Twenty- five Seven

Smiles from ear to ear and the ties that bind

March 9, 2013
Aghara (Hindi: अघाड़ा) (Photo credit: dinesh_valke)

With temeperatures hitting the low 40s this past week Mumbaikars have been sporting sweat drenched frowns while they scurry around in a city that is growing more concrete than grass. The hot weather, however, hasn’t stopped two people I meet every day from sporting smiles that are growing wider by the day. Bayda the Bai an Madhukar the Chauffeur ( Driver is too plebian a word to describe this gem of a man who drives our car as though it were a Rolls and holds open the door for me as though I were the Queen!) are the two people whose joy is growing deeper as the temperature keeps rising. The reason for their unconcealed joy is the fact that they are both going home next weekend.

It is strange how both of them who are living a life far better than they’d ever imagined away from what is called in Indian Bureaucratese their “Native Place” still pine for what they call home. Both of them though not living in the same vicinity will still have to make a long trek home : Bayda will spend a good 8 hours to cover a distance of a mere 180 km only because there is no convenient bus to take her there; and Madhukar will spend a good twenty four hours going all the way to his home which is in the heart of the Konkan, a desolate strip of land along the Western coast. Once home they will be forced to walk some distance to get drinking water which will have to be stored in earthen pots, will have to collect twigs and wood to light their stoves to cook their food, will have no light switch to turn on at night, will have no fan to stir a breeze and above all will have no escape when their mothers drone on and on about their knees that hurt or hearts that pain . They will have to go back to eating the rustic food that their palates have long forgotten, tend to their fields in the hot sun and walk on dusty tracks to meet old friends .Yet despite this all, the two of them couldn’t be happier to go home and are literally waiting for the day they can go on home.

I often wonder what is it that makes people pine for what they have left behind? Can they still call home a place they had left all those years ago? What ties bind them to people they don’t meet for months on end ? How can they re-connect to a lifestyle they abandoned all those years ago?
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From the sky and down below

March 7, 2013

I’ve been away from Skywatch for quite a while now only because I remembered to post after the day is done! So this week I decided to post before the day dawns and to mark this re-entry, I chose to put up my pictures from a plane.

I’ve always wondered how people managed to take photographs from aeroplanes and when I finally managed to do so during my trip to Udaipur last month, I forgot to put them up on Skywatch so before the photos get too dated, I thought I’d share this view from so many miles up in the sky.

My first shot of the ground below

Later on in the flight as the sun rose up in the sky, the air became murkier and the glare quite strong.

These pictures are not magnificent or breathtaking or even spectacular but it was indeed a thrilling moment for me to take my first ever pictures from a plane.

A glimpse of the Udai Vilas Palace Hotel as seen from the small hunting lodge on the property of the Trident Hotel.

for more skies from around the world go to
Am I truly Happy? – Shailendra Singh’s Gyaan on how to beat stress and be happy

March 6, 2013

Having briefly met Shailendra Singh when he was just starting out
as a businessman, I was intrigued by the title of his book “F?@K KNOWS”
and was keen on reviewing it. However, despite being familiar with profanity, I
doubt I’ll be comfortable going into a bookshop and asking for a book with such
a name; after all, we all know that F?@K is not the most parliamentary of
words. But there are many unparliamentary words that are part of our lexicon
and even elements of our every day speech so once you overcome
the embarrassment of asking for Shailendra Singh’s maiden book, you can actually
sit down to enjoy it.

There comes a stage in
everyone’s life when you actually wonder who you are, where you are and if you
are truly happy. After a successful career at India’s first and only
entertainment, media and communications conglomerate which he helped
establish and flourish, Shailendra’s eureka moment came at the lowest point of
his life when he was coping with the triple blow of facing the death of his
beloved father, fighting a pesky court case in a Middle Eastern country and
suffering a near fatal heart attack.

As the author himself mentions, this book was not written with the
intention of preaching and teaching but is a genuine effort to reveal a
different mindset to the younger generation with the sole aim of helping them
attain true happiness. Once again, Shailendra wields his magic and the genius
who has helped market several brands and celebrities, has some up with yet
another self
help book proving the old adage that nothing succeeds like
success.

So prepare to face life with a few easy tips from the newest life guru on the block who makes you ask the
basic question that plagues all of us, “Am
I truly happy?” Drawing largely on his
experiences and zipping through a brief bio, Shailendra teaches us how to find
oneself. But unlike most life gurus, Shailendra’s cheeky take on life actually makes you wonder
why you take yourself so seriously. In a breezy, contemporary and slightly irreverent
style, “F?@K KNOWS” uncovers the perils and pitfalls of pursuing success in contemporary
urban life. How many of us HAVE to do something rather than WANT to do it? How
many of us actually spend time appreciating things that we have? The
discoveries of Shailendra’s mid
life crisis resonate with
all of us from a certain generation and though the book is addressed largely to
the males in the Universe, this book may perhaps help you to avoid the personal
crisis life in the fast lane can lead to, or at best help you to recognize the
warning signs and know when to press the brakes. Or won’t it? As Shailendra
Singh himself says “F?@K KNOWS!”

While some may cringe at the distinctly crass bits, I enjoyed this
unpretentious tome with its amusing and interesting anecdotes, (mostly original
and one distinctly not), earthy wisdom and personal insights which make for an
interesting and at times, thought provoking read.

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