Backpacking away from computer

Taking a break from online life and spending time in offline world is something that I really cherish. It has become sort of a new resolution of mine. Last time I took one week off and this time I was away for 2 weeks. It is fun to do such a thing and at the same time you get so many idea when you are away from your computer or laptop. We humans are not designed to think in front of a screen and I can vouch for that statement.

In the two weeks that I was away I read a lot, met friends, spent a lot of time with loved ones. For a week I also went on a backpacking trip to Himachal, spent some time in Delhi, also visited Dehradun.

Mumbai Vs Delhi:
I watched Singh is Kinng in Delhi and also in Mumbai and surprisingly the experience was starkly different in either city. Delhi crowd was going crazy while Mumbai crowd had more of a "WTH" feeling. I had a blast! May be the Delhi guy in me comes up sometimes.

Delhi Rains:
I witnessed the heaviest rains of Delhi and to be frank that was hardly a rain for Mumbai. The potholes on the roads were bigger than the ones on Mumbai roads. While everyone was grim I couldn't stop grinning. I guess the Mumbaikar in me takes over sometimes.

Dehradun:
Dehradun has improved a lot since my last visit. Bit modern and yet that coziness of a small valley town, that place gives a unique feeling. The only reason to crib I have is about the road from Delhi to Dehradun (which also takes you to Haridwar, Masoori). Inspite of being one of the most traveled roads of north India it's in terribly bad shape. I fail to understand why?

Cloud covered towers. For more pics visit my photoblog.

Himachal:
Himachal is really beautiful and in rains that place looks like heaven after a wash. The only colors I could see were the shades of Green and Brown. The clouds had shifted their home to the hills and the mistiness added to the whole divine experience. I was traveling some of the interior villages of Himachal, got to meet a lot of people talked with them about the life and challenges that they face. People are extremely friendly, they open up quickly, they accept you quickly. Something that we in cities should learn. Life is hard there, they can hardly do anything after it's dark (but they do so much during the day). Good Schools are rare. After schooling the choices of courses are very limited. Those who really want to do something have to travel to other states (not a bad thing) but the knowledge of what other universities can offer is again very low.

A Wedding in Himachal:
People live a very community oriented life there. I attended a wedding and more than an event of an individual family it was more of a community event. People from all over the villages dropped in to help, they chip in with all the necessary things like milk, vegetables, grains and most important of all their time and efforts. The marriages last for three to five days and it is more of a festival for the whole village than a family or person. Something starkly different from cities.

Coming Back Online:
Coming back online after a long break is not easy. There are so many things to catch up. It took me two days to read and reply to all the mails, three days to read blogs of my friends, one day to catch up on twitter and one for all other social networks. Pheww...

Things I am looking forward to:
Barcamp Pune is coming back and I am part of the planning team (interesting times ahead). Capgemini is waking up to the concept of Barcamp it is going to be an internal event but surely going to be interesting. I have a new photoblog (someone said the dark side of your blog, I say colorful side of my blog:)). The Business Analysis Blog is doing good, getting a lot of interaction going on but somehow BAs prefer mails over comments.

Tarun Chandel
Feeling refreshed after a break!

ISB Hyderabad Diary

The beautiful blue sky. Just as the sun was getting ready to shine through the day, sky turned into a beautiful blue painting. I have never seen sky this blue and this beautiful. Great start for an amazing trip ahead.


The long winding road covered with trees on either side of it and a beautiful sky on top of it.


There he was waiting at the corner of that path.


ISB looking awesome.


Empowering the nation to reach for the sky


ISB happens to be the dream institute for many. It was ranked among the top 20 Business Schools all around the world, ahead of Kellogg School of Management. Feels good that an Indian School is getting such appreciation around the world.


Each and every corner of this campus is really well crafted.


The design of the floor from the roof top.


Aerial view of the ISB campus and Gachibowli around area. Gachibowli is a fast growing area with campuses of big IT majors like Capgemini, Infosys, Microsoft, Wipro and others. There are many more under construction. Though the place is awesome but it is far away from the Hyderabad city and very far away from the new Hyderabad International Airport, around 46kms (thank God the place doesn't have Mumbai traffic).


ISB campus gets even more beautiful at night. Glowing with lights all around the campus.


I don't really remember when I last saw a peacock moving around freely. May be when I was a kid on my way to school there used be few. But that was long time back. Our national bird and surely one of the most beautiful bird is something that we don't get to see much in our life. ISB is one such lucky place that is a residence of this species. I tried to spot a peacock but could not find for a long time and when I was least expecting it I saw a bunch of them crossing the road. It was a really amazing moment but they were gone by the time I could take my camera out. Peacock is a very shy bird and keeps distance with humans. I took shelter under a tree and waited with my camera to click one good snap. Though I got to witness peacock dance but could manage only this decent shot.


The hills in Hyderabad are very different from what I have seen. The rocks are lying all around the city in all unthinkable positions. The more you look at them, the more you wonder how are they defying the gravity? One thing that comes to mind immediately after looking at these stones is, who put them like this? Looks like someone has taken a lot of time to design all these for you to stare in amazement.


Sitting at the roof top and staring at the beautiful scenic campus my eyes were trying hard to capture every inch of it. The soft touch of breeze was caressing my soul and the sound of silence made my senses go crazy.

Tarun Chandel
Travel, it changes you.

Nashik Life

The dreams may well be far far away, someplace where I have never been before. But there is something that tells me from deep down inside me that they are reality somewhere. I don't know for sure whether to go there or not, but I was told that if I followed this path I will be there someday. This path merges with the horizon somewhere ahead, atleast that is what I can see. I have no one with me but my dreams, I am not sure what the destination is going to be like, still I want to move on as I believe that the journey is the reward!!!


The old market with old buildings. The business here still runs in the traditional ways, though sometimes I missed the ease of things that places like Mumbai and Delhi offer but it was really fun to move around in this market. The people were very friendly and as the place is small everyone knew each other. The treatment to an outsider is still that of a guest and that is something I learned from this trip.


As I moved through Nashik, I found a lot of classic traditional buildings and at the same time this town is fast gearing up for modernization.


Beautiful old villas can be seen at regular intervals. The human being in me tells me that I should live a life in such a place. The Business Analyst in me is telling me that the reality market is going to hot up in this place; all these Villas are going to make way for either big malls or high rises (something similar to Pune). Nashik sure has some really beautiful Villas with big and spacious living space and even bigger gardens around the place. If you want to live a lavish life at such a villa and have beautiful surroundings you should be in Nashik. You can get a Villa for less than what you will pay for an apartment in Mumbai.


Nashik is not just about traditional and old buildings. It is moving towards modernization that we all tend to measure with presence of malls and multiplexes. Nashik has its own share of these, just like any other place.


The best part about the life in Nashik is that you can get to live near, next or in the farms. There are plenty of lush green farms all around Nashik. It not only adds to the beauty of the place but also is a source of fresh air and fresh vegetables.


The greenery all around Nashik is something that I miss badly in Mumbai.


The wind in Nashik is really amazing. A cool breeze always keeps flowing across the place. May be the reason again is green fields all around. The one thing that I have started appreciating the most after moving to Mumbai is wind. There are very few days in Mumbai that can be categorized as pleasant and it gets even more difficult after a visit to beautiful places like Nashik that are hardly at any distance from Mumbai.


The burning desire. The trip to Nashik made me think a lot about what I am missing by staying in Mumbai. The sense of completeness of life is one thing that Nashik offers and the other is the healthy surroundings with excellent weather. Mumbai can never match all that...


The grilled chicken and it was delicious. I think the chicken and food overall (including vegetables) were far better tasting there.


Life in Nashik is just as beautiful, pure and pious as droplets of early morning dew on the petals of flower, something that cannot be expressed in words you need to experience it.

Tarun Chandel
Journey is the reward

Pune Thoughts...

Pune has always been special. Staying outside Pune has made realize this even more. Last weekend I was in Pune and somehow, this trip was a lot different than my previous visits. This trip got me thinking about Pune a lot more than ever before.

May be someday I will be there...

On my way to Pune:

The clouds are descending to meet the mountains, makes me feel as if the sky is within reach. Just want to run to the top of that hill and feel the clouds on my face. I have already done that 8 times if I do it again I will be on cloud number nine.


A view of the expressway through my window . The rains add the distortion but it still is beautiful.


Rain drops keep falling on my window. Though I can hardly see anything outside as the dark clouds have covered the whole area, but there is enough going on my window glass.


Cloud covered hills, beautiful green valley aren't these people staying in an absolutely heavenly place?


I sat on the road, I jumped on the road, I kicked the road and at last I got tired and asked the road; how can I reach my destination? The road smiled and said, just walk with me I will take you there.

Pune Beautiful Pune

I was sitting at one of the nicest spot in Pune, it had a beautiful panoramic view of the Pune City. The usual sweet drizzle of Pune was on. The beauty of Pune rain is that, it rarely pours and it rarely stops. The rain keeps floating in the air and that makes the whole amazingly beautiful.


Staring at the distant clouds I thought, may be they also love Pune. That's why once they come here they want to stay for the maximum time, so instead of pouring all the water they spend time hovering over the city and then just become part of the air.


Sitting there I thought, I am like those cloud. Visiting for a short time but just don't want to leave and trying to soak as much as possible in the short time. There, I had the difference between me and clouds. While I was trying to soak as much of Pune as possible, the clouds were giving to Pune as much as possible and in process they become part of Pune. I think, I should be like those clouds...


What the hell I was just thinking?? May be because, I was sitting there for along time. Then I decided to move from that corner to the opposite corner ...


The green Pune, may it stays the same forever! Isn't that a lovely sky over a beautiful city?


Pune city is on an expansion plan... I am sure soon the hills will disappear. Can you spot the massive construction just on the right of the hill?

Pune has changed:

A lot of new malls have opened in Pune and many more are under construction. The city has geared up to the challenges of more people coming in, with lot more houses, wider roads and sleek flyovers.


I got to visit the MG road at night and I was pleasantly surprised to see people enjoying the walking plaza. I remeber my last visit to MG road was on the first day of the walking plaza. Authorities had announced that no vehicles will be allowed on MG Road and all the shops went on a strike. That day only a handful of people were on that road. This time I got a feeling that whole of Pune was there.


Change takes time, thought that comes to mind after being on the walking plaza. The shopkeepers who were against the idea now actually wait for the walking plaza, as the sales are all time high. It is one of the most effective ways to save them from the malls that are surely eating a huge chunk of their customers. It took them time to understand this and now they have embraced this change.


There were road shows, cultural shows and children enjoying the evening out. Isn't that how one should spend a nice weekend evening? I had dinner with Rohit, Jamaal Raazi and his wife Sana Raazi (they make a lovely couple and I think the most techie couple I have ever met).

CYG 2008 (Commonwealth Youth Games 2008)

I got to visit the office of CYG2008, thanks to Rohit who is Director of technology there. They have a very vibrant office and it's buzzing with people all the time. It was a great feeling to see these people working so hard, to make the games possible. Jamal, Sana and Rohit are in the same team there and they work on Saturday as well as on Sunday. They later told me that it has been a while since they got a weekend off and the in coming days things are bound to get even more hectic. I never knew that so much goes behind pulling the games together.

Meeting Symbi buddies

It is always a pleasure to catch up with my classmates from SCIT. Got a chance t0 catch up with Varun Joshi, Saurabh Lokhande and Sudhanshu Sohoni (non symbi friend). They forced me to write about them on my blog, guys I have done this. So now can I move on to the next thing??? (Just kidding, it was really fun to catch up with you and remembering the good old days of Symbiosis life.) We had a very nice lunch at All Stir Fry, special thanks to Saurabh for that. I think I should also thank Mythili, Varun's wife, for letting Varun meet us... I think I should stop now else Varun may get in some trouble.

Pune Dream

That's what Pune is - some natural beauty, some modernization, some growth, some friends, some culture and a lots of memories. May be someday I would come back to Pune and not on just another visit. I was reading the brochure of the IT BT Conference that is going to take place next week and it had a line, Pune has faced a reverse brain drain. Got me thinking... may be someday I will be there...

Tarun Chandel
Pune and I

Re-Living Vacations Series: Tarun who visited Monks

Next day, I left for Dharamshala, I had never been to this place before but I always wanted to go to this place. Dharamshala is home of Dalai Lama and I thought of visiting the Dalai Lama temple that very day. The montessary is 9 kms away from Dharamshala at McLeodGanj. I took a bus from Dharamshala to McLeodGanj. It was a small bus but full of Lamas and I was an odd man out among them. The road to McLeodGanj is a steep drive of 9 kms and the place is much cooler than Dharamshala. I reached McLeodGanj in half an hour. The place is not very big, its just a small place and most of it is covered with market and hotels. I got myself a nice hotel. The place looks more foreign than India as there are a lot of people from Tibet settled here and a lot of foreigners visit this place. Though the people here are very warm hearted, all the people in shops treat you like a guest and have a lot of stories to tell you. Though not many can speak hindi or english. I visited montessary after a very good lunch. The place was very vibrant lamas sharing there knowledge in a very loud procession, where they do this exercise in pairs. It was very intriguing to see them. The temple was very quiet and was spotted with various very meaningful messages.

I started talking to a nun at the montessary, I could not understand the language she spoke but somehow I was able to understand what she was telling me. She taught me the "Om Mani Padma Hmm" mantra and how to chant it. She also taught me the significance of the Mani chakras and how to rotate them. I was amazing how we two were able to communicate even without understanding the language, I was able to tell her that I was coming form Mumbai and I really like this place. I spent some time in the temple and looking at the lamas was a very intriguing experience, I wanted to speak some of them but I did not want to disturb them as they were busy in their processions.

Next I visited the Sacred Dal Lake, its a small lake surrounded by these long deonar trees and it makes this place a very beautiful one. I noticed that the place was dotted with a lot of colurful clothes hanging almost everywhere. The walk around the lake was a great experience, it was very quiet and I was able to give my thoughts a lot of time. I sat at a place around the lake and was gazing at the water, the place was so quiet, so serene so beautiful and so natural, so clean. There was something about the people settled here, they were so much contended with life. They were not rich, were living with limited means and life there is seriously not that easy but these guys have something in them as if they know the real meaning of life or they have some wealth in those hills that we are missing here in plains. I had a long chat with a bunch of monks at the lake and they seemed to have all the answers in life, they seemed to have discovered the true meaning of life. Meeting with them was a beautiful experience and a deeply enriching too.

There is a story that says that initially Gods and humans were living together in hills and one day due to some sin of humans Gods asked them to shift to plains. Still the Gods are living up in hills and one can visit them. I don't about the authenticity of the story but the people in hills have a divine calm on their faces. I don't know if there is do up in the hills but the people up there are really Godly.

The Monks.

The Sacred Dal Lake, a small but a very quiet and beautiful place.

The best message from Buddha.

In my next post I will write about the rest of the places I visited on my trip to Himachal Pradesh.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Re-Living Vacations Series: Outing in Delhi and Noida

Next day I decided to visit Noida, an extension of Delhi and an IT hub. Though that's not really this post is about, its about a day out in Delhi. I started out and I wanted to use the public transport. I started with a DTC bus, the CNG buses were almost brand new around 5 years back when I left Delhi, were bit shabby. Broken window panes, not clean and a not so welcoming conductor. This was so very different from the BEST buses in Mumbai, I hardly find them filthy, window panes are always there and recently I saw a TV on the bus running ads and songs (entertainment for the commuters and ads for the corporate what a great idea). I reached my next stop thinking about this comparison and starting to think how Mumbai is far better than Delhi. I entered the Delhi Metro station and all the doubts were gone. Clean as your home, staff as welcoming as that of a Hotel, security as that of an airport. Soon I entered the Metro and its such a relief to be in air-conditioned train and best part was the attitude of people. They were so caring about the Metro, as I was leaning on the door one guy pointed it to me and asked me to stand clear of the door, There was guy standing too near the door and another lady asked him to stand behind the yellow security line, amazing change, I never saw this kind of ownership in Delhi people before. I reached Connaught Palace beaming with pride about the people of Delhi and how amazing they are. I took an auto rickshaw from there to go to Noida, the best part about the Delhi autos are that they have these digital meters but the worst part is that very few agree to switch them on. I refused to sit in any auto that was not willing to use the meter. After asking at-least 10 autos I got a guy who agreed to go by the meter. The auto took me through the clean Delhi roads having trees on either side. I got to see green wast fields once I reached Noida such a rare sight in Delhi. There was mist around the fields even at noon and the Akshardham Temple was looking beautiful in this mist covered border of Delhi.

I reached there met my friend Ranjan who will be able to tell you better about Noida than me, but for me it was a first hand experience of the good and bad Delhi people in a short span of time. People are caring and cunning almost at the same time, people are responsible and careless and they decide the behaviour as randomly as toss of a coin. City is no doubt turned into a beautiful place and infrastructure is best ever I remember. May more and more people start treating Delhi as their own and it will surely become one of the best cities in World.

Here are some pics:

The digital meters of autos in Delhi, great thing. But how many autos run on meters in Delhi???

The beautiful Akshardham Temple on a misty Delhi morning.

Green fields such a rare sight in Delhi.

My next post will be about my trip to Himachal Pradesh. I visited Dharamshala and McLeodganj. Very beautiful places.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Re-Living Vacations Series: Diwali and Cricket

I had a good time staying at home and visiting local markets, meeting old acquaintances. Some old school buddies, some local friends, some old places where I used to have chat and gol gappas. It was all so good. Delhi was cold especially as I had come there from Mumbai, but that added to the overall experience.

On the day of Diwali I got a call from my old friend and he asked me if I wanted to play Cricket. At 6 in the morning it was an odd offer but for old time sake I agreed, we used to get up even at 4 to play. (There was one time we got up at 3 in the morning, but that story I will cover some other day). It was good to play after almost a year, I hit 2 sixes and bowled an over taking 2 wickets and got hit for 2 sixes as well. My team ended up losing match though but it was such a refreshing experience. I wish I could play more cricket. I miss those days when I used to roam around tossing a ball always trying to bowl a Shane Warne like leg break where I pitch the ball outside leg stump and bowl the batsman around his legs. I bowled such a delivery a lot of times but whenever I got it wrong I gave a lot of runs but whenever I got a wicket I used to be so happy especially to see the expression of amazement of the face of batsman. The days in Delhi were full of such joys and nostalgic memories of my childhood.

It was a lovely and cold morning tree in front of my place was still trying hard to hold on to the green colour.

If you can guess what this is I promise to buy you a coffee next time we meet ... :)

Delhi was glowing in the colorful lights and it was such a lovely sight. A small light alone looking so good and playing it's small though important part in the whole view.

The glowing diyas and candles, the smell of diyas when you put oil in them and light is so amazing.

Diwali was such a good day and such a nice evening, meeting all the people around and looking at the bright decorations done by everyone is something that will stay with me for the rest of the year till the next Diwali. (Besides the shor and excess noise of crackers it was a very nice day).

In my next post I will be about my visit to Noida.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Re-Living Vacations Series: Landing in Delhi

It always feels nice to return to Delhi, but Diwali is the time when Delhi looks at it's best. Not only because of the festival but also around this time that Delhi starts getting a bit cooler and the nigths get bit hazy. I landed in Delhi after a long wait and delay in the fligths, usual at the festival time. Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivali Airport was flodded with people this time looked more like a Railway Terminal but I think it is one of the better Airport of India , as I was to realize in coming month of my vacation.

I landed late in the night at Delhi's airport and it was a nice ride back to my place. Delhi's roads have changed, they have bee broadened and are a lot smoother than Mumbai's (especially after the rains of Mumbai). The road side constructions are at all time high especially in the areas between Dhaula Kuan and Narayana, it used be the greenest area of Delhi on the Ring Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road). Metro has already changed the face of Delhi, there are places where it's passing on the top of the flyovers so there are two levels of the flyovers. Cool. Feels amazing.

It was an amazing feeling to have dinner at home after a long long time. Once you stay away from home you realize the value of home made food.

Sunset view from my place in Delhi. It was an amazing feeling to watch a sunset, I think it was my 4th or 5th sunset view in the whole of 2007 so far.

One of my abstract photograph, I really liked the way it came out and as you will notice in coming days I ended up taking a load of such abstract photographs during my vacation.

It was really good to meet up with old friends and relatives in Delhi and I had great first three days, meeting people and eating home cooked meals.

Next post in this series will be about Diwali and rest of my days in Delhi.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Mumbai to Pune

One thing that has taken a serious toll because of Blogcamp Pune is my blog. Though I should have been more regular in posting but there was very less time. I am sure I will clear a lot of backlog after the event. Last Saturday I was traveling to Pune from Mumbai and I wrote a post on my way. See I told you my blog took a serious toll; it took 4 days for me to post this.

I am traveling from Mumbai to Pune for some preparations regarding the Blogcamp Pune. The weather is amazing, as soon as I drove out of Mumbai the scenic beauty makes you forget all the tensions of life, I don’t have any but I just mentioned that. The closer I am getting to Lonavala the darker the sky is getting. I can see clouds dancing on the top of hills alongside the express highway. I want to be in those clouds and feel them on my face. As I am writing this down it has started to drizzle and wind is blowing which is making the rain dance. The falling rain, the flowing wind and the green covered hills in the backrdrop, Wow it’s so beautiful.

I have just reached Lonavala and my bus is already traveling through the clouds. I just noticed that someone has painted the walls on the side of the road in shades of blue, some random images, some waves, some plain figures, but it’s looking good in this rain. I looked on the left and I could see the whole khopoli (I think that is khopoli can be some place else as well) getting wet in rain, it’s looking really amazing. Just after passing Lonavala there is a campus of Sihangarh Institutes, they are placed at such a beautiful location; they have buildings spread on a long spread out hill. I always envy these students; they get to live at such a beautiful place.

I am approaching Hinjewadi the place where I spent 3 best years of my life; this place has come up amazingly well in last 4 years. When I first traveled from Pune to Mumbai there was hardly anything on the sideways but now there are various showrooms and educational institutes on either side of the road.

I am at waked and next stop is the Hinjewadi flyover, I have to get down there to go to SCIT. I am sure all the participants coming from Mumbai to Blogcamp Pune will have a more pleasant journey than the people coming from Pune. Got to go now… see you at the Blogcamp Pune.

I thought while going through :
1. the awesome Mumbai Pune Express Highway

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Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Trip to Delhi, Detour Shimla via Chandigarh

Sitting in front of TV, I was bored. So just like I used to do in Symbi, planning a trip to far flung place on the run, I asked my parents let's go to Shimla. They asked me when? I was anyhow leaving in a week. I said now, right away, we will in Shimla tomorrow morning, we will be back on Monday morning and dad will not miss his office either. To my biggest amazement they agreed and we started.

Next morning we were in Shimla and it was really cold. It’s very beautiful. The air feels so fresh and pure. The thing that amazes me about that place is the steepness of hills and how people have carved roads and railway line out of them. At some places the roads are as steep as 45 degree. The vehicles need to have strong brakes. Coming to traffic, as it's a popular tourist spot there is a lot of traffic. But one thing and it's not only specific to Shimla but to all the hill stations that the discipline in traffic is amazing. Drivers respect traffic coming from other side and also the flow is nice. The basic reason is that if any vehicle gets stuck anywhere the whole hill comes to a standstill. Another reason for discipline is that fact that accidents in hills are almost always fatal.

Shimla gets really cold in the night and even heavy quilts were not enough. I used to get up early and wait for the sun to show up. The recent jingle "Thank you Sun" was most apt in Shimla. Another thing that I enjoyed was the fact that you never walk in Shimla you always trek, according to Mumbai/Pune standards.

I have been to Shimla before so I did not do much of sight seeing. On my way back to Delhi I decided to travel during the day. I was amazed to see the development in and around Shimla, the place have grown a lot of construction is going on. It's modernizing fast. On my way back we passed through Chandigarh, it's a really beautiful city. The roads are broad and buildings are short, temperature is pleasant. It's the only place where you will get to see gardens in the road divider and side walks for pedestrians covered with trees and side roads to add to that. The circles at the road transactions are maintained as beautiful gardens each having a different theme. It's always a pleasure to pass through Chandigarh.

I thought while going through :
1. the roads of Shimla and Chandigarh.

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Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Trip to Delhi, After Day 4

Today I had gone to buy vegetables with mom to a nearby vegetable market. I used to go there with my mom, when I was a kid. It was nostalgic to be in that market, hardly anything has changed there. It seems as if it was yesterday when I used to come here as a kid. I could recognize most of the hawkers; they had only grown a lot older than what I remembered them as.

I started talking with one of the hawker who I remember gave me best tomatoes when mom used to send me alone to buy some vegetables. The hawker did not recognize me, but was visibly happy to know that I had started earning. He wished me luck for future.

It was really nice to see that the most of the things are still same back here. I looked around the local market and again I could recognize most of the shopkeepers. Things have hardly changed for them they are still going through the same life with a smile on their face. My life on the other hand has changed a lot in past few years; I don’t know what it’s going to be like in coming years. There was a sense of happiness to see all these guys but at the same time there was a feeling of uneasiness that these guys have not grown much in past so many years. I don’t want to be like that, I want to grow in my life. I don’t want to confine myself to do one thing for such a long time, I want to learn a lot of things, gain knowledge, share knowledge and apply that knowledge to grow in my life. I would like to come back to this blog after 5 years, I will be really happy if I would have been successful on staying on the same path till then.

I thought while going through :
1. the nostalgia of meeting people who reminded me of childhood days.

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Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Trip to Delhi, Diwali Celebrations

Diwali is a very special festival, it’s a festival where the whole family gets together and prays for the better future and prosperity. It is also the time to shop a lot of new things, and to give a new and clean look to the home. All the places around you seem new and shining. It’s a very good time to be at home as you get to meet all the people around and also your relatives.

I reached home on Diwali day only and then I went to shop with my mom. It has a different feeling when you are shopping for a festival, you don’t feel tired easily and don’t feel like leaving anything for tomorrow either. Another important thing, I feel, to do on such a day is to call all your friends and loved ones and wish them Happiness. I called all my friends, well most of them, and wished them. I think once you start staying away from family you start respecting the bond of friendship even more. Friends become a part of your life; they take as important a place in your life as your family. You start sharing a stronger bond with all of them. It may not see apparent in day to day life but if you step back and think about it, you will realize that all the people around are very important in your life.

Coming back to Diwali, later in the evening we had a small prayer at our home. I lighted the diyas and candles in and around my house. It was looking really good; I will try to post some pics of Diwali. Then we visited some of our neighbours to exchange sweets, the basic idea is to wish them happiness and prosperity, sweets are just a token of the feelings. There were crackers going off in the background; Delhi was getting covered in the smoke. Pollution is the worst part of this festival. Barring that it’s a very good festival, you get to meet people and share happiness with them, it’s a day to get in touch with everyone and there is happiness all around. Happy Diwali to you may the coming season bring happiness and prosperity in your life.

I thought while going through :
1. the celebration of Diwali.

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Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology

Trip to Delhi, After Day 1

The trip to Delhi was good and Nostalgic as I was going back home after a year. The train journey was good and comfortable. After traveling in Rajdhani I believe every train should be like Rajdhani only.

The DTC busses which were brand new when I left delhi are in bad shape now they are no longer new the seats are all torn and it makes hell lot of noise. Delhi is much cleaner then what it used to be. Another good thing was that Metro is coming near my house. Once that will be done the traveling will ease out a lot.

I traveled in cycle rickshaw after a long time, it was scary but felt good, Mumbai nad Pune doesn’t have such things.

After coming from Mumbai, Delhi sounds a lot quieter, I can hear birds chirping as I am writing this blog, but it’s never like this in Mumbai. Mumbai has too much of crowd in comparison to Delhi.

I went shopping on the Diwali evening and my mom was telling all the time that the market is so crowded and there are so many people. But I was very comfortable all the while as the crowd was nothing in comparison to what I get to see on a normal day at any station in Mumbai. While I was coming to catch Rajdhni from Mumbai Central I was waiting for Fast Local to arrive at Dadar. I just looked around and when I saw the overborad bridge I was stunned. There were so many people it felt like a scene from movie showing the partition of India and Pakistan.

Delhi is getting cooler and winter is just around the corner. In Pune it used be cold but nothing like Delhi, I remeber going to college in dense fog where traffic is moving just following the tail light of the vehicle ahead. It used to be chilling cold and wind flowing. I have not seen the Mumbai winter, but I have heard there no such thing as winter in Mumbai. I have to go to meet some old friend will get back to writing later.

I thought while going through :
1. the local market in Delhi.

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Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology