Few learnings

1. Never act greedy in these 3 investment options
FD
Stock market
Mutual fund

2. Never keep the fee dues of three people
Muneem
Hakeem
Vaidya

3. Best three option of investment
Small investment plan
PPF fund
Long term equities

4. Three necessities
Life insurance/health cover
Tax history
Credit history

5. Never participate in anything which can be taken for granted

6. Never do anything for free

7. Be mad

8. Ask probing questions.

9. Never shout at your staff

10. Be stern. Be confident. Be polite and read between the lines.

11. See the indirect meaning in people comment

12. Tit for tat

13. Speak less

14. Never give monetary award to people for a boring task. They will see it as the reason for doing the job.

15. Keep your friends close to your heart

16. Never forget your bad-wishers

17. BE FEARLESS

18. Keep smiling and think why a person is behaving in a particular manner

19. Three things to live peaceful life
Good wife
Good skills
Good house

20. Key to happiness
Speak less. Smile more. Work purposively.

Visit to Udaipur and meeting with some interesting people

In last few days, I have many interesting people and visited some interesting places.  Here I am writing about them with an intention to document my meeting with them or places I visited.

First in the list is set of people whom I have met in Pathak hospital Agra. It includes some nursing, pharmacy and sweeping staff. They were people working for more than 20 hours a day, back to back duties. Some of them had been working for nearly 36 hours continuously. It was amazing to meet such people. It helped me realize how fortunate I am to enjoy such a lavish life. I started appreciating my own life a little more.

Second is a set of tourist places I visited in last week. It included a stay in Tak lake palace, visit to Delwara temple, a trip to Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh fort and fun time in Udaipur's Udai Vilas museum.

Few important pointers about the visit:
1. Taj lake palace is a beautiful place. We had wonderful time in there. If you are staying there, then it is recommended to completely devote your time to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the place rather than wasting away your time in other locations.
2. Mount Abu is not so great. We did not explore the place enough. We stayed in government cottages which we found very costly. There is no worthwhile item to buy from Mount Abu except some wooden items. 3 major points in Abu are Delwara temples, Guru Shikhar peak and Chacha museum. I feel we could have explored options of safari. For food Sankalp restaurant near Nakki lake was a good option. Some other local joints around it were not so great. I did not even like the ice cream offered in there.
3. Ranakpur was a good place to visit. It was similar to Delwara temples. It is located within wild life sanctury. This made it more scenic and beautiful. However day time is more advised for this place. It is not a great place for night stay.
They serve Jain food in bhojan shala which was ok.
4. Kumbhal Garh was also a great place to visit. The fort was amazing. It is a must visit place.
One can buy Dohar shawls which have healing effect for pain. The saris made of sitafal, and rose were also good but they were bit costly.
5. Udai Vilas museum was infotainment but little over priced.
The Oladar cafe outside Udai Vilas was good. We also enjoyed food at Traditional Khana. However food at Celebrity mall was pathetic. The Palkhi restaurant inside the palace is less preferred over Oladar.

Overall it was fun visit. We had good time together.

Everyday learning

There is so much pain around. Every other person is angry, frustrated, anxious, worried, and agonized. People are fighting for resources, facing illness, suffering physical and mental diseases. Everywhere something is missing. People are not happy. They have one or other grievance in their lives. The world is full of sorrow and misery. How can one stay happy and blessed in this world?

The trick is simple.
1. Take everything as God's blessing.
2. No expectation of end result. Only karma.
3. Identify things which give you peace and happiness. Strive for them.
4. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive.
5. Understand people's anger. Try to see the reason behind.
6. Speak as little as possible.
7. Read on everyday basis.
8. Help others as much as possible.
9. Live a disciplined life.
10. Think of people who do not have as luxurious life as yours.
11. Talk to yourself.
12. Do not expect anything in return of your good deeds.
13. Live the life joyfully.
14. Never get angry. You can pity them in your mind for their behaviour. Question them politely but don't get angry.

Title

For 10 minutes I thought about the possible title for this blog. Many flickering ideas came to my mind. It could be "A new beginning" or "Once upon a time" or "Do not give up" or should I put it as  "Just chill".  The competition was so tough that I found it more appropriate to put "Title" as a title instead of choosing one among them.

But then I introspected about the root cause of this confusion. I realised such confusion is part of our life. It has become integral to our ecosystem. Every institution, every social practice, and nearly every relationship is going through a phase of confusion. The gentle optimist breed may call it flux or euphemistically quote it as a change in the positive direction. But I prefer to call it confusion.

I can substantiate my point. For instance, every relationship has become either uncle or aunty. The nuanced sense that relationship with Bua, Mami, Mausi, Chachi and Bhabhi has been monochromatic Ally become just one i.e. aunty.
Similarly, in political circuits, no one knows where lies the power center? Is it centered in PMO or does it lie with respective ministries?
People confuse kindness with cowardice, corruption with conscientiousness, consumerism with richness and money with happiness.

The right thing to do is to seek solutions to this situation. The solution lies in knowing yourself. Knowing your inner core. Knowing your priorities, ambitions, dreams, capabilities, needs and emotional vulnerabilities.

The bigger question would be how to do the above-mentioned. Answer is observe, meditate, self talks and make your standard template of good behaviour. But it runs the risk of becoming rigid so guard against such tendencies.

Exhilaration

The last month was again full of excitement, travel, fun and new experiences. In the first week, one of the great inspirational poet Shri Gopal Das Neeraj died. I paid the tribute to him by listening to his songs for nearly the entire night. 2nd week I visited number of places like Ujjain, Indore, Bhopal, Budbani and  many other places. I also had darshan of baba Amarnath and final culmination was with a trip to Leh Laddakh. Overall, it was very joyful and funfilled time I had. There were lots of good memories and experiences I wish to write about. Will add the details later.

Shadi ke side effects

Marriage is often described as a laddoo "Jo khaaye pachtaaye and Jo naa khaaye wo bhi pachtaaye". Today is end of my first month of staying in this holi pious god-approved alliance.

For most of my life I have stayed alone, moved as per my will and whims. So entering in a partnership is a novel experience. Thankfully, my solitary existence has taught me some crucial lessons to deal with the bumps, breaks and speed of this new journey. With God's grace, things are pretty good for me till now. But there are learnings everyday. So here I am listing the initial little impression of eating this laddoo and best way to digest it.
1. No expectations: keep no expectations or dreams. Marriage is nothing but cohabitation of two people for long term. Do not bank on your partner to take care of you.
2. Me-time: Keep a me time come what may. List your must and must nots and do not compromise on that. Set your daily tasks which you enjoy and perform them. At the same time make some space for your partner and do not let her feel isolated or alone.
3. Love is fools game. Care is right word. If you are living in the world of Romeo Juliet and heer ranjha then you are mistaken. There is nothing called LOVE. Caring for your partner, and being affectionate is more appropriate phrase to describe the bond between two people living together as part of social arrangement.
4. There is no running away: once in a wedlock, there is no running away. So you got to experience it. Better do it with fun and joy.
5. Do not become liability: make sure you are not becoming a liability in any sense on your partner. "Khud dhoiye and khud khujaiye" is a better mantra for long term sustainable relationship.

Having said this, I must say it is good to have some one by your side and I am sure there are many more flavours of Laddoo I am yet to taste.

Book review: Into the wild

One book which I am least likely to forget albeit for a negative reason. The reason is it took me a very long time to finish this one. Just a 200 page real life journey of a young boy wild-voyager Chris Mccandless, but it took me as many days to finish as the number of pages in the book. Something in me discouraged me from grasping the psyche of the young man Chris was. However, towards the end the book captivated me and made me think, introspect and wonder about the philosophical basis of life and it's connection with mother nature.

This book is authored by Jon Krakauer. It is the life description and investigative report in the nomadic journey of a bright young man Chris Mccandless. Author has tried his best to get into the mind of Chris. However, the story is presented in a desultory manner which made it difficult for a naive reader like me to keep up their momentum.

A good read for wild lover. Rest can manage with the movie based on the book.