Pre-paid Auto @ Ghaziabad Railway Station

For the last few months a pre-paid auto booth had opened up at the Ghaziabad railway station and everyone was happy about the fact that the transport was readily available and it was regulated with fixed rates and prompt service. I have been travelling a lot in the last few months and was enjoying the facilities and was very happy about it until today.

 

This morning when I reached the Ghaziabad railway station, I walked up straight to the pre-paid booth to book my auto. While I was walking towards the booth, I was a bit surprised that the booth was deserted. I have always seen long queues of the passengers as well as the auto drivers. I walked up-to the booth and asked the person sitting there to give me a taxi. He said that there is no taxi available at this time. I could see at-least 10 of them parked just alongside. I pointed towards them and he said that they are not willing to go. You can talk directly to them and hire them. I was a bit surprised at this but nevertheless I walked up-to one of them.

 

I asked the driver how much would he charge me. He hurriedly replied 120. The general fare was 100 plus some extra for the luggage that you were carrying. I just had a backpack so it would be 105 or 110 at best. But I thought it is ok and I did not want to stand there fighting for 10 rupees in the cold morning. I agreed to go with him.

 

As I reached his auto I could see some one was already seated, I asked about the person sitting, he said that I have to share the auto with him. I declined the offer and said that I want to book an entire auto and not share with anyone. Hearing this he just walked away. Stunned, I move to another one and he agreed for 200 rupees and said that this is the new rate. Hearing this I was sure why they are not going the pre-paid way. If you are charging double of what the rate is, why would you go with the pre-paid rates. I said that the rate was 100, he said fare has been hiked and this is the correct fare. He even said that I can check the rates at the pre-paid counter. I walked back to the pre-paid counter to check the price and the price he said for my home was still 100. After a long 15 - 20 minute in the cold morning I could get one auto that agreed to charge 150.

 

Such is the story of the transport here in Ghaziabad. If I book a taxi from my place to the railway station, it costs me 250 for non AC and 300 for an AC indica/indigo. The problem is that these taxis are not available at the station hence I am left with no other option than to surrender to the un-realistic demands of the auto drivers. All of this signifies the lack of control that the government and the concerned departments have over the transportation in and around NCR. So they are correct in saying that once you are out of Delhi you better get ready to pay hefty amounts as conveyance else walk.  

The art of making tea !

I have not been very fond of drinking tea, in-fact it has just been a few years since I have started drinking tea. But there have been so many instances now when I had the urge to have tea that I could now understand why do people feel so much addicted to tea.

 

As I said, I only started drinking tea few years back, it was more of a act to accompany people that were with me to kick off things for me and gradually I started enjoying it. I would like to walk back and narrate a few of my most memorable tea breaks. These are in no specific order.

 

• The first instance that I remember was my flat at dwarka where the 4 of us, Yogesh, Yashpal, Deepak and myself used to have tea at about 3:00 in the morning (mostly Saturday's) after the 11:00pm - 2:00am movies. The taste of that tea is still afresh in my mouth and I can still feel its warmth. Although most of the time it used to be me who had to prepare tea but I still loved it and I must say it was worth the effort.
• The other instance right from the top of my head is the early (lazy) morning tea around 10:00 with Pranjali and Shruti at my place in Ghaziabad. This is generally a Saturday or at times a Sunday morning. This is important as this tea break was a break from sleep. We woke up, had tea and then go back to sleep. A lavish and very lazy but effective way of spending a weekend.
• Next one that I can remember is the tea breaks at FirstRain with team-mates who were more like family to me. The likes of Yogita, Ajay, Ankush, Yogesh, Deepak, Chilu and lots more. That tea break was the only break where tea was just for the name of it, we actually ate more. I still remember lots of fun and leg pulling that we used to do while on the break.
• Most recently I have started having tea breaks which end up becoming long breaks with colleagues and chatting about features and futures. I at times feel that now my tea breaks in office are more of brainstorming session rather than a break from work. It gives me the feel that I have now matured as a professional. Still those tea breaks have proved useful and my friends Lalit and others would agree.

 

I was reminded of the advantages of drinking tea by a friend when I questioned his urge to have tea every couple of hours and he has made me go down the memory lane and remember the magical moments that I have had drinking tea. Whether I know the art of making tea or not (most people believe that I do and love the tea that I prepare) I am sure it has coloured my life with colours that were not known to me. Having said all of this I wish I never have to choose between Tea and Coffee.

Sharon chali Haridwar

Allow me to introduce you to Sharon before I narrate her story.  She is a young girl, who wants to be happy and enjoy her life but always finds herself in a situation where she does not know what to do and what not to. She is happily confused, ever smiling, cooking up hypothetical situations and then planning for them. Overall she is a great girl and a treat to be with.

 

So this time Sharon has a family picnic planned to Haridwar. When I say family it includes her parents, elder sister and her grandmother along with few other families of her father's friend. She always wants to go around places and enjoy herself. But this time she is confused. She wants to go but she does not know if she really wants to go. Her elder sister is not going now and she is left with her cousins, whom she is not very fond off, and her parents. So a trip that she thought would be a great one has suddenly turned into a trap for her. So she decides to give herself a chance by allowing fate decide if she goes or not. Hence she:

• points out 2 fingers to me, and says one she goes and the other she doesn't and asks me to choose one. I pick the one that says she goes and then she says you should have picked the other one.
•  asks me to toss a coin, head she goes and tail she doesn't. It came down as heads, hence I cheated.
• she says it is her trip so only she gets to toss the coin. You know what came, didn't you? 

30 minutes earlier she was convinced that she is going and now she is delightfully confused. She calls up every possible person so that she does not have to go. She calls up one friend in a hope that she can come along, but that does not work out. She calls another friend and she declines as well. Now she  is sure she does not want to go. Well wait, she says but she should go as she is very tired and bored with the daily routine and she needs a break. Another 15 minutes down the line she tells me that most probably she is not going.

Irrespective of the outcome of the situation what I am most concerned about is the uncertainty that we have in our lives. I have been guilty of getting into situations that I do not see a way out. But there are a few things that you just have to do on instinct and there is no logical backing behind that. I am not sure whether Sharon would go or not but what I am sure is that she gives us a perfect example of how our mind follows our heart. I am impressed by the fact that situation is very normal and almost all of us have been in situations such as these but there is no definite answer as to what to do when you are in such a situation. I just follow my heart in such situations, I have been guilty of taking some wrong decisions and also feel proud about the others. But one thing is for sure that I never regret any decision that I took following my heart.  

So if you are Sharon, or you feel that you have been through a similar type of situation my advice is to follow what your heart tells you. I generally like to leave my audience with open questions, so I will leave you to decide whether Sharon should go or not.

Fast and Furious 6

If you have reached this blog searching for a review to the movie so that you can decide whether you should watch the movie or not. I would say that you are wasting your time, read no further , go and watch the movie. It was a movie that had all the familiar faces playing together once again. It was awesome how they emphasize on them being like a family. 

 

If you thought that you have already seen 5 versions of this movie so what else would they have in store for the 6th time, the movie just proves all of that wrong as it comes up with sequences that have not been filmed earlier and which most of us did not even expect. They have military tanks running on the roads crushing cars, they have a set of cars who bring down a big plane and also have a sequence where Toretto drives his car out from the cockpit.

 

If you have not been fortunate enough to watch the earlier versions of this series and you may feel that you might not be able to understand the strings and hence the movie so trust me that is not the case. Even when the movie makes references to version 4 and 5 in the series, you are still able to map things and understand what is going on. The movie has action sequences that are bound to drive you crazy. 

 

 

We have seen that generally the movies that come in sequences run out of steam as they move on but F&F is the only sequence that has improved every time with the later version. Even though most of the stunts that they have shown may not look feasible or practical but still they make you fall in love with this movie.  The star cast of film and the characters that play seem to compliment each other perfectly. I am personally a big fan to Vin Diesel and who could forget Dwayne (The Rock). These two were against each other in the fifth sequence of the movie and this time they are on the same side so you can imagine the fun and destruction that they might have caused. There is sequence in the climax of the movie, when these two giants get together to kill a monster like criminal and you could imagine a wwe tag team move. 

 

I would rate this movie as 9/10 and for me it is a much watch for anyone irrespective if you watched the earlier sequences. I can assure that if you watch this movie, you will go back and make sure you add all the other sequences to your collection or watch list. I will not let out any of the secrets of the film and will let you watch it for yourself and enjoy. I just want to conclude by saying that there is definitely going to another sequence to this movie and that will be starring Jason Statham. I am hopeful now that the next one would be even better.

 



 

Mother's Day - really ?

You may call me rude, ignorant, misbehaved or whatever but I have not wished my mother today for the so called mother's day. I did talk to her over the phone, as I usually do, but it was all normal and nothing to do with the fact that the world is celebrating mother's day. I was even questioned by few of my friends, If I have wished my mother today?

 

I simply fail to understand why we  have started paying so much importance to days such as these, have people before this not loved their mothers? Or mothers could not feel the love and respect of their children without them wishing her formally or publicly? I do not need an occasion to appreciate the love of my mother or any of the family member for that matter, for me every day is a special day and every day I live I owe it to my parents.

 

I am not against celebrating any specific day or against the concept of having special days for our family, I am just against the 'follow the herd' policy that we seem to be working on off late. I say this because I have just learned that, after Christmas, Americans spend more money on Mother's Day than on any other holiday in the year. Do we even know from where the concept of mother's day came, do we know why it was celebrated and the reasons for it. Are we doing it just because others are doing it, do we actually need to celebrate days such as these. I know friends who called their mother's bang on the stroke of midnight to wish her a happy mothers day. I mean, like seriously, are you kidding me. Calling up your mother at midnight to wish her mothers day, that is a little too much for me and I must admit I would never do that.

 

Well having said all of that I still believe that it should be ones own decision if one wants to celebrate the day or not and I am not asking anyone of you to change, I was just a bit surprised to see all the social media flooded with all the mothers day stuff and I thought is it really that big an occasion or are we just doing a bit of show off.

 

P.S. I love my mother as much as anyone of you and she is the most important person in my life.

Acting and Theatre - miss you everyday

"You that choose not by the view, Chance as fair and choose as true. Since this fortune falls to you, Be content and seek no new. If you be well pleased with this And hold your fortune for your bliss,
Turn you where your lady is And claim her with a loving kiss" .... the famous lines from Merchant of Venice were the last lines that I had delivered on a stage and it has been almost a decade and no more acting and theatre for me. I still remember that day, those lines, the entire audience, the judges and some of my colleagues (who were making me laugh). I was very confident that I would make it through the auditions and get selected but as always life had other plans and I was rejected because my accent was not up to the mark.

 

When I walked back home from the auditions, I was very sure that I would come back with lots of practice and re-appear for the auditions and get selected for some other play. But I never knew that would end up being the last stage performance in years for me. To be honest, I have not really been serious about it in the recent years else I might have tried it once again. I still miss it and hope that life would give me one opportunity at one of my passions in life. As they say it is never too late.

 

I met somebody few days back and we were casually talking and somehow the subject moved to something that I used to do in my life that I miss even today. I kept quiet for a while, walked down the memory lane, smiled and replied 'Acting'. Since that day it has been all over me and I seem to miss all that even more. It has been all over me since that day and I just want to go back in time and enjoy and experience all that just for one more time. Memories are all I have and some very good ones indeed. I never wanted to make a career in them but still I wanted to be in touch with theatre, art, stage shows, radio programs, and even those stupid roles that I did when in school.

 

When I was in London, I made sure I visited Shakespeare Globe theatre and thought and even imagined myself on the stage performing on one of his plays. This in itself proves that my passion for acting has not yet died it is just that the professional life and the work pressure that has taken center stage and everything else has just taken a back seat. I wish someday I will still be on the stage.

The greatest entertainer - Chris Gayle

Just when I started following and enjoying cricket, I was reminded of an innings played by the great Kapil Dev where he had scored 175 runs and I could not accept it and used to tell myself that it was just not possible. I was then a witness to single innings score of 400 by Brian Lara and I was shocked. The we had this 200 from our very own Sachin Tendulkar in an ODI and I thought that this was a record that was never going to be broken. But that was easily overhauled by Sehwag. But what has happened today is beyond imagination and I am sure no body would have believed it. 175 in a 20 over game by an individual with 17 sixes and 13 fours and in only 65 balls.

 

I am speechless and have no words to describe what has just happened. I cannot still believe that we have seen a 100 being scored in just 30 balls. I was just reading through an article on cricinfo and I think it describes the entire episode very aptly. Gayle smashed the fastest century in the format, brought off 30 balls; made the highest individual T20 score (175 not out); struck the most sixes by a batsman in a T20 innings (17); helped Royal Challengers Bangalore hit the most sixes for a team in a T20 innings (21) and reach the highest total in T20 cricket (263).

It was an exhibition to say the least and I consider Chris Gayle to be the greatest entertainer and one of the best ambassadors to the game of cricket. I have always been an ardent follower of this master mind and have loved the way he entertains the world with his craftsmanship and also the gangnam style dance that he does. I have already written a couple of posts about him, you can read them here and here. I was in office when history was being written so I could not witness it all live but the fact that it has actually happened has not yet sunk it.

 

I do not think there is more that needs to be said about this spectacle that the world has just witnessed. It is going to remain in the hearts of all the people who had witnessed one of the most destructive innings that the game of cricket has ever seen or will ever see (I keep my fingers crossed). Till we see another spectacle...

       

Lalit 'FIX' Sharma - pundit of the modern era !

I grew up in a card board box suspended on the edge of St Kilda Pier with a penguin who until I was nine I thought was my brother. If you read this anywhere you can safely assume that this is Lalit that I am talking about. On a more serious note, he is my colleague at RBS and one of my finest mates from my professional career. To know him better you can visit him on LinkedIn or Facebook. 

 

His activities, the way he treats life, his ideologies, methodologies, the way he approaches a problem and the ease with which he works has literally forced me to write this post. I owe you this one. Apologies in advance for having stolen his picture and for letting out some of his secrets.

 

To cut the long story short, we have been working on several FIX connections or sessions and he has been the person driving that within our team and now we consider him as the FIX expert hence the name Lalit FIX Sharma. He believes if you want to be an expert on fix you must know Cameron and he is himself trying to go that path and learn all about it (this is soleley his theory). But that is not all for which he has made it to the privileged few who make it to my blog, there is much more to Lalit than FIX.

 

He is happily married, to the love of his life, and has a darling son to be proud of. He is one of the most energetic engineers that I have ever come across. He is always game for fun, sports (recently was part of the team that won the football tournament), and drinks. He is one of those ardent followers of freshly brewed beer that I would not be shocked if they put up his picture right next to the entry at his favourite place Vapour.

 

For me a man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber.  All of you who know him will agree that he does not fulfill all of the above requirements of being a perfect man but if you are Lalit you need not be perfect. He has his own way of doing things, which may not be the most elegant way of doing it but certainly the most effective way. He is a bit disorganised theoretically, specially the way he keeps his money in his wallet (every time I look at it I want to fix it for him). He for me is the perfect man to carry the tag line do not try to straighten my mess, you may end up fouling the system.

 

You are a true friend and if one was to believe in Oprah's definition of a friend, lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down, you need not go any farther than Lalit. I have been lucky enough to have known you, and worked with you. We have shared lots of things related to our professional life and not so professional life. We have laughed over several things, best being the joke around the 'Hotel' that we went. We have shared our anger,  disgust and disappointments. We have criticised people, abused them, praised a few and most importantly we have been friends. Thank you mate you have been a true friend and colleague and the best part is that the journey has just begun.  

St. Mary's Convent Allahabad will miss you

Starting 1974 when most of us were not even planned, a lady started her job as a teacher in one of the most reputed schools of Allahabad, St Mary's Convent. And this was after a good resistance that she put up because she did not want to become a teacher. But she never knew that a journey that she started just because she was pushed hard by her parents and family would last for 39 long years. Yes you read it right 39 longs years. She called it up end of March this year (2013) thus completing one of the longest tenure that I have ever heard about. If you are wondering how do I know so much about this lady and her life, let me tell you that this is the story of my mother Mrs. Chanchal Srivastava.

 

I feel very proud of the fact that I have been given a reason that I am actually writing this salutation note to my mother and arguably the best Biology that Allahabad has ever seen. I have known her students who came to visit her on a Parent's Teachers meeting because the daughter (of my mother's student) was know a student of my mother. I have met girls whom my mother has taught and I can see the glow when they talk to my mom and could only feel how proud would she feel if someone who she taught some 20 - 25 years ago still comes to meet her and gives her the same sort of respect. For me my mother has been one of the biggest inspiration and she still remains someone who I respect not only because she is my mother but also because she has been an exceptional servant to the institution of education. I am reminded of a quote I read somewhere "I only wish to aspire to the things you’ve achieved. Telling you that you’re appreciated does not do your service justice. You’re the best!"

All of you who might have known her would agree with me when I say that she has always been dedicated to her profession and never let her family come into the way of her profession. With two little kids, one of which was me, it was hard to manage things on personal and professional front but I am amazed at how soothingly she handled everything. 

 

I have been taught by teachers who have been students of my mother and the respect they had for me gave me a sense of how much they must have loved and respected my mother. I even remember talking to one of her students, who also happens to be teacher, telling me that "people come and ask me if they should go for biology or not and I tell them if it is Mrs Srivastava then you should not give it a second thought". I know number of her students who are now successful doctors and the experience that they share with me when we talk about my mother makes me feel so blessed that I am born as a son to this legend.

 

I would like to conclude saying that no words of appreciation are good enough and "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is Thank You. It will be still not be enough." I wish you all the best Maa.