The Ghost of Monty Cinto by Samir Konnur ( Illustrations by Dall.e 2)

Brad and three of his friends, all 23 years of age, along with a guide, had just completed a 4 day backpacking trip on a remote island in the Pacific, about 20 miles from the big island of Hawaii. Having recently graduated from college they were still trying to figure out what they wanted to do in life. Someone had suggested they experience seclusion for a few days to help discover themselves . Being young and impressionable, they had jumped on the idea. And here they were in this largely uninhabited remote Pacific island along with an experienced local guide they had hired for this trip.

It was quite an adventure but now as they climbed down the last hill to the harbor, they were all thinking about the journey back home. While Brad had booked a berth on a private yatch scheduled for next morning to take him to San Francisco, others were scheduled to travel on the evening ferry that docked once a week on this island. That ferry will take them to the big island of Hawaii from where they would fly home to New York city. As they rounded a corner on the forested trail , the views opened up and they could see the harbor a few hundred feet below by the cove.

Since Brad had to spend another night on the island, he found a nice spot to camp for the night and left his backpack under the tree. And rejoined the group as they proceeded down to the harbor. In the distance the ferry boat showed up as scheduled, a slender silhouette on the horizon. By now group had reached the small tin roofed harbor building

As they all settled in, reflecting on the last incredible four days and thinking about what lay ahead, unexpectedly out of the blue a ferocious storm rolled in. Winds began to howl , waves crashed on the shore with rage , storm clouds darkened the sky and then boom. A huge lightning struck , the flash was so bright that it momentarily blinded everyone.Captain of the boat radioed in to the harbormaster that this change in weather meant the boat will find another safe harbor for tonight and will return tomorrow to pick up the passengers. Brad's group huddled together anxious at this unexpected delay in their reunion with their families.

But to their amazement as soon as the ferry boat had left, the storm cleared and the seas became calm again. Brad's guide commented that the storm seemed to have made an appearance as if just to stop them from leaving the island but as he was speaking his eyes caught another sight that was way more concerning. The lightning had struck the tree under which Brad had left his backpack, destroying all the contents of the backpack . Guide commented that it was weirdest of coincidence that the storm had just arrived to stop them from leaving the island and the only thing it destroyed was Brad's backpack.

Just then Brad now clearly shaken and distressed, uttered " it is the ghost of Monty Cinto"

Others looked at Brad bewildered, questioning what the hell was he talking about. Brad, still visibly unnerved , his stare on the distant horizon, repeated ' ‘ it is the ghost of Monty Cinto, who did this”  Since this time Brad stated that very deliberately, everyone fell silent. After what felt like a long time, the guide inquired , "what is this ghost of Monty Cinto and how does Brad know about it ?"

Brad narrated that 4 days ago when they had arrived on the island and camped near one of the many ruined buildings scattered on the island, it was his turn to cook and he had used some ingredients from his own recipe to flavour the food.

That night after I slept I had a vision. I was transported back in time when those ruins were fully functioning buildings ,and there were lots of uniformed servicemen working at the site. Then a shrill bell rang and men scrambled into a huge dining hall , where the aroma arising from the kitchen put everyone in a trance. Soon lunch was served and they began to devour it happily. And the men chatted that had it not been for the chef , that food would have tasted like dog food. After the meal , they all started clapping and cheering ,‘ Monty, Monty’ , and out come from the kitchen, a young and dashing ‘ Monty Cinto’ wearing the white apron of a chef.

He thanked the servicemen for their patronage and told them it was his dream to someday open his own restaurant in New York city and serve such finger licking gourmet cuisine to everyone, especially poor ,who couldnt afford to go to those expensive Michelin star restaurants. He added that they were all invited and he coudnt wait for this goddamn war to get over so he could realize his manifest destiny. Just as Monty finished his speech, the air raid sirens went off , warning about the presence of enemy aircarft nearby . As the soldiers ran to the bunkers for safety, Monty instead ran back into the kitchen, someone tried to stop him that it was not safe to stay above ground, Monty commented that he needed to collect his families heirloom that he had safely kept below his kitchen platform in a black chest , and without that heirloom his life was any way worthless. Just as Monty entered the kitchen, there was a huge explosion, the kitchen had taken a direct missile hit such was the ferocity of the blast that it destoyed the entire building above ground. 

Brad's companions were all on alert now, their tone changed , after all they were on a remote island in middle of the vast Pacific, thousands of miles away from their families and home in NYC. But they still confronted Brad ,that he might be hallucinating ,that it might be just the place that spooked him. Brad was now shuddering and in his cracking voice replied “ I wish it was just my hallucination” and then continued that he did not think too much about it the first night but the second night he again had a vision, and this time it was Monty himself. In his energetic and optimistic voice he told Brad that he loved the aroma from the food he had cooked previous night and that his recipe felt similar to the one Monty’s mother had given him. He further explained that as Brad found out in his vision the previous night , Monty was unable to fulfill his destiny of serving haute cuisine to poor families in NYC and that Brad should now take that up as his mission.

Monty then held Brad’s hand and guided him to towards the bombed out ruins and carefully avoiding any sharp debris , showed a small black chest that was bolted to the floor plate and somehow had survived wars of men and nature alike. As instructed by Monty, Brad opened the chest to reveal a diary , and as he glanced through it, there were hundreds of recipes all remarkably detailed and carefully indexed. Monty commented that finally he is handing over the family heirloom to the rightful owner , Brad obviously could not understand what Monty meant.

Back at the harbour , one of his friends remarked that Brad was just using the coincidence of the storm and lightning strike to scare them and questioned whether he had any evidence to back these wild supenatural, implausible tales. Brad now sweating profusely, his hands trembling, pulled a leather folder from the knapsack that he was still carrying with him and holding it in front of the group offered " here is that diary”

Now , everyone in the group was panic-stricken as they realized Brad was not making this up. The guide walked up to the harbor master and inquired about the islands history. Harbor master mentioned that the ruins at the top of the cliffs were indeed a military outpost during the 2nd world war and being close to Hawaii, played a crucial role in the Pacific theatre of war. And at any given time there were roughly about 500 enlisted men on the island. But when the guide inquired if anyone of the name Monty Cinto was part of that island company, the harbor master responded that such information could only be provided by the Naval office on the main island. And since they were particularly curious about this, he would radio the Naval HQ in Hawaii and make some inquiries for them and check about Monty.

The guide sensing the distress of his group spiraling out of control , took charge of the situation. He pointedly asked Brad that while he believed in his story so far but inquired why would Monty stop them from leaving the island. Brad explained that he had objected to Monty's request about fulfilling his dream of opening a restaurant in NYC and had not shown any particular enthusiasm to take it forward. He told Monty that while his friends were indeed heading back home to New York city tonight, he will be taking a boat tomorrow to San Francisco. Monty had smiled back at him and informed that wouldn't be the case.

Now even the guide was becoming nervous , everyone was just consumed by fear ,just then the harbor master called out for them. He had heard back from the Naval HQ. Records confirmed that there was a chef by the name of Monty Cinto, he was loved by everyone, he had such a generous spirit and the food he prepared was delicious beyond words.

And by the way he added , Monty was reported missing in action after the Japanese attack on the island and even now military records show him as missing since his body has never been found. Further records showed that Monty was 23 when he went missing on the island and he had a distinct heart shaped birthmark on his left chest.

Hearing this , Brad collapsed on the ground . After the group sprayed some water on his face, Brad regained consciousness. By now everyone including the harbour master had collected around him, concerned for his well being. Harbor master who had overheard Brad's story asked him to calm down since events leading up to Monty's disappearance happened such a long time ago.  

Still trembling , Brad responded in a faint quivering voice, "Now I know why destiny choose this island for my self discovery , what Monty meant when he said I was the rightful owner for that diary and slowly removed his t-shirt , revealing a heart shaped birthmark on his left chest. 

Draft version - From Gardener to CEO of the Garden

Draft version 

6 months ago, I had described the transformation of my dull concrete balcony into a green oasis , my own little zen garden.  Sharing an update on how that garden has evolved and in turn how the garden has incfluenced me . Here are  two compelling learnings.

1. Over the course of last year I must have dealt with over 80 different varieties of plants.  

Some plants showed a lot of promise during the interview at Lowes / Home Depot, but after I planted them in my garden, they withered away. Never living to their potential. ( Kaleidoscope abelia, Debutante camellia, Wax Myrtle )

Some plants showed little enthusiasm or growth at the start but when I moved them to a different location , they suddently burst into life, as if they had found their corner.  Benjamin ficus is a great example once I moved it outdoor from inside, it just flourished with abondon and is a predominant feature.

Some plants (creepers) did not show any motivation to grow vertically inspite of providing enough climbing aids, but when I had them situated next to each other, as if by magic , they combined forces and grew by several feet just within a few months, constantly out doing each other but at the same time relying each other to grow, coopetition in its truest form. Mandevilla sun parasol, Dipladenia madinia white and Carolina Jessamine are in that active coopetition.

Some plants I brought with low expecations but they just hit it off as if this garden was their destiny. For example , Cape Honeysuckle, within months it just grew from 4 feet into a 9 feet plant towering over all others. 

It has been such a revealation. Arent we all humans just like plants , we wither away sometimes but flourish gloriously in a garden where we feel we belong.

2. Another learning I had was managing a garden was akin to running an organization. Starting with conceiving the vision itself, what you want that garden to be , execution strategy to bring that to life and maintain it. Beauty is nothing in a garden is static just like in any organization, its a dynamic , constantly changing.. 

From a Gardener to a CEO of my Garden !

Diary - the Mirror without glass - 2

This diary in transition to adolescence ...

“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it”- James Mathew Barrie

and yeah thats what we all do when we hit that age inst it ... we choose difficult things hahhahahhahahahahahah :-) 

Even now I get a good laugh on my naivety ... but like the quotes... keep up the spirit good man !!! 

This is the diary after I began working .. in 1994 .. and with that the type of things I began to capture changed .. having an interest in Marketing, Business, History, Economics , Literature .. meant most of my post 20 diaries were hybrid mix of everything ..

This is when I shifted my career and interest from old economy to new economy .. went thru a year long tranformation and absorbed as much information as I could from where else but the internet .. Boolean alegebra ... which forms the basis of several search engine rules including Google ...

TBL and the start of the WWW... I have written atleast 4-5 full scape books worth on this stuff as I was trying to gain proficiency on this bold new world of the WWW

Diary - the Mirror without glass - 1

Diary -- is a way you talk back to yourself without any dimension of time .. they are Time Machines ..Everyone who writes a diary wait for someone to come in their life who would want to read it.

Revisiting the pages of my diaries to whom I have been talking since childhood and still talk in form of updates, notes and blogs !! With the debate between God & Science heating up,, felt like sharing these simple but profoundly meaningful words by W . H Carruth !! (This diary entry is roughly 24 years old)

Since the advent of the personal computers and internet ,, the concept of writing have become quite outdated ... I had preserved diaries that I wrote .....some of them as a kid some as a teenager and some as a working adult .. and somewhere around 14 years back discontinued that practice ..

                                                                                                                          Things that never die -----priceless Poetry by Charles Dickens ... every time reading this makes me chuckle , did that 20 years ago when I copied this poem and do that till this day .. even when I posted this picture ..

My very first diary -- must be around 4th Standard -- 1987 ish time ... .. that time Siddharth Basu's Quiz Time on Sunday evening - Doordarshan was an craze .. and the whole nation was in the grip of a quizzing mania ... I am sure many other children maintained similar collection too

So I began .. writing whatever information I could get my hands on -- Inventors, capitals, discoveries, currencies and all that usual clutter of GK .... remember there was no internet ,, :-(

and now you know why I do not really put any pressure on Sakshi to improve her handwriting.. how can I hahahahahahah

Celebrating 22 years of an incredible voyage ...

While celebrating my 22nd work anniversary ,one episode comes to my mind, it was around August in 1995, I had settled in my role as service supervisor at Voltas in Ahmedabad and needed to travel to our manufacturing plant for some urgent meeting to discuss recurring failure in the compressor of our refrigerators. Voltas manufacturing plant was located near a small town of Warora , literally in middle of nowhere, the nearest large town was Nagpur about 107 km / 65 miles away. While I reached Warora through Nagpur , on return journey , I decided to take a chance by catching one of the few long distance trains that make an halt at Warora, The Navjeevan express, which runs twice a week from Chennai all the way to Ahmedabad. The train’s scheduled arrival time in Warora is after mid-night , however as I still needed to find local transport from the plant to the train station , which I was told would be difficult ,after dark so by 6 pm , I packed my one lone suitcase, which also doubled as a briefcase. ( Those days before laptops become common place, everyone had a suitcase or a briefcase, nowadays everyone carries a backpack :-) ). A local bus dropped me at the Warora station around 6:45 pm. I bought the train ticket to Ahmedabad and a long wait for the train awaited me.

Since I had no reservation , I was also mentally preparing myself for the long haul , long haul in terms of traveling in an unreserved coach meant traveling without a seat and potentially without access to food, water or toilet for extended periods of time. And even without any delay, the travel time from Warora to Ahmedabad was 15 hours and Navjeevan express was notorious for being perennially late.

Warora those days was a dusty little town with very few amenities. There were no restaurants around , but thankfully there were a few food hawkers . Since it was unlikely that I would get access to a decent toilet for the next 18 hours I thought of eating something light not to burden my stomach; And something light for a person from Gujarat means only one thing – Bhel ;-). So I had a Bhel and probably a chat for dinner at that stall and strolled back into the eerily empty Warora train station. In the 1990’s people actually read from a book instead of a device :-) , but my mind was too overworked so I could not read the book I was carrying. By the time it was 9 pm , the entire town had gone dark and except for the station manager the station was deserted.

And it was still at least 4 hours for my train to arrive, so I decided to catch a nap on one of the stone benches on the station. Unfortunately while Warora does not count for much in terms of passenger traffic but the train line that runs through the station is one of the busiest for freight, because of the coal mines of Chandrapur located nearby. So every 30 minutes of so , a wagon train carrying coal , would pass through the station , on its way to various coal fired power plants across the country. And every time I heard the train approaching with its thundering roar, I would wake up , thinking it was my train. Station master noticed my trepidation and offered to wake me up before my train arrived. That way I would not have to wake up every time a train passed by. I took his offer and tried to get some deeper sleep, but the anxiety of missing the train was too great, but not to disappoint the station master, I ended up acting as if I was having a deep sleep . hahahhaa

Finally Navjeevan express arrived with all the huffing & puffing of a diesel locomotive and called in at the Worora station around 1:30 am. Each long distance train has usually 2 unreserved coaches , and I scrambled to get in one of them. From the odour inside the coach , I could easily vouch that the train had already been enroute for 12 + hours. Luckily I secured a small space on the upper wooden berth in the compartment. After a short halt, the train gave a joyous whistle ( at least it sounded joyous to me :-) as I was finally on the way home) and pulled out of the station, . The motion of the train with the junk street side food I had eaten the previous evening made for a deadly cocktail and soon I felt the bug in my stomach. For the next 15 hours I sat in that one place trying to make as little motion as possible so as to not antagonize my stomach any further. Finally that ordeal ended next day and it took me another day to recover from the bug.

And even today every time I feel upset waiting for a bus or having to take the middle seat on a flight or overcrowding in a train, I remind myself of that journey from Warora.

Celebrating 21 years of an amazing journey

In a few days, I would be celebrating 21 years of an incredible voyage , voyage that began on the morning of 15th October 1994, my first day at work , aged 19. My work life, while spectacularly short on achievement has been extraordinarily high on adventure. Whatever I am today, I owe it to this journey and to my extended family, my uncles/ aunts, who welcomed me to stay with them as their own son , whether in Mumbai, Ahmedabad or Bangalore. Without that support this 19 year old would have never survived those extremely challenging years of his nascent career. And my sister/ brother in law, whose home would later become my refuge through some very tumultuous times in Bangalore.

As has been my custom for the past few years, the work anniversary is a time of intense nostalgia. And an opportunity to write, share and reflect.

My first job was as a Quality supervisor at Vijayjyot Seats Limited in Halol, Panchamahal district from 15th Oct 1994 to 15th Feb 1995 , then for a week at L&T Cement plant in Amreli, Saurashtra as Maintenance engineer and finally joined my first alma mater – Voltas Limited in March 1995. After completing my initial training at Voltas refrigerator manufacturing plant near Warora in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, and some more training at the corporate HQ in Chichpokli, Mumbai , I was given a few days’ vacation to visit home and asked to report to work at Voltas regional office in Khanpur, Ahmedabad.

Ahmedabad was not entirely unknown to me, thanks to Saroj maushi (maternal aunt) and Sharad kaka (uncle), I must have visited Ahmedabad a few times before. I still have faint recollection of my very first trip to Ahmedabad as a 2nd grader for maushi/ kaka’s house warming (Vastu) ceremony ,when they were moving to their own new house in Ghodasar , Maninagar. Maushi / Kaka showered all their affection on their numerous nieces / nephews (me being one of them), and their new house would soon become a favourite haunt for all of us either during Diwali or Summer holidays

So when Voltas confirmed my posting at Ahmedabad, that I would stay with my aunt / uncle was a ‘no brainer’.It must be on the evening in the last week of May 1995, when I travelled to Ahmedabad to report to work at my regional HQ next day. The memories of that evening are still so vivid, I can recollect them almost hour by hour even after 21 years.

Ahmedabad- Baroda Intercity express train is probably the most widely used train service between this cities and I was travelling on Sunday evening, so there was very light crowd and I got a comfortable seat by the window. Promptly at 6 pm , the train unleashed its shrill whistle and chugged along . People today travel continents without batting an eyelid, but those days, traveling to Ahmedabad, which was just a mere 100 kms. away ,still felt like going far from home. Prior to this , all my previous train journeys were for a specific time, but this time it felt different. Before this when I worked in Halol, I still was living in Baroda with my parents, then at L&T Cement, I was away just for a week, and the 2 month training at Voltas, did have a specific end date. But this time it was different, I had embarked on a journey with no return date on the ticket. I do not know why but I felt an unusual sense of equanimity. I felt neither anxiety, nor excitement, for a 19 year old to feel like that was extraordinary. It felt like destiny.

When the train finally arrived at Maninagar ( a suburban station of Ahmedabad city, where my aunt lived) at 8 pm , I did not flag an auto , instead walked to my aunt’s house 1.5 km away, carrying a green VIP suitcase and a an office bag dangling on my shoulder. Maushi / Kaka were expecting me and had prepared khichadi for dinner. Next day, I dressed up to report to work, walked to the Maninagar train station, and from the station bus-stop took the bus to Lal darwaja bus depot in the centre of the city, from where my office was a small walk .

I have so many memories associated with my time at that house and in Ahmedabad that I could keep writing for a week. And that house is witness to the first break through of my career . It was a Saturday 2nd November 1996, and I had just returned from work and about to leave to catch a train to Baroda for the weekend. My uncle handed me an envelope that had arrived in post earlier that day. Envelope had the unmissable Philips insignia on it, with my heart racing, I opened the envelope. Without any prior sales experience or even a degree ( I only had a diploma in mechanical engineering) I had secured after a gruelling day of written test, group discussions and multiple rounds of interviews , a role of Sales Officer in Philips Worldwide. At 21 years of age, I was going to be one of the youngest sales officer ever to join Philips Worldwide. I took that job gleefully , but it also meant leaving Ahmedabad, which I did on 1st December 1996.

Since then my aunt retired from her job , sold that house and relocated to Baroda. But for me, that house will always hold a very special place and it will be forever itched in my memory. And even now every time I look at that appointment letter, I get goose bumps not different from how I felt on 2nd November 1996 and miss that home when I read the address on the letterhead – 103 / A Kamala park , Ghodasar, Maninagar !

The Sacred thread story

@ 32 years ago, my parents decided that it was time ,me & my brother underwent a sacred thread ceremony. Those days in an era now bygone, organizing any event required significant planning, preparation & logistics .Postcard invitations had to be mailed months in advance so relatives could make train reservations to partake in the auspicious occasion. 

All the arrangements from groceries, cooks, flowers, priests, snacks , band baja , shehenai, material for various rituals, special clothes for the ceremony, new clothes for reception , return gifts for guests , photographer, most importantly a barber to shave off the head during the ceremony and even such minutiae as sourcing cowdung for the sacred fire that is lit during the ceremony ,all had to be negotiated and arranged in person. I can’t even imagine how my parents were able to organize such a ceremony for us . And as if one such ceremony was not enough, my parents decided that me & brother would be having our munja ( sacred thread ceremony) on different dates - 6th & 7th March . I am still astonished at their stamina and willpower to pull through such a vast enterprise back to back for 2 days. 

We lived in a tiny apartment and as the dates of the thread ceremony came closer, it become a beehive of activities. To ensure there were enough snacks for all the guests who would be visiting / staying at our home, huge container full of ladoos ( boondi ), chivada etc, were prepared . Needless to say, we had clear instructions not to help ourselves to those goodies atleast till the day of the ceremony. I still vividly remember that thankfully (& grateful to our relatives ) we had plenty of stock of laddoos left after the ceremony and we happily feasted on them for many weeks. Both my parents were working and so had to take many days off from work to organize everything for the ceremony, most days my Dad would walk around town procuring supplies for the ceremony or arranging for something. While the thread ceremony is the main event, but there are also several ancillary rituals that need to be performed leading up to the event like Kelvan and after the event like Gondhal. And my parents spared no expense , even now I still feel overwhelmed at their ability to orchestrate such a massive undertaking and that too with so much grace. And all this was executed from a tiny house with 5 of us staying in it .

It is quite an irony that many of us even our parents think that just because we work overseas or have fancy titles or expensive cars , we have in some way achieved more than our parents, but that is far from reality. What they did for us in that era has no parallel .

Banter from the past ( July to December 2015)

Keep Walking .... and you can be certain that some day you will pass by some fascinating places, meet some amazing people and live with some unforgettable memories .. but for that ' keep walking' is a must !

Rising tides lift all boats, but why did the quote did not say, falling tide , drops all boats. Because when you apply this quote to humans -- rising prosperity will generally improve life for everyone, but when the economy declines, not everyone will suffer equally. So while rising tides lift all boats, a falling tide does not drop all of them !! -- Think

One of those precious moments,, when you are at bliss with yourself !!

Public announcement on an already late running train ,waiting for a change of driver at a station "Sorry for further delay the driver was not informed the train was arriving and he is on his way now" hahaha i am not making this up

On the whole debate on reservation raging in India, logically speaking this is my 2 cents view. Reservation , in moral terms is justified because of wide disparity that existed in the society at the time of independence. Our founding fathers though would have never imagined that such a proud people would one day agitate and find pride in claiming themselves inferior or backward. So they thought (rightly so) that the system of reservation will die its own death as once people got access to education and opportunity, they would want to be considered equal to others, this system of reservation in perpetuity would have made them so uncomfortable. So I suggest to make reservation more balanced and fair, those citizens who have already benefited from reservation once, should be automatically disqualified from claiming that benefit again. For instance if a father got admission in an university basis reservation, his children should not be entitled for reservation , as that family got an opportunity for upward mobility already and now should compete with everyone else. This would ensure that people who are even further down the ladder now get a chance for upward mobility as the pool of people entitled for reservation is reduced. Another option for each individual entitled to reservation gets to use the reservation card once in their life time either for education or government job or social housing etc. that would make it fair as otherwise the same reservation group/ individual grabs all the benefits , while the group/ individual still lower in the pecking order remain marginalized forever. And thirdly reservation should be directly linked to economic status, it is a no-brainer, once a family crosses a certain economic threshold, they should automatically be taken off the reservation. (similar to wealthy families giving up gas subsidy) Reservation was never meant to be an constitutional right in perpetuity especially when it begins to infringe upon someone's else right. And another no brainer is that Supreme court of India should be the final authority on the matter of reservation and not the legislative. Since reservation needs to a scientific argument and not an emotional political one.

By chance stumbled upon this dialogue from the movie' Yadein' . It touched me deeply as it resonates with my own philosophy that purpose of life is to create unforgettable memories.

दुनिया में यु आना, दुनिया से यु जाना 

आओ तो ले आना, जाओ तो दे जाना 

यादे , यादे, यादे

Whether you are arriving or leaving this world

If coming then bring along,

If going then leave behind,

Memories, Memories, Memories

So many love songs, yet so little love

So much religion, yet so little righteousness

So many charitable quotes, yet so little charity

So many wise posts, yet so little wisdom !!

So many humans, yet so little humanity

So much more of everything, yet so little of what truly matters !

Below quote written by Sakshi. At her age I was only copying quotes from a book, so quite delighted that Sakshi is able to create quotes of her own already.

Everyone has an identity but only some have the wisdom to let their identity flow. It gives them the chance to explore who they really are and helps them discover traits that they didn't realize were in them ( like my talent for writing). Most people, however just accept who they are at the time and never figure out what was left for them to accomplish.

Long long time ago ,when most parents could not afford to buy cycles for their young children to learn cycling. It was this very store in Dandia bazzar that enabled all the children in this part of Baroda to learn cycling by renting cycles of all sizes by the hour. Think something like 1Rs. per hour. I still vividly recollect rushing to the shop in the morning to ensure I could rent the best of the kids cycle in their stock. And it was largely Tai and Santosh who taught me to cycle in our backstreet while they rented bigger bikes for themselves

It was in Sep 2011, Sakshi started a new life in a new country, in a new school . She faced numerous hardships around being bulled and mistreated. First year was especially painful , but gradually she learned to deal with it, though even till last month, occasionally she would just burst into tears as the situation became way too much for her to handle emotionally. Today after 4 years Sakshi finished her primary school and will now start the high school (7th grade). However the irony was that even after receiving such difficult reception in the school, she felt very saddened to leave the school behind. Such is life, we get used to circumstances and somehow unknowingly get emotionally attached !! -- Circle of Life continues

There are too many people creating hate, what the world needs is more people creating humor !!

Profound toilet humor # 

All this while we have been making one scientificl mistake when we say "I am going to shit " .. because in reality shit is already made during the process of digestion in the large intestine and feces or shit or stool , which is the final left over from the process is stored in the rectum. So the correct thing to say is

" I am going to TAKE THE SHIT OUT " hahahahahahahah

It comes out even better in Marathi , where for a milenia we have been saying मी शी करायला जातोय but we should be saying मी शी काढायला जातोये instead hahahahhahahahhahha

Indians news channels would be classified under 'Entertainment' category section from 8th December, as per the ruling of the Honorable Supreme Court of India. Passing the judgment , after a 6 month trial on a public interest litigation, the court states that purpose of news channel is to inform, educate and make aware of the current affairs of the world that the news viewer inhabits. However the court has noted that Indian news channel , some of them in particular, have failed miserably in this endeavor and continue to instead act as instigators, Judgement claims that India has the largest number of news channel in the world but the lowest content of actual news. And from 8th December, all news channel reporting on any matter than pure factual, will be obliged to show a disclaimer on the screen that the content being shown is not fact based but opinion piece or work of fiction. Also effective 8th Dec, no news channel will mention religion, ethnicity or caste in any of its reporting and will just identify any individual as an Indian

The punch line of a new drink being launched to relieve constipation 

" होठो से लगाई तो , हंगामा हो गया , हुगाम्मा 

हंगामा हो गया " hahahahahahaha

In recent months I have had an moment of realization , have now fully comprehended why so many countries regulate the news media - Taiwan, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Turkey, Russia ,UAE, Israel to name just a a few. Each of these countries have ethnic, sectarian challenges, and unregulated media could play havoc with the cohesion of the society. They could amplify minor issues / differences into major catastrophe and completely ignore the positive elements of the society, thus controlling the narrative of the entire nation, They push the country into a vicious cycle - where one act of hooliganism by one ethnic group is projected and broadcast with the sole purpose of enticing retaliation from the opposite group and not generating reconciliation. Media has no moral compass, but their TRP's and balance sheet, they do not own their allegiance to the people of the country but to the shareholders who own their company. And an unregulated media is not encumbered with facts, they are happy to report someone's opinion as a fact, without having the need to back it up with data.And the countries who fall prey to this media inflamed hatred , do so at their own peril

Associated Press has reported that what hitherto had been a 'taboo' subject and therefore not included in any debate on climate change , will now be tabled for discussion during the conference on climate change scheduled later this month in Paris. AP in its report has further claimed that for some time now,the scientific community had been acutely aware that this was a major cause of global warming, yet because of inhibition have not tackled this taboo subject. According to 'yet to be published' scientific paper , human fart is the largest contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer, and because of our lifestyle changes and population growth, there has been an unprecedented increase in # of farts generated each year, paper has provided some further data - 1,631,273 (1.6 million) to be precise is the number of farts that humanity produces every second. Annually that amounts to 51,443,825,328,000 farts. (51 trillion) enough gas to launch 100 rockets in space. Some regions clearly fart more than others, but even here scientist have discovered some remarkable similarity in all human beings across the planet .. the proportion of various gases released in a fart, remains the same across the world. When it comes to fart ,, entire humanity is alike, another proof the scientist claim that inside all of us runs the same engine , creating the same kind of exhaust gases, irrespective of our make. hahahahahhahahahahahah

Part 2 - In a radical new proposal being tabled at the Paris climate conference next week, NASA has been roped in to monitoring the fart levels of each country and just like rest of the carbon emission standards, each country will be asked to sign up to the tready contain the fart levels by 2020 It is understood that NASA has already developed and deployed a monitoring software in their advanced satellite system that was launched last year, the system called FDMMS- (Fart detection and multi-modal monitoring system). Basis certain baseline parameters being agreed next week, each country will be asked to reduce their fart emissions by 2020 by 20%. Country would be able to buy fart credits from other countries similar to carbon credits.

Sometimes the waters are calm but the boat is in turmoil --------- meaning sometimes there is nothing ostensibly wrong with our lives but our heart still feels bad.

Human - Queues to buy the latest version of iphone and then follows thousands of years old religions.

Once a good man dies of old age and goes to heaven, he is welcome at the Pearly gate by an Angel and escorted to his spartan but comfortable quarters. Just as he is settling down, a large bell hanging in the courtyard rings, he asks the Angel the reason for that bell to ring, Angel with a gesture asks him to ignore it and explains that everytime someone on earth tries to spread venom, instigate disharmony, tries to further differences among communities ,the bell rings. Every now and then the bell would ring, but reassured the old man went about his business. Then suddenly late in the evening, the bell began ringing vociferously without stopping, now puzzled the old man rushes to the angel inquiring the cause of this non-stop ringing, Angel tells the old man, " Dont worry, it is prime time on Indian news channels "

Breaking News -- Over the last 24 hours, Hubble telescope has picked up a strange variation in the Earth's rotation. NASA is monitoring the situation very closely and their initial analysis indicate that the cause of this variation seems to be the sudden surge of weight in one particular region of the World, which has momentarily slowed the speed of Earth's rotation.People on the Indian sub-continent have collectively gained a staggering 3 billion kg in the past 24 hours ..Happy Diwali everyone... keep those karanjis, anarsas, chakli, fafda, cholafali,, chivda, ladoos, shankarparas, mathiya , bundi ladoo coming ..  smile emoticon

Lets target 10 billion kgs by the weekend , so the Earth's rotation would become sufficiently slow so we will get an extended weekend 

The most enduring legacy you can leave is the legacy of great relationships !

Indian PM at a mass rally " aap sab ko Vikas chahiye " ?
Public " Haan haan chahiye "
Indian PM " aap sab ko Vikas Chahiye ? "
Public now in a frenzy " haan haan chahiye"
Indian PM " Paka aap sab ko Vikas chahiye ? "
Public now reaching an hysteria " Paka hume Vikas Chahiye "

Indian PM " to phir ye lo Vikas "

Sources have revealed that the British Government has made a presentation to the the Department of School Education , Ministry of Human Resources of India to remove all inferences to ' Divide & Rule' phrase related to the British Colonial rule from the school history books. Their submission states that events have shown that it takes very little to divide Indians on the basis of caste, religion, language, color, ethnicity, creed, food habits, et el. and so the Colonial power was being unfairly blamed for divide and rule, since Indians have sufficiently proved after independence, that it does not take a colonial power to divide them, just a news items would do

What our country desperately needs is " The Daily Show"

(a)political satire alert --
Ebay has announced roll out of a new micro auction site in India called Awardwapasi bazzar ( Returned awards market) . Addressing the reporters , its Senior VP claimed they are already seeing brisk bidding for over 30 + national awards returned across the field literature, science and arts. He added that the money raised by the auction site will be used to provide security to anyone eating beef in India. One of the reporters confronted him that in a country where 500 million people live in abject poverty , do not get two square meals , sleep on empty stomach, over 10 million children suffer malnutrition, are you not insulting them by putting this excessive focus on beef instead of campaigning for their cause , trying to improve their plight. Annoyed the Senior VP retorted " When was the last time you organized a debate on poverty or questioned the government on what they are doing about it ?" He further added " Anyway the awards were not returned against the Government inaction to eradicate poverty".

(apolitical) Satire alert :
Alstom Hydro , one of the leading tidal energy companies in the world has dispatched their top 'Tidal power' scientific team to India to check for an new tidal energy source that has been widely reported in the Indian media- the rising tide of intolerance. A press note released by the company reads, that while they do not understand the exact nature of this tide and that there has been no comparative data available year on year to even validate whether the tide was rising or not, also no scientific unbiased assessment of this tide has been done but their algorithm has revealed that the word 'rising tide' has been used across the Indian media 1.3 trillion times in the last 4 weeks, and as a tidal energy company , they cannot ignore this ' rising tide' and are excited at the prospect of harnessing this tidal energy as a renewable energy source.

It feels like the ultimate stage of human evolution will be self destruction !

Our cricketing legends have incredible statistics better than most cricketers , yet our country's win percentage is lower than most regular cricketing nations ! Think

I mis those days gone by, the days of scams and corruption scandals, when news channels had their pound of flesh and plenty of fodder to create breaking news and we were all united against the common enemy -corruption. And therefore I feel what our country needs now is another scam

When you have a billion + people, you are likely to find a million nutters in them. All religions, castes, creed and countries ,suffer their fair share of such nutters. But if the entire discourse is focused on what these nutters are up to, if our narrative only covers actions of these nutters , eventually we will end up making nutters of the other 999 million people.

Navaratri Half Marathon (yes you heard it right)-- This year, United way Garba organizers are sending a wristband containing a timing chip along with the entry pass to garba grounds. Sensors will be located at various points around the circumference of the garba ground, and everytime the Garbarunner ( Garba + runner) passes that sensor wearing that wristband , it will make a record. With the average circumference being between 300 to 350 meters, every 3 rounds, a Garba-er would be completing 1 km , and at roughly 12-15 rounds an hour, cover a distance of 4- 4.5 kms each hour . So any Garbarunner , doing Garba for little over 5 hours , would have covered a half marathon distance (21.1 kms) and large digital screens located on the garba ground will showcase the names , who cover that distance. And Atul Purohit will announce those names in between singing the garba . smile emoticon And at the at the end of the session , basis the timing chip record, those who cover that distance (21.1 kms) in shortest time will get to participate in the maha-Aarti and all participants who completed 21.1 kms distance will receive a Navaratri Half Marathon medal from United Way .. hahhahahaha What an idea Sirji !!