Night Life @ Goa

As the sun goes down Goa Nightlife heats up. The nightlife in Goa is ful of life. Music is more about the sounds of live entertainment may be songs or dance the night away. Regardless of the enjoyment, you definitely have the time of your lifetime.
Goa has a more liberal attitude to goa nightlife than most places in India, but nightclubs are pretty much for the delight of the tourists who come down to stress out and relieve from work.

The history of nightclubs at goa say that for a longer period of time, the only happening night life in the town was in Calangute, and it is still in this area that you majorly find the Goa’s western life. Well, today we can have a blasting nightlife enjoyment at Candolim and Arpora.

The nightlife experience at the city was relished by our group at the Capetown in Bagha. Though Titos rank the longest running disc at the place, Capetown was nonetheless one of the best ones. The alcohol and music together strike the perfect chord and the rest is still unwritten!

The Rave parties to everybody’s ignorance is the charm of Goa for most of the foreign tourists. As much as the average Goan would hate to admit it, one thing that has made this tiny state famous is the all-night, full-moon rave parties that took root here in the hippy days almost 30 years ago. The distinctive Goa trance attracted majorly the European and Israeli ravers.

To the horror of the tourists, transsexuals do roam around during parties who very well look like the girls or rather the beautiful ones and when they are approached by a guy, they may rip him off his money and valuables. Choosing the right person as a partner for the night is an essential task. The Goan Police is quite linient about the nightlife since the tourism industry is very much dependent on the pubs and discs.

The first of its kind Journey!!! (in my life)

That morning when I woke up, I was full of zeal and excitement; it was the day I was going back to my hometown. Meeting my complete family after a year was a blissful feeling. Since my sister works at Mumbai and I study at Pune, it was nearly 18 months we all had not been together. Getting back to those awesome moments was one elating emotion in my heart and another one was too hard to accept. Somewhere deep within, I was getting torn for leaving the city where he stays. Though being there was different in just one way that we were breathing within the limits of the same metro.
I wanted to reach home in the nick of time since it was my Sis's birthday the next day. That being her last SPINSTER BIRTHDAY (as I termed it), I didn't want to miss even a single hour of it. My train was at 3.30pm from Nizammudin station and my dearest buddy, Reeju was to accompany me in the journey. I woke up at 9am and hurried to Piya's place. Since both my best friends' were in Delhi and I had not seen Priya since half a year or so. To introduce Priya and Asmita to you, it’s enough that we are together since 14 years now and that they are more of an inseparable part of my life. Priya though is my lifeline. I went to Priya's place, met them and had a nice meal that aunty prepared for me. I left from there with a lot of time in hand, since they stayed in altogether different part of the city. I boarded the metro at 12.30 and I knew it was enough time to reach home and then to station. I estimated to reach home by 1.30 as it took 45 minutes for me to come to priya's place. The metro got stuck between the stations civil lines and Kashmiri gate. I was cool, getting through the lanes of Shimla in "Love Stories of Shimla Hills" by Minakshi Chowdhury. I got restless when my watch ticked to 1.15 and I was still stuck up at the same place. After much of panic and phone calls and tension, finally the metro started at 1.35 and I got down at the next station to take an auto. Cursing the DMRC to the fullest, I took an auto and asked him to go straight to Saket where Reeju and my luggage were kept at Reeju's place.
As I was nearing that part of the city leaving the ring road, I realised the city was all jam-packed. With not much space to move and for speed to take up, I was all in distress. Reeju kept calling me to know my whereabouts and I couldn't move in the traffic jam. I was so feeling like crying as the watch neared 2.30 and I recognized that the bridge I was crossing was not just a footbridge but the Lajpat Nagar metro station. Reeju was to arrive at the station from Noida. She kept calling me and I had nothing to answer about my location. I kept telling Reeju to board the train and leave and that I will bring her luggage. She continuously denied and that made me guilty for her as well. Though she was among the lot where I never had to be formal or casual, if she said she was fine then she was. The autovalah that I took was another nail in the coffin. He kept on reminding me of the famous taxi driver of the movie Jab we Met. He irritated me like anything merely by his driving. I called up Dida and told her about the situation, she said she knows. This was obvious that she knew before I told her because I was supposed to meet Jiju on my way to station which evidently got cancelled later, as I was getting too late. I reached at Reeju's place at 2.50 and brought the luggage three floors down the stairs in a span of 3 minutes. It was a real surprise for me that I could do that. I threw the bags in the auto and asked him to drive fast but he was an elite class driver. I kept on asking him where we were in the city and how much time more we would take to reach Nizzamudin but he said he dint knew as it was traffic jam and Diwali time. Reeju called me at 3.40 and I had already accepted that I had missed the train. She called me and said, "Jaldi ao. train ke general bogie mein kuch chaos hai. It's still there. You would make it." I again collected hopes. When I reached station at 4.10, Reeju smiled at me and said that we had another train at 5.25 till Jabalpur and we can take bus from there. Her smile made me feel more guilty. I managed to smile back and we bought tickets for the general bogie of the train Sampark Kranti.
We had some biryani which was supposed to be eaten on the train journey at the same time. We then boarded the train assigned to us. As we managed to take two seats in the first compartment of the general coach, We stared at the co-passengers we had. they were a big family of site workers. As I talked to a child in the family I came to know that all her uncles and aunts were construction workers and since CWG had decreased the prospects of much construction in the city they were going back to their village in Madhya Pradesh. I smiled at Reeju and she saw me in disgust. She had told me not to dare to talk to them as they just looked innocent and we would never know if they flew away with all our stuff but I was not to be cowed. Though Reeju is a gem of my life, I couldn't help avoiding the shine in the black eyes of that small kid, Saawri as she told me her name.
Sitting there amid all the people considered no-to-go-near types, I suddenly noticed that the crossing station was named "Muraina" and it struck me that Gwalior was near and tat both of us can get trains from there on a better connectivity. As the train stopped at Gwalior, the halt time was 1 min 5 seconds and those were quite sufficient for us to argue whether to get down here and check for prospects in our minds, decide that ok we can get down here and then ultimately manage to take the bags and jump out of the train. I got down first and as I turned back I noticed Reeju's step was on the moving train before she stepped on the platform. We laughed our arses out as we wandered on the platform and thought WHAT NEXT? We then proceeded to the ticket counter and enquired about the next possible train that we can catch. Finally, the guy at the window told us about GT Express that was after half an hour. We had some sandwich and coffee and then waited for the train. The luck seemed to be challenging us continuously that day and we were still smiling back at life. this train, too, got late by an hour and we still enjoyed waiting for another hour. There was no mark of distress on either's face. We then boarded the general bogie which was another nearly impossible task.
The journey taught me a few things undoubtedly; first, the general coach is supposed to be manufactured with the EVERYBODY'S WELCOME tag; second, the TTE would never show up in this bogie; third, To board a general bogie you must learn how to push away the people in front of you; lastly, Thanks a ton to the Indian Railways, we can travel anywhere without a prior ticketing done. Apart from the learning’s, we kept standing for good fifteen minutes and then someone showed pity on us and offered me a seat to sit on the upper compartment along with already sitting two guys who stinker like hell. But I was really tired. I stuck my bag in between the guy n me and sat there. Reeju found a place on the lower side seat which she shared with a slim Mr. Nobody kind of guy. We both gave each other nice "WOW What an experience!" looks and smiled covering our tiredness. I was still feeling the guilt about why she didn't board the train we were supposed to take. I took a nap of good half an hour and then the guys on my seat got down at Jhansi and we took over the berth completely. Reeju climbed up and I made her sleep on my lap. I m so comfortable like that. She always teased me for my motherly concern and she said I had that. I never felt it though. She fell asleep in a few minutes and I kept wondering about a few things. Obviously, I was missing him too. What would I take home for Dida? Why did Dadi leave? In the race of life when we keep thinking about, what profession is he in and compatibility and all, there is a group of people who just get married because its a duty. they hardly get time to think about compatibility, love and care. All they are left to focus on is earning the livelihood. While I was travelling the course of my thoughts, found myself humming, "anjaanaa... kehne ko hi tha.! mera tha vo, jo bhi tha...." when the train stopped at some xyz station and people flocked in like anything, I looked at Reeju's wrist watch and it showed 9 am. We hooked on to our novels and a few hours passed silently. While I was busy setting up Ravinder’s story in “I too had a love story”, Reeju was reading “The notebook”.
Finally, much awaited Nagpur station was visible and I got down there. Reeju called her mom from here and told her that she would reach in another 3 hours. I stayed there until the train left and as it started moving I left for home, all excited. She continued to her station Gondia where this train never headed to. This was the last stroke destiny could play. To add in to this, Reeju came to know about this after I had left. The tiring and adventurous journey didn’t allow my phone battery to be charged. She couldn’t contact me. She ran down to the bus stand and then came back to station sine the bus frequency was quite low. She then took another train home and reached home by 7 in the evening.
Reeju was a great companion in the trip. We both enjoyed the trip a lot and learnt a lot too. Any other ooh aah ouch type girls wont dare this I suppose, but we enjoyed! Parents were all red in anger as to how can we even think of getting on a general class coach as it was shear unsafe. But we did and safely reached home. Though they are correct and good luck doesn’t come always but I just know one thing, “World isn’t that bad!! Though it’s not white but it’s not black either..! The shades of grey need to be tested every now n then...”
Waiting for another journey to beat the adventure of this one! ;)

Writing about my own self is so tough..

When I sat down to pen down exactly what was going on inside my mind, I found out that it was so difficult for me to trace the thoughts inside me. Somehow, while I was on bed, I got hold of a few of them fiddling inside my brains. I have got a friend who feels so passionately about all the wrongs going within the country; be it media or a common man. He has never made an attempt to change it, but has definitely given his bit to the society always and continues to do that. Be it a blood donation or minimizing the plastic usage, he has been a strict follower of it all! I, being a part of the media industry now, feel like I am answerable to him as a common man. For, at the end of the day, I feel he is one of that mass whom I have pledged to serve as a journalist. Once I was deep inside this thought and its analysis, when I got hold of another stupid element in my think tank, which talked about my buddy. My buddy who was into his hibernation period, away from all the disturbances and worldly troubles. I have seen him in kid of the kiddies’ moods, in the best of his personality traits and in the most professional forms. I have always tried to be one of the closest of people in his life but couldn't even touch the feet of it. It was then that I thought how common this was with guys to creep into their hibernation and then, not to turn back no matter what until the cobra has completely regained its layer of skin. However, gals always remain caught between the questions as to "he would need me...”, "Mom would be worried of my sudden silence...”, "May be my baby is hungry...” Is the responsibility of togetherness tied up with girls alone? They say, girls are stronger at emotions and boys at physique whereas I feel the reason behind this is that girls take a while to decide the emotional closeness and distance with anybody and guys think over the physical ones more. Though there is no wrong and right between the two, but the theory of Mars and Venus holds true to most of the instances. As one moves ahead in the race of time, It becomes somehow easier to understand this. I have always waited for my teddy to be back. Even he is a typical guy, much like my buddy. Waiting a lot…

It’s regional affiliation, It’s thrill, It’s glamour… It’s Sports!!

It was a nice sunny day when Mr. Mautik Tolia, Executive Vice-President (Programming), Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd., came up to a media institute in Pune to dispense his experiences with the students. Mr. Tolia explained to the students the World of Sports broadcast and cracked open the “Sports ecosystem” as he termed it. He made the session very interactive by giving the audience a platform to share what they like Sports for. Mr. Mautik made the point very clear that be it the regional affiliation or patriotism, the thrill or the glamour, the adrenalin effect or the real love for Sports, these are what the Sports channels thrive on.
Mr. Tolia drew a very clear difference in the priorities of global and Indian sports. He mentioned that while serving on the platter, the preferences of the audience is what guides the content of the sports channels and so does the advertisements. He elaborated the revenue working and the target audience ruling the content and frequency over the channel. He portrayed a very clear and defined analysis that no matter audience is the king and govern, sports federations and sports production houses do escort the content.
Mr. Mautik smoothed out the cream of prospective careers in Sports for the budding media professionals. Quoting for the producers, sports journalists, content writers, event managers and all, he made it very precise that getting into any of these would require a larger amount of passion than just interest. He developed the further account over the pros and cons of being into the sports ecosystem in any role. He mentioned the sleep-deprived nights and the weeks long travelling because it’s almost always unsure when would a particular tournament or series of a sport get over. He also made a note of the fact that the amount of money, fame and sport you receive is worth it.
Mr. Mautik Tolia proudly denied the point that the special sports bulletins on a general news channel are fracturing sports channels viewership. He, rather, concluded saying that “The news channels provide a platform for the sports channel to do a free promotion because when somebody locates on a news channel that oh there is a match going on, it is then that most of the people tune in to Neo or ESPN to get the live update.”

रिश्ते वाकई इतने मुश्किल होते हैं?

ज़िन्दगी में कितने ऐसे लोग मिलते हैं जिन से हम दिल की बात कह सकते हैं? शायद बहोत सारे. मगर कितने ऐसे लोग मिलते हैं जिनसे हम चाह के भी अपने दिल की बात कहने से खुद को रोक नहीं पाते? बहोत कम. इन दो किस्म के लोगों में ऐसे तो ज्यादा फर्क नहीं है मगर हमारा मन इस असमानता को बखूबी समझता है. हिंदी फिल्मों के कई गानों का सार यही होता है के "आते जाते खूबसूरत आवारा सड़कों पे, कभी कभी इत्तेफाक से कितने अनजान लोग मिल जाते हैं, उनमें से कुछ लोग भूल जाते हैं, कुछ याद रह जाते हैं!" लेकिन हमने कभी यह नहीं सोचा होगा के आखिर इस अंतर की वजह क्या है? चँद लोग ज़िन्दगी में ऐसे मिलते हैं जिनसे हमें रिश्ता बनाने की ज़रूरत ही नहीं पड़ती बस ज़रूरत होती है तो इश्वर के बनाये उस रिश्ते को संभाल के रखने की और यही लोग ठहर जाते हैं साहिल पे रेत की तरह और फिर कुछ वे लोग जिनसे हमें रिश्ता बनाने की कोशिश करनी होती है, वे अक्सर खारे पानी की तरह समंदर के किनारे को छोड़ वापिस अपने सागर में लौट जाते हैं .

बहोत खुबसूरत लगती है ज़िन्दगी उस रेत के साथ. मुट्ठी में भरा पानी बहा भी जाये तो वो रेत कभी आपका दामन नहीं छोडती. आसान सा होता है जीवन इन मुट्ठी भर लोगों के साथ. और इन मुट्ठी भर फरिश्तों के बीच होता है वो एक शख्स जिसे आप अपना बनाने की हर मुमकिन कोशिश करते हैं. और यही वो समय होता है जब आपको प्यार हो जाता है. प्यार अधुरा भी रह जाये तब भी पूरा प्ड जाता है. यही काफी होता है आपके लिए की आपको उसका प्यार चाहे न मिला हो, उसे किसी का प्यार मिल रहा है.

इन सब भावुक सी बातों के बाहर एक सुन्दर सा घरोंदा होता है जिसमें आपके गम आधे और खुशियाँ दुगनी हो जाती हैं. उस घरोंदे में आपके साथ रहते हैं आपके सारे दोस्त जो आपको संवारते हैं, सँभालते हैं और हर परेशानी से बचाते भी हैं.

मैं भी खुश हूँ ए दोस्त बस उनके साथ नहीं, ज़िन्दगी में और कोई गम इतना खास नहीं,
मगर ऐसा भी नहीं की उनकी मोहब्बत को हम सजाये ख्वाबों से, जब उस खवाब में हमारी कोई आस नहीं!!!

Nothing stops at the scene of your eyes.. everything goes far beyond!!!!

Standing on the platform 1 of a metro station called 'Yamuna Bank' in Noida, I finally heaved a sigh of relief to realise that my home is just a station away. Waiting for my train to arrive, I looked at the fence limiting the premises. I could catch a sight of two metro rail tracks spreaded out, as I opened my eyelids a bit more I could see 5-10 railway tracks and then a whole lot of woods, beyond which I could see a flock of headlights, it was a busy highway. Everytime I sensed a new thing, I tried to stop myself and think about it, but as I moved on there was much more to see, percieve and appreciate. Life is so full of all the goods around, to make you feel contented about being living in this world; but what all we remember is IPL scam, terrorism, corruption and poverty. How many times do we appreciate the positive lights among these darkened lanes? Moreover,How many times do we think of lighting a lamp in these lanes? Today, a stranger told me to believe in good, trust in positives of life and have faith in my own self. The stranger is well recognized as Kousani Roy,the known host to many Bengali television shows, who tweeted "neither to harm nor be harmed"...

IPL-Is it the next big scam after Satyam?

CRICKET has always been a worship for the country. India has been very synonymous to "the cricketing nation". The originality of game deteriorated with T20 but the enjoyment increased and the people accepted it with open arms. Suddenly, why is the essence of the game being lost? IPL has been the biggest and most successful cricket league till date. The flaw at the managerial level has spreaded its clutches and reached the spirit of the game. The money flow in the league is not justified yet; and the connections travel from all the poosible reasons from mafia to industrialists to betting to match fixing and even to cross border links. Eveybody is here to earn, be it the management, the franchisees, the players and everybody related to it. But not at all at the cost of game-value or killing the soul of the sport. The question arises, at the end of it all, BCCI remains the umbrella for all the cricketing going on in India. Is this really the first time that BCCI realised about the money movement within the IPL? Though the demand of JPC (joint parliament committee) for the investigation is very well understood and acceptable, would it serve the purpose of an honest and foolproof fact-finding? After the sleek involvement of an educated and sensible minister of External Affairs, Mr. Tharoor, is anybody else reliable enough to hand over the responsibility? The web that has been knit around the scandal is being tracked only after Kochi team franchisee got into questions. Starting from Mr. Shashi Tharoor, whom the younger generation looked upto, the controversy exposed Mr. Modi's deeds, switching on to Mr. Patel,Mr. Pawar, and whos who of the Indian Politics are being dragged and truely cracked.

The question remains... Is IPL the next BIG scam after Satyam? Is this the end of the "money-spinning legendary T20 tournament"?