Smile Always...

I have the habit of listening to music while travelling by train. Even if I am writing my blog or reading something in the crowd of co passengers or while I am feeling the air on my face while standing on the footboard of the train, my nokia headphone earplugs are in my ears and some music is always on. I have a huge collection of my favourite tracks saved on my nokia phone which I play in random order. It’s fun to hear a song from your favourite collections only but which one that would be decided by the phone software! Sometimes it plays just the perfect songs which suit my mood at the time of listening. I keep adding a few new songs regularly to my favourite collection so that I get to hear new latest favourites as well.
Today I caught the train for going to office and started to play music. After a song or two, the familiar tune started to play which I had heard long time back. It was from one of my favourite movie 'Khamoshi - The Musical'
I had loved this movie a lot and today also whenever I watch it, I cry every time I see & enjoy it. The song was 'Re Moj me le chalo mil ke Baajaa Re Raja Podhe Sambhaal...'.
What a brilliant idea was shared by Mr. Bhansali through this song. Those of you who have seen the movie would already know the sequence. And for those who have missed this beautiful emotional film, let me briefly tell you about the song. There is this Christian family consisting of five members: husband and wife both can neither speak nor hear their two cute children and the old wise and loving granny. The family is very fond of music & even though the couple is neither able to sing nor hear the melodious tunes emerging out of their piano, all of them count it as their precious possession. Granny sings some very beautiful songs and plays piano for her beloved grand children. Bad times come and the family has to decide to sell their proudly owned piano. Do children understand the complexities of life? They cry and are not ready to easily part with their favourite piano. Then comes this very nice song where granny explains the children in the language their little minds can understand. She asks the men taking away the piano to carry it slowly and with care as the king piano is sleeping she says! Then she tells her grandchildren not to cry as so far only she used to sing and play the piano but now entire world would enjoy the melodious tunes of that piano and would sing along! She even ask them to smile and bid a happy farewell to their beloved king piano. What a noble thought!
Kavita Krishnamurthy has done complete justice to this touchy song. The peak of the aalaap at the end of the song is a perfect graceful end when even the granny who consoled and convinced her grandchildren to be smiling all the times but who shall she share her grief with? This agony of her loss of the priced possession-the king piano makes her cry too and those feelings are expressed in the best way in the enthralling aalaap by kavitajee.
All I have to say at the end of the blog is keep saying 'All is well' and keep smiling always!!!

Quality experience in Shatabdi Express...

Quality makes difference. In a regular long distance train in second sitting coach you can reach Ahmedabad from Mumbai in less than 200 Rs. while in AC chair car Shatabdi it would cost you 675 Rs. But you should have this experience once to understand how quality makes difference. I had to travel by Shatabdi a few days back and I started having a pleasure as soon as I boarded the train from Borivali. May be the train had recently got the new coaches. The new coach in which I got in had an airplane like look and feel. The wide thick glass window, transparent thick plastic or acrylic made overhead stand to keep your luggage, the pullable curtains, the lamps above your seat for use in dark or at night, the toilets, the door, the seats in 2s and 3s and the passage between them all the things were classy and would make you feel as if you are travelling in an airplane. Infact the speed of this train is also faster and it takes only 6 hrs to reach Ahmedabad while other regular trains take 9 hrs for the same journey.
It was early morning when I boarded the Shatabdi express and I could enjoy beautiful sun rise view near Vasai-Naaigaon creek. It was a marvellous experience to enjoy this sight from the thick glass-window seat of an AC coach of Shatabdi. Moreover we were served tea-coffee at this time only and the train slowed down so I perfectly enjoyed sun rise experience holding tea cup in one hand and newspaper in the other! I had hardly finished tea and the breakfast of Upma with coconut chuttney and bread slices with Jam & butter was served. My fellow passenger was a young guy from Mumbai with whom I enjoyed having discussion on varied topics from Pakistan to politics and movies to our school lives! He narrated an interesting activity from his school life. He had done his schooling in Rajasthan and every day in his school a student had to tell a small story in front of all fellow students. This not only gave students an opportunity to hear very good stories every day and thereby learn good lessons of goof life but also gave them a platform to speak thereby honing their oratory skills and boost their self-confidence. I feel every school shall follow this process. (Teachers or principals of any school reading this blog please try it out in your school!)
Chocolates and tetra pack of fruit juice served kept us refreshed while we were having interesting conversation. After some time my fellow passenger friend went to sleep and I started reading a short story book I was carrying. I overheard the conversation between an old lady and an old gentleman sitting right behind us. She was discussing traits of Gujarati community in general and was saying that she had studied in a Gujarati medium school. The thing that surprised me was that she was saying all these things in fluent English! She also informed the old gentleman that she liked reading good Gujarati literature books in her free time. I was impressed by this lady and introduced myself to her and gave her to read the book written by me for her feedback and review. I was carrying it because third edition of my books is being published soon and I had to finish proof-reading. She read some pages of the book and liked it. She also immediately recognized my father even though I have not mentioned anywhere in the book about he being a famous actor. She recognized him from my full name printed as author in the book and asked me about our gujarati folk drama-art Bhavai and discussed about it with the old gentleman sitting beside her.
Bread sticks with butter and tasty tomato soup came next immediately followed by not very delicious but ok-ok lunch and I ate so slowly that I missed ice-cream!
It was a very pleasing journey which ended with some responsible thoughts about two observations I made during this journey which I wanted to share with some railway authority also but which I could not as I didn't meet any of them after these thoughts occurred to me. One was about the water bottles. Every passenger travelling by Shatabdi is given a mineral water bottle which is already kept at his seat.70 passengers per coach in total 12 to 15 coaches (I didn't exactly count how many were there so it could be even more also) makes the count of bottles to around 840 to more than thousand! Now I noticed that more than half of these bottles were only half used and kept at the vacant seats when passengers left the train. If this water is not reused then it would be surely a significant loss. So I would request any concerned railway authority reading this blog or anybody who can make this message reach the right authority please do convey it to reuse this unused water and not waste it. Second observation I made was about the huge use of electricity in lighting more than 30 tubelights in my one coach only (please do the calculation for all the coaches of the train yourself now!) in bright day light. Since the time I got into the train till the instant I got down for more than six hours all these tubelights were switched on and there was no need of doing so when the sunlight entered through the thick glass and nobody had used curtains to stop it from illuminating the coach naturally. Even if alternate or a few tubelights are kept switched on during day time, it would save substantial amount of electricity/power. We all have to be responsible citizens now in order to survive on our mother earth before there is scarcity of the valuable resources like water and electricity. Spread the message and act now to save water and electricity!

My Tweets in December 2009

* Last day of 2009 spent in rehearsing 4 my play full day.we r doin 21 shows in jst 7 days thus startin 2010 with bang & in a unique way!

* 5 point sm1 was 1 of the best novels I read.So is the movie by Hirani&Chopra.salute to them & chetan bhagat!must read&watch!

* Twitting in the middle of smthin is fun.Enjoying 3idiots.A nicely made film.very good treatment 2 a novel.aamir ko mananaa padega!

* Passing thru LBS marg in slw moving traffic.feeling nostalgic.used to travell by same route 4 my engineerin deg. colleg VESIT 9yrs ago.

* Bookd tkts of 3idiots 4 7.30 shw 2 wtch it wid colleagues.Antik driving his car with max. Speed but mumbai traffic scks!we wd b late as usul

* Decided to go 4 some work in the bank so woke up early and today only it had to be a bank holiday!why it always happens so???

* Readin ChetanBhagat's 2States 1Chptr at a time.Bcos I love Krish&Ananya's company&want 2 keep enjoying it 4 as lng as I cn!I love this book.

* Rehearsals for Aum ShreeMad Bhagwat,my first gujju play,in full swing.21 shows in 7 days in a row from 1jan-7jan.wht a way 2 welcme 2010!

* Today I went 2 Alibag by Ferri from gateway.It was very nice & kool experience.shaky shaky yet enjoyable 1 hr jrny.Had fun!

* I love seeing the joy on people's faces.passing by a christian locality.evrybdy is in christmas festive spirit!Its so much fun!

* There is a striking similarity between Chetan Bhagat and Sumit Raghavan ('Sajan Re Jooth Mat Bolo' and 'Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai' actor)...

* It seems hospitals have become routine in my life.In 2009 mom was admitted twice,ami thrice.I hope 2010 turns out to be better.

* I reached Fr.Agnel church after it was closed but the security guy instrcted me not to light candle & opned church only 4 me!I was touched.

* Walking on the skywalk at bkc is a kool experience!I always enjoy it.Infact it acts as a gr8 stress-buster for me!1.3KM dosn't seem 2 long!

* Today we performed rehearsal of our gujju play in front of well known gujju play director Kamlesh Mota. 21shows in 7days frm 1st Jan'10!

* tatkal rail tkt bookin on irctc website nvr helps.site is damn slow & in a jiffy entire tatkal quota gets exhausted.2days 4 tatkal is 2 shrt

* How strongly I felt to be with my wife tdy.She is thr in hospital in Mahesana,Gujrat-10 hrs away frm me,here in m'bai.Ami,gt well soon...

* I simply love the smell and the feeling of air-conditioner in AllIndiaRadio bldg where I read gujrati news.Heavenly & amazing!

* whole day passed in reading newspapers and surfing net.wanted to do many more things but couldn't.time flies...

* I voted for Dev in the @Kingfisherworld Calendar 2010 Launch contest. http://bit.ly/7BO5i4

* Ystrday in a marriage reception,evrybdy wanted to shake hands & get a foto clickd with my dad-'NattuKaka'.I liked the feeling tobe with him.

* Marriage of a close relative is fun event & ocassion 2 meet so mny relatives,friends & have a good time!Jst attended my cousins' in Gujrat

* I like using time to the fullest hence hate waiting 4 smbdy/smthing 4 lng time.ystrdy hd 2 wait 4 my delayd bus 2 mumbai 4 more than 1 hour.

* Travelling very long distance by bus,even though its luxury type,is very uncomfortable & tiring...

* since last week or so,I daily walk 2-3 kms as a practice for running dream run mumbai marathon to be held next month...

* I jst saw 2 unusual sights:A fat young LADY smoking & an aged MAN crying in front of his mom.In India these may be counted uncommon still.

* Cats are so beautyful! Kittens are even cuter..their agileness,curiosity and sharp activeness drives me crazy!!!

* ct scan equipment's rotating wheel @ nanavati hospital scared my mom but it looked like spinning washing machine to me!

* Heard chanting of sanskrit shlokas in unison while passing by a school and felt very nice.reminded my school days...

The Golden Temple at Amritsar

Today I want to share my experience of visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Actually I visit holy places of all the religions like church, mosque or a gurudwaaraa. And I don't intend to advocate any specific religion. But certain good things, some good rituals etc. I liked very much which I observed during my two visits to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Hence this blog.



Amritsar is a very nice city. I visited it twice so as to see the temple made up of Gold as many of us might guess it to be from its name.
I wanted to start my honeymoon journey visiting the holy golden temple first (also had read that Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya had also started their honeymoon after visiting Golden Temple first. That inspired me to do the same!) Second time I took my mom and sisters also along with my wife for darshan of this beautiful place of worship. Both these times my liking for this temple and the city Amritsar has grown more.


The golden temple is actually Harmandir Sahib Gurudwara visited by thousands of people daily. Some visit it with pilgrimage intentions while others as a tourist spot. Some others like me visit it out to feel mixed feelings of holiness & wonder.

It has a very unique and beautiful architecture. The main central gurudwara is sitting in the middle of a holy & serene lake housing lot of big size gold fishes. The lake is surrounded by a marble-floored walkway on all four sides and by four different buildings on all four sides.

I loved walking through the entire square-shaped promenade with marble flooring very much. On a hot sunny day also your legs won't burn walking bare feet here. A most unusual sight even before we entered the temple was outside at the shoe-house where you have to keep your shoes before entering temple.

The old man offering service there literally took everybody's shoes in his hands and touched them on his head as if the shoes were some sacred holy objects! I felt strange. Later I realized that his intention in doing so might be to respect even the foot wares which brought people to this holy place for darshan. I could only think of this logic.

And I observed that all the men and women offering the service at shoe-house did the same thing. After keeping your shoes you have to dip your bare feet in the water in the small tank like structure at the entrance of the temple. The touch of holy cold water on bare feet felt very nice.

After this ritual you enter the temple premises. But one mandate for everybody is to cover their heads before entering the premises. Anywhere inside the temple surroundings, if you are found without a cloth above your head, you will receive firing from the volunteers or temple-keepers!


At the entrance and inside the temple premises you will find some Sikh temple-keepers with yellow long kurta-like robe and the symbolic Sikh kirpan and typical turban and beard. They would scare a timid normal man but yet they have a warm welcoming smile on their faces!

You would find them at the gate screening people entering the temple or roaming freely inside temple premises keeping a watch on people's movement and scolding those whose heads have not remained covered! I got a scolding even for feeding the fishes in the lake!


While walking on the promenade you would hear the musical kirtans offered to the God inside the gurudwaaraa. It’s a serene and holy experience doing parikrama around the temple. you would observe many Sikhs taking a holy dip and having holy bath in the lake water or praying near a very old holy tree inside the premises.


There is a long queue of devotees gathered near the gurudwaaraa entrance but it moves fast and you feel great as you reach near the golden temple shrine. Many people get the sheera-prasad to offer and drop some of it in the water for feeding fishes when uniformed temple-keepers are not watching!

At the gate of main gurudwaaraa two guards control the flow of people entering by a stick clad with yellow coloured cloth. You feel nice as you enter the two storied main gurudwaaraa shining with bright golden tinge. Sound of melodious kirtans soothes you and you feel divinity all around. There is no idol or picture of any god but a thick and big religious book is being read by some saints sitting inside the gurudwaaraa. The walls are decorated with beautiful carvings and colourful floral patterns. There is a thick floor-mat on the ground. Photography is prohibited inside the main gurudwaaraa but even if you get caught doing it, you will get a mild and brotherly scolding!


Another memorable experience I had at the golden temple was that of having a lunch-prasad at the 'Langaar'. Every devotee, poor or rich, elder or younger, man or woman everybody queued up in a disciplined manner. Everybody first collects the steel plate, a spoon and the water bowls. There are long ten to twelve rows inside a huge lunch-hall in which people sit together for having lunch. Apart from the temple-staff young people also serve roti, the moongdal subzi and daal which taste heavenly. There is a typical way in which rotis will be offered. You have to hold both your hands and the person will throw the roti in your hands with gods name and you don't feel bad to accept roti in this manner at all! There are lot many devotees offering their service in preparing the food, cleaning the utensils, giving the water etc. with great enthusiasm and devotion. This community lunch and the overall experience at the Langaar were really unforgettable.


What set Golden Temple apart from other places of worships is the overall ambience, the feeling of grandeur, not getting bothered, disturbed and irritated by any beggar, Sikh turbaned temple-keepers in their yellow robes, a beautiful lake with lots of big fishes, warm people serving selflessly at the Langar,nobody asking for any donation or monetary favour, people having prasad-lunch at Langar together.
All these and much more have etched the golden temple with golden memories in my mind and heart forever...

We have to be more responsible citizens...

A news story of my neighbourhood in Malad in today’s newspaper shook me. I was shocked to read that a thief was beaten to death by normal citizens like you and me.
I am neither writing this blog to favour the thief nor do I want to become a human-right activist. But the story of the dead thief actually shocked me.
There were three guys who broke into a house in a chawl in Malad at around 3:00 am and somebody came to know about them and he shouted and gathered the crowd. Two of the thieves ran away but one got caught by the mob and the mob does not have any sanity. They tied him upside down near the gate of their colony and brutally bit them. All of them, one by one. The poor thief all by himself. He was 30 years old and could not take the beating. Died on the spot before police came and took him to the hospital.
Now question here is: Did the mob do right thing? I am not at all in favour of it. A Life has been lost. Isn't it too much the penalty for a petty crime? I am not advocating any thief and would certainly feel angry at a person getting red-handed trying to rob or do any kind of crime. But who are we to punish? And that too such severe punishment which can end a life? Let police do their job.
In mob, the mentality is very bad. Any person joining the mob would not think and enquire the matter. He would simply join hands in beating the poor culprit. It’s sad. In train or in bus or on the street , you many times find such incidents where people gather and start beating one person who may not even be guilty sometime. This 'haath-safai' attitude I hate. People want to remove their frustration, their anger, their sadness, their helplessness. But is it fair?
In future, if you notice such a tamasha, Please intervene and save the person from the mob. I am not asking you to leave that person who may be guilty. But by doing this, you may save a life. Because mad crowd would not think much and may kill the person by severely beating him to death. You may ask the mob politely to stop beating and as a responsible citizen, take him to the police with the help of others in the crowd. If police is not around, you may even call emergency number of police (100) and ask for help. But for God's sake and for that suspect fellow's life's sack, don't let the mob take the control in its hands and let something undesirable, unjust happen.
May the soul of the thief, who died today rest in peace and God, please don't make him a thief in his next birth...