Manali Trip

This topic came to my mind as and when I reach Manali, and saw the natural beauty of that place. If one really wants to see nature at its best, go to Manali and have a look. You will not regret your decision if you will go with complete preparation.
After a lot of discussion and dwelling around Shimla or Manali, We finalized for Shimla, as Manali was too far from Delhi. We here means me, Saurabh and Dheeraj. 1st January was a holiday for all of us and 3rd and 4th being weekend, we all had applied for leave for 2nd Jan 2009. We were planning to leave from Delhi on 31st evening, so we were looking for a train on 31st itself. But as per the foggy weather in Delhi, the train which was scheduled to arrive to Delhi at around 9 in evening, that was expected to be around 12 hours late, which was enough to spoil our plan. We had foreseen this situation and to make the matter worse there was no snow in Shimla, as per the feedback which we got from our friends. So as the things were shaping in front of us we decided to go to Manali which was going to 15 Hours journey of Bus. Luckily I got 2 more friends of mine who were also ready to go to Manali.
So finally we took a bus to Manali from Delhi at 6 in evening, and after a hectic 15 hour journey in bus, after spending our New Year night in bus we reached Manali in the morning of 1st Jan. We had booked a guest house from Delhi itself; otherwise things might turn up a little more complex. The road which was leading to guest house, starting from club house alone was enough to shake our confidence to stay in that guest house. As that was a narrow road, there was no barricading to prevent any casualty. Had we taken a step there, we would have fallen from height of 30 feet. But finally we checked in there only because that guest house had got a decent look. After routine task we were ready to start our sight seeing plan. We enquired about all the possible options from guest house owner and we planned our itinerary as per his suggestions. We visited 2 temples, and saw a waterfall by the evening time. The amazing part in all these visits was a hot water spring, where hot water flows out continuously, and this spring is famous for its heeling properties.
By the time we were done with these places it was already 6 PM. At the same time we had to book our tickets for return journey so we spent approx 30 mins in that as well. We saw a monastery as well during this. We were new to that place and so were not aware of the weather condition in the evening time. It was bleak cold in the evening time and it was getting tougher to stand or roam there, so we finally decided to walk back towards the guest house. In the mean time we took our dinner. And again after a lot of efforts on that tough road we reached the guest house. This day was long enough for us to learn the lessons. And we did it. After reaching the guest house we booked a cab for next day’s plan.
In Manali temperature was very low, but snow or snowfall was nowhere in sight. Our day 2 was allotted to see the snow only, so we reached Gulaba for this by Cab. After spending almost 4 hours there, we were done with skiing and we started to move for Solang Valley. A shivling was there almost 3 KM from Solang. And the complete path was of irregular stairs so we opted for horse ride for this part of the journey. It took almost 2 hours for this journey. After almost 2 days of our experience we were like once bitten, twice shy. So we started negotiating a lot on every deal. On this part of our journey, we came to know that how intelligent a horse can be. Suppose 5 horses were moving in a queue, once they will reach the destination 1st horse in the queue neighs to pass a signal to all other horses that this is the end point. Horse finds his own way to move on the road, whatever is the situation of the road. After coming back to Manali from Sholang, on the Mall road we went to a shop named Gulati. That fellow started to deliver his dialogues to impress us. I am into this business for last 48 years, I am designing all these dresses, I can design whatever you want and can deliver that to you within 4 hours, my clothes have my contact number imprinted on the logo, which no one have done till now, I can design for 1 day old child to any size were some of his dialogues. Anyhow we managed to escape from there and as we were moving out, another customer came in, and that shopkeeper started his tape again. This day passed on smoothly without bothering us much in the evening time, as we were prepared for the cold weather. Finally after reaching guest house on day 2 evening, we planned for day 3.
Finally to conclude this I shall say Manali is worth going there in any season, If you want to enjoy snow fall, go in late January or February. Make arrangements to cover yourself completely. Try to reach back to place where you are staying by 7.30 in the evening. Negotiate as much as you can (start from 50%). Book a place before reaching there to avoid last moment hassle, and do not carry your worries to Manali, and believe me there is lot to enjoy.

surprise

After a horrible response for my last blog, I was not feeling like writing another one, but true to my character I am following my newly gained passion of writing. Some contents used in this are of my friends, and rest all are mine.
Biggest feeling of satisfaction for me is to be a reason of smile for someone.Whatever this smile will cost, it will be worth to spend for this. And to give surprises to any person on any day is something that I like a lot. It all started with me in fact. One of my friends, asked me to accompany her for shopping on my birthday in Pune. It was quite obvious for me to guess that this shopping was going to be for me only. We finished our shopping, but one thing that was annoying me was absence of my another friend who was supposed to give company to us. Later on I came to know that she has swelling in her leg due to some accident. So the friend who was accompanying me asked me to come to her home for a visit. I was not aware what this visit had in store for me. When I reached her home then I came to know what it all was about. And I got a nice surprise over there.
Second incidence is for my friend's birthday. I asked for a bouquet from the market to be delivered to her home, at a time when we would already be there, so that she can not figure it out who is behind this. I along with one of my friend reached her home. I was expecting that bouquet after 15 minutes, but that did not come. I asked my friend to excuse me for a moment, as I need to go to market due to some reason. As per my expectation she was not aware of any of my plan, so she did not pay a heed to this. At that time load shedding was also going on, so it was pitch dark outside. As I left her house to go to the market I saw a person standing outside with bouquet, I asked him why are you not going inside to deliver this? As soon as he heard this from me, he started walking along with me as I turned to my friend's house. I instructed him to come after 2 minutes, otherwise there would be no meaning of surprise. But that fellow came inside the house without ringing the bell, and behind me only. This was enough for my intelligent friend to guess whose mastermind was behind this, and thus that fellow spoiled my plan to give her a good surprise. Third incident is also with same friend when I send a cake to her, by mistake I wrote my number on the address slip, and the fellow who was delivering that cake did not remove the address slip from that packet. I got a call from her, she was thanking me for the cake. I asked her why she is thanking me? She told me about my foolishness. And again a spoiled plan.
Last incident is very recent. This belongs to a surprise that is yet to be delivered. It is one of my friend's birthday in Bangalore. Me along with some of my friends decided to send gift for her. We did not have her address. So I took this responsibility to gather her address, without letting her know why I am asking this. On GTalk I asked her that one of friend is coming to Bangalore and in case of any need she might call you, could you please pass me on your address, so that when she will be in Bangalore, she can go to your place. As per this genuine request she gave me the address, but along with a news, that she has temporarily moved to her sister's place. Now the challenge for me to get her sister's address without giving her a slight clue, why do I need this?
I got that as well, along with her office address as well. Then we planned to send a surprise for her. We contacted one of our friend in Bangalore, and asked her to deliver a gift to her. Which she should get on her birhthday only that is 28th Dec. I am not sure by the time she will read this, she will get that or not. But I am sure for my friend in Bangalore, that he will fulfill his role and will make sure that she will get her gift well within time.
According to me smile on that person's face for 2 second Worth this much headache. Hope the best for each and every reader of this blog.

I miss you Shailesh

Some memories even can not be faded with time. Even though time heals almost all the wounds, but not each and every one. Its almost 2 and half year, but I still can not forget that day of 4th June 2006, and I guess nobody from the 27th January 2006 ITPian batch from Tech Mahindra would have forgotten this day. This was the day when we lost our dear friend Shailesh Gupta in Harihareshwar. Now after 2 and half years I want to narrate this story, so that everyone will know how God unfolds individual's fate.
In Pune on the terrace of our Alankapuri society, one fine day I along with Shailesh was planning for a weekend trip. After so many rounds of discussion we concluded at Nashik as our destination for weekend outing. Then as a next step, we went to a travel agent for booking of cab. We didn't pay a heed to the fact that we saw that travel agent's shop on that day only(Fact#1). That was the nearest agent from our home. That fellow suggested us to change our destination, as Nashik was going to be tough in 2 days, moreover we were planning to go out Saturday morning. He suggested us to go to Divyaghar, Harihareshwar etc on that route. After discussing it among our friends and trip mates (Aditi, Anubha, Ananda, Saurabh, Raghvendra, Amit Khetan, Roopali) we finalised this place(Fact#2). We started from Pune on 4th June morning. In the beginning cab picked up all the gals, and then came to pick us(boys). I remember that Gals were carrying sandwiches with them.We started from our place at around 7 in the morning. It was dense fog in the morning time, and to make the matter worse it was raining also at that time. One of the gals from the group was suggesting not to go, as she was afraid of the weather condition(Aditi). We stopped at 2-3 places in between Pune and Harihareshwar because Pune to Harihareshwar was approx.250 KMs, and sitting in same position in a cab for such long duration was tough. On one of the point we clicked snaps, where Anubha lost her slippers in the pond, later on with the help of Shailesh she managed to found them. I can recall that we had a hot argument with Shailesh on one side and other 8 on the other side, topic of discussion was do a person really needs spouse, or a best friend can replace need of spouse? We finally reached to the Harihareshwar temple in the afternoon of 4th June. This temple was on the sea shore, but on a height. The sea shore also was not one which has sand on the shore, instead it was rocky. We worshiped there. It was raining at that time. Then after spending some time in temple campus we were about to leave from the temple, when Shailesh pointed out towards stairs which were attracting his attention(Fact#3). Actually it was the way used for parikrama of the temple. Out of nine people only 3-4 were with Shailesh to go on that stairs, moreover because of rain stairs were slippery.
After discussion we all agreed to on that path(Fact#4), which was about witness a horrible scene. The stairs were divided in two path, one out of which was leading towards the rocky sea shore. Unknowingly we opted that way, which ends up on a place place just few feets before the sea water level.
There railing were deployed by the temple management, but it was not mentioned over there not to cross that railing. Just after that railing was the end of that plane surface, and after that it was water water everywhere, but not a single drop to drink. We were also not able to see how deep that water level was, and what was beneath the water. Actually very sharply pointed stones were resting there. All 8 peoples other then me went to enjoy the water, they opted for a route which was plane having plane stones and adjacent to the mountains. Let me clarify again that stairs were leading to a plane surface, and on both the sides of stairs mountain was there as temple was on a height. I did not go with them because I was afraid of the sea.As I was there on that plane surface I was able to see tides which were very high at that time in the afternoon.
I called all of them to come back, but due to the sound of water they heard my call after 3-4 repetition(Fact#5). All but one people started to walk back, no prize for guess as the remaining one was Shailesh. He told all of us that he will come after spending another minute there(Fact#6).The Tides were of around 5-6 feet in height. I am not sure what he was doing with his cell phone in his hand and facing sea at that time.
All the people were not even have reached to the railing, when I saw he slipped when he also started to walk back, and falls into the water. I shouted then and there, and all the friends saw there immediately. We ran to the closest point, where we could have reached. What I saw there was after first fall Shailesh get hold of some stone and was saying I am alright. But at the same time another tide came and he lost his control.After this tide his head collide against the pointed stones, and bleeding started at the same time. We shouted for help, but no coast guard was there to help him. By the time we could have done anything, tides were pulling him far from us. Raghvendra and Saurabh ran back to call someone, but when they came back Shailesh was no where in the sight, and nobody came with them as they were aware about the dangerous weather.We last saw him when he was trying to get hold of something, and expecting some kind of help. At that point we were of no use for him. We saw our friend drowning in front of us. By the time villagers and some help came, it was too late for us and Shailesh. He was nowhere in the vision. We were hoping that somehow Shailesh will be able to come back, but deep in our heart we were aware that we are consoling ourselves. On the next day we found his body. We were to inform his parents. And this too was very difficult for us, so me and Saurabh went to a PCO as our mobiles were also not working in that remote location. We were also not having Shailesh's number, so we called up one of our common friend Vishal Jha, who was from his hometown Jabalpur in M.P. and got the number. He was asking why do we need his number, but we were not able to tell anything to him.We were not in a situation to talk to any of his family member, moreover we were not strong enough to face any of his relatives, so a local person from that village helped us. He called to Shailesh's home and as his parents were not at home, he took his uncle's number from his sister, and in turn told his uncle in Dehradun about this accident.
The question that still haunt me, is the question asked by his father to all of us, that how come out of 9 people only Shailesh fell there, why not any one else? Shailesh was of such a jovial nature that he once even danced in front of our batch just for sake of one bet. Till now it is very tough for me to believe that once-upon-a-time my room mate Shailesh is now no more with me. You can conclude with all the facts what God had for him in his store. Now too whenever I think about this incident, I always thinks, had he too come back with all of us, he might be with us now, or had they heard me on my first call, they would have returned safely.

School this time

Will writing in haphazard manner really have any impact on reader's psychology? Answer will not have any effect on my way of writing, as I don't have any other approach to come up with. This time it is a incident from my school life. Till 10th class we had a subject with name social science. At that time we had 45 days of summer vacations in place, that too were fixed from 15th May to 30th June(45 days duration). We had a framework in place in our school, which was accountable for our home work for these 45 days. On the last day or penultimate day of school prior to summer vacation we used to get homework from respective subject teacher. For social science subject we have generally seen a common phenomenon for the HOME-WORK, it was to write 500 questions from the book and answer those, so that we will get to know some facts about history. Apart from that some other tasks were also there. Believe me the number of questions were too much for us to handle at that time. Had we followed the ideal way to complete our homework, we would have ended completing our homework till the last day of our vacation. So there were 2 solutions to this problem, as found out by us(friends). 1st one was to use the numbering in such a way to skip some numbers in between the question numbers, like use the order 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,42,56,97,98,99,100,101,134,.......490,491,492,493,494,495,496,497,498,499 and 500. and second one was to use the same question repeatedly. like What was the name of Salim's Father? then Who was Akbar's son? then what was the relation between Akbar and Salim?
We friends followed the same procedure throughout our school life, and it was to apply both the strategies to complete the HOMEWORK. After re opening of school after holidays it was the turn for evaluating our homework. Our teacher also followed the same way throughout the school life to check our HOMEWORK. He nominated one of us(it was one from my group all the times) to check whether or not all the students have completed their homework. And as you all can imagine now what we would have done at that time, we were not having any problem with any of our friend, but if the student was not from our group or team (whatever you want to say) we used to count all the questions and then report to the faculty about the status of the same. And then was teacher's call how to deal with that culprit.
Today when I recall this complete episode I can imagine what the other group of students must have thought about us. We were certainly enemy for them. Later on all the foes became our friends(Raghvendra is one of these sufferer). We should not have done this or that, but if we would have done all the idealistic things then we would have been God. But we are not, so now I can say these were the part and parcel of School life, and only these incidents add some spices to our so called life.

college once again

After a long wait here comes another blog. In between these blogs I have been to Pune and met my old colleagues of Tech Mahindra and yes one from Capgemini. How nice it feels when you meet you old pals, that too OUT OF THE BLUE for some of them. Some of them were guessing that I went there for some interview, of course I had not. It gives some kind of positive energy to you when you meet your old and good friends. So now without wasting too much of time I should start with the new story. This is actually not a story instead it is a combination of incidences and at the same time it is not a work of fiction. These are the incidences from my college life.
There was a teacher of communication who evaluated my sessional exam’s paper and had given me meager 14 marks out of 50, that was not justice to my caliber(as I thought at that time) so I went to that teacher’s cabin(it was lab in fact) and asked him what that was. At the same time he has given good marks to some of the gals as per the information that I got from my friends cum correspondents. He explained to me that I should have written in this manner or I should have added that. Had I wrote my paper according to him, that paper would never have finished in the allotted time? Then suddenly to show my anger and dissatisfaction to him I tore my answer sheet in front of him and came out of his lab. This was against his expectation and I should not have done that but I was not able to control my temper. Now you would be thinking that this would have created a mess for me, but no the result was that I got approx. 30 marks. He increased my marks in front of me after I re appear in front of him after he sent somebody to get hold of me.
Another incidence related to marks comes like this; a person got only 2 marks in his sessional exam. And don’t speculate, it was not me. He got only 2 marks as he had not attempted more than 1 question. When faculty showed us the answer sheet, that person wrote all the answers with the help of book and went to that faculty and complained him for not checking his questions. And yes he got 48 marks out of 50. so till this time this person who was involved in this incidence called by his nick name GURU.
Once there was an exam of antenna and wave propagation, and the readers who are from electronics background must be aware about the book by K.D.Prasad. at that time we used to got nightmare about that book. Exam was our end term university exam and was in 2PM shift. That was the day when India was playing a cricket match in Pakistan and Virendra Sehwag was at his best in Multan and hitting Pakistani bowlers all around the ground, and later on scored his triple century. I have to leave for exam from home at around 12.30 PM. And till 11.30 only 2 units out of 4 were completed. But this was not giving a scare to me as I was enjoying the match. Somewhere I was feeling that I will get enough marks to clear the exam so no need to study now. Later on I reached college within time. There I saw the exam pressure as everyone was doing last minute preparation. At that time I was thinking that I should have studied a little more, and when we were about to leave our books, I saw my friend Anshul was reading something from some book, I went to him and looked on what he was reading. I saw a numerical over there, and you might say it was God’s signal to me as I was feeling temptation to read that numerical. And No prize to guess that same numerical was there in the paper. I shall tell you I got 18 marks in that exam out of 50. And that numerical was for 6 marks. Now I can imagine that my study was just enough to score 12 marks and the passing marks were 15. God and Anshul saved me otherwise I might have to see what nobody would have loved to see.
Last incidence of this blog is like, Me along with my father was going to college for admission after my counselling was over. At the college gate guard asked us where we were going? in response to this my father told him that we are going to play cricket in college. Obviously he was not expecting this, so he again asked my father and this time my father told him that we are going for admission. This was enough for his satisfaction, after entry in the register he let us go to college. Some more funnier incidences are waiting to be transformed in words, I shall post them soon. Bye till then.

2000-2001, one year of sheer endeavor

It was not clear for me which way should I go after completion of 12th due to lack of exposure. After so many round of suggestions and expert advices, preparation of engineering entrance in Kota seems to be the right option for me. So I reached Kota along with my brother and my father. I got admission in Career Point despite several starting glitches. Me, my brother and one of our friend from Mathura(Ashutosh) were companion in that 1 year long journey. We used to stay together in 2BHK flat in Dadabari, Kota. Irrespective of this being 8 year old story, I am able to recall all the incidents that took place over there.
Ambiance at that place was awesome, people used to study till wee hours of morning, and then rush to morning classes, a nap in afternoon, a evening walk to relieve stress and then again late night studies. Fortnightly tests were also there to make sure that we do not relax in between our studies, and result of that tests were displayed on the notice board. There were so many mess in and around that place, and food of those were really amazing. We opted for Anand mess, owner of which was a real good fellow. We used to go to his place for lunch/dinner on the days specially when there were cricket matches of India.To accommodate to a suitable place on the match day was also a big fight at that time. A hospital was also there in the close vicinity my place, actually it was a community hospital, which charges a mere Rs.10.
I admire each and every faculty at that place, be it Sonal Rajora/shailendra Maheshwari/Pramod maheshwari and so many whose names I am not able to recall now. Each and every faculty have their own way to present things, and make them interesting for us. And this was there charisma that even in long classes of 1.5 hours we rarely slept. There was a teacher of mathematics who used to say that feel the problem, and then only you will be able to solve the numerical. Pramod Maheshwari has his own approach to solve every physics numerical. He always divides the board in 3 parts to solve the problem, and interestingly every problem ends in bottom side part of the 3rd portion of the board. It means that board was just too perfect to solve the purpose.
After spending some time there, we were now familiar with our land lord who also resides there on the ground floor of that flat. We utilised this relation with our land lord and later on our place to see the match shifted to there guest room.In our leisure time we explored some options over there. There was Chambal Garden, which was not too far from our place and we used to go there occasionally. Onion kachoris and Dashara fare were also some of the major attractions of that place.
When I talk in terms of the output, or what did I gain from that place, it was a mixed feeling. I cleared IIT-JEE screening exam 2 times, but due to lack of interest in Organic Chemistry or I must say Chemistry, I was not able to clear the IIT mains exam, because in that exam each section has its individual cut-off. Finally this 1 year training course turn out be BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW.Finally with that preparation I got some rank in UPSEE exam, and I was fortunate enough that I got admission in a college near to my place. Later on this turned out to BE A BLESSING IN THE DISGUISE and at this moment I should not BEAT THE DEAD HORSE. But there were some positives to take away from that place as well, I got to know how to handle the crunch situation. That preparation helped me in my engineering exams, and I did fairly well in those.

Friend

Dedicated to my friend who has been in the same status and position after 6.5 years too. Its for Prerna. One of my best friend from college life. I never thought that we will be friend for so long. She was from IT branch, and I was from Electrical and electronics branch in our first year of college, which was 2001-02. After completion of our first year we had an option to change our branch and we both managed to change our branch to ECE. Till that time I was only aware about her name, nothing more than that. I don't know what she has heard about me, but later on I came to know only from her that she was curious to know who this Pankaj Saraswat is?She has heard about my arrogance and wanted to check that. I remember the day when we met for the first time in college when we were enrolling for our second year. She asked me something in English, but I answered that in my mother tongue Hindi. As we both were two creatures from different planet, there was nothing common between us other than our branch.And I am sure how my first impression would be on her, ( too arrogant) Anyhow we started to share a great bond. I liked the way she speaks, as English was like other planet's language at that time for me. At this time I don't know why and how but yes we talked a lot during that time.
One incident that we both will never forget was like our preparation leaves were on and my birthday falls during those days. As she didn't wish me on that day, she wished me casually once the college reopened. But somehow I was under this impression that she didn't wish me knowingly. After few months the ball was in my court, it was her birthday and I forgot to wish her. In the evening time when she was leaving from college by college bus, somebody told me that its her birthday. I ran to that bus and wished her. By that time what she was thinking was that I knew it was her birthday, but did not wish her knowingly. So not to disappoint her I said this to her that I did this intentionally. She thought I did this tit for tat.
And everything in this friendship was also not like as smooth as it sounds. We had some fights as well. All is well that ends well. To tease her I used to ask her some or other technical terms, or concept of our engineering, and in reply of this she started asking English words, sentences to me. We used to play a game of word formation in classes as well. She knows when I am joking and when I am serious. Though she has not seen much of this world, but If you will ask for advise from her, she will give you an advice as if she is DADI AMMA.
She was like a first point of contact for me in case I had any doubt in English. And this hold true today as well. Her mother's ALL THE BEST always works for me, as it always turns out in my favour. She has a strange liking for ginger biscuits, which I sent for her from Pune once. I guess if one removes the feeling of give and take from any friendship, that friendship will remain for ever. And I guess this holds true in this case. I just want to say thanks to Prerna for being such a great friend of mine.