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The (un)forgettable misdirection given by me inadvertently (which still haunts me), happened a year back exactly. Hope the victim is not cursing me still...
During one of my wandering trips at that time, I was on my way to Nerul -- by train from CST. This was after my two days stay near 'nerul' (one of the main train stations) in the heart of navi mumbai. When I came to board the train in CST, a lady ( looked like a malayali from outside mumbai in her 20s) approached me particularly and asked me in her broken hindi if I am going to 'nerul'?
I said 'Yes' for three reasons.
(A) the impact of my 'Nerul' stay
(B) the Panvel Local, which I was about to take then - to reach the Navi Mumbai.
(C) the way it was pronounced by her.
she was glad that I was guiding her properly and just got herself tagged to me without asking more questions. There were no crowd. After clearing my check-in luggage, I went to the station counter and bought the ticket for the navi mumbai.. She too took it, eventhough she asked me 'why?'. I explained her that to reach the city we need to take a ticket (a funny reply!!). I thought she was too naive by asking these type of questions.
This panvel local, normally takes 70 minutes to reach Navi mumbai.After getting down at Nerul she asked me where can she get a train to board pune. I didn't get it initially. Again she asked, the platform where she can get a train to board pune as she had heard that there are trains running between kalyan and pune. Then she showed me in writing that she had to go to 'Neral' (near karjat) which sounded like 'Nerul'(near Panvel).
I was shocked completely and slowly realised the effect of my understanding her broken Hindi. I told her that I was not going to Neral (Near Karjat) - but am going to the NERUL. It was her turn to get shocked then and was about to cry immediately. She realised that she cannot get back to the PUNE even if she returns back from the NERUL to the NERAL (timing was so close, then).
She was so tensed and started checking with some neighbours . (she should have done this earlier itself. So, unfortunate!!) She couldn't do anything more than that.. She started asking the other person about the solution and never even turned to me. After reaching the Nerul Station, she started her efforts to return to the Neral. she must have cursed me a lot then.
Later I realised, the reasons for her approaching me. Couple of times, I have been approached by people asking whether I am a southindian - due to my complexion, my way of speaking & hair. So, this lady might have thought that I was from the keralic states going to the destination where she wanted to go.
Sometimes, I don't get these malayali accents easily and that time it was so miserable..(Neral Vs 'Nerul' ). I Believe, that girl would have reached her destination (pune) in the next day after reaching Neral. Prayed to the God at that time, on behalf of her..... for my deed.
Got a mail from my SIWS junior college mate today..He is studying in Jaihind college now and as usual was grumbling about degree college disciplines. i feel certain degree colleges imply too much discipline on students nowadys .It was not that bad during our junior college days in SIWS. Being a college of more than 25 years old at that time itself, most of the buildings were old but well maintained.
I was a day-scholar in the first year(Fyjc) It was the only hall in the campus. It used to be rectangle in shape with balconies on both sides of the rooms.. one balcony facing inside empty ground and another balcony facing the outside campus i mean road.. (the reason for this explanation is coming....)
Being a loose college not adhering to disciplines, the college rules were also like that. Need not be present all the time. But one biggest REGRET was the INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY lectures . Our IT madam used to be so punctual and so strict that even in holidays she used to take extra lectures.(!!). College peons and Labratory incharges may come for round-ups. Then for an half an hour, a break would be given.. We can sign the book at the hall entrance and go out of the campus -- to taste some of the delicacies, which are famous in Mumbai (Ragda pattice,Bhajiya, etc.,).
Eventhough, I used to SIT for IT lectures initially and thoroughly, I enjoyed crossing the limits couple of times. I used to go out for roaming with friends and bunked the lectures. Since the hall gates would be closed by once IT lectures started, we had to jump into the hall somehow, thru the outside balconies.
One of the efficient guys (!!) would climb up first and then drop an indications/indicators for me to climb up... I had bruised my hands/legs couple of times during these adventures (!!!). I was never caught during these episodes....eventhough, few collegemates had the experience of going upto the Disciplinary committee on this account.
The Climax was a memorable one..
During the final semester exams, we visited our friend's nearby house for group studies. Sometimes we used to stay in his house, sometimes returned back to college in time for IT lectures. His mom used to make nice pav bhaji's. Don's ask me, how much I gobbled during my visits!! Just on the penultimate day of my FYJC college life...I returned to the college to attend the all important IT lectures at about 1.00 pm with another friend. While I was approaching the hall, we were noticed by our labratory incharges... Immediately we skipped the idea of getting into the hall, and went over to another hall located somewhere backside the campus. (there also we jumped over the wall..that's where my friend was put up).
Next day morning, I was called for... and the Disciplinary commitee. gave a good lecture. The good impression which they had on me earlier, saved me from disciplinary action....that final day.
Otherwise, it would hv been another memorable tale in my not-so-adventurous life....
Pl. enjoy my other posts as well.
I won't say I hate shopping, rather I would say I don't love it....
You can call me a swift buyer with a shopping list in a hand and a stop-watch in another hand. I spend less time for judgement, whether it is comparing or analysing or overviewing the varieties etc., Doesn't mean I shun shopping. But I know many people don't like my way of shopping. They love to go thru row after another for choosing a pair of shoes or for a shampoo, whatever it is. I would say my approach is a contrasting one to my friendz.
I Knew a couple diagonally opposite to me. My brother & his wife in Chennai. He is always choosy and does so much research & analysis before getting into something. I used to wonder during my school days, when he talks about any product in depth irrespective of his final decision. You can call it as a passion. Last time, when I was in chennai(say two months back) his wife complained that he had dropped buying something due to this long term analysis. Because, she has the contrasting quality over there.
He was so passionate with shopping, that he loved to go around mumbai shopping malls (when he was here last year) inspite of an injury in his foot. When he was suggested for sight-seeing, he started feeling the pain.... !!! That is the level of his passion towards shopping.
But in some occasions, that type of passion would be better. You may get a better deal out of it. At the same time, it may happen the other way around also.
(a) Too much of analysis, may end up missing the best one already.
(b) You may end up buying unwanted things, reducing your wallet size.
Sometimes, these type of passionate shoppers may end up like wasting time and money. I could also observe that Time & Money spent - go up in direct proportion for these passionate shoppers.
Yeh.... I'm not saying my way is the best.. It has its own fallacies.
However, most of the time, I end up reminding my parents to reach their targetted product asap. Otherwise, who can bear the reduction in my wallet size? :-( :-( :-(
After a long break…
Its long time, since I had entered this area… As I replied to some of our blogger friends, got tied up with several issues and in between had a short trip to tanjore as well during last month i.e.from 29th April to 2nd May. Even though it was short, was able to visit couple of temples in and around Kumbakonam and Tanjore districts. A good trip..
Since I went to tanjore for the first time i wanted to visit the Meenakshi Amman temple , and also had an urge to visit Tanjore temple at the earliest. This time we specifically planned & included it in our route. Some of those pics are here..
Eventhough the height of the tower didn’t excite me that much [overshadowed by the tall buildings I had seen of late], the efforts put were visible. I could recall a recent Discovery channel episode on this temple, detailing the efforts behind this massive structure in those days. The Shiv Ling which was erected in the main shrine was huge, the size of which I had not seen earlier anywhere. I need to admit.
Looks like, the temple is undergoing renovation. Eventhough the campus looked old, revealing its age, I thought that the restoration could have started long back. The tourist arrivals were less visible, due to which the surroundings looked neat.
Italians and French are talking so much about the paintings of Michelangelo and others in their museums. It is a pity that we didn’t take care of our paintings at an appropriate time. Even if we want to do it now, it would be difficult to get back to the images closer to the original. That’s what I could realize when I observed these paintings.
Few of those 1008 nandhis erected on the Outer wall.
Visited couple of other noted temples as well including one in Papanasam (near Kumbakonam and Rameshwaram) with 108 Shiv Lings. Seems the story could be dated back to Shri Ram & shri hanuman’s return from Lanka, to absolve from the war sins.
Hope to come back to this arena soon, with continuous posts.
Keep visiting.... :-) :-)
Can a Cave lure you so much?
Yes, it can...
For a long time, we wanted to explore something unique in North India.
After visiting couple of exotic locations in south India, we wanted to give a try in North India this time....
Several destinations were considered, including Amritsar. Finally, we zeroed in on Ellora & Ajanta. One of the main reasons, is my Little Brother's newly developed interests in visiting those places which he is studying currently. Both the places are located near Aurangabad.
So, we started our enquiries with several agents in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) area and everybody offered the same tour arrangement.. 3 days - including one free day in Aurangabad. Since, we were not impressed with the tourist attractions in the city - we wanted to avoid the free day and pack it in two days.
Finally, one guy accepted.. but the figures overshot the budget. So, we decided to hire a Toyota Qualis - to accomodate more people. The additional info which we got during our Agent hunt - helped us to schedule it in a better way [the info that, Ajanta is closed on Monday and Ellora is closed on Tuesday].
6 hours trip to Aurangabad (400 kms) in a Qualis, with kids was really tiresome. Even then, without even entering the city, we landed at Ellora - which is 30kms away from Aurangabad.
Basically, sculptures of 3 different religions were present there - Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism - all dated back to 6th century AD to 11th century AD. Compared to Ajantha caves, Ellora was never considered 'lost', due to its proximity to Aurangabad city. It seemed to have been visited by travellers, Geographers, Archeologists frequently. Still, they are protected very well.
Out of 34 caves, 12 are Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain caves. Most of the caves resembled either temples or monasteries.
This was the first one (Cave no.12) which we visited among the Buddisht caves. Nicely carved three floors with traditional stairs, made us to wonder.... about the efforts gone behind that Marvellous structure.
Buddhas sitting in a row...
Closer view of another Buddha, in the next cave..
Front entrance of the next Buddhist cave
Initially, this reminded me of a dining hall - due to these built-in rows. Later, I realised that this is a learning centre and students used to sit and learn things here....
After this cave, we visited couple of more Buddhist caves, which are not claimed to be exceptional.
Then we landed at Hindu cave no.16 - which housed a traditional Hindu temple of a huge Shivalingam [Kailasa temple]. There were more sculptures carved around this temple, including.....
Sri Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar ThiruKalyanam
Narasimha avatharam and the incarnation's fulfillment
a traditional pillar
Later we visited the Jain cave no.32, which is also called as Indrasabha... Immediately after seeing Mahaveer's posture, my little Brother and my little sister started questioning the posture without dress. I started explaining the spiritual reasons of foregoing all the materialisitic interests and Penance. I hope that they understood a bit.
After our return to Aurangabad in the dark evening, we visited Bibi-Ka-Maqbara (the clone of Taj Mahal). Built by Aurangazeb's son for his mother, it remained unimpressive to me, since I had visited Taj mahal earlier. Since it was dark at that time, I couldn't capture the Building very well in my digicam.
Next day, we started our visit to Ajanta.. which was 100kms plus away from the city.
It seems Ajanta caves were carved by Buddhist monks who themselves painted so many wonderful pictures. They had aptly selected the mountain near the Waghora river which should have flown vigourously in those days. The oldest cave are dated back to 200 BC and the latest being 15 centuries back.
The caves seemed to have been discovered back only 2 centuries ago, during a British hunting party. In 1819, the officers who stumbled upon this horse-shoe shaped cliff, had discovered the painstaking efforts of Buddhist monks of those earlier centuries. Since the religion lost it significance thereafter, these carvings also seemed to have been forgotten, before they were found again.
I need to really appreciate the Tourism board's idea to stop the tourists 4 kms away from the caves. All the tourist vehicles were stopped down the hill and we were taken by Maharastra tourism board's bus to the location [No shops as well, near the spot]. I felt that it will definitely protect the surroundings - unlike Ellora, where we can park our vehicles closer to the caves.
It seemed to me that the monks built them near the river, for their prayers and learning, without disturbances from the city life.
Two different schools of Buddhist thoughts (Hinayana & Mahayana) were said to be behind these marvellous works. The older Hinayana school's thoughts were that the Buddha was represented only in symbols like the stupa, a set of footprints or a throne. However, the later Mahayana school had given the Lord a human face. The paintings and sculptures talk about Buddha's lives in his previous births and the related Jataka tales. We could observe several scenes thru the paintings.Even though couple of websites claim the paintings to be Fresco paintings, certain tourist guide books published and circulated near this place - claim them to be 'Tempera' and not 'Fresco' technically. The artists claimed to have extracted all the colors from minerals.
the dried up river....
Flash photographs are prohibited inside the major caves to protect the life of the paintings and sculptures. However, certain Hi-tech cameras set in 'Auto' mode flashed automatically during our visit, which infuriated the guards. One of them literally snatched a tourist's camera.
An Unique Sthupa inside a cave temple..
And finally, the entrance of a Cave temple... which resembled a Hindu temple.
At the end of the trip, had an wonderful feeling within me and was proud that India has so many exotic places created 2 millenium back. Still to cover a lot more....
After this trip, I really missed the Elephanta caves near Mumbai.. which I should have visited (but, couldn't make it). Not sure, when I am going to visit it next....
I always used to feel that the well educated younger generation of current years, cannot stay in one organisation for a long time. I believed that this kind of attitude was mostly prevalent among the Management grads & Software guys. But it is not the case always. Across the industries, change of profile is happening, irrespective of the education. Is it because of the following?
1) Comparison with friends, who are going up in the ladder by jumping from companies to companies.
2) Absorption of different talents, by New Generation companies.
3) Risk-taking at the younger age of 25-35, instead of taking at later stage.
4) Disappearance of the concept of 'Permanent Job' among the Indian Society.
I had personally seen instances, whereby people made moves just because their friends did it. I agree that it is an improving & competitive trend. It pushes the younger generation to try something new to compete with their peers & friends. This attitude has opened up the gates for the growing talents and is aptly supported by the Old as well as New Generation companies.
Risk taking has also increased a lot among the aspiring younger generation. They have realised that only at an earlier stage of the career, they can take the risk of coming across different set of employers, co-employees, profile etc., This has paved the way to increase of the knowledge base and the confidence level, among this generation.
Our previous generation used to be satisfied with a particular job and get settled in it. May be because, at that time permanent job is an important criteria for the so called "settling in life" taboo. Most of our parents might have spent their life in Central-State Govt. jobs / Other PSUs like Railways, Banks etc., It was a prevailing practice for the bride's parents to reconfirm that the grooms have permanent 'Govt. sector/PSU' jobs.
Now those expectations of getting grooms with 'permanent jobs' cannot be fulfilled. Due to the dynamism across the industries & the confidence level among the youth, people do feel that sticking around in a job for more than 'x' no. of years is a criminal mistake. But in future, what will be that 'x' no. of years, for which an employee can stay in one particular organisation?
Once again, it boils down to that person's aspirations, family background, risk taking abilities, Non-wavering thoughts and the opportunities available.
However, I hope it should not be the case.
He didn't know how long he was lying in that boat. Her soft touch made him to come to senses and the real world. She helped him to come out of that calm sea and took him to the deep jungle.
She was the only soul in that island. He didn't even question whether she reached that place like him. He was not in a state to ask such a question.
He couldn't recollect his past memories and he didn't want to (!!!). The way she took care of him & his injuries, made him to fall for her immediately. So, what's the need to think about the past? He felt that she was also emoting in the same way, as he did.
But, somebody telling something.. he could recognise that voice. Just listened carefully..."Take the cycle and go to the nearby shop to buy some milk". But, where to get the cycle and where the shop is, in this lonely island? He shrugged that voice away.. He took her in his arms and started going around the jungle with some nice music (!!). Oh...those rain drops added some more, to those moments. He wiped out those drops and continued walking.....
Somebody started shaking him wildly and she disapppeared suddenly.....
Oh..no.. I got up from my bed. Mom was just standing beside me with a cup of water to sprinkle further. This used to be a happening several years back (eventhough not regular). The background would change, events would change and somehow I would be disturbed at the climax. They were all nothing but the effect of movies once again......
When I observed the above pic in 'The Economist' last week, this dream of mine came to my mind. I'm just wondering about the use of reading magazines...."Economist" is for reading some useful facts, isn't it?
Wish you all a very Happy new year, friends..... before I step into the first post for this year.
Mahabaleshwar.....
Situated in the heart Of Sahyadri Hills in Satara District, Maharashtra. It is also known as 'Queen of all Hill Stations'.
We were dropped there at around 5 AM in the dark, amidst a shivering weather. Due to the weather, we got out of the hotel only in the late morning -- after ensuring that the sun was over our head. The environment was more or less similar to Ooty / Yercaud.
The strawberry vendor....
The market place...
Naive(!!) villagers...
The market place reminded me of Dombivili's old markets and my grandma's village markets.
The same day evening, we had an interesting trip to Tapola, which is also called Mini Kashmir. I haven't yet visited Kashmir.. so "no comments" on this so-called name.
Still, the time we had in the backwaters of Koyna dam, was excellent. We had a boat ride there which is said to be of 250 ft deep.. Don't ask me, how I felt while I was sitting on the waters.
Next day we went to Panchgani, where Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao hosted their wedding party recently. Unfortunately, we were not invited, similar to the other non-invitees Shah Rukh Khan/Salman Khan / Karan Johar etc. So, I couldn't extend my stay there at Panchgani. :-( :-(
Panchgani - derives its name from the five plateaus/hills surrounding the village. One of the plateau - "Table Land" is said to be one of the largest plateau in Asia. I could realise that when I observed several budding cricketers playing in a group of several teams. We were told that a small plane can land there easily...
One of these kids may be a future celebrity kid. Reason... this village houses several celebrity schools, where film stars and famous personalities' kids are studying. [Courtesy: Britishers, similar to Ooty concept]
Seems, several hindi movies have captured these locations earlier.. including Aamir Khan's 'Raja Hindustani'. Hmmmm.. now I could understand his passion towards this place.
Was able to capture some of our ancestors' family members. Too much of concentration to her kid.
Next day, we went around Mahabaleshwar.. few temples and several viewpoints, named after Britishers like Wilson point, Connaught Peak, Arthur's seat, Elphinston point etc., in addition to one Indianized Savitri point.
Had a beautiful view of the valley and the surrounding hills.
On the top of one of the hills, tourists are being attracted towards a "tap" of spring water. It has been named as "Tiger Springs", since they were supposed to attract so many tigers in olden days!!!
Another attraction of my favour was the nicely burnt corns.. reason.. the chilli powder spread over them using a lemon... I heard that, in Mumbai also, these type of corns are being served with lemon / chilli quoting.
Hmmm...
It should have been an enjoyable trip. However, we were tensed a bit on the last day, since my smallest brother was sick of vomitting & diarrhea (due to food poisoning). Eventhough we were suggested to admit him in a local Govt. hospital, help came thru a privately practising experienced doctor. He arrested the problem with an injection...
Another interesting but usual thing, which we observed was too many newly married couples.....
One more Interesting Trip is pending to be posted... will make it asap!!! Currently too busy in clearing my mails.
