Birthday 25

My 25th birthday was a bash I had never thought it would be. Had a desire that my friends be with me. Had hopes that I get surprises. And what turned out was something I had not dreamt of.

At 8:45 pm on 10th November, I got a call from an unknown deliver boy stating I had a parcel that had to be delivered late in the night. Had to be a cake, with the 'time' being specified. Thats when my brains started thinking... Who could it be?

A wait for almost 2 and a half hours let me knew who it really was. As thought, it had to be my friends. Rajat, Kapil, Rupesh, Vivek & Rohit kicked started my birthday with fresh flowers and a nice chocolate cake. It was really nice and with a stream of messages and phones, went off to sleep.

The next morning, got up and as usual sat on the table for the breakfast. Was told dad and mom had been to the doc for some tests. Was wondering what tests. As usual, was not really feeling so good, coz Kinjal had still not called or messaged. Generally this happens when either my friends are planning something 'special' or they just are too tired to call early. But, with her that was not the case, I thought.

Sometime later, the door bell rang and came in mom with this huge smile. For a moment I was wondering why was she smiling like that. And then the Signature Giggle that I heard instantly made me realize that Kinjal was here. I was shocked... surprised totally! This was her, in front of me, and all the unanswered questions were answered in the following moments.

Mom's hurry in doing up the home by the 9th, dad's blood test - that was actually going to the railway station and picking her up, her messages giving me the hope that she would come sooner, mom's out of the box desire to celebrate my birthday in 'style' was all coming to light.

Wow. All this was being planned from Dusshera and my family went on it totally silent about it. Not a wrod from anyone of them. 14 of them kept it a deep secret and I thought she was to come somewhere around 21st. It was indeed a great surprise!

Something that made it very special:

Kinjal's presence with my mum in law was definitely special. But what I realized that day was that I did mean a lot to a few people too. My colleagues at Studio f had planned to celebrate my birthday. A cake, some friends and of course an awesome gift. A plaque that read Jigar luvs Kinjal (for my room), a pack of 5 Ghazals and of course a Pen (something that makes me complete) was gifted to me and of course had all the fun possible that evening.

Went for dinner to a Chinese Restaurant called 7th Heaven on Race Course Road. On the 7th floow, this plac shows a part of Bangalore that goes totally silent in the evening and is buzzing with traffic in the morning, with glimpses of the Bangalore Turf Club and Kumara Park. A very nice setting, we had Chinese food with a major difference - Pure Jain - No onions, no garlic, no potatoes, no mushrooms and no carrots too. Was a good time explaining the chef what was NOT to be added than what was to be ;)

Cakes that I had:

I had the largest number of cakes during my birthday ever - 6 cakes in a single day.

1. The one that came from my friends in the mid-night

2. The one we made in the night - vanilla since my dad does not enjoy chocolate cake

3. A cake gifted by the Studio f friends

4. A cake that was planned by my family at home

5. A cake that came in from my bankers

6. A cake that was given on the house by 7th Heaven

I guess I had the best birthday of my life, not only on that day but went on till 5 days after that!

Now thats what I call a 'perfect celebration'!

:)

Cristina's Visit

Its been a very tiring week out here but also very interesting. All thanks to Cristina.

Now, now... hold on to all the inquisitive thoughts... and Kin, dont be J... you know who I am talking about. Cristina is a vendor for our company. She originates from Spain and currently lives in Dubai. She was here on a 3 day trip to speak to my colleagues about all the strategies and plans she has for her products. But, with me, it was a different time all together.

I realized she is a believer in Feng Shui and got on to re-design her visiting cards and logos that will bring her steadiness in her career. She was indeed impressed. Took her along the town, to my new office... had good 'Chinese' Lunch buffet at the Main Land China. It was yummmmm....

The most interesting part was about Kinjal. I had told her about Kinjal and that I was getting married. Showed her Kinjal's pic... her first reaction was: "What do these people eat? She has such a lovely skin."

And thats when a journey back to time started. Being a non Indian, she was very excited about how an Indian wedding takes place. But guess, she never had spoken to any Indians on how they select a bride for themselves. She asked me questions on how I met her, what happened... how did it click?

Phew... sometimes it was difficult to answer her, coz it is not always possible to put in words what you really feel... but it was a good time. Went back 4 months in time, when Kinjal and me first met. We spoke, we met again... chats, a few messages... the talk was getting more interesting. I almost re-lived every moment of what happened then... and she was already thinking how exciting the wedding would be. If things work fine, she says she will be there to experience the ceremonies.

Ceremonies, and I was all trying to explain what happens in the wedding. Thanks to all the experience I have had in Bangalore with my cous' weddings, its been quite easier to explain things. Her questions and doubts really put me on to a different track... that was the only interesting talk I had since long ;)

She was here for almost 3 days and that was a good thing to me too. Sold my desings to her and also got to know about a charity event she does every year in Dubai called the Kings' Parade.

She has invited me and says she would love to see Kinjal there too. Not only that, she promised she would make me the king and Kinjal the queen if we were there to lead the Parade! ;)

Dont know if I would be there.. but just hoping to get there sometime in my life ahead.

SK (truly) International

Last afternoon, after a heavy lunch (complimentary, thats why very heavy) I decided to make a visit to my friend's factory at Hosur. His factory is into processing Granites from Chunks of Rocks.

My first visit through the signages gave me the feeling that this place was sure different. Black boards with green letters, this is not a common sight on a highway. After all the twists and turns, we made our way to the factory that stood besides a newly made temple. This temple had larger than life statues of Gods & Goddesses and surely an indication that we were meeting technology that was larger than life.

The security asked us the relevant info he needed and on satisfaction, opened the doors for us. Now this was a long door that runs through a motor. The door slid by slowly allowing us a complete view of the factory. The car drove in and I got down of it to catch a glimpse of this gigantic structure. This was huge and clean. 

My friend took me around the factory and he explianed me the process of how they make stones out of chunks. It was an interesting tour through the process. What was even more fascinating was the Gang Saw machine that is used to cut through stones.

What happens there is that chunks of rocks are put into a machine which cuts through the stone and then dried and polished and is sent to the client's place. This machine was huge and as we got closer to the machine, it felt for a moment that we were standing inside the engines of a gigantic chip like the Titanic. Big wheels, turning over and over again, and blades moving into the solid rock trying to cut it through.

Wow! It was a first ever visit to a factory this huge. With a little they can do for the environment, they ensure that the water generated is recycled and used again and a part of it also goes in the landscaping gardens that border the factory site.

Truly an international experience! :)

9 Kms Road hanging in the sky

A trip to Hosur yesterday was an interesting trip after a long time. Infrastructure fascinates me. The site I saw was quite a fascinating one too. 

After completing all the chores at the office, my brother with the team left to Hosur for a client visit. We knew it would be a loooong drive (1 and half hours) from our office to the site. I got comfortable with a book and was reading through the pages and enjoying the journey.

Music played its role and so did the heat of the mid day. We had to route ourselves from Koramangala and move on ahead from there. We crossed the busy streets of Koramangala, the fly over at Byapanahhali and entered the road that leads to the Electronic City. Now this was getting interesting a drive, as I could spot a lot of new swanky buildings that have cropped up on this road.

Surprisingly I saw a construction site ahead, all of a sudden and realized there was a flyover getting constructed. Thinking it is a flyover and will end soon, we were moving on. But wait... this flyover never seemed to end. Pillar after pillar, it continued.

I just happened to see the signage of the project, since it really did not look like a Bangalore company. The signage was that of the Highway Authorities of India. Further down, managed to peak into the Project Information placed at one of the signal posts, which said Elevated Highway Project. So this long stretch of road was an Elevated Highway.

The pillars went to moving by the window of my car till we realized there were around 250 pillas erected on a single strecth of road. The pillars had almost everywhere roads above them, except for some places where the work is still going on.

On our return , we calculated the distance from the start to the end and we realized this would be one of the longest 'Elevated Highways' measuring 9 Kms.

Thats Long! 

Science in a Dance Form

Today, I got some time out to go to my college fest. Luckily it was happening near by so went and checked out the events. The quality of the fest by way has gone down totally, inspite of they getting sponsorships. Wonder what the organizers were thinking when they were doing the fest. 

Four years back, we did it and our juniors carried the legacy forward. What I saw today was sad... disheartened and not only by the way it was organized but also by the way it was recieved by the audience.

Change is the only way to survive. Nothing has changed from then, except the teams, the organizers, nd the themes. The only oasis in the desert was an event that took my total observance and pulled me to cheer for the teams. This was a dance competition with a huge difference.

Teams had to dance on instrumental music which had a theme of Science. Scientific concepts were explained through dance. Some moments that captured my attention were the formation of atoms and all the molecules... the pollution in the air and water... the mirror effect, with the light passing through the in the atmosphere and a rainbow forming... the light passing through the lens and fire coming out... wow! it was an enthralling performance and I guess the best.

Was just wondering, if my teachers had adopted this method to teach me science, I sure was to be a genius! :)

Face Off from Reality Shows!

Indian Reality show would have probably witnessed its first ever Walk Out by a final team in the dance competition - Zara Nachke Dikha!

Girls have been rejoicing and celebrating the victory. Guys are partly ashamed with the way the BOYS team behaved and partly sympathetic to what happened to them. Infact sympathetic to what has been happening to them from quite sometime.

I personally feel there has been a level of injustice to the teams from both sides. This level of injustice comes from the concept of the show. The show is a competition between Boys and Girls dancing against each other. Now, this is my personal belief, that girls have grace which guys do not and some steps and styles a guy performs really well which a girl cannot. If we were to compete Grace vs. Energy OR Style vs steps, it is difficult to judge who would win.

The show bytes have it that the rules followed in the show were partial to an extent to the girls team. Ex: A guy forgets steps in the dance and is disqualified (because of the injury). The girl forgets steps in the dance (due to injury) tries and completes it is made to win. Why? Wasn't she logically to be disqualified. Maybe her leg injury was not as hard as the one the guy had, to make him stop the dance. So when you are on the dance floor or for that matter any competition, there is absolutely no sympathy. If thats the rule, then this rule was never followed in Pure Justice.

What is more shocking was the way the judges spoke. You are not there to give an extra point because you feel the participant is looking very sexy or hot or just because she is wearing something so revealing. You are there to see if the dance made sense.

If winning was to be a fair game. Losing too had to be fair. I relate to the feeling of the guys today in the finals that the scores were not as fair. I personally wanted the girls to win, which they did for all the hardwork and brilliant concepts... but not by the way of being scored what rightfully belonged to the team - Tez Talwar Ladke!

Words - the best gift!

With the strongest belief that words can be the best gift has got me into the hobby of being innovative.

I have believed in gifting... not buying gifts but if possible making it for the receiver... making something personal and I would land up writing for them. Poems, stories... almost anything in words that would be either framed in a handmade frame or hung in a designer 'hanger'.

It used to be the days of my college where I had people to write about. Talk to people, their experience - good or bad... feel it and write about them. It used to be so much fun then... would wait for occasions to come by and then start thinking on what can be written.

Writings got transformed into gift making and now Personalized Gifting has taken a seat in my life. Dont know how far will i take this hobby, but yes, I do enjoy creating something for the someone whom I meet. Specially, if the someone is new... then its an adventurous trip down their life. Know what they are... know why they are and then assemble everything into ink and paper and gift it to them.

It has been a strong belief within that when you truly want to gift someone, write for them and let the words come out straight from your heart... present it in a special way and may be they will be touched. Maybe thats why they have a 'testimonial' column in orkut for the world to write their heart out.

When I listen to the song - Its only words... and words are all I have to take your heart away.... it means so much... so true... as if my life has been wrapped in this line of the song and has been gifted to me! :)

Check out your Nose!

Have you ever wondered how important is a Nose to your face?

Yes. Apart from breathing in& out and irritating you while you are out with a cold, this organ that sits right at the center of your face is actually the differentiating factor too.

I have taken on to notice people's faces. I see a lot of them have various features. But what I love noticing is the shape of the nose. Some are pointed, some are flat, some of them are round too and some too bing for the face. In my experience of 'face watching' I have seen that most passionate people have a pointed nose. Or it is that people who have pointed noses are passionate too.

To quote an example from the media, check out Hrithik Roshan's nose. It is pointed and it defines passion to me. There are many friends, relatives of mine whom i have come across who have a pointed nose and their personality defines confidence... smartness and more passion!

It is indeed fun to look at what shapes your face... and more interesting to look at how your nose looks. For all I know, the next time I want to see the shape, I wish I can also know more about the person too! Nosy Astrology!!!! Well thats what could be the next hobby! :)

Travelogue

I love travelling. I make it a point to travel atleast once in six months. Six months coz am still a bread earner and will take time to afford butters, jams and cheese in life. What I really like about the entire journey is meeting up new people from places around. Someone, somewhere just bumps in and knowing the person is real fun. People have their own adventures in life… mine is to look on for more diverse people, live with them for the moment and know what is it that they seek.

In one of my recent visit to Dubai, I came across various kinds of people. The city is undoubtedly one of the best in the world… and when it comes to people there, it is a diversified lot. From Indians to Bangladeshis to Pakistanis to almost everyone you can come across in Asia are all there. Since it was my first trip, both professionally and personally to Dubai, we took time out to explore the land of architectural marvels.

A drive to the desert, very well known as ‘Desert Safari’ brought me in contact with the driver. His name being Stephen. He hailed from a land from where most of the drivers in Dubai came from. But driving was not his profession. It was his Passion! Yes, he was an Engineer by profession working in an oil company and earning his living. He would work from 7:00 in the morning upto 2:00 in the afternoon, after which he would come to the desert and drive.

My chat with him revealed he was in Dubai for almost 14 odd years and was driving ever since. Obtaining a license for Desert Safari was not a child’s play. Very few people were given this ‘privilege’ coz they had to drive land rovers on the desert sand and ensure safety of all passengers. He was one among the few to get it. The drive was fantastic and ofcourse a little disturbing to my physical system.

He lives with his wife, 3 children and occasionally with this parents who come to visit him. Says he, “Whenever I have fever, I come to the desert and drive and my fever goes. I love coming here… I know every place and turn the sands here take because I am driving for the past 14 years.” Wow! That’s what I call Passion. Bringing us to the hot desert sand and giving us a joy ride… going back safe and continuing this for almost everyday of your life… inspite of you getting all the comforts in your company and home.

It was a great drive. We spoke about everything from his 3 daughters, their names to his mother arriving home often… his trips to take her to the market so that she can buy something good for his home (inspite of his wife being there… that’s mother’s love). The drive back was comfortable and very warm too… warm not because of the heat,  but because two people from entirely different countries met up in a strange land and got on to talk families!

Before we disembarked and continued with our holiday, I managed to take a snap of him. Truly, he taught me the thin line difference between Passion and Profession!

Teacher - The world of words.

Earth, Reach, Heart, Art, Act, Tree, Etch, Create, Arch, Race, Care... these are words formed from one single word - TEACHER. If you have noticed, each word has a relevance in what a teacher is and what they do to our lives. This was exactly the theme for the latest presentation I got to work on for my college team.

It was a good time to reveal word after word... with every passing on slide. Am good at conceptualizing and the technical details like the music is my brother's department. Somehow, after 6 hours of all the mehnat and around 3 to 4 musical touches, the presentation was ready.

It was played today at the college and I was just waiting for a call from my friends letting me know what the reaction was. At around 10, i got a call from a prof... he was 'thrilled' and said he had never seen such a presentation in his life! What was more, messages and calls from lecturers made the satrt of the day so special.

But was this what I was looking for? No. I had promised my friend who trusted me with the work, stating "your teachers will cry when they see the presentation"... I immediately recieved a message from my friend that many teachers were in "tears"...

Mission Achieved! :)

My First Day!

Hi to my world!

This is my first day with blogging. I have written many a times on screen, but this is an different experience all together. This blog is named KJ Dreamsmith - coz KJ is the couple to be next year... KJ is also the duo to be for the coming years in the corporate world and Dreamsmith is the movement of my life. 

What you will find here is the result of all the senses that I have in me. Words that would define every reaction that will be derived out of my imagination, creativity, insight, dreams and the latest happenings around.

I hope you have a good time reading through.