endless Sky, silent river and me..

The Ultimate Amazon KDP Blueprint: How to Launch a #1 Bestseller 🚀

2026-07-11T17:06:08.680+07:00

The Ultimate Amazon KDP Blueprint: How to Launch a #1 Bestseller 🚀

Are you ready to turn your manuscript into a profitable masterpiece? Publishing a book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is easy, but engineering a #1 Bestseller requires a strategic blueprint.

This step-by-step guide breaks down the exact launch strategy used by top authors to tame the Amazon algorithm, boost visibility, and maximize royalties.

📑 1. Pre-Publishing Checklist: Hooking Your Readers

Before you hit upload, you must optimize your book's metadata for maximum curiosity and conversions.

Catchy Subtitle: Capitalise the first letter of every word (e.g., "Work Less And Win More").
Irresistible First Chapter: Start with a powerful story, a punchy statement, or a burning question to hook readers during their "Look Inside" preview.
Professional Blurb: Never write raw HTML by hand. Use the Kindlepreneur Book Description Generator to format clean, eye-catching text that Amazon won't reject.
Paperback Publishing: If you are based in India, you can use local print-on-demand publishers like NotionPress (which is free and works similarly to KDP) or Pothi alongside Amazon.

⚙️ 2. The Amazon KDP Upload Walkthrough

When filling out your book details on the KDP Bookshelf, use these optimal settings:

kdp.

Age & Grade: Leave these sections completely blank

ISBN: Leave this optional field blank; Amazon provides a free ISBN for your paperback version.
Territories: Always select Worldwide Rights.

Book Description should be generated using following tool .

https://kindlepreneur.com/amazon-book-description-generator/

Keywords.

You Can do KDP select after publishing the book.

KDP select will give visibility. If you choose for KDP select you can't share in apple or cobbo. and you an't come out of it for 90 Days.

Always Choose worldwide rights.

Pricing & Royalties: Set your initial launch price at $0.99 to maximize sales volume. Note that books priced below $2.99 receive a 35% royalty,

while books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 deducts 70% royalty.

Book Lending : Keep it blank.

Once posted for pblishing, it will take 72 hours to be available for buying.

📈 3. Taming the Amazon Algorithm: The #1 Bestseller Strategy

Amazon’s algorithm doesn't care about your book's price—it only cares about consistent sales velocity.

Look for "Low-Performing" Categories

Do not compete in overcrowded categories right away. Use tools like Publisher Rocket or KDSPY to find niche categories where the top book has a lower rank (e.g., an Amazon Best Seller Rank around 40,000).

If your book stays at #1 in a smaller category for 2–3 days, Amazon grants you an official Best Seller Badge, which drastically increases organic buyer trust.

Build a Gradual Sales Staircase

The algorithm rewards growth over sudden spikes. Do not sell 100 books on day one and 0 on day two. Instead, aim for a gradual, upward trend:

Day 1: 10 sales
Day 2: 20 sales
Day 3: 30 sales

This patterns signals to Amazon that your book is gaining traction, prompting the system to push your title higher up in search recommendations.

🔓 4. The KDP Select & Pricing Playbook

Enrolling in KDP Select grants your book exclusive promotional benefits for 90 days, though you cannot sell the digital version on rival platforms like Apple Books or Kobo during this period.

Leverage Kindle Unlimited (KU): KDP Select places your book into Kindle Unlimited, giving you massive visibility among heavy readers who read for free while earning you payouts per page read.
The 5-Day Free Window: Run a 5-day free promotion campaign right at launch to drive thousands of downloads and boost your book's visibility rankings.
The Price Scale: After the free window ends, move the price to $0.99 to capture early buyers. After a week, raise it to $2.99 to unlock the 70% royalty tier. If the market continues to respond well, gradually adjust to $3.99.
Amazon Ads: Run targeted keyword campaigns using Amazon Ads, aiming for a conservative bid of around $0.18 per click to keep your marketing costs efficient.

💬 5. Busting the Review Myth

Many new authors delay their launch because they think they need hundreds of reviews. This is a myth. You only need 5 to 10 verified reviews to build baseline credibility and unlock conversion momentum.

For example this best seller got only 6 reviews

Verified vs. Unverified Reviews

Verified Reviews: Left by customers who explicitly purchased the book on Amazon.
Unverified Reviews: Left by users who did not buy the book through the platform.

Building Your Launch Team

Assemble a launch team from your email subscriber list. Promise them a free physical copy of your next book in exchange for their honest feedback on this launch. Because people are busy, send friendly, polite reminders to keep them on track.

⚠️ Crucial Warning: Amazon uses advanced data metrics to identify your family members. Avoid getting reviews from relatives, as Amazon will detect the connection and permanently remove the reviews.

Get list from KDSPY or publisher rocket and paste here.

0.18 cents for on click.

Your index should make people curious.

Your first chapter should start with story or punchline or question to hook people.

Index and look inside should be geautiful.

Feel free to connect with us.

Do 4 hours work in 1 hour, Artificial Intelligence era has begun

2023-08-30T14:21:00.012+07:00

Few important AI links

https://www.signalhire.com/

Make an account Works with Linkedin .

Right side click on "reveal contact"

https://formula.dog/

https://debugcode.ai/

Give me a Python code to do a binary search and print for 1 test case

https://bard.google.com/

https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

https://app.yoodli.ai/

https://playgroundai.com/

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chatgpt-app-for-chrome-me/camppjleccjaphfdbohjdohecfnoikec

www.Sci-hub.se

https://12ft.io/

https://unroll.me/

unroll.me

tome.app

gamma.app

ATS – Applicant tracking system – AI rates and evaluates resume.

Book Review : The Writer's Process - Anne Janzer

2021-05-02T14:30:00.004+07:00

The Writer's process

1) Happy Writers write good books. Ideas appear in mind.

2) Find your unique environment to write effectively. Some people like sitting in dark room, few want to sit in a lonely place in a garden, few like cafes

3) Talk to different people in this regard. Various conversation nd your stories will help a connection between writer and reader

4) Writers strugle with getting the work done (Productivity) and creating something worth reading (Creativity) . Make the process enjoyable, cultivating and fulfilling happy life whih includes writing.

The book is organized as follows. Part One: The Inner Gears

Part One: The Inner Gears

Part Two: The Process, Start to Finish

Productivity, Creativity, enjoyment

Attention and focus, creativity, self discipline and mindset.

Two characters engaged in a ongoing collaboration in the writer's brain.

The Scribe and the Muse

First lesson of cognitive thought:

There is much more going in our brain than appears on the surface. Just like TV, got 100s of channel but very few worth watching

Thinking Fast and slow book : Kahneman

1) System 1 is automatic it relies on Gut feeling, habit, shortcuts on making decisions sometimes very effective. System 1 is terrible in access probabilities.

2) System 2 is effortful. when we concentrate on computer, math problems etc.

Productive and creative writers learn to tap in the automatic and intutitive processes as well as the intentional ones.

Scribe: Writing requires focus and discipline. Scribe just means writing, putting your thoughts in words. But they are not writers.

Muse: Writers access intuition, creativity and productivity.

A successful writer should be able to balance between Scribe and Muse

Attention is the connection between our inner selves and the outer world. Focus is the act of directing our attention.

Control over focus is more important.

Most of the writers pick late night or early morning for their book writing. That is the time darkness silence the world demands and your focus and attention is at max.

Open awareness creates a mental platform for creative breakthroughs and unexpected insights.

Get in touch with muse with focused mind, less distraction and mind wandering. Should balane muse and scribe.

Take alternate period of focussed writing and open attention. This can be done using Pomodoro technique.

After working intentionally for a while take break. away from desk for less mentally taxing activity.

Most people get more work done in three - one hour block then in three hours stint.

Switch between scribe and mose.

Find right environment to focus :

away from distractions like mobile TV etc.

When you are stuck take a break from Muse:

Invite the mind to wander: Do your hoby work, or just gardening, playing music, dancing, cooking etc.

“A mind adrift lets your creative juices flow.”

Nine elements for the flow to occur:

1. Work that is challenging but within your abilities

2. Work with clear goals (you know what you need to do).

3. Immediate feedback through the activity itself

4. A complete focus on the action

5. A lack of distractions or mind wandering

6. Absence of fear of failure

7. Lack of self-consciousness

8. The loss of awareness of time passing

9. An overall sense of fulfillment or enjoyment

If you’re drafting, the words roll out smoothly. During revision, you become absorbed in the text and the process of refining it.

The state of flow connects you to the joy of writing.

Location for writing

You can pick your place for writing. it can be home backyard or ofice corner or busy cofeeshop

What matters isn’t so much where you go. What matters most is what you leave behind—the ringing of the phone, interruptions of coworkers, or a queue of unread email messages. Create distance from day-to-day distractions.

Shut off your distractions in laptop. Keep mobile away. Some internet blocking softwares are also available.

Block your time for writing. Choose most suitable time which you can dedicate everyday.

WHen you are stuck

Talk to yoursef like an imaginary reader. What input he can give to you. Make notes of these points.

If you prefer a dose of adrenaline with your freewriting, try “The Most Dangerous Writing App” by a former neuroscientist named Manuel Ebert. It deletes everything you’ve typed if you pause for more than five seconds. I picture Keanu Reeves in the movie Speed, thinking I cannot stop typing, or all these words will die. The pressure to keep going might work for you; experiment with it if you have trouble forcing yourself to continue without judgment.

Use Freewriting in your daily practice.

Silence your inner critics. We always try to improve our writing. silent for first draft.

Banish Multitasking.

Let mind wander for ideas. walking driving shower etc..

Creative process got 5 keys

1. Preparation – immersing oneself in the field and its issues

2. Incubation – time in which ideas churn “below the threshold of consciousness”

3. Insight – the “aha” moment when inspiration strikes

4. Evaluation – the process of determining whether the insight is worth pursuing

5. Elaboration – working with the insight

This book really helped me in writing my first book

"The 7 Productivity Sutras For Professionals"

This new year, Gift your kids "Nothing".

2021-01-02T19:11:00.011+07:00

Kids turning stubborn, not eating properly or got a lot of mood swing, how to handle?

Recently I was at a small birthday party. While all adults were busy in usual chit chat, kids found their own choice of toys and started playing. One boy sticks to the makeup toy kit, the girl grabbed tricycle lying around and another boy took the dough made for chapati and ran away.

Sooner, people around started giving their opinion. "Looks like everyone is interested in other's toys" "Boys are interested in girls toys and girls jumped on a tricycle?". "Why boys are not picking boy's games?" As we think we are adult and experienced we got the intelligence to decide what is good and bad for kids.

If we think from a kid's perspective, they don't differentiate, no division, no line. The only thing they know is "what" and "how". Their curiosity makes them explore everything available or happening around them. Passing such comments not only have a negative impact on their creativity but might also put them in a pang of guilt feeling that there is something wrong in them.

Every kid got their own nature and inclination toward their interest fields. In spite of judging kids on what they are doing, we should give them ample space and exposure to grow and pick as per their choice. For example, Think, if Sanjeev Kappor got all those kind of comments and judgement from neighbours on his interest in cooking, he might be working on something he would never feel happy about.

Sanjeev Kapoor, renowned chef

If we list down famous chef's of the world, 70% are men and definitely, they are more successful than most of the adults who think that cooking is a girl's thing.

Avani Chaturvedi, the first solo women pilot of India, came out of the mindset that Army and especially fighter pilot is something only for men. She not only joined and broke the social misconception but also made path for many women to join Airforce.

Courtesy: SheThePeople

Same time, Daniel Bauer, International celebrity makeup artist, is a renowned personality now. He might not at the same stage if similar restriction would have been imposed on him to pick boy's game.

We all live societies' life and not the life we want to live in. Most of us chose our career because five of our close friends chose that career or next door uncle gave their free advice about that career option. Most of us live an unsatisfied life. The only reason is that we didn't respect our interest or hobbies. we always had a doubt because of the people around, who gave a free opinion. Most of the time we are trained that success is earning a lot of money. everything we see around or do is ultimately focussed on earning money. We don't get a chance to pursue our hobby or even spend 1-2 hours a week on that.

Take an example of Pink and Blue colour. The moment we say pink, we imagine the colour for a girl and blue for boys. Our brain is manipulated so well from childhood. Did we ever think on what basis we decided this colour? Now if a boy likes some pink colour dress, he can't pick it because kids around him will tease. But why?

"In 1918, an article from a trade publication called Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department, declared that, since it was derived from red, “Pink is for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” A 1927 survey by Time magazine declared opposite of this, Pink for girls and Blue for boys. Parents were so confused then that they picked gender-neutral colour like green and yellow for their kids.

From the time a child is born, we start imposing and deciding good or bad, their likes and dislikes on behalf of them. Right from food, clothes, judging their behaviour and manipulate them to start liking what we like or feel should be right.

My friend's baby girl is now 7 months old. In India, We do "Annaprashana" means introducing solid food to baby for the first time. They should be completely dependant on mother's milk for the initial 6 months.

When we were in the Philippines, the doctor instructed us not to introduce sugar or salt to kids till they are at least 1 year. This was quite logical as we thought natural food is the best for infants. We used to feed steamed and smashed vegetables or smashed apple, banana etc.

So one fine day when I was just doing a casual chit chat, a friend told me that she mixed banana with sugar to feed the baby. I was shocked-

"Why do you do that? "

" Because not sure if she will like Banana. It will be tastier with Sugar."

If she grows up eating artificial sugar or salt with food, she might lose the real taste of food. and same time she will be addicted to artificial flavouring. On what basis we decided that she would like food more if salt or sugar is added. Of course, she can't speak but she can speak by eating or rejecting natural food. On basis of her choice, we can list down her likes and dislikes and make a chart of food she loves eating.

For example, if we tried banana and she didn't eat, we can give apple, carrot, orange or whatever fruits we can give. Same goes with vegetables. We can steam veggies, smash and serve her. After a few weeks of this exercise, we will have a list of food she likes. Let a baby decide what she likes or dislikes instead of deciding for them.

Most of the parents are worried that their kids are not interested in eating. Let's rephrase this sentence and be more specific. Parents are worried that their kids are not interested in eating the food they chose for them. For example, if we thought that kids should eat corn flakes milk for breakfast and kid is not interested then it's not that kids don't like eating, but the fact is that kid's don't like eating your choice of food.

"So what's the solution? we can't leave them hungry?" good question. First, try to get the answer from nature. If you see animals around us, no mother tries to feed food to their kids. They will be just grazing their choicest grass or food and kids will be munching on whatever they like still animals roaming in free space never get sick or weak. Now look at our kids, whatever they eat or not eat, they are definitely more energetic than us. Same food what we are forcing them to eat makes us lazy and dull. So are we forcing the right food habit for them?

What can we do for our kids: Stop feeding kids forcibly. Expose them to multiple possible varieties of food. Make a chart of what they like or dislike and prepare food accordingly. You will notice that they would never create a problem in eating. Try including natural unprocessed food over processed and artificially prepared food. Even if sometimes they are not interested, leave them alone. Other than human no animals force themselves to eat. They eat only when they feel like eating.

I must admit something in this article. I lived with guilt feeling for a lot of my likes and dislikes just because it doesn't match with many of my friends. I pretended that I enjoy something and don't like anything else because society believes and created some pre-sentiments on that.

For example, while most of my friends loved driving a motorbike or car, I was not at all interested. Thinking about the same doesn't excite me. Somehow because of necessity, I learnt and started driving, I never enjoyed racing and driving like crazy.

I also don't like to talk much. Neither I feel like talking in so excited voice. For me, I see things happening around me mostly not good neither bad. Everything is happenings and how I react is completely in our control. In short, I had a feeling that I am a little reserved or to be specific "not popular" kind of person. But the same time that was not the case always. I enjoy talking with a few of my friends or known one quite a lot.

If you leave me alone in a house, I can live their happily for weeks and may be months. I can be happy being with only me. I don't even need a TV to entertain myself.

It was only during the Covid lockdown, I met one person, online, in his 60s. He gave me a chance to open up and speak about whatever mental limitations and guilt feeling I had. Things I wanted to change in myself and other minute possible details.

His reply made good sense to me. For many things, he explained to me that how this is a quality which I felt is a limitation in my life. for example, I told that I love to live alone and he explained how it takes years of meditation to learn to love and spend time with yourselves happily.

So what can we do exactly for kids?

Let them be what they are. Don't try to manipulate them same time if we don't like any of their behaviour, discuss with them and explain how can they be better.
understand fact that kids got their own likes and dislike. We shouldn't be judgemental but supportive. Give them more possible exposures so that they can decide their area of interest.
Reply to their queries with full energy and honesty.
Feed their choice of food but same time don't expose them to junk food or carbonated drink. If we make a habit in the early years and explain to them why it is not good, it will be engraved in their mind.
Teach them to love and respect themselves.
Even if you want to say negative, you can put in a positive way. For example: If a kid is scared to ride a bicycle, instead of saying " you are coward, you will take time to learn" say "you are brave, you can learn faster."

So the best thing what we can give to our kid is to let them live on their terms. Appreciate their decisions, like dislike. If you want to change something do it happily and slowly. Whatever success whole world is talking about, is only about living happily. Find a way for happiness in whatever condition we are. If kids are happy by nature, they know clearly what they are happy with, what food they like, what colour they like or what activity they like, let's not push them hard to change or pass a comment which can make them fall in guilt feeling life long.

You can be happy lifelong and excel only when you work on things you like and that what success really means.

Thanks Dr. Jinendra Jain, Holistic Healer , For your guidance.

Prashant

Bangalore

2-Jan-2021

How to make your fasting day pleasant? Bursting myths about fasting.

2020-12-25T02:56:00.017+07:00

Fasting is a scary word for most of us. I tried fasting multiple times but failed. Failed in controlling my hunger during fasting, I walked into the kitchen subconsciously and ate something.

It was the month of Apr 2020. The lockdown was on when I first understood the importance of food and its connection with energy.

When Food is always believed to be connected with energy, not eating makes you feel dizzy and sometimes crash out of low energy. I saw people sleeping most of the time during their fasting that made me assume that fasting is a challenging activity that is not everyone's cup of tea.

If you go deep into the secrets behind the energy of our body, you know that gaining energy from food is a half-truth. So come out of this mindset that if you don't take food, you will become weak. There is evidence when a person stayed healthy and fit by just drinking water for many days. There are also a few examples where the person didn't take food life long and stayed healthy.

We take energy from multiple sources of nature other than food. Also, we deplete energy in multiple ways, knowingly or unknowingly.

If we are planning to do fasting, we can follow the below steps or ways to make it pleasant.

Disclaimer: "A diabetic person should consult a doctor before fasting"

1) Two types of fasting:

a) 24 hour fasting

b) 36-40 hours fasting.

> 24 hours fasting: This starts from dinner time to the next day dinner time. Say you took dinner today at 7PM and on fasting for 24 hours, you can break the fast by taking juice next evening around 7PM.

> 36-40 hours fasting: This starts after today's dinner to next Next day Breakfast. When I first did fasting, I could do 40 hours fast easily. If you have taken dinner around 6-7PM today, and not eat anything for the next 40 hours. You can drink only water and green warm tea all day. Day after tomorrow you can break your fast with juice around 9-10AM.

About Juice for breakfast: It's important to break your fast with juices only. It should be fresh fruit juice with no sugar or milk. Juice shouldn't be filtered. It should be pulpy juice or you can call it smoothie. The reason for the juice is: our stomach was resting and was in process of detox. We should give it soft things which can be easily digested. Juices are great in that respect. one hour after juice you can eat whatever you like. It should be only fruit juice and not milk shake. The reason behind this is milk is tough to digest hence heavy on the stomach.

2) Start your day on Fasting: On fasting day,Start your day with morning rituals. Do bed yoga and get up with a smiling face. Do affirmations when you are still in bed like:

Thank God for giving me a new day. I am healthy and joyful. I love and accept myself.

Once you are out of bed, put Gayatri mantra or simple OM or any mantra of your choice. Mantra vibration, Nada Yoga is a great source of energy. It makes our mind calm and increases focus.

3) Connect with Nature: Sun and Air. On fasting days take a long walk in the morning, morning yoga at the time of sunrise is very helpful. Pranayam, alom vilom and bhramari can be done properly. deep breathing is also a must. Deep and slow breathing quickly gives energy to our body. This should be done 3-4 times on a fasting day.

How to deep breathing: Sit in a comfortable position. With the opening of your arms, take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and with closing arms breathe out. You should do it 30 times in one cycle. This can be done 2-3 times.

If you are in the office, you can go for a quick walk of 10 minutes. While walking you can breathe slowly and deep.

4) Brain Fasting: Fasting is always misunderstood only with food. To make fasting pleasant, we should always do brain fasting along with food fasting. What does it mean? Most of our body energy is consumed by the brain. Hence, even if we don't do much physical work, but take stress or do work that requires a lot of brain activity, we feel tired and exhausted.

On fasting day, avoid TV and news completely. Take calls which are really important. postpone other calls for the next day. Keep mobile away as much as possible. Avoid talking much. It's "me time". Try to be with yourself. The more we calm our brain, the easier and happier our body will be during fasting.

5) Drink water or green tea: Make sure that you have a good intake of water. You can also make green tea and keep it in a bottle. Keep drinking it all day. Do not let yourself be thirsty anytime. Saliva is also a good source of energy which goes slowly in the stomach with water.

Green Tea or herbal drink: you can make a quick herbal tea by adding cinnamon, elaichi and tulsi in hot water. You can also add honey also for taste.

6) Meditation: Since you are not eating today, it saves your lunch and dinner time. You can do meditation. Put any guided meditation and relax your body completely. You can lie down or sit and do meditation is your choice.

If you are in the office, you can escape in some meeting room during lunch break or in the worst scenario, you can sit in the toilet as well. Put earphones and switch on a guided meditation.

7) Proper sleep Follow night rituals to get proper sound sleep. Deep leg in hot water with salt, take warm water bath, keep mobile away 1-2 hours before sleep, no TV, news or even book reading. plan your next day and sleep with meditation.

Fasting is a day to cherish and celebrate with yourself.

Benefits of fasting: reduces Obesity, burns fat, reduces chances of chronic diseases, improves heart health, removes toxic from the body, boosts immunity.

Practice fasting proper way and let us know how was your experience by commenting below:

--------------------------

Prashant is also an Author of the Amazon India bestseller book, "The 7 Productivity sutras for Professionals"

"The 7 Productivity Sutras For Professionals"

Add this simple exercise in your daily routine: holding Breath benefits

2020-12-24T15:55:00.002+07:00

Holding breath is always part of the old age Yoga technique. Paranyam one step of yoga trains you to hold breath. Although nothing is mentioned related to holding breath underwater.

The only benefit I can see underwater is that you will not voluntarily inhale so easily when you are underwater compared to a normal environment. So you will be able to hold for a longer time and master yourself faster in this skill.

Benefits of holding breath:

Photo Courtesy: google

Holding your breath is an important part of your health and must be included in your daily exercise routine.

this helps in:

Detox your body. When we hold breath brain and good cells know that holding breath is intentional but some bad cells of the body get no oxygen for some time and become ineffective. This helps in removing a lot of bad or worn-out cells and viruses.
Increases the life span of stem cells by reducing its activity. Healthy cells life increases hence your ageing process slows down.
Gives scope of regeneration of new tissues hence brings glow on face and skin.
It also helps to build immunity. How? Virus and bacteria got a tendency to attack weakest and bad cells. Holding breath helps in getting rid of such cells hence virus and bacteria attack can be reduced drastically.
Helps in better focus and concentration.

Thanks for asking this question. This is a simple exercise but very effective. include in your daily morning routine and whenever you feel down in a day. This gives a good flow of energy and reduces the urge to take caffeine.

Why women empowerment and equality is not in favor of women?

2020-11-19T16:16:00.000+07:00

Women empowerment and women equality are two concepts which were discussed and tried to impose a lot during last 1-2 decades.

Women were made to believe that they are not living enough and had to work harder and on multiple chores at the same time.

They should do all what men are doing and obviously they can't do away with household chores they are assigned with socially.

There are lot of jargons which is being used by so called educated society even now.

for example:

"Isko to bete ki tarah paala hai" (I have brought her up like a son)

"beti hai lekin shouk saare ldkon waale hain" (She is my daughter but all hobbies are of boys.)

Not only that, boys are always made to feel that they are not for doing household work. Moment small boy goes inside kitchen picks up some dough while mom is rolling chapati,or shows interest in cleaning house with mom or elder daughter, comment will appear as :

"Isko to ladki paida hona chahiye tha" ( He should have born like a girl).

"hobbies iske ladkiyon jaise hain" (His hobbies are like girls)

Boys who hear these type of comments since childhood refrain themselves from doing any household work. They suffer a lot when they grow up and forced to live alone for their higher studies or job. Mom has done all the cleaning and arranging house and he got no clue how to do this. He can't cook anything himself and either forced to eat outside everyday or eat burnt chapati or half cooked rice if he tries cooking himself. At this point, he gets another enlightenment " I should get married now so that someone can do all this for me". While wife expects him to help in house chores, only best thing he can do in his free time is to sit in front of TV.

If we look around, world has changed so much. Girls has conquered invincible territories.They are now even in Army and Air force, entrepreneurs and leaders. Same time men turned out to be world best chefs, great mind in managing house and more productive in their house chores activity, stitching, drawing painting etc. They are raising flag high in all these fields.

Still a long way to go for a change in society thought process. Society has even tagged color with gender. Blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Heel shoes is for girls only. Making yourself look presentable is girl's activity. If we look into history, pink color was initially only for king dresses. Heel shoes were also designed for horse riding for boys.

When society tried to put clear line of boys and girls, new women empowerment and women equality added woos in women life. While women got to cover their assigned work, they also have to bite a part of boys designated work.

In recent times when requirement circle grew bigger and job uncertainty went up women started feeling that they should stand on their feet and give contribution in family budget an country's GDP, they went out looking for job.

All their little time left from office work is spent or better say drained in house work. There is high expectation during weekend on varieties of food everyone want to eat. They should also spend good time in teaching kids at home as we say "Mother is the first teacher". In few homes, husband try to take lot of housework to support them. Still God has created women in such a way that lot of work can be done only by them like having kids, feeding them and take care of them till certain age. No one can replace mother for such activities. These activities keep women busy 24x7. No holidays, no break.

They keep their dreams and hobbies aside with comment: "Family ke liye maine sab kurban kar diya" (I sacrificed all for family).

Those 4-5 days every month, designated by God for her to rest is also taken away by multiple pads in market. In history, they were sent to different room during that period and not allowed to enter in kitchen. That time was for them to take total rest.

So what's the solution:

When one member of family got good job to make the ends meet, another member can look into option to work on their hobby, passion and dreams.

Family food habits can be transformed in such a way that it turns to be more healthy and less effort in cooking. For example depending more on live food like fruits and uncooked vegetables, sprouts, soup and salad will reduce cooking time. It will be healthy as well.

Minimalism living style. Family can try to live in minimum required things at home and in life. Living with minimum gives you more time to do work you should focus on. Since it will reduce the requirement, we can also focus on what we like to work on then just working to earn money.

This article is written with the ideas shared with

Jinendra jain, Holistic healer

What wild Dream I have if there is no limitation of Money or space?

2020-07-23T21:33:00.008+07:00

A wild dream shouldn't matter by it's wilderness. It should be acknowledged, cherished and given opportunity to grow like a small seed .

First step in this effort is to write down your dream at a safe and easy accessible place. Blog is one of the best option.

We all have some dream every now and then. Few of these dreams we feel can be achieved and few are labelled as wild. Achievable dreams which if not worked on slowly moves into wild dream.

In the rush to make ends meet along with family responsibilities and chaos of society, we loose clarity on our dreams. It is imperative to spend at least 10-15 minutes with yourself everyday, to have a dream with better focus and to think that time we are spending on whole day is really worth it.

Since childhood, I was bit less talkative kind of person. I didn't really like to have a long talk and also felt uncomfortable when I am in crowd. I loved spending time with myself. I enjoyed staying alone with me time and no one around to disturb me.

In this time with myself, I picked up few hobbies like drawing painting, writing article, stories and note down thoughts which might be running in my mind. This blog was an effort to move my diary hardcopy to digital.

I was contained and happy with my me time and hobbies. If I start doing painting, it will get into my nerves to finish it. At times I will continue for 2-3 days without worrying about food or sleep. I also got scolded for it once when I worked till late night on one painting and got up early, after having a quick morning breakfast, continued again. When my parents saw that they scolded me for not serious about studies.

In heat of anger and childish emotion, I tore off all my pile of my paintings which was created with lot of time and dedication. Now also It makes me sad when I think about it.

After I started my job, I never did painting with such dedication. May be because of an spree of earning money, a lot of expectation from job or no dedicated personal time for myself.

I worked in vietnam for couple of years. Vietnam has a culture of coffee shop, a very beautiful and nicely decorated one. People like to meet over coffee, enjoy the ambiance, happy talk and go home. I started going to such coffeeshops for my article's content. Although the ambiance was good, it used to be noisy because of compact sitting arrangement and high pitch discussion.

It was then I got a dream of coffee shop with jaw dropping ambiance. Ambiance which makes you feel like you are in the lap of nature. Fishes swimming below your feet, real tree wood tables and chairs, lights inside hanging nests, small bird domes at few places for natural chimes will give you an immense pleasure the moment you step in this coffeeshop. When you walk to the centre, you can see one small open dome with few cute animals like a rabbit or some colorful Chameleon.

You might be thinking if it's practically achievable? This is my wild dream with no money or space constraints so please let me go on with my chain of thoughts.

Don't visualize this coffeeshop in a small confined space but in a bigger space which you can imagine is required to make it possible. So back to visualizing the interiors of coffeeshop. Look on your left wall and you can see a big monk pic from Himalayas.

At the corner across the same room, you can see artificially created waterfall on high podium visible from any corner.

No AC installed. You can see beautiful wall mounted fans at multiple places. All are equipped with a feature of sprinkling water droplets every minute.

If you have noticed plants near wall, you can see that they are picked carefully and all are ornamental with more value of oxygen circulation. Also creepers growing against wall are blossomed with small but colorful flowers.

Shop counter is placed strategically beside waterfall, so that people who order will not get bored while waiting. They can stare at waterfall and enjoy the natural music. At another side almost in the center of coffeeshop is counter for green tea or vegan style tea or coffee, juices and beverages. There are high chairs at counter to sit and get served directly in case you don't have company or would like to have a full view of restaurant.

All Coffeeshop helpers have colorful dress matching with ambiance. There is one small kids play area in the corner for active kids to exhaust their energy.

Look at the menu. Each item in menu is prepared with utmost care so that it is healthy and at the same time tingles your taste buds to unforgettable experience.

If you want your "me" time without any disturbance then this is right place to venture. Sit relax, sip coffee, play your guitar , or read a book. Plan your business or write some articles.

We also have few personal cabins if you want some space with no noise and no background movement like making Youtube videos or recording your voice for some activity.

This will be placed not at any remote hill station but right in the middle of chaotic big city so that people can enjoy calmness and mindfulness right in middle of chaos.

Hope you liked my dream.

Don't forget to share what your wild dream is. More details of your dream more close you are with it.

Are you forcing old Time Management concept in New Era?

2019-10-20T17:38:00.003+07:00

Time Management then and now: Photo Courtesy- Internet

You had a tiring day in office orchestrating the phone calls, meetings, and fulfilling clients' as well as boss's expectations. You reached home but your laptop screen is still glowing and phone is still ringing. You tried to finish the work late at night, scrolled last time through your emails and messages, and slipped inside your blanket.

The same cycle started again. Morning on toilet seat catching up with social media, emails and messages, eating breakfast in a hurry and rushing to office. You decided to manage time smartly today but you got no time to plan your day.

Time is a constant parameter. It started ticking with the Big bang 13.8 billion years ago and is still ticking. Time is, in fact, a sequence of events. Without events, past, present and future wouldn't exist and so would be time. Time was always there and will be there even when we are gone. We need to manage ourselves more than time.

Birth of time Management:
The time management concept was on peak during the industrial revolution era. Major jobs were in the factory. How much you can produce in 1 hour should be multiplied by 8 to know your per day productivity. Factory time used to start in the morning at 9AM and finished at 6PM giving you a 9-hour window. Most of the work in a factory was routine work which didn't require much attention and energy. Time was money.

We are in a new era of knowledge and expertise. In this era, our value is more on what we can accomplish than how much we can produce per hour. Quality and efficiency of achievement are more dependants on focus and energy we can have. I am not saying that time is not important. Time is the basic and it is constant. Whatever we do, time will move at the same pace. Binding work in a 9-hour window starting at 9AM may not be so fruitful now as it used to be during the industrial era.

For example: you reach the office at 9AM. With a tough time on the road with traffic, your energy level is low, your mind is reluctant to start work. You switched on your laptop and checked all mails, till a message pops up for the coffee break. You had all kinds of social and political discussions. After cursing govt and boss, you are back on the seat, scrolled through social media and mails one more time before you start work. Within 1-2 hours, you got a call for a lunch break.

Time Focus and Energy: Productivity

Most Productive Time (MPT)
After heavy lunch your energy level is low. It took you one hour to gain your energy and focus back. You are finishing your work at a good pace now but you could focus only after half-day is gone. Maybe this time say 3PM post-lunch is your peak time or Most Productive Time, let's call it MPT, when your focus is at the best and energy level is high. you can finish work at a good pace which was due since morning.

In between, meeting request pops up on your screen and you took a laptop and walked away breaking the focus you gained.
You might be getting MPT 3-4 times in a day or more. The work you do in MPT helps you accomplish your major part of daily tasks. You are est productive during these hours.

Productivity is money. What you can accomplish, how much work you can do in the least time is your value. That's why the old-time Management concept is not working so well.
That's why the "Time is Money" phrase is also obsolete.

How few Organizations has changed themselves with new Era :
Many big organizations and startups are accepting this change of new era hence 9AM to 6PM work hours is past for them. They have flexible time policy to appear in the office and also Work From Home is allowed so that employees can work during their MPT.
In the internet era, your physical presence is not required all the time. Conference calls, group chats, and video calls are new definitions of meetings and brainstorming.

How to Manage your productivity:
Task 1:
For the next one week, notice your MPT.
You might have MPT almost at the same time every day
For example morning 7-8AM 11-12PM 3-5PM 8-10Pm

Task2:
Once you have identified your MPT, plan your work which requires most of the focus and energy during the identified MPT window, for example, your office work, writing book, article, preparing for exam etc.
Don't let people disturb you or steal your MPT. Cut yourself from social media and emails during MPT which might cause you lose your focus. In fact, we can fix time say checking emails and messages once in 2-3 hours depending on the type of job.

Task3:
Plan your non-productive work during non MPT, for example, household maintenance work, spending time with family, living with your hobby, adeventure, relaxing etc.
You might be thinking that 24 hours is not enough to finish my important work, how can I do this only during MPT.
Studies show that if you are trying to work on something all day, your productivity goes down and decision-making ability drops drastically. This reduces your MPT. Hence you might feel like you worked all day and feel good and proud about yourself but actual MPT hours may be much lesser.

Other than that you will not be able to give time to family, your hobbies and your relationship. Focus also drops drastically if your relationship with family members is not healthy or you are cut off from your hobby.

Try this new concept and comment below your experience.
"Time is Money" is obsolete. now "Productivity is Money."

Why do our mind works against us? Thrilling lonely trekking experience in Brunei

2019-01-07T03:37:00.002+07:00

Brunei is an amazing place for it's serene and beautiful nature, mosques, king's lifestyle, water village, dense forest and many more. It's sparsely populated and one of the richest country in the world.

Out of all the tourist places around Bandar City, capital, trekking was one of them in my list.
The place is located right in the middle of the city. It was just 2.5km from my hotel.

Plan was to start by 6AM so that I can return before it's too sunny. It was supposed to be just 2-3 hours of trekking, thanks to google.
I got up at 8AM. It was beautiful Saturday late morning. You always have the privilege of time if you are traveling alone.

I left home at 9AM and started walking. There were only two small makeshift stalls at the entrance for water and drinks. I was not in the mood to carry any bag hence didn't buy any water, even left one filled water bottle at home.

I had done a lot of trekking before, but never alone. I saw a few groups finishing their trekking at the entrance.
"Hello brother, how much time it takes to climb up?" I asked.
"2-4 hours depending on the path you take."

I have done full day trekking before and this might be the shortest.

Map at entrance

I took a photo of Map at the entrance and started moving on trekking path. Sun rays were struggling to enter the dense forest. Brunei has preserved their nature well and untouched. You can see really old dense trees very next to your apartment.

Few monkeys were sitting on way enjoying their time with family.
It was only me in this dense forest and I was totally enjoying my date with nature. It was a rare moment.

After almost one hour of trekking, I started feeling thirsty.
There were few direction boards in the beginning but after getting further into the dense forest, I was not able to see any such boards. If I hit any junction with multiple walkways, I had to decide on my gut feeling and little help from map photo I took at the entrance. I was not able to see anyone now most probably because this place is not so popular or I am too late for trekking.

As time passed, my throat went completely dry. I was getting exhausted and tired by now. As I was reaching the top of the mountain, the sun was able to penetrate the forest increasing temperature.

I looked around with very less hope of finding any help.
Few crazy thoughts started taking birth in my head.

"What if I am lost here?"
"Am I going to die here?"

"I am already real thirsty and if I choose correct path while returning, best case will still take minimum two hours. Will I be able to survive till then?"
My legs started shivering. I started feeling more exhausted and more thirsty.

Another side of mind woke up.
"Shut up, nothing will happen, this is such a small problem"
"Your life is not so cheap. You will definitely come out of it"

But the first part of the brain didn't buy this.
"I am sure you are just trying to console me".

I was putting one step after another slowly on steep stairs toward the top of the mountain. There was no question of going back without touching the top. I was making sure not to get exhausted much hence was taking rest more often.

Slowly top was visible. One small shed was built there decorated with a signboard "
Welcome Mid Autumn festival".
Colorful Chinese lanterns were hanging around the shed. Suddenly I saw one almost 10 liter water jar kept at the corner of the shed. I started moving fast, went to it but it was empty. Looks like it is there since long time untouched covered with complete dust.
"Thank god for laughing at my situation." I looked up and said.

Small worn out shed at top

"Helloooo" "Helloooooooooooooo" "heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelppppppppppp!!!!!!"
I shouted without much of hope.

No reply. There was no signal on my mobile as well.
I was now in a strong urge to drink water else I might faint. I felt an urge to empty my bladder as well.

"Should I drink my urine?"

"What if I drink and fall sick? It will become worse"
But if I just pass it, I might lose a chance to drink something.

Few documentary movies re-played in my mind where a person in such a situation drinks his own pee and eats cockroaches to keep himself alive.
"I didn't see any cockroach in the forest yet."

I saw one garbage box kept in the corner. I walked to it, opened the lid which was tightened properly to avoid being blown away by the wind.

Quite a few water bottles stared at me from inside, as if telling me that they are also thirsty without water since long. Few empty soft drink cans were also lying in that with ants queuing to get last sweet drop left sticking to bottle.
I felt jealous of ants. They can quench their thirst in just one drop. Now I was missing my bottle, I left on the table at home, very much. It was flashing in front of my eyes every second.

I dropped the plan of drinking urine as I never tested it. Right in the middle of a forest on top of the mountain, it was really fun peeing there. You can enjoy a few moments even when you are in deep shit.

I was not sure what to do now. Minimum 1-2 hours of more trekking left to go back and I had no energy left.

No choice but to move. I walked hardly two steps and my legs started shivering.
I returned to shed again and lied down on the fixed thin bench.

"Forget about the problem. Relax and enjoy the beauty of the moment. close your eyes."
I let my heavy breathing turn normal. Got my mind relaxed and dozed for few minutes recharging myself.
I got up, cherished and praised the city which was beautiful from the top. I can see the main structures all around the city, Mosque, bridge, sultan's palace etc.

I started walking again, with new confidence. "Slowly one step at a time, just focus on finding a right and shortest path"

I was analyzing the surroundings to make sure that I am not lost.

After a good 40 min walk suddenly sun rays reflected on my face. Reflection was coming from a beautiful lake hiding behind trees. I remembered I saw one lake in the map. I immediately took out the map in excitement trying to locate myself using the lake as a landmark.

"Woo hoo. I am on the right path." I started walking along the lake. That what I learned from a few movies. Walk along water body if you are lost. Small pathway turned wider and now I can see it is connecting to the proper path.

I was so happy that I am out. Finally took a sigh of relief. I was thinking I will go out now and drink a lot of water first. from one side I heard a faint waterfall sound. I started chasing the sound and soon I was on top of it but the waterfall was not visible.

Soon I realized that I am on the wrong side. I can get a proper view of the waterfall if I go opposite to it. It was a calm and lovely waterfall. No one was there as well.

I sat at bottom of the waterfall. The strong urge of drinking water was gone. You can't get this type of opportunity very often where only you and nature are spending time together.

Waterfall in middle of forest

Last 4 hours was reeling in my mind.
"Why do our mind works against us? "
Our mind plays around us and fools us. 1 hour back I was fully exhausted, dead thirsty and completely out of energy and now I am sitting calmly in front of a waterfall with no strong urge of drinking water. Just because I got this feeling that I am safe now and I know how to go out of this place.

It was a rare life-threatening experience but with the realization that we live in so much of comfort zone that we feel helpless in even such small problems.

We should live in the present and enjoy the moment than worrying much about the future. Keep your hand on your heart and say "All is Well" and strongly face the situation.
I was happy that I managed to calm myself when I was at the peak of the mountain and could adore the nature's beauty.

With calmness induced from nature, I walked away at a slow pace. Found a water vending machine at the entrance. Dropped coins and emptied the sweetest water I ever had.

Vending machine

Life is learning every day, never miss the present worrying about the future.

HNY2019. What one step can make your 2019 resolution a success?

2019-01-01T17:29:00.000+07:00

2019 Resolution

One more New Year, started with new sunrise, lot of celebrations, fun and wishes. We welcome it with full of excitement and energy. We also welcome New Year with in one more way, resolution.

We all have dreams, desires, wishes in one or another way to become a better person. New year reminds us to re-focus on these and have some resolution to act on.

If we look back 2-3 or 4 years or as many years back we can think of, a pile of resolutions remain unfulfilled, dreams were postponed, desires were compromised.

A simple resolution of getting up early is not fulfilled even for few days. After 2 days of forcing ourselves out of bed on committed time, full body will turn still on 3rd to even respond to alarm.

We keep listening to motivational videos, control your destiny, achieve great, don't procrastinate etc. etc.. We feel motivated for a while but nothing works in long run.

I tried to see lot of successful people, read about them, watched videos to understand what they do different from us. How they are committed and achieve their goals while most of us think, desire and forget.

One thing I found in common among most is recording somewhere. Writing down what we want from life, what matters us most, what we want to do today. It's a reflection of our mind, picking positive thoughts and discarding negative thoughts.

You call it journal , diary, self talk or whatever you want to name it.

How we should do it?

Write your wishes, dreams and desires in a notepad, an entry every morning.

"What you want to do today, how you want to spend your day".

Don't put any pressure on yourself, neither be too ambitious. If you want to spend full day watching movie or playing video games, write that. Be honest.

We need to open this notepad once more just before sleep. This will be for very short interval compared to time spent in morning. Go through this once. This will be a mirror of your commitment in morning. Also it will give mind a signal of end of day and mind can rest.

This process helps mind to be still and focused. This is the way to let mind do what you want without forcing it to do. I managed to finish lot of pending desires by following this ritual.

Make this a ritual in life and it will help to change your habits to winners habit.

Wishing you all a Happy new year 2019.

Hope all your dreams come true and you achieve what you desire.

Prashant

Johannesburg, SA

1-Jan-19

How changing "I can't" to "how can I" saved me that day.?

2018-12-01T21:40:00.003+07:00

Travelling has become part of my life. In fact life is a journey and even if you are not travelling, you are travelling in time.

Doesn't matter how many times I travelled to different countries, excitement to see a new country is always high in me. This travel, God was ready to give me a totally new thrilling experience.

My flight was booked in advance which was supposed to depart at 11:15PM from Bangalore. I had connecting flight in KL, Malaysia to Brunei.

Although it was my business travel, we booked in AirAsia, budget airlines, because of few limitations.
It was Thursday, Friday was holiday for Ganesh puja in India, which means a long weekend.
So what for me? I was anyway travelling to another country where Friday was working day. But no, "Wait" this holiday had an impact on me.

As per my calculation and previous data analysis, It generally takes 1.5 hours to 2 hours to reach Bangalore Airport from my home. Yes, Bangalore airport is almost in different city.

1 hour buffer should be good enough. I travelled in international flight many times and I knew that from taking boarding pass to reaching boarding gate takes max of 30 min so reaching airport 1.5 hours to 2 hours before take off should give enough comfortable time.

I planned to leave by 7PM from home and I should reach max by 9PM. 30 Min buffer and 9:30PM should also be before ticket counter closing time which is 1 hour before flight departure.

After packing and finishing few errands, I managed to book Uber only 15 minutes past 7PM. Mostly Uber arrives within 5-10 minutes as my house is close to main road but long Ganesh Puja holiday and traffic of people going to their hometown was choking the movement.

Continuous call to Uber driver, tracking him till he reached my home only by 8PM. Two sweat drops rolled down from head to ears and neck thinking of unexpected. I sat inside taxi and said "All is well, All is well" to myself.

Impact of Ganesh puja was yet not over. Traffic in my area was crawling while I was still hoping that once it reaches ring road, taxi can run faster. I can't do anything else other than keeping hope alive.

I never missed flight so I was kind of sure that I will not miss this time as well.
All horns were adding sound effects in thrill ride and traffic lights were it seems planning to ruin my trip. I told driver that flight is at 11:15PM and we should go fast. He stared at me and moved his eyes back on road.

Once I am out of city limit, it takes 15-20 min only to reach airport. While on ring road we need to pass one railway station KR Puram area. Our taxi started crawling like tortoise once we reached there. Till now I was sweating from everywhere(yes I mean it). It was not hot but I requested driver to switch on AC.

After 30 min of struggle on that 3KM stretch our taxi got some speed.
Highway was also covered with buses going to different city and taxis to airport. By the time, we conquered this fight and reached airport, my watch showed 10PM. I paid money immediately to driver which I was holding in my hand to save whatever few seconds I can.

I took my luggage out from car trunk, put on trolley and ran to airport. Bangalore airport domestic and International departure are in same area.

I saw AirAsia written on one window and ran there. One flight attendant told that it's domestic Airasia flight window, go to International on other end.

I ran again, as fast as I can. My mind was running faster painting all possibilities in background. I scanned all windows till end and couldn't see Airasia written on any window.

"Did they close already ?"
I missed a heartbeat. "Now I need to justify why I missed or pay for another booking."

I just shook my head to drop all these thoughts and focus on current situation.
Saw an AirAsia attendant and rushed to her. She pointed at window 57 and said "It was, now they are closed".

"What???"

I ran to the window shoving my trolley as fast as I could.
"Madam, my ticket and passport."

"Where are you flying to sir?"
"KL and then connecting flight to Brunei."

"That flight window is already closed sir. It closes one hour before departure."
"But I came 1 hour 15 min before departure. It took me time to find departure window as Domestic and international flight windows are not mentioned clearly."

"Now you can't do anything. You Can't fly!!"
"So what are my options?" I asked.
"Can't sir!!. Your flight is non-transferrable and it will go in -no show."

Can't was bouncing in my head.
I also Can't give up so easily. I reeled in my mind.

She said, go to AirAsia ticket issuing counter. They might be able to help.
Time was running out faster than ever, as if, I was trying to save someone's life in ICU.

I ran to ticket counter and just jumped inside the room.
"Excuse me sir! You can't come inside like this."

"I need urgent help as my flight is about to depart and window is closed." I said in one breath.

"Which flight?" she asked as if she got chance to have some fun time with me.
"Flight to KL" I replied.

"No chance. Window is closed. We can't take any passenger now"
Again one more "Can't".

"What are my options? when is the next flight. Can I use my return ticket at least from my current booking?" I asked.
I was expecting "yes" as an obvious answer, but when you are in trouble, obvious is not so obvious.

She pretended as if she is busy entertaining other passengers at counter.
"Next flight is only on Saturday night. Since all the legs are booked under one PNR. If you don't fly onward, this ticket will automatically expire."

So next flight only after 2 days and a loss of around 1000 Dollars. Flight will be costly also if I book just 1-2 days before.

No, not one more "can't" again.

I tried to calm down. Took bottle out of my bag and drank one gulp, trying to swallow what was happening with me.

I took few deep breaths and instructed my mind to think "How can I?".
If someone is not helping in an organization, what can we do?

Escalate it to higher management.

I told her, "I want to meet your manager. Please call him".

She replied, "Please go to boarding counter. They might be able to help."
I ran back to boarding counter and repeated the same.

It was already 10:35PM by now. 40 more minutes to go.
"No sir, manager is busy with passengers. He can't help."

"I got very important meeting tomorrow as soon as I land and you don't have any flight tomorrow.
Check your records I am a frequent flyer in Airasia and also VIP passenger."
I cooked some story.

It seems it worked. She told " Okay, I will call the manager".
She dialled someone and spoke for a while. Then she told me
"Go to ticket window and wait there."

I felt like she is just shooing me away as I am trying all ways to board the plane.
I had no choice though, but to do as she said.

I went to ticket counter and waited restlessly there. After good 10 mins, one guy came running and asked.
"Why are you late, sir?"

There was no time for discussion.
He told "follow me" and ran toward Airasia Domestic window where terminals were still open for other flights. I ran beside him with my luggage trolley telling him story of Ganesh Puja holiday and unexpected heavy traffic, booking taxi etc..

On way he instructed someone to collect my luggage and put in flight.
When we reached boarding gate, he jumped on the other side and took my ticket printout with passport.

"You have booked luggage? will this exceed luggage weight?"
"Yes, 25Kg is booked and sure this is in limit as I weighed at home"

No time to weigh luggage. He printed boarding pass, stickers to paste on luggage. In between another guy came running to collect my luggage. Manager instructed him how to put in plane as it was not going on conveyor belt.

He jumped this side and said "please run with me"

I started running together with him as I got only hand baggage which was a backpack.
20 more minutes to go for flight to take off, I just checked my watch quickly.

He took me to Immigration counter for crew members as there was no queue.

Immigration officer checked my passport and boarding pass and asked that guy "Why are we allowing him so late? You are not following protocol."

Manager told that there was some serious problem. Immigration officer didn't ask any further question. He stamped on passport and let me go.

We ran to hand baggage scan area. Ran through long queue "Sorry, my flight is leaving in another 10 minutes" I kept shouting without waiting for anyone's reaction and reached to scanning machine.

I repeated the same line in front of our army guys deployed there for security and scanning. He immediately kept my bag inside machine surpassing all bags in queue and checked and stamped my boarding pass.

"Run! Run!" he said. Manager was not seen anywhere.

I checked my boarding pass for boarding gate. Luckily it was near by.
People were already boarding the plane. I was just in nick of time.

Manager stood at the boarding verifying everyone's ticket.
I showed my ticket, he beam his barcode reader gun toward ticket and reported on walkie talkie.
"Passenger 256 boarding. Passenger luggage loaded in plane?"

"Luggage loaded" someone replied from other end.

I told him how grateful I was for the last minute adjustment and appreciated them for accommodating me. He looked at me in the eye acknowledging the pain I went through to get till here, then he went ahead with other passengers.

I walked slowly as a conqueror inside plane, glanced at the empty seat waiting for me which would have flown without me today.

As I adjusted the hand baggage I carried with me in the overhead bin, felt how badly I was sweating and smiled thinking the chain of events which got me till this moment. It was a sigh of relief when I sat in my seat “finally”.

Have I not instructed my mind to stop focusing on "can't" and start thinking "how can I" I would be in some soup.

Remember, whenever mind says "can't", listen to it as "How can I?"
This will make you look for solution instead of crying at closed door. This happens in every walk of life.

Try once yourself and you will be shocked with the result.

Few Brunei Pics
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Why Doesn't my partner listen to me? Does love still exist between us?

2018-09-22T01:37:00.002+07:00

21-Sep-2018

Brunei Darussalam

Couples in love sometimes fall in situation when they start contradicting each other for every small action. This breaks out dispute which takes days to sort out and sometimes ends up even with separation.

My name is Prashant. I am from Bihar, part of India where caste system is something enforced by our society. For your surprise, I am married to a person not from same caste, not from same state, neither from same country. yes, she is a foreigner from totally different world, different religion, different food habits, different beliefs and different lifestyle.

"So how both of you are going along?"

"Can she cook Indian food?"
"Can you eat her country food? what kind of food they eat?
"Is she able to manage with spicy food?"

"What's her religious beliefs?"
"Is she able to respect our culture?"
"What's her reaction on our long list of festivals?"
" can she do fasting for you?"
"How was your parent's reaction?"

I am always bombarded with lot of such questions and will be looked upon like an alien.

Yes, these problems are and will always be there. Many times she come up with statement "I don't understand why....................... "
These problems never created any difference between us although we debate on various such topics.

Cause of dispute:

To know how we handle this, first let's understand who you are?
A set of experience, beliefs, emotions, likes, dislikes, choices, a particular mind and a particular body is what "you" are. Similar combination but totally different kind what "Other" person is.

At a times, when part of both combination matches and overlaps perfectly, life moves in perfect harmony, full of joy and happiness. Physical and mental being is perfectly compatible.
Next moment when another part of both, totally different, failed to overlap, whatever you do you can't find it compatible and that is when dispute erupts.

Meaning of love: If we are in relationship, we feel that we can give command and you must follow because I love you. And if you do as I say, it means you love me back.

Back of your mind your ego says "You gotta do this to prove you love me"

If we love someone, our main motto should be their happiness. They can be happy only when they do what they love to do. So we should not only allow them to do what they like but also support and encourage them.

Whenever there is dispute, talk to yourself and say "I love him/her and his/her happiness is more important for me". Then next moment you wouldn't be fighting with each other but will be fighting with the misunderstanding which is the root cause of dispute.

I love drawing, painting and writing articles. My wife got no interest in these but she reads my article and gives feedback. Same way my wife loves cooking and I love trying new dishes and help her in improving her cooking skills.

Action Time: So here is your assignment for next week.
List down three hobbies and interests of your partner. Attach them with three different activities and make sure that all is done at least once in next one month. You have to be a part of activity with full energy.

Line to take home: Remember love means giving. If you expect something in return is less of love and more of selfishness.

Love life is not exciting any more? be STUPID!!

2018-08-19T04:29:00.001+07:00

"Just Married"
a sweet tagline not only excites newly wed couples but also triggers open the memory box of other married couples.

This immediately takes them to the feeling where every moment was fun, excitement, travel and great communication. "Boredom" was not even in the dictionary.

After almost four years of marriage, I still remember the day, I met her for first time. It was a friends group meet around a coffee table. In heat of discussion, topic came up that "how can someone kiss on very first meet?" My reply was
"Why not?"
"How can?"
I got up from my seat, walked to her and kissed her on cheek.
Her face immediately turned red followed with a moment of complete silence. it looked very stupid at that point of time.

Lot of stupid but sweet memories eventually got added in our memory box.We went on many unplanned trips, and added lot of thrilling adventure in our list. We still remember one of the stupid decision of travelling when I reached home from office asked to pack bag within 30 min and left for the trip to remote island. We were kind of sure that all means of transport and hotels are fully booked. We stood in 3 hours long queue for bus and reached boat station around 1AM. We managed to get boat ticket only at 10AM n morning over the counter that is 9 hours standing in queue. She kept on saying nice words behind me for such trip plan and I kept on listening. It was weird that time but turned into sweet memories now.
We also planned special days in unique weird ways and never missed any chance to give surprises to each other.

As the time passed, excitement and such events started fading away and turned into just memories with new tagline "Once upon a time."

Time threw more challenges. Also we turned into mom and dad, and completely submerged ourselves in that new role. We forgot that we have one more role, that is role of husband and wife.

Irritation and frustration meter was in red and we were not sure what's wrong. We used to talk for long hours before but now any talk turns into heated discussion.

We spoke with few friends to understand if they are facing the same problem and how are they managing this. We realized that most of couples are in same boat.
Few were addressing problem with one logic "live and let live". They reduce discussion and together moments. Mind their own business and don't disturb each other unless there is a dependency.

We were not ready to live like this and wanted to get the lost love back. After lot of research and trial we listed down ten commandments which enlivened out love again.

1) Plan weekend Getaway occasionally. If not monthly then at least once in six month. It gives some personal time away from usual environment. It also triggers mind to think in different way from generalized understanding about each other. even a trip to water park or amusement park, kids play arena or a full day shopping spree will meet the purpose.

2) Meet friends frequently. Meeting friends and spending good time sends some happy vibes and keeps you charged for long time. When you are in happy mood, bitter moment tends to go away.

3) Don't forget to give surprises on special days like birthday, marriage anniversary etc. When surprise is thrown on you, cherish it, enjoy and appreciate the effort & care of your partner. Even if you got kids, you still have right to feel excited and enjoy your birthday.

4) Go for sports occasionally. Outdoor games like badminton, tennis, etc or even indoor games like carrom, snooker, ludo, solving puzzles together will help in reviving love. It will also help kids to create a good bonding with family.

5) Remember to calm down. Don't attack when you are in fight mode, don't defend either. Both are different approach of fight. First calm down and try to listen to her/him. Repeat what you understood to make your partner feel that you are really listening. Think of solution for the problem.

6) Don't stand face to face during heated discussion. that is attacking position. Stand beside as if you both are fighting with problem/misunderstanding together.

7) Help your partner in kitchen. Surprise her with any quick dish you can cook when she is away with friends. Don't say that "I don't know cooking". You don't know till date you don't do it for first time. Who knows, a chef is hiding inside you.

8) Show your Love Emotion. Do you agree that anger is emotion so is love. When we show anger so openly, why not love? Be open in showing love and don't expect your partner should understand it automatically or read in your eyes.

10) Be STUPID last but most important: You can do some stupid things, plan sudden trips, going out in night to ice cream shop for no reason, sudden kiss or hug, and whatever your childish mind can think of. Be real stupid and your love life will never go down.

So what are you waiting for? If your partner is with you and you have happy personal life, you can jump high and touch the zenith.

Are you ready to re-ignite your love? are you ready to be stupid again?

What will you take to love your work?

2018-03-16T03:08:00.002+07:00

A light drizzling in middle of day calmed the furious sun. I was able to hear noise of my stomach and decided to look for a decent restaurant. In India, we have concept of meal plate or Thali which will be a combo of rice, chapati, 2-3 varieties of curry, sweet and papad. Pickles will be already on your table. My target was to eat Thali as it’s a complete combo and less spicy for those who eat outside daily.

I roamed around a bit and found one restaurant. It was not much crowd as peak lunch hours was over.In a quick glimpse, restaurant seemed decent to dine in. I was looking at the list of items on menu when a short height guy, in his 30’s came beside me. I noticed that he had some problem in his one leg as he was not able to walk straight. With a smiling face, he said

“Sir, you can take a seat, I will bring menu on your table”.

Smiling is a common gesture but not in India, at least not in average restaurants unless you visit any fine dine restaurant. you might see only straight or frustrated faces. After a small discussion on availability, I ordered Thali. Yes, I was looking for Thali only but discussion was to find if something else is available and what this restaurant thali contains.

The Waiter, the hero

After couple of minutes, he came with a fully loaded Thali, 2 types of veggies, dal, rice, one chapati, curd, papad and one sweet. Rice it seems was unlimited and so were other veggies in the thali except sweet and papad. He stood in one corner and was watching everyone from far. In spite of problem in leg, he was not lazy to walk to the table wherever he sees any item finished in plate. With same pleasant attitude he will ask if he needs the veggie which got over or wants extra rice.

He walked to my table as well and asked if I would take more rice. After serving rice, he rushed to get pot to serve dal and veggies.

It forced me think as what motivates these employees. how can he be so excited at his work all the time. I am sure his salary might not be so high for him neither he is going to get any good increment which can keep him motivated.

He taught me the true meaning of giving your heart to work. He said silently “no work is small. Do it with dedication and it will turn into great work.” Most probably his mission was not only to serve food but also see a satisfied and happy customer walking out of restaurant.

I wanted to give tip to him but it might de-valuate his work. After payment at counter I walked to him, thanked him and took a click with his smiling face.

फ़तह

2015-06-07T00:31:00.001+07:00

इस प्यार का कोइ असर न हो पाएगा,

मालुम था, फ़िर भी कसर ढुँढ रहे थे!

हारे जो हम तेरी बेसब्री में,

वहाँ एक सब्र ढुँढ रहे थे!

दुश्मनी के इस अन्धेरी गली में,

रोशनी का बसर ढुँढ रहे थे!

झुलसते रहे अरमान गुरूर के आग में

ऐसे में ठंडी एक लहर ढुँढ रहे थे!

खामियाँ क्यों ना आये नज़र मेरे में

मेरे खामियों में वो अपनी फ़तह ढुँढ रहे थे!!

Prashant Jun 2015

Manila, Philippines

Jaam

2015-06-06T23:52:00.001+07:00

शाम और जाम

वही सुबह है और वही शाम है,

वही तड़पता दिल है

और वही ठंडी जाम है!!

Sometime when you feel unrest and bored, you should go back to your passion, your hobbies and let yourself submerge in that. Sketching and drawing is my hobby, not drinking. I chose whisky bottle because it had better reflection and shades than other things which was easily available around me.
I am not promoting drinking anyway.

I am feeling peaceful, fully satisfied and happy after drawing this piece of art. I beleive that it came out nicely. I am also happy that Facebook, smart phone, TV and other distracting objects failed to distract me for 4-5 hours when I was lost in this.
Prashant,
Makati, Manila
Art on: 06-Jun-2015

Andhera

2015-01-27T00:14:00.002+07:00

Andhera,
Ghana ghoop Andhera
charo or chaya hua sa,
Sabhi dekh rahe hain,
Magar chup hain.

Koi nahi jalata,
Koi kyun nahi jalata,
ek deepak,
ek mashaal,
jo bhaga de is andhere ko.

sayad machi to hai sabhi ke paas
maar kharch nahi karna chahta
koi
ek bhi tilli.

PMP Certification

2014-07-24T23:58:00.002+07:00

PMP certification (cleared in 2 weeks)

It was a tough decision to take PMP exam within 2 weeks of completion of my 4.5 days class (36 hours PDU in PMI terms) when everyone suggested to study at-least for 3 month to crack the exam.

I decided not to delay because of few personal and professional constraints. It is also good to take exam sooner after completion of classes so that PDUs will be fresh in mind. Anyway there is not much risk since 3 attempts is allowed within 1 year.

Few tips and tricks for clearing PMP exam:

· Read the PMBOK at least 3-4 times to have a clear understanding and relationship between different phases of project. Some terms and topics are not covered in this book which can be seen in exam.

· Rita Mulcahy is really a nice book. It explains the terms and topics with real life project scenarios. Solving all the questionnaires at the end of each chapter is a "must" to do thing. Make notes for all abbreviations and terms used in the PMBOK. Make sure that you remember it by heart.

· Practice all formulas. They are not complicated but clear understanding is required since exam questions will be twisted relating with a real life scenario. Practice as many questions as possible related to mathematical calculations. Rita book also got nice collection of such questions with explanation.

· Practise atleast 2 full set of 200 questions(not more than 4). Try to solve in 4 hours as per PMP exam time. 240minutes is provided to clear 200 questions i.e. almost 1.2 minutes per question. Try to understand question in one read.

· One PMP exam simulation question paper is available at www.pmstudy.com/PMP-Exam-Resources/freeSimulatedTest.asp. You must solve it once to evaluate your preparation 2-3 days before your target exam date. Your should be able to finish the question paper to review "marked" questions. Can also refer this to practice more http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm. More emphasis should be given on solving questions than studying. Questions will align your knowledge with real scenarios.

· The main trick during exam is not to select the correct answer first, but to reject the 2 most unlikely answer. This will let you focus on only two answers and your probability of choosing correct answer will increase to 50% from 25%. You can easily reject 2 answers straight away in 75% of questions.

Few points about exam:

> Nothing will be allowed inside exam, even pen. Your pockets will be emptied. They will provide pencil and scratch sheets.

> Its an online exam and your result will be available as soon as you press "end exam". The result will appear as PASS or FAIL on your screen and grading will be given for each chapter. marks will not be disclosed.

> They will provide you with the printed copy of result once you are coming out of exam.

> You must utilize every bit of 4 hours so plan your food and drink intake such that you don't need to take any break.
> Generally as per various websites, 106+ answers should be correct out of 175 questions. rest 25 questions will not be considered for marking although these questions will not be disclosed.

Thanks to QT&T, Singapore and my class room trainer Mr. Chari for the guidance and encouragement.

What else? Just do it. Best of Luck.

Contact me for any material.

Illusions of life

2013-04-14T01:37:00.002+07:00

It was a lazy start of weekend. Sleeping till late already ate half of my day. I pulled myself out of room to execute my weekend plan although delayed by few hours.

It was almost noon by the time I reached swimming pool complex. After getting into swimming attire I looked around for a chair to keep my belongings when I found empty chair beside one girl. A wheel chair near swimming pool? I was astonished but without giving any second thought, I jumped in the swimming pool. I gave one quick look in the pool after reaching other end. Since it was noon not many people were in the pool. There were three Amerikano girls with 6+ft height and with proper swimming costume. Two Chinese looking girls were swimming uninterrupted from one end to another. There was one guy with nice build and was holding the side wall of the swimming pool at deeper end and perhaps was much in relaxing mood. He was mostly stretching his body inside water keeping himself constant in a restricted area. His face gave me a shock when I found that he was actually in his 50’s while his body was not ready to accept his ageing.

There was one more guy seemed to be giving a training tips to one girl. Few lifebuoys were tied to her body. The guy was supporting her from front holding both of her hands and making her swim from one end to another. Couple of times my eyes met her eyes but there was no change in expression. I also noticed that she is not at all putting any effort in swimming.

With all these going around, I was keeping my focus on swimming. Sometimes I would hold the sidewall to take short break and same time would have a look on illusions of god in proper costume. After a few laps in swimming pool I decided to come out of water.

The moment I came out I saw the lady sitting with a wheel chair pulling the chair near the pool. It was shocking for me. So the person is in the swimming pool? I gave a look at pool again but I could not guess the owner of the wheel chair. No one looked physically challenged there. Story of the guy who had no limbs but was a good swimmer flashed in front of my eyes.

Generally I don't pause to see these happening but my curiosity held me and I took my belongings, pulled out my towel and started drying my body slowly. My eyes were all set on wheel chair. Once I thought it may be the old man who was stretching holding the sidewalls, but when I scanned the pool, I could not find him. In no time, I saw the man who was training the girl, coming near the end of the pool where wheel chair was waiting. So who among these two? The man stopped near the edge and took off all lifebuoys from the girl’s body. The girl’s body slowly went inside water while he was keeping her head uplifted in water. Trainer and the girl standing outside pulled her out of water and lied her down on chair. Her body parts were motionless. I was frozen for a moment.

Kudos to girl's friends and relatives, whoever they are, for not only giving her comforts of life but also going extra mile to make her life meaningful. The wheel chair slowly rolled out of perspective and I also made a move.

Love? Arranged? Marriage?

2012-08-15T16:33:00.004+07:00

Mehandi: A custom in Indian Marriage

Marriages are nothing but a social stamp for a couple to live together a continue their family life. The partner is either chosen by you or by your parents. When you are choosing yourself, you name it as "Love Marriage" and when your parents are choosing for you it is named as "arranged Marriage".

It is an old saying that "Marriages are decided in heaven".
If marriage is decided in heaven why we always fall in this debate. Anyway since this debate is on lets dig till the root.
Life is a journey which ends with perishing to the five elements. Marriage is a part of a journey where you choose a partner and decide to stay with her or him throughout life understanding the complexities and the differences created by god.
It doesn't matter if you are going for an arranged marriage or love marriage, post marriage will always be a time when you will find lot of unexplored areas where you may need lot of sacrifice and adjustment. That's why the proverb is famous in India "Shaadi ka laddoo Jo khaye wo bhi pachtaye aur jo na khaye wo bhi pachtaye" (The person who gets married also repents and who doesn't get married also repents).

Love and Love Marriage
First of all, we will try to understand what love is?
"Love" A simple, prominent word tickles the sensitive nerve inside you. "He/She loves me?" "No one loves me". "I am in love". " He/She is everything to me". These common proverbs always hit the eardrum when you are listening to narration of some close one.

I am always amused by these words. Immediately next question pops up in my mind that "how you are so sure that this is love?". This may be because the someone successfully removed the word loneliness from your dictionary or this may be just an attraction to opposite sex. Or this may be because you don't want someone to go off your life when you had only one to share your feelings.
These questions generally pops up whenever someone tells me his/her love story. How can you be sure that this is love??. The only answer I get for this question is " you will understand only when you will fall in love". Means there is no perfect way to realize if you are in love.
The most amazing type of love is "love at first sight". Really? Love at first sight? So what exactly you saw in him or her at first glance that let you fall in love? Are you sure that this is not lust but love?

There are different views of people towards love. In western culture, falling in love means "making Love".( this is how they rename physical intimacy"). Surprisingly, they fall in love and break quite often. I am not sure if love exists without physical interaction.Can love exists without any selfishness?
I respect views of people on "love". Once one of my close friend (girl) told that her boyfriend went abroad for higher studies. Now she got another boyfriend to get away with loneliness feeling. I asked casually.
" what will be your step if your old boyfriend comes back".
She replied "I will choose one who will be the best for me".
"so whom you love?"
"Both," she replied.
I was amused by her answer. Is she happy of having two options to choose from or really her decision is based on love?
I have heard people commenting "he/she will be the best husband/wife for me". The best ? So it is not love that is driving you for marriage? This is your choice where you are choosing your life partner instead of your parents. It means your love marriage is not marriage out of love but an "arranged marriage" arranged by you.

Let's consider a situation where couple care for each other, see happiness in each other's smile and go to any extent to give the better half a better life. They found that they can not live without each other and finally decided to get bonded forever. They lived happily thereafter. A successful love story.

For outer world Indian culture is considered as orthodox culture where society and parents in general don't accept their kids finding their own life partner. This may be because either they are completely against love or they don't want their children to take immature decision and suffer throughout life. Religion, Caste, region language and other monsters also roam freely in India eating Love mercilessly wherever they find it.

The real-life story starts immediately after marriage rituals are over. Immediately couple starts realizing that living together needs lots of compromises. Going together to ice cream parlour to have icecream was always pleasant then facing the real life challenges post marriages and still keep the smile on. Both joined together with expectations, love and hoping everything will be pleasant. When these things turn out into compromise, it becomes tough for them to accept. There are much more divorce cases in Love marriage then arranged marriage. Why divorce appeared when there was love? What went wrong? It means there was no love at any point of time but just some pleasant moment and opposite sex attraction?
Before you jump to a conclusion, let's have a look at other part as well.

Arranged Marriage

What??? How can I live throughout my life with a total stranger? And most important how can I make sure that our thinking style and other such things match which will decide our happiness in the future.
"Dad?? How can I live with a guy throughout my life whom I even don't know? Why are you judging him on only monetary basis? Money is not everything in life\"
"Who want housewife?" I want a girl who can be with me and understand me throughout my life." Ready to compromise for family happiness and keep a family at first priority". Whose likes matches with mine and same time dislikes.

Can these demands be fulfilled when parents search better half for their children? I think no. We can know the materialistic and visible thing in the guy or gal but can not know their thinking style or their way of taking life.

In India, "birth horoscope" is matched to make sure that both have similar qualities. After marriage, this analysis may not turn as expected. Still, if we look at the statistics, the satisfaction graph is more positive and hence the divorce cases in arranged marriage is comparatively less. Why is it so? When two total strangers can live life together more comfortably then love birds?

As I feel, arranged marriage gives a couple a created platform to start their life where family values, culture, custom, monetary status are matched.
They try to understand each other's likes and dislikes post marriage since both are new for each other. In this process, they get close to each other. Pleasant attitude of both toward each other is a boon. Unpleasant behavior is not taken so seriously since they find many new things about each other. Not that all is well in an arranged marriage.
In arranged marriage, the entire responsibility of marital failure does not fall on one’s shoulder while in love marriage, failure is attributed to the two persons married alone by their own choice. Less expectation and more compromise may be the key of arranged marriage success. This helps them to get experienced ideas to resolve. In this orthodox country, the family stability and bonding is more. When couple falls in relation, it should be taken as a relation forever similar to any other relation with parents and siblings.

After all there is nothing right or wrong in life. Whatever comes in life take it whole heartily and live life with full energy and happiness.

This article is my point of view towards the marriage system and not to hurt anyone's idea or sentiments. YOu are most welcome to present your idea and comment on this blog. The article is written for www.facebook.com/LoveYaArrange(Indiblogger Love Vs Arranged Marriage contest ) as well.

I am also Author of Amazon #1bestseller book "The 7 Productivity Sutras For professionals"

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You may also like Childhood

Waiting for Love : Water Painting

2012-07-29T13:40:00.002+07:00

Waiting for Love

Style : Water colour
Theme: Mughal style

The painting "Waiting for Love" was art by me in year 1998. The painting has seen many years hanging in the corner of my house. The frame was changed multiple times. It got faded and discoloured over a period of time..

But still maintaining its aroma and depth.

Hope you all will like it.

You might also like : After snow fall

Loss of Feeling

2012-06-11T01:30:00.000+07:00

Toote Pal (Loss Of Feeling)

Loss Of feeling (Sketch) 2-Jun-12

Uljhi rahi jo khwab sawalon mein kahin,

jalti rahi jindagi deti rahi roshni.

Halke hawa ke thapede ne saya hila diya,

waqt ne bhesh badal badal kar aisa gila kiya||

Gamon ke pighalti dhaara ko bhi sah liya,

roshni ko fir bhi bhujne na diya,

qaid rahi jo fir bhi aansuon ki wo ladi,

aaine mein bhi khud ka chehra na dhoond saki||

Toot gayi jo ek pal mein jeene ki wajah,

ruk na saki jo boonden to diya bhuja diya,

manzil bhi paas aake andhere mein kho gayi,

sannate mein goonj gayi har pal ki wo hansi,

dard jo jaagi seene mein aansu sukha gayi

khud ke mahal mein tadap hi rah gayi,

Uljhi rahi jo khwab sawalon mein kahin,

jalti rahi jindagi deti rahi roshni.

20-Jun-12

Bangalore

Why this Kolavari Kolavari di??

2012-04-29T17:01:00.004+07:00

Angry Birds ...

Wrong Guess!! This is not Vietnam

2012-01-14T04:47:00.003+07:00

PhoBidden Fruit

It was a lazy start of the day. Weekends are always late risers. I always try to make my weekend happening and memorable because this is the day which is completely mine, not sold to anyone.

My to do list was popping something today. Generally I don't like to go out for lunch alone. I found this Vietnamese restaurant on Zomato.com and had no patience to wait for any company to go there. I knew I will be alone there but wished it would not be boring.

It was a little struggle to locate the restaurant. Tucked on the street beside sony center, 100Ft road of Indiranagar,Bangalore, was a little struggle to find when I crossed it two times, "The Phobidden Fruit" but could not see it(I thought its name bidden should be changed to hidden). It is on the opposite of "mom & me" shop. The entrance is a small passage. this restaurant brought a surprise to me. I was thinking if it could have maintained the same interior decoration and cool look of restaurant as the restaurants in Vietnam are.

Not only the interior design and the service, Vietnamese theme was also well preserved in this restaurant. This restaurant was successful in providing the relax and soothing environment.
To my surprise it was well crowded and most of the tables were occupied. I never thought Indian people may like Vietnamese food so much.

I found one place and got comfortable there. The menu was in front of me. I was excited. I wanted to check if they are able to cook Vietnamese food with same aroma and flavor. I ordered the most popular Vietnamese food Pho Ga(Pho: noodles , Ga: Chicken). It was very weird kind of feeling eating Pho in Vietnamese restaurant full of Indians.
The Pho was maintained with same aroma what I used to eat in Pho24 in Saigon. The flavoured leaves and other supplements were also provided in same way. The only difference I felt was the noddle part was not as soft as in Vietnam.May be they bought this noodle in bulk from Vietnam and preserved somewhere.

I ordered lemon Grass Iced tea. The theme was preserved in drinks also. The same size and shape of ice cubes was used in drink. It reminded me of the drink we used to have in Vietnam where one drink used to last for 2-3 hours.

Lemon Grass Iced Tea

I was looking in menu again. This time wanted to eat some delicacy. I ordered for squid Salt and pepper fry. In the meantime when waiter could fulfill my order I started satisfying my queries.

I called manager type looking guy and asked
"who is the owner of this restaurant?"
A Tamilian sir" He replied. I was astonished.
"And where are these waiters from?"
"They are from North East of India". He added.
"How come you have successfully copied the theme of Vietnamese restaurants as well as the cuisines ?"
"Sir, Our head chef is also from north east part of India but was in Vietnam for almost a year hence he learned."
I was not convinced. Chef can cook delicacy but restaurant cool look and making Vietnamese theme live can not be his brain.
I saw a family sitting just next to my table. They were almost done with their food. With formal greetings I asked the guy.
" how often you come to this restaurant?"
"This is my first time". He said
"How did you know about it"? I asked.
"We just came to know from some site. Me and my wife are foodies. We like to taste new dishes of different countries. "
"How did you find this place?"
"Its cool and relax look. I liked Vietnamese food. Not so spicy but have aroma and softness."

In the mean time my pepper fry squid was on my table. I started enjoying it. It was also delicious. I took some snaps paid bill and came down.

Pepper Fry Squid

Downstairs I thanked receptionist and also praised the restaurant. One lady in her age of forties sitting next to reception was more interested in my talk. She started showing her ecstasy on the success of her idea.
My curiosity was still not satisfied. I asked the same question to the lady.
"How is it possible that without involvement of any Vietnamese, this restaurant have all the themes and aroma of Vietnam successfully preserved?"
In her surprising voice she told
" I am Vietnamese. I came and settled down in Bangalore 10 years back."

I was totally surprised. She changed a lot. In Indian dress and Indian style makeup it was hard to identify her as Vietnamese. I gave another keen look and realized that yes she is Vietnamese.

One Page of Menu

More details can be found on

http://www.zomato.com/bangalore/restaurants/east/indiranagar/phobidden-fruit-51600