A JOURNEY CALLED LIFE

  Varanasi remains one of the most visited cities in India for Indian tourists as well as foreigners. Travellers have various reasons for visiting this place. Remember the movie Queen? When Kangna Ranaut asks Lisa Haydon whether she has been to India, Lisa says she had been to Varanasi. The reason being she got the best 'Hashish' there :D he he..Well as I said people have different reasons for visiting this place. Some get good cannabis here while others come for a deeper insight into religion. In a nutshell, its a fantastico place!  Although its the city of Hinduism, Varanasi is one of the largest Buddhist centres of India. This is one big reason while celebrities like Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn, Sharon Stone, Ashley Judd, etc etc come here. Recently, even Lauren Conrad too touched this city. How I wish I would have been there! This place is the epicentre of Buddhism as Lord Buddha made his first followers here. Also if you still remember histor...

I feel that everyone would agree with the title of my post. There is hardly anyone in this world who does not love music. However there are two types of music lovers. One (the majority) people who simply love listening to music. Second are the musicians. By being a musician I mean those who learn music. This covers a broad range of people. From professional musicians to tiny tots who have just joined music classes, all these people swear by music. Its unfortunate that we in India don’t give importance to off beat career choices. Academics is a must even if the child is weak or has a flair in extra curricular activities. Thankfully the scenario today is changing when it comes to taking up music and sports as a career. I belonged to old school where academics was must. So I joined coaching classes for cracking the Medical Entrance Examinations as I dreamed of becoming a doctor. However I also belong to a family where cultural education is a must. After all I hail from Varana...

There are so many people that one comes across in life. There are even a greater number of people that one gets inspired from.It may or may not be surprising but I have come across a huge number of people in my 30 years of existence. Part of it because of my profession and upbringing, part of it because I am a very social person. I have lived at 6 different cities (I am not calculating the different towns of those cities) and I have had different schools, medical colleges and hospitals. In all this process I have met thousands of people. Some of them have been filthy rich, some extreme survivors, some legends (whether in the medical profession or in general) and some of them extremely happy no matter what their circumstances are. I have been inspired by all the people I have met. But one person continues to top the list in-spite of everything. She is my mother. I know it may sound cliched that my mother is the most inspiring person of my life. Every person finds his/her mother ...

I am a product of Varanasi. Its my hometown and I have spent 16 years of my life there. The foundation of my education lies deeply in the culture of this wonderful city. The land of Lord Shiva, the land of the holy Ganges, the land of Banaras Hindu University and the land of intellectuals and artists, it has been correctly named the cultural capital of India. With so much to boast, it is also the oldest living city of India. Unfortunately the current youth is in a not so promising situation. Illiteracy is rampant in India. I hate to state it but the truth is that India has the largest population of illiterate adults in the world with 287 million i.e 37% of the global population. Is not that alarming? What is the reason and what are the consequences? Well its like a vicious cycle. Too much population is contributing to illiteracy and illiteracy in turn is contributing to increase in population. A politician had once remarked that if we provide televisions in every village, population...

I was always naughty as a kid. Not that I am not now; ask my wife and she would have myriads of anecdotes to affirm this. My mother always covered for my mischiefs as any typical mother would. However there was one incident which even shook her. Being naughty did not mean that I was not sincere at school. It was not much of an option really. My elder sister who was very meritorious and  in the same school ensured that I never did something that would mar her reputation. She was three years senior to me and I finally got to spread my wings in tenth class when she left for medical college. My school, St John's was a premier school in Varanasi. I used to stay in Ramnagar which was just across the ganges. Its a much smaller district than Varanasi. My childhood was pretty tough. I used to walk to the ghat in Ramnagar.From there a ferry used to take me across the river Ganges to Varanasi. Again from there I had to walk to my school. As I grew up I became more serious a...

I love traveling. This may come as a cliche but I AM AN ardent traveler. And I had started travelling since the age of 2 and a half years. Recently I came across Teddy Travelogues and went down the memory lane. I have documented my travel diaries since I was a kid and this is such a brilliant idea of Club Mahindra! My daughter is nine months old. I love traveling with my wife but now that we have a family, we plan to conquer the world together! My daughter had her first stint with traveling a couple of months ago when we went for a short break in Purvanchal during the Diwali holidays. Our base was at Varanasi and from there we traveled to Rajdari Devdari falls, Vindhyachal and nearby places. This was our first trip together and I enjoyed every bit of it! Our first concern was the 16 hour long train journey from Delhi to Varanasi. My daughter being very naughty and restless made our 16 hours seem like a week. Later as we deboarded the train our lives became easier as we traveled a...