Ajmal Kasab Hanged

Finally an action by my country worth praising!

Wish they had done this earlier but as BJP says "His execution matter of great satisfaction". Won't write much but I'll end this post with a hope that Afzal Guru is the next. Mr. President wake up now. Take action!

Old Folks Remain worth a Fortune

Old is gold

Remember, old folks are worth a fortune, gold in their teeth, with silver in their hair, stones in their kidneys and gas in their stomachs.

I have become a little older since I took birth and although many changes have come into my life since then, I am enjoying it a lot. I am seeing my best friends every day. As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go to see Mr. Morning Walk. Then Break Fast comes along, and makes me give taste to the tongue. When he leaves, Work Station when he is here, he takes a lot of my time and attention. He doesn't like me to wander my attention away from him for long, so he takes me one effort to another. After such a busy day I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Io Dex. What a life!

P.S. Old life – if meeting you means everything will become eventful, I am ready for you!

A Tribute to Jaspal Bhatti

The favorite comedian of masses died yesterday. Like many others, I also thought it was just an act of fun and I'd soon find myself laughing at his newest gag. But it wasn't.  Can’t believe he’s not coming back. 

I grew up watching Flop Show on DD and its subsequent reruns on all the major channels, and still loved it so much that I downloaded all its episodes. The enormous data meant I had to buy an additional hard disk, but Flop Show deserved it. I have quoted dialogues from the show on countless occasions, and still can't stop breaking into laughter at the simplicity (but intelligence) of this brilliant human being who had the God-gifted talent to make everyone breezy.

Jaspal Bhatti gave the gift of clever comedy to the Indian cinema. No person has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for this beautiful art. Our laughter originated from Jaspal Bhatti and his spirit will forever be the foundation of humor.

Jaspal Bhatti in action

I still hope this news of his dying is bogus, but if this is what the world-drama wants, let the soul depart into its new birth peacefully and continue to spread its cheerfulness. God bless his family.

Amazing Leh and the Indian Army

Indian Army Kargil-Drass War Memorial

Secluded terrain, long (unbroken) roads and clear blue sky – this is Laddakh – the lost paradise, no doubt. Here, on one side the wind makes you shiver as you regret not packing an extra jacket and on the other it leaves you breathless because of the altitude – a whooping 11570 feet above sea level.  On the outskirts, Leh is just like any other village but when you enter its boundaries, the modern town melts into a crumbling old city of timber and mud bricks.

Indian Army Kargil-Drass War Memorial Indian Flag

Reaching Leh by road for a first time traveler like me wasn’t easy. We took the Manali route because many said it’s more picturesque than the Srinagar-Leh road. And they were correct. The beauty of the mountains paired with endless waterfalls made the route amazing. We crossed Kullu, Manali, Solang Valley and Rohtang peacefully. The trouble started after we crossed Keylong which is at the height of 10,000 feet. Manali-Leh road gains height faster which sometimes results in altitude sickness, but the presence of Indian Army makes the journey endurable. My first interaction with the Army Medical corps was in Pang Valley  which is completely isolated, penetrated only by barren mountains. Because of this isolation, the valley has not become the residential commuter area as like the rest of the region, but that doesn’t take away the beauty it offers.

Indian Army Drass War Memorial Indian Flag

There are Medical Camps at every manageable post, which are maintained by the Indian Army. (It has a large military base in Leh to patrol the borders with China and Pakistan). At these camps, I got a chance to interact with officers whose main job sometimes becomes providing medical facilities to those feeling frizzy on this route. The dedication with which they work is really inspiring, especially because the posts they stay in normally touch temperatures below 20 degrees. The commitment towards service is awesome and truly reflects the spirit of their motto ‘fight to win’.

Pang Valley wasn’t the only place where we had to take army’s help. We saw them again while on the way to Pangong Lake, Khardung La, Kargil and Drass war memorial and at every place, the interactions with the men in uniform were better than before.

The Scenic Leh

Barcha La Pass (Manali-Leh Highway)

Like the days before, we began our journey early to make sure nothing misses our eyes due to sunset. The Manali-Leh highway is as amazing as you can possibly imagine. Here's an image of a small pond just below BarchaLa pass.

Barcha La Pass 

Sarchu Camps

On the way to Leh

When you come from Manali, the green mountains with green pastures of Rothang slowly pass you by and you find yourself in the company of the beautiful Chandra river. The drive is pleasant with scenic tiny villages. After you cross Jispa, get ready to meet the mighty Barcha La pass which remains in snow almost whole through the year, which makes it absolutely white with no distinction between the sky and the earth other than a tiny stretch of bump-less road. From here, we drove down from snowy mountain peaks to plain lands and reached Sarchu. Here, you can camp for a night and wake up to majestic mountains and scenic river running in a deep gorge.













With the elements of greenery leaving you for a snow covered mountains, the road climbs up or down endlessly to show you some of the nature's best scenery. The huge solid mountains at distances that looked unscalable are only minutes away from being driven on.

Barcha La

It was our first stint with snow after years and we didn't want any moment to go waste. Since we went in late September, there wasn't even a single tourist around, which made the whole trip more amazing.

The rivers don't want to left behind, so they follow you everywhere you go!

Leh route

The journey to this range of Himalayas is full of contrasts and extremes with a beauty than lies mainly in the variety. Here, its only mountains, sky, wind and you!

Mesmerizing contrast of mountains & sky 

People here are so friendly in the rough terrain that you just can't help smiling when they greet you with an affectionate "Juley".

The wilderness of Leh

Beautiful lakes, Bro-maintained highway, stunning mountain passes, a LPG pumping station, century old monestries, a golf course and lots of lamas..you have all these stuff here that you wouldn't find anywhere else than Laddakh.

Assertive or Aggressive – What Are You?

Conventional wisdom has taught us that assertiveness can take us forward. It tells us how to make people work, request the resources we want, ask for raises at the right time and not to take ‘no’ as an answer. It is supposed to be directly linked to gaining respect and offering it.

But it has a sweet spot – if you are below it, people are going to ignore you. If you're above it, you’ll be termed as aggressive. So assertive or aggressive – what are you?

Assertiveness is not unanimously understood to be a positive trait. Before you give opinion, know the context you are working in. Evaluate your level of assertiveness and assess your own behaviour by asking for inputs. Ask yourself if you are willing to talk to someone about what you want? Also practise asking yourself what do you want from a particular situation? Then, afterwards, evaluate the results: "Did I get what I wanted?" this will build a track record of behaviour and assess whether you need to adjust your style of working.

Sometimes, objectively rating yourself can be difficult and if that is the case with you, ask a friend or trusted colleague about feedback or encourage a 360-degree review.

Three rules to Assertiveness
I: You have the right to judge your own behaviour, thoughts, and emotions, and to take the responsibility for their initiation and consequences upon yourself.
 II: You have the right to offer no reasons or excuses for justifying your behaviour.
III: You have the right to judge if you are responsible for finding solutions to other people’s problems.

Is your Inexperience Shutting you down?

Ever had to go through the humiliation of being cut in the middle of your presentation because someone thought what you have prepared isn’t worth listening to?

It has happened to me. My work has been denied by people who are more polished, more senior and more experienced than me. The moment I get that rejection, it used to just suck out all the happiness from me. But as my work experience is growing, I’ve learnt to dust off the rejection and move forward. I try to look beyond people, explore their emotions and find out ways where I could’ve done better.

Not surprisingly, in today’s environment people like to shun others, especially juniors. This behaviour is a typical case of I-am-better-than-you syndrome. Just yesterday, I met a friend who called me in tears after attending a meeting with higher management. After spending days curiously anticipating meeting her bosses, the experience wasn’t like how she’d imagined. Noting that she has just joined the company six months back, most executives ignored her in the conversations, leaving her disheartened and thinking if it is the place she should be at?

I was shocked at the extent to they turned away their backs on her and made her feel low for being too inexperienced. Yes, as youngsters we will take our time to reach to a level where you are, and sometimes we need to learn to accept rejection of industry veterans, even when it seems like the only purpose of the latter is to thwart bubbling of new ideas. But a fine line needs to be drawn between perceptions and behaviours.

Positive Thinking in Practise

When words are sweet, there is a positive impact. Staying constantly cheerful isn't an issue, if only we know how to do it. Sweet words are like flowers, when given to others brings happiness and spread love.  Harsh words are like stones that hurt.  Harsh words emerge when there is some weakness working within us. 














So what do? 

Try not saying anything that is not sweet. If a situation does arise where you feel compelled to say something not so good and nice, move away from there. Till you're not sure that you'll not speak nasty words, do not come back to that situation. What works at this time is to try and resolve that point in mind so that you don't speak words that leave a negative impact and make you feel bad later.


It helps, just try!

Making Relationships Not Last Forever

It’s easy. Just follow these steps and you’ll have a broken relationship in just few days/weeks/months/years – depending upon your will.

Be Unreal

Why stay genuine when being bogus can help? Call it being yourself. That are only few other things that can help you getting out of a relationship so easily. Ignore that unique voice you live under, forget your true values and that ultimate “fake” to the real world.

Forget that Smile

Folks, after observing people for so long, I have come to this conclusion that this really helps. Isn’t it obvious? Life is all about executing simple ideas and if that relationship is hurting you for long, give us your smile and see the difference.

Never Look People In The Eye

When we all have our laptops, smart phones and iPods, why to give importance to other people? To communicate, we do have a mouth, don’t we? So, what’s the need to look people in eye when you talk?

Don’t remember the name?

What’s the harm if you call Mrs. Sharma as Mrs. Verma? They’ll eventually know when you are talking about them or to them. Who cares if for a person, his r her name is the sweetest sound to their ears.

Dishonesty “Always” Pays

Again, simple, I know. But dishonesty really does come down to the daily doing of a series of fundamentals well. Be the most dishonest person you know and see the magic flowing!

So there you are.  Five fundamental yet powerful ways to break those relationships and leave a negative impact of your communication, forever. All you need to do is “Focus”

Waking Up the Inner Child

When I was a child

I listened to my mother

She taught me how to walk and talk

Above all, how to create a good thought.

I believed in nature

Made it my best friend

I played with my dog

Which I thought to be godsend

Now that I am grown

The innocence has flown

The mind has developed

It’s easy to make it corrupt

From pure to defensive

It forgets to be festive

I was taught the dream of compassion

Somehow it became weaken

Not anymore, I tell myself

I am going to lead by example

The world is hard and cold

But then I have good friends to hold

It’s time to wake up the purity inside

That’ll help me when things go wild

This moment I am not going to subside

‘Coz now I know, I am God’s most beautiful child

This just came to my mind this morning. If a writing professional is what you seek, please visit Writing Routes. Chao. Nitima