My unforgettable travel memories

I have lived most of my life away from my family. Although I haven’t travelled much in the literal sense, there have been numerous journeys between my parent’s home and my several bases. I often laugh that I can write a book on memoirs of my journeys.

If you have ever travelled by Indian Railway as much as I have, I am sure you will have a memory bank of your own. This write tribe prompt gave me an excellent opportunity to recall a few of them.

1. It was May, 2009. I had to come back to college during summer breaks on a short notice, and no matter what I couldn’t have missed it. I managed to get a ticket in one of the worst trains. Since a friend was supposed to join me after a station, I was okay. The journey started uneventful. As the train slowed down on the next station, I could see my friend standing. However, she stood long before the actual compartment location. In one minute of stoppage, she managed to get herself onto the right compartment but her luggage was left behind and had to be thrown in some general compartment.

In her luggage she had her bag, wallet, laptop and the only set of formals that she were to wear next day. Desperate to get the bag, we ended up pulling the chain and walking up and down all general compartments of the train until we found the bag. We had to ultimately pay a penalty of Rs.1000.

2. For one of journeys, we had our tickets in the waiting list. Since it was WL1 & 2, we were sure that it will get confirmed. Only after we sat in the train without confirming and train left the town, we got to know that our tickets were not confirmed. 200 kms later we were asked to get off and we had to complete the remaining 500km standing in a general compartment of a local train.

What is interesting to note is I had a cramp in my ankle and had crepe bandage on for the entire journey.  

3. This is what I call as Jab we met moment. The train had stopped at a station and I stepped out to buy cold drinks. I was aware that train stopped here for 20 minutes, but since it was running late, I was a bit apprehensive. While the shopkeeper was collecting cash for the glasses he had just delivered, he suddenly looked up and said “Sorry”. It was all so confusing until I turned back and saw that the train was moving. Unwilling to part with my cold drinks for which I had paid, I ran towards my coach with two glasses. A helpful man tried to help me get through and as I got in with his help, I dropped the entire glass on his white shirt.

What made the entire episode hilarious was when we realized that the train had stopped moving by the time I reached my seat.

I guess recalling seven memories would be too long, therefore am breaking the tradition and ending it here. Do you have a memory that makes you double up with laughter when you recall.

Linking it to NaBloPoMo -

Music for my soul

In case you haven’t figured out yet, I’d like to point out that this festival of words, my all post revolve around seven points, which is keeping alive the tradition of the first festival.

Music is my food for my soul and it can give me peace when I am distressed. There are a few songs that are on loop on my phone. Since, seven is too small a number, I am going to put seven popular English and seven Hindi tracks that are my all-time favorite.

1. Mera Kuch Saman

1. Stand by me

2. Chalte chalte yun hi koi

2. Lemon Tree

3. Aaj jaane ki jid na karo

3. I’ll be right here waiting for you

4. Aapki nazron ne samjha

4. Walk the line

5. Tu hi re

5. Last Chritmas

6. Dil hai chota sa

6. Hero

7. Baatein kuch ankahee se

7. Theme song from Love Story

I didn’t attempt to put the album/movie name because I believe that these songs are widely known and need no reference. Do you have one song that rests your disturbed soul? Share your song.

7 reasons for books versus E-books.

I love Books. I believe that became more than evident when I took up the project of 30 days 30 book reviews. But as much as I love books, I dislike E-books. On this particular day, Prompt assigned by Write Tribe for Festival of Words, I took a step back and tried to find reasons to this dislike.

1. I love smelling books. The smell of pages and glue itself is magical for me, and I cannot smell my e-reader. It will be weird.

2. Books don’t get discharged. In the world of endless gadgets that occupy all the socket space in my house, I am left with no space to charge my e-reader. As a result, every time I want to pick up to read, I am left with a switched off gadget.

3. I love collecting book. I have a huge bookshelf which has various hard bound and paper backs. I can’t imagine all my books on my e-reader.

4. Believe me or not, I find the whole concept of buying an E-book a waste. I have tried to buy a few earlier but lost them by deleting.

5. Several E-books come with a restriction on sharing. Since, I feel that I should encourage as many to read a book as I can, I hate it when I cannot share them.

6. I have been asked by my ophthalmologist to avoid strain on my eye. Another reason for me to pick a book over an E-book.

7. I have a relationship with each of my book. I like to take them around, flaunt them, enjoy when people enquire about them. In case of E books, I can’t do that sadly.

What is your relationship with your books? E-books or books, what are your preferences?

Linking to NaBloPoMo - 

Memories of the year that’s about to end

2013 has been a wonderful year, and I feel that there is no better way to start the Write Tribe festival than to write down seven wonderful memories of this year.

1. 8^th January, 2013 my niece was born. She is an apple of my eye. I have never loved kids as such until I saw her. I adore her. She is the only person in the world whom I love even when she is naughty.

2. We celebrated my uncle’s 25^th marriage anniversary and my niece’s baby shower back to back. It was so much fun. One of the best weeks I had.

3. April, 2013 I began blogging. Once again. It felt wonderful. I began with a lot of apprehensions but received plenty compliments and encouragement to continue.

4. This summers, I got inked. I carry a tattoo that says Love Faith Hope.

5. I completed two successful years at work. I resigned earlier this year, but thankfully I stayed back.

6. I met someone fabulous. No, not all people we meet remain with us for all our lives but little time that we spend with those wonderful people changes our life.

7. My best friend got married. It was a mixed feeling to see a friend who sat next to me in school, sitting next to the guy she got married to.

I hope 2013 has been a good year for you too and 2014 brings more happiness in all our lives.

What is your favorite memory of 2013?


This post is written for Write Tribe's festival of words 2. Theme for day 1 is Memories.

Linking it to NaBloPoMo.

Go Goa!!

Well! Here I am. Chilling in Goa with friends. The combination of the sun, water and the sand is wonderful. I have fallen in love with little beach shacks that they have out here. 

So I am leaving you with some awesome pictures from Goa. 

 

Linking to NaBloPoMo

First phone call from Heaven by Mitch Albom

I am one of those people whose faith in afterlife lies at somewhat threshold.

Mitch Albom’s First phone call from Heaven tests that faith.

When a young girl announces that she received call from her dead sister, media turns all its attention towards her. What follows is the series of believers and non-believers, others who receive calls and many who wait for calls.

Mitch Albom has wonderfully covered a situation from all angles. He shows us obsession of believers and anger of protestors. He shows us how church loses its faith and town mayor sees it as an opportunity.

Amidst all this, there is a man, coping up with his wife’s death, resolves to get to the bottom of the story.

Was the phone calls part of a big plan? I’ll rate the book as 4. It is a wonderful gripping read. 

Linking it to NaBloPoMo - 

Flipkart vouchers

What does one do with unexpected vouchers? That was the question put in front of me when I received a mail from Indiblogger. I had won a voucher worth Rs. 1,000 as a runner-up in Smelly to Smiley contest.

Of course the entry for this contest was written long before I decided to not write for any more contests. Prompts are welcome still, but contests are out of my blog space. We will get more on this sometime later.

Anyway, I received this voucher in my inbox and as happy that I was, I was also left in a state of confusion.

Let me put it forthright. I am not an online shopping person. It may sound ancient but that’s how it is. I need to see, feel, try the product before I buy. I need a hundred percent guarantee. I had once bought a pair of shoes over internet, and the number of times I had to go back and forth trying to get a right fit, put my excitement to rest.

Another reason I never shop online is because the unfinished purchases then haunt me wherever I go. I book travel tickets online and I am currently super irritated by seeing Cleartrip in every ad space on every website.

The only exception I have made in past is when it comes to buying a book. When I really need some book which I don’t get at Full Circle (some of you know what full circle is, for others I plan to review it soon), I order it online. But I haven’t come to terms with the idea so far. The whole experiences of being able to pick the book, read the synopsis, flip pages and read paragraph or two, smell the binding glue and scent of the store that has settled within the pages is missed out when I order online.

Hence, after a bit of turmoil, it was decided that books it will be. Here is what I ordered.

-         Sita – Devdutt Pattanaik

-         Dream new Dreams – Jay Paush

-         Countdown – Amitav Ghosh

-         In an antique land – Amitav Ghosh

I received three of them yesterday.

Although, I missed out on the experience, but my wish list was delivered right here on my desk and that elated me no less.

I have another voucher, waiting to be spent and I could use some suggestions. What are your favorite picks for online shopping?

Linking it NaBloPoMo - 

Elections 2014 - 100 words

With Delhi elections around the corner, politics is being discussed at every coffee table.

Today, some of us were discussing the elections for center that will be held in 2014. There has been a lot of debate regarding who should be India’s next prime minister.

Of course, in last five years election commission has done a remarkable job in reforming voting systems, creating voters ID and making people aware. However, if I could have it my way, I’d do things differently.

I would create a system where an individual could vote from anywhere in India irrespective of his home town.

This post is written for 100 words on Saturday, based on prompt "I'd do things differently"

Linking it to NaBloPoMo - 

Signing up for NaBloPoMo

Today, on an impulse (actually after being inspired by Jyothi’s post) I signed up for NaBloPoMo for the first time.

It has taken me sometime to figure out how this works and I have come to realize that it is fairly simple. All I have to do is write a post a day.

Well! It isn’t all that simple. I mean, I don’t know why but I have a feeling that number of events and commitments in my real life are directly proportionate to my blogging commitments.

But December is the month when nothing can diminish my happiness. I love winters, marriage seasons, holidays, Christmas, planning for New Years and I am now going to love blogging in December.

I excitedly look forward to Write Tribe’s festival of words, which starts on the day I return from Goa and ends when I leave for Kolkata. Also, apart from them, I know I am going to get plenty of prompts and inspirations to blog.

Keeping my fingers crossed and looking forward to a month of daily blogging. Join me if you can, and if not, please drop by during the month to encourage and motivate.