Delhi - Shirdi - Mumbai- Delhi

This was a short and sweet trip which I generally go every year except the Mumbai part which was PUNE in all my earlier trips. This time my travel benefitted the Indian railways a lot as 4 days of holidays(18th feb to 21st Feb) was spent mostly on the trains.

Had a second class reservation on Jhelum express till Kopergaon(station much near to shirdi). Got a good friend(uncle) who was travelling from Jammu to PUne on the same train. He was a rich Pundit in Kashmir and he told how his properties were looted and was asked to leave the place only with his Car and family(given a preference i would have taken only the car), as usual i also checked with him if he had any daughters but seems he had only a son who is also into this stupid IT(disappointed!!!). But still he was more fond of the Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha conflict.

Roamed for a couple of Hours in the Shirdi temple(had a hefty langar there, and went for darshan of Sri Saibaba which took around 3 hours to reach the samadhi) and went to Sani Shignapore which is about 60 KM from shirdi. This is a place where Lord Sani stood as a stone. The beauty of this village iis that none of the houses there have doors or footsteps, and even the shopowner leave their shops open during the night.

Took an MSRTC bus from shirdi to aamchi Mumbai, the conductor assured me that the bus will be reaching Thane(suburb in mumbai where my friend Osscilator stays) by 7 or 8, but unfortunately it seems the bus driver slept pressing the accelerator and i reached Thane 3 hours earlier by 4:30 AM. So the best option was to wake my friend Osscilator in this sleepy little suburb. I didnt know that he had slept only at 3:00 AM after seeing The Aviator but still i woke him up by 4:30 as he has to do his duty of accomodating me and do a little early morning walk...

It was a chilly Sunday morning(Mumbai- i never expected in my life time that it would touch 10 degrees). What a mess he was eeking out his living in that typical bachelor room with the maid trying to find places to clean(she must be given some sorta award). My friend recommended saying that we got a place called Yehur which is a small picnic spot near Thane, we were joined by 2 more of his colleagues who were from IIM's/CA's (bad company indeed..)

The auto driver took us for a ride saying that it is a very steep hill and when gone a bit faster the auto will topple down into the gorge, snatched away 200 Bugs. But ultimately the entire hill was not even equivalent to the Height of the Apartment where i stayed(about 10 floors) and there was a regular bus service(BEST) from that hill to right to the entrance of my friends house which we came to know later. Nothing special we found over there just a good location with lots of farm houses.

After the costly trip to the hill we returned back to Thane in the evening and went shopping in the roads of Thane. Then me and osscilator decided to go to Chowpathi beach. Took a fast local from Thane station and reached VT. From VT we parambulated towards the Marine Drive. It was a good walk for me and even better for oscillator who had been deprived of his sleep from 5:00 AM. After reaching Marine drive we had those Corns, Bhel Poor's Sev Poori, Paav Bhaaji, Bada Paav and Kulfies at Chowpathi beach. Sitting in Marine drive in the night itself is a real entertainment(particulary hindering the privacy of couples). Bought a couple of VCDs and games CD in VT. Came back home and had a nice sleep till Monday morning.

Next day i had to leave to my hometown(Delhi) by Mumbai Rajdhani. So after saying good bye to my friend i went to Dadar and went to the Sidhi Vinayak temple. It takes only 20 min by walk to this shrine, had darshan there and had my brunch in a hotel nearby the station. Dadar station is itself is bustling with activities and is very energetic to watch. Then i took a local to Mumbai central to catch Rajdhani.

I liked the services provided inside the rajdhani, particularly the Kulhad dahi. There also i got a few friends one was a industrialist and others were in IT and business. We spoke a lot right from the Economy of China to the problems of Bollywood. A totally different enviroment change from a second class to a Three tier AC. Tuesday morning i was welcomed by a breakfast in the train it reached ND by 10:00 AM sharp. Then took a Blue line from there to my home(ah home sweet home without any GAS and electricity as it was cut by the EB of UP.)

Valentines day

For the past two weeks whenever i switch on the any of the FM station, they were singing only song called "Valentines day", Even a Diwali or Christmas didnt have this much vociferous support a week before. As a utter failure with opposite sex right from pre-nursery days i didnt have a chance to celebrate that anyway.
Most of the girls in our vicinity were carrying 2-20 Roses (all can be treated as application forms from the scapegoats). It is very interesting to watch your friends who are fallen in love totally behave as if they are the Raymond's (a perfect man) man while speaking with their sweethearts and the other end behave as if they are the super power next to US.
The cost of one rose was hovering around 1/2 the value of a US dollar for which i could better have a after noon meal at our canteen . Hope there will be a celebration day for singles too....(may be if someone like Kalam or Vajpayee part to their heavenly abode that day can be declared for Singles day, anyway they are not able to turn Indians with their ideologies) .

Black

Got free tickets for the film BLACK this weekend(my company is always good in that). The film is about an indianised version on the theme of Helen Keller, who was blind, dumb and deaf. Rani mukerjee plays the role of the challenged girl, and Amitabh bachan as the God father who brings light into her otherwise violent and dark life.

The surprise factor is that of Ayesha kapoor a 10 year old girl who plays the role of the younger Rani Mukerjee, she is absolutely stunning in her performance, although for Tamilians there is a film "Anjali"which has the same feel good factor.

The next fact is the Camera which brings emotions without needing much from the characters. Ravi K chandran an Alumni from director Shankar's factory has made it with much fineness and elegance. Sanjay Leela Bansali has to be accredited for taking such a raw subject into his hands and shaping it for the Indian audience. Though he had made some changes like a normal Hindi film, it was worth to watch.

All the chicks near me were crying like hell though there were no death scenes in the film. Since i had seen "Saving Private Ryan" a day before which had made me totally emotionless out there.

Moral Story about Management

This Is A Story With A True Moral. Sit Back, Take Your Time And Read
Once PVNR (PV Narasimha Rao), L.K.Advani and Laloo Prasad Yadav were
travelling in an auto rickshaw. They met with an accident and all three
of
them died. Yama Raja was waiting for this moment at the doorstep of
death.
He asks PVNR and Advani to go to HEAVEN. But, for Laloo, Yama had
already
decided that he should be sent to HELL.

Laloo is not at all happy with this decision. He asks Yama as to why
this
discrimination is being made. All the three of them had served the
public.

Similarly, all took bribes, all misused public positions, etc. Then why
the
didfferential treatment? He felt that there
should be a formal test or an objective evaluation before a decision is
made; and should not be just asked on opinion or pre conceived notions.
Yama agrees to this and asks all the three of them to
appear for an English test.


PVNR is asked to spell "INDIA" and he does it correctly. Advani is
asked to
spell "ENGLAND" and he too passes. It is
Laloo's turn and he is asked to spell "CZECHOSLOVAKIA".


Laloo protests that he doesn't know English. He says this is not fair
and
that he was given a tough question and thus forced to fail with false
intent.


Yama then agrees to conduct a written test in Hindi (to give
anotherchance
assuming that Laloo should at least feel that Hindi would provide an
equal
platform for all three).


PVNR is asked to write "KUTTA BOLA BHOW BHOW". He writes it easily and
Passes. Advani is asked to write "BILLY BOLI MYAUN MYAUN". He too
passes.
Laloo is asked to write "BANDAR BOLA GURRRRRR....." Tough one. He
fails again.


Laloo is extremely unhappy. Having been a student of history (which the
other two weren't), he now requested for all the 3 to be subjected to a
test in history
Yama says OK but this would be the last chance and that he would not
take
any more tests.


PVNR is asked: "When did India get Independence?". He replied "1947"
and
passed. Advani is asked "How many people died during the independence
struggle?". He gets nervous. Yama asked him to choose from 3 options:

100,000 or 200,000 or 300,000.Advani catches it and says 200,000 and
passes.


It's Laloo's turn now. Yama asks him to give the Name and Address of
each
of the 200,000 who died in the struggle. Laloo accepts defeat and
agrees to
go to HELL.


Moral of the story : IF YOUR MANAGEMENT HAS DECIDED TO SCREW YOU, THERE
IS
NO ESCAPE !!!