Delhi diaries : The updated and upgraded survival guide to delhi metro

In 2013, just over 2 years ago, I had written the survival guide 

for delhi metro for those who were overwhelmed by the huge crowds they saw at the stations and in the coaches and were struggling for seats to sit. That 22 point writeup was written by me as part of my daily observation as I travelled and had hoped that it would ease things a bit.

This was the original guide here :

http://www.shwetabhmathur.in/2013/03/delhi-diaries-survival-guide-for-delhi.html

Now its time to update those points and present you with the 

upgraded version. Somethings have remained the same while others have gone worse. Just pay attention and enjoy the ride….once again.

1. If you are a first timer, travelling without a map is a strict no no. Better still check the metro map at various interchange or ending stations pinned on the wall. With metro making commuting connectable with the whole of NCR , sometimes you might be going to a location which is not on any direct metro route. In that case google would help you find the nearest metro station.

2. Gone are the days when the maximum crowd and rush used to be only on Kashmiri Gate, Central Secretariat and Rajiv Chowk Stations. Now the things have changed, the maximum crowded stations are now (interchangeable or ending) – Rajiv Chowk (still holds the place because of travelling crowd or beautifullll girls I don’t know), Kashmiri Gate ( due to the bus terminal in the vicinity), Badarpur border, Huda City Centre. The load on Central secretariat has eased a bit due to the extension of the Badarpur line till Mandi house.

3. 2 years back you were hoping to find an empty seat, you would have disappointed. Now also, it’s the same story..you wont get it. The only exception is late night travelling at around 10pm when coaches are pretty much empty or you boarded a 6 coach train. Build up your stamina and endurance to stand the whole journey.

4. Except the red line all other lines have train racks more than 4 coaches. The blue line trains are normally 6 coaches with the yellow line going 50-50 in both 6 and 8 coaches. The violet line from badarpur has only 1 train rack of 6 coaches. Having more coaches doesn`t mean life is a breeze, crowd grows in the same proportion.

5. Feeling suffocated in the jam packed train?? Let me give you a breather of the various points where crowd gets down.. Shhh.. just read on.

On weekdays crowd from badarpur gets down mostly at Govindpuri and Nehru place (mid way deboarding). On Sundays make that Kalkaji mandir and Central Secretariat.

Blue line on weekdays is Jhandewalan, Karol bagh, Rajendra place, Patel Nagar and few beyond. (towards and from Dwarka).

On yellow line the rush is New Delhi railway station ( 24x7x365) , MG road and Iffco chowk. Sundays Include Qutab Minar.

Apart from the specific ones, Sundays would see the most rush at stations which are near shopping malls, multiplexes, tourist places.

6. With the crowd growing every day , its advisable to travel by smart card…saves a lotttttttt of time buying tokens and unnecessary standing in the line.

7. Now every station has become like mumbai local (earlier it used to be only Rajiv Chowk). There is too much crowd that you have to really pre plan your deboarding and boarding even before the train stops. As the train chugs to a stop keep a boarding and de boarding route ready well in advance so that you can save yourself from being crushed, pushed by the crowd.

8. Earlier you could stand in the area which joined 2 coaches if you didn’t get a seat. Now forget it. Some lazy bums (who can stand with a girl for hours without a seat) will instantly get down on the floor and take up a “ too tired” yoga posture. You wont even have a place to stand.

One of those days...

     

9. Irrespective of the fact that there is now a ladies coach especially for them, don’t think that you have had easy in terms of sitting. They still rule a say in all coaches. The seats marked for them in various other coaches are still their territory so watch out first before you plomp yourself on that vacant seat. You would have to get up anyway during your snooze time for a lady.

10. Same with those 2x2 seats for senior citizens and handicapped people. I have seen older people fight among themselves for seats, it can get messy sometimes. Just keep out of it. And don’t sit it in the 1st place. When the older people start demanding that seat inspite of the other person being in genuine concern, its no use.

11. Women still stand at 2 places in coaches – just besides the door and / or they grab the pole just infront of the door. So in case you are standing at either of the 2 places and see a crowd, you very well know where the women would rush and so save yourself from being crushed.

12. This one comes from personal experience. If you have a habit of catching every train DDLJ Simran style or Jab we met Kareena style, its of no use. The unnecessary exertion you would put on your body would make you tired and would wear out the muscles and ligaments much faster than you can imagine , leaving you in a very bad state of health. Unless you are running to meet your girlfriend.. who might break up with you if you don’t reach on time.

13. 2 – 3 minutes might not seem to be much in terms of the time you set to reach your destination station but it surely is a difference between catching an over crowded train and a relatively easy one. If you feel that you cant survive in the rush, leave that and catch the next one untill you feel comfortable.

14. Carry something to pass your time along, the girls are now in the ladies coach. Those who are single and in the metro are few and far in between. Most with their boyfriends. Ouch.. that hurt..didn`t it?

15. The most beautiful of girls are found at majority of stations so take care of your heart and that “ love at first sight” tendency because you will meet a lot of stunner.

16. Catching a train from Rajiv chowk towards Yellow line but forgot which line you need to catch?? Here`s a trick – H for Haryana, H for Huda.. so catch the train for Huda city if you are looking to go towards gurgaon and Faridabad. Sometimes due to being late and crowd, a person can become disorientated and specially when he enters rajiv chowk from an entry gate he is not used to.

Yeah...that

17. Even after so many years this thing still remains the same when you see a total stunner and a ok looking boy, “ इससे पहले मुलाकात क्यूँ नहीं हुई यार”....

18. Majority of fashion disasters are caught in the metro with mainly boys coming in wearing such clothes that I cant say much. Even we wear better clothes in the morning in comparison to them while bringing groceries from the neighbourhood shop….ahh… exactly how do they dress up as if they couldn’t find one thing in a shop and they decided to catch a metro to bring it from somewhere else.

19. With summers coming and heat and humidity about to go up until the rains show up, it is advisable to carry water with you. Sometimes health can deteoriate much faster in the metro due to rush and you might feel suffocated, before you get a chance to hit the emergency alarm. On that thought, if you are travelling a bit of longer distance, just check where is the emergency alarm located so that you or the fellow passengers may press in case of an eventuality. I myself have seen medical emergencies where trains stopped at next stations while the person was evacuated.

20. Although most of the new coaches have power outlets in them to charge the phones but there is a lot of other ones that don’t have any. So its advisable to carry a powerbank just in case of an emergency.

21. There would be a lot of “ faltu” people who would try to strike a conversation with you and would want you to listen to their views about everything under the sun. If you are the person who likes to keep to yourself, tell them you are not interested otherwise you would get mad in a matter of few stations.

22. People can get damn abusive and physical for seats and I am talking about elders. So always travel as if you don’t want a seat (except for an emergency) and you`ll be fine. 

23. The metro can go bonkers anytime so keep buffer time with you always.

24. In case its one of those unfortunate days where there is a crowd of some 3000-4000 people at rajiv chowk due to slow running of trains (either at blue line or yellow) and going by auto is not an option for you due to some reason, Do this-

Stop looking at your watch. You are going to get late anyways. Don’t try to rush into the 1st available train that comes, the whole crowd would go there. Due to bunching of trains in such cases, the ones coming from behind run at very short intervals so by say the 3rd train which comes, you would find that the whole platform has become relatively empty. You can breathe a sigh of relief and board.

25. Foreigners are still the friendly chaps who love to talk about history , monuments etc. In case you spot a group in the train and you are interested in history, you`ll love talking to them.

26. Just for the boys – Many a times foreigners look absolutelyyyyyy beautiful in sarees than Indian women in their normal wear so just get a hold on your heart. They know that you are staring at them, makes them a bit conscious. Just let them feel at ease.

These points would again go through changes , upgradation in 

a few years as new lines, stations, crowds come along but this upgraded survival list and the original one would make sure that you enjoy delhi metro with minimum of hassles.

500 : Indiblogger " Kumbh mela " meet, Zenfone 2 launch and the Saif incident

“ The biggest blogger meet” it had said days before as a sort of a teaser trailer and I had instantly given it this name – The Kumbh Mela. Well they were doing 500 people this time, 100 more than the skyscanner last year. It was going to be a tiring day for me as I had to catch a train that night…but have I ever missed an Indi meet… Then how come I do it now?? Plus I wanted to ask / confront the Asus management on the Zenfone ( although the 1st gen Zenfone 5 I am using is good in few things but lacks in the others). It was time to fire on all cylinders. Apart from me maybe Murtaza was keen to come after a long time. 

5 minutes of pleading with Mitha ( I met her at the Kose meet) and she said yes to come along after the initial excuses of “ No leaves”. It was later that her husband disclosed that she was always in a mood to come but wanted someone to request her to come. Task accomplished. The next day armed with a full battery and 2 powerbanks to last me a full day , we (Mitha and Me) set off towards Kingdom of Dreams. Due to the fact that we both were given lift , we were both at the venue at 10:05. Still a good 90 minutes early. The premises were getting all cleaned up as we watched and after 5 minutes decided to ask the guard about the entry timing as there seems to be no one except us. No markers, banners whatsoever. When the guard heard that we were for the event, he asked us to take the next gate for entry…so we headed towards gate 3 where a “ Blue carpet” awaited all. Preparations were still going on at the entrance so we decided to wait under the shade of a tree in the parking lot. As Me and Mitha talked about various things, she taught me how to shoot a DSLR. Well she is an awesome teacher…mind that. A few more small things matter with a DSLR in comparison to a phone camera or point and shoot one. I am waise bhi a खुरपेचिया photographer who likes to experiment.

So while it was time to go, she noticed a girl coming towards us. It looked like it was Cinderella coming towards me…well she was almost dressed that way. Welcome Pallavi, Mitha`s friend. It turned out she multi hopped various cities to reach here. My phone was to remain in flight mode majority of the time ( conserving battery to last 13.50 hours). I enabled it to receive a barrage of messages from friends all wanting to know where I was. Network was not good so couldn’t talk to him fully. Welcoming us on the gate was who else??? Vineet Rajan. It was pretty hot out there from the gate to the hall. The moment we entered the hall…. OUCH… screwed. Pathetic lighting with virtually no clear visiblity. In order to create the dream effect, we had blinking blue light with artificial mist being blown all over the place. I felt like I was driving on a road in the fog in damn January. I should have pinned a nameslip like school children in case I got lost. Got hold of Karthik and he told us that the registrations would take another 30 mins to start. In comes Rahul Prabhakar and we get down to shoot pics.. inside the hall, outside in the heat doesn’t matter much. A few more wandering souls caught- Arsh and Rahul Bhatia. We try some experiments with Indi Stamps there.. none for the soldier so I pick the next best- writer. There I meet a few more people and some known faces come up to me and say , “ I know you would be there, you don’t miss Indi meets na?”.

Thats Priyanka Dey

By the time we get inside, there is a long line for registrations, just like outside Hanuman temples on Tuesdays. I finally spot Anoop and Renie. Then in comes the barrage of known faces – Manjulika, Murtaza, Dipali, Aditya and a lot more. With so less light it was damn tough finding friends otherwise my eyes can do a radar swoop of 180 degrees and easily detect majority of friends in one go. After registration , we were handed over a wanted poster of the Indi ghost and claimed to capture his pic and win prizes. I knew he would never show up. A coloured fluorescent filled band which glows in the dark was also given. There was a demo area upstairs to try the phone so we went there. The Zenfone there was a 5.5 inch one , shaped similar to a Samsung one. With 4 gb of RAM it was damn fast and there was no lag. The camera looked good. We decided to try the game in the gaming area where they had connected the phone to a HDTV. I don’t know which game they had loaded ( it was a car racing game) , the game lagged while loading but not while playing. I tried ( the game, who cared about the phone?), started last ( 6th) , lead for 2 laps before somersaulting few times and ending 3rd. Enough of playing, headed to the auditorium.

Keep me away from a game?? No way......

It was full to almost capacity at that moment- bloggers, media, asus management all were there but there was a catch. Majority would vanish after sometime as Xiaomi was also having its launch the same day little later so all the tech bloggers ( majority) would go there to witness that event too. After a bit of hassle, Me and Aditya found a place to sit. Wrong choice in the circumstances. We were too far up and the light was playing havoc. Dipali and the others were lost somewhere in the crowd. The programme started with VJ Anusha Dandekar started the proceedings with a performance from the singer Aditi Sharma. She sang 2 english songs which I had never heard and the 3rd was from Dhoom. So off she went after that. Anusha was the host for the evening. An over the top accent and overacting meant it was going to be torture to the ears.

Jerry Shen, the CEO of Asus welcomed us all to the launch and started talking about the development and all about the phone. Frankly speaking I was not keen to know all that as I had been in the first Zenfone launch. I was keen to see whether they had really ironed out the flaws from the previous edition and whether they were bringing something new to the table or not. So off went the features- 5.5 inch screen, multiple colours, textures, selfie panaroma mode, beautification mode and lots to experiment, 64 bit intel atom processor, Android lollipop, Dual sim active system, an improved 5 satellites navigation systems for improved accuracy, improved charging ( its only a 3000 Mah battery, god knows how it would work on 4gb ram giving it the life it needs), 13mp rear and 5 mp front camera with Asus`s own Pixel master. Then came on stage Mr. Robert Jahns who is one of the most famous instagrammers. He paid emphasis on the camera and joining him onstage was Daboo Ratnani ( bollywood`s most famous photographer). He talked about the picture quality and such stuff. They showed some pics taken using the Zenfone and they looked impressive to me, vivid colours.

                              

Mr. Jerry Shen, then came on stage and declared the prices. The 4gb model with 32 bit rom is 20,000 and the 64 bit one is 23,000. The 2gb ram ones start from sub 15000. The current Zenfone 5 with 2 gb ram is less than 10,000. Why would someone pay more for the virtual same configuration? They would be sold through asus exclusive stores and flipkart.com. Then Saif ali khan made his entry and people and media flocked to click pics of them holding the phone.

Asus also launched a series of add on accessories. A flip cover at 1600 bucks, Earphones – 600/-, Lolliflash ( portable LED flash which can be mounted on the top of the phone )- 800/-, powerbank – 1000/- (just 10040 mah. Xiaomi has more than this at the same price). After that we all broke for lunch and into the Culture gallery where it was being served. The place looked good and the thing which most impressed me was the sky colour (roof painted like a sky). Me and Aditya found a huge table and while we were searching for the custodian to our belongings in came the army carrying plates- Dipali, Priyanka, Jyotika, Rahul, Ila. Tried the food…not so great in taste. They all tried the sweet dish too and declared everything too sweet except the kheer. After finishing the lunch we headed back and I ran into the late comers- Dr. Mandira and Dr. Manoj. We sure did get lost searching our way back but captured this beautiful picture.

Back in the audi we sat in the seats when Karthik told us , "Hey c`mon man , there are seats available in the front, take those. We have kept those for you guys”. These seats would see a lot of action later on. So we grabbed them all. With me were Priyanka, Dipali, Jyotika, Aditya, Rahul, Gautam Sehgal. We all cracked jokes like silly. Only half audi was filled up now ( I had said about Xiaomi na?). So it was typical Indiblogger time. Anoop started proceedings and we all front row guys won a T shirt and Mug, just for being front row seaters. Only our row and most of the other rows had the Asus people. Lucky seats. Then it came to the first timers and a big round of applause to them. Anoop never lets go of the question about the distance a blogger travelled to come and we had huge numbers. A blogger made it from Kolkata but I think Pallavi beat him when it came to distance but nevertheless he still spoke his heart out how he made it. Indiblogger was running a few contests on twitter 2-3 days before the event and the winners were now asked to be seated in the front row to the left where we were sitting. There were basically 3 columns of seats. They took the extreme left. While the blogger from Kolkata was making his intro Anusha came up behind on the stage and demanded what seemed to me like attention and a faux pass which went kaboom the next moment.

There were basically 3 people co ordinating different things. Anusha was the host, Anoop was hosting the Indiblogger part as always and a boy and girl from Asus were co ordinating between the celebs and management. Indiblogger had selected 8 bloggers who had won themselves a chance to take a selfie with saif. They were supposed to talk about their blog and take a pic. This was what was supposed to happen…which never happened..why?? Read on.

Anusha didn`t consult with anyone as to how it was all supposed to happen, she invited Saif and said, “ The 1st seat ones, lets have a selfie with Saif”. अबे कौनसा first row कुछ पता भी है तेरे को ?? Hardly had the words came out of her mouth, the crowd from the right side climbed the stairs of the right side and mobbed Saif. We were a bit slow in getting up as we were putting our prizes on our seats. We had no clue how this was to go. We all thought that it would happen just like the Kose meet where everyone was given a chance to get a pic with Aditi Rao Hyadri. By the time we climbed the stairs, the Asus girl shouted, “ How dare you come on stage? Get down”. ( she was kind of overwhelmed seeing a huge crowd in an instant) . When we protested the way she behaved she toned down to “ Get back” which we were promptly complying but that saif ali khan`s security treated us like a roadside crowd. They pushed us back ( we were in a sort of semicircle), physically while one person who looked to me like a security officer shouting, “ नीचे उतर, नीचे उतर” . That bloody bugger alongwith the other guards was pushing everyone, irrespective of us boys, girls or ladies. I was scared not because of him but because of the fact that stepping back we had almost reached the edge of the stage and anyone could have fallen off and injured himself.

I am almost at the same place where I saw at the saif moment..extreme left, pink shirt and
saif was at the location near the second S of Asus. Thats how far we were.

They were busy pushing us but didn’t stop the people who had already mobbed saif for selfies. Pissed off, the celeb (so called) went away. Had anyone of us gotten injured in the melee , we would have surely roughed him up (the bodyguard) and I am sure Indi would have called off the event there and then. You might ask where was Anusha?? She scurried off god knows where the moment it all started? Now imagine what was happening with the Indi Team. Karthik was up on stairs (left side) , standing midway not knowing what to do, Anoop standing below with hands on his head, Renie with the camera on the stairs on the right side I think and Vineet just below. The expression on the faces of Karthik and Anoop were just like they had accidently nuked USA. Open mouthed, bewildered. I guess that the ones who actually went through all this would know what I am talking about. It was a dampner of sorts.

Anoop came out of the shock and proceeded with the intros of 

us in a new way. He would speak a name, the person gets up and says nothing and then others start to tell about him. Kind of where friends tell about you to the world. I think 3 different people got the intros when he opened it to the house, “ Whose roasting you want now?”. I was relaxedddd until came the starting voice of “ Shwetabh” ( left side top started by Prachi and Priyanka- I recognize those voices) and soon the chorus joined in of not less than 8 voices. Egged on by one, Arsh, Rahul, Mitha, Dipali, Prabhakar, Gautam they all went up. Is it easy when in an audi you have 7-8 people taking your name? certainly not , not when majority wins. As an extreme measure I was told to go on stage, be in the spotlight without a mike to speak. My Intro was given by Mitha and Dipali. Thank god , others didn`t get a chance. I was pacing the stage as a caged lion in a zoo, I had nothing to do plus the light on my face made it impossible for me to see very clearly as I started taking pics. A sweet 9 year old girl was introduced as the youngest blogger, she was cute.

Thats me on stage capturing everyone while Anoop is down there (left side)

The winners of “what are you wearing” activity got goodies. I was on stage, मुझे कैसे मिलता यार ? Mr.Robert Jahns made his way to the stage and I left. He explained various aspects of photography and took a few questions from the bloggers. Priyanka although clicked a pic with him. Next came up Mr. Peter from the Asus Design team who told all about the new zenfone 2. Atleast it looked interesting to me. Next one more presentation from a lady asus member about the UI and Umang got a phone for answering one question. Peter had already given one. Then after it was group photo time and others broke off while I sorted my stuff and seeing Peter alone with the Asus team got hold of him and fired a volley of questions either of which he didn’t have any answers or he didn’t knew that this was the issue with zenfone 5. I had told him that I was having a zenfone 5. This is what happened –

Me – Hi Peter, Does the Zenfone 2 have the backlights lighting up when we press the front home buttons.

He- No. 

Me- Why not?? Zenfone 5 has this flaw and you did not rectify it. You don’t read reviews on the internet about the phone? The battery is pathetic you know that? It drains out at the rate of 12% an hour if I disable all apps and do nothing.

He- 12 %????

Me- The issue with your camera is that the pixels distort the moment you zoom it. Not good. Even Samsung phones are good in that regard.

He- Yes, Samsung is good is that department.

Me- My phone has 2100 mah battery with a 2 gb ram , the one you are launching is 4 gb with just 900 mah extra. Do you think it would last much when I tell you that I even haven’t upgraded the android, Its still the stock jellybean I am using and such performance? I am getting only 60% of my money worth after spending 10,000 bucks. Give me one solid reason why I should spend 20,000 on zenfone 2 ? 

He had no answer and then I told him that the after sales in india was pathetic as well with no care. 

He- You can go and see (Zenfone 2) it in the demo area.

Me- The demo area has standalone empty sets. The moment I fire up 2 sims in it with a memory card, load apps, enable network , load contacts the whole game changes. You people always show performance data of “standard lab conditions”, using it in the real world is the big deal.

In short, I strongly condemned the zenfone 5 infront of the whole asus team, ladies, managers, design team heads, india manager…everyone.. I was using up all the ammo I had and even the guy looking after their travel stood still and thought not to disturb me. I was finally given an email id to write a mail regarding all the issues with the zenfone 5. When I was standing in the line outside to collect the Indi T shirts later on, Peter came to me and extending a handshake said, " We`ll look into the issues you have highlighted". Guess he knows that a pissed off angry customer can be more devastating than a Tomahwak missile.

Bidding them tata, I made my way out where I spent sometime with the Indi team joking and all, helping them and then for tea acting all crazy.

Sharing a laugh with the Indi team...they are my source of happiness
in these meets

The biggest dampner was the saif incident. Others might say much of this but this is what I think –

1. It was total miscommunication . Indiblogger was not at fault. Anusha should have consulted before opening her mouth and where did she vanish huh? She was wearing a mike, she could have controlled somehow.

2. The security people were busy in us. Why did no one go and stop the bloggers who were surrounding saif?

3. Saif could have backed off a bit and let some normalcy return before explaining what and how he wanted things to be done.

4. We are bloggers, invited to exclusive launch which means we have some respect. You cant treat us like सड़कछाप भीड़ .

5. If saif needs to show attitude he can remain in Mumbai and keep hosting award shows. He is not worth calling to live interactive sessions.

6. For me the best hosts, warm and genuine people would always be Rajiv Makhni and Vikas Khanna. The warmth with which those guys meet us irrespective of the crowd amazes us. Rajiv would always be ready for the camera while Vikas would remember you and behave with you like your friend.

7. I have an elder female blogger whom I know. She told me that she was excited to come on the launch but when she heard that Saif was coming, knowing his reputation, she decided to stay away.

Apart from this, until the Asus management can take care of the issues in the zenfone, I wont upgrade to zenfone 2. It seems to me like they manufacture for Taiwan and just sell them without taking care of the problems. 

Shwetabh सामने देखो मेरी तरफ नहीं... Obeying Jasmeet`s instructions

Mitha- My photography teacher....

#WillOfSteel : The people who fight for nature

Every person is a hero in himself, sometimes unsung too. JSW salutes and honours such heroes and #WillOfSteel is an effort by JSW to honour these such heroes of India who have battled circumstances against all odds and proven their mettle.

I voted for many such gritty stories of courage but there are 2 stories for me who stood out from among the rest and deserve to be honoured. I present to you-

1. Pamela and Anil Malhotra

2. Jadav Payeng

In today`s world their efforts are battling the worst disaster on the horizon- climate change and deforestation. Although their efforts started way back towards this but the truth is that we need more people like them at a time when the world`s and especially forest cover is decreasing at an alarming pace in the name of development. This entry, this blogpost therefore is dedicated to the story and efforts of these 3 environmentalists.

Pamela and Anil Malhotra

The story of this couple dates back to 1991 when they purchased 55 acres of land in Kodagu district in Karnataka due to their love for nature and wildlife conservation. They purchased the land from the unused and abandoned land from farmers who were not using it for any purpose. Soon 55 acres turned into 300 acres all because they followed a few simple rules that there wont be chopping down of any tree whatsoever, no human interference and no poaching as well.

They let the existing trees remain while planting new trees. Many trees here have medicinal values. The existing eco system of the sanctuary is never disturbed and the sanctuary is dependent on solar and alternate energy for its need. The forest has a river with over 305 species of birds. Many species of animals can also be found here such as elephants, tigers, lions , king cobras etc. Their love for nature is atleast helping the green cover fight for itself.

The birds return every year while the elephants help the forest in regenerating more by swallowing seeds as whole. Its animals and nature working in tandem to co exist.

Jadav Payeng

He is also known as the “ forest man of man. He started planting saplings in 1979 on a barren stretch of land in Jorhat, Assam. Today , after 36 years of continuous and ongoing efforts the area has transformed into 1360 acres of forest land which is more than even New York`s Central Park. To transform a barren land into such a huge green area is no mean feat in any sense. He is still doing all this, still planting new saplings in the barren land while the grown up vegetation and forest area provides him with new and abundant seeds. This area is home to various wild animals as well such as lions, rhinos, deers, mares and what not. He takes care of the forest by making sure that he keeps it off poachers and people like them, away. The elephants in this forest return every year.

Often facilitated at various functions and levels, he has various words of wisdom on how to develop the barren areas around the “ Moloi forest” ( the name given to the forest after him). He needs a bigger platform by my reckoning for his efforts and to make sure that his voice towards nature reaches a lot more people than just the current lot who know about him. If people take initiatives and efforts even a bit of conserving and caring for nature even 1% of what Jadav Payeng is doing, I see no reason why there cant be a Moloi forest in every part of the country. “ Humans consume everything until nothing is left” is what he says.

These 2 lot of environmentalists are doing all this on their own for nature, for the environment. In the rapid era of so called fast development and urbanisation, nature is the only loser here. The fight is not their alone, we all need to take part in this in someway or the other. In order to do that , they need to be given a platform to let others know about their efforts. Maybe a lot more people would come together for nature when they get to hear these stories of will of steel as its never ever easy to work for nature when you clearly know that the rate of its destruction is always going to be greater than its regeneration.

So these 2 stories in my view need to be honoured and made known to everyone out there.

If you wish to honour such stories just logon to willofsteel.in, vote and let the world know and let others too chip in to honour such heroes.

“I’m voting for ( Pamela & Anil Malhotra)’s and (Jadav Payeng)`s #WillOfSteel and blogging on BlogAdda to help him/her get felicitated and eventually enabled by JSW ”.

Indiblogger : Gatecrashing woman`s meet with #Kosemeet

Now this meet was pure luck wholly because of the fact that :
1. It was a exclusive invite meet for ladies only.

2. It was a fashion one.

I was afraid that for the 1st time my streak of attending consecutive Indi meets would be halted at just 13, but God and Indi had some other plans. After 5 days I got an exclusive invite from Indi team to attend the event. Guess, they must have thought that with me not there who`ll be there to fulfill the craziness quotient. This invite was like spotting an oasis in a desert. 9 months without an Indi meet is pure torture. Seeing the list of attendees I came to know that Rahul Prabhakar was also going. We had another event in the morning of the 10th to attend so we both knew that it would be a crazy day for us to attend 2 events- one in the morning and Indi in the evening. We had our first event at India Habitat Centre and because of the fact that Rahul was wary of heavy traffic, we left that place at around 3.30 in the afternoon for Hyatt ( we both were tired and needed some rest as well ). I am more of a metro person so roads and routes are not my domain, Rahul too was also not so sure about the route.

At a traffic light, we asked a person in a Maruti the way to Hyatt. He offered us to tell us the way as he was going some distance towards that way and we decided to follow him. With the traffic merging , it became a bit tough to follow the car and we thought we might loose him so I kind of acted as the navigator while Rahul drove. Forget about me ogling all the beautiful Delhi girls, I was more focussed on the car and this is what we both were saying inside the car, kind of blessing the man just like the way alms seekers do at traffic signals, “ अंकल जी आपका भला हो, आपके बच्चे फूले फलें, भगवान् आपको खूब तरक्की दे. 2 bloggers की दुआएं आपको लगें. आपकी गाड़ी कभी न पंक्चर हो, आप हमेशा सही समय से पहुँचो.. “ . We had innovated the blessings in own way while shouting " गाड़ी कहाँ गयी, अंकल जी कहाँ गए ? whenever we lost sight of the car. Thankfully, he got us very close to the destination and waved off.

We followed this cherry coloured car

We reached there and when we reached the reception after getting out of the car were in a shock as the information plank read as , “ Kose Indiblogger 0900- 1145” . The 1st thought which came in our minds was that had we missed the meet?? But then nothing looked like that way and we started the search to that place. 

When we finally reached the Indi space we found preparations still going on. Vineet, Anoop, Karthik were there with a few new faces as well. Sai came up later. Vineet told us that the meet was at the scheduled time and it was a press meet going on for kose since the morning. That meant that we were safe but not me. I was again at the centre of the teasing of these 3.

Karthik – You`ve got to show us your ID… you look like Shwetabh but you are not him definitely.

Me- Why

Karthik- C`mon. we need proof.

I take out my DL and show it to them. Unfortunately my thumb is on the picture so Anoop starts this time

Anoop- Hey look, He`s hiding the pic. Name seems alright. You`ve gotta show us the pic too.

They do this prank everytime I am there in some way or the other. After we saw that we both had a lot of time, we started searching power points to charge our phones. The whole day lasting 2 events on full battery was impossible and not to forget that in Indi twitter was gonna drain it all out. Luckily we found them in the lobby and talked while we just waited. Then we noticed new people coming up, the fact that many of them were coming for the 1st time , there was no crowd visible so me and rahul got talking with them and instantly making friends. A food blogger Urvi, an Oman returned Author Suanina, fashion blogger Preeti and many more. It had been quite a long time since I made new friends at Indi meet- the last one in June 2014 so it was another welcome change for me. With majority of girls being from either fashion or like genre I felt like a bit odd telling that I was from the personal genre of bloggers who wrote emotions. Well Urvi didn’t seem to look at that. Then came Priyanka..well that friend of mine can change expressions much faster than weather so I was wary of what was going on in her mind. She is the total crazy sort when she teams up with Prachi. Danger ahead for me.

We chatted some more before I decided to have a look that how were things going as it was close to 5.30. We moved to the registration desk and there I was greeted by the cheerful family I always see first – Khandujas. Spotting them means that its going to be fun. Engaged in talks with them and then I noticed the veteran of indi meets- Sangita Passey mam. I just couldn`t tell how happy I was to see her. I haven`t seen her for ages in meets. These signs told me that somehow I was going to have fun meeting old people there. I met more then- Dipali, Prachi , Manjulika, Dr. Mandira, Judy and a few more. A quick bite and we headed inside. The blue light inside (theme of Kose) told me that the pictures would be destroyed tonight by the lack of proper light. We grabbed a table reserved for Indibloggers and began our chatter. Me and Dipali never gave a damn about sponsors and all when it’s a night meet. We know that in such a short time its tough to enjoy things so we concentrate on fun.

Thats us

In comes Anoop and off he starts with the proceedings. He introduces the debutants first and then starts off with the usual line as to who is making its longest presence. I know that all of them know how long I have come that is why is said to me, “ We know Shwetabh..I`ll come back to you later” and Dipali got a chance to speak. Grrrr…They had asked for Japanese names of our blogs as we had a laughing time as all tried pronouncing it out. The top management from Kose was there as well and I am sure that they must have had a hilarious time. Then it was a small game which we all played. In 15 minutes we had to gather something personal from every person we met. I was somewhat lucky that I was carrying my blogging cards in abundance by chance and I knew that this was the only personal thing which I could give without thinking twice.

So the hunt started and I collected whatever I could get my hands on. It was a variety of times I got. I was on a sort of चंदा वसूली mission. Just like Crime master Gogo from the movie Andaz Apna Apna- आया हूँ , कुछ तो लूट के जाऊंगा . The items ranged from a pen by Sangita mam, Bangles by yogita, toffees both by Umang and Jaideep Khanduja, an expenses list by Soumya, Tissue from Priyanka ( I told you I had to be careful ), a passport photo by rahul, a lifestyle membership card by Dr Mandira (she looked stunning by the way), a fake prescription prepared on the spot by our very own Dr. Sahab :) and a few lipstick marks on the paper by those who had nothing left. All in all I was down to 14 items. The chaos ended and we returned to our seats. I was thinking that a few more lipstick kisses on the paper would have been nice and how about a proposal by someone- beat anything more personal than that. My luck , there was no girl who proposed to me so I was dejected as usual. Others had a variety with combs, mobile phones and such things. Rahul had more than 20 items but a few of them were financial slips so it didn’t make him the overall winner but it surely gave him a chance to introduce himself. The same happened with few others as well. I don’t know that when I would get a chance to introduce myself…its been a very very long time. I need my 15 secs of fame once again. I tweeted to people to take their things back from me. 

Just like a wife ticks off bills to be paid at the start of the month from the salary her husband gives her, I was ticking off items to be returned from my list. When rahul was naming the items he named my card and Anoop asked, “ I have seen this card at quite a few tables now, whose is this?” . When my hand went up, his laughter said it all.

Rahul,with his items

Priyanka got a pepper spray from someone and as a prank Anoop called up one person from the core team ( I don’t know his name) to try it on. He did not suspect anything but knowing the damage it can do, Priyanka backed off from that. It can hurt like hell.

Saved in the nick of time by the pepper spray

The numbers game came next but due to the shortage of time there were only 5 numbers this time with things such as a plate of cookie, small kits, toffee and hard cash. The Indi hurr time, even the Japanese kose team had to do it this time.. nothing is complete without the Hurr.

The Japanese team

Takeshi Yagi began the address ( he is the japanese ambassador). One thing which I liked was that all the japanese people were greeting us in traditional Japanese culture when their names were being called. Believe me the crazy set of us Indibloggers gave them the loudest ovation on this. Our announcer was Sanchali and not to mention I was more interested looking at her rather than anything else. Stunnerrrr. The address seemed like a political one to me by Mr. Yagi . I listened to the history of kose that’s its one of the oldest Japanese company in this domain of cosmetics. That address came from Mr. Koyashi Shan. The presentation was all about kose and the products but did I mention that I was paying any attention. With a boardroom like presentation going on, it held no interest for me. 

                           

Me and Dipali were busy with funny, crazy tweets about what was going on. There was this which was drawn at our table. We were having fun through tweets…Sample this…

Drawn at our table. No offense to anyone though. We are

crazy just like this 

The whole range of kose was launched under the brand name Spawake. Mind you that its an expensive premium product with 249 bucks for 50 gm whitening cream. Over 3 years research has gone in these products. One of the slide had a blurred image of a celebrity so I couldn’t guess who that would be.

Ending the suspense she made her appearance- Aditi Rao Hyadri. Rahul nonetheless guessed it to be Deepika in the beginning but I had doubts about it. So in she came and he went gaga over her. A selfie request with her was delayed by her with a promise that it would be done later on. Guess she is not used to the delhi crowds.

Aditi Rao Hyadri

We bloggers rapid fired the company with some really tricky questions which couldn’t be handled that easily with them, although they tried their best to answer them. 

Some questions were like this-

The most hilarious one by Mr. Khanduja- The company says beauty and intelligent. Does applying the products make the person more intelligent ?

Some straight ones by the users- What use is seasalt as ingredients for the Indian users?

How do you plan to counter competition?

How do you plan to sell these ? Which channels ?

You are saying that you are different from the competitors but like others you too are putting emphasis on the word “ white skin”… then what makes you different in that case?

After the welcoming intro by Aditi and her experience of cosmetics and its usage, it was time for a nice performance depicting the underwater theme. 

Meanwhile we were given sample of the cream to try. With seasalt and weeds as its ingredients , it felt nice, not too sticky in any sense. The scent resembled like a breeze scented car perfume, mild on the senses.

Sample for us

There were a few more questions for Aditi to answer, a one posted by god knows who to Aditi.. What were you using before Kose?

I know that her highlighting all kose brought about this question. However diplomatic she may have sounded, all knew why she was all kose at that moment. All celebs use that for their products. 

Performance

After the performance it was time for a group photo in batches with her. Although a limited number of bloggers were being called in batches by turns, she must have freaked out looking at the number of people surrounding her at one go. Ok so that too passed off peacefully while I started meeting the old friends. Alok ji just made an entry, Poonam ji was there already, the smiling sardar Simar had just joined us some time back. Looked awesome to connect with him again.

I connected with the old people during this time, after the photo session got over. Nothing can take up the joy of meeting old friends during this time. I looked back in time to Aug. 2013 when it was this same venue of Hyatt with Ambipur which had made me gain the now famous Indi nickname. A part of me surely got nostalgic for sure. Time was up as the 4 hours passed and the meet was coming to an end. I clicked pics with my friends- part of me to keep the happy memories. Looking for the next Indi meet. Writing about a fashion meet is surely a tough job... Everybody went home carrying an assortment of Kose products in a box.

Alok ji and Poonam ji

Dr Sahiba and me

The Smiling sardar

Well..she is dangerous...

This is all what we got