Looking Back...

As the year comes to an end one thing is sure i have grown one year older of course my half acre baldness still symbolizes my aging phenomenon but as i ponder over the accomplishments , the yet to be reached targets, the best moments of the bygone year has been wonderful at a personal perspective. I think except the last couple of months where my laziness has taken an upper hand the rest of the year has been more of a struggle with race against the time doing multiple things with the same rigor, passion and aggression. There are are always certain moments which will still stay fresh in your memories down the lane, one such image is my Trip to LADAKH where i spent a considerable amount of time amidst the snow capped mountains . Definitely this one will be on top of the gratifying moments, the other one being the House i built for my parents, though will be mine sometime later at the moment the sheer joy in their eyes is something worthy to capture. Probably these are two most important images that come to my mind when i say 2007, however the t-20 world cup will never be forgotten as it remains in the history books of the Indian cricket something which i was always interested but could never make it as a career option. If you ask me if the year was a luxurious one, undoubtedly it should for i ended up spending a week every month on average in the ***** hotels across the country having those sumptuous dinners and the long Breakfast Buffets , though this year have missed a couple of international travels . In terms of the social initiatives a reasonable amount has been accomplished be it with the computer program i have take up the charge or SATTVA or helping small units of NGO's with their processes, programs and infra set up. I think this year has been more of an year of travel earning a good air miles with too many expense reports filing . Have been very choosy in terms of Reading books or watching movies, though most of the non travel time has been spent in the chores taken up or spending a good time with people around. Overall it has been a good year with little hiccups and good learnings and with wide arms i welcome the new year. I am sure this year will be bring in more positive changes in my life and i wish the coming year brings more peace in everybody's lives.

Quarter Life Crisis!!!

"Do you think you are still young and dynamic?Whatever things have to happen in that particular age it should happen. " says my father. I was bedazzled with this piece of his mind. It took me quite some time what he actually meant. Well i think everybody will ponder over when he/she thinks is ready to ring the bells. However i feel these are most crisis moments in ones life when you have to take that life changing decision. And the crisis only gets bigger when you are confused about choosing that person. I used to think if i am hooked up on to somebody who is as caring as my mother i should be pretty much happy. But when i came across my physics teacher in school ( i still feel she is most pretty woman i have met so far) i thought even beauty is one more dimension in life. When in college i had a friend who was intelligent and soft spoken adding few more qualities to the already incomplete list. But i can never forget this most enthusiastic, childish and mischievous girl adding more woes to those adjectives already in place after all you want some entertainment in life. A few years down the line i met this sweet adventurous bit lazy lady who never puts up a grumpy face and is always hospitable making you feel at home . Having added so many characteristics to that long list i felt finding the woman with all these dimensions is pretty complicated process. As we never know the person who is coming your way what is the new dimension she is gonna bring in your life. Thats why i say this is the age of Crisis - A Quarter Life Crisis and in this crisis age we are not pretty much sure if you found the right person. After all its a risky gamble and its the sheer optimism of belief in the institution that might eventually go your way. And this moment of life changing decision will have an everlasting influence. Hope there is QLC pill available to come out of this crisis or am i gonna pour in my thoughts until i come across the n-dimensional woman. After all as the days pass by weeks start running making you feel the year that passed just a while ago seems revisiting again making you ponder over the question my father poses "Do you think you are still young and Dynamic???"

Half a Century!!!

I can't believe I touched the 50th Post and this one happens to be a special one! All credits of this post to Rai as my thoughts have been reflected in his writing.

What a day it turned out to be...!!If there was any doubt in anyone's mind about commitment and passion towards the Sattva dream, then Saturday would have driven away all those doubts. The Sattva offsite which we had on Saturday was all about self-realization, realizing each-other and of course realizing equilibrium in social change..!!! It was a wonderful opportunity where we could connect names and emailIDs to faces, a day when we saw the Sattva team and its strength.

For those who missed out and who are away, am attempting to recount the action we had through the day. This will be a bit long, but i promise if you are any bit Sattva, it will be damn interesting...!!

Participants - Rathish, Aarti, Sumithra, Yenne, Satish, Bala, Goli, Kishore, Deepak, Upesh, Angie, Guneet, Rai, Vishal, Madhu.

8.30AM-9.25AM - Assembled in front of Dream a Dream office. Usual share of on-timers and late comers.

10.15am - Reached Jyothir Bhawan to find Vishal and Madhu(co-facilitator) looking all angry at our late entry :-)

10.30AM - Walked across the room for about 10 minutes with some lounge music playing in the background. Point was to feel integrated with our surroundings. Then played a group activity where each person had to establish eye contact with every other person in the group for a while.

10.45AM - 11.30AM - Sattva and I - Every person had to pick 2 things from the surroundings. One which describes your self and one which describes Sattva. Lots of interesting things/analogies came out. Water, soil, flowers, butterfly, crow, leaves, tree, tender coconuts(most popular) etc.Madhu was patiently jotting down the interesting findings on the white-board. What finally resulted was this - Me and Sattva

11.30AM-1.30PM - Appreciative Enquiry - Each person picked another member whom they least knew about. Each pair then gets to know the positives of each other through 2 questions - One most memorable and unique learning experience and some experience with Sattva which you think played an important role. Once this paired interviewing was over, the pairs formed 2 large groups. Within each group, we introduced our partners and came up with a common set of themes which describe us vis-a-vis sattva. Each group then presented these themes to the rest and finally we tried to pick out and arrive at common themes which run across us with respect to sattva. Finally we had - Appreciative Enquiry Results

1.30PM-2.30-PM - Lunch. Goli had baked a yummy cake for all of us..!! He is looking out for potential partners to start a baking business. I believe we have quiet some number of experts within Sattva now. Over lunch we had to get to know another person whom we knew little about. Questions to get details about included - what are the things which drives the person with work/activities/passions, one dream which the person wants to fulfill and one thing about the person which no one knows.

2.30-3.00PM - We discussed the new found things about our partners. Very interesting revelations ranging from aarti's sleep-walking to a phone-booth when in the US to a certain TV-star Sattva member having dated a current bollywood actress came out..!!

3.00-3.30PM - Presentation of Sattva Vision/Goals/Organization structure by me

3.30-4.00PM - Game time again. 3 teams, 3 cups, 3 sets of candies. 2 teams cheated. 1 team(me,rathish,bala,kishore,goli) won the fair play award :-)

4.00PM-5.30PM - Presentation of annual plans. Rathish -editorial; Yenne - marketing and distribution; Rai - operations/technology.

5.30PM-6.00PM - Wrap up. A very nice group activity where a golden thread ball was passed on from one person to another. Each person had to spell out one key take-away from the day and one commitment made to sattva, holding back the thread end while passing. What resulted was a beautiful golden mesh

6.00PM-6.30PM - Mementos presented to all participants. A copy of the book "How to change the world". Vishal was presented with the first print copy of the anniversary issue

6.30PM - Headed back citywards. Few of us downed some celebratory beers at Legends of Rock..!!

All in all a day of total fun, enjoyment, bonding and looking at the bright days ahead. Thanks to Vishal and Madhu for making the day so interesting, exciting and thought-provoking.

All snaps can be viewed at - http://picasaweb.google.com/vikram.rai/SattvaOffsite?authkey=9V7xNhLZj-E

Courtesy - Vikram Rai!

Chak Diya India!!!

It couldn't have been a better script for the final match of the t-20 world cup with the clash of the arch rivals and the men in blue snatching the match in a breath taking final over. Right at the beginning of the t-20 cup i told my friend that India would emerge as the champions in this format giving some sarcastic logic. But this young team of average age of 24 has proved many a critics wrong that we can bring the cup back home without the big stalwarts of the Indian cricket. With an early exit of the limited over cricket world cup which should have really charged these young boys and come out strong on the field and demonstrated a lot of character and temperament. Every match that the team played was simply outstanding and i think its these young boys brought a fresh perspective to the team. After the release of the movie "Chak Dey (Not sure if the movie inspired these team but seems to be with the talks going around in these teams dressing rooms) we saw the Indian football team pulling of the Nehru cup, than the hockey team winning the Asia cup and the men in blue bringing the world cup after a gap of almost 25 years. This would definitely be a defining moment in the Indian sports history. Probably this win will charge the younger generation from the rural India and produce many more young guns who can make an impression in the genre of world sports. At many a occasions where i was interviewed for being associated with various non-profit organizations i did say our generation has lot of potential and all it needs is passion to prove that. And i think in a country where this game is treated as religion these young boys have proved if you have fire in the belly and passion to prove a point nothing is impossible. Indeed this road to success by the team is good case study on how to handle a pressure cooker situation and i think all those management gurus will surely take a look into this. Its just not hitting the ball with the bat or the ball hitting the deck and scalping the wickets its about team work, one person leading by an example and others backing this person up, strategies to handle crisis situations all these make this game interesting and glue people to the television uniting people from all spheres of life though few think its a boring game who can probably never think beyond what is happening in the game as such. I was an year old when India won the first world cup and didn't know anything about that moment but i am really excited that i witnessed the moment of winning a world cup after waiting for so long and i am sure in years to come i will be proud to share this defining moment with the generation yet to come. Indeed we have moved over from "Chak Dey India" to "Chak Diya India" and i think its a celebration time for everybody hope these boys bring many more laurels and inspire the generations to come.

The Best of the Times!!

Visualize a small cute agricultural valley town surrounded by bald barren mountains with snow capped ones behind, palaces and Buddhist monasteries or stupas or gonpas on the hill scatterred across wide area, overrun by refugee kashmiri and tibetan souvenir sellers, internet cafes, cute french chicks, cool looking firrangs, monks who don't give up their goggles, variety of restaurants ranging from your masala dosa to Pizza and stream of water gushing across the town, army base camps, good roads, pure air - Thats LEH for you. But let me retrace my steps, I was a bit quick on the Leh road story. Most budget visitors here arrive overland in jeeps or by 'ultra deluxe' bus, Most do the Manali to Leh trip, and some mad people do this long drive on their enticers and enfields racing over passes higher than 4500m. People with slightly more time, money and self-esteem split up the trip into a few days, not an easy feat as this is wild, wild desert area and Rich people take the plane :). With a lot of excitement over the email exchanges about the Check list of items to carry, the To Do Things at Leh i caught up my group of friends at the Delhi Airport for We had to take the Flight to Leh on the Deccan Airways. My first Impression as we boarded the flight, Deccan is not a bad as it is portrayed. It takes almost an hour or little to reach Leh but you don't realize the time spent in the flight because of the excitement you are carried with tripping to LADAKH complimented by the beautifully snow capped mountains, the sun rise, the distant view of the stretches of the rivers the small green agricultural belts.
view from the top sitting in the craft












We reached Leh Airport as per the schedule and are denied to kodak the surroundings for security reasons, make our way to collect our baggages and dump the entire luggage into the vehicles waiting outside the airport and reached the Guest House within no time. After sipping a hot masala tea the instruction was to get acclimatized to Leh it being an high altitude arena. The Ladakh Festival : While the group was resting i was busy snapping my camera of the surroundings and an hour or so the break fast was served. Filling the stomachs with boiled eggs and toasts we set off to the local ladakh festival. Lucky enough to catch the glimpse of start of the festival with the monks blowing the chimes, the local ladakhi women dancing to the tunes of the drummers, we followed the procession for more than an hour till we realized we walked quite a distance along with the procession, decided to get back to the guest house. Got hold of the time table of the festival and decided to go for the music concert in the evening after resting for a while with good sumptuous lunch. In the evening we went to the polo ground where the music concert was being hosted. We witnessed the ladakhi and tibetan dances and indeed it was a retreat for us and am still humming the tunes. Ladakhi Dance - Ladakhi Festival










Having chalked out the plan for the next 7 days we were ready to explore as much of Leh as possible.

Day 2 :
Visit to Thiksey :
The parathas were too heavy for us at the breakfast table but at the end of the day it was justified for we visited 5 Distinct Places, though not much of trek but bit of climbing the steps and sitting in the INNOVA for all through the day is indeed tiresome no matter it be a MPV with all the comforts. 20 KM away from leh at an altitude of 3500m you get the Thiksey Monastery one of the famous Gonpas in Ladakh. Housing a Huge Buddha (as high as 15 m) its Buddha Idol
indeed a great place to be and we also had the privilige to witness the Mask Dance . The dances were fabulous; monks dressed up as figures from the Buddhist scriptures, all wearing fantastic masks. Some were dressed up as benevolent heroes, some were evil demons waving swords. At one moment, more than 10 monks were dancing slowly in circles to the crashing music, comically lifting their feet and stamping around, enacting scenes from the scriptures. .


The Mask Dance at Thiksey

Visit to Hemis : After gulping the Butter Chai offered by the monk we traveled to another Monastery called Hemis, yet another Tibetan style Gonpa jutting out of the Mountain dating back to 1672 AD. The way to hemis indeed is tiresome because of the high altitude passes and the river bridges with deserted mountains and alpine green valleys probably reflecting the Buddhist culture and living life in harmony among such harsh climatic conditions of Ladakh(No wonder the monk who sold his ferrari looks younger than his age when he is back from Himalayas having spent considerable time here) . By the time we reached the Gonpa it was lunch time and the entrance was closed. So we had a light meal in the nearby restaurant and took less than an hour to complete the visit. Probably if you have enough time on hand a trek to this gonpa will be breathtaking .
HEMIS GONPA













Visit to Shey Palace :
From Hemis we drove to Shey Palace and the drive was good with a good sight of the Indus River and scenery on the sides was lovely. Opposite shey palace we could see the rich green plain probably flooded by the river. Seeing such green patch is surprising as I read Ladakh is a dry place. We climbed up the stairs to Shey Palace nothing difficult under normal conditions thought it was bit hot due to the sun and the wind blowing cold. Like Hemis The palace had a profusion of prayer flags in the front. I came to know through some R that the prayer flags are supposed to carry people's prayers to God every time the wind blows. Indeed i could see that there were lots of prayers floating about similar belief as in south here we tie the cloth to a peepal tree. view from shey palace



Prayer Flags at Hemis












The giant red cylinder in the adjoining snap is a prayer wheel found almost in all the monasteries visited. Apparently they are like prayer multipliers. Every time you utter a prayer and rotate the wheel through one full circle, your prayer gets counted as x prayers instead of one (where the number x depends on the size of the wheel usually - probably BABA's principle is dependent on this one, no wonder Rajni visits Himalayas very Often). So if you feel like praying a 100 times each morning - rotate the wheel 100/x times and you're done. Prayer wheels come in many sizes. Some of the big ones (like the one in the picture) are installed at street corners in Leh. The smaller ones can be carried around easily and monks often rotate their prayer wheel continuously as they walk, i too bought one.






Visit to Stok Monastery : We then left for Stok Gonpa and couple of us from the team were little exhausted for they have had too many gonpa's for the day. I just went uphill to take this one snap of Stok, and found that not many people visit this Gonpa but this too has a beautiful view of the mountains and the greener side of LEH. Stok Gonpa





Visit to Shanti Stupa: Having had too many Gonpas we forgo the Leh's palace perched high above the town on a barren ridge, a semi-ruined one and we didn't bother panting up the hill to see them instead we drove towards the Shanti stupa which is on the other side of the valley , beyond the village of Changspa that's connected to Leh. Shanti Stupa
A Japanese Buddhist society has built the Shanti (peace) Stupa, a huge temple overlooking the whole area. I heard the walk up the steep steps was no fun but were lucky enough to get our car till the Stupa, but the views at sunset were stunning. The light is very different at high altitude - it's clearer than normal, and with the absence of pollution except dust, the air is as


View From Shanti Stupa
clean as it comes. Its very pleasant to be here and you could spend as much time in peace and the view of the town and the mountains is really amazing. By the time we reached the Hotel it was time to grab some momos followed by the cricket match lucky enough to catch the match at this altitude for i never expected the town to have a cable connection. My friend wanted to try out the local pizza which was decided the day we landed ,filled our stomachs with an yummy pizza at the garden cafe restaurant.I Observed that the shops closed down by 8 PM probably beacuse the locals go to bed early and the town is dead quite by 9 PM.

Day 3:
The day started quite early as we had to travel quite a distance. Grabbing a quick bite of bread packing our baggages, unsure of the entire luggage loaded we left to Lamayaru. On the way to lamayaru we could see the beatiful scenic view of the mountains with the river zanskar flowing. Though it was quite a long journey to Lamayaru the scenic beauty around supplements the same. On the way we stopped at Khaltse had a good brunch and moved on. Lamayaru is famous for the moonscapes which have an uncanny resemblance to the surface of the moon. At the very look at the Lamayaru Gonpa it seems to be the oldest monastery in Ladakh.
Lamayaru Gonpa The MoonLand view

Apparently lamayaru has the Old Traditonal Style Ladakhi Houses made of made of mud bricks (it hardly rains here so the bricks don't get washed away), willow beams and a mud roof.

Visit to Alchi: Having spent a considerbale amount of time at Lamayaru we then set off to Alchi. The enroute to alchi also is wonderful with just the mountains and high passes with less of civilization. We reached alchi checked in the guest house had a brief lunch and 3 of us left to the Alchi Gonpa while the rest wanted to rest. The Alchi Gonpa is unique in its own kind with dominated by three major temples with beautiful paintings inside the gonpa on the walls ,where you have to use your torches and strain your eyes to appreciate the beauty of the paintings. A significant thing to notice here is the buddha statute which has the eyes portrayed in the kashmiri style than the regular Tibetan style and the doti too has a good colorful paintings. We almost spent close to an hour to visit the three temples especially looking at the old paintings which indeed were marvelous. We then trekked down the river side spent close to 2 hours on the banks. The current was so huge we could hear the gushing of the water and touching the banks like a high tide. One of us tried to apply the skill demonstrated in of the advertisements offlate to see if the water can be distributed without disturbing the caricatures built on the sand.
Entrance to the Alchi Chhoshkhor Temple
Soon the sun had set and rest of the folks joined us and were gazing at the stary stary night and my friend was showing the different sun signs and managed to catch a glimpse of comets, and soon it was dinner time. We had a sumptous dinner in the local restaurant. We enjoyed the dinner so much that we decided even the breakfast menu for the next day.

Day 4:
It was quite a late morning for all of us, managed to get hot water and with in an hour's time we landed up at the same restaurant where we had dinner and were ready for the breakfast. Those who missed the gonpa the previous day they visited the temple today and the rest if us were just enjoying the river side yet again. The river side where we had a gala time
Having spent some time we got back to our hotel, checked out and left for Likir.

Visit to Likir : After travelling for an hour or more we reached likir. We could see the lots of fresh water streams flowing by and this view of the Likir is really interesting where you see an Idol of Buddha from Far. Likir is no different from Alchi in terms of the paintings however here the paintings are well maintained unlike the Alchi Temples. The idol which is called Maitreya or the Future Buddha or Buddha of Compassion is something thats really attracting the toursists. I wished i could climb on to the statute and take a snap placing myself on the lap of buddha. Future Buddha

Having finished Likir we rushed back to leh as we had to finish couple of other destinations. The enroute to Leh-Kargil-Batalik National Highway we expereinced a wonder called Magnetic Hill. The local administration has put up a bill-board near the "Magnetic Hill" for tourists stating that if a vehicle is placed on a particular spot on the road and the engine is switched off, it would not slide down but move up. Infact we tried this out on our vehicle and seemed to be true. Just watch this video :

I am not sure in order to escape the magnetic impact of the hill if the choppers and aircrafts have to fly at a relatively greater height. And if an aircraft which comes into the radius of the "Magnetic Hill" faces any jerks or any turbulences. A few kilometres from the "Magnetic Hill" is "Gurdwara Patthar Sahib" where Guru Nanak Singh, Guru of Sikhs, had sat on meditation. The Gurdwara, which has its own religious importance for the Sikhs, has remained in the oblivion probably due to its location. Maintained by the army, the Gurdwara is more of a place of prayer for the locals, armymen and tourists. Not many Sikhs from other parts of the country visit the place. It is said when Guru Nanak Singh was meditating here, an evil soul threw a large stone from the hill top at him. The stone did hit him, but Guru was not hurt. However, the mark of the Guru was left on the stone which is still lying at the Gurdwara. We managed to get a free lunch at the 'Langar Hall' which is generally served on Sunday's only. Having finishsed a late lunch we visited the Spituk Gonpa and the Kali Mata Temple a few kms away from Leh. We couldsee the run way from here and the view from Spituk is was indeed a great sight to watch. The kali mata idol with its face closed is a magnificient one which is open for a week during a festival in Jan. I could imagine the powerful charisma of this idol for with its face closed itself it was bhayanak. Check this view from Spituk and kali mata temple. Soon we were done with what we have planned for the day and reached our guest house.

Day 5 :

This day we planned to go to Kardungla , to catch the glimpse of the snow fall we had to leave quite early than usual. Kardungla is supposedly the highest motorable road in the world which is at a height of 18380 feet. Having reached the top after a brief while we freaked out seeing the snow. It was something i had been looking for quite some time just snow snow around you. And to add to our luck we witnessed the snow fall too. With too much of expereincing the snow we gulped the hot tea offered by the local army man and set of to Nubra Valley - the valley of flowers. It being the end of the season we couldn't find much flowers to our sight but the very picturesque scene of the roads , the red, green purple colored mountains with the river in between was splendid. On the way to Nubra Valley
We reached nubra valley town finsihed lunch and set off to leh. We passed the Kardung pass yet again on our way back but couldn't see the snow at all. This one is great place for the hitch hikers , i wished someday i get hold of the Enfield and drive these passes which should be an exhilarating rush of the adrenaline.

Day 6 : Having ended the previous night watching the nail biting finish by the local BissiBelle Bath Boy (Robin Uttapa) , today we decided to go for the rafting . The previous day weather put us in a speculation if we could go for the rafting however this morning the weather seemed fined for rafting. Having had a heavy breakfast we went for rafting in the indus river. It was 22-30 Km long rafting , since most of us had a first hand experience in rafting we were quick to jump into the raft and started to row with the instrcutions being followed carefully. The water was too cold to bear and as we finished half the track hands and legs had become numb and the time we reached the Sangam where the Indus River and the Zhanskar River meet we could feel that water colder than earlier.We came to know that Zhanskar river flows from the Glacier which is why at the meeting point of the rivers the water was too cold . With few level 2 and 2 plus rapids the water gushing on the already cold bodies we managed to finish the rafting in 3 hours time. The rafting ended with a good meal , the driver was waiting for us to leave us back at our guest house. An idea struck to visit the ORACLE Lady at Matho Gonpa. Having reached the Gonpa we figured that the Oracle Ladies come only during the festive season. Though we couldn't get hold of the Oracle Woman the sight of the place opposite to the gonpa where the river indus was flowing was awesome. Unfortunately we didn't take our cameras this day so i can't post any snaps showing the beauty of the matho village. The night dinner was hosted by David a very sweet and helpful guy who has helped us in chalking out the plan for our entire trip. The dinner was superb for i had a chance to taste the chicken curry having had veg stuff all through the trip which was equally good.

Day 7
The day started of quite early than the days before as the plan was to visit the pangong lake extending from india to tibet where you need a special permit to visit the place and its a long 5- 6 hour drive from leh. As we started to ascend the Mountains we could see heavy snow fall and we reached a point where our driver was really pushing hard.We decided we will head back to leh as the road seems to be blocked and all the vehicles ahead of us started their way back. But the beauty of this travel was the heavy snowfall which was indeed a bonus for all of us. We had a gala time in the snow fand headed back. I guess this will be the best of all the days of trip for most of us. On our way back to Leh we stopped at the place where the Movie "Dil Sey" was shot. It was a fanatstic location and i managed to trek a small

Can you see the small black thing - well thats me

desert. We spent more than an hour at this place before heading back to the guest house. In the evening we had sometime to shop while the next day was dedicated entirely for shopping and chilling out.

Day 8: As i wake up today i could feel my head heavy probably due to extreme exposure to the snow fall. We managed to pull Mrs David yet another sweet woman who joined us for the shopping to take us to the genuine places as the prices being quoted were exorbitant. While few managed to buy little stuff others managed to empty their wallets :) . We reached little later than noon finished our lunch with the stuff we got from home and started playing cards watching the final match. Since the cricket match seemed to be uninteresting everybody left for another shopping spree while i was in the room drafting this blog. In the evening we packed everything as we had to catch an early morning flight. It's very strange to leave a place that was so unknown before departure, but became so familiar during the stay that I've travelled there. It's a bit like emigrating; you're glad to go to new horizons with this beautiful experience but still sad to leave.

Day 9: Soon the morning arrived and we had to leave Leh with a high note. Since we had a small argument regarding the carrying of Oxygen cylinders we couldn't realize we spent 2 hours in the leh airport. Within no time we reached delhi and few left for shopping. Since we havent had breakfast my friend prepared the stuff she got from home which was spicy and yummy and filling enough to skip my lunch substituted by an ice cream little later. I am really not sure how the time passed by and soon we were in bangalore and bid adieu to each other having collected the baggages and weighing the apples being distributed amongst us.
It seemed like the 9 days passed on just in a whiff and i am still not out of it. Today when i was driving to office i was missing the mountains around only finding the sad looking apartments, however the memories of the trip will remain fresh making me miss all those moments of peace subsequently doing nothing for a week very unlike of me.
I am sure this will be the best of all the trips i had been to and want to thank my dear friend for dragging me in to the group whom i knew briefly and at the end of the trip making me feel part of the group and now missing them all. This trip has really been a wonderful experience and i am sure will be a memorable one in the years to come.

With my mobile phone switched off , an out of office reply for a week, no internet access, the trip was so overwhelming that all i could say is "i had the best of the times!!!!" of my life.

~Juley(Greetings)
For all the pics visit :
http://picasaweb.google.com/vijaykumar.yenne/TripToLeh
http://picasaweb.google.com/vijaykumar.yenne/TripToLeh02

"Give IT - India " a personal perspective

A retreat to the heart to see a different sharukh's movie. Somewhere deepdown i had a soft corner to this guy who has raised from a fouji to coach and wandered in millions of heart for the last 10 years or more which made me watch "CHAK DEY.." on the day of the release after watching a preview of the theme song a week back which is quite isnpiring. After "Swades" this is best performance oriented role by the king khan. Infact you really u dont see all those Regular Quirks and you get to see a different Khan altogether. And applause to the director to have done such a wonderful screenplay and giving equal importance to all the characters from across the states of the country with an awesomely knit storyline. Breaking the sterotypes of the women to be restricted to the kitchens...and what it really takes to be a champions the movie is nicely paced with three different aspects - set-up, build-up and climax. A subtle comdey from every character and equally subtle dialogues making an impact in some portion of your brain. Indeed a bold step to involve 16 amatuer actors in a game like hockey who just stick to their natural instincts of acting and give life to the characters with few giving that extra edge over others. Somebody rightly mentioned you need to be a coach to give the best out of team than a manager, and Kabir Khan though unconventional may be in his methods devised on the few young egostic expereinced women, a few submissive, one super-charged angry , a dissent one, another skeptical one all characters that we normally find around us in our lives weaves them together imbibing some sense of patriotism, demonstrating attitude, aggression, sporting spirit and the killer instinct to achieve amidst fighting all odds.

There is something captivating about the sporting movies in general and this one is a niche one in that category where the movie watchers were cheering as if it is a real match which proves that there isn't much exaggeration of any scene at all. I am fascinated with movies which leave an impact, which makes you ponder and the ones which allow you fill something missing and i am sure this one is a blend of all.

Its a must watch for everybody whether you aren't sharukh fan or whether you dislike sports, its most unlikely to make you move around the seat with unease as the movie runs around your anticpation and makes you realise the ADIDAS slogan with the entertainment at its own place.

A double thumbs-up to everybody behind the making of CHAK DEY INDIA and to the KING KHAN in particular delivering his best in the form of the coach taking the 16 young babes to victory.

I wished i could write those few dialogues and moments that i enjoyed, liked right from the first scene where Kabir Khan walks out of his colony with his mother the most beautiful shot to the sublte comedy he does at McDonalds to the introduction of the women's team in the traditional indian style with that not so great yet inspiring climax speech, overall its worth waiting for 8 months to watch a movie on the Big Screen and not even a single soul standing up to leave their seats just before you realise the movie is going to end waiting till there is blackout
And walking out in your minds !!! CHAAAAAAAK DEEEEY INDIAAAAAAAA.

Are Advertisements Widening the Gap?

A wonderful excerpt from Mr Desai CEO & MD - Future Brands - Whether Advertisements are widening the gap between the Have's and Have Not's :

Do you remember this ad for an air-conditioner where a poor young girl fills up some cold air in the cup of her hand and runs across to the fields where her father is toiling in the hot sun to give him some relief? The magnanimity of the air-conditioned world is staggering, that it gives so freely of itself to the poor is deeply moving.

We cannot help the poor, so let’s mock at them instead with our pretended sympathy. Let the brand gain by speaking emotionally. So what if the poor are twice exploited?

The traditional argument for advertising increasing the distance between haves and have-nots is that it makes the latter aspire for a lifestyle beyond their reach and hence creates a set of false desires leading to people living beyond their means. The traditional argument need not be true.

Advertising can play a powerful role if it creates a ladder of aspirations that inspires consumers to continuously move up in their lives. For this to happen, advertising must speak to all its potential consumers and give each constituency the respect it deserves.

And this is where advertising is failing today. While it is more inclusive than it was a few years ago, it is still focused narrowly on a very small group of people. For instance, when was the last time you saw a village in a commercial that was not out of a tourist brochure? Barring a few instances, advertising excludes large parts of India from its mental model of consumers. This is particularly true for rural India but also applies to a whole set of mass-market consumers at the lower end.

When it does depict them, it is most often as caricatures for the amusement of the rest of us. The implicit perspective is so metro-oriented that Lucknow is seen as a small town and spoken down to. The ‘us versus them’ mindset is embedded deeply and conversations with ‘people like them’ are usually patronising, stereotypical or both. The worst cases mock the consumer, as in the example of the air-conditioner ad above.

Advertising is part of a larger discourse that includes popular cinema and news media where the rich have become the centre of our universe. By being concerned largely with consumers rather than people, and that too consumers with deep pockets, we are eager to listen to their concerns and tend to ignore the rest.

In a larger sense, of course, advertising is the infantry of an army that seeks to make our world a place where we measure our worth according to the things we buy. In an inherently unequal society like ours, this can only magnify the distance between those who have the means and those who do not. Potentially, advertising could give those lower down the economic ladder the incentive to push themselves harder in the name of consumption. That it has chosen not to do so, is a tragedy.

Tennis and Me...

My interests in Lawn Tennis dates back to the day my father bought the first TV way back in late 80's. Year on Year i used to follow all the four championships (French, Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open) closely. When i was in my college day i had an opportunity to try the sport and managed a decent serve with good back and forehand ofcourse after a good practice close to an year. Ever since i moved to blore the passion for tennis has taken a back seat with many other things taking the priority. But One thing hasn't changed - Watching few crucial matches of the championships (Atleast over the last 4 years didn't miss a single final of any of the championships and followed the rest of the games online). Other than enjoying the game i guess there is a lot you can learn when you watch the game. Again this might be accounted to the fact that i start analyzing everything i do and try to bring in a correlation to our daily lives. I know people feel this analysis as a kind of bore but i am really helpless in this regard as i beleive in extracting the experience from the so called "CHAMPIONS" and try to bridge the gap in self and be a "CHAMPION" in your own sphere and at the same time analyze people and make them realise their true potential and deliver their best.

Well What made me pour out my inhibitions on Tennis? Of course the fantastic Men's Wimbledon Final, Its one of the Best clashes between the superheroes of their last 12/13 encounters. Clearly there are two dominating men in the world of tennis both being my favorites - FedEx and Rafael. And if you have followed this final closely you would have appreciated what it needs to be a champion. It was a game of aggression, frustration, strategy, errors ,experience and Ofcourse Luck. Now do i need to say how to apply these complex sounding words but simple concepts to implement in everything you do?

Its my strong recommendation to watch if not most of the games but atleast a nerve biting games like these which you not only enjoy but also have some take aways too.....

Is it of my Interest?

I always wonder what makes some section of the community interested to read news which actually aren't NEWS at ALL. I really don't care what Paris Hilton did in Jail this week, Instead would put on my head phones and listen to "It's a Beautiful Life..." Well if you tell me there is something interesting in their lives, i will tell you much more interesting stuff to make your life exciting. There are stories of People fighting for Environment, some working for the devastated sections of the community, a few sacrificing their lives for the upbringing of the under privileged children, some working with the autistic kids. All these unsung stories go unnoticed since we are always interested in the myriads of fantasies of the "CELEBRITIES". But do we ever realize the amount of potential we have to make few lives better for we are gifted with such a wonderful life where are privileged enough to spare our time on those "NEWS". We know for sure we are not interested in these kind of news yet we try to follow up on who is dating with whom, who has split, whether the kundali's of the Ash-Abhi are matching etc? Is it some kind of entertainment for us? Don't we realize it sheer non-sense? If you are really looking or an entertainment go and watch a play or catch up a movie or download the latest hip-hop music and listen to it. These might be entertaining and interesting but definitely not the kind of Spicy NEWS which really doesn't spicen up our lives at all. As long as we entertain these NEWS, the paparazzi will always exist and will give their heart and soul to cover such stuff. The moment you realize if it really interests us, contemplate on what actually interests US, i am sure no body would really care for whether Paris Hilton is out or in the Jail, rather concentrate on how we better our lives.

eyeing the I's

Recently i was going through the education space advertisements and i was taken by a surprise with this year IIT JEE Results. Almost 2000 people from Andhra Pradesh qualified the JEE. Truly over the years a remarkable increase in the number of students getting through for the ELITE Insitution. This trend has always been there when you analyze the students across South. Here students always thrive to get into the top notch institutes. On the contrary when you look at the EAST Indian states, there is lot of competition among the Same Age group who want to make a career in Singing. Yes I am talking about the Sony's "Indian Idol" where 60-70% are predominantly from the NORTH-EAST. While students from south are busy with their regular studies trying to get into the IIT's,NIT's, BITS,AFMC's,JIPMER's...the students from N-E are ready to forgo their studies and concentrate on taking up SiNgInG(check the notes -read it Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ne) as their career. I am bedazzled that in all the singing competitions there isn't Single individual from the South. Probably the young guns over here are media shy and are busy cracking the hard core force=mass*acceleration problems than practicing long hours of music, slog as much as possible to enter the colleges, then again work their ass off to get a good break in their career to earn those fat packets. Whereas the wannbe idols are very ambitious of entering the glamorous industry so that they claim the fame very fast, earn all the perks at a young age and spend the rest of the life in comfort and they give in everything for this. Both in their own spaces are working Hard which might be the "KEY FACTOR" for the successes. But it appears strange to me why isn't there a mixed competetion everywhere why should the competition be specific to a region, probably the IIT crackers can crack this...

A MOM's Tear..means a LOT...

9 Years Back her elder son leaves home in pursuit of a new Life. At that time she encouraged her son to do so, though he had the opportunity to cling to her arms, because she wanted him to be a worthy nut. Over the years he struggled, he excelled and still continuing his innings doing exciting things. In this 9 years he visited her 18 times and every time he bid adieu he could sense a Bit of apprehension in her face with a small tear rolling down her cheek, As always mothers are always worried about their children. Since it was a regular scene over the years she got used to it, One of the reasons could be there is still somebody with her whom she can share her moments of happiness/joy/sorrow for she never visited her parents/relatives. But this time when this younger one also flew, away from her "Nest"; She couldn't stop her tears flowing.Those tears might have meant a lot..not just a means of showing the parting but the moments of frisky fights, the moments of jubilation's and many more. Both of them have to deal with things in their own space. In this age of technology they might be connected through a mobile/phone but what about the mere physical presence? Probably she might look at her face every morning and start her day off now she has to only visualize. If she felt something went wrong she would want to vent the frustration on her..now she might have to vent on herself, she might need an helping hand in her chores now she has do it all alone herself. Those tears meant all these things which will be missing in her life from this day. Its not just the missing part..but the what's and whys of missing part which makes the emotions to flow in the form of tears. There might be lot more things associated with those tears but droplet that fell from her eyes had a lot of mixed emotions associated. And probably that's the beauty of parting from dear ones - On one side you are happy that you are venturing into exploring something new but on the flip side you are making somebody cry. But Isn't it the law of the universe that you have to part at some point of time? Though we Knowledgeable Human Beings are well versed with the laws but when it comes to emotions, attachments we would definitely don't want to come out of this sphere. But Isn't it wonderful there are so many things attached with those droplets when her child moves out of her den? True those tears from My Mom meant a lot when her daughter moved away from her and every time i say Good Bye to her... In retrospect i was the same when I left my School/teachers/friends....

Gave up or Made the Right Choice?

Last week i met an old friend at lunch who is getting married soon to his "Girl". I was taken by a surprise when he said he gave up eating N-V for his GF doesn't like him eating that. Having known him for quite some time who likes to eat this kind of food, it should have been a difficult decision But everything in the interests of this "Special One" and i guess he should have made quite some decisions in her favour. After our meeting i introspected on the way people take decisions under the influence of others. I rather felt he made a "Right choice" than giving up for a peaceful co-existence. Probably i am comfortable using "Making a Right choice" for the situation than "Giving Up". As "Giving Up" as i perceive is something driven by an external force, or you take such a decision out of frustration or love for others , where as "Making the Right Choice" is something driven by your own will in your own interests. There is an Advantage in "Making a Right Choice" as it is situation dependent and a personal driven decision you can at later point of time make the Right choice adaptable to that situation and always say "the situation demands". Where as when you say "Gave Up" the frame of reference is not going to change but your mind might change at a later point of time and you might start revisiting the habit which was not the case earlier and your are contradicting yourself giving a chance of wrong decision taken earlier. Probably "Giving Up" and "Making a Right Choice" are interesting phrases which are subject to debate, However I would prefer the later to former as the later gives me more freedom of flexibility and less accountability or rather justifying/giving explanation of the decision to others or one's self.

A lesson from Coffee - Courtesy (FWD)

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive,some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this. Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Fate brews the coffee, not the cups.

Enjoy your coffee! "The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything." Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

To MOM with Love!!!

I just realized that mothers day has just passed silently inspite of me trying to concentrate on permeating the information acquired into 5 minds!!! In this busy "too much to do" environment though the essence of the day might have been lost but the emotional attachment that i am binded with cannot be forgotten. There are certain moments in life that you really thrive upon a lot. One such moment is the day we are born for all the pains she had to go through to get me into this world. Over the years she has always been with me whenever i needed the support and stood back on my side in everything i have been doing though i have had differences with my other parent(my father). She adjusted her early morning religious rituals by getting up even before i open my eyes to make sure the break-fast isn't delayed, i don't land up late in school, many a times gave her part of the snack to me to make sure my stomach is full, and during those exam days when i used to get up in those vague hours of 2 AM she too is besides me to make sure i don't hurt my back by sitting continuously sitting for hours and how can i forget about the barley water in summers just in case i get de-hydrated, and the forgo on her sarees so that i could get a better trouser and the weekly fast for the well-being of the family, never visited her parents to avoid the problems of cooking we would have to face in her absence, avoided the doc visit so that school fee can be covered for that month ...ufff the sacrifices are too many to be listed. She has been selfless in everything she has been doing for she loves me a lot. I still remember the smile on her face the day i had gifted her saree with my first earning for that that is one mode i could express my love towards her and the smile was definitely for the emotional connection than for the material pleasure. Would definitely like to write more on how the feeling being associated to such a caring person but certain emotions need to be in the wraps than on the net, though she doesn't know there is something called blog but one day i am sure she will come to know of this..." I know you love me and I love you too. You might feel left out for being away from you. But i wanted to let you know i care for you and you mean a lot to me..." And these lines hold good for other MOM too...(Well I have 2 mom's I haven't written anything abt the other one...probably some other time...)

Brainless Beauty!!!

Tip Tip Barsa Paani...

Remember the old Hot Bollywood Rain Song...well yesterday i had been humming this song along with many other rain songs from all the woods (Tollywood, KollyWood,Bollywood,Sandalwood...) for almost 3 hours enjoying the deluge in Bangalore with the entire traffic coming to halt. For almost 4-5 km stretch of the road came to stand still. I could see the amount of frustration being vented out by the public with the amount of honks overshooting the normal decibels. It took me more than 3 hours to reach home completely wet(if you travel @ of 0-5 kmph, according to standard speed- distance-time equation i guess i justified it..and such is the traffic woe) . However i enjoyed the evening as suggested. I still remember my childhood days where i was never allowed to get wet in the rain for my parents were worried that i would catch cold and probably many other diseases. I always wanted to get drenched in rain in a no man/womans land. I experienced such kind of pleasure once when i was alone in a kinda forest and it was pouring and i felt i am very close to the nature , i felt as if i am sleeping in my mothers lap such an awesome feeling to experience the natural shower. But most of the general public feel that if it rains it creates many a hassles. Isn't because of the lack of proper infrastructure to be precise proper drainage system, we dont collect the rain water at all(How many houses in bangalore have the rain water collection pits?) If only we act smart heed to the advices given by the experts in rain water harvesting it would have been a different case. But for now until those advices come to practice i will still enjoy my self getting wet singing the guilt number meaning..."let the rain fall and reduce distance between the hearts..of course between mine and the nature's...

what type are you?

When i took this personality test some 4 years back the result was an "ENFJ". Not sure if my type has changed over the years. Well the types can be classified as based on the 4 different categories

* Extroversion - Introversion (E and I )
* Sensing - Intuition ( S and N)
* Thinking - Feeling (T and F)
* Judging - Perceiving ( J and P)

The first criterion defines the source and direction of energy expression for a person. The extrovert has a source and direction of energy expression mainly in the external world while the introvert has a source of energy mainly in the internal world.

The second criterion defines the method of information perception by a person. Sensing means that a person believes mainly information he receives directly from the external world. Intuition means that a person believes mainly information he receives from the internal or imaginative world.

The third criterion defines how the person processes information. Thinking means that a person makes a decision mainly through logic. Feeling means that, as a rule, he makes a decision based on emotion.

The fourth criterion defines how a person implements the information he has processed. Judging means that a person organizes all his life events and acts strictly according to his plans. Perceiving means that he is inclined to improvise and seek alternatives.
The different combinations of the criteria determine what type you are. So if we do the permutations and combinations we end up in sixteen types. So in this world every person more or less can be categorised in to one of these 16 types. Every type has a name (or formula) according to the combination of criteria. For example:
ISTJ
Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging or
ENFP
Extrovert INtuitive Feeling Perceiving

If you are an " I " doesn't mean you will be strictly an introvert, it will be more degree of being introvert than being extrovert. Same holds good with any of the types. The point i want to drive is each type is unique on its own way, and the way we tend to establish a connection with the fellow human beings depends on the type. Not everybody can jell well with every other person, its some common traits that makes you attract towards the other person and establish the connection. And a lot of falling into these types depends on how your surroundings have been since childhood. The art of decision making is also driven by what type of personality you are. Sometimes people tend to decide based on emotion others judge the situation putting their principles on high esteem. Its very interesting to talk about these personality traits in detail and draw parallels to things happening in our lives. But i am not a guru in human psychology to write in greater depth as we already have so much information floating :)

is it a DEAD END??

Early exit of the Indian team might have been forgotten but the things taking turn on 10Dulkar looks like never ending. From all quarters there has been a big hue and cry asking for his retirement and his behaviour/responses to the media. But as he says did we sit back and asked what is it going through his mind? Every time he walks into the field we expect him to score a ton after all he is a cricketer isn't is his job to fire all cylinders...If we take a closer look of his 17 years stint with Indian cricket he has been consistently performing..atleast the statistics show..Remember the last world cup?? who has been instrumental in taking the team india to the finals...and one bad day by him and the entire team costed us to forgo the world cup. The same thing happened this time too...we had the entire teams performance at stake and we didn't move to the next stage. So do we blame Only Sachin for this? Or do we blame the entire team...sac everybody and go for a new team altogether.....Probably somewhere something went wrong..did we try to analyze the situtaion..did we try talking to our players...Instead we want Sachin to retire from the game. I am not saying he has to continue playing for his life time...but doesn't he know or capable enough to decide when to take the decision of quitting the game....We have been with him whenever he has made the team win the matches..today when we see that we haven't proved worthy enough at the world cup we shout at top of our voice against him....Can't we try to be with him at this rough patch of his life, support him,make him regain his confidence and contribute to the game of cricket for couple of more years and let him retire gracefully....Dont we know the amount of expereince he brings to the team....Instead of peer pressurising him to retire, probably he should go back play some domestic cricket get some good touch and then come back and fire, we are yet to find one more 10dulkar for the team and may be him being with the team is a good sign for the upcoming youngster to be groomeed and fitted into his shoes. Well my gut feel is its a not dead end for the Great Legend and I am sure he has good amount of cricket left in him and contribute to the game and gracefully give way to the upcoming champions than forcefully for he has so much of potential and he has proved it many a times ever since he has been playing for Team India. Yes, he is indeed beginning to age, and it is showing in his performances, but that does not signal or hint towards any decline. The hunger, the humility and the desire to score runs is still within him. And come on folks for almost 17 years he has has been away from the family had been thinking only about the game and contributing for it (though would have made enough money through this) , earned millions of fans do we think this the way a person of high esteem needs to be treated?? I am sure a few tons in the upcoming matches will pacify the fans/media and start praying him again....thats how we have always been...GOD or DOG based on a situation.....We must agree he is god's gift for the Indian Cricket and has taken Indian cricket to a different level altogether and he ate,drank, slept cricket and there is no doubt neither about his attitude nor his performance and he will still be role model for many a upcoming cricketers.