Street Food in Kolkata

Street food is one of the most awesome tasting food that one can have...mouth watering puchka, jhaal muri, bhel, paapri chaat, gugni, kulfi, dal ka vada, dal ka chilla to name a few....

The names might sound greek and latin to people not residing in India and also to many who have never had junk food in kolkata or rajasthan (u get same kind of stuff in both the places)...boy you are surely missing something if you have never had these somewhat unhygienic roadside food...the most fascinating part is you will never be able to replicate the taste in home cooked chaat...you have to have stand in the footpath ( pavement) and eat to get the real taste...

Today we had bread toast, gugni, puchka ( paani puri or golgappa), muri and kulfi below Howrah AC market. It tasted like heaven :) Me, meenu, madhu and the Howrah gang had a great time...

So for all those who have never tasted the famed street food of kolkata...pls do try it atleast once..you will not regret it :) will put some pics later:)

jai guru dev

uday

A Thought on Failure

I was watching India's Got Talent on sunday and these very good points came up -

1)

Shamak Dhavar -

It does not matter is you do not get selected. I have never won any competition. People said that i was of no use, " yeh ladka kya dance karega". I was always rejected. But I still managed to succeed. If you have the talent, it does not matter what others think of you, have faith in god and you are bound to succeed.

Kiron Kher -

It is better to deserve an honour and not get it than to get an honour and not deserve it

My learning - At times we feel very let down when we do not get a well deserved reward, promotion, raise and some idiots manage to succeed. If we have the talent we are bound to succeed, no one can stop you from moving ahead in life. It does not matter what the world says or thinks about our capability. Just have faith in god.

2)

Kiron Kher -

Jinko chand tak pahuchna hai unko agar sitare nahi mile to kya hai. Sitare toh yuhi toot kar girte rehte hain.

My learning - Guruji ensures that we reach our final destination. In the journey there might be failures, we might not get what we feel is vital for our success, for our happiness. But HE has a bigger vision. He wants to give us a lot more. So don't get stuck in small events of life. Jo hota hai achhe ke liye hota hai :)

Its so amazing that we can learn so much even from a TV show :)

love

Uday

Ebar Aami Choli

A poem I had written when I finally relocated from Kolkata in Feb 09. The title is in Bengali, it means " this time I am going"

Driving down the lanes of alipore yesterday,
I felt a gush of energy flowing through my body
it was reminding me of the wonderful time spent in my city of joy
the chai at balwant singh
the paan at lansdowne
the hot chocolate at gautam's
the italian at fire n ice

time has come to say goodbye
time has come for all those moments to become memorable
time has come to look proudly at the incomparable friends i have made
friends who would be the pillars of strength in my life
time has come to take on the world head on

ten years down the line
when i will look back at these days
there would be tears in my eyes
tears of gratitude
gratitude towards god for having given me such a wonderful phase in life
for having given me such wonderful friends

life moves on, time does not stop for anybody
who knows where all of us will end up in life
our paths maybe different but destination is one
some day all of us will meet up again
some day we will relive the wonderful moments
moments which i would not trade for anything in this world
life is but a collection of moments
and if given an option i would freeze time
freeze those moments forever

to all the angels in my life
thank you for all you have done for me
thank you for making my life a sweet dream
thank you for being there for me
in my ups and downs
in my happiness and sadness
thank you for giving me the time of my life

Come to Me

When you get tired of working...Come to me

When you get tired of resting....Come to me

When you get tired of Politics...Come to me

When you get tired of boredom...Come to me

It is good to get tired of something

It is good to get bored of the same things

It is this tiredness that brings you to me

It is this boredom that brings you to me

Do not hesitate in coming to me

Do not feel guilty if you have been late

It is never to late

It is never too early

You will come to me when your time has come

You will come to me when you have been riped by time

So what if you have made mistakes

So what if you have done the wrong things knowing that they were wrong

There is no criteria to come to me

There is no reason to come to me

You will come to me because you have to come to me

You will come to me because I want you to come to me

Just know that I am there for you

Just know that I am watching you

Just know that now that you have come to me

Your life is my responsibilty

Do not be insecure

Because you are in security

Because you have come to the MASTER !!!

Short Term View

Normally we take a very short term view of our careers and get carried away by what others are doing. We just look at the outside and seldom realise that the reality maybe different.

When we start our careers, salary is the most important aspect for choosing a job, well salary is definitely important but it should not be the only criteria for accepting a job offer - job role, organisation, growth prospects should also be looked into. Even if we do chose a relatively low paying job for better learning and greater long term benefits, we lose patience midways and jump on to low quality high paying jobs. I had read a very good article by the founder member of a prominent consulting firm, it narrated a story of a young boy who joined a low paying job and worked there for 3 years. The boy had one more year to go before rising in his career but due to pressure from family and need of money for his sister's wedding he shifted to a clerical job with double the salary. This was a disaster because just when it was time for him to accelerate he left his job. In this case the boy was in need of money, but had his family members supported him for another year their monetary problems would have been solved for ever. Switching of job at that juncture destroyed his career.

There has to a be fine balance between long term career plans and current salary structure. We should not run after money, once we have really built ourselves as indispensable assets, money will run after us. So, we should have the vision, the boldness and the perseverance to reach the top.

:)