Pappablogs

तुम्हीं हमारा अनहद गीत तुम आँखों का अविरल झरना तुम पानी का कल कल करना तुम बोल हो मन की कविता के तुम इन साँसों का संगीत तुम्हीं  हमारा अनहद गीत तुम अपनी माँ की परछाई तुम यूँ ठुमक ठुमक  कर आई जादू जैसे  उसका और  मेरा तुम हमसे फिर अपनी प्रीत तुम्हीं  हमारा अनहद गीत तुम  मेरे बचपन का रस्ता तुम बदमाशियों का बस्ता ज्ञानी, शैतानी, मनमानी, जाती तुम हर बात में जीत तुम्ही हमारा अनहद गीत धरती पर , हमारा सितारा भानुमति का तुम्ही  पिटारा तुममे रमके सब है बिसरे तुम अब सबसे प्यारी रीत तुम्ही हमारा अनहद गीत 

As a kid, i was always fascinated by the scent of the mud. Especially when it rained , the after scent of the ground was mesmerizing. I have seen that fascination elaborate itself across multiple experiences of my life. The best sips of chai have been had from a kulhad. The best walks in park have been barefoot, on the grass. The most satisfying trips which we had have been  at farms and farmhouses. There might also have been a philosophical aspect to my being " grounded ". From the middle class background that i come from, i have learnt that one has to adapt to the situations. A place does not adapt to you, you adapt to the place. It might have been a reason why i loved Chennai instantly  , the city where I was posted first. Lot of my brethren from north India frowned upon this liking. But honestly, it is an amazing city. It opened its arms to me, accepted me and allowed me to have a great on -boarding to the corporate world. Oh and , it treated me to amazing ...

Promises to my daughter -1 Dhaani, as we grow up, we learn many lessons from life. So will you.Being your pappa , I would have learned just a few more of these lessons than you at a given time. I know you are our miracle and do not need more lessons from me, but in my pappahood, I will still try to teach you a few things. Things which your father has learned and based his life on. Things which were taught to me by your grandparents. Values which i treasure and which reflect my personality. But i will not tell you to do so and so....i will show why and how to do it.I will walk the talk for you. For I know, it is the best way of teaching. If ever you find me saying something and doing the opposite, please remind me this walk the talk promise of mine. Your mother and me, we have created our own value systems which is a mix of our traditions and education. When we show these values to you, accept what appeals to you. Question what you don't understand and rejec...

It was first half of 2016; we had decided to go ahead with the plan. The baby plan. Only, we did not know what we had signed up for. Life was moving on , rather cruising. We were following our yearly travel plan which i create a year in advance. This I do by merging the holidays with PLs , CLs and creating 15-16 small and big packs of holidays. Depending on the duration we get,  we plan them into local, Indian and international trips. It was june 2016 , and we had planned for a vacation like never before.  It was a 4 day trip to bangalore, staying at a different set of friends on each night and partying our beings out. Maybe in our hearts, we knew it will be long before we partied that crazy. The plan was like this Day 0 - Himani goes to Bangalore for office work, stays with her gfs from IIMK, Mrinalini & Meenal Day 1 - I join her in Bangalore and we meet my friends from IITKGP- Arya ( & Pooja), Dheeru (& Meenu), Sachin Day 2- We visit ou...