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The Monkey Business of Life: Embracing the Unexpected

I’m not a regular blogger….nor am I an avid thinker or philosopher…..But there are some events, visuals or stories powerful enough to force my lazy ass to write. One such visual caught my attention when along with my mother, I happened to visit a vegetable market in my locality. We were buying vegetables when suddenly a group of monkeys decided to “visit” the market. Monkeys co-existing with humans is not an unusual or rare occurrence in India. And for most people it’s not too scary either. However, in the vicinity of Street food vendors, vegetable vendors etc, we usually see people making loud noises or waving a stick or shoe to scare them away. Primary motive for the reaction is to safeguard their produce. And of course, there is a hint of fear at the possibility of being harmed by the monkeys. I too, was expecting a similar scene …A commotion of hawkers running with sticks, shouting to scare the monkeys away. Panic and frenzy across the market with customers ducking behind the mak...
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A Memorable Trek to Mt. Kedarkantha

  Chapter 1:- The Journey Begins   We landed in Delhi. FINALLY. After months of waiting and preparing, weather playing villain till the last minute, flights getting cancelled and the memories of our previously cancelled trek haunting us all the time.   This time we made it. Like many Himalayan trekkers, the first leg of journey usually brings one to Delhi. One can also fly directly to Dehradun. However, tickets to the national capital from major Indian cities are reasonably priced as compared with Dehradun. We boarded the metro which took us to the city center at Connaught place. After exploring a bit, we chose a south Indian joint to have our most important meal of the day. After having our fill of some Idli with delicious chutneys, we visited the charkha museum, spent some time at Starbucks, grabbed a few burgers for our lunch and again rode the trusted metro to Kashmere Gate. This was the next leg of journey and our boarding point for the bus to Rishikesh. After ...
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Attitude

A dog thinks: My owners feed me, love me, provide me with a nice house, and take good care of me... They must be gods! A cat thinks: My owners feed me, love me, provide me with a nice house and take good care of me... I must be a god! Attitude makes the difference.
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Boon or Bane!

Want to go somewhere? Hate public transport? Don't want to haggle prices? Simply tap on your smartphone and a genie will appear with a car! Convenient modes of payment, air-conditioned rides, and the feeling of being wee-bit more superior and sophisticated. Sounds familiar?! That's the radio cab services for you. They entered the Indian market a few years ago and their immense popularity in the major cities cannot be more pronounced. Everyone with a basic smartphone has access to them. Be it referral amount, free rides, adhoc discounts or half the running km cost of Auto-rickshaws. These radio cab operators are doling out perks to attract more and more customers. I once had a word with a cab driver and they're paid anywhere between Rs. 18-25 per km. by the operators. And they charge us anywhere between "completely free" to Rs. 15 per km. Ever wondered how on earth are they making profit? Yes! They're not. In fact they're making heavy losses. As per Ec...
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Happiness!

Eras have passed, thousand thoughts spared, hundreds of books written, and yet....it seems so difficult to find! Human beings and their ultimate quest for happiness.  What is happiness? What brings happiness? Can we define it? I think the meaning of happiness is unique to each one of us. Precisely why, no book, no person, no religion can show you the path to eternal happiness. And yet, if you observe closely, it's always inside us. Human beings are happy creatures the moment they are born. Ever looked at toddlers and kids! They are happy for smallest of reasons. That is the most powerful emotion they possess. No wonder we miss our childhood when we see them. So something is different, something changes. Or rather, is buried deep inside us, layer by layer. Happiness is so tender an emotion, it's easily overshadowed by expectations, material desires, fear, anxiety, frustration et al. And yet, it's so flexible, it manages to peek through this dense fog of emotions. Happy peopl...
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Traffic!

Driving at the speed of 10km/h in the maximum city, with rains lashing against the windshield showing us our helplessness against it's ferocity. There I was, in the back seat of car, with my best friends. All annoyed with the endless traffic, winding up several kilometers and crawling at snail's pace. Adding to agony were the choicest of bad songs being played on local radio. Frustration slowly started creeping in. It had been almost 2 hours. We eventually came to terms with the situation and waited for traffic to ease. Suddenly things changed. We once again became the cheerful bunch of buddies that we were. So what changed? The traffic, the music, or the weather?? I guess our attitude towards the situation changed! We were more patient in dealing with it. We realized that all we could do is keep driving and wait for traffic to clear. And that's how it mostly works in life too. Keep working hard, come to terms with reality and be patient. Frustration fills in the void left ...
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Listen!

Here I was, wide awake, well past midnight. Listening to the pitter patter of rain drops in a new city. Trying to settle down, trying to make friends, trying to calm my nerves! We tend to hide our deepest emotions so well. It would all seem so normal to an acquaintance, to raise a suspicious eye on that aloofness, that disconnect. That weak side which each one of us have.  Why do we defend it so ferociously? Would heavens fall down if you admit you are weak at certain point in time? Guess not! And still we make futile attempts to cover that side up. How then will it become stronger if not in the eye of the storm?! Does it not really help to open your heart out to someone? To let someone in? Feel your true emotions as you feel them? Yet how foolish would we be if we open up to those we don't know! What a waste of time, energy and emotions would it be to discover that the person doesn't care to listen to your emotions! Hence the importance of friends and family in life. The impo...
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