Basmati & Banker...: A tale of two B's

It was a guest lecture during a lukewarm Feb 2010 afternoon . A hot discussion on Basmati and its various aspects was getting hotter with the involvement of an eminent personality accompanied by a beautifull lady and regular inputs by a class of 83 + 53 wrapped in Business suits.Words like Basmati,texamati, Dubai, commodity, export,bullshit norms, bloody policies,WTO etc were in a continuous float making the winter air heavier.

In the midst of this irregular and meaningfull cacophany I with the minimal knowledge of commodity occupied the 2nd seat in the fifth row. With my brain very less permeable to the commodity gyan all round I frequently looked out of the window….viewed the visible sky amidst the tender spring leaves of the tree, a tilt in whose growth has placed a part of it right infront of the window. I saw the blue sky, the green panorama, the basking concrete road,a part of the green lawn…and consoled myself….. “Cmon man…theres still a part of the world away from commodities and policies…U are still safe…..”

But that was a temporary escape. Here after 1 year and 8 months I stand at a place where Basmati has become an integral part of me and every policy affecting Basmati affects me much more. No..m not planning to become a farmer but as a banker involved in Commodity funding stationed in the Basmati bowl of India.

And since the last season was an dwindling one now all types of foolish superstitions (crossing the bumper from the right side, entering through the right gate…) of mine gets alligned for the anticipation of this year……I never thought that the name of Proprietors of some of the well known brands of Basmati (Kohinoor, Dunar,India Gate..) would find a mention in my email inbox depicting the target segment..I never imagined that the growing Demand of Texamati would be of such concern to me…I never ordained a feeling of directing all type of slangs to Arab Countries for narrowing their imports from India…I never anticipated that a policy change for allowing export of rice would usher me with a pleasant feeling….:)

It was a few days back on my way to visit a Client. The ugly tar road got its beauty enhanced by the huge spread of Basmati fields on both sides of it. A rustic but a pleasant smell of the grains stepping to the maturity stage was being sprinkled here and there by the wind.The about to set Sun directed its lean rays almost horizontally touching just the upper grains making the yellow look infuse into golden both in terms of look and value.I got down from my bike…absorbed a little of the mystic beauty of that serene vista …. went to the edge of the field with a glee feeling..touched the grains….was about to pick up one streak…stopped….smiled…whispered….Let the production not be less even by a triffle..:)

So here it is..Basmati have a real significant place in my life now…(except my food…where the tiffin centre still sends the normal rice… )..Long live Basmati…..Long live Rice processors….Long live Basmati exports…& Huge be the funding required…!!!. 

The Confessions of a Dance-a-holic...!!!

Very weird title..isnt it???...well, I actualy dint know the exact vocabulary (and too lazy to search it out) and furthermore the minimal quantity of readers may just allow it to be certified as bearable.

Dancing is fabulous..(such a cliché statement….!!!...said by every 1 of 3 persons in this world..!!!!)

Well there was a time when it wasn’t for me. During my school days I used to assume dancers to be some zoo escaped animals getting a lot of stares from the people around with the cordinated movement of their tibia, febula, hip and elbow bones. Singing was a thing that I appreciated much more(absence of DID and other dance reality shows added concrete to it).

But it was final year in school when some of my friends developed a sudden energy for performing a group dance with unfortunately (though it turned to be a fortune coockie..) me in the group. I carelessly nodded affirmative, thinking not a streak of sustainability could ever creep into the idea….BUT I was wrong. This time the folks were really serious….Last year at school,wud be a thing to be remembered, stage glamour blah blah blah…!!!!( how u all got this self realisation at this time??..and not in the last nine years…!!!)

Practice started. Song chosen was ‘Backstreet boys are back’. It was the 3rd English song I had ever heard,the other two being ‘The Titanic song’ and Ricky martin’s ‘Here we go..’ . My parent’s firm belief that ‘Cable Connection during school days have the miraculous ability to destroy your career’ was the reason behind this sheer ignorance.(…and ofcourse I cant blame Doordarshan for not showing english songs…).

I was given a place in the front row!!!!. Front row??????.....shoutings,cheers, faces, teachers, girrrls….no no…with a lack of even 50gm confidence that cant be a place for a shy guy like me...with lots of irrelevant excuses I somehow switched to the back row…Ahhh…I felt a bit safe....atleast my mistakes and undancely steps will be slightly ignored..!!!!

Finally we performed and most unexpectedly it turned out to be the best performance of the year..!!! (How it happened??...plz dnt ask me …a real mystery..!!)..On personal level I was glad that I performed my part flawlessly and more glad bcz..The adventure was over…!!! But this was the first time in life when in a serendipity therapy I was drawn close to dancing…though my shyness didn’t let that feeling to bloom much.

Icidences, co incidences and some failures succeded in landing me at HAU for graduation. After an epic of memorable ragging, the time for Freshers arrived.
Auditorim…Auditions…me on stage…clueless..shivering…!!! ‘What can u perform?’,the question from seniors hit me…My Medula oblongata, from the core of my brain acted as a radar tryn hard to catch hold of some answer to be passed to the tongue. Singing - No, Acting - OMG, Mimicry - r u crazzzy???, Nothing – cmon,dat cant be an option ...amidst all these, a rare vocal chord within myself uttered daringly…D D Dancing..!!!..and the voice was loud enough to be carried to them..And I knew…The worse is yet to come..!!!!

When asked to perform..i was blank....my shyness seemed to blanket me more tightly....What to do?..do I have an excuse?...i wish a loadshedding occurs…And numerous other random thoughts passed on more randomly. ‘Do it quick’.. a shrill lady voice rang the alarm. And suddenly my brain recollected the monophonic ringtone I heard few hours ago from the mobile of a clerk staff downstairs. And the next second I was somehow swinging my legs alike Salman khan in the song.. “O O jane jaana”….I was saved …and selected too.

And this was the point when dancing became more closer….perorming in freshers, teaching to juniors, some random steps with Dr. Bharadwaj, A winning performance wid Laura at Fest…and it went on….and unexpectedly I could reduce shyness and stage fear just bcoz of dancing….will always be grateful to HAU for the wonderfull platform..!!!


And then at MANAGE..!!!....Dancing was always fun here. The loud clappings and cheers always whirled a coogly-woogly feeling inside my stomach with an aura of pleasure. Many saw me swinging my hands while walking and gave a hearty laugh..with me too joing them..but believe me….those movements were not at all intentional…I resoluted to take care many times but failed miserably till someone else spotted me again..:P…And every time I performed, I missed many steps which I most intensely thought to execute(most of them originated during my bathroom dance.. …)….and I would repent for my forgetfullness..And before every dance i repented highly for the fatty cells sky scraping sideways all around my stomach preventing many steps to be executed perfectly.

It was a strange situation when the Santas started to dance with me during the Christmas party and I attempted to involve in a salsa with the Santa( Hari om).

And it is a tickling pleasure when u stand on the stage and friends shout Dance dance….and u take a litl ..BHAAU…refusing at first and then going for it…..And hearty thanks goes to my dance partners…(ashish, neha pallo,divya. ..)

Last confession…As a dancer you can always predict that the song dedicated to u will be..’I am a disco dancer’.:…its not at all a bad feeling…but too predictable…The bollywood needs to take out another song with the word Dancer in it….its high time…..

And lastly…..Dancing is Fabulous...(ya ya…I know it’s a cliché…..but its true…!!!!)

ROCK GARDEN......a soft impression down the memory lane

Maybe it was just the prompt bent of mind of the architect to retain the rocks while ordaining the walls around it…or maybe just to shed away the burden of shifting the rocks…but eventually the design of the creator graduated to a delight…and thus one of the most ecstatic place in MANAGE came into shape……the Rock Garden........a place which at times can be as silent as the serene dawn and the next moment witnesses it to be the most chaotic.
It’s the place which blurbs the essence of trapping a part of nature within our daily life. From the inception it must have absorbed numerous emotions being shared on the cell phone, must have nodded head to the decisions taken in the cacophonous meetings organized on it, must have shared the joys of the small parties on it, must have assimilated the chunks of smokes let out while smoking sitting on the rocks, must have tapped its feet to the tunes of guitar and the tuneless singing…...and much much more.
The grass is always engaged in a never ending war to mark its growth against the numerous feet tappings of the students but never fails to impart a soothing feeling to the eyes. The rocks stands erect as ever with the frantic raindrops rushing on them making them appear more afresh, more renewed.And both of them enigmatically but successfully injects a feeling of light heartedness among the ones who spend minutes in the rock garden…maybe to feel the morning ecstacy, maybe to bask in the winter sun or maybe just to relax a bit…….And thus in cascades of nostalgia which will always drift us back to MANAGE ,Rock Garden will always a eternal part…a beautifull milestone…a soft impression of memories.:)

MONSOONS.......rains and emotions....:)

Sometimes the rains are not water droplets descending down.....they seem to be a shower of emotions suddenly ushered by none from everywhere...the monsoons seem to radiate within u a form of silent energy but in a different way..the energy doesnt makes u agile but rather makes u gather urself up and sit down makin u make a distant view without actually seeing anything...and suddenly u r stirred by the sudden breeze thats thumps on ur face..or a cute sight of two maynahs flattering their wings together on a branch..or maybe a just bloomed small flower attaining an overwhelming beauty with few droplets on its petals as a silent gift of the monsoon.............nd all these so very reminds me of those initial days of ours where love and innocence cascades downs slowly creating a slow potrait of emotions which succeeds in secluding time into a slow and serene motion.....erupting a small invisible fume of divine joy that submerges all other pains.............that drifts ur heart to somewhere heavenly place.....somewhere which seems very near to u..but still unknown,mystic and mesmerising..... away from the fake sights and feelings of the earth....away to somewhere where the lily's blue emits love...where the horizon's vastness displays trueness...where the first set of raindrops rushes to touch the ground to release the purest of emotions....and where each night doubles the love held within and passses it over to the coming nascent morning to spread it in the air creating an aura of vivid but immortal feelings.............:):)

SAVE THE ROYALS...

"....the silence of the forest whispering a fear in my heart making my heart beat faster than ever....the thumpings crosssed the boundations of stethoscope and was clearly hiting my eardrums....the deep silence,at intervals was scratched by the shrieks of a few birds on the topmost branches ...The settled breeze suddenly in few pockets attained motion to sweep off the fallen dry leaves producing a rumbling sound that dies away soon but adds up to the mystery...The depth in the silence itself ventilates the presence of someone powerful..someone majestic..With fears enveloping every nerves but excitement stairing to the pinnacle,we advanced slowly as a part of our Safari at the Sunderbans.Trodding through the irregular,narrow path suddenly we came to a halt....Each one of us was awestruck...It was just a few meters away...The TIGER...immensely majestic,enchantingly beautiful,undoubtedly royal.."

......................But my imagination got an abrupt end here.My mind suddenly recalled the TV ad deciphering that only 1411 tigers are left in India. In this case when the tigers are not being found in their natural habitat how can i manage to have one in my imagination anecdote. This blows the siren that it is high time for us to take atleast the minimum step possible to mark our contribution in protecting these royals. And as said awareness is the best weapon. So why not we be aware and spread awareness to make the roar louder..to protect our national animal....to help our forests retain their majestic proprietors?

Join the initiative "save our tigers" by Aircel...it supports a cause worth thinking.