Does wisdom comes with age only?

I believe not.

There are many wise and young people on this earth having great skills that can give golden-agers run for their shrewdness. These people might not have developed wisdom teeth in their jaws OR seen the world and gained all the knowledge but they can still take crucial decisions at the right time to avert the problems.

May be it's in the blood, the upbringing, the environment and other external factors that make these people different and rise later in life.

You must be thinking what happened to me and whether this guy is turning into some psychology student or a philosopher. Nothing like that.... Just chill...Actually this relates to a recent incident in the society I live in. The chairman of that society is an aged man (must be in his 70s). Due to some changes in the society's infrastructure, he had to interact with me to solve a particular problem. So, how he does it?... Not wisely at all...

He asks me (or rather orders me) to do something and comply with the changed norms. Well, I ask some questions but he doesn't listens well and go away. I try to comply with some of the changes hoping it is temporary. The change is not very comforting for me so I stop doing it after a while. Few days went by and nothing happened. Then, one fine day he comes and rudely asks me to meet his terms. I raise concerns and he gets ruder and goes away murmuring something. Reacting to his behavior, my ego jumps in and I refuse to oblige. Next day, the problem repeats and he comes along with a man asking me for an explanation.

That man was quite younger (must be in late 30s). I, with my ego, straight away refuse to listen to the old man and starts asking for the alternatives. The young man gets in explaining the problem, the reasons of change, how it helps other society folks, till what time the problem will persist, how it cannot be tackled in a different way and then provides a better alternative. Then posed a simple question. "We all know that there is a problem and you can help resolve it. Can you help resolving it in the best possible way?"

I saw a logical reason in the change. It might be lil discomforting but no comforting alternative exists either. Finally, it's for all's good (including mine). So, I shooed off my ego and decided to adjust until a concrete solution is derived. I am now fine with the change and everything works smoothly.

This incident just explains how a calm, composed person (who incidentally happens to be a PM in my company) providing all the logical information and reasons can convince and persuade others as against a pig-headed uncommunicative person who can turn a conversation into an altercation.

Chocolate Brownie

Well well well. Last week we went for 2 office parties… And you know what… The best moment for me in those parties was the dessert in one of the lunches. After having a filling main-course, my colleagues ordered all the different stuff… Ice creams… Drunken fruits… Fudges… Chocolate brownie with ice-cream… and what not. I thought I would refrain from indulging in that high calorie portion and taste (just taste) the brownie.

And then came the delightful moment… Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and hot chocolate sauce kept in front of me. Preparation looked staggering. Brownie was looking fresh, covered with a mountain of snow-white Vanilla. I poured the steaming thick chocolate sauce over the mountain and landscape was complete. The brown rivers over the snow-covered mountains were looking divine. But there were not just those rivers. Another set were running inside my mouth. It was irresistible. I couldn’t hold myself and grabbed a spoon and went for it. The spoon went through the sauce covered ice-cream and cut through the tempting brownie effortlessly. I filled my spoon and took it to my mouth to charm my senses. And then it melted. The luscious mixture of chocolate and vanilla took me to another world. I slowly closed my eyes to enjoy the scrumptious taste of the heavens (It’s true when they say that most pleasurable moments are observed with eyes closed).
When it was gone, I opened my eyes just to take in another spoonful of mouth-watering delicacy and satisfied my senses.

Bachchpan Ki Yaadein!!!

“Bachchpan”, the childhood days…
We all age and step into 7 different stages in our lifetime (as represented in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”); for most of us, the moments spent in our childhood (stage 2) is to be cherished the most and we want those days to come back.

So, this post (accompanied with some pics) is dedicated to some of my most cherished and cutest of the memories…

Those were the days when:
- We were carefree, innocent and playful.
- We cared about playing soccer more than job and money.
- We fought with our sisters / brothers for small things and then soon make up with them.
- We kept on running around the dining table chasing each other.
- We waited for our turns to get the next piece of food from Mom’s hand.

- We got lil pocket-money but still save something at the end of the month.
- We waited for our piggybank to get full and then spend the money for something big, repeating the cycle all over again.
- In Diwali days, we used to burst small crackers (Bijli bombs), all the time for a whole week.
- We used to go on bicycles in the rain, get drenched and enjoy the weather to the fullest.
- We created "hail palaces" during the hail-storms.

- We bravely (apparently) used to see the horror soaps and then get scared whole night.
- We used to get up early in the morning and jog just to get chocolates as the prize.
- We eagerly waited for summer holidays and a trip to Himachal or Naani’s (grandmother’s) place.
- We hated home-work but still had to complete it in order to go n play.
- We liked / respected some particular teacher and tried to impress him / her.
- We used to get ready early on Sundays to see cartoons on DD2.
- We wanted a joy ride everyday on dad’s vehicle before he goes for office.
- Ramayan, Chandrakanta, Byomkesh Bakshi, Chitrahaar were the favorite TV programs.
- Mom used to nicely get us ready for the school and by the time we come back, we were all dirty and bruised.
- We often had to rush to school to avoid the punishment by the P.T sir.
- We used to have these supposedly secret spots to hide while playing chupan chupai (Lukan meeti).
- We used to fly kites whole day on basant-panchami.

And the list goes on… Perhaps, we all want to go back in time and live that life yet again. But, there is no time-machine stuff; we have to move ahead. So, we need to live today to the fullest to cherish today's memories when we get older.

A spiritual trip

Here comes another blog after a long period of time. It’s about a different kind of trip for which we went to 3 weeks back.
Well, it was a dynamic trip; we had no idea we had to go until a day prior to the trip (well, it was sort of kaccha-pakka). We decided that we should visit sai baba’s shrine & make ourselves purer.
Yeah! So, we decided to go on to Shirdi and then to Shani Shinghanapur, a place famous for the only Shani mandir.
We got up early (4:00 AM) in the morning, so that we can leave at 5 and avoid the heavy traffic. We did get ready by 5 but didn’t leave until 5:45. Reason: Some issue with songs CD and we didn’t wanna leave without being able to listen to nice songs during the journey. So, we rewrote the CD and we 4 guys left in Ravinder’s car at 5:45. Picked Cheeku’s sis and her roomie around 6 and started our journey. 6 people in i10; folks had to twist & turn to get to the best comfortable position. Moreover, Anki was in full utilization mode. “No space should be wasted”, he uttered. We all had sleep in our eyes but there was an excitement to visit these places (I was visiting these for the 1st time). It was dark when we left and weather was pleasant. Soon, 4 out of 6 people were asleep and I along with Ravinder were just staring at the roads.

The ghats came & went; Sun rose lighting up the sky. At the half way mark, we stopped by at a place to have breakfast (We were really hungry by then). By the time we left that place, many cars had turned up indicating the rush we gonna encounter. Anyways, we drove again. The CD we wrote contained many good songs but the player didn’t recognize it. So, we played another CD which had the habit of skipping few words and making the songs funny. We had a good time trying to catch up with the songs and laughing on the broken sentences.
We reached Shirdi at around 10:15. The official parking was full so spent some time looking for a decent parking. Purchased Prasad and walked across the road barefooted. The entry to the temple was around 200 metres and a long queue was waiting for us. There were these multiple halls (with hundreds of devotees) that we needed to cross before reaching the Sai Baba’s Murti. We had to climb stairs; pass through the basement before reaching the grand hall. We had good “darshan” despite of all the hustle in the grand room and security guards pulling people around. We got free around 11:40 (20 minutes before the long aarti). After the darshan and taking “vibhuti” and Prasad, we left for the parking lot. The road was burning as was the Sun. We ran; jumped over the hot areas in search of shadows to reach the restaurant, we had lunch and resumed the journey there onwards.
Shani Shinghanapur was 70 Kms from shirdi. We had to stop in between to figure out the directions and to get something cold. It was real hot in spite of the A.C blowing to its full capacity. Along the way, we saw various sugarcane juice shops. Something different about all those shops were that they were established in open (covered with tents); had no electric or hand machines; used cows to operate the machines and thus extract juice. We were concerned about the speechless animals. Anyways, we continued and reached our destination around 2:30. It was real hot but more worrying thing was that we had to wear dhoti to be eligible to visit the temple and offer prayers. We had a quick bath, bought dhotis and Prasad; wore dhoti and shot some pics. Gals were not allowed to offer the prayers and Ravinder didn’t want to wet his hair.

So, Anki, Cheeks n I started bare-footed for the temple in the burning afternoon. We went inside, offered coconut and other stuff and then offered the prayers and oil to the shila. All this time, I had a lil tough time getting hold of the dhoti. There was a real chance of it slipping out but I had my hands placed carefully on it. We went back to the car and dressed up before leaving back for Pune. By that time, we had good amount of cosmic energy around ourselves and felt relaxed.
On the way back, we came through Ahmednagar highway. It was broad, 4 laned, smooth road. We just stopped once during the return journey to have some snacks and tea. There, we took some pics on the see-saw and watched kids playing and laughing on the big uncles (us) coming down the slide (We opened the vent and let the hidden child come out). Then, we resumed our journey back listening to the skipping songs.


Reached Pune, parceled burgers from “Mc-Ds”, dropped Cheeks Sis n her roomie and reached home around 9 PM. We all were dirty, tired and sleep thirsty. Had food and slept tight. What a nice trip and nice sleep it was.

Watchin Movies... college style

Another Saturday went by and we friends were like a bunch of movie hungry college students. It was after a gap of 3-4 years that we saw back to back movie in theatre. 1st it was “Luck-By-Chance” and then “Dev-D”. And we enjoyed both.

One was a light hearted motivational flick about a struggling actor who made it big because of his luck, timely flattery and open going nature. My verdict: 3.0 out of 5.

The other one was a contemporary version (not exact remake) of the renowned “Devdas”. It’s like Devdas has traveled from the era of early 20th century to the 21st but his life remains similar. Just that now he isn’t ambivalent in the end and comes out of the dreaded life to avoid the tragedy. Out of the box story writing, direction, music and choreography. My verdict: 3.5 out of 5.

Delhi6 - A.R. Rahman is the best

At the time of all the speculations revolving around A.R. Rahman getting an Oscar for Slumdog millionaire, comes another superb album - Delhi6. I 1st heard "Masak Ali" from this album and found it different. Music was awesome as ever. But, it was even better when I heard the full album. Take music of the title song Or my personal favorite "Rehna Tu", u can't just stop grooving to the music or singing along. Moreover, the album contains very different type of songs ranging from aarti, to Qawali; from slow "Dil Gira Dafatan", to fast high-bass title song. It's a sort of music that slowly grows on u...

I played "Rehna Tu" 50 times since yesterday and can still keep going on & on...
Rahman simply ROCKS...

Evolution of mid-size Indian cars...

India has pressed on the accelerator in the economic terms from last few years. Thanks to globalization, our strong determination and numerous other factors which now drives our country in race with other formidable developed countries. We can surely say India is one of the fastest growing developing countries. We have made advancements in fields ranging from agriculture to space (Chandraayan) and there seems to be no looking back.

Today, I am just going to write about the advent of low to mid-size segment car market in India and my views on some of the cars.

India's car revolution actually began with introduction of Maruti-Suzuki (MUL) in India around 1981-83. At that time, there weren't many cars and India was dependent mostly on 2 wheelers and other means of transport. The only 2 cars in India were the outdated Premier Padmini and HM Ambassadar. Then came "Maruti 800" which revolutionized the Indian car industry. Maruti 800, a light-weight compact car with a fuel-efficient 800cc engine became the dream of every middle class Indian family. With sales sky rocketing, it became a very common name in Indian households; still "Maruti" is a term commonly used for Maruti Suzuki 800. In fact, Maruti 800 (and newer alto versions) is still the most selling car in India. Along with Maruti 800, came Maruti Van (also called Omni). I still remember my Uncle had one of the only few in Kullu those days and we really roamed a lot in that.

Maruti Suzuki also launched Gypsy in 1985. The sporty Gypsy gave a small SUV look and gave solid performance. It was meant for off-road driving and was extensively used by the army, govt vehicles (especially Police). I remember driving my dad's office gypsy when I was doing my graduation. It gave a different sort of driving pleasure. It was robust, had good pick-up. It wasn't meant for luxury but for rough conditions.

Apart from these, Maruti also rolled out Zen (1st generation) in 1993 and it catered to thousands of small-luxury-car loving population. ZEN acronym for "Zero Engine Noise" lived up to its name. A noiseless car with classy styling was the 1st choice of many middle class Indians for a long time. Only downside for Zen was its low ground clearance which sometimes had to bear the brunt of bumpy Indian roads. Eventually, the 1st generation Zen's production was ended after it was replaced by the 2nd generation successor.

Maruti kept dominating the market and face-lifted the same cars until 1999 when it launched Wagon-R. But before that, Hyundai's Santro had arrived in Indian market and so had India's indigenous Tata Indica. In 1998, Santro (Or the Atos) made its world debut in India. The tall-boy design hatchback with more space, style and power than Maruti 800 turned the tide in its favor. Soon Hyundai was the 2nd most selling car company in India. On the other hand, there was a proud moment for India as Tata launched a mid-size passenger car named Indica in the end of 1998. With spacious interiors and a good home-grown diesel engine, it was calling for a change in Indian automobile industry. In 2 years, it was the highest selling car in its segment. In this combat, Maruti Wagon-R's competitive specifications could not meet the Santro's style and despite of selling numerous cars lost to Santro in sales. Both Maruti and Hyundai kept face lifting their models and kept providing more features. Indica moved along in the diesel segment.

In 2000, Maruti came up with Alto, next generation mini car that was priced between 800 and Wagon-R. Alto also made huge sales and was the lone warrior at its price tag for a long time. In 2005, Maruti also launched Zen Estillo (Generation 2) which in many respects is similar to Wagon-R.

Next, Hyundai came up with Getz and then Maruti Suzuki with Swift. Getz initially did a good business but was taken aback by Swift's dominating power, style and performance. Swift still leads the race in its segment.

More recently we saw series of new launches in Indian car market and mid segments also got the benefit. In 2007, Hyundai launched i10 and Chevrolet launched Spark. In late 2008, Hyundai launched i20 and Suzuki launched A-Star. i10 was highly acclaimed, it earned multiple awards and became the fastest growing car in its segment since its launch. Spark came in to compete with lone Maruti Alto and took a fair amount of market share since its launch.

But the biggest surprise that rocked the world was claim of producing a 2500$ (100,000 INR) car by Tata. Tata Nano which would soon be launched and seen on every road in India would bring a revolution in super-mini car segment. Whole world is eagerly waiting for a ride in tiny Tata car that will seat 4 people and provide a roof at a price of a mid level bike. Wow! What a move by an indigenous company.

Apart from the high selling cars, there were few other in the low to mid segments that came but could not shake the confidence of Marutis, Tatas or the Hyundais. To name a few were Fiat Uno, Fiat Palio, Daewoo Matiz (1st generation), Chevrolet UVA, Skoda Fabia.

With new cars lined up to hit India's booming economy, we would eventually see more companies trying their luck and eventually further improving the mid segment cars.

Of the cars described above, I (along with my family) have owned and driven Maruti Van (Omni), Tata Indica, Maruti 800, Hyundai Santro (my prized possession) and Maruti Suzuki Swift (car that my dad currently drives).

Last year, when my dad was looking on for a change, I test drove many cars in mid segment ranging in 5-6L and finally decided on Maruti Suzuki Swift Vdi. No wonder it is called Swift... with pickup that you expect in mid-high segment cars only, that had to be my choice. I was really impressed by the engine (same used in Fiat palio and Tata Indica Vista) and tuning done by Suzuki folks. Just pump on the accelerator and it would give you the thrust and the required adrenaline rush. After driving Swift, I was thinking what sort of a car Indian youth would need and I had an instant answer. Youth need a mix of power, style and masculine built. If there is a small SUV type car that can provide you luxury of a mid-segment and power similar to swift and cost no more than 6-7 lacs INR, that would be it. In my opinion, if Maruti Suzuki can come up with a small gypsy like SUV with Swift's base and engine, that would cater to most of the Indian youth's dream. I hope such a car comes up soon.