25 Dec 2015

Life is, how you look at it!



Sometimes it so happens that, some incidences happens unknowingly and they get etched on your mind forever. It is not the incidence which you recollect, but the person who responds to that incidence remains so close to your heart, that’s the reason you get that feeling, “Yaar, iss Bande me dum he” For me this feeling is as old as almost a year, when I was in Kolhapur. I was with my boss, we were about to leave that place, and one little boy around 12 years old, ran towards us in School uniform, well combed hair, tidy dress, and good smile on face. Sir, do you need rag to clean your bike? I am having some good rags with me, only for 20 bucks. And he started to convince me to buy at least one rag from him, but unfortunately I already bought one just the day before, which I told him. Then he said it will be helpful if I buy that rag from him, as he needed the money to pay his school fees. Hearing this I got bit sentimental and I offered him 50 bucks and said I already have one rag with me, you keep this money for your education fees. He refused to take money and said he will only take money if I buy something from him. His self-esteem put me in an awkward position. My boss was behind me, he said, “Nikhil he won’t take money, until you buy something from him” as a result I bought the rag from him, he said thank you with a big smile, and went to next person for the same.
During our lunch time when we were having our meal, I asked my boss, why he didn’t take the money? Manager replied, Self-respect, he answered in one word. Because he was boss, I avoided further discussion, but my mind was battling with the thoughts that if his self-respect was that much important then why he told his need on the first place. From my point of view, if he is selling goods on the streets, instead of giving that time to study, how he could do justice to his academics. Sometimes you need to cut corners, to achieve your goals. That doesn’t mean you should do things which doesn’t fit to your values. But one should be wise enough to look the things from other perspective and there is nothing wrong in it. If he could have taken those 50 bucks as a scholarship it could have save his time of selling two rags less and he could have utilize this for his study. After all Life is how you look at it. You may say glass is half empty, or in other words glass is half full.

5 Dec 2015

Pune Gold Rush!



It is said that when a company gives direct job to 10 people it means it gives 50 indirect job to others. Same is the condition happening in Pune.  A small city, a city with abundant greenery around, a city with historical importance, a city known as education hub, and of course a pensioner’s city. Of late this has changed a lot. The city which was known for its peaceful life is now experiencing a gold rush and life hasn’t been same since then as it used to be. It all started in the year Y2K. Initially nobody knew the potential of this thing. Yes, initially it was just the Thing now it has become the boom. Everybody wants to become a part of it. Right from a fruit vendor to builder, from an institution to the farmer.  Let’s understand why?
Software companies here, are mainly service base, they takes up the projects from developed countries complete it and supply to them. This is all happening because labor here is less economical, but skilled, and cost incurred is in rupees. That’s why IT companies are flourishing here. Basically we are doing someone else’s laundry work but in less cost. But  then the question remains  why people are still getting attracted towards it. The reason is MONEY! Because what is considered as less there, is consider more here. It’s a win win situation for both.  
Initially when this all was new here, People working it IT were limited, and companies were making huge profits. So a Software guy used to make 25-30 k at the start of his career. A guy who just passed out of college earning that kind of money used to spend also in a same way. Saturday Sunday pubs used to full of IT crowd.  Software engineers looked like rock stars and Software companies looked like rock bands to the society. Who doesn’t want to earn the money? So lot of colleges started coming up with different computer courses, Bcs, Mcs, BCA, MCA, BE in computer, BE in Information Technology and what not. Because of ‘Hinjewadi’ all western part of Pune Wakad, Baner, Pashan started to flourish. Then came the ‘Magarpatta city’ to the south east area of pune which flourished Hadapsar, Korgaon park and camp area, then it was ‘Talwade IT park’, the north side of Pune which flourished the Moshi, Chakan and Dehu road. Now with ‘Eon IT park’ at eastern part of the pune flourished the Kharadi, Nagar road and Vimannagar.
When we talk about “Flourished” what exactly it means? The real estate rate of these areas increased. These areas were nothing but the farms and barren lands of farmers. Today these guys are moving with nothing less than a Fortuner and almost half a kg gold on them. Every Dr want to settle his clinic in these areas. Every baniya wants to open his shop in these area, just because IT people spends like anything. So like I said “when a company gives direct job to 10 people it means it gives 50 indirect job to others”.  If this progress continues for even less than a decade then Pune and Mumbai will match up on financial level. I am sure that this gold rush will continue, because the real money is yet to come!

23 Nov 2015

From City I hate to live To City I hate to leave!



It’s been almost a year, and when I look back now, it feels kinda weird, as how a person’s likes and dislikes changes. I still remember my interview, I was asked the final question, is Kolhapur okay for you? And I was like, its fine for me, but Pune would be a better option. And the answer came, “No we only have Kolhapur.” As I was tired of waiting for good company for placement, so I decided, let’s get into this. It will be fun experience. After all, lot has been heard about Kolhapur. Tambda Pandhara, Rankala Lake, Museum, Kolhapur Talims etc.
After one month of rigorous training, finally the day came, where we were given our offer letter, and it was written in bold letters, ‘Location-Kolhapur’. Basically being Mh-12, and the person who has never left home, it was bit emotional moment for me. So here in Kolhapur one Bhk, me and my friend this was my world, which was pretty much shaken by the traffic and roads of this city, the language of this city which either starts with @ Randichya, or @ Marda…, and the weird names of places, like Kavala Naka, Redyachi Takkar, Baicha Putala, Papachi Tikati. But I was mesmerized at the same time by the unique houses and their constructions present here, vehicles and their unique number plates, all the brand outlets. It’s like a big metro city being compressed and placed in six and half kilometer radius place.
Homecoming used to be a different experience; it used to start on Saturday evening and used to end on Monday morning back in Kolhapur. Saturdays were reserved for friends, and of course Sunday afternoon. Naturally, mom used to get angry on me, as to, ‘if you want to meet your friends then why are you coming home, just stay with them and go back to Kolhapur’. After becoming Kolhapurkar I become used to the habit of honking the horn so much that when I used to drive in my home city, people used to look at me, as if I am from another planet. Indeed I was from another planet, it is Planet Kolhapur . 
It is said that ‘When you are in Rome behave like Romans’, the phrase that I followed when I entered in Kolhapur and what it’s worth, Kolhapur become the ‘city I hate to live to city I hate to leave’.
Now when I look back is to how it happened, my thoughts ends up at one particular logic. ‘What makes family a good family or not so good is the people in the family itself.’ Same is the logic applied with the city. What makes a city, a good city and not so good city is, the people in the city itself. As per the saying goes, every city has its perks and benefits, and Kolhapur is not an exception for it. It’s been more than a year for me in Kolhapur and this is how I feel about Kolhapur. Basically being Puneiet, where city is up till 12 in night, and you can easily get paneer tikka masala at 12 in night to Kolhapur where grocery shop gets close 10 in the night, and you need to eat what is available in the hotel, what I missed and what I enjoyed the most is bit difficult to tell. But you know as it says every city has its perks and benefits, and talking about benefits. You won’t get tambda-pandhara as tasty as compare to Kolhapur. You will get pan tapries in your city but you won’t get pan shops as big as grocery shops, which makes customer visit again and again.
I love the hospitality in Kolhapur right from the perfume shop in Rajarampuri to Bank of Shastrinagar, the scrap dealer near Shahu mill to gas refiller near the Padma talkies. People here are bit different they are loud, but soft hearted and helpful.  Once you get used to it you fall in love with this loudness and life becomes more fun.

25 Oct 2015

The Thing Called : Love



What is love? Is it a feeling? An emotion? Or an act? Let me tell you a story then you only decide what is it? It’s a story of two lizards. As you all know japan is earthquake prone country. So after one such an earthquake, a family decided to renovate their house because it was damaged a bit. The walls in that house were wooden with some hollow spaced in-between. When the man broke open the wall, he saw a lizard who was stuck in one of the hollow space because a nail was drilled in one of its feet. He saw this and felt pity and at the same time he got curious, because it was nailed almost ten years ago when the house was built. How come the lizard has survived? After a while he saw another lizard that came with the food in its mouth, and fed the other lizard. The second lizard was doing this for ten long years untiringly.
What you call this act, Love? So what is love? Is it a feeling of that second lizard? Or an emotion that just surfaced in your mind while reading this story? Or it’s an act of that second lizard?     

21 Oct 2015

Mediocrity




What is mediocrity? Is being mediocre a crime or to be proud of? If you think it is something you should be proud of or it’s a good thing then you are doing a crime. Being mediocre is limiting yourself from doing something huge, at the same time you are doing injustice to the world. 

Think, what if Right brothers were mediocre? Their dreams would have been mediocre.  Don’t worry aero planes still be in existence, but the evolution could not been that much sophisticated which we are enjoying today. And that would be an injustice to humankind. So if tomorrow anybody says to you that he/she is mediocre and he/she loves it being that way, please run away from such people. Because nobody in this world would like to be a mediocre. these are the people who are either miserably failed in their life, lazy or have a fear of losing. And I am talking about each and every field, be it sports, academics or wealth wise. 

Everybody deserves an extraordinary life. When we fail to do so we start giving reason to ourselves once we get agree with it, then we try to justify for us for being mediocre and wear a mask of being a mediocre. Eventually we get stuck to a place, get bored with the life. Then we start to classify things in to two category “ordinary” and “extraordinary”, those who do some extraordinary thing we start to follow them, and make them hero. But in actual everybody is hero, an extraordinary person, provided he/she need to find that extraordinary thing in them. Then I am sure world won’t be same place again from that moment onwards.