Walking Tours

Sandemans New Europe free walking tours was our first date with guided sightseeing of a city by walking. They were informative as well as fun. Our guides were young, enthusiastic, talented and most importantly very good storytellers. They knew their stuff really well (at least that's what we believed after spending the day sightseeing with them). They gave us innumerable stories to keep our day interesting. They laughed, ate, drank and danced with us. In the end, this is all that mattered for novice travelers like us who were in a hurry to explore the whole Europe in less than a trimester's time.
And if I tell you now that those tours were free, then it becomes a wow! We could tip the guide at the end of the tour or just walk away having spent a memorable day with a crazy set of people roaming in streets of an unknown city.

Can something like this be done in India? Ok let us leave the free part, can we still make a paid walking tour of our cities? Ofcourse, there are some such activities available in cities like Bangalore & Mumbai. But I want to see them in even smaller cities, towns & other tourist attractions. They should not be expensive so as to not lose its charm for students and travelers on shoestring budgets. And most importantly, they should provide an offering filled with a unique & memorable experience pertinent to the local culture.

I would be making my list of suggest walking tour plan of some cities (Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai) for sure. Anyone interested in joining hands with me? Or working to develop this idea? My initial idea is to generate content, travel plans (directions, maps, point of interests and tidbits around it) to be made available online (tripadvisor, blog etc) so as to make the DIY guide for travelers. If interested, comment below or connect with me at jain.pritesh@gmail.com

Souvenir Saga

We could have got these made anywhere in the world! There is nothing unique about these, nor are they specific to any geography. Still, whenever I will see them, I will remember the amazing time I spent in Krabi's Walking Street. That's the magic of good souvenirs.

Sonam and I are not the biggest of souvenir hunters, still we like to capture our memories in our own unique way. If my Eurotrip collection is a fun-filled collection of my memories captured during the exchange program, Langkawi collection goes a little further and helped capture those honeymoon days beautifully. Each and every item in our collection has a story to tell. It's a story of their origin, the place they were created, the people who made them, thoughts that went through our heads when we were there at those places and everything connected to those memories captured at those precise locations, times & people. The story is as much their as it is ours. It's a brilliant way to relive those moments.

We love our trips abroad for one simple reason - they have lots of new and creative souvenirs to sell. Every city has it's unique style and charm, so does the souvenirs that are sold there. Somehow in India, the souvenirs fail to capture the charm of our cities. We are selling the same old (or same new cheap factory manufactured artefacts) at most of our tourist attractions. There is nothing unique about them, nothing which will make us remember something about our times at those places. Our arts and crafts are not lesser to those in any part of the world, our artists are the best of the lot - still we have nothing to share. Forget those Cauvery emporiums & likes which are selling arts that are meant for those with heavy purses. We need those small little shops at every nook and corner of our cities selling unique memories. Memories that are not impersonal.

One thing that has inspired me from my times in Krabi & Bangkok is that personalization is the way to go. It's simple and can be a good display of our creative side. Moreover, it connects to anyone faster than any other way. I still feel so happy when I think of the moment I first saw my first iPod with my name engraved on it. The keychains bought in Krabi will have a similar effect whenever I will see them.

These are small things that  can make a lot of impact. These are our little mementos of joy.

Mixed Feeling

It was a Wednesday night, I distinctly remember. For, I had planned to watch a movie midweek. It does not happen very often. But that day, somehow I felt that a nice movie was a good way to relax and clear the day's stress out of my system. Movie was indeed very nice and had the exact detoxing effect that I was looking forward to.

But there is something else that happened during (or actually just before) the movie. A couple of hurried emails for work and a few messages to take stock of the situation were exchanged, and I knew that my next few months' were going to be nothing but challenging.

And here I am - sitting in a new city, charting out plans for something new. Some old connections are getting rewired, others are a fresh start. It's indeed a very complex feeling. Anxiety of unseen and excitement about the same - it's a strange combination. I've been through it earlier too. I was equally prepared that time, and I'm prepared the same way this time. Learning curve is a real thing, still it's the same strange taste of nervousness that engulfs one every time something new is about to happen. That's the magic of being not part of a pre-defined formula. Life is good a-la-carte too.

RT Free Falling

If I wanted to write a blog today, it would have got the exact same soul as this one which I wrote almost 4 and half years back - Free Falling
Only If I could write so well today. Will make do with a RT today.

Buddha is smiling

Buddha is smiling.

This not-so-chilly winter has sprung up some surprises. Good music, good food and some really good time with family. And it makes me firmly believe that all the the efforts are worth it.

Rockstar soundtrack is in a continuous loop in my playlist. I wish I had the videos of all the songs too. If Rahman has done magic with his music, the director has done really fitting justice to Rahman's magic.

A short trip to Indore is all I could afford to arrange in the mid of month end closings and start of a new month. But it was worth every moment. Eating in sarafa, long conversations with my cousins and Gunjan, my time at home with family and all the fun during Arpit's shadi. Oh yea, Arpit is married now. Best wishes to you guys - Arpit & Rajul. Welcome to the club.
So it does not matter, if the Khurana Travels bus was really bad, if they treated the passenger like a cattle herd, if they dropped me in mid of nowhere at 5am in the morning without really helping me out with directions, if the month end was happening while I was going through all this and if I really hated every moment of the struggle to buy just some time with people whom I love. It just did not matter.

Buddha is smiling. And that is what matters.

Househunting and other stories

Hyderabad seems to be a relatively 'chill' city. Temperature has been moderate so far. Tempers too. I did not bother anyone and so did they. I love any city that shows this character.

People's definition of traffic jams here does not match mine as I learnt about these things in Bangalore, Mumbai and Gurgaon. Road sense seem to be off the mark by quite a distance. Thank god the roads are wide otherwise I wonder where would these people show all their driving tricks and stunts. It's not easy to find metered auto. Nothing new when it comes to big cities. I wonder how did they manage to build this culture in Mumbai Autowalas to use that black box called meter.

I've still to find a place which I can and will call my home. Till that time, Taj Banjara is a good makeshift abode. In spite the stink that has marred the surrounding lake, it is still a beautiful place to be. Night skyline from my 8th floor room is as memorable as you can imagine in any of the city hotels. And guess what! I serves an ossum breakfast buffet. My +1 for Taj Banjara if you really are looking for some comfortable stay in this city. For those who do not speak the language of '+1', I've a few invites left in case you want to join the bandwagon on G+. Who knows, you might be riding another wave.

Belvedere Park

I live in a corporate jungle called Belvedere Park. My apartment is just amongst the 270 odd apartments situated in this multistory building complex. And I am one amongst the thousand plus of its resident. I believe the feeling of being part of a society ends here. I don’t know the name of my neighbor and doubt if they could say anything different about me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t know about my existence altogether. I will still give them benefit of doubt. After all, anyone can guess that an apartment is occupied by seeing at the fresh news paper lying in front of its door every morning.

I get up every morning listening to the screeching sound of our door bell. It’s our maid. We have instructed her to not leave any stone unturned to wake us up every morning at 6:45am. She comes from some far away locality. I wonder how she managed doing it day after day without fail during those chilly winter mornings.

Every time I enter the building complex, the guard at the entrance looks at my face carefully and tries his best to record a picture of mine in his memory. It’s a tough job. There are just too many of us. Our nomadic ways of existence that we fondly call ‘geographical mobility,’ have ensured that people from my tribe ‘the new age go-getters’ keep changing their abodes before the guards start finding a familiarity in our face. I pity those guards. They have not yet got themselves upgraded for linked-in age.

I eat, that is when I eat, at the nearest food court. Sometimes if I feel lazy, I order food from some of the nearby restaurants. It’s expensive and it’s inhuman. Sometimes I lose my appetite at the apathy that the restaurant boys and delivery boys show while providing me my food. How I miss my stay in Europe on such occasions. The warmth that the service people showed there was the main reason we survived 3 harsh months living on just bread jam, fruits and subways. Why am I complaining so much! I can cook and I should have done it when the things are so bad. I ask myself this question again and again. I cannot find a reasonable answer.

My apartment is on the 15^th floor. From the balcony of my apartment, the car parking of our building complex appears to be a showcase filled with matchbox toys. I’m not a big fan of heights. It takes you away from reality. Time I spent in the lift is the most awkward of the moments of my existence here. I enter the lift. He (or she) enters the lift. If anyone is in the most brilliant of the moods, there will be a smile exchanged. And then there is silence. Nobody will speak even a single word. Wait for your floor, which in my case is the 15^th (or actually just 14^th as there is no 13^th floor by design and vastu reasons) seems like eternity. Makeshift jogging track is a better place in that aspect. You see somewhat familiar faces there if you are regular. But, is regularity my thing? Well no!

There is more to my life than just the cribs above. Let me be very frank that I don’t blame it entirely on the people or the culture here. I am equally responsible for the way things are turning out to be. It’s a 6 month long transit break for me before I move on to the next location (which mostly will be a more permanent place, so to say). Life shall be more settled then. Till then, I will continue my tryst with Gurgaon.

These thoughts have been in my mind for long, just that today I got the enthu to pen them down for future reference.

Staying Alive

Last fortnight or so has been hectic. Work - Family - Friends and things in between sums up to my life in recent time really well. Interestingly, all of them are giving me a high now. Yesterday, I had a long chat with my sister. The mood during the conversation has raised my hopes of getting back to life faster than what it appeared in last couple of months or so. Mom and Dad seem to have kept themselves busy. Good and bad, it's one way for them to get back to life (again faster than what I had imagined it will take). It's not the best way out, but then I have no other solution either. So let the music play!

India - SA was a heart-breaking moment. But then India - Aus made up for it. And what better way to make up for all your sins in past than sending the arrogant Aussies back with a humiliating defeat in WC quarter finals. I am excited about the Semis now. Looking forward for a historical event on 30th. :D

My camera has been taking lots of mobile phone screen shots in last couple of weeks. I can imagine how much it would have abused me for doing that. I know, I have to take it out to the beautiful Old Dilli and bring it back to life. Don't worry my love 550D; we are going there soon.

Vo din ab dur nahi hai.. Ab dilli dur nahi hai...

Gurgaon - A Second Chance

If my first encounter with Gurgaon was during the hottest month of the year, second one happens to be in the coldest one. The city has not changed a bit though. For me, it is as cold as it has always been. It's a strange feeling. I find faces more families than ever [I think I can attribute this to my sudden transfer from Hubli to here]. Still the warmth, that I felt in any other place I have been so far, is missing here. It's too early to decide; I can tell myself at this moment. I will give Gurgaon a proper second chance. Every city deserves this.

Endless Loop

Joyesh, my neighbor in RVCE hostel and then later room mate at the-hangar, has a peculiar habit of putting one song in his media player play-list and playing it in loop for days and nights.From Clocks to Bitter Sweet Symphony, we heard a variety of songs. And we liked them. I started liking them. It's one peculiar thing about music for me. If I hear some song again and again, I end up liking it in most cases. It's the effort to listen to something repetitively, that defines my song selection.

Endless loops defined my music choice. And now I am part of an endless loop. Of highs and lows. 'Such is life,' anybody would say. Stuck in an endless travel is a life full of choices. Every decision I am making is having a long term implication now. How and when it became like this? I was never needed to bother when I bunked my school for a day or two. I decided to runaway from home and landed in Bangalore to do my engineering. Nobody asked me anything. And I did not bother anyone.

Today when I look around, I see a web of restrictions holding me hostage in a world of limitations. A world where my choices are not just mine. Atleast their implications are not. I cannot remain isolated too. I am stuck. Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb' is what I can think of now. Incidentally that song got added to my list because of an endless loop too.

Little Moments

Traveling across length of the country to attend precious moments in life of people who are precious to you.

Getting high on hukkah when others around you are sloshed in alcohol.

The feeling of going home after a long time.

Reading a funny love story because she wants you to do that.

A brilliantly designed and executed personalized tshirt.

Buying chocolates for her whenever wherever you can.

Spending a night with friends remembering college days.

Admiring beauty of nature and the air hostess in the indigo flight.

Listening to your favorite music whenever wherever you want to.

Stretching your physical, emotional and mental limits to do everything possible to live such moments again and again.

Life is beautiful.

With its Little Moments of Joy.

Happy Diwali

I saw a couple of kids painting a house. My first reaction was of pity. Child Labor is a rampant phenomenon in most of the markets I visit. But then when I looked at them closely, I realized my mistake. They were painting their own house. They were preparing for the festival celebrations.

Last Sunday, everyone at my home was also on a cleaning mission too. Next step would have been to prepare sweets. My mom did not tell me about it. Festivals are no big fun if the children are not back home. The conversation with mom clearly highlighted this feeling. I was still thinking what will I be doing during festival time. I can not go home. Not that I am forced to be here, but somehow I have to make this choice. A difficult choice indeed. It's been long since I have celebrated any festival at home. So it should not have been such a big deal. But somehow I am feeling that this one indeed is a big deal.

I have to make sure that I do something worth the harshness of the decision I have taken. Looking for suggestions. Anyone?

50 Starred Mails

Oh My God!!
I just did not realize that I had more 50 starred mails in my inbox. And it was just one of the multiple mailbox that I use at this moment. With at least three active mail ids, two and half active social networking profiles and two mobile connections life is as virtual as it can get. Unending conference calls, infinitely long mail threads and multiple chat windows - that's what makes up my social life now. I am really thankful to the market visits that keep me in touch with reality. Dozens of people whom I meet during these visits, not just get me an insightful view of my business, but also become part of the real life that I live.

I was going through some of the old mails in my mailbox. It brought so many nice memories back. I was involved in so many things then. Many of them very different from what I do today. I have changed. I used to regularly read and write then. My blog was my passion. But somehow it got a little lost in last couple of months. I miss it the most.

I can not describe how self satisfied I felt after posting photos from EuroTrip mini on my facebook profile. I was getting scared that I was losing my touch with my camera. I have not and I have found that passion again. New targets have been set and I have to work hard to achieve them. Passion clearly drives human efforts.
I am looking forward to try new things - new literature, new music, new movies and everything else. Any suggestions are welcome.

Hoping to blog more often and write better again.

7 deadly sins

You know that you need a new kick in life (and/or need one kick from life) when...
1. You get up in the morning and think about 'what should I do today?'
2. Facebook becomes your companion for the day. You try many a times to signoff but and log in again after 10 mins.
3. You watch Ham Saath Saath Hai on Zee Cinema.
4. You have thought about calling so many people, called them too. But then you realize that you don't really have anything specific to talk about.
5. You keep checking google talk window to see if there is somebody whom you can talk to or ping and actually have some conversation.
6. You get bored of Ham Saath Saath Hai and switch to Singh is King on Star Gold.
7. You think of many topics for writing something meaningful and end up writing crap on your boring Sunday.

I am high on life

I am high on my life with my friends. Do I need more? More of what? friends? Or such highs? Or the life herself?

I am clueless.

I am living in Nolan's world and I am not sure if my totem is actually working. Lots of elements of what I consider my life, feel like a dream today. Engineering days, my first job at Riverstone, life at WIMWI, EuroTrip, the magic moments - some of those colorful threads that keep me attached to myself. I am on a constant pursuit to relive these moments in any which way I can. I am traveling hundreds of kms every weekend to go back to Bangalore. But that's not enough. I miss those night chai and bakar sessions in Gurgaon. I want to go to campus to attend TNite, want to take a long walk on that road to ESCP Paris and what not.  The list will go on indefinitely. Today as I write this post, I realize that there is so much in my past that I want to bring back to present. Those will be my 'dreams come true' moments in a sense.

Why am I not looking in future?

Fugly Shirts wale

An IBanker is one of those stereotyped jobs in Indian cinema today. Atleast in the kind of cinema you and I see, he (yes he) has been portrayed on more than one ocassions. Popular Hindi cinema has traditionally almost always shown the riches to be hotshot businessmen. Inheritance has been the rule of the game. Hero, if he was not very poor, never needed to worry about profession as his Dad had built an empire to be inherited by him. Even the profession of poor guy hardly mattered as most of the emotions that Indian Cinema relates to, come outside the boundary of work life. Only in recent time, that the hero has actually become a photographer, a painter, an IBanker and likes.

It's a welcome change. However we are still coping with stereotyping phenomena. Chetan Bhagat and host of other budding 'writers' did it for IIT/IIM graduates. Our directors continued from where these 'writers' have left. Be it Kartik Calling Kartik, Rock On or I Hate Love Storys - there is a hotshot banker/professional at work. Some of them are shown as dork, others still evolving as a person. I just hope they come closer to reality. That's all. This change should be for good.

ps: It's a totally unstructured and incomplete collection of thoughts on this topic of Stereotyping. Hope to write it again some day.

Abe Kaun Si Rassi Pakadu

One more memorable advertisement from monster.com. It's funny specially the way the guy says "abe kaun se rassi pakdu?" Brilliant execution. It sticks to your mind and I have had atleast two people telling me about this advertisement. If I really think of it, the purpose of the ad is solved.

Moving on, this post comes after a long break. A break that even I had not imagined. Sometimes it is difficult to predict which way our life would lead. Induction at the new job has been a good experience. Filled with lots of activities, it was a good chance to meet some of the most inspiring people around in the industry. The onus is totally on me to make best use of this opportunity and do well for the organization as well personally.

Gurgaon - Delhi - Bangalore - Chennai - Sattal - Aligarh : these are some of the places that I touched in last one month or so. I have had a new experience at each place and really look forward to enrich it in my sales stint that starts tomorrow.

I have been 'connected' all this while. It's a strange feeling. I am just a few clicks away from my virtual social world and I know it's a great power. However as the monster.com mentions - 'what is the advantage of so many choices if you cant make use of them,' I am little wary of the power in my hand. The balance is the key as the more social I become the more my life becomes a public matter. I am thinking too much may be.

As I spent the last evening before actually hitting the field, I have a mixed bag of feeling inside me. I am excited and am raring to go and face the challenges. But I also feel a little nervous seeing the things that are coming my way. It's new and I have to start the adjustment process again. I am pretty sure, I will be able to do that pretty soon. Hoping for a great time in Hubli.

It's a fresh start. To many things.

April Showers and August Rush

Bangalore is really rocking at this point of time. Mornings are lazier than ever. There is always a cool breeze waiting to greet you good morning (or afternoon depending on when you take a leave from your dream world). Afternoon and early evening time can be spent reading some nice novel and experimenting with your culinary skills waiting for the best time of the day - evening. Trust me, evening showers, here, can heal any mood. When you don't have any job, you could not have asked for more. It's a wonderful life.

I watched August Rush for the third time enjoying one such early evening shower yesterday. It's a very nice movie with a superbly cute star cast. Music is the soul and the binding force that keeps many of us going in this life. I really love the music sequence August Rush plays for the first time when he meets the Wizard. The smile on his face is that of the most purset form. I remember seeing the musical shows in Indian TV and I have always cursed them for the fake emotions all the artists display. What August shows is the genuine affection clubbed with excitement that music brings to his life. It's heavenly. I can watch this movie n number of times to see him enjoying the music. If Nirvana has some look and feel, I must say this one will be very much close to that. Watch this movie if you haven't watched it yet.

Shantaram is going on smooth as usual. I find it difficult to keep this book down everytime I start reading this book. It's only when my wrists and hands start aching that I take a break. I am in love with this book all over again. It has some connection with the best times of my life. Hoping that it continues the same way in future too.

New Post

Well, let me start with an apology for the lack of creativity in putting title for this post. A month's break should be more than enough to get back those creative juices after a hectic final term at WIMWI. What a time it was! "those were the best days of my life" - if I try to put some words to my feelings.

Anyways... So coming back to the long break and life after that. Ah, nothing changes. I traveled to Delhi, Gurgaon, Amritsar, Dalhousie, Dharmshala, back to Delhi and now settled in Bangalore. Not many places, but lots of stories. A couple of thousand photos. In Bangalore, I am re-living my life post resignation from Juniper. Friends, nice food, books and lots of masti. My kinda fun you know. I have started second read of Shantaram and it still is as exciting it was the first time I read it. His wisdom is mind-blowing. Here is a little glimpse of the same -

Most loves are like that, from what I can see. You heart starts to feel like an overcrowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your self-respect and your independence. After a while you start throwing people out -- your friends, everyone you used to know. And it's still not enough. The lifeboat is still sinking, and you know it's going to take you down with it.

Can't say if I totally agree to it. But it surely is like that prediction that comes in daily horoscope. You can relate to it on any day no matter how hard you try to be a non-believer. More about it soon.

ZAPPed

One day after Saap had narrated an exceptionally fantastic tale of her adventure, Zapp was unusuallly more ecstatic and in disbelief asked, "Do these things really happen?"
"You should go to such places and find out for yourself, dear," replied Saap.
"Myself? How can I visit these places on my own? I am just a little kid and these places are so far away."
"Far away? How can you know they are far away till you go there? Then once you are there it doesn't matter how far it is, because you are already there."
"But I don't know the way?"
"I wouldn't worry about that either."
"Where do I start, which direction?"
"That shouldn't matter, you haven't seen any direction."
"And how far do I go?"
"Until you think you have found something."
"What if I don't find anything for long?"
"Do you have anything to find here?"
"What if I find something and I don't like it?"
"That should be the least of your concerns. Ultimately none of it will make any difference," said Saap, looking into a blank space.

ps: Taken from the book 'ZAPP:The Squirel who wanted to fly' by Rachit Kinger. link
About the book:
Set in the jungles amid nature's weirdest animals, "Zapp" is an allegory about individual freedom in contemporary society wherein a happy-go-lucky squirrel travels across the world in search of meaning, freedom and ironically, a sane society. Join Zapp, the brave squirrel, on an adventurous journey across the forests of Pinegrove, on a quest for life.

Incidentally Rachit has done his MBA from IIML. Finally I have found one good book that is written by an IIM grad. Highly recommended.