Ek humsafar chahiye

ek humsafar chahiye....

zindagi ke guzar gaye 25 saal

ab age k safar mein koi to humsafar chahiye..

kai complex sawalo mein jud gaya ek aur maha complex sawal

akhir hume kaisa humsafar chahiye....

dikhne mein ho jaise katrina ki koi zerox copy

priyanka chopra ki yaad bhulade waisa humsafar chahiye.

smartness mein ho jaise soft skills ki koi teacher,

but ego ho jiska below zero level, waisa humsafar chahiye.

awaz ho aisi k shreya ghosal bhi bole 10 out of 10

pyaari baatein kare subhe se shaam waisa humsafar chahiye.

canteen aur tiffin se khana, hota hai jaise daalte hai gaddi me petrol

ab to mummy jaisa khana pyar se koi khilae waisa humsafar chahiye.

mummy-papa ki seva karne mein ho jaise lady Shravan,

aur parivar mein rahe jaise Tulsi aur Parvati, waisa humsafar chahiye.

REALITY CHECK DUDE.....

agar rakha yahi criteria, to zindagi k nikal jayenge baaki k bhi saal

aur marte dum tak bolte reh jaoge "ek humsafar chahiye"..

jeevan bhar jo saath nibhaye, aur ho koi nek insaan,

waisa humsafar chahiye.

Happy Independence Day

Dear All,
Very Happy Independence Day to all of us. Freedom that has come by the sacrifice and struggle of millions of people of India.

Just like every year, celebrations took place all over the country with speeches of our "political" leaders. People enjoyed the holiday with patriotic movies shown whole day in all the channels. In our company i.e. TCS also, we had an independence day celebration. With much enthusiasm the whole Sony ODC was decorated with tricolor baloons and people had followed a dress code of wearing Kurtas for men and women in Saris.

Every year we celebrate the independence day in the same fashion. But from the next day all that nationalistic/patriotic feelings vanishes (though I would say hardly people would be getting those feelings. After all people would like to enjoy their "holiday") Sometimes one question arises in my mind, which I would like to discuss today as we "celebrate" our independence.... do we, that is we as a generation, think about steps needed to improve our country ? Do we really care for our country ? Or we just need to be busy with our personal lives and petty issues surrounding us... Of course now we are free and there is no "Calamity" on our country... Does this mean there is no need to think about this and everything is perfect and fine?

I am a common person who is busy with his personal goals of career, finance, family, etc, etc. Can a common person do anything for his country? Initially I did not find any answer to this and just felt satisfied that we have army protecting us from outside forces, our netas ruling the country, and things are going on fine. So where does the nation need my services? or why I should think over this?

After giving a little more thought I started getting some answers which I would like to mention:

To improve my country :

- I can keep my nation clean by not throwing waste on its roads. If I do not find dustbin as is the case everywhere in India, I will try to keep it in some bag and dispose it later when I find one.

- I can pay all my taxes without showing any false rent receipts and medical bills

- I can avoid exploitation of people who serve us by paying the full amount they deserve. An example is paying the full 1.5 times fare to auto and taxis in the night hours.

- I can consider Voting as my primary duty and can cast my vote for every election where I am eligible to vote.

- I can keep away from indulging in corrupting the government officials whether the case may be as small as paying bribe to traffic police.

- May be now or in retired life, I can participate in great initiatives like Teach India by Times of India group.

- I can cultivate respect and love for people of our nation in my heart whether they speak any language, belong to any religion or be natives of any state.

- Lastly I can spread my thoughts to my friends and family.

O God, the list is growing... I feel these are most basic and easiest things we can do to be called a s Responsible Citizens of India... Am I missing some ?

please feel free to leave your comments and ADD ANY OTHER TASKS TO THE LIST .. and pardon me if I have bored you...

Nostalgic trip to birth town Gondal

Hmm. So this is my first blog - Pls bear with this. Actually the thought of writing this came to my mind after I experienced some very relishing moments.

On 24th June, I returned to India after a rock solid trip to US. I had my full, the great places in US to visit, so much to learn on the work front, and above all, superb group of friends from different parts of the nation. In a very short period of time, we had cherished some very enjoyable moments such as having lunch together @ corporate point in a group of 10, returning from office and having tea together watching LA Lakers vs. Orlando NBA finals, getting ready made food at 110 and 313 with special treatment of Papad and Raita (Man it felt great when at night 11 o’clock we are puzzled as if writing a complex data structure algorithm and trying to get an optimal solution - what to prepare in the dinner and then suddenly Amit saying with a big relieved smile on his face, “are aaj to unhone hame khane pe bulaya hai !!!”). Also the great fun in going together for trips in a 15 seater. Thus, the US was great fun and sincerely it was these much fun because of the people living in 3848 Overland Avenue and also the Lawler group.

So coming back to India’s tale, my family had decided to take their “US return J” boy to visit the Bhuvaneshwari Mata Temple back there in my birth town Gondal and then to my Grandfather’s house in Rajkot. So we set out to go to Gondal in a Luxury Bus in the early morning. When we enter the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, the climate changes from Ahmedabad’s Hot and burning to a cool breezy one. As we moved on the roads of Gondal, I remembered the days of my childhood. We visited the temple at about noon. The temple is famous for the beautiful idol of the mother Bhuvaneshwari with people’s wishes getting fulfilled, the surprising thing that occurs at the time of Aarti – the automatic movement of Chhatra (an ornament kept on top of Mata’s Mugat). The temple is also famous all over Gujarat for the Ayurvedic medicines that get manufactured in the premises of Temple. After finishing the worship, my mother introduced me to the Pujari over there. The introduction can be guessed. “He is my son, just returned from America!” But the introduction of Pujari was interesting. My mother said the panditji also visits America several times. Then panditiji took the control of the conversation and said “yes I have been to LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Ohio, New Jersey, Atlanta, Europe, London, France, Fiji“. My god, being a Brahmin by caste, I can now feel safe to leave IT if the recession becomes worseJ.

After finishing the darshan at Temple, mother bought some sweets (the famous milk sweet – Peda) from the Ram Dairy- the Gondal’s best. Suddenly I remembered that my best school friend was there in Gondal, I called him up and he just came in 5 mins as everything in Gondal takes max 10 mins to reach from anywhere to anywhere. We just met for 5 mins and then we had to leave to go to Rajkot. We could not share much things and just felt that why I don’t have enough time? I said we will keep in touch through phone. Then we had lunch at my grandfather’s house. Again the lunch was very delicious with Bundi ke laddu, Aamras, bhendi, gujarati dal and pakodas with Rajkot’s famous lemon chilly chutney. After the lunch, everybody had their set of questions/curiosity about America, I explained the interesting things I had observed over there.

Even though after reaching India I had been doing the only business of eating awesome food, the situation still was “Yeh Pet maange more !”. So a very intelligent thought came into my mind of eating at Dhaba (the highway restaurant) near Rajkot which prepares AWESOME KATHIAWADI food. For most who will not be aware of this particular form of food, it includes the sabji of Sev Tomato, Stuffed Baingan,Baingan bhartha, Dhokdi, etc. and the bread includes Bajra Roti & Parathas also including Khichdi and Kadhi. The sabjis are soaked completely in Oil. On top of this delicious main course, the extra items like Green fried Chilies, Gud and Ghee, Garlic Red Chutney, Curd, Butter milk, Achaar and Papad give you the ultimate satisfaction.

The Krishna restaurant was an open restaurant with tranquility in the atmosphere, cool breeze flowing and the natural scent from the shrubs of Jasmine and Dollars giving a perfect ambience. The restaurant had also arranged for puppet show. The puppeteers clad in a traditional Rajasthani Dress with a decorated Camel had began beating the drums to invite public to their show. But we had the return bus to catch to Ahmedabad. So we could not watch the show.

While returning from the highway restaurant, we were not getting the rickshaw. Then we spotted a multi-passenger rickshaw which was a desi 15 seater, though not claimed by the manufacturer J! We asked if there was any space. There was hardly any space for 2 and the driver said “Beso Beso jagya j jagya che” meaning “Sit, Sit, there is plenty of space”. Somehow parents adjusted at the back and I had the privilege to sit with the driver. Till we reached the bus station, our rickshaw accommodated 3 more persons.

This was all about my journey to country side just after returning from extreme opposite US. Not sure how I have written. Please feel free to leave your comments (or galiyaan).