Coexistence
Its not about the camera, it’s not about the location,
It’s the way you coexist with all the other elements…….complementing each other and making the frame so beautiful, so heavenly so lively!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Picture this!
Coexistence
Its not about the camera, it’s not about the location,
It’s the way you coexist with all the other elements…….complementing each other and making the frame so beautiful, so heavenly so lively!
The Indian Crab Theory.........proves to be true!
There have been many jokes on "The Indian Crab Theory" all the versions have the same meaning.
For some of you who don't know the "The Indian Crab Theory", one version of the joke goes like this:
In a popular CRAB market in
There were baskets of each country in the world lying there full of live crabs. The baskets of each country were covered from the top except that of one country "
The basket full of Indian crabs was uncovered from the top.
This perplexed a visitor who asked the owner why only the Indian basket was left open from the top and that of every other country was closed from the top.
The owner replied:"It’s simple. If we left the baskets of other countries open, all the crabs would climb to the top and walk out.
However with the Indian crabs it is never so as every time an Indian crab tries to climb up the container, another crab pulls it down and therefore none of the Indian crabs are able to leave the container!!!!!!!!!!!"
No wonder a lot of people think the "crab" should replace the "tiger" as Indian national animal!
Can we Indians never stand the prosperity of another fellow Indian especially if it is attached with fame & glory?.
This culture in
These observations in the past years will prove its existence in our country. But these are only a few instances, i am sure there are many more!
Instance 1 :
Shekar Kapur is a well known film director. He is famous for making the movies "Masoom", "Mr.
We all know that his movie "Bandit Queen" secured him an Oscar nomination for the best foreign film.
The only problem he faced was that the film was not being screened in
Shekar Kapur hence tried his very best to persuade the Indian government to remove the ban on the movie. The ban was not removed until the film lost its nomination. The film was then screened with absolutely no cuts.
Instance 2 :
Aamir Khan's movie "Lagaan" was fortunate enough to secure a nomination at the Oscars.
Mahesh Bhatt started commenting that Aamir should not go to the Oscars. According to Bhatt, this would degrade Indians. He felt that we were trying to get acceptance from the western world (Well he did not say it so diplomatically either).
Most of the media scrutinized Amir for agreeing to attend this award ceremony. They wanted him to boycott it as he does at all the Indian award ceremonies.
Instance 3 :
Amitabh Bachchan brought the Miss World Contest to
Being the host country has a lot of plus points. It helps other countries understand
This initiative should have got ABCL a lot of money. What happened was a total reverse reaction.
All the women's rights activists came to the streets & demanded that this show be stopped. Their reason was very simple. Women barely clad showing their bodies on stage was unacceptable.
We as a country have had barely clad women in our films since the 60s (May be even earlier). We have been sending our girls to these contests since ages.
We have continued to do so after all this hue & cry.
The police at
Instance 4 :
Karnam Malleswari won the bronze medal at Olympics for weight lifting. She made us proud.
That's true, she definitely made us feel proud, but do you know why she got a bronze medal?
Well the story goes like this: She could lift weights more than that lifted by the winner. Her Indian coach knew that.
He hence told the Olympics organizing committee that she was "Taking Drugs". They hence did several tests on her. This accusation was made repeatedly.
She then asked the organizers as to why she was being asked to take these tests again & again. They told her that an Indian had reported this & so they were forced to take these tests.
The organizers cannot ignore pleas from the home country.
The tests were negative but this forced her to sit there for hours. She lost on her practice in the most crucial few days which made her get the bronze.
(She personally expressed this on a TV show. This is not a rumour but i wonder why her own coach would do such a thing).
Instance 5 :
We won the cricket world cup & those memories are etched in our minds. Yes that was a great moment in our history.
The prestigious cup should be in some museum.
On the contrary, the cup was broken when some people were agitating against the BCC.
Instance 6 :
IIM & IIT are the most prestigious universities in the world.
There is a saying in US that an Indian studying at Harvard is a guy who could not secure a seat at IIM.
We are respected all over the world but what are we doing to sustain this glory?
We are introducing OBC quota & fee cuts to destroy its reputation.
Instance 7 :
BPOs in
We on the other hand are banning English medium schools if they do not add "Kannada" in their curriculum.
The children have been forced to join some government school in the middle of their term. These children have become the scapegoats in this political drama.
It is very much possible that a lot of children will fail this year and then every year after wards.
There are many other instances which I rather not quote
Well... what can I say?
We don't need foreigners to beat us in games.
We don't need outsiders to meddle with our industries & our educational institutes.
Leave us on our own & we will destroy ourselves better.
This is a very shameful state of affairs. Now we even see people in power trying only to promote their own community & caste people by all means possible.
We need to change our attitude. We are humans first, then Indians!
Caste and Community should have priority only in our personal life!
We should learn to encourage our fellow citizens so that they can truly make us proud by reaching new heights.
But will this be ever possible????
Friday, July 17, 2009
Goa:
We have been to Goa 3 times, we have seen Goa from every angle from every corner and even from every height!
Have climbed most of the mountains around the beaches, Have done all water sports, have done paragliding, infact we drove for a whole day looking at the sky for Para gliders, we spotted two at almost 3ish in da afternoon, we followed them and climbed up the mountain, it was almost a 1 hr climb and we finally convinced one of the foreigner for just 1000 bucks for both of us! The other guy was just not interested but finally cracked!
It was really funny coz these guys were paragliding in the sky and we were shouting and doing “bhav toll” like the Indians we are ;) from the mountain top!
They realized that our nagging will not stop and agreed to our final price of 1000 bucks. After all they were asking for 3000 grands for both of us!
The best part was the landing, as it was getting dark and our car was parked below the mountain, they dropped us at the beach.
Where most of the girls were, ahem, u know what ;)
Well the next thing u see, the para gliding guys are puffing the magic dragon wid our money at a nearby shack!
The crowd was just amazing at this beach and we stayed back till 2am, and drove back totally sloshed to club cabana, where we partied till 4.30am!
Oh, there is so much to write about Goa! Can’t wait to go back to Goa either!!
We still have to write about Shimla, Manali, Chandigarh etc and even Egypt & Rome, is there space here to write more, hello is anyone even reading????
Have climbed most of the mountains around the beaches, Have done all water sports, have done paragliding, infact we drove for a whole day looking at the sky for Para gliders, we spotted two at almost 3ish in da afternoon, we followed them and climbed up the mountain, it was almost a 1 hr climb and we finally convinced one of the foreigner for just 1000 bucks for both of us! The other guy was just not interested but finally cracked!
It was really funny coz these guys were paragliding in the sky and we were shouting and doing “bhav toll” like the Indians we are ;) from the mountain top!
They realized that our nagging will not stop and agreed to our final price of 1000 bucks. After all they were asking for 3000 grands for both of us!
The best part was the landing, as it was getting dark and our car was parked below the mountain, they dropped us at the beach.
Where most of the girls were, ahem, u know what ;)
Well the next thing u see, the para gliding guys are puffing the magic dragon wid our money at a nearby shack!
The crowd was just amazing at this beach and we stayed back till 2am, and drove back totally sloshed to club cabana, where we partied till 4.30am!
Oh, there is so much to write about Goa! Can’t wait to go back to Goa either!!
We still have to write about Shimla, Manali, Chandigarh etc and even Egypt & Rome, is there space here to write more, hello is anyone even reading????
Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rajasthan is a very harsh, scorched land of savage summer heat but also full of the brightest colours. Countering the barren landscape with vibrant hues in their everyday wear and charming murals painted on their drab sepia-coloured mud homes, for the people as in the locals, life is one big carnival.
Even in the face of sure death. Here are many tales of desperate courage writ. Of men donning saffron robes and riding out to confront the enemy and women folk preferring death to dishonor. Even in everyday life today, the Rajput's sense of honour, family and tradition come foremost.
Being a Rajput myself, I just had to visit this place and it did turn out an amazing experience for us!
We covered on Day 1 -
Jodhpur
Mehrangarh Fort (one of the largest forts in India),
Jaswant Thada (memorial of Maharaja Jaswant Singh),
Umaid Bhavan Palace (is one of the world's largest private residences, a part is now managed by Taj Hotels) there is an excellent museum housing models of airplanes, weapons, antique clocks etc.
Day 2 -
Mandore (old capital of Jodhpur – just 100kms away) the place is surrounded by landscaped Gardens,
Bal Samand Lake,
Manwar (a treat located in the heart of gently rolling sand dune belt of Rajasthan)
Day 3 –
Jaiselmer (180 kms) Camel safari in the dunes afterwards just drive around the “Desert Citadel” few cities can match the magnificence of the museum city
Day - 4 –
visited the Fort that seemed to rise out of the desert haze, its yellow sandstone walls and bastions taking on a golden hue in the afternoon,
Manek Chowk,
Patwon Ki Haveli,
Salim Singhji Ki Haveli.
Gadisar Lake (beautiful man made lake surrounded by small temples and shrines)
Bada Bagh (the hill with the cenotaphs is an amazing site).
Lodruva (important Jain pilgrimages dating back from 12th to 15th century).
Drove on to Sam Dunes to get inside into desert life.
Camel rides on the sand dunes here are an unforgettable experience.
Day – 5:
Bikaner (300 ksm drive) this is true desert country and situated directly on the ancient caravan route which linked west / central Asia and North India.
Ramdevra temple (en route visited this temple dedicated to saint Baba Ram Dev who took Samadhi in 1458. It was built in 1931 by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner around the Samadhi).
Visited the market and then slept at the hotel!
Day - 6:
Bikaner city, covering Junagadh Fort (Raja Rai Singh built this impressive fort, it is encircled by a moat and houses many outstanding palaces, pavilions and temples made of red sandstone and marble with kiosks and Balconies) and Lalgadh Palace!
Evening did some shopping and went back to da hotel.
Day 7:
Drove back to jodhpur, gave back the car – went to airport – back to Mumbai!
Hell, why did we come back! We wanna go back!
Rajasthan is a very harsh, scorched land of savage summer heat but also full of the brightest colours. Countering the barren landscape with vibrant hues in their everyday wear and charming murals painted on their drab sepia-coloured mud homes, for the people as in the locals, life is one big carnival.
Even in the face of sure death. Here are many tales of desperate courage writ. Of men donning saffron robes and riding out to confront the enemy and women folk preferring death to dishonor. Even in everyday life today, the Rajput's sense of honour, family and tradition come foremost.
Being a Rajput myself, I just had to visit this place and it did turn out an amazing experience for us!
We covered on Day 1 -
Jodhpur
Mehrangarh Fort (one of the largest forts in India),
Jaswant Thada (memorial of Maharaja Jaswant Singh),
Umaid Bhavan Palace (is one of the world's largest private residences, a part is now managed by Taj Hotels) there is an excellent museum housing models of airplanes, weapons, antique clocks etc.
Day 2 -
Mandore (old capital of Jodhpur – just 100kms away) the place is surrounded by landscaped Gardens,
Bal Samand Lake,
Manwar (a treat located in the heart of gently rolling sand dune belt of Rajasthan)
Day 3 –
Jaiselmer (180 kms) Camel safari in the dunes afterwards just drive around the “Desert Citadel” few cities can match the magnificence of the museum city
Day - 4 –
visited the Fort that seemed to rise out of the desert haze, its yellow sandstone walls and bastions taking on a golden hue in the afternoon,
Manek Chowk,
Patwon Ki Haveli,
Salim Singhji Ki Haveli.
Gadisar Lake (beautiful man made lake surrounded by small temples and shrines)
Bada Bagh (the hill with the cenotaphs is an amazing site).
Lodruva (important Jain pilgrimages dating back from 12th to 15th century).
Drove on to Sam Dunes to get inside into desert life.
Camel rides on the sand dunes here are an unforgettable experience.
Day – 5:
Bikaner (300 ksm drive) this is true desert country and situated directly on the ancient caravan route which linked west / central Asia and North India.
Ramdevra temple (en route visited this temple dedicated to saint Baba Ram Dev who took Samadhi in 1458. It was built in 1931 by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner around the Samadhi).
Visited the market and then slept at the hotel!
Day - 6:
Bikaner city, covering Junagadh Fort (Raja Rai Singh built this impressive fort, it is encircled by a moat and houses many outstanding palaces, pavilions and temples made of red sandstone and marble with kiosks and Balconies) and Lalgadh Palace!
Evening did some shopping and went back to da hotel.
Day 7:
Drove back to jodhpur, gave back the car – went to airport – back to Mumbai!
Hell, why did we come back! We wanna go back!
Delhi
Delhi
Don't let your first impressions of Delhi stick, get behind the madcap facade and discover the inner peace of a city rich with culture, architecture and human diversity, deep with history and totally addictive to epicureans.
Both 'Old' and ‘New’ Delhi exert a beguiling charm on people who come for a visit here. Lose yourself and unwinding the secrets of the city's Mughal past in the labyrinthine streets of 'Old' Delhi before emerging in the wide open spaces of imperial New Delhi, with its ordered governmental vistas and generous leafy avenues.
Delhi is the capital of India, and it's also the travel hub of northern India.
Places we visited:
Qutub Minar (tallest stone tower in India),
Raj Ghat (is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi),
Red Fort (built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan)
Lotus Temple (The Bahá'í House of Worship, popularly known as the Lotus Temple due to its flowerlike shape),
Jama Masjid (largest mosque in India) we were a bit upset seeing the surrounding area of the Jama Masjid, this is a travel hot spot and the shops and streets covering the Masjid are very dirty and unhygienic!
Chandni Chowk (the main market of delhi)
India gate (is one of the largest war memorials in India, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens),
Rashtrapati Bhavan (is the official residence of the President of India),
Akshardham Temple (you need atleast 4 hrs to enjoy this beautiful place thoroughly, but no mobiles or cameras are allowed here),
Humayun's Tomb – (build by humayun’s wife)
You can check out the pics at Flickr!
Matheran
I just can't recollect the exact date, but my photo feed says it was 28th of July, 2003.
Maybe this was da day I transferred these pictures from my digital camera to my home PC, and these are some of the rare pictures I still have!
Because the day Mumbai flooded, I lost all my memoirs, thanks to the digital age, I still remember that unfortunate day, when water started rising inside my ground floor office and we had to vacate the place as it just kept rising at a tremendous speed, it was a wise decision as the water rose to almost 6ft (inside our office) and had crossed the 7ft mark on vidhyanidhi school road at Juhu, when we left we could see both our cars almost submerged in the water! But this post is not about that..........
It all started on a mad saturday night, we take it as 26th July 2003, as the pics I see are of the return on 28th July 2003 (monday)
I used to party 3-4 times a week, as I used to host "events" in clubs across mumbai, we have witnessed packed houses, and I still own records that no one can shake till date! (Will explain that in some other post)
It was one of those crazy nights where all my friends and I instantly decided to leave for "out of Mumbai" after the club shut down at almost 4am!
We picked up all that we cud :) and stuffed ourselves in a "Maruti Zen" we collapsed the seats like always and 8 people got in (crazy), 5 guyz and 3 girls and Jaishree was one of them!
It was a common feeling to drive down and reach our destination (these feelings were very common on those days as we used to head out almost every weekend) in that windy monsoon midnight.
We always decided “where to go” after sitting inside the car, and we always came to a agreeable destination till we reached the highway!
Driving through the highway in the early morning fog was really tough but we were relieved when we saw the beautiful hill station nearing us and it was “Matheran”, I was totally against driving down to matheran as I had visited it just 5 days back with my college (college trip) but majority wins and I gave in!
Matheran is a unique hill station in India in a way that all vehicles are banned and there are no concrete or tar roads, just dirt roads.
It gives a feeling that you are transported in a past era. We parked our car at the entry and decided to hike till the top. I remember clearly how the thunder was rumbling, lightning was striking & heavy rain was pouring making us all drenched when we had no spare cloths.
It was murky & mysterious in no time. We all held each other’s hand and followed our friends making a slander zig zag path, I also remember taking a few easy short escapes. Taking bath at every turn on the waterfall was so much fun, I still remember the feeling of water pouring on the head, the moment u get out of it, you want to submerge yourself again, but you move ahead as you know, another one is just around the corner!
And finally we were there, glorified with this scenic beauty, the climate so cool & toxic free, surroundings were massy green with deep forest & to your eyes they become the world’s best waterfalls you have ever seen, the air is so clean & fresh and you can see clouds around you, the feeling is as if you have reached “heaven”.
I felt time had just stood as I passed rummaged though the small bazaar and reached my resort. I was telling everyone the stories from my college visit and that we were made to stay in a cheap hotel and given horrible food, even though the teacher had taken 800 Rs. Per Person!
But this time we stayed at Brightlands resort at a “special price” as one of my friends knew the owner and payment was supposed to be done back at Mumbai! This meant that we had more money to blow up in Matheran :)
As we were all drenched and all the walking was about to give us all a rash (as we were all wearing party clothes) the first thing we did was “bought local branded undies and shorts” to stay as dry as possible!
We walked a lot covering all the points, even walked in the jungle at late nights and scared each other, but the news that there was a landslide due to the heavy rains, soured our plans to stay back, many said that it cud get more worse and the roads could be blocked for weeks! We as guys were ok with it, but not the girls!
We even decided to send one couple back (who were really scared of getting stuck) but as they were leaving, we all thought that it was not wise to send them all alone to hike down (as transport was cut) and decided that we all should leave together!
But it was a wise decision to leave together, what we saw (the land slide) was a huge portion of the road had given in and water was still flowing downhill with full force. People made a human chain to cross the stretch and yes, it was dangerous, coz the water was flowing with speed and with a lot of mud, and anything could have happened at such a point, another landslide, a rock maybe, but by the grace of god, we crossed it and did not hear of any news of any incident at Matheran after reaching back.
But I have to admit that “Matheran” is truly 'The Best Hill Station in Maharashtra.
I wish I could publish the pictures but all are group pictures and 1 couple who are in all the pictures have split, so it would not be wise to put up their pictures now as they are already married now and not in touch with us!
Maybe this was da day I transferred these pictures from my digital camera to my home PC, and these are some of the rare pictures I still have!
Because the day Mumbai flooded, I lost all my memoirs, thanks to the digital age, I still remember that unfortunate day, when water started rising inside my ground floor office and we had to vacate the place as it just kept rising at a tremendous speed, it was a wise decision as the water rose to almost 6ft (inside our office) and had crossed the 7ft mark on vidhyanidhi school road at Juhu, when we left we could see both our cars almost submerged in the water! But this post is not about that..........
It all started on a mad saturday night, we take it as 26th July 2003, as the pics I see are of the return on 28th July 2003 (monday)
I used to party 3-4 times a week, as I used to host "events" in clubs across mumbai, we have witnessed packed houses, and I still own records that no one can shake till date! (Will explain that in some other post)
It was one of those crazy nights where all my friends and I instantly decided to leave for "out of Mumbai" after the club shut down at almost 4am!
We picked up all that we cud :) and stuffed ourselves in a "Maruti Zen" we collapsed the seats like always and 8 people got in (crazy), 5 guyz and 3 girls and Jaishree was one of them!
It was a common feeling to drive down and reach our destination (these feelings were very common on those days as we used to head out almost every weekend) in that windy monsoon midnight.
We always decided “where to go” after sitting inside the car, and we always came to a agreeable destination till we reached the highway!
Driving through the highway in the early morning fog was really tough but we were relieved when we saw the beautiful hill station nearing us and it was “Matheran”, I was totally against driving down to matheran as I had visited it just 5 days back with my college (college trip) but majority wins and I gave in!
Matheran is a unique hill station in India in a way that all vehicles are banned and there are no concrete or tar roads, just dirt roads.
It gives a feeling that you are transported in a past era. We parked our car at the entry and decided to hike till the top. I remember clearly how the thunder was rumbling, lightning was striking & heavy rain was pouring making us all drenched when we had no spare cloths.
It was murky & mysterious in no time. We all held each other’s hand and followed our friends making a slander zig zag path, I also remember taking a few easy short escapes. Taking bath at every turn on the waterfall was so much fun, I still remember the feeling of water pouring on the head, the moment u get out of it, you want to submerge yourself again, but you move ahead as you know, another one is just around the corner!
And finally we were there, glorified with this scenic beauty, the climate so cool & toxic free, surroundings were massy green with deep forest & to your eyes they become the world’s best waterfalls you have ever seen, the air is so clean & fresh and you can see clouds around you, the feeling is as if you have reached “heaven”.
I felt time had just stood as I passed rummaged though the small bazaar and reached my resort. I was telling everyone the stories from my college visit and that we were made to stay in a cheap hotel and given horrible food, even though the teacher had taken 800 Rs. Per Person!
But this time we stayed at Brightlands resort at a “special price” as one of my friends knew the owner and payment was supposed to be done back at Mumbai! This meant that we had more money to blow up in Matheran :)
As we were all drenched and all the walking was about to give us all a rash (as we were all wearing party clothes) the first thing we did was “bought local branded undies and shorts” to stay as dry as possible!
We walked a lot covering all the points, even walked in the jungle at late nights and scared each other, but the news that there was a landslide due to the heavy rains, soured our plans to stay back, many said that it cud get more worse and the roads could be blocked for weeks! We as guys were ok with it, but not the girls!
We even decided to send one couple back (who were really scared of getting stuck) but as they were leaving, we all thought that it was not wise to send them all alone to hike down (as transport was cut) and decided that we all should leave together!
But it was a wise decision to leave together, what we saw (the land slide) was a huge portion of the road had given in and water was still flowing downhill with full force. People made a human chain to cross the stretch and yes, it was dangerous, coz the water was flowing with speed and with a lot of mud, and anything could have happened at such a point, another landslide, a rock maybe, but by the grace of god, we crossed it and did not hear of any news of any incident at Matheran after reaching back.
But I have to admit that “Matheran” is truly 'The Best Hill Station in Maharashtra.
I wish I could publish the pictures but all are group pictures and 1 couple who are in all the pictures have split, so it would not be wise to put up their pictures now as they are already married now and not in touch with us!
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