Visit of Tamil Nadu

 

First things first – I am now in Tamil Nadu. Yes, my travelling has now brought me to Tamil Nadu. Just look at my itinerary from the last few days and you will know how much I have been traveling. Here goes – Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tuticorin, Kamuti, Mudugalathur, Sayalgudi, Malathur Mukku, Okkadi, Ervadi  and Valinokam. I do not wish to write where I will vist for the next few days. Reason are simple – I myself do not know where I will be a week from now.

Here I attempt to catch few things about my visit of Tamil Nadu. Well, the first thing that I observed about this place in general and the people in particular is that – they are a proud lot. Tamilians have a lot of  pride for their culture and their language. It was difficult for me to find bill boards written in English. Many people here too take a lot of pride for being tamilians and hardly prefer to talk any language apart from Tamil. I happen to stay in one of the very good hotel in Maduri. 90% of the channels are tamil channels. I really appriciate their sense of pride and love for their culture. I would not have learnt Chinese if I were there in China for 9 years. But I sure did learn Tamil by staying 9 days in Tamil nadu

Here are a few high points of my visit to tamil nadu.

 

• I got to meet a school friend of mine in Delhi Airport – By chance. We met each other after a gap of about 15 years. Better still, we were traveling by the same flight. God and the funny ways in which he works.
• I got to attend the marriage of a close friend of mine in Tamil nadu. I Never knew i would be able to make it to his marriage. And I was really sorry for not being able to make it to his marriage. Just a week before his marriage, my boss called me and told – “you have to go to Tamil Nadu, its Urgent. The place where I was supposed to go was just 140 Kms from the place of my friends marriage. God and the funny ways in which he works.
• I had a very special Birthday on the third of June – I visited Madhuri Meenakshi temple on my birthday. I had never imagined that I will spend my 26th birth anniersay in this famed temple of south India. God and the funny ways in which he works.
• I visited the Ervadi Dargah and also the mental Asylum. More out of curosity. It turned out to be a very touching and memorable visit. God and the funny ways in which he works.

I know a few of the people who happen to read this might think that I am one lucky guy who gets to travel so much. Well I have to agree – God has been very kind to me.

 

 

The Alchemist…

I have wanted to write this entry since the time I finished reading “The Alchemist”. It is definitely one of the most beautiful books that I have read. The central character (Santiago) has been so wonderfully presented that every person can see a small part of himself with the central character. Apart from being a very good read, the book also made me ask myself some very deep questions. What is my destiny? Am I traveling the right path? Will I end up being a baker who was destined to find a pot of gold? Frankly, I am very much afraid to even think about these questions, let alone answer them. It is said in the book that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I wonder when my teacher will arrive. I wonder if I am ready enough for a teacher.

But there is one thing said in the book which I believe totally. It is about the so called “Old man in shining armor” helping you in your life’s path. Ever since I was a kid I have always felt that there is “Someone” watching over me. Someone, whom I have never seen or met, but who always has my best interests in his mind. I call him God and the people who have read “The Alchemist” can call him the old man in the shining armor. Every time I have a bad experience he seems to be whispering in my ears – You will very soon understand why you went through this. 

Let me try and explain by taking someone examples from my life. Early in my childhood, I had to leave my hometown and study in Delhi. I am talking about a time when I was in 6^th standard. It was a new place and I absolutely hated being there. I had no friends in the place and almost always felt as a south Indian outcast among North Indians. I remember wondering why I had to go through all this rubbish. Three years later when I was leaving Delhi and going back to my hometown, I again felt miserable. This time it was because, I had made so many new friends and I will now never be able to see them again. Now, after 15 years due to a strange twist, I had to go to Gurgaon for my work and one by one I am getting back in touch with all my old friends. You cannot imagine how happy I feel whenever I meet my “long lost friends”!!!! I am glad I came here, went back and again came here. It was as if everything was planned. 

I am an electronics and communication engineer by education. I had always wanted to be a software engineer. Fate made me a telecom engineer. I was very angry on God to have made a telecom engineer out of me. It did not take me long to know that this job was “Charming”. In fact I began to love it. Everything that I had studied in my four years of engineer was proving to be useful. Today when I call my “Software engineer” friends that are more bitter then me. They are angry that studied electronics and are working on a computer. They are angry that the market is so over crowded that they have become just another person in the crowd. They are angry that their day start starts staring into a computer and ends with staring at the same computer. Today I am glad I am communication engineer and am enjoying every moment of it. It was as if everything was planned.

I used to hate traveling a lot. I liked to be in familiar surrounding with familiar faces. I hated the uncertainty that traveling brought you. My job as a communication engineer involved a lot of travel. The first time I went on a travel, I was so bloody scared and nervous that I lost 17,000 Rs from my purse. Just imagine how I felt!!!! But slowly as time went by, and I traveled more places, I began to see why people enjoy traveling. I in fact began to love it. My hate for traveling began to be replaced by a love for it. As I did so I also began to feel more confident about myself. Today I have traveled to more places then many of my “Software engineers”. I love the challenges of going to unknown places and visiting unknown people and finding friends. Now I am confident that I can go even to the North Pole and make friends there. Traveling has become such an inseparable part of me that I now wonder I did not like it before. It was as if everything was planned. 

Like all people of my generation, I too got hooked to the internet. I loved to chat my heart out online. It was during this time that I found a very interesting lady online. She was so cheerful and bright that I thought it was her that I was waiting for all these days. It was not to be. And it turned out that it was just my hormones and infatuation that were fooling around with me. She was not the girl after all. But all these chatting session somehow made me feel good about writing my heart out. I realized that I loved to put my thoughts on paper and publish it. It cleared my mind and lightened my heart. I turned to blogging. I started to write my “own” articles. Tough I do not have a big fan following, I enjoy publishing my thoughts online. What started as a routine chatting with one girl online ended up with me trying my hand on blogging and to this day I have written about 60+ blogs. I plan to write atleast a 100 more. I have found some geninuly good bloggers/blogs online. I have inspired some of my own friends to start blogging. I am loving it. It was as if everything was planned.

 

Quick update…

It has been a long time since I have typed in anything. I alone know how much I have missed blogging. But I have not been able to do so. One of the reason for this was that the last few days have been extremely eventful for me. Now that its 12:34 AM on a monday morning and I have time,tranquility of the night and Insomnia on my side I thought it would be a great idea to just key in whatever happened to me in the last few days.

I got the Idea of doing this after reading a wonderful blog that I nowadays visit almost on a daily basis http://nrsl.wordpress.com/

 

• I came back from Nepal to India. (In a strange way I am missing Nepal).
• Visited my brother who was in Hospital due to acute Jaundice (By God’s grace, he is now fine).
• Had a memorable stay in Bangalore (only one night). Met all my old roommates and chatted away the entire night. It will remain as one of the most memorable night of mine.
• Stayed in Hyderabad over a weekend. Met all the old colleagues, friends and roommates. The get together in Ameerpet with all my “Gang” really charged up my batteries.
• I FINALLY found a room near my office in Gurgaon. Gosh!!!!! I had been wanting to change my old room so badly that now I wonder how I did not so earlier.
• After finding the room, I was pissed off. The room was simply too costly for me. I cursed myself for convincing myself to move into such a costly room. But, out of the blue, I found two people who were willing to share my room. So, end of the day, I got my room and I got it for cheap. (God!!! I love you).
• I got a promotion at work. I am now a so called “Team Lead”. This is a new challenge for me, I hope and pray that I respond well to this challenge as well. 
• I finished reading the Alchemist. I must admit it is one of the most wonderful book I have read in a long long time.
• Started reading “Icon”. I have finished almost 25% of the book. As of now this book has portrayed Steve jobs as an “Anti hero”. I don’t like this, cause Steve Jobs is one of my heros. I will still go ahead and complete the book.
• I am now Chandigarh on official work. It is a wonderful place and I like the climate here. I now know first hand why bachelor like this place. Here I saw some of the most beautiful girls of India. Gosh!!! this place is heaven.

I am sure whoever reads this might give a damn about what I did all these days. I understand you. But after many many days, when I read this blog, I am sure I will be glad I wrote this

 

Nepal Votes for change

It’s been close to 20 days since I am in Nepal. As you might have already guessed, I loved this place. It’s been an absolute delight to be here. The tours, travels and visits apart, there is something very important that happened in Nepal during my stay here. Nepal has voted for a change. Nepal has voted to form its own constitution.

From what ever little I saw of Nepal, I can say that there are two major things that can drive Nepal as country (economically). One is, of course, Tourism. Another is Water power. Yes, Water power!!! A small trivia here – After Brazil, Nepal is the second country with the most water resources. You have all type of water resource here, river, like, stream – everything. I read somewhere – if somehow all this water resource is converted into energy, not a single person in Nepal will need Petrol/diesel. Everything can run on electricity.

But sadly for Nepal and its citizens, both these source of income have not been harnessed fully. For tourism to flourish fully, political stability is required. This is something that Nepal has not enjoyed for a long time. They have already been facing a lot of internal fighting and instability. Take my own case for example; in the last 20 days of my stay here, I saw five bomb blasts within a radius of 5 KMs from the place of my work and one bomb blast in a place of worship outside Katmandu valley. Even after this I see foreign tourists moving around and enjoying the place as if there are in paradise. Then just imagine, how tourism would be if there was no civil unrest and political stability in Nepal!!!

As far as harnessing water resource is concerned, it requires money. This is again something that, at present Nepal is not having in abundance. Most of the money that it has earned previously has either been either looted by anti-social elements or eaten by corrupt officials. In fact the situation is soo bad that there are only two roads of exit from Katmandu valley which is always congested. And the government does not have money to widen the road. There is only one rail line in the country. No expansion possible because the government has no money.

The common man of Nepal too seems to have become aware of these things. I think, they too now know that if situations are not changed very quickly, they will go into oblivion in the near future. Therefore Nepal has now decided for a change. Elections were held in Nepal on 10^th April, 2008. I was the witness to the campaigning phase, the election phase and also the counting phase. The enthusiasm that the general public showed was simply amazing to see. During the run up to election, at almost every corner of the place, you could see group of people discussing heatedly about the change that the country requires. Discussions about the pro’s ad Con’s of all the parties involved. During the counting phase, everybody was glued to the TV/radio/Newspaper. Everyone wanting to know the status of the pool.

The results are slowing pouring in. The Maoists seem to be heading for a landslide victory. As one of my local friend proudly said – “We will now write our own constitution”. With power now in the hands of Maoists people do feel that things might change for good. I pray that this becomes a correct prediction. I pray that peace and stability return to this small and beautiful country. Because this country deserves to be treated better

 

The Royal Kingdoms, Patan Durbar and Religion….

Nepal is also known by two other alternate names. One is Mountain kingdom and another is the Royal kingdom. The first name is quite obvious. The reason for being called by the second name is both interesting as well as worth recounting here.

I know you might have already guessed it. Nepal is (was?) ruled by a system of monarchy. That is one of the reasons for it to be called as a Royal kingdom. But what many people do not know is that just a few years back, like today, Nepal was not ruled by a single king. Nepal in itself was divided into four different “kingdoms”. Katmandu, Patan, Basantnagar and Bhaktpur (I might be wrong in the historic details – No offence intended). From what I have heard, the king of Katmandu once climbed on the top on the highest mountain of his kingdom and looked towards other kingdom. He found the other kingdoms to be soo beautiful that he wanted it for himself. It is then that he attacked the other kingdoms. After facing defeats four times, he finally succeeded in conquering all the other three kingdoms. Thus came into existence the Royal Kingdom of Nepal. This stands even till today.

As is said aptly, once person’s victory means another persons defeat. The development and governance in the other three kingdoms came to a standstill after the victory of the king of Katmandu. The palaces of the other king were left unattended. This has come as a blessing in disguise for the tourists. These palaces have now become a “snapshot” into the past. They are beautiful and splendid even in apparent age. The seat of power in all these kingdoms used to be called as Durbars. This could be compared to our present day’s Rajpath in India. It consisted of the place, the temple of the main Deity, the court and the main market. I think it would just suffice if you have a look at the attached photograph. This is the marvelous – Patan Durbar square.

Just stepping into Patan Durbar square makes you feel as you are transported into another era. The buildings, the small roads and the temples give you a feeling that at any moment a king might come out of any of the doors. You have to experience it to feel it. It is very difficult to explain in words.

The best thing I like in Patan durbar square is the “Museum behind the golden gate”. The golden gate here refers to the gate the place of the king of patan. This beautiful palace has now been converted into a museum dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist religion. I must say for a person trying to understand more about Hinduism and Buddhism it is a treasure trove. With the help of some splendid idols and clearly written comments, it takes you logically into the depths of religion. For example, one might have thought why image worship? And if we worship, why are the idols of Hindu and Buddhist Gods so inhuman (three heads, 6 hands, vertical eyes and what not)? Well the idol is a way to help the seeker visualize god. It is to help him focus his energy and concentration on something material which helps him to take a divine path. It is like the photo of your Mom/Dad/Husband/Wife/Girlfriend/Boyfriend that you keep close to your heart when you are away from them. And as far as the inhuman nature of these Idols goes, they are so because, after all God is super human. For example from a point of what God does he is – provider, destroyer, enabler, Judge, Father of the universe, and much much more. How can such a person have only two hands, a head and a pair of eyes like a “normal” human??? These Idols are just a proof of man’s struggle to understand God better. There is much much more I learned behind the golden door. But I know I am already sounding like a pundit straight out of a religious book, so I will stop here.

A stone throw away from Patan durbar square is the kumbakeshwar temple (Shiva temple) and the Golden Pagoda. Both are so wonderful, majestic and mystic that I don’t even have words to express. I felt strange warmth in both these places. There are some things words cannot express. You have to feel it to know it. These places are amongst them.

I have also visited Pashupatinath temple, Nagarkod and Dundikel. More about it in my next blogs

 

My first "International" tour – Nepal

It’s been a looong time since I have written anything. Looking back, I am really amazed. When I was leaving India to go to Nepal, I thought that I will write one blog each day. Today almost 7 days have passed and I have not even written a single blog entry about Nepal!!!!!

I was just wondering what took me soo long to write my first International blog. The simple answer was I was totally “awed” by this place. Even though this place is so near to India and you can see Indian influence in almost everything, yet I found the place to be very beautiful. I found everything about this place captivating – climate, culture, chaos, girls – everything. Now that I am out of this initial awe…I plan to write something about this country in general and my visit here in particular.

The first thing that I found when I landed here was that foreign countries are not that foreign after all. It’s just the geographic boundary that segregates countries, otherwise we are all one. The moment I landed in Katmandu I feel in love with the climate. You know, Katmandu is a valley. By valley I mean that this place is surrounded by hills from all the four direction and the city is right in the center of these hills. The view that you have when the flight is about to land is unforgettable. Seeing out of the window, you feel that you can reach out and touch the pine trees on top of the hills. It was mesmerizing…I am sure it will be etched in my memory for a loong long time.

One more unique thing about Katmandu, which comes from the fact that it is a valley, is that – the climate is not same in entire Katmandu. It is quite possible that at any given point of time, it might be cold in one part of the city, raining at another place and chilly at yet another place. This is something that I had never even thought of before as being possible. Also, I love to peek out of my hotel window when ever I wake up. The dew, freshness and wonderful clouds on top of the hills fills me with soo much energy that, sometimes I feel I should just not leave this place.

One more things that I liked about this place is its people. They are very kind hearted, soft spoken and fashionable. You can say they are a near perfect blend of east and west culture. The guy serving you in the hotel, generally in denims and hip T shirts, bows down to you and asks with the best of manners – “How can I help you sir”? It is amazing. You look out in the streets and you see a Cool, hip and extremely fashionable crowd. Initially I made the mistake of thinking that maybe these people are haughty. Talk to them and you will immediately know that they have not forgotten their roots, culture and manners. One more special thing was that all number plates of vehicle were in Nepali language. Something very different from India, where most of the vehicles have English number plates. Have a look at the news paper; the date will not be as per the Julian calendar, but as per the Hindu calendar. Have a look at the resume of a Neplai person and chances are that you will find his DOB as per Hindu calendar. Now that is what I call preserving your culture.

I also visited some places in Nepal. Namely – Patan durbar square, Dhulikel, Nagarkot and Bhaktpur and Pashupatinath temple. Each place is soo beautiful that it deserves a separate Blog entry. And with me staying here for another week and planning few more visits here and there – I can’t wait to sit in front of my lappy and type my head out. Till then….. Wait to be awed

 

Paradoxes of life…

Observations can be such a great teacher. I think a lot can be learnt by intently seeing around us and “feeling” other peoples “feelings”. Yes, it does feel a little odd to understand what I am telling, but I have a gut feeling that you will understand what I am trying to say when you finish reading this blog.

Let me take a recent example that happened with me to elaborate what I am trying to say. I took a short break from my routine weekends in Mumbai and went to my home town for a change. Being with family is always a blessing. No doubt that this trip was nothing different. It was on my way back to Mumbai from Belgaum that I happened to chance upon three different people in the bus – A father, a lover boy and a frustrated customer. This blog is about these three individuals. It is also my take on how small things can go a long way in teaching you important lessons.

I had reached the bus stand quiet early. I couldn’t help myself from hearing the heated exchange of words happening between the travel desk person and a customer. The customer wanted his ticket to be cancelled and the amount refunded. The travel desk clerk was telling that the customer was informing about his cancellation way too late and refund cannot be done. Of course the travel desk clerk was correct. The irate customer was giving the choosiest of bad words to the clerk. I was feeling pity for the clerk and angry on the customer. Even as this was going on, I saw my seat and felt tired just by thinking that that I will have to sit and travel for 11 hours. How good it would be if I could have two seats for me by paying money for one. This way I could sleep even as I traveled, I thought. A slight jab on my shoulders woke me up. The same customer who was fighting with the clerk was standing besides me. He told me that he was supposed to travel alongside me. But he has now cancelled his tickets and the travel agent did not refund him the money. He wanted me to do him a favor; he wanted me to occupy both the seats myself. Since he was not traveling, he wanted to make sure the travel agent did not make any additional money by giving his seat to someone else. I said WOW!!!! The same guy whom I was loathing just a few minutes ago looked like a God sent angel to me. I was going to travel the entire 11 hours sleeping after all.

As I was sitting by the window of my seat and feeling happy about this fact, I peered outside just to see what was going on. I saw a man in maybe his mid thirties kissing small kids on their foreheads. He also seemed be going to his wife and whispering words of encouragement. Amused, I looked on. The bus roared back to life and began to honk ferociously. The person was still unwilling to part from his family. He had to run a few distance before catching the bus and alighting into it. I had a window seat and the seat besides me was free. He came and sat besides me and was waving his hand towards his children, till he lost sight of them. Once they had disappeared, I looked upon his face and saw tears on his cheeks. Generally I do not talk to strangers. Something made me talk to this guy. I said to him “Your kids are very cute”. It so happened that the guy was going to Saudi for work. He said he worked there day and night for his family. But he does not get to see his family. He does not get to see his kids grow up. He showed me a video recording that he had made of his kids using his mobile. He said that for the next one year he will be seeing these same video and imagining how his kids are growing. For a very very brief moment, even I could not control my emotions and felt tears welling up my eyes. I somehow managed to say “Don’t worry; you are doing all this for your family”.

As the bus began to slowly move on, and the father went back to his legitimate seat, I heard someone talking in his mobile from behind my seat. He was all giggly and talking in dreamy voice. A little bit of hearing and you could bet that he was talking to a girl. By the way he was talking and his body language, anyone could have guessed that he has special feeling for that girl. I was curious and began to hear more intently (I know its bad manners. But I can’t help myself). He was telling her about how he came to Belgaum for studies. How he used to like a girl back then. And how lucky he was that this time around he met her in his Dad’s friends sister’s marriage (believe me, this is what he said!!!). Suddenly sparks flew and the girl introduced him to his mother. The mother invited him to their home. He went to their home two to three more times. The girl then proposed him to get married (Of course I knew he is simply making up the entire story). Her family too were ready was what the girl supposedly said him. Then suddenly the boy exclaimed – What!!!!! He was spluttering out – “Don’t tell me – are you serious???” You should have been there to hear when he said – “You too have seen a groom, and you liked him???!!! When I woke up in the morning I turned around to see the lover boy. He was awake. And, by the looks of his face, he had not slept the entire night. I felt a strange sadness for that guy.

Now go back to the first paragraph and re read it. I hope the paragraph will now make sense to you.

 

Small Big things…!!!

This weekend I saw three movies in my Hotel room. My first 50 dates, Bride’s father and 13 going on 30 are among the most wonderful movies that I have seen in a long time. I would definitely suggest who ever is reading this to see these movies at least once. You will Love it.

“My first 50 dates” is by just better then the other two. It’s a movie about two people who fall in love with each other in the first sight. The boy is completely bowled over. He rushes to the same hotel that he met the girl the next day. He just finds out that the girl does not even remember him. Let alone love him. The boy then comes to know that the girl has met with an accident and she cannot remember anything for more then 24 hours. What follows next is really a treat to watch. The boy goes every day in the morning to the same place and tries to tell his feeling to her as if it were the first time. I just can’t image to be in that guy’s shoes. Just imagine – you have someone whom you love more then your life and the other person simply forgets you. It’s a touching story.

“Bride’s father” is the story about a father and his young daughter. It’s a story about a dad who is immensely found of his daughter. She is the life for him. Then one day prince charming comes by. The daughter finds the love of her life. She makes her choice and begins to move on in life. A wedding is arranged and what follows next is both touching and hilarious. The scene where the daughter is leaving for her husband’s place and father remembers the different phases of his daughter – from a new born kid to being wedded -is very touching indeed.

“13 going on 30” is the story about a girl who is thirteen years old. She thinks that being 30 is the best part of life. She wishes to become 30 to god. God answers her prayers and she becomes 30. She thinks that she can have the entire world. She thinks that she is on top of the world. She only finds out that she has become a worse person then she was when 13. She is too busy with her life. She has stopped respecting other peoples sentiments. She does not speak to her parents. She has time only for work and no time for people who really matter in life.

All three are great movies. All three movies in there own little way try to convey the importance of small things in life. It tells that that we slog our entire life to find a couple of big moments in our life, but on the way we forget thousands of small things that really matter. I remember I was very happy as a kid. I did not have status, money, brains or degrees when I was a kid. But I was still happy. Why? I think it’s because I cared more about that small things in life. I always had time to talk to my parents. I always had time to go cycling with my friends. I was awed at the beautiful butterfly. I always loved the bloom of brilliant flowers. I was carefree. Tomorrow did not exist in my life. All that existed was today and now. Today, most often then not, I am either thinking about my work or about future. That’s not right.

Some great movies remind you about yourself. They tell you where you are going wrong. It’s a pleasure to watch such kind of movies. I sometimes think I am screwing up big time. But as in “My first 50 dates” – I remember it takes just a moment to find the love of your life. After seeing “Bride’s father” – I realize how sad and isolated our near and dear once might be feeling by seeing us running like this. After seeing “13 going on 30” I realize how important it is to be a child no matter how old you are.

Nothing beats seeing great movies on a lazy day…

 

Susheel’s day out…!!!!

I hit the road on Sunday. I made it a point to visit as many beautiful places in Mumbai as possible. I can say I say that I was successful to a great extent. I did have a fun filled day which ended with a happy accomplished feeling.

I fulfilled a long standing wish of mine on Sunday. I traveled in Mumbai local. Yes, to some it might seem very normal. But for a person like me who has only seen the jam packed Mumbai local either in movie or photos – it was fun. It is true that a lot of public in Mumbai prefer to travel by Train. Even though there are trains plying every minute or so, it is hard to locate even a half filled bogie. What is more amusing is the business that goes on in the train. In my travel between Santa cruse to Church gate I counted at lest four different hawkers (a calendar seller, a Train pass cover seller, a person selling shaving kit and a book seller). I also listened to a girl barely in her teenage singing some great Bollywood songs in a very impressive voice (Though she started begging later). And all this happened in a span of about 15-20 minutes!!!! This is the speed at which Mumbai moves. It is business as usual. The most fun part was while getting down from the train. I was told that it’s a very tricky thing. When your stop approaches, all you do is stand near the door of the train. Leave the rest to the mad public. You will be pushed (or should I say carried?) out from the train to platform.

I got down at the church gate station. Most of the good places to visit in Mumbai are in and around this place. A little walk down the roads and you will start feeling the influence of British rule in India. You will feel as if you are walking in the English Victorian era. Beautiful (but old) buildings, name of the roads, foreign tourists roaming around and the rustle and bustle all make you feel as you are in some other country. I roamed around a bit and visited Bombay university building, Rajabai clock tower (magnificent), Prince of Wales museum, Kala Goda chowk, Hutatma Chowk, The Bombay stock exchange, shivaji Bus terminus and the Taj mahal Hotel.

There is a special story about the Taj mahal hotel that I read and I think it’s worth sharing here. The Taj mahal hotel was built by JRD Tata. The story goes that JRD went to a posh British hotel along with a few of his friends. Even though he had the money to pay for the services being offered, he was not allowed an entry into the hotel. Reason – he was an Indian and English people did not want to sit with an Indian. JRD resolved then and there that he will built a 5 star hotel besides that posh English hotel which will be bigger, better and more brilliant then any other British hotel in India. The result was Hotel Taj mahal. Most of its civil works were planned personally by JRD. This was more then 100 years ago. Even today the hotel is soo beautiful that all other structures pale in comparison to this beautiful hotel. I salute the sprit of JRD.

Just a stone throw distance away from Hotel Taj is the famed “Gateway of India”. It is another wonderful place to visit and see. To many people it has become a name synonymous to Mumbai. A plaque besides this monument reads that it was built in1911 to commemorate the landing of King Gorge on the India soil. Since it was through this gateway that King gorge entered India, this monument was named as the “Gateway of India”. Today to many sailors and sea travelers it serves as bacon to Indian soil. All around the Gateway of India you can see the sea. There is something about the sea that makes me feel happy. Its vastness, its silence, its waves and the fact that it hides within itself a whole different word brings me peace and tranquility. I love to be on the sea shore.

After sitting for some wonderful moments besides the sea and beneath the gateway of India, I moved on. My next visit was to the Mumbai festival in Kala goda. I found it very interesting and fun. The punch line of the Mumbai festival was – “Discover your artistic side”. The name itself tells you how the festival might have been. I saw potter making pots, weavers making cloths, painters painting, dancers dancing, singers singing and lot of kids performing cultural events. And the sentimental touch to all this was that all the performers/artists were the socially, physically and financially under privileged. To name some – there were kids from slum, Women who where victims of physical abuse and domestic violence, physically challenged artists etc. I salute their Never ever give up attitude. God bless you all!!!

My last stop of the day was Nariman point. Now this is what I call a cool place!!! There is Lot of crowd, lot of young couples, Lot of beautiful young faces, lot of walkers. Gosh!! I was left breathless by this place. Sea all around, cool breeze, heavenly climate, lot of beautiful faces around. It was a perfect mixture of beautiful natural surroundings and Romantic atmosphere. I will forgive all the couples being a tad too cozy in this place. The place it self is so damn good that anybody can become romantic and fall in love. I spend quite some time in this place. All the fatigue that I had due to traveling the entire day simply drained off. I was refreshed.

Most of my “Must see” list of Mumbai are checked. The only thing left is to catch up few of my old friends and make some more new friends. With still a minimum of seven days of stay left in Mumbai, I cant wait to see what the coming days has in store for me

 

Amchi Mumbai….

My roaming days seems to be becoming more and more checkered with each passing day. I am now in Mumbai. It is one place that has so many different identities. Let me just try and recount a few of its identities – Commercial capital of India, home of the Bombay stock exchange, home of Bollywood, home of the biggest and the most ruthless underworld of India, Busiest place in India, costliest city of India, dream capital of India – so on and so forth.

Let me very frank, I have always grown up with the opinion that Mumbai is not a good city. Blame it on the way Mumbai is portrayed in serials/movies or the way ill informed people have spoken about it. I was always of the opinion that Mumbai is the meanest please to be in. A den of all illegal trades and a place where there is no value for human beings and their feelings.

Alas!!! How ill informed and bigoted my views were. I found the place to be pleasantly different from what people had told me and or I had seen in movies. It is a great cosmopolitan city to be in. The crowd here is simply superb. It is a city that never sleeps. There is place for everyone here. Be it a street hawker or a corporate honcho. You can see business as usual everywhere. Time is money. The energy of this city is simply infectious. I liked this city and my perception about this place has immensely changed.

Mumbai is also a very good place for a tourist willing to let his foot loose. For now I had the pleasure of visiting a few wonderful places. I visited Juhu beach. Gosh!!! You need to visit this place. It’s superb. In a single sentence I can say – it’s a bachelor’s paradise. I also had some chatapa in the famed Juhu choupati (I also say Rakesh roshan up and close in this place). I also visited a place called as Lohar chawl. It is not a tourist place as such, but it’s a market, very near to Mumbai Chor bazaar (meaning Thieves market). Though the place is very congested – it was a fun place to be there and do some shopping. I also had visited some cool Malls of Mumbai. Add the fact that I met a friend of mine whom I wanted to meet since a long time. We had a great time. I also went very near to Worli port. I had a site to visit there and when I climbed the roof of the building I could see the sea, the port and also the vastness of Mumbai city (the building was 15 floored and I was on top of it). It was a wonderful feeling to be in that place. With the see in front of me, the cool but gusty wind blowing across by face and being at a high place made me feel as in I am on top of Titanic

There are still a lot of places that I have planned to visit in Mumbai. Let me through that list. I want to visit – Gateway of India (I have attached here a photo of the gateway of India), Marine drive, visit at least one harbor, climb on a boat and go on a short cruise, climb on the famed Mumbai local train at least once, pay a visit to the Mumbai festival, catch up with a few of my old friends. The list is partial. These are the bare minimum that I would definitely want to see. With the company deciding to allow me to stay in this place for maybe another one week, I guess my wish will be fulfilled.

For now I can say that I will be going to DAKC (Derubhai Ambani Knowledge city) on Monday. Of course I will be on official visit. From what I have heard about this place, I am positive that I will be awed by it. I will keep you updated about my visits, experiences and views on “Amchi Mumbai” (Meaning “our Mumbai” in Marathi language)