Month: September 2014

Once upon a time!

Once upon a time, a fairy tale was in the offing.

She was the girl next door. She was average, nothing special about her. She was told not to expect any fairy tales as fairy tales happen with princesses & not with ugly ducklings. She couldn’t blame them. No one had proved that wrong yet. She wouldn’t even know if there was anyone to prove them wrong. Citing her flaws, she would keep away from any probability of finding love.

He was a stud, a charmer, a heart breaking Casanova. He had no time for love & relationships. He thought they were waste of time. He didn’t believe in fairy tales. They were for kids. Some would say he was commitment phobic.

Until the day he met her.

She forgot her flaws. Nothing felt more right than being with him.

Being with her was the best thing that happened to him. He had never felt more at peace.

She realized we don’t look for perfect people, we look for people perfect for us.

He realized with the right person, labels don’t matter.

And when they are that special for someone, fairy tales do happen, even with ugly ducklings, even with non believers. ❤ ❤ ❤

Hariyali ki taraf rasta!

  • Forests are the renewable sources of nature
  • They are home to living creatures,
  • They contribute in maintaining biodiversity
  • They regulate the climate
  • They provide industrial timber and fuel,
  • They prevent and mitigate sudden freshets that lead to flooding

Afforestation is a proven method which contributes to environmental conservation, less-polluted industrial development and healthy community activation!!

Hariyali in Thane (near Mumbai), is one of the rare organisations in India which takes up this activity!

In 2008, we formed a Go Green committee at work. This committee consisted of members who were passionate about the environment & wanted to do something about conserving the same.

Initially we started sending emails about awareness & also arranged a small presentation. However, we wanted to do more! One of the members of the committee came across this NGO Hariyali. The chief founders of this NGO are Senior Citizens who were passionate just like us about environment but are actively involved in making this planet a little more greener.

Apart from other activities, they were also involved in Afforestation of an area in Bhavale, near Thane Nasik Highway. We planned to check it out one Saturday. The plantation activity was being done by NSS students & other corporate employees. We were amazed at the enthusiasm of the founders. Their agility in climbing up the hill ashamed us & made us realize how unfit we were.

We started with the plantation work after a short briefing. The Saplings had to be carried to the top of the hill, where they would be planted. At the end of the task, we were satisfied & decided to involve more colleagues in to this activity.

Initial Planter

Saplings being planted

 

Pilot Batch

The Proud Pilot Batch!

Since then, every year we manage to go there once. The plantation is done in monsoon, it drizzles most of the time & this activity became fun for all of us!

Planting saplings is not enough. We also need to protect the plants & see to it that they are growing properly. We also need water conservation so that plants don’t wilt during summers. Constructing bunds, ponds, etc is a part of the post plantation activity.

This year, post the tree plantation activity, we came to know about the hurdles the NGO is facing, especially shortage of volunteers & we decided to contribute more than once a year.

In the second visit of the year, we helped in digging up a pond & some of the members were also involved in creating saplings & sowing seeds. 15 Saplings were made by 6 year old daughter of a colleague! Catching them young, we are 😉

Weed Uprooters

Uprooting Weed

Pond Diggers

Digging Pond!

Seeds N Saplings

Sowing seeds & managing saplings!

 

All this is due to encouragement of our senior management. Without their support, it wouldn’t have been possible to sustain this activity for so many years.

After 6 years, the place has metamorphosed from a barren land to lush forest. We also feel proud that the forest contains some of the trees planted by us. Just like we are enjoying fruits of someone else’s labour, someone else will be enjoying fruits of our labour. It also feels great to give something back to nature!

Barren Land

In 2008 – The land was almost barren!

Lush Forest

In 2014 – It’s a lush forest!

An apple a day…

After having his dinner, Dr. Atul felt like having some dessert. Being health conscious, he would fulfill his dessert cravings with fruits. Just when he was ruing the fact that he forgot to get some this week, he remembered the pani puri seller getting apples for him. He was not very hygienic & Dr. Atul asked all his patients from refraining to get pani puri from this particular vendor.

The downfall of his business had probably made him mend his ways. The pani puri seller had come to his clinic & promised him that he would serve his customers the best pani puri. He could himself come visit his stall to verify. He had accepted the apples reluctantly & assured him of his visit.

Next day the neighbourhood was abuzz with news. The young doctor was killed because of eating a poisonous apple.

Shankar listened to the people talking about it while they devoured the pani puri. This was the best thing he had learnt in school. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

A different type of vacation!

She cribbed about boss making her go out of town, that too during weekend. After she packed her bag with all the essentials, she handed over the list of instructions to her husband. Don’t let the kids watch too much TV, she said. She felt a twinge of guilt as she bade good bye to her family.

After travelling for an hour, she reached her destination. A luxurious room with a sea view was waiting for her. She unpacked her bag & reclined on the couch. This was the beginning of her two day vacation. 😉

The guy with the pink umbrella!

In the sea of black umbrellas, the pink one cried for attention. The passers by stared at the person holding the umbrella.

Oh my God He is so gay!, said someone. A group of girls giggled at him. It didn’t help he was wearing skinny jeans rolled up to his knees.

This must be what they call is metro sexual. Why don’t men dress up like men any more? Sighed a woman waiting at the bus stop.

The phone rang & interrupted the music. He swiped the green button to the right. His girl friend on the other line asked if he had reached home. He said, Yes sweets & thanks for lending me your umbrella! You saved me from getting drenched 😉

umbrella

Live every moment!

I will do this tomorrow!

I know this was my new-year resolution but there are still 3 months for the year to end!

We can still do stuff together. Marriage / Moving doesn’t have to change things!

How many times have we said this to ourselves?

This is what our problem is. We think we have enough time. Time to do everything that we want to do, whenever we want to do.

BREAKING NEWS!! No!! we don’t have enough time! Time is slipping away like sand! Tomorrow never comes. Months fly in a blink. And priorities change after marriage / moving to another city / switching jobs.

The only available moment is NOW! Now or Never! Remember this.

✔ Start working on your resolution

✔ Take that walk you promised yourself

✔ Spend time with your family

✔ Go out with your friends

✔ Take a vacation

✔ Click a lot of pictures

✔ Eat what you love

✔ Write letters

✔ Change your job

✔ Tell someone you love them

Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Life will be over before that moment arrives. Make this moment a perfect moment for yourself!

 live in the moment

 

 

An unforgettable scar!

Though I am super lazy & could live easily as an extension to my bed, I love travelling equally. My dad tells me that my face glows when I come back home from any outing. It could be due to losing out on the upper layer of fat due to sweating but for now let’s go with the joys of travelling!

I have never been snobbish about the means of travel though. I am equally comfortable walking or travelling in an auto rickshaw, trains, cab or car. Just don’t ask me to travel in rickshaw pulled by a man (Had to in Howrah, no other option) / on animal back (Again had to. In Manali) I would be too horrified to make them lift such a heavy body!

I am most scared about travelling in a crowded Mumbai Local. There is a fear of you being toppled out of the train and mostly because of the passengers inside the train. (I have also been toppled while boarding the train & people have walked on me) I have been lucky to get away with just a sore back / twisted ankle.

I remember vividly my first day of job. I boarded the train & got a seat too! This was some years back when the crowd was not this crazy. I had not even started enjoying the thought of going to work and I heard a comment. Kaise kaise log aa jaate hain.. Fourth seat ke liye jagah nahin rehti. (The local seats are for 3 people & since the no. of people are more than no. of seats, people adjust their bums to make way for the fourth one) I was on the heavy side so I couldn’t adjust that much. Well I didn’t want anyone to lose the pleasure of sitting & I vacated the seat immediately. I never sat while travelling for almost 3 years after that incident. But did the ragging stop? No sir! People become violent even for standing space. Over a period I had learnt not to listen to any jibes on my weight silently. I could be violent as well. I got into nasty fights. Not only the verbal ones. Once a lady bit me on my hand (see pic below) The scar still remains! Couple of times the fights happened in front of mom (we travelled together some times) & she was worried one day these women would throw me out of the train. She forbade me to travel second class. But mom didn’t know that people could be as violent in first class as well. It’s almost a year I had a terrible incident where in I was hit with plastic sandals by a crazy lady for some stupid space. I had lost confidence to travel in local trains for some time & used to travel by cab (v. v. expensive from my home to office)

All these years of bad experiences have made me very wary to travel in a crowded train. I only travel if there is a sufficient space to stand & do not take unnecessary risks. But on some days you just can’t afford the luxury as you have to also reach work on time. On those days, I am terrified till I get out at my stop & need lots of TLC.

On this days I wish I had enough money to travel to work by car. Till then I will need to keep facing my fears J
Why did I write this post today? No, not to scare anyone from travelling in a Mumbai local. I was just reading someone’s post on how they got a particular scar. And it made me think of mine.

scar

Weekends!

Kids, in the earlier days, in India, there was no week end. People used to work even on Saturdays. For working fathers it meant a leisurely day, reading newspaper all day long & entertaining visitors, once in a while. On some days, we would be visiting other people’s houses. (Shocking, I know) For working / non working mothers, Sundays were spent on cleaning & cooking extra large sized meals for the family. (Mothers don’t get holidays)

As the western culture seeped in slowly & we started working for MNCs & BPOs, we learnt the concept of weekend. A 5 day working week & 2 days holidays! Unlike America though, our weekend doesn’t start post lunch on Friday. It would start very late in the night. 8-9 PM probably.

After having a strenuous week at work (more due to travelling than work), everyone would want to laze on the bed & do nothing. Sounds great, right? But then what about all the things you want to do? Travelling, Cooking, Photography, Writing, etc etc. When do you get time for that?

This thought struck me one day. I was used to being joined on the hip with my bed for these two days. But I realised i was wasting my precious days! i could do so much more with this time!

And instead of waiting for another weekend / another month, I started it from this weekend itself. Enjoyed a movie in the theatre on Friday, visited the salon for some pampering & travelled all the way to a different part of the city to visit a temple, I was meaning to since many months days. On Sunday, I managed to pay the rent & get some groceries locally. Moving out of the house on Sunday is quite a big deal for me. 😀 (Remember if I agree to meet you on Sunday & make it without any excuses, you are really special to me) 😉

Only regret was not being able to cook anything special. Water shortage you see. Cooking requires water, washing utensils requires water & you get so exhausted after all the work, you require more water.

Only hoping that this streak continues for a long time & I do something new every weekend.

What are your weekend plans?

You!

The mountains, the sea, the world passing by..

I want to live my life with you nearby..

I want to see your forehead crinkle when sun shines on your face..

I want to gaze in your eyes & smile the brightest smile..

I want to share all my happy moments with you..

I want you to take away all my sadness..

I know there is no you..

But there is an idea of you..

I just wanna live in the world where I can imagine YOU!

How are you?

How are you? (A Standard Question)

I am fine. I am okay. (A Standard Lie)

Lie, because we are not fine / okay sometimes. Poisonous thoughts are eating away our peace of mind.

The person we thought was special is not aware of our existence.

We thought we were special to them. We are, but so are 1500 others.

The connection we had was only a figment of our imagination.

Distance with people who were close earlier is troubling us.

Someone has gone from our life & the thought that we won’t ever speak again is killing us.

It is difficult juggling house work & office work.

Everyone expects us to be perfect & it is impossible to live up to their expectations.

I am mad because I don’t really want to work on weekends.

So on & so forth.

What would happen if you get the right answers? You would be judgemental. You would make lots of pity noises. You would go on giving pep talks / motivational talks. Or you would be plain indifferent.

But you know what? Nobody needs this. The correct response is understanding / empathy, a hug maybe & an ice cream tub definitely!

icecream

What’s Up?

What’s Up??

Ceiling / Fan / Sky / Clouds

Chances are all of us have answered in this fashion one time or the other. But how long do you keep answering in the same way? Sooner or later you get tired & the answers sound lame even in your head.

I thought someone should make a list of creative answers for this question and then thought why not me? Let’s think of some answers which are not lame and are non vulgar 😛

✔ Tell them actually what’s up. What are you up to lately. That’s gonna surprise them for sure 😉

✔ Nothing much. Just chilling. or NMJC if you will

✔ Ask them What’s Up? (Yeah questions can be answers to questions & as if they actually want to know what’s up with you *rolls eyes*)

✔ I think I just saw an asteroid / comet up there

✔ And if you really don’t want them to ask that question again, rant about taxes being up and your BP being low, the inflation being up & your salary being low, etc etc

wassup

 

Stop Food shaming!

Oh you are a non vegetarian? You kill innocent animals & eat them?

Oh you are a vegetarian? You know plants breathe too!

Non vegetarians are so aggressive!

Vegetarians are so sissy!

Non vegetarians are going to hell!

Vegetarians are losers!

And the fight goes on & on!

food fight

Being a vegetarian or a non vegetarian is a choice. If you eat meat or not, it won’t make either of you holier than the other!

I know many people whose religion prevents them to eat meat but they enjoy it nonetheless. There are also people who can eat whatever they want & yet they choose to be vegetarian.

Vegetarians should know that:

☠ Being a non vegetarian doesn’t make that person cruel. Meat is just food for them just like vegetables is food for vegetarians

☠ Non veg food doesn’t necessarily make some one aggressive. I have seen people eating non veg food be lot calmer than people who don’t eat non veg food

☠ Eating food with your non vegetarian friends is not going to pollute you

☠ If you don’t eat non vegetarian food, doesn’t mean you are going to heaven

☠ And they are right plants are living beings too.

Are the non vegetarians being happy reading this? You got news too I am afraid!

❅ Being a vegetarian is sometimes by choice. Religion might not be involved in this

❅ It is okay that non vegetarian food is ten times more delicious than vegetarian food. You don’t need to wave it in front of the veg people’s noses all the time!

❅ Being a vegetarian doesn’t mean they are weaklings

❅ There are vegetarian sources of proteins & minerals too

❅ Yes, we know plants are living beings. We did study biology. But when you make that argument, you are just accepting that you are eating a living being

Why don’t we just accept that being a vegetarian / non vegetarian is a way of life & a personal choice rather than food shaming each other all the time?

My Tryst at the Passport Office!

Couple of years back, we had an opportunity to travel abroad (a possibility). Most of our team members did not have passports! I took it upon myself to get the team apply for passports. My bestest friend Jayant Khona not only guided me on how to apply, he also wrote a blog post about it. I shared the procedure with my team & I myself thought to get it done via agent. The form was filled, document collated, however, due to some reason, the procedure was not followed till end. As I write this, I recall I wanted a good picture for passport & was waiting for a haircut for the same. 😛

This year I made a resolution to apply for passport. Half way through the year, while taking stock of the resolution, I realised I hadn’t applied for the passport yet! This was remedied instantly & I applied it online. Applying for passport online is very simple. Except, if you make any error, you have to start afresh. Fill up the online form, make payment & schedule appointment. There is also an option of uploading documents, however, I didn’t follow that. It is not required as such. I had applied on 21st July & I got appointment for 4th September! What a long wait!

As fate would have it, our client decided to visit India on 3rd 4th & 5th September. I didn’t want to reschedule my appointment as I wasn’t sure what date would be allotted to me next. I stated my predicament to my boss & thanks to him, I could adhere to my appointment without any worries. My appointment time was 2 O’Clock & I was instructed to report half an hour earlier. My centre was in Thane, extended part of Mumbai, not technically though. After an hour of travelling, stopping in between for 15 minutes for a quick meal, I reached the passport office. The queue was not very huge. As per the comments I overheard, it was a slow day. After a while the security announced our appointment time & marked the application form. (Thank God I had taken a print of that!) Then it was turn for Security Check. I had taken a bottle of water as per experts advice, however the security guard told me to empty the bottle & then take it inside.. I didn’t want to waste the water. I drank it all, to much amusement of the security guard 🙂

I entered the office & it seemed quite empty. I thought my task would be over in a jiffy. The first two steps, the initial verification of the documents & allotting token number & taking photographs & fingerprint is outsourced to TCS. These guys are superfast. Even though one guy was chit chatting, his colleague asked him to allot me token number first. And then I had to go to Counter No. A 22. I didn’t realise that they would be taking photograph directly. I hadn’t freshened up (Was sweating a lot due to humidity & nervousness) & neither had got chance to apply compact & lipstick (I had moved out of office quickly after meet with client & didn’t have time to do this in office). The resulting photograph was not to my liking. Only consolation was that the pic was better than the one in the Aadhar Card. Thank god for small mercies 😉 (Ladies, there is a tip in here)

After this round I had to go for document verification. My number was 162 & when I entered the waiting area, the screen was blinking at 105. There are not many seats available so be prepared to stand for some time. Also, please don’t bring someone with you unless absolutely necessary, specially kids. They eat up the seating area / create a nuisance by running around. After sometime I did manage to get one seat & I also helped another girl to get a seat, who was kind enough to ask me if I required anything, when she went to get something to munch on. The waiting time is such that you can easily befriend someone 😉 I had twitter so no problem of getting bored.

Finally it was my turn and after a minor glitch (my dad’s name on birth certificate is slightly different coz the way they write names in North India & is different in my school certificates) The TCS person (very pretty & efficient girl) had said that name will be as per birth certificate whereas the passport officer said it should be as per school certificate. That got sorted in a jiffy too.

Then another wait for the last round. I was very sleepy & thirsty by then so headed at the refreshment counter. Cappuccino @ 30 Rs sounded good enough (though did not taste good) I threw half of the coffee in the bin & just had water.

After considerable time the documents were verified the second time & then got my application confirmation letter & moved towards the exit. Said thanks to God for getting this through without any incidents 😉

So to summarize:

1. The security will get you in as per the batch you are in.

2. You will be allotted a token number.

3. Your file will be prepared, photograph will be taken & fingerprints too!

4. Your documents will be verified by the passport officer.

5. Your documents will be verified by another passport officer.

6. You will get an application confirmation & you can go home.

The entire procedure doesn’t take more than half an hour. To complete that half hour procedure took me 4 hours though 🙂

It is not as scary or complicated as people would tell you. All your documents must be in place. That’s it! So what are you waiting for?? 🙂 🙂 🙂

P.S.: Ooh & the icing on the cake was my boss asked me to go home instead of coming back to office & also I enjoyed getting drenched in the rain as it started raining heavily on my way home 🙂

20 Facts About Me!

Reading & being tagged on 20 Facts about yourself since morning, made me curious about what kind of facts I would share about me. I don’t think Instagram is a place to share these kind of posts hence sharing it here:

✸ I am a very shy person

✸ I never run out of topic for conversations if the company is right

✸ I have trouble saying no to people I love

✸ I love meeting new people & making friends

✸ I love being centre of attention

✸ I use Google a lot! I love Google *_*

✸ If I am angry I tend to hurt myself. This has reduced a lot but this scares me sometimes

✸ Even though I am very expressive, I can hide my feelings very well if need arises

✸ I am a secret keeper. People sense that probably & entrust me with lot of their secrets

✸ I love the sea. It calms me a lot. 

✸ I am NOT a morning person

✸ I hate being touched by strangers

✸ I am very accident prone

✸ I tried to commit suicide several times

✸ Earrings are my favourite accessories

✸ I don’t like to wear necklaces / closed shoes

✸ I am very possessive about the people I love

✸ I am not the one who will keep movie tickets, etc as a souvenir 

✸ I love being in a book store 

✸ I am very lazy

There you go. Would you share yours? 🙂