Heroes: Yes I regret not sending that email.

Yes, I regret not sending that email….years back. Today when I think of myself I kick myself a lot. If you are thinking that I am talking about my love or beloved, you are totally wrong. This has nothing to do with any of them, its about a stranger, a stranger whom I never met but read about in a newspaper. It’s a small incident. Back in my higher studies days, I came across a story in the times of india about a Suryakiran pilot ( Indian Air Force`s acrobatic team) who had hurt his back/ spine in a high speed ejection and suffered that injury while landing. He was on bed for the past many months and was on the risk of being paralyzed. It was a short story carried out by that correspondent in this case which a newspaper would normally provide to such stories. Those were the days when I was still some years away from starting my own blog or writing. At the back of my mind I knew that I had to write a mail to the correspondent and ask him about the latest update on the health of the pilot... I had to write, which never came due to a combination of factors which included me being really busy in my studies, class schedules, laziness and a few more etc things.

Two weeks after that when I finally got the time to write the mail, I realised that I had lost the cutting of that particular news and 14-15 I had also forgotten the name of the correspondent so the Google couldn’t help me much as I had developed the habit of the deep Google searching only years later.

Even to this day, some 11 years since I had first read that news my guilt of not writing a simple mail it’s me up from the inside. I don’t know what I would have done with the reply if I had even got a reply from that correspondent but how it feels something wrong and even though six years back I had started the exclusive series on the Armed Forces on my blog, this piece of a jigsaw puzzle haunts me at quite frequent intervals. I won’t give any excuses for my laziness, but one reason could be the fact that at that time fighter Jets were my main priority or love. It’s just that when I started the series on my blog and 2013 and started reading about the various things and the contribution of each and every person in the Indian Armed Forces irrespective of their rank or field of service didn’t realise that everyone has its own part in the service of the nation whether they are in the combat role or not. I don’t think I would be able to forgive myself for this. A pilot who had a wife, a three-year-old daughter, confined to bed unsure of his future and life……it just kills me somewhere and makes me think about that one email that I did not send.

This post is dedicated to the Indian Armed forces on the eve of the 1971 war victory.

Have we lost the feeling of empathy and respect towards others ?

People say that I am very aggressive and fight with people very often although it’s not the right way but I can’t help it. I fight for what is wrong. Two incidents happen in a span of a few hours and I was made to wonder if we have really lost touch with humanity.

I had two fights in a single day with people. People known to me say that I should control migration and not get short tempered so easily but I can’t help it, not when I see something wrong going on. Incidents are small and I leave it to you to decide how do you decipher it –

Early in the morning, in the metro I come across a man travelling with his son. Both were seated on the opposite seats and while the child was eagerly looking out at the various sites through the glass his father was drawing his attention to the various things and making him familiarise with a few things. I snapped at the father the moment the train left an underground station. Why?? The moment those of the train closed, he called out to his son and said, “ Wo dekho Mayawati”.. Confused I turned around and saw that he was referring to the lady guard on the platform. Forget any reference to the politician Mayawati , she was not anywhere close to her. She was all slim and did not need that kind of a description. I don’t know whether this fits into body shaming, vulgar calling or objectifying or whatever but what he did was wrong because you don’t know how his son would actually take up to see girls/ladies later on in his life. As his little son was preparing to sling his little back on his shoulders and his father was dusting it, I responded with, “Just the Way you are dusting the dirt of his bag you should also sweep some dust on your crap mind through which you are making your child see the other people and specially the fairer sex. That was no way how you would address a female let alone the guard on the platform. Just thank your stars that the train moved quickly enough otherwise I would have immediately handed you over to the CISF.” Things got a bit heated but the tone in my voice and the fire in my eyes told him to back off especially when he was with this little kid otherwise a lot would have happened in the bargain with him.

The second incident happened just after that in a bus. I was going from Lucknow to Kanpur and at the extreme end of my seat at the back there were two dumb people (speech impaired) who were also travelling. They were having their conversation in sign language and also bought the tickets the same way from the conductor. There was a guy sitting next to them, probably around 40+ who was quiet the whole journey but spoke to me his mind after those two had got down at the destination on the outskirts of the city. He said, “Both of them look fraud to me”.

Me: Why?

Him: How can both of them be dumb? There is something fishy. 

Me: Which book in the world says that to people who can’t speak can’t travel in the bus together? Or together they might. It seems that you have never travelled outside of your village ever in your life and talking like tears in the whole world. Keep your idiotic lunatic thoughts to the side, close your mouth, open your mind, see the world and then talk.

It was a pretty miracle that in spite of having got into two arguments in a single day in just a few hours apart, I had not got into a fist fight of any kind and was unsurprisingly all okay. These two incidents showed me that we have lost all sense of human compassion towards the others.. And it’s such a shame.

Sir, your Espresso coffee......अबे यह तो काली है

Well its high time that I take a crash course in the world of coffee… I seem like a total idiot I guess when I sit down and order anything even remotely related to coffee. So this week I had espresso instead of what I really wanted… The cappuccino. 

Well this Diwali was meeting my childhood friend. It was late in the evening so the natural choice to meet at a cafe which of course had coffee but I guess that I had no clue about the various types of coffee available in the world. The Menu also had no demarcation on the various types of coffee, they were all listed under coffee. The friend ordered a beverage and I went for the coffee-espresso among other munchies. I was clueless and my friend was also staring at me a bit wide-eyed. Our two orders came really fast-taking well under four minutes. I was awestruck seeing the size of the cup and was wondering यार CCD में तो बड़े कप में आती है कॉफी, यह तो चुहिया के साइज़ का प्याला ले आया। अबे किसी और का ऑर्डर है . on top of that it was black coffee and I was wondering, “Where is the damn milk”?. I was thoroughly sure that the waiter must have mixed up somebody else’s order in before calling the waiter to recheck I decided to ask my buddy- 

Me: अबे यह क्या है? 

Him: तूने ही Espresso मंगाई थी, आ तो गयी 

Me: इसमें दूध कहाँ है ? और इतना छोटा ?

Him:Espresso ब्लैक कॉफी होती है और उसके शॉट्स आते हैं 

Me: तो फिर वो CCD वाली क्या होती है ?

Him: Cappuccino. वही मैं सोचूं कि तू कबसे classic चीज़ें पीने लग गया 

Then thinking of it as a tequila shot consoled myself with the fact that the price has been paid search better and should finish up this coffee irrespective of the fact that whether I like it or not and believe me it was bitter as hell and the good thing was that we had a pizza to munch on so it took quite a lot of bitter aftertaste with it. Well you can’t blame me totally for this, I have never had known varieties. All I’ve seen in majority of those coffee machines which you find in functions, they’re also at the top of the machine there is the wording written as espresso coffee and what do those churn out is the regular milk coffee so that was in my mind then and while ordering I had also forgotten the name cappuccino. 

Two days later when I had to meet my group from school the first thing I did was to confirm whether the milk even was indeed cappuccino and then go for it. Lesson learned for life- espresso is black coffee. 

When a 3rd grade construction actually saved my life

So another post in my series of travel misadventures is finally here. You must have read about various incidences where pathetic, third class infrastructure has claimed lives, what if I told you that it saved mine and I’m not joking. The saviour this time was the pathetic infrastructure condition of Kanpur. 

The main initiator was Indian Railways as always. This happened a few weeks back when I was going from Lucknow to Kanpur via the local train. The train stopped at murray company bridge (the flyover is above and the tracks run below) waiting for the signal to turn green signalling an empty platform at Kanpur Central. The main advantage by people alight there is that Mall road is just five minutes walking distance and it saves a lot of time for people who have to go to the railway station, come out and then take an E rickshaw which can take up easily close to half an hour. The main problem is that we have to see whether a train is coming on the adjoining track or not. The gap between the two tracks is very less so people have to be mindful of where they’re standing. The train drivers also know this fact and they passed that juncture at very low speed. 

That day my train stopped and then decided to get down but then another goods train came on the adjoining track and an aborted alighting from the right side and decided to use the left so that I can stand few meters away at a safe distance and watch the train pass and then easily get cross the two tracks and my make my way out. My train went off but the goods train did not move an inch. As the clock was ticking by I heard a few locals tell people to take the stairs to the flyover above and bypass the rail tracks by alighting on the main road on the other side. It made sense because no one knew that the goods train would move in how much time? I was not willing to risk crossing from underneath the wagon coupling , I had never tried it and would never do it. I decided to use the stairs but the real problem started after I climbed 7 of them. 

The problem with the stairs is that they are constructed in a zigzag fashion, and not straight up, without any safety railing to hold onto, made of cement and RCC slabs along with a bit of iron but due to the weather effects in all presently they are in the pathetic condition and dangerous. I was just six steps away from the top but there were multiple issues - there was another turn to the left, as the stairs reached the top they started getting smaller in length which made it tough to properly get a strong foothold, at various places the construction material was jutting out and not safe. The gap between the two stairs was wide enough that in case you did not pay any attention, your leg could easily get dislodged in the gap and you could get yourself seriously hurt. 

Although I have no problem with heights but that day due to the hot weather, load off my backpack I started feeling dizzy at the various options available before my eyes and one mistake which I did was to look down on the rail tracks below…. That gave me a sudden bout of vertigo and I knew that the moment I would take another step forward I would fell down on the tracks. I know when to abort missions so decided to turn back, wait for the goods train to pass and then made my way  forward otherwise in case of any untoward incident nobody would know what happened to my fate. Now even getting down was harder than climbing up. Afraid that the backpack load might make me come down rolling on the stairs I decided to hold the bag in my hand to have better control over my center of gravity on the stairs. Luck favoured me then as when I was just three stairss away from the ground, the stationary goods train moved and by the time I got to the same position from where I had to cross the train had gone leaving the tracks empty. 

Even if I had managed to get to the flyover above, I would still have to go down the same stairs on the opposing side. This is the first instance where a bad, third grade construction actually saved my life.

Yes I googled my ailment and left my doctor

The common joke on the Internet and in the real world at any doctors place which you might find would most probably a slip asking them not to be a certain Dr by reading about your ailment on google and then presume to know more about your ailment than your current doctor. While it might be true in a few cases where people read all about the symptoms and probably declare themselves to be suffering from this particular disease even though the doctor might say otherwise. It always would be a battle between the doctor and the patient but what would you say in case somebody reads up on his or her ailment over the net and decides that the doctor is no good?? 

This is a very short story about me, my ailment and how did google helped me in getting rid of my doctor. It’s always said that doctors are gods who save lives but now the medical profession has been tarnished and tainted by a few doctors for whom money seems to be the only motive and they are not truthful to their patients. A few years back I started suffering from an ailment, went to a well-known doctor in Lucknow who is said to be a specialist in that field and started my treatment from him. The only issue was that the element only subsided and was not in the process of recovery because allopathic medicines being given to me were not doing the job properly as my ailment used to develop a counter immunity against the meds after every 15 days and my review was after a month. Although I pointed this out to my doctor but all he did was to give me some excuse and change the medicines… The treatment was not cheap, it burned a hole in my pocket by 2500 every month. I trusted the doctor but one day my patience just ran out and I googled for the first time about my ailment as it was written on my prescription. 

The first shock came from Google itself... It told me that my ailment was a lifelong condition where the treatment was a matter of luck, it might go away completely or it might not but this fact was never disclosed by my doctor to me. He never told me that this was a lifelong issue and he didn’t tell me anything. Very much heartbroken and angry, on the next review date, I went in full battle mode and when my turn came I launched my verbal attack on the doctor accusing him of hiding the fact. I had been taking treatment for more than a year but he never told me. In his cabin, in front of some for other patients I told him that he was a cheat who only knew how to deceive. That day my only loss was the consultation fees of 500 but it saved me from further anguish. 

When I came back I started searching alternate medicine for my ailment and decided to try that. Fortunately somebody suggested to me a good doctor in alternate medicine who said to me that there is a cure for my ailment but it would take time. It’s been some time now but slowly slowly I’m getting rid of my ailment. Although it’s taking a bit longer time than allopathy but I’m content. 

Had Google not came to my rescue that day I would still be paying thousands of rupees to this doctor who is no good.

Top Gun Maverick trailer : 1986 in an F 18 Hornet

Looking at the trailer of top gun maverick it feels like 1986 has arrived in an F-18 Hornet. There was little new I could actually see in the trailer, majority of things seem to be recreated from the original one. The things which it actually does correct is in the opening flight sequence itself. In the opening scene you see the firing of guns, the back to basics which it does correct this time, for 34 years it has faced flak over this very use or non-use in the first movie. The rest of the trailer seems like a nostalgia trip from 86, the same flight jacket, the aviators, biking with a fighter taking off, throttle forward and stick back, the volleyball scene, the piano song which reminds both of the club scene and that great balls of fire combined into one. 

The catapult shot of the jet is a single seater, wondering whom tom cruise would talk to now in this movie or would there be a RIO? Ed Harris looks old 3x fast forward. For me the question remains unknown on two things- will danger zone make a comeback and what matches the awesome opening scene aboard a aircraft carrier from the first movie? Apart from the huge expectations related to this movie also comes the fear of the history of super flop duds when it comes to sequels and just hoping that this movie doesn’t flop....and please no remote controlled model plane dogfighting as in the 1st movie...  

Behind enemy lines gave an insight into the Hornet and just hoping that maverick takes it a notch further and gets us all upclose and personal with this fighter as it did in 86 with the tomcat. There are some movies which have sequences worth the price of admission alone- the opening scene in top gun, the HALO jump in mission impossible, the SAM sequence in behind enemy lines and if you look into bollywood probably the rock climbing scene from lakshya. All it seems to be a wait and watch when it comes to any such scene from top gun maverick….. Until then its a long wait to the summer of 2020.

Kashmiri girls are no conquest....

I last visited kashmir in 2013 and instantly fell in love with srinagar and the surrounding areas. Kashmiris are very fair and the women there can match angels no doubt.. What has really angered me over the past few days after the recent decision is to see people treat kashmiri girls as an object of final conquest. Kashmir itself maybe in a state of complete lockdown but elsewhere in the country you can come across various videos on social media where people are happy about kashmir only because they can now get a kashmiri bride. 

Its not the tale of some boy whose girlfriend is in kashmir and the law of the country somehow forbade them from being together. Its more of the लीचड़ type of thinking where a few of them can be seen saying , “ Now I can get a kashmiri girl for myself. Was unable to find one in delhi , can now happily go there and get one for myself”. This feels so much....what can I say, I am unable to express my anger, dissapointment in the exact right words I am seeking. This is not limited to just the general public of the country...even the so called politicians are on the same lines. Have read many instances where the politicians of the ruling govt have expressed the line at various gatherings that muslim bjp workers can now get themselves a wife from kashmir. What the hell is this??? 

If you thought that the politicians/public are happy with the recent developments in kashmir just because that would give them a chance to work for the development of that place, you are so much wrong. The underlying agenda of all of them seems to be only to get a girl from kashmir. Thats their idea of freedom. Its wrong to say that all males of the country are exactly like the few idiots I have told you about but somewhere down the line the majority seems to be thinking on that lines. 

There are guys who would be compassionate and caring to all girls whether they are from Kashmir or from any other part of the country for that matter. Untill then I can say to the guys who have openly expressed their this desire that Kashmiri girls are at par with girls from the rest of the country and if the delhi ones can reject you for your thinking or any other ground they think suitable, I pray that you get rejected for from them also.. 

Untill then I would say it again... Kashmiri girls are no object of conquest...Nopes, Never... 

* This crap in the mindset of people have come out in the open after the abolishing of Article 370 in kashmir

20 years of Kargill : When " Yeh Dil Maange More " was the anthem

The 2 decades when I felt that someone had intruded what was mine – my land and my freedom. 

The time when the unknown places seemed some forgotten pages of an atlas , when the same atlas showed some colour on paper but didnot show the difficult terrain or how much red the same places were going to be in the summer of 99, during the 60 day war. 

The bayonet wielding gutsy men transitioned from "Just a soldier" to “Heroes” 

20 something officers who marched to their deaths. 

Age didnt matter- seniors, juniors all lead- sometimes from the front, many a times creating feats of valour which gets written in military history forever. 

No mountain was ever so steep, no ridge ever so deep- their courage made it look all so small and insignificant. 

When the urge for freedom and the hunger for victory seemed to be all that mattered 

When carrying 2 extra magazines mattered more in the battle gear than 2 rotis. 

Hunger could wait, freedom couldnt. 

When we were instantly relocated from the comforts of our homes to the battlefields at the click of the tv remote. 

The battles raged for hours, when advancing even one step forward took excruciating minutes and retaking every post felt like exploiting chinks in the enemy armor. 

The time when artillery shells hitting targets and bombs hitting mountain peaks felt so satisfying. 

Those 2 decades.. 

Places which resembled ghost towns, having being abandoned in the shelling. 

Yet some civilians stayed behind, even though all they could serve passing convoys of trucks was just a cup of chai or a simple meal. 

When that phone call made from that STD booth or that satellite phone home, was the last one ever.

When these superheroes made us feel mere mortals as they did inhuman acts of bravery- marching into fortified sangars disregarding their own safety, pulling out machine guns with bare hands. 

They all carried on, despite being shot at, their planes crashing. 

Planes finding targets in the white expanse of blinding snow, like a needle in a white haysack. 

When graffiti adorned bombs in plain sight, gifts from raveena to Nawaz. 

When ground handlers didnot care about overtime, it was always "this time". 

527 killed, hundreds injured but all of them accorded welcomes and goodbyes reserved only for gods. 

As coffins passed through towns, time stood still , people lined up to say their goodbyes. 

When the children broke their piggybanks for the men in olive green and sky blue, wrote letters to defence HQ in whatever language they could communicate. 

Even before “ How`s the josh ?” there was “Yeh dil maange more” 

Before the “Strikes at Balakot” there was “ The assault on Tiger Hill” 

When battle cries resonated in the mountains , everyday. 

Those 2 decades, which are special because they taught us what is freedom and what all it takes to maintain it. 

When everyone played his part – the lady pilots in the choppers providing target guidance, the pilot you see on a bombing mission, that radio operator, that gunner, that signalman….even that driver of the army truck carrying ammo or medicines to the front. 

When the super heroes became legends for us. 

When Tololing, Mushkoh, Kagsar, Batalik would be permanently etched in our memory…for the lifetime…even after 20 years. 

Those 2 decades of kargill… 

An archival cover story 10 years after Kargill

Note: All these 20 years we have known the names of only select few soldiers who got their feats highlighted whereas each and every soldier played its part whether they were supplying food, medicines, ammo, loading bombs on the fighters well into their overtime or fighting on the frontlines..In recognition to the collective effort of all, this post does not directly name the select few. It was a collective effort and would always remain so. 

Memories honours and acknowledges the effort of each and every individual taking part in the war from all the 3 forces, well beyond 20 years after kargill…into the lifetime. 

Kanpur to Lucknow: Following someone else`s car in a fog

There are instances of trips by road which leave you more than amused, surprised and then totally wondering years after they have ended. Also in the same grave or near death instances where you count your stars and be thankful that you are saved just in the nick of time and here is a small description of a brief trip and talk with my childhood friend and how we both escaped death as well as navigating our vehicle following someone else’s car. 

The distance between Kanpur Lucknow is said to be roughly 80 km and it’s just a bit more than that and the strap happened in the December 2016. Tungesh, my childhood friend was returning from Delhi by by road and the while crossing Kanchanaburi is me whether I was willing to go to Lucknow? I said yes, he gave me a destination to reach from wearing would pick me up and I waited. It was a cold, foggy night in Kanpur around 9 AM where visibility was playing havoc so I had shared my GPS location through whatsapp and reached me following that. 

The real fun started just after Unnao, around 20 km ahead of Kanpur where we witnessed a massive traffic jam or jams one after the other should I say.. He started playing rally car where he started cutting through jam by driving the hatchback on whatever off-road piece of dirt he could find and I became the navigator of the game Colin Mc Rally where being on the passenger side and started giving him directions and visibility instructions in regards to obstacles so that he might navigate easily. The conditions treacherous because there was no confirmed pattern of visibility - you could easily see for 600 m and then suddenly in a span of 10 seconds there was fog where your visibility was barely 50 m. We did not have the advantage of any fog lights. Once we got into a jam, we noticed a Maruti Gypsy with a blue beacon on the top and decided to follow it as the so-called VIP vehicle might find way through the jam by blaring its horn and beacon and we would follow suit. 

All we both needed was just clear road as we were fed up of navigating through jams. Our strategy worked partially because even though that Gypsy was ahead of us and we were using it as a benchmarker for our rally, I still had to watch out for the tabs in front. Just like a weapon systems operator in a fighter jet scanning his radar, I was trying to peel hard into the night, through the fog trying to make up the shape an outline of any roadside truck in which we both might crash…. And die. You won’t believe that I did manage to pick out five container trucks parked on the side of the road in which we might have crashed and it was not something which I could say with a definite ease. Whenever I had a hunch that there might be something, I told Tungesh to slow down and we did find a vehicle. 2 were instances where we were driving and at a seconds notice it became all foggy with zero visibility and Mr Schumacher still managed to drive. 

In between all that fog, trucks he managed to keep an eye on our blue beacon vehicle which we thought that we had lost somewhere in the numerous traffic jams and zero visibility. We did manage to regain our vehicle at least six times during the full distance between the two cities. It took us just around 2.5 hours to cover the whole distance between the two cities in such weather. When we had reached Lucknow did it struck us then- we had actually used up six different blue beacon vehicle as a guiding point in reality rather than initial one which we had actually thought of. So when we had lost track of one vehicle and were thinking that we founded some distance away from us, that was not the same vehicle part another different vehicle which we were actually following. 

So in total there were 6 different blue beacon vehicles on that day which we both mistook for one and using that as a benchmark covered more than 80 km in such a short span of time while cutting through jams, nearly crashing into the side of 18 wheeler trucks, following tail lights of other vehicles, peeling the eyes into the white blanket of fog trying to make out what’s in front of us….. Just to survive. 

We both worked as a team to get through but hats off to him who had driven non-stop from Delhi 500+ kilometres away in around 8 hours. He has been nagging me to write about this post for the last 2+ years and this time I fulfilled his wish. 

Following tail lights

Blinded

Max visibility

When I was almost duped in the name of job

Unemployment is the biggest curse for everyone who wants a job and there comes a time when even the most seasoned person faces a situation when the circumstances cloud his better judgement. This is a small incident in my life when I also faced the same situation but got saved in the nick of time. 

It was the December 2015 when there was an advertisement in the employment news about a marketing positin in a Lucknow company. For those who have lived in Lucknow, they would vouch for the fact that getting a job in Lucknow is like gold dust. So I was excited but one thing which put me off and in suspicion was the fact that the company location was of a residential colony. Well, Lucknow is no East of Kailash New Delhi that there canbe company offices in residential areas ( well now that’s been sealed in Delhi too). So I went to see the location and the first signs of alarm bells rang the moment I saw the house. 

There was no company board outside the house, I presumed it to be the destination just by the exact house number it had been mentioned in the ad. Like the spidy senses of Spiderman, I knew it was all wrong from the very beginning but decided to proceed with caution because I needed a job and unemployment can push you to any lengths. The only thing in the red zone was a DD of 400/- which needed to be given alongwith the documents on the day of submission. So I got the DD made and studied the company profile on the internet. 

My last job in delhi had taught me how to look up the company profile on the Indian government website. The 1st shot of danger was when the incorporation date of the company was just 1.5 years back and the capital of the company was shown to be just few lakhs between 3 directors. Just to be safe, I called up the company and the lady there assured me that nothing except the documents and the DD would be taken on the submission date. Miracles happen and any small company can make it big so you cant say from the outset that its all wrong. The day on which it was supposed to be the submission date, I found the house all quite as I could not find any crowd at all. When I was about to ring the bell to the house, I found a notice pasted on the side of the gate that the submission date has been extended for a week and the same has been informed to the police and the press. I had heard about anticipatory bail, here I was reading about anticipatory notice. 

Now I was damn sure that it was all fishy and after a week on the specified date when I went there, I found all hell broken loose as I had anticipated. All candidates had created a ruckus in the colony outside the house. The girls were crying while the boys had taken the furniture out on the road. Turned out that the company had wound up and was not in a position to offer the said numerous posts it was offering in the ad. Boys and girls from the adjoining cities of Lucknow had also applied in the hope of a job but it all amounted to nothing. It was a waste of time, money and anticipation on every candidate`s part. 

I enjoyed the spectacle for a considerable amount of time before I laughed it off and retuned home.. The DD was safely returned to the bank and after deduction of some charges, it was cancelled. Although I trusted my investigative nature and warning signs when applying to the company, the situation is more dangerous for others who are unable to research so much about a company when they are unemployed. Don’t know that it might have been a last hope for how many people. Unemployment is a curse…

I can't say goodbye to you Indi...

6 years back I was a terrified boy who stood outside Bluefrog Delhi while being unusure of what to expect in a blogger meet...something totally unheard of for me... that was April 2013. One meet turned to another which develeoped a chain of events which went on and on and on..

Those Indimeets were my refuge where I learned a lot, met new friends in every meet , my secret dark corner where I could write my heart out while keeping the identity of my blog hidden from family and relatives. None came to know that I wrote, something which I really wanted. Developed a crazy bunch of delhi regulars who were the most exited to be there and one crazy nut who used to come all the way from Dehradun for the few hours and then head back.. Just for Indi.

Each and every moment spent in every meet became so special that all my attended writeups carried each and every second of it..to the smallest detail I could remember. The memories are immense – that number call, the product event, that celeb meetup...and the Hurr Hurr. I still remember the Thank you post I had written years back for all the people I made friends through Indi events and the core team as well. The friends have been more than family for me while the core team has remained one of my biggest strength over the years- pitching in with help and advice whenever I felt quitting all in real life.. Who would have thought that those moments would get etched forever in the sands of time for me.

Indi made me the person I am today- the only “blogger” in my childhood circle, the person who can write on quite regular intervals..something only we bloggers can understand the effort it takes when it comes to maintain a blog over the years. Times had changed over the years in the blogging sphere and we knew how brands viewed blogging as now when there are so much cheaper mediums for them.

Being a blogger and associating with Indi has always felt like playing the real test cricket in the era of 20-20. Only you knew the joy you got. Its said that you dont really realise that when its the last time you are meeting some people...the last time was at BNLF Dehradun... the place where we all travelled from all the corners of the country.. We were thinking of the next BNLF somewhere in the north east but sadly that was not to be...

Yesterday when I shared the news with few...to say that we are all devastated would be an understatement.. The heart just refuses to believe and accept the reality...

I again feel like the terrified, unsure boy 6 years back ...once again....not sure of what to do.......the heart is heavy and the eyes have swelled up even as I write each and every word in this post..... and how much I try I cant say goodbye to you..

There are no Late goodbyes........

When I did a Aamir Khan in Ghulam in real life

2 years back you all must have read about my ordeal with the Indian Railways where I had to abandon my train midway after being forced by the TT and the nightmare that had followed. Now yesterday another thing happened with me which reminded me of Aamir Khan`s train stunt from the movie Ghulam. 

The route this time also was the same- Kanpur to Lucknow. The train halted at a signal which was just 8 km away from Lucknow station. The stop can be routine from 5 to 10 minutes but yesterday it was 50 minutes and when a few passengers were actually thinking of getting down and walking along the tracks to the station, the train started. The train stopped next just 900 m from the station. The place where it stopped now is the washing line of Northern Railway. On the left side you have a washing line which is boundaried with railing and then 2 normal tracks side-by-side but the gap between the two tracks is narrow. You can’t walk in the space between the tracks while the other train is coming from the opposite direction. The air blast coming from the opposite direction train travelling at even 5 km would throw you under either of the rail tracks and you would be 50-50. 

The train stopped and I noticed one incoming train but my train did not move even 10 minutes after it had passed so I decided to get down cross the engine of my train and jump up to the washing line on the left. The left side door of my coach was jammed otherwise I would have got to the washing line from that side only. I was in the sixth or seventh coach from the start. The moment I had crossed the guard coach behind the engine, I again saw an incoming train on the next track. Now there was a lot of things going into my mind and a lot of calculations. Will the train move now? Would it stay halted? Would I be able to cross the engine and not be mowed down? Returning to safety I boarded the guard coach and a policeman who was at the door helped me out as the footsteps in a guard coach are a bit different in length as compared to the passenger coaches. I stayed in that that coach for another 10 minutes before I decided to try the washing line walk once again. 

The issue with the washing line platform elevation was that there was a bend in the track which made it impossible to gauge a safe distance between the two in case I needed to stay there while the train moved. Anything could have happened. The moment I got down 1 person in front of me had a talk with the engine driver who was also cursing railways for having made the whole train wait for so long without covering any substantial distance. Just 50 m ahead I decided to cross the track to the left side (a safe buffer distance in case the train decided to move and I did not want it to become a 50-50). Just then the train horned on and we all scampered back to the guard coach while waving my hands to the train driver with whom we had just had a talk telling him to just hold on a bit. Now the problem with my train was that there were two engines so you can understand the situation when we have to cover an extra engines length. 

Just 3 weeks back I have had an terrible accident in which my hips got injured and there is still a bit of pain as the leg has not recovered to its 100% power. So in a slow about to move train I was trying to get in the coach with even the lowest footstep quite a high then what my leg would allow me to stretch (consider also the fact that I was wearing jeans which had become drenched in the 45+ temperature sweat, so it was a sticky jeans with not much flexibility and movement). Only I knew that how I could climb up and I also pulled up one guy by hand. The train took another 15 minutes to come to a complete halt at the station. In the two train instances every time I felt like it was my last day on planet Earth and I’ll be just another casualty who would be mowed down by the train but I barely made it. Frustrating was the whole scenario where a train which reaches Lucknow in 90 minutes at 5.30 in the evening was standing 8 km away and then also it took 90 minutes to cover 8 km. That’s the condition of Indian Railways. The double whammy came later on when I decided to check ola which was showing me a fare of Rs. 450 for a 12 km distance to my home. Tired and shaken up by all this I decided to walk another 300 m to the metro station which would bring me really close to my home at a fraction of a cost. After catching an ola auto for 65 from the metro station I reached home at 8. 

So this is my instance of feeling just like Aamir Khan from Ghulam where you have to consider that the whole scene with the train was fake and real life is so much scary when it comes to trains and a lot of things you have to consider before you hitch a ride on the railway tracks. 

The only thing I hated that time was my injury which restricted my movement quite a big extent.

The previous instance is here:

http://www.shwetabhmathur.in/2017/08/indian-railways-chaos-and-my-17-km.html

Helmet : The मटका which saves lives

क्या बाबू भैया आपको दिखता नहीं है ? 

अरे कैसे दिखेगा रे हलकट, सर पे मटका चढ़ा है  चश्मा नहीं है...जा जा के चश्मा ला 

Remember this iconic dialogue from the movie Hera Phera?? 

This is what I have been referring to helmets also.. and these मटका do save lives. This post is written for all those people who either treat helmets as nuisances, things which are carried on hand/in the mirrors or think that its uncomfortable to wear. Today, as on this day I’m writing the post after having being saved once again from a horrific accident by the helmet. The injuries which I have sustained right now are very deep…. The only thing which saved me from a possible fatal injury was the helmet. 

All of a sudden somebody’s pet dog rushed across the road at a milliseconds notice and I crashed into it. When I fell down I was relieved that I was wearing a helmet because I could actually choose to some extent the side or body part on which I could afford to take the hit without worrying about the head. Over a period of 14 years since I’ve started riding two wheelers, this is probably 6th big accident of mine and the saviour at all times has been the मटका .

Helmets are comparatively expensive but not so expensive more than your life. When I had first purchased my helmet all I knew was just 2 company names- Wrangler and Studds. Now I don’t know that how many companies are out there in the market but whenever I have to purchase a helmet, I only choose from these two. The roadside ones which you buy for as low as 300 or even 100 in some cases just to save yourself from police challan, are the useless 3rd class types. They won’t save you when the time arises, not even a bit. So set aside a minimum of 1000 bucks as starting range for these. The cost can go up now that there are a variety of helmets available- fullface, half face, scratch proof visor, tinted visor etc. and they have become quite lightweight too when I compare it with my bulky helmet. Wearing a helmet and getting used to it takes time. 

I remember the first time I for a helmet, my whole jaw was hurting for 1 week because my face and mouth were not accustomed to the inside padding of the helmet and my shoulders too suffered some collateral damage as they were not used to an additional weight on the head. Slowly slowly it has grown to a point where I don’t venture out from my home without the helmet - it just doesn’t feel right or I feel like that’s something important is missing… It becomes second nature to you. The visor means that I can drive uninterrupted without carrying a damn about the weather conditions and feels very uneasy if I forget to fasten the strap. 

Here are a few tips for people who feel uncomfortable in wearing helmets, these are tips I had read from a very old issue of automobile magazine plus some of my personal experiences- 

· When you try the helmets of the first time see that the internal padding does not leave any allergic reaction to your face. 

· Strap in the helmet and move your head from side to side and feel it. A perfect fit helmet should move with your head and should not be lagging behind. If you’re moving your head to the left and the helmet kind of fits to the head one second later it means that the helmet is a loose fit and you should get the size which fits you. In case of an accident there are chances that the helmet itself might give you some injuries. 

· By helmets which are from well-known and established helmet brands. 

· Choose the form factor according to your needs and carrying convenience. Don’t buy any fancy looking helmet form which would be cumbersome for you to put in or even put it in the vehicle. 

· For those who can’t afford the scratch proof visor helmets, make sure to get the visor replaced once you start noticing scratches on the visor after prolonged usage. The visor glass is easily replaceable in a city`s automobile market for as low as 50 bucks. 

· One common indication of the visor nearing its life is during night driving. If the incoming headlight for an incoming Michael’s seen by your eyes as something like a star and not a proper spot of light, it’s time to change the visor. As the visor would get scratches the light would start to expand and resemble more like a star. तारे दिखते ही बदल लो 

I hope that my this small post on helmets would help you to be not afraid of wearing one and maybe when help somebody you know to start using one… coz at the end of an accident you might just thank one.

Environment: My bit to save it....

It’s a well-known fact now that very few governments take climate change seriously and unfortunately India is not in the list. For them environment is of no concern it seems. Faced with the harsh reality of climate change, global warming, plastic pollution, droughts it is now up to us to try to save the environment otherwise in the next 2 to 3 decades we would be wiped out permanently like the dinosaurs. 

So this post is all about contributing your real-life ideas, actions you’re taking to make sure that we try to save the environment as much as possible. As this is an ever evolving blog post which would be regularly updated, any ideas shared by readers/friends would be updated into the main body of the blog post as soon as they are received. Apart from the real-life solutions we are using, there would also be a heading known as "problem" which would highlight some action which we had studied way back in our childhood but is not followed by the society today and another heading “read” which would speak of a particular instance of environment friendly measures taking in a part of the country which could be tried . 

So here are the ways I use in my daily life to save the environment- 

Kyaari- This is an eco-friendly calendar from 21fools.com which is made from beej kapas paper which is planted into the soil after the month gets over to get a plant. It is comparatively pricey at Rs. 1200 but it is proving to be worth every penny I spent. The frame of the calendar is made from old furniture which has now been reused. I already have the Gulamas plant growing up from this calendar. 

Vegetables- Just a few months back my mother started throwing all the bad vegetables into my kyaari. Not the vegetable peels but a few pieces of vegetables which are bad in a particular batch likes a bad potato, squished tomato, too much old coriander etc. She started throwing all such vegetables into the soil and they acted as natural fertilisers and now I have a few vegetable plants growing up... Right now tomato, coriander, green chilli have all come up in a small space. 

Paper- Making full use of the multifunction laser printer I have at home, I make sure to print on both sides of the paper as and when it is possible. Every discarded paper goes into my pile of rough papers which are used to note something when using the computer. They act as notepads to note something quickly and not discarded until there is even an inch of mm available to write. Same in my office, I make sure to print all non-important communication on rough papers as much as possible. The effect of this is that a 500 page rim of papers issued to me now lasts approximately close to a month in earlier comparison of maximum 15 days. 

Cashify- In this era of ever evolving electronics, gadgets there are instances at home where there are quite a lot of phones in a single home and you don’t know how to dispose of the old ones. I have been using cashify for the past many years now to dispose of my old mobile phones. I sell my old phones so that they could be refurbished/resold to the public who can’t afford pricey smart phones. This is just a small drop in the ocean but I’m trying to reduce plastic pollution from my end. 

Problem- In my childhood I read that leaves are buried in the ground to make composite manure but people today don’t tend to follow it. The sweeper who comes in the colony is hell bent on lighting the dry leaves on fire as a way to dispose of the garbage and I  had quite a lot of fights in this regard with her but to no avail. She doesn’t want to listen. 

Has anyone found a way to deal with the plastic packings sent by the various e-commerce companies? I have a lot of such packets with me but don’t know what to do.. You have any solution? There have been numerous petitions online asking the companies to take their cardboard packings from customers , recycle it but none of the said companies are really interested. 

Read- An article in the Better Indian spoke of an instance where a housing society in Bangalore switched to ways of saving water. They are using discarded RO water for all the non-essential activities such as washing of cars, parking lot, watering plants etc. 

These are my ways, contribute yours towards saving the environment…….

Tempered glass for your phone: Are you being ripped off??

In this world of smart phones, tempered glass is a necessary evil. Gone are the days when the used to be a very plastic film on the screen. As the smart phones have become affordable, screens have become more expensive and prone to more accidental slips from the hand which results in cracks, the tempered is a godsend.... And this is probably also the reason why shopkeepers rip-off the customers when it comes to tempered glass because in contrast to the mobile phone models people don’t care about how much they cost and are easily fooled. 

This is small post is my attempt to make you aware about the pricing, practices followed by shopkeepers so that the next time you visit any mobile shop for a tempered glass for any of your phone at least you are well informed about the pricing and actually bahane in that regard. Please keep in mind that there is is regarding the android phones and I have no knowledge about the super expensive iPhones etc. and all and how to protect them (whether or not they come into the tempered glass category or not). 

Irrespective of what the shopkeeper might say there is nothing as a scratch proof tempered glass. Shopkeepers would actually try to fool you regarding the same by quoting prices anywhere from 250+ to 400 saying that it’s expensive because the tempered glass won’t have any scratches. That’s not true as any good quality tempered glass might avoid scratches for some time in comparison to the standard tempered glass but it would get scratches no matter what. Constant use, keeping in pockets along with other items it’s bound to be scratchy. So the next time you are lured into paying such a high-quality price, back out. 

These tempered glass are one mobile accessory which enjoys a huge, huge margin for the shopkeepers. The normal tempered glass for the mobile phones start as low as 8/- and goes to not more than 20 to 30/- (dealer landing price) which the shopkeepers try to sell for prices ranging from 5 to 100+. So you can see that you are ripped off by such a huge margin. I don’t know about other cities but if you walk into the mobile market of your city you would find tempered glass for as low as Rs. 30 or even 50. If you are someone who unfortunately drops you phone quite a lot and the tempered on your phone takes the brunt everytime, you would slowly notice even the quality of the tempered glass. Years back when I had started to get tempered on my mobile phone the mobile market at Shriram Tower Lucknow used to charge not less than 200 for a tempered glass application. Not knowing the real prize I did pay it for a few times to actually notice that I was being robbed. Later on some mobile phone shops near my home started charging 100 for the same and I thought that I was saving money but even then I was wrong. 

In the mobile phone market of Kanpur (Sager market) I did get tempered for 50, the quality of which was equal to the 100 one. Things changed a bit more when a known shopowner started charging me 80 at the time when I was getting it applied for 100. Prices hit rock bottom when in Lucknow a cybercafe owners whom I had known for now 15 years diversified into mobile phone accessories and he is selling tempered for just 30. There is no quality issue and he is the one who had told me about these huge margins in tempered glass. If you think that I am making up these things then let me give you a true incident sometime back. 

I was looking for a tempered for Redmi Note 3 near my home and had gone to a shop. He quoted me 400 for the tempered and started giving me all that same scratch proof bullshit which I easily countered by my usage experience and insisted whether or not he was ready for 100? He came to 250 and then I decided that I had not much time to waste and simply told him whether to take it or leave it. He said no, I walked out of the store, started my two wheeler and his assistant came running saying, “Okay come come, we are ready for 100”. I refused saying to him that he should have thought this price before the argument wandered into a necessary territory and drove off. 

Another small mistake which we make our which happens when they get hold of any new phone model which has been launched online or which we luckily get to purchase in a flash sale. The tempered of these models take time to actually come into the retail market which can be anywhere from 10 to 15 days at the bare minimum. If you try to get a tempered of the same, the shopowners would say yes and irrespective of the fact that they won’t have the exact tempered would try to fit a close compatible tempered of someone the other phone in order to make a quick buck. Beware of this trend and insist on having the exact tempered model otherwise leave it. The shopkeepers would try to focus on the front camera and try to put the tempered and then say that it’s not exactly corner to corner but that would make do. The choice is yours. Even though companies provide with good quality screen protection with models but they are no match for tempered glass so you should get one on each of your phone but also keep in mind the various price points of this industry so that you are not cheated when you go to get one of these.