Back after 5 years! thought of re-starting the blog as a personal diary to myself. Last 4-5 years i have been suffering from anxiety. The intensity varies from very bad to 0 and each phase lasts months. the latest trigger to re-starting the blog is high BP that i got diagnosed with and as an anxiety prone mind works typically, i made up a lots of stuff in my mind of having serious health issues. therefore i want to record everyday how i feel and come back to it when things are not great to be able to say...last time i felt such anxiety, it turned out to be nothing

High BP is not a small matter but can be managed with medicine and diet. Doc says its genetic as is my high cholesterol which i got diagnosed with as well during all the tests that doc made me do. 

it means giving up on things i love..like red meat, wine, ocassional smoking & high fat foods like pizza, etc. Red meat doesnt hurt so much as i anyways dont like to eat it after i lost my non veg partner in papa. Ocassional smoking and other things are fine as well.

i have only 1 goal..to be fit and healthy till my kids are grown up and become independent. all my decisions henceforth would be basis that vision in mind. God has been kind that i have a stable job and money should not be a big issue if i continue to be employed for next 5 years. Health is the biggest focus for rest of life. 

 

Entrepreneurial spirit of Mumbai

Am sure you have heard of it. how many of you seen it happening with your eyes? I just did. Recently while organizing a family function, i hired an event manager ( a fly by night operator, not the Saurabh Garg big shot types). He managed the whole event except table chairs for which he referred a guy called Somnath. i co-ordinated with Somnath and event went well

Today Somnath came to collect his payment. He told me that i was foolish to hire an event manager and had i contacted him earlier, he would have done the same event at half the price. He showed me pics of past events on his mobile and i found pics to be very impressive. i got down talking to him on how he came into this business. Turns out that 5 years ago he was a gym trainer in Kalpataru (my previous residence) and everyday he used to see events happening in the club. He enquired and thought that he can make money if he starts supplying table chairs to these events. So he got visiting cards made and placed them on reception. Slowly he starting getting calls and because his prices were low he started getting brisk business. few months down the line he realized that he would make more money if table chairs were owned by him because margins were not good if he was just a middleman. He took out a loan and hired a warehouse and bought chairs and tables. As margins increased he repaid the loan and branched to other buildings (my current residence) and also in balloon decoration, theme decoration, Flower decoration, DJ, Music system and he hired a comparing guy as well.

Result is that he has a decent turnover 5 years down the line and if i can guess correctly, we are looking a true blue millionaire in 5 years time.

Salute to mumbai and people like him

Between the 2 passports

I am in the process of getting my 3rd passport as the 2nd one is about to expire. I got my first passport issued in '95 & 2nd in '06 & my 3rd should be issued in a month's time in '16. While  waiting for my appointment in passport office i thought about how much life has changed during the time my last passport was issued and now when it is about to expire.

Firstly in purely travel terms , i have been to 10 countries on this passport (first passport had 5 Visas on it). More importantly, i had been to 3 continents by '06 & now have added 3 more to it.

Professionally, i had not started working when my last passoprt was issued. Now i am almost 10 years old in my work life and have worked for 2 companies.

Personally, i was a bachelor in '06 and i met a girl 2 years later, got married in '10 & got the best moment of my life when Myra was born in '14. As of now even she has travelled to 3 countries :). Also, I have made my best friends i guess in last 10 years during and after my MBA and they are the one i count on if there is anything to be sorted out in my life.

Also, in the last decade i have changed homes 6 times though all of it has been in Mumbai. More Strikingly, all the 6 homes have been within a distance of 500 Meters. The last one i have moved into a  month back is a place that i have bought & am extremely content that i have been able to give a permanent roof to my family in Mumbai.

Altogether, its been a satisfying decade personally & travel wise. work wise i am not where i want to be but still in a better position that i had hoped to be 10 years back.

So, what now for next decade before i move to my 4th passport? I am never the one for goals since i firmly believe that we control a very small fraction of what happens in our lives. Still, in next decade i want to travel to 10 new countries with my daughter and wife and also want to arrange a euro trip for my parents. Personally, i hope to be debt free in next 10 years and own 4 properties which i earn rent out of. Professionally i still dont know where i would want to be but if i am employable after 10 years and able to fend for my family, i would be content.

looking forward to my 3rd passport...

Happy Hunting Grounds

Today i should be writing about year gone by or resolutions for next year (most people i know online have done it) but i somehow feel like writing on death. Now, when i talk about death, it doesnt mean that i am becoming mentally ill or plannning to call it a day soon (VRS from life as my friend calls it).

Its just that i find myself thinking of what would i want for myself once i am dead. i have always been enamoured with the ritual of people wanting to get their ashes immersed at a particular place. For some it is a holy site, for others its a place they loved  when alive and for others still it is next to where their loved ones are or were. For someone like me who is an atheist, first option is out of question. Having travelled to few countries & in India in past many years, there are some spots i have loved so much that i would want to go there often if only i could. These include:

1. A beautiful beach in New zealand just below Cape Reigna.
2. A small town in NZ called Wanaka
3. Mojave desert in California
4. Jacksonville in Florida
5. A village named Bad Aussee in West Austria

Then there are so places in India..

6. Any non crowded Beach in goa
7. Marine Drive in Mumbai
8. Dhikala in JC national park Uttarakhand

Out of all these, i love 1st and 8th the most. Just being at these places is a surreal experience which cant be explained. So, these are the places i would like my remains to be thrown.

But then, what is a good place without someone you love. So, whenever i am done, i would still like to be (either in remains or soul) where my wife and daughter are.


PS-About the title of this blog. Happy hunting grounds is the place that my most fav author (and one of best human beings ever) Jim Corbett referred to as a place where people go once they die.

A train journey to remember

It all began with a journey that I had to undertake to Indore for some personal work. Because my friend belongs to indore, I thought it would travel with him (saves boredom on the way & free place to stay as well :P). My friend’s forgetfulness can put ANYONE to shame. He is the kind of guy who forgets his computer’s password on a coffee break. I on the other hand belong to tribe who checks PNR status twice a day for a journey which is 2 months away. Notwithstanding my OCD along with knowledge of how my friend is, I asked him to book the tickets for the journey ( I forget the reason..probably it is because he knew a tatkal travel agent and I did not).

So one day before the journey he calls me and tells me that agent managed to get tatkal tickets and we need to meet at Bombay central station for a train which leaves at 7PM. I being cautious travel reach early and he does as well as the idea was to grab dinner before we get on the train. Halfway through the dinner, I ask my friend to check the coach in which we are travelling. He takes out his mobile and (with nonchalance only he can have in times like this) says that we are booked on another train which is not from Mumbai central but Vasai Road at 8PM. Imagine my shock. In addition, as it happens on each such occasion, his battery dies.

Already, I have given up hope of going to Indore and am thinking of calling my wife that I would be back for dinner. But my friend (who has undoubtedly found himself in many such situations in past) says lets board the 7PM train anyways and we will ask TTE to ‘adjust’ us somewhere. We reach the station and expectedly TTE does not let us enter any reserved coach so we enter the general Coach. As everyone in India knows, general coaches are atleast 300% over filled beyond their capacity and that’s just people sitting leave alone others standing in aisles and toilets and those sitting on the doors.

With difficulty we find seat on the luggage berth above the seats. Let me take a moment to describe these ‘berths’. After long thought post the journey (along with lots of pain down there) I came to conclusion that they have been specifically designed by a babu in Indian railways to give maximum pain to anyone sitting there to teach them a lesson that you better upgrade when you travel next. What masquerades as a berth is actually about 6 irons laid next to each other end to end. As soon as you sit, you find your butts slipping between 2 rods and pain starts to shoot up due to body weight pressing your bones to those hard rods.

After about 90 seconds sitting there I told my friend I am getting off and he can continue the journey to Indore if he wants. He being a compulsive smooth talker convinces me to stay on till Vasai road. All this time he is checking through a co-passenger’s phone (who he has managed to befriend) the status of other train. Incredibly, he finds out the train we are on would reach Surat by 11PM and train we are supposed to be on will reach at 23.05 (being slower than train we are on). So we sit 4 agonizing hours on those berths at end of which I have what I think is a  permanent deformity on my back. We get down at Surat and like clockwork the other train comes 5 mins later and we board it and sit on our seats.

Suddenly the TTE comes and after explaining him who we are, he says that he has allotted these seats to someone else as we dint show up for 2 stations. My friend the evercool customer tells TTE that we were in a different coach as we were catching up with a friend in 2^nd AC. After saying this, he takes out his blanket and goes to sleep.

It is left to me to tell TTE what actually happened and give him few Gandhiji’s before I can rest my bruised butts in a cushioned seat after 4 hours which felt liked 40.

Many days have gone since we did this journey last year. Though my initial thoughts were one of ensuring that I never ever get into situation like this again, now I feel it was one of more funnier and unpredictable things that happened in our mundane office going life which on one hand gave me an experience to remember for a long time and on other hand reminded me of those times when we used to travel by non AC coaches during summer holidays. And no, I have not let my friend book any tickets for me since then.

                                                                                                                                                                                       

Predicament of a voter

Unless you dont read newspapers, dont watch tv or dont interact with your friends you would know that elections are around the corner in India.

I being a Mumbai resident for past 8 years, will vote on 24th April. I am voting first time ever this time and till i did not have a voter card, i was a BJP supporter. However,  since the voter card was delivered and polling date comes closer, i am no longer sure. i am in 2 minds on both who to vote for and how to vote. There are 2 dilemmas i am facing wrt voting:

a) do you vote to elect next PM or do you vote to elect your next MP

b) Do you vote for forming a stable govt at centre to ensure there are no political compulsions of coalition (read BJP) or should you vote for a party which you know would not be able to form a govt but would be an active watchdog (AAP)

In larger scheme of things, my 1 vote would not matter but i want to cast my vote ethically and give it the due importance and hence i am sharing my thoughts on both dilemmas i am facing:


do you vote to elect next PM or do you vote to elect your next MP

should i vote for Modi/Kejriwal or should i vote for Kirit Somaiya/Medha Patkar?

On one hand is the argument that you are voting for party in centre and hence you should vote for PM candidates and local MP does not matter. On the other hand is the argument that you need to vote for the person who would best serve interests of the area you live in irrespective of what party is in power at centre.

While advantage of former is that your vote would go to either of 3 big parties and in turn ensure that all seats are divided amongst these parties only (and by extension ensuring that whoever wins would more likely have a simple majority). The advantage of voting for your local candidate is that he/she may be from a regional party or be an independent but if you vote for right candidate, criminality is likely to go out in long run from indian politics and while there may be no clear majority at centre but members of parliament would be progressive, honest and will put the country first.

Unfortunately or fortunately the 2 candidates put by BJP and AAP in my constituency have proven records. While Kirit Somaiya is a long time anti-corruption crusader, Medha Patkar has got years of service to poor and for people without a voice through her work in slums and anti dam movements. Both would be an asset to overall functioning of parliament and hence my un-decidedness on who to to vote for. Had either of them been corrupt (like the 3rd principal candidate) my choice would have been simple


Do you vote for BJP or AAP?

Voting for BJP would mean that i would be helping them cross 272 hurdle as they are likely to get short of majority anyways. in my view BJP is a party which along with being largely corruption free has a real chance to come to power. On the flip side, i dont like their record on minorties and recent speeches of Amit Shah has confirmed that. Also, i am not sure of development record in Gujarat on whether it is good marketing or actually there has been a change since Modi has come in. I know it for a fact though that corruption is minimal in Gujarat compared to other states

Voting for AAP would most likely be a waste as it would mean division of vote to a non-principal party. AAP is not likely to get more than 50 seats and no party with these many MPs can form a govt. Also, AAP has no proven governance record anywhere. However, on the other hand voting for AAP would mean a vote for a party which is corruption free and one which aims to bring people participation in governance. Also, this is the first party which represents honest people who are fed up with corruption. if these very people dont support this party, it may be the greatest loss for democracy in long run.

Thank you Sachin

I was a 12 year old kid in 6^th standard playing with my friend in a small village in Eastern Maharashtra (Varthi, Bhandara District). 1992’s world cup was going on and while leaving from our homes to go out and play, we had heard from our respective mothers that India had won the game against Pakistan. Till that day we had had not seen any cricket game and our interest was just beginning to develop. While discussing the game, I told my friend that Sachin had played well and helped India win the game. My friend disagreed and said it was actually Tendulkar who played better. Argument heated up and we came to blows without realizing that we were speaking about the same person. That was my first acquaintance with Sachin. The date was 4^th March,1992.

A year passed and I was selected for Table tennis team of my school and to play regionals, we went to Gondia which was another obscure town in Maharashtra (slightly bigger though). All the seniors in my team were discussing that india had reached finals of Hero cup and it so happened that we went for dinner in small dhaba as the final overs were going on. Everyone in there was glued to TV and as Sachin bowled that final over and India won, it was the first time I experienced the collective awe, joy, excitement that Sachin was to give us in coming years. It was also the day when Sachin become my favourite cricketer.  The date was 27^th November, 1993.

Some years passed. My father got a job in Lagos in Nigeria and my touch with cricket went away as there was neither Indian channels nor Indian newspapers in that country. We did not afford a computer and dial up connection at that time. There was no news in local papers either as Nigeria does not play cricket. When 1996 World cup came, local government decided to put it up on radio channels. My father used to take the car to his office but on day of semifinal I asked him to take a lift and spent the day sitting in car and listen to commentary. My day was over when Sachin got out and probably due to sadness, I forgot to switch off the radio as I walked out of the car. The battery drained out due to which my father again had to take a lift and I got hell of a firing. The day was 13^th march, 1996.

In 1998, I did my 12^th and came to India to prepare for my engineering entrance exams. I was happy to be back in India. I was living with a joint family of our family friends and the day Sachin helped India qualify in Sharjah we all rejoiced together. It was 22^nd April 1998.

Soon after I got through to my Engineering in Chandigarh. I formed new friendships and forgot old ones. World cup started in 1999 and one day as we sat chatting in our rooms, a guy called Punit came running into the room and said that Sachin is coming back since his father had expired. Thinking it to be yet another plan to pull a fast one, we dismissed it. By evening it was confirmed that this was indeed true. Few days later, we saw a solemn but resolute Sachin score 141 not out against Kenya. At that time and even now, this was the biggest example of sacrifice I had seen by any cricketer. The whole hostel cramped  in that small room and on a 26” TV was cheering Sachin and I suspect Sachin made more fans that day than any other. The day was 23^rd May 1999.

6 months later, Sachin became captain and we found that India was going to play a test match in Mohali. The day that I was going to see Sachin had come!!! We took out students pass and went to see the 1^st day. Till you have seen a match in a stadium featuring Sachin, you have got no clue what it feels like when he walks out. Long queues swelled outside because NZ sent India to bat and we were pushing our way as well to see Sachin. he came, we cheered but he went away quickly as did the rest of team. 1^st day got over and we were leaving when we saw Sachin and Kapil (his 1^st match as coach of Indian team) walk out into middle for a chat. We rushed back to the boundary from where vehicles go into the ground and started shouting to get his attention. Suddenly a sharp pain went up in my legs. I turned around and found Punjab Policemen (seen to be believed) freely yielding their sticks on us. We turned around as one and ran out like a mob running away from tear gas. The day was 10^th October 1999. Four more days went past and on last day during presentation ceremony, I lost my voice shouting ‘Saachhhinnn..Saachhinnn’.

4 more years passed. I completed my Engineering and went back to my home town, then did my MBA and got a job in Mumbai. I met a girl and married her after almost 2 years of courtship. 2011 World cup started and India reached finals and suddenly my angel brother called me up one day and told me that he has tickets for the final. Me, my wife and my close friend Saurabh went to watch that match. Once Sachin got out the script looked similar and I told my wife that we are leaving. She put her foot down and said that she will not leave until its over (till this day I thank her or else I would have been very upset with myself once I knew what happened later). India won and I saw emotional Sachin being carried by his teammates from a distance of 10-15 feet. That was closest i had seen him. The day was 2^nd april 2011.

1 more year passed and Sachin announced his retirement. I live in a suburb of Mumbai around 20 kms away from Bandra where Sachin stays. When I heard of this, I wrote a thank you note and took my wife all the way outside his house and left the note with a policeman who was guarding his home. The day was 23^rd December 2012.

I have recollected my favourite Sachin moments and left out so many others. Come to think of it, I have known Sachin longer than I have known anyone else outside of my family (even if the acquaintance has been one way). All my friends mentioned above have moved on and we are no longer in touch. I don’t even know where some of them are. When I first heard of Sachin, I was in 6^th and used to play in my shorts in the lanes near my home. Today, I have an engg degree, a MBA as well and have been working for more than 7 years. This is my story and it is not much different for so many others. During this time, TV’s have got bigger, families have become nuclear, money is not as hard to come by. Somethings have not changed though. I have never been able to move on to other sports. Many friends and colleagues have taken to football, tennis and golf even. As for me and some of my friends, the only thing that connects us long after we have graduated is cricket. We may not talk for months but one knock of Sachin and flurry of sms exchanges and calls happen.

What has also not changed is one man who has been part of Indian team for so long, until now. At one point he was an indulgence, then he became a habit, today he is a part of life. And that is what is hurting most. It is like coming to know Amitabh Bachchan is not going to have a release for rest of our lives.

No longer will the nation hold its breath together as Sachin walks out to bat, no longer will the child in us come out seeing that straight drive, no longer will the stadium bring down the walls with ‘Saaaaaachinnnnnnn-Saaaaachhinnnnn’.  

Sachin has lived in a fish bowl for all his life for us. We have come together and felt that joy at the cost of one man’s normal life. The favourite anecdote that I heard of Sachin is when I waited in a hotel lobby for a whole day to get a glimpse of Sachin. I befriended a policeman and asked him why does Sachin not come out when all other cricketers roam freely. He told me that normally when a cricketer comes out, police guards him from fans but when Sachin comes out they themselves are the first ones to ask for an autograph (including him).

As Sachin plays his last match in Mumbai, I will surely be in the stadium watching him play one last time, thanking him for the joy he has given us, giving him a warm send-off but most of all to shout his name one last time.

Thank you Sachin.