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It takes two to Tango!

“The tea is on the table. “ She said in a disconcerting tone as she sat on the adjacent chair of the round dining table with 4 chairs.
“You know I have never had tea without you, Ananya.” He replied in a consoling tone.

“So?” She exclaimed.

“Why do you always think I am at fault? Is asking for your time and hearing you are busy my lookout? You should have never got married if you didn’t have time for me.” She grabbed her breath by the time the last words came out of her mouth.

“I promise I will take care, Ananya. I will try really hard to live up to your expectations.” He lovingly said picking up the yellow lilies and presenting it to her. “I love you, now hug me.” He demanded.

“No, you hug me.” She hushed, looking at the flowers and smelling them.

He got up and embraced her tight.

******************************************************************************

Ananya sat at the table looking at the phone; she picked it up the 17th time to check for messages. All she saw was he last sent, “You never have time for me, all I hear is I am busy.”

She put the phone down again, wishing there were an alarm that warned, “You are seeing your phone too much!”

Restless and anxious she walked up and down the living room, glancing at the tea cup, phone, chair and door…as she paced up through the room….tea cup, phone, chair, door…tea cup, phone, chair and door..tea cup, phone, chair and door!
She played the scene again and again in her mind to the extent that she edited it and was ready for a hug the minute the doorbell would ring.

The doorbell rang; she rushed to open it…

Door open!

Arms almost ready!

“Madam, bag, sahib aayenge abhi!” I just missed a faux pas, she thought to herself.

She dejectedly tuned to walk back, tea cup, phone, chair…

Footsteps…

She turned!

“Sharma, I don’t know anything, you got to make the payment available. I am answerable to my senior.” He rushed in talking to someone, straight to his bed room!

Ananya sat at the chair and sipped the tea, scrolling through the WhatsApp forwards on her phone!
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One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things!

Wish all my friends who religiously follow the blog a very happy new year! I hope all of you could take some time off at year end and spend some time with people who matter and introspect on how wiser weare after 2013 with all the experiences and mistakes we made during the year J.

Well, 2013 for me was completely a travel year, seeing new places, meeting new people and some wonderful memories.


Nice promanade!

I lived the luxury of Nice and Monaco, the place is lavishness personified, as an automotive consultant I have always been fascinated by cars and Monaco displayed more mean machines than what I had seen at the Geneva motor show J.



On my way from Nice to Monaco

Fun facts of Monaco/Monte Carlo:

  • It’s the second smallest country, known for Monaco grand prix and the flamboyant Monte-Carlo casino complex.
  • Known as Europe’s tax haven, each and every individual citizens of Monaco enjoys a tax-free  lifestyle since the 1870s. For decades, Monaco lived off solely on its casinos.
  • You may take the train, your helicopter or your yacht (if you have one) if you want to go to Monaco but please, no private jets (if you have one as well.) There are no airports in Monaco.
  • The total population is just 32,000 out of which only 6000 have a Monaco passport, rest migrants.
  • The elegant façade and panache interiors of the Monte-Carlo Casino had been a filming location of three James Bond Films namely “Casino Royal”, GoldenEye, and Never Say Never Again.” I wouldn’t be surprised if one day they choose to shoot a new James Bond film at Monte-Carlo Casino. It’s just that classy!





Spring brought in a breeze of romance with me in Venice. I met people who had come there to marry but I particularly loved the laid back life style. I was amazed to see the entire city on water, the only mode of transport – boats and it’s truly romantic.

Fun facts of Venice/Venecia:

Venice captured the impression of a magical floating city by setting wood pilings on the 118 submerged islands in the Northern end of the Adriatic Sea. 400 foot bridges and 170 boat canals connect the city to make it easily accessible to the local populace.

  • It was truly a maze where I got lost a few times and walked through the narrow alleys and foot bridges was a good walk through the day!
  • Go to Venice and no Gondola ride, you haven’t seen anything then. It was a wonderful experience where I got to know only 3 to 4 Gondolier licenses are issued annually. To qualify, applicants must be able to finish an extensive training after passing a rigorous exam. There are only 400 licensed Gondolas operating in Venice today. I had just seen the movie the tourist and got me to such a déjà vu feeling. In fact Stromae, the pop singer too created music on a Gondola on a valentine’s day.
  • Venice has a cursed palace known as the most eerie place. The series of unexplainable deaths which seem to affect all of its owners first started way back when the structure was built in 1847.

Summer got me on a different high when I visited Amsterdam! I was amazed at the open and non-judgemental culture the place offers. I got off the cab to find police rushing into the Park hotel where I had booked. Ichickened out J while checking in I saw the police take in a man (with no
 



expression and walking dead) being handcuffed and taken away. Out of curiosity I asked the receptionist to which she promptly mentioned, “that’s a routine!” “Routine?” I looked at her puzzled. “Yes mam, he is stoned after getting high on drugs and turned the tap on the entire night and turning the entire room into a swimming pool. We do nothing in such cases and just call the police. They take him.” I had no reaction but still asked, “And? Now what?” She cooly explained, “Nothing, they take him and once he is sane, they leave him, he will sleep in the lock up now.”

Cool! I said to myself…welcome to Amsterdam!

Now some interesting things about Amsterdam

  • There are 700,000 people and a million bikes…wonder who rides them!
  • Amsterdam May Soon Disappear L. The majority of Amsterdam is below sea level. At its lowest point, it is 6.7 metres below sea level. If climate change causes even a small increase in global sea levels, Amsterdam may go the way of Atlantis.
  • 86 percent of Amsterdam residents are polyglots (people who speak more than two languages), speaking English, Dutch and third language fluency. That made my life way easier.
  • On average, an Amsterdam resident consumes a minimum of 140 litres of coffee per year or about 3.2 cups of coffee per day, making them the second largest coffee consumers in the world.
  • The average height for a Dutch male is 184 cm, and the average height for a Dutch female is 170 cms.
  • Now this is interesting, Amstie has more canals than Venice. Often called the “Venice of the North,” Amsterdam boasts over 165 canals that compose a comprehensive network throughout the entire city. 
  •   I also saw the Gay pride parade 2013 – a fun event of music and colourful costumes, spreading a message of equity and a right of being oneself.
And some kinky facts too
  •  Drugs are freely available in Amsterdam. The Dutch allows buying and selling of 5 grams of soft drugs to each person in over 300 of their coffee shops. I tried it two nights and had a trip will not forget for life!
  • Prostitution is legal here. You can visit the red light district to see women in their skimpy clothes. And trust me, they look super. Get back guys and don’t ideas!

Winter got me to the land of the midnight sun, Norway! Mesmerising, Hypnotic, Enthralling and still fall short of adjectives to describe what I witnessed. This has been the most wonderful and memorable travel so far. I visited a place called Tromsø, known as the capital of the Arctic as is located 350 kms north of the Arctic Circle.
Tromsø has 70,000 inhabitants, but is a vibrant city! People are very warm and hospitable. I had some very interesting conversations and memorable moments.

 





The midnight sun can be seen during summer months, I witnessed the beauty of the Aurora lights, also known as the northern lights. The sun rose at around 10 am and set at 14.00; I would leave with the tour guide at 17.00 hours and come back an hour or two past midnight. She would drive a group of 5-7 of us outside the city with no city light pollution and a temperature of -13 degrees. We would park at a spot known to her. I change the tense now to present for better depiction of the experience. She switched off the light of the van and I peep outside from behind the glass window. Not a soul in sight or a ray of light and deafening silence. I followed others out of the van, and dropped myself in waist deep snow. After some struggle, the tour guide, Trine pulled me out. Even after 7 layers of clothing, I was cold. I balanced myself and then looked up. The view was out of this world, pun intended. The sky was clear and completely starlit; there was not a patch of darkness in the sky. The view was simply breath-taking. I was stunned! The sound of waves, the silence and the awesome view gave me more than what I could ever ask for.
 
We walked a few steps to hit the shore of the ocean and set our cameras. The show then started. A streak of milky light started appearing in from behind a mountain and kept spreading across the sky. The neon lights are not visible to a naked eye and can be seen on pictures taken on a high end camera. The pictures showed colors of neon green, orange, pink and violet. I forgot I was cold, I forgot I existed in this world, I forgot my work, and my life and all that existed around me. I felt blessed and divine. Trine told stories and myths around the existence of the lights. We enjoyed the beauty for a couple of hours before Trine took us to a Lavo (a tent). A




bonfire in the middle of the Lavo surrounded by logs of wood with reindeer skin placed over them for warmth. We sat on it, enjoying the flames that provided comfort. Trine got us dark coffee and homemade cake and I relished it a lot. We had a few rounds of viewing the lights followed by coffee before we returned.

The next day, was no less adventurous. A group of 20 on a boat out in the ocean, very far north to view the whales, I couldn’t ask for more. The ocean was wild and choppy as we started early in the morning! The two guides’ one from Iceland and the other a Norwegian were so informative and almost grew up with whales. The ocean was colder than I had thought. 



We stood there waiting for the whales to appear. After more than a couple of hours in the ocean, the guy perched on top of the ship shouted, “I see them, 3’oclock.” All 20 heads turn right and yes, we see a black body far getting into water. The ship moves closer and we see two more. Magnanimous beings, following each other in a perfect rhythm in the water, I zoom in my camera to get a view, beauty at its best! We see more and more of them, feasting on other fish, their fins splashing water and pumping water up to 3 feet in the air. It was a trip worth it.
 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.Discover.” – Mark Twain.

all pictures ©2013 Shweta Dave
 

 
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A Lost Pillar!

My apologies to all those people who reached out to me and asked me when the next blog is coming, I am sorry for being away for two months…there are two things that I have learnt from life till now. Circumstances and determination! I see them as sides of the same coin. Every time I determine to do or not to do something, such circumstance come up that I fail to keep the promises I have given myself. On the other side circumstances arise at such a short notice and in such a way that they break every bit of determination I have, I again gather myself and be more determined! And that’s the reason Shweta says Life’s like that! So now pick up your ioses and androids and enjoy the read J
‘Look at that, you have one more remark this week from your school and again for your handwriting! How am I supposed to deal with this, you know I hate to face your school teacher as I hardly understand her fluent English.’ Mom was really upset this time, I did tell myself that I will try to avoid remarks in my dairy and help mom avoid embarrassment L Tears rolled off my eyes as I stood at the corner of the sofa looking down on the floor fidgeting with my hands.
Grandpa got up from his chair, I looked at him if he would come and hold me, but he picked the paper that flew tucked it neatly on the board he was holding, went back to the chair and started writing his dairy. My Grandpa a tall frail man would always be seen in white shirt and pants, the shirt would always have ink stains, shiny grey self-cut hair (he never went to a barber in his life), green veins could be seen all over his hands as he would pick up his ink pen and write his dairy.

After crying quietly for 10 minutes, grandpa noticed me and came to me. I revealed every bit of what had happened. And he pampered my cheek and turned ‘everybody come to the living room.’ His authoritative tone echoed all over the house and all the 17 people of the family gathered. He looked at all of them ‘I’ll have an early breakfast; I will go to her school tomorrow.’
I was dressed in neatly ironed school dress and grandpa in his white shirt and pants, he held my hand and we reached school. My heart beat so fast that I was almost trembling. ‘Let’s go to principal’s office.’ He said as he pulled my hand. ‘No grandpa, I promise to improve myself, please avoid this.’
He knocked on the big wooden door of the school principal’s office. ‘Oh, Mr. Dave, please come in!’ exclaimed the principal, Ms Bharucha, a beautiful parsi lady in her early thirties. ‘How can I help you?’ she said as she pulled the chair for my grandpa to sit. ‘I thought it was long we had met and thought of paying a visit. How are you?’ ‘Fine, sir. How about you?’ ‘I am fine too, thank you. I’ll be to the point, what makes a man’s’ character?’ he asked curtly. ‘His conduct, principles and discipline.’ She replied. grandpa removed some pictures from his folder and put them in front of her. I couldn’t recognize most of them. ‘Do you think these men you see in the pictures are examples of good characters?’ He questioned. ‘Beethoven – the selfless musical genius, Albert Einstein, renowned scientist and a great genius ever to walk the earth and Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft? Of course they are the zenith of geniuses born and exemplary characters.’ 

Now Ms Bharucha looked puzzled. ‘And just one last question, what did they have in common?’ asked grandpa again. ‘I am not getting your point, sir.’ ‘they all had bad handwriting! he exclaimed as he looked around and saw a picture of Mahatma Gandhi. He pulled a letter out of his folder and placed it in front of her. ‘This is a self-written letter of Gandhiji, look at his hand writing. Handwriting does not define a human’s character or destiny. My granddaughter may not write elegant but she will write beautiful. Today I see her skeptical picking up a pen being scared of her handwriting. I would not want that being developed in her. Handwriting cannot be considered as a bad remark! This is all I have to say.’ He rose from his chair, placed his hand on her head, held my hand and walked away.

On my way back, he told me something that I treasure my entire life, ‘be quick, be done and be gone.’ He said and smiled at me. This episode is very clear in my mind even today, I learnt a lot from his ways. He always prepared before making a point, he always talked positively and of course I will never forget be quick, be done and be gone! 
I was very close to him and I remember the smile he would give when I would see his dry feet and apply some moisturizer or he would say ‘I feel so light, will sleep every well tonight.’ When I would give him acupressure points on his back. He inculcated the habit of reading and writing in me. He encouraged me a lot in every step I took, he would see me work long hours and often say ‘you spend 10 hours of your day working and making money for a company that’s not yours. Start something on your own and spend the same time, I am sure it will be more satisfying and fruitful. These words will always remain with me and motivate me to be an entrepreneur one day.


I lost my grandpa a month back, he was 97. He passed away in his sleep. Even today when I close my eyes I see him sitting on his chair writing his dairy….. I feel him with me on every step of my life. I love and miss him a lot.

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Twilight 2012!

It’s the dusk of 2012 and thought of taking a stock of how I fared through it. This definitely was not the toughest year for me however if I got to summarize it in one word it’s just SURVIVED!!
Every eye on the planet was on this year as the earth was to end however GOD too is great at cinematography and gave a dramatic climax by keeping us on the edge the whole year just to say, ‘it isn’t happening this year man!’ May be he is planning a sequel J

For me the year was a year of experiments. I was in a new land through the year and all through the year I just heard my heart telling my mind, ‘take it in your stride, there’s always a first time.’ So much so that I started dreading first times and longed for a routine.
This was also full of people, again most of them I met ‘first time’. I truly believe small minds discuss people but this calls for a discussion.
I met people whose sole existence was to demean, belittle which rose from insecurity or some vested interest. On the other hand I also met people whom I referred to as the nicest I have met in life, people who believed it’s important to be nice, be human. Such people whom you want to be around for life as they have positivity around them. Well another category was straight talkers. I am an on the face person and expect transparency. I agree it has its own negatives, but it’s better than the untrustworthy sweet talkers. I met some who just had one agenda – how can I use a person to my advantage. I made some good friends who knew how to make merry on a sad day, who stood by without being judgmental. All in all a mixed bag which is quite the case with everyone.
My profit and loss for this year would culminate in the balance sheet contributing to life. I lost my dearest granpa. At 97, he was so positive. He taught me to be compassionate and to be giving. This loss is irreplaceable. Another loss was on May 3rd, no words or expressions for this one.

During the year I changed myself at times; I changed my conduct with a disapproval of my heart just to suit situations and circumstances. But this change was inevitable, it shook me but I couldn’t avoid it. In return I gained faith, faith with every heartbeat which said this too shall pass. One major advantage was I met with some of the very experienced professionals and leveraged some best practices to add to my career.

Though the year was tilted more on loss, I am glad for two things, one that I am much wiser than the start of the year. I gained from all the experiences I had this year and promise myself not to err again on the ones I did. Second thing that makes me glad is the year is overJ. This year was as enriching as it was enthralling.  
I look forward to a great 2013, with all enthusiasm, positivity and energy to take on the challenges that life has to offer.
Adios and see you in the New Year!
Will leave you with this nazm by the immortal Jagjit Singhji, it truly portrays survival.
कभी आँसूं कभी खुशी बेचीं 
हम  गरीबों ने बेकसी (loneliness) बेचीं।
 चन सासें खरीदने केलिए 
रोज़ थोड़ी सी ज़िन्दगी बेचीं।
जब  रुलाने लगे मुझे साये 
मैंने उक्ताके (after getting tired) रौशनी बेचीं। 
इक हम थे बिक गए खुद ही 
वर्ना दुनिया ने दोस्ती बेचीं।
कभी आँसूं कभी खुशी बेचीं 
हम  गरीबों ने बेकसी बेचीं।