Sunday morning, with heavy heart I started back to Nagpur, waving hand to Mak and Suraj at Bhandak. This was home and realized that will be my home forever though my family moved from here.
A call on Wednesday morning this week from best buddy gave the way for most awesome moments for this year so far. Friday before I started I opened an argument and was confused where to stay, how can I comfort the other best buddy while staying at another best buddy's place! Hahah, all this can happen only at my BHANDAK.
This travel of 2 and half hours passes so fast with mind rewinding the memories of childhood. I finally reached and made a call to DD from Checkpost and took the walk towards estate. A walk among the silence of the forest, on a road with hardly any vehicle and a gentle cold breeze flowing, and twinkling stars and almost full moon made the moment mesmerizing. In this beautiful moment enters DD with small wonder Ved, with whom I am going to enjoy few moments in coming hours. Reached home and we grew up here hence no wonder that I don't need any time to settle down. Aunty Uncle and Di are so warm as always, and the best dinner Di made for the night made everything even more beautiful. Then comes Mak and SN, and we enjoy the talk (typical way by standing outside house for hours for us). Night became more dark and on the bed sleep was still not willing to come to my eyes, So DD and I enjoy the walk and chat after many years that way. Finally went to bed.
The next morning, with Ved filling everyone with joy and enthusiasm I started. I discovered that little hero loves sweet and that's how I made the friendship. A chat over breakfast (everyone still remembers my preferences makes me nostalgic) was special, and we started to school in the morning. Reached just in time at School gate, and Jhadhav sir and others gave warm welcome. Something disturbing happened here for a moment but we managed to ignore it for the beautiful day. With meeting and greeting our teachers we joined the assembly. Everyone gathered here for farewell of Apte sir. He is special to students so we don't think for traveling few hundred miles to hear few words last time on this stage, but senior retired teachers like Mathew sir came all the way covering thousand miles, such great personality he is, a lot to learn and to be imbibed. Class teachers of school, high school and junior college still remembered us by names, teachers remembering and asking about family and friends, everything in the morning was so special. Meeting with school friends, clicking pics with friends and teachers everything was AWESOME.
After school, we started and continued chat at VS's home, he made wonderful tea and music in Scorpio, everything was just adding to the day. Then everyone dispersed to meet late afternoon. Everyone thanked SN without whom we would not have witnessed such great time. I think I was meeting him after a decade, but he is still the same special friend with him I spent countless afternoons playing carom.
After the lunch where Di made my fav. sabji, I had more than enough, making me more sleepy on peaceful afternoon. Still we started and moved to Mak's place. After snacks we stared to Jain mandir, may be now it is the biggest temple of Bhandak. Really the best thing for the evening. Then my fav. sugarcane juice, thanks to SG Followed by that was long chat at Jackie's place, Giri's home, and by now there was hardly some place for dinner. The love, affection, comfort, security and attachment to this place holds me back so tight that I wish if this time moves slow for me ;)
It was late in the night and I was already feeling bad to find aunty uncle waiting for the dinner. The wonderful dinner made by aunty and the rusgullas now made me the most heavier on the earth ;) Then enjoyed the music and shayari over Internet and were going through the FB feed to see the comments of school mates. I felt asleep listening to shayari.
Then came this morning, with Tea and snacks after a long time. Enjoying that on the bed, I was thinking that these days my friends became far better than me. They remember and attend the smallest things, in the mid night when I am not able to sleep due to cough they will make the medicine to comfort me, they will keep reminding me about the travel booking that I have to make, the headphones or wallet that I would keep somewhere and forget, about the office commitments that I communicated to them previously, ahhh.. My friends are most special in the world, shayad mere liye Bhagwan se bhi jyada..
Reaching Nagpur in few minutes, but I am carrying the memories that I will be having forever... Life is Beautiful and I am loving living it..
With Makarand Thakre, Dhananjay Dakhare, Suraj Nagwanshi, Sachin Gawai, Vinesh Sirsat, Pranali Karmarkar
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Friday, 22 March 2013
It's friends always
Fantastic day! As always this time too my best buddy made this a memorable day in my life. Feeling blessed!!
A day in Bangalore with school friend with whom I spend long hours playing chess, my chess grand master!
Visited this place after 3 years, and still it has same magic that holds you back.
Feeling great, happy!! A visit for a day, and its worth mentioning it :)
Starting now back to home sweet home, Hyderabad
Traveling and traveling, and I am making most of it..
Life is beautiful, I am loving living it!
A day in Bangalore with school friend with whom I spend long hours playing chess, my chess grand master!
Visited this place after 3 years, and still it has same magic that holds you back.
Feeling great, happy!! A visit for a day, and its worth mentioning it :)
Starting now back to home sweet home, Hyderabad
Traveling and traveling, and I am making most of it..
Life is beautiful, I am loving living it!
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Surprise trip to home
Ahh, finally started back to Nagpur!
This weekend I did not plan to be here, but after few tough days at work, spending time with family was great idea. I enjoyed the time and I was most happy when I enjoyed sugarcane juice with mom dad near my home. I always go out with friends but this time with parents it was different exp. and I realized I should go more often. And other was helping sister with regular grocery shopping.
Also enjoyed the unexpected long ride to bus station with old room mate. Felt so light after sharing useless stuff ;)
Family Friends make life complete, and I am glad I had quality time with them.
I am loving living it!! :-)
This weekend I did not plan to be here, but after few tough days at work, spending time with family was great idea. I enjoyed the time and I was most happy when I enjoyed sugarcane juice with mom dad near my home. I always go out with friends but this time with parents it was different exp. and I realized I should go more often. And other was helping sister with regular grocery shopping.
Also enjoyed the unexpected long ride to bus station with old room mate. Felt so light after sharing useless stuff ;)
Family Friends make life complete, and I am glad I had quality time with them.
I am loving living it!! :-)
Monday, 4 March 2013
Stay in Lancaster
The early morning of 4th March, many thoughts occupying the mind about the personal work, things I have to manage in office today and preparing for evening travel to home town. At the same time I have this long pending task of penning down the experiences in last 3 weeks before they are faded in memory.
Reaching the Marriot hotel in Lancaster through a train ride from New York, which is about 3 hours was awesome. Thought it was not the usual scene that we will see on the platforms as all wore a deserted look. I reached morning after the snow storm hit that region. All trains and services were nonfunctional for previous 2 days, and it was snow everywhere. I used to wonder how people would stay in such climates of minus temperatures. The waiting rooms on the platforms were warm, and I bought a ticket and I too was waiting with others for the train.
I was knowing the route to travel, but I was not sure how to get there. I started to enquire at the Information window, and was not suggested the best route to destination. The lady sitting there was new and she joined just few weeks back. So I thought of asking at the ticket counter itself, and the guy was patient enough to hear me in odd accent and understand my English to suggest me the route. Finally I boarded the train.
I along with other passengers boarded the train, everyone was searching the seat. I looked at the ticket few more times to ensure if I missed any coach number or seat reference. But I could not find any. Later I realized that everyone was looking for seat where the adjacent was not occupied. I really did not like that. I finally asked a teen aged boy if I can occupy the seat next to him, and he was warm. I settled down and train started. Everyone was using their laptops/ phones, and it provided a desk to every passenger (foldable desk in front of seat that we have in planes). I compared this to usual train travel in India. We usually are talking to persons, making friendships, sharing experiences, sometime food, etc. The atmosphere was so calm in contrast to Indian train travel. In the train they have free Wi-Fi. So I used it to make the first call to home after more than 20 odd hours to tell Mom that I am safe. Machinery was functional after the snowstorm and everything was at my convenience. I kept looking out, observing the snow covered cities and towns, houses and cars, and trees without leaves. All seemed like a black and while picture.
I reached the station, and took the cab to Hotel. First 5 days of stay I had a company of my senior, so I felt more pampered as always :). I settled down after a brief chat, and took a cold water bath as I could not figure out how to get the tap thing working for the hot one. I usually find these things complex and almost unique in every hotel I visited. I wonder why things like this don’t find simple at first glance. It was minus temperature outside, and water temperature was surely above than that. I learnt that the pipelines have heating system to ensure proper flow in such extreme temperatures. We went outside for lunch, I tried to stay over FB, sorting out mails whole afternoon. I compelled myself not to sleep so I set myself in entirely different time zone. Finally I went to bed early that day after having Mac D.
After that mornings became usual to get up early to check the mails, and sort of dependencies with off shore team. After getting fresh we would take a walk of about 10 minutes to reach office. Walking on the sideways, wearing the jackets, holding the breakfast from Mac D (most of the times I preferred Mac D for breakfast. I discovered the Oatmeal, which is boiled oat with fruits. I was sure that this is the healthiest breakfast that I would get ) I compared this scene with Hollywood movies or some of the Sharukh movies. I completed few items from my wish list, like walking in snowfall, seeing snow outside refrigerator and experience the life in small town of United States.
Days and week passed, and my senior left. I could not get the same Hotel extended, as it was full for the long weekend. I moved to the other one just in front of the office. It appeared little different than previous. Soon discovered that I landed in wrong place. I did not had internet and was limited to just few TV channels. That night passed with few movies, but later that morning in Mac D I surfed to find the nearest WALMART about 2 miles and after lunch I took a walk to the mart. I finally bought a phone card which was the cheapest among the others (and later realized that it was not the best for the network in the small town), and finally back in the evening I was able get the phone and internet on my iPhone, it was a breather. The next day, I took the cab to place called Tanger outlets and did some shopping. It was sale everywhere due to Presidents day. For the next day, I just stayed in Hotel and went out only for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was then I felt lonely sometimes during that week. Soon got occupied with work, and how the days passed did not realize. I moved to new hotel in between, which is couple of miles away. Hotel was good, I could see some people around, always greetings from reception when I came in or went out for the day. It kind of changed the mood. The clients at work were also very warm. Few became friends enough to share personal things, and give me ride from Hotel daily. Mac D and Subway were my preferred places for breakfast or meals. I was a daily customer now and sometimes the guy at the counter would just confirm the menu followed by exchange of smile.
2nd week too passed, and weekend came. After the breakfast on the Saturday morning, I stared walking to BOA about 2 miles from Hotel, but somehow I missed the turn and reached a place called Park City some 3.5 miles away from my Hotel. I kept walking through the stores, and did some more shopping. Then took the CAB to hotel. Later that evening till late in night I kept calling school friends, and talking in conference. Sunday I was not well and down with Migraine as missed the breakfast. This week too passed. The schedule for next week was to visit Florida, but that got changed and my stay in Lancaster was extended.
The 3rd week started as usual, but turned unusually busy. We started working till late in the night till 10, sometimes 11 too. With brainstorming sessions how the day would pass I never realized. Later this week, breakfast, lunch and dinner too was coming to office, and I missed going to Mac D and Subway. My turn came to present my work in this week, and for all the one to one and half hour everyone kept listening or watching to my demo. At the end the key people were happy and made a comment “This is what we are looking for”, and many of the clients greeted for delivering well. This kind a killed the frustration that accumulated over this week, but soon follow up things made it normal ;). I was now tired and declined the extension this time to stay for 2 more weeks. I had personal work back home which needed immediate attention. Still my client manager took me to do last minute shopping, and made me feel comfortable. I always come across such wonderful people, and as I keep moving this list is growing, and it makes me feel world is full of wonderful and caring people, we have to be just there to experience it.
I woke up early the next morning, and took the train to New York. I did some search on internet and it’s full of wonderful suggestions with the advice for reaching JFK from Lancaster. I reached JFK, one of the busiest in the world, and experienced same with about 100 + waiting in same line for security check-in. I boarded the flight and watched some good movies August Rush and one more for which I could not remember the name, and then reached Delhi. Unexpected friends came to Airport, and it was again wonderful to meet them. Before meeting I would feel it will be different this time, for not meeting them in years, but then it would feel like we talked just after few days ago. I think it is normal experience with friends close to heart. I then said bye to friends and boarded the flight to Nagpur, calling it an END to my Lancaster trip.. :)
Reaching the Marriot hotel in Lancaster through a train ride from New York, which is about 3 hours was awesome. Thought it was not the usual scene that we will see on the platforms as all wore a deserted look. I reached morning after the snow storm hit that region. All trains and services were nonfunctional for previous 2 days, and it was snow everywhere. I used to wonder how people would stay in such climates of minus temperatures. The waiting rooms on the platforms were warm, and I bought a ticket and I too was waiting with others for the train.
I was knowing the route to travel, but I was not sure how to get there. I started to enquire at the Information window, and was not suggested the best route to destination. The lady sitting there was new and she joined just few weeks back. So I thought of asking at the ticket counter itself, and the guy was patient enough to hear me in odd accent and understand my English to suggest me the route. Finally I boarded the train.
I along with other passengers boarded the train, everyone was searching the seat. I looked at the ticket few more times to ensure if I missed any coach number or seat reference. But I could not find any. Later I realized that everyone was looking for seat where the adjacent was not occupied. I really did not like that. I finally asked a teen aged boy if I can occupy the seat next to him, and he was warm. I settled down and train started. Everyone was using their laptops/ phones, and it provided a desk to every passenger (foldable desk in front of seat that we have in planes). I compared this to usual train travel in India. We usually are talking to persons, making friendships, sharing experiences, sometime food, etc. The atmosphere was so calm in contrast to Indian train travel. In the train they have free Wi-Fi. So I used it to make the first call to home after more than 20 odd hours to tell Mom that I am safe. Machinery was functional after the snowstorm and everything was at my convenience. I kept looking out, observing the snow covered cities and towns, houses and cars, and trees without leaves. All seemed like a black and while picture.
I reached the station, and took the cab to Hotel. First 5 days of stay I had a company of my senior, so I felt more pampered as always :). I settled down after a brief chat, and took a cold water bath as I could not figure out how to get the tap thing working for the hot one. I usually find these things complex and almost unique in every hotel I visited. I wonder why things like this don’t find simple at first glance. It was minus temperature outside, and water temperature was surely above than that. I learnt that the pipelines have heating system to ensure proper flow in such extreme temperatures. We went outside for lunch, I tried to stay over FB, sorting out mails whole afternoon. I compelled myself not to sleep so I set myself in entirely different time zone. Finally I went to bed early that day after having Mac D.
After that mornings became usual to get up early to check the mails, and sort of dependencies with off shore team. After getting fresh we would take a walk of about 10 minutes to reach office. Walking on the sideways, wearing the jackets, holding the breakfast from Mac D (most of the times I preferred Mac D for breakfast. I discovered the Oatmeal, which is boiled oat with fruits. I was sure that this is the healthiest breakfast that I would get ) I compared this scene with Hollywood movies or some of the Sharukh movies. I completed few items from my wish list, like walking in snowfall, seeing snow outside refrigerator and experience the life in small town of United States.
Days and week passed, and my senior left. I could not get the same Hotel extended, as it was full for the long weekend. I moved to the other one just in front of the office. It appeared little different than previous. Soon discovered that I landed in wrong place. I did not had internet and was limited to just few TV channels. That night passed with few movies, but later that morning in Mac D I surfed to find the nearest WALMART about 2 miles and after lunch I took a walk to the mart. I finally bought a phone card which was the cheapest among the others (and later realized that it was not the best for the network in the small town), and finally back in the evening I was able get the phone and internet on my iPhone, it was a breather. The next day, I took the cab to place called Tanger outlets and did some shopping. It was sale everywhere due to Presidents day. For the next day, I just stayed in Hotel and went out only for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was then I felt lonely sometimes during that week. Soon got occupied with work, and how the days passed did not realize. I moved to new hotel in between, which is couple of miles away. Hotel was good, I could see some people around, always greetings from reception when I came in or went out for the day. It kind of changed the mood. The clients at work were also very warm. Few became friends enough to share personal things, and give me ride from Hotel daily. Mac D and Subway were my preferred places for breakfast or meals. I was a daily customer now and sometimes the guy at the counter would just confirm the menu followed by exchange of smile.
2nd week too passed, and weekend came. After the breakfast on the Saturday morning, I stared walking to BOA about 2 miles from Hotel, but somehow I missed the turn and reached a place called Park City some 3.5 miles away from my Hotel. I kept walking through the stores, and did some more shopping. Then took the CAB to hotel. Later that evening till late in night I kept calling school friends, and talking in conference. Sunday I was not well and down with Migraine as missed the breakfast. This week too passed. The schedule for next week was to visit Florida, but that got changed and my stay in Lancaster was extended.
The 3rd week started as usual, but turned unusually busy. We started working till late in the night till 10, sometimes 11 too. With brainstorming sessions how the day would pass I never realized. Later this week, breakfast, lunch and dinner too was coming to office, and I missed going to Mac D and Subway. My turn came to present my work in this week, and for all the one to one and half hour everyone kept listening or watching to my demo. At the end the key people were happy and made a comment “This is what we are looking for”, and many of the clients greeted for delivering well. This kind a killed the frustration that accumulated over this week, but soon follow up things made it normal ;). I was now tired and declined the extension this time to stay for 2 more weeks. I had personal work back home which needed immediate attention. Still my client manager took me to do last minute shopping, and made me feel comfortable. I always come across such wonderful people, and as I keep moving this list is growing, and it makes me feel world is full of wonderful and caring people, we have to be just there to experience it.
I woke up early the next morning, and took the train to New York. I did some search on internet and it’s full of wonderful suggestions with the advice for reaching JFK from Lancaster. I reached JFK, one of the busiest in the world, and experienced same with about 100 + waiting in same line for security check-in. I boarded the flight and watched some good movies August Rush and one more for which I could not remember the name, and then reached Delhi. Unexpected friends came to Airport, and it was again wonderful to meet them. Before meeting I would feel it will be different this time, for not meeting them in years, but then it would feel like we talked just after few days ago. I think it is normal experience with friends close to heart. I then said bye to friends and boarded the flight to Nagpur, calling it an END to my Lancaster trip.. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)