Flying overseas ?? This should help you a lot

Hey! I am so glad that you are all set to chase your dreams, heading to a place far away from the motherland. I hope you have packed all the essentials, your ID, passport, certificates, electronic devices, the capsule wardrobe, instant food, the gifts, the blessings, the memories, the promises and the determination. It will be too exciting to visit, the exotic beaches, mountains, valleys, sands but the sky will still be the same and will remind you how vast the universe is and how insignificant is the distance between you and your home.

So before you leave I have some words expressing bits of my concern to keep you safe and remind you that you are taken care of irrespective of your geographical coordinates.

First and foremost, the climate might not be favorable, eat properly, you might not get the Indian food there which might affect health still try to stick to the balanced diet, follow the regular workout routine, sleep well, avoid stress, dress up in accordance with the weather, take good care of your health, no excuse is permissible, make some good friends too, then only you will be able to work productively. Because one needs sound physical existence in order to interact efficiently with the material world.

Further, living in a different country will make you an oblivion in the beginning, you will have to be a little careful about that because seeking validation of being by socializing is instinctive and within those margins people may execute evil plans, so do not trust strangers, do not hangout with people whom you do not know, meet them in public places only. Keep the official documents and the precious belongings close to you.

Quality of your work will matter. Focus on your work. Do not forget the purpose of your stay there. There should be no compromise when it comes to working. You will not only be representing yourself but the Nation too. I hope your conduct and the quality of work will make us proud as a nation.

Explore, travel, go places where you have never been, try local food stuffs, taste the spices, check out the local artwork, visit the museum, the art gallery, the local theatre, the library, meet the local artists, go to the junior school to see how young humans are shaped and nurtured, closely observe the beauty of the culture tracing back its roots and then coming all the way back seeking its signs in the ruins present today at the corner of some street or in the disfigured statue of a curly haired boy kept outside a museum or in the young boy with curly hair living next door. Try to learn about the possible sequence of the events concluding today making the two societies so different. Look for yet more amazing fact that despite so many differences by nature we are still the same.

Stay in touch with the family and friends, with the present day technology it is not a problem to stay connected, always inform someone close or document your whereabouts along with your companions before leaving for any unofficial occasion, carry your ID proof with yourself, avoid arguments. Please make sure that you are in proper contact with the Indian Embassy, have their details with you so that you can inform them in case there is a problem. Stay updated with the news, if the state has any sort of civil unrest against foreigners.

Shop only the signature stuff that you will not find anywhere in the world to keep luggage weight reasonable, click some good snapshots of the moments you want to keep in your memory forever. Keep cautious of burglars and scammers they might be offering alluring deals for quick money, do not get into their trap.

Being an Indian some of us do not have good exposure towards spoken English hence, feel hesitation while talking. For many universities, who follow English in their curriculum may ask you to appear in a standard test which is accepted worldwide. One such test is Pearson's PTE academic test which serves this purpose. Check out #DefinitelyPTE for further details I think that was enough of advice, have an awesome stay there, enjoy within the limits of safety and never forget India is always waiting for you. Thank You. 

14 short stories

1. Fall and Rise

Today, when I slipped on the wet tile floor a boy in a wheelchair caught me before I slammed my head on the ground.  He said, “Believe it or not, that’s almost exactly how I injured my back 3 years ago .

2. A father’s advice

Today, my father told me, “Just go for it and give it a try!  You don’t have to be a professional to build a successful product.  Amateurs started Google and Apple.  Professionals built the Titanic

3. The power of uniqueness.

Today, I asked my mentor – a very successful business man in his 70’s – what his top 3 tips are for success.  He smiled and said, “Read something no one else is reading, think something no one else is thinking, and do something no one else is doing.

4. Looking Back

Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class.  When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, “Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile.

5. Try and U shall know

I am blind by birth. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to play baseball. I asked my father- “Dad, can I play baseball?” He said “You’ll never know until you try.” When I was a teenager, I asked him, – “Dad Can I become a surgeon?”. He replied “Son, you’ll never know until you try.” Today I am a Surgeon, just because I tried!

6. GOODNESS & GRATITUDE

Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug.  When I tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognize her.  She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center.”

7. LOVE CONQUERS PAIN

Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying.  And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

8. A DOOR CLOSES TO OPEN ANOTHER

Today at 7AM, I woke up feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. At 3PM I got laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then he offered me a job.  I start tomorrow.

9. LOOKING BACK

Today, as my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”

10. AFFECTION

Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed.  About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

11. INNOCENCE

Today, in the cutest voice, my 8-year-old daughter asked me to start recycling. I chuckled and asked, “Why?” She replied, “So you can help me save the planet.”  I chuckled again and asked, “And why do you want to save the planet?” “Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,” she said.

12. JOY

Today, when I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter’s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

13. KINDNESS

Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me.  He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.”.

14. SHARING

Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe.  He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy.  Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating.  The first thing the man said was, “We can share it.”

Cheers to life because a small act of kindness can bring smile on million faces. :):)

Source: WhatsApp message

http://compassionkindness.com/2016/01/17/14-short-stories-worth-reading-and-realizing-how-happy-we-are-collection-of-different-stories/

Clash of clan

Pic Coutesey: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95lSBqL6MJvLXUxJjAopTn6Bamhb8Ch3Ya0xI57hPOTA87k_9sonDX2SDNQNXfIqQnTpkSJMiWCpXojOxz53ucFAAWP61fVNl9AA9qczQoq_338g-hoyvU10S19jZUyhiaAby5bAipJbQ/s1600/Hero+Ability.png

With over ten million players, clash of clan has become one of the top most played online game. I started playing it four months back when one of my younger cousins installed it on my phone. Till then there wasn’t a day passed when haven’t played it. You build your town hall, you deploy troops, you get into war with some clan and most important thing you can play it with players from the other country. But, brotherhood is not at all different in any country. It seems the dream of a global village is still very far to be achieved. My clan’s name is chakrawarti clan and I too have kept its origin as Indian instead of Global. The best thing most of my clan mates are my cousin. Though I have to hear from their parents that because of me their children got glued to this game, but how should I make them understand that if has had to happen, either this way or that way. Almost every fourth mobile user is in this game. Never mind, for me it is the best way to get connected to my brothers in this busy schedule. It gives us a common topic for gossip when now we all have chosen different interests.

The best thing is you play as a team against other countries. Each player has been given three crucial minutes for war with the enemy, and in those three minutes you have to show what you got. You fight for the stars (maximum three at once) and in reward you get gold and elixir. Every player gets only two chances to fight. So, if in any case your evens are not in your favour and your network got disconnected in between, you are screwed in between your chance. We all try you attack only when we are sure that the satellite which is providing the network is sailing smooth without any hiccups.

I still remember I got a new Airtel 4G sim card free with my new xiaomi mobile phone. I wanted to give it a try. I upgraded my connection to 4G. I could see the difference in speed and efficiency of the network. But I loved it because of its fluent connectivity without any hiccups. We were at war with a Chinese team. There is a rumour that till now only the Chinese could hack this game. It was a fifteen on fifteen war and the score was 41  and 43. We were two stars behind them. It definitely gives you lots of butterflies when you are a crucial player of your team and you have only one chance left to attack. That day it was me and I had to travel in a bus that too in a rainy day. I was pretty sure that my network is not going to be with me and it will definitely disconnect in between. With my fingers crossed I start my attack. My heart was pumping high, I was playing good. Thirty seconds left and I won the fight. It was a 100% damage, I scored a perfect three which raised our teams score to 44. We won that game and my Airtel 4G proved that I can rely upon it in my crucial times. 

 http://www.airtel.in/4g/

"सन्नाटे का शोर"

"सन्नाटे का शोर"

आजादी की हसरतों को जिन्होंने पंख दिए,
आज बेड़ियों से लिपटी आजादी देख रोते होंगे.

स्वराज की चाह रखने वालों का भारत,
आज शायद उम्मीदें छोड़ बैठा होगा.

आगे बढ़ने के सपनो का इंक़लाब,
न जाने कब का सो गया होगा.

समय की मार ने वीरों की यादों को खँडहर कर दिया,
जहाँ कभी कोई दीप जला लेता है.

हिमालय के खून मांगने पर,
दो बूँद तिलक के छोड़ सब कुछ तुम्हारा कहने वालों का जोश,
आज खुदगर्जों के ठन्डे दिलों सा जम गया.

हम आज़ादी की ख़ुशी मैं कुछ इस कदर भागे,
की भूल गए की जाना कहाँ था.

इस शोर भरी ज़िन्दगी में सन्नाटा ओढे बैठे होंगे वो लोग,
जिन्होंने ये दो भारत देखे.

                                         - प्रतीक नेगी

What else we could have wished for...

People all over the world have their heroes. It doesn’t matter whether you are a young boy or a mature man, we all have our heroes. India, the country where 1.3 billion hearts beat together for a game, where people hold their breath for a single shot, have heroes from cricket. You can call it madness or passion, whatever, cricket is so much in our veins.  Sachin, Dhoni, Ganguly, Dravid they all are heroes for us.

     I still remember 2011 cricket world cup, I was in a hostel. Power corporation authorities were famous for shutting off the power even when there is a small shower. It was the worldcup month, and India was playing pretty well. Even in classes, we were more curious in knowing the score. Smart phones were not that common at that time as they are now. We had to send sms to some ESPN number for knowing the current score.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/5475851761_00205212ba_m.jpg

     It was 30^thmarch, India vs Pakistan semifinal match. Seriously our government should have given a national holiday on that day but, we had our regular classes. My hostel was about a kilometre far from our academic area. We have to go all through kuchcha pukka shortcut roads to attend our classes. The session was about to over and we all were dying to make up our attendances in last classes. So, me and my friends left for the class. As soon as we walked just hundred metres, it started a heavy pour. Going running towards the classes was not a good idea at all, instead of that we took shelter in a nearby small canteen, run by our Maggie Baba. Yeah, that time Maggie was legal and could be eaten any time of the day. I seem to be that even God didn’t want us to leave for the classes. So, we were four friends, the Maggie baba and two dogs who had taken refuge with us under the small canteen with a dripping roof. We asked baba for four strong tea. 

     Luckily, one of my friends was rich enough to afford a Sony smart phone. He used to flaunt it a lot, but that time he was hesitating to open it and watch match live, all credits to high internet surfing charges. We literally yelled at him and made him to open his phone by challenging his authenticity of being an Indian. What else we could have asked for when we had rain, friends, tea and live match. Though the buffering speed was poor we were enjoying. Speed was so poor that sometimes we had to skip a whole over. I wish we had good browsers like UC browser at that time, and then the scenario would have been brilliant. Now we have UC browser, but that time is difficult to be called back. Life is like that, only, we cannot have all the good stuffs at one time.