Two weeks ago, I was in Panchkula celebrating my vacations. I was coming back from a long evening walk with Papa when I happened to cross this "Fresh" store. The scene was something like this: There is this wonderful, colorful, garish, lucrative Reliance Fresh store and in its front, there are these cart-vendors standing on the road with their shimmering lamps, looking at each passer-by with questioning eyes - "What do you want sir/madam?". I was telling Papa that these Reliance people are slowly intruding into each and every segment of the industry and their services are really good and I guess the days of these ubiquitous cart-vendors are almost over. As I had never entered a Reliance Fresh store earlier, I forced him to come along inside the store. As we were about to enter, this strong guy with big moustache leaned forward - saluted and opened the door for us. "Hmmm... good, nice gesture", said Papa. Entering the store with AC on, serene music, flashing vegetables, I was feeling Papa is surely going to be impressed with all this. And I was right, he was happy and surprised at the same time to see everything so clean and fresh that too at the same rate as the cart-vendors outside or may be a little cheaper.
We bought a nice looking musk-melon (Rs. 40/kg). Took it home and put it in fridge. The very next day, when I cut it to serve it to others - "Here comes the Reliance stamped melon". I found a big dark patch inside, of course with its owner - the worm (with family). Almost half of the fruit had to be thrown and needless to say, whatever we ate was not sweet at all. Another comment from Papa, "I think whoever goes inside the store, comes out buying something, otherwise that guard won't salute and open the door for you :) People buy to get that salute/respect which they consider as a status symbol". OK, I thought, "but Reliance people can't get into the fruit to see what's inside", so that doesn't qualify as an accusation.

The same evening, mummy asked me to get some tomatoes. Ok, now is the time to prove how wonderful Reliance products are. The same scene, the same store and the same me of course with same feelings. I straight marched to the tomatoes. I saw the tags - two kinds of tomatoes - "Simple tomato (Rs. 16/kg)" and "Premium tomato (Rs. 19/kg)". Which one should I go for? Anyone! how the hell they'll identify at the cash counter (which kind is it). So, I headed for Premium brand. And as I picked the first tomato, aha! the fluid came from below, this was my reaction: Isshhh! put it aside. How do I pick the nice ones from this crowd of putrid tomatoes? They were stale, they were rotten, they were leaking, they were even stinking and what not. I could hardly find some "OK" tomatoes out of 2 really big baskets of tomatoes and actually I (had to) mixed the two brands (Premium + Plain). The cash counter could never know, which quality it is... how could he ever know :) - they were both (I got @ Rs. 16/kg). And while I was coming out of the store, the security guard smiled, bowed as expected (after all I visted them the 2nd running day). I could recall "दूर के ढोल सुहावने" while exiting.
And as rightly pointed out by Abhishek, in one of his blogs regarding "his experience" with Reliance Fresh, they don't have a proper website of their own. I could find just a single page on Reliance Fresh where the forum link talks about the jobs in Reliance Retail.

Now, the point is, if a giant like Reliance can't maintain the quality of its items, won't the common man turn its back towards the stores and switch back to the push cart vendors. Agreed, that they don't look so clean, but at least these guys work very hard to keep "their" fruits and vegetables fresh by constantly spraying water on it.

If Mukesh Ambani & Co. doesn't do something quickly on this, I am afraid, the freshness of Reliance Fresh is in deep trouble. By the way, I was amazed to see a Relaince Fresh outlet in Rohtak, but again I know for sure that Rohtak people are going to put these guys on toes if they are not going to improve the actual quality of their garish items.

Today, I tried adding some new gadgets to my blog - just to check what all they do?
One of them is "PageRank". As it appeared on my Page, it displayed the Rank as 0. What does that mean? Wow! is it better than 1 (Rank 1 is supposed to be best) or "No Rank" or "Not eligible for the rank to be calculated" :)
Then there is "Visitor Locations" from "FeedJIT". As soon as this one appeared on my Page, it displayed a small red dot somewhere on the west coast of North America. On moving the cursor on the dot, a tool tip popped up - "Concord, California". Hunh! who visited my blog from there? Sounds confusing to me.
Then the "Photo Gallery". I added this one to put some of my nice pics here but sadly I don't have too many photos. Maybe I'll click some nice ones to put up here :)

Actually, I was looking for some new templates and gadgets like "Hit Counter", "Calendar" etc. I didn't get either of these and ended up adding the above ones. Never mind, the search is ON...

I am back from Chandigarh to Pune this Sunday after a vacation of one week.

With four hops, the journey was awsome. Quite a few reasons for that:

1. Chandigarh to New Delhi - Jan Shatabdi AC Chair Car: Its a new train that has been started for this route and the thing to excitement is that the fare is just Rs. 107 (even less than the bus which is Rs. 135). How good it is to travel in an AC coach with so less fare?


2. New Delhi to Mumbai Central - Rajdhani Express AC 2-tier: The name of the train itself is quite exciting. After waiting for around 2 hrs on New Delhi station and confirming my seat in the coach, when I entered the train, I felt rejuvenated. No crowd, no noise and a titillating mild scent sprayed in the coach. That was very refreshing. This being my first time in Rajdhani that too in AC 2-tier was a great experience. Thanks to Papa who got me the last minute reservation. The train dropped me off at Mumbai Central exactly at the scheduled time (exactly 16 hrs), but I didn't want to get down. The food served was very nice - Juice, beverages, candies, refreshments and the main course (dinner and breakfast) all were sumptuous.


3. Mumbai Central to Dadar - I landed in Mumbai for the first time. The very first thought I had when I stepped down the train, "Oh! what if I get to see some high profile filmstar like Sharukh or Aamir here." That was just a starting. I even thought of having a glance of some beautiful actress, maybe Vidya Balan. Why the hell will they come to railway station on a Sunday morning? Oops! even if its not a Sunday. Ok, may be for some shooting. It took me around 15 minutes to get a local train ticket to Dadar and all the time my thoughts went through a falling graph. I started thinking with Sharukh, Vidya etc. , went through Salman, Katrina (Ok, I am fine even if I meet Navjot Sidhhu) and finally perched on Raj Thackrey. What if some people come and ask me where do I belong to? I say - Rohtak. Where is it? Haryana. Oh! thats North India, send him back. Take his luggage and scare him out of this place. "Take his luggage? Hey! I have got 'Besan ke laddoos', I won't give it to you." Drowned neck deep in all these thoughts, I even forgot to take back the change from the ticket window. Never mind, that was just 2 Rs. :) I got my ticket to Dadar. I was already warned by Papa that stand near the door of the local train and jump out as soon as the platform arrives because the people rush madly into the train. I did as directed and managed to get down safely with my luggage on Dadar station. But, I appreciate the service of Mumbai local trains. They are on time, they halt for only 10 seconds at each stop, they have a separate track for themselves and they are damn too fast.


4. Dadar to Pune - Ok, the only irritating and tiring part of my journey. I had the ticket of "Hyderabad Express" and gosh! I am travelling in "Koyna Express". Thats no legal. And I was so happy that I have the ticket of an AC 3-tier berth. And to my surprise, there is no AC coach in this train, just one AC chair car coach. So, I went inside that. I took one of the empty chairs. TT was ought to come and he came. I told him that I have the ticket for another train which will come after 3 hrs and I didn't want to wait that long in this 42 degree heat. He told that at next stop, all seats will be full and if I can manage standing. I said absolutely no problem. I was lucky enough to have a cool TT. Where I was thinking of getting a fine, and where I travelled in the only AC compartment of the train. The sight seeing is really cool on this route - the train passes through a very beautiful terrain, running through a couple of tunnels. Though this train was 10 minutes late of its scheduled time at Pune (that too due to some maintenance activity going on at some peices of railway line), it can be condoned looking at the present day scenario where most of the trains run much late of their schedules.

Overall, I enjoyed the journey to my fullest. Maybe, because I travelled on rails after a long time. I have been travelling in air only for the past 2.5 years. Though flights can save you time, but journey by train has its own charm and excitement. :)

How often do you feel happy?
Rather, for people like me who are always happy - how often do you feel happy beyond normal happiness? Or very happy, or very very happy? Happy to the extent that you don't feel like eating even if you are hungry, you don't feel like sleeping even if you are sleepy. How many times such incidents happen to you that you were happy beyond limits? I dig down my memory lane to capture such events and tried to recollect all of those. Extracts follow in chronological order:

• I got 99 of 100 in Maths in 3rd standard. I used to be a failure in maths. I found it the scariest subject not because I found it difficult and I didn't understand it; but because I used to make so many silly mistakes that I never managed to get a good score. Mistakes in simple addition, subtraction, multiplication. I used to be thrashed like anything and was punished a lot of times for the repeating the same kind of mistakes. For me, getting a 99 in maths was definitely an achievement. I still remember, I didn't put my answer sheet in my bag the whole day and even on the way back home, I had it waving in my hand. Showed it to many of my colony friends before reaching home. Threw it proudly towards mummy on reaching home.
• Stood 1st for the 3rd consecutive year in 3rd standard. You know, I have never been so intelligent, but the strength of the class was so low that I managed to top. I remember we were only 9 students in the 3rd standard of "Scholars Model School". So, overtaking 8 students was never tough but then I was a kid and was in my own world of happiness. It continued, till my Tau Ji realized the fact that I am not topping the charts of this school because of my intelligence but because of lack of competition (an intelligent thought though!). I would stop to mention here that whenever Tau Ji wanted to change something in my life, they all became milestones and a turning points in my life (all positive turns by the way). And as he realised in my 4th standard, that a healthy competition with a significant number of contestants is necessary for a child's growth, I was put in a different school in 5th standard. I never got 1st rank in studies thereafter (Yeah, milestone!). I salute his thinking; this is just a minor instance.
• A girl with me in 4th class, SK (yeah I remember her full name, I can even recall her child face) told that she likes me. Yes, I used to understand these things at that time also, when I was just 8 years old. May be that's the reason I lost my 1st rank to her in 4th class. I stood 2nd. This was my last class in this school and Papa taunted me saying, "See, you lost to this girl just before leaving school". I wanted to reply, "I lost a rank, that poor girl lost her heart to me", but I kept silent. And I strongly believe - losing in love is perfectly fair. :) Thinking of this childish act of mine, I still smile.
• Another girl SH (Hmmm, I remember her name too) in 8th class. I and my very close friend (with whom I have completely lost contact) Rohit Joon were really crazy about that girl. She came up to me and expressed her feelings. I was standing petrified, lower jaw fell down, mouth wide-open. My record clearly said, I never could speak up in front of a girl about such things. I always go blank when exposed to such a situation.
• Cleared IIT screening in 12th. Clearing this exam was again a big achievement for me because I was the only student from my school who cleared it. It also helped me in getting through the admission procedure of JIIT (this college was my life - I can never dare to loose the memories of my college). Though I felt bad for my friend Praveen Sharma who was very intelligent (at least more than me) and really worked hard for this exam and couldn't make it. This guy was the only example my parents used to show me continuously - "Look at him. You have to be as dedicated and as intelligent as him. Always stay in his company. Study with him. etc. etc." We even prepared for this exam together.
• My 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th ... nth love in college, though all of them were one-sided :) I wonder, why are boys like this. They have their heart in their pockets and keep tossing it to every third girl they see. Please don't feel accused if you don't fall in this category. But, let's agree, most of us are like this. Anyways, I still stay happy about this thinking the fact that this is absolutely normal. Being a boy, you are attracted to a girl (girls). Isn't it normal? By the way, I personally feel that this should not be overdone.
• I got 5 prizes in different events in my 3rd semester in the annual function at JIIT. 1st prize in Marathon, 1st prize in three-legged race (partnered it with Jashan Parikh who himself was a great athlete and was 2nd in the Marathon), again 1st prize in skit (Paisa Bolta Hai - scripted by Saurabh Upadhyay; Tulika was amazing in her act), 2nd prize in Kho-Kho (I guess, we lost to Electronics team), 3rd prize in Ad-Mad show (We did an ad for a turban). The occasion was special because it was the first function organized in the college at such a large scale and bagging 5 prizes, I was feeling like a real winner. My class B5 was proud of me. I got noted among people because of this.
• Got A+ grade in "Optimization Techniques" in 4th semester at JIIT. Getting an A+ in a subject in my college was not a UNIQUE thing. But this one was really special for me for 2 reasons. One, this was my first A+ in the college and two, I was the only student who got A+ in this subject. My academic record was very poor (CGPA - 6.3) till 3rd semester. My rising started with this semester. Being the only person to get an A+ amongst very intelligent, genius and bond boys, I felt that I haven't performed better than this in my life. While preparing resume for placement in a company, I was unable to think many of my achievements. Abhishek told me, "Put - Sole creditor of A+ in Optimization Techniques" as one of the achievements. I remember the exact sentence because a lot of fun was made around this. But I still feel, that a great achievement of mine.
• Got recruited for Infosys - my then dream company. The first and last time I had palm sweating in my life. Though I felt bad when I couldn't get through the Accenture's recruitment process but I knew that I was not so strong technically and hence my eyes were only on Infy. I along with some of my very close friends had a dream of getting into this IT giant together. We dreamt and finally got it. The happiest moment when the names of all 4 of us were OUT that we are IN. I felt that I couldn't have wished for a better thing. I called up home at 11 PM even when I knew that no one would be awake. I had not even informed about Infy visiting JIIT campus. I thought of directly giving news of my recruitment and that's exactly what I did. I called up once; twice, no one picked the phone. But, I was unable to control my joy, so made a last attempt only to hear a very sleepy voice of Tau Ji. I gave him the big news and I am sure he was also out of sleep at once.
• Bagged the "Best Trainee" award at Infosys Mysore during training. This one was completely unintentional. I didn't even know that such an award exists. I took all the exams thinking to score well, but never ever thought of some award. I was not even present in the "MG Auditorium" when it was announced. I was attending the BCM induction session and got the news from my friends. Initially I didn't believe them, but then found an official mail. I was so happy putting my initial footprints in Infy.
• Yesterday... yes, thats when I thought of writing down all this, because I had lost my sleep as I talked to a very dear friend of mine after one long and waitful year. I don't know why, but I somehow was getting the positive vibes while talking to her over the phone. People come and go in our lives, some touch our lives, some stick to our lives and she has been one such sticker :)

So, I could think of only this much. The moments of extreme happiness in my life. I am sure there are a lot more such incidents but I am not getting any of those now. I'll update this blog as I get to recall any.

बिजली - मेरा मानना है कि तीन प्रकार की होती है:
१. प्राकृतिक बिजली - जो बादलों में चमकती है।
२. मानव निर्मित बिजली - जो घरों में पंखे चलाती है।
३. याना गुप्ता की बिजली - जो प्रकृति ने मानव में भर दी है (बाबु जी ज़रा धीरे चलो, बिजली खड़ी) ।
पिछले हफ्ते ही पुणे पहुँचा और ढाई साल बाद यह अनुभव किया कि बिजली के बिना इंसान की नींद कैसे ख़राब होती है। बिजली गुल होते ही मच्छर अपने तानपुरे लेकर गाजे-बाजे के साथ आपका मनोरंजन करने पहुँच जाते हैं और अब यही आपके साथी होते हैं - इनमें से ही अपने अपने मनपसंद गायकों को चुन लीजिये और रात भर उनके साथ गुन गुनाइये।
वैसे बिजली के बिना रहने का अनुभव मैं बहुत पहले से करता आया हूँ, पर जब कल रात को फिर से मच्छरों ने मुझ पर हमला किया तो मुझे अपने साथ हुए सारे ऐसे हादसों का स्मरण हो आया। सबसे पहले याद आई मुझे रेल विहार की वह रातें जो इतनी वीरान और भूतिया थीं की सोच कर ही डर लगे। हम चार लोग (मैं, अभिषेक अस्थाना, प्रियांशु बहुगुणा और अमित भरद्वाज) उस सरकारी आवास में रहते थे। हमने कभी उस इलाके में न किसी लड़की को देखा था, न किसी हम उम्र लड़के को, देखा था तो सिर्फ़ बहुत छोटे छोटे बच्चों को या फिर बूढों को। वहाँ हमारी उम्र का कोई भी नहीं रहता था। आस पास कोई दुकान भी नहीं थी कि भूख लगे तो जा कर कुछ खा लें। हम दूसरी मंजिल पर रहते थे (D 4/9) और हमारी बालकनी से एक छोटा सा बगीचा दिखाई देता था जिसमे सिर्फ़ दो झूले थे। रात को जब बिजली जाती थी तो कोई माँ अपने छोटे छोटे बच्चों को लेकर झूले झुलाने के लिए ले आती थी। हैरानी की बात यह थी कि रात का कोई भी समय हो, कितना भी बजा हो, समाँ यही होता था और जब झूला झूलता था तो उसमें से ऐसे आवाज़ आती थी जैसे कोई भूतिया फ़िल्म कि शूटिंग चल रही हो। बच्चे रोते रहते थे (मैं सोचता था कि रात के दो बजे इन बच्चों को कोई और काम नहीं है रोने के सिवा) और झूला अपना गाना गता रहता था। दोनों मिलकर ऐसा माहौल बनाते थे कि अपने बाल नोचने का दिल करे।
रेल विहार की ही एक रात मैं कभी नहीं भूल सकता। हमारे पहले सेमेस्टर के इम्तिहान चल रहे थे। हमारे घर पर पढ़ाई का माहौल रहता था (अभिषेक और प्रियांशु जैसे दिग्गज जो रहते थे :P) इसलिए हमारा दोस्त प्रवेश भी इन दिनों हमारे घर पढ़ाई करने आ जाता था। अगले दिन अंग्रेजी का पेपर था और प्रवेश ने हमारे घर में प्रवेश किया और बिजली गुल। अब क्या किया जाए? हमने निर्णय लिया कि हम बिजली के खंभे के नीचे बैठ कर पढ़ाई करेंगे। निर्णय अनुसार, हम लोग एक खंभे एक नीचे बैठ कर पढ़ाई करने लगे लेकिन हमारे साथी मच्छरों ने भी हमारा साथ दिया। उन्हें बहुत समझाया कि भैया अभी पढने दो बाद में खेलेंगे, लेकिन मच्छरों को अपनी बे-इज्ज़ती बर्दाश्त नहीं हुई, हमारी एक न सुनी। हार कर हमने खम्बा बदला। हम खंभे बदलते रहे और मच्छर हमारे पीछे पीछे। लगभग एक घंटे तक यही पकड़ा पकड़ी का तमाशा चलता रहा। फ़िर हमने सोचा कि क्यों न कॉलेज में जा कर पढ़ाई की जाए?
अपने अरमानों को पंख लगाये, हम कॉलेज पहुंचे। वहाँ बहुत मुश्किल से गेट कीपर को पटाया, तो उसने कहा कि बाहर स्टेज पर ही बैठ कर पढ़ाई कर लो, अन्दर बिल्डिंग में नहीं जाना है। हम उसके निर्देशानुसार स्टेज पर चढ़ गए। अब स्टेज पर चढ़कर पढ़ाई कौन करता है भाई? स्टेज तो नाचने, गाने और ड्रामा करने कि जगह होती है। उन दिनों लड़कियों के हॉस्टल के लिए नए नए गद्दे आए थे और वो स्टेज पर ही रखे थे। बस लड़कों के शैतानी दिमाग से पेपर गायब हो गया। गद्दों के कवर फाड़ फाड़ कर उसमे पर्चियां बना बना कर डालनी शुरू कर दीं और पर्चियों पर लड़कियों के नाम संदेशे - किसको कौन लड़की अच्छी लगती है? कौन अच्छी नहीं लगती है? कौन किसे क्या कहना चाहता है? करीब दो घंटे वहाँ तफरी करने के बाद हम घर (रेल विहार) वापिस आ गए। तब तक बिजली आ चुकी थी। पढ़ाई का बिल्कुल मूड नहीं था और नींद से बुरा हाल था। घर पहुँचते ही हम गहरी नींद में सो गए। भगवान् कि कृपा से हम पास तो हो गए पर जो तैयारी हमने कि थी उसे याद करके आज भी हँसी आ जाती है।

उसके बाद मनोज विहार (K-171) कि वो रात, जब महाराज प्रियांशु को मच्छरों के गीत सुनना गवारा नहीं हुआ और उसने बिजली चले जाने पर कछुआ जलाया, वो भी अखबार पर रख कर और हमारे हीरो ने lighter भी अखबार के ऊपर ही छोड़ दिया और फिर लम्बी तान कर सो गया। अब कछुआ जल रहा है मेरे बिस्तर के सामने। जब कछुआ जला तो साथ में अखबार भी जला, अखबार जला तो lighter भी जला, और जैसे ही lighter जला, एक विस्फोट हुआ, lighter फटा और उड़कर सीधा मेरे मुंह के सामने से रॉकेट कि तरह निकल गया। प्रियांशु ने जो मिशन शुरू किया था वो सफल नहीं हुआ और उसका निशाना चूक गया। मेरी आँख बाल बाल बच गयी।

ऐसी ही न जाने कितनी रातें याद आई, शिप्रा सनसिटी (440-D) में जब बिजली जाती थी, तो छत पर चले जाते थे और उल्टी सीधी सब तरह कि बातें करते थे, हरकतें करते थे। अस्थाना जी तो अक्सर मोमबत्ती कि रोशनी में पढ़ाई करते थे।

बिजली के न होने से भी इतनी यादें जुड़ी हैं, मैंने सोचा नहीं था लेकिन जब कल रात फिर से मच्छरों से सामना हुआ तो सब याद आ गाया।

12th January - 1st post on Praveen's blog.
5th March - I do not yet see another post by the horse himself!

Heights of lethargy, I would call it. He just doesn't want to write and bullies me to write for him! I give in just this one time. I am determined to rebel the next time round he asks me to write.
In vain have I tried to coax him into writing.

I am out of ideas. How do I know what this guy thinks. What should I write on his blog. I have known him for years and know him well enough to be able to see a little into his hyperactive head, but when faced with a blank page and a computer keyboard, I am aboslutely paralysed. My fingers jam and just refuse to type.

So, I will call it quits and give this restless fellow another chance. Hopefully he will write something this time.

Signed:
J