Ashadhi Ekadashi

Its Ashadi Ekadashi today. People from Pune atleast are aware of it because the procession (Palki) begins from 2 villages Dehu and Alandi, both closer to Pune.
Till date it used to be just another occassion for holiday or treat of dishes at home specific for fasting.
But this year I came across it in a bit different manner.
I guess on June 17, the Palki started from Dehu and Alandi. They follow a path via Puna-Mumbai highway. Now this obstructs people's route to office who need to take or even cross this road. My present office location also makes me cross the road. But since the road was closed that day I had to take compulsary leave.
So it remained in my mind and today when I was told at home that its Mahaekadashi and we are fasting, I started thinking why out of all Ekadashis this one is significant.
Answers I found on the net.
Two reasons:
This is the day when Lord Vishnu went to sleep and woke up only after 4 months. And those are the 4 months we follow as Chaturmaas.
Reason associated with the procession: Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram started from their respective villages Alandi and Dehu 15 days to Ekadashi and had reached the temple of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini in Pandharpur on this day.

This was long time ago in the 13th century. Since then this has been followed by people till date. I guess that is a long time. It has never been missed any year. I think this makes it really significant and worth following. Do not know if I would ever be a part of this procession but atleast now I know the reason behind it and respect it.

Delhi-6

Recently I saw Delhi-6.
Yes I know its too late to speak about this movie.
After the early reviews by newspaper as well as by people around, I gave up the plan to spend money on this movie.
But at the same time I was curious and wanted to see the movie.
My wish is fulfilled. Recently from somewhere the movie itself reached my door steps.
So one day I planned to devote (spend !, waste!!) some time for it.

Without going into much details on the story of the movie, a general impression I made out of the movie.
Well I didn't enjoyed the movie. I just managed to be through whole of the movie.
First of all I feel you don't become an NRI by just changing your accent or by saying “Cool” or some similar prototype word every now and then. I guess Shahrukh was more closer to word NRI in Swades than the Abhishek in Delhi-6.
Second and the worst part is it does not give any sound reason for a person to leave his leisurely life in New York and come and stay in India and that too Delhi-6!!
Of course it showed that India has different facilities like Serving Paan at the arrival on air port, arranging for few people around whole making pickles and dancing at the top of the house.
Yes may be there were many people around the old lady Vahida when she suddenly went unconscious, but wasn't that just because she had recently arrived after a long absence? What would have happened if she was admitted to the hospital for long say 6 months or more? Would you have find all those faces with same feeling about her even after 6 months?
Definetely not!!! that does not happen in India too!!!.
here we forget yesterdays tragedies like bom blast, floods etc and go our way immediately the next day under the name of fight against terrorism etc. The real fact is we are equally selfish and just go to office just because you have (must) follow few dead lines at office or you might get fired or might not get good increments.
Anyways, One more thing that I realized was, the characters get lost in the story. Their presence was not continuous. Rishi Kapoor first appeared serving Pan to Old lady and then after few takes totally disappeared. Same was the case with Sonam Kapoor. After that Masakali song I guess, I totally forgot that she was a part of the movie. Similar were the cases with other characters but less significant.
I wondered what must have made Abhishek to stay back in India? Was it Sonam Kappor that made him stick to this place? Not a single of her qualities were revealed which would make her look so affectionate that some body would leave his luxurious life and live in the mess of Delhi-6.
Was there any other reason you could find to keep the handsome in Delhi-6? Kindly let me know.
I was surprised on one of Sonam's dialogue towards the end where she wondered if he would express his love towards her. Infact she should have been surprised that any NRI would fell for her irrespective how not great her personality is?
One big surprise is how Abhishek managed to arrange for the Kala Bander's dress in place where is no space for privacy?
The list might go too long, but I guess these many reasons are enough to suggest anybody, do not waste your time on this time.
Just to say something positive about the movie, would just appreciate the way they showed how even a small reason could be used to convert into a communal riot. Just out of nothing when the baba declares that there was a temple at the place of a mosque few years back, story takes a different route and whole atmosphere changes there. That was good.
So all NRIs, if you are looking for a Pan at the airport, or if wish to make pickles on the terrace with neighbours while singling and dancing and do some similar funny things, you are welcome to Delhi-6!!!!

The Return Journey

Evening before our return journey we planned to visit a famous hotel in I guess Sector 22.
The place is known more because of this hotel that belongs to a famous cricketer Kapil Dev.
Its called as "Elevens".

The interior is fantastic with all the walls depicting the history associated with this great legend. Also their is this place where few big cricketers who visited this place leave their a comments behind.


Next day morning we started from Chandigarh to Delhi. We reached Delhi early morning and had some time before we could catch our return train.
So we decided to make use of this opportunity to visit a near by place. The nearest place was India Gate.Although I had previously visited this place, but some how felt visiting the same again.
Early morning we reached at India Gate when people were playing cricket and doing exercise in the lawns near India Gate.
Since it was not crowded, we got chance to take some good snaps.
On the walls of India Gate you can find the names of all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in different wars against enemies.
At India Gate you will also find "Amar Jawan Jyoti" that represents all the sacrificed soldiers.
The guard which you see in the photo was standing as a statue and did not moved even a bit for all the time we were there.



Since we had some more time and it was getting too hot, we decided to stay in India Gate's vicinity rather than moving to any other place. Another reason was that no other place was open in such early morning.
resting in shades near India gate, few birds and animals wished to meet us.
A squirrel moving around invited me to take some of its snaps. The best one is below.

A dog sitting in another corner also came attracted towards us. Seeing camera in my hand, he wanted me to shoot his portfolio. I couldn't deny his request and clocked him in different poses. Some of them posted here. If any director liked these photos, then he is invited to see complete portfolio and then may be we can talk about his role in a movie.



Soon it was time to catch the train.
Early morning next day I was again ready with my camera to click the rising sun.
This was taken some where near Surat and let me tell you this is one of the most wonderful sun rises I have witnessed.
I have seen such a su rise with a layer of fog on ground but this was the first I clicked such a moment.

Sukhna lake

We had a chance for a quick visit to Sukhna lake in Chandigarh.
Its a huge lake in one corner of the city.
The name itself suggests that the lake never dries (Sukh Na).
I guess it is one of the best lakes to visit since it has been beautiful developed.
You can easily spend an hour or two in evening.
Just at the entry gate their are different snacks stalls. Must is a mention about the cleanliness around these stalls which definitely motivates you to try some new dish here. The road at the entry gate has lots of trees with crowded with different flowers of varying shades.
A few snaps says the story better.



As I said, the evenings here are very beautiful and you can read different moods of nature. One such mood I managed to click.

The lake has many stair cases to sit and to approach the water and different birds welcoming you. Most sighted ones are the ducks who definitely make you wait for a minute or two.


The lake in itself is a wonderful site to watch. But few other deeds like a huge tree at the bank, water sports, a long stretch of path for walk and some old kind of structure adds to this beauty.




I also managed to catch a glimpse of proud Sikh culture in close contact with the nature. This is one of my favorites in the whole set.

Hotel Taj @ Chandigarh

We visited Hotel Taj in Chandigarh.
At the reception we were welcomed by this tall, handsome Mr. Darban who motivated me to start clicking fotos from there itself. Although I was bit disapponted with the picture since this tall handsome turned to be a bit shy and couldn't give a great pose as I was expecting. This is best I could click.

The interior of Taj was as expected beautiful. Right through Ikebana to different wooden (I guess) art work and the light arrangements, every things was fantastic. I apologize for a bit blurred photos. My camera has picked up this bad habit to discourage me from taking photos in dim light. Trying to work out some solution.





One attractive feature in Taj was this heavy statue of horse kept at the center. Every body took one of their photo along with this horse. But I guess only the horse looks fantastic, so we don't appear in here.

Some more of interior worth noticing.


Another interesting feature was this innocent face, which I tried to catch many times, but failed every time. The kid was too quick to be trapped. Even his mother will agree to this.

Sun Set in Rajasthan

Rajdhani was running late. This gave us an oppurtunity to click some beautiful pictures of setting sun.
Here are some of the pictures of sun set taken from speedily running Rajdhani some where in Rajasthan.
Have a look.

Rajdhani

Its long time since my last post.
But I had a reason.
I was out of station. Bole to Chandigarh.
So in coming few days I will try to put down my few experiences during this travel.
To begin the story with, this time I took first class of the Rajdhani Express to go from Mumbai to Delhi.
My suggestion: Busy people should never take Rajdhani for any travel.

First of all it charges you heavily. At the same time, it takes time equivalent what a normal express train would take.
Once interesting thing is it helps you do more than one-fourth of bharat darshan in one go.
Yes, the train passes through many states. To name them, it begins with Maharashtra, Gujrat, Madhyapradesh, Rajesthan, Uttarpradesh/Uttarachal, Haryana and finally Delhi. (just as a proof, except for Gujrat, I have the welcoming sms from all different states.
Later on we also added Punjab to this list and just to mention we were hardly at a distance from Himachal Pradesh.

Except for the timing problem, travelling by Rajdhani could be a fun.
The interiors of the trains are fantastic. You are provided with unlimited stock of food and the food keeps coming to you before you could digest earlier taken menu.

So, if you have leisure time in hand and also have big appetite then
Welcome to Rajdhani