China : I was amazed by the growth in that country, and the landscape was something that amazed me. Work was hard and the weather was cold.. but well the food was awesome. That kind of compensated for the rest.. If Shenzhen was a hip hop city where it seemed like the next Silicon Valley after Bangalore, Nanjing was old old town and spending a weekend there boating in Xuanwu Lake, Walking the streets of Fujimao eating sumptous caramalised fruits on sticks was fun. Fujimao during the Lantern Festival was all alight, our version of Diwali, you could say.. loads of lights. This is also a nice place to buy traditional knick knacks, glass art, etc..

I left The Great Wall of China tour for the next visit. I must thank my team members who were kind enough to take me around.

We had some fun times.. due to the language barrier.. For example we asked the cab to take us to point A and took us to POint Z driving for a long long time through tunnels, and streets and finally reaching Z which sounded like point A. GAH… Hahahah !! Nanjing has lots to explore if one has time. Weather is like Delhi I guess.. extreme cold and extreme heat.

A solo trip to Nngong Ping Village to visit the Giant Buddha was very relaxing and very spiritual.. I think that would be the highlight of my visit. Honk Kong reminded me of New York, all buzzzzzz… And tall tall buildings.. I can get lost.. no give me the mountains and blue blue skies anyday. Tai O Fishing village reminded me of  North East.

In fact most of the sights and sounds reminded me of the North East. Similar Landscape, similar food, and well similar faces..

I saw all types of Duck there.. Seems to be the specialty there. Whole Ducks, Duck Necks, Duck parts Duck this and that..

I loved eating Dragon Fruit among the things that were offered to me and Chinese Vegetarian is extremely fulfilling and tasty. You should just know what to order. Trick is to go with the pictures… and you will pretty much get it 9 out of 10

Ashtamudi : Was a lovely experience to chill and relax in the Club Mahindra Resort. A world outside a world.. If you are looking for doing nothing but just chilling out in an “expensive” way, this could be it.. LOL. More here. (Link coming soon)

Assam : Finished the one year rituals for Mom. It went of peacefully. The relatives who make noise for nothing were not there so well, it was very well timed and quiet. I was happy, Dad was happy and I bet Ma was also happy.  Being there, it keeps coming back to me of how far I am from home and how quickly the elder generation is getting older. So tempted to go back… and be with them.. at this stage.. cannot think of uprooting them at this stage… am so torn… forces me to think every moment, right now, what is it that is keeping me here in Bangalore.. I am not so motivated… right now.. the motivation is leaning towards home.. but the only motivation that remains from Assam is the economic one.. what will I do there ? Sigh… Still on my mind… and will be till I figure it out…

Today’s thought :

Friendship is not about how much we care when we are together, its about how much we care when we are apart

I have to say goodbye to one of my closest friend. And though at the very outset, I feel so happy she is migrating for something good… which I always thought she could realize, it still is tearing me apart from inside to feel the physical loss of someone with whom I connected so fast and had so many life experiences together..

Right from the day, she joined work as an intern, we had lots of laughs and from coffee pals, we became connected at some level.. a comfort zone was established..

I used to take some time to make close friends. In nature we are opposites but S and I would have tons to talk about and well, the bond grew.

I remember S not wanting to work at all and had this habit of coming in late.. no matter what, her timing was very leisurely and till date, if she gives me a time, I always add half an hour to it and we always have a laugh about it, me devlishly and she sheepishly.

I remember us brainstorming together on what career she should take up. And after some ideas, we found that she liked to bake the most.. And yeah she used to bake some heavenly chocolate cake.  And slowly but surely, she trained in baking and built a business on her own, a very flourishing one I would say… she never lets me forget the fact that I finished her whole cake along with another friend.. which she had got for the whole office.. what can I say ? it was plain chocolate cake but it was heaven.. . I am the biggest fan of her bakes..

We did not meet everyday but once or twice a month sometimes more infrequently.. sometimes, we would ping each other at the same time.. and the bond was stronger than ever..

I changed jobs, she grew her business, and in that path, I also introduced her to the spiritual path that I walk.. and she also found her path.. and we walked… we walked… we shared.. and scaled challenging heights in our personal fronts always leaning towards each other.. at crucial points..encouraging each other.. to buckle up.. and no matter what, we always had and still have inexplicable faith in our Buddha nature.. I would say, it transcends our bodies and connects to lives we have led and the understanding that we have established over eons..

The best is that we could be our worst and darkest with each other… still giving each other the push that its ok to be dark,but its important to come out of it with lot of strength and determination not forgetting what we believed about our very reason for existence.No judgements there..

We had a ritual… that every birthday we will meet each other no matter what.., shower each other with silly gifts and have some us time… no matter what.. and make each other feel special.. I will always remember her going to pains to choose a card and then writing lots of thoughts on it.. I treasure each thought that was sent to me.. every year..  and I did the same since we both knew what it meant to personalise the card with one’s thoughts.. and well wishes..Oh how I will miss that.. !! and yes I would always get a cake customized to my wishes.. and since I loved blueberry cheese cake, she would indulge me with that as well every now and then…

I saw her going from a non vegeterian to vegeterian.. and I kept ranting and tempting her with non veg delicacies and out of love she would give in and very soon, I would turn vegeterian when I was with her..

Her marriage came and went and she crossed over from being this free and fancy girl into a beautiful woman and throughout it all, she maintained the quality time with me..

Now the relationship matured.. and it has been beautiful seeing her grow her wings.. and though she does not want to admit it, I see her flying so high..

I will miss the impromtu calls which would lead to endless coffee sessions… and loads of soul searching and finding answers… and balance.. be it bitchiness, be it serious mistakes, tragedy, comedy, broken relationships, marital dramas, hubby understanding, and all that we call life..

I will treasure the fact that whenever I would feel low, she was always there to pick me up, unconditionally and I tried the same with her..

At a humorous note, I sometimes have the urge to see movies, which have no brains.. and she would loyally tag with me to those movies… she would curse me but she would come along.. Muaahhh I loved her for that..

And the most beautiful part of her is her generosity and her art of giving.. which keeps humbling me.. and also taught me the art of receiving… she keeps telling me.. that I know how to give and I know not how to receive.. and yeah I am learning..

She is someone who has also kept me honest.. to myself and to us.. when the ego wanted to blame, she showed that to me… and I always looked forward to interact with her have my ego destroyed lovingly..

So many good memories.. so many layers .. of what we can easily label as the inevitable human condition and yet this is what we need at some level or other to be ourselves.. to be connected.. to some soul mate.. who brings balance into our lives .. and yes soul mates need not be just spouses… I see a soul mate in my friend..

And I will so miss her presence..I think I could just skim the surface of my emotions in the attempt of writing this.. I have not done justice to it..

I feel incredibly blessed that I have known her and I do hope to keep this stream till my last breath.. the world has become very small..

I have immense happiness and immense sadness at the same time, and I am ok with it.. and yes emotions have been running like waves.. inside me… always does when I have to uproot rooted connections.. and let it out of my space of existence..

Yet another example of impermanence.. and life moves on..with purpose… and hope that this also sits well with me..

Running around with errands and stuff, did not enable me to spend some time with my birds and I was feeling sad..

Today I commit to go early and let them out and talk to them non stop and have them fly and whistle and run around as they like..

Sometimes, I wonder, how it would be if  I was so dependent to have someone let me out and take me out and have some fun.  I see this specially of the older generation who have come at a stage where they have to depend on their young ones to take them out or generally spend time with them. Its must be like living in a cage for them who once were the very epitome of independence and self sufficient individuals..

And when such a situation is there, it is very important to understand the responsibility of the younger generation who is so busy running after money and the next best job and really do not have that time to stop, think and work around the very mastheads which flagged us off. Its a continuous circle and its never too late to look back at the twilight zone which we inevitably will step into after sometime..

So well, when do you say : its enough and well I think I have enough..

What is enough for you ? Have you thought about it ?

We plan to retire early and we plan to do this and that but the next best opportunity always draws us in and we keep riding the tiger..

Well, this thought has sprung from the seed where I am thinking of saying its enough.. and leave it at that..

Now I dont want to think backwards.. but forwards… once its enough, how do we sustain ourselves materialistically and with the priorities that we have in our basket of life..

I dont know.. I am still thinking.. and maybe soon I hope to get an answer..

My dream right now : An open terrace cafe in a semi residential area where people can sip a cup of chai and snacks and have conversations.. some live music if needed by local folk musicians.. and some business from the local craft makers..  variety not in the food but in the events.. ( sigh)

Let me dream.. !!

The mind per say is a funny tool.. when one least expects it, there are some ping pong which plays up BANG comes up the impulses..

So well I acted on it and I am happy.. he he.. I love listening to my impulses..

The serious part encouraged me to try Ayurveda so went and enrolled myself for a treatment..

Methinks that its always good to take care of oneself.. and since I have not tried Ayurveda.. well lets do it.. and I did it..

And now I have some weird tasting medicines to take in the morning and the doc has promised me of some deep rooted recovery.. or whatever.

Now I am not a fan of medicines specially of the Allopathy nature.. but yes.. natural remedies always is good. .

The doc was good and the treatment sounds encouraging..

It did burn a hole in the already holed pocket.. ( lets not ponder there)

But health is wealth so here I am.. the paper kind comes  and goes..

Grocery Shopping has now become complicated.

I think I have not reached that mindset where I do a detailed research on what I buy.. Nope I buy by instinct and of course the date on the packet.

Now when I go browse the rice, lentil, grains, pulses and beans, section , I am flummoxed by the local variety, the organic variety and the normal variety.. WAHHHHH !!

Now this purchase which used to take me seconds..  now takes me couple of valuable minutes.. Why why why… I am like what do I take.. organic – well that seems to be the fad.. and healthy as well and expensive.. – local – hmm could be good.. – normal – whats the diff.. I usually take that..

Now you can see me with my tiny hands on my chin… pondering upon this rack with the concentration of deliberating over a critical life and death decision..

I caught myself at it and could not help berate myself for being so fussy.. Gosh !! and POP I go and choose an organic packet of Black Channa and normal Dal and another local Dal..

Well !!! ,  me says to myself,  that should do it !! I have the best of all the three.

Result : When I come home..

• local – is ok..
• Normal is normal..
• Organic is interesting – the channas look good but inside its full of insects which has eaten it hollow..

Well there goes my choices.. I will stick to the NORMAL.. for now..

I think this organic concept has not been understood well or the product was bad.. whatever.. !!! OR my vision is also going bonkers. The packet looked just fine when I picked it up..

Anyway..Now I am back to seconds.. in shopping..

Medians on the road are made for a purpose..

Bikers of the generic kind.. the commuter variety and not the passionate variety… Why do you think your 100- 150 cc bike can go over a well placed median just to avoid riding normally and taking a U turn..

We are all doing that.. Heck my baby can cross the median well but we have rules and its logical why they have been put there..

But no.. we have bikers who painfully cross the medians sweating, gyrating and then BANG the bike does not start.. and I go SCREEEEEECCCHHHHH to save from plowing onto him..

It is madness and I felt like getting out of the car and giving him a punch on his face.. for giving me such a heart attack.. GRRRRRR

Next time I will blow my already loud horn and give him a piece of the heart stop that I get..

And they say that women drivers are a menace..

I think we women can teach them men something.. buhahahah !!!

So all well you have  a good weekend..

I am doing some movies, friends, dentist.. and all that blah…  he he

I pursued a course in Hypnotherapy and NLP along with Theta Healing. It was interesting but disappointing at the same time. Interesting because it opened a whole lot of dimensions of healing and spiritual work for me and disappointing because for the money that was paid, I got only 20 percent of the knowledge. But yeah, it has not stopped me to to gather the rest of the 80 percent from other sources.  Am grateful for that.

However, I bless that soul so that it learns all that it needs to, in order to grow. I got to experience some good stuff too and for that I am happy and thankful.

Knowledge is something that can never be bound, no matter how much the teacher thinks it can. As much as it is bound, the more accessible it becomes if the learner looks at it deeply.

Well loads of lessons  for me and money spent for nuts.. well not totally.. but heck.. could have done better.. should have waited for the other teacher…

But no regrets.. it was my lesson and I have learnt it well.

Had a great weekend staying at a friends place and cooking stuff together.. and generally hanging out. I really live for moments with good pals like this where I do not have to pretend and can be myself and let nature of goodness take its own sweet course.  I think we should do this often.

Finalized my kitchen look.. I am so excited to have started the work on my house. That has been the highlight of the week. The look that I am aiming at : Simple but elegant.

Watched Transporter 3 , Underworld 2 and 3  and Beaches.

Reading Accessing the Brain’s Joy Center.

For the summer, I recommend Lavender Body Massage to all. Its divine.. oooohhh !! the pores get relaxed like nobody’s business.

And found a new hair dresser who can cut my hair the way I want it.  Its time for a change and well some new people in my life.. hahaha..At least I do not have to remember my car number.. buhahahaha …

Today am trying a new recipe which I liked a lot.. so there you go..

Photos and travelogue from Munnar coming up soon…

Was too lazy to log on and write or check emails or even attend to the phone. I think I like being offline, phoneless and email less. Its just like the good old days.. buhahahah ..

Tomorrow its back to work and the online world..

Our club RTMC was the organizer and it was not pretty handling such a huge crowd but on the whole the event turned out pretty good, I must say.  What is an event without hiccups.. ??

This time we had 600 plus bikes and it was one heck of an event..  Kudos to the RTMC Organizing Team for taking it through.. Prashi, Karthik, Poo, Abhi, Anil, Freya, Jispa, Dodo, Anu, Kavitha, Mauna, Rishab, Soup, Prateek, Dickso, Sam, Adnan, Nairoast, Shakti, and All ( I dont have all the names)  of you who worked on it.. was a good job done..

Let me take you through the event via my mind frame.

Excited

PitStop

Originally uploaded by Pallavi Barua.

Could not wait to be there.. just like many others in our club. We had been working at this for a while now and it was showtime.

To be a part of the team in bringing forth such an event. The teamwork was great and as always, I am proud to be a member of this club. Just getting there at Sterling Resorts Ooty was great. We started early.

Even the freezing room in YWCA Ooty for one night could not stop me from being excited.. after working through with the starter kits and last minute wrap up with the rest of the volunteers.

We had a huge two days ahead of us.. Caman de Enjaiment.. !!!!

Rarin to go

Morning dawns with a beautiful day to come. The venue is all set up and I sat with other members handling registration. It was great to meet them and have them come from all over India. The bikes, independent and clubs came roaring and there was this common atmosphere of thrill and coming together which charged all of us up.

Madras Bulls (Chennai), Indie Thumpers (Mumbai) , Royal Beasts ( Delhi), Eastern Bulls ( Kolkatta), Highway Nawabs ( Hyderabad),  Kovai Thumpers ( Coimbatore), RERAM (Meghalaya), Road Survivors ( Chandigarh), Roadshakers (Pune), Royal Cochin Bulls, Wanderlust ( Nagpur), Wanderers ( Hyderabad), Silver Bullets (Trivandrum) and many more independent bikers joined us for this event.

It was amazing watching the Mad Bulls and the Indie Thumpers arrive.. Here are some shots from Indie Thumpers by Rocky. He thought he got the Mad Bulls as well but well it was not recorded.. Sigh.

In a blur

As I was walking by, there was this tiny Indie Thumper who could rev and almost ride a Bullet. We were all excited with the way he was revving up for us.. You got to watch this biker..  And if you observe, he is actually holding one handle of the bike while his Dad is holding the other.. while riding up the slope.. Atta Boy !!

Video @ Rocky Barua

Lunch was good and it was time to move on..  the food was arranged in the lawn and we had a nice time having the open sky and a great view and good food.. what more does one need.. oh yeah .. some beer.. 

While we were waiting to set the Indie Thumpers up in the parking lot, they fell into lines and started revving their anthem on the bikes. Typically, they do the beep.. beep …….. beep beep beep.. and now it was Vroom… Vroom…….. Vroom Vroom Vroom.. Oh man it was a sight to see. So many bikers at the same time.. revving to a rhythm.. too cool. Well I have the video to share with you.

Video @ Rocky Barua

After a while, I moved on to the Events section from registration and the afternoon was spent in a blur with different events for different bikers such as Figure of 8, Lemon and Spoons. The events were for individual bikers. Though it started slow, it became a popular section where all bikers were having fun.

At first the bikers were not so sure about participating and then we could not get to stop the participation. It was fun watching them work the events out. I would like to salute Gauri from the Bike India mag who took part in the event. She was the only female participant in the events that day.

Twilight Zoned

Cannot get enough of the sky

Originally uploaded by Pallavi Barua.

After events, I was working with the merchandising team to sell Rider Mania merchandise. Working on this section, I also got to interact with many more bikers and it was fun selling that too. While I was doing this, I watched the sun go down and this location has one of the most beautiful vantage points to watch a sunset. The colors were awesome. I was itching to have my hands on the camera but I satisfied myself with breathing in the sunset.

The photo that you see here is the sunset the next day.. but the sunset was equally dramatic as we started to warm up for the party..

The party at night was fun as well with bikers playing different games. People danced to their hearts content while I slinked away to get some zzzzzz as I was dead on my feet and even though I wanted to dance the night away,  I knew I better zzzzz…

It was a good day.. but yeah for the organizers, it did not stop there.. and there was more to be done and more to be heard.. and more to be talked..

But it was a good day..

Brand New Day

A parade ride was organized the next morning where 200 plus bikers joined. The bikers were taken through a beautiful route and Ooty was rocking with the THUMP. I am sure the riders loved this. It was awesome watching so many bikes together

Video @ Rocky Barua

We had the team events of which Arm Wrestling was most fun event. Even the women bikers participated.

We also had some time to check and vote for the best modified and classic bikes. It was awesome how some had built their bikes.

I took some time off in the evening from my tasks to take some photographs.

Evening had some slide shows from different clubs and by midnight we were all ready to turn in. The next day would be the day to go home.. I was already feeling depressed and well I do hope that we see each other with the same and more verve sometime soon.

Way home

Well reaching home was an anticlimax as is with all my travels. But it was a great event. Met good people and it was specially great connecting with bikers who came all the way from my hometown Shillong. They are planning to ride back all the way to Shillong.. All the best guys.. have a safe ride..  I will see you in Shillong..

I could not get too many photographs this time compared to what I could. But heck.. it was worth the time spent at the event..

Would like to share one of my biker friend’s Adarsh’s Rider Mania Photos photos with you. He got some good shots.

It was great meeting all of you.. and hope to see you next year….

Ride Safe !!

Why is it that we are choosing to become workaholics ?

Is it so difficult to balance homelife and work ?

Its becoming alarmingly the reason for physical burnout and family dissensions. 

Where is the intelligent self which usually is good at adding 2 plus 2.. 

Have been hearing, facing and meeting people who have been affected by this so called lack of work-life balance.. 

Its disturbing to see the effects of this aspect. 

Where are we going from here ??

Work-life balance: Ways to restore harmony and reduce stress

If your work life and personal life are out of balance, your stress may be running high. Here’s how to reclaim control.

Finding work-life balance in today’s frenetically paced world is no simple task.

Spend more time at work than at home, and you miss out on a rewarding personal life. Then again, when you face challenges in your personal life, such as caring for an aging parent or coping with marital problems, concentrating on your job can be difficult.

Whether the problem is too much focus on work or too little, when your work life and your personal life feel out of balance, stress — along with its harmful effects — is the result.

The good news is that you can take control of your work-life balance — and give yourself the time to do the things that are most important to you. The first step is to recognize how the world of work has changed. Then you can evaluate your relationship to work and apply some specific strategies for striking a healthier balance.

How work invades your personal life

There was a time when employees showed up for work Monday through Friday and worked eight- to nine-hour days. The boundaries between work and home were fairly clear then. But the world has changed and, unfortunately, the boundaries have blurred for many workers. Here’s why :  Read More

On Dark Knight

Well, I must say after the great feedback.. I really had some gala expectations.. but then well it really sucked.. 

• I must say that the joker part was overdone.. it was like a modern day thriller flick.. 
• The essence of Batman was diminished.. to certain extent. 
• It was wierd to see Batman talk in an abnormally husky way.. ( Rocky staunchly maintains that it is a part of his disguise. ) 
• From my comic knowledge, Batman never loved Harvey Dent’s girlfriend.. Correct me if I am wrong.. 
• Joker did not have his face cut up and went on and on about asking people and then telling his victims how his face got cut and all that crap. 
• He is a villain with immaculate make up of a Joker to enhance the character and a villanious mind used via humor.. what a combo.. !! Nothing of that sort came forward in the movie.. 
• The costume underwent a change.. 

Also, after watching Batman Returns the other day, I was all the more certain they had done something horrible with the new movie. 

The old movie had all the plot of making the movie watchable again and again.. it had everything. Even the costume was an original.. with the yellow belt and the logo.

Either I am old fashioned or I have to rethink my way of looking at comics made into movies.. 

I can understand manipulating a book.. where words could be interpreted and played upon the way the director sees fit. But a comic book is visuall.. how can one go wrong… ???

Well I should not be surprised.. If Sholay and DON were so badly remade… why not Batman… hahahah !!! 

Google Chrome

Ola Google… !!! its a pleasure seeing this minimalistic explorer.. 

If you already havent, and you like minimalistic browsing.. do check out google chrome… It rocks.. 

Read the book too.. its cool.. 

Sunbird

Originally uploaded by Pallavi Barua.

Of memories… I have… to open on a dull day..

What a trip.. what a place.. I am totally full to the brim with the contentment which spreads after visiting a beautiful place..

Its been raining incessantly in Bangalore.. but what the heck..
I feel like some chai and pakoda..

Do try the steam and roast festival in Mainland China.. If you like Steam and Roast.

I liked it.

What else is new ??

Yes A trip Log.. for your reference.. for travel enthusiasts..

And my pics.. to tell you the tale via shots..

For Foodies I have two recipes up which I tried recently.

And hope you are having a great week. I am hung over from the trip as always, but I am managing..

More later..