An experience worth sharing: Uganda->Burundi

28^th November, yes exactly it was 28^th November when I had to move to Bujumbura, Burundi from Kampala, Uganda. I had a very tough argument with my manager regarding my travel to Bujumbura as I was not at all ready to go to this new place but as always my manager won. My girlfriend was also angry over me because of this sudden travel to Bujumbura as next day was her birthday and we were supposed to have a video chat that night but now nothing was sure. So here I was at Entebbe airport at 7am, putting so many things on stake.

Finally I boarded a charter kind of small and light” Air Uganda “flight after facing cruel and tough looks of Immigration authorities, having hard talks with my girlfriend and having a big argument, which I lost, with my manager.

Keeping all these thoughts aside, I started enjoying the ride as soon as the flight took off. As the plane was small, so the jerks on the way gave me the real sky diving experience. It was very scenic outside as the sun was playing hide and seek between the clouds and downside a stream of water was playing hide and seek between green colored mountains. While I was enjoying the nature I heard an announcement that,” cabin crew please take your seats, we are about to land at Bujumbura International airport”.

Every time, when I visit a new country, as soon as I hear the announcement that,” cabin crew please take your seats, we are about to land at XYZ destination”, I start imagining the cruel faces and questions of immigration authorities and in Africa the faces seem crueler. While I was day dreaming about immigration questions, a lovely voice fell into my ears and asked me,” sir now you can leave”. It was lady crew member of my flight.

So here I was at Bujumbura airport, no buses to carry people from the plane and all were leaving the plane as people leave bus at bus station or train at railway station.

The moment I entered the immigration area, a guy said ‘Hi’, I was surprised and then as I saw his police uniform, I thought maybe he is the first torture of the day, but still I greeted him back. Then he asked,” can I help you with your Visa application”, I was more surprised and said, “yes it will be my pleasure” .He started filling the form, which was in French and English and in between he asked me few questions such as how many days you intend to stay, what is the purpose of your visit and where are you going to stay. I gave him all the information and he filled everything and told me that,” sir you will get the Visa for 30 days multiple entries and the charge will be 90 USD”. I was overwhelmed with the way I was treated but still I didn’t get the point that why the hell on earth he is so friendly to me. Finally I paid the Visa fee and then proceeded towards the security gate. The security person also smiled and said, ‘welcome’, I became more confused and thought what the problem with the people is and why are they welcoming so much?

Finally, I went to the immigration guy, he also welcomed me and didn’t ask anything and just marked the stamp carrying entry date.

I came out and was perplexed because this was the first country where I was so much welcomed despite the fact that I am just an ordinary citizen of India.

Meanwhile taxi came and I boarded it for my office and on the way there were nice landscapes, lush green footpaths and mountain ranges all around. It was really a treat to the eyes. Overall I was really excited to see the city as this was the city for which I sacrificed a lot in 24 hours. I was looking out curiously and suddenly after 20 minutes my office came but still there was no sign of the city.

Finally I entered that house type office and felt as if I came into some lodge.

In the evening, I met my friend from India and I asked him to take me around the city. He asked me,” Which city are you talking about”? I took his question as a joke, so I replied,” Bujumbura man which else”, he said,” You are in Bujumbura”. I said,” come on! Man we are in outskirts of the city”.

He smiled at me and simply said welcome to Bujumbura Atul and I virtually fainted at that moment.

One Generation ……different names

While surfing the net I came across an interview of SRK (Shah Rukh Khan). I am quoting only one question that is relevant to this topic:
TV anchor: what do you think or would say about present generation?
SRK: You mean to say “Yo” generation?
TV anchor: “Yo” generation?
SRK: That’s what I call to the present generation.
The moment I heard this word I started thinking what is special in our generation that it is being referred by such words then later I came across another article in one of the leading newspaper where our generation has been named as ZAP 80 (means those who are born in 80’s)..there too they had many viewpoint but all summarized to one viewpoint that this is the period in which we had achieved more than we had imagined and that’s what I too feel because if see the generation before us that hadn’t thought much about the computers and now we are having touch phones which is really a way beyond one’s imagination and this is not the only things whereas we have many jaw dropping innovations that happened in these years only of which no one had ever imagined and I think every next generation is smarter and innovative but specially this 80’s onwards generation had brought tremendous changes so somehow we need to give the credit and I guess this is the most possible way of giving credit i.e. the people denote this period or generation with several names may it be “Yo Gen” or “ZAP 80” .

Sometimes !!

Sometimes i feel crowded by people
Sometimes i feel being appraised
Sometimes i feel being copied
Sometimes i feel people talking
Sometimes i feel people’ expectations
Sometimes i feel like a rising sun
Sometimes i feel nature’s warmth
Sometimes i feel free like a bird
Sometimes i feel quietness and calmness of trees
Sometimes i feel affection in people’s eyes
Sometimes………………………………………………..
And every time when i look deeper i find myself

Festivals…!!

Yesterday I was talking to my friend ………..in between our conversation I asked him about his plans for Diwali………and I got the wonderful reply that he is planning to sleep all day and then at night fire some crackers and that’s all…………….so in some or the other way Diwali for him is just a break from office just like a normal Sunday
Well after hanging up I realized that since childhood we always waited for festival so that we can have some holiday without being much concerned with the festival………………..when we were in college we always wait for festivals so that we can bunk the college and have fun and then can go home …………..and now in office it’s just a way to have a nice break from work and prevent us from seeing the ugly face of our boss.
So this is how we had started celebrating the festivals ………..everything is so commercialized these days that even though we are not happy and we are not concerned with the festival then also we compete with our neighbours in writing ”HAPPY DIWALI” in the best manner .
Or we can say that in this globalised world we are so much concentrating round the globe that we had forgotten our things and our festivals.
I don’t say that don’t celebrate Christmas or new year but I say that celebrate each and every festival the way it is and this is how being globalised also we can maintain our identity .
Wish you all a very happy diwali …!!

Internal Terrorism

Internal terrorism

We always talk about the international issues and specially the international terrorism…..like recently there was the case of Chinese army who came into our boundary and wrote China ……………and apart from this there is always conflict with Pakistan regarding terror attacks in J&K and even in rest of India
Talking about these issues and trying to solve these issues is really appreciable but as we always say that a building cannot stand straight without a strong base ………..so a country also cannot become strong without the unity of its people.
And this is what is happening in our country ………………….religion and unemployment are the major issues with which we are fighting these days………….if we see the areas which are affected due to naxalites we can see that what a bad impact they are having on our people and on the economy of our country .
Secondly we can see that how much is our country divided on the basis of religion and cast
Some days ago only I heard the news that security in Ayodhya is going to be doubled while when I visited that place I already found such a tight security that I don’t feel that there should be anymore security
And if the government is doing so then that means they does not believe in “Unity in Diversity” for which our country is known
Or it’s not the only government that believes but this is what that everyone believes ………..and to some extent it’s true also because this all is the result of what we had done in the past.
And this is the region why we feel that there is less security on our boundaries because when most of it will be used inside only and this is the region why other countries are able to write their name in our territory or able to attack our country from time to time.

Knowing yourself

knowing yourself

This morning I wake up with a question of knowing myself…………..this may be due to the fact that whatever one thinks one day before is always in his minds and he may also have a dream about this…
Well leaving this that how this thought came into my mind………I was really perplexed with this thought …………
And day before this when I was going to office I heard one radio jockey saying “ Why people look so much deep into other people’s life while they really don’t know much about themselves”……….at that time also this thought came into my mind but at that time it was like came and gone type of thought..
So since this morning I am trying to think that how am I? What am I? ……so on many questions like this are pondering in my mind……and to my surprise the answers that I am getting are those that are given to me by my friends or family members………like sometime some friend said that I am very good at something and sometime some said that I am very bad at something………….like this many views of my friends about me were spinning around my head…………………
And not only this many times my friends realized me that my certain expressions are very bad and which seriously I never realized…………..and some days before a very interesting thing happened with me ………I was just thinking about my bad habits then at that time I called very good friends of mine who were very near to me in my college life and asked them about those particular habits but to my surprise the response that I got was totally different than I expected ………………that day I also realized that I really know so less about me…………………
And I think this is the fact and is mostly with majority of people …….so I think in our life we must devote some time exploring ourselves rather than exploring others and this way many conflicts of the society will also be resolved automatically.

Adieu Monsoon

Its a fine morning of September ……….means it’s almost over for Monsoon season…………….anyways seasons come and go and each season has its own specialty and it varies from people to people that some like rains some hate……… some like winter and some hate………… but irrespective of all these things I like all the seasons…….because I love nature and I accept it in every way.

This morning when I woke up it was cloudy and I came to know that the drizzling has been going on since mid night…………I wanted to sleep more but can’t help because now it’s neither school nor college days for me …….it’s the damn boring office where I need to go ……………..so I got ready on time while my cab came to pick me up……..
While I was on the way the whole thing looked changed…….like the old monuments were seeming as they have been painted just now ……………all the roads seemed to have been repaired and washed …trees seemed as if they had grown up in a day ….all the leaves seemed so new that it was unbelievable that those were the same old one…………
The little drops that were hitting the glass of the car seemed like someone is sprinkling water on me with a great affection ………….
The whole scene was so good that I was feeling as if I am not going to my office means the whole way looked so changed to me………………………..
But finally when the cab stopped at the office then I realized that nature had fooled me …………I was so deep in love with nature’s this charisma that I really felt cheated when I saw my office’s building.
But anyways its nature that one can’t resist to love and specially the ending monsoon because it will take away all the heat with itself.
So enjoy the monsoon till its last drop of water.

Faith OR Superstition

Last Friday we (all office colleagues) went for a religious trip to Ayodhya…the land famous for Lord Ram’s birth……….We started our sojourn at 9 am ………luckily the weather was awesome that day as some rains were pouring and the temperature was a bit low and there was no humidity at all.
Finally we reached there at 12 pm and started visiting different different temples……it’s a place where every house is a temple……………soon we came near the place where it is believed the lord ram were born……….now this place is more famous for its disputes as Muslim’s say that this place belongs to their god………….due to these religious conflicts there is a huge security around this place……..and to my surprise here the security was more tight than the Wagha Border…(the border between INDIA and Pakistan)
Well as we reached there at 1:30 pm we came to know that we can visit that place at 2 pm only not before than that…………..so meanwhile we thought to go around and look the nearby places.
So we went around and found a very interesting thing that the whole place was looking as if there has been some curfew or war like situation ………
Finally at around 2 pm we became the part of huge line and then there were several security checks and then we were able to enter into the premises of that temporary temple.
After coming out of that I was just thinking of the fact that all people believe that there is only one god and then why we(Hindu & Muslims) are fighting that this land belongs to our god…..means what will we call it a faith or a superstition because the matter of fact is that there is no separate god then what can it be called??
Even the government personals are also aware of these facts but no one wants to cut its vote bank
And one more thing why we can’t come out with a solution that both religion should be allowed to use the land for their respective religious purposes….??
But again I think this solution will also not work because again peoples superstition or faith or whatever will come ahead…!!

Why Today’s man is like this??

Yesterday while going to Kanpur (A city which is famous for its industries) I was bit sad because the weather was very hot and humid ………so meanwhile I started thinking that it’s just the weather that is making me sad ……….while I was thinking this ,my mind started working as empty mind is the devil’s workshop………..so I just started thinking that today despite of having so many luxuries ,facilities ,and many more things that were not there during old times the man of today is not happy………….sometimes due to money ………..sometimes due to relationships ……………..and sometimes due to nothing just he wanted to be sad……………so why this is so?? I mean why today’s man is like this??…………..is this the mistake of the development that had taken place?? Or do today the people like more to be sad??
This thought kept me wondering throughout my journey……………….but at the end also I was unable to find the reason for this
I realized one fact behind this that there are thousands of reasons for a person to be happy and there are thousands of reason for a person to be sad ……………..so it depends on the persons attitude how he want to be??
And may be today’s person thinks too much or analyses the things very deeply or may be some other reason that his attitude is becoming more like this and that is the reason that today’s persons are running more towards meditation and other things.

About Me

Yesterday  I was talking to my friend as usual  ……meanwhile we started some discussion about ORKUT– a very famous social networking site …….then at that time my friend decided to change its “about me “a column where one can discribe himself ……………but after thinking for a while as he started writing then after two or three sentences he was helpless at first I took this thing very lightly as if its just a matter of time but its very easy and how can a person not be able to write anything about himself……….then at that very moment I too started thinking about me but I was surprised when I too didn’t found words to describe myself

I took this task very easily but soon I realised that its really very easy to describe someone else because their habbits are scanned by us most of the times but when it comes for us then we are really puzzled . I think there can be two reasons for this

Firstly : May be we know so much about ourself that we cant use words to describe us.

Secondly: May be we are so much busy in our lives that we really don’t analyse ourselves so despite of the fact that one knows himself but he is unable  to describe himself because he never gave a thought for himself.

These things seems to be quiet normal and in our day to day life we use to encounter so many facts like this but I think its just a matter of fact that I really felt like giving a thought to this thing

But I am still not clear with the exact reason????