La Mia Sorellina (My Little Sister)

Megha is more than seven years younger than myself. She came into my life at a time by which point i had already earned an international repute of being a very mischievous child (at least amongst my relatives). With her arrival a calming effect came on me and somehow I changed almost over night. The change became so noticeable and prominent in me that folks started coming up to me and mentioning it...... I must have been a female version of Dennis because even now i have to sit and endure stories of what a menace i used to be from everyone.

From the moment Megha has come into my life I felt responsible not only about her but everything else as well. She's everything I am not and more. We are as different as two siblings can possibly be but somewhere in spite of that I feel we are connected. Sometimes i know exactly what she's thinking.I know its uncanny but surprisingly true.

She loves dressing up and i don't care how i look most of the time. She spends hours in front of the mirror doing her hair and straightening it(which is straight anyway) while my hair is always tied hurriedly. Her hair looks as if she has just stepped out of a Salon while mine is kept folded and out of my eyes.

She's more into fashion while comfort is what i look for. She never listens to any advice i offer but somehow all the information i have ever passed on to her, gets stored in her memory disc.

She's very quiet when you meet her for the first time but as u get to know her, you have to be very rude and direct and say it on her face to make her shut up. I on the other hand have become quiet by nature. I love peace and quiet and enjoy the moments of just being with my self. I cherish the "Me-Times" that i manage to snatch away each day. I am compatible with most people. I get along with most of them. I cant stand artifice/attitude/arrogance. I am very direct and forthright in my thoughts; while Megha goes more for looks than a real person but at the same time she can distinguish the good from the bad (Thank goodness for that!)

She thrives on chocolates while just looking at her eat so many of them, makes me want to throw up. She's sincere, but I am not that sincere in everything I do.

Hence one can say that we are as different as a day and night. But we have our moments of togetherness too. We are both into the habit of reading .........and enjoy watching chic-flicks together. For both of us family and family time comes above everything else. Of late our squabbling has also come down a lot as well.

Finally we do enjoy the time we spend with each other.....although neither of us acknowledge this fact(atleast not to each others) :)

Entry into Entrepreneurship

I went and attended a seminar held in Oberoi Grand today. The seminar was on entrepreneurship in terms of opportunities in the East, Innovation and Branding. The panel spoke eloquently about having "freedom to think" and also that it is a thought which needs to be nurtured right from school level, specially in Bengal. It is noticed that Bengalis tend to incline towards engineering and medicine. Anything else is considered to be a waste of time. So it has become very important to encourage young minds to think beyond the obvious and to look for solutions of those unanswered questions lying around and that too before any one else. This kind of mental set up of the youth is needed otherwise soon foreign companies will swoop in and capture Indian markets. Sustenance is important in today's world. Hence it has come to a stage where it has become a necessity to inculcate entrepreneurial feelings amongst the youth.

There were 4-5 sessions in all. Each session dealing with topics such as scaling up and going global, opportunities, Branding and innovation, value addition through social entrepreneurship etc.

There has been a general shift from plain profit earning to social responsibility and maintaining of Ethics. Organization like CRY is a good example of social entrepreneurship.

The discussion flowed quite smoothly and while it was engaging it was also very informative. Any dip in the momentum was very very well compensated by the mouth watering food of the Grand.

Movies, Books and More............

MOVIES

Of late I have been watching a lot of old classics.......although am not sure where and how I managed to pick up this habit. Someone I know personally, told me that I might be on the brink of falling in love which is why I am watching so many Audrey Hepburn movies. But somehow my perception is that, these movies are one in a million and completely original...I guess that's why they are termed as classics or timeless ones! And Hepburn movies are not the only ones i have seen. I have watched Casablanca, Come September, Hattari, Lawrence of Arabia, Mckinsey's gold to name a few. Mostly the movies i have been watching recently are all light in nature...... a far cry from what I usually see.

A good Hindi movie which i really liked in recent times would be Wake up Sid! The story line was kind of predictable but somehow i found it really sweet .This movie also happened to be my first one in Adlabs Sector 5.

BOOKS

The last book i read was 2 States by Chetan Bhagat. Although the book was not as good as the first one but certainly a lot better than the last 2 he had published. This book seemed to be a continuation of 5.someone in quite a few places.....but nonetheless a good one.......Though rumour has it that it might be his own personal story!

More...

Other things which has kept me busy during the last few weeks would be cooking. Recently tried out a Paneer preparation.In order to cook it, you have to both stir fry it in the frying pan and then have to bake it. Quite a good and easy recipe and it has helped me a lot as most of my friends are veggetarian and some of them don't even have onions on top of that!

Also did a dance show recently after a really long time. The show happened by chance but the practise sessions behind it really killed me. This sort of made me aware that how important it is to be fit.........usually i run away from any sort of exercise but since it was dance, it was fun doing it.

I have also become quite adept in managing the kitchen, even if I say so myself!

Ebar pujo delhi te

This time after 6 whole years i found myself back in delhi. Delhi is basically where my maternal uncle is based. It is where i was born but yet never had too much of a bond with that place. I guess the reason being would be that i hardly know many people out there. That is apart from my immediate family ........i am at sea with the faces and the innumerable cousins and aunts and uncles who seem to spring out evey time over there. There's also the cultural difference i suppose although am just a visitor i know. But somehow i cant seem to digest the perennial attitude of delhites to show off!

Nevertheless i found myself boarding the rajdhani and that too right before the pujas(much to my chagrin!) On reaching Delhi i found that it had transformed itself quite a lot. Seemed like i had reached quite a new place altogether! I reached on Shasthi morning and found myself climbing the familiar stairs up to my uncle's house where my cousin came running to greets us at the doorstep! Must mention that my brother has grown into quite a big fellow while the other one is even bigger!lol

Pujas in delhi are done in a grand scale. With a lot of pomp and show(typical of delhi) but sadly they do everything except the real thing that is put emphasis on the rituals! This time too i met up with a lot of new people who were supposedly my cousins. One of them who is gonna be a film star was also there with his actress girl friend (Hrishita Bhatt). Meeting the celebrities was quite amusing although both of them were very nice.

Being a bit of a gourme,t i must mention that the food was nowhere near as good as Kolkata.For 5 days i had nothing but khichdi,sabzi and chutni for lunch! :( And dinner was either rolls or momos.

But after the pujas things were much more pleasant. This was because a) I didnt have to go back to the pandal in the scorching heat. b) i could do what i liked best that is reading and watching movies(watched sum gr8 classics). c) i made a short trip to Dehradun and Mussouri.

Hence all in all it was quite an exciting as well as an interesting trip........one that i am going to remember for some time atleast. :) And the next time when i have to go there i wont be that un happy about it because i have managed to convince my uncle that we could make a shot trip to amritsar and ludhiana when am there :)

AKON - I Wanna Make Love Right Now Na Na Na (true video)

am in love with Akon!

Trip to Kenya

Well where do i begin about this totally wonderful trip i had?.........probably from the beginning itself i guess? So let me start with the making of the plan. It all began in February 09 when suddenly i found myself planning for this trip. But due to several unexpected circumstances the plan kept getting delayed. Then finally on 25Th of April i took a flight to Mumbai. From there I took anther flight from the international airport (after standing for nearly 2 hours in the immigration line). I reached Nairobi early morning the next day i.e. on 26Th of April at around 8.30(Nairobi time) after travelling for 6 hrs after exiting Mumbai.

On reaching i found that it was an absolutely a delightful place with perfect climatic conditions. The temperature over there varies between 11-23 degree Celsius all year through. Kenya being in the southern hemisphere has winter during June and July..... while they celebrate Christmas in summer (just like Australia).

Nairobi is practically a hill station with an altitude of almost 5500 ft above sea level. The streets are really clean and is a modern city in all respect. It has huge shopping malls and theaters. This city boasts of housing the most number of diplomats from various countries. Its best known for its flowers and vegetables which are exported all over Europe. Coffee is yet another money earner for the Kenyans. Surprisingly there are a lot of Indians out there. Some of them have been living there for the last 4 generations. One peculiar thing which i noticed though was that, the public transport is very poor. The only means of commuting is a 14 seater mini car cum bus known as matatoo.

I had a really marvelous time during the 4 weeks I spent there...... In an around Nairobi city i went and saw Mount Kenya, Nairobi Safari park, Nakuru( its a lake where flamingos migrate every year and the whole lake turns Pink).

Perhaps the best experience i had was when i went to Masai Mara.......We actually stayed in a tent and saw pride of lions, hoards of deer and buffaloes, pack of jackals and Hyena. And we also managed to see a mother cheetah with her cubs and leopards( which we were told could be seen very rarely)...........I was absolutely ecstatic when i saw these animals so close and it seemed like someone had taken a page out a national geography book. We also managed to see quite a few stunning ostriches, secretary birds and a few others. Their plumes looked majestic and a riot of colours. In the evening we also saw the famous Masai People(even lions run away from them). They had come to our resort and had danced by the fire. Their dance (video) basically consists of going round in circles and jumping. Truly Tribal I guess :)

The part of the day i liked mostly would be around the time when the sun used to set and one could see the various hues in the skyline. In fact i cant remember a time when i saw the sky so clearly in kolkata!

Over there I also got the opportunity to try out various new cuisines such as Mediterranean and Sushi. The first time when i tried wasabi, I felt as if my whole mouth was in fire....the effect was that magnanimous! Also had quite a bit of Thai out there and specially liked the bamboo shoot and jasmine rice and the Thai green curry! .....Slurp!(can still feel the taste) :)

Friends

Only last night i was thinking that its always i who make the extra effort in every relation,nobody goes out of their way to do anything the way i do. But i was so wrong and am not ashamed to admit my fault. Infact today i was rightly reminded i really have a treasure trove of friends on whom i can depend on in any situation. I was really touched by their gesture when they all came over to my place all of a sudden in the morning to surprise me! And that too the reason being as trifle as my going away for a month or so! They wanted to meet me before i left. They came loaded with food and drinks and am sure you can can guess what followed!!!I am basically a sort of person who likes to have masti and hang out with friends.........so the entire morning today was spent in silly jokes, pet puja and having lots of fun!

Gone are those days.........

There was a time in life when all that I had to worry about in life was passing my exams and getting promoted to the next class! But with the changing times and increasing rat race all those glorious days of my past seem nothing but an illusion to my mind! Sometimes i sit back and wonder whether i really experienced those moments of fun filled innocence in my life or not! At times when i try to reminiscence those days, they seem like moments from someone else's life in a different era! I specially miss those silly pranks i used to play on my friends or the endless fights i used to get into every time i played cricket!........the scraped knees and elbows, shorts dirtied with mango stains, my strange antics are no longer there! I also miss those family trips we used to make during our vacations. Somehow those days of pure fun has disappeared........what is left behind is competitions,career
sprinkled with all the good and bad things that life brings to you!

An important lesson learnt

I had always heard that people in general were nice, it was circumstances which made them turn nasty. Well what can i say except that i got to see it first hand a few days back! I won't go into details regarding what initiated that event to unfold, but i will definitely give a brief regarding the conclusions i formed!

.........The first and foremost thing i gathered was that people always seem nice, as long as you agree to whatever they say, don't protest or follow their plans meekly(even those people who are not generally regarded as nice)! But the moment you waver from this path all hell breaks loose.

The second thing which i noticed was really very interesting. I am calling it interesting because of the way the person concerned had reacted! It was as if a Broadway Show was being enacted in front of my very eyes since the effect was magnanimous!..... Maybe everyone is not this dramatic but there is certainly an influence of drama when a person is left unnerved.

Thirdly it is usually when situations such as this arise, you truly and actually come to know about a person.... Before occurrence of such events the judgements that you pass about someone might be 'True and Fair' based on their behaviour but its only later, after sufficient time has elapsed(and the person is no longer trying to be somebody else) that you can pass 'True and Correct' impression regarding him or her!

Fourthly it is Damn difficult to remain calm and polite when you are falsely accused of something! But in the end it worked in my favour because i was right from the beginning.

Fifthly it is easy to forgive, but not forget!

Finally when the respect goes for somebody it is difficult to give it back to them. Sometimes humans do restore these people to their earlier position of glory but in my case i don't see that happening again although i am still talking to the person concerned as normally as i did before but obviously the closeness/respect is no longer prevalent!