First flower is going to bloom on one of my favourite plants...

You must be wondering that I returned after a long time on  my Blog space....


But now I have started writing my Blogs in my mother-tongue: Gujarati. So I hardly get time to write in English too after my pretty busy schedule. But whenever I feel like writing something in English and have time, I would drop in here to share my views with you!

Lajamani (Touch-Me-Not)

Lily

I want to share a small story. Shall I call it story? Actually, it is my true experience. I like growing plants since childhood. I have 8-9 pots with plants of different types at my home which I am maintaining since I was a school-going child (may be 15-20 years). I have a Sada-fuli (Baramasi) which has been all along with me since I had started growing my first plant. I have had Tulsi plant, Touch-me-Not (Lajamani) plant, Marigold (Galgota) plant. I have a Lily plant (which look like grass and flowers only once every monsoon. I have an aloevera plant. One plant I have is a very old plant which I had got from Bandra on my way to Mount Mary Church a few years back. I have office flower plants which also bear flowers in specific seasons and these flowers also opens up in the morning and lasts till sun sets!

I also have a rose plant which grows like a weed and never bears any flower!

But a few months back I had got a plant that bears very beautiful small flowers like sun flower with few petals. They have a very beautiful colour mix of yellow, orange and Red. These flowers are very delicate and cute. Now I had purchased these flowers and that time only one of my friends had instructed me to keep them in proper sun light and water them very regularly. I had kept it in my balcony.(Most of my plants are kept near the door of my home at the ground floor. Only 2-3 pots I have kept in my balcony on the 1st floor of my home)When I brought these plant home there were already 2-3 flowers on it and there were also a few buds waiting to be bloomed into beautiful flowers at my home and make me very very happy. Every morning I used to water this plant and look at the beauty of its flowers for a long time and felt divine when I touched them, felt them. (See the picture of the very pretty flowers in my balcony put here in this blog.)

After a few days my dad had to be hospitalized due to his heart-surgery and I was almost out, staying at hospital for many days and when after 5-6 days since I last saw my new favourite plant, alas! I was devastated to find the dead dried-brown plant instead of my loving green plant which bore those wonderful cute orange-red flowers only a few days ago. I really felt sad and fought with my family members for not taking care of my plant in my absence.

Few days after this incident I happened to visit a nursery one more time and I found the same plant again there. I could not help myself from buying it one more time with the resolve to take proper care this time. But after some days again I had to go out of station and same sad story repeated. My family members forgot to water this plant & for the second time I lost my favourite flower's plant. I waited for days without plucking out the dried brown leaf-less life-less stem from the pot only hoping that a new green bud of the plant will be visible one day. But in vain. Now after a few days, one day while watering this lifeless stem of the plant I noticed a small sapling of this variety of plant in adjoining pot. I recollected that before some days when the flowers had bloomed on my favourite flower-plant, I had plucked a few flowers after they had bloomed fully and were dried completely on the plant. I had tried to sow the seeds along with the dried flowers and waited for days. Nothing had come out from the soil in the pot. But the same plant had taken birth in that adjoining pot and a small delicate sapling was swinging with the blow of air in my balcony and I was ecstasic to witness this sight!

Now today I am waiting for the first flower on this newly born favourite plant of mine! Tomorrow Morning I am expecting to see the first orange-red flower on this tiny plant.

This time I am feeling more belongingness to this plant as it has actually taken birth from the seeds sown by me! This feeling of waiting for the new flower to bloom is like waiting for a new baby to born!

I will post the picture of this new flower in this blog in days to come...

....and as promised here are the day-by-day pics of this flower....Enjoy!!!

15-Mar-2011



16-Mar-2011

17-Mar-2011

18-Mar-2011

19-Mar-2011



20-Mar-2011

...and today on eve of 20-Mar-2011, this first flower on my fav. plant went to the feet of Riddhi Vinayak Ganpati Dada...

Good news : there are two more new buds growing on this plant now!!!

Obama is coming..!!!

My friend Darshan Dodia (@darshandodia) has twitted some real funny humorous tweets:


* In name of God we clean our hearts; in name of festivals we clean our houses & in name of obama we clean our city !

* Finally colaba gets a facelift; plants r now watered, streets cleaned, debris removed, dividers repainted. THANK YOU @obama

* Obama shld make this a yearly trip to india. Atleast that way govt will be on their toes abt nations security.

Though it seems funny,we are like that only! In gujarati an idiom says "આગ લાગે ત્યારે જ કૂવો ખોદવા બેસે" meaning we start digging well when fire has already caught.We procrastinate. We don't care or bother at times or rather most of the times.

Another point to this issue is we do things as they have to be done only when somebody is watching. I had read somewhere Quality is doing the Best when nobody is watching.Obama is coming,let's clean our city.Prime minister or president is going to come,clean the place, repair the roads, beautify the surroundings. Why such showiness? Can't we always maintain all these things in order when some VIP is not visiting?

Also we are crazy lot. We revere celebrities like Gods. We treat them with utmost respect (and at times neglect the ones who truly cares for us).We get influenced easily.We have to learn maintaining self-dignity.We often forget about it when somebody of higher stature or position we come across.We shall treat every individual with same respect and care.

We need to stop being hypocrite and learn to be our true selves. God give us all power to do this!

Govinda Aalaa Re…

Hey, I am not talking about Bollywood film star Govinda. I am talking about ‘Govinda’ who burst the Dahi-Handi or Matki on Janmashtami Day. (For those who even don’t know what Janmashtami is – it was the day or rather night on which Shree Krishna was born. The next day is celebrated to enjoy this great event.)

All Indian festivals have a hidden meaning behind it which we have forgotten today but we love to celebrate, enjoy and hence we celebrate all the Indian (and some of the foreign) festivals pompously, with lot of enthusiasm and at times with lot of money too! But some of the festivals we celebrate completely forgetting the very idea behind the festival only to have fun and may be for some other dirty motives. Dahi-Handi is such one festival.

To celebrate Krishna’s birth is just one reason but why burst Dahi filled Matki? Do we know? There is an interesting story behind it. In Gokul, where lord Krishna spent his childhood there were lot of cows and there was lot of Butter produced. Neighbouring village of Mathura was ruled by demon Kans (Krishna’s maternal uncle) and all the butter produced in Gokul had to be exported to Mathura and the poor people and children of Gokul were unfortunate and could not enjoy their own home-grown Makkhan.

When Krishna came to know about this, he made a plan. This Makkhan or butter was stored in the Matkis tied in the homes of Gokul-niwasees. So what Krishna did was, he gathered his Gowala-friends (or Govinda) and made pyramid like structure and burst this Matkis filled with Butter (or Dahi which is not actually the correct translation of butter) and shared it with all his Gowala-friends so that it was consumed before being exported to Mathura. This was even the poor Gowala-Friends of Krishna who could not afford to have Makkhan, got to eat it! What a noble cause and what a great task!

But today, we celebrate Matki utsav with the prizes of Lakhs of Rupees. Who gains out of it? Sometimes Govindas are not even awarded with the prize money announced. The gain is of Politicians who have made the festival a dirty celebration by associating large sums of money with it and by making the whole city a battle ground on this day.

This year there is a prize of Rs. 25 Lakhs announced for bursting the Dahi-handi and that’s not all. There is going to be Gold Dahi-handi, bollywood stars, Laavani Dance shows, DJ, Prizes of Mobile and ambulance and plethora of other attractive prizes. What is all these for? Enjoyment, fun. And Politicians purely have ulterior motive of getting mileage and publicity. They encourage higher and higher pyramids made by Govindas (There has to be ten or more layers for 25 Lakh prize money this year) but if a Govinda dies or accidentally looses his limb or becomes handicap no politician would go and look after him and his family. There are insurance going to be provided to Govindas this year but what about the loss of life or a limb of a human being?

There are other problems like Traffic Jam, tussle between two or more Govinda groups, Drunk Govindas driving rashly and carelessly on streets causing accidents or other untoward incidents and more.

How women can be left behind? This is equality-age and this year even women Govinda Teams will burst Matkis and have claimed equal amount of prize money.

I love all Indian festivals and love celebrating them with enthusiasm and great fervour but hate this indecent, abnormal urbanized avatar of them.

Sachin Tendulkar Book controversy

A few days ago I came across a news piece on Sachin Tendulkar's autobiographical type book with collection of some rare pictures of his life. There were many salient features of this book such as only ten copies of this book were going to be published and they were priced at a whopping price of around Thirty Seven Lakh Indian rupees.(only good part was this whole amount was supposed to go for charity purpose) but
the main attraction (?) of this book was that each copy of the book was supposed to contain Sachin Tendulkar's autograph with his own blood!
Now this made me restless! I thought how Sachin Tendulkar could have agreed to do such a stunt? Though neither I am a sports person nor do I have any special liking for cricket, I surely have special respect for Sachin. He most certainly is a great Indian personality and is also a good human being. So definitely this piece of news about his blood-signed book made me think negative about the whole idea and Sachin himself. Look at the media power! It can surely change perceptions. I was not happy about this news.
After reading this news in all major newspapers, finally there was clarification by Sachin Tendulkar himself that he had not agreed to sign copies of this book with his blood and this false piece of information was complete rubbish. Now came the clarification from the publishers that they were misunderstood and misquoted by the media. If such was the case why the clarification came by Sachin first? This was a cheap publicity stunt. Even for a good cause one shall not rely on such petty measures. Media also has a responsibility. It shall verify the facts before publishing news but in today's cut throat competition that cares about veracity of any news item? 'We shall be the first to break the news' is the mantra of any news agency, news paper.
Thank God Sachin didn't sign the book with his blood!

My Tweets during Mar - May 2010...

Last week thr was a program-talk cndcted in a school in Bharuch on my book 'Mahek'-I was phone-interviewd 4 it.Felt vry good!
6:14 AM Mar 2nd

Didnt go 2 office as I ws nt feelin well ystrdy.Saw Natrang marathi film in the eve.vry good film,music,location,theme,dance.I liked it.
6:18 AM Mar 6th

Busy wid the work on my fifth gujarati book 'Internet Corner' series.Wd finish a day or two.
6:27 AM Mar 6th

Enjyd anther superb marathi film 'Harishchandrachi factory'.Simply loved it.Language nvr bcme barrier in enjyin a gr8 wrk of art of any form
4:51 AM Mar 7th

The workload in office affects your mood and vice versa.Ideally it shouldn't.why can't v follow all we undrstnd?
5:36 AM Mar 11th

How good U feel when U make others feel good..!Why then we all not always do things that make others happy?
8:12 AM Mar 12th

After two holidays of the weekend why still ye dil maange more..?!I always feel yet so mny things 2 cmplete.1more holiday shd hv bn there..
8:04 AM Mar 14th

Saw a movie Ramchand Pakistani ystrdy.Very beautiful short film.Nice location,costumes & vry good theme.Also enjoyed Metro again.
8:06 AM Mar 14th

Tdy was the silver jubilee of my blog-based gujarati column in JanmabhoomiPravasi.Also news of 2nd &3rd edition of my books got published.
8:12 AM Mar 14th

Tdy I was eagerly waiting for JanmabhoomiPravasi.Newspprwalla threw 4 othr pprs bt frgt 2 put Janmabhoomi only!Finlly I gt it in the eve.
8:16 AM Mar 14th

While shopping for GudiPadwa ystrdy broke my leg @ Devii jewellers,Andhri.Can't evn walk properly.Had 2 tk leave frm offc 2.sitting @ home !
11:24 PM Mar 16th

My loving mom applyin turmeric-salt-water paste on my swollen leg.How caring & loving moms are!Paste may or mayNot work bt my mom's love wd!
10:30 AM Mar 18th

It was World HouseSparrow Day tdy & I celebrated it!wd every dy put a small pan filled wth wtr 4 my fav brd sparrow & othrs.Pls save Nature.
11:06 AM Mar 20th

Watched LSD tdy mornin or rather wasted my precious mornin hrs.DevD & NoSmoker lovers would like it!Ppl mk anythin in name of offbit.A pity!
12:58 AM Mar 21st

Having fast & accompanying ur frnds 4 lunch @ subway joint is difficlt!Hd 2 c thm eatin nice-lukin,temptin sndwchs &fill myslf wid jst chip!
12:30 AM Mar 24th

Charges of food items @ joints like pizzahut,CCD,subway etc. r more 4 the ambience thr.It's cool,hip,young & relyxin!Prfct plc 2 pass time!
12:38 AM Mar 24th

A genuine smile can make ur day at the same time a statement or a question can make u feel really really bad ...
4:50 AM Mar 25th

Travellin long dist generates a kinda excitement...specially whn u r goin to meet ur wife aftr almost a month!Leavin 4 mahesana tonight.
5:00 AM Mar 26th

Have come here for my wife's Seemant(GodBharai) but would not be able 2 c the ceremony as husband can't c this ritual.Strange ritual!
1:42 AM Mar 27th

Aftr a lng time attnded an evenin Aarti in a temple.Somnath temple @Mahesana.I feel a cosmic energy flowin thru me whnevr I attend Aarti.
6:06 AM Mar 27th

Loud noise of gongs in an Aarti seems like sweet music to my ears.In Mumbai when does one get time to attend Aarti in a temple?But One shd.
6:09 AM Mar 27th

As I was in Mahesana whr 'EarthHour' was not follwd,I followd it in my own way.switchd off mobile.went 2 terrace & sat,walked & talked alone
8:17 AM Mar 27th

Mahesana 2 Ahmdbad is 2 hrs jrny.I wnted 2 go by bus sittin.Bt sundy rush so all buses came jampackd.Took pvt jeep.It gt punctured halfway!
5:59 AM Mar 28th

Goin frm Mahesana 2 Ahmdbd in a jampacked bus now standing.Hope I reach in time & don't miss my train frm Ahmdbd 2 Mumbai!
6:01 AM Mar 28th

Caught train frm Ahmdbd in a filmy style!9:5 ws trains dept. time & I rchd pltfrm @ 9 & hd 2 run entire lngth of train 2 ctch my lst coach!
9:21 AM Mar 28th

Erly mornin my colleagues fooled me skillfully!I enjyd!Thn I also teamed up & fooled anthr teammmbr Antik!Sch inncnt prnks dn't hrm & r ok!
8:23 AM Apr 1st

It is so embarassin to keep smbdy waitin 4 u. Antik, sorry 2 keep u waitin 4 half-an-hour...
11:59 PM Apr 2nd

Pampered myself with a designer haircut @ JavedHabib's.Got a new hip kewl hairstyle!I wanna maintain it 4 a lng time this time.Gud exprnce!
12:25 AM Apr 4th

Aftr more thn 15days break due to hurting my leg,would strt gym again.Bck 2 Normal routine now after 3 days grt holidays!Gud Nite...
12:00 PM Apr 4th

Goin 4 a movie in theater (WellDoneAbba) after a long time!Its a diff & nice experience to enjy a movie in theater...
5:52 AM Apr 5th

Wht a film WellDoneAbba is!so mny messgs givn 2 society in a simple,light yet touchy way! Well Dn BenegalSaab! Well dn Boman,Minisha&Samir!
10:09 AM Apr 5th

Sm ppl talk & speak so loudly in bus/train.A lady on last seat is blabberin & disturbin all.A truly loud-mouthd woman!
10:15 AM Apr 5th

Added twitter application on my facebook so now My Tweets can be read from my facebook page as well...
10:56 AM Apr 6th

Enjoyd bhajji,sandwish & chai in MaitriBen & DeepaBen's cmpny @ jbims canteen.rmembrd my MBA days.School&College life is bst period of life!
11:25 AM Apr 7th

Got vry late from offc tdy.Hope 2 have a kool weekend.The week was quite hectic @ work.Wanna relyx for 2 days now!
9:34 AM Apr 9th

Goin 4 a re-union of my school friends.Would see most of them aftr 15 years!I think it wd b grt fun meetin pals of my alma-mater...
8:38 AM Apr 10th

Why weekend has to pass so fast??Did gym,read newspprs,met my school sir,surfd net,took a nap & wd c hindi play Chanakya now...bsy sunday!
6:12 AM Apr 11th

Chanakya - A good political,historical,hindi play...Very good performance by Manoj Joshi.I enjoyed!Good end of the weekend.Good night...
10:59 AM Apr 11th

First thing I do aftr wakin up everymornin is chant:karaagre vasate laxmi karamadhye saraswati karamoole tu govind prabhaate kar darshanam.
12:41 AM Apr 14th

I actually see laxmi at top of my hands,saraswati in middl and krishna at the bottom.wht can be better to start day than remembrin them??
12:44 AM Apr 14th

Thr r 2 more shlokas I chant everymorning,2nd:samudra vasane devi parvata stanamandalai: vishnupatni namastubhyam paad sparsham kshamasva me
12:48 AM Apr 14th

3rd shloka in Trikal sandhya: Vasudev sutam devam kansa chaanuramardanam devaki paramaanandam krushnam vande jagat gurum...
12:50 AM Apr 14th

Ystrday a gujju play with my voice was aired on AllIndiaRadio Samvaadita.But due to me being in Gujarat,I cld nt hear it.Dad has recorded it
1:08 AM Apr 15th

Its hot like hell here in Gujarat.In M'bai,sitting in AC offc all day long,can't mk out hw summer is & dn't evn wanna knw!!
10:17 PM Apr 15th

Have enjoyd many movies on the first day of release @ WideAngle - Mahesana.One more tdy:PaathShaalaa.With beloved wife & in-laws.
8:39 AM Apr 16th

Enjoying the overnight journey from Mahesana to Borivali in Aravali Xpress.Intrnt srfin,Readin&Music.Who says U cant enjy a jrny alone?
8:43 AM Apr 17th

Rehearsing 4 my gujarati play OmShreeMadBhagwat after a long time!V r doin 37th shw on Fri. @ Kalidas,Mulund...
9:32 AM Apr 21st

Goin 2 Mulund 4 my 37th show of OmShreemadBhagwat.we hv done shows in almost all theaters of Mumbai.Tdy 1st time @ kalidas.Excited!
6:16 AM Apr 23rd

I am reading The Professional by SubrotoBagchi & a Gujarati novel 'Karmachaari' by JeetendraThakkar prsntly aprt frm daily doses of
newspprs
1:14 AM Apr 25th

Trying to link twitter with my facebook page.Hope I succeed...#fb
12:12 PM Apr 28th

So mny things 2 do & so littl time!I wnt 2 lrn drivin but gym,office & other activities dn't let me do it!Hope I m able 2 do it in May..#fb
12:43 PM Apr 28th

Enjoying GoGreen even. orgnisd by my compny with Rahul vaidya's sweet musical songs...
8:06 AM Apr 30th

Ranakpur Exprss sucks!since lst 2 hrs it has rchd mumbai but movin like a snail & it hs stopped jst bfor borivali since lst 15 min..bored!!
9:54 PM May 2nd

Stranded due to stupid motormen strike..lakhs of travellers by mumbai local railway on streets now...me came upto andhri by bus.hp 2 rch Mld
9:11 AM May 3rd

@ant1k By putting lakhs of commuters in stranded state whatever action motormen have taken do not make them wise anyway.They r surely stupid
2:53 AM May 4th via web in reply to ant1k

@ant1k Also their strike is just for the purpose of pay hike.Not unfav. work condition.So u have to update urself first bfor tweeting...
2:55 AM May 4th via web in reply to ant1k

waitin 4 my office bus since lst 20min. + headache = not feeling good
6:38 AM May 6th

Shouted at my mother on 'Mothers Day' today and now feeling bad about it...'Sorry Mom' I wd say & she wd forgive me.Why mothers r so good??
1:45 AM May 9th

Internet Surfing is addictive.Evrytime I decide I will sit 4 half an hour only and I end up spending more than an hour & still not satisfied
11:53 AM May 13th

Mom,wife & sistrs r awy frm home.Me & dad havin mixed feelings of liberty & missing them.Also realizin women r really grt!
9:43 AM May 20th

I dont know how to cook,wash clothes,utensils,keep the home clean etc.etc.I strongly feel I shall learn all these,now whn my fmily is away..
9:47 AM May 20th

I wanna learn driving a bike and car too.I guess I would join a car training school soon...
9:48 AM May 20th

The new shfit concept in my office is amazin!for 10 days I have 2 go at 12noon.10 days @ 8am & 10days @9.30...Its cool,I liked it!
10:47 PM May 20th

I witnssd a terribl accidnt of a rickshaw getting skid & turned upside down in BKC.Hope driver & passngrs r safe.
11:11 AM May 25th

Heard abt Hindu-Muslim riots being strted again in Gujarat.Why cnt v humans live in peace rathr whn politicians wud let us live peacefully
9:18 PM May 26th