By God's grace

By God's grace I live to see a new year, a new awakening, a new dawn. A new year dawns upon me. What it hold I know not but there is hope for a better future, a better year, a year of fun. Like lots of things that have happened over the past year all around the year. There has been famine, misery, deaths and what not. But as each day awakens with a beautiful dawn, there has been hope and faith too. I hope that this year brings a lot of happiness and prosperity to all the people the world over and hope a good start for me.

Au Revoir
Anup Rajan

My experience with Gujarat

My experience with Gujarat has been limited in the sense that I have only seen Gandhidham which is a small place in a far off corner of Gujarat. I recount these experiences coz I find them funny, amusing and above all interesting. When I landed here I was put up in a hotel for abt 2 weeks. One thing that I immediately came to realize were that people over here were pretty nice and pretty friendly. After those 2 weeks I had to settle on a place which I could call my own for the next 8 months. Oh well, I finally did and I moved in on the Saturday before Christmas. An incident that happened there was that my owner's son was so friendly that he took me to all the shops so that I could buy all the stuff that a person would need for living in a place. After that when I was totally bushed after the day's shopping and after arranging the stuff in the place that I had, I just dozed off. A friendly thing that happened was that the son ( now u ave to realize that me saying the owner's son wasn't that like he was a kid or a teenager or something. In fact he had a kid of his own.) called me for an authentic Gujarati lunch. Now that was totally downright friendly. So I went to his house. A lady ( whom I later understood to be his wife but honestly looked like his elder sister. Now what is that about Gujarati women?) started arranging the lunch. Now what I found strange and to be honest a bit offensive was that se smelt some curry in front of me. I was like, " What are you doing lady?" but I didn't say a word. Instead I didn't touch the curry. But overall the food was ok and anyway, it was the thought that they called me. The owner's wife is a short, sweet lady who keeps calling me for food and stuff though I hardly venture there. Some oter funny stuff that I found about Gandidham was that there is only 1 newspaper agent here and he runs 60 suppliers or so. It's so crazy that I have to go to his office ad submit a deposit. Otherwise the supplier won't give me a paper. Another funny thing is that the auto guys and the local people in Gandhidham know when the police come on their rounds here. These small tidbits were my entertainment coz anyways I have no other source of entertainment coz I have no TV or anything at home coz it makes no financial sense to get a TV for 8 months. Plus Prohibition is still a law here. But that's the funny part. A drink is always a call away here. Getting a drink is not hard. I was scouting out some source of entertainment here when I found a lending library (atleast thats what the local people told me) But the funny thing is that in the 3 weeks I have been here, it hasn't even opened once. I went to the local theatre here. People call it a multiplex here but it seems like somebody with a weird sense of interior designing put up 3 screens with cheap interiors. It smelt of old socks in the section where they took 130 bucks for the movie. But well, it's the best over here. Overall, it's a friendly place but a person can go mad here. It's like a cleansing after the riot I've been through at Pune and Bangalore for the past 2 years.............................

Current situation

A lot has happened over the past few months. It's been a long time since I have penned down something. I know, I know. It's a general conception that guys find it hard to put their feelings into words. But forget it. A lot has happened. It's been a long time since I have been feeling bored with the way that things have been going like as in the path my life has been going. So I took a risk. Now whether it's calculated or not, I rally do not know. But I feel that's the way life is leading me. I joined a prestigious company at the post of a management trainee. They call it a MISE trainee here. It's an acronym for Maersk International Shipping Education. How has it been so far? That's a good question. It's been 4 days since I joined the company. It's been good so far. There are a lot of friendly, helpful people here. But one thing that I realized here is that it's going to be a hard, uphill struggle. It beats the shit out of the work in the software industry coz its dynamic, complex and complicated. I am never going to be bored. I have felt that over the last few days. Its livewire. But well, that poses a challenge and I love challenges. Currently I am at Kandla, Gujarat for the next 8-10 months. Now I have to start searching for a place of my own coz I have to move out of the hotel accomodation the company provided me in a week or so. Right now, I have no work and hence am typing away at this blog coz I am waiting for my access to be set so that I can I start on the online education modules to get an understanding of the current process. So a more interesting blog another time. Au Revoir!!!!!!

Narendrans wedding photos

Narendrans wedding photos

True Romance - an existential mirage

Well all of us see the different kinds of colour, fantasy and romance woven into the tapestry of Hindi films by Yash Raj Films every year. Well life is not always like that. I am taking the time to blog this because of two friends. Well, they met up while we were in training. Training that would help us enhance our careers, training that would define what we would be doing in the future. (Tsk tsk you two, you should have been concentrating on the training. But well since they were smart enough they got through the system.) Well to get back to the matter. They met, they fell in love and they decided to have a future.......together. Now in one of my previous blogs, I had posed a question to whether there was still true romance in the world? It's not like as if they had a whirlwind romance (not that I would know). But some how they stuck it through, they defined their lives for themselves and they got married a few days ago. Because of them, I still believe that somewhere in this world true romance does exist and you guys just proved it to me. You guys are the greatest example been set to me. Congrats Kannan and Shiks. Here's wishing you the best of luck from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!!

Friendship - a curious insight

Yesterday I was talking to a friend. She was wondering why i called her up after all this time. I mean, she's married and all and she was wondering this because we were not in the same class or anything at college. There was nothing common between us except that we had a common friend, whom at point was romantically linked with her. Somehow I get the feeling that she thought that I was trying to spy on her for my friend. Well, that's not the reason at all. Her break up with him was none of my concern and this does not imply that I should also break my tie of friendship. She was telling me a story also yesterday on the phone which goes like this:

"Once I was asked to dream that I was going through a forest. During this I was asked what sort of trees I would like in the forest. I told the concerned person that I would like to see huge, eucalyptus trees. Then I happened to chance on a rough road which took me to a wooden shack. As I was reaching the shack, I happened to chance upon an old rusted key. "

Upto this point I was following the narrative of my friend. Now the person telling her about this dream asked her," Would you keep the key?" Now since this key was also hypothetically posed to me, I thought, " Yes sure, why not? What harm does it create. It might turn out to be an asset later on". My friend's take was that the key would turn to be a liability later on. Now the person told her that the old key signified her realtionships with her friends. She was a person who did not make much of the relationships with her friends whereas even though I never valued it, I thought that it would be an asset later on during the jouney of life. Now her justification in to the key being a liabilty was that girls ( in India) do not hav pockets and hence there is a high chance of losing it from one's hands and holding it would also being uncomfortable after a period of time as in her lifetime, she has lost a lot of stuff while carrying it in her hand. Now that got me wondering. " Is this with everything we do in our life. Are we uncomfortable with holding something in our hands, like maybe another person's hand?" It might be because man as a being does not want to share in other's despair, but would definitely share in their happiness. This is a sort of behaviour in which man always tries to forget his and other's despairs. It could be an attempt to always be optimistic and not dwell on the pessimistic mode of life. But these are our friends we are talking about. This is getting heavy now. So I am signing off on that thought.

Romance - a dying relationship???

If I had to live my life without you near me
The days would all be empty
The nights would seem so long
With you I see forever oh so clearly
I might have been in love before
But it never felt this strong

Our dreams are young
And we both know they'll take us
Where we want to go

(Chorus 1)
Hold me now
Touch me now
I don't want to live without you

(Chorus 2)
Nothing's gonna change my love for you
You ought know by now how much I love you
One thing you can be sure of
I'll never ask for more than your love

(Chorus 3)
Nothing's gonna change my love for you
You ought know by now how much I love you
The world may change my whole life
But nothing's gonna change my love for you

If the road ahead is not so easy,
Our love will lead the way for us
Like a guiding star
I'll be there for you if you should need me
You don't have to change a thing
I love you just the way you are
So come with me and share the view
I'll help you see forever too

Yesterday I was feeling pretty bored as there was no electricity from around 12 at noon to 1930. So somehow in between I switched on the radio. I happened to stumble upon Radio City 91 FM and there was a program called "Me, You and a Girl named Sue". Some how the program was interesting and it was playing English tracks. Those old golden tracks. And I happened to hear this song - one of my old favourites. Now somehow or the other I believe myself to be a romantic. Flowers, gifts, thinking of how to make one's love's day special etc.. still seem to me to be the epitome of true romance. But I have to warn you, I've never been romantically involved at all, so well this is why maybe I still live and believe in a fantasy romance. When I was listening to this song, the first thing that striked me was, " Does such romance exist?. Is there such a thing like true love?" In this age of one night stands, promiscuous sex, live in relation ships and stuff does there exist something like true love? People driven by carnal instincts, a basic animal instinct of satisying a need of the body. Is there such a thing as everlasting romance? The media, the world around us is filed of incest, lust and such. Couples in a relationship refuse to get married as they feel they will get grounded, they will lose their allure and charm in the singles market. It is truly a sad situation. But whenever I hear these lyrics "Hold me now, Touch me now, I don't want to live without you" the romantic within me believes that some where there still lies a mirage of such emotions in this world.

My take

Well I know that I have never been really active about posting a number of posts but I feel it's times like these that really inspire you to take a stand, to express yourself on what you feel about the situation, be it whatever it may be. Many of my friends have taken up a stand on what they feel about the issue that I am going to write about. This previous Tuesday, timed explosions ripped the heart of Western Railways. It was also an attempt to rip the souls, hopes and expectations of the ordinary. This was a work of evil genius, in which explosions were timed a few minutes apart along the different sections of the Mumbai railways. Terrorism is not only bout exploding bombs, killing people or wasting lives to prove a point. It's actually the aftermath that really tests us, as human beings.

But as we have heard over the past few days, it has in no way deterred the murale of the average Mumbaikar. In this, I rejoice and am also worried as to what this could bring about in the speculation which comes as an aftermath. Various fingers will be raised, various communities will be under suspicion etc.. I hope we can stay away from this sad aspect of it. Ive never realized what is about Mumbai that a good friend of mine, Vinay feels about. To me it was all about malnutrition, no proper infrastructure, no security, encroachments, civic disorder, crime and the lot. Basically a city that stands and runs on its own. But with the article below I understand what is it that he feels, and what is it that he has come to love about Mumbai. Below is a good forward of what I think, hope and pray the average Mumbaiker feels and which I hope aptly defines the current spirit throughout Mumbai :

"Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don't care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but everytime you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targetted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back.The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greater vigour.We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed."

Anup Rajan