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J for Jungle Stories

What is it with me and my adventurous trips to jungles or the National Reserve Forests…..I never get to see the lions and tigers….just their paw prints and local stories from safari guides!! I always get to see the peacocks, the deer and elephants!

As a kid my parents had travelled to Nainital and dragged us sleepy-heads to the Jim Corbett Tiger reserve but I remember seeing only the stuffed tigers, the man-eaters which were once upon a time killed by Jim Corbett himself! The whole day we drove from one water hole to other but no real tiger, not one, not even the glimpse of its tail!

After marriage, my husband’s enthusiasm for jungle adventure took us first to Madumalai National Park near Ooty. We had stopped for the previous evening at Goa and had some good quality cashew nuts, local produce of Goa, with us to munch. When we reached the forest reserve, we left our cashew packets in the car. We also( very intelligently !!) left one of the car windows rolled down in the forest! We had booked a tree house for the night stay in the jungle.

tree house

Our tree house

In the evening, to our shock (and we couldn’t stop laughing at our own stupidity!), the car was full of monkeys eating and strewing the cashews in the jungle….our precious, precious Cashew nuts!! Having absorbed this funny/ridiculous/shocking incident, we looked forward to the safari next morning.

The safari guide was insisting to reach the heart of forest at the break of dawn so we could catch a glimpse of tiger or leopard at the water holes.

So we woke up early (when what I really wanted to do was sleep) and this time I dragged my little one to the safari in her night pajamas. I told her we would see a tiger and the poor girl was very excited. We boarded the jeep and reached the denser jungle….and of course first we saw many peacocks then the deer and deer and more deer. The guide told us we were near the waterhole and we should make no noise! As the jeep rumbled slowly on the path, the driver suddenly stopped and began to drive the jeep in reverse gear because there in our path stood a very annoyed elephant who thrashed the plants, trumpeted, stomped his big feet and took few angry steps towards our jeep! It seems we had disturbed not only our sleep but also His Highness’s morning routine by driving up in his territory. The panicky driver and guide gave us the news that the same elephant had upturned a jeep the previous day in his anger.

The angry elephant

The angry elephant

As the jeep was being driven in reverse gear we lost much time in reaching a safe distance away from the elephant and then took a detour to reach the waterhole. But alas, as is my luck with jungle adventures…..we saw the paw prints of a big cat but no big cat anywhere. I missed the leopard or tiger again! It had had its share of water and moved on!!

Lots of Deer

Lots of Deer

We did spot some Indian giant squirrels though…if it counts as compensation of not seeing a wildcat!

Giant squirrel

Few years later we planned for Kaziranga Reserve for Rhinos in Assam. This was the only forest where I saw what it is famous for…the Rhinos!! The deeper denser jungle near the mighty Brahmaputra river where the more ferocious cats roamed was out-of-bounds for the casual visitors like us. Here too however, I saw lots of deer, elephants with their kids and rhinos with their kids too.

Mommy and baby Rhino

Mommy and baby Rhino

vultures

Vultures

Babu and Rani...the baby elephants

Babu and Rani…the baby elephants

Deer

Deer and Deer and Deer

Another jungle we visited two years back was the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan. Here there are no wild cats…so I can not complain really! We did see some migratory birds besides turtles, monitor lizards, blue bull.

migratory birdsmigratory birds

blue bull

Now we plan to visit the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. The tiger population has increased there in last few years and hopefully this jungle would be the one to end the jinx by letting me see the tigers in their majestic beauty.

This post is also for A to Z challenge.

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In the air over Grand Canyon

to the helicopter ride over grand canyon

To the Chopper Ride registration

 Fifteen days into our vacation, we were scheduled for a visit to the Grand Canyon. Having finished the ground tour of  the canyon, we waited for our turn at the chopper ride which would fly us over the canyon and ultimately drop us near the great Colorado River later for boat ride down the river.

After a long queue and a long wait finally it was our turn for the chopper ride. Me and my daughter were mighty excited since it was our first helicopter ride! My husband, being a airforce fighter pilot himself, was elated to fly over the canyon but not because he was in a chopper. However if he had the opportunity to fly a fighter over the canyon himself, then he would have been much excited!!

our chopper rideOur chopper pilot was a 75-year-old retired ex-army  pilot…still fit and strong. Once seated in the chopper with two more chinese passengers, he instructed us with dos and don’ts and then blades whirred into action lifting us up in the air.

Up in airSoon he was taking us deeper in the canyon, sometimes low and then higher allowing us to capture and marvel at the grandness of the wide canyon. He banked and maneuvered the chopper deftly and it simply was a thrilling experience.

The muddy waters of the River Colorado, looked like a stream from the air till he slowly dove the bird like chopper lower and lower…

Aerial view of Colorado

Aerial view of Colorado

over the boat ride landing area

The boat ride terminal from air

The helicopter deposited us with the boat ride crew and returned for next group of tourists. It would come back for us after an hour and till then we enjoyed the boat ride in the huge and mighty but muddy Colorado.

The Chopper ride was the highlight of our tour to the Grand Canyon and though quite expensive, was worth every dollar spent.

This post is also for A to Z Challenge.

 

H for Home

HToday I am missing my home because I am far far away and will return to my nest only on Saturday.

As a teenage, I could not imagine myself as a wife and mother. I used to freak out even at the mention of household chores…..the cleaning, cooking, dusting, washing. I was careless, moody and rebellious. And I always chided for being so. The more my mother scolded me, more I rebelled (within certain boundaries) and became aloof to things at home.

But, here I am today married for 15 years and proudly claim that I keep my house in a wonderfully neat, clean and decorated. I am reasonably good cook, faltering only at times when I try out a new recipe. I am not averse to washing either 😉 I feel happy when the food I make delights my husband and daughter, when people compliment about my home, when after all chores are done I still find time for my hobbies of writing and drawing.

The house….doesn’t converse, doesn’t smile, laugh….it is so inanimate, yet we miss it !! Why? Does the house develops a heart tucked away under those bed sheets… in the warmth of the oven….in the chaos of crayons, pencils, erasers scattered on the study table, in the pictures hanging on walls, in the scents of aftershave, baby powders, in the carelessly lying wet slippers, sticky reminder note on the refrigerator……..and other such hundred small things?

The house must be growing ears and eyes too….coz it is reverberates with voices of small quarrels, little fights, sniffles, hugs, laughs, scampering feet, jubilant hurrahs, grumbles, passionate moans and kisses too!!

It must be developing hands and arms too coz it enfolds all into a one unit called family, it closes its doors on evil-eyes and keeps the secrets safely locked in its confines.

Yes, house is inanimate but the home is alive….and that is why we miss it because it is the most large-hearted member of the family which stays at one place waiting patiently for us to return.

This post is for A to Z Challenge.

G for Greetings!!

GHonestly speaking, I was so busy since morning today that I never got time enough to think what I would write for letter ‘G’ in A to Z challenge.

It was my daughter’s birthday… the twelfth (OMG how time flies…she was born only yesterday!) and she had made a long list of what she wanted for dinner today and lunch and how she wanted to take her friends out for a birthday treat and a hundred other things !! Phew!! I completed everything to her satisfaction and she has slept off with a happy face!

I remember celebrating her first birthday….it was more for our happiness than hers! She was happy to have her feed and sleep at her regular time. We had to do everything…the cake cutting, the photographs etc according to her sleep timings and her un-cranky timings! Once she was photographed to our hearts content, she slept and the party for adults carried on.

But today she turned twelve….only a year now that she will turn thirteen….A TEEN!! Now I have the difficult task of explaining to her about birds and bees, of mood swings, of developing body, of hormones, of being aware of bad men and their thought process, of PMS…of hundred things which might make her check her carefree childlike attitude, which might scare her of the big bad world, which might make her little apprehensive…..which will make her little guarded…little grown up.

I wish I could keep her childlike and innocent for few more years…to let her be free and bear her worries all by myself but the time won’t stop for me to relish her childhood any more. It is better I let her know what growing up entails.

She is one curious girl and wants to know everything as soon as possible…wants to wear my shoes, wants to do bigger chores in kitchen, wants me to let her be alone at home without a chaperone…she says she is a big girl now and not scared of anybody! But darling girl, how do I explain that I am !! I am scared of everybody and everything now that I have been a big girl since many years now. I am scared for her well-being and safety.

birthday goodies at homeYes! But today is her day and I don’t want to cloud it with my fears. So Greetings!! my little baby on turning twelve. Wish you a very Happy Birthday ! May all your dreams come true and you grow up in a calm, safe happy world! May God bless you!! Love you tonnes sweetheart!

Falls at Niagara, Finger Lakes and Fall colors

One of the places we planned to visit was Niagara Falls on our vacation to USA. Niagara Niagara FallsFalls, forming the southern end of Niagara Gorge, is a group of three water falls, Horseshoe Fall, American Fall and the Bridal Veil Fall, on the international borders of Canada and USA. These falls were formed when glaciers at Wisconsin glaciation receded. These falls are not very high but are definitely very wide.

While driving from Newark to Niagara we were caught in a heavy downpour, our phone was completely discharged and as a result our GPS stopped. We turned at a wrong road which brought us in a residential area. We had nobody to turn for help and we were totally stranded. After wasting about an hour fretting, we took a risk of driving further down the road… and voilà! we were right there staring at the road sign pointing the direction of our hotel. It was such a relief ….all our worries subsided as we put our luggage in the hotel room.

It was already late for us to board the boat ride at the falls and since it was still raining in Niagara by nightthe evening we spent the few hours watching the lit up falls when the Canadians focussed colorful lights on the falls. We took the ‘Maid of the Mist’ boat ride the next morning, got wet from the mist at falls, felt chilled to the bones and enjoyed each and every minute.

We drove back to Newark the next day along the ‘Finger Lakes’ so called because of the long and narrow shape resembling the fingers. The skies were clear in the morning and it was a pleasant ride with huge and beautiful vacation homes all along the road, the gleaming boats bobbing in the lakes and cool breeze accompanying us….

beautiful vacation homes

boats

We hoped to see the fall colors during our vacation, but it seemed the fall had not kicked in completely. The foliage was still green though some trees showed up in reds and yellows…

Fall colors

This post is also written for A to Z challenge.

E for Eklavya

In ancient India when King Dhritrashtra ruled the land, there was a boy Eklavya who was the son of a tribal chief in the kingdom of Magadha.He wanted to master the skill of archery under the tutelage of  Sage Dronacharya, the royal teacher in the kingdom of Hastinapur. 

Eklavya did not belong to the upper strata or caste of the society, though he was  as good as any upper class prince in behaviour, dedication and skill. 

Sage Dronacharya did not have the freedom to select his pupils according to the law of Hastinapur and he was a little biased towards Prince Arjuna, whom he wanted to have the fame of best archer. When Eklavya requested Dronacharya to become his mentor, Dronacharya declined citing his caste as the reason.

Eklavya though heart-broken, did not give up. He had made up his mind to improve his archery skills in Dronacharya’s guidance, so he made a clay statue of his mentor and practiced day in day out in the forest. He also hid in trees to see the Pandava and Kaurav cousins who  were instructed by Dronacharya in his ashrama in the forest.

One day while the archery class was going on, a dog disturbed the class barking incessantly. As the teacher and his pupils contemplated for a way to stop the nuisance, the dog came whimpering with his mouth stuffed with arrows. The dog however was not hurt and was not bleeding, it just couldn’t close its mouth. The teacher and pupils wondered about who could be as skilled to carry out such feat!

When everybody realised the master of such accurate skill was none other than Eklavya, Dronacharya asked him who is guru was. Eklavya humbly touched the guru’s feet and told him about the clay idol.

Dronacharya was not only impressed with the boy’s skill but also amazed by his dedication to learn the art. However he still wanted his favorite student Arjuna to be the best archer so he proposed a difficult task as a fee from Eklavya. ‘Gurudakshina’ or a teacher’s fee was given by the student according to the teacher’s choice.

Dronacharya asked Eklavya to sacrifice the thumb of his right hand as ‘Gurudakshina’ as Eklavya had mastered the skill by considering Dronacharya as his teacher. Though Eklavya was dejected because with his right thumb gone he would never be able to be a skilled archer, yet to honor his word and his guru he cut his thumb with a knife and laid it at his teacher’s feet.

This story from the epic Mahabharata, though reeks of social discrimination, teacher’s bias, favoritsm and inappropriate ways which rich people can get away with but I chose to see the greatnes of Eklavya in this story.

Such was this lad’s dedication that he could master the skill by practice alone even after the absence of a mentor. His urge to learn made him cross all hurdles. He couldn’t be an archer when he lived but his name still lives as a great archer and as a great human being who did utmost sacrifice to honor his teacher.

This only goes to prove that dedication, complete surrender to the passion and a strong will goes a long way….

This post is for A to Z Challenge.

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B for Baati and Dal (Whole Wheat Flour Balls with Thick Lentil Soup)

BToday for the A to Z challenge, I thought about sharing a recipe which is not much known in other parts of world. People eat and are aware of the ‘Butter Chicken Masala’ and its Indian origins but many preparations which are vegetarian are not known to western countries. If only the marketing and advertising of such dishes were handled properly, those who have turned vegetarian would get many more options to eat healthy food.

India has 28 states and boasts of a different cuisine specific to each state. India, being basically an agricultural country, there is a huge variety of vegetarian food to choose from though there are meat and poultry dishes too. The vegetarian food is not difficult to make and is very easy on stomach.

It is a misconception of western countries that all Indian food is spicy and fattening. In fact, obesity and its associated problems that have increased in our country are not because of the food we eat but because the generation today is indulging more into eating the junk foods like burgers, fries, breads, cakes, pies etc  introduced from western countries.

“Baati and Dal” is a traditional dish of the state of Rajasthan which is famous for its forts, palaces, Thar Desert, colorful turbans, big moustaches, folk dances, stone carvings and brave men and women alike. I was no good a cook when I got married 15 years back but now I have tried my hand at quite a many food items and can boast of being a good cook if not perfect. This preparation has come to my rescue quite a many times when six to seven bachelor officers have “bounced”(arrived unannounced to have food), as is quite acceptable in the military crowd, at our place carrying a tub of icecream as post dinner sweet dish.

It takes all of 30 minutes in all to prepare and there is no time consuming cutting and chopping of veggies involved! Here is the recipe for this delicious meal :

Ingredients for Baati:

3 cup coarse whole wheat flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder (optional)

  • Mix all ingredients and knead the dough with luke warm water. The dough should be stiff and not easily pliable. Let it rest for ten minutes.
  • Make small balls little smaller than the fist.
  • Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade and on the high rack bake these balls for 20 minutes.
  • These golden brown balls are Baati which locals dunk in a bowl of clarified butter(seperated from the milk). (Though I prefer not to dunk in ‘ghee’ or the clarified butter as it definitely adds inches to my waist. Instead I put a teaspoon of clarified butter in the soup later while eating baati with it. Yet Clarified butter or drawn butter is definitely healthier than the butter)

Ingredients for Dal(Thick Lentil Soup):

1/2 cup split green gram(moong chilka)

1 tbsp each split and skinned bengal gram(chana dal), pink lentil(masoor dal)

2tbsp split and skinned pigeon peas(arhar dal)

  • Wash and soak all lentils (preferably for an hour, but it cooks even if there is less time at hand)
  • In a pressure pan cook the lentils with two green chillies, small piece of ginger, 1tsp turmeric powder and pinch of asoefetida.
  • Once the lentils are cooked add some chilly powder, cumin powder and salt.
  • For seasoning:

1tbsp clarified butter

1tsp each mustard seeds, cumin seeds

small piece of cinnamon, 2 dried red chillies

Heat clarified butter and let the spices sputter. Add this seasoning to the boiled lentils and dal is ready.

To serve:

garnish the ‘Dal’ with chopped corriander and juice of a lemon.

To eat this meal in a traditional way, crush the ‘Baati’ or the baked wheat flour balls in a bowl and immerse it with ladles of ‘dal’ or the lentil soup. Add a teaspoon of clarified butter to the bowl and its ready to eat.

Dal and Baati

While one kneads the dough for baati, the lentils can be cooked in pressure pan simultaneously thus saving on time!

This image is sourced from free stock images because I had not planned on sharing this recipe and hence did not click the picture of home-made Bati and Dal before finishing it off two days ago!!

Try it people…..it is simple to make and definitely tastes goooooood!!

A for Apprehension

Fellow Blogger: “Have you talked to a publisher yet?”

Me: “Publisher? Duh!! Why?” 

Fellow Blogger: “Your profile says you want to write a book. Are you not working on it?’

Me: “I have many ideas floating in my mind, but I haven’t really compiled them into a story for a book.”

Fellow Blogger: “Why?”

Me:Well, because I am not sure if it will be good enough for a book……What if the publishing houses never reply? What if they reject it? What if it is not up to their standards.”

AYes, I have a lot of apprehensions about writing a book. I easily get discouraged when I google, ‘How many words make a novella‘. 50,000 words! I am apprehensive that in a bid to write so many words I might get deviated from the story and write something which has no relevance….

I have read some books and blogs which are, to put it mildly, full of grammatical mistakes yet there they are being read, published, bought and have a decent number of followers. But I am apprehensive!!

Why does anybody have apprehensions…..fear of failure? Yes, I have that fear which stops me from writing thousands of thoughts that fight for attention in my mind.

Participating in this http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/  is my way of getting over my fear…I might not get enough comments, followers, readers but I feel if I survive a whole month of posting daily with some relevant content then may be I may start compiling my thoughts for a book too…

Swayamvara

Published at Women’s Web

Since the last two days, I haven’t read any news of woman being beaten, raped or thrown acid upon for falling in love, wearing  dress of her choice, going for a leisure walk with a male friend, or a movie, for a restaurant outing, thwarting unnecessary advances of a road Romeo etc …..Have people suddenly changed or have the media and the public become immune to such news that reporting it or reacting to it does not seem of any importance now?

“Don’t watch this documentary, you will get disturbed” that is what my husband told me showing his concern when the banned BBC documentary “India’s Daughter” was being seen by everybody on internet. He knows how paranoid I have become for the safety of my daughter and myself. I have become suspicious of every male in the society who looks my way.

I am afraid to send my daughter out alone or in the company of one of her male cousin…who knows when and what such perverted rakshasas decide to teach a lesson to whomever they think deserves it. I, at the age of forty do not go out alone in the evenings because if a seventy-two year old nun can be targeted by such sadistic monsters, who is stopping them from pouncing upon me, if they fancy?

The moral brigade who say they are safeguarding the culture and traditions of our country have conveniently forgotten about the tradition when it was the woman who had the right to choose her life partner and it was the men who had to prove their worthiness of being the perfect groom for the maiden.

Our mythological and historical stories have many examples of the ceremony of ‘Swayamvara’. This ceremony was not for only the privileged of the then society but a custom for a common man too. When the girl grew up to a marriageable age, all eligible bachelors were informed of the pending ceremony.

The prospective groom would either be the one who impressed the bride by his virtues, valor, chivalry and looks or the one whom the girl had discreetly fallen in love with. The bride would then garland someone of her choosing among the gathered guests to be her husband. The rejected bachelors would attend the marriage ceremony, post the swayamvara and return home to wait for other swayamvara ceremonies. The grooms, at times had to showcase their various abilities to win the bride. At times the girl would reject all the guests in the ceremony which called for another swayamvara ceremony where bachelors of other far off lands would also be invited for consideration!!

The great kings Nal, the great archer Arjun and even God himself Lord Rama had to take part in the ceremony and prove their worth before the pretty damsels Damyanti, Draupadi and Sita, chose them as their respective husbands.

Not only the men consider it their right, today, to reject a woman but also dowry is expected discreetly. The men have also taken upon themselves to ‘teach’ women a lesson by beating, raping and killing in name of honor and guarding of tradition!!

Swayam-vara, where ‘swayam’ means self and ‘vara’ means husband, literally implies that a woman has to select her own husband. Where has the tradition of ‘Swayamvara’ gone? When did men start deciding who is fit to be chosen as a woman’s partner? Who gave the rights to these men to force themselves on a woman and ‘punish’ her for her choices?

Even in the world of wild animals, the males are required to show off their skills to win over the female. The male peacock dances to woo the plain Jane peahen, the rams fight a bloody battle to win over the ewe, the male weaver bird weaves a partial nest and the female inspects it before accepting the male as her mate, the male elephants fan their big ears to attract female elephants with the smell  etc. When the animals can respect the availability and readiness of a female, give the female freedom to choose and select, then why in humans the female is forced upon, punished or subdued? Are the men of our society inferior to even the wild animals?

Is it not in our culture and tradition to respect and worship women? A quote from ‘Manu-Samhita’ clearly states “Where women are worshipped, Gods are happy; where they are not, all actions are useless” Even the great grand Bhishma Pitamah from the epic story of Mahabharata states explains to Yudhishthir :

“The lineage where daughters and daughter in-laws are ill-treated and sad, that lineage is destroyed”

If our culture, Vedas, tradition all advocate freedom to women, why are the women being subdued today? Why is her freedom to select who she can marry or who she can select as her partner being questioned?

Shouldn’t the moral brigade and the men who think of teaching the woman a lesson be first made aware of the freedom a woman is entitled to in our tradition? We worship Goddesses and hurt women …..what tradition is this? This is certainly not the Vedic culture and tradition about which we shout from rooftops.

It is time we become aware of what our culture and tradition actually was instead of some skewed ideas and restore  dignity of women.

(published at womensweb.in)

Related article:

 https://shomabhagwat.wordpress.com/?s=i+am+a+woman

 

India Today #Conclave 15

Monday 9th March 2015, 1830hrs:

‘Ping….ping…ping…‘ The phone desperately tried to grab my attention towards the mails that were delivered. I had just returned from a 2km evening walk and was more interested in a glass of water than in checking out the emails.

But the addiction to constant updates is such these days that I too succumbed to the pings and opened my mailbox. The first few mails were some promotional ones. And so I scrolled down hurriedly for any relevant mails that the inbox might have, when a ‘Please moderate a new comment….’ mail caught my eye. A  fellow blogger and a visitor to my blog had congratulated me on making it to the winners’ list of @Blogadda ‘World remade‘ activity for India Today #Conclave15. I obviously had missed that mail in a sea of all those promotional ones !!

Once I read the mail by @Blogadda, I couldn’t of course keep a lid over my excitement and having confirmed my participation to Team Blogadda, quickly made calls for train reservations, forgetting all about the glass of water and my daughter’s pending 6th grade final exams.

Wednesday 11th March 2015, 1730hrs:

The remaining Monday and the whole of Tuesday went in a flurry of activity mentally preparing myself and my daughter to be away from each other for almost a week. I cooked some of her favorite food and stored it in refrigerator for her to have later.

Wednesday morning flew and it was my time to board the train to Delhi and I left after a lot of hugging and instructing. I planned to stay with a friend as the pass did not include an accommodation (that however would have been the perfect PASS though, if it included a stay at TAJ PALACE…..but alas!! our travel and stay was not sponsored).

I reached Delhi on 12th March 1020 hrs and me and my friend giggled away the whole day and the whole night in anticipation of the upcoming events at conclave 2015.

 Friday 13th March 2015, 0745hrs:

I rushed about at my friend’s place gathering laptop, watch, chargers, bag, trying to look presentable….after all I was going to be at the TAJ PALACE. It was already 7:45 am and I was supposed to reach the venue at 0800hrs (Blogadda guys really fooled us with this one! They said the passes were first cum first serve basis however they had already reserved a table for the winners. We could have easily and comfortably reached the venue without any rush at around nine in the morning)

After a little bit of scampering on the footpath I managed to flag down an autorickshaw. The driver gauged my desperation and charged me fifty bucks for a distance less than 1.5km 😦

Conclave I-card and red bagOnce at the venue at around 0805hrs, I rushed to the registration desk sweating and panting and was met by Sumit and Mayank from India Today team who did all the formalities on my behalf. I now got the official delegate i-card…people!! And then it sunk in really….Yes I was at the INDIA  TODAY #CONCLAVE 15!!

At the conclave venue

 While I waited for fellow bloggers who also won the passes to the event, I got Mayank to click my photograph at the conclave wall.

The session was to start at around ten so the four of us winners had time enough to acquaint ourselves with each other. We continued our introductions in the Shahjahan Hall over  tea-coffee and refreshments before the session commenced.

over morning tea-coffee

After the strong hot coffee and some tidbits, Aroon Poorie addressed the guests with a welcome speech introducing the speeakers and outlining the two-day itinerary.

The conclave session kickstarted with the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar sharing his Sachin Tendulkaropinions on life. Such modesty and humility could only be seen in a personality like him who believes in sharing his luck with the society and has adopted a village providing solar electricity through an initiative called ‘Spreading Happiness’.

An important life lesson that I could assimilate from this young achiever was to not let success go to one’s head, practice…practice….practice and to have a foundation of solid morals….something we can all give to our kids.

The next three session were not what I was much interested in because I feel politicians mostly lie about the promises they make to public and they don’t even bat an eyelid while lying through their teeth. However, I would like to hope that maybe slowly skill development and dignity of labor will gain ground in our nation too.

I wasn’t very happy though when the Union Minister of Defence commented that most of the air crashes of choppers and fighter aircrafts happen due to human error. It is so easy for a minister to wash his hands off the  by blaming the pilots but ask people like us…..the air warriors’ wives, mothers, friends….whose dining table discussions include stories of pilots who have perished or who have survived to tell the tale of the mishaps.

Lunch after the morning session was a treat for the gastronomically inclined and I for one was delighted to taste all the spread.

The post lunch session had two interesting guests Lisa Haydon and Katrina kaif. While Lisa spoke well about every woman’s right to feel beautiful and how the color of skin or the attire doesn’t define who the person really is, Katrina Kaif was a regular filmstar evading questions on her relationships. She could not answer intelligently two questions  posed by Shobha De and an Australian gentleman.

The two short interesting sessions about Volvo’s crash resistant cars and fututistic 3-D printing besides a long long boring monologue by Deepak Chopra, the wellness guru who promotes Yoga, Ayurveda in scientific way to the westerners, made way for the evening tea-coffee break…..a much desired one at that, post the mind numbing Deepak Chopra.

Later again the political discussions commenced till dinner time. Dinner was a lavish spread which I thoroughly enjoyed before calling it a day and heading back to my friend’s home.

Saturday 14th March 2015, 0900hrs:

All five of us, the winners and new friends decided to reach venue earlier so that we could grab better seats than what we were offered on the first day of the conclave. Though we were still too far, we did manage to occupy a table little closer to the stage.

Though the pre-lunch session wasn’t my cup of tea, however I appreciated the comments made by ambassadors. While the German Ambassador remarked ‘India will stun the world on global platform in coming years’, the British High Commissioner referring to the unveiling of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Britain said that the British have finally acknowledged (and i quote) “Mahatma Gandhi beat us”. The Japanese Ambassador hoped India would host Olympic Games in 2020.

Mehbooba Mufti, President of political party PDP, had it seems forgotten that the whole country has suffered enough due to the five terrorists who were released in exchange of her life and safe home-coming years ago, when she commented that for Kashmiris to feel like being a part of India, the rest of India has to feel the pain of Kashmiris. Somebody please tell her that it was for her safety that the safety of rest of the Indians was jeopardised….so its not anybody else who needs to feel the pain but she needs to understand that she is living a life indebted to all Indians be it Kashmiris or Maharashtrians or Delhiites.

Moni Mohsin and Shobha DeIt was post lunch sessions that I was looking forward to with the Butterflies who sting like Bees….Moni Mohsin and Shobha De ! They read out the letters to each other and Moni Mohsin was too good! Her animated voice was engaging and hilarious. I for one, am going to grab books written by her soon.

Vishwanathan Anand, was again a celebrity who was so unassuming and humble. He played two people simultaneously on stage and check-mated both of them in five moves. Again the take-home nugget of his wisdom was ‘Practice…practice…practice’.

The post tea session in the evening was intereting with the AIB team’s spontaneous replies. Since I have not seen their controversial ‘Roast’, I could not really understand the sudden interest of people in these twenty-something boys.

The biggest crowd-puller of the event was Ranvir Singh’s presentation post a chat and live demo of skills of Chef Gaggan Anand. Ranvir Singh entered the hall amidst lots of claps, hooting and dancing to the bollywood songs. He took the audience by storm pinning them to their seats with his mimicry of Amitabh Bacchhan, Jitendra, Amrish Puri, SHahrukh Khan. From my seat I could see a few grown-up women, the Delhi Socialites giggling, waving and screaming like teenagers at every word that the actor spoke. He was no doubt funny and entertaining totally and nobody seemed to mind his presentation eating into the break for evening cocktails.

After another round of ministers hooting their own horns the dinner was announced and brought an end to the two-day wonderful experience at conclave.

I had wanted to put up a question to the Chief minister of Maharashtra who is spending tax payers money to build a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in middle of ocean arguing that he will develop it as the tourism spot. I would prefer if he spent the money in cleaning up the dirty roads and improving the existing tourist spots to pull in the crowd and not creating another spot where garbage will accumulate after few months.

At lunch and dinner I noticed something else too…..The socialites, do they really think that if they have money and wear much expensive clothes have the right to do whatever suits them right? I was in the queue to pick up a plate and followeing the direction in which the line headed but some women (God knows who they were) and some pudgy old men broke the queue now and then to wiggle ahead of others and helped themselves with food without bothering about those few who tried being disciplined. I am sure food on table wouldn’t have finished, for God’s sake, if they had stayed in line!!

conclave decorThe privilege to be a part of Conclave 15 was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to hear from great personalities like Sachin and Vishwanathan but also got a taste of high end society life and all this because the Team @Blogadda selected my post among the winners. I will be forever grateful to  Blogadda for giving me this opportunity.

I made some new and wonderful friends in the fellow bloggers too @tennysontea @arvindpassey @yogita and @shreya. We helped each other and in a sea of unknown people connected very well with a common thread of blogging.

However, I still couldn’t bring myself to overcome my shyness and hobnob with media people like representatives of Harper Collins, India Today etc……I regret that…missing the chance to introduce myself on such huge platform.

May be some time again when I get another opportunity….Hey, I am going to stick around you guys though at Team Blogadda 😉