Why should you travel?

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Leaving that aside, why should you travel is a question that keeps coming to me every now and then? To me, there are multiple answers:

I travel because

- i like to see new places

- i love to go to temples both for the spiritual experience as well as for the history and architecture 

- i love hill stations. There is something that the mountains bring to me. May be it’s being away from the crowds, the weather, the early morning mist with a hot coffee.

- i love to travel on rural buses, relatively less crowded, a window seat, ilaiyaraja songs in the air - all this leading to a wonderful romance - loving life.

The list goes on and on.

But why should you travel? 

- Travel gives you the experience that you will never get if you stay a your home. 

- It will broaden your horizon. 

- It will teach you life. 

- It will make you understand people. 

- It will give you self-belief. 

- It will get you out of your comfort zone. 

- It will educate you with different cultures, traditions, people and more importantly the history of your country. 

- It will show you who you are. You will start living.

If you are single, make it a point to travel solo at least twice a year. A short trip (2-5 days) and a longer trip (2 weeks). 

If you are married, do a solo trip once a year. 

I plan to write more on traveling in the coming days. Keep reading. Send in your comments.

Stop Existing. Start Living. Travel.

Living in the Moment

My Last post on living in the moment made me think further. So this post, is a continuation of that.

As I said earlier, my thoughts keep fluctuating between past glories / troubles and future worries. It was difficult not to do this. Despite reading / listening to Gita, Bhagavadam etc., where the discourses always emphasised on living in the present, I could not do so. So, my thoughts went into a loop - am I not capable of living  in the present or whats preventing me from doing so. I could see there were times when I was completely not bothered about yesterday or tomorrow and living at the moment. Other times, I was clearly thinking what I would do tomorrow, next month, next year (what a fallacy, knowing fully well that I will not know if I will wake up after a night's sleep). 

But over a period of time, i noticed there were clearly periods of time i was completely living in the moment. I started analysing when this was happening. I could clearly see when I was either running, or cycling or in my gym, I was not thinking of anything else. 

Especially when I was on the road, running or cycling, I was not thinking of anything else. The mind is either blank, or clearly focussed on the activity. No other thoughts. Not even what i would do once i reach home in say 30 minutes. Here, I was clearly not even thinking of the next moment. So why was it and how was it possible. 

The analysis lead to two factors: one - a passionate activity and two physical / mental exertion. When I was passionate about the activity, my thoughts were all about the activity. How fast was i running, what was my timing, how long can i run etc. Similarly during cycling. Also, a physical / mental exertion made me focus on the moment - concentrating on my breathing, being hydrated, or racking my mind for a solution for the problem in hand. 

When I look back, the same was the case when I was working in the corporate world. I used to take it one day at a time, despite having plans for short / medium / long terms, by and large it was always for the day.

I finally found that when you are involved in something which is interesting or passionate, you don't think of the rest of the world or time but just focussed on that activity. 

Perhaps, this is what we need to day in day out. Stay focussed on life. Live for the moment, and yes, it is difficult. 

... And Life goes on

It's been a year since I wrote my last blog post. It was about my friend Ashish Chawla, after he passed away in an untimely manner.

For sometime now, I have been thinking to restart my blog. So here goes.

When I heard that Ashish had passed away, I was shocked. Just 2 weeks prior to that, we had a chat and despite being in hospital, he was still cheerful. I was kind of disturbed for the initial few days. I wanted to do something in his memory. But somehow, things did not work and my initial drive slowed down.

Yes, even death meets its death at the hands of time.

Sometimes time is the healer, other times it is the killer. It makes us forget the difficult times in our lives, so that we can move on. It makes us forget our mistakes, and enables us to repeat them. Yes, the passage of time is both good and bad, depending on our circumstance. This is the best thing, it allows us to lead our lives, move on.

During the last few years, I have had a lot of time on my hands - to think, introspect and judge myself and my acts. Sometimes the result was good and I was happy that I did something good. Sometimes, I used to think that I could have done better. I also had thought of the future - the plans. I would plan for a travel, for getting back my fitness, running a marathon, visit temples. Some materialised, others remained as plans. 

But one of the things that kept coming back at me, despite me thinking of past or future is that why I am not able to live in the present. Why can't I take things as they come on that day. Live in the moment. Is it the fear of the future or of the comforting past? What makes me go back and forth in time. Why can't I be here, now. When I think of some of the teachings of our great philosophers, I keep going to the most important thing that they have said - be in the present. 

We are defined by our thoughts which translates into action. So, being in the present, a mind aware of what's happening now, gives us the best opportunity to take appropriate actions. Living for today, enjoying the small pleasures of life, understanding that problems will not remain as is, is what I think is the best way. For Life goes on, year by year, day by day and minute by minute. 

You can't stop as life goes on.

Good Bye, Dear Friend

For a change, my blog title " raghuonthemove " does not reflect reality. For a change, raghu is stunned and still..

A good friend of mine, Ashish Chawla left us a few days back. An untimely death took away a good human being.

I first met Ashish in 2006 May, when i joined Accenture as an Associate Manager. He was a senior developer. In the first week of joining, we had a crisis. Ashish and I sat together for 2 days and nights to sort out it. During the entire fire fighting duration, he was calm, always smiling. Telling me not to worry and we will deliver. This was an early crisis in my new job and I wanted to prove that I can handle this. During that two days he kept insisting that we will deliver on time every time we hit a roadblock. Here was a guy who was very calm, composed under pressure. Something I learnt from him. 

We went through a lot of crisis over the next few years. I used to go to him whenever there was something big, knowing fully well he can solve it and bail me out of the situation. Despite crisis, he was always smiling. Always calm. 

Another aspect that impressed me was his ability to mentor youngsters. As a new team, we had a lot of youngsters (i used to call them my kids, sometimes even now), who were new to professional life, new to technology and had lot of doubts on how to approach things. He was always there for them. I used to tell him that he needs to guide these youngsters. He was always helpful, always there for these people. There were lot of times when I found him helping youngsters during the day, and staying pretty late in the night to complete his work. Here was a wonderful person ready to help others despite his own deliverables, problems & issues at work. This is something i learnt from him. To be there for people when they asked for my time.

He was a person who was never satisfied with doing work. It has to be done to perfection. I read somewhere that you should aim for perfection so that you reach excellence. But Ashish was one person who was not satisfied with excellence, he needed perfection. Perfection in everything he did.

After I moved out of accenture, i lost in touch with a lot of my team members, colleagues and Ashish was one among that group. But fortunately for me we got back in touch with me. He was going through health issues at that time but despite that he was always cheerful. I have called him a number of times when he was in hospital to inquire his health, and his response would always be a cheerful " I am fine, recovering" and more importantly a more cheerful " how are you doing" would follow.

We have been in touch almost every other week until last week of May 2017 when he was in one more of his numerous hospital visits and told me he will get discharged in a 3-4days.

Every time we spoke in the last couple of years, he always used ask me to come to his hometown, Dehradun to visit him and spend time there. Every time he would tell me, " I will take you to Mussoorie and we will go in my bike "".... I used to repeat the same thing, that I will come in 2018.

Some day, my friend, Some day, I will definitely make a trip to Dehradun. Not to see the town, but as a homage to you. May be, I will even make a trip to Mussoorie as per your request.

Until then, good bye.

God Bless you, Sachin

I still remember the 82 Sachin made as a opener. The match was played in New Zealand and when I woke up early, it was announced that Sidhu was out of the match with the injury. New Zealand did not make a big score on a that pitch helped the swing bowlers a lot. At the break, I was thinking that if we lose early wickets, we are in for yet another typical Indian batting in NZ. 

Come Sachin as an opener for the first time. Boy, that was probably the best thing to happen for Indian cricket in a long time then (or was it for mankind since sliced bread). Before you could think what next, Sachin was blazing. Anyone who came to bowl, was in trouble. The fielders did not have to move, and the bowlers had no clue. A well set Sachin was in for a blazing century but fell short of it, and if i remember correctly, a pretty soft dismissal. 

I am sure that many people watching that match felt that here was an opener who will change the game for sometime to come. In fact, I hoped to see more injuries for other openers, so that Sachin can become a permanant fixture at the top.

A few years down the line, the desert storm happened. No one in their right minds would have given India a chance to the reach finals. Fortunately, Sachin that day did not belong to the group with "right mind" and blasted a beautiful century, the sand storm break doing little to break his momentum. That day, one witnessed two storms - the sand storm and the bat storm. He repeated the feat in the finals to win the cup for India. 

Many dreams followed, keeping people like me entertained, cheering for India, switching off the tv after he got out, marvelling at his bowling (sometimes frustrated that he was not bowling enough), despair at his captaincy and tenacity at keeping himself fit at his age to play 5 days of cricket.

It was not an easy journey for a fan like me. There were times when it pained to see Sachin dismissed by lesser bowlers or getting bowled repeatedly. It was frustrating to see him getting out to bowlers who he would dismissed with nonchalance at his peak. I truly felt that he should retire, rather than being reduced to a mortal by the bowlers on the field.. It was past his time,  may be, i thought.

For over 20 years he brought cheer to fans like me, despite several big and small issues in the country and in our respective lives. He made us forget all that for some time. For all the achievements, what made him stand out was his humility. The mark of a truly great man. God Bless you, Sachin.

Autorickshaws and Chennai - Part 2

A few years back I wrote a post on the autorickshaws in chennai. With the recent rule of mandatory usage of meters, and after a few interesting experiences, thought would jot them down.

With a lot of fanfare and probably a bit of fear of the court censure, the government revised the autorickshaw fares and made the meters to be mandatory. For about a month, drivers could use the old meters with a rate card giving the equivalent fare and they were supposed to have the calibrated meter by 15th Sep.

Was everything going smooth? I had my own doubts.

My first confirmation that things might not change came from a regular driver that I used to go with. I told him that he cannot bargain anymore and had to use the meter, the reply - " saar meter illama than ottuvom, athu eppadi enga ellarukkum theriyum " (we will ply without meters, and we know how to get around the system).

After about 2 weeks of announcement, I had to take the auto for a coupe of rides. With the first guy, the usual bargaining happened and when I asked about the meter, he said he was yet to get the rate card. :(. He also said, " saar neenga ellam meter ketta, naanga enga saar porathu (if people like you ask for meter, how can guys like us survive).

The second ride also was without meter, and this guy said the battery was down in the meter. I was in a hurry, he said no meter, and I had no other option but to bargain :(

In the meanwhile, my mother had both experiences - the usual bargaining once, and surprisingly the return journey the guy straightaway put the meter and the fare was about 60% of the usual bargained fare. 

Sometime ago, before the fare was announced by government, my brother had the opportunity to go in " Namma Auto ", a privately owned service wherein the auto not only had a proper meter, it was also cheaper than what is announced now. The best thing was that he was given a electronically generated bill at the end of the ride. :)

So, will chennai change.. I guess but it will change slowly. A lot of people have to wake up to using meters.

Being open to surprises during travel

During my recent travels, I encountered a few surprises, some very pleasant and others not so.

After my day's stay at nagapattinam, I moved out of the lodge to go to the bus stand with thoughts of either going to Thiruvarur and from there onto visit divyadesams on the thiruvarur - kumbakonam route or visit Mannargudi Rajagopalaswami temple.

I came out of the lodge and started walking in the direction of the bus stand in the hope of getting a share auto for the trip of about 2 kms. I asked a guy riding a bike if I can get a share auto to bus stand. He seemed to be pretty young (probably was not old enough to get a license), with a big can to get diesel. He replied stating I will not get share autos so early in the day (it was around 6.30 am). After travelling 20 metres or so, the guy turned and came back to me and said, " sir naan bus stand pakkathula than poren, ennado vaanga, anga erakki vittuduren". ( I am going near the bus stand and I will drop you there). I was bit afraid since he looked like a kid, but he insisted. He dropped me safely near the bus stand. 

In kumbakonam, when I checked in a lodge, the manager showed me the tarriff card and said these are the rates. He then added, since we just opened a couple of days ago, some of the facilities are yet to be done and he will give me a discount. I was bit surprised by this as generally these are not told upfront and you have to haggle later, after a few complaints. Later in the evening, when I came down to the reception from the first floor to get some drinking water, the owner, an elderly gentleman was there with his son (about 35 years old). He asked me about the room the stay etc, and they said that I could have just called the reception to get water. He then asked his son to fill water from the filter in my bottle and asked his son to go up to my room and give it there. 

I was fortunate to have an unexpected and lovely visit to Thiru Mandangudi (Thondarapodi azhwa's birthplace). I was traveling to Thiru Pullaboothankudi by auto and saw a board indicating mandangudi. The auto driver to my query responded that the temple is about 1 km out of our way. I went there after bargaining for a total fare of 80 Rs. The big surprise at the temple was the bhattar (priest) gave me a big leaf with curd rice prasadam offered to the Lord and asked me to have it there and then proceed. Lovely prasadam, with no expectation in return.

When i got down at pullaboothankudi and gave the driver 100 note. He simple pocketed and said it covered the fare. Autodrivers, will be the same everywhere i guess...