New Years Eve

I have always wondered why people relate new year eve to Drink and Dance only… if not all .. lot of us do think that ways.. for me it has always been house party with friends ..

Last year I was in Canada for the new year eve and it was very different .. we went to this pub and listened to this rock music in which I hardly could understand anything.. lol.

This year for some reason I wanted to be alone on new year eve…. But at the same time didn’t want to sit at home…. Anyone who knows about Mumbai will be thinking “being out of home and wanting to be alone without many people around u.. is never possible in Mumbai” … that’s true..

My evening started with a Maggi preparation … (wonder if this will count on those Maggi moments) … then I drove on bike to Marine drive .. closest and best place to be at… 2 strange THINGS happened to me that evening .. will tell u .. read on..
Went to Sukh Sagar which has one of the best “Idli Chutni” preps, enjoyed that.. they give unlimited chutni and nice warm idli which will melt in ur mouth. ..

1.First THING:
I walked to the near by Café Coffee day (one of my fav places to be when I am alone).. surprisingly it was quiet with not many people,, started reading news paper and sipping coffee (Devils Own)… As I was reading MID DAY, one girl came n

Girl: “I am really sorry to disturb u , but can I sit here n talk to u for a min.. actually my friend gave me a dare” I was thinking to my self “ yaar ye mere saath pehli baar ho raha hain” ..
Silly Me: “ uummmm ok “
(Silence for 30 seconds)
Very Silly Me: “What do u do?”
Girl: “ I am doing CA final, what abt u?”
Proud Me: “ I work.. I have done my engg then worked for few years in india and UAE.. (saying UAE much louder than India).. then went for my MBA in “CANADA”.. (calling Canada loudest of 3)
Girl: “Nice, I have a cuz in Canada bla bla..”
(Me still feeling proud abt Canada)
Girl Again: “I guess u r expecting someone”
Me: “ No actually I am on my own”
Girl: “Oh that’s nice way of celebrating new years eve”
Me: “ Yes quiet n peaceful” (smiling but thinking not sure if I shld feel good abt being alone or bad..

She wished new year and went off and I went back to my news paper..




2.Second THING:

After I came out of CCD I still didn’t want to go home… had heard of some nice fireworks around Trident hotel on marine drive so I decided to drive there.. as I was driving I got stuck in the traffic..
Once when I saw on my side there was a car with two girls in the front seat. The girl who was driving looked at me and smiled… I felt kinda awkward .. I just looked around and away.. then I saw in their direction again..
This time the girl driving and the one next to her both were giggling and looking at me.. .. … as traffic eased I went ahead .. and they came n stopped their car just on my side… it was now getting weird..
Going forward whenever I would move ahead in my lane and they wld be fall back.. she would keep honking the car in front … (which I assumed meant she wanted to come forward n keep her car on my side… guys am I thinking right?.. atleast that’s what I thought.) Well this went on for some stretch of marine drive….. something like this had never happened to me before..


Well after reaching trident .. I parked and walked alone on marine drive.. and an amazing painting exhibition put up there.. on the walk way.. I wana share some of those pics..

Have a year 2010 full of smiles

Rahul


Nuclear Power Station at Saint Laurent Nouan on the Loire river, France








Tulip fields near Lisse, Amsterdam Region, Netherlands

Trip to Vizag…Day 1

It started with an early… actually …. Horrifyingly early morning (actually night) ..having to take a 5:30 flight to Vizag from Mumbai.. had to get up at 3:30 and reach airport by 4:30.. .. the transition from life outside at 4 in morning to life inside the airport is quite alarming at times.... ..In Spice jet and many of these low frills ….the sitting is worse than a BEST BUS in Mumbai…u cant move an inch…anyhow

As I landed at the airport the taxi drivers had similar face as to any taxi driver in south .. and of course he was called “Anna”. As I reached the Jaipur Lodge (the place where we were staying). Saw that for some surprising reason it had a lift from the first floor.. weird.. lol..

We had a clear hostel like environment in the room as I reached… Mr. Kathe sitting on the bed with blanket wrapped around him.. still wearing just a baniyan inside.. (why would u not wear something inside if u r so cold)…. Amit moving around in towel with no shirt on… (I mean why would some1 who is always questioned about having bath be moving around in towel????? Some of those.. reading this would already know why…)

Bhor correcting his hair and looking sleepy as always.. cracking silly jokes.. which for some reason make every1 laugh.. and Vivek (aka vivya).. Mr. Husband on the trip all neat and taken bath… (guys see the change in the married man kudos to priyanka)..

Slowly the remaining guys in other room started appearing…. Jiten…gunda of Rajnandgaon.. playing little champs with Amit as always.. Viral.. With ever sleepy eyes.. Sante.. with unique mustache.. .. Waghole.. all set to go n play on the ground.. ( I wonder if in his own marriage he went to the pujari n said.. ek ball tak).. Atul.. fondly called “Topdya” with his sexy cap ..

So after all the usual hi hellos.. we had some nice breakfast.. and were all set for the marriage ceremonies.. it started with “Haldi” ceremony which was made special with all relatives (women) rubbing haldi all over Pomys body.. and then the shocker was.. we heard he wld have to keep it on him and not wash it till the marriage.. (can only wash his face).. god felt pity for the sherwani which was going to get ruined from inside.. .. nonetheless.. everyone except pomy (which was visible from his face) enjoyed the .. lol…

Evening started with we getting ready for the big marriage.. ..it was sad to know that there wasn’t going to be an Ghodi for the barat.. ( being in Vizag.. and thinking of a Ghodi for barat.. who was I kidding.. lol..) .. so Mr. Dulha sat in the VAN .. after some initial sharmana.. we started the dance .. Surprisingly Band Guy had some hindi songs to play and sing also .. we danced n danced… including the Dulha himself in the end showing his moves J.. The ceremony was a nice mix of marathi and south Indian rituals.. including the jugalbandi of hindi and south Indian bands.. food was awesome (I missed the roti)..oh yaa. I forgot to mention.. we .. stupid guys.. went there .. khali haat.. beshrmo ki tarah.. lol.. then suddently it clicked a brainy guys mind to get some nice bouquet atleast… the actual BIIG gift of course is coming as the SWEET COUPLE reaches back to PUNE J.. day 1 was full of what we were there for. i.e. the marriage

Some thoughts...

Hi All

Trust all is well. As you read this blog, I am 27 now. 21st Sep 2009 caused that to happen. Like the theory of half glass full or empty, one could say I have lost 1 more year of my life span or else I could say I had one more year of healthy and cheerful life. I would like to go with the later. 

I was thinking of writing a blog on my bday talking about 27 most memorable moments of my life, but then thought it would be giving out too much personal information and boring people with it. Haha.

Just yesterday I was visiting my hometown for Dusehra (I can never get how to spell it.. every SMS I get from frens has a different spelling.. this is my version). As I went around meeting my relatives on one of the biggest festivals in India, there is something very strange which I noticed and would like to share with you all.

Having stayed in Mumbai over last year, it is common to see armed Policemen around you almost always, let alone festival times. Going to a CST or Churchgate station makes you feel like a VIP with Z- grade security  . Soo when I went around meeting my friends and relatives in Jalgaon (my hometown) yesterday, I realized that there was not a single policeman to be seen anywhere. I went to the biggest temple and main street with lot of crowd, but I couldn’t see much of police security.
This incidence brings two things in mind

1. The obvious factor of blaming local authorities for not taking care of security

2. Are people in such small towns are in harmony and don’t require the police protection to give them comfort of living?


The first option is obvious and well debated. However the second one is interesting. Is it only big cities and people living there who need that assurance of having security around? Small towns at least in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, are they all in harmony with fact of difficult religions and cultures being in same city?


Your thoughts..

Keep Smiling always 

The 10 10 10 Rule

Hi All,

I m back after a long time.. read this interesting article.. wanted to share with everyone .. hope you like it :)......... hope to write something soon.

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The Rule of 10-10-10
By asking herself three easy--and utterly profound--questions, Suzy Welch has managed to solve just about every personal and professional quandary in her life. An amazing, spectacularly snappy guide to decision-making.

There is no foolproof way to manage something as untidy as life, and I still have days when I feel as if I am juggling eggs on a roller coaster. But I have--over a decade of tinkering and practice--devised a method, for lack of a better word, to help me balance my multiple life roles and navigate the daily dilemmas of an overstuffed existence.

I call it 10-10-10.

Here's how it works. Every time I find myself in a situation where there appears to be no solution that will make everyone happy, I ask myself three questions:

What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes?

In 10 months?

And in 10 years?

The answers usually tell me what I need to know not only to make the most reasoned move but to explain my choice to the family members, friends, or coworkers who will feel its impact.

I'VE USED 10-10-10 TO MAKE some of the most meaningful decisions in my life--my divorce, for one. But the effectiveness of 10-10-10 crept up on me when I started using it on a much smaller scale.

The first time was a typical weekday. Dropping the kids off at school on the way to work, I promised that I would definitely, absolutely see them at dinner so we could do homework together and watch our favorite TV show. I also promised our babysitter the evening off.

At 5 P.M., of course, a crisis erupted at the office. During this period, I was hoping for a promotion, so walking out the door with my boss's hands wrapped around my ankle seemed particularly illadvised. I called home to test the waters. The babysitter nearly burst into tears when I mentioned staying late. Two of the kids were fighting, and one was sulking for an unknown reason. (The other was still at swimming practice, thank God.) My daughter grabbed the phone and put in her two cents: "You love work more than us."

My gut was all over the place--go, stay, go--and that's when 10-10-10 was officially born. I slowed my thought process down and systematically began to pick it apart. What exactly, I asked myself, were the immediate repercussions of staying at work versus rushing home?

If I stayed, my boss would jot it down in her little book of good deeds, and my children and babysitter would turn purple. If I rushed home, my boss would get someone else to help her, and my triumphant arrival at the front door would be greeted with the usual grunts and sighs, and probably a demand for the latest video game or some exciting new shampoo.

In 10 months? Assuming I didn't make staying late a daily feature of our lives (which I knew I wouldn't), the kids would be fine. As for the babysitter, she would be back at school, and I would be but a distant memory. At work, though, if I left, my boss might start to question my commitment and my availability, not the impression I was eager to encourage.

In 10 years, the fact that I worked late (or not) would be irrelevant. My career would be someplace I couldn't foresee. The babysitter would be working on Wall Street. And my kids would love or hate me for reasons much bigger than one late night at the office.

And so I stayed without flinching. I got my gold star at work, and the home-front grumbles faded as anticipated.

The second time I used 10-10-10, the ante was higher. I'd been asked to run a Saturday meeting for the company's executives--a big deal in terms of exposure. Unfortunately, the meeting fell on the same day my son went for his junior black belt in karate, a test that was four grueling years in the making.

Again, I ran through the time frames.

In 10 minutes, both choices stank. My son would be devastated. I could picture his sweet face all screwed up and turning pink as he fought back tears; he was the kind of kid who got sad, not mad. My boss obviously wouldn't cry, but her disappointment would surely be palpable.

In 10 months, I figured, the pain would be buried. Why? Because I would shovel frantically to make it so. If I attended the off-site, I would love my son extravagantly in the months that followed, spoil him with my attention, and apologize until he could stand it no more. If I didn't go, I would pull the same kind of performance at work, with my boss at the receiving end.

But 10 years ... there was the problem. My kids would be gone and my career at full-throttle, whether I had gotten one promotion or not. But on some visceral level, my son would still know that I had chosen to miss one of the seminal events of his life for my own advancement.

That was damage I could never undo.

So I skipped the off-site. And late that Saturday afternoon, I cheered as my son received his black belt, his face pink as he tried to hold back tears.

About a year later, 10-10-10 changed my life.

Like many marriages, mine took a long time to come apart. The stakes of doing something--that is, ending it for real--seemed unbearably high: the children, the friends, the house, the backyard barbecues. And so we waited, and waited, for something to unfreeze us--a decision, one way or another.

One spring morning, I stole away from work and family, and hiked to the top of a mountain about an hour north of Boston. I needed the time and silence to work this tangled problem through. The 10-minute question came first, and it was painfully easy to answer--divorce meant chaos and despair all around. In 10 months, the mess would surely be worse, what with the upheaval, and lawyers, too. All I could think was, Awful, awful, awfulness--not just in 10 months, in 20, and maybe more. In 10 years, though--in 10 wonderful years--we would have our lives back, of that I was certain. Different lives, but honest ones, free of unhappiness, uncertainty, and pretending.

That night, after a long talk about how things would unfold over the coming days, months, and years, my husband and I agreed we'd found a shared reason--and a road map--to say goodbye.

Using 10-10-10 in a divorce situation is at the extreme end of the spectrum, but over the past few years, my friends and family have borrowed it to wrestle with dilemmas of all sizes.



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Recession ..Why them…

I know its been long since I last wrote on my blog. I have been busy at work and in life otherwise…. (not sure how many people read this blog anyway.. lol)

This one is a real sad one so if you are not interesting in something like that, you can quit reading here…..

After many days I went to meet the kids at Pratham.. the smile on their face was soo real (compared to the fake smiles we see around many times now days) …. We (me and Swapy) had taken cake for them for some small celebration.. Exam season is on for the kids.. We started by enquiring about their exams and other details.. .. we lined them up for the cake..it is so funny sometimes.. those kids are much more disciplined than we adults… within 15 secs they lined up systematically by height (no noise, no hussle bussle) .. none of them pounced on the cake to try n get extra share (this is a common site among guys celebrating bdays in hostels)

After one round of cake we were left with some extra pieces . We decided to quiz the kids and reward the ones who answer correctly … it was so much fun and we had a gr8 time … this 1 hour spent with the kids is so refreshing…

Now you must be thinking where does recession come in to picture.. the end of our meet wasn’t good.. …it was really bad actually.. the Caretaker at Pratham told us that they are planning to send some of the kids back home and only keep 20 kids (currently there are 45 kids at the centre). This is because some company which sponsors this centre has decided to withdraw / reduce the Financial Aid. Companies reducing their Corporate Social Responsibility expense because of recession or low demand in the market… we were saddened .. why do these kids (the future of this country) have to suffer because of mistakes made by us… it is so unfair …

Anyways… we don’t want to sit on the problem and we are going to look for other funding options.. Will set up a website and request people to donate to Pratham directly so that those kids don’t have to go back home. They get all the education n support to take our country forward.

I would request all the readers of my blog of any solutions or ways in which these kids can be helped? Any thoughts. Also I would need your help in promoting the website which we will put up with details n videos of the kids.

Its surprising what people can achieve when they work together.. so I m confident we will be able to help them.. hopefully before things fall apart.

Keep Smiling and make others smile

Mumbai Local Trains

First of all Happy New Year to all the readers !!! (However small that number is..lol)

Mumbai as they call it, is a city of dreams… and one of the most significant part of fulfilling these dreams is played by the Local Trains which carries lakhs of people everyday (considering the crowd in the trains sometimes I feel all these lakh people are trying to come in the same train..). Anyhow, the ride in the train can be very tiring and uncomfy for the obvious known reasons…. But it can be fun also if u wana look at it …here is how I sometimes look at it and people..

They say people match their watches looking at the same guy at the same place every single day to catch the local train. That is how mechanical (or punctual if u want to sound positive.. haha) the local trains make you. Here I am trying to paint a day of work in which I spend 38% of my time travelling in train…lol...


For me the day starts normally,as I try my best (actually very best) to open my eyes at 7 AM (ya that’s early for me ok..) so depending on the time I have, I rush with my morning chores to be out of home around 7:50 AM. A Bus ride to the local train station is made refreshing by the lovely faces going to Sophia College. But the sad part is that its just the next stop to where I get in soo the time is too less for even a eye contact ..lol.. nonetheless I am more focused on thinking of my TO-DO list of the day. I somehow manage to catch the 8:13 local from Grant Road.( you must be already thinking of me as the Ram Bajaj in Andaaz Apna Apna… Sab cheez time to time honi chahiye..lol.. remember Robert asking him..Sir!!! chai main shakkar dalne ka time ho gaya?..lol)

Train is full of special characters;

1. ‘Mr. Hari (Hurry)’ will try to rush in to running train before stopping even if the train is empty (he is so used to getting in to those crowded trains that he can’t get out of that habit….lol

2. ‘Mr. I-Don’t-Care-About-Others’ will try n take up as much space as he can with this thunder thighs and heavy bag kept on the seat itself. But this man turns in to ‘Mr.Oh-Please-Come-Sit’ when the crowed enters in a hurdle at Dadar 

3. ‘Mr.Wana-Be-Neat” would adjust his shirt every 5 mins and his hair style every 1min (Please note that the intervals might change depending on if any girl is standing nearby). Also It could include “Mr.I-am-Scared-of-my Wife” fearing of having to wash the cloths if there is stain on it.

4. ‘Mr.Sleeping-giant” wouldn’t care if someone even sat on their lap or ran away with their stuff. I might fall in this category at times. Infact you won’t believe, once I was travelling on a train to Churchgate (down south) in the evening after office and woke up on the train going opposite towards Borivali (going north)…lol. For a moment I was scared.. I had travelled all the way to south and come back 1 hour away from my station.. it was not funny at all.. took me 10 mins to come to senses and understand what had happened..


If you are wondering why there are all Mr and no Miss in the list, its because there are hardly any Miss in the male compartments. There are so many stories related to Mumbai Local trains that it would be never ending. But these are some funny things.


Looking forward to hear your funny experience in Mumbai Trains or any local transport trains….

Keep Smiling :)

how to keep happy in these gloomy times

(Here are some small simple tips for keeping happy in these gloomy times)

· Smile at a stranger: If the world shows us a threatening face, why not paint that face with smiles to make it less threatening. Let's face it, if you smile at someone, they'll smile back (in all normal situations.. unless he is the brother of gal you are dating secretly). The more you smile, the more people will smile at you. The more you smile, the more people will smile at you. If everybody follows this advice, at least dentists will be too busy to fear world events.

· Volunteer: One of the scariest things about the world today is not just that it seems to be going downhill, but that we feel powerless to stop it. Worse still, politicians and diplomats are in charge (or not so in charge to do anything good). But we CAN take control and send the world uphill right in our own neighborhood. We can help the local animal shelter. We can smile with those small kids ar the NGO, We can work at the food bank. (That's my personal favorite, and NO you do NOT get free samples.) We can help little old ladies across the street. We can make a difference right in our own communities where the politicians and diplomats won't interrupt.

· Enjoy filmy gossip: I know it sounds strange coming from a guy (I enjoy being sexist at times) but this is specially for all the Indian filmy buffs. I know some of my frens think it’s none of our business to get in to the personal lives of the film stars but then I feel who cares if that gives us or people around us a small laugh or a light moment. We don’t have to take them so seriously. By the way.. I think Aamir took Ghajani too seriously…. Out of 2 years that went in making the film I guess he wasted 1.5 years building up the 8 packs and had no time to make the movie itself… didn’t like the movie at all… however Asin was very cute n simple..

Why was Karishma & Abhishek’s Engagement called off (whenever it was.. its been ages)?

We know that Karishma’s mother Babita is not in good terms with her husband’s i.e. Kapoor Family. And Amitabh is related to Kapoor / Nanda family through his daughter. Babita post the engagement had put a condition to Amitabh asking him to cut all ties with Kapoor family. Amitabh denied doing the same and the engagement was called off.

(how much of this is true.. I dono.. you are free to add in .. if u know of a different story..

Does anyone know why Kareen and Shahid got separated?)

Always Keep Smiling :-)