3 Idiots or AVATAR... Which one is Better ???

Well I have been asking this question to myself for last 40 hrs and to others too, and the very first response I get is " Both are incomparable"..

Yes I Agree, but I am not asking for a neck to neck comparison and neither this post is to convince readers towards my point of view. In fact both movies are classic and "one of a kind" in their own arena but as we can not wear two diamond rings in one finger (considering sane people only), neither two watches on the same wrist and not 2 ties on the same day though how so ever lovely they are.. similarly My question is "preferring" one over the other and not about "Replacing" one by other.

Let me begin with the conclusion (???) , (Yes You read it right, beginning with conclusion, the corporate world calls it Executive summary)...

I Prefer 3 Idiots over Avatar. And The reasons are listed below..

(Well I know the headers I am using to describe my thoughts are not the Key Result Areas (KRAs) of a producer or director But these all are important to me, to make any piece of literature (Movies included) impressive)

Story Line : 3 Idiots is "Five point some one" +, therefore it has a very strong story line. Avatar too have a sensible & sensitive storyline but it is far from reality. Its not like that I o not like Terminator or other Sci- Fi movies but all the movies which looks like a reflection of your life (or the worlds you are living in) makes audience much connected to it. Be it mythological period movies or Sci-Fi 2012=2022 or 21XX those story lines are definitely at a distance from where we are.

Impact : There are 2 things about an Impact which makes it an Impact.

1. The amount of it.
2. The place where it hits.

Avatar leaves an impact on 'Mind' while 3 idiots leaves it on 'heart'.


The key Impact of Avatar was its visuals apeal, how one can create 'just another world' and that too so perfectly planned. Every thing about Pandora was thoughtfully created not much to explain, I would just copy the words of Karan Johar.." There is GOD and There is James Cameron..." 'Splendid Job'

The Key impact of 3 Idiots is on our education system, grading system and the way we look upto the future of our children. More over the way we look upto our careers.

We all have seen students in Engineering colleges preparring for GRE, CAT, GATE, IIIT and also for JE post in BSNL and othercompanies too. What is more important is a 'key to dream package'. Even if they are asked to do a dog's job for it (and most of us actually do the same)

Our Indian Brains are running the best firm in the world but how many aptents idians get in their name?

How many innovations we do? (What ever we try it termed as "Jugaad" and killed with in local circles)

How much wealth we create..??


Message : Sitting on a tinking table anyone would say global warming and environment issues are far more or at least equally important as reviving the education system.
Infact Global warming is an international issue and not related to just one or few nations... (sounds good if you are invited to speak or even to spect at G77 conference at Copenhagen)

But Games Cameron has burnt 2250 Crs. INR to convey the message. The amount is higher than GDP of several nations. (These are facts, I would have added reference but there are many source confirming it)

To tell the world-save environment, save earth, dont fight, respect the nature James cameron has blown the resources like anything. (what an Epic contradiction) If I were Cameron, I would have written a novel and not inveted Rs 2250 Cr of natural resources to enrich my bank balance further.

While 3 Idiots, which was build in 35 Cr. INR gives a message and stands by it.

Anyways... The debate wil continue..

Just to finish, let me convey the best thing I liked in 3 Idiots:

" Kamyaab Nahi Kaabil Bano, Kamyaabi Apane aap Tumhare Pichhe chali aayegi"


Luv..
VT

A nice thought...

You can not change the past, but you can change the way you feel about it.

As a result you change the way it is affecting your "present", which is the most important thing...

Luv

VT

Vishal Thakur By Ankit Bhardwaj

( It was really an "innovatitve idea" in terms of corpotate ingo that to post something on me on my blog on the occasion of my birthday, but in personal terms its an heart touching effort by Ankit. Yes he took the control of my blog on 29th and gifted me few of his lines as well as attached scan copies of 3 of my old immaturish* writings (somethign I wrote when i was in 10th std.)..Also one of them includes first handwritten draft of "Sapaney aur Sitarey". )

* I do not claim my self a mature writer even today...

Thanks a lot Ankit

I am just removing those articles as I have saved them with me as an input for my biography, if it would ever be written. by the way I am really touched and wondering that how did you get them and kept stored with you for so long...???

"Shukriya once again"

I am publishing the lines written by You...If thease are for me, its much more than a life time achievement...


lafz kaghaz par baithte hi nahi
udte firte hain titliyon ki terah
kab se baitha hoon yaroon
sade kaghaz pe likhke naam tera
bas tera naam hi mukkammal hai
isse behtar bhi nazm kya hogi

2 States...

Hi,

This post is not about Chetan Bhagat's New Novel 2 States, but still I wanted to give this title because:

1. Currently I am reading the same so it has a top the mind recall.

2. Last year this time We were making a move from Delhi to Mumbai, one of the toughest transition in my lifetime so far.

3. Since then I have been thinking to write about this transition of states...

By the grace of god this transition wasn't bad at all. Though I was extremely worried but it was really a smooth one. It was a long process..

It all started in Jun 2008, when i have got signals about this transfer, and since then I and Neha have started preparing our mind towards this shift. There are so many incidents and anecdotes which We experienced from making our mind to move till finally shifting in our current abode.

Since September 2009, every now and then I go just one year back in my thoughts and try to relive those moments of transition. I do not know why, bit this is my habit for a long time. When I shifted from Barghat to Bhopal or from Bhopal to Indore or from Indore to Delhi...

But this transition was far more special and different in many ways..

In coming days I would like to write about Delhi-Mumbai change a lot, but what holds me back is a thought that what ever i feel is still not constant. But just to inaugurate Let me mention one good thing about Delhi:

Its a beautiful city, perhaps the cleanest and greenest place in India amongst all big cities.

and One good thing about Mumbai is:

People are punctual here, and in this city they do not judge you by the brand of car you own.

Well, I wish to write about all my favorite cities right from Bhopal, Indore, Delhi, South Delhi, Mumbai and Thane... (Yes Mumbai is favorite, no.. not because of the fear of some extremist, genuinely favorite)

Some other day I would like to write more on this topic.. but before finishing let me add some more lines about both cities, please mail your views and disagreements...

1. Delhi -Not only city is beautiful, but people too (Look wise)

2. Mumbai- Auto and Taxi are reliable from fare as well as safety point of view.

3. Delhi-Market and malls are well organized and planned.

4. Mumbai-Market is there every where, there is perhaps no resi-commerical classification.

5. Delhi- Too much of parking charges, If you buy a vehicle do take parking charges into calculations.

6. Mumbai- Too much toll charges, f you buy a vehicle do take toll charges into calculations.

By for now...

(I know this is the vaguest blog i have written so far.. but I am a bit disturbed today...)

Luv

VT

Back Again...

Hi,

Its almost a month that I am not on my blog, and finally I am making the statement which I wanted to avoid all these days. Yes "September was a too busy Month". and the first 13 days of October I couldn't write any thing as i was so confused that from where to begun.

The Most difficult thing about mentioning that a particular month was busiest is that when ever in past i did so, the very next season has taken over on the previous. e.g. I remember after 3rd yr. in SVITS I made this statement and in the final year, almost every month was busier than entire 3rd year. (take it with a little pinch of salt, just little)

Well there are lots of things to pen (or rather type) but i would like to start from Mother Teresa. (Hope I spelt her name rightly)

Its about a famous quote of hers.I believe this quote is much more valuable than millions of books and literature on relationships. Like all great thoughts this too is debatable and cynics can always write a user manual on this quote that where to use it and where not and how etc...Well a little cynically I would like to make a suggestion that this quote has the power of soothing all personal relations, even if just one person understands this in a relationship and if both parties understand, nothing like it.

The quote is : "If you try to judge people, You will have no time to love them."

Please don't start saying that whats so great about it, just go back to the quote and reread, rather think over it for a while. Now remember all the people you say you love or you need to love to cope up with your relationship and think how many times you have fought with them because you were judging them.

You might be judging them against Ideal or if not ideal you might be judging them against someone else for sure and the fight starts. At times we not only judge people against there past actions but we also attempt to judge them against the things they have not even done ( in an anticipation that a person like them can do such also... )

I know to love someone you need to stop being judgemental. It definitely doesn't mean that you are supporting all the crime in the world, but if you love someone you have to be a little idiot, a little fact-less, a little fictional and that all you also require to be a lovable person.

I wish I can be a person who can love stupidly and in turn have people around who can love without judging around.

Insha Allah...

Luv..

VT

Zindagi...

From the Movie Umrao Jaan... (the old & original one..)

Jab bhi milti hai mujhe ajnabee lagti kyun hai...

Zindagi roz naye rang badalti kyun hai..

Tujh se bichhade hain to ab kis se milati hai hame...

zindagi roz naye rang dikhati hai hame...

Hi... Not in touch for a long time, well the reason is not "the creativity Crunch" but the lack of time.. Rather quality time...

.....will be back soon ....

Luv.

VT

Yahi jeena hai doston to phir marnaa kya hai...?

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion on "creativity crunch" and here I am going to paste one of the finest lines I have heard on sliver screen. Generally I prefer the real litrature than the "filmed" one, but this was simply amazing... It was featured in Lage Raho Munnabhai.. and when ever I listen to this masterpiece, it simply takes me to a different world.

Definately credit also goes to "Vidya Balan" for the soul touching recitation...

Shehar ki is daud mein daud ke karna kya hai,
(A)gar yahi jeena hai doston, to phir marna kya hai?
Pehli baarish mein train late hone ki fikra hai,Bhool gaye?
Bhigte hue tehelna kya hai!


Serial ke kirdaron ka sara haal hai maloom,
Par maa ka haal poochne ki fursat kahan hai?
Ab ret pe nange pao tehelte kyun nahi?Ek sau aath hai channel,
par dil behelte kyun nahi?


Internet pe duniya se to touch mein hai,
Lekin pados mein kaun rehta hai, jante tak nahi.
Mobile, landline sab ki bharmar hai,
Lekin jigri dost tak pahonche aise taar kahan hai?


Kab doobte hue sooraj ko dekha tha yaad hai?
Kab jana tha sham ka gujarna kya hai?
To doston shehar ki is daud mein daud ke karna kya hai?
Agar yahi jeena hai , to phir marna kya hai?

Ponder a while...
Bye for now...

Luv VT

Creativity Crunch...

Hi.

Creativity crunch, sounds like a new term, well it is.. If you do not agree, try it on google, you will not find a definition, OK. so now let me introduce this term to this world.

Well Creativity crunch is similar to cash crunch or credit crunch, basically crunch is "lack of it" but the difference is This "Lack of.." or scarcity is due to extensive utilization of that particular object.

So here come I define it: Creativity crunch is the lack of creativity felt by an individual/ unit when there is extensive utilization of one's creativity and he/she finds his/her creativity is almost dried.

Now here comes the reason of writing this Post: I am writing this post because For last couple of weeks, even more than that I am in creativity crunch and the reasons are:

1. I took some creative initiatives in my organization to run few motivational and knowledge centric series's.

2. Every Monday I mail "Monday Morning Motivation" to everyone here, containing a brief motivational story, I repeat Brief and motivational. Now There are many sites and similar material there on Internet, But I do not pick up any thing which I find not enough 'Brief" or not enough "Motivational". So each and every pick is chosen one, and I really need to search or read a lot for this. Initially i thought I can discard this thing after some time but the kind of response I got from readers made me realise that people actually wait for a Monday Morning for this read. And the same made me continue this venture ( Yes it is..). At times I just write some thing from my own mental records based on some past readings..

3. The knowledge Management initiative We have started is a team work but we have created a unique comic character, who has his own e mail ID and I write on behalf of that character. This character is called 'Wiz' and very very popular in among all the employees. Not many of them know that who writes it. Actually I used to write almost 3 times a week and now we have disciplined the frequency to twice a week only. The funny thing is that this character talks like a college guy, really cool one, it has its own visual and Avatar which i cant share due to professional commitments. But Yes people do reply on his ID they write to him as if they are writing to some real friend. This again give me a lot to think creative and reply, and also keep posting to all on his behalf.

4. I have some how decided to take up all new short term projects in our dept. I believe I can complete them, and actually I am completing them. Its a great learning experience, puts a lot of pressure too at time and worst of all it also requires creativity. In fact now if I am in a project than I am by default assigned to handle the creativity part.

The impact is visible in my blog posts. I know the language is no more so appealing and interesting.

Well I need some remedy. I repeat remedy and not riddance. I would like to handle these all better. with more creativity, some what like a bank who was getting dry due to Cash crunch, but got a huge sanction of funds.

I need to know how the people who are "professionally creative" like radio jockeys, ad-men and cartoonists keep then creativity ready all the time...

Any suggestions... Please do write...

Would like to end here... "Politics is the art of the Possible, Creativity is the art of the Impossible."

Luv

VT

Freedom is not Free

(An speech on 15th of August..well Almost an speech...)

Hi... Remember our college days. I can not remember any of the independence day celebration from my childhood to SVITS days, when I did not celebrate it or not make an speech on the occasion. I used to be most worried whenever I changed a school or college to get just first chance to make an speech on 15th of August and then rest of the years get an assured slot for me.

I remember in SVITS our first year batch started a Little late and we missed the 15th of August so I finally had my debut on 5th September -teacher's day. And I still remember to get a slot for my 3 mins speech on Teacher's day celebration I had to struggle a lot.

There were some of our seniors who were organizing the event and were assuming themselves as "god"..Well almost "god" and I remember I had to give audition 4-5 times and they have not only listen to me but gave me the vaguest suggestion in the world to correct my speech. I still remember their faces and names but will not mention it here as I am sure after our college no body remembers them. I am not cribbing them and neither behaving like a 'self-obsessed arrogant brat'. But I just want to mention to my readers that the world is full of idiots who can criticize any one till the time you have proven yourself, and you should take all the pain till the time you get acclaimed..

So I gave all the auditions, they asked me to repeat this para,,, that para... they asked me to give my speech in writing also (which I have never done in my life). And the funniest thing was-My speech had some very emotional moments (as always) they used to call their friends and used to ask me to repeat just that part.. All these things in the so called 'Audition'.

Finally I got an approval to present my speech on 5th September. And I was confirmed a slot after a particular song. But i had a small gut feel that something wrong is about to happen and it happened. The anchors missed my name and announced the next program instead of me. ( I believe it was all intentional, as those anchors could not say even a single world on the mic. without a written page and the page they had in their hand, had my name, I have checked that..)

I immediately jumped and reached to the anchor all in the middle of the running program and stood there asking the obvious. one of them said with a sorry face.."Oh sorry missed your name" expecting me to return and accept the defeat.. (Must be making the worst assumption in her life) I said calmly, no issues I am going to make my speech just next to this performer and Gave the rock solid confident look, She understood that this guy is not going back and Yes I didn't gave them a 2nd chance to repeat their mistake, I went ahead after the performer and took the mic. to begin my speech and I did. The rest is a history (...In SVITS only)

That was my first speech in SVITS and the last time I had struggled to get an space on the stage. It was the best show that day and those anchors announced my name after my speech, But no one was listening as they were claping for almost 45 seconds.

Anyways.. I mentioned the above story not as a memoire but i want to relate it to the title of the post.- "Freedom is Not Free"

Well This title is borrowed from a book by Shiv Khera, where he defines freedom and its cost. A really good book.

But I just want to say that in our life the best thing one can achieve is "The Freedom". Freedom from Poverty" or "Freedom from Deceases" or Freedom from Emotional atyachaar" or Just Freedom from any Exigency". Freedom is the superlative comfort of any desirable pleasure.

You will be given total freedom on a stage only if your are The best performer.

You will be given total freedom at work only if you are the best employee.

You will be given total freedom at the pitch only if you are "Tendulkar"..

I hoe the point is understood.

I remember I was never questioned in SVITS post 5th September 1999 for anything I wanted to do . (..on the stage, of course..) I had my set of struggles in all the initiatives I took, but Yes the entry barrier was demolished once for ever.

I admit, I was not "The Best material on the stage" but I believe many better artists were got ruined in the so called "auditions". During my days as a mentor (in my final year) I tried to give chance to many of the deserving candidates and I admit, I did injustice with many (with mostly my closed ones..) But there were no one to supersede me and bring the justice, I realise that I have overshadowed a lot of people and I am not happy about it. It would be really great to get overrun by a better one, I believe Gawaskar would not have any complains from Tendulkar.

Every Fair player would love to get outdone by a better contender. I agree that there were many talented people in SVITS, much much more talented than me but they were not the game to face the entry barriers. The message I would like to give to them all and to all my readers is:-

The biggest luxury you want in life is to get freedom in a chosen field, and you would not get it only because you are blessed with great talent, You have to fight for your freedom, you have to take the pain of waiting in queue and facing the most idiot screenings. But once you clear it all You will get you Freedom.

I also believe if I had given this post without my own example it would be more acceptable, but I know my readers have a faith in me and would not misunderstand me.

SO one this eve of "The freedom Festival" all I want to say is go full hog to overcome the teething troubles so that you all can claim your biggest success in terms of "The freedom to live in your own way..."

Happy Independence Day...

Luv

VT

The Alchemist

(About the world's highest selling spiritual novel, written by Paulo Coelho)

Hi...

Birthday wishes to Aishvarya Vaid... (his B'day was on 3rd). I thought of righting something on his birthday about him, but just could not as I wanted to break the jinx of the birthday blogger. But it does not mean that I wont write about Him.

Dear Aishvarya, I owe you a write up... :-)

Last weekend I finally picked up "The Alchemist" , It seems like I am the last one to read this novel, as they claim almost everybody who loves to read must have read it. No doubt it is one of those books which defines what a best seller must be..

During first few pages I regretted the decision of picking it up, but then I surfed about Paulo Coelho and realised that he doesn't write in English and the book is a translation. (Just like dubbed movie some thing gets missing...) But the soul of the novel is the contemplation of the author... (Hey are you thinking the word 'soul' and 'contemplation' are due to the Alchemist-hangover... well you are right..)

Why I was avoiding this read for a long time:

Some times we develop a syndrome toward 'the most populars'. Which is based on our experiences with few of them. e.g. many popular & hyped things doesn't tastes as expected, like some most famous food joints whose food fails to explain the long queue at the counter, some of the super duper hit flicks fail to explain why all the notorious critics wrote just too good about it etc..

I was avoiding this book in an anticipation that it will not be too good ( My experience with "The monk who sold..." was the reason) and finally I will be disappointed. Thought I am not a fan of Paulo or of the book after finishing it. But one statement i would like to make, "This book is like movie 'Delhi 6' (or vise a versa) , Not too easy to understand and has many similes towards the real message, yet both are too good to teach others how to make a good movie or write a book".

Quite unlike Chetan Bhagat and his type of authors who not only write a scene but also give words to the expressions of the faces of the characters in novel, Paulo leaves all these things to imaginations. He no where talks about looks of his characters or their age or there expressions, still he is (rather the dubbing of his book is) capable of creating scenes in the reader's mind. (.. I am still a big fan of Chetan Bhagat..)

Yes, this book is only for those who can imagine while reading. finally the best thing in this novel, which even a normal (non imaginative) reader can enjoy are the 'dialogues'. I wonder they are so impactful, even in a translated version, then what would be the impact in the real one.

Listing down some of my favorites... You can add yours...

1. "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." - Dear Farah Khan I knew who have stolen this one...

2. "Maktub"- which means it is written, I simply love the way this word is used in this novel at many junctures.

3. "When You possess great treasure within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom you are believed." - The scene in which this dialogue comes was simply superb.

4. "Well, what all good it (money) be to you if you had to die? the alchemist answered. Your money saved us for three days. Its not often that money saves a person's life." - Simply wonderful.

5. "Everything that happens once, can never happen again, but everything that happen twice will surely happen a third time." This a proverb he used in the novel.

And last but not the least..this is not a part of the main story but a quote of Paulo in an interview when he answered -'what he want to be his epitaph?' (epitaph means the quote written on someones' grave) .. He answered...

" Paulo coelho Died when he was alive"... He explains further not everyone dies when he or she is alive, people live their lives in repetitive patterns and the same pattern repeating and over again, you are not alive anymore....

Hello...lost in thoughts.. I know most of you will not read this post completely, but those who will read till this points must be lost in thoughts...

Enjoy talking with the soul of the world....

Bye for now..

Luv

VT

29th July...

Hi.

Its 29th of the month today, and Its always an special date for me. Not just because 29th is my birth date but also i have found lots of positivity in this figure. sort of a belief in Numerology. Most of the positive surprises have come to me on 29th of any month. It does not turn my bad work into a success but yes if I am expecting some good return on my deeds it often comes on 29th. One of them is My Salary too.

Well today is a birthday of two special people to me. Good thing is that both of them shares few common qualities.

1.Both are innovative.

2. Both have always gone beyond expectations

3. Both are a bit ahead of respective concurrent time.

One of them is Mr. J R D Tata and the other one is Mr. Bhuvan Gupta. well we all know Mr. Tata and of course some of us definitely know Bhuvan. At least those who know him once can not forget him for a lifetime.

Well I would like to talk about the 3rd quality which I have mentioned above.

Yes Bhuvan is always innovative and Ahead of the time. The difference between a normal innovator and Bhuvan types is that normal innovators think just next to the current times and special ones (Like Him) thinks a little beyond, that is why they go un-understood by others many a times.

Even I had many conflicts on many topics with Bhuvan and his approach or Ideas. But most of the time i realised the worth of his ideas later.

For Example...

1. He started a CD club in our college days, like many i didn't believe in that idea, but now I think how innovative it was. All those who could not utilized it were really unlucky.

2. When he organized "Ankit Fadia" Event. I think some of the time, the kind of Risk appetite and organizing capability he had, almost 7 years back, prior to all management education he has got.

On his birthday today, I just like to wish him success, which was never too far from him and also a future which has a bridge between his ideas and peoples expectations. I am sure its gonna make this world a better place.

Luv

VT

P.S. You can also read 'testimonial' written by me to Bhuvan on his Orkut profile.

Rains in Mumbai

Hi,

Its raining cats & dogs in Mumbai (and at times just mice and chicks too..my nomenclature for drizzling). It has rained more than what i had seen in my last 6 seasons in Delhi. (Its a fact..) In delhi monsoon is like a 'theme summer' just summer with a monsoon theme. A Lil' bit of rains between scorching sun and hot weather conditions.

I had not seen such a rains in my life exactly. When I was at Barghat during my early days, it used to rain a lot there but there were no traffic jams, power cuts or water logging at all, so rains were simply a season to enjoy and at times we could avoid schools too as a bonus.

In Bhopal I had seen some heavy rains but as I was in boarding school, so avoiding school was not an option. As the school building was at a stone through distance. More over in boarding you could not request the choicest food suiting the rainy season so rains were just another phase of life.

In Indore I haven't seen much of rains, though i have spent 4 complete and continuous years there, and if we count 'July's only then I have been in Indore 6 times during July. It simply do not rain enough, this is my observation based on my very limited exposure there.

In Mumbai it is my first rains-The best weather I must say in the island city. Because winters aren't cool and summers aren't hot here. Rains are the only honest weather here and beautiful too, if we can cut all man made problems.

Rains started in Mumbai a bit late this year around the 2nd last week of June, however since then I have not seen a direct sunshine in the city, its cloudy 24*7, and as unlike winters & summers, Mumbai is not humid or sweaty during rains.. must be some scientific reason.

It was a Sunday evening (20th Jun to be precise), when it started raining, I and Neha were getting ready for our weekend refresher 'badminton'. All dressed in sports wear and equipped with accessories. The rains gave us a naughty thought and we left our Badminton kit and picked up swimming gear (None of us know swimming..but swimming is still the loveliest sport to me.. No pun intended..). We immediately rushed to our swimming pool (We do not have a private one, its the society club house.. just to clarify.. Ok) and jumped in the pool (its only 4 feet deep).

It was simply an 'out of the world' experience for both of us to be in the pool with the first showers of the season. The memories of that day can still refresh me any time ..(just like an F5 button on our keyboard). Rains were heavy but we were not alone there. There were some 5-7 people more. What i noticed next is that all other except us were kids, their parents were there, standing with Umbrellas around and calling them back. But kids were as casual as we were.

At times i think, its a great stress buster to behave like a kid (not to talk like a kid..like some irritating girls do... i know such girls are always there in any friend Circe..). I am suggesting to act or think like a kid. remember that scene from 'Jab we met' When Shahid flushes down the photo of his ex-girlfriend and feels better to do a kiddish thing, and moreover its more refreshing to accept such acts.

So all you who are too stressed with work, please do something which you used to do in your childhood or you wished but missed to do in your childhood.

Just finishing the post with few interesting observations (All Rainy..)

1. Samosas and all similar stuffs tests better in rains then in winters... believe me, else check it out yourself.

2. Any kind of Gazal, sounds suitable when you listen it during rains ..(Kind of Gazals..??? it is a question mark for many, but those who like Gazals with a deeper attachment would appreciate it)

3. To me 'Woh Lamhe..Woh Baaten.. ' is the best rain song till now.

4. Most of the favorite rain songs are not directly related to rains.

You can revert me with your favorite rain song...

Luv

VT

2nd July...

Hi..

I am back after a lot of travel and work in last few weeks which has affected my health too, but nothing to worry everything is just right.

Well The title of the post is 2nd July and I am posting it on 13th, sounds like a mismatch. in fact it is. Actually i wanted to write it on 2nd July only but could not due to extremely tide up schedule.

2nd July is the birth date of "Neerav" and this post is dedicated to him also. On his birthday I was just recalling few interesting incidents i experienced with him. I cant say these are the best ones but yes these are the most memorable ones and therefore I am mentioning them here:

Part of life:

I remember the time when I was in 3rd year and he was in 2nd year of engineering. It was around 7 PM in evening. Neerav just left from my place ( my address was 6/4 Mahesh Nagar.. This place itself is a legend..an abode to many memories and stories..). Anyways After some time he rushed back almost huffing and puffing. (My room was at 3rd floor) and just knocked at the door. I opened and he asked me is he left his cellphone there..??

I checked and told him 'No'. He has actually not left it there. He has perhaps lost it on the way. In those days Cellphone used to be a costly assets (almost like a Laptop today) and maintain one was even more costly as till that time i remember, Incoming calls were chargeable, that too at a rate which was more that today's roaming STD call.

He was also sure that phone was not left at my place, on the way when he realised it is not with him, he returned back searching the phone on the road (on Jawahar marg ). He just came back in a little hope, may be its left at my place. May be he came back also to get some consoling comfort from me, being a senior i was expected to share some words of wisdom to him.

However i was speechless as loosing cellphone as a student and that too in those days was a great loss, and i was simply unprepared for such an accident, i was clueless that how should I console Neerav or what should I say to him (Let me confirm here that he was not crying or looking sad at all, he was balanced as usual, even i was looking more worried than him).

Still we took some moments to realise that, Yes the phone i gone and we wont get it back, police complain was still not solution. after some while i thought of telling something to Neerav but failed to say anything and my facial expressions were sufficient enough to convey anybody that how the hell clue less I was.

Suddenly Neerav came closer to me and said few golden words, which has not only made the atmosphere light but also gave me a relief. Thank god, Neerav didn't require any consolation from my side, in fact what he just told was really the pearls of wisdom, which everyone one of us always keep in our minds...

He said .."Don't Worry sir, Cellphone was just a part of life and not the heart of life."..

Results can wait:

This was an incident happened on the day when i was leaving Indore for Delhi. 18th August 2003. I had to leave by Intercity (Between Indore & Hazrat Nizamuddin-New Delhi) around 4 or 5 PM in the evening. I was leaving for my MBA with the memories of life time and Neerav & Bhuvan were in their final year.

It is said that the proof of your compassion can be seen in your funeral. It was a similar incident. I was leaving Indore for good, I mean not to come back in the same way, and i still remember the way i had received my farewell. It was an unforgettable moment. May of my friends have visited me, gifted me and most of them came to the station to drop me off. It was looking almost like a political see off where, so many people had come on the platform for one, Including all the tenants of 6/4 Mahesh Nagar.

On the same day the result of their batch (Neerav & Bhuavn's batch) has come out for there 6th semester. They both were good in studies and deserved good marks always. Somehow once in 8 semesters, results come like a shock, when toppers topple down, rankers are rammed and almost everybody has got unbelievably bad figures in their mark sheet. It happens to every batch of engineering once a while.

It was that kind of result for them. Their results used to be declared on the Internet, unlike ours. Results were upload midnight, and news were in the air that X has failed, Y has got % in 60s etc..

Bhuvan has also got very less marks then expected but he maintained the calm and didn't mix his feelings with my farewell, he was looking absolutely normal, I asked him about the results but he didn't share and told me not to discuss about it as it is not an important thing at that moment. I still Remember Bhuvan came up with a bag full of fruits which he gave me for the journey.

Neerav went one step ahead, when he came to know the results are bad for everyone, he decided not to check his, till my departure. I do not understand how I become so special for them but I definitely realised how much special I was.

Thanks to them,.. and of course Ankit & Runjhun were also there accompanying me from Mahesh Nagar to Station, we clicked some photographs there too, and when the train was leaving we funnily tried to mock DDLJ's final scene.

Anyways...

Let me wish a great life to Neerav on his birthday and wishing him all the success he deserve.

Luv

VT

Villages of India- A trip to my home town & more...

Hi,

Let me say Sorry for the long delay to those who were waiting for this post ( I know some of you were, as site-meter tells me few people do visit this blog regularly).

Last couple of weeks were too busy, I went to my hometown 'Barghat' then went on for 3 days long residential training program and after that found my self loaded with so many projects, somehow all of them have a coinciding deadline. I am feeling busiest in last 4 years nowdays. Being busy was always a good feeling but somehow; nowadays I get a bit worried about completions. Anyways.. I was also feeling burdensome because of not posting on my blog. Believe me, I don’t know how much others read it, but its more of a self help activity for me, at least I feel relaxed and contented after making a Post.. so here it is...

As I still have lots of work pending I will put my experiences in bullets, else i would have framed it like a story, anyways...

Reaching Barghat:

Whenever I Go barghat, It reminds me of that "Swades" Movie's promo in which Shahrukh was shown coming first by plane, then by train, then by boat, then sharing a two wheeler... Its not that difficult to reach barghat (neerav & bhuvan would agree, as they have visited couple of times) but there is a huge differece between villages (small towns) like Barghat and the same like Baroli (near Indore) or Najafgarh (Near Delhi) or Badalpur (Near Mumbai).

India has two kinds of Villages, the one which are like a satellite to a big city or a metro city and the others like lost stars in a galaxy. Villages which are near to a big city are not actually villages, if the world allow me I will call them SAZ or SRZ (Special agricultural zones or Special rural Zones), which looks similar to a village but receives signals of Radio Mirchi, Have farm house of Virender Sehwag, seen Malls & Multiplexes and believes that Heroines in movies are not goddess but exists on the earth only.

I know its too challenging to improve all the villages of India, but Govt. must try & improve the small cities in those pockets so that nearby villagers can have a satellite connectivity to the urban world, keeping their rural identity & grace intact.

Working in my own garden:

It was a great experience, I remember my Father used to shape up our garden, I have helped him many a times, This time I tried it alone, It was a soul touching expeirence.

Sleeping on the open roof:

India ka Sabse Bada AC.. sleeping on the open roof, I couldn't do this for last so many years. When lying on the cot, you see endless spread of the sky and a big full moon accompanied by lovely natural breeze, you realize how comforting the nature can be.

Power Cut:

Barghat is in M.P., a pioneer state in terms of Power cut. It will be an injustice if I say Power cut is a part of life, Power cut is like your life partner. You are incomplete without it. No festival, wedding or any other occasion is complete without power cut, be it for a couple of mins only but power do take rest there.

New developments:

Now in Barghat you have ATM, any GSM sim can work on roaming, Paid internet facility is there, You can access broadband too, if you have a BSNL Landline or Reliance data-card ( I didn't have either). I have also seen lots of DTH dishes in barghat.

12*7 ATM:

One great thing I observed, that by mutual consent of all, the ATM shutter gets down at night, though they do not lock it, if somebody is in genuine need to access, he can open the shutters. I initially laughed at it, but realized later that they really value their facilities and electricity.

Thanks to PSUs:

though we crib a lot about PSUs in cities, but they are really doing a great job in rural India. No they do not provide better services there but the point is 'they provide services there' irrespective of profit or loss. BSNL has shown the people of rural India what mobile is, and now connecting people via broadband. SBI has established ATMs and Doordarshan still has got viewers.


Sapney aur Sitarey

To my surprise i found people readinf my blog, though they might not be regular or a follower but they do visit these pages.. really a great satisfier.

Genda phool:

Neha has really enjoyed this visit, she wore saari everyday, went to Mandir sat & sang bhajan's with ladies... all in all had a nice time.

An interesting incident happened on the last day when we were getting ready to leave. My Buaji came to our place. she must be around 90 years of age. Very old yet very talkative though she has trouble in hearing.

Neha feels very comfortable with her, as it reminds her of her daadi who is of similar age and nature. She was taking special care of buaji, suddenly she thought of entertaining her by making her listen some songs on I Pod and she connected ear plugs to buaji. Buaji was confused what is going to happen then my Jijaji has conveyed her that neha has sung & recorded some songs in her own voice and going to play it. Neha played 'Genda phool' and 'Aarti' from Delhi-6.

After this Buaji was too happy, this was visible on her face, and the praise for neha in her eyes. she kept on praising her, for her singing skills endlessly. I can not understand why past generations used to look for singing skills in their 'bahu' but I rfelt that it was like a proud possession for them.

I think its too much for now, will post again if any more incidents i can recall or re-feel...

Bye for now...

Luv

VT

Absense

Hi,

Last week i was on a trip to my native place and just after that got engaged in a residential training program.

Both the places i mentioned have limited (almost) no connectivity hence there are no post for a long time, have many thins to write about...

wait for some time will be back with a lot of new stories... some really interesting ones...

Luv
VT

A Beautiful Message

Hi,

Good Morning.. This morning I got up to the SMS beep of my Cell and received a Beautiful SMS from Manav. Manav is formally known as Ratnesh in this world. ( 'Manav' is the name given by me to him inspired by movie "Taal" in which Akshaye Khanna's Character was named "Manav". Ratnesh has many similarities with that Character). He is my school time buddy. He always come up with beautiful Thoughts, messages and poems.

I don't know what is the origin of these thoughts but he always has something amazing to share.

So, here is that beautiful Message which made me ponder a while in the morning...

"We die to finish school, die to start college then die to start working then die to marry then die to retire and finally while dying we realise that we forgot something... We forgot to Live."

Another beautiful Poem which he shared with me few years back, the first 4 lines of that poem are still imprinted in my mind... Really a masterpiece. I tried a lot to find out the author of these lines but couldn't find yet. Anyways.. who so ever is the author, must be a great man/woman.

The Lines are..

"Seekho Pahle pyar Ki Baaten...

Phir Karnaa Adhikaar Ki Baaten...

Kuchh Apne Bhi Sukh Dukh Kah Lo..

Roj Wahi Akhbaar ki Baaten..."

I Believe that above mentioned line describes "Emotional Intelligence" in full, You don't agree?? Ponder a while...

Bye for Now. :-)

Luv

VT

The "X" Effect...

Hi,

The "X" Effect, was the subject line of one of my mails, which I 'sent to all' in my Dept. It was the first mail which I sent to all, just after my transfer to Mumbai and my posting as "Training Manager".

I thought of sending an introductory mail about me, but the same formality was done by HR and I wanted to mail something more impact full.

I thought about a story which I read in Shiv Khera's 'You Can Win', though this story is very common and we all must have heard it somewhere or other. But I was not able to get any other story as this one was most relevant in mentioning 'importance of training' and its regular requirement. As usual to gain attention I popped up the subject line which is the title of this post and have added a couple of paragraphs in the end of the story.

I was skeptical whether my added paragraphs are making sense or not, as the mail was going to hit many Seniors mail boxes too. But finally I clicked on 'Send'.

I got few replys telling me that mail was good, excellent etc. Some of the known colleagues have called me up to convey the same too. But what makes this mail so special for me is that even after months, many of my colleagues who do not know me in person, come across and after formal introduction recall- "Oh so you are the one who has sent 'The X Effect', that mail has really touched me, you know that day i really did this...that..etc...after getting inspired by that mail"

The mail has nothing special for those who are enjoying their life and work, doing something they like to do and are still connected with their friends. But havimg these luxuries is really a Utopian dream in today's work life.

Pasting the content of the mail below, just checkout how the last couple of paragraphs have made people feel so touched...

Sapna, Ramesh, Steve, Meera, Matthew, Vikas and so many others in the organization complained of work pressure, unachievable targets, peer pressure, time management and loss of work life balance. Despite working hard, their performance was going down and impacting organization’s bottom line.Who is to blame for poor performance of employees and business? Ask line managers; they blame it on HR for poor hiring. Ask HR; they blame it on line managers for poor management skills. Ask me, I would say, the Axe???? Now you will ask what (the h*ll) an Axe has to do in performance management? Let me tell you a small story… Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job to a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was good and so were the working conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Carry on that way!”.Very motivated with the boss’s words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could bring only 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but could bring 10 trees only. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees. “I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought.He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. “When was the last time you sharpened your Axe?” the boss asked.

“Sharpen??? I had no time to sharpen my Axe. I have been very busy trying to cut more trees for you.”Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen the axe." In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

This “Axe” includes some truly important things in life. E.G. taking time to pray, to read and study scripture or to listen to good music..

In Organization context “Sharpening the Axe” means revising your fundamental skills and learning the new ones. We at Training team will insure the best of the training inputs from our side, at the same time asking you to re look at the novel you bought six months back and didn’t read,

Visit the nearest music shop to search your favorite title of your college time.

Also reminding you to make calls to your old fellows whom you have missed to wish on their birthdays in last 5 very busy years…

Smile please, Have a nice time, It’s a good day today…

Luv...

VT

28th May...

Hi,

28th May, Its birthday of my sister Babli. But today on 28th May I am thinking a lot about 28th May 2008, exactly one year back, down the memory lane...

We were in Delhi. My sis has landed Delhi the same morning with her 2 kids, but the special guests to arrive were... "Neerav & Bhuvan".

Though after SVITS, I have seen them off and on, at regular (i think irregular) intervals but this was the first time after Indore I was catching them together. Bhuvan has returned to India from Singapore, only to catch the flight to Dubai for his new endeavor in career as an MBA. and Neerav has finally made it to India for good after spending around 2 years in UK.

I was excited to see them together, though They have arrived in the town already few days back, but were at Greater Noida, at Neerav's place. And the obvious reason we could not meet before was the 'great' geographical distance between Dwarka (My place) and G. Noida ( I think the name "Greater Noida was decided after ensuring that, this place is at a 'greater' distance from everything in this world..) They reached at the lunch time (2Hrs late than the pre-decided & pre-committed and thrice confirmed by Neerav's time). The reason for delay is a nice story but it has two different versions, each one comes from Bhuvan and Neerav respectively (or may be dis-respectively.. :-) )And they were supposed to leave the same evening, Bhuvan had to catch the Dubai flight and Neerav was leading to Chennai.

Neha was seeing Bhuvan first time. She was in her office and was to come back by lunch time. I and of course she too got really touched a lot when both these 'devars' touched her feet. We had lunch, gossiped a lot shared many memorable moments which we have missed in each others lives. Cut the b'day cake, had a high tea, and then came the parting time.

Just then Neerav took out his E-ticket and realised He has almost missed his flight. He mistook the flight timings and only 'pushpak vimaan' or a typical 'bollywood-movie-climax-driver' could have made him to catch the flight. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the two options so I gave him my Laptop to book another ticket. He got one for the next morning.

So we both went to drop Bhuvan to Indira Gandhi International Airport, and came back. The same night my sis & mom were leaving for their trip to Risikesh & Haridwar. I and Neerav had got few more hours to discuss (and re-discuss) our never ending discussions. After dinner we were sitting in my room and Neha was too lending an ear to our discussions which does not make much sense to her, when we keep on discussing about Horizon, Swarnajali, SVITS etc.

She was too kind to us. (she is always i think,... treating someone special without experiencing those moments which made them special is not so easy..) After two heavy meals on that high activity day, still she was sitting with us, and we didn't realized when she slept.. after a while once we realise we wound up the discussion.

Next morning I got the Neerav up (or i think vise-versa) and rushed to the Airport, we didn't want to miss another flight. I cam back and the routine life started.

It was just another day on calender, but i still remember that day. Nothing special happened, really nothing which was extra ordinary or out of this world. But still I recall that day today, perhaps because in today's 'capitalized' life spending a full day with 'friends and family' is as scarce as finding a person without a cellphone.

I thank All of them for that day...

Specially to Neha for understanding my special friends who all are kind of unusual too in their own ways (Positive ways) always.

(I always thank someone or other in my blog, may be its sound monotonous, bu to me its a great comfort, because I belong to those set of people who find it easy to write but very, very difficult to express it orally**.. Neha would certainly agree..)

** Though I am quite known as an Orator, but still I am quite silent on my personal feelings...

Isi baat par Ek sher Yaad aaya...

Meri aawaaz hi parda hai mere chehre ka...

Main hoon khaamosh jahan mujhko wahan se suniye .. By Nida Fazli

Bye for Now..

Luv...

VT

The Crackpot

Hi...

Long time, no posts, where were I???

Nothing special, was a little busy and was thinking on making a long post, but it seems as if work will keep me busy for a couple of more weeks and wont be able to script "My Best speech at IIPM" and some more "Horizon Episodes" pretty soon... But decided to mail some smaller posts regularly and to share some motivation stuff.

I know "The great Internet" and the routine "forward mails" have made a good yet unheard and unread material scarce, but still I got to tell you a really nice story which i feel is a bit less circulated on Internet. Please find the same pasted below.. I cant mention the credits as i really don't know the author of this masterpiece. (Not in terms of literary standards but in terms of message).

Think, dwell, ponder a while...

Will come back soon...

A Story For All . . .

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. I am ashamed of myself, and because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. The bearer said to the pot, Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side that's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.

Moral- Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them . . .

Thanks to Neha for sharing this story with me... :-)

Luv...

VT

"Against the Mission & Vision"

Well the correct title must be 'Against the Mission & Vision Statements". Actually at IIPM we had a subject called 'Business Policy'. Business Policy starts with the chapter - Mission & vision statement.

At IIPM they do not teach you the things in straight bookish way. (I agree many other institutes promote innovative learning techniques, but as I have been to IIPM only, I will talk about it only..) Most of the subjects are taught in an open atmosphere where you are allowed to develop your own point of view..

Our Professor while teaching Mission and vision, initiated a debate, whether these statements are really important in an organization or not?

Do organizations really follows these statements, or they frame one after they have achieved their monetary goals..?

The assignment given to us was a group task, we all were to take part in a debate over the importance of 'Mission & vision statements'. Another twist was - it will be decided by lottery system that which group will speak 'for' the topic & which will speak 'against' it. This lottery system to decide for/ against in a debate is a common practice at IIPM. I always hated it, but after joining corporate world i understood the importance of it.

In corporate world many a times you promote some thing which you do not like or believe in and vie versa. Those debates at IIPM has enabled us to look beyond our own liking and preferences. As being an assignment, those debate caries good % of marks and to prove your stand better (which you have not chosen but have got by luck) you really need to do a 360 degree analysis of the topic. At times we discovered really amazing yet unknown facts & views about the topics which seems to have a unanimous general opinion.

Personally i used to believe in the concept of 'Mission & Vision Statements' but as we got to work the other way round finally, i found my self in total distress.

We formed a team of three, we had a slot of 12 minutes to give (do) what ever we could speak, act, show, describe or even mock to convince the audience including our professor that there is no better (or worse) crap that having a mission & vision statement in an organization.

It was our 2nd & final year and we have learnt it quite well that our presentation must have a 'deadly' balance of content & spices. When i say deadly balance it means 60% masalaa and 40% content. But the challenge was 40% content requires 70% of the time available ( that's the most boring part of good content-always), so We had to create a masalaa which can be delivered in say 3 minutes but leaves a lasting impression (about 60% of the total impact of your presentation).

Following was the actual classification of composition:

1. Speaker A- Total Masalaa (Which was me)

2. Speaker B- Content+Masalaa - Examples of organizations who has bright mission statements but fail to follow even a bit of it. ( My god... that girl has raped (of course verbally.. you nuts) DTC (Delhi transport corporation) and Delhi Police, who says ..'pachass varshon se aapki sewa me' and 'with you for you, always' respectively)

3. Speaker C- was a content speaker totally speaking things which are available in books or on internet against mission statement.

So I had to deliver a masalaa speech of 3 mins which should be capable of blowing the audience. I loved (still love) to start a speech or a presentation which a couplet (sher -o-shayri-kavita etc.) I was skeptical whether it will be accepted or not, also i wanted to develop an Orator out of me who can give a good speech without using couplets & poetry. ( it was a useless challenge i had taken, but it had enabled me to use other stage techniques like pictures, tricks, games etc., but I still prefer my collection of couplets over to all those techniques, as I know that I can create a better impact out of it)

Anyways, I was in search of a deadly starting. i thought of many possible ones but was leading to some obvious kind of options which i really didn't want to take up. After so much of speculations I decided upon one, which was really an off beat attempt for me, at least I have never tried in that style till date, but I gave it a try and it served the purpose really well.

So here is the script of the drama I did.. I do not have a practice of writing speeches, i never do. It was the first and perhaps the last time when i did so, unfortunately i lost the real script but most of it is written on my mind, pasting it here directly from the cerebral records...

It was Monday morning , 30th of August 2004, Also co-incidental with Raksha Bandhan that year. We had our classes and it was the 2nd lecture, around 10.30 when we were supposed to come up with our presentation.

The first presentation was from the team speaking for the motion. Guys came, spoke, shouted and gone. (in today's world it is really boring to talk obvious things to people) Audience was expecting some out of the box masalaa.. (Who so ever has invented this phrase 'out of box' must have born before Galileo, as he used to believe that this world is like a box and not like a ball, but just imagine how would it sound if some one says..'out of ball idea..' just joking guys.. some loose talks.. lets go back to the topic)

I have no slides to show but our content speaker had, so first we set the LCD. Then I stood in the middle of the width of the room ( i hardly used podium, which was always there in an IIPM classroom), Looking at me people were not expecting masalaa as i was better known as content speaker.

I was standing with my hands and legs joined, both my elbows touching my body giving a slight hind of a feminine pose, I gave a smile to all of them, tuned my head to each one and peeped into their eyes. and said..

Good Evening...

(Shocking.. 'good evening' at 10.30 AM, some of the nerds looked at their watch and grinned giving an expression that says ' its equivalent of mass killing when you say good morning after 12, and good evening before 5 PM)

I repeated..

'Good Evening and thank you for this opportunity' ( My tone and style was mocking that of a lady, i continued..).

"If I shall go on to become Miss world today, I shall take over from Lisa onto my duties, with as much sincerity and dedication, to go on to become an ambassador of
peace, (pause)
goodwill, (pause)
harmony (pause)
and compassion, and trying to do full justice to our motto, 'Beauty with a purpose.' (pause)
Remember, people, I'll always be there for you,
thank you!"

(then i opened my hand mocked the action of wiping a tear from my left eye, moved from that position and stood few steps away and clapped 3 times and said...)

Good Morning Friends, this is Vishal Thakur, and that was (Pointing towards my previous position) queen of our hearts Aishvarya Rai
at Sun city, South Africa in 1994,
in the miss word contest,
in an answer to the question "what is your mission if you go on to become Miss World Today..?"

(the Pause this time went around 30 -45 seconds as audience were clapping...I wanted to say few words that how Aish had a so called mission and did nothing quotable towards it till then... but the audience's response has confirmed i need not elaborate it... I started again..)

This was an example of how people play with words or rather what could be the difference between words and the work.

Mission statements are often like statutory warning written on a packet of cigarettes "Cigarette smoking is injurious to health", everybody reads it but no body follows it..
I have said some more similar sentences further which i am not able to recall right now...
But the purpose was served and i had discovered a new Masalaa speaker with in me...

By for now..
Will share one more speech from IIPM...

Luv
VT

Well Begun... :-)

Hi,

Right now I am in a bus moving from Dadar to Thane, Thanks to these BRTS AC coaches which are providing such a comfortable seating that i could not resist blogging...

Well..we started really well ( i do not think its just my blog only.. ) as mentioned in Aaghaz, I started this blog to reconnect with our good old fellows and to relive our good old days again, there could be no better response than what i received from the moment i made my first post.

Bhuvan became the first follower, almost immediately after launch.

Got an SMS from Aaquil sir next morning saying ..." Seen ur blog. gud tht u remember ur gud old days. God bless. Aaquil Bunglowala."

Next was a call from Ankit, as he mentioned he just loved it.

Priyanka Anchaliya- Joined the followers, Her comments are true compliments and encouraging. Thanks priyanka.

Aishvarya was next, followed by Runjhun and Ankira.

Shweta- Great friend from my class, its always encouraging to listen from such a friend.

Last but not the least Neerav, well he was too emotional while commenting...

Apart from that what made me really happy are the amount of communication happened off and on the blog with all my dear friends.

During last 5 days I have spoken to Mohita/ Prajyot, Ankira and Runjhun, sat for a long session with Ankit made and received several calls from Neerav, Recieved Email from Tanuja ... I think i am successful in the purpose of launching this blog.

May be 'successful' is a bit too early and too official term to be used, but surly its an honest 'well beginning' and I wish we all can keep this channel alive for good.

Hey. Prajyot and Mohita became parents this evening, Congratulations to them and I wish the baby girl must become as intelligent as her papa and as confident as her momma., ( dear prajyot and mohita, i hope you wont mind me sharing this good news with the world..)

So signing off now, my next couple of post will be on my few speeches given at IIPM (my MBA Alma matter).

At IIPM i didn't get so much of stage life as i lived in SVITS. Most of my oration was due to assignments and presentations but surly IIPM played a key role in developing an English Orator in me. there were couple of speeches which took place due to interesting examination pattern of the institute, will document them here for all of you.

Hey, please don't expect a bomb, those speeches are quite ordinary as compared to ones delivered at SVITS, but yes, none of you got to listen to them, therefore i will share them here with you.

Just now I got a call from Mahim Mam, though she is yet to check out the blog but, let me thank her in advance...

bye for now...

Luv


VT

Sapney Aur Sitarey-Story behind 'the story'

“ Labon se chum kar Aankhon se Patti Khol Deti Hai,
Muhabbat karte karte zindagi Sach bol deti hai” - (Author not known to me..)

Sapaney Aur Sitarey, was a story of seven true dreamers, those who did not only dreamt but achieved it also, of course not in the most preferable way but surely in the most memorable way.

Well “Sapney Aur Sitarey” in the most elementary form is a Hindi Story, published in SVITS college magazine Horizon’s 3rd edition which got published in May 2003 (Exactly 6 years back). The Scan copy of the story is attached here, however there is a whole interesting story behind this story…

Horizon project was headed by “Aaquil Sir” (Mr. Aaquil Bunglowala). He was the chief editor (or you may call him ‘Editor in chief’ -as Saurabh Bararia used to say). The editorial board was divided into two parts, English & Hindi. The English team was led by “Saurabh Bararia” and the Hindi team by me.

(Horizon -03 is an important chapter of my college life and I think of writing a whole series of that, step by step in following posts..pls mail your suggestions)

The editorial team was given a very interesting & challenging assignment by Aaquil Sir. Both teams (English & Hindi) had to come up with a story (not an article or essay), which is written by all its members. The thumb rules were:

1. Each part of the story should come by a different member.
2. Still there should not be any disproportion in terms of continuity or genre.
3. It should come out as a masterpiece of team work, reflecting cumulative effort of everyone’s talent.

The assignment was tough and the most difficult part was point 2, as mentioned above.
Apart from having English & Hindi Classification we had three more members who were the part of “creative team” Savita Charhate, Ketaki Naik and Aishvarya Vaid (Aishvarya is Male … its just a clarification.. No pun intended). While Savita & Ketaki did their contribution in Saurabh’s team, Aishvarya joined my team for this assignment.

Team English has got a nice plot of ‘Camp fire’; in which all of them are sitting for a camp fire and each one of them sharing an experience, one by one. In a simple and effective way they completed this assignment. (I am sure Ram gopal verma has got a copy of Horizon -03, as on the same plot he came up with “Darna Mana Hai..”)

My team had to come up with the story in Hindi, and each and every one of us did not have equal hold on Hindi Literature writing (Infect all my team mates were chosen because of there Positive attitude and the zeal to do some thing exceptional – the details of team recruitment, selection and why Horizon-3 was an exceptional task will be published soon in another post..)

My team was

Hilsa Unni (the nightingale of SVITS) (final year –IT, the then)-She was a member as a representative of IT branch in the steering committee, very few people know that she writes good Hindi poetry, she was better known for her great singing skills.

Neerav Varshney (3rd year IT, the then) – A man with great interest towards every thing constructive, literature was surely one of them. Has written some good piece of literature for Horizon 2 & 3. Always ready for any task any time.

Runjhun Pacholi (3rd Year IT the then) – She has a great sense of Music & literature (Hindi as well as English), A Potential Compere and Orator at that time (at least I believed firmly that she can make a very good anchor with her clear pronunciations, good command over both languages and presentable persona) She was almost a student of mine (The first student) for oration skills and, yes she made me feel proud when she conducted few of the programs pretty well.

Animesh Singh (2nd Year Elex the then)- A talented chap, with lots of guts. We noticed his talent during teacher’s day celebration, where he has conducted few programs on his own.

Aishvarya Vaid (2nd year IT the then)- I am sure he must be the winner of all his Arts and Crafts classes. I believe he can create any thing out of papers. He was on the job to choose the suitable clip arts for each article and was also coordinating with Printing press with Ankit.

Ankit Bhardwaj (2nd year Elex the then)- Ankit was chosen for English team but an interesting incident brought him in my team. Ankit is very intelligent, always ready with lots of out of the box ideas, very energetic and he always gives me the feel of a ‘Rebel’. You can expect him to come up with some out of the world solution every time.

I wished to have Bhuvan Gupta (3rd Year computers the then) in my team too (he was anyways with me always) but during the same period he was busy in the biggest project of those times, infect that event is still unparalleled-The Ankit Fadia Show... (Another story for my post...)

And, as first year students were barred to join Magazine committee I could not take Ankira In my team. Though she and some other first year students have helped us a lot in collecting Articles for the “Horizon”.

Well so that was the team; now let’s talk about the task…

Hilsa was busy in the preparation of Mukesh Nite (.. of course she does not sing Mukesh’s songs but she used to take part for the duets). Animesh was perhaps busy in some competitive preparation, Aishvarya and Ankit had a challenge of ‘writing down’ in Hindi. So in this way the purpose was getting defeated but we decided to complete the task in a different manner. After all, the task was a ‘team building exercise’ so we kept that purpose alive and came out with following solution.

1. We decided that we will write a story having seven key characters (a Multi starrer flick).
2. Each one of us will define and design one character.
3. We will brain storm together for a plot which can accommodate all the 7 characters.
4. Every one will help for one liners and dialogues in the story.
5. These inputs will be penned down by key writers – Me, Runjhun or Neerav.

So all set and done, we all gathered at my room for brainstorming. Ankit has one story idea about a young person who is dying of cancer and there are few characters around him whom he bring together and finally dies.

We did not buy that idea as it was looking too ‘bollywoodish’. But I am sure, later on he sold it to ‘Karan Johar’, who made ‘kal ho naa ho’ on the same plot, just one year down the line.

We finally took inspiration from one sad incident that happened those days. It was “The Columbia spacecraft Crash” in which 7 crew members died including an Indian astronaut –Kalpana Chawla. Our story was a tribute to the lady and moreover a salute to the ‘power of dreams’. She came from Haryana state where population of girl child and their % of education are still among the weakest in India, its only her deams & dare which made her a star- a true universal star.

So plot was finalized as the story of 7 astronauts who went on a mission but could not come back alive. We all have decided to be one of the characters in this story and each one has decided to design his/her chosen character.

The fact which makes this story very close to our heart is that character’s designed by us has quite a bit similarity with each one of us. Each character has some personality traits of its creator and the chemistry between the characters was also similar to the real one. Later on when story was published people could actually identify us in those characters. However we kept this background story, grounded and did not promoted the story that ways, but close friends knew this secret.

I wrote and played Capt. Siddarth, Hilsa was Kavita Rao, Neerav played Rahul Sharma, Runjhun was Disha Dixit, Animesh singh was Animesh Bajaj, Aishvarya was Gyan chand Bali and Akit was Abhimanyu singh.

I still remember, the fate of those 7 astronauts in the end of the story made all of us feel very very emotional, the moment we completed it, we all had a heavy heart.

There were some shortcomings in the story (from literary point of view)

1. It had a hurried storyline- as we all were editors and were well aware of the importance of keeping pages of magazine limited to 100 and the editing bug has made us to keep the narrations quite brief.
2. We could have made it more interesting and engaging by adding more detailed scenes.
But still this story is close to our heart.

Last and most important thing was the title. The story says all those 7 heroes have died for a Nobel cause (they preferred to send the records and reports in the emergency space craft, instead of saving their own life). All of them had a dream to do some thing big in their life though they could not realise their dreams in the expected way but they all have felt a sense of achievement before the end. Those seven dreams became the seven stars in the sky…Leading to the the title… “Sapaney Aur Sitarey”

Following 3 pages are scan copy of the story from Horizon 03, Neerav Thanks once again for the copies dear…

Luv...

VT