Peace, anyone?

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Its 9:38pm and I am walking back home from work on the busy Geetanjali road. Cars, scooters, motorbikes, autos, trucks, tempos zoom past and I am constantly being shoved into walking on the extreme side of the road; almost from the sloping entrance ramp of one house to that of the next. Pedestrians in India are a non-entity in the minds of anyone driving a vehicle; motor or otherwise.

Just like everyday, I’m walking on the road preoccupied with the events of the day in my mind, when suddenly I hear this continuous disturbance in the distance. And it becomes louder by the second. I’m jolted out of my reverie only to hear the very highly annoying horn of yet another car trying to whiz past. Only it is not being able to, because I’m walking on a reasonably pedestrian share of the road.  I end up being forced to take cover between a narrow space between two parked cars, while the honking car passes by, hissing angrily at my delaying presence. Pssst! Make way already!!!

In my own defense, I glare at the driver expecting a matching expression back. There is none. Puzzled, I gaze-follow his silhouette in the dark of the car and instead see a small child sitting in his driving father’s lap, having fun with the various buttons in front of him. The one that makes a sound takes his fancy, and he honks away in glee, unmindful of any egos being ruffled by his seemingly nettlesome conduct. 

Peas anyone?

I took an off today from work. Reason: mental exhaustion.

A year ago, I remember how in college we were soooper excited to start working in an actual design studio. To be students no more.
To be paid for the fun stuff.
To be finally earning our own money...and most importantly, to finally be a GrownUp! ;)

But I also remember how I dilly-dallied for a whole couple of months to actually apply for a job...citing an incomplete portfolio, an incomplete CV, research on potential employers, etc as reasons....the real one being that I knew I wouldn't have time anymore for doing the really fun stuff anymore.
The sudden extempore trips in Delhi and elsewhere, lunch-outs, get-togethers, trekking expeditions...

Although I got sooper bored and longed for a day with a fixed routine, in retrospect it was probably the most enjoyable time of my life also. Now with an 11-9 job, I feel completely unable to do anything else when I come back home. Bleh.
My only compensation is perhaps the learning, an excellent employer, and a great working environment.
The question is: should I be looking for more?

*Bleh. There is an upcoming trek to Goa in December, as also a biking expedition AND a sailing expedition. Im off to one of them, holidays in office notwithstanding. SEEYAAAA! :D

When opportunity comes-a-knockin', dallyin' ain't no option!

 With some wonderful friends from the last YHAI trek to Sar Pass, 2011.

"A man who misses his opportunity, and monkey who misses his branch, cannot be saved."

-Hindu Proverb

 

I finished my Graphic Design diploma course a couple of weeks back and had atleast a month's rest in mind. The Indian thinking cannot digest any education without a degree, plus its needed for postgrad abroad, so I had also enrolled for English honors from Delhi University last year as a study-from-home 'correspondence' course.

With so much time on my hands and almost nothing to do (my earlier plans of traveling for 'bhaarat darshan' had been pulverized by my companion's relative's shaadi), I decided to take my chances with a mountain biking expedition in Kullu organized by the youth hostel. Oh was I excited!! :) :)

As (bad)luck would have it, the first year annual exams commenced just two weeks after my final jury for GD. But I was least bothered. A couple of friends had told me I could give the exams in December too. I was more than happy to procrastinate for a while and go for it later this year....till another friend said he had never heard of this. I checked from the uni and sure enough nothing like this existed, not for the first years anyway. My head was reeling. The haloed degree was delayed a whole year now! If only I had confirmed earlier! :(

Thinking right about turn: if only I had confirmed earlier, I would've been trying to prepare in 14 days what my fellow students had time to do in months, since my GD course left almost no time for me to study for english. Most importantly, I would never have registered for the biking trip. In trying to acclimatize for it, I would never have rediscovered the joy of cycling. Never also would I have hoped to come near, let alone tick off a certain fitness goal I had set myself a year ago! :P

Really, life really isn't about giving exam after exam, getting degree after another and getting sturdier fattier paychecks than everyone else around. To me, it is about discovering and rediscovering things that bring me joy. My parents always urged me to take up something I loved doing, rather than what my friends or everyone else did, since that is what is going to sustain me and make brand Me in the end. My father said he wouldn't mind what I do for a living as long as I loved doing it, even if it was something as (conventionally) unpaying and whimsical as pottery or painting, after taking up science in school. What a sensible set of parents!

My trip starts the coming sunday on 21st. Shall come back full of stories to tell and pictures to show! Till then, ciao my friends! Burn green! :D

Anandpur Sahib: and the hangover

Tuesday, 31st Jan.
"Arrey kaisi sardaarni hai! Abhi tak you haven't seen the Khalsa museum??" - Anando Sir.

We had the next day off from college. And sir was ready to give us his thursday class off too. Tara had contacts to get us free stay at a guesthouse, free entry (and VIP treatment) at the museum, AND a driver to drive us around town. What more had we to ask for? ;)

The excitement began!
Raghav, Bhanu, Tara, Angelica and I could hardly contain our excitement all day long, and I kept getting text messages on my phone asking if the plan was still on! haha!
The 10:30pm Haryana Roadways bus turned out to be a much better experience than expected and we were at Anandpur Sahib in a mere 6 hours.
The city of Anandpur Sahib was founded by the Sikhs' 9th guru, Guru Teg Bahadur in 1665.
It is a quaint little old place with semi-modern houses dotting the picturesque valley the city is in.  Almost untouched by the hustle-bustle of cities or the racket of too many tourists, the unhurried contented life that its citizens enjoy is practically infectious. For us delhi people, it was a treat just to be able to watch the pretty blue night sky dotted with innumerable stars!

Shinde uncle picked us up in his Omni van from the bus terminal and took us to our lodgings, the "Scholar's Guest House", tucked away deep amidst the wilderness, a good way off from the main city. Some sleep and freshening-up later, the breakfast of parathas at the Kissan Haveli was a godsent for us hungry souls. oh yeah! ;)
Dharmender, our museum 'contact' helped us through security and was an epitome of patience as he remained with us all through, while we ooh-ed and aah-ed at the mural illustrations, the installations, the applique panels, the lighting, the colours....
Angelica and I just would not stop looking at the life-in-punjab mural, each building and animal panel juxtaposed so brilliantly as to make it even better than a 3d! (And we thought the Form & Space at college wasn't a biggie. couldn't be more wrong!) But that wasn't it. The awesome panels depicting Guru Nanak's four udasis in applique work totally blew us away, as did the depiction of his enlightenment after 3 days in water. TOO bad we couldn't take pictures. But Google Images zindabad! :P
 After disappearing into a river and meditating in the water for three days, Guru Nanak emerged having had a powerful vision of the nature of reality, Divinity and human existence. He recorded that vision in a song - known as Japji Sahib - the Song of the Soul. With Japji Sahib, humanity has a rare picture of what a Master experienced at the moment of his enlightenment described in his own words.

Above: The BRILLIANT depiction of Guru Nanak's enlightenment. 

The representation of Bhai Lakhi Shah Vanjara setting his house on fire to cremate Guru Teg Bahadur's body was another first-rate design concept. This story of the Guru's martyrdom to save the Hindu religion played on a screen alongwith the audio inside a tent-like structure made of sheet metal. The pattern of different metal sheet pieces joined together for the complete surface resembled flames of a fire. Epiccc!

 I can go on and on raving about each exhibit....loved every inch of it so much! If you haven't been yet, go NOW. ASAP! I can provide all the travelling details. :P

Following a visit to the Bhakra Dam, an AWESOME boat ride in the Gobind Sagar lake, visit to the gurudwara and a satisfying dinner at Pehalwan da Dhaba, we were back 'home' at about 8:15pm. 

The plan was to leave early next morning by train. So it was best not to go to sleep at all, after the exhausting day. Playing poker, pyramid (half an OldMonk kept the others company) and UNO kept us awake till about 1:30am till everyone crashed on the sofas, too sleepy and tired to go back to the rooms (we had brought blankets to keep us warm earlier). 

Hardly three hours later we were up, cleaning up the place n putting everything back in order. I think we did a fairly good job on that. Shinde uncle dropped us at the Anandpur Sahib railway station and the journey back home ended with the highly bothersome metro ride! :-/  But, what a good trip it had been!

Well. And THAT was....yesterday morning!!

Already feels like an eternity since we came back home...such an eventful couple of days it has been! But i think this was my life's best decision. Ever! 

:)

Anandpur Sahib

Just back from my best trip EVER with four other friends!
shall write back VERY soon...in an effort to blog regularly again..

The Keshgarh Sahib gurudwara, Anandpur Sahib at 5am...