Jaipur Trip

It was 19th March 2004; a group of around 100 people from our office took off to the pink city to see the beauties of ancient forts and the Ranthanbhore tiger reserve.

Amer Fort
An overnight journey from Indore took us to the pink city, which is almost 500 kms from here. Situated at a short distance of 11 kms from Jaipur, the Amer Fort complex stands amidst wooded hills overlooking the Delhi-Jaipur highway with its forbidding ramparts reflected in the still waters of the Maota Lake below, one of the finest examples of Rajput architecture.

Jal Mahal
Jal Mahal is an 18th century pleasure palace situated within the Mansagar lake, which is in turn nestled amongst the Nahargarh hills. The Jal Mahal Palace, Jaipur is noted for its sophisticated design and grand architecture. The Palace was developed as a pleasure spot and was used for the royal duck shooting parties. The first four floors of this building is under water, only the top floor remains outside. One can have a wonderful view of the lake and the palace from the nearby hilltop fort or even from within the bus on the high way.

Birla Mandir
Birla Mandir is one of the many such temples built by the Birla family, one of the largest industrial dynasties in India. The temple is a great reminder of the secular traditions India has shown over the centuries. The temple has been constructed in white marble and has three domes, each portraying the different approaches to religion.

On the way back we have visited the Brindhavan Garden which is a real treat for the eyes.

Ranthambhore Forest
Ranthambhore National Park located on the rocky terrain of Aravalli and Vindhya famous for tigers and other wild animals was the main attraction of the trip. It was fun traveling into the deep forest in the specially designed jeeps, which can carry up to 20 people and is the safest way to travel such a dangerous forest. We were welcomed into the forest by groups of deer, monkey and peacocks and many other wild animals and birds. After traveling deep in to the forest we reached the tiger point where we all waited for an hour silently to see the tigers in action. At one point of time rest of the gang (other jeeps and tourists) lost their hope and took their way back without seeing even a single tiger, but we were one of those lucky groups where the driver (also the guide) was patient enough to wait till the tiger comes out of the den to show his majestic face to us.

Last week when I called up my home to find out if there was any letter for me from one of the local bank over here, my father immediately replied saying that there was no letter for me since a week. After talking with him for sometime, he told that he was supposed to go to Kerala the same day evening, but postponed the trip for a day because he has to meet a local income tax guy. When I asked him the purpose he said that he has received a letter from the Inland Revenue department and for that he want to meet somebody. Inland Revenue? You? I asked him, he said “Yes” and further added that even there is some confusion with the name written over the envelope, it says “BS Abraham” instead of “A. Abraham”, the house address looks perfect and none of our neighbors also have the name as that of mine.

Now I understand there is some confusion with the name and asked him if anywhere it’s written it is from UK, “Yes” he replied and I told him that this one is for me because in the UK they follow the last name concept. Even though he knew that it’s from UK, he was sure that it’s for him because my name (A. Bright Sam) doesn’t have Abraham in it as per the Indian records (School/College certificates). But my passport and UK records read my name as “Bright Sam Abraham” and they (the UK tax department) made it short as “BS Abraham” instead. At the end he was feeling for the day he has wasted because of this confusion otherwise he would have traveled to Kerala the same day itself. However he was happy for I have called him that day accidentally to ask if I have received any letter from the bank otherwise it would have been more interesting.

Hope you are not confused now ;)

It was late night yesterday I was returning from work, while two uniformed cops stopped me on the way asking for license and insurance papers for my Opel Astra (read as Hero Honda Splendor:) This is nothing new to me, and started answering all their stupid questions politely (haun ji), while one of them was looking into the driving license and other documents, other one asked me “aap bhar sae aa raha hai kya?” (are you an outsider), I said yes and it continues, “yaham kya kaam karthae ho?”. After frisking me for around 10 minutes they left me saying not to be so late next time.

What I wonder is, do these cops have a system in place to check whatever I am honest or am I trying to cheat them by producing fake license and documents? Why not we follow something like online verification of driving license and documents as followed in countries like US?

Long way to go India!

It was not in my wish list to go for a DVD player, nor I was in a hurry to get one; the reason being I hardly find time to sit in front of the television or any other media. And it happened that one of my friends who left to the US has asked me to keep his TV till the time he comes back. Now it’s that I have the TV with me and decided to get the cable connection from the local cable-tv operator. As most of my friends had bad experience with the cable operators over here, I decided to get it done with the help of my landlord. And it’s more than two weeks my landlord has been chasing the cable operators; the worst part is that these guys never picks-up customer calls or complaints. While this is still going on in one side I went on purchasing a Philips DVD player so that I no need to hold on my temper till I get a new connection.

I wish I would get it done before the Indo-Pak series start.

The religious significance of the festival of Holi is to mark the burning of self-conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, hatred, in fact all the undesirable demoniac tendencies, propensities, thoughts and behaviours. It marks the victory of righteous forces over demoniacal forces.

The festival of color has something to do with the politics this time while the run-up to the Lok Sabha election is already underway. Most of the politicians including A.B Vajpayee, L.K Adwai, Sonia Gandhi and Laloo are seen themselves playing Holi with the local crowd and media.

Let’s hope these colors prevail in the real life of these politicians as well.

"Our dreams have to be bigger
Our ambitions higher
Our commitment deeper
And our efforts greater


This is my dream for Reliance and for India"

- DHIRUBHAI HIRACHAND AMBANI