Flying High

A few things always amused us being when we were small filling us up with excitement which cannot be experienced in present day world… It feels proud to be a part of the Golden 90’s before technology took over… It feels special that I did enjoy my fair share of outdoor sports when I was small… A few fantasies still remained, one of them being travelling by an Aeroplane… The faintest memories was several years back and I surely can’t remember the faintest of details about the first time I actually boarded one, though I still remember seeing and climbing a flight at the Naval museum…

Turn back to the present day world, Yes…The moment is finally here when I shall undertake the much anticipated journey by flight… Something that I wished for so long but was not able to undertake…My first flight I should say coz I simply can’t remember the last one and it is excitement galore… A trip to Hyderabad beckons before I get back to Pune to complete the last lap of MBA and set foot into the Corporate world…A world unexplored so far but posing its own fair share of surprises, excitement and challenges…

I look forward to this trip with my parents as a welcome change and a chance to explore a new place and hope that it’s a journey worth living over and over again…Adios till then…

Quote- Unquote:
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward for there you have been and there you will always long to return…

Mahatma Gandhi - The Forgotten hero

Gandhi Jayanti is observed in India, on October 2nd, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, with reverence all over the country...Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as 'Bapu' or 'Father of the nation', has to be credited a great deal to us living in a free and independent world today...

An inspiration for the nation but slowly turning into a forgotten hero. May be it is time to pause a while and have a look at his ideologies and follow them, if not wholly but substantially...That one needs to change to tread on the path of truth and non-violence is understood but this is for the own well-being. Forgiving can be looked upon as a sign of maturity and not of cowardness. One needs to evolve with time but the moral and ethical values should remain intact as that is what is going to take us forward...

A mad rush behind Gandhi’s currency notes is in place already and this has indeed blinded the people to an extent that one’s family could get sacrificed for the same. May be, this was not the way it was visualized to be but this is where we have come... The future could be bad if not worse... The world is today a place where a person who speaks the truth may end up bearing the brunt of all but this should not stop him from moving forward on this path. Fearlessness can drive one forward...

There is indeed a need for “Munnabhai Returns” may be to get Gandhian values back into the society. Till then, it looks tough if not impossible...

  

Quote Unquote:

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love

Twitterati - The unexplored

A month long break from blogging for reasons best known to me and I am already feeling that I am missing something. That’s why returning back was so important to me on a personal front... Social Media has really evolved with time and has created trends which everyone believed are here to stay. But sadly, this has not been the case... Orkut met its death... Yahoo lost its way... Bing never really picked up...

Shift a few years forward and we had the rise of Facebook, Pinterest, Quora and many more…The summer internship gave me with ample amount of breathing space to venture into these and explore each of them to the fullest... However Twitter still remained untouched (Though the account existed, never kept it active)... May be it was bound to happen that I would get a much needed break into the Twitter world but never really put any serious effort into venturing into it... That’s when Communique14 happened...

The International Telecom Seminar presented me with the opportunity that I was so waiting – A chance to be a part of the team to manage the media desk of the event and handling the official twitter account. With stalwarts from Twitter on stage, may be there was no scope for mistake after all…Experience would have been handy but we did manage to pull it off without the same… 2 days and 1063 tweets was the final outcome and we were pretty much buzzing around throughout the batch as the “Tweetus” – somehow I am falling in love with this name and does give me a sense of achievement and looking forward to more such opportunities.

A time to share my twitter link : https://twitter.com/DARPANKAMAT

Quote- Unquote

You create your opportunities by asking for them AND grabbing them as and when they arrive... 

A heart touching story #3

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?” “You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.”

He said, “Then I thank you from my heart.”

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit. Year’s later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case. After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room.

She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She began to read the following words:

“Paid in full with one glass of milk”

Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.

Moral : Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. No act of kindness is ever wasted. Smile. Be Kind.

A heart touching Story #2

A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. 

In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.

Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress. Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it.

Li-Li went to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said, “Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.” Li-Li said, “Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do.” Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.

He told Li-Li, “You can’t use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.” Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn’t had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law’s attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see what was happening. One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again. She said, “Mr. Huang, please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.”

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. “Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.”

Moral : Make a conscious choice to see the good qualities of the person in relationships , act it out, if necessary  and gradually and surely let time heal relationships…

The day I got drunk

I start this one with a Disclaimer: Drinking is injurious to health and that’s precisely the reason why I quit drinking...A college festival may be not the right time to get drunk as well especially with girls around...But, Yes I did it...Mama’s boy actually got spoilt that day...

It was the day of the college festival and few of we friends decided to have a look variant “Sur”, something that is not addictive and non-injurious...Indeed, it’s not but the ‘nashaaa’ that it causes picks up with time and you get high before you even realize...And to top it all I was having a deadly mixture of virgin mojito and sur with a lot of ice in it...A cocktail in the true sense and fireworks were bound to follow that day...

I was pretty normal I felt but came to know of what I did the next day from one Miss Shainavi Juvarker, my friend whom I regard as my own sister...The problem with me has been that I don’t have a real sister so she kind of makes up for this... However, I did some dances in the park where the event was held, skipped a few benches by jumping over it...My friends did indeed have a tough time controlling me...

Last but not the least, there was this one incident with a close friend(obviously I would not like to reveal her name for privacy reasons) whom I went on speaking to...I am pretty normal with her on most days, however I reportedly praised her a lot that day, starting from her hair, asking her all sorts of stupid questions...I was also interested in knowing more about her earrings, gosh...I was uncontrollable...I still respect her for maintaining her cool and answering me patiently because as they say, never provoke the drunk, you never know what they will do...

Though I did subside down in an hour or two and my friends informed me(Ki maine ladki chedd di in their words) of what I had actually done, I did feel bad about it and apologized to her, there and then...To top it all, she offered me her tiffin with grapes in it which did make me feel better...In all this while, there was a  case in which I asked my friend to get me an ice cream, he did get it and while returning back stopped to speak to a girl...I shouted on top of my voice, “That’s my ice cream, better not give it to her”...To this day, I curse you Shainavi...You could have easily prevented something like this from happening...I was your responsibility and you betrayed me Big Time...

Quote-Unquote:

A drunk driver is very dangerous. So is a drunk backseat driver if he's persuasive.

My First Dance Steps

Dancing is something that comes naturally to some people but it takes quite a herculean effort for people like me to come out of their shell and make an entry into the dancing world...May be I ll need special shoes to teach me the actual art of dancing...

But I did take some baby steps that day...An uneventful day which ended in a trip to the capital city as it always does...We were sitting outside a small temple drinking water from my brown colored bottle that a person randomly approaches us and says “Dha Rupiya???” and we outright reject him...Then we notice that there is an aunty staring at us from the balcony with suspected eyes...Why on earth would the aunty be bothered if we don’t give money to a street side person... It was only later that we realized that he was the society and asking us a question ”Daaru piya ???” It took some convincing to prove our innocence including asking him to drink the same stuff that we were drinking...And yes, it was indeed water, certified by the watchman eventually...

The night moved on and a visit to Miramar beach followed...There’s a stage outside it from which the CCD stands quite visible...It was a place where I had my first Live Show with my buddy Kapil aka MLA sahib...A normal dance followed by some violence with Kapil landing his dhai kilo kaa haath firmly on me...It is something when you are prepared for something that you can defend against an attack of this intensity but warnings are rare in today's world...May be it was a revenge for the sins that I had committed knowingly or unknowingly...

To this date, I accept that I am not a good dancer and I never will be cause “Pappu Can’t Dance Saala”...May be there will be a time when I actually will, may be in future but till then, I am happy the way I am...

Quote Unquote:

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance