Part One - MAXI RURAL

Finally another MAXI Fair's (Marketing Fair @ XLRI) Rural Edition culminated with much fanfare..
An exhilerating experience to say the least..
Loads of villagers showed up for the event organised near Rakha Mines area of Jharkhand..
Keeping in mind the nature of the place, we also had a security cover thrown around us ( No Z+ category sadly :( ) !!
While the event was definitely one of the best learning experieces that we can take forward from XL, it was as much fun also...
Especially when interacting with so many villagers at one go, one has got to get some of the most wierd queries...
Two teams went to the village edition of the MAXI Fair..
It was like each time had its own sub-groups, which in turn had put up stalls...
The main draw of the event for the villagers was the fact that while each of them had their own share of games and fun, none of the participants turned out a loser...
Every villager participating in the event went out as a winner..
However as i said there were moments of fun as well...
And I cant let go my post without mentioning this one..
My stall had this event where we scared people about their future and wanted to know about what they would have liked to protect in cases of such scary future..
One person happily played the game on my stall and went to the next one..
In the next stall the event had something to do with Fortune telling...
The Fortune Baba predicted a great a future for the same person for whom I had predicted a Doom !!
What a paradox !! Now the baba was up for some screwing :)
The villager poses a question as to how could he have a great future ahead when an already doomed future was predicted moments ago..and the look on the Face of the Baba(one of our batchmates) was something that we fell laughing while he was at loss of words..

However, without boring you anymore some of the best moments that I could capture during the trip are presented below :

Once again the timing was applicable to the juniors only !! While we turned up at the Bodhi Tree at 6:00 sharp, seniors were caught happily napping :)..

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The Breakfast packs were surely salivating the hungry souls...

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The truck was supposed to be carrying all the Props for the MAXI Fair... Whiny Debayan (now I dint name him that ) turned out to be Maxi Fair's costliest prop :) ...

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I tried to hone my fotography skills..turned out to be a damp squib tho :(

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My Batchmates looked so energetic after the Bus Journey...I was happy on my ride in the Sumo Behind.. :D
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People tried to find excuses to avoid doing that extra work... But i was extremely busy you know..Else who would have caputured them Fraxing ??

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Thats GOLA NE BOLA..Not a simple ball game... My Brain Child

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Balls of different Sizes were available at this stall....Wonder how they managed those many ???
The stall should have been named : Whose Ball is it anyway :) ?
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We never knew Abdul could be so happy while getting kicked..Something new for us as well..

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Thats not mine by the way...Still a lot of time to go before I own that..

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We had forgotten to invite the chief guest...So we let the FRAXers do the inauguration bit :)
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See him !! He was lost in time....
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The Biggest Fraxer of All !!
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Finally thanks to these people who helped us in keeping things in control.

Abar Aslo Durga Puja

(We will have next year as well)

Its that time of the year when the Durga Puja or the Navaratri festival is eagerly awaited by the Hindus.

A typical Durga Puja in its Full Glory

These two festivals not only carry high religious sentiments for the people but also are occasions that present people an opportunity to get together and have some fun although under the religious umbrella. People take pledges against any wrong doings and plead Goddess Durga to excuse for their misdeeds.
And while talking of Durga Puja how could one not mention the Bengalis? And if someone rather does it then he probably needs to plead guilty to the Goddess herself. Go to any Bengali in any part of the world (Yes!! Anywhere in this world )and ask him what the festival means to him, it would not be surprising if he takes a full Gyan Session for that person !! ( My 2 cent advice therefore would be not ask any bengali about the Durga Puja festival but to Experience it, 1st hand )
Its that time of the year probably for which the Bengalis wait for a full year, starting from the “Asche Bachor Abar Habe” (It (Durga Puja ) will happen next year as well)chanting.
While the waiting time for the Durga Puja Celebrations is 1 full year, the last 1 month to the Pujas are the most exciting. It only needs to be a Bengali to understand the anxiety of those last few days taking to the Puja. And if the Puja celebrations are so dear to them, then indeed they ought to be marked with grandeur. Hence it becomes imperative that the build up to the show is rather exciting with preparations taking almost two months for those 4 days of celebrations.
It’s that time of the year when the preparations for the coming Durga Puja is at its peak. And probably there is no other place better than West Bengal to witness these times. And if I be a little more specific then it has to be Kolkata to evince my point.
I for once happened to go to my home town once in the mean time, which by the way is located almost 900kms away from Kolkata. My home town is an industrial town and houses some of the biggest industrial names today. The population of the township although miniscule when compared to the bigger towns like Jamshedpur, is decently large. However, whatever may be the populace Bengalis form a huge chunk of the population there as well. Indeed this clan probably could be found even at the two poles(The North and the South Pole) in their trademark ‘Monkey Caps’ or that ‘Chikan Shawl’ if there were good means of transport to those places.
Anyways, why I had to mention the above facts is that wherever on earth this clan is present they carry their culture with equal vigour. And it is very evident every year at my place as well. This year therefore isn’t any different. The preparations for the pujas had already started. This year after a long time I had the opportunity to see the initial preparations for the Durga Puja after a long-long time. And a simple look at the initial set up of the pandals, Victoria Memorial was the theme of the pandals, was fodder enough for me to try and taste it once again. But to my bad luck I had to leave my hometown soon after that and I could only carry the excitement with me and keep myself tied to my seat for those final few days looking upto the Puja.
After coming back to my current location from my hometown I only wished that I could make it to the actual celebrations. However as fate would have it I had the opportunity to go to Kolkata meanwhile. What better place to be during the Pujas !! This was the first time in my life that I had an opportunity to see Kolkata up-close during the Puja get up. I had had only heard fantastic stories about how beautiful the city looks during Durga Puja, but never ever had an opportunity to have a 1st hand evidence of the fact. Probably this was the time. I made sure to at least have glance of the city in whatever capacity I could in the few hours of my stay there.
So, I got out of my abode and went to the market side hoping to see a few Pandals in the making. I had also heard that during the Pujas or the get up to the occasion one can find the entire city erupting on the streets. Well, I found it pretty much true. The buses, autos, rickshaws and what not every where people were out shopping to give them the bestest of the looks during the festival. I tried my luck to treat myself with a few goodies. But how come I dared that!! It probably needs only another Kolkatan to be able to shop in those circumstances. The shops indeed crowded heavily and perhaps the shopkeepers saving their creative best for these times. One can find the most fashionable of the dresses in any shop. Definitely Wills life style week was passé. I thought of naming it as the Durga Puja Life Style Month!! That would probably be a good marketing strategy, isn’t it ;-)?
None the less, since I didn’t dare to enter the shops, looking at the crowd, I thought of treating myself with something less, and bought a cotton Kurta from the smaller shops where the crowd was comparatively less. Way back to my place in Kolkata, I could already hear the drum beats, which are so reminiscing of the Puja

The drum beats are unique to the Durga Puja and one can easily make that out because they definitely stand out of the other numerous drum beats one would have heard of !!. The same evening it was time for me to get back to my place from Kolkata. I took the metro train to reach the railways station.
While I waited at the metro station for the train, I was recalling my first encounter with the city during the Pujas and contemplating on the experiences I had the entire day. I could vividly recall the moment when I had seen a Khadim’s advertisement hoarding and had instantly associated it with the local mini buses and the typical Bengali saree, because of the colours that form khadim’s - A Turmeric coloured base and the Red border. The same colour combinations are so very common to many of the sarees that the Bengali housewives would wear during the festival, I thought !!
While I was still engrossed in my thoughts, the metro train arrived and I boarded it. The train took pace in a few minutes and well I was getting a little obsessive now. I needed an opportunity to associate anything with the festival. I was presented with the last such opportunity. The train wheel ramblings resembled the Drum beats that I had talked about. The otherwise nondescript ramblings looked so calming to the ears. But before even the drumbeats err !! the ramblings could end I had reached my destination – from where I had to catch a bus to the railway station.
I took a bus to the railways station, this time unsuccessful in creating any such peculiar associations. Within minutes I was at the station, amidst hundreds of faces, losing my identity as a whole and becoming a part of the crowd in the process. I boarded my train and in no time it was running fast, on its way to some place away from the city of Kolkata. The city was fading away faster and so did the drum beats. After a little blabbering with the co-passengers I slept off, once the train started and the last thing I recall is, Get Up- Get Up Beta(son)!! Aren’t you supposed to get down here?? Your station has come.
But yes I am still waiting for the next 10 days to pass off quickly so that I can once again fell myself for the occasion of the Durga Puja.

By the way if You haven’t experienced this event till now then Don’t forget to experience it This time.Puja starts on the 16th of Oct.

While you gear yourselves for the event do listen to the link below. Would be a boost !!

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The XLent Cult – Welcome to XL.

It’s been a long time now that I had actually written in my blog.
However, the hiatus is finally over and I am back with some more latest news from my life.
I had last thought of writing about my last days at office but somehow had called off the plan even after receiving a request from a friend of mine.
However I couldn’t desist myself from bringing this up here.
Let me give a brief background about myself in case you don’t know me.
I am a student of 1st year Business Management at one of India’s premier B-Schools.
The 1st few days here were pretty hectic and the daily chores kept me busy enough to have been actually able to delve into the campus culture here. Also the fact that I had been away from any campus for 2 long years didn’t make things easy either.
However the social human being that I am( in fact I had been amongst the most famous people of my college as well as at my work place), I slowly tried to gel with the people here, and it comes pretty naturally to me too as well.
Now moving back to the campus story here.
After those long sessions ( “sleepy”) the entire day by those “know it all lecturers” there would be our seniors to give us a toast past midnight as that’s when they would be free from their work. And yes to our agony, surely no junior ever liked to attend those mandatory sessions.
For me however things weren’t as cozy.
Although am a business management student here, am as well a part of the fellow program. My course work includes not only doing the regular 2 years MBA course but also presenting my thesis post the 2 years. Since most of the people thought we were expected to work on our thesis work from the 1st year onwards we( there are a few more fellows like me :) ) were generally not expected to be present in those night meetings.
However I made sure, I attended all these meetings even though I was least expected there.
These sessions by our seniors were generally very interactive and livened upto the expectations of many a MBA student, but somehow I wasn’t still feeling at home. I didn’t know why and I still don’t know why I had such a feeling. Probably there are reasons galore and mostly inexplicable as well.
However today is a little different.
I finally feel at home and I now can claim that I am an integral part of one of India’s most premier B-Schools.
Today , finally we have been officially inducted into the hearts of our seniors.
Though the event had very little fanfare w.r.t the outside world the final induction has left an indelible print on my soul for the rest of my life. And am sure that has happened with the entire batch as well.
Our seniors made this day memorable by not only successfully bringing forth the XLent culture (as I would say it ) that my insti boasts of, but also making sure that we imbibed it into our hearts forever. While I can’t put the exact events on the floor for every one to read ( ethics issues :( ) and neither shall I have been successfully able to put forth the experience in words, my description, I hope should have given enough exposure into my heart and the feelings that I am carrying with myself.
Long live XL and long live our Seniors.

XL Rocks.

XLent Xperience

Day 1
Its that period of the year in India when most MBA colleges in India would produce the calls for the 2nd round of selection process, the GD-PI round to be specific after a breakneck written round.
I also managed a call (though the call came a bit late for me and I was almost sure of having not made the cut this year too) from one of the premier institutes of the country.
The institute more famously known as XLRI.
My interview was slated for the 19th of April, 2007. The insti not only offered me a stay in the campus but also agreed to pay for my conveyance costs. None the less, I was more than excited to having got an interview call at least.
I left for the insti on the 17th of April from my place of stay and reached the insti on the 18th morning at 6:30a.m. From the station I took an auto rickshaw to the insti. I tried to keep my poise and not look like a pauper who had won a billion $ in lottery. As had been mentioned in the call letter, I got in touch with the security at the main gate of the insti,after I had reached there, to know where exactly I was supposed to stay put. However, since it was so early in the morning the person in charge hadn’t really taken charge for the day I was left in lurch, waiting in the campus lawns for the next 45 min till someone more responsible would turn up and get in touch with the authorities to let me into a room (actually they hadn’t expected someone to reach the campus so early in the day and hence didn’t get the rooms ready for occupation. It was only after I had reached they readied the room).
Already I was damn tired b’coz of the overnight journey and waiting for another 45 min in the lawns meant I was left with no energy whatsoever to even talk to anyone. Sometime later I got my room. I immediately had a quick bath and then proceeded to take my breakfast( The breakfast I found to be damn cheap considering the fact that I end up spending almost 20bucks daily without even properly refilling the empty stomach) which I must admit was superb. By the time I had finished all this it was almost 8:45a.m and I didn’t have much time left to cool my heels before meeting one Mr.Jagan Rao( This was the same man who has sent me the call for the interview and about whom I discovered, later on during my stay, would be the most bankable man in the campus). I rested for around 30min (having not been able to satisfy my sleeping needs properly) and then went ahead to meet Mr. Jagan.
I was kind of escorted to the library premises, thanks to another helpful soul – the man in-charge of my lodging, where Mr.Jagan’s office was there. I entered the room, occupied a chair and got into some informal discussions with him, helping him at the same time to send calls to many other participants like me. Within sometime itself we both got fairly friendly and he accompanied me (to my surprise) to a lounge, in the main admin block, where we had some coffee. By this time whatever energy was left in my body had got exhausted and I really needed to rejig it. The coffee proved to be the perfect antidote. We then moved once again to the library block where he helped me identify the place where the interviews would be held the next day. On our way back from the Admin block to the Library block, we found a senior who was pursuing the same course as the one I was supposed to pursue and Mr. Jagan did the needful by introducing me to him– Mr Kamal Mukherjee..
After Mr Jagan had helped me identify the interview block, we parted our ways, Mr.jagan to his office and myself back to the hostel enclosure, where I would meet up with Mr Kamal and discuss few fine points about the course. After some basic level of discussions I moved to my room, both having decided to meet up at the lunch time. I went to my room and thought of a nap before the lunch time, so that I would be able to study during the post lunch session. However that was not to be as I found the room to be a simulated furnace. I tried a lot to manage some sleep but couldn’t and by the time I was even close to sleeping it was lunch time and as planned was expected to be in the canteen.
In the canteen I met Mr.Kamal(He was right on time). During the course of the lunch we had another student of the same course join us, Manavi. We all discussed the pros and cons of the course and what else would be a better option for my profile. Both of these students went out of their way to help me out in a lot of ways.
The lunch session turned out to be a rather long one. By the time I had finished my lunch it was 2’o clock in the after noon and I hadn’t managed a single minute’s sleep and I was definitely trying hard to stay awake anymore. So I thought a good lunch would do the needful to help me sleep. But again I couldn’t sleep for the next 1 hr and by the time my eyes closed the phone rang up. It was my friend, Santanu, who was a student in the insti and had gone for a project work in a local company. He turned up early from his work since I was there. We both met in his hostel, had some nimbu pani and went to his room. We chatted for sometime in his room, bringing back old memories (the last time we had met was I year back). It was by now 4:30p.m and I dearly needed to sleep to be at least able to go through some basics before I could go for the interview the next day. So I came back from his room and this time managed a sound sleep.
I was woken up by some loud music in the campus. I quickly had a look in my watch and realized I had slept for 3 long hours. It was 7:30p.m and I hadn’t read a single word. I got into a tizzy, wondering what would happen tomorrow. I quickly refreshed myself and read whatever little I could before the dinner.
It was 9:15p.m sharp when I got a call once again from Santanu asking me to come down for a dinner together. We met in his hostel, where he introduced me to a couple more people. We finished our dinner and went for a stroll around the campus, coming across fellow students. Incidentally I had already got introduced to most of them earlier in the day itself. After a little walk around the campus I decided to get back to my room, realizing that not much time was left for the day now and that it was probably a little too late. I decided to recline on my bed and read whatever little I could before falling asleep.

Day 2

I had set the alarm for 6:45a.m but the interview anxiety made sure that I woke up earlier. I quickly washed my face without wasting much of a time and thought of a having cursory glance of whatever I had studied till then. I managed to gobble up whatever I could in the next 1hr 15 min odd and proceeded for the morning chores. By 7:30a.m I was all ready and raring to go (Well if I can say that J ). I quickly went ahead for my breakfast, only to realize that the breakfast wasn’t ready by then and that meant I needed to wait, which again lent its hand to my anxiety. I spotted a few familiar faces in the canteen, which like me were waiting for the breakfast. After sometime the breakfast did arrive and I sat with one of the persons with whom I had got acquainted to the previous day, Anirban. Over the breakfast table we got into some random conversation when again I spotted another familiar face. Well, this was not someone from the people who I came to know in the campus. Then who was this, whom I thought I knew??
A little nudge to my brain and I could recall him to be a fellow team mate from my project in my office. He however failed to recognize me.
Never the less, after finishing my breakfast I moved for my room, this time to finally gear up for the interview slated to take place in the next 1hr.
After the final touches to my preparation, I moved for the MDP Residence(This was the building where the interview was going to take place). En route I met a fellow aspirant who unlike me was in the final year of his bachelors degree. On reaching the MDP residence I realized that there were some other interviews too that were taking place. However, since I had already been introduced to the place by Mr.Jagan the previous day itself, it hardly took me anytime to locate the place. Some more wait, and I found that there were many anxious souls like mine eager to take off.
Mr Jagan meanwhile tried his best to keep the anxieties at bay. He gladly snapped all anxious faces by his cell phone camera, in a way doing his bit in helping us relax. It was around 9:00 a.m now and we all wondered who the first person would be to go to the interview room. Just then some one called out the name Gati. But there was no sign of Gati anywhere and the next name that was called out was mine, Indranil. I was then asked to go to the next room and get the documents that I had brought with me verified. I obliged gleefully. After the verification I came back to the room where we all had been waiting. The process followed for others too. It was then that Gati turned up. He was then asked to follow the process. But it seemed as if it was taking a wee bit longer for his documents to get verified. After around 20min, my name was once again called out and that’s when I realized that Gati had proceeded for his interview straight after the verification process.
Anyways, it was my turn now and I went into the interview room. What followed next was a volley of questions for the next 35 min from the panel of 5 members. I came out in a pretty stable state although, I would say. After that I straight away went to Mr. Kamal’s room where in I told him about how the interview went and asked for his suggestions on the same. I must say he presented before me so many views, which till then I had not even thought of. After some time I went back to my room to relax for some time before the lunch. Like the day before, I met Mr.Kamal on the lunch table while Manavi joined us later. And once again Mr. Kamal and Manavi lent me a helping hand by letting me know of the many facets of the subject I was to take up in the insti and the suggestions acted as an eye opener for me.
I felt I was so very ignorant of the facts.
I went back to my room after some best wishes from Mr.Kamal and Manavi post lunch, taking with me a bagful of gladness and a cheerful feeling. A feeling that made me only wonder as to how these people, whom I didn’t even know till 2 days ago, went out of their way to help me.
Today it was much cooler than yesterday, with big dark clouds hovering around. I managed an afternoon siesta, but not for long though. I thought of catching up with another chap Lalit, with whom I had come in contact through the web and was supposed to participate in the selection process. I checked out the list of candidates and the rooms allotted to them.
I knocked the door of a room wondering if Lait had checked in. The door opened and on my introduction the chap too got excited. He This was indeed Lalit in person. And after all he was meeting someone with whom he had only had telephonic conversations. We whiled our time in some general conversations, when I remembered that I needed to get my return tickets from a nearby travel agent. So I left for the time being only to find Anirban midway. Anirban had managed some huge offers from some big corporates and he even showed me one of those offers that he incidentally was carrying with himself. We struck a great discussion amongst ourselves, which ended by him adding my name in his friends list on Orkut. By the time our conversation got over I realized that some 1.5hrs had passed by and that I got a bit late to collect the tickets. Anirban offered tojoin me to the travel agent’s office.
After that Anirban left for his room(he had some important assignment to finish) and I left to meet Mr. Jagan once again. I met him in his office and he suggested going to the tea shop in the hostel enclosure. On way to this shop he explained me how he had arranged some of the other programs that were currently going on and how he had avoided a big chaos. Once again I felt as if Mr.Jagan knew me for a long time from the way he comforted me all along. It was by then 5:30p.m and I had to leave for my aunt’s place lest it would get dark as also I had to meet Santanu before leaving. So I bid adieu to Mr.Jagan, while he wished be good luck. Truly the association with him had been awesome.
Sometime later I checked out if my friend had come back from his office. Luckily I got hold of him in his room and I thought of treating him. We both left for Chappan Bhog, to spice up our taste buds. Some real good spicy food there and we were back in no time. Santanu and myself went to my room where we found Lalit loitering in the aisle in front of my room. I introduced Lalit to Santanu. Some more gibbering and I decided it was the right time to bid the campus adieu for the time being at least.
Santanu escorted me to the auto stand to see me off.
And there I went saying good bye XLRI carrying loads of good memories not only of the campus but also some great people I came across.

Reminiscing Vizag

Finally after a long time got a break from the regular work schedule and made a successful trip to Vizag. This time we were 5 of us – Myself, Amit Basu, Kiran Kumar Rajnala, Debashish Shit, Laxmidhar Sahoo. All of us are joined by one common thread - the workplace, hence the tragedies in our lives seem to meet at the same junction. So, it was rather appropriate that we took a break and rejuvenate our monotonous functions.
The launch of the function went as per the plan. We booked our tickets, both onwards and return, in advance. For the onwards journey though, our tickets weren’t booked till Vizag.We could only find a confirmed accommodation till Vizianagaram.
As the day arrived we boarded for our journey from Bhubaneshwar at 8p.m. At around 3 in the morning we reached Vizianagaram, from where we again got 5 general tickets to Vizag and boarded the next train. Before the journey had started we had made a pledge – that anyone who mentions the word "Office" in any discussion would be liable to pay a fine of Rs10/-. This rule had already fetched us a sum of Rs20/-( Rs10/- Laxmi and the rest half shared by Shit) by the time we reached Vizianagaram. Anyways people were now more cautious and avoided the utterance of the "O" word. In the next 1hr after we started from Vizianagaram we had reached Vizag. Excitement had already started gripping us. We got down at Vizag, got our train tickets, for that days 1st outing – a trip to Borra Caves, instantly and moved out of the station to find an auto rickshaw. We instantly found one. We then asked the auto wallah to take us to a good hotel where we could put ourselves. He agreed and we obliged to pay Rs30/- to him. He took us to a nearby hotel – some nondescript Hotel Ramachandra. We realized that the amount we had agreed to pay to the auto wallah was way too high. Anyways 2 guys amongst us went ahead to check out the lodging facilities available in the hotel. They came back with an OK tag and we all agreed to check-in. It was almost 4:30 in the morning by that time and we just had about 2hrs at hand to freshen up since out train to Borra Caves was at 6:50a.m. We booked 2 rooms for ourselves. I and Shit put up in one whilst Amit, Laxmi and Kiran got into another. Now I don’t know how the 3 others in the other room were planning but at least myself and Shit agreed to take a quick nap of around an hour or so and then proceed to take bath. That 1hr sleep that we took definitely provided an extra pack of energy and also helped us to come across the lag that we had because of the train journey. By 6:15 we all were ready to move to the station. We 5 paraded to the station as the station was at a walkable distance form the hotel. At the station we had a quick breakfast, got a few bottles of water to drink and moved ahead to the platform where we were expecting the train. To reach to the platform we had to go through a over-bridge. One look at the platform from the bridge and we all almost unanimously exclaimed – Gosh!! So much crowd. How the hell we can board the train? Nonetheless we took heart from the fact that we 5 were an all boy’s gang and thanked God that we didn’t have a lady member. The train arrived and I almost jumped into it. Similarly the rest of us also somehow managed a seat for them. The train moved though a few tunnels en-route Borra Caves. People had told us so many things about how beautiful the scenery would be to watch from the train. To my sadness though I found nothing amazing in it. After a 3hrs journey at around 10’o clock we reached Borra Caves. Ferry Jeep drivers were waiting there for passengers. These people would help passengers visit the nearby tourist spots. We asked one of the fellows for a ride. He initially asked for Rs 150/- per head which on bargaining was reduced to 130 bucks. This is when the fun started.
Our first place of visit – Borra Caves. I was visiting any cave for the 1st time in my life and it was simply amazing to see the caves. Standing tall at an age of 150 million years, these caves were simply a proof of God’s artistry. The pics below will only be a indictment to what actually we saw and therefore can’t be captured in words.


After an hour’s exploration of the caves it was time that we hit the nearby restaurant for a good meal as the fuel to run our body had already run empty.
We found a restaurant just outside the cave’s enclave, but the dream of a great meal ran into rough weathers. The lunch however was definitely a quick fix. From Borra Caves we moved ahead for the next spot – Katki Falls. The jeep took us through a rugged stretch of land. This stretch ran for 7 long kmtrs and had already managed to wriggle our body parts fully. The movement through this stretch was enough to give a good feel of Shammi Kapoor’s twists. Anyways we somehow managed to hold on to ourselves and to much of our satisfaction the jeep halted after sometime. It was supposed to be the place from where we needed to traverse by foot. The Jeep owner helped our cause by providing us with a guide. Amit however didn’t wait for the Guide to take us through the route. Infact it seemed as if Amit was the guide and we were following him. I don’t know how he managed to have so much enthusiasm even after that kind of journey. Probably the Digital SLR camera that he was carrying with himself was giving him some kind of excitement. He was helping himself while I and Shit discussed about the beauty all around and moved callously as the last 2 people in fray. It was only after we had traveled about 500 mtrs from the Jeep that we realized how much more we still had to travel. It was indeed a lot of distance.

We went up the same way up to the falls.

The Guide halted to show us the actual spot where we were actually supposed to reach and we infact reconfirmed it from him if that was where the spot was. Still hanging onto some energy boosters left within us after the cave exploration we moved on. The journey was rugged and really scathing. Still we moved like snails. First there was a 100 step very steep stairway which we had to climb, then a railway track which looked simply awesome as it went mellifluously through the mountain ranges marked with tunnels here and then there was the roughly made kuccha road in the form of steps. As if the previous 100 steps were not enough we had to cross these kuccha steps which were not anything less than spine breakers. Midway somewhere fellow tourists who had already made it to the falls and were on their way back had some words of inspiration for us though. They said that the beauty of the falls would take away all the pain. Myself and Shit took heart from it and after another 200 mtrs we realized why the person had said so. We had the 1st looks at the falls from so close and that was enough to mesmerize us.

Wonderful !! was the 1st word I exclaimed. If the caves were beautiful then the Katki falls were out of the world. India indeed was a wonderful place. Amit took out his digicam here and made the full use of it to capture some of the most beautiful moments of his and our lives. We didn’t care for the underlying danger in that area as any step wrongly taken and we would be straight away down hundreds of feet. After a few snaps here and there we still moved upwards to have a closer feel. We now were within an arms distance from the falls. All of us had the same feeling there – "cant we have a house somewhere nearby? In fact Shit, it seemed to us, had already built his house there". The picturesque waterfall can be seen below.

We thought of playing in the small pond that the fall was making on the horizontal with its sheer force. The thought however vanished as we touched the chilly water in the pond. Gosh!! It was so cold and refreshing. But then we realized that we had to move on to visit other spots. How an hour or so had passed we hadn’t even realized. We all came back singing tunes of the falls all along our way back. Within minutes however we reached our Jeep and made our way back for another place. This time it was going to be the highest point of the Valley – named Araku.

Araku Valley From The Highest Point In ARAKU
Up the hill our jeep rolled, and another Hr and 15min we were at the highest point. The wind at this point was really chilly. Coffee plantation at one side and a deep valley at the other played Jugalbandi. It was already 3:15p.m by now and after the mini trekking that we had already had till now, we were left with only a sachet of energy to get a few more snaps at this highest point and move on quickly to the next spot, that was the Araku Village. Here there was a museum decorated with the folk artistry. None of us were interested in visiting the same as museums are mostly boring and we had enough adventure for the day. The driver of the Jeep then guided us to a nearby bus stand wherein we would get buses back for Vizag. Within minutes we got a bus for Vizag. We paid Rs44/- per head. But who knew that a rather arduous journey lay ahead !! The bus’s 1st hr journey was marked with frequent twists and turns. Kiran not able to bear the brunt puked and I was very close to doing the same. Even Shit started having similar sensations. The only people who rested strong were Amit and Laxmi. Finally the journey was over for that day after 4 long hours and we were back to Vizag. Before making it to our rooms we preferred to have our dinner first and book a car for the next day’s local trip. We had our dinner at a nearby Bengali Hotel – Nimantran. Thankfully this time the food was great and the dinner brought some grin back to our pale faces. Someone amongst us got a travel agent’s number from Nimantran’s manager and Amit called the agent and asked him to meet us the next morning at 7 .
The day was over for us and we went into the bed for a great night’s sleep.
The next morning started in a somber way for me and Shit after a good sleep the previous night. We were supposed to get ready by 7 in the morning as the driver was supposed to be waiting for us by that time and there was no use wasting time. But to our amazement none of the other 3 members of our group had even made it out of their bed in their room. We found that there was some minor modification in the plan and we would only start by 8:30 a.m. Since myself and Shit were already out of the bed and raring to go, we thought why not venture out to have whatever brief look of the city and then have our breakfast meanwhile. We did so, having our breakfast in some nondescript roadside Darshini, it being a local version of the original. We came back to our rooms only to get ready once again after sometime and get along for the trip. Before I move any further I must mention that the owner of the taxi that we had booked for the day’s visit had promised us that we would visit around 13 points that day and we agreed him to pay Rs 1500/-. Increase the number of pints to 17-18 and the price goes up by Rs200/- more.
We started off by visiting the Fishery market in Vizag. The environment in the fishery market as everyone knows is pretty sordid, and it wasn’t any different here too. Fishes all around, stinking fishes!! En-route the fishery market we had a brief glance of the Ram Krishna Beach, famously known as RK Beach. In fact the road that went by this beach was truly beautiful. Rather the most beautiful of the lot, at least amongst the ones I have visited in India. A little away from the fish market was an old port control room, no one used it now. The only single person who could be seen there was a security person who would prevent tourists from taking any kind of photographs as the area was under Navy’s control. We moved on from there only to come back to our hotel once again, this time the rest 3, Amit Laxmi and Kiran, wanted to have breakfast and there was a restaurant nearby our hotel. The way from the fish market to our hotel resembled a colliery, since a lot of transportation of coals happened over this route in overhead conveyer belts. Also there is a place where the secular nature of this country is presented literally. A mosque on one side, a church at some distance and a temple also nearby.
After the three had their morning dose of food, we moved on to visit Light House on top of Dolphin’s Nose peak. Here the road, as our previous experience, spiraled its way up. The road however on its way up gave a beautiful view of the city. On top of the peak we finally reached the point where the light house was there. The light house is inside a Navy residential area and is generally locked. One had to pay a sum of Rs5/- per head to make his way inside. We paid the amount and entered the area. We could now see the beautiful light house now. A caretaker opened the door to the top of the light house for us. Man!! Wasn’t the view from the top beautiful !! What a view. A seagull floating at some distance over the deep blue ocean bed. The ocean bed banked with high mountains on the sides. Its was as if the Blue Sky, Deep Sea and High Mountain Peaks were entering into an engagement. Somewhere at a distance some ships made white stripes on the blue clothing of the sea. If that wasn’t sufficient, the caretaker introduced us to the light source of the light house. This was a source of light 450 wts strong guarded by prism glasses on two sides. These glasses made sure that the 450watts source could light upto 50 kms.
Anyways as everything has to come to an end, even we ended the trip to light house there itself and moved ahead for the next destination – Yarada Beach. The road to the beach was rather rustic, going straight down the hill from the light house. En route we could see the beach from a distance and as we had heard before taking the journey, the beach looked awesome and indeed seemed to be the most beautiful of all beaches in the City. Within no time we reached the beach, but to our nightmare the beach was closed for some inspection purposes and we had to return as we say it- empty handed. However we tried to make up for this loss by taking some snaps on the road uphill from where we could have had the best vision of the beach.
A view of The YARADA Beach that we missed
After the unsuccessful visit to Yarada beach it was time that we moved to the Seemanchalam temple. It took us around an hour to reach this temple. The road to Seemanchalam was again a Mary go Round trip. But like the previous experiences this road too was Beautiful.
As with most South Indian temples this one too had huge number of visitors or bhakts coming in. While Amit took a snap of the temple the rest of us remained pretty much disinterested in entering the temple as it would only mean that we loose out on time and also our bowels had started sending reminders about the lunch time. Lest I forget to mention we all 5 bought bangles for us (These bangles are supposed to be worn by men).Without much ado we moved ahead for our next spot, the Rishikonda beach. The road to Rishikonda was marked with the high mountains on one side and arable lands or houses on the other till we reached a terrain where the roads were still under construction and we had to keep our nostrils covered. Another 45 min or so and we were there at Rishikonda beach. There was nothing special with this beach whatsoever. However what needs to be mentioned here is the Beach Resorts on this beach. They are located midway in the hills giving a perfect view of the swaying waves. It was around 2’o clock now and we obliged our stomachs for a not so special meal. Lunch over we moved towards the beach now. We could spot a few Yachts at a distance and I got really excited. I thought of having a Yacht ride into the sea and I had even gone prepared for all that. I had a swimming costume and a towel for support. Anyways that was not meant for the general public and I had to contend myself with a motor boat ride for Rs 20/- per head into the sea. Though this motor boat ride in no way could match up with a yacht ride I was still satisfied. Meanwhile we did take a few snaps in some of which I was treated like a superman by the other 4, literally. They made me wear the swimming trunks over my jeans to achieve the super man effect :) .
Sun beating on our faces by now and exhaustion had started taking a toll on our bodies. We needed a place to rest our torsos now. We proceeded for our car once again and landed at the Kailasgiri foothill. A magnificent ropeway ride at Rs44/- per head (the pricing seemed a bit too costly to us) helped or cause to reach the Kailasgiri hill top. Here a beautiful Shiv - Parvati architecture glorified the place. We once again got into the groove here, playing pranks, taking snaps and everything else. One of the finest pranks here was played on Shit, who was made to pose in a particular manner for a snap. He wanted a snap wherein he would hold a ball in his hand over his head, the ball located at a distance from him on top of a building. While he posed with his back towards us we though of escaping while Shit would be left with the hand towards the sky pose. Man!! It was a scene worth looking at. By the time Shit had even realized the prank we couldn’t hold our laughter. We all were into tears laughing. The pranks continued in the adjoining park too where we all laid our bodies to rest under the tree shade. The bodies were now partially rejuvenated as even otherwise we had to move ahead for the penultimate spot, the Submarine. The submarine was hardly any distance from the Kailasgiri hill and was lying on the Ram Krishna Beach. Yes! we were back at the very spot which we had seen in the morning. The tickets cost us Rs 25/- per head and we moved inside the submarine premises. This was one of the submarines that had been used in the 1971 Indo-pak war but was serving as a museum now. We entered the submarine, a person waiting inside rendered our cause with a few facts and asked us to move ahead for a view of the other compartments. Mannequins made up for the actual crew members of 71 and we were pretty much happy snapping our way from one compartment to another. However a goading lady behind us dented the jovial mood in us(we were really pissed of with this lady and wondered how her husband manages to be with her). We all finished the submarine trip with a group photo and came out. Outside the submarine too we snapped a few more.

Inside the Submarine
We moved ahead this time for the last spot. Ram Krishna beach. We sat on the beach side eating maize and behlpuri. The dusk threw upon us within no time and we realized that the departure from this beautiful world was nearing. It had just got dark when we moved for our taxi. We insisted the taxi driver to take us to a few market places in the city. However, the day being a Sunday was a public holiday in Vizag hence most of the pulic places remained closed. No other way out we reluctantly moved towards our hotel, refreshed ourselves, took a short nap before moving for dinner around 9’o clock. The dinner turned out to be a damp squib for the so exciting journey. After finishing our dinner we came back to the hotel only to leave in another 2 hrs for the train journey back to Bhubaneshwar. At the station we spotted another group from our office. The train arrived timely. Carrying fond memories of the trip we boarded the train only to remember them for a lifetime’s journey.
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For those who didn’t understand what’s been written above the explanation goes like this - Sourav’s Slap !! err… 214.
This was the Name of a book that I recently encountered in a recent book fair held at Kolkata. I didn’t buy the book or managed to read even a single line but the name of the book was implicit of its content. And then I borrowed it for my Post’s heading.
For all those who are avid cricket fans I needn’t delve any further after the topic but for those who are blessed with a short memory span, the 214 in the book refers to the number of runs he scored in South Africa in the Dec’06 bilateral test series.
And well if you are still wondering as to whom Sourav slapped, then you are definitely not an Indian or an Australian. The slap refers to the embarrassing of the Long face-Big Mouthed ‘Guru’ Greg Chappel (Lovingly addressed as “Chappal” by many), the nincompoop and spineless current Indian team captain- Mr. Rahul Dravid, the hypocrite Indian Cricket Team Management and most importantly the Less than worth his size Kiran More, by the Prince of Kolkata himself after he made one of the most famous comebacks the game has ever seen. All the people mentioned above conspired against this Prince and made all their efforts to put a cork on any way that could have let him back into the team but then Sourav is Destiny’s Child. A vacuum got created when Yuvraj got injured and who better than Sourav could have replaced him. And what a comeback he made after the world tried to send him into Oblivion.
Truly this Prince has matured into a king now and Kings are made of this material.

Ek Simple si Coffee Bhi Kick Deti Hai

Almost everyday around 4'o clock in the evening I indulge in something very reveling. Its very inncoucous in nature. It takes off all the negativities that surround me the entire day.
I wait for this time all day long like rolling stone waits to reach the flat land. Its that time of the day when I along with a few of my colleagues gather in the cafetaria in my office.
There's a certain predictability in our behaviour at the coffee table. Our mannerisms go a sudden change on that table everyday around that time. The suave manner in which we carry ourselves the entire day is suddenly forgotten. As if that table holds some kind of magic effect akin to the Bermuda triangle that we get lost in our worlds so predictably that the naysayers around us start wondering what stuck us. We become our original selves. The magic effect almost conspicously captures anyone passing by us, and even makes them forget the formal existence all around. The indulgence is so gripping that the fun and frolic environment around us seems to sometime break the expected decibel levels that is expected officially.
There are two people who are almost permanent members of these meetings. First one of-course myself and the second one my cubemate Jyoti. I dont know who was affected first with this syndrome but what I can say is that we both are now affected and have managed to infect a few more also. The others who seem to have been affected are Arindam, Anujit and Sukanta.
Though not all of us make it to the table daily, the absence of one is not felt mostly, as someone from the group definitely gets bitten by the dual personality effect wherin he/she takes charge to play the missing character too.
Arindam is our meticulous man. He is such a perfect planman that THE one above may feel ashamed sometimes.
Then there is Anujit - Mr. One Liners. Well, he is the one who doesnt neccessarily speak too much, but is so adept at placing his statements, which are mostly in a question format, that we genrally cant stop laughing.
The third member is Sukanta. He's the one who almost always goes missing during these times. Nowadays, he doesnt manage to join us since the timing has started clashing with his favourite past time - Smoking. He is so lazy that if he is put to race with a snail, even the snail would win the race by miles. One look at him and one would feel as if its such a pain for him carrying his torso. He is marked by another character too. He can twist any topic to his favourite domain anytime - that of a spicing it up with a pondy touch. He has over the period successfully managed to plague all of us to this effect.
The foorth member of the group is Jyoti. She is the perfect playmaker of the group. She knows exactly how to put people in a fix. Mostly the refree of the group since she's the lone female member of this coterie.
Then I am the fifth member. I would better leave my description for others.
Having described all here there's another non living thing that makes the day for us during all these meetings. Thats the coffee from the vending machine.
Today after the daily meeting culminated in yet another post Laughter Challenge effect I am just wondering if it the cuppa coffee that should be blamed.
Yes someone rightly put it "Ek Simple si coffee bhi kick deti hai".

I am young and vibrant. I am colourful. I am raring to go. And the good thing is that even the world is taking notice of me. But going by my age I have more children than I should have been having. This is causing an undue strain upon me. I am really having to work hard amidst adversities to feed them, yet I am successfully able to take care of all. My children fall into multiple age groups, though most of them are young.
During their growing days they promised to support me. They promised to keep my name shining in days to come. Today most of them are grown up.
However I am not really glad seeing this. Though most of them have grown up, they haven’t matured enough. While some of them have grown up as responsible people there have been an equal number or more of their siblings who have tried to pull them down. Sibling rivalry has become very common at my home. While some of my kids are rich, an equal number are still dying. My richer sons/daughter are not doing any good to the struggling. Most of my kids have become materialistic.
Today, I can’t bear it anymore. I can’t see this sibling rivalry anymore. I am bleeding.
My kids are fighting to share my love. They have considered me to be their fiefdom. While many of my sons are ready to lay their lives to prevaricate any attempts to harm me, and I am in fact glad to see this, there are others who are ready to lay down their brothers to share a piece out of me, as if I only for them. They forget that though I am a mother of so many and I shower my love equally on everyone and every one has equal right on my existence.
My name is India. I want to live. I can't bear this bloodshed anymore.
LET ME LIVE

Saddam Execution

Saddam was executed a couple of days back.
I found a video of his exection.
Find a link to the video below.
***Please note that this video is not meant for the weak hearted. And in case you are amongst those please refrain from watching this video.
Click here to see the video