Summarising Brian Tracy 21 secrets of Millionaires

1. Dream big dreams:

• Dream big - Imagine your Life, the money you have, etc. different than what you currently have
• 'Back from the future thinking' - Project yourself 5 years from now as being having the perfect life in every aspect

2. Develop a clear direction:

• Clear specific written goals
• You become what you think about most of the time
• Write your goals in 'Present' tense starting with 'I'
• What goal has greatest positive impact on your life - Set a deadline, make a plan, take some action on that goal every day

3. See yourself as self employed:

• Accept 100% responsibility for everything you are and everything you will ever be
• Refuse to blame other people for your problems and shortcomings
• Stop complaining about things in your life that you are not happy about
• Refuse to criticize people for anything
• YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
• If you do not like something in your life, it is up to you to do something about it
• You do not work for anyone
• Instead of waiting for things to happen, you make things happen
• YOU ARE THE BOSS OF YOUR LIFE

4. Do what you love to do:

• One of your primary responsibility in life
• What you enjoy doing, what you have a natural talent for
• Imagine, if you had a million dollar, tax free, tomorrow; would you continue to do what you are currently doing

5. Commit to excellence:

• Be the very best of what you do
• Join the top 10% in your field
• No one is better than you and No one is smarter than you
• Your life only gets better when you get better
• What one skill, if you developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your life

6. Develop workaholic mentality:

• Hard worker
• 40 plus formula: You work 40 hours for survival and everything above 40 hours is for success
• Work all the time you work, don't waste time

7. Dedicate to life long learning:

• You have more brains, more ability and more intelligence than you can ever use, if you were to work on developing yourself for the rest of your life
• No obstacle you cannot overcome, no problem that you cannot solve, no goal you cannot achieve by applying your mind to your situation
• More you learn, more you can learn
• Leaders and learners. Be a student of your craft: Continuous learning
• Read 30-60 minutes each day. 1 book per week. Be better in your field
• Listen to Audio programs when in the car. Make your car into a learning machine

8. Pay yourself first:

• Save and invest 10% of your regular income throughout your working lifetime
• If you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you
• Set it as a goal - lock it, make it automatic
• Be careful with every expenditure
• People retire poor because of Impulse purchases - buying without giving enough thought
• Do not fall prey to the Parkinson's law - Expenses rise to meet income. You never get ahead and you never get out of debt
• Start with 1% and increase it every month

9. Learn every detail of your business:

• Become expert in your chosen field
• Read all magazines, attend sessions and seminars

10. Dedicate yourself to serving others:

• Customer service - their needs, improved value
• Your success in life, will be directly proportional to, what you do, after you do, what you are expected to do
• Go the extra miles

11. Be impeccably honest:

• Maintain integrity in everything you do
• Build reputation
• When in doubt, always do the right thing, whatever it is and whatever it costs

12. Concentrate on one thing at a time:

• Set priorities on activities and concentrate single mindedly on one thing at a time till that is complete
• Work on high priority until it is completed is primary test and measure of will power, self discipline and personal character
• Ask yourself: What are my highest value activities? Do your highest value activities.
• Ask yourself: Why exactly am I am on the payroll? Focus on results not activities
• Ask yourself: What can I, and only I can do that can make significant difference. If you don't do it, it will not get done. And, if you do do it, and you do it well, it will make significant difference to your business
• Ask yourself: What is the most valuable usage of my time right now?

13. Be quick and reliable:

• Reputation for speed and dependability
• People are less and less patient
• Move fast, when your customer or boss asks you for something, drop everything else and deliver that first
• Whenever you want to get something done, give it to a busy man

14. Be prepared to climb from peak to peak:

• Life/Career is a series of Ups and Downs. 2 step forward and then 1 step back
• Develop long term perspective, a long view - Think 5 years in future
• Don't get on a emotional roller coaster with the short term ups and downs of daily life
• Keep calm, confident and relaxed with short term fluctuations
• When you have clear goals and plans that you working on every day, the general trend line would be onwards and upwards over the years

15. Practice self discipline:

• Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like doing it or not
• Long term perspective, combined with an ability to delay gratification in the short term
• Self mastering, self control, self responsibility and self direction
• Successful Vs Unsuccessful: Pleasing results Vs Please methods: Goal achieving Vs tension relieving: hard, necessary and important Vs Easy and immediate enjoyment
• Everyday, hour, minute is a test of self mastery, self control, self discipline. The test is if you can keep your mind on what you want, and where you are going; rather than thinking about the things that you do not want or problems that you had in the past

16. Unlock your creativity:

• You are a potential genius
• Your creativity is stimulated by: Intensely desired goals, pressing problems and focussed questions

17. Get around the right people:

• 85% of your success in life, will be dependent on the quality of relationships that you develop in your personal and business activities
• Virtually all problems in your life will come as a result of you entering into wrong relationships with the wrong people (Negative, critical, complaining)
• Virtually all your successes in life will come as a result of you entering great relationships with good people (Optimistic, happy, moving forward in their lives)
• You take on the attitudes, behaviours, values and beliefs of the people that you associate most of the time
• Be a go giver than a go taker. Always try a way to pay in before you think ways to take out. Help people to achieve their own goals
• The more you give of yourself, without expectation of return, the more rewards will come back to you from the most unexpected sources

18. Take excellent care of your health:

• Set a goal to live at least 80 years old
• Look at the current life style and see if you will live up to 80 in a great shape
• Proper weight - Lean and fit (Eat less and exercise more)
• Proper diet - More lean source protein, fruits and vegetables and less of desserts, soft drinks, candies. Stop extra salt and white flower products. Eat smaller portions 4-5 times a day rather than in 3 large meals
• Proper Exercise - 200 minutes a week (30 minutes a day, rigorous 30-60 minutes walk 3-5 times a week). Join a health club

19. Be decisive and result oriented:

• Think carefully and make decisions quickly
• Get quick feedback for their actions. If they realize that they did a mistake, they are quick to take self corrective action
• Try far more things than the average people
• Ask yourself: What one action, if I did it immediately could have greatest positive impact on my results
• Just do it

20. Never consider the possibility of failure:

• Fear of failure holds you back from trying things that can make your successful
• Dare to go forward - take calculated risks - What is the worst possible thing that can happen, if I fail
• Make a habit throughout your life of doing the things you fear. If you do the things you fear, the death of fear is certain
• When you act boldly, unseen forces will come to your aid
• FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION

21. Develop persistence and determination:

• Resolve in advance that you will never give up whatever happens

This is not the Barkha Dutt I knew

November 12, 2009 (10:30 PM)

NDTV 24 X 7: Barkha Dutt, probably the only Media person that I would expect to hold a discussion with neutral moderation, after Pranoy Roy and Rajdeep Sardesai.

Barkha, I just hope you read this post and see what damage are you doing to your image by hosting a 'Media imposed Ethics' show prime time on one of the remaining news channels that still make some sense.

The entire show was being run on the argument that Manu Sharma should not have had drinks in a pub when he was out on parole!!!?

How far back in time do you want India to go back and start considering visiting pubs as a taboo?

I was expecting that this discussion would be productive. That by using such an intellectual panel you will discuss who is responsible for what happened, reasons for what happened, what could have happened, fixing of the system that such goof ups do not happen in future, etc.

Instead, the only point that you wanted to make was 'Media imposed Ethics'. All you wanted to present was, that it was unethical for Manu Sharma to have a drink in a pub, when he was out on parole, presumably, for visiting his sick mother and take care of his business. It was crystal clear from the discussion that there is nothing illegal in going to a pub and relax yourself even if you are out on a parole due to reasons other than partying. We live in a democratic country and if you feel so strongly against the parole system not catering to ethics of the middle class then there are ways to get it fixed. Is Media over and above the Law of our country? Who gave media the right to dictate what is ethical and what is not, and bring in a panel of senior SMEs and insult them on the show, by either not letting them speak or switch off their mikes when they want to make a valid point which does not match the perception that the channel/you have.

Wrongs that you did today:

1. Manu Sharma is out on parole since September 22 which makes it almost 2 months. Where was NDTV when Manu Sharma came out or when his parole was extended? Waiting for him to reach a Pub so that NDTV can create a hooplah about it??

2. Not respecting the individual opinions of the panel brought to the discussion. When in moderation you should not have pushed your words in their mouth. You could have just asked the right questions.

Mr. Ram Jethmalani might have made some wrong statements in defence of his client, but he made some ethically right statements as well like 'Let the person who is out on parole to lead a normal life on parole so that when he is out, he is not a bandit but a normal human being.'

Another point that you did not consider: Do you expect, that if Manu really came out on parole for the reason of visiting his sick mother, that he should sit for the entire time of the parole, next to his mother in the hospital. So what if he went out for a drink?

3. Declare Media to be over and above the Law of India to dictate Ethics. Manu Sharma has done nothing illegal by going to a pub and the law of India 'DOES TAKE' ethics into consideration in a lot of regulations. India is a democracy so if you do not like something, take it up with the relevant authorities and change the law. Or do you want to selectively believe in democracy for the Right to Speak - 'Independent Media'. All you were doing was to create an agenda for your channels business, by taking the safe route of showing off the rectification of the ethics in the country. Why does the same channel then advocate against any political party or politician for dictating ethics?

4. Suggesting that Congress needs to answer why this happened or clarify their stand?? A healthy debate made political for reasons of propaganda. If at all, it was a matter of influential parents, regardless of the political party that they belong to. Why should the party defend it?

I am, in no means a promoter of Manu Sharma nor the Congress party, but I strongly feel that you have now become part of the irresponsible Indian media who have a single goal of increasing the TRP based on how much hype they can create on any issue. Or may be you were trying to woo your visiting guest Mrs. Neelam Katara? (With all due respect to the lady for her relevant comments on the topic)

People follow media and form opinions based on the Media discussion, so it is all the more important for the media to realize their circle of influence and put some checks on themselves.

"This is not the Barkha Dutt I knew", or probably you should go back to the field job.

I just hope that God be with India who is in the strong influence of Media people like you.

Marketing Concepts

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: 'I am very rich. Marry me!' - That's Direct Marketing

2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: 'He's very rich. Marry him.' - That's Advertising

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say: 'Hi, I'm very rich Marry me.' - That's Telemarketing

4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up andstraighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, and you open the door (of the car) for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say: By the way, I'm rich. Will you marry me?' - That's Public Relations

5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: You are very rich! Can you marry! Me?' - That's Brand Recognition

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: I am very rich. Marry me!' She gives you a nice hard slap on your face. - That's Customer Feedback

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: 'I am very rich. Marry me!' And she introduces you to her husband. - That's demand and supply gap

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: 'I'm rich. Will you marry me?' and she goes with him - That's competition eating into your market share

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: 'I'm rich, Marry me!' your wife arrives. - That's restriction For entering new markets

Baby's First Photographs

Born: 14th March 2009 16:18 Hrs

Weight: 3.1 Kg

Height - Unmeasured till now (March 16, 2009)

Channel Sorting on the television

My theory says that someone's personality can be assessed by the channels that the person watches. What you want to see can be determined if you are provided an option to sort the channels on your television when you have time or some one doing it for you. Of course, the available channels will change as per the location but it can give a good enough idea. If you read this post and want to experiment, post your selection amongst the channels listed below honestly and I will try to determine some traits your personality... 

I will honestly confess that this is not the actual reason of putting this informartion on a blog. It is a fix to a problem that I face quite frequently - Cable operator changing the frequency of channels... What is written above is just a BY-PRODUCT - more of an observation. 

I have been sorting the channels on my television a lot, thanks to my cable operator. Here is my list for the first 50 channels:

0. Doordarshan - DD1   

1. Star Plus
2. Colors
3. News X
4. NDTV Imagine
5. Star One
6. Zee TV
7. Sony
8. Sahara One
9. Real
10. Star 1
11. SAB
12. Aaj Tak
13. Delhi Aaj Tak
14. Metro Nation
15. CNEB
16. IB7
17. CNN-IBN
18. NDTV 24 X 7
19. Star News
20. NDTV Profit
21. UTV Movies
22. Star Movies
23. Star World
24. Zee Studio
25. Bindass Movies
26. World Movies
27. Pix
28. Zee Cafe
29. 9X
30. MTV
31. 9XM
32. Channel [V]
33. Star Cricket
34. Ten Sports
35. Neo Cricket
36. Set MAX
37. ESPN
38. HBO
39. NCR
40. Zee Sports
42. 
    
43. UTV Bindass
44. JETIX
45. National Geograhic
46. Discovery
47. Nick
48. Animax
49. Pogo

Mr. OWL visited me today morning

Preparing for an interview, I slept late yesterday night. A sudden thud on my bedroom's window pane woke me up at about 5 AM today. Moving the curtain I found Mr. OWL ready to be clicked. I am attaching some decent close-ups that were posed to me.

He tried to come inside thrice but then left off to the next tower of the apartments.  

Keep the Fishes Fresh

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh. To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!

But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan. How did they manage? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark. The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized. Don't create success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference.

Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!

What Boozer type are you?

Recent news says "Britain has identified nine types of problem drinker, as part of efforts to fight the country's notorious binge-drinking culture".

It seems to covers the gamut of drinkers known to me, though I would not classify any of my knowns as problem drinkers:)

I would define an average Software Industry Indian as a mix of Class 1, 5 and 7 (defined below) after adding a 'Weekend' icing. Checkout and fit yourself in:

1. "De-stress drinkers": Those who use alcohol to calm down at the end of a hard day. Typically middle-class men and women.
2. "Community drinkers": Driven by the need to belong. Usually lower middle-class men and women, who drink in big groups.
3. "Hedonistic drinkers": Crave stimulation and want to lose control. Often divorced people with grown-up children, with exhibitionist tendencies.
4. "Macho drinkers": Tend to spend most of their spare time in pubs. Mostly men of all ages.
5. "Re-bonding drinkers": Use drink as a way of keeping in touch with friends.
6. "Conformist drinkers": Driven by the need to belong and seek structure. Typically men aged 45-59 in clerical or manual jobs.
7. "Boredom drinkers": Those who drink to pass the time and relieve monotony.
8. "Depressed drinkers": Craving comfort, or feeling of safety. Can be of any age, sex or socio-economic group.
9. "Border dependents": These regard the pub as an alternative home. They visit regularly, at all times of day, weekdays and weekends. Tend to drink quickly.

16 Famous Sayings by Chanakya - Scores 7/16 in today's world

I am not sure if these Sayings are actually from Chanakya but some of them are worth pondering. I am listing the ones that make sense in today's world, for most of the normal people around (May be they make more sense to me), followed by the ones which seem outdated:

1) "Learn from the mistakes of others... you can't live long enough to make them all yourselves!!" - Chanakya - Makes sense to me.
2) "Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous." - Chanakya - Makes sense when you know it's coming from Chanakya.
3) "Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead." - Chanakya - If only Chanakya had copyrighted this thought in the last 20 years, he would have been a billionaire via publishing in thousands of management Books.
4) "As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."- Chanakya - Nothing but agree.
5) "Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest." - Chanakya - Unless your Boss (Office or home) tells you to abandon it:)
6) "The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction." - Chanakya - Profound.
7) "Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person." - Chanakya - I have seen that myself and quite closely.

The ones which may not be true to a lot of extent in today's world, not unless you are really in a messy/abnormal surrounding:
1) "A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first."- Chanakya - I may not believe on this, unless I am actually screwed on being a non-believer for this one.
2) "The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you." - Chanakya - Hmm, especially with your wifes?
3) "There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth." - Chanakya - It depends as to who you call a friend. May be for friendships that come to be in workplace or when you meet someone for business. You make real friends in your school and college days, which should be an exception to this Saying.
4) "The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman." - Chanakya - Probably it has changed in today's world. It is information which is the strongest now, well open to debate/comments.
5) "God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple." - Chanakya - Does not make me a non-believer but I feel there is much to God than feelings and soul.
6) "A man is great by deeds, not by birth." - Chanakya - Inheritence makes a BIG difference, ask all those self made men.
7) "Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness." - Chanakya - It feels arrogant to say so. Also, it is a bit contradictory to the saying that all friendships have self interest. That would make me have more friends upstream.
8) "Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends." - Chanakya - Does not go in today's world and Chanakya did not explain the most crucial adoloscent years i.e. 10 to 16.
9) "Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth." - Chanakya - Ideally yes, but not everytime.

Tips for Healthy Heart - FAQ

In case you feel that this content or any part of it is Copyright of someone else, please leave your comment with the link to the source, and I will remove it.

Q: What are the five thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?

1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil


2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a longtime


3. Quit smoking


4. Control weight


5. Control blood pressure and sugar

Q: Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart?

No

Q: It's still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?

This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Q: Are heart diseases hereditary?

Yes

Q: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress?

Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.

Q: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart?

Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints.

Q: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?

Extremely rare

Q: Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age or do you haveto worry about it only after you are above 30 years of age?

Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

Q: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart?

You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

Q: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?

Control diet, walk and eat walnut.

Q: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?

Yoga helps.

Q: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?

Best food is fruits worst are oil.

Q: Which oil is better - gingili, groundnut, sunflower, saffola, olive?

All oils are bad; the so-called best oil company has the largest marketing budget.

Q: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test?

Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP, Treadmill test after an echo.

Q: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?

Help the person into a sleeping position, put an aspirin tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to a coronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first hour.

Q: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble?

Extremely difficult without ECG.

Q: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters?

Edentary lifestyles, smoking,junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Q: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Yes.

Q: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it true?

Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not have a software engineer as a child

Q: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart? What precautions would you recommend?

When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Q: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?

Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Q: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?

No.

Q: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?

No.

Q: How would you define junk food?

Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds, samosas, and even masala dosas.

Q: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Q: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?

No.

Q: Can a person help himself during a heart attack?

Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Q: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems?

No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.

Q: Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs in the house, work as a substitute for exercise?

Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chair and sitting helps a lot

Q: Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?

Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics are more vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.

Q: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?

Diet, exercise, drugs on time. Control cholesterol, BP, weight.

Q: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared to day shift workers?

No.

Q: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?

There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Q: Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heart attacks?

No.

Q: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?

Nature protects women till the age of 45.

Q: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for a health checkup if you are past the age of 30 for at least once in two yrs. And work very hard and Enjoy ur Life...

Are you a Good Listener

In case you feel that this content or any part of it is Copyright of someone else, please leave your comment with the link to the source, and I will remove it.
Most of the times we feel that we all are good listeners. I recently attended a series of training sessions by Raja Chidambaram which gave me fresh insight towards this topic. Some part of this post may have specific Indian Context but most of it is global in nature.
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When we say 'LISTEN' to a kid or to a co-worker, do we actually want him to Listen or do we want him to:

• Shut up, stop talking
• Agree to what I am saying
• Obey to what I am asking you to do

Do we become a good listener in case we abide by the above stated points, or we can do something else which can actually establish us as a good listener not just in our own perception but also in other's?

The person who wants to communicate something is the 'Sender' and the person to whom this communication is directed is the 'Receiver'.

Know the deterrents to Effective Listening:

1. Detectable by the 'Sender' (Sin):

• Permitting the speaker to be inaudible
• Withdrawing or Day dreaming
• Over reacting to certain words, phrases
• Getting over simulated when questioning or opposing an idea

2. Only your ('Receiver') mind knows:

• Assuming in advance that the subject is uninteresting and unimportant
• 'I know what's coming' syndrome
• Mentally criticizing the speaker's delivery
• Pretending to be attentive
• Listening only to the facts, wanting to skip the details

How to Practice Active Listening:

1. Know, what are you Listening FOR. Know your intent.

2. Create a listening atmosphere. Sit beside the Sender, if possible at 90 degree (Avoid 180 degrees with a table in between). Look, act and be interested. Don't read emails or tap papers while others are talking. Resist Distraction.

3. Stop Talking. To others, but most importantly to yourself. It is very difficult to still the voice within but it can be done with Practice. Remember, you cannot listen if you are talking. Suspend all personal Judgement or evaluation and try to focus on recording what is being transmitted by the Sender. You will not forget that point that you got reminded of just when he said that, and you had a sudden urge to barge in to make it. And even if you do forget it later, believe me, it was not that important.

4. Listen to specific content - who, what, where, when, why, how... Listen between the lines, for implicit meanings as well as the explicit ones. Observe nonverbal bahaviour, like Body language, to glean meanings beyond what is said to you. Observe the tone of voice, specific feeling, words etc. Imagine the other person's point of view. Picture yourself in hia position, doing hia work, facing his problems, using his language and having his values.

5. Don't interupt, Acknowledge. Sit still past your tolerance level. Resist the temptation to jump in with an evaluative or critical comment. Confine yourself to constructive replies. Look for omissions - things left unsaid or unexplained, which should be logically present. Ask about these.

6. Paraphrase. Rephrase (As a recorder, do not alter content or add evaluation) what the other person has just told you at key points in the conversation.

Assumptions about Listening which can be Blocking:

1. If I Listen I have to agree.

2. If I do not agree I should state it as soon as the point is made.

3. Previous bias/experience with the 'Sender'

4. Feeling of superiority over the 'Sender'

5. 'How many times will we discuss this topic.'

Recent Books Read

004. STOCK EXCHANGES, INVESTMENTS AND DERIVATIVES (V. Raghunathan and Prabina Rajib) - Was intended in February 2008, Actual : April 2008
2007 : ISBN 13 : 978 0 07 062111 4 : Tata McGraw-Hill : Rs. 325
Rating : <>

003. MILLER AND FREUND'S PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS (Richard A. Johnson) - January 2008
1994 : ISBN : 81 203 0892 1 : Prenrice-Hall : Rs. 195
Rating : 2

002. CRITICAL CHAIN (Eliyahu M. Goldratt) - January 2008
1997 : ISBN : 0 88427 153 6 : The North River Press : Rs. 375
Rating : 4

001. the one minute manager (Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson) - November 2007
1981 : ISBN 13 : 978 81 7223 499 7 : HarperCollins Punlishers : Rs. 125
Rating : 5

Looking for Romantic One liners for your Valentine?

Here is a small collection from various sources on the web. Incase you feel that this content or any part of it is Copyright of someone else, please leave your comment with the link to the source, and I will remove it.


I thought that I could love no other****
Until, that is, I met your brother.

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.****
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.

Oh loving beauty, you float with grace****
If only you could hide your face

Kind, intelligent, loving and hot;****
This describes everything you are not

I want to feel your sweet embrace****
But don't take that paper bag off of your face

I love your smile, your face, and your eyes****
Damn, I am good at telling lies!

I see your face when I am dreaming.****
That's why I always wake up screaming

My love, you take my breath away.****
What have you stepped in to smell this way

My feelings for you no words can tell,****
Except for maybe "go to hell"

What inspired this amorous rhyme?****
Two parts vodka, one part lime

Roses are red, violets are blue,****
Our love has died, so why don't you!

Love may be beautiful, love may be bliss****
but I only slept with you, 'cause I was pissed

Every time I see your face****
I wish I were in outer space

I saw your face as you walked by****
but then I saw a better guy

As our paths crossed, that day on the street,God, in that Porsche you looked so sweet****
You made me fly, you gave me wings,And twelve broken bones, among other things

My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife:****
Marrying you screwed up my life

Uttaranchal Trip (December 24th, 2007 – December 30th, 2007)

Duration : 7 nights & 6 days
Expenditure : Rs. 5500 per person

Route :
Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Shivpuri – Devaprayag – Srinagar - Karanprayag – Nandaprayag – Pipalkoti – Joshimath – Auli.



Monday, December 24th, 2007
On the evening of December 24, 2007, I left from home at around 7: 45 PM to pick up Gunjan from her office where she was waiting. I had hired a Taxi from Tejpal at the last moment for Rs. 250 for a drop at New Delhi ISBT. Picked up Gunjan from her office and reached ISBT at around 8:45 PM. It was not difficult to find the Uttaranchal Bus Service area and we found the right bus scheduled for departure at 9:30 PM – The HiTech deluxe bus service from Delhi to Rishikesh. It is a good option to reach Rishikesh which is about 240 km from Delhi, and charges about Rs. 250 per person.

The interesting part of the travel was that I slipped my BlackBerry out of its holster, into my pocket so that it does not get stolen while I am sleeping in the night. The moment I did that, some button got pressed and it dialed Home, where our gossip was heard till the next one hour. So this is where our adventure begins!!!

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007
We reached Rishikesh at about 4:00 AM the next morning with plans to start for Joshi Math followed by Auli as the final destination for night stay. We had missed the bus to Joshi Math just 10 minutes back so we had the option to either wait for the next bus coming from Jaipur scheduled to reach by approx. 6:15 AM or to take a shared PRESS Sumo to Chamoli where we could explore more options to reach Joshi Math. We decided the latter and boarded the Press Sumo which started towards Chamoli at around 4:45 AM on this Christmas morning. This route is a bad route, bad route for the car on which you travel and for your lower back, bum, if I can say so and your neck if you take the back seat, which we did (I can still feel the numbness). We had the back seat in the Sumo. These press Sumos will not takeoff until there are 10 passengers and charges Rs. 200 per person for Chamoli. We were jostling 4 sitting in the rear of the Sumo. In the middle seat was a family of 4 sitting, with 2 others accompanied on the sofa. The lady in the middle seat was suffering from Travel sickness and constantly puked during the entire 7 hours journey. Then their little kid started puking inside the Sumo. It definitely was not a good beginning of the journey/vacation. Added to the fun was an Indica with a Registration number of Noida, UP-16-J that followed us for almost 2 hours on this way which definitely worked as strong black coffee and kept me awake for quite some time.

Roughing around in the SUMO we reached Chamoli at around 12:30 PM and had a good stretch at a nearby Dhaba with Tea and Aloo Parantha. Joshi Math is 50 Kms from Chamoli and is around 1.5 hours ride on a shared Sumo which charges Rs. 50 per person. We booked ourselves in another Sumo for Joshi Math and were waiting for the Sumo to be filled with the full capacity of 10. Suddenly by some supernatural calling, which plays a great role in my life, we decided to skip the visit to Auli and go back towards Karan Prayag from where we will leave for Kausani, followed by Ranikhet and Almora. We exited the Sumo and hired another Sumo (Rs. 35 per person) back for Karan Prayag. We reached Karan Prayag in little less than 1.5 hours and walked till the market area where we were expecting to get the next conveyance. We figured out that the last bus for Kausani had left at around 12:00 PM and now we could get a bus only till Gwaldam which was near Kausani and was about another 5 hours of journey. We could either stay in Gwaldam, since there was little chance of getting any conveyance for Kausani by the time we would be able to reach there, or stay here, in KARAN PRAYAG.

We came out of the urge of taking a chance of staying at the unheard ‘Gwaldam’ after I discussed the scene with Rohit back in Noida, whose father was the master mind of the planned route in my mind. Honestly speaking, my poor little backside, dierre to be precise, had started protesting for some cushion. We decided not to stretch it too far and stay in Karan Prayag. I checked a Lodge, just near the place from where we planned to take bus the next morning. Best room was Rs. 200 per night, with cotton beddings, small TV and they also promised some hot water for the next morning. Ok, the plan was to rough it out but it definitely was not to live in a stable. Hence, we decided to check out the reliable GMVN (Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) Hotel, which was about half a kilometer uphill towards Joshimath. We walked towards the Hotel dragging Gunjan’s bright red strolley bag.

Surprisingly clean, managed, spacious super Deluxe room, was offered to us at the official rate of Rs. 350 per night which would have costed us Rs. 1200 in season, that too, only if we were lucky to find some vacant rooms at that time. Room had a private geyser and an open balcony which had a panoramic view of the high mountains and Ganges making its way through big stones. It was a beautiful site from the balcony. With 7 books in my luggage and a plan to complete them all during the trip, it was not long that we decided to stay here the next day as well and sit besides the Banks of Ganges for a good reading session in sharp sunlight the entire day. It was 4 PM and we wanted freshen up. We relaxed for some time and then went back to the market area for some shopping at around 5 PM. We had to order the food by 7 PM if we wanted to have dinner in the Hotel so we thought of having it outside. We purchased the best liquor in town (8 PM Whiskey, the Chivas Regal of Karan Prayag) and came back after having a nice dinner at the Vegetarian ‘Krishna Hotel and Restuarant’, the best in town. We could see two rivers merging just below where we sat, it was beautiful. It was similar to the scenery and paintings we used to draw as children– A mountain chain with a river from within and sun shining from one side but the hut was replaced by a more modern house hold. After enjoying a perfect evening supper with great tea, we came back to the hotel. I must tell you, the ginger flavoured tea is the best there. Amazing!!! Tired of the long journey, we slept quite early, around 8 PM, with plans for book reading on the beaches of Ganga, the next day.


Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
We woke up at 8 AM in the morning, when I got the first chance to order a Bed Tea, some thing that Gunjan loves to have and I hate to. Though I have to admit, that I loved this part on the entire trip, whenever, it did not result into acidity problem. Now was the chance to cherish what I always wanted to, NATURE. With the tea in the balcony outside and Gunjan still sleeping, I went out and heard after a long time – Birds, chirping. Picking up bits of food from a wall just beneath my balcony area. I could see the Sunlight hitting the mountain in front of me slowly and the river flowing beneath it. It was lovely. I wanted to reach the river as soon as the sunlight touched it, after all it was cold December. By the time Gunjan came out of her deep slumber, her tea was cold. She managed to gulp it down before running to the bathroom while I ordered the breakfast. After I had a round of Aloo Parantha and she had her corn flakes with milk, we were ready to do something that we always wanted but never could. Though we were late by 1 hour, we planned to start at 10 AM but it was close to 11 AM.

We walked down the slippery route down towards the Ganges. What looked like a clean area from up there was not as clean as we wanted. It was Karan Prayag’s Public Conveniences, but I had my eyes set on a clean area and a big rock just protruding into the river as much as is required. Soon, we were on the rock. With the thought that grass is always greener on the other side, I decided to have a look at another rock that was not as huge but we could put our feet in the water. I jumped down from my current position and went to see that rock. It was quite dirty near it so I returned back to start my book reading. Suddenly I realized that the area that I jumped smelled bad; that’s when I realized that I had jumped on shit and my boots had a dense layer of it . The next 15 minutes I was trying to get rid of the smell and clog from the left foot. Finally I took off my shoes and kept it on the rock near me. The rock was cold and sun was bright, so we took off our jackets and kept them below our bum. The next 3 hours, I read, laughed and shared the excerpts from my book ‘Critical Chain - Goldratt’ with Gunjan. We had decided to leave when the sunlight starts diminishing. So we walked out of there for lunch back to our favourite ‘Krishna Hotel and Restaurant’. After a great lunch, we returned back to our Hotel. I tried to continue the book after coming back to the Hotel but could not do it for long coz the sunlight was soon gone. We played cards, rammi, till late with drinks for sometime and decided that we will now go to Auli, back to Auli. We could play only 3 games of which I could win only 1 from Gunjan, for that too she told me that I had cheated. We had drinks till 9 PM and then had food in the Hotel. Planning to get up at 5 AM in the morning and take the first bus for Joshimath at 6 AM, we slept.

Thursday, December 27th, 2007
We woke up at 5 AM in the morning but could not decide who should get out of the bed first. It was cold. So we slept further till 8 AM and checked out of the Hotel after having a great breakfast of Aloo Paratha and Corn flakes. We started to walk downhill towards the area where we would get the Sumo or Bus for Joshi Math. There was a mini bus 2 X 2 that slowed down just in front of us. I tried my luck and asked if it was going to Joshimath. It was. We boarded the bus at 10 AM and started our 3 hours journey for Joshimath. To pass our time we played a game. Antakshari, with English words. We realized that it will end when we get stuck with either ‘E’ or with ‘Y’. I stressed on getting her stuck on ‘Y’ and won, if I can say so? Is ‘Yonder’ a word, I still have to see the dictionary so that I can win a bet. The scenic beauty was mind blowing. I had never seen such huge mountains in my life. They are rightly called the highest mountains of the world, ‘The Himalayas’. Well now something about the road we were traveling on… It definitely did not look like a highway but it was more like a snake track in the hills and we were in a bus which was driving through the snake track… I cannot even explain what I went through as most of the times we thought that the bus is wider than the road and that this is the last day of our lives. We discussed our insurances and figured if they will find way to their owners. Whenever there was a vehicle coming from the front, we were looking how deep we are going to fall down. We had our first stop at Chamoli, where we had half cup of tea, the second half had to be returned so that the bus does not go without taking us. We reached Joshimath at about 1:30 PM. We had plans to stay the night at Joshimath or at Auli, but we had less hopes that we will get a Hotel at Auli. Without thinking much we decided to look for ‘The Brand’ – GMVN Hotel. We asked the nearby people who told us that it was just about 50 mtrs. from where the bus had dropped us. Walking for it, we saw that some localites were selling socks that looked as if they would be able to keep our feet sensitive to touch in the ice that we were expecting to encounter. We purchased two socks and moved on towards GMVN Hotel.

Bad luck, GMVN was totally booked, so we asked at the reception if they could suggest an alternative place to stay . They said they had another bunglow just down towards the market side, which was the newer, second building of GMVN Hotel. I still wonder, why he did not tell me as soon as he said that there are no rooms available at GMVN. To check out the rooms, we kept the luggage at the older building itself and left for the newer building. The room was good but the rate was high. After living in a Super Deluxe Hotel room in Karanprayag for Rs. 350, a Super Deluxe room at Joshimath from the same Hotel chain at Rs. 950 (Rs. 1500 in full season times) was too much. We had the option of an ordinary room for Rs. 400 or a semi Deluxe for Rs. 500 but wanted to settle for the Super Deluxe itself since it was all new construction and a very clean, big room with the view of high mountain peaks from the balcony. Nothing like Karanprayag though. Their phone was not working and before finalizing we wanted to check if rooms were available in Auli. We got the phone number of Auli GMVN and called them from a nearby public phone, but they confirmed that no rooms were available till January 2. People do want to celebrate their New year at Auli. We had our own reservations paying Joshimath GMVN them right away, we were not able to digest the rate change from Karanprayag for the same accommodation. Half heartedly we asked for our luggage and checked into the Hotel. We tried to then enquire about the Auli ropeway timings. It was near to 2:30 PM, we were hungry and the last ropeway from Auli to back starts at 4:20 PM. We decided to do it the next day. Then we moved to the market outside, just beside the Hotel, to search for ‘good’ food. People around told us to go to Maharaja Hotel and restaurant for the best food in town. Should not have trusted them. I still have a bias towards Karanprayag, best we got, be it location, recommendations, site seeing or Hotel. We got our chances at ‘Chowmein’, that was looking very enticing to Gunjan on a neighbor lady’s plate, which I was strongly against for hygiene reasons. I had agreed to get it only if Gunjan would not waste any part of it regardless of me eating any of it. I ordered a safe Dal and Kadahi Paneer and Aloo Parantha. Gunjan did gave her best shot at the Chowmein and I could manage eating most part of it as well and then moved on to finishing my order. Dal was undercooked and I had to request another tarka to make it edible.
After food, we were still discussing the rate for Hotel so we decided to check out some other Hotels around. The rate for all good Hotels is the same ranging from Rs. 900 – 1200 but not as clean, big and good location as our good old GMVN. Convinced that we have got a good deal we came back happily to the Hotel. Somehow we were tired and felt like having a nap. May be in mountains everyone feels a bit drowsy after certain amount of exertion or it was the cold outside and warmth of the room blower and the nice Mink blanket, that we fell asleep for about an hour. After the nap, the Chowmein started to show its impact on Gunjan’s stomach. She was all over the toilet pot, spilling out the enticing Chowmein with a severe headache having medicines, limca etc. She had Khichri, in dinner and I was on my regular, Aloo Parantha, this time with Egg Bhurji. She was sleeping when I went downstairs to get an extra pair of Quilt, I could never imagine spending such a cold night with a blower and a mink blanket. Downstairs, I heard the news of Benazir Bhutto shot dead, I rushed back to the room and for the next some hours, we were watching television discussing Bhutto and how she was one lady who every woman in our subcontinent looks up to. We slept quite late, 11 PM deciding to get up at 8 in the morning and catching the first ropeway at 9:15 AM for Auli and try to get back by 2 PM incase we want to come back early so we can start back for Karanprayag for stay in the night.

Friday, December 28th, 2007
We got up at 8:00 AM and again were not able to decide who moves out of the bed first. Gunjan had recovered from her Chowmein migrane but she decided to still have a lighter breakfast. I was still onto my Aloo Paranthas. We managed to be out just before 10:00 AM after checking out of the Hotel putting our luggage in their store where some others had put their luggage as well. But we did miss the first 3 ropeway trolleys. We had to walk down about 100 mtrs. to reach the ropeway. We got the 10:50 Am ropeway to Auli, which costs Rs. 400 each for up down. You have to confirm the trip timings back which can be changed only on request which is taken as per availability, which the ticket counter guy set back for 3:00 PM by default. It was scary when I read the statistics for the trolley speed and calculated that the speed at which the trolley can move was just about 100 Km per hour. Fearing that we will not be able to notice much at that speed, I boarded the trolley and was amazed to see that the trolley did not have any seats with seat belts, but was having just hangers from the roof top that we had to hold with our hands to prevent from accidental sharp movements. I gripped two of them with all the extra strength required when Gunjan would require her husband to support her. To my surprise the speed was quite slow, slow enough that we were not required to hold anything, just enjoy the scenic beauty. It is a beautiful ropeway to traverse. I heard later that it is considered to be one of the best we have in India. It takes us more than 1100 mtrs. high from Mean sea level in just about 22 minutes. We were at the rear of the trolley, which had 25 total people standing in it, so we could see all the downhill that the trolley was covering but not the upcoming hills. There are 10 towers in total that the trolley covers. We saw the army cantonment area at about the 4th tower. As the trolley gained height, we started to see small patches of snow on the mountains, which then changed slowly to a sea of snow. Starting from snow which was of the depth of a hand, it converted to snow that was a feet deep. The 8th tower of the trolley is at the Auli GMVN Hotel (made of wooden huts) and sure there is, and cannot be another Hotel at that place. You gotta see it to believe it. Someone told me that it costs Rs. 6000 per night at this place, but I could not confirm that. The trolley reached the 10th tower and it stopped.
As soon as we came out, there was a bunch of teenagers who started to offer us ski equipment and their training services. Youngest of them was the most persistent one. He was offering equipment at Rs. 400 per hour with trainer charges extra, but after a while he agreed to Rs. 300 per person without any time limitation. Good that I had checked the rates from Joshimath before leaving for Auli. There was no snow outside, just ice, and about two kids were trying to use their hired ski equipment on that. That’s it, I thought, it seems to much to spend for too less worth. Then we climbed up some slippery steps to see the bigger area, where we were to get the training, and the money was suddenly worth it.
We both were soon in the ski trying to control our falls. Gunjan was too conscious to be able to fall, I proudly fell 5 times. The best fall is when it is caused by someone else. I was facing the cliff end of the ski area, with my back towards the bigger ski area trying to take a breath before I take a U turn, and swoosh… came one of the fresh trainee, taking me off my feet. I saved him from getting down the cliff, he was trying to save some money by getting the equipment but not the trainer. There I was on the ice with both the sticks 5 feet away from me and left ski standing in upright position with my leg making a 45 degree angle with the ground and my right ski going away and away from me. Cannot say if I saved him or he spared me. Gunjan got tired early, ski is heavy on your arms as well incase you want to go uphill without wearing them off and if you are stiffening your muscles to stay away from falling. Gunjan went off for a nice tea break with Pakora, and I kept the spirit to recover all the money that I was to give for the equipment and trainer. We then had a walk over the snow using the snow shoes that you get at Rs. 50 per pair and met two couples who came from Kolkatta, one of them was Saif who helped us click some good photographs of both of us. The Ski guy gave us a discount of Rs. 50 when Gunjan reminded him how less she actually did use the equipment and services.
We had good omelet with tea before we reached the trolley which was to leave back at 3:00 PM which was delayed because of less number of people, so we waited till 3:30 PM to get back downhill. We tried to see if we can still get back some shared Sumo till Karanprayag, but unfortunately the last shared Sumo to Karanprayag goes from Joshimath at about 2 PM. We did not eat on our way back hoping to get some food at the Hotel from where we had already checked out. We were late for the lunch timings and the Super Deluxe rooms were all sold out. We were offered the Rs. 500, semi Deluxe room which was shady and had no television or blower though we were committed a heater in the room at Rs. 70. We asked incase they had rooms available in the bunglow that was uphill and they could not confirm. So we went uphill to see if the room was available. We got similar Semi Deluxe room which was more spacious, had a better view and had a television in there. But because of the television it was costing us Rs. 500. We checked in to it but could order only omelet toast instead of lunch. We were too tired to go out for lunch and after getting an early dinner commitment from the chef decided to do with the omelet for now. We followed up on the killing of Benazir on the television and rested for few hours. We had realized that to reach back home on Sunday night and for Gunjan to reach office on Monday morning, we should start our journey back for Rishikesh the next day. I finished the remaining 8 PM with no support from Gunjan and acted like a drunkard for sometime trying to create scene inside and outside the room before realizing that it was really cold outside and that it is better to end it and get in the bed so that we can move out early, the next day. I’m sure Gunjan has a lot more to say about my acts!!!

Saturday, December 29th, 2007
We woke up at 5 AM and not able to decide who moves out of the bed first got out at about 9 AM, checked out of the Hotel and got a shared Sumo for Chamoli. Chamoli was the most visited and revisited station of our trip. Gunjan was dreading riding a bus back on the track between Joshimath and Chamoli so we decided the middle seat this time in a shared sumo. We were smart enough today to learn from our own past, though were not wise enough in the past to learn from others experience by looking at the people plummeting for the middle seat in preference to the back seat. Again a waiting time of good half an hour with two middle aged (Gunjan considered them hot) ladies cramped on my left side and Gunjan on my right claiming of travel sickness to get the window seat. They were discussing that NTPC was cutting the mountains and the road for Chamoli was blocked. But we did not take it seriously since there was some traffic coming from Chamoli side. We started back at 11AM. Just about 10 Kms. away from Joshimath on the way back, we stopped and came to know that the road was blocked due to cutting of the mountain. Some people passing by told that it will take 2 hours for the road to be cleaned up but the driver of our Sumo suggested that it will take not less than 3 hours to clear up. With plans to reach Rishikesh, the same day we were confused whether to leave the current Sumo like others were doing, cross the cutting area on foot and then try to get another shared Sumo that was coming from the other side and would retreat now. Our driver wanted to go back to Joshimath. Our decision took all the time we had, not an inch width was left of the road, we had to literary request the cuttings workers to stop so that we can climb the rocks to the other side. We reached the other side of the cutting area, realizing that the last Sumo was leaving. Sometimes what mars people treat as problem looks romantic symphony to people from Venus. Classic example. As I was about to regret our slow decision making, I got a chance to rectify it. I saw a mini Tata 404 truck taking a U turn so I requested the driver to drop us till Chamoli which he bluntly refused. I then realized that it was an army truck and there was a CRPF personnel accompanying the truck. I requested the CRPF Jawan, who after looking at my female company agreed to drop us till Pipalkoti which was still 16 Kms. from Chamoli, and we could expect some shared Sumo from there to Chamoli. Now our trip was starting to get adventurous?
We sat in the back on the truck and started for our journey back, enjoying another of the first time in life thing. We picked up a daily laborer, followed by some local teenagers, and finally bundles of woods for fireplace for the army camp before we reached Pipalkoti, which was the last stop for the truck, 16 kms from Chamoli. We got out of the Truck and thanked the CRPF Jawan. It is really difficult to find a toilet in this region, which makes travel for ladies difficult than for men. We reached Chamoli at around 1:30 PM and got the next ride on a shared Sumo for Rishikesh quite easily. But lack of passengers delayed our leaving back till 2:30 PM by which time we had my favourite Alloo Parantha with tea. Sumo driver was in a rush and stopped only once on our way back for tea, at Srinagar. That’s when he realized that we had a flat tyre. We had good long chats about our past, Gunjan’s Julie, engineering, civil engineering, Message parsing etc. We were expected to reach at 8 PM in Rishikesh, but getting the tyre mended took more time than we had anticipated. We reached Rishikesh at about 9:30 PM. The localites in the Sumo told us that GMVN guest house is available just next to the turn towards bus stand, but we would have to walk till there. We reached GMVN guest house near Natraj Chowk at around 10:00 PM. It was a clean and big Hotel and we got a good Deluxe room for Rs. 700 on first floor, while ordinary room was available for Rs. 500. The kitchen was closing so we had to order as soon as we got inside the room. All plans of rafting were shattered because of cold and lack of time. We had a huge dinner that night before we slept thinking to wake up early for Rishikesh site seeing. Gunjan observed that there was no geyser in the bathroom but we were too tired to talk further so we slept.

Sunday, December 30th, 2007
We woke up at 9:00 AM in the morning. The only bad thing was that the room service was not available on phone and I had to walk to the ground floor to order anything. We had a good breakfast but without egg or omelet. They said that most of the people are on holy trip from here so it is difficult to get eggs in here. My trip’s favorite Alloo Parantha was it then. We started to see around after 11:00 AM. We dropped our luggage at the reception and went walking till Natraj Chowk to get a shared Auto for Rs. 4 each to the market. From there we got a shared Auto for Rs. 10 each till Laxman jhulla. We visited some shops before the Jhulla to purchase some Navratan malla and original sputnik stones. We then managed to reach Laxamn jhulla where Gunjan purchased some atta to drop to the fishes in the river from the center of the Jhulla. Before she could reach anywhere at the mid point one of the monkey snatched it from her. She was frightened by the innocent act of the monkey and did not want to hang around any loose fittings from that point that could attract any more monkeys. We reached the other end of Laxman jhulla and Gunjan got a sudden fit of shopping rage. Somehow, we managed without spending a pie from that point onwards. We walked back towards the Ram Jhulla from a narrow street where shared jeep was the primary mode of travel. I was searching for a public toilet for which I saw a mark saying behind the Choti wala post office. We walked towards the back side of Ram Jhulla thinking Choti wala is the name of the building where the post office is located. Choti walla was actually a famous restaurant behind Ram Jhulla that was established in 1953, which was then divided between two brothers. The specialty of both of these restaurants is that at the entrance there is a Choti walla pandit sitting with a colorful painted face. We had a Choti wala special Thali for Rs. 100 at the restaurant which had brighter Choti walla at the entrance.
We then spent sometime at Ganga beach next to Ram Jhulla before walking back to get a shared Auto back to Market followed by an Auto to Natraj Chowk. It was already 4:00 PM and we managed to get another Auto to Bus stand from GMVN which took Rs. 20 to take us to Bus Stand.
We were told that the only Deluxe bus that goes from Rishikesh to Delhi leaves in the morning, so we planned to take a Deluxe bus from Haridwar to Delhi. We took an ordinary bus till Haridwar and got the 5:15 PM HiTech Deluxe Uttaranchal bus back to Delhi which was expected to reach Delhi at 9:30 PM.
We stopped by a restaurant at the backside of a Reliance petrol pump to have food. We ordered butter Chicken but had to get it exchanged for Shahi paneer due to an insect in our serving. There were Numerous traffic jams on our way back and Gunjan wanted to go to the toilet. She had to wait till we got till Meerut where the bus stopped specially for us so that we could relieve ourselves. Both of us were mute till the time she reached the toilet after a wait of irresistible one and a half hours.
We could hardly sleep but we reached Delhi at 12:30 AM. We got an Auto for Rs. 350 for the risk of taking a Delhi Auto inside UP. It was very cold in the Auto and we got all wrapped up in Gunjan’s mufflers and shawls before reaching home.

It was definitely one of our best trips…totally cherishable.



Copyedited : Gunjan Kataria