You were instrumental in a lesson well learnt!
Lesson – Identifying your own mistake and making an effort to apologize and try not to repeat it again makes a relationship stronger!
Category: Personal
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Nani
I was in Meerut last night, and the expression and body language that my Nani had, when I told her that I am ok with getting married and would try to get married soon, was priceless!
Just one of the moments, which will make my marriage worth it I guess! -
The heart and home gets a BEAT!
So finally after a wait of about 50 days, we got our third car!First White, then Red and now a Blue… my family tends to stick with the primary colors only 🙂
Radha and Meera outside the house 🙂
Let’s talk about the good in this car as I observed in the first 5 kilometers of my drive1. The front of the car is very bold, and aggressive. Makes it stand out well!2. The lights are smartly designed, though I would have liked a different set of headlights. GM has toned down some styling to cater to the cost conscious Indian market.3. The rear door handle is cleverly concealed next to the window, and does not show up on the door, giving it a two door feel in the first quick look. The original (which was first seen in Transformers 2 is a two door)4. The interiors are futuristic… Brilliantly designed dashboard, gives it a sports car feel, and the matte chrome three spoke steering wheel is just adequately sized.5. The rear lights are big and would be helpful in Delhi fog6. The head room is great7. 14″ wheels are standard and that gives the car a better fuller look, plus helps a bit of stability8. The LT version that I got has an integrated music system which makes for a good looking interior and plays my iPOD9. The seats hold the back very nicely and have a decent lumbar support too10. The speaker system is decent if you do not want to spend more on thump and sound volumes11. The paint job is nice and clean and the build quality of the vehicle is good. This is anyway expected from GM12. The car is extremely silent13. There are intelligent spaces in the car to keep thingsA few things that are not so good about the car1. The boot space is bad and so is the glove box. Its very small too.2. The tires are thin… 155/70R4 is something screams for an upgrade to atleast 170/65R14… It would take away a few previous kilometers from the mileage though…3. There is no left foot rest!!!! What was GM thinking? That will make long drives difficult!!!And now because I have been driving a FIAT… let’s talk about how BEAT feels when compared to a PALIO1. It feels light.. very light… has both advantages and disadvantages..2. Palio feels very rich in terms of its interiors as compared to the Beat…3. The tyre upgrade that I did for Palio makes it feel more stable… I am already waiting for my first tyre upgrade4. The doors of a Palio close with a THUD… and the Beat closes with a slightly subtle thud… makes me feel strange!5. Palio has door stoppers which stop the door from swinging open when you get out of it.. you always have to make an effort to open the door… That simple functionality has helped me a lot in the last 5 years of owning the car!Its great to have two good cars now.. One which is very slick, modern and smart, and the other which feels safe, strong and is still going very strong after 5.5 years of a trouble free ownership. And both bold, aggressive, and very stylish in their own worlds!!!! -
The Great Indian Wedding
Cliche’d Title… rightly so.. there is so much so cliche’d about the Indian Wedding that one would not even know where to start from. I intend to write about my observations about an Indian wedding, or maybe a “how it’s done for people from UP” wedding as I walk through the course myself (in due course of time) and how I see things happening around!What you read below is something that I had written about a month ago at a small gathering at my cousin’s place!I am sitting at my cousin’s place attending a small function where his future in-laws have come to formalize the marriage and start formally calling him the son-in-law or Damaad. My cousin is a very soft spoken family guy and has been agreeing to most of the things a very typical arranged marriage system offers and demands from a groom-to-be, right from meeting the girl for not more than 10 minutes, and that too after the marriage was fixed, not talking too much with the girl till marriage, to adjusting with the marriage of two families.Yes, in India its families that are married and not just bride and the groom. I am sitting amongst auntijies and taijis, and mausijis and chachijies and what not, who remember me by my nick name and find it very awkward associating a 30 year old man with a name like that! This cousin in question is younger than me and a part of all initial conversations, and no points for guessing, is when am I getting married? or why am I not yet married? Mom over years have perfected a response to this question, which is, Baat Chal Rahi hai, Dekho kya hota hai! i.e. there are talks going on, let’s see when things take shape! It does stop any further questions, however not before an elaborate mention of some distant relatives daughter who is very pretty, slim, tall, well educated and comes from a family like none other!Me not being married is a big concern also because most men of my age in their opinion have atleast two kids, one of which is already going to a school! My dear friend Prashant, the clock is ticking! tick tock tick tock!Now that the fact that I am not yet married and would soon be getting married, is established in the conversation, I now get treated like any other kid around. Everyone suddenly has this uncontrollable urge to stuffing me with food, and the keen observation that I have reduced weight and I look weaker than before comes alive! The fact that no one around has seen me for years, and have no clue of what I used to look like even an year ago has very little or no statistical impact on this observation!Whatever said and done, this overwhelming affection that you get in Indian homes from people you know and people you don’t, makes India a better country to be in from the rest of the world!A couple of hours later, after the girl’s family has completed the “Ladka Hamara Hua” (the boy is ours) formalities, the environment is suddenly a lot louder and happier. Pleasantries have been exchanged, sweets distributed, and envelops with 10 and 50 rupee notes have been given by the bride’s father to my mausiji for distribution in the family… These envelops equal the number of people in the family, first cousins of my cousin, brothers and kids of my mausaji’s and their family, and who and what nots… This is some sort of a ritual that is important, and is called Milai, something that you give when you formally meet the boy’s family, only in this case they have met just a handful of people they got envelops for!There are some kids roaming around the house and according to the auntijis mine should have been a part of that gang, but that is beside the point! There is this li’il girl about 5 years old who is looking at her reflection in the glass door of a showcase and calling it a ghost! Cute! and that makes her the centre of attention now. I am writing this and am trying to read “Chai Chai” ( I need to write my thoughts about that book too soon)The ladies in the room are also talking about the various connections between various people and how they are related to each other through some distant chacha or mama or mausi aur dewar or bhabhi and so on… During all this relationship networking, what stands out is the fact that all the women in this room still refer to themselves along with the village they belong to! and there is a certain amount of pride which is associated in this reference! interesting!Infact, for a long time I used to refer to Kariyari (my mother’s village) as mine, which irked my grandfather (Father’s father) like nothing else… That’s is another story that I would write sometime later!For now, the people have started dispersing and its time for me to get back home! -
Is sab ke zimmedaar! aap hain!!!!
Shukriya
धन्यवाद
gracias
dankie
благодаря
děkuji ti
bedankt
salamat
merci
Danke
σε ευχαριστώ
תודה
grazie
ありがとうございました
terima kasih
dziękuję
obrigado
gracias
asante
ขอบคุณ
Спасибо
ddiolch ‘ch
and like i said… ye sab aapki wajah se hua hai 🙂
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There IS something in the name!
Shakespear said, “What’s in a name?”I said there is a lot!!! Would you enter a store which is called Resham, to buy cotton kurtas…or would you go to a cafe called BanarsiDas Tambuwale to have coffee? I guess not!!!! Name does help make a connection… add some jazz to things, shops, brands and so on and so forth!!!A friend of mine, is planning a stint with enterprunership and needs some help from Chai Ki Dukaan readers… So what is needed from you is to suggest a name that captures the essence of the Indian handicrafts industry…colours, crafts, unexplored talent in rural India. For all you know, the name that you suggest might be a popular brand a few years down the line, and you get some amazing discounts on the stores which keep that brand!So go ahead… suggest!!! -
65001
Yesterday, me and Radha complete 65000 kms of our togetherness after a fantastic drive to and in the hills!!! Will write about the trip sometime later though!
She has been like an angel looking after me all these years we have been together!!! Thank you Radha and thank you uncle God for these wonderful times!!!
Like I like to say, Life is great!
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sale sale Single Ladka!!! Sale Sale!!!
One of my very very dear friends J, is SINGLE, and is looking for a valentine’s day date! He mentioned that to me in the morning today and I vouched to put this issue up somewhere… my best somewhere happens to be Chai ki Dukaan!
The guy is very smart, good looking, soft spoken, a brilliant photographer and an entrepreneur with a smile worth millions and a heart of Gold! and Single! and available!
If you know someone in Bangalore, who would like to go out on a blind date, please do leave a note here! I hope my friend is reading the post and the comments!
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of driving and drivers
You can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he drives on the road!I was told this sometime in 1999, when I had taken a lift from Mayur Vihar to Pragati Maidan and then the gentlemen went on to talk about some of the drivers and how they were handling their vehicles on the road… It was a very interesting 30 minute discussion, and the thought has been there in my mind ever since! I notice how people handle and drive their vehicles, and map it back to how they are, including myself.
My theory is that while you are at the steering wheel, over a period of time you are driving with your sub-concious mind. This is the reason why the clutch, the gear shift, the horn, the dipper, the brake, the accelerator seem to be working together seamlessly while you become a part of the car, in a way!
And if my way of driving has to tell anything about me, it is that….
1. I have stopped rushing into a lot of things… an empty road does not mean a hard press on the gas!
2. I feel very contented with where I am, I see the road ahead and am more than willing to take the journey, and I see the rear view mirror to see the distance I have covered
3. I still get very annoyed at displays of irresponsibility and recklessness. I think Angry is a more appropriate word!
4. I am agressive in my approach
5. I do not get bothered by the surrounding noise. Even if I do, it takes a while for it to get to my head. Mostly I am involved in my own thoughts for the noise to be irritating
6. I like to give way and be patient.
7. I like to be protective and possesive of the things in my perimeter.
8. I hate being judged because of a few instances. Observations, alright! Judgements! get lost!
9. I do not mind changing pace depending on the situations… I do not have not go at the same speed always, and its ok to slow down
10. I ENJOY where I am!
Most of these seem to be hovering around the same point! interesting!
