Why I hated Tanu Weds Manu Returns?

First thing first, do not take me wrong. I loved the humor of the movie. It will be a understatement to say that I was laughing like a mad during the movie and I associated myself with the characters of the movie.

But I hated the movie because the way director punished DATTA, A village athlete who falls in love with a doctor who is divorcee and at least 15 years elder to her. Director has defied all the logic while introducing twists in the story and manufacturing a HAPPY ENDING story, just the way Indian Junta like it. 

SPOILER's ALERT - Please do not read any further if you do not want to know the story.

I would have loved the story too if only

1. Dr Sharma was not a divorcee (Point was reiterated in the movie again and again, so that Junta must not forget that Datta is marrying a divorcee.)
2. Dr Sharma was not at least 15 years older than Datta. (Why should Datta marry a BUDDHA, even though she can find more handsome boys even in Jhajjar? Datta could have been older too)
3. Datta's character was not so strong. (She fought with her father and family just to marry this Dr Sharma irrespective of all the odds. Director put all the efforts to make Datta queen of our heart, but he broke the heart badly.)
4. Tanu's character was designed bit modestly. (Tanu could have more feeling for Manu in the middle of the movie.)
5. If Datta was not the exact duplicate of Tanu. (It hurts a lot)
6. If Datta's uncle had not helped her to meet the guy.
7. If movie has not reached until the last PHERE. It was dragged until the last PHERE which was unnecessary.

Within 20 minutes after the intermission, it was evident that movie will take the same twists as any old movie, I wanted to walk out the movie hall without knowing the end of the movie. I wanted to keep myself guessing the end and hoping that Datta marries to Dr Sharma. But I was not alone and my wife was enjoying the movie thoroughly, so it was impossible to leave the hall.

But the end result hurt me a lot; Directors, even good ones, must stop twisting the movies in these foolish way. I am still convincing myself that it was just a movie, and Datta i.e. Kangana is happy with the movie success. Kangana has already increased her acting charges and I am judging movie direction

YET I LOVE IT, BUT I HATE IT FOR DUTTA.

Travelogue: Pachmarhi Trip - Day 3

After a good sleep at Highland Hotel, Pachmarhi, we were fresh for the adventure that awaited us the next day. Hotel is, almost, in the middle of the forest, so we were excited to hear the chirping of Birds and to feel the freshness of the air. Sound was evident enough in the room, but its intensity increased as I walked out of the room. To enjoy the aroma and the nature little more, I went for a small walk in the forest.

I walked on the main road connecting A to the outside world. The air was fresh and cold. Everything, in the morning, oozed serenity and provided rejuvenation to the body. After a short time, Mayuri joined me. After spending half an hour, we returned to the hotel, to prepare for the day’s adventure.

We had fixed the driver in the evening so that we could start early in the morning. Though we asked him to come at 8:00 Am to start the trip early, but Mr. Pappu came at, his usual time, 10 AM. So from the beginning, we were already 2 hours late.

Without wasting time, We started to the base of the Dhoopgarh. Dhoopgarh is the second highest point of Madhya Pradesh. Dhoopgarh is primarily known for Shiva temple. Devotees offer Trishul to Lord Shiva when Shiva fulfills their wishes. After reaching the top, you can see the Trishul lying in the heap weighing 1 kilogram to 100s of kilograms. According to our guides/instructors, it was only 1700 steps to the top. Mayuri was sure that she could finish this climb within 1.5 hours as she has already climbed 10,000 steps at Girnar Mountains.

It was hardly a 30 minutes drive to the base of Dhoopgarh. We were told to choose LEFT on all the turns that helped us the most in our journey. As soon as we entered the forest, there was any other soul except us. At the start of the journey, there was a temple inside a cave, and a Panda was sitting to shed his boon on people who were reducing burden of their pockets. After choosing LEFT for 3-4 times, we reached a point where it was tough to decide the correct path. Even after having the urge to move to RIGHT (Because it seemed the correct path to us), we took the LEFT turn.

We were already in the dense forest, and we were unable to locate a walkable path. Even though, we were scared, but we kept moving in the same direction. Soon enough we realized that we took the right decision. We saw the people who were climbing the staircases. It took us approximately half an hour from parking to stairs starting point.

Oops, Vishal it is not merely 1,700 stairs. Let me rest a little

Soon enough we realized that 1,700 was not merely the steps instead it was a jungle walk of approximately 3 Kms each side. After one and an hour, we were at the peak. As told by villagers, devotees have offered so many Trishul that it has become difficult to maintain all these in the temple. So such unwanted offers (Offers with no resale value) all were lying on the ground of the temple.

Forest, we reached from one end to another in this forest.

I went inside the under construction temple without considering that two monkeys were already in the fight over the offerings offered to Shivling. These both little monkeys considered me as another shareholder, so, according to the game plan, one monkey ran away with the offering whereas another monkey tried to scare me off from the temple. But it was an over smart creature. So instead of providing me the chance to run, it caged me inside the boundaries, built with Iron Pipes. It was sitting on the top of the door, which was the only way to come out of the cage. I convinced myself of the intentions of Chota monkey after throwing few nervous glances at the monkey. I submitted in this fight without imagining the upcoming scenes and requested an outsider to help me. As soon as Chota Monkey saw me resigning in the Man2Monkey fight, it considered me a waste of time and left the premise after another monkey who had already started enjoying the offering.

Heap of Trishul, Do you believe me Now?

We returned to our Jeep within another hour. It was a nice walk in the middle of the Jungle. It would have been a better and enjoyable walk if there were not any stairs.

Picture Perfect, my beautiful wife

We visited another Shiva temple that is situated at the base, and the idol is established in the middle of a cave. Though there were others temples on the hill, but I did not have any intention to meet all the gods, so I skipped a few. On the way back to Market, we checked other viewpoints.

On the way to another view points

For lunch, we were dropped at Nandanvan restaurant. All the drivers drop their customers to the same restaurant. The restaurant is located on the four-way road and edge of the forest. So location can be one reason that all the drivers chose the same location. However, food at restaurant was tasty as well as cheap. Pappu came within half an hour after finishing his lunch.

Shortly we started for Pandav caves. Buddha followers used these caves for the living purpose. These caves are referred as Pandava caves because number of caves is five. But people linked these caves to Pandava’s. Entry/exit for these caves is from a well-maintained garden developed by local authorities. This garden serves as a nice picnic spot for the local people.

Pandav Caves

From the Pandav caves, we moved to the Panchmarhi Lake. It is not a huge water body, but it attracts lots of people and offers various fun activities including boating, chit chatting over the coffee, and horse riding. As per the information received later, the lake is a water collection pool that serves the people of Pachmarhi in case of the water problem in the area.

Munmun, in the backdrop the beautiful lake and sunset

Now it was time for our last but most awaiting sight i.e. Sunset point of the day. As always rising sun and setting sun generates the magic with the help of sky, but in mountains that enigmatic beauty multiplies to manifolds due to support of these hills. We waited patiently for the sun to go down behind the mountains. It moved slowly and intently. As if it was telling us that it is not the end but the preparation of better tomorrow.We sat for some more time to salute the surroundings to give us the joyous day. 

Sunset point at Pachmarhi

Pappu dropped us back to our hotel room. We enjoyed the dinner at Hotel Highland. It was tasty and fabulous. Mr. Jeet and another friend were our guests of honor today. After seeing off our guests, we retired to our room, to get ready for another fun-filled day that included a trek to waterfall from Jungles.

Travelogue: Pachmarhi Trip - Day 2

We had planned to reach Pachmarhi as soon as possible; so second day we left the hotel room by 8:00 AM without wasting time in breakfast. I didn’t know that there are no government buses in Bhopal. Public Buses, essential for intercity transfers, were not operated in Bhopal for last 10 years. Bus stands were in complete mess and buses were running on the mercy of local transporters. I asked the conductor about the timings of the bus; conductor told me that bus would start as soon as there are enough passengers in the bus, and accordingly to bus conductor the bus would take 6-7 hours to reach Pachmarhi, hardly 200 km from Bhopal. Hell, we ditched the plans to take the bus instead planned to take the train which was running 2 hours late from the scheduled time.

Anyway it gave us the chance to taste Poha and Jalebi. Oh, but the Poha were not as good as I expected. (Later, I came to know that in Bhopal Indori Poha are not served; instead shopkeepers are misusing the name of Indori Pohas). After trying it at various shops, I gave up. We boarded in the train after waiting for 3 hours at railway station, but reached to Pipariya Junction by 1 o’clock.

It was not hard to find a vehicle to take us to Pachmarhi from Pipariya. We found a cab and within an hour we reached Pachmarhi. On our journey we were told mysterious stories on the vehicle. A guide and a family told us that a lady must not keep her hairs open and walk outside the room. Another mystery was about a pool where people die without any significant reason. According to them, there are various mysterious stories about the place and all the deities of the region must be provided enough reverence from the tourists.

We were planning to check the facilities in the hotel that is run by MP tourism. So we planned to stay with Hotel Highland, Pachmarhi. Though driver and guide tried to convince us to not to take the hotel, but we were adamant to check the facilities in the Hotel. Later we found that hotel rooms were quite good and spacious. We spoke to the manager and told him the purpose of our visit. He gave us some insightful information about the place, and rejected all the myths that locals told us.

There are numerous places to visit in Pachmarhi, so based on the time available we sorted out the important places. We were planning to start the tour in the evening but the driver asked us a exorbitant amount for the ride in the evening. So we dropped the plans to visit any place except Jata Shankar which is just a km walk from the hotel.

Jata Shankar Temple

We planned to walk to the Jata Shankar, a temple in the middle of mountains. Kids, as guides, were eager to guide us to the caves. We hired one guide to understand more about the place but later we felt that guides were fooling people, though it did not matter much. Guide told us about the quality of medical herbs present in Satpura range, and it was quite a important information to us.

My Partner in Crime and My Wifey

We visited the place and later met Jeet. Jeet, lieutenant of Indian army, was undergoing training in Pachmarhi. We went to the market with Jeet and his friend. We spend some time in market. In the market we had awesome Samosas at Laxmi restaurant. End of the day we enjoyed our dinner at Highland hotel, and retired to our room.

Travelogue: Pachmarhi Trip - Day 1

In the process of exploration, we had already covers ten and more destinations in this year. In the continuation of our exploration, we were planning to explore unseen and less explored beauty of India so we decided to visit Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, and Pachmarhi, a hill Station in Satpura mountain Range.

We reached Bhopal in the morning. The biggest task, after reaching Bhopal, was to find a decent hotel to rest a little. Auto drivers offered us the rides within 20 rupees to some good family hotels. But being a shrewd person, I declined all such offers. It made me struggle for almost half an hour, and finally I got an indecent hotel in cheap rate.

At 10 AM, we checked out the hotel assuming that we could cover Bhopal by lunch time, and start for Pachmarhi. We started our trip with Laxmi Narayan Temple. Though the temple is new and it’s just like any other Hindu temple, but it offers a panoramic view of Bhopal overlooking both the lakes and other important monuments. As temple didn’t offer much, so we excluded remaining temples from our itinerary.

Laxmi Narayan Temple, Bhopal.

We moved to Birla museum which is adjacent to the temple. The museum exhibits the demolished but beautiful idols, ancient art object and artillery, and other objects representing the life style of people living in ancient Madhya Pradesh. All these artifacts were found during the excavation of various sites across the state. There were innumerable items to observe; so we rushed through them after examining a few with complete intent. Oh! I do not have any photographs from the gallery, as the guard kept an eye on us only.

Our auto driver was kind enough to leave us near Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya - National Museum of Mankind which is situated next to the Bari Lake. We filled our tummy in a restaurant near the lake. Don’t expect to fill your tummy with the things you desire, because these restaurants do not operate fully until noon.

We started exploring the national museum of mankind with the intent to finish the tour within an hour. This museum can be divided in two major areas i.e. outbound and inbound. Outbound area is spread across various hectors to demonstrate the life style, home, culture of various tribes, people, and states, whereas inbound area exhibits the human evolution, living style of various tribes of India.

We ignored few of the places on the way. First major halt was at Fisherman village. It village was primarily to represent the living style of fisher mans across country. In the similar fashion, living styles of various states i.e. Rajasthani, Gujrati, Oriya, Keralite, Nagpura, and etc and its tribe were demonstrated on the way to internal museum. We were really exhausted by the time we reached to the inbound museum.

Gallery to demonstrate the Art work of various states

Poles erected in front of a tribe house, Outbound portion of the Museum

Creations of a porter

Inbound museum has 13 galleries in it. Each gallery is rich with thousands of artifacts about the style, living, fashion, ornaments, rituals, weapons, and etc. It became way too difficult to keep track of each and every artifact. Information received today was way too more than a mind could hold. Now every new area or gallery was becoming intolerable. We were looking for food as we had already spent 4 hours in the museum.

Oriya tribe's house

The only restaurant, approved by central government, was another 500 meters away from the inbound museum. To add to our existing irony, there was not any meal available for next one hour. Anyway we managed to flatter the owner and sneak out two plates for us after waiting for 30 minutes. We had already missed our deadlines, but we were still positive about leaving Bhopal. So we planned to drop by at another important sight for 15 minutes only.

Van Vihar is a zoo situated next to the lake. Animals are not sheltered into cages but they have been provided enough space to survive. We hired bicycle, provided by MP tourism, to stroll through Van Vihar. It took us around 3 hours to cover the complete zoo on bicycles. It was the ride of approximately 12 km in the zoo. We were ecstatic with the use of bicycle after so many years in such a beautiful environment.

We getting ready for our ride in the park/zoo/Van Vihar

Lake glitters with the light of Run, on the way back from Van Vihar

Now we were sure that it was not possible to leave Bhopal today, so we relaxed at the lake for a while. Gathering, in the evening, near the lake was very similar to a fair in a town. People of various ages were swarming it. Couples were sitting under a tree shade and were engulfed with each other without the knowledge of people around. Elderly folks were walking briskly to keep their body and soul intact. Ladies were all around eatery stalls, and boating facilities. Due to a little emergency, we had to leave the place little earlier than planned, but it all was fun to become a spectator of such a lively environment.

Winter is back

It left you alone to die in the summers for 8 months, to die from the heat, and to suffocate in our own sweat. It disappeared as if it never wanted to return. It was not the only one who left us on the mercy of the heat; it took the rains with it. Though Rain tried to save us from the harshness of the heat, but it did not stay longer to make any impact on the screeching heat. But now it is back, and winters are back with bang.

Oh yeah, winters were not so dear four years back. I had just arrived from Bangalore to become the victim of harsh weather conditions of the North India. I used to shrink like a bed roll under two blankets to get a good sleep in the air tight room. It was hard to survive because I did not have to face those during my Bangalore stay.

It has been four years, and I have adjusted myself pretty well. Summers have been much more punishing, and this extended period of summers has become intolerable to us. Winters are much needed comfort to end the agony and misery of summers. Winters not only bring the comfort from punishing heat but also a reason to stay at comfort bed instead going out in cold.

We have been waiting for these winters for a long time in this season. Summers were extended to an extent where people had lost the hope of seeing cold. But winters returned with a bang. Within last 3-4 days temperature has gone to 5-6 degrees. Even it has not even allowed Sun to come out and lower the intensity of cold waves.

Such sudden change of weather has brought winters clothes out for everyone. Kids as well as elderly are shut into their homes. New winter specific items are available in market to eat. Different Gajjaks are available on various shops. It is really fun to watch people fully covered with bright colors.

Such a sudden change of temperature can be catastrophic to few people, who did not take enough precautions, but all in all it is a welcoming change in life for Northern people. Now I have more time to read and work on laptop. Nobody demands me to go out for shopping or for dining out in the evening. In this I can sit tightly and read or work on things that are more important to me.

Excess is Drug

You are sitting in toilet, and you do not want to leave the toilet even you are finished long back. You are riding in an auto but you want it to keep moving at your destination. You do not want to go to office because office is not as interesting. You do not want to see the world even for a second because obstructing the flow is not acceptable.

Sometime some good books bind you so hard that it becomes difficult to come out the world that though does not exist but created wonderfully enough to miss your entire universe. It feels that you have been bitten by a worm, but you do not want to attend the wound at this moment because the writer has penned down a flawless conversation between the two main characters for her book. The conversation is so striking that you forget whether you are watching a video or imagining the sequence. Such books hurt you a lot especially when you are married.

No? If you are asking "how or why", either you are a bachelor or you are not a reader. Oh, sometimes hell breaks out on you when you nod on something, from ever complaining wife, which you ignored due to your sheer concentration in the book. It is possible that as soon as you nod, you hear an object crashing on the nearby wall. If you are still not deterred with such a violent display of emotion, door bangs with such a force that it becomes impossible to ignore the heat.

You are forced to leave the world of literature to face another melodrama of your life. You have not yet recovered from the drama that you faced last week. You are still paying for it by offering various gifts to her. That is not all; I am still cleaning the utensil for the mistake I made last week.

I twisted the knob of the door with the intent of opening it, but I stopped by the thought of flying objects. I had saved my head last time by catching a flying object just before landing it on my head. As soon as I entered the room I heard that her sobbing was converted to a full time weeping. Tears were rolling down from her cheeks. I thought “Oh man, it is going to be costlier than all the other dramas faced previously”.

After consoling her for 23 minutes, I was able to dig down the reason for today's act. Actually I did not notice her new slippers that she brought today from the market. Even though she asked me thrice whether I like it, but instead lifting my face from the book, I simply nodded with no answer. To her It was a ridiculous act of ignorance from my side. She waited for me since morning to show me the slippers but I did not even look at her instead I sat with my book.

In the end, it was not as costly as I first thought. I had to sacrifice my reading for next 48 hours, appreciate her funny looking slippers and helped her in dinner.

Oh yeah, no such things happened with me. But when I sit with Atlas shrugged, and just loses myself in the words, conversations, characters, and plots. Everything becomes unimportant and black, that time such things can turn the heaven into hell. So whenever my wife speaks, I switch off the part of mind that was enjoying the book and switch on the other part for some time to enjoy the conversation with my wife.

So excess reading is like a drug too, it may not harm you physically but it will suck your energy in resolving issues with your family.

Is India Changing - A Quora post

There are lot of questions and answers posted everyday on quora, but there are very few new questions which inspire a person whereas there are numerous questions put up in the past which have awesome answers and stories.

I read one such question today. Question is quite simple. Is India changing? From core of my heart, I can say yes India is changing, we people of India are changing. This, in theory, is correct, but, for me, it is very difficult to demonstrate such changes with data. The answers mentioned below demonstrate the data. As much I read, I became followers of the authors or people who have been doing such splendid things to shine our nation and paint it with better and stronger colors.

http://www.quora.com/Is-India-changing

There are approximately 333 answers as of now, and each one has it's own tale to share with all. There are people who have written so many great stories about their experiences. Whether it is a Rickshaw wala, or some volunteer, all of them have a passion to change our world, our experience, our passion, and everything that looked shitty earlier.

Among those many beautiful answers, one answer is about procuring food for needy people. 

In Delhi, An organization, consisting few volunteers, has tied up with different restaurants to provide the day's remaining food instead throwing it for dogs or in dustbins. All the volunteers, belonging to the organization, distribute this food to people who are homeless and needy. This organization has been growing everyday with the help of companies and restaurants. Various restaurants are coming up to help them more and providing them additional help from their side. There are 50+ volunteers who are serving at least 500 people everyday in the streets. If numbers of volunteers are increased, so they would be able to serve more number of people.

This organization is working for a noble cause, and we must support it by volunteering. Even if you do not want to volunteer, at least you can contribute in some other ways. The best possible way is to distribute remaining food at your house. Instead of throwing remaining food in dustbin, you can walk a bit and find someone who really needs that food.Wow, it is such a small contribution and it will help humanity.

Unique Ideas

Okay, there is one more in the line.

For years, I have been planting a seed of an idea which was spectacular and unique in nature. In the process, I pained myself lot of times. Whatever I thought, it was either available on net or not a selling idea. I spent years in IT industry just to dream of an unique idea related to IT. I walked into the spiral to catch my tail, but I could not find an idea.

After not able to pull a miracle of the universe, I was still not disappointed. It required little bit of head banging on the wall and required little more efforts to accept the fact that "you are not Steve Jobs".As soon as Mr Steve's soul departed from my body, I became independent; I became the original BANIYA again. I understood that I am a BANIYA by birth. I really do not need an exclusive idea to change the universe instead I need a exclusive plan to sell it to the world. I was taught to sell GHEE, BOORA, and GUD effectively. So I plan to sell something that is easy to sell and create. I did not want to sell GHEE, BOORA again (due to less margin :-) You know I am BANIYA ), so I picked up a line where my wife had some experience in past.

Oh Yeah, that's travelling. I love travelling. You give me some money and I will spend that in travel. I love to wander to different places. My wife, who was stuck at home due to less jobs in Delhi, has experience in sales in hotel. She is 5 year experience in Hotel industry. So it was not tough for me to thing about selling tours to people.

So instead of thinking of an great idea, I thought to invest in an idea which is extremely popular i.e. Tours. There are various which I am not aware but I have lot of friends to help me to remove those obstacle.

It's a start of my era and it is not going to end soon for me.

Procrastinating

There is been lot of work around but the intention and efforts are not to the mark.

There is list of things that I would love to do, but I feel lazy to complete this. Though same thing does not apply when I am writing this here on the web and boring people who are really waiting for me to write some sensible stuff.

I am sure my friend Bibek would surely love a sensible stuff from my pen but I can not control. As I am neither an innovator nor a writer. Now a days, I am dropping by here to drop my brain's shit over here.

Anyway let me list down the task that I should have completed instead of writing this post.

1. Complete the design of my site.
2. Create the required package on launch.
3. Read Google Map API.
4. Understand Pagination and create pagination for the site.
5. Create Mobile Web page for the site.
6. Create mobile application on all 3 platforms.
7.  Learn Photoshop.
8. how to sort the packages on various factors.
9. Filters - Phase 2
10. Improve the design.
11. Create Holiday Type Logos.
12. Improve the database to introduce the multiple tags in the package.

I know, I know I am procrastinating, but I have uncontrollable itch of doing something but nothing sensible.

Shit, all in all I have listed something sensible in this post. Someone please help on these items. I will appreciate your time and efforts on this. ;-)

Okay I remember more.
13. Special Offer page and database set up for marketing.
14. Newsletter.
15. Maintain a blog for the site and update continuous information on this.

I will update it more and more as it has become a important blog for me now.
Keep writing.

Edit: Test the application with Multiple browsers and multiple screens.

EDIT 2: Provide web service interface so that all applications can access it.
EDIT 3: Securing URL and DB.

Solution to Boredom

This blog has been inactive for a long long time. Since I have married, I have left writing, reading, and sharing. I would not blame my wife or my life for this. It is just that I have stopped caring about my writing skills.

Why?
Answer is clear and crisp, I am not preparing for CAT anymore.

Hell!!! Why the hell I am writing today?
Oh today. I could not find any thing to do. I do not have much work. I want to work on my site, but I can not work on my site as it is not possible to the site from office network. Though I tried staying updated with Quora, but it is neither helping.

Quora... What the hell is quora?
Oh, that's stupid. Do not you know quora yet. I can not believe you. Quora is community of people who do not poke into others business until unless someone asks them to poke. It is a community of higher intelligent people who love to share, read, and write for people.

On quora, you will find loads of stuff that will keep you energized. You will wander in history with some answers, some answers in finance will amaze you, some will clear your doubts in sports, and everything possible on earth is shared here. I just love the site.

After reading the question on quora, you can brag it infront of people who are still part of IT but that technological savvy. You will be like a demigod of knowledge to them. Ha ha ha... Reading and writing on quora is fun.

Then what is my problem today?
I just don't want to read a lot and become god from demigod. As it is said that lot of knowledge is also harmful to the mind. He he... It is not the right reason. I just don't want to do anything. I just to bore someone as much as I am right now.

So here I am boring you and endorsing quora. My latest passion.

Diwali 2013

Here comes another Diwali. Another day of celebrations, excitements, noise, light and joy. A lot has been changed over last one year in my life and my family's life. These changes are long lasting impact. This Diwali set a tone for coming life or better say we are entering in new phase of our life.

Office Celebrations

I am getting married on Nov 18th and my brother is getting married on Nov 30th. So Papa has got some relief that his sons are normal and they like girls only. Start of this year has brought lot of tensions, discussions, and other unrealistic situation in life. For the complete years tension clouds kept us in grey light. There were problems, discussion, problems, and discussion. But solution were not so near.

Sweet flowers.

But now all the solutions are there and me and my whole family is going to step into the new phase of life.

Hope every Diwali bring such JOY and HAPPINESS to each and every family in the world.

The Rangoli@Office

I wish all of you a great happy Diwali.

Dilemma of a Murder

It was a dark night, and I was walking in a lane which didn't have any road lights. Dogs were barking not from far. Though I am quite a coward but there barking were not stirring me at all. My face did not any have any emotions, it was passive and non reactive. To my dismay I remember carrying a knife in my hand. This knife, which was not a normal kitchen knife, was at least 10 inch long. The scene was running like a movie sequence in front of my eyes.

I entered in the house, as if everything was well planned and taught. I took a left to reach the bedroom. It was pitch black. No lights were on, and it was perfect for me kill him. I entered into his room. He was sleeping soundly. He was chuckling as if he was dreaming something nice and funny.  But I was not interested in his dreams.

I was here to kill someone but I did not know the reason. My heart felt hatred and pity together. Courage and fear were fighting to take hold of my mind. I was trembling, but on the other side I was powerful. It was impossible to find the state of my body and mind.

While I was standing there, someone deep inside me asked me to finish the task.

“What is the task?” I asked. Even before completing my question I felt heat on my face as if someone has slapped me hard.

“Kill the man who is sleeping on the bed.” Someone commanded. I wanted to ask “Has he done something wrong?” but I could not as if my mind has lost powers even to speak to itself after the slap.

As if my mind was overpowered, I reached to the bed and raised my hand high enough to strike with maximum power. The knife came down and inserted into the white sheet first, then body and finally stopped at bone. There was a shriek, a shriek which was mix of pain, horror, shock, and dismay. But it didn't impact my intention. With the intentions of finishing the job, I raised my hand again. But in the mean time he turned and now he was facing me. Somehow I was able to see his face.

It was me who was lying on the bed. “What the hell?” I said. “Why do you want to kill me?” My replica said. Even before finishing his sentence he vomited the blood.

I woke up shrieking from my dream. “Oh fuck” I had been dreaming. I put on the lights and see red substance around my bed. It was my blood. My white sheets were blood red now, though there was neither any pain nor any wound. I was not sure what was happening.

Was I still dreaming or awake? Or was I dreaming inside my dream? I was weak, speechless, and clueless.

Rain: Every time brings my childhood back

Sometime you do not need bigger things to swing your mood. A small favour from your friend, a smile from a street kid, little bit of here and there can make your day.

One such thing is Rain. Delhi has been quite cool for quite some time. Clouds have covered sun for last entire week. Though weather forecasting department have been predicting heavy rain fall for quite a long time, but rain fall was not in picture. And yeah I have been unlucky too.

When I was in Rohtak, heavy rain fall was reported in Delhi. So I returned back to Delhi, and it just stopped pouring, and it started in Rohtak. My friend kept informing me about the heavy rain fall in Ahmedabad. I went there but I did not even see a drop of rain for 2 days.

Today things were different. I was in Noida, and it was raining heavily here. I got lift from my friend till the half way. I had a laptop to save, so I ran. As I was resisting the rain, so it grew heavier with every passing moment. I was fully wet in covering 200 Mts distance. I entered in my society and I saw children playing there. I could not play with them as I am old enough to play with kids in the rain and rainy water.

Quietly I entered to my apartment, and unloaded my stuff. But I was yet done. So I planned to get more wet in rain. I planned to have tea outside the society, which gave me plenty of time to soak more rainy water.

Now I was ready to face the drops, but it started slowing down. Though I enjoyed the dying rain, but I think that I could have done little more masti in my childhood.

But still I enjoyed first awesome rain(First only for me) of the season.

Missed: Train or Ring

I was sitting in the drawing room, and I was talking to her friends and family. Suddenly she ordered me to pack my bags. She told me “It is already 4 o’clock, and you are still sitting and chatting. Do not you remember that you have to catch the train? If you do not want to go, then let me cancel the tickets and you can talk for one more day”. I ignored her. She shouted again at 4.30PM. I thought that she wanted to throw me out ASAP.

I could not ignore her this time. So I packed my bags, and finished my tea. We left home at 5 PM. I was confident to get the train whereas she was not. She started her Scooty and ordered me to place my ass on it. I settled on the back seat of the Scooty like a king.

Scooty halted after 10 minutes. I thought this was the moment when she would kiss me, but the choice of the place was little awkward. It was in the middle of the market. I positioned myself to receive a kiss, but suddenly she shouted and told me to get off the Scooty. Hell man, this girl was crazy. Dude she wanted to buy some snacks for my travel. Oops, sometimes it looks that these girls leave their brains at home so that it do not age throughout their lifetime.

I was struggling to decide the bigger problem among two problems that I had: First the train that I might miss, and second the ring which was lying in my backpack. Technology rescued me here; as per Google maps, I was not far from the railway station and there was enough time to reach to there. But I did not tell her to relax otherwise I would not have some more time to spend with her at station.

Flurry of questions hit my mind within a few moments. Where should I propose her? Should I propose her before parking the Scooty  or should I ask her before entering the railway station or should I request her at the platform? How should I propose Should I kneel down? Should I kiss her first, and propose her later? All stupid questions attacked my innocent and blank mind. I did not have answers. It would have been fantastic if I would have watched lot of girlish romance movies. I might have caught couple of ideas at the moment of crisis.

Anyway we reached to the station 5 minutes before the departure. She told me to rush to the ticket window and find out the platform number. Though I had other ideas, but due to her persistent demand and serious face, we rushed. We reached to the platform and took deep breath.

I was wondering what if train was leaving and I had to catch the running train, what were my options in that scenario. Should I have thrown the ring to her and shouted instead proposing “Will you marry me”? Should I have not boarded? Should I have passed the packet in her hand as a gift and turned back to my seat without seeing her reaction? Now everything was merely a thought because the train was yet still, and we had some time to talk.

I wanted to talk to her, but madam had some other plans. She called up her friend and started telling her to rush the station if he wanted to meet me. So in the meantime, I pulled the ring from my backpack. Without realizing, I started kneeling down in-front of my princess. She was yet busy in her call, but I was already sitting on one knee, and waiting for her to end the call. For me world stopped for some time, People stopped talking, everyone stopped walking. It was utmost necessary for me to tell her my feelings.

I told her “O MY lady, we know each other for quite a long time. In this time I have fallen in love for you multiple times, hated you sometimes, adored you few times, ignored you a few times, and hurt you many times.”

“I loved you when you danced, smiled, talked, shrugged your shoulders like stupid, and did innocent but childish things. I hated you for your persistent love and unmatchable dedication which I could never return. I adored you for your mental toughness, physical capability, and friendship. I ignored you when I did not have enough courage to face you. I hurt you deliberately sometimes and by chance other times."

“O MY JAANU, I was not able to make you my princess, but you treated me as a prince. You have given everything to an autistic person who does not value emotions.  Your presence, by my side, makes me perfect and pleases me more than anything.”

“Though I could not do much at this juncture, but I would like to make you my prisoner so that no one else can feel your presence. O MY DEAR if you accept my prison, would you accept this small token from your warden and prisoner.”

She was stoned with dismay and disbelief. She hesitated a little, but moments later she pressed her lips to mine. Crowd was enjoying the act of adultery at the railway station. Within few seconds, train started crawling and someone from train shouted “O Manjhanu, train chal di hai”. I boarded the train and we departed.

It was the first kiss, lasted a few seconds, of my life, that too from the most special lady in my life.

Udaipur Trip

It was a long awaited trip. I was consulting/requesting/offering/asking my friends to accompany me to Udaipur for a long time, but no-one was free to travel with me. Some friends were planning to go to some weird places, so I convinced them for Udaipur. Though it was hot, it was either this time or never. So predictably, I chose first and we were off to the city of lakes and Venice of west.

I planned to visit all important places of the city i.e. City Palace, Mansoon palace, Jagdish Temple, Gangaur Ghat, and Saheliyon ki Baari. Deepak, my friend's big bro, turned out to be a nice and well informed guide and he helped me to plan the places in an efficient manner.

In this part of India, Every tourist is welcomed by royal and enormous palaces, vivid and large lakes, and evergreen and colourful monuments, but tourists, visiting Udaipur this week, were greeted with more lively, colourful, and entertaining activity. Udaipur was celebrating Gangaur which is Rajasthan’s most known and fabulous festival. Thanks to unwanted, stupid and painful delays from my friends, now I was part of Rajasthan most fabulous fest @Rajasthan's most enjoyable city.

We started our day with brunch at Srinath Restaurant, which is at a walking distance (approximately 100 meters) from Railway station. This place is popular for authentic Gujurati and Rajasthani food. We all ordered Rajasthali Thali. They served us at least 4-5 vegetables, Raita, 2-3 sweetmeats, papad, salad, and breads of various varieties in a huge thali(plate). Food was so tasty that even after stuffing heavily, I was pushing a little more into my stomach. The restaurant surely exceeded our expectations.
My recommendation: If you want to eat good and authentic Rajasthani food, you must not miss this restaurant.

We were 4 people. 2 among us wanted to find the history of Udaipur and get acquainted with monuments whereas other 2 were interested in cozy wind and cold water at the rooftop of some hotel. So we split our paths based on interests.

Our expedition started now. We started with the City Palace which is the most popular and visited tourist place. Palace was built by Maharana Udai Singh. This palace is an exuberant display of Mughlai and Rajasthani architecture. Udaipur's Maharaja owns the palace and resides in it's one section, though this particular section is not open for public.

City Palace

We hired a guide, but he was in great hurry. Though he was helpful, he was neither informative nor patience enough. He rushed us through the various places of the greater historical significance and skipped lot of information. He was more interested in explaining us the various phases of peacock's sex life than explaining us the importance and significance of various artifacts, and places in the palace.

After entering through the main Tripolia (triple) gate, are the Suraj Gokhda (public address facade), the Mor-chowk (Peacock courtyard), the Dilkhush Mahal (heart’s delight), the Surya Chopar, the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of glass and mirrors), the Moti Mahal (Palace of Pearls), the Krishna Vilas (named after Lord Krishna), Shambu Niwas (royal residence now), the Bhim Vilas, the Amar Vilas (with a raised garden) that faces the Badi Mahal (the big palace), the Fateprakash Palace, the Shiv Niwas Palace (the latest addition to the complex), and the princess marriage mantap. Apart from these places, the palace has a crystal gallery, which contains lot of Rajputana artifacts. Entry fee for the crystal gallery is too huge, so it is seldom to see Indian tourist entering the gallery. Apart from the crystal gallery one smaller gallery also exists in palace. This gallery demonstrates history of the palace, kings and his dynasty, and Udaipur in pictures.

A picture at Museum

As most of the palaces in Rajasthan, this palace can also be rented to organize marriages. Though it is quite a nice business, but such businesses do not do justice to the greatness of such historical palaces. Government must really restrict owners to play with such artifacts which have such a great national importance.

Anyway it took us 4 hours to visit the entire palace, and we were really exhausted with the heat, and length and breadth of the palace.

It was already 4 o’clock in the evening and we were yet to visit many places before returning to Gangaur Ghat. We headed to the Sajjan Garh palace. It is situated in the outskirts of the city, on a hill top. It was built to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, it is popularly known as Monsoon palace. Along with rain predictions, kings and queens used the palace for hunting. It offers a panoramic view of the city's lakes, palaces and areas.

Palace has three floors. Among these 3 floors, first 2 are accessible to general public. It is surrounded by Aravali Range. Views from the 1st floor are indescribable. One side of the palace unleashes breathtaking views of the Udaipur city, whereas another side unfolds awesome views of the range. Many people visit the palace to see the glorious sunset. Though the Sun was still too high to elope, but as last vehicle was returning from hill top, so we returned without viewing the sunset.

Udaipur From Mansoon Palace

Aravali Range From Monsoon Palace

It was too difficult to find an auto from the outskirts of the Udaipur, but we found few generous folks who made sufficient space for us. We reached to the ghat by 630 in the evening. Huge ghat was packed with crowd. Ladies were in blue, red, yellow and other bright color. Kids were in their best possible attires. Westerns were trying to breathe in human ocean and get glimpse of Gan and Gaur idols, which were carried by ladies on their heads.

Many idols of Gan and Gaur were already deposited at the Ghat, and women were still bringing more. In the middle of the ghat, actors were performing Kachchi Ghori dance. Finally Udaipur’s queen and her subordinates brought royal idols in a big boat. In general all idols deposited should be submerged into the water, but in Udaipur, people take their idols back to houses and bring them again in next year’s celebration. It is a great tradition to save the water from pollution.

Someone from the crowd also danced with actual performers.

For us, Udaipur festival came alive after royal boat returned. Stage shows were commenced. Now it was time for music, dances, and live performances. First actor performed Shiva’s destruction dance. It was followed by Rajasthan’s welcome Song Kesariya Balam Aayo re. Then it was Goomar dance, fire dance, chart dance, Teerah Taali, and Raas (a musical performance of Radha Krishna’s affair). These 4 hours were the best hours of our trip. I never expected my trip to be so entertaining and thrilling.

Once festival was over, we realized how hungry we were. So we rushed to Santosh Restaurant to have my favourite food i.e. Daal, Baati, and Churma. Food was not as good as it was suggested. Anyway it filled my stomach and desire to eat Daal and Baati in Udaipur.

Day 2 was not as entertaining as Day 1. We started quite late today as well. After having some snacks, we visited Bagore Ki Haweli. It was restored as a museum from ruins. This is a small Haweli with many rooms. Museum started with a room which has many puppets of various sizes, mimicking various people, decorated in bright colors. Other rooms unlocked various Rajasthani cultural activities e.g. Shadi, war, courtrooms, weapons, and clothes etc. Though things placed in Haveli can provide good outlook of Rajasthani culture, it didn't attract me much because things were neither catered nor displayed in an efficient manner.

As it was hot and we were hungry, so we spend 2 hours in a café (Do not remember the name). It was quite near to Jagdish temple and Bagore Ki haweli. It was nice, peaceful café. 2 hours went without much fuzz.

After filling up our stomachs, we went for boating in Fatehsagar Lake. It was quite sunny by the time we reach the lake, so we killed 2 more hours in the nearby park. Around 5Pm, We took a ferry to reach to the Nehru Garden, situated in the middle of the Lake. Though the park was not startling, but there was a certain kind of romance in the environment due to eloping Sun. We returned with another ferry after spending some more time in the park.

Senset

Enjoying the Sunset and in love with Nature.

It was the time for dinner. Few people wanted to return to the city to some hotel which serves Alcohol, whereas I did not have such inclinations. So based on Deepak bhai's recommendations, we went to Raajbagh Restaurant.

It was a perfect restaurant for me. It has tables in open, which are adjacent to the Fatehsagar Lake. You could smell the water from your table. Lights were dim and every table was lit with candle. So it turned out to be a candle light dinner at the shore. I did not really care much about the food at such a nice place. Every item tasted cold, but good. Waiters were also good. We spend some quality time at the restaurant and left the restaurant quite late.
I must recommend this place to all people, mostly couples, to visit this nice restaurant. In nutshell, you would not go for food, but for the aroma and charm of the place.

In Udaipur, you do not get any kind of transport after 11 PM. So we were stuck at some unknown area without a hope of any public transport, but one unknown person helped us and drove us to a place where autos were available. So all in all, horrendous day ended with a smile on our faces.

Around 12 o'clock, I boarded to bus and left Udaipur. It was one among the best trips of my life.