Koshish Karne Walon...!!!

Randomly got reminded of and started reciting one of my MOST favorite poems from school days... My Mom and Dad had gifted me this poster with Pt. Harivansh Rai Bacchan's poem about never giving up. I was amazed that I still remember it word to word.. Here it goes... (Its in Hindi, non-Hindi speakers, please excuse me this time around....)

Lehron se Darkar nauka par nahin hoti,
koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti

Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai,
chadhti deewaron par, sau bar phisalti hai.
Man ka vishwas ragon mein saahas bharta hai,
chadhkar girna, girkar chadhna na akharta hai.
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahin hoti,
koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.

Dubkiyan sindhu mein gotakhor lagata hai,
ja ja kar khali haath lautkar aata hai
Milte nahi sahaj hi moti gehre paani mein,
badhta dugna utsah isi hairani mein.
Muthi uski khali har bar nahin hoti,
koshish karne walon ki haar nahi hoti.

Asaflta ek chunauti hai, ise sweekar karo,
kya kami reh gayi, dekho aur sudhar karo.

Jab tak na safal ho, neend chain ko tyago tum,
Sangharsh ka maidan chhodkar mat bhago tum.
Kuch kiye bina hi jai jaikar nahin hoti,
koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.

– Harivansh Rai Bacchan

9/11 and Meetup!!!

I received the following e-mail this morning and like any other 'bulk' mail, I kept it on a least priority to read. But I am pretty obsessive that way so went on to read it anyway at a later point. The simplicity stuck me at first but it was still a very powerful e-mail.

I am currently studying entrepreneurship and the looking at ways to start up and opportunities. And here is a story of a simple motivation and extreme belief in the purpose that really pulled off the venture. A good read...

Fellow Meetuppers,

I don't write to our whole community often, but this week is
special because it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many
people don't know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.

Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles
from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought
local community doesn't matter much if we've got the internet
and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I
hoped they wouldn't bother me.

When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors
in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to
neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they'd normally
ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each
other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being
neighborly.

A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring
people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was
born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet -- and
grow local communities?

We didn't know if it would work. Most people thought it was a
crazy idea -- especially because terrorism is designed to make
people distrust one another.

A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months
after 9/11.

Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it's
working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,
Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups... a wild variety of
100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common -- except one
thing.

Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to
neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.
They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and
motivate each other, they babysit each other's kids and find
other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace
together. They make friends and form powerful community. It's
powerful stuff.

It's a wonderful revolution in local community, and it's thanks
to everyone who shows up.

Meetups aren't about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it
weren't for 9/11.

9/11 didn't make us too scared to go outside or talk to
strangers. 9/11 didn't rip us apart. No, we're building new
community together!!!!

The towers fell, but we rise up. And we're just getting started
with these Meetups.

Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)
Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
New York City
September 2011

Falling To Rise

And then you fall and then you rise

This fight is not for all but the wise

There is anxiety and there is grief

There is work to do in time brief

There are tiny but trillion thoughts

And inside you, your mind rots

There is failure but there is hope

And you can do without dope

There is loneliness but there is love

One day you'd see the white dove

Tough times many will come on your way

But "all for good" in the end you'll say

You would have many, not one choice

But always hear your own inner voice

I am not far but inside you somewhere

For one reason that you are here.

And then you fall and then you rise

And then you learn of this life's disguise.

This is NOT an original post. This poem is by Arnab Ghosh. I loved it so much that I decided to re-post it with his permission. I loved this poem cos its so much full of realities and still has so much hope in it.

Hope you guys enjoy it too, let me know!!

Cheers!!

The story so far....!!!

Few of things before that....

1. Yes, I do plan to continue this blog.
2. I will write the part 2 of the Leh trip, nonetheless months later and though nobody read the 1st part, anyway.
3. I have a bunch of other stuff drafted but never finished and posted, hope still remains I will do that some day.
4. I know the project “50 days Pune” did NOT work out and I am todally bummed because of that but I will be back in Pune again someday and complete the project. Thanks for the support guys but life got so crazy that I just could not get it done.

Now, the story so far...

1. The place I called home “9, Padam Appartments” is no longer mine and I left Pune on 10th Aug.
2. The journey was quite eventful till Mumbai but thankfully pretty mundane then after.
3. Reached Boston safely and had lot of fun meeting people at Boston.
4. Stayed with friends for few days and the reception was heart warming.
5. Moved to hostel couple of days back.
6. All settled in the dorm and seems like a fun place.
7. Classes began today (pre-MBA) and the class is totally awesome.
8. Looking forward to getting busy with course work to take my mind off from missing Pune, friends and family.

Unpacking was the toughest part. It had a sense of permanency to it and that felt scary. Past trips to the US were always short and there was ‘homegoing’ to look forward to... There is no going back now.. There is no place to go back to... Its all ahead of me from here...

But there is always hope.. Hope to make new friends - like old ones, to make this place home and have even more rocking time here....!!! Herez to the (to-be) home and more good times!!!

The Unforgettable Trip Part 1: Pune-Delhi-Manali

The plan was ready for years, ppl were willing for ages but somehow we never took-off for the most awaited trip... But M (Do check out her Travelogue and awesome Blog) and I were as resolute as SRK was in MNIK to meet the President; we just had to do this before I started B-school.

“LEH-LADHAK we are coming..” on second thoughts now, it’s more like “Leh Ladhak we were coming”

Day 1:
AJ (who dropped out of the plan multiple times but finally stuck along with us like a hair on the soap) and I started from Pune by Durronto Express from Pune to Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi station. The journey was full of chaos thanks to the cranky kid in the coupe. AJ gave him dirty and nasty looks but to her and my dismay the kid was quite a fighter. The food took me back to hostel days when the food was insipid and slimy. Needless to say AJ was crestfallen as she wasn’t able to get her timely portions of food. We spent most time reading till a salesman (who I thought could teach ‘How to Sell’ at any top B school) conned AJ into buying a deck of playing cards for 90 freaking bucks. 52+3 pieces of paper for 90 Indian Rupees!! That was some serious business. So reading (I read ‘Indira, a biography of Indira Nehru Gandhi’), playing cards and cursing the cranky kid (at times his mom too) kept us busy and Delhi arrived at the wee hours of the day.

Day 2:
Growling stomachs and the scorching heat disarmed us from thinking straight and we took an auto for 300 bucks to travel the 10kms distance between us and delicious food. I do NOT regret it!

CM welcomed us in her typical no-hug-only-handshake fashion. We hugged her nonetheless. CM’s mom had made one of the best breakfasts I have ever devoured (this word will be overused in the following text, be warned) on; Aalo Bhaji and Parathas. Now that stomach was full, it was time to do the next favorite activity; actually I am not sure which was our MOST favorite activity; Sleeping or Eating?? It’s like choosing your favorite kid or choosing between Khwaja and Aarjeyaan. One just cannot pick one. So we slept till it was time for us to catch the bus from ISBT, Kishmiri Gate, Delhi.

We took a Metro from Patel Nagar to KishmiriGate with a stopover at Rajeev Chowk to shift from Blue Line to Red Line (or some jazz like that). The KishmiriGate Metro has an ISBT exit and the station is just a few strides away. ISBT was dilapidated and smelled as if there was a swimming pool of urine close by. But time did not allow us to go check that out!! Sigh!!
As I had earlier mentioned, or maybe I didn’t; we were supposed to travel in a group of 4 but SK cancelled on the 11th hour and just the trio was left to en… dure err… enjoy with each other… But 3 is an odd no. of ppl to travel with, not just mathematically, even logistically. The bus was a 2*2 and we were 3. CM was stranded on a seat and a CID kind of suspense was building up as to who will come next to her. I took it upon myself to find a female co-passenger for her and looked up with hopeful eyes only to find we were in a bus full of Honeymoon Couples. On a brighter side we were in company of love so to say but I requested many couples and none wanted to leave the sight of their newlywed! Only if it was a pensioner’s bus they would be queuing up to exchange seats with us!! I almost got one guy to move out of his seat when I heard a little mumble from his wife… ”No, I want to sit with you tonight!!” It was just a night long journey dudes… Oh wait..!! Makes sense!! I gave up my search once I had it all figured out.

The journey was uneventful except for AJ puked all night into a poly bag while CM and I slept peacefully. We reached Kullu at 8 AM. The drive from Kullu to Manali was so beautiful that even logs like us didn’t blink let alone sleep. The beautiful Beas River was flowing so gracefully that AJ even allegedly reported that it made her cry. That was a bit too much and she regrets confessing it to us for all the jokes we made. Kullu to Manali passed quickly absorbing the beauty of the river and listening to some exceptional oldie songs.

P.S: Forgot to mention we watched “Dabaaaang 1”; a lahori rendition of the original blockbuster. It was an experience in itself. We were only cranking to what lied ahead of us.

Day 3:
We got down at Manali station at 10 AM. We had made bookings with a Hotel but we decided to ditch that fella and look for a place to crash nearby. In a very classic “Bunty and Bubbly” con style, we got conned into taking a shithole called ‘Pawan Hotel’ near the station for 800 bucks. And when I say shithole I mean a shithole. It was room which could barely fit a bed and 2 chairs and we had to walk on our toes to move around. The sheets were polka dotted only that the dots were made by Cigarettes, the blankets… let me not talk about it... You get the idea, right!! Whatever the conditions, with be our unwavering love for sleep we spent the whole noon sleeping clinching to those godforsaken blankets!

The best discovery of the day was “Aasheiyan Hotel”. Its right on Mall road behind the Bus Stop. Aalo Paratha (aalo was our staple food thanks to CM), Aalo Bhaji, Chola Bhatura and Gobi Paratha…. (slurrrp!!) each dish outdoing the other!! We forgot the woes of Pawan such was the magic of this food.

Completely content, we began our search for ways to get to Leh. I was closely monitoring http://leh.nic.in/ from Delhi. Manali to Leh always flashed in the garish RED as CLOSED. But we knew there were ways to get there rather we were hopeful rather too hopelessly. We visited more than 10 tour operators checking status of road, rates, possibility of reaching and timeline. Many completely dismissed the idea, some were sympathetic, few were daring enough to ‘smuggle’ us but overall the tone was towards the negative side. We were now coming in terms with reality… The dream Ladhak expedition might not happen. Ouch! It was too much to accept.

As we moved from one tour operator to another each kept mentoring we are just 3 and might need a couple more to hire a Sumo or something like that. Also, interestingly, each kept mentioning about 2 guys who visited them ‘just’ before us looking for company too. But we were destined to meet. And meet we did at Antrek “Wanda” Tours. I say ‘wanda’ not cos of their service but cos the lady at the office used this particular word so often that after a point all one could hear was ‘Wanda Wanda Wanda’. Wasn’t very encouraging, but we met these 2 guys there who were looking for company and seemed pretty good company to travel with. Our only criterion was to find ppl who can tolerate the Trio’s noise levels. They fit in well!! May be to their later regret, we couldn’t care less at that point in time. We were going to KEYLONG; it was mid way between Manali and Leh. Hope was still alive, we were bad at budgeting till that point in time though!!!

Happy and merry about the effort of visiting so many tour operators paying off so well we decided to treat ourselves with… what else… A grand DINNER!!! After the grand dinner at another must visit place called ‘Sher-e-Punjab’, we decided to sleep (yes, yet again as we planned to take off at 3 AM to Keylong).

P.S: We also visited Manali Carnival. For some reason a guy (allegedly a Marathi) kept calling it CarVInal. And as sophisticated as we are, we made jokes about it all the time and now we can pronounce Carnival only one way… Carnival!!
Come back for more on the Keylong trip and much more.I wil add pics as soon as I have ‘em.

Cheers,
Anagha

50 Days Pune

Pune… The city where I spent last 7 years... Yes, 7 long years… But looking back now, it seems like a very short time… Pune is home… It’s the place where I really ‘grew up’, where I learned and got many awesome things, a place which will always be special and I would want to come back again and again. But for now it’s time to move on and leave this city… for good, I guess.

I will be moving base to Boston, MA from 15th Aug to pursue a 2yr full time MBA at Babson College’s F.W Olin Graduate School of Business. This leaves me with my last 50 days in this lovely city. As much as I am sad about the fact of leaving, I don’t want to spend this time cribbing and crying… Instead I have decided to revisit all the great memories, places and ppl from last 7 yrs. While doing so I will keep a log of it here.

50 days and 50 posts... That’s my target… The posts will serve as an excellent memoir for me and might come handy to ppl who are new (even old) in Pune and looking to explore… There will be many personal references of course but I will definitely make an effort to keep it understandable without any prior knowledge. So here I begin the last 50 days before I scoot off…!!

Bon Voyage!!

I have created a new blog for this @ http://50dayspune.blogspot.com

I will continue writing here for the next 50 days....!!!
Do visit!!

The lost hour!!

So last night while I was well not sleeping and listening to some blissful Mark Knopfler, something happened and I lost an hour... Many call it Daylight Saving, I just think its evil.. A prank played by the insomniacs to make the sound sleepers suffer.. Just like that in a moment of bliss I lost an hour and the enormity of that event stuck me... Its a freaking HOUR we are talking about..

This not-so-happy realization made me take a trip down the memory lane.. Not sure if it was the music, the snow fall or may be something I was having, the philosopher, the introspect-er and the trying-hopelessly-to-cling-on-to-the-past-er took over.. Remembering all the hours which may not have been possible in this lost one but the ones most close to the heart.. Some happy, some not so much, some euphoric, few insane..

1. The 60 min of Sunday mornings when my brother and I were 10 and 8... And Jungle Book..
2. The 1 hour sports period every week during school.. When sports meant shouting at the top of our voices and running berserk all over the place..
3. The hours appointment with the dentist every 15 days.. I believed at that time the ghost looked exactly like the fat lady in the white coat who knew only one word ‘Spit’!! The ice cream grand-mom used to get once we were out of the satanic places. I miss you, Aaji and I no more think of you as the devil, lovely Dentist lady!!
4. The hour in the school bus each day.. The most fun part of the schooling experience.. The hour of singing, antakshari, fighting, gossips, cheating on the conductor at times when traveling by government buses, arguing with strangers over acceptable limit of noise that can be created in public transport.. Geez, feels like yesterday..!!
5. Moving to junior college, the exactly 1 hr lunch break everyday... The hour of new excitements, old stories and new spices, the hour of teenage independence...
6. The one hour extension on Sundays to “In-time” in the hostel. This hour turned into hours as we progressed through college days though.
7. The longest hour when I was trying to reach college for 3rd year result. It was a ritual and superstition to collect the result with the bunch of together. We feared if we all were not together something nasty might happen. I was getting back from Mumbai and trying to make it on time only to learn that there was an Auto-strile. Darn!! I walked, ran, crawled in midst of 100s of worried calls and texts till I made it just in time.
8. Every 60 min of Puoshttam and Fiodiya Theater play.. In the light room or on the stage the euphoria was always at the peak..
9. The excruciatingly unbearable hour of Somaiya classes on Engineering Mechanics. The professor had an effect on the eyelids that it was impossible to keep ‘em open but he hated them closed and in between the students spent an hour of agony and closeness to god to just praying for the hour without getting caught..
10. The most adventurous hour White Water Rafting in Kundalika river with the bestest set of friends...
11. The 10th season finale of FRIENDS.. Watching it with friends and wishing that it never ended...
12. The hour narrated in my last post..
13. The only 60 minutes spent by the beach before midnight on 31st Dec night after a 29 hour journey using all possible means of road transport... The 60 precious moments of splashing waves, tipsy eyes and hardly burning bonfire was the beginning of the most crazy friendship bonds that will last a lifetime...

This list made me think of many other moments which essentially are not remembered with an hour’s measure... All those.. some other time...

For now, in the memory of the hour.. that could have been...