Unforgettable Chennai

Finally, After so many unsuccessful trials I got transferred to Pune. From starting I wanted to be in Pune as most of my friends were there and because of one more personal reason :) (yes u are getting it right).

But when my RM finally told me about my transfer, instead of instant happiness I was filled with mixed feelings of joy and fear. Fear of loosing everything at mattered to me for past 2 years. I found that really strange. I mean one thing for which you were craving for last 2 years and when you got it then you should be the happiest man on earth, but this was not my case. What was stopping me from celebrating my transfer was the bond which I developed with Chennai and the people over there. I lived peak 2 years of my youth & career in Chennai. I learned and met a lot of amazing people. Let me tell you about few of the interesting ones in chronological order whom I will never forget. First I met VC (Venkatesh Chandrashekar my RM, as he was the person who dragged me in this dept. ). He is a youth symbol who is about to touch his fifties (sounds oxymoron but true). He is passionate about building schools (visit www.schoolsforindia.org ) and a cycling freak. He has even organized International Cycle Race twice in Chennai.

Than I met Sridhar (Sridhar Lakshmanan), an IIM-A graduate whom you can call a mini encyclopedia. We became good friends because of some common hobbies (nature exploration and photography). By looking at him I always get energized to follow my own dreams. He was doing well in his job but wanted to pursue his hobby as carrier and so he is doing now. He started his own company www.ecologin.org and is one of the coolest person I have ever met. One of many lessons which I learned from him is “if you want to be an entrepreneur then just be one, without indulging yourself in calculating profit”. I know this may not seem right piece of advice of some but its true. He is like my elder brother now, just wanted to thanks him for everything. Get married soon and don’t forget to invite me.

Now enough about instigating personalities, Its time for me to introduce you to “EBALE INDORIES” (meaning freaky Indories) my group. It includes Gautam, Noor, Siddhu and me. As clear by name we all are from Indore. Apart from that we share few more common traits like we are bonded labors of the same company and bonded by each others company . We have done tons of masti together, spent all weekends together, countless photo shoots at each and every corner of Chennai, created envy between chefs of 5 star hotels by our gastronomic activities, tried to give run for food to Salman and Hritik by hours of workouts in Gym (though no result yet ). I never realized how fast time is flying in their company. I will miss them most.

But as Aditi (friend of mine) use to say – Good Bye is only to give you the opportunity to re-unite.

So Hoping to see these guys soon and re-live the memories.

Till then take care and N-joy.

Celebrity Social Responsibility

As Unckle Benn says Great power comes with great responsibilities. In a country like India where cinema is closely associated with peoples’ life and has greater impact on their minds, I think responsibilities of cine stars increases a lot and I don’t think our cine stars realize this fact.

For example when Health minister pointed out Shahrukh for smoking in public, he had not given the kind of response that was expected from him. Minister was right as many of his fans followed him smoking stylishly. I know as an individual he was allowed to smoke at that time (smoking is banned now at public places) but he should have realized the impact of message what he was sending indirectly to his fans.

If you are an unknown face in crowd than u are free to follow your heart but if you are a public figure than u should start listening to your mind also. As Your each action will be an example for others to follow.

Personally speaking still I am unable to see the kind of movement required by celebs for improving our social ecosystem. They have the fan following, they have media following, they have connections in Gov. and they have money. I cant see any obstacle, if they really want to do something for society then it won’t be a thorny way.

The main problem is most of the Celebs are doing social services just to stay in limelight and get there due piece of media attention.

Tree plantation at Tsunami rehabilitation center

Tuesday morning, as I opened my mailbox I saw a mail with the subject: GO GREEN. Because of my natural curiosity I opened it, it was a call for people to help in planting trees in a near by community center. As a Satyam foundation and SocialBond Volunteer I and my friends reached there. It was only 10 minutes walk away from office. First thing we saw was a huge gate saying “Annai fathima child welfare centre”.

As we entered we saw lots of energetic children running here and there and looking enthusiastically towards us.

We were around 10 peoples from our company. First we spotted the suitable places all around the campus for plantation and then we selected the plants according to the place. We divided ourselves in 3 teams to speed up the work. Finally we started the digging. I was clearly able to see more quickness and enthu in children from most of us.

They were helping us in digging, watering the plants and then safeguarding them by making a brick boundary around them. My team Noor, Aditi and me we planted 4 trees of gulmohar and a rose plant. After finishing the task we tried to interact with children and came to know about there routine and life. Head master over there told us that even in the absence of good teachers and resources children are doing really well. 1 boy over came 2nd in Tamil Nadu state board exam. This reminded me of the saying “where there is a will there is a way”. I noticed an old age home inside the campus but didn’t notice any movement in there.

May be I will visit that place again and find out more about it. Ok leave it for now and let me tell you further. We finished our plantation and gathered in the corridor for group photo and distributing chocolates to kids.

When we were leaving the two kids who were in our group were shouting “chalo ok bye”. We replied, waved and moved on ….