The Chestnut Tree Café—Stop For a Snack to Stab Your Friend in the Back

This article was first published a long time ago during my undergraduate days. 13 April 2012, to be exact. It was written by me and edited by Apoorva Tapas for the News that Matters Not website, where Apoorva and I were both interning in the 2012 Internship-cum-Training Program. It continues to make me smile even today. Since the website no longer exists, and the only way to find it is if you download the archives and browse to page 60 of the 122 pages long Staff Pick-2, here is a slightly modified version for easy laughs.  

A 24-year-old, who says that the act of stabbing people at their back is an in-built trait, has come up with a café which deals with something interesting: betrayal. The Café aims to provide the customers with a rich experience of deceit and depression. Set in a backdrop of Judas kissing Jesus, and an Aashiq Banaya Aapne poster, and with Mark Zuckerberg at the inauguration, it will reaffirm that we all need to cheat someone to reach to the top, and that it’s nothing to be guilty about. 

Literally taking a leaf out of George Orwell’s famous book 1984, a young entrepreneur is all set to open up a unique venture named ‘Chestnut Tree Café’ in upscale Bandra, next Friday. He calls himself Big Brother.

“Those who aren’t familiar with the Orwellian classic 1984 would not understand the significance of the name, but I am confident my café is going to be a big hit.” Justifying this statement in an exclusive interview, BB said, “Chestnut Tree is a café with a cause; while all other establishments are concerned with trivial services like food, entertainment and a good time, we cater to the deepest and most important qualities of a human being—betrayal and deceit.”

The twenty-four-year-old explained that humans are basically selfish creatures and the act of stabbing people at their back is an in-built trait. “Orwell wrote about it half a century ago, and we continue to see it every day in the news; the act of selling people out is something that each individual commits over and over again. Be it a regular teenager dumping his latest flame for a prettier version, or a businessman sabotaging his partner, everyone betrays someone. Unfortunately, the society we live in today is in denial of its true nature—of a backstabbing, twofaced snitch. So I decided to provide people with a place where they can be true to themselves and discover their inner Brutus. This is my life’s mission. Well, at least until I steal another one.”

Features of the “Betrayal Café”: The Chestnut Tree is a 70-seater café, overlooking the sea. It has dingy yellow walls with symbolic cracks in them, chess boards to motivate strategic scheming and an assortment of clove-flavoured bites and gin. To set up perfect dates for friendsthat-were, each table is illuminated with a single yellow bulb, creating a fitting ambience of uncomfortable interrogation. Since no act of treachery is complete without background music, a Tele-screen has been installed that always plays a selection of songs with betrayal as their theme. The greatest attraction however, is a giant poster that hangs in the middle of the largest wall— depicting the face of a man, about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. His eyes seem to follow you wherever you go; BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

Captioned underneath, is the heavily inspired (to the point of plagiarized) by 1984 motto of the Café:

“In Chestnut Tree Café, overlooking the sea, 

I sold you and you sold me.” 

Enquired about the kind of crowd he is expecting, BB revealed that his café was open to anyone—from a schoolboy who decided to ditch his best friend to work on a project with the class topper at the last minute, to a colleague who snitched about you at work, to a girl fooling around with a friend’s boyfriend. “My services are offered to every Indian without a bias, ranging from Sonia Gandhi—who can finally break it to Manmohan Singh that he’s just a poster boy—to Ranbir Kapoor to ditch his latest fling. We are quite versatile that way!” exclaims BB.

The Café aims to provide the customer with a rich experience of deceit and depression. The artwork in the Café is carefully chosen—Judas kissing Jesus, a family portrait of Adam and Eve with the Serpent and Apple, and an original poster of Aashiq Banaya Aapne depicting romantic betrayal. “It is our aim, to not only provide the perfect setting for treachery, but also to inspire and bring out the worst in our customers.

The Café has some exciting activities lined up—debates, guest lectures on how to intoxicate the mind from a guilty conscience, book clubs to study the history of treason etc. I am very excited to announce that on the grand opening, Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to put in a special appearance via the Tele-screen. He will address the crowd on the intricacies of betrayal and share expert tips on theft of intellectual property.”

BB’s confidence in the Café made me wonder out loud, if this had always been his plan. BB revealed that he had initially wanted to be a social entrepreneur, but after reading 1984, he just knew for sure that this was the venture he wanted to work with. “I mean, so many people are into mind-games and guilt-free deception but what about the rest of us; the ones who need the reassurance that it’s okay to sell someone out for the greater good? I mean, do you have any idea about the kind of health hazards and trauma people go through in life, over-analyzing their inherent trait for survival? This café will reaffirm that they are not alone, that we all need to step on someone to reach to the top, that it’s nothing to be guilty about.

“Take the Café for example; do you think it was my idea? Hell no! My best friend came up with it. I convinced him that it was no good and made him accept the MBA offer from Yale so that he was out of the way. I went behind his back and set it up. He will be the first person I’ll bring here. I think we will move past this and remain good friends. His friendship means a lot to me. So you see, I have cheated, you have cheated. We don’t need to make a big deal out of it, but just focus on the bigger picture. That is what the Chestnut Tree is all about—the bigger picture; because ends always justify the means now, don’t they?” BB confides with a smile, “I intend to bring a revolution. Just as ‘we need to talk’ is synonymous with breakup, people saying ‘let’s meet up at the Chestnut’ would mean betrayal in the near future. I have high hopes for my Café!”

The Chestnut Tree promises to be the perfect setting for that ultimate showdown you’ve been putting off. BB and his venture inspire great confidence in your ability to finally push that dagger in.

The Chestnut Tree Café opens coming Friday in Bandra.

The Heart of the Hatia

-Can you give me one kilo of those onions?

-You should take one and half, these are really good.

-But you have priced them very high!

-Let me give you one and a half, you won't find them next week. 

-Little snippets of conversation from my local hatia.

The hatia had been such an integral part of my growing up in Bokaro. The hatia or haat is a biweekly market, mainly selling fresh vegetables and fruits, but almost selling everything you can think of for your everyday use- from seeds and clothes to brooms and utensils. 

It was only after I came to Delhi, since I was also used to daily markets in Kolkata that I realized Hatias are not as normal as I had assumed them to be. And that it was perfectly normal to buy vegetables in the supermarket. 

I remember coming back to Bokaro after about a couple of years in Delhi and going to the Hatia with my dad. And being shocked at the level of camaraderie between the buyer and seller. It was very very normal to have conversations such as "Are you insane for charging 16 rupees a kilo? I won't pay anything more than 13." or "Look at how fresh these  beans are, you have to take atleast 1 kilo to do it justice". I remember being indignant when they were bargaining between 16 rupees and 13 rupees, but my dad explains there is a rhyme to it, and people actually enjoy it. At some places, the sellers said there was no way they could reduce the prices, in some shops we got more vegetables than we would need, and in some other we got little discounts of 2-3 rupees. All accompanied by a lot of banter. 

We would also meet random other people from the city, with one-liners such as, 'the brinjals being sold at the end of this lane are really fresh' or 'they don't have any good fish today'. There would be cows walking among the people, and trying to steal a cabbage or some other leaves for dinner, and people constantly shooing them away. There would be younger boys selling all kinds of leaves- from spinach to coriander, and older women with seasonal vegetables. Many would come from Purulia, and other nearby parts of West Bengal to sell their produce. 

All in all, it was a lively half an hour to a quarter of an hour, every Wednesdays and Saturday, all throughout my childhood. And I never knew what special vegetables or fish would bought, since it all depended on the quality and the price of that day's hatia. 

And this February when I visited the Hatia after maybe 3 years, I could still see familiar faces, and one of the regular potato sellers asked me where I was and what I was doing nowadays. I said I was in Spain. He asked if it was in America. And I said it was closer to England. And we shared smiles without exchanging names or formal niceties. 

And this made me remember of all the times in Barcelona when I would visit the Pakistani or the Bangladeshi owned green groceries stores, and would get free chilies or coriander or ginger, over discussing how many years have we not been in our respective countries. 

I realized I had tried to unconsciously find the heart of Hatia, and fleetingly found it in the heart of Barcelona, in the little streets of Raval, in the corner shops of Sant Antoni, and the late night  department stores selling samosas at 3am in the morning.  

And I was leaving the hatia, I was almost reminiscing this oft-familiar quote on the price of chili which I couldn't hear anymore. And I was consoling myself thinking it has been so many years, maybe the chilies are not that cheap anymore, till I heard-

मिर्चा में भारी गिरावट !

And left with a smile on my face, happy that some things never change. 

तीन साल बाद

My last post was published on February 5, 2016 and ended with " I think I am going to strive to make more of my morning super awesome everyday!" It was during my Delhi days when I was in a phase of following blogging contests and writing about some pre-determined topics. 

Fast forward three years, I neither live in Delhi, nor follow blogging contests. But what I do is miss blogging from time to time. 

And like countless times before, I got inspired by Anubhuti's new blog to document her PhD journey, and made the decision to return to blogging! (Full Disclosure- I often make these decisions at the starting of a year, and then discontinue soon after)

I am still not sure what it will be this time around, maybe travels, maybe 3 am musings, maybe dark thoughts that sometimes like to escape into words, who knows! What I do know is that I want to bring the blog (and the followers if any) up to speed about my life!

Starting backwards, a couple of week ago, I came back home to Bokaro after being away from India for more than 13 months. Months which had been intense, challenging, rewarding and a whole lot of fun! From editing an issue of a Spanish magazine to talking about the said issue in the Chiapas, from travelling around Europe for a month to witnessing snowfall on my way to the university in Barcelona, it has been a bundle of new experiences.

With Ecologia Politica, very close to the Guatemala border. 

Here are some snapshots of what I have been upto, to get this blog restarted-

Spring 2016-
Convocation of the masters at TERI and sharing some quality time with my Delhi family! I was already looking for ways to continue studying, and these months were spent in a lot of uncertainty.

Summer 2016- Summer School, Climate Camps, Conference and Europe travels, and the first taste of the city which is my current home.

Autumn 2016- Living and trying to leave Delhi's polluted air. Treks to the mountains for mini-respites. Saying goodbyes in Delhi, and hesitant hellos to the new life!

Winter 2016- Paperwork, and more paperwork to fly away! And finally celebrations after getting the visa. I will write about my visa woes one day in details, but I have to thank all the people who stood by me while I was completely losing my nerves over the delays and the amount of paperwork required!

Spring 2017- Settling in the new city in a new continent. Making friends, making memories, and falling in love with the sea!

Summer 2017- Fiestas and a terrorist attack, and lots and lots of travels within Europe!

Autumn 2017- Homewards Bound! Three months of bliss!

Winter 2017- Back to Barcelona, and witnessing snowfall on the way to the university for the first time. This was also a time of realization on how I am just not suited for the winter in Barcelona. 

Spring 2018- Mostly spent at the university, attending lectures and seminars, and working from the office there!

Summer 2018- Visiting distant lands, and having friends visit me. Not to mention summer schools and conferences which took me places as well. 

Autumn 2018- Among other things, it was five weeks of Mexico! It was a lot of fun and joy, and new experiences that I would cherish forever.

Winter 2018- Coming back home after more than thirteen months away!

And now that we are up to speed, this is where this entry ends! 

What Turns My Morning Golden- Striving for #Colgate360GoldMornings

To be very honest, I am not a morning person. I do not enjoy waking up at the break of the dawn. And more often than not, I have to run to catch my ride to office, because I end up waking late.

Yet, there are certain mornings which transform into something way better than the other, and I think it is a bunch of reasons that result in that. So in this post, I am going to list a few instances/events which invariably turn my mornings golden-

·         Travel Plans

When the “travel bug” bites you, there is nothing you can do! And fortunately, I was bitten a long time ago. Cheesy I know, but it is the truth! And so, whenever I am travelling, and it can be anything from just catching an early morning train to my home, or going on international conferences, but my mornings when I know I am going to be travelling are always, always amazing!

I firmly believe that I learn more while travelling than I do in an entire semester. And the main reason behind that is that I really enjoy doing it. Thus, waking up feeling happy and looking forward to the day makes the mornings golden.

·         Birthdays

I am one of those people who love celebrating birthdays. And by that I don’t just mean mine! I love elaborating planning birthdays of all the important people in my life. So, whenever someone who is close to me has their special day, I wake up early peppy to prepare for a fantastic day for them. So, starting from creating a smoke-screen so that the friend doesn’t know what we are doing, to getting the perfect cake, to giving a surprise, it is a lot of effort, and a lot of fun!

·         Sleep-Overs

Although the norm of sleepovers is that you generally sleep in late the next morning, I love to get up early and have an entire day of fun (which usually involves an amazing breakfast followed by some travel plans) mapped out. I like to wake up happy, and super-early when I am hosting friends over, and surprising turn into a morning person.

·         Festivals

You know what they say about festivals in India! It is a never ending series of celebrations. And in my households, festivals, especially those involving pujas at the house always means waking up early, taking a quick bath, wearing new clothes, and assembling all the things required in a Hindu household puja. Not only were these little tasks like washing and cutting fruits, picking up flowers etc. fun, we also did it together with a bunch of cousins, and the work started super early! And these really made my mornings golden.

The more I think, the more I remember all the wonderful morning spent at home, with family and friends, when I would be super active right from the start of the days. I think my childhood has many, many golden mornings. But the more you grow old, and become boggled with careers and pointless, materialistic pursuits, something as simple as being happy when you wake up starts to be a challenge too.

So, since it’s just been a month into the New Year and the wonderful #Colgate360GoldMornings has made me miss all the wonderful memories, I think I am going to strive to make more of my morning super awesome everyday!

Have you ever really had a teacher?

"Have you ever really had a teacher? The one who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back. Sometimes it’s only in your head. Sometimes it is right alongside their bed.”

-Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

I have been blessed to have found amazing teachers and mentors throughout my school and college life. Starting from my Class 4 House Warden who allowed me to supervise Nursery students for 10-15 minutes in the morning which made me fall in love with the idea of being a teacher, to the HOD of my undergrad college who was extremely supportive and never lost confidence in me while I was going through a particularly rough patch. I owe a large part of who I am today to my teachers. They taught me so much more that just what was given in the textbooks!
To fully understand the impact of this undeniable #madeofgreat person in my life, I will have to back up a little and discuss about my undergraduate days, and that rough patch I just mentioned.
I was pursuing my bachelors in Economics, and thoroughly hating it! The teachers were good, the classmates not so bad either, and I was living in the city of joy, Kolkata, so it took me a long time to figure out what was so wrong that I consistently under-performed in my exams. In fact, I finished my Bachelors, enrolled in a Masters programme in a new city (because I really needed a change of scenario), and was already halfway through my Masters that I realized what was wrong.

I was starting the third semester of my M.Sc. course, and could choose electives based on my interest areas. One of the courses being offered was "Key Concepts of Ecological Economics" by a Professor who had done his PhD from Barcelona and post-doc from Harvard. And not only were his credentials amazing, I was already interested in Environmental Economics and wanted to learn about this new field too. And so, what started as a need to learn more about the ecological and environmental scope of my field soon turned into me finding what I think is my true calling. And I owe it all to the professor- Dr. J. F. Gerber.
Not only did he make me realize what went wrong with me during my undergrad coursework, which is simple terms, was my inherent objection to valuing everything monetarily. I didn't know anything about the incommensurability of values, the different languages of valuations that are being used in the different parts of the world, and the increasing need to search for alternatives to the growth theory, and yet I could not accept the theories and models I was being taught. Dr. Gerber taught me about these basic concepts which made all the sense to me. And it is not very often that someone, without any deliberate effort, makes you realize all the doubts and confusions you had were for a reason, and opens a whole new world for you. These people, who change the whole way you think come once in a while, and always stay with you, whether you actually stay in touch or not.
But lucky for me, I was so inspired I picked an ecological economics theme, and had the honor of writing my thesis under his supervision. And during that time, whenever I had any problems, doubts or difficulties, he always made sure to solve them for me, motivating me when I couldn't analyse the figures, or found hurdles in catching hold of people for interviews. What made him so amazing was his genuine concern to make sure that I stay motivated and get aid anytime I faced any difficulties.

And although today, due to my continued involvement in the field, I know a lot of other Ecological Economics scholars, he will always not just be the person who introduced me to the subject, but also the mentor whose comments will matter the most. 

To know more about the new collaboration between Tata Motors, and football legend Lionel Messi, another once in a lifetime alliance, check out http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/

WHAT MAKES BNLF AWESOME?

So, I have said it before and I will repeat again, I love lists. It might just stem from an education system which encouraged us to list down important points for answers. Remember questions like- write 5 properties of igneous rocks, or list 5 disadvantages of deforestation? Well, I am getting a little off track here. This article isn’t about why I love lists. It’s why I think BNLF is awesome, and what better way to illustration that than by, you got it, listing down all the cool things about it.

So, here it goes-

What’s In a Name- Well, apparently a lot! The name pretty much sets the pace of the entire package! And BNLF is pretty much awesome! Think of all the conferences that you have been to- the International Blah Blah Blah Conference on La di Dadada, remember? Well, ever been to conference without the word “conference” or “Symposium” in it? Ever even heard of one before? I haven’t! And Blog Now, Live Forever gets brownie points for being narcissistic in the sweetest way possible! If you don’t love blogging enough to believe it has the power to make you immortal, you might as well not register for it at all!

Every Note is a Keynote- Another amazing USP! I finished my M.Sc. a couple of months ago, and let me assure you that I have been to my fair share of conference. One uniform feature of most of them is that the keynote seems to be the more interesting, and the rest, well, not so much! The keynote speakers are also one of the most eminent personalities, and so most people turn up to talk to hear them speak. But at BNLF all the speakers are keynote, which essentially means, everyone is at par. And if you just look at the line-up, you would know exactly what I mean. Which brings me to my third point in the list-

THE Speakers- These people are some of the best in the field! I have admired Anshul for years now for what he does not only with Youth Ki Awaaz, but also for the awesome campaigns that he is associated with, and his advocacy of youth journalism. I could go on and on about most of the speakers who are scheduled for this seminar, and then some more!

The Venue-The Lalit, Mumbai. Enough said.

If you don’t believe me, look at the picture below, and you would know what I am talking about.

Source The Lalit

The Date- Although I am sure there are quite a few of us who would have loved to bunk work (or school/college) to attend BNLF, for the majority of us, skipping work seems to be a bit of a trouble. Fret not! Indiblogger has us covered there too.

For the Bloggers, by the Bloggers, of the Bloggers- The second day of the conference is exclusively for people who have been stalwarts of blogging. Not only does that mean you get to hear about real, get your hands dirty approach to blogging, but also the fact the wonderful people who have spent years honing their knowledge of creating content and blogging are acknowledged in an international platform. And that is a feat in itself.

If you want to know more, go have a look at their page.

Mona Lisa Smile

3 A.M. Musings

I am just finishing up with my post graduate. Well, technically, I have a little more than 2 weeks of being a student of M.Sc. yet. And tonight, while going through the hard disk of a fellow movie buff, I came across Mona Lisa Smile. I had seen this movie a long time ago. And more than a couple of times, to be honest.

I remember the good ol' days when Star Movies did not have compulsory subtitles, and they played such awesome movies in the afternoon, and I would either delay lunch or beg my mother to let me eat in front of the television, instead of in the dining hall just to watch these amazing movies.

And every single I watched this movie I would wonder how awesome it would be to have a teacher who compels you to change the way you think and open your eyes to look at things a different way.

So, tonight, when I found the movie I thought I would just go through a few of my favorite scenes and then call it a day. That was 2 hours ago. I finished the entire movie, and surprisingly, this time around I didn't wonder how awesome it would be to have a professor like Miss Watson. This time around, I realized I was fortunate enough to have such a radical teacher who introduced me to the concepts of ecological economics and degrowth theory.

I do not wish to go into the technical aspects of the theories and ideas that inspired me, but what it was is exactly what Mona Lisa Smile showed- a new way to look at things by challenging what we have known to be right for so long.

And it is not everyday that you watch a movie and realize that you have been through it in your life, and when it does happen it is an amazing feeling.

I am too brain tired right now to think of other examples, but I will try to think of more movies that I can relate to very soon.

Also, watch Mona Lisa Smile. And Julia Roberts is the ultimate thing. Period. 

The New My Airtel App

We are a tech savvy lot. Everything needs to be in our fingertips nowadays. It wasn't too long ago that we had to frequent neighborhood shops to buy recharge vouchers, which we then scratched with a coin, messaged a 16 digit number and got new talk time. Soon that changed into the shopkeeper using his phone to directly send money into our phones, which eventually turned into us being able to do it from the comforts of our homes using our personal computers.

The latest in the field of easy recharging are the mobile applications. All you need is a credit/debit card and an internet connection, and you are good to go.

The new My Airtel App is one such fascinating application, which can be downloaded in both the Android as well as Windows phone, and comes with a range of cool features.

Mentioned below are three of the features I like best about this app-

1. The One-Stop-Shop for all your Airtel goodies

So, of late, Airtel has its fingers in too many pies, which means everything from your phone bill, both mobile and landline, to broadband connection to your digital TV is more likely than not managed by Airtel. Now, I am a self professed mall fan, because you get everything you need under one roof!
The New Airtel App does exactly the same thing for all your airtel products. It smartly manages your prepaid as well as postpaid mobile connections, your landline phone, your broadband services along with your digital TV subscription.
Not only can you manage and recharge them here, you are also given regular reminders and can look up the history of recharges including past favorite discounts at the press of a button, err touchscreen.

2. Airtel Money

Another amazing feature to dig is the airtel money that allows me to shop online and buy tickets among other things, without having to remember specific credit/debit card details. I always find the whole process of feeding in the card details while shopping very tedious, and this cool feature of the app completely solves it!

3. Showering Offers

All you have to do is shake that phone, and you will get awesome offers which will spoil you for choice, be it food, movie, clothing or accessories. There is an unending list to choose from and there is always something that is just right for you!
Not just that, you also have amazing offers in terms of recharges and talk-times for all your phone connections, as well as television and internet services. I find the discounts to be really useful for a person living off a student budget! Offers on full talk time as well as a range of validity to choose from is super cool too.

All in all, if you love to have everything organized in your smartphone and do not wish to be bothered about paying bills via a bunch of different avenues, and at the same time get great discounts and special deals exclusively for you, this is the go-to app for you.

So, what are you waiting for? Check it out yourselves at http://www.airtel.in/myairtel and have fun exploring!

Because Mamma Knows Best

I haven't been home for either my mother's birthday or celebrating mother's day for close to 5 years now. I send her gifts and letters, and have long telephonic conversations, but it doesn't really match up to the experience of waking your mom up for a surprise birthday breakfast, or spending days on planning a perfect Mother's day for her, full of things she enjoys.

And as the Jessie J song "Mamma Knows Best", which doesn't say much about mom, but sure is helping me with the writing process today, blares in my earphones, I sit down to write about the most incredible woman in my life- My Mother.

Yet another Mother's Day passed by, and I am some 1200 kms away from home, working on my thesis. 

Mom and Me in Ladakh, the summer of '05

I had the luxury of a stay-at-home mother, and so, all throughout my childhood, she was an integral part of my non-school hours. And for reasons I still quite haven't been able to figure out, she always knew when something was wrong after I returned from school each day. Be it anything, from scoring low in a test to having a fight with a friend, she would always know that something was up even before I had taken off my shoes and socks. 

Initially I used to be very fascinated by her "abilities" but as I started growing up, and reached my teens, it started becoming a bother. You don't want your mom to figure out everything, right? And I started overlooking her advice, and sometimes downright disobeying her during my teenage rebellion years and would always invariably find out the best course of action would have been to listen to her.

I remember asking her once, with awe, how exactly does she figure out that I am worried or pissed, and she told me with a straight face that mom's have a third eye, that tell me what is wrong with their kids. It's invisible, but that doesn't mean you should discard it. I was about 11 years old, too old to believe in such silly things, but her statement remained with me.

I have so many little beautiful memories with her that it is hard to describe them. 

Starting from running with my tricycle till I could balance myself, to making mock question papers before exams to taking me for music classes and cooking lip smacking dishes whenever I asked for them, now that I am grown up enough, I realize what a warm home I had. 

Right after leaving home, I realized I should have appreciated her more. And over these few years, the distance, and maybe even a bit of maturity has led me to realize that moms really are the in-house experts of everything that actually matters.

She might not know anything about economics (my subject) but she has enough valuable life lessons to impart. She has taught me everything from patience and perseverance to cooking the perfect plate of chilly chicken. She has taught me how to let go of things and people that hurt too much, and move on in life. 

You can't really express true emotions with words. But I am still going to try and say that I am who I am because of my parents. And my mother is the epitome of beauty, grace and compassion. She held my hands when I needed support the most, and let go when it was time to grow wings and fly. But no matter where I go, I will always return to the nest, to my mother. Because at the end of the day, she is the one with the unbiased advice, and hard hitting truths.

This post is written for the Godrej Expert #MYFIRSTEXPERT event. Check out the following link to know more about it.
http://godrejexpert.com/single_used_pack.php

LET THE MAY BEGIN!

So, it's that time of the year again!
It's summer! It's the season of all my favorite fruits, long lazy days and the birthday month of a few of my favorite people.
And this video is for one of those crazy, perfect ones.

Of Superheroes Movies, Comics, And All Things Fantastical. Almost.

My room mate is a huge comic books fan. Actually, she is a comic books, superhero movies and manga fan, to be precise. And so today, sometime during the noon she calls me up from the library asking if I wanted to go for the new Avengers movie. Me being me, just spoiling for a chance to leave the university campus, I agreed immediately and we booked the 4:30 show.

The movie was pretty amazing! I had a fun time.

But, once I left the theater, or maybe while even inside, I kept thinking how I really don't get superhero movies. Don't get me wrong, I have seen quite a few of those. I love a lot of those characters too. But today, while sitting in the hall, and afterwards, I just realized how pointless it all was.

The last movie before today was Fast  and Furious 7, and although the ending dedication to Walker was beautiful, the rest of it hardly made sense! Come to think of it, the couple of movies I saw before that- Happy New Year and Bang Bang were just as bad. So, there is a possibility that it is the cumulative effect of all of these bad movies put together.

However, at the end of the day, I realized what really bothered me is that there isn't much of an actual storyline; just a lot of really cool special effects that shows people destroying other people and/or machines. And I just can't seem to muster enough enthusiasm for that anymore. Maybe, I am getting old. Or maybe I still wish for a little more emotions and human drama in general.

That being said, I do not condone fiction or fantasy. I love the world of wizardry and witchcraft created by Rowling. I am hooked to the Game of Thrones currently being played in the Seven Kingdoms. And upon contemplation, I think the reason is because they have strong characters with basic human emotions and flaws, and a strong plot.

But, I couldn't feel the excitement that comes with the cool gadgets of Tony Stark, or the super cool killing abilities of the Black Widow. And it bums me out a little. I had always been a self proclaimed I was a Nerd Queen.

Then again, I can't wait for the new Stars Wars movie releasing this Christmas. So, maybe not all is lost yet.

   

Asus Zenfone 2 - The New Boss In Town

In a very short span of time, Asus with its many awesome varieties of Zenphone has pretty easily captured the Indian smartphone market. Although, I don't own one of these, I have had the chance to tinker with the Zenphones that my friends have, and am psyched to go to the launch of the new Zenphone 2 next week in Gurgaon. The mobile industry is a fickle one, and it is really hard to stay on top for long, but the new range of Asus smart phones seem to be the thing to make the Zenphone stay on for a long time to come.

Here are five awesome reasons for you to choose Zenphone 2 as your next smart phone. Read on and be amazed!

1. MORE MEMORY
The Zenphone 2 is the world's first smartphone with a 4 GB RAM. Yes, you heard it right! 4GB. I am sure all you tech savvy people are thinking of all the amazing things you can do with your phone with this kind of an incredible specs.

2. SUPER FAST CHARGING
We all hate how power hungry our smartphones are and need to constantly be on the look out for charging points, right? Well, Zenphone 2 is the answer to all your prayers. The Zenphone 2 with its Asus- exclusive technology charges way more faster than its counterparts. Infact, you can charge upto 60% in less than 40 minutes time! How cool is that?

3. CAMERA HAPPY PHONE
We all love to update photos on the go, be it on SnapChat, or Instagram, or just sharing photo updates with our friends. The Zenphone 2 with its 2 PixelMaster camera which captures high resolution photos with zero shutter lag will make your camera experience a delight. Its unique low light mode which employs pixel-merging technologies which can capture 400% brighter photos at night will let you take that photo of the full moon that you have always with ease.

4. BEAUTIFUL CHIC DESIGN
I am a girly girl, and I love my colors and designs. And the Zenphone 2 doesn't disappoint in the style department. I am especially in love with the red body, and the sharp angles of the phone. The phone has a very cosmopolitan look, and looks good in a boardroom as well as a nightclub!

5. ASUS ZEN UI EXPERIENCE
Not only that, the new phone comes with a host of features, which will be revealed very soon to provide you the perfect phone which will have answers for all your smart phone desires.

So, if you are tired of your old handset and wish to switch to a superior handset which keeps in mind all your needs, and makes you feel like the king of the world, have a look at the Zenphone 2 by clicking on the following link.
 http://www.asus.com/Phones/ZenFone_2_ZE551ML/ 

What are you waiting for? Go check out the new boss of smart phones and be prepared to be mesmerized!

The Ones With the Instant Connections

Have you even felt an instant connection with someone? Ever heard of someone's explanation of some mundane topic and been able to completely relate to it? Ever spoken about heartbreaks and realized you both are confused in the exact same way? Better still, have you ever felt this level of camaraderie with someone you have never even met?

Sounds ludicrous?  Well, I have.

I have been friends with Sunaina for almost three years now. Our interests are so aligned, that we both applied for the same internships. Twice. And since we think alike, neither of us liked the first one, and both of us enjoyed the second one enough to collaborate together, and get to know each other. Work stuff soon gave way to swapping book lists, talking about good food and coffee, and other important and trivial things of life. As we got to know each other better we shared stories of failed relations and budding crushes, and soon she became quite an integral part of my life.

The universe, with its tendency to show off had to introduce me to one of her common friends just to prove how small the world is! 

And so, during the last few months, Sunaina and I just kept thinking how amazing it would be to meet up, and talk, and travel, and drink coffee together. 

And last week, I listened to my heart and traveled to Hyderbad to meet Sunaina for the first time, and visit a very dear school friend after more than a year. And the meeting was magical.

There was no awkwardness, no lack of topics to talk about. She took me to an incredibly amazing breakfast place called Chutneys in Secundrabad and treated me to fantastic South Indian breakfast. We had planned to go shopping at Shilparamam, but the heat had other plans for us.

We ended up spending hours at the nearby mall. We explored this amazing place called "Dialogue in the Dark" which is exactly what it says it is. We were taken to a dark enclosed area, and tried to understand what it feels like to be bereft of sight and depend on the other four senses. It was an incredible experience. And we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

We spent about five hours together. And generally I am bored out of my mind being with most people for five hours. I really am not the outgoing type.

But, I could so relate to this person, whom I was meeting for the first time. And I am so glad I decided to ditch classes and common sense, and visit Hyderabad for just a day, so that I could meet up with people who really matter, who are a part of my everyday life, and who have a special place in my heart.

“I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdealactivity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”

40 Hours Travel to Spend 4 hours with a Friend.

I am not exactly a social bee. I hardly ever call my friends. I prefer texts and emails over talking. And although people say that the friendship forged in school lasts forever, except for a few tough nuts who were hard to shake off, I have almost lost touch with most of my school friends.

But this post isn't about how I am a solitude seeker and don't need people. Much.

This post is about one of those tenacious friends who stayed with me, through thick and thin, and having completed the customary 7 years of being friends, I am almost confident we are friends for life.

You know who are, and in case it still isn't clear, read on and you will figure it out!

I decided to go on a solo trip a few months ago. I have wanted to visit friends in South India for quite some time, and once I realized one of my hostel mates was heading that way, I decided to tag along and have a girls' trip. The plan was to visit Bangalore, have a gala time with friends, and then come back.Turns out, a few weeks before the trip, she got an internship elsewhere and my girls' trip unexpectedly turned into a solo one!

Now, I can go on and on about the trip in general, but I want to specifically talk about my friend and why I changed plans to meet up.

Travelling solo gives you the choice to amend your plans. And once I realized that I decided to visit Hyderabad too. Since I am a full time student, and had to be back to Delhi within a week, I could also spare a day for Hyderabad. And everyone who heard of my plans told me I was silly to travel all the way just for a day, that I won't be able to cover even Golconda Fort. And my reply to them was that I am not really going to see Golconda, though I am sure it would have been a great experience.

I am going to Hyderabad to meet my friend, and even if I could have spared only 5 hours, I still would have gone to Hyderabad. And the reason for that, if you could muster your notes and sing along is "I'll be there for you, coz you are there for me too."

It's not just a song for us. He has actually delayed his travel plans so that he could spend just a few extra hours with me. I am talking about our undergrad years when he was in Guwahati and I was studying in Calcutta, and he would book his bus tickets to Calcutta and flight tickets from Calcutta to Guwahati is a way that gave him a few hours of time here. And then he would lug his suitcase all over town, be it to Park Street, or South City Mall or once, due to serious time crunch, even stay at the Howrah station, so that we could just catch up.

So, this time around, when I had the chance to meet him, since I was as close as Bangalore, I decided to fudge the logistics and catch a night bus to Hyderabad anyway, so that we could spend some time together. And is always happens, we kept pushing the time frame. I was supposed to meet another friend at 7pm, but I ended up meeting her at 10, so that we could just talk and talk and talk some more.

Abhinav and Me, Hyderabad, 5 April, 2015

And I am glad I followed my heart, without caring about the time constrains. I didn't even have the time to eat biryani at Hyderbad, and for a foodie like me, that's practically a criminal offense. But I am so happy that I could meet my friend after almost a year, and spend some quality time together that will hopefully be enough till we meet again, in another new city.

“I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdealactivity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”

The Obscurity of Happiness

The first thing that comes to my mind when anyone talks of Happiness is the famous 1959 Sound of Music soundtrack "My Favorite Things", the second thing that I remember is a mental collage of my memorable trips and the third thing is food, most of the times.

But then again, I have never really been able to define happiness. And I do not mean it in a universal way. I have never been able to figure out what happiness means to me either.

On most days, even the silliest of things make me happy. For example, I am currently very happy that Tom returned to save Lizzie from being indited for murder. If you don't get what I am talking about, you need to watch The Blacklist. So, you see, actions of fictitious characters of a television show can make me extremely happy. How silly is that?

Petty things can make me happy too! I generally do not derive pleasure from other people's miseries, but some people just deserve all the pain they get. And though I have never directly caused other people's miseries, I do tend to be happy occasionally while praising karma.

So, the new Coca-Cola India ad ( http://CokeURL.com/96jnc ) inspired me to list a few things that make me very happy!



It might seem a little silly, and even childish, listing things that make me happy. But there are days when I am not feeling so great. And I am hoping that looking at a list of things that make me happy will help me remember the good times.

So, here it goes-

1. FOOD
I am a foodie. I think I have been one even before I knew there was a special word designated for people like me. I would always suggest the menu of almost all the meals at home, even since I was a little girl, and on days when my mom would make something that specially impressed me, she would tell I was super happy, because I would shower her with hugs and kisses. That was then, and now, after more than two decades, the love is still as strong. In fact, my love for eating has evolved into my love for eating and cooking! And even though I live in a hostel, and do not have a full blown kitchen, I make do with what I have here, and try to cook. If you want to see for yourselves how much I love it, check my food dedicated blog and find out how happy food makes me.

Mug of Chocolate Cake

2. TRAVEL
I have been travelling all my life, even since I was an eighteen months old baby. And I have been to at least two trips every year. I am the happiest when I am travelling. It gives me a serene kind of happiness to go to places where no one knows you, and meet people who are so different from you, and yet create long lasting memories with them. It doesn't matter how far you travel, or for how many days you travel, as long as I am away to a new place, I am happy.

Ladakh- Mom&Me

3. FOREVER PEOPLE
This is a phrase I created in my mind a few years ago. The people who you just instinctively know will stay with you forever. It doesn't matter if you have coffee with them every evening, or see them once every couple of years, there are the people who you would want in a bar fight, and who you know will always have your back. I am privileged to have quite a few of them, and although there are times, when you know some people who you considered where a part of your forever people, actually aren't, you still are happy to know such amazing people. I am talking about people who make you happy when you see their names on your phone screens, or when you get unexpected handwritten letters in your mailbox.

20 Years of Happiness

3. BOOKS

I am a bookworm. Books make me happy. And although sometimes my reading choices are objectionable, I feel suffocated if I haven't read at least a couple of new books in a week. I am happy when I read new books, or go through the old ones. I am happy when I see other people enjoying books that I do. I am happy discussing books with random strangers too. I am happy when I am in a bookstore most of all.

Book Heaven

4. ANIMALS

I love animals. All kinds. I have had the privilege to see dolphins perform and hold a tiger cub in my arms. I have seen the ferocious man-eaters of Sundarbans, and the pretty birds of Bharatpur. I have seen Marmots and Bactrian camels in Ladakh, and sharks in South East Asia. And I have been happy.

So, this is not an exhaustive list by far, but as the song goes, whenever I am feeling sad, "I simply remember my favorite things" which generally fall in the above four categories and I find myself smiling again.

The Sundarbans People- Finding Optimism in an Almost Hopeless Situation

I had gone to Sundarbans a couple of months ago to look at the shrimp farming practices and mangrove conservation efforts in the world's largest mangrove delta, which is inhabited by hundreds of species of flora and fauna, starting with the ferocious Royal Bengal tiger, to the many species of crustaceans and other water inhabitants. 

This was my first true stay at a backward village. I stayed in an island village called Satjelia in coastal Sundarbans. There were no roadways to reach this Island. The only way out is through hand rowed boats, which takes about an hour to reach Gosaba or though steamers which takes about 15-20 minutes.

The village didn't have any hospital, or post office, or electricity lines. The Island also didn't have any primary school or college. It just has one secondary school, with generally absentee teachers. The rural people still used kerosene lanterns, and a few affluent families of the villages had adopted solar cells.

The standard of living was extremely poor, and the value of money very high. A public ferry took just Re 1 to cross three tributaries to travel from one island to the other.

Public Ferry

Not just that, despite the hardships, I found that the local people there were extremely friendly and welcoming. They live a hard life, waking up at the call of dawn and working literally the whole day, either tilling their land and sowing crops, or mending nets or boats, or rowing to the river to catch fish or collect honey. Every other day, someone is either dragged by the tigers into the jungles, or grabbed by the crocodiles into the rivers, and yet these people have the will power to wake up and fight for their lives and livelihoods, with minimum support from the outside world, including the government. 

During my stay in the village, where I interacted with quite a few people, of various age and occupation, I found that they all have the courage to make the best out of a bad situation, and are optimistic about life. 

I met one of the village lady, who cooks for all the travelers there. Talking to her, I came to know that her husband had been a victim of tiger attack 17 years ago. He used to go into the mangrove forest to collect honey and catch fish. She had been working as a cook for the last 5 years, coming to work from a village, which was about 40 minutes away in a boat. She also gave us honey collected from the mangrove as a souvenir. 

I was truly inspired by these people, who despite minimal formal education, and with hardly any access of modern technology, continue to rise above everyday hardships, and remain optimistic about life. I was astounded by their dedication to live a good life, and find better ways to survive the harsh conditions provided by them. A stay in rural India is a truly eye opening experience, because despite the primitive infrastructure and lack of many basic amenities, the villagers are enriched with wisdom gained from real life experiences. It instills in you a better sense of our country when you see that the millions of the "underprivileged" in our nation have enough optimism and faith in live to bring about a radical change. 

The new concept of housing, brought by https://housing.com/lookup also instills a similar kind of optimism in urban India, with its vision to revolutionize the real estate market in our country.  

Two Decades #Together

The most memorable day for me was 27 January this year, when I went on a road trip with my best friend, who I was meeting after more than two years!

Next month will mark the twentieth anniversary of our friendship, and considering that both me and her have yet to reach the suitable age to have a quarter life crisis, I could safely say that we have been friends for almost our entire lives.

The person in question is my oldest and dearest friend Ameey Anupam. She and I were put together in the same class in Nursery, and by some stroke of fate, never had our sections changed for the next 12 years, till Class 10, when she had to move to Delhi to complete her +2.

6 March 2012

During our school days, as we got to know each other, we became inseparable. And even though not all our interests matched- she being an artistic, basketball champ, me being a singer and quiz club member, we did get along fantastically well. So much so that we also shared our first crush! But that's a story I am not ready to share on social media.

After Class 10, I was a little worried that the distance between us, and the fact that she would be in a brand new city making loads of new friends would eventually make us grow apart. But we did manage to keep in touch. And not just the customary once a month "hello, what's up?". Despite our distance, we actively kept track of each others lives, trading book reviews and boyfriend troubles.

Once we graduated from high school, we both ended up in different cities again for our college life. But, with another stroke of luck, her father moved to the city where I was studying, Calcutta, and over the next three years, we kept meeting up during vacations, having sleep overs and exploring the city together with her family.

So, a couple of years ago, when she had to move to Chennai and me to Delhi for our higher studies, I was sure we would meet up again soon. I had realized fate did have a way of working things out for us and wasn't too worried. But, something or the other prevented us from meeting every time we planned.

And, when 2015 arrived and I realized it would soon be 3 years since we hadn't met, we both decided we had to proactively work to prevent that from happening!

So, I was going home to meet my parents and go on a field survey for my thesis and then attend a wedding, and Ameey was returning home for some much needed family time after acing her grand viva, and we decided to meet up no matter what!
So, she took a train all the way from Calcutta to my hometown in Bokaro, to spend the day with me, and then travel back to Calcutta the next day with me and my family.

What resulted was an evening in the city where it all began and then an amazing road trip to talk, laugh, sing, be merry and compensate for the last two years of not seeing each other.

I hadn't been that happy in a long time. I can't explain how rejuvenating it is to be together with people who matter the most to you! It doesn't matter how long ago you met, or even how less you have interacted over the last few months, due to hectic schedules. You just know that the other person will always be there for you. You know that in times of doubt, she won't hesitate to tell you the right from wrong, in times of sorrow, she will always lend you her shoulder to cry and in times of joy, and she will be nothing but ecstatic for you. You know that #together you can conquer every battle!

26 January 2015

And we bring out the best in each other, just as https://housing.com/ is bringing out the best in housing in India!