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.

Bangkok Krabi & Back

It's going to be a post consisting of some random observations/thoughts from the recent trip to Bangkok & Krabi. Randomness of these is a testimony of the amazing time I've spent in last one week.

1. Iphone iphone all along, no Nokia to be seen - they are using iphones, in all possible colors and forms (actually more than what apple has designed and dreamt of designing). Samsung must be the close second. They are using it continuously, chatting, playing games, taking pictures and occasionally talking. Where is Nokia? Well it's sold, and good number for sure. Most of the drivers, tour operators I met were using it. No Lumia, no asha - I wonder where is Nokia heading!

2. Ipads and Tabs are the way to go - people are using them in restaurants, trains, hotel lobby, on the beach, near the swimming pool and any other place you can imagine. They are taking photos using it at every tourist spot. Who says 42 MP cameras are the way to go! Give them just a couple of megapixels and people are just going crazy clicking photos.

3. Local markets are the places to go - they are lively, fun and cheap. You will meet crazy people, see and eat wild things and ofcourse shop for quirky stuff. Most importantly, you will see the life in as real as it can get. We had superb time in Krabi walk street. I wonder why we have forgotten all our local markets and resolved to have Mall as tourist attraction. 

4. I me myself - People in thailand like to click themselves a lot and I'm sure self-portraits in all possible poses must be filling the GBs of memory their mobile phones/ipads offer.

5. A city is a city after all - BKK is a metropolitan. It's building itself for the tourism and has accomplished good enough in doing so. Still it's a city in the end. So if you are on a short trip, better have your days planned well. A crazy weather, the distances and all the crowd will kill lot of your enthusiasm otherwise.

6. A good meal is worth all the pain - as long as you are able to eat one good meal in the day, you are guaranteed to get a fun-filled day. An empty stomach can become a spoilsport in no time.

7. Souvenir shopping is about getting the best experience and not the best deal - if you like it, if you feel you want to preserve some memory - just go for it. You might get a better deal later but then there are chances that you might not get it at all later. Don't bother much in saving those couple of Rupees.

more to be added soon...

Jolly LLB

Jolly LLB is a half cooked narration of David v/s Goliath in India's legal corridors. While the starcast include Boman Irani and Arshad Varsi, the characters appear to have come from Madhur Bhandarkar's cinema. They are funny, they are proud, sometime rude too - but never realistic and always over the top. The protagonist itself is a stereotypical confused Indian underdog who gets his sense of responsibility towards the society in middle of nowhere. In one scene he is enjoying the gift of his sweet little thing called bribe, in other he gives it back with return gift of junglee rats. Why rats? I'm sure even the director will not be able to answer that. Arshad Varsi looked old, rusty and out of touch with his usual comic sense. I feel Circuit had a stronger persona inspite of being the second fiddle to the mighty Munnabhai. Boman Irani is the all-too-powerful lawyer who just knows one thing - to win cases. He is loud, arrogant and bad. But he is not a villain. He lacks a persona that will make me respect him. For some random reason, he is like those villains of South India movies, whose only job is to bring some smiles with slapstickic comical scenes and then get killed in hands of the almighty hero (rowdy rathore, singham type villains)
I wish this movie had offered some interesting plot & dared to think beyond the obvious.

PS: My expectations from this legal drama could have been high after those sleepless night of watching SUITS. However, I still stand by view that this movie is just mediocre.

24, Dexter & more

In 4 years of Engineering hostel life, I watched lots of movies, cricket matches, some football & tennis matches and ofcourse friends. I'm sure I'm not the only one who lived it like this.

In next 3 years of IT life, I continued to watch movies (many of them in theater), cricket matches, some football & tennis matches, some plays and ofcourse FIR, CID & Bigg Boss. Again, I'm sure I did not do something unique.

In next 2 years of my MBA life, I continued watching movies, cricket matches, lot of youtube videos and some plays. I did not watch any TV. I'm not sure if many people could claim the same.

Post the MBA, I'm continuing with movies, no cricket, no football, some plays and lots of TV. It's time to make up for whatever I had left in MBA time and before that. 

HIMYM, Big Bang Theory, Two Broke Girls, Masterchef, Game of Thrones, 24, Dexter, Suits, Rome, Community - the list is not yet complete. I can proudly say that I've done more night-outs watching these TV series now than I did studying in MBA times. That's the magic of this addiction. 

As I write, I'm about to slow down with Dexter & 24 and looking for a new series. Any suggestion? Also would it be really silly to ask for anything interesting from Indian TV? 

and that was 2012 my friends

I don't feel 900 post old anymore.

It's a fresh start every third month now but unfortunately it just lasts two or max three posts. One of those post is a essentially a crib about how life has become very hectic and how I intend to overcome this challenge and go back to regular writing. One more is a honest effort to write something from my heart - mostly ending up being a blog about some song or movie. And finally gibbupness overcomes the constant struggle to either find an interesting topic where I can think and write or an interesting thought that I can write and share. And of course there is always the biggest challenge of putting a title to the post.

I'm sure many bloggers will relate to it. Why just bloggers, inertia hits even on facebook, twitter, foursquare and other most happening social things in this virtual world. At least it does for me.

2012 has been a good year. From telecom to apparels, Hyderabad to Bangalore - all the major changes revolve around work & career. It's the crucial pivot that's brought pleasant changes in life. I traveled, hired team, opened offices, fought the biggies to get small things done, used my camera a lot, finally started watching tv series, watched good movies regularly and listened to nice music, learnt a bit more deal about girls shopping and moods, and to appear to be more sensible and responsible, had the best trip home, attended some of the most awaited marriages and events, spent innumerable moments with some of the best friends, building even stronger relations, did zipline, ate almost everything I wanted to, put on lots of weight (damn!), missed lots of birthdays/anniversaries and got scolded every time without fail, did house hunting twice and shifted twice - list is random and never ending. All that matters cannot be compiled in a silly list like this. All we can do is to just make a small effort to capture some of those moments/events for our future reference. Memories can be of any form, after all.

Lumia 800

It's not conventional to say the least. There are no boundaries and somewhere that's a good feeling. No boxes to restrict your imagination. Interestingly  there are no exit signs also,  making you feel like everything is always part of your life and it's just a thought away.

That's a purely nontechnical description of windows phone mango v7.5 on my new Nokia Lumia 800. Migrating from Symbian to 7.5 is not the easiest to say the least. Symbian offered so many things that we started taking for granted. It defined the way we called, smsed, mmsed, took picture, access internet and what not. I surely feel that no one will ever write songs about those and just blame it for not keeping up with time.

About my love for nokia, well it's true that I'm hooked onto nokia for quite some time now. Be it my first smart phone E63 (how can I forget using it for those free calls on nymgo and updating my eurotrip blog using free wifi at mcdonalds), then the second one E72 (that was a really good companion, I must say), nokia n8 (with it's amazing camera and a really cranky software), E7 (the hulk who did nothing) to finally to Lumia 800 (style that could match Moto Razor and OS that's a refreshing change), it's been a journey filled with unlimited stories to talk about. Not forgetting those small flings with C2-00, X1-01, C1-01, 1600, C3, X2-00, X3-02 and some more protos, this love story is here to last for some more years.

mere size ka milega kya...

Finally it's here. Our much awaited moment is here. Like it always happens, some may call it the judgement day, others might call it moment of truth. I will take it easy. It's just moment. In a long enough journey, there are multiple junctions where one has to decide on some direction. It's a flip of a coin, how much ever science you claim to put behind it. What matters is the effort that is put after the decision.
It's just the start. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost...

For now, let me share something it with you...

And if that does not give you enough reason, here is more on Why ZOVI?

Aashirwad

It's interesting to see Sa Re Ga Ma Pa auditions on Zee. While the judges are not as nasty as those in some other reality shows, somethings are same nonetheless. Every contestant makes it a point to touch the judges feet and take their blessing. While it looks straight from the heart admiration at times, at others it just looks as fake as Rakhi Sawant's attempt to talk sense.

The Dewarist had a memorable episode in season one with Zeb, Haniya, Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire. It's not just the song "Kya Khayal Hai" that is memorable, but the journey that was shared in that episode. Swanand tells us why he chose theater over music in spite coming from a family of musicians. He says it was the "touching the feet" culture of the music fraternity that he despised. He chose to take some other paths and luckily has been able to prove himself.

It's a very personal choice. What we see in Saregamapa is just a manifestation of this choice.I feel it's not just in field of performing arts that it happens like this. Politics is one more field where such adulation is very visible. Any common link - blind faith? nepotism? or indeed a true admiration?

marji hai aapki.. aakhi sar hai aapka...

OMG - this is my kind of cinema

2012 has shelled out some of the best that Bollywood has offered in recent years. Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Vicky Donor, Gangs of Wasseypur 1 and 2, Barfi and now OMG - it's been wonderful going back to theaters again. Surprisingly, I've not added the top grossers like Ek Tha Tiger, Rowdy Rathore, Agneepath, Housefull 2 etc to this list and I've no regrets about it.

If I think about it, I find some common connections in these movies. There are characters that are inherent part of story line or in most cases the story is about the character. And there are other characters that support these main anchors and still are not just the props to be displayed in the background. For every Frodo there are Sam, Merry, Pippin and Gandalf who make Frodo what he is. Each one has a story of his own and is complete in himself, still does more than just being himself.
And mind you, they are not the Ranveer, Priyanka, Akshay, Manoj we know from bollywood. They are puppets that writer and director would have imagined when they thought of these movies.

Their theme is so nicely set in a time and place that makes you travel along with the storyline and live it to the fullest. I have never been to Chambal, Wasseypur, Shimla or Kolkata, have lived for a very small time in Delhi and Mumbai, still feel a lot more attached to them knowing there is so much joy in every bit people live there.

Then there is music that goes not just in background, but along the storyline. If 2011 was about Rockstar, 2012 has lot more of amazing Indian music in different forms - from Usha Uthup and Amitabh in Kahaani, Ayushman in Vicky Donor to Kailash Kher in OMG - the songs that we've heard are not the regular crooning your hear in Hindi cinema these days. Moora is refreshing and so is Paani da rang. And my playlist is filled with some amazing new things now.

All in all, I'm happy. Really happy. For once, I don't have to look upto foreign films for a refreshing movie watching experience. Hope to see more of it in coming times.

Yamraj Ek Faulad

Idiot box is indeed named correctly.

Come every evening, it dishes out a strange combination of "Yamraj Ek Faulad", "Mumbai Ki Kiran Bedi", "Phir Ek Most Wanted", "My Boss Bajarangbali", "Gundaraj", "Mere Badle Ki Aag" in Hindi movies section. It's not just Bollywood (its own dubbed imports from Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood and it all other south of Colaba cousins) that dishes out same old stuff everyday. Why blame only Hindi cinema! Harry Potter fails to disappear from the English movie section every single day of the week. 300, LOTR series etc are trying their best to add on the list. Options are indeed limited and you are idiot if you think you can get entertained by watching TV once you reach home after the day's hard work.

I'll not go beyond these movie channels to Hindi entertainment section. It's above and beyond my comprehension to find out if those serials are actually same or repeated or totally different altogether.

Need to find a better way to entertained. Or shall we keep challenging the limits!

Old wine in a new bottle

That seems to be the easiest way to smell the past while remaining in the present. Reading old blog entries have the same soothing effect. Some entries are so old (or those memories have settled so deep in some dark corner of my mind) that I feel I'm not aware of those or I don't know the person who wrote those words. While others like my times in Europe are so fresh and top of the mind that I can relive those moments with all the colors intact.

Somewhere I think, writing those blogs has been a really good decision. How much ever easy or difficult it was, the effort has paid up and will be a big treasure in future. PooCh mentions about how he had hidden some of his favorite items in his grand mom's old house so as to find them in future (and get surprised). I've done the same over these years. Hoping to add more to this treasure as I grow older. Investing in future is the best bet I've for myself.

Go Digital Or Go Black

What a threat!

I would imagine it coming from any of my neighborhood cable operator. But alas it did not. It came on the tv. In between those funny cute flipkart ads, they slipped one small little threat. Who are they and what gives them this right? They are our dearest tata, bharti and dishtvs of the world (or their wannabe clones) and it's some act from Government of India that has enabled them to be the God of our choices.

I've not yet gone in detail of this act and thus now know the reason and logic to forcing such a move. However, I can clearly see a good amount of hassle and pain coming my way. I'm yet to get over the Rs 500 shock that Tata sky gave me in name of "Premium Installation" over and above the Rs 175 charges for the regular relocation request. There is no reason I'll be safeguarded from this in future.

It's a very simple business logic: first sell a set-top box to a customer, then charge him heftily for a bundle of channels that he wouldn't want otherwise (mind you, yaha aana free hai but jaane ke liye paisa dena padega), then charge him for every extra bit of wire/screw/use of screw driver that will be required for the connection to operate smoothly over a next couple of years of usage. In marketing courses, we used to read examples of razor and blade (or printer & paper/cartridge) for phenomenon where a customer's  total value to a company is very smartly spread over a longer horizon than just a one purchase event of buying the razor (or printer or things like this). In coming years, these cases can be updated with more suited examples of DTH, broadband etc.

We are slave of these companies now and that's why are handling the shit they are dishing out to us in name of service. I hope there are checks and controls put (and of course somebody to enforce these) for all such future defining moves. For now, time for me to go back and fight with tata sky & airtels of these world to help me live peacefully.

Lists

Having subscribed to a couple of dozen e-mailers from sites that are trying to define the ecommerce landscape of this country, I feel empowered. I can book my tickets, pay my bills, buy clothes, books, electronics and even jewellery, plan trips, read which restaurant to go and what to eat, find a new place to stay and also how to find help to move there - the list is unending.

Next challenge in life - to find balance between the e-life and the real life.

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.