A visitor

Suffering from viral, I was admitted to Health Centre. I'm back after two days of home-sickness. Apart from many other friends
see who came to visit me. :-)

A Trip to South India

Thanks to the frequent drizzle that made the weather agreeable and to our wonderful hosts to make our trip enjoyable.
Throughout my stay I kept comparing North and south India regarding development, roads, weather, traffic, people,police (kaval in tamil ) food etc.
The journey by Brindavan Express, from Chennai to Bangalore was enjoyed most. For the first time in my life I enjoyed the food available in trains. My God, those dosas were heavenly :-)
It was nice to see ladies wearing thick gold chains and ornaments while traveling. Here in north chain snatching is so rampant that it is not at all safe .

Pondicherry was exactly the same as I had imagined, specially the streets (rues)around Aurobindu Ashram ,the French–style houses and restaurants, etc.

Like my Mumbai trip, I kept thinking about the bloggers from Chennai whose blogs I read. I wondered if one of them was around when I was strolling at City Centre, Adyar, KFC or T Nagar. But I had no luck :-(

One thing that I missed during these eight days was a cup of proper tea-kadak(strong) Chai. But I got a double dose of tea in the form of a book called Chai-Chai, which I wanted to read but was not getting here.

Time to return and how true was what I read in Chai Chai: “..return journeys are always shorter and more assuring”.
I found myself humming the nursery rhyme my dad used to repeat whenever he used to return from his official tours ‘Dekh liya humne jug sara-----apna ghar hai sabse pyara. (I have seen the whole world and realized that my own cozy home is the best)

Ajmer Trip

Dargah Ajmer

' Love towards all malice towards none.'



View from the Jain Temple...


One of the Vibrant lanes of Pushkar

A Pet's Tale

The moment I read a few lines of the post (Nanoo) I had a dejà vu.

Back from school I found my elder sis and bro arguing about a blackish-brown pup who was sitting comfortably in the corner .A cleanliness freak, she didn’t want the pup to stay.  I didn’t know whom to support as keeping a pet was a big responsibility too.

In the evening when bro was off to play cricket didi put the pup in a bag and went for a long cycle ride and left it 5 km away from home. To her horror she found the pup on our doorstep the next morning and before she knew Ronny had already learnt to shake hands.

Popular among the kids, she had regular lil visitors leaning on our railingin the evenings. Dad was still paying back the house loan but it was called ‘Ronny’s House’ by many.

During the chilled winters of Dehradun she preferred to sleep in one of our rooms, a verbal instruction was enough to send her back to her room. But what amazes/ intrigues me most even today that how cd she make out that who was passing by the main road outside the gate. She wd growl just before we heard the sound of lifting the latch of the gate.

It was a busy road. People and two wheelers wd pass by but the moment someone was about to open our gate, not even touched, she wd bark even though she wd be sleeping in the innermost room of the house.

I took my board exams, graduation, Post grad, took a job and then got married and even later Ronny was always in the background .Thirteen years is a long time after all.

After few years when bro got married everyone (friends) said Ronny should have lived to see this happy occasion, the way we say about an elder of the family who is no more.


Pets give us so much but leave a pain forever when they leave us.

Pics from the classroom

 

Teaching the lil ones in school was one of my short term goals (In the line of '5 Year Plans".I hope to explore other goals and enjoy them in the years to come. But right now I'm missing what I did in past 5 years ..

Teacher's Day

When does rest of the world celebrate Teacher's Day?
Do they celebrate it at all.

Gold!!!@ Beijing

Congrats India!!

Congrats Abhinav

Mumbai

Last week I visited Mumbai for the first time.The city looked like a film which I've already seen,as all the places,roads and their names looked so familiar.Thanks to our hindi films.

Though beaches disappointed me but I loved the promenades.

I saw 'Mannat'and 'Jalsa' but I couldn't resist taking a photograph when I was told that this building belongs to our very own Lata Mangeshkar.

-Vandy.

PP

While browsing the net I landed here and got to read the post titled PP which instantly brought a smile on my lips.

During pre PCO days pp i.e.neighbour's phone  (PADOSI KA PHONE) was the source of many good/bad news from relatives and friends . I don’t remember any phone -owner getting disturbed or feeling  irritated when he had to call his neighbours to receive their phone calls. But those were the days when we had the neighbours in the true sense of the word.

Now let me tell the reason to smile:
During mid 80ies, we lived in Pauri Garhwal. The place we lived at was away from the city.We had to climb down quite a distance to reach the school and then climb up the same distance to get back to the ‘Officers' Colony’ which had only five houses. There was one more house which belonged to an Engineer of Jal sansthaan (‘waterworks’).

In those five houses, for a few months,only we had a Phone. Our engineer friend got this facility later but for some time Srivastava uncle had to depend on our phone for his official calls, which were quite frequent as the nature of his job required it. To call him we had to walk down quite a bit. So we had a‘who will go’ look on our faces whenever he got a call. Still it was fine with us.

One winter afternoon we were startled by a sound of a pebble hitting our tin roof. We came out to check who did it!! We looked up(the motor road) and saw our very jovial Shah uncle who was the SP (suptd.of Police) ,a busy person. He said (loudly) that he was passing by and just wanted to say hello but didn’t have the time to climb down (to reach our house).

After that day we just had to throw a pebble on the tin roof of the person we had to call.

Anyone who heard or saw us doing that had a good laugh.

flowers and Thorns

This is the first pic I took on my way to Badrinath.(somewhere near Kannauj)







This bush is called BICHHUGHAS and found in Uttranchal in abundance.Just a touch is enough to give you electric current and pain for hours.

why Amitabh is not a typical blogger?

1. No blogger puts his own photographs on his blog.

2. HE doesn't wait for the comments,he gets them anyway that too in 100s.

3. All the readers know him but he doesn't know them.It's not the case with
a normal blogger.

4. He is a busy man. Can't keep track of all his blog friends.Would HE
experience that delight of knowing someone who thinks just like him.The way we do.

5. Would he be happy to know that one of his blog-friends has become father recently.

6. Would he wait for his blog friend's newborn child's pics?

7.Wd HE know that how one feels when ppl u hv never met,never forget to wish u Happy Birthday. Even though you don't write too well but still they praise ur writing skills and encourage u.
Discuss Ghalib and Gulzar.

And many other things He would not feel the way a typical blogger does.

-Vandy (an Amitabh fan)

Just a feeling!

All our friends have names,
best friends or just friends .
Few we cherish, others we let go.

All our relatives have names,
poor relations or the rich ones.
Some we accept , some we don't.

We name our memories,
the good ones and the bad !
Few we frame , rest we throw.


We have names for God,
omniscient,chaste and
all over spread...

Then why can't I give a name
to the feeling, I have today.
And have no words to name it !

chakde!

Looks a nice movie.I want it to be a hit. something different . Reminds me of Hip Hip Hurray.

Guru..r Bramha -2

In her creative writing class when she showed her assignment to the instructor, expecting something motivating she was insulted saying why in the first place did she choose that course?

Broken hearted and sad she had stopped writing for many years.When she started writing again the same write-up was appreciated and awarded too.She became a successful writer.(courtesy:chicken soup for the writers' soul)

2nd case.

She worked hard on her project and then the sigh of relief on its completion.Just after the submission she had planned to visit home and then join the new job in a new place.The enthu and happiness was apparent.Date is fixed for joining.Everything was going well as planned.Tickets booked.Then what cd be the reason for the long face and sad eyes?

"sir is not free Submission 'll take place later".

Most of the times students are careless, take things for granted etc but sometime they are humiliated for no fault of theirs.

My question is

1. Did you experience , seen any such case.

2. What can be done to make sure that the student sh not be harassed.And the dignity of the teacher is maintained.

God and I

I loved this piece of writing whenever I read it written on coffee mugs or
posters.Thanks to Google that now I know who has written it.



I dreamed I was walking along the beach with God, and across the sky
flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand. One belonging to God, and the other to me.

When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I look back at the
footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of
my life, there was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that
it happened at the very lowest and saddest time in my life. This
really bothered me and I questioned God about it.

God, You said that once I decided to follow You, You would walk
with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints.
I do not understand why, in times when I needed You most,
You should leave me alone.

Then GOD replied

My precious child,
I love you and would never, never leave you wondering during your
time of trial and suffering. When you saw only one set of
footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you.

(MARY STEVENSON is the copyrighted, proven author of this poem)

-vandy.

Job watch

Out of around hundred applications 25 candidates were called for the interview.
They fell into three catagories.

i) Who were ready to join at any cost.They even got the appointment letter next day.

ii) They were mediocre and and were ready to work with company's conditions."money is good..." types.They were politely told to wait till things get finalised.

iii) The best lot consisted of 2-3 candidates who faced the interview well with confidence,wanted to work on their own genuine conditions.They were told that they wd be informed witin a week.

Now my question is: a)
Do the employers shy away from the ppl who are very good,and outspoken ? A person who knows his work well will not take nonsense from his boss.

b)Should the candidate give the impression that he is desperate for the job or sh he give the impression that I'm good,if not here somewhere else.

Happy Teachers' Day

"Teaching is a profession that teaches all the other professions."




You can read this.
Thank a teacher.
-Vandy.

Of vacation

There were so many dream destinations in my list before my summer break began. Gomukh (source of river ganga,) was on the top of my list. But May be I was destined to go to Ansuya devi temple, (2000 mt altitude) The goddess Ansuya is believed to bless her devotees with children. I know few ppl who believe that they had lil ones only after praying here. One of them was with me with her cute lil 3 yr old. May Ansuya
Devi bless all those who are willing to hv lil ones.
Mandal is 2 hours ride from Chamoli ,(Uttranchal) from where we started our trek .
It took us less than 3 hrs to cover 5 km to reach the temple. Horses were available but I was too scared to ride one .

Our group had few Russian tourists, only the interpreter cd speak English .and others cd utter only few words when I mentioned Raj kapoor and Mera naam Joker.

After darshan we had our lunch . Were we tired? No! So we further walked one more km for a grand waterfall and a cave where Atri Rishi (Ansuya Devi’s husband) used to pray.

To reach very near to the waterfall one has to cross a narrow path and at one point one rock is blocking the way so one has to lie down and crawl. The passage is around 5 ft broad but a slip and u r down many feet into the water. I was scared but I did it.I’ve yet to get my pic which a friend had clicked from the other side of the waterfall ! quite a distance.

Came back to the temple and then five km trek back. Now I tried horse riding just to experience .Oh boy! Down hill it was scary and painful too.

Now my question,What did u do during the summer break. U too must hv had one 

Mom's Diary-3

It was a rare site for me to see my son doing his HW at 10.30 pm,when I came back from my after dinner stroll.He was sleepy but cautious that his work should be neat.
I told him to go to sleep and finish it tomorrow morning.He declined my offer saying what if he cdn't do it in the morning?? This Ma'am is very strict."She even slapped me once!!"
We didn't know that someone else is overhearing this tale of humiliation till my daughter appeared saying,
"The same teacher taught me two yrs back but never hit me, he is very naughty!! But teachers don't beat gals and poor boys even get their ears twisted, and we can see its really painful"
My heart sank, the way it does when he comes home with a swollen thumb after a duel, from his 'Tae kwondo' class.
I have already started feeling nervous for him when I hear stories of ragging in the colleges.

Now my question is "'Is life more difficult for boys than for Gals??

In case u didn't read it before

Corporate Lesson:


Laloo Prasad Yadav talks to his son.
Laloo: I want you to marry a girl of my choice
Son : "I want to choose my own bride".
Laloo : "But the girl is Ambani's daughter."
Son : "Well, in that case...... Yes"
Next Laloo approaches Mukesh Ambani
Laloo : "I have a husband for your daughter."
Ambani : "But my daughter is too young to marry."
Laloo : "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."
Ambani : "Ah, in that case.....Yes"
Finally Laloo goes to see the president of the World Bank.
Laloo : "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President :"But I already have more vice-presidents than I need."
Laloo : "But this young man is Ambani's son-in-law."
President : "Ah, in that case.......Yes."
This is how business is done!!!