Lockdown Diaries - Part 1

Its 1st may 2020. 

Popularly known as Labour day or Maharashtra day or May Day and observed as holiday
in major parts of India.But this year, 1st May is very different for 1.3 billion Indian citizens.
They are locked down in their homes for over 37 days now courtesy novel coronavirus.

A virus which is manufactured in China and  imported in India from all over the world.
I still remember the first cast detected in india and the reaction over it.
Yes, it will come to india and spread. But little did we know the draconian measures
which will have to be taken up to contain the spread. Little we knew that we would be
locked down in our homes and we will be devoid of our fundamental right to move. 

What followed was no less than a thriller movie. Every day there are new announcements
and rules coming from government agencies. Every day there are new restrictions being
placed from housing societies to national level.

First, cinemas were shut, then swimming pools and parks. Then they shut down the foreign
travel (inbound and outbound), then railways and roadways. 

Everything came to standstill. Janta curfew was initiated by the PM to give a trailer of what to
expect next. 

21 days lockdown followed by 19 days lockdown. 

During the lockdown, a lot of thoughts and realizations surfaced. Interesting things started to happen
all around. Interesting times ! As my mom said, in her life span of 70 years she hasn’t witnessed such
a scenario. Her most innocent and curious question was - How the hell they can put locks on
TEMPLES? Her daily routine of 4 hours got disturbed.

No Maids were allowed to come home. This was one of the major shockers for all the households.

It followed the usual chain starting from denial to negotiation to acceptance and finally making peace
with it. 

The restrictions were such an equalizer,  from rich to poor, all were now seen at the same level.

The boundary of the middle and upper class seems to fade out. There was no more FOMO
(fear of missing out), because there was no one outside to make you feel so.

Introverts were elated with the idea of lockdown, as that meant no social gatherings and awkward
conversations. No formal get together and boredom which entailed. 

No newspapers allowed to be delivered, and learned to live with epaper.
No morning walks or evening walks. No more sitting at the LMD square and observing people
going around.

There were so many stories of people getting stuck. My niece got stuck in hyderabad.
My bachelor colleagues stuck in Pune with no tiffin service and cooks available.
Friends got stuck in their sasural and mayka. Labourers got stuck and couldn’t move to their home
town.

People started to embrace face masks as an essential clothing item and maintained 1 hand distance
with others. No handshakes.  

Teachers started to take online classes on video conferencing apps. Netflix, Prime, hotstar and
several OTT subscriptions increased. 

Sensex and Nifty tanked 25% within 2 weeks.

Changes happening all around and here I was trying to make sense of it all.
I will cover my personal journey amid lockdown in the next part. Stay tuned. 

The Best Season

Growing up, I had always this confusion in my mind that which among the 4 seasons in india is the best one. In India, there are typically 4 seasons in an year viz. Winters, Summers, Spring and Rainy.  It was really difficult for me to choose between these 4 as every season has its pluses and minuses.

However in recent times, with close observation of my seasonal moods and activities each season offers, I am getting inclined towards a specific season to be considered as personal best. It is

                                                               Summer Season 

While I am not going to list down all the season's positives and negatives, however I am going to definitely pen down all the positives of the summer season.

So here we go

• Plenty of Sunshine: Oh, I love sunshine. It makes me feel alive and positive. Summer season offers the longest days of the year and its so good to see light till late 7 in evening. 

• Season of Mangoes: This is the season, which offers the best fruit of all. King of fruit - Mangoes. With me being resident of Maharashtra, Alphonsos from Ratnagiri and Devgarh just adds to the sensual pleasure of tongue

• Fashion Fiesta : This is the season where girls feel free to experiment with the clothings. Every inch they cut down from any part of the cloth, it gives birth to a entirely new fashion style. Shorts, skirts, tops, jeans are of varying sizes and all this can be experimented in summers without the fear of getting cold. Fashion for women, delight for men ;)

• Nani Ghar(grand mother) Masti : In India, there is a tradition for married women to go their mothers' place during summer season. This is very old tradition that continues to be followed today. Its a fun filled 1 month which includes the cousin group masti, video games, movies, picnics, card games, late night outs and many more. Though it can give headache to maternal uncles but the fun is worth the ache :)

• Juices and Icecreams: This is the season where all juices taste doubly delicious. Be it sugarcane, nariyal paani, watermelon - they all are just amazingly refreshing. Same is the case with ice creams. During summers only, you can see full family outing on Ice cream parlors. Also one cannot forget the slurping barf ka laddoo 

• IPL season: Off late, come Month of May and it marks IPL season. Its the youth's favourite league in India and there is so much buzz around this. Prime time is booked for 1 and half month and excitement is at its pinnacle

• Diving in a pool : In summers, only 2 things give soothing relief from the scorching heat : Swimming pools and ACs. Both are enjoyed the most in this season. Waterparks are crowded with so many families enjoying water and rides in unison. ACs just helps to forget the heat of the season and make our homes like Kashmir valley.

• Holidays : For schools and colleges, summers means holiday time with no stress of studies, homework or project. 

• Husband's Harmony : Come summer and husbands happily book their wife's tickets to their home town. This is the time they get to party with their friend without guilt and loiter around the home without complaints. They live the time of their year during this short break. 

There are many more to highlight, however I thing I have made my point. So its now official - Summers are the best atleast for me. There are surely some cons like its difficult to travel in summers, but then there is nothing perfect in this world. Let me know in comments your experiences with summer season. 

5 Most Stupid Questions

Starting from number 5:-

5.  "Kitna package hai beta" translated in english as "How much do you earn" ?

Best answer to this question is that, I earn enough to manage two meals a day for me and my family. This question can be asked by variety of people, it can be a totally strange fellow train traveler or can be your close relative. You can use above answer to strangers but you are mostly in fix when asked by an elderly close relative. Problem is not that you are ashamed to share but you know that post sharing , you will be judged and also that this information will be shared without consent to the entire society.


4. "Onsite kab jaa rahe ho" translated in english as "When are you going out of india on a trip sponsored by your company" ?

If you are working for an IT company, it is mandatory for you to go out of India.People think that companies are there for serving this very purpose only. If you have still not crossed indian boundaries, you are doing something wrong in your career and here you are , you got your instant appraisal rating from a relative.

3. "Shaadi kab kar rahe ho" translated in english as "When are you getting married" ?

Now this is most irritating question faced by teenagers, As soon as person crosses legal age of marriage eligibility, no matter what the situation of person, he/she will be constantly reminded that marriage is the next goal in life. Imagine a guy living in a small room shared with 2 other males , earning 20K a month and he gets into the thinking mode, is this something which I can afford now?

2. "Ghar kab le rahe ho" translated in english as "When are you buying a house"?

As soon as you start earning for few years, you will start facing this question. This is the one of the critical questions in the arranged marriage interviews. Sometimes, this is a deciding factor in your proposal of the marriage. It might be the case that the person asking the question has owned a house in his sixties, but still expects you to buy in your twenties.


1. "Khush khabri kab suna rahe ho"  translated in english as  When are you giving birth to a child" ?

Now this tops the list after you have actually answered all above questions in real life.
What kind of a stupid question is this. How can one possibly know the answer to this question.
If a couple is not trying to conceive, they don't know when will they start trying and when will they be able to share good news..
If a couple is indeed trying to conceive, they cannot precisely answer this question because of all the complicated nature of the process.
Basically this question is not meant to be answered, it is meant to taunt you. For newly weds it is intended to trigger a topic of discussion among the couple and for rest, it is intended to get the details of underlying plan.

Travel Tips

                  I love to travel. Since my childhood, I used to count the number of cities and states I have been to. Earlier the count was restricted to the grandma's place and few religious places. It got increased when I attended a outstation school picnic. I wanted to grow this count as my life progressed. Fortunately, during my professional life which started 10 years ago, I got ample opportunities to travel in and out of the country.
                Travel generates lot of emotions and one gets overwhelmed with new and varied experiences. We realize that there are so many different kinds of people, culture, establishments, processes, rules and colors to explore in this world.  As said by one genius :

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” 

Based on my travelling experiences so far, below are some of my travel tips which I follow as rules of thumb to make my journey a satisfying one.

• Travel light
• We do not want to get stressed by always having to take care of huge luggage and expensive stuff inside it. Our luggage should enable us to move fast and free.
• While in Rome do as Romans do 
• Old phrase but very true. Eat the specialties of the region you are visiting. When in indore, eat poha breakfast, in pune eat misal pav ,in mumbai eat wadapav and in Italy have Pasta and pizza. Also, try to come out of the shackles and wear the clothes that match the culture. Like,do not shy to roam in shorts in the streets of goa. 
• Try to walk and roam around in public transport
• One of the enriching experiences of travelling is getting to know people of that place. This can be experienced only when you go out there on the streets. Walk to the nearest restaurant. Take local bus and observe people aboard it. Talk to people. Engage in discussions. You will be amazed to converse with some of the locals and you will come back knowing more about the place.
•  Enjoy Night Life
• Go to most happening place of the city and enjoy the hustle bustle of the night. Enjoy the way night embraces the people. Go club hopping, make some friends over the bar counter. As Paulo Coelho, noted author once said,  A city is like a capricious woman she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.
• Read about the place
• Every place has its history and it is its glorious past which makes the place great. Read about the place to know about it and try to catch the interesting facts about the same.
• Do not travel for the sake of checklist
• Do not make a tight schedule. Give yourself enough time to relax and enjoy. Wherever you go, give enough time to enjoy the place and do not make itinerary which compels you to always think about next destination. 
• Spend as little time in hotel room as possible
• If you want to spend time in inside four walls, its better to do at your home. Why to spend and come to a distant place to stay back at room.
• Avoid going to malls
• Malls are same everywhere. Similarly avoid watching movie in a plex. You can do that in your home town as well. 
• Keep your hotel address and emergency contact handy
• You always want to come back safe. Keep your hotel address handy and also contact numbers to avoid getting lost. Be alert enough to not get yourslef in trouble.
• First Enjoy and then click
• Don't start on the clicking spree. Roam around , see through  your naked eyes , absorb the moment and then take few snaps just for the memory purposes. Do not ruin the moment of pleasures by stressing out to take pics for social media. I will recommend to cutoff from social media to avoid going in spiral shell called internet. 

P.S. Check out my travel reviews below
https://www.tripadvisor.in/members/raunyy

What Diwali means to you ?

                                    Diwali is a festival of lights. It is celebrated across India with much enthusiasm and excitement. As I celebrate diwali this year, I see a change in me. There is a lot of difference in the the way I used to celebrate diwali in my childhood and the excitement of diwali during those days. I have realized that Diwali means differently to each individual and at different stages of life.

So what does diwali actually means to people around us .. I tried to capture few of the observations around in the process and compiled below meaning of diwali ...

1. To small kids (~3 years), its a mix reaction. They start hearing loud noises of tikli and bombs. Most of them are generally scared to go out. However, some brave children starts liking the noise and lights around. They start lighting fuljhadi and enjoying chaklis and anaars. 
2. To children (3-16 years), diwali becomes the most favorite of the festivals. They get 5 days of vacations. Day time is spent playing and night time bursting crackers. Its the most joyful time of the year.
3. To working professionals living away from native place, it is the time of the year to apply for full week leave and go to home town. 
4. To businesses, it is the opportunity to monetize the maximum. They offer discounts and offers to attract people. Shops are decorated beautifully to lure goddess laxmi.
5. To lower middle class people, it is the time of year to get bonuses.
6. To housewives, it is time of year to clean the house and make delicious snacks. And not to mention it is the chance to get ready in beautiful traditional attires.
7. To some families, it is the time of year to travel and go on vacation.
8. To those who love shopping, this is the time of the year when shopping fever is at pick. They become berserk and spoilt for choice. The market hustle bustle makes them crazy and more than the actual stuff, they like the entire process of shopping. 

Every individual in india has a special place for diwali in their hearts and above list will be unending.. 

So what proampted me to write this blog ? It is a strange feeling which forced to me look around and observe. 

As years pass on, my excitement level is dipping. I see fervour around and think, why there are no emotions being stirred inside me. Why am I not looking forward to this festival of of lights? What has changed in me ? 

Some of it might be attributed to growing up, some might be the realization of futility of all the activities. I am yet to figure out the exact answer to it.

For now, To me Diwali means the time to relax and enjoy with family to spend time at home, prepare food and eat together.. Its the time to cleanse the inner and the outer world.

Last thought...
During childhood I always wanted to earn so that I will be able to buy and burst as many crackers as I want and now when I am earning, all the zeal has faded away. This is the irony of life.

Happy Diwali.

Hiring and Firing

                     During the last 3 months, I experienced certain events in office which I had never experienced in my last 8.5 years of corporate life.
Events ignited varied emotions and forced me to think more about whats right and whats wrong.

Our company fired around 220 employees in a span of 3 months in 2 batches.

We never faced such situation and were totally unsure how to react.
It led me to think about different aspects of this event and to question whether company is at fault or not.

At the onset, we all blamed the company for taking this decision. There were bad reviews posted on glassdoor after the event and everyone blaming the company for following hire and fire policy.

There were questions raised like:

• Company didn't meet target revenue for 1 quarter. Is this the right decision to react on 1 quarter failure?
• Company had an aggressive hiring in first half of the year. Was the planning not proper.
• Company invested in multiple innovations and which failed to deliver. Was market study not done before investment ? Or was it the sales department who failed to get this to market ?
•  Company invested in projects where focus was on quality, so was the repercussions of such a project not estimated in terms of volume/revenue ?
• Company never had restricted expenses in past and cost approvals for parties and travel was very easy to get.

However as they say, "time is the best healer". As time passed by , remaining 300 people started to forget the event and move on. Some were still recovering and some moved on already.

Higher management  had justifications for everything and one cannot question them really.

During this course of healing, many thoughts and questions came in my mind like :- 

• Should company be liable to provide job stability to employees, what exactly is job stability or job security ? 
• Company is formed with sole purpose of making money and the owners of the company have all rights to take decisions no matter how brazen they may seem.
• Employees are hired to do a day's work and they are paid for that day's work.
• There are certain expectations from employee and employee is paid at the end of month for his job of fulfilling those expectations.

I realized that employees feel bad because of emotional attachment to the company. He expects more than just the salary from company. In process of giving 100% to job expectations, he sometimes thinks that he is working for his own company.

Another aspect of this is that employee feels insulted on getting fired. This is very normal human behavior as no one likes the rejection. The feeling that one's contribution is no longer required is scary.

Also employee finds himself in too much comfort zone, that such an event feels like a bolt from the blue.
All of a sudden, he has to find a job . He has to face interviews.
And the most daunting task is to face society, family and peers.

So what is the solution?  Who is right and who is wrong ? 

In my opinion it is never easy to face such situation.  However there are some best practices which can just make one stronger to face such situations.

One should consider his job just as a job and should know that he is paid for the services is offering.
One should understand that this is not permanent and no one is liable to pay him for eternity.

If one is confident of his talent, he will be least affected. Today, a company is paying you for your services and if you are good enough some other company will need you and hire you at same cost or higher.

So the onus is on the employee to be professional and a continuous learner which will help him face such situation with more courage and confidence.

What makes me happy?

Amid chaotic life , I often wonder what is the key to happiness. I stop and think about the things which makes me really happy. I tend to remember these sources of happiness and make it a point to acknowledge it.

There is a subtle difference between "khushi" and "ananda" !
Its very important to understand the difference so that we can seek ananda as much as possible.

Following are some things/scenarios which give me happiness :

1. Meeting an old good friend and remembering the good times spent together.
2. When my mother shares her past stories.
3. When my mother says "You did this thing real good" , "Ye achha kaam kiya"
4. When my mother asks for something and I am able to fulfill the same.
5. Fulfilling a dream or fantasy and having life partner along with you to acknowledge and congratulate.
6. Relinquishing old stuff like clothes,toys etc and giving it to someone who needs it and is not capable of affording currently
7. Sharing an experience and learning that it helped somebody.
8. Watching some video/movie/art creation which makes u watch the same again and again.
9. Travel from outside India to back to India.
10. Friday
11. Beer burp
12. Smooth Car Drive on a good road with favorite music being played in background.
13. Good Decisions
14. Playing Cricket on a pleasant day.
15. Really good dessert
16. Alone time(not too long) once in a while !
17. Sound of sea/river waves
18. Feeling of having someone in life to speak to about anything under the universe.
19. Time spent in swimming pool
20. Learning new things which you always wanted to learn like swimming, skating , driving car etc
21. Remembering achievements of past, happy events of past etc
22. Being a good host by showing warmth and love (not by material pleasures)
23. Getting oil massage from my dear wife
24. To see my dear wife happy and make her small wishes true

To be updated as I experience more .... :)