A day at Pragmahal Palace

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Undertone

The tinge of fading redness

As the sea gallops the star in its heart…

The time reminds of my departure

To the land where I will nourish,

The life I could not live here on earth.

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In the mood of festival: Happy Sankranti

The weather is intensively cold, the sky is dim, and the fog has covered a large part of the city. But unlike weather, the zeal in people is high. And why should not it be, today is Makar Sankranti after all. In Bihar, the type of Tilkut you get here and of varied types, I guarantee one can’t have them elsewhere in India. Gud (Jaggery) and Til, which form the major ingredients for most of the dishes made in this festivity, have started to water my mouth with its aroma. But before I can relish upon the dishes, we will do the Puja at our home. My mom knows the rituals better, while I just know that the day will be awesome for the foodie me. :D

While I am typing this, I recall two seasons of Sankranti I enjoyed staying in Gujarat. Two years back, I posted about my experience here on my blog too.
I agree on this that the energy level and the scale for preparation in Gujarat is more avid than in Bihar. The kite fight, and kids running after the falling swaying kites till the end of the streets were worth watching. I was amazed to see that many road side stalls selling goggles and hats specifically for kites flyers. People would wear them while they are at terrace for the kite fight. And a toy organ pipe, which they would blow loudly to make fun of and embarrass the losers. With the whole ambience on this festival it feels like ‘yes its good to be in India’.

This festival may have different names, but the extent of happiness in each is unfathomable. I wish all my friends, and readers at my blog a very Happy Makar Sankranti. :)

The Unique in You

Uniqueness, the characteristic that distinguish you from the rest in the crowd. And when each of us owns it, uniqueness works to give identity to individuals in the crowd. Throughout our lives we keep learning. In the process do we keep refining our uniqueness? Or does it stay the same till the end of our lives?

Uniqueness can be observed on macroscopic as well as on a microscopic scale; the uniqueness present in totality, or present with respect to domains. Well not getting too much technical, the essence of this post lies in realizing the uniqueness in us.

I believe 'learning' and 'uniqueness', they go hand in hand. The more we learn, the more we get to experiment with, and more shine to our work adds up. With learning, we get to know more specifically about the areas that inspire us and tend to bring out the best from us. And at the end of the day, from the work we have done, uniqueness is evaluated. I believe to completely build uniqueness, the role of learning we have attained cannot be shadowed. 

While I stressed on the importance of continual learning, I would mention of the grit that the Almighty blesses with. Why I mentioned of the Almighty here? I always mention of the Almighty when I need to mention of some uncontrollable forces; circumstances and hold which are beyond our control. Where a person is born, what sort of family they are born in, and like these there can be various things beyond the individual’s control that somehow would have helped in building the personality. Their persona so crafted in the uncertain world carries the elementary uniqueness. This uniqueness I believe, is beyond one’s control and desire, but I know they can be worked upon later with learning. See, the importance of learning can never be neglected.

The need to change ourselves can be enforced by various reasons, may be to be a better human, may be to hone our personality for our professional lives or may be just to be like our role models. To change for improvement and excellence is great, but never at the cost of 'copying' someone. I have copied a lot, not in exams but in different walks of my life I lived till date. I tried to copy handwritings of my friends because I didn’t like mine, I tried to speak like some of my seniors because I thought my way of conversation with people was not good. And like these, there have been various instances where I copied people. Why did I copy? I copied because I knew I was poor at something. I chose to copy to improve. However, the correct way should be to learn first, and then we will improve ourselves. I kept copying in one way or the other till a week ago. When we copy, we tend to lose our uniqueness. And this uniqueness is the Ace. This is the elite aura that can do wonders. 

Lets try to find out our field of interest first. On the second, we should look if we need any improvement before we start to work in our area of interest. If we need any, then that must be achieved by learning and not by copying. When we improve by learning, uniqueness starts to come to the front with blaze. The third step should be to start working in our area of interest, and consistently looking to improve the work we are doing in it. By the time we would stand on the third step of staircase, we would realize the importance of continual learning.

Uniqueness is a bliss and a catalyst to our success reaction. It must not be killed by stabs of copying. 

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Into the city that never sleeps

Mumbai and its people, their lives advance in chaos. Where is peace? Broad roads that never get vacuous, present a lively example of Marathon for life. The rich and the poor meet at road signals, and their meet lasts till the time the red is not green. Be it chawls, or the multistorey apartments, or be it Mumbai’s sea beaches, everywhere people are present in abundance, occupied by aims and goals of their own lives. The most intriguing thing about its people is the will to work harder. They focus on their goals and keep chasing them, and the rest they never care for. Emotions are present in them too, but the spirit to move on in life is instilled at the roots and that overpowers the pains. 

The archaic fervor mixed in the modern Indian life style at Mumbai, is a must to experience. In my three days tour of Mumbai, I experienced a portion of it. Presenting few of my amateur photographed shots at Mumbai. 

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