Optimism prevails!

Commuting in Delhi was a tedious task before the Metro Rail came into service. Buses and autorickshaws were what one had to rely on in absence of a personal conveyance. Back then, I had enrolled in a summer training programme at a hospital in South Delhi. So every day, I used to commute from Greater Noida to South Delhi, switching buses and autos in two hours to make it to the destination in time.

On one particular day, my experiments ran till quite late in the evening. By the time, I was about to leave, the weather gave way and it started to rain. It was 7:30 p.m. already and I could not find a single auto or bus nearby. It had started to get dark and the ticking of the clock was raising my anxiety levels.  There was this other lady standing next to me as well who was also looking for an auto. Tall and elegantly dressed in a handwoven silk saree, she looked quite a damsel in distress amidst the pouring rains. Suddenly I saw an autorickshaw heading in my direction. I started waving at him emphatically to stop. He did stop but that lady approached him before I could and after a fair bit of negotiation, she hired the auto. I stood there in utter disappointment watching her get inside the autorickshaw. I decided to call my Dad to pick me up which meant that I would have to wait in the rain for another two hours.

While I was dialling the number, I heard someone call out “Hello”. I looked up and saw the lady peeping out from the auto. She was waving at me to come to her. I went there and she asked me where I needed to go.

“Greater Noida”, I said. She asked me to hop inside.

 I asked her,”Where are you headed to?”

She said she had to go to some place in East Delhi which was in a different direction from my destination. Assuming that sharing an auto with her would not make sense, I turned around. 
It was then she said, “Hop in. It is getting dark and getting another auto is almost impossible at the moment. I’ll get down somewhere in Noida at a bus-stop and you can ride home in this one."
  I was sceptic at first as she was a stranger but then considering the necessity of the moment, I got in. On the way, I learnt that she was a visiting professor at the medical institute. Finally when we were about to part ways at the bus station in Noida, she got down, asked the autorickshaw the fare to Greater Noida and paid him before I could say anything. I was taken aback by this and tried to return my share of fare to her. She did not accept it; instead with a calm smile on her face she said,”Someone helped me in a similar manner when I was a student and today was my opportunity to return the favour. Do the same when you can.” I could not say anything after that. We exchanged goodbyes and I left. 
That moment embarked me on a road to optimism and hope. The relief in my Mom’s eyes to see me reach home safely only added to the feeling and I realised that optimism can be found all around.
Written for
 https://housing.com/lookup

Befikar Umar Bhar

I am a huge fan of Morgan Freeman and I religiously watch almost all his movies.  So among his 107 actor credits listed on IMDB, it becomes difficult to pick out a favorite. Yet there is one that I never fail to scroll down to in my list of evergreens - The Bucket List. It is a tale of two terminally ill cancer patients who decide on hitting the road to accomplish their to-do list of wish things. This idea led me to compile my own bucket list. Now the moment I sat to think of the things I would want to do before I die, my head was caught in the white noise of a zillion wish things rushing in. So I decided on maintaining a brevity on this list and prioritize the top five things I would do,  given the liberty of shedding all inhibitions and constraints.

The first one on this list is a trip to the country with the highest score on the Happy Planet Index – Costa Rica (http://www.happyplanetindex.org/countries/costa-rica/) . This sun-kissed nation seated in Central America has kept me intrigued since I was a sixth grader glued to Globe Trekker series aired on Discovery Channel. Apart from offering an amazing blend of nature and culture, this tiny nation is also home to several eco-tourism, archaeological and World Heritage sites.

The second item on my list also conforms to my love for travel. Travelling comes with an added pleasure and satiation when there is a purpose added to it. I learnt this when I happened to teach voluntarily for a few days at a school on my trips to one of the rural villages. The exchange of ideas with the kids there and making them aware of the world outside their little hamlet somehow added more meaning to that trip. I wish to take it up in a more organised manner and draw more experience out of those places apart from the touristy bit.

 I like writing and have been trying my hands at Hindi poetry but I want to take a step ahead to Urdu. With ample time at my hands, I would love to read and learn Urdu so that it enables me to reflect in that beautiful language.

I have a deep rooted love for water-bodies and the only thing that keeps me away from it is a fiasco that happened in one of my swimming classes. After an almost near-death experience, I developed a fear of water and I really wish I could overcome it to be a water-baby again.

The final one on my list has to be a fulfillment of my love for gastronomy. I can easily rate myself on the list of an avid food enthusiast. However, when it comes to cooking, that art yet needs to be marveled. I want to study the molecular gastronomy of food and use this science to work on my culinary skills. Of course the wish for access to swanky kitchen accessories for the purpose goes unsaid.

The  IDBI Federal Lifesurance offers insurance plans that can help one accomplish their wish items on the bucket list.    

 http://bit.ly/BefikarUmarBhar

Becoming the Great Indian Litterbug

Right from the day I was born, my folks took to the self-assigned task of deciding on what should I grow up to be. Considering the fact that I have an extensive family, quite a number of exemplars qualified as options from amongst my list of 112 relatives. So now the decision was whether it should be a doctor like my Uncle, an engineer like one of my elder cousins, an investment banker like my grandfather’s sister’s son or a scientist, artist, lawyer or something like someone particular in that list. Midst of all the confusion and discussion in which I had no say per se, I stuck to the only possible option I had – Observation. Now multiple visits were paid to my house by the kinfolks listed by my parents as prototypes for my future self. So using my actively growing grey matter, I started taking note of the traits of each of these prototypes. Despite all the torturous cheek squeezing and chirpy giggly sounds that were a pain to my ear drums, I tried hard to maintain my unbiased take on making my selection. After the rigorous phase of observation and contemplation of each one’s actions, I struck on a prudent idea. I decided to become something what all these ideal exemplars had in common which was littering. Doctor Uncle used to chew paan and paint the bland white walls of the house in bright red. The scientist was in the habit of chewing gum and sticking them here and there in the house almost giving the walls a polka-dotted print without shelling out any moolah to the paint and texture companies. The artist cousin went scribbling and sketching around the house with her sheets and the rough drafts were thrown right out of the window on the street. I wondered what those containers called bins in the house were for. They tossed away so much outside the house, that they appeared to me as philanthropists. So I decided on becoming the Great Indian Litterbug. The best part was that I did not even need to await the process of growing up to become one. I started then and there by coughing out phlegm right on my Aunt’s face. At the age of four, I was taken on my first official visit to a historical monument. The squiggling and doodling on the ancient sandstone walls seemed like a major effort by the Great Indian Litterbug to add his artistic tinge to the this marvel of the past. The sprawling surroundings of the monument were spotted here and there with plastic bottles and empty packets of wafers and biscuits as if the titbits were an offering from the modern junk culinary to the ancestors buried in the tombs beneath the monument.  Finally leaving the place, I found a group of these litterbugs urinating on the walls of this monument and could not fail to acknowledge the superlative degree of greatness they had achieved.

Written for -  http://greatindian.timesofindia.com/

En route Bangalore!

This write-up could not have come at a better time than this. In fact I landed in Bangalore today itself after a long and tiring train journey from Delhi. I have to make arrangements for my temporary move to this city for work. I will be stationed here for around six months and I need to build my temporary hide-out since I cannot live out of a suitcase for such a long duration. While in Delhi, I had conducted ample research on obtaining my necessities for my Bangalore stay. In the process, I came across http://bangalore.quikr.com/ - Quickr’s Bangalore community with a vision of catering to the buying and selling needs of the Bangaloreans in the most convenient way. The range of products they offer for transactions is simply amazing. With around 13 categories and 170 sub-categories of products, they have almost anything and everything to suit one’s necessities as well as luxuries. Hence I decided on using http://bangalore.quikr.com/ for making my arrangements for the Bangalore stay. The first step towards this was looking for a property on rent. I wanted a 1BHK for myself, as near to my work-place as possible. They had numerous options listed in the given range of my budget. There were categories of unfurnished, semi-furnished and fully furnished rooms. Finally I zeroed in on a property around 5 kilometres from my work-place which was finalised through the newly launched feature of this online classifieds - Quikr Nxt. Using this feature, I was able to negotiate and finalise the deal via chat with the seller on the chat window of the website. Next, I wanted a mode of transport to commute to work and courtesy the sluggish traffic conditions in the city, I was advised by one of my colleagues to opt for a two-wheeler to move around the city. Under the category of scooters, I found a couple of options suiting my budget. I will be finalising the purchase within the next two days, once I have settled my luggage at the newly acquired accommodation.

The avid shopper that I am, the diversity of products on this website leaves me spoilt for choice. Next queued on my list is a television. Since I have no acquaintances in the city currently, I plan to rely on the idiot box to keep me company. Also I have my eye on the community and events section of the website. I would not want to waste my weekends in this vivacious city, sitting idle. The exhibitions, music and dance festivals and theatre events would serve as the perfect way to meet new people, socialise and learn all the more about the new city. At the end of it, my sheer motive is to imbibe as much of the city spirit as possible and  http://bangalore.quikr.com/ just made it simpler for me.

As true as it may taste

 It is since childhood that the ethics of honesty being the best policy are enthused in us through various means and measures at home as well as school. However, no matter how intricately is the integrity of honesty stitched in our thought process, one cannot deny that the ease of owning up the truth is guided by the consequence associated with it. Yet the guilt of being dishonest is way more. The Kinley ad reminded me of this episode from my childhood.

I was in the tenth grade at school and we were out on an excursion to a national park. A bunch of thirty kids can be quite a handful. So we had been strictly asked to follow our team leader’s instructions and any deviation from the said set of rules was punitive. It was a three day affair and each day we were taken on a nature trail from the base camp. On the final day of the trip, we were taken to the track the migratory birds of the area. On the previous night, we had a gala time at the camp bonfire singing and dancing. A friend of mine, Sarita, was allotted the responsibility to wipe out the fire before everyone retired to sleep. While I was clearing the empty food packets from the camp area, Sarita moved to get the jug of water to wipe out the fire. However, I stopped her from doing so, since I wanted to spend sometime completing my day’s write-up in the journal by the fire. I assured her that I would blow out the fire before going to sleep. So I sat by the warmth of the bonfire and completed the write-up. My eyelids became so heavy out of the day’s exhaustion that I moved to sleep without wiping out the fire. There was a strong wind blowing at night which carried a lit splinter from the bonfire to the food storage area. By morning most of our food source was charred to dust. Our team leader saw this and he lost his temper. He called out for Sarita in anger and started yelling at her for not blowing out the campfire. I was aghast seeing him so vexed and stood there quietly while Sarita was muffled up with tears in her eyes. After a while, we started with the nature trail and our team leader became busy with the preparations for the day. I was not able to garner the courage to face Sarita for my cowardice of not owning up my mistake. I kept to myself, the entire day and skipped lunch as well. When we returned in the evening, I could not bear the burden of the guilt and went to our team leader. I confessed my fault and also apologised to Sarita for the episode. She hugged me tight and our team leader punished me by boycotting me from the final day’s bonfire. Though I was saddened a bit by the punishment, yet it was a relief to get rid of the burden of dishonesty.

Reminiscing my Teddy Travelogue

As a kid, my father made sure that we carried a little scribble-book along, on every vacation. At the end of each day, both of us would sit down and make a list of interesting things we came across on that day’s outing. He took care that the little notebook did not just become a mundane listing of historical monuments, museum specimens or the geographical formations. Instead he used to bring to my notice the titbits of the locales. A certain kind of tree that just grew in that particular place or the colourful pebble-stones that lined the cobblestoned path or at times just a uniquely clad person in the traditional attire of that place; we used to spot these sights on our ramblings. At times it only turned out to be a game on who spots more. We also had this ritual on listing down the term used for greeting a person in the local language of the place we visited. So every outing we went on has a Sat sri akal (Punjabi), Vanakkam, (Tamil) or kem cho (Gujarati) listed, which was used by the both of us to randomly greet people on the streets.  At times, it even helped us strike random conversations on the streets with the local people and then there were also times when we used to get snotty looks from people as if the father-daughter duo had gone berserk. He used to pick up information on the indigenous ingredients and the local food delights midst these conversations and this was followed by a hogging spree across the streets of the place. Though we were also victimised by the health and hygiene lectures by Mom on certain instances of our upset stomachs courtesy the spice rating of the region, yet nothing deterred us from conducting our food trials. In fact the self-confessed epicurean that I am today, is courtesy my father. Back from the vacation, we used to punch in photographs with the scribbled notes and my father kept them in his closet. Looking back at those times, today, I realise that he made me look beyond the touristy make-up of the place and imbibe the place in me.

Last year, we shifted to a new place and while moving things, my mother found a bundle of these antique notebooks. She was about to throw them away when my father stepped in saying he wanted to keep them with him since they were a memorabilia of  his magic times with his daughter. When my mother mentioned this to me, I was taken aback, since I was of the opinion that it was only for my enjoyment that my father made these efforts. I only realised the truth of it when I went on a trip with my niece, last Christmas to Kerala and we had a gala time.The curiosity in her innocent eyes and her gaping expressions at the sight of anything magnificent were simply adorable.   Kids sure add magic to your vacation. The kids traveller tales on Club Mahindra’s Teddy Travelogues http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html, only affirmed my feeling.

Life midst Fear and Risks

It was a trip in the mountains to a hamlet in the Kumaon valley placed in the middle of the woods. It was not a typical touristy set-up; in fact the place just had one hotel which too was under construction. We managed accommodation at this property that belonged to a part-time zoologist, rather a herpetologist. This man was a pure daredevil, at least to me, considering that I am a wrecked case of herpetophobia (fear of reptiles – snake and lizards). Jigendra was studying the king cobras in the region since past 7 years. As much as I had an aversion towards the specie, the more he was in love with the serpentine family.

On the second morning of my stay there, I woke up to the commotion and noise outside my room. I stepped out and saw a few villagers standing outside asking for Jigendra. A snake had bitten one of the village residents and they had come to seek Jigendra’s help. In the meanwhile, Jigendra also came in and all of us sprinted across the winding roads to the victim’s house. Almost the entire village had gathered outside the house and they were spelling out curses for the snake. Jigendra went in and I had to follow him inside with the first-aid kit unwillingly, considering the culprit animal was still inside the house. Jigendra assessed the manifestations of the bite – inflammation and coagulation and gave him antivenin (antidote for snake’s venom). Once the patient stabilized, Jigendra reported that it was bite from a mildly poisonous snake, so the patient was safe.  In the meanwhile, I had already gone pale at the thought of co-habitation with the snake in that house. The entire while, I had been thinking of the dingy nooks and corners the snake might be hiding in or may be it would just drop on my head from the roof. Laden with goose-bumps, I could almost hear my heart thumping midst the hullabaloo around. I almost became frantic with fear when I saw Jigendra searching for the snake in the house. And before I could make an escape from the scene, Jigendra had the animal in his hand and he was holding it out towards me with an amusing smile. I almost screamed at him to keep that thing away from me but he asked me to touch the animal just once saying it was harmless. I would have walked out from there had there been a fewer people around. So with my eyes shut tightly, I just touched the snake with one trembling finger. To my surprise, the animal felt velvety smooth. I opened my eyes. Even the snake appeared to be scared and it was shying away from the crowd. Seeing this reaction of mine, Jigendra did something incredulous. He handed the entire animal to me and I could feel it squirming on my forearm. I was numb and could not utter a word out of distress. Jigendra asked me to calm down and handle the animal with both hands. With all the courage I could gather, I used my second hand which felt heavy as a rock, to pick the animal from the other arm. It was that moment when the futility of the fear dawned upon me and I could appreciate the beauty of the animal. It was a cat snake and it looked beautiful with its scales glistening in the sun. Finally we set it free in the forest to avoid its intervention with human life. The self-assessed risk that I had subjected myself to came in as a life changing experience for me. So much was the impact of this episode on me that I picked up reptilian immunology as my research topic for my doctoral thesis. Overcoming this fear proved to be a milestone for my career. The mountain dew film brings out the essence that risks have to be taken in life to succeed. One may also refer to their facebook page for more such stories-  https://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia.