A Walk through The Mughal Lanes

Let me start from where I had finished my previous post.
We (myself, my brother and Jobu) started on the 24th morning from my village in a Mahindra Bolero after a good sleep the previous night.
The trip had been planned something like this : We would first visit Kandi Kali Badi and then move on to Lalbagh, which is the main attraction of Murshidabad.
En-route our trip we visited Kandi first as planned.
Kandi is not amongst the major tourist attractions of Murshidabad and not many people are even aware of this place. The sole attraction of Kandi however is the Kandi Kali Badi. It is as old as the history of Murshidabad goes. Though today the Kali Badi is pretty much famous, at least among the local people, it was once infamous for it was the shelter of dacoits during the mughal reins. This was a place where the dacoits used to offer prayers to Goddess Kali.

After we came out this temple we were left with mixed feelings. I could say that this temple today was a veneer of the cultural manipulations that have occured in the era bygone, for I could hear song numbers from Don being played behind the temple amidst the chanting of the mantras inside the four walls.

Anyways with many more such thoughts skulking in my mind I got into my Bolero once again only to move towards Lalbagh, which remains the most important destination of tourists to Murshidabad.

It took about an hour odd to reach Lalbagh from Kandi. The road to Lalbagh already gave us a sense of great expectations as it moved in a slapdash fashion along the Ganges. The Ganges in this part isnt really the firecest or the widest but it definitely is amongst the purest.

Moving on this road we first landed at Motijheel.
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Motijheel (Murshidabad) Motijheel or Pearl lake is situated about one and a half kilometre south of Lalbagh and about three kilometres south-east of Hazarduari Palace at murshidabad, west bengal. The horse-shoe shaped lake, according to Rennell, was one of the meandering courses of the Bhagirathi that once flowed near this area. Within the bend of the lake were built a beautiful palace called 'Sang-i- dalan' (stone palace), a lofty gateway, a mosque and some other structures by nawazish muhammad khan alias Shahmat Jang, nephew and son-in-law of Nawab alivardi khan. The palace of Nawazish Khan was built using materials, especially the black basalt pillars brought from the ruins of Gaur and thus assumed the name Sang-i-dalan. After his death, his widow ghaseti begum lived here until sirajuddaula took over the palace and seized enormous amount of treasures in 1756 AD. It is heard that Sirajuddaula being jealous of this place,got another very beautiful palace- Heerajheel constructed on the opposite side of the Bhagirathi after incurring huge amount of money.

Today however Motijheel is more about a Museum where one could find artifacts of the articles used in those days, a lake where one can go for some boating and a park where one can go on a picnic party. We visited the museum first,did some boating too and moved ahead in our car without wasting much time.
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From Motijheel we proceeded for Hazarduari (Nabab Palace).



The Hazarduari Palace, or the palace with a thousand doors is the chief tourist attraction of Murshidabad.
The magnanimity of the structure was palpable from a far distance itself. The building is reminiscent of Gothic architecture. We reached there sometime around 11'o clock. On reaching the premises of the palace we found almost a quarter km long queue waiting for its turn to enter the palace. We 3 just couldnt believe that we had to stand behind this long a queue under the blazing sun for our turn. There were tourists from, I guess, every part of the state. Well there was no other go and we had to book our entry tickets and stand behind this queue.
While I waited behind this queue, Jobu and by Brother went to check if there was something more worth to be seen around this place.
There is a structure right opposite to this palace, more famously known as the Imambara, inside the same premise where the Hazarduari is located. It is said that the King would marry a virgin every night and keep her locked in this imambara after that. Anyways Jobu and bro came back after some time only to inform that the imambara was up for some repair work and hence would not be opened for visitors. They too joined me in the queue after that. What was good about this queue was that it was moving quite sppedily. Therefore i didnt have to wait for more than 30 in to reach the main gate of the palace from where we would actually be let inside.
There wasn't much security at the gates when I had visited this place last time. But thanks to the "Global terrorism" factor, there was quite a hard security cover at the entrance. Forget cameras not even mobile phones were allowed inside the palace. However, there was a cloak room at the entrance where one could keep his belongings.
After keeping our mobile phones I moved inside. Though the palace is such a lively example of exemplary human creation, and it would be really difficult for anyone to describe it in words I have tried to frame below what best I could possibly do.
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The Hazarduari Palace, or the palace with a thousand doors is the chief tourist attraction of Murshidabad. This three-storey palace was built in 1837 by Duncan McLeod for the Nawab Najim Humaun Jah, descendent of Mir Zafar. It has thousand doors (among which only 900 are real) and 114 rooms and 8 galleries, built in European architectural style. The total area of Hazarduari Palace is 41 acres. It is now a museum and has an exquisite collection of armoury, splendid paintings, exhaustive portraits of the Nawabs, various works of art including beautiful works of ivory (Murshidabad school) of China (European) and many other valuables. The Armoury has 2700 arms in its collections of which only few are displayed. Swords used by Shiraj-ud-Daulla and his grandfather, Nawab Alivardi Khan, can be seen here. The other attractions in this floor are Vintage Cars and Fittan Cars used by the Nawabs and their families.



However one would have to be lucky enough to be able to see these princely items as most of the time some or the other construction keeps going on and one or the other floor would be locked.
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It took us almost 2.5 hrs to be able to see 90% of what lay inside the museum of a size of 130mtrs x 60 mtrs. After this we were tired enough and didnt have any sort of energy left and we could easily sense that lunch came calling.
We came outside the museum and sat for sometime on the grand stair case on the front side. From there we moved to take lunch on the roadside hotels outside the palace premises. The food this time again was as bad as it can get. But still it looked great. After finishing our lunch we moved ahead for other places that remained to be visited.
We moved to NashiPur Akhra after lunch.

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Nashipur Akhra is situated near Nashipur Rajbati on the eastern side of the Bhagirathi. The Mahanta of the Akhra is to remain bachelor for good. Here, every year, Jhulan Yatra is performed when a large number of people from far off villages assemble here to witness the dramas held on this occassion. There are a good number of deities who are worshipped every day by the priests.
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In the Nashipur Akhra a very old Austin is kept in the Garage and free for public analysis. Even we tried to see the remains of the car. We opened the bonnet to see what remained of the motor. Though not much remained in it, it still gave a chilling feel to us. Just imagine handling an almost 150 yrs old car.

From Nashipur Akhra we moved on to KathGola Bagan.

Enroute Kathgola Bagan we came across the Jafargunj cementry. We didnt get down at this place since we felt not much was there to be seen as it was in a delapidated state. All the descendants of Nawab Nazims (except Miran and Feradun Jah) had been cremated here.

Moving Onwards we came across the Tomb of Azimunnisa Begum.

We agreed to get down here. Local people told that the place was maintained by young kids who stayed nearby. Each of us agreed to pay those kids Rs2/- each. The kids act as guides for visitors and narrate history in a poetic fashion. Their historical poetry amused one and all present there. Not much is there to be seen at this place however. Behind this tomb lies vast cultivable pieces of land.

The history of this tomb goes like this.

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Tomb of Azimunnisa Begum
Azimunnisa Begum was the Daughter of Murshid Kuli Khan(after whom Murshidabad was named). It is heard that once she fell seriously ill and as per the advice of a Hakim, she recovered from illness after having medicine prepared from the liver of an infant secretly. But after recovery, she became accustomed with having the liver of an infant secretly. But the Nawab coming to know of the fact, instructed his men to cremate her alive.

People visiting this tomb are told to walk on the top of this tomb so that her soul may find peace. *************************************************************

From this place we moved ahead for Kathgola Bagan.
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The above three thubnails are snapshots of what lies inside the Kathgola Bagan.Inside the Kathgola Bagan we took a guide to take us through the premises. Kathgola Bagan or Kathgola Garden is a big garden house on the North Eastern side. Katgola, the palace garden of Raja Dhanpat Singh Dugar and Lakshmipat Singh Dugar and their famous Adinath Temple were built in 1873, by Harreck Chand. Inside is situated the Paresh Nath Temple made of white marble stone.Within the temple, there is the statue of Paresh Nath made of Marble Stone.Lamchi Prasad is its founder.In this garden, there stands a beautiful palace in which there can be seen valuable paintings, mirrors and priceless furniture. A good many statues on horse backs are also worth seeing.

One can also find a dance floor which used to covered with original belgian glass on all sides, which only allowed one way view from inside. The belgian glasses dont exist today but the floor does. Its beleived that the Dugars used to pay Rs5000/- for a 30 min dance by 2 famous bais(female dancers) from Lucknow.

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From Kathgola we moved ahead for Katra Mosque and probably the last place for that day's trip.. We were infact on our way back.While coming back we saw Jagat Seth's house by the roadside. The house today remains in a deteriorated condition, with no maintenance altogether. Probably the punishment of his wrong doings during the British rule when he colluded with the Britishers and betrayed the Indian Kings.

Katra Mosque was the last place that we could visit during this trip. The place was almost closed when we reached. Thanks to the caretaker that he allowed us inside taking into consideration the crowd that day. We didn't find many guides even there. Hence had to satisfy ourselves by asking the locals about the place. Below is whatever info we could gather about the place.

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The tomb of Murshid Kuli Khan is also known as Katra Mqsque.

It is known from the written account that Murshid Kuli Khan, on attaining old age, expressed his desire to construct his tomb adjacent to the mosque. The responsibility for the construction was given to Farash Khan. Farash Khan is reported to have been very envious of Hindus. He completed the construction of the mosque by demolishing many Hindu temples.

Once Murshid Kuli Khan died Farash became repentant for his deeds. With a view to get foot prints of noble men on the stairs, he got Murshid's tomb constructed below the stairs and the body was laid to rest in the tomb.

At the two ends of the mosque, two domes measuring 70ft in height, are still existing today in a delapidated condition. On getting at the top of the domes its said that a major portion of the City of Murshidabad is visible.

However we were not lucky enough to get on to the top as the domes are locked from public access.

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Well the day was over for us with this magnificient sight. We came out of the Mosque. It was already 5:30p.m and getting dark.

I bought a couple of local made handicraft items for people back home, boarded my Bolero and was on my way back .

There were quite a few places in and around Murshidabad that we couldn't cover that day and hope to cover some time else.

Main among these are :- Kosh Bagh(Siraj Samadhi), Palassey Monuments,Heera Jheel(on the other side of Bhagirathi) , Kriteshwar temple, Vatabati Temple, Maharaj a Nanda Kumar House( Bhadra Pur).

A Trip to the Bengal Countryside of Murshidabad

This year (2006) the 25th Dec fell on a Monday. Hence I had a long weekend to enjoy. So I thought of a trip to Goa with my friends. But as luck would have it..there were no affordable flight tickets to goa..and also no availability of lodging facility as every place under the shed had already been booked...So we planned for a trip to Vizag.. Once again problems cropped up...one of my friends had to back out because of health problems....and likewise some or the other problem bogged down others too!!
Finally the only people who were not ready to give up were myself and another friend Jayabroto (shall be addressed as Jobu as we like to call him) from Kolkata.He was a part of the previous 2 plans as well... So we planned for a trip to the Bengal countryside...And what better than the District of Murshidabad we thought, which would not only serve the purpose of visiting a countryside, where one could have a real feel of the village folklore, but also could use his time to explore the Mughal remains...after all this was the very place where Britishers made their first footprints of thier almost 200yrs of rule on the Indian Mainland. The plan was an immediate hit with both of us and we were on!! We planned to make my maternal house in Murshidabad as our mainstay.
Since I had to start from Bhubaneshwar, I had to get my tickets for Kolkata while Jobu had just to accompany me from Kolkata onwards.... I reached Kolkata on 23rd morning around 9'o clock, midway pickin up my brother also from another place...
According to the communication that I had had with Jobu he was supposed to be there at the station by 9'o clock, so that we could proceed without wasting much of our time..however, due to some communication gap he had thought that he had to be there at the station by 10'o clock..This one communication gap added to the delay a couple of more agonising hours as there was no train till 12 noon...but there was no other option left...so we chatted till around 11.30a.m and then proceeded to the tkt counter only to be told that the train that we were supposed to take had been cancelled for the day...
There are quite a few ways to reach to reach the village where my Maternal House is present...One is catch a train from Kolkata to Burdwan and then catch a bus to the place..Second is to catch a train to Katwa and then move towards my village...And in case none of the trains are available catch a train to Bandel and then move towards Katwa and then proceed....
Anyways we were supposed to take a direct train to Katwa which had got cancelled.. so there was only the last last option left..Move to Bandel and then catch a train to Katwa.. Luckily we had a train at 11.58a.m to Bandel...We reached Bnadel within an hour..after reaching there we came to know that the next train to Katwa was at 2.30p.m...So we thought of utilising this time in fillin the empty space in our stomachs...Since Bandel is not that big a place we knew that finding a good hotel nearby was going to be a pain..Just outside the station though we found a series of small roadside hotels...So we went to have our lunch there...We oredered for a veg meal each, but couldnt even gobble up half the plate as the environment inside was really bad...with our stomachs half filled we proceeded back for the station...the train arrived right on time and we were more than happy boarding the train this time. Around 5.30 in the evening we reached Katwa...We were told before that the last bus to my village was at 5p.m and the only way to go ahead was book a taxi..With much ado we thought to check out at the bus stand itself!! Thankfully the last bus was at 6'o clock. Finally we reached home at around 8 at night.
Once we reached home we knew that the day was over for us and the only thing left to be done was a good dinner, which we were sure would be innumerable times better than what we had at lunch.

The next morning we were up by 6 as we had to move for our trip to The Mughal Lane of yester years...

The details of the trip are there in my next post.

Barkha Dutt In our Office

It was the annual awards ceremony in our office on the 18th Dec,06.

Employees who show exceptional performance over the entire year are awarded these annual excellence awards.

This is a function which is covered live in all the DCs(Development Centres) of the company, not only in the country but also across continents where ever it has its presence.

The epicenter of these awards however lies in Bangalore,India where our company's head office is located. This function is marked by a guest of honour, who is mostly a celebrity, but most importantly a person who has made his/her impact on the society with his/her work.

This year it was Barkha Dutt, one of the most famous journalists of this country,working with NDTV, whose one shot to fame was the valiant coverage of Kargil War of 99. Though many other journalists were there to cover the war, her being a lady journalist was what had surprised many a people.

It was sharp 7'o clock by my watch when she came up to the lecturn for the guest speech. She started by explaining the meaning of Excellence, the very essence of the award ceremony. She said Excellence is manhood's quest for being the best in his field. But there is no final destination one can reach as it is a process which calls for continuous improvement and hence doest have an end. Once someone thinks he has acheived excellence, then that is the last day of his being so. She emphasised this by stating how her knees tremble before any speech that she makes even after her having done so millions of time before. She then went on to say that everyone hears so many accolades that are bestowed upon the company's performance and how all the employees take pride in being a part of this cult. But many a times people fail to look into the flip side of this success. The cons of being so successful. She cited many examples from her life from the time she had covered the Kargil War to the Godhra carnage to the latest incident of Tsunami which had affected the southern states of the nation. She said everytime she had covered these News items she had to face loads of challenges. Enemies were born, hate and threat mails filled her mail box, how she was beaten up badly by unrelenting supporters of political parties etc..Not only this, how descision making was integral during all this. During one such coverage how she had seen hundreds of mutilated bodies of children in a grave, which could have easily been telecast live on the national television but she had to decide in a split second the aftermath of such a thing being telecast live. Not only this the attrocities taht one has to bear in her profession ex: not being able to even take bath for 12 days consecutively during Kargil War coverage. While stating all this she mentioned to us that excellence is all about going that extra mile...

Finally she concluded her speech by saying that once a person achieves a certain stature in society, the society wants him to behave in a certain fashion only. That is if someone is a communist then he cant fight for industrialisation, if someone is a human rights activist then he has to fight against capital punishment. But the very path of excellence is being different from others. While one treads on this path one may loose many friends, having to go may be all alone. But once someone achieves the goal he would end up only being a role model for others. The very path that many had objected to would be followed by them. This brought her to the end of the speech.

Her speech may have ended but it left everyone stunned rather speechless. It sent a thunder down my spine at least. How amazing the 30 min had been!! The real life anecdotes had left an undying sense of inspiration behind.

I was a fan of hers always!! Her speech had made me to being a bigger fan of hers.

I am Behind All This Crap :)

Dil ke armaan

Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Hum code karke bhi India me rah gaye

Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Zindagi ek aas bankar rah gayi

Zindagi ek aas bankar rah gayi

UK ke kisse adhoore rah gay

UK ke kisse adhoore rah gay

Hum code karke bhi India me rah gaye
Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Shayad unka aakhri ho yeh sitam

Shayad unka aakhri ho yeh sitam

Har sitam ye soch kar hum sah gaye

Har sitam ye soch kar hum sah gaye

Hum code karke bhi India me rah gaye

Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Khud ko bhi humne mita dala magar

Khud ko bhi humne mita dala magar

Faasle jo darmayan the rah gaye

Faasle jo darmayan the rah gaye

Hum code karke bhi India me rah gaye
Dil ke armaan aasuon me bah gaye

Dhoom 2

I went to watch this movie in the 3rd week after this movie was released. Hence it was obvious that I already had feedbacks about the movie already available with movie. The general consensus was that the movie was a no brainer. So I planned to chuck my brain out the window before I entered the theatre.
I was a little late for the movie-approx 5 min. The scene that I was welcomed with was Rhithik skating in railway tracks in the midst of some desert (I really never had an idea that there can be railway tracks in desert too before this movie). Anyways by the time I could locate my seat inside, the scene was already over and a song sequence started. Though the song was really awesome with Rhithik not looking anything less than a Greek God, I couldn’t really understand what the hell was happening there, as to how Rhithik reached a dance club from a desert.
I knew I had to prepare myself for a tougher period ahead.
The movie kept movie at a brisk pace and kept tearing my head apart. Similar situations as the afore mentioned kept cropping. And the more I tried not to apply my thoughts on the proceedings the happier I got. The happiest moment came when the movie got over though.
My take on the movie would be like this :
D2 is bigger than D1. It has more heavily paid actors in it. The sets are costlier. Movie shot mostly in Rio. But there is no script line in the movie whatsoever. The songs also not as impressive as D1. Though the action sequences are much bigger they are less in number. The movie has only a couple of chases.
Finally if one still plans to go ahead to watch this movie, I would give a green signal only on the precondition that – please assure yourself that you have no brain at all and that you enjoy great dance numbers and like great bodies.. However I would sincerely suggest that you would be better off utilizing your time in something more purposeful.

The characters could best be described in this fashion:
Abhishek : He looked like an unkempt super cop who could decode anything from his logical reasoning prowess. I wondered why he hadn’t appeared for CAT.
Bipasha : She looked really stunning, specially in Touch me Sonia number. But why was she there in the movie in the 1st place, I couldn’t decipher.
Rhithik : I have already mentioned above. He looked nothing less than a Greek God. Add the that his dancing skills and he really steals the show from the other 2 heroes.
Aishwarya : She has given herself a lean - mean look. She even tanned her skin. All these made her look more like an ugly duckling rather than a hot babe. Especially in a few scenes her pace was pale.
Uday Chopra : Is he really a movie material :o ??? With a voice as meek as a rat probably he was totally overshadowed. He should thank God that he was a part of this movie.

DON

There has been a lot of talk recently about the latest DON in town...

Hey hey,Wait a minute,I am talking about Sharukh Khan's latest release here- "DON". Went to watch the movie with a group of friends and was well prepared to have some critical reviews of the movie at least from a few of them...like how bad it is when compared to the Original DON played by Amitabh bacchan etc etc...

But to my surprise people were rather impressed with the movie when I came out...Though people did compare it with the Original sometimes they were not all that critical..

On my part although I was luky that I hadnt watched the original Don..hence there was nothing that I could really have a word upon..the few things that I am eligible to comment upon is how the movie has been presented and about the performance from the actors...

I must say that Farhan Akhtar is a pretty good director...at least he has garnered some good qualities of his parents...I have seen his previous 2 releases - Dil Chahta Hai and Lakhshya..Anyone who has seen the 2 movies would know that he had done a real good job with both of them..specially DCH being a movie of a different league altogether...Hence its quite ususla that he a the burden of huge expectations out of him..Going by that expectaion he has managed to come out with flying colours here too..

Well coming to the actors, I must admit beforehand that I am a great fan of SRK...hence my views may be a bit biased...Man many people in Bollywood would die for this man.. the panache with which this man has carried himself in the movie has been awesome...definitely is augmented with the fact that there was a great costume work from Aki Narula...but then you cant take away the credit from him..Then comes the role of Shalini played by bombshell Kareena...aint she glamourous!!...With those stately legs of hers and a skin as smooth as a cheese slice, she was the best person suited to portray Helen from the Original...Though I feel that there has been only one Helen and there will be only one.One could easily sense that Kareena had to do a lot of homework to come even 1% close to what Helen did in " ye mera dil pyar ka deewana" song...Then we have Priyanka playing the lead female role-played by Zeenat Aman in the original...Priyanka again looked awsome..She is the perfect definition of a sexy sultry babe...add to that her dancing and acting skills, the screen somes alive...Last but not the least Isha Koppikar didnt have much of an acting to do, with her presence being barely felt...but her role, as it turned out, was a pretty significant one..

Now coming to the movie part..the Screenplay of the movie has been pretty nicely dealt..With those foriegn locales and awesome shooting places the movie is a treat to watch..

The 1st part I felt was an outright copy of the original one, with very little or no modifications in the script...But what comes of age is the 2nd half..a total twister of a script...with so many twist and turns the movie takes the audience by surprise...Specially the role of the police inspector played by Boman Irani(Iftikar in the original) is what one must look out for..

All in all... a very good movie to watch out for during the weekends..

Lost in debate

Recently I participated in a debate held at my work place.. I used to think that I am damn good at these things...But I never knew it can be so harsh...I lost the competition rather badly.....
Hoping to do better next time tho....And I hope there be helping souls this time to bail me out.. :)

When Things Go Wrong They Really Go Wrong

So finally things seem pretty stable for me now.
Now you must be wondering about what really happened to make me unstable, rt?

Well then let me unfold the events slowly and I guess these series of mishaps would have made anyone unstable.
I had to go from Bhubaneshwar(I shall address this place as BBSR now on) to Mehceda( a small place in West Bengal) on the 15th of Sep. My train was scheduled to arrive at the BBSR at 11.45pm.
The lack-luster fellow that I am, I thought I had enough time with me before I left and therefore why not have a chat with my friends over the phone. Hence I called up a friend of mine and started my less than worth a penny chat, meanwhile forgetting that I actually should fix an auto-rickshaw to drop me to the station at around 11.00 p.m. Our half an hour chat came to an end at around 10.30p.m. I still was damn lazy to book an auto. Finally I felt that enough was enough and I should really see if any autowallah would drop me at the station. I sent my servant for this purpose, telling him not to call any autowallah who asked for more than 70 bucks for a drop. As luck would have it he found none who agreed for that amount. Frantic calls to my friends, asking each of them if they new any autowallah who would be able to drop me, ended in a naught. Finally around 11.05p.m I realized that things were getting a bit too cheesy and I had to make my moves really fast or be prepared to miss the train as the station was quite a distance from my place. Having no options at hand I now made a run for the auto stand simply praying to find an auto at the least. At the stand I finally found a autowallah who agreed to drop me at Rs80/-. I obliged to his commands. However another man also boarded the same auto. This man was the driver’s friend. He was sitting on the front seat while I clobbered the back. Midway en-route the journey suddenly this unknown person turned sideways putting his left hand at the back. This hand was touching my lower leg, to which I thought may have happened my mistake. However this hand slowly started caressing my feet and his grip got only stronger. I felt there was something wrong here. I held his arm firmly and put it across his body. Strangely though, this man started repeating the entire process of events. I now realized that there was something seriously wrong here and that this person wasn’t straight in his characteristics and I needed to act real quick. This time I held his arm in a much rigid fashion and threw it across once again. I guess he realized there may be some trouble in the offing and he didn’t repeat the process anymore and I safely reached the station.
Once I boarded the train I thought now things would be okay and what happened sometime back was just a bad dream. I retired for the day after sometime. I got up the next day at 6.00a.m all geared up to get down at Mecheda. The station was still at an hours distance from then. Around 7a.m I realized that I was pretty close to my destination, when to my bad luck I ran into a few TTEs, who had only then remembered that they had a job at hand and that was to check the passenger tickets. They asked me for my ticket. As luck would have it I had booked my tickets only upto Kharagpur(KGP), Mecheda being the very next station to KGP.( I actually hadn’t booked my tickets to Mecheda since I didnt know that this train had a stop there and when I had come to know of this I didn’t have time to rebook my tickets.). I tried to dodge the TTEs by giving some false explanations about my over ride to Mecheda but the TTEs didn’t seem to relent upon my poor soul. They fined me then and there. The fine put a dent of Rs350/- on my pocket. And see I had just about managed to sign the chalan that the train halted. I looked outside to find the train standing at Mecheda. I felt more embarrassed than sad.
I moved on from Mecheda to Haldia to meet my younger brother who is pursuing his studies there. After sending the entire day almost with him and his friends I had to proceed to Kolkata. Some of my brothers friends suggested to catch up a Volvo bus which seemed to be the fastest way of reaching Kolkata. I caught the bus at 5.15p.m. According to their allegory I would reach Kolkata by 7.30p.m max. I happily boarded the bus and slept off. I woke up only by 7.00p.m only to find myself at Mecheda again. The bus had moved real slow till now as Kolkata was still about 1.5hrs journey. Somewhere in my mind I thought if my decision to catch the bus had been wise. Anyways there was no other option now. I slept off again. Around 8.15 p.m I was woken up again by some curious cries. I got up to see what had happened and found that the bus had broken down and that we needed to find other options to reach our destination. The bus driver helped all the passengers to catch another bus which seemed to be going empty. All the passengers agreed to board this bus which finally reached Kolkata only at 10p.m( remember I had told I was supposed to reach by 7.30 and see when I reached. Exactly 2.5hrs after the stipulated time.). The second set of problems ended.
In Kolkata I was supposed to stay with my friend. Who knew there was some more trouble in the offing and another problem would arise? I being new to Kolkata guided myself by asking a few people around as to which bus went to his place. They guided me rightly but I happily managed to board a wrong bus again. Finally all screwed up I called my friend asking him what to do now. This time keeping my fingers crossed I followed his instructions carefully and finally reached his place.
He picked me up from the bus stand and we went to his place. Finally I reached his place at 11.15p.m that day, had my dinner and slept off only to be woken up by him the next day at 9.00 a.m.
Things now seemed to have come to a full stop. And I say so much trouble for a journey. Well had these troubles had not been there the journey wouldn’t have been memorable.
That’s why I said when things go wrong they really go wrong.

It Rained Really Heavily That Day

This happened just last week while I was returning from a hotel in Bhubaneshwar after attending a small party with my friends. It was around 12.30 at night when I left the hotel. While I was about the leave the hotel premises it started to drip lightly. We were confused whether to leave then itself or wait for the heaven to relent upon us. Some of the guys however planned to leave right then since the rain drops were pretty light and we never knew how long it may rain. The only two people left bemused were me and my roomie, with whom I had been to the party. After some contemplation though, even we thought of going by the populist choice of leaving immediately. Our decision was also augmented by the fact that I also had to catch a train to Kolkata that very morning at 5.30 and I hadn’t managed to do my packing. Hence we left.
But who knew that there were other plans from the heavenly abode. We weren’t even 50 mts from the hotel premises that it started raining cats and dogs. But there was no looking back now as we had touched the highway. We only persisted with our journey. I was riding pillion while my roomie was on the driver’s seat. By the time we must have been around 200mtrs from the hotel and the rain drops grew bigger. The rain was coming right onto our faces. Pinching us. Hitting us really hard. Not only were we totally wet by now, I for that matter was shivering.(I had worn a thin Tee that evening since it was damn hot when I had come ). Having no idea whatsoever what to do now, we thought of taking refuge in a shed for sometime and wait for the rain to subside. Lucky we thought by ourselves. We spotted an ATM by the roadside. After somehow managing to park our bike we ran towards the ATM and hid in the ATM booth. After sometime when the force of the rain reduced a bit we planned to escape. As we were on our way out the force of the rain again increased. But this time we were adamant as to whatever happens we were not going to stop. We still had to tread almost 5 kms from that point. Never the less we moved on. From this point on infact it grew darker. Visibility reduced to zero. The roads familiar to us till a few hours ago seemed real strangers. One more thing I forgot to mention till now is we(me & my roomie) both are bespectacled beings. Hence it was more difficult for us to spot anything in the dark. I at the back could only pray that no obstacle come in our way, else we forsure would have had our body parts hanging by poles along bedside in the hospital J. We kept moving carefully, moving at speeds of 20 kmph. Then finally came a turn where we had to move left. Am glad to mention this because at least after that point the rain wouldn’t be head on with us. After about another kilometer on that road we finally arrived at our dwelling. The ride which otherwise would have taken us 15 min took a 1 hr this time. At least we thankfully reached home and I was pretty happy about that.
After reaching home I remembered that I was to pack my bag now since that morning I had a train. I thought of immediately sliding down on my bed since it was already 1.30 a.m and I had only about 3 hours at max to sleep.I instantly kept my wet clothes and shoes to dry in one room under the fan. Putting the alarm clock into action by my bed I fell asleep in a min. I don’t know whether the alarm clock had worked or not that particular morning, I had woken up only by 10am. Well as is obvious by now, I invariably missed the morning train and had to catch the one in the afternoon.
Though the nerve wracking thoughts of that night has subsided now, I am infact happy of such an experience to carry for the rest of my life..

MyDays @ Infy Mysore:Jaane Kaha Gaye Wo Din

Its now about 1yr and 8months that I have been with Infosys Technologies ltd. Well for those of you who don’t know what I am referring to, it’s one of the biggest software firms in India and probably amongst the top most respected firms across the world. Surely my ride in Infy (as we call it in short) during these months has been quite a bumpy one.
However what I am going to express further is not going to be about this ride, but about the first 4months that I had passed with this company.
It was September 30, 2004 that I got the joining letter from Infy. The letter mentioned my joining date as 18,Oct 2004. I was totally ecstatic. I knew it was my day. But there was a surprise in store for me in the letter. It stated that I was supposed to join a certain batch of trainees at Infosys, Mysore. Yes that was the place where Infy had one of its branch offices or Development Centres(DCs) as we call it. Anyways the posting at Mysore was a surprise because most of my classmates from my college in Bangalore were posted at the Bangalore DC. So I was damn sure that even I would be posted there. On seeing that initially I was pretty apprehensive of the fact that while I would be alone in Mysore since none of my friends would be joining me there, however I had no option. Then came the day of 17th Oct when we were actually supposed to report at Mysore. I caught a bus to Mysore at 1’o clock in the noon to reach there by 4’o clock. Once I reached Mysore the next step was to catch an Auto upto the Infy Office ( these pointers were infact present in the FAQs in the offer letter). I never expected what awaited me on my arrival. For that matter no one in his/her thoughts would have expected that.
We were welcomed to the awesome world of Infosys, Mysore. A vast lush green expanse right in front of us. After the initial mandatory security checks at the gate we made entry into the campus. A Chevrolet Optra was waiting to pick us up from the spot to our rooms. While I waited for the car to start after having packed off my luggage in the cabin, there was another guy whom I could see had just landed from his auto. This guy after going through the checks joined me in the car. This was my roomie. The Chevrolet then took us across the huge Infy campus in Mysore to our rooms. Well there awaited another surprise in the package. Our room was nothing less than what one would find in a 5 star hotel. Absolutely POSH !! And that is where we were supposed to pass our 4 months of initial training. Was I dreaming??? Well that’s what me and my roomie thought for a while. Nopes!! We were totally alive and kicking and that wasn’t a dream.The first few days in the campus were absolute bliss, with no or very little on the class job to be done. But there was much more to unfold. Firstly when the actual training sessions started none of us had anytime worth to spare. We had to do lots of night outs in the training labs. Generally we used to be back only by 2 at night only to be present in the next days class by 9a.m sharp. And mind you, had we been a minute late even we were asked to apply for ½ a days leave immediately. However to augment this unique experience of 5 star rooms( in which we were rarely able to pass any time except weekends J) and the blood sucking training seesions, we would have the chairman Mr.NR Narayan Murthy himself visiting the campus.
Amidst these rigorous sessions and visits to us from the Top Bosses came the toughest moment that I had been in my entire span of the journey. That was when my group ( we used to work in groups of 4 ) was caught plagiarizing an old project work. Infact that turned out to be the toughest time for not one but quite a few of such groups who were caught in the act. [After this our group went through another set of episodes. But I dont think it would be wise mentioing them here.Thanks to suggestions from my friends ]. Well what i can say is I definitely had my nerves held tightly...

Anyways now it’s a long time that we were since given postings across different locations and different departments after finishing our training. But now having past that time long back I wish I could go back in time. I made friends. Some for a lifetime and some definitely worth keeping in memory. Still there are lots of mails exchanged. But yes we still miss those days.
Before I end this post let me tell you about my most memorable moment in Mysore. Meeting the honorable prime minister on our last week in the campus at Mysore.

Did I do a Rang de Basanti at 19??

I must have been around 19 then, doing 1st year BE from an Engg. College in Bangalore. It was the semester break and was about time that all the North Indians left for home. Like everyone else in my batch even I was packed with loads of anxiety or rather excitement to visit my hometown. But unlike others my journey back home used to be a pretty tiring one, taking some precious 66 hrs our out of my life, considering the fact that I had to travel non stop. Hence this time I decided to do a break journey, wherein I would take a rest for one day in Jamshedpur and head forwards. This incident that I would be narrating from here on happened in the journey from Jamshedpur to Renukoot ( my hometown where I was headed : a small Induatrial town in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh ).
During this journey to Renukoot I had one companion with me in the face of my Uncle. He planned to accompany me to Renukoot from Jamshedpur since he hadn’t paid a visit to my Mom and Dad for a long time. So there we started our journey to Renukoot. Before I proceed further I guess it would be wise to briefly describe my uncle here. To be true he is a person who is really unaware of the real world outside the place he had ever belonged to. So in real terms I was the guardian, as I had to guide him during the entire journey. He always looked pretty much gullible in the world outside his domain.
Anyways let me get on with what exactly had happened. The train had left Jsr at 2.00 p.m. It was around 5.00p.m when the train reached Moori Station ( A pretty big town in Jharkhand). The train had some 30min halt there, waiting for another train from Ranchi, after which they became a single train and proceeded to Amritsar. I thought that it would be wise if I got something to eat for both of us since after Moori there wouldn’t be many major halts. So I got down of the train and went to a nearby pantry area on the platform itself. When I came back to my coupe I was taken aback with what I saw. Two policemen goading my uncle to pay a fine of Rs500/- odd. On enquiring I found out that they were collecting fines from everyone whom they found smoking inside the coach. But to my best of knowledge there wasn’t a single law in the jurisdiction, at that time, wherein you could be fined for such a behaviour. However, on telling this to those two guys they said that such a law had been recently introduced and that my uncle had to pay the fine. But on our insistence they agreed upon Rs100/-( of course they wouldn’t give any receipt for that). My uncle on the other hand was still not ready for that sum, hence I took out a Rs100/- note from my pocket and handed it on to them. These guys then moved on from there to the next coach. I don’t really know what struck me after that but I really felt guilty of such an act and I though of taking the two cops to task my own way. I immediately got down of the train again and headed towards the police control room in the station. Midway however I spotted the guard of the train. Just to ensure that I had enough time before the train left I asked him about the departure schedule of the train. As luck would have it I had only about a couple of min or so. Hence I thought that it would be wise if I narrated the story to him only and took his help instead of going to the police as that would have meant a mere wastage of time. On listening to my story he said that even he could handle the situation if I were able to bring those two cops into his notice ( and yes in that last 1 min left as otherwise the train shall leave). I now ran in search of the two cops only to find them in the 2nd bogy from ours. I called one of them and asked him to come with me. They could easily sense that something was wrong. They kept on pestering me to tell them the real issue while I kept on telling them to just accompany me. Then I took them to the guard. The guard then in front of around 20-25 people gave a proper screwing to these fellows. Having already received public ignominy they took me to a corner and asked me what I needed. I was by this time so thrilled with the set of events, that I could boldly ask them to pay back my Rs 100/-. To my surprise they even did so and were pretty much eager for the train to leave.I came back to the bogy felling as happy as I had ever felt before.I was relieved to have this gut feeling that I did make a difference however small it may have been.
Now, a few days after I have watched Aamir’s Rang De Basanti I felt even I should express this incident that had happened much before the movie was released because now I feel that even I had done a real life Rang De Basanti. Isnt It ???

My Escapades With My Mobile

At this point in time, while I am writing this, I must agree that I am in a totally bemused frame of mind. I am just wondering whether GOD has created some special kind of bunglers who are really adept at losing their belongings and especially when it comes to Cellphones. For anyone who is reading this I must tell that I have already managed to loose around 3 mobiles in the last 2 years. Lest I forget all were pretty trendy for the Times. By the way after losing 3 mobiles and a net worth of ( 7500+15000+6000) I can assure one and all that the next mobile that I am going to get from the market wouldn’t be worth more than Rs2500/-.
Now let me put up the whole story as to how I have managed to loose all these mobiles till date.
The first one happened in a Bangalore bus when my pocket was picked. The proceeding was a totally planned stuff, something of the reel life kind. I was about to get down from the bus, when these embezzlers had blocked my way out. And then the city buses in B’lore city are kind of a HiTech machines. The doors would get closed as the bus leaves the stand.By the time I could be out the doors were already locked and the bus had started. So I thought of shouting to the driver and stop the bus( I was in a real hurry to get down of the bus as a girl had been waiting for me ).But there came a few people at my rescue and rather to my surprise. The driver henceforth stopped the bus and I managed to barge out. As I was getting down I felt somebody pick my pocket. As had happened previously, by the time I understood that I had been robbed of my mobile the doors had closed and I left astounded.What followed after wards can be left for another write up.
Now the remaining two incidences were partly my folly and partly my bad luck. While the common factors in both these losses was that the mobiles were switched off when I lost them and that they were picked up my none but the house keppers, and that’s why I call it my bad luck, the fact is that I had forgotten to pick them up from where I had kept them. The first one in a conference room while the second one right from my house.
Oh !! before I forget to mention, this is what happened after my 3rd mobile was stolen. My Aunt was present in the house( in fact I was present in her house then) when the incident happened. She is one of those super-superstitious kind of mankind’s example. She immediately went to some lady ( More famously known as Bhabi) to find out who had stolen the mobile. I thought she was some kind of an Airtel employee but found out that she was no more than a high priestess who helped people in such matters. In fact there was a deluge in the small tent like place where she operated from. She had then given some prescription sort of a thing to my aunt to get back my mobile. Well nothing happened at least for the nest 48 hrs and I had to leave the place empty pocket yet again.

And here I am now writing this after some 72 hrs of the incident and still without that mobile and felling forlorn. Rest I guess I can update only if at all the prescription works and I get back my mobile else one can rest assured that I am going to buy a cheap variety.
And hope my Escapades with my mobile can end here.