) associated with it.

People don't realize that expecting too much could be a huge deterrent to their relationship. Coming to my friends problem, he loved this girl for a couple of years, about 7-8 if I'm not mistaken. Finally after being in a relationship and being deeply in love, the girl decides to go with her parents wishes and break up with him. He is totally shattered. Now that love is evasive, he tries to go behind it and in the melee hurts himself more. He is unable to see her going away from her. He is unable to reason it out that it is finally her life and she has got a say in it. Its she who can decide whether she wants to be with him or no. He can't force her to do things she is not confident or sure of...

He can only control his life. I had a tough time telling him how precious life is. There are people who don't get a second chance... there are people who yearn for a complete life... There are people with disabilities, but still want to lead a normal life... There are dying people who just wish they had a few more years to live so as to take care of their kids and see them growing...

And here i have a friend, who just refuses to say that he wants to live. How do i convey to him the importance of life. Life... A date with life... When God has given us such a beautiful thing called as life, why do we show so much of a disrespect to it? Can't we devote our life to something much better, life devote it for a cause? I could put that point forward to him...

After lots of convincing finally he said that he'll let her Go... But... He will love no other... he will keep thinking about her and will not think of marrying any other girl... the same old story... "I have lost interest in life". Well, He can probably join some organization, some non profit organization and be a service to mankind and humanity...

He has a decent job in the Gulf. What else is required for a man to stay alive? A family back home... Agreed that love is very important in life .. but, if you keep yourself and your heart open, love will somehow find a way to your heart... these are my words to him... "There is no dearth of girls in this world, sometimes in life, u'l find a girl for yourself who will love you unconditionally, there is only a need to keep yourself open".

Probably till then he can join some non profit organization ... There are so many destitute in this world, people who require a roof on their heads, children requiring some patron who can sponsor either their education or their survival... There are the old age homes where you can hide yourself and your grief and strive to bring a small smile even though its for a short while... There are lots of people waiting for surgeries and a fresh lease of life, but can't afford them... he can be of some help to them...

There are people affected by natural calamities, probably he can lend a helping hand to them. When God has made you able, why not at least use your ability and help someone, which will liven up their lives and in turn give a different meaning to your life. After all love is not the heart and soul of life... and even though it is, Is it not enough that you gain more love not from a single person, but from a whole lot of them who will be really thankful to you?

Another option of mine to him was to immerse himself in some hobby or try to do something constructive in his leisure, so that it will be easy for him to overcome his grief? Like join some classes be it music, some foreign language class, or whatever... do something which will enhance your personality, add value to you and groom you up... that will be really useful since it will keep you occupied and prevent you from brooding over lost time specially during your leisure.

It is said that time is the greatest healer... and in case of life, it definitely is... With the passage of time, the gravest injuries seem to heal. Why then simply ruin your life over such a petty matter???

I don't know whether my piece of mind will be helpful to my friend. I sincerely wish that it does help him.... coz not many in this world are so privileged to get a life that he is leaving. I definitely wish that he should overcome all his grief and start life afresh... finally its not just a matter of life, its about living it, and... its in our hand how we make use of it and extract the best out of it...

Life, so many things written and said about it...And Death, we feel it will be so easy. We feel it will be so easy to give our life... We die and the problem all ends... But is that true? do we understand the consequences of giving our life? Firstly, it is such a loss to our families, they won't be able to come out of it... and does death really mean the end of life? Probably yes... but why did we live then if we had to die the way we did... Its better to do something worthwhile and be remembered as a person to face life, rather than to be remembered as a coward who couldn't face life ended it... why not make death the beginning of a life, a life in the memories of people who will be affected by our actions...


So... thus ended my date with life. And certainly life dates everyone. Be it a man or a women, the only thing needed is a different angle to see life, the way we perceive it to be. and death??? Death could probably be a new beginning if life is lived for something worthwhile...

My India is bleeding - Why am i silent?

So much has been said and written about the 26/11 attack on India’s commercial lifeline Mumbai. Mumbai - The resilient city… the city which never sleeps… the city full of life. Well its just not Mumbai, it has been so many places: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Delhi… they have stripped my country of its skin. I had no words to write when I first thought of penning down a blog dedicated to this inhumane activity called Terrorism. I couldn’t do anything when Ahmedabad bled, Bangalore bled and also the rest of the country. And I couldn’t stop crying on seeing the ghastly murderous scenes in Mumbai which were flashed over TV by various channels over and over again.

I just could not figure out the logic behind killing innocent people as these terrorists did. It seems to be the eye for an eye, hand for a hand of the Gabbar Singh ideology, but then why a wrong eye and a wrong hand. Why don’t these so called ‘jihadis’ or even the ‘Hindu extremist groups’ declare a war against the wrongdoer politicians? It would be better if they do so and cleanse out political front. It would be a relief to the common people as well as a decent death to the so called “dutiful” religious groups who want to attain heaven. And if that was the case, I would open heartedly support these terrorists. But why innocent people? What had these people done to deserve such a grotesque death?

Also, would it be improper if the people looked askance at the politicians? Well, in all the attacks, I have never ever heard any politician being killed. Why is it so? Is there an invisible nexus between the politicians and the terrorists? Do these politicians know exactly when and where the next attack would be, so that they stay away from the place? Corruption starts from these so called “People’s servants”. And they are the sole perpetrators of “Terrorism”. We need able government and more so able leaders who can take proper action within minutes of a threat to National security. But what do our “protectors” do? They wait for reports to confirm whether the threats are real and also to gauge the severity of the threats. By the time they think of taking some action, our brethren are no more. And then there are reports confirming our inefficiency to tackle such intense attacks. Why don’t we try to strengthen our internal security, and if not totally eliminate such attacks, at least reduce the casualties to the minimum? With terror attacks becoming rampant all over the country, what India requires at this point of time is strong combat strategies like the ones used by the US. Why do we need US intervention every time we are attacked? Are we weak? Has the US taken over the security issues of all countries? Is the US going to provide us with security cover and investigation every time our security is breached? Why then do we require US intervention? If US can wipe out Iraq due to 1 attack on the Trade center, what do we do for so many attacks on our motherland? Why aren’t our political leaders questioning the integrity of US stand during such crisis situation?

Our country is bleeding in all directions. No one seems to save us. Should we take law into our hands during such situations? I heard people who were surveyed on some news channel during the attacks saying that “Give us some weapons. We are enough to get them out and kill them”. If India has such kind of people who really mean what they say, then why not build up an army on the grounds of LeT? Let them be trained to tackle only terrorists and nothing else. We have been attacked from all sides. They have left no stone unturned to make us bleed. Why is executing a Terrorist like Afzal Guru taking so long? When US can capture and also execute Saddam Husain within a span of 2-3 months, why can’t we get the Don Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan?

Pakistan has been falsely claiming that it follows peace process and also pledges full co operation to the Indian troops in their fight against terror. But then why is the LeT chief able to make public speeches even when the organization has been banned? Why are they not handing over the 1993 Mumbai blast suspect Dawood? Now there are reports that Pakistan is strengthening its army at the border in wake of suspected retaliation from Indian army. If they are not at all pioneers of terrorism, why are they so intimidated into thinking of an attack in reciprocation? Why are they not co operating? And what is taking India government such a long time to investigate and then think of striking? The training groups at the PoK should be immediately brought to task and targeted at. Why are they not giving concrete assurances of eliminating them? Why is India waiting and for what?

So many questions unanswered. So many people lost their lives. My country lost some of its valiant soldiers. My heart cries every time i remember the blasts. The blasts though in Mumbai, sending a deep shudder through my soul. I don't know what should be my line of action now. I really want to do something against this terrorism, but i dont know what or how to go about it. I just can't see my India bleeding all over. Its such a dreaded condition, we don't even know how many terrorists are roaming all around us and we don't even recognise them. It seems the terrorists were a bunch of smart and cool guys. who would have mistaken them for terrorists. They seemed to be knowing the best of technology and were hi tech. Now technology which was developed for the betterment of humans is turning out to be a curse in disguise.

Time will heal all injuries. This attack will be long forgotten. It will just remain as another memory and also as a general knowledge item for students. but those people who lost their lives and those soldiers who turned martyrs will always be remembered by their families. I really hope that some miracle takes place and the blot of terrorism is wiped out from the face of this world. I really pray so. and really hope that i get a chance to do something against this terrorism which is haunting my India, so that it will not bleed again...

To someone I adore the most!!!

I dedicate this song to the person I adore the most. I do not have to name this person here; people close to me will definitely know who it is…

Movie : Yaarana
Singer : Kishore Kumar
Lyricist : Anjaan

Tere jaisa yaar kahan, Kahan aisa yaarana
Yaad karegi duniya, Tera mera afsana
Tere jaisa yaar kahan, Kahan aisa yaarana
Yaad karegi duniya, Tera mera afsana

Meri zindagi sawaari, Mujhko gale lagake
Baitha diya falak pe, Mujhe khaat se uthake

Meri zindagi sawaari, Mujhko gale lagake
Baitha diya falak pe, Mujhe khaat se oothake
Yaara teri yaari ko, Maine to khuda mana
Yaad karegi duniya, Tera mera afsana

Mere dil ki ye dua hai, Kabhi door tu na jaaye
Tere bina ho jeena, Wo din kabhi na aaye

Mere dil ki ye dua hai, Kabhi door tu na jaaye
Tere bina ho jeena, Wo din kabhi na aaye
Tere sang jeena yahan, Tere sang mar jaana
Yaad karegi duniya, Tera mera afsana

Tere jaisa yaar kahan, Kahan aisa yaarana
Yaad karegi duniya, Tera mera afsana



Well, thanks Friend. I owe a lot to you. You are one of the nicest things that have happened to me. Life would be so different without you being there. I dint know the meaning of Friendship until I bumped into you. You showed me all the dedication and commitment one shows his friends. I know you will not read this post as reading is not your habit and I will not make it a point to specifically tell you to go through my blog entry coz that will mean devaluation of my feelings. Sometimes if you come across my blog, just drop me a comment here so that I will know you came to my blog once…

Well I have been so rude at times to you, I jus can’t imagine being so rude to anyone else… I have shared my secrets with you; I can’t imagine sharing them with anyone else. You have been so protective towards me; I can’t imagine anyone being more protective. You know my thoughts so well; you know how I will be reacting to situations. You know my strengths, you know my weak links. Life to me before meeting you was not different, you dint change things for me. You just made me feel more confident about myself than how I was before… You made me look at things differently.

I was a person who could easily get worked up; you taught me to be patient. I was a person who could lose faith easily; you taught me the power of patient faith. I was a person who could see the flaws and criticize first; you taught me to first see the virtues and then the flaws. It’s you who has taught me the meaning of sacrifice for a friend, I dint know any… It’s you who has been my motivating factor always and only you who could pull me out of trying times. It’s you who can scold me to any extent without me taking it the harsh way… and it’s just you whom I could contact for any reason whatsoever. I wonder whether all that you have taught me, would have been taught by anybody else.

There are so many things I would write about you, but then I feel those things would deserve a better place in my mind then over here in this blog. This blog is just to tell you that you held and will always hold a very special place in my heart. Somehow I find myself so dependent on your friendship now that I wonder whether I will be able to make such a close friend ever again. And if death does us apart sometimes someday, I promise to be your friend till eternity…Wherever we go wherever we stay; we will always share the same affection we shared years ago. You will always be the “someone I adore the most”.

The Sourav phenomenon!

Adieus to the Cricketer I always admired and will admire the most. Dada aka Bengal Tiger aka Maharaja aka Sourav Ganguly for me is a symbol epitomizing endless struggle and resilience. Today I will dedicate this post of mine to this person whom I have never met in my life or stand a chance of meeting. Cricket, I started understanding this game when I was in my 7th standard at the NGHS. My brother introduced me to the cricketing world. I was a newbie then and had little knowledge of what Cricket was. I used to sit with him and be glued to the TV dumbstruck. Calculating averages, predicting scores… Oh my God I wonder whether I was a psycho at that time… Sachin Tendulkar was supposed to be the God and then immediately came Sourav… I became a die hard fan of this guy.

There have been lots of comparison between Sourav and Sachin and I don’t intend to do so as doing it will only belittle their individual performances. Both of them are gr8 players, but I will speak only about Sourav, me being a fan of him. There are many speculations in the media about this stylish lefthander and I will try to do justice to my words while writing about him. I can’t substantiate all the criticism pertaining to him or his personal life nor can I prove anything in favor of him. I would only like to put my thoughts across while saying adieu to the Cricketer I appreciate the most.

Right from my school days I never missed a single match in which India played. I remember we hardly used to even have food. Just be sitting in from of the idiot box. We didn’t have a cable connection at that time and the only source was the Doordarshan. The match interspersed with the advertisements was something we really loved to watch. We got lot of scolding from our parents for so called “wasting our time” in front of the TV that too for a Cricket match. But we bore all the odds and watched every single India match possible.

I always saw Sourav as a tough-to-break guy, Always surrounded by controversial environs. So much is said about him, yet he stands tall amidst all the muck. Sometimes he was accused for not getting the water bottles, sometimes written off for having problems with the coach. This Bengal Tiger stood the test of time and finally emerged as a winner. The events which happened latest in his career would have been devastating for any other player since the most successful captain in Indian history was not given his dues. Agreed that there are lots of youngsters in the game now and agreed that he made a few mistakes, but how can he be treated the way he was treated later in his life? The same thing happened to Sachin, but the man is getting all support to be back into the game even when he is termed “not fit” physically sometimes.

Sourav has always been given the step motherly treatment. This person I remember used to support his team members at all costs. Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh would be examples. The point I am trying to make is that he is no doubt a great player and deserves to be treated that way. He should have resigned a bit earlier considering the fact that he was not the selectors’ favorite. But he is a fighter and must have had full faith in himself. Anyways I don’t want to get into the intricacies of the selection procedure and the treatment meted out to any player.

Sourav will always be remembered in as the most successful captain India ever had and also as a fighter. Just as a Phoenix resurrects from its ashes, so will Sourav also do. But the only difference will be that he will no longer resurrect in the cricketing world as a batsman in Team India. He will no doubt do well in all his endeavors. This is only to wish him an eventful retirement period. But you never know when this person will be back with a bang… mite not be cricket… mite be something else. Till then and even afterwords, his fans will always have a special place for him in their hearts.

Tears rolling down my cheek...

Its been 2 months tht i last posted a new entry into my blog... Well, hav been so busy lately that i hardly get time for myself... and now you will ask me what is this topic that i'm gonna write about... It says "Tears rolling down my cheek..."

Well friends, Its nothing bad that has happened and still tears are flowing down my eyes rolling over my cheeks ans disappearing. Its jus one of those hectic days for me wen i feel so tired and exhausted, not able to concentrate on anything... Sriman has gone to answer his MS exams and his mom also has been travelling lately... that put the responsibility of the house on me!!!

and since i have never been entrusted with this responsibility earlier in my life, its becoming hectic for me and tiring tooo... Running around since morning and then breaking my head in office i feel i hav no energy left... and the result??? Tears rolling down my cheeks...

well friends it has always happened to me, wenever i feel exhausted, i tend to become too emotional and then cry for no reason at all... and it is happening today, tears jus flowing down my cheeks... Isnt it surprising?but now i hav curtailed them...
Mite be my mind is developed tht way... when i feel loss of positive energy, tears roll down, cleaning away all the negative energy and making me replenished as before...

I hav already started feeling the difference now... jus tht a small headache is now showing its presence in my head i guess a bit of sleep will do the trick... i wonder whatever i hav wriatten here is worth reading... some rubbish... but then this blog is jus for me to put my thots down... whatever i feel, whenever i feel...

My trip to Amboli Ghat...

Today I’m going to write about my short weekend trip to Amboli. For people who haven’t heard about this place, it’s a small hill station on the Goa Maharashtra border and a perfect place for weekend outing. I and Sriman had long been waiting for this weekend to come since it meant 3 days off (15th Aug – Friday, 16th Saturday and 17th being a Sunday) . Though we had thought of planning this trip well in advance, as usual the lazy bones in us got the better of us. We finally decided to embark on our trip after a lot of speculation and hesitation.

Since we had not planned in advance, it became difficult for us to book hotels in Amboli itself. We booked a room for us at a 3 star resort called “Konkan Crown” at Sawantwadi, a place 30 Km away from Amboli. We were informed that there are frequent busses from Goa to Sawantwadi, so we decided to take the bus (Kadamba) itself. We started from office on the 14th (Thursday) at about 5.00 pm. We missed the 5.45 bus thanks to our office location. We then could find our only last resort to be the bus at 6.30 pm from Panjim. We reached just in the nick of time to find the bus jam packed. I remember I almost stood on 1 leg for the entire journey from Goa to sawantwadi which got advanced by an hour due to the incessant rains. Finally we landed at Sawantwadi bus stand. Out designated hotel was about 7 km from the stand. So it meant another 15 min of journey by the Auto rickshaw. We reached the hotel finally at about 9.00 pm. Time for some nice soup. I freshened my self and slept while Sriman ordered the food. I had some real nice soup… soothing effect to my almost crackling bones. With excitement about the trip on the next day I slept…

The next morning was a lazy one. All the exhausted feelings about the previous day had vanquished thanks to the whole nights sleep. I got ready with the Camera and Handy cam to shoot some very exciting moments. We boarded a bus to main Sawantwadi bus stand from where we were supposed to take a bus to Amboli a journey of about half an hour. We reached Amboli amidst thick fog. The journey up into the Ghats was enchanting. So many small streams gushing down the mountains and greenery all around was the only sight we could see. We had been informed by the hotel staff that we could either hire an auto or a trax at Amboli and we thought it better to hire an auto since we were the only 2 people. The autowala said that he will show us 5 points of the total 10.

Point 1:
Beautiful gushing water interspersed with drizzling rains was what we saw when we landed at this lush green location, though I don’t remember the location name anymore. Some snaps and some video shooting followed by a meal of freshly roasted and marinated corn. Wow this place was wonderful. It was made more wonderful by the drizzling rain.

Point 2: Kavdeshad
This was the second place that we visited. This place too was characterized by gushing water everywhere and thick Fog and far off waterfalls. Fog rising against the mountain and water droplets sprinkling above due to the water going down the mountain made this place look like heaven. It looked like the places shown in mythological TV serials where Gods reside. Tourists, especially gangs of boys seemed to be too elated to be here. We could make out their excitement due to their jumping into the water streams and also due to their shouting…

Intermediate spot: Self evolved (swayambhu) Siddhivinayaka Temple.
The autowala told us about this self evolved or “Swayambhu” Siddhivinayaka temple and we could not resist from visiting it. Half submerged in water, we could see the Ganesh structure protruding from the rock. The temple in its virgin surroundings looked elegant.

Point 3: Hiranyakeshi temple
This point consists of a small temple amidst the forestry. The God idols are half submerged in water. It is said to be a man made stream with water coming from a rivulet in the mountain. The pond created in front of the temple has become a place for the tourists to have fun. The guys use it as a swimming pool or a pool to have dips in the water. Besides the temple is another big rock through which seems to be present a cave. We tried entering the cave, but it appeared too narrow and we dropped the plan since I couldn’t find any person who had actually seen the inside. It was too dark.

Point 4: Amboli waterfall
This was the best ever place I visited at Amboli. A big waterfall with so many tourists enjoying there. This spot is adjacent to the road connecting sawantwadi and Amboli and results in lots of traffic congestion due to the tourists. Steps are constructed leading to midway of the waterfall, so climbing becomes convenient, though the force of the water flow does make this convenience a bit cumbersome. You become fully drenched by the time you reach back to the bottom of the fall.

We could not visit the sunset point because of the persisting fog even at 6.00 pm. So we decided to return back to our cozy hotel and relax. We boarded a bus back to Sawantwadi and again another back to our hotel. We reached back at about 7.30 and then freshened up and slept after a nice warm but light meal. The next day I could find no reason to venture out of my cozy bed till 9.30 when we had breakfast. Time to sleep again. I finally got up at about 12.00 noon to explore the hotel and its pool. We then had food, roamed around the hotel and finally checked out at about 4.00. we had a train “Diva Madgaon Passenger express” scheduled at 5.00. The hotel was about half a km from the railway station. Our train got delayed by 2 hours. We spent these 2 hours just chatting at the railway station. It took us just about an hour to reach back home.

This trip was a long pending one for us. We enjoyed each and every moment here. The lessons I learnt from this trip was… Always use the train to go to Amboli, it is convenient and fast. Considering the bus journey which was tiring and long, the train journey was very pleasant but short. Also, book your hotels appropriately, lest you have to select a place far away from the main location of your picnic. Also, its always convenient to have your own modes of travel, either a private taxi or auto or car… and last but not the least, always equip your trip with a Camera and handy cam and burn a CD of your photos/videos so that you can capture those beautiful moments and watch them later…

This trip was really enjoyable to both of us… I would like to thank Sriman for making this possible and memorable. Hope to have more such trips soon. Well, I have already decided upon the place, now I need to make a plan and gather some real adventurous gang to go to “Netravali” my next destination…

Guide to Happiness(??)

Today I felt like writing philosophy… don’t know whether thoughts coming to me at this time are right or wrong… but its just tht I felt like penning down these thoughts which occurred to me while traveling in my Office bus. Ever wondered at times why we feel so content, but at times we feel so insecure… so incomplete??? Well Philosophy is definitely not my cup of tea… but then wat I believe is tht every person has a philosopher hidden within oneself… He has his own abstract ways of interpreting things he deems favorable to himself or the way he leads his life... and I am no exception to the rule…

I have been following Bhagwad Gita as and when possible for me to do so. The gist of it lays in the verse “Karmanye vaadikarastu Maa faleshu kadachan…” in short, do not expect the fruits of your hard work. Well do not expect anything in lieu of anything!!! Just do what you feel is your duty without expecting the fruits in return. We think of our relationships as give and take relationships… We love a person, we expect the other person to love us. We care for a person, we expect the same kind of love from the other side… We make friends and are friendly to others, we expect the same friendship from others… We trust others and expect others to trust us… Well so many expectations… We expect things to turn out the way we want them to be… We expect all things to suit only our needs…

What harm does “expecting something” do to us? Well, ever imagined what happens when things don’t turn out the way we want them to be? Disappointment is wat which sets into life as an aftereffect… Disappointments leads to sour moods… hampers our relationships with other people, we tend to feel tht we have no other goal left in life… and in some people this can lead to suicidal tendencies… so how can we let ourselves come out of these “at times difficult” situation??? What I would suggest is tht do not expect anything… Just lead life the way it comes to you… Shower love, care, friendship, trust on whoever you feel like… but don’t ever expect any such thing in return… If you get such things by the Grace of God, consider yourself lucky, but don’t expect it to sustain for quite a long time becoz things do change…

Adding a personal touch, Me as a person used to expect lot many things from other people… there hav been times when I expected people to respond I a particular way and when they failed to do so I got disappointed. There have been times when I expect things to be the way I want them, but lost my peace of mind when it turned out the other way round… so what lesson I have learnt from all this is tht, Do not expect any favourable situation. In fact, always expect the worst…

In case you expect the worse, and suppose things turn out just fine, you have a reason to smile, but if they don’t, atleast you wont be disappointed since you aleady had anticipated such a situation. So I keep on telling myself to not expect anything.

Putting it a bit jocularly, I hav seen a mail forward in my inbox which said, “Girls marry a guy thinking that he will change, and guys marry a girl thinking that she wont, but both are disappointed after marriage”. So you see, if you don’t expect a rosy future, there is no scope for you to be disappointed since you dint expect anything. I hav friends telling me to “be positive” whn I start thinking of unfavorable situations. Could be by intuition, but I hav experienced tht wen I expect the unexpected, I tend to take things a bit lightly if they happen to be negative. It could be my mind’s way of evading situations I feel insecure about, but definitely it has helped me a lot.

I normally expect people to behave the way I want them to be, I expect people not to change the way they are… and figuratively, why should they change? I mean I don’t understand why people change… mite be due to age, we don’t normally have the same emotions we used to hav 10 years back.. the whole point tht I want to make is… People do change and its natural for us to change… but it becomes difficult for us to digest this fact sometimes… The same person we used to call as “best friend” in school and the same person now… not even a friend… I am emotionless… am I? hav I changed? Has my friend changed?? What is it tht has changed?? I hav no answer to this except to accept tht time has changed and we no longer feel like sharing the same old bond now as we used to do earlier… well… and how far is it right for me to expect the same friendship?? So don’t expect the other person not to change with time…

Another perspective I would like to highlight is the life partner incident which I hav already referred to jocularly earlier… Guys normally to impress girls do things which in normal scenarios they wouldn’t do… get them gifts, give their perspectives more importance than their own… this is done with the sole purpose of impressing the girl… but then wat happens wen the girl is impressed and they are married. Guys find no reason or need to impress the same girl now as they hav already achieved their target… getting the girl. But then wat happens to the girl? She having got used to all this antics of the guy expects more and more from him… but since the guy is satiated, the girl lends up in disappointment… Had she not expected anything, she would be lot happier… and the same thing mite apply the other way round to (n.b. I am not a feminist).

Everytime I decide to expect less, I end up expecting something or the other from someone or the other. However I tell my mind to do it every time I feel hurt and rejected, I end up expecting… how can I breach this mindset of mine??? Wat I feel is I should make a sustained effort to accomplish this task. Every time I should remind myself to expect less…I sometimes wonder why God has made this world such a complex thing to live in? Why cant we all stay together in peace and harmony??? Why should there be heartbreaks? Why should there be breach of trusts??? Why do humans have emotions and guilt feelings??? People say tht challenges make a man stronger… but wats the need of being stronger when therez no need?? If everyone was same, had no feelings, could live just for the sake of living, wouldn’t it be beneficial to all??? But God has definitely an answer to these questions of mine… but I still ask Why???

My Transition from Hyderabad to Goa

My Transition from Hyderabad to Goa…

Friends… Today m back again with yet another blog. This time I’l write about my transition experience from Hyderabad to Goa… Though it had become very difficult for me to leave Hyderabad and be back to my home Goa, I had already made up my mind for the change. I had planned in my journey in advance. I was supposed to take the train to Goa from Hyderabad’s Kacheyguda station on 27th June 2008, 9.00 pm. I would reach Goa on the 28th June 2008 at about 2.30 pm. Was supposed to take rest on 29th and prepare for my encounter with the new job and its formalities. I was supposed to join duty on the 30th of June… had a pre planned timetable in mind of things to do right from the time I boarded the bus to the time I would enter the new company premises… but I didn’t know at tht time what ordeals lay ahead for me… turn of events leading to surprise situations I was least prepared for. Wel.. il start writing about my experiences from the time Sriman came to Hyderabad…

25th June… It was my last day at CA… felt very bad. I had to wind up with all the formalities of resignation with the company; I had to collect all the things which I had used and cluttered my desk and pedestal for 2 years at CA;I had to write a “last day” mail to my friends… had to take backups of personal mails… Meet all friends whom I wouldn’t meet again sooner… well lots of work to do… but I could finish everything by the stipulated 7.00pm deadline tht I had set for myself, as Sriman was supposed to be at my flat at about 8.00 pm tht evening. I left the company premises with all my belongings, meeting few people and with a plan to come back after a day to show the campus to Sriman and bid adieu to alll. I reached home at about 8.00 pm; the exact time when Sriman had reached the flat. We got ready and again left for the place: Celebrations… the place I was supposed to give a treat to my lunch group.

The treat was cool… I could take some video clips as remembrance of the place I loved so much… The next day plan was hectic. I had to send 2 of my luggage bags to Goa using the bus to goa service. So next day me and Sriman both went to the Nampally office and did the needful. We had lunch in a “not so cool.. but a cool” place… and then we dashed off to the MMTS station. First time in my life I traveled without a ticket… not because I dint want to buy, but because the train was almost leaving, and If I had waited in the long queue, it would mean a flop show of my plans. Ok… we then came back to Begumpet and headed for lifestyle. Sriman bought couple of cool clothes there. Again I had to hurry and rush back coz we had to give another long pending treat. This time it was for my ex roomies with whom I had spent about 1.5 years. It was a gr8 get together. And this time it was just not roomies, but with their spouses… a party we never had had before… Shalini and her fiancée Santosh, Sandhya and Mahender, Swetha and Srikiran, ME and Sriman, and paddu with Bahula. The evening ended eventfully.

I was supposed to take Sriman to CA to show the campus and also to bid final goodbye to my friends. We finished packing all our stuff and could reach CA only by 1.00 pm. We had lunch along with Rajesh, had a tour of the campus… believe me, it felt so odd there tht day… I used to roam with authorized ID card, and there I was roaming with visitor card. I met all my friends and bid adieu to all of them. Finally came to Breakout area… my last coffee with my lunch group there… Rashmi finally dropped us back to the Allwyn junction. I was feeling really bad… but there was nothing I could do. I was getting the feeling tht I was seeing all those things.. those roads for the last time… back home I finished with the last packing. I handed over the keys to the house owner. I had asked for a cab from the local cab service company. The cab was scheduled for 6.00 pm to Kacheyguda. We reached home at about 5.15 with just 45 mins for the cab to arrive. My lunch group had a train to tirupati at 8.00pm so I was certain of meeting them at the station… Finally we got into our cab, but due to the incessant rains in Hyderabad tht day, all the roads were congested with traffic. So the train to Tirupati left when I was half way through. We reached the station at 8.30, hired a coolie to carry the heavy bags. But by the time we reached the platform we heard an announcement, “The bogies to Vasco are cancelled”. All the hell broke loose on me that time. We were stranded at the platform on a remote station with 8 bags and no mode of transport in sight and at tht point of time at night. Sriman went to the station to enquire about the cancellation and I was left alone… Here started my ordeals…

I was talking to my lunch group who was in the train and also to my mom about the course of action to be taken in tht situation wen I started getting call waiting from Suresh. And I was more than happy when he said tht he was at the station to see me off tht time… thanked God for sending an extra person to help… We hired a coolie again and came outside the station when Sriman went to get the ticket cancelled. We decided to stay in a hotel closeby to the station and go by bus to Goa the next day… I waited with Suresh outside the station praying to God to help me out in this difficult situation. I just happened to pray… lo and behold! There arrived a cab who agreed to drop us at Nampally (about 10 km from the current station) . I then planned to go there since the bus to Goa also originated from there. We asked the driver to drop us to a decent hotel close to the Nampally railway station. The driver took us to a lodge which I could consider as “not suitable to stay”. But finding no other option, we thought of staying there for the night. We ordered for food at 10.30 pm and it got delivered at 12.00 midnite… We then decided not to go by bus the next day as me and Sriman both get nauseated due to such a long bus journey… kindof a “longbusjourneyphobia”…We decided to book a flight ticket. Immediately we called up Suresh and asked him to check the ticket price… it came upto 16K and we finally decided to stay at Hyderabad the next day too and then leave for Goa on 29th due to the cheaper flight ticket since I was to join my new company on 30th. I decided to show some places around to Sriman. That morning we went to a nearby hotel for breakfast and also to send our bags by bus to Goa… we came across a hotel close by which was much decent, clean and had appropriate service for t he same cost we paid at the hotel the previous night… we decided to shift to this one immediately for 1 day that we would be at Hyderabad… and there we shifted to this hotel “Rajmaata”. We also sent out 4 of our bags by bus and got relieved when finally Sriman could get the air tickets to Goa on phone.

We took some rest at the hotel in the afternoon and then set towards “Eat street” by MMTS. Dhiru had promised to join us there and also Suresh had promised us a parting farewell teat… Me and Sriman reached about half n hour early and I could eat my favourite “Amor” icecream… I wanted Sriman to hav it earlier… but could not do so due to time constraint… it rained heavily then, but we were still joined by dhiru, his roomie and Suresh. We finally had dinner at “Waterfront Restaurant”. And set out to the hotel by MMTS. We had to leave our hotel at 9.30 am on 29th to go to Begumpet where we had a shuttle to the airport. Our flight was supposed to be at 3.30 pm. Finally with all apprehensions about the flight getting delayed which I had in my mind or for tht matter even cancelled, I boarded the flight and reached Goa at the destined arrival time. There ended my ordeal… huh… wat a sigh of relief…

So that was another of my experience with life’s ordeals… sometimes you never know what lay ahead for us… but being prepared for such kinda situations and to take correct steps to land you out of trouble is wat is important in life. This was an incident I wouldn’t forget since it made me more strong to overcome such incidents… Now when I look back and remember tht time wen I was stranded on the platform, I recollect how I had prayed earnestly and how I felt God had sent help in the form of people known or unknown when asked for… So I end this blog with the belief in God and belief in self emphasized in my mind… wish I will be able to come out of life’s more complex problems when need be…

Sweet Memories - My Lunch Team @ CA

Well well... here I come again with some more sweet memories from CA... My Lunch group @ CA.

My Lunch Group




My birthday snap(13 feb 2008)


Where do i begin??? I was a fresher at tht time at CA and also amongst the first few people who had been allotted to the newly built team under Dhananjay. We as a team actually consisted of 2 teams we(Agent UI - 7 members) and BO Reporting(14 members). and the lunch teams used to be mixture of people from both the teams.

I had a lunch group of mine with whom i used to go for lunch... This group comprised of Me, Vamsee, Rajesh and Sudheendra. used to be fun to be wid... Later with additions to the entire team, we were joined by Prateep, Rajeev and Srinivas. Somehow the first person to leave the group was Sudheendra(God knows why) and then I too started feeling bored... I had already made friends with Sabita tht time and she had a group of her own. she asked me to join with her there and so it all started...what came after tht was just pure fun n peels of lafter...

We (Me, Sabita, Rashmi, Rohit, Deepak)
If you come to CA anytime n hear people laffing and cracking all(veg/nonveg) kinds of jokes, you could hav probably bumped into my group. thts how we are... Everything you say and every action you do will initiate an equal and opposite reaction... and in our case it will be double meaning reactions. All of us hav become corrupt minds... can go to any extent on thinking corrupt (i hope u know wat i mean by tht!!) Now that I have decided to join another organisation after marriage, it becomes very difficult for me to part with these people.... cool... let me go about n describe each one...

Rohit - "Shaitan ka doosra roop" (soon leaving the group too!!!)
Most of the jokes originate from this devil mind. He is an artless guy you know... what he does is just ignite the spark... and the dirty minds tht we are we catch the fire... its needs lots of caution while speaking if this devil is around. He catches you on words that you utter and there starts the post mortem of your statements...
Irritates Sabita to an extent she can bear no more, but she cant do anything about it... poor thing. struggles hard against him but to no use...
He knows eveything about Hyderabad... he can guide you home from any corner of hyderabad that you be in.

Deepak - "Shaitan no 2" (Chimpu or Chimpanzee aka cockroach aka taklu/takla)
Ask him to say "important" and what comes out of his mouth totally changes the meaning of tht... i hope u understood...and we crack all sorts of jokes on him. speaks hindi in his own funny style... changes the gender of things!!! Its hard to fight against him... one punch from him and whoever it is will "Ud jayega". till now he has made Me, Rashmi, Sabita fly (not literally though). It sounds very funny when he says that. and what do i say about his devilish laff?? he has too types of laffter according to him, the first one when he laffs if something is funny... (hhaahaaa haahaa in a peculiar tone) and the second one... it seems he laffs with his mouth open but with no sound... i wonder how he does that... never seen him though... and yes it seems every day he changes forms... so sometimes he is a cockroach, a girl even .... i dont know wat to say!!
I can say he is a daring and helping guy. who will actually get out of a cozy car nowadays to just have a fight with some guy on road to save an autodriver from being flogged? After a party wen you reach home, you will definitely get a call from this guy enquiring whether you have reached safe or not!!!
well tht speaks about this guy.

Rashmi - Shaitan no 3
She is one girl(lady would be more appropriate) i found to be very frank and daring. "Kamini" would be a good statement and it would be a compliment to her. Her brain interpretes double meanings so very fast... and her power of imagination is vast too... a very good person at heart she has aesthetic tastes... She can be compared to Rohit when it comes to understanding things(rather comprehend double meanings)... She is one of the no nonsense person(really???). can take jokes upto a limit... but when she finds it going above a certain limit she will say a blatant "shut your...."

Sabita - Chudail aka Chammo aka Chamiya
you can call Sabita the sweetest of all in the group. If i was at her place, i would hav long broken ties with Rohit(not literally) with the respect to the amount of tricks he plays on her. All his mischiefs are directed towards her. I find her helplessly helpless against Rohit. I wonder from where she gets the patience to tolerate all his pranks.

finally Me aka Munni
well what can i say about myself... I am a very nice girl you see... very innocent... I dont even know the "d" of "double meaning" ok ok enuff of modesty... well i also fall into the same category "shaitan" else you think i would hav been eligible to rite this blog??? well...

further on...
ok ok.. so i have described each one elaborately... It was really fun and pure fun tht i encountered being with this group... Now tht i no longer will be with these people i wonder how life will be without this group. i wonder if i will ever be able to get a group like this... the fun we had here.. the cofee breaks... the weekend lunches and dinners... the treats... everything will remain as a sweet memory into my memory lane... Now Rashmi and me have settled down... and soon it will be time for the others too to do so... wherever we be, we will always hav these jokes in mind that we cracked...

Thanks friends for giving me such a wonderful time...