Shelly's Virgin Island

In a period of over one and a half years with WNS, for the first time I practically got associated with the WNS CSR initiative. Though, I have been doing this in bits n pieces but this time it was different.

I saw an email from WNS Corporate Communications team that they are organizing an Art & Craft workshop for the under privileged children adopted by WNS on Thursday at 1600hrs. I immediately knew that I was going to be a part of it. I replied to that email in just 3 words – “Count me in”.

On Thursday, 30^th July 09 at 1500hrs, we left WNS for ‘Sai Kripa Bal Kutir’, Noida. There were 13 volunteers from WNS who came together to bring smile on the faces of those little kids who have every right to be happy. It was an hours’ drive from our office to their Sansthan.

The entry to their Sansthan was a small gate almost half the length of an average Indian male followed by a narrow lane surrounded with plants on both the sides. The narrow lane which didn’t last more than 100 mts. ended in the Sansthan’s garden cum playground. There was little grass on the ground but lot of trees along the edges of the garden.

This was my first visit and thus I was looking forward to meet the kids. There I met 2 representatives of the NGO called ‘Joining Hands’ who facilitate such activities for WNS and Sai Kripa Bal Kutir. There were over 25 children, a mix of boys and girls, in the age group of 1 to 15 yrs with most of them around 5-10 years old (rather young).

When we reached, the kids were already occupied in making creative stuff with balloons, tissue paper, ice cream sticks, colored paper, card board, etc. They wanted the glue to paste the round belly of their paper man on the ice cream stick. Some one shouted - I lost the cap of my paper man. So now it was our time to facilitate these kids to make that stuff. So what then, amongst the children I felt like I was back in my childhood. Cutting shapes with colored paper and pasting them on the ice cream sticks; helping them with coloring and cutting, it was so much fun. I painted my hands red and blue and black while using markers. The glue was all over my hands but there was no stopping.

Children made beautiful bowls, cups, photo frames with tissue papers soaked in glue. They painted them with beautiful colors in red and green and blue. Some of them made hand-fan, tied red ribbon around its handle made of hard paper. It was like our art & crafts class during the school time. I also made a flag before winding up the stuff.

Then it was time to make some noise with the children. That was the time I got to know that I am so bad at reciting nursery rhymes. The children and the other volunteers knew them so well and I remembered so little. We recited – Twinkle Twinkle, Johnny Johnny and Humpty Dumpty. Here I will tell you all those poems so you don’t have to cut a sorry figure like me

Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses,
And all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Johnny Johnny

Johnny, Johnny,
Yes, Papa,
Eating sugar?
No, Papa
Telling lies?
No, Papa
Open your mouth
O Ha! Ha! Ha!

Now go and tell these to children around you and make them feel loved.

Before leaving we all danced to the tunes of some popular bollywood numbers with the children.

In those 2 hours spent with kids, I realized that there is lot to be done at our end. We just can’t keep enjoying our lives and ignore these less fortunate children. They deserve our love and care.

I look forward to such activities more often.

Manali some 600 kms from Delhi is the farthest I have ever traveled by road. It takes almost 16 hours to reach Manali from Delhi via Chandigarh. I have been there at least 4 times outta which 3 times it’s been a road journey. Once I went flying to Kullu and from there again by road to Manali. In this longest distance ever covered by me by-road, I got to see so much en-route that is just not easy to put into words.
My journey to Manali starts from Delhi. Since I stay quite close to the Delhi border from where we leave for Manali, I am just always lucky to skip the evening traffic rush in the city. Usually evening around 6 is the best time to start for manali so you will reach Manali by 10am. Making ones way through the Delhi traffic and crossing Kundli en-route (which is now a hub for housing developers), one reaches the sub-urban city of Sonepat which is famous for its manufacturing plant of a bicycle major Atlas. You look around and everywhere you will get to see the Atlas advertisements displayed on the walls and on the billboards.
While on way to Sonepat, one also passes through a huge park (Tau Devi Lal) which is full of greenery and houses a small ‘haveli’ type structure which looks amazing in the night with lights all around. Tau Devi Lal after whom the park has been named is a famous freedom fighter and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Once you cross Sonepat, you reach ‘Murthal’ the hub of roadside Dhabas where the food is finger-licking good. At times we especially drive down to Murthal from Delhi (around 45km) just to have those ‘aaloo paranthas’ with ‘dahi’ (curd) ‘aachar’ (pickle) and lassi. You will find people driving in the best of cars just to relish the traditional Punjabi food at these roadside dhabas. For those on diet, this is not the place to be.  

Murthal gives way to the city of Pachranga aachar (pickle) – Panipat. All around you see colorful advertisements of all kinds of pickles. There are over 100 varieties of pickles like amla, apple, mango, lemon, green chilly, carrot, ginger, beans, karonda, lotus stem, and what not. You name it, they have it. pachranga group was first formed in 1925 and claims to be the first to develop and boast Ayurvedic Conceptualization as the flavour of the upcoming market of health and eating. Further this city is another place en-route manali where traffic is at its best. Crossing this stretch is a travelers horror. At times it takes several hours to cross the 10km long stretch. But now, Haryana Government has made the traveler's life a little easier by constructing a flyover which skips the entire city of Panipat. But, yes, if you want the best of the pickles, there is not much option but to bear the Panipat traffic.
Next comes Karnal where the highway is packed with car showrooms of giants such as Chevrolet, Maruti, Toyota, Honda, Tata etc. You got to resist yourself if you are passionate about cars. You find them in a row and its not the right place to have a flat tyre. Another landmark that reminds of Karnal is the Namaste Chowk though there is nothing so special about it but I just peep out to have a look at the folded hands structure at this Chowk which greets you in the warmest way possible.
One reaches the beautiful city of Chandigarh after crossing Karnal and Ambala. Chandigarh is no doubt one of the best planned cities in India with so much greenery and well manicured circular crossings. Traffic there well managed and drivers are so well mannered that one ought to learn alot from this city. Since most of the journey to Manali is covered during night so I don’t know much about other cities covered until I get up at dawn with the first ray of sunlight and find myself amidst the beautiful mountains and valleys of Himachal. Peeping out of the window at one end, one finds a blocked view because of the mountain ranges alongside. The opposite window will give you a lifetime view of a valley with a river flowing alongside till you reach Manali. The weather turn to its best if it rains a little. The air is so fresh and cool and the weather is so calm that you wish that you never had to return.

 

 
Tip: To cover the 600km long journey to Manali rom Delhi, the best time to start is around 6p.m. from Delhi and you are most likely to reach Manali by 12 noon including the time you stop over dinner, breakfast and and unavoidable “nature calls”.

Mitsubishi Cedia Great Driving Challenge, the first ever contest/competition/challenge I ever participated outside my academics and culturals at academic institutions.

I met a good friend at Costa in CP after almost a year and got to know about it. Dunno what hit me and suddenly I was so keen to participate. I took the details from my friend who himself was a participant and it was there I knew it was going to be real tough. My biggest challenge was to look for a partner who would be the perfect match. I have writer in me and I love photography. Now I needed someone who was an excellent driver and a good navigator. And then I thought of Rajat, my friend of 4 years. He is an exceptionally good driver and an amazing companion. When I shared this idea with Rajat, willing would be a wrong word, he was so much excited about this that he wanted us to register right away. Driving is his passion and anything like this would be a dream come true for both of us.

We registered ourselves when there was not more than a week left for the first round result. Profiles and voting was the major criteria for selection. Getting voting would normally wouldn’t have been a tough task for us as both of us have a huge social network but challenge here was the time. This gave us the right opportunity to get in touch with the old forgotten friends. We almost spoke to everyone we had ever known by getting their numbers from our mobile phonebooks, old phone diaries and even slam books that we used get filled in while we were at schools. We did all this just because we wanted to get through especially with contestants like my friend (who introduced me to this challenge), it was a tough battle.

I was so much into all this, that I at one point I felt as if I am going to screw up things at the office. And today I am so glad of almost screwing up with my boss for getting votes that I have actually landed up in the Mitsubishi Cedia Great Driving Challenge top 100 from amongst over 1000 couples.

I know the fight doesn’t end here, in fact this is where it actually starts. 9 to be selected outta 100. we really got to work hard.

Wish me luck.

I am a travel freak and I love to write as well. Mitsubishi Cedia driving challenge gives me the right opportunity to follow my dreams and share my travels through my writing skills on a bigger platform with the people those who know me and those who do not know me.

Not many are lucky like me who get this platform to give away what you have and pave way for more which is soon to follow.

Now when I write, I write is because of this event that is happening to me but this is something I have always wanted to do. In fact, I have a list of 30 odd cities where I have visited in India which is waiting to be published on my blog with my experiences.

Remembering some of them here:

1. Agra
How can I forget the train journey to Agra which inspired the poet in me and made me write one of my most favorite poetry which goes like:

While looking through the window
vast stretch of land
looked so barren
till the end of sight
it started with nothing
to end no where.

 

2. Ajmer
Ajmer Dargah Sharif is what it is famous for.

3. Amritsar
Everyone knows it – Gurudwara Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Wagah Border. But for me it is also special because I also visited a replica of Mata Vaishno Devi and the beautiful garden in front of the hotel where we stayed. It wasn’t actually a hotel but a huge villa.

4. Bangalore
The hot afternoons and nice evenings, Bangalore is a place to be. Nice windy evening and a bike ride is something I can’t forget as it is amiss in Delhi.

5. Chandigarh
Rock Garden, Rose Garden and Mango grooves is the place to go in Chandigarh but this is probably one of the most beautiful cities of our country. Well manicured gardens and parks on the roadside and roundabouts. Something I really miss in Delhi.

6. Chennai
Very hot. Phew!! Reminds of the kellawalla (Banana seller) whom we could actually not explain what we wanted until we took some help of someone who understood little hindi/English. The museum out there, I can’t remember the name is what I liked there the most.

7. Jaipur
Famously known as Pink City. This is so because of the old architecture and wall color which paints the city pink. This is the beauty of the city and off course how can I forget to mention the Aimer fort. My love for forts took me and my friends to Aimer in order to explore the darkest of places there. It was real fun.

8. Jammu
Jai Mata Di
I laugh when I recall of this. I was young and was quite scared to enter the cold waters in the cave. My dad had to carry me in his arms so that I could get across. And yes my act brought the human traffic to a stand still inside the cave.

9. Kanyakumari
I am in love with this place. The beautiful waters of the three surrounding water bodies comes together at Triven Sangam and it is an amazing sight.

 

10. Kodaikanal
The most beautiful hill station I have ever known/seen after Srinagar. It is covered with amazing greens. It is probably the greenest hill station I have ever visited in India. It has deep death valleys, lakes and hills. Simply a small beautiful little known place.

11. Madurai
The five towers of Meenakshi temple were so much visible from my hotel roof that all day long I wanted to sit there and cherish the beauty of the architecture.

12. Manali
My most visited hill station. 4 times I have been there and I can go there for many times to come. I now remember the city lanes as if I was born there. I specially liked the Mahadevan temple which is a 4km uphill where one has to walk and when you are there, even the clouds are beneath you.

13. Manikaran
The holy shrine for Sikhs – Manikaran famous for its hot spring and also for the cold waters of river vyas.

14. Mathura and Vridavan
Famous for the temples of Sri Krishna, the God of love and his beloved Goddess Radha.

15. Mount Abu
Though Mt. Abu is famous for its sun set and sun rise but I particularly liked it for Bharamkumari’s ashram where I lost myself in the sound of ‘OM’ and for the first time I realized life is much more to what we see.

16. Mumbai
People like the city for its weather, for its beaches, for its lifestyle, everything about Mumbai is so special but for me, it is a little different. I went to the Vasai fort, a kind of abandoned fort with little tourist but I liked it for it was next to the Vasai beach, for it is so called the haunted fort and for its ruins. It was just amazing.

 

17. Neemrana
Another fort. I am telling you I am in love with forts. I have been there many times and every time I go, I feel there is more explore.

 

18. Pune
Didn’t get much chance to visit Pune but I remember my day there as it rained when I was there so it was a pleasant weather and yes I also remember the simple food that was served in the conference where I had gone. The people of Pune are so simple and warm and that plain food was so much delicious that I couldn’t resist the food.

19. Ranthambore
Hmmm… the morning 5am safari to the Ranthambhore national park just to get a glimpse of tiger. We saw everything there but a tiger. And I still remember the two most special words “call aayi call aayi” of the safari guide to make us shut our mouths and wait for the tigers to appear. But they never did. L

20. Rishikesh
Ohho! The most heavenly place I have ever been. The hot afternoons and cold evenings, hot sand and cold Ganges. It is a mecca of adventurers. Rafting - nothing more to say.

21. Simla
Mall road, the church, an old cinema hall with rusty seats – nothing official about it but yes would definitely want to write a piece on this one. Check it out soon.

22. Srinagar
We got lost one night and couldn’t find our way back to our hotel. I was young and must have started crying for the reason that we got lost in an unknown city but my mom convinced me that we will soon find our hotel. She said “Chanda mama humein hamare ghar pahuncha denge” (Follow the moon and you will reach your hotel) and you know what He did.

23. Trivandrum
Kovalam beach – ouuuuhhhh the most beautiful beach. Clear waters and soft sand, both are still afresh in my memories.

24. Udaipur
The city of beautiful palaces.

On top of it the recession. 2008 took a toll on the common man.
 
So it really hasn't been a good year.

But India got some good news too in this year --

* India emerged as the Cricketing world's new Superpower beating Australia and England.
* After a huge gap, Miss India was amongst the 3 finalists of Miss world crown.
* India reached out to Moon -- the Chandrayan mission
* India won 3 medals in the 2008 Olympics

There is more but the memories of evil overpower our minds. Still I want, when i look back at 2008 I want to recall all the unforgettable memories of the year.

It looks so wierd when we read the following:

MUMBAI: Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive during the November 26 terror attacks, was on Thursday remanded in police custody  till December 24 by a court here for his alleged involvement in the killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare and two other senior police officers.

This terrorist is under custody for killing of ATS chief and 2 other senior police officers.. What about 100s of other people who were killed by him on the same day during the same attack. Charges on him should be much much beyond just a killing of a couple of police officers and the ATS chief.. He should be accused of the criminal charges of the highest order, of creating panic in the city of Mumbai and waging a  war against India.

"When asked by the magistrate if he had any complaints against the police, Ajmal said he had none," Additional Public Prosecutor Eknath Dhumal said referring to the remand proceeedings. 

Nothing could be more humane that asking the one who killed 100s of people in your city that if he is well treated by the police. This is too much. After committing such a horrifying crime, our dear government is still concerned of his well being.

To read the complete news item on the above, click here

 Mumbai attack is undoubtedly the worst ever kind of attack on any city in the world, even worse than the WTC attack in the US. 19 hours, 21 blasts, 2 high profile hotels, ship & boats, several foreign hostages, more than 100 dead and more than 300 injured and still continuing. The only kind of terror attack where most of the defence forces including -- police, ATS, NSG commandoes, Navy and coast guard had to put in their efforts. Top ATS officials laid down their lives to save the lives of many innocent people.

When we know that capturing terrorists and keeping them in jail would result in no good and consequently innocent people will be held hostages for their realease. why aren't they killed. They are accused of killing hundreds but we still let them live and be a reason another hundreds to be killed.

Instead of playing the blame game, it is high time that every political party, every nation be one and fight the deadly diseasse of terrorism which is shaking the pillars of humanism.

YES.. There definitely should be dedicated tracks for cyclists on city roads.. Looking at the growth at which the city traffic is increasing, it calls for a serious thought of using the NON-POLLUTING modes of transport..  bicycles on road add to 3 advantages -- 1. Less pollution 2. Less Traffic 3. Health Benefits

Unlike western countries where bicycle culture is prevelant, it is not that easy for a country like India to develop and promote this culture because of the extreme weather conditions in most part of the country BUT wherever possible and to whatever extent, WE and GOVERNMENT must promote ciitzens to use the bicycles for smaller distances..

(Times of India My Times My Voice)
http://o3.indiatimes.com/mytimes/archive/2008/11/24/4949301.aspx