Waah Taj!!!

Last weekend one of my dreams came true when I visited Taj Mahal, crowned as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We were excited at the idea of visiting Taj, a memoir of love, built by Shah Jahan.

As we entered the compound, I was spell bounded by the enormous white marble building, standing in front of my eyes. Instantly, “Waah Taj” came out from my mouth. It was as beautiful as I had seen in pictures or heard by other people, the architectural work is at its best. The picturesque lawns in front of Taj added to its beauty. There is a rumor, about the person who designed it, that his hands were chopped off by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan so that no one can create a replica of this monument.

But, is our Taj going to ruins? As I was about to enter the monument, I realized that my dream is shattering. It was so crowded and mismanaged. Right from managing shoe racks to cleanliness, everything was looking shabby. People visiting this historical monument didn’t bother to keep it clean. As I entered inside, once I was surprised whether its day or night, as it was so dark inside. To add to our woes, every one was pushing inside. I felt that it might lead to a stampede. Seeing some of the foreign tourists in that mess, I had a bad feeling about what they might be thinking about India and Indians? Outside the white marble verandah, lots and lots of people were sitting as if like it’s a garden and some of them even scratching the marble floor and walls. It’s really shameful to see Taj going on path of ruins.

What’s our Government/ASI doing in this regard? Most of the foreign tourists coming to India visit Taj Mahal. There is already a hefty entry fees changed by foreigners (around $10) and Rs 20 from Indians, going upto five times during the full moon night. Are these funds being utilized properly or not? Government should provide more advanced facilities like automatically managed shoe-keeping system, electronic ticketing, modern techniques for cleaning the white marble and much more. Also, special care should be taken care for controlling the enormous splurge of crowd on weekends and national holidays. Checks should be maintained on people who are damaging the monument in any way and hefty fines should be levied. Also, it should be closed for renovating/maintenance once in every 3-6 months.

It’s our national heritage and we all voted enormously to make it in top 7 wonders of world. So, it’s our duty to protect it and leave a good impact on the world.

Chak De

It was hardly 4 weeks back when the movie “Chak De India”, a morale boosting movie of Women Indian hockey team, was released. Since then we have witnessed a sudden turn around in Indian sports.

In last week of August, low profile Indian Soccer team created a sensation, when they won Nehru cup by beating Syria in final. There weren’t many expectations from them. After 2 weeks, Indian hockey team created another ripple in Indian sports by drubbing South Korea, one of the best Asian teams, 7-2 in final of Asia Cup. It was a dream final as Indian Hockey team looked in full control in the whole tournament.

Next turn was of Indian Cricket, the most popular game in India. On 24th Sept, Indian cricket team did the least expected by wining the nail biting final from Pakistan by 5 runs. An India – Pakistan World Cup final, a dream come true for every Indian and Pakistani fan, really set the pace for Indian sport. It looks like everyone stand still during that last over bowled. Indian team attained new heights by clinching nerve cracking victories from England, SA, Australia and Pakistan.

It seems that Indian sports has turned its table around in just one month. How can a team who was ousted in first round in WC 3 months back, go on to win the WC? It’s just a difference in attitude. It seems “Chak de India” has done its trick in real life too. It may have motivated real time players too. Cricket players too admitted having sang this song and using this slogan very often during the WC. Seeing this inspirational movie creating tantrums in Indian sports, Indian bollywood films first time look like doing a perfect job for the country. In such a short duration, “Chak De” has really become a big brand name.

A Perfect Morning

When I got up in the morning,
by the sound of drops falling
Clouds were downpouring its pride,
taking city into its cold stride

I went out to breathe the fresh air,
only to spellbound by nature's flair
Everything was looking so lively,
like God painted it so artistically

Drops of water were falling,
with a tinkling sound
Mild breeze was flowing,
with cold all around

Birds were chirping,
with a sweet vibrance
Frogs were croaking,
adding a perfect resonance

Flowers spread their fragrance,
creating a magic of aroma
Odor of sand added to redolence,
mesmerizing everyone with its chroma

It seems God was crying,
after seeing Delhites burning
Now,relieved from the sweating heat,
in a perfect mood to upbeat

Stage was set,
for a perfect morning ahead
After a gloomy week past,
a perfect begining for week ahead

(Written on 18th June, 2007 , dedicating this one to Delhi's weather.

PS : The photo above is clicked from the terrace of my home)

Guess, who I am ?

No one can make me,
No one can break me
No one can conquer me,
No one can dishonour me

I can make you smile,
I can make you hostile
I can make you sumptous,
I can make you impecunious

May be benign for someone,
May be curse for another
May be hope for someone,
May be despair for another

Some believe me,
Some discredit me
Some try to overwhelm me,
Some try to abandon me

I am neither a subject,
nor an object
Guess, who I am ?
I am your "Destiny"

My Dream Car

Koenigsegg CCX is one of my dream cars. This fast super car from sweeden can go from 0 to 60mph in just 3.2 seconds. This black lavished beauty is priced at just Rs 3.25 crores ($ 0.7million). CCX stands for Competition Coupe X. Its body is made up of carbon fibre. It has got 32 valve V8 engine having power of 900bhp. This sexiest beauty is a two-door, two seater dream that comes with a removable hardtop that can be stowed under the front hood lid. Check out its homepage http://www.koenigsegg.com/




My all time favourite dream car is Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. This ravishing red beauty is Ferrari's most powerful V-12 production that costs about $255,000 (Rs 1.15 crore) and can go from 0 to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds. The car's weight is about 2300 kg. Its body is made of aluminium. The car's F133F 6.0 L, V12 engine produces 611 hp making it the most-powerful Ferrari road car.

Comparing this with Honda City ZX which has just 77 bhp making it around 9 times more powerful and Koenigsegg CCX around 11 times more powerful. I wish, I could buy any one of these dream cars some day in my life. I think I will have to rob a bank for buying any one of these cars :-)

Just Imagine.....

Just Imagine, you have got a remote control in your hand, which has got control of your life. We can do whatever we want, in our unique stylish way. Whenever we are sad, we can just forward those moments of our life and when we are very happy, we can pause it there only. We could even record our best moments of life and just replay it whenever we like. Life will become a paradise.

We can even fast forward to the last day of month, to get salary at our wish. Every day will be diwali, Christmas, joy and happiness. No one will be sad. They can do anything and everything at their own will. If they don’t like something they can delete it or cut, copy –paste from one’s life. We can even go in future by forwarding our life and see what will happen.

I wish I could have such a gadget. What if that gadget has ability to change the frequency and match it to frequency of another person? So we can control someone another. First of all I will mute Rani Mukherji and also all the other noises, which cause disturbance. Also I could have used equalizer to create a melodious music out of Himesh Reshmaiya.

Just Imagine, if there is a button called “Invisible” on remote, pressing that button you can go invisible. Amazing!!!!! You can go anywhere, even wherever it’s restricted for you. Whole world will be unveiled from you. Nothing can be hided. It will be such a powerful thing.

Imagine, if there is a button named “dreams” which will take you to some hypothetical world where there are no rules and regulations and everything is governed on your wish. You can keep thinking about you fairy doll and there is no one to disturb you!!! One wouldn’t like to come out of this “dream” situation.

I was thinking that today almost each gadget comes with a remote. Why have God not produced man with a remote control? God, Are you listening to me?

Andmans - Some memories re-gathered

View from our Resort @Havelock Islands



Sunrise @ Andmans





Elephant Beach @HaveLock Island




Amazing sea Beach at HaveLock Island, Andmans

Andmans – The Real Paradise

I always had a dream of going to Andmans, an archipelago, a group of islands. Finally my dream come true when Mayank and me planned to visit there in starting of first week of September. One of my school time best friend Abhishek, was posted there in Army, so we 3 planned the whole trip.

Day 1 – 1st September 2006

It was drizzling at 7:15 am when we landed there. View from airport was amazing as mountains surrounded whole airstrip and rainy weather added more to natural beauty. Even the airport was one of the smallest, I had seen ever. I think the flights landing and going out from there, can be counted on fingers of one hand only.

We were scheduled to stay at guesthouse in army station, around 12 kms from Port Blair. In the evening, we went to Cellular jail (Kala paani) and drove back to army station fully drenched in rains. It rained almost daily there on our trip.

Day 2 – 2nd Sept 2006

It was raining again early in the morning. We went to North bay Island in the morning by motor boat. The sea was becoming rough. After reaching there, we straightaway went for snorkeling. It was a great experience as we were floating on water and watching the under water life. We had some fun at sea beach and then left for Ross Island. Ross Island was the maintained by British Army. They used to keep vigil on cellular jail through this island. Indian navy now inhabits this island. Most of the island was destroyed by bombardment in Second World War and Tsunami recently. Weather was getting very rough and raining badly. We went back to Port Blair, but the boat sailing in sea was creating ripples in water and our heart was sinking every time it goes down with the tides. Finally, we reached harbor safely. In evening, we went for a dinner at one of the colleague of my friend. It was a memorable get-together. We spend evening listening to all kinds of songs and various varieties of packed dinner. We came back at 2 am.

Day 3 & 4 – 3rd & 4th Sept 2006

It was 4 am in morning. We slept only for 2 hrs, as we had to catch the ship for Havelock Island at 6’ o clock from harbor. After 2 hrs of ride by ship, we reached Havelock islands.
These were the most enchanting place I had ever seen in my life. Enthralling beautiful white sand beaches with green and blue layer of water. It was such clear that you can easily see the fishes in water. Greenery on island was really eye-catching. Whole of the island was covered with Tropical rain forests. After putting our luggage in resort, we went to RadhaNagar Beach, which is said to be “The Best Beach in Asia” and “The Fifth
Best Beach in World”. And we were dumbstruck after reaching the beach. It was a white sand beach with hundreds of crabs crawling all over the sand. After spending lots and lots of time playing in water, creating sand houses on beach, we returned back. We strolled all round our resort. Sunset happens at 5 pm there. It was such a calm, serene and beautiful environment that I fell in love with it. We had lots and lots of discussion regarding ghosts there and then finally went to bed at 10pm just to get up in time for watching sunrise at 4:45 am. But by the time we got up at 5am, sun had already risen.
Then we again strolled whole area around the resort. We hired one motorboat to go to Elephant Beach cruising through the green seawater. As soon as we moved ahead water was getting dark blue but it was a calm and pleasant day. Elephant’s Beach was a pristine and untouched. It was like we were landing on such a island which is not inhabited by anyone. We went for snorkeling there. The under water sea life and corals were seen as clear as if I had seen in pictures. I was amazed after this snorkeling experience and was the most memorable moments of my life. We took the ship back to Port Blair and reached back. These two days went awesomely great and left a lifelong impact of Andmans in my life. We went for a stroll in Army area in Brigade and saw their private beach and then went to sleep.

5th Day – 5th September 2006

We again got up early in morning at 5am. We left for BaraTang Island at 6am by our hired car. While going to BaraTang Islands, there is a stretch of 36kms through dense Tropical green forests, which is inhabited by tribals, Jaravas. Once they used to be man hunters but now they are friendly to us. We were lucky to see some Jaravas while coming back. Then we went to Limestone caves in motorboat. The way to caves was zigzag in back waters of sea, totally covered by branches of trees. We felt as if we are doing some shooting for Arnold’s movie. There was some trekking to caves. The landscape was great. We were left dumbstruck. We even had the experience of being bitten badly by leeches. Then we saw a mud- volcano where mud was erupting from inside a rock. While coming back to Port Blair, we went to Mount Heriott. It was the top most point of Port Blair. The point was covered with clouds and we were moving in between the clouds. We can see North Bay, Ross Island, Cellular Jail and whole port blair from here. Then we came back and packed our bags for early morning flight next day.

This trip was the marvelous and unforgettable experience in my life. I always had a dream to visit Andmans, which came true. I don’t know why people to Thailand, Malaysia, Switzerland etc, I think the Paradise lays here in India be it in Kashmir or Andman. There is so much diversity here that I have realized one thing “India is the Best”.

Losing my Virginity - Mr Branson

Hold on, don’t go by the title. This is not a salacious or an erotic story, this is an autobiography of Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, which I read recently. Richard Branson, one of the reputed businessman in UK, who didn’t had any major degree, was just a school pass out. He had business acumen ingrained in his blood.
Book completely encompasses his life starting from his school days when he don’t had any interest in studies, to venturing into small part time business activities to earn some money. These ideas lead him to start publishing a magazine in school by the name of “Student”. He got a complement from his teacher that “You will either go to prison or become millionaire”.

I liked his business style, trying to venture into new ideas. He always kept looking for new opportunities and looking to create “Virgin” as a prestigious brand. He always welcomed ideas to change in his business style to keep his group survive and in competition, starting from early 1970’s. Starting from a student’ magazine, running a Music mail order company to Music shops to Recording studios. Then venturing into retail, mega stores, airlines, travels, Insurance, banking, drinks. He had a vision of creating Virgin, a reliable brand. His motto was, when in recession, was to reinvent yourself and keep expanding. He faced many cash related problems and was on verge of bankruptcy many times but his attitude and business acumen and his charm in industry helped him keep afloat virgin group even in bad times.

I liked his adventurous attitude towards life, which depicts his risk taking abilities. He had many records to his name like world tour in hot air balloon, fastest person to sail from US to UK through Atlantic. Though each of these activities had danger of losing his life, but he was more interested in results.

The name of the group “Virgin”, was kept, as they were naïve into the business and they didn’t knew the business rules when they started with first venture of Virgin mail order record company. And also the book’s name defends the group title ie. Losing their virginity to reach to the top.

Overall, it’s one of the good inspiring, dynamic autobiography to read, especially for the young budding entrepreneurs.