Mundane Myriad

While I was waiting for the immigration check in the long queue in Milan, someone muttered from behind, "Bro! Isn't there a smaller queue?" Pat comes the reply, "Abbe! Nahin hai." And few slangs flew expressing dissatisfaction with the Italian immigration staff for putting them in the wretched queue... and you know your Indian bro is around, perennially impatient for no reason, particularly in queues & roads  😳 😳 Was quite surprised to find many of o ur long lost bros from across the border, our country cousin Bangladesh, mostly as travel agents and shop keepers in the street shops in Florence & Rome, trying to talk to you in Hindi for your somewhat Indian look or accent, few catching me while chatting with my Odiya friends in Odiya for its close association with their language Bengali... So one of these Bangladeshi country cousins, sold me a ticket for a one day sightseeing tour company, hop-on-hop-off Pink bus tour that offered audio guide in...

"I'll pray for you and for your wellbeing"- he said. "Can you do anything for me? What about the society which will scorn at me, now that all damage is done," she asked. "Sorry, I'm really sorry. I have a family. I got swayed by your beauty, but I realise about my mistake. It was wrong", he said. And he moved on and stayed with his family happily thereafter. The family of the man heaved a sigh of relief and thanked God. The society hailed him as "subah ka bhula shyam ko wapas aa jaye toh usse bhula nahin kehte" (if a man realises his mistake and mends it later, he is no longer a culprit). The girl sobbed, cried, got depressed, thought of committing suicide after being spurned by the family and the society for being characterless. The family tried to cover up the issue as much as possible before the relatives and the society while finding out a groom for her in all haste. This has been the story line in many movies, ...

राह चलते कोई मुसाफ़िर अपनो से ज़्यादा अपना लगता है कुछ नहीं तो दो कदम साथ तो चलता है अपने तो ऐसे ही मुंह फेर लेते हैं. जब अपने मुकर जातें हैं और कोई अनजाना सा आप के पास आप के साथ खड़ा होता है शायद उसीको लोग फ़रिश्ता कहते हैं. भगवान को मंदिर में ढूँडने से कहाँ मिलते हैं अपने ही आस पास ढुंडलो या खुद ही की अंदर में झांकलो वोही कोने में भगवान भी है और हैवान भी.

In a Service Organisation What Matters More - the Brand or the Service Rendered by the Staff? For a long time, in the absence of any gifts from anyone, thought of gifting myself with some parlour time & landed in a local parlour where I came across Saumik, a young man in his 20's. That was my first visit to the parlour. During the entire time of rendering me service, he tried to impress me with his best skills as per my need & body conditions like suggesting me a haircut tha t would suit my type of hair. He continuously connected with me during those few hours by either giving me few beauty tips or ensuring my comfortable & relaxed stay in the parlour by giving me a coffee or an extra service not part of the bill. At the end he even succeeded in convincing me to apply that black nail paint I had been avoiding so far. Now I will revisit the parlour not because I know the owner but for Saumik who impressed me with his excellent service with a human touch and such st...

"Let me go Momma! I want to fly farther & higher, Look there, How my friend birdie has been set free by her mother, It's only you, who still wants to anchor, See how my friends have a fun-filled life, Am still being watched for the wrongs & rights, And how I have a terrible life!" Said the little birdie... "Oh dear! I want you to rise higher, But I just want you to know where the ground is, So you don't fall harder, You should know how to roll or pitch, When the wind blows stronger, And you emerge the winner!" Said the Mom birdie... The little birdie looked at the mother, Who had a smile on her lips, And a lot of prayer in the corner, The little one was about to set off When the Mom said, "Remember one thing, if you need me, When you get battered & tired in the life's battle, Don't go hither & thither, Just so you know, I'll be waiting for you here"...

Part - I The stage was set. He came running miles, crossing all hurdles, put up the best show. People clapped and said they never saw something like this before. And the award went to.... somebody else. The problem isn't that life is unfair - it just doesn't fit to our idea of fairness every time. May be it was fair for that somebody else or may be not. Y es... the struggle never stops, so also the determination to give it a tough fight. Come on life, show us your might! Part - II Is losing the opposite of winning always? Be it a war or a game or a competition or any life event, does "not winning" mean losing it? Should we always evaluate our lives by these gains & losses? Many emerge as winners by the sheer strength of their hard work, efforts, attitude & perspective towards life even though they are not declared as winners... time we celebrate these uncelebrated winners... "Real heroes are all around us and un...

Experiencing Amiri in the Garib Rath As they say "what's in a name"? The no-frills AC train Garib Rath (poor people's chariot) gives you that experience of Amiri (affluence) when you travel in it... "Someone stole my blanket last night, so I stole someone else's, tit for tat"...so said my co-passenger in while I was travelling in the train Garib Rath recently... I looked at him. No, he didn't look like a thief, he worked for a company as a mid-level executive.. suddenly my attention shifted to the blanket I was given...it perched safely on my seat, folded... looking at its tattered state I was hesitant to use it.. then why would someone steal it, I asked myself.. After pondering over it for a while, arriv ed at two possible reasons: one, in a no-frills train like Garib Rath, they charge extra for bed rolls, so for the fear that one may be charged fine if s/he lost it, one would be extra careful; two & the most important, the AC is s...