Age is a very high price to pay for maturity

Everybody’s work has been freezed coz of holidays and I m still struggling with my numbers. Still stretching my work for a pipe which wud help me later hopefully. Sometimes no matter how hard u try some nuts are hard to crack.

As we grow we see changes and these days I can feel those changes. I used to find biographies, auto biographies and non fiction useless coz they never used to hold my interest for long. Few pages and I used to get bored of the text without any images in my mind. Fictions provide me series of images, made my characters and my life revolved around them. Teen days are over now I believe. I still have inclination towards images and stories but I have started looking meaning to the word called life.

Mills & Boon, Sydney Sheldon, Jeffery Archer to Ayn Rand and now Bhagwad Geeta and Vedantas. Too early I believe but gives enough reasons to my Whys. But there is a difference that I feel in my reading that has come. I used to finish a Sydney of 200 pages in 4 hrs and now Vedanta has already taken 5 days of reading 200 pages. Reason behind is the meaning that is hidden in each line. The examples that are quoted are waste if not understood properly. It doesn’t brainwash you..doesnt teach you anything against any religion but teaches u how to live a better and meaningful life. Says about renunciation but doest expect you to leave the pleasures, people and object of this world. Everyday is a new lesson and u gotta learn it.
I m looking for bible and Quran to see what their teaching says. Every religion has something to give and hopefully I wud pick them fast.

Hello...I exist?

Few days back I was unable to prove that I existed in this country. I did not have any identity proof as per the government norms/Rules. I had an Identity card of my company but that wasn’t valid. I had Driving license with a wrong spelling of my surname. And I had my marksheets which bore no photographs. So proving that I existed was quite difficult. Somehow with company’s help I got a PAN Card, which now says I exist in this country. Now does that solve problems, I guess no.

A larger view of my problem is I don’t have a residence proof. Few days back I got a mail from my office people saying my passport details are not there on the portal and I should provide them ASAP. Now where do I start solving this puzzle?

Situation: I Stayed in Delhi on rent and then moved to Noida 6 months back on a rented accommodation. I do have a legal rent document but they don’t consider it.

The following are the documents are required as residence poof for Passport.

Ration Card: I have never seen a ration shop all my life. I still wonder if people in metros from a middle class avail that subsidy anymore! Even my parents don’t own one.

Water Bill: Well I am on a rented accommodation and this house belongs to my landlord. So bill comes on his name and how do I tell them that though I pay the money but bill is generated on his name.

Electricity Bill: Same as above

Statement of running bank Account: Vowwww something where I thought I was lucky. Well I have a/c in most of the leading banks today. Citibank, ABN Amro, ING Vysya. So looks simple rite. Nopes. I need to have an account with a nationalized bank. Do u think I am a fool not to have one? But that’s OBC bank. Naah not other backward class..but Oriental Bank of Commerce. Problem is that it is a real time OBC. Doesn’t have network connectivity and I opened it in some remote district of Haryana.

Appointment letter of the reputed company on a letter head: Yup legally I m working with my organization and do possess an offer letter that was given to me some 9 months back but on my Delhi address. So I can’t claim that as well for record :(

Election Commission ID card: Well I m sweet sixteen and a minor…oops another pain I have to get that done as well but again that needs a residence proof.

Spouse’s passport copy: Gosh, don’t even have a spouse...guess even that needs a residence proof now ;)

So on papers I do not reside in the country and I can’t prove that I am residing abroad coz I don’t have a valid passport. So I am a ghost. A cute one though.

Thank God I have an identity as per govt. coz I pay tax. Whenever I see a new road construction I feel so happy that my identity is being utilized for it.

I m justing trying to figure out which document will I be able to possess without a residence proof and finally be able to get passport.

Mission passport starts now. Phew...

Trip To Sariska and Bhangarh

ELong long time. My system just went for a toss and i never dared to touch it all these days. Was quite busy with work. So much happened and just never got time to jott these moments. 2 weeks back i went to a place called Sariska. Its a palace in Rajsthan.

That was an official trip(offsite). We started at 6.00 in the morning. Covered the distance in seven hrs which generally is covered in 4 hrs. Thanks to our super fast driver. Reached the venue @1.00 where as we were supposed to start the event at 11.30 a.m., checked in the palace cum hotel. On the arrival, they put tilak on our foreheads, part of rajasthani custom i guess. We had our meals and headed to the conference room for presentation. Long day there, got a break for 10 mins for tea/coffee. Presentation started by Head of the Dept and followed by couple of new comers on their working style and strategies. Good to know about others style. Boss shared the facts and figure of the revenues.

After the presentation boss took over again and then came the final moment. Most awaited one. There were two prizes. One was the "best X" award and other was "best debut X" award. Then he shared as who has done what and on what basis he has arrived on who will get the awards. I was nominated for both the awards and finally won the debut award. One of the happiest moment of my life. Its not the amount that excites..its the recognition. Thereafter we went to our rooms. freshened up and headed for dinner. After dinner we were in a room and played games.

Me and Rits shared one room. We chatted till 3.00 a.m. And next morning got up at 7.00. We had our breakfast and then headed for Bhangarh, also known as haunted village. It wasnt all that far. We reached the place and saw the deserted monument and the broken walls of ancient palace. We hired an amateur guide and he did cook some story which wasnt all that interesting and exciting. I guess i was better than him in story telling we cud have saved 300 bucks:P

Here it goes...

Bhangarh..Haunted Village

Description

Bhangarh is a place on way from Jaipur to Alwar city in Rajasthan state of India. Today Bhangarh is known for its ruins where nobody dares to stay after sunset. Looking through history we find that this town was established by Madho Singh, younger brother of King Akbar’s General Raja Man Singh, in 1631. But the city seems to have been abandoned in a hurry some centuries later.

Bhangarh ruins

The local folks say that due to a curse the whole town was vacated overnight. According to the story of the curse, if the town was ever rediscovered the township would not be found, but only temples would show up.

True to the story only temples dot the landscape and even far up on the mountains only shrines can be seen. It is said that nobody returns from there who stays after dark.

By the Government of India rules there has to be an office of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) beside every historical structure in India. But even government authorities did not dare to open an office there. They opened their office about one kilometer away from the ruins of Bhangarh. Even this office is close to a temple because of this myth. ASI has put a signboard at Bhangarh saying, "Staying after sunset is strictly prohibited in this area."

Story

People who visit this place out of tourist interest say that there is a strange feeling in the atmosphere of Bhangarh, which causes sort of anxiety and restlessness.

The story of this restlessness goes as the following. The charm of princess of Bhangarh Ratnawati was said to be matchless in entire Rajasthan. Being merely eighteen years old, the princess started getting wedding offers from other states. In the same region there also lived a tantrik, a magician using black magic, named Singhia who was desperately in love with the princess and who also knew that king would never even allow him to see the princess.

Once he saw princess's maid in the market buying scented oil for princess. Seeing this he got a wicked idea of getting the princess. He used his black magic and put a spell on the oil which would hypnotise the princess by her mere touching the oil and she would immedialely walk towards the tantrik to satisfy him sexually. But as soon as the princess got the oil she threw it on the block of a stone as she had seen the tantrik eying the oil. As soon as the oil touched the stone, the stone started rolling towards the wicked tantrik Singhia and crushed him. While dying Singhia cursed the palace that there will be such an incident that everybody in the palace would die and their souls will stay there for centuries without rebirth. The very next year there was a battle between Bhangarh-Ajabgarh and no one survived in the battle nor in the palace, not even the princess Ratnawati.

Visitors

This is still the reason people are fearful and restlessness after sunset. People even hear strange sounds of music and dancing in the night despite no one being there.

The place is still open to all those tourists who want to experience the spooky thrill, but one still needs permission from ASI to go there and with ones own risk.

Bhangarh was more of a disappointment. I mean there was nothing haunted as such. Sariska palace was also an disappointment coz it cud have been managed better. The carpets were stained and the bedsheets looked old. The Food was cold in winters and was quite oily. We found it oily; don’t know how it was for foreigners who were eating the same food on adjacent tables. It was chilly in the night.

The trip was fun coz of the games that we played in the journey. The dumsharads, the antakshris and jokes.

Memorable trip for a life time.