Swapneel Shah

Questions...

I too wanted to start and finish the Rajasthan Trip writeups in one shot… So for those who were expecting something on the same lines, am sorry to disappoint… In the last few days-weeks as I have cut down on mails, chats, phone and friends; and much more including job (Unknowingly earlier and later deliberately)… Thinking and thinking on recent and recent-past developments in life and where and how to go ahead with what’s in life as Next… I came across this writeup lyeing in drafts from long time… I know this was a bit too philosophical me…  ;-) Anyways, Publishing it-

Sharing something I wrote to a friend long back…

“Bas basics mein problem hai!!!”

Read the rest of this entry »

(GO) NO FREE left turn...

Funny??? Actually it isn’t… Numerous people including me passed this square each day with the (GO) NO FREE left turn… The paper sticker put up by someone to convert the ‘NO’ to ‘GO’ for fun/convenience/timepass/etc had changed the whole meaning… I noticed it… I even clicked it from my cam… But did not get down from my cab and give a minute to correct it…

But thankfully it was corrected by someone, before my inner voice got strong enough to make me spend few minutes and act…

Somewhere we all feel that things need to change… Maybe even wish that we contribute… But then nothing happens until we act………

Each individual acts!!! ……… I should have…

Swapneel*

Chikki (Strawberry flavor)

I was sleeping… or well actually trying to sleep on the top berth of my compartment… It was raining steady outside… And I was shivering inside… Somehow the chaddar was not providing enough warmth… I heard the train leaving Lonavala Station… The irritating noise of on-station hawkers faded, and things were going calm… Could listen only to the helpless slow movements of the train in the Ghats now… And occasionally some in-train sellers… … …

“Chikki ghya… Chikki… … Lonavala chi Chikki…” (Have some Chikki… Chikki… Lonavala’s Chikki…)

[Chikki is a traditional ready-to-eat Indian sweet made usually from groundnuts\sesame seeds\dry fruits\Coconut and jaggery.]

Didn’t sound like a regular seller… I gave a cautions ear…

“Chikki ghya… Chikki… Lonavala chi Chikki…”

Sounded like a old trembling voice… female… pause…

“Chikki ghya… Chikki… Lonavala chi Chikki…”

This time a bit firm voice… Looked like she took a deep breath for this sale call… I turned and then took a peek out from my Chaddar…

Read the rest of this entry »

Be a MAN. Respect women.

Here are some shareable “search strings” that have given some hits to one of my blog entry recently… Ugly, insane, or whatever… It just reflects something in us!!! Maybe not in us as individuals… But maybe yes its in us as being a part of mankind…

—call girls in goa
—calangute beach call girl
—1000 $ for a night
—call girls calangute
—goa women night
—finding women in calangute
—goa calangute beach girl
—call girls on baga beach,goa
—goa girls ready for a night
—phone numbers of call girls in goa

Here is the target blog entry… “Goa, calangute beach, 9**** *****, 1000 bucks, whole night, above 18!“…

Read the rest of this entry »

No, this isn't any ancient temple that belongs to some Religion or God... Just a snap from my album at Picasa...

Continuing on last thread and Inspired from a write-up that my friend Prashant Murarka shared with me few days back…

All of us some time or other have had some interactions with these words… God, Religion, caste, etc. Trying to share a few of my major interactions from since childhood…

—Religion for me started when I was told by my Parents that I was a Jain as I was born in a Jain family… Maybe my rational thoughts even as a child did not make me feel that I should follow Jainism as I was Jain by birth… It was not like my parents were forcing me to follow Jainism… They were in fact very liberal and always said, ‘follow if you feel it is right’… But I guess the whole environment, big joint family, close society, etc. were embossing on me that Jainism was a obvious choice when I was to still understand for myself what is a Religion?, what is Jainism?, Why Religion? Why God? before I started accepting things…

—Most of my childhood days I spent at my home town village Vaduj. My Grandma used to offer 24 mangoes to God, before anyone in the house could start relishing the mango season… I still remember those mangoes… Bigger, better quality and TWENTY FOUR of them were offered to God and what we all 4-5 grand children got was one mango in the morning and one in the evening… When God never ate any of those 24 best ‘chosen’ mangoes and I always felt that it is unfair on me and my cousins; when I used to think that I alone could have taken all those 24 at the same time in my small tummy…

Read the rest of this entry »

Sri Muneshwara Swamy Temple...

Early morning around 6:25, as usual I was sitting waiting outside this temple for my office cab… Another Software Engineer walked towards the temple… Now somehow I can identify a Software Engineer from distance in Bangalore… Coming close to the temple he performed the usual actions that people perform while passing by a temple usually in a hurry or otherwise and stood by the side of the temple… We both now wait for our cabs… Our eyes met with a formal smile followed by “Morning…” from both sides… And he walked to join me on the stairs… A pause for few seconds… I don’t know if it was early morning effect or going to school childhood feeling I asked him…

“Hey, you know which temple is this???”

Surprised with a unexpected question… “Ummmm… Well, No!”

“Mate you should have at least got to know something, before you bowed…”

“Well, yeah…” Reluctant to get up… He just turning around, reads the paint… “Sri Muneswara Swamy temple…”

A pause… His reluctance to move that bit reminded me of those people worshiping Dagdusheth Ganapati standing in the middle of the road… Read the rest of this entry »

From the last few days, I am at my home-town-village Vaduj trying to take care of my Grandfather… Vaduj, a small village on the Pusesavli-Singnapur road, thirty-one miles south-east of Satara, is the headquarters of the Khatav taluka… I am spending hours here everyday… These 2-3 days spent in the best hospital here, gave me a actual sense of what these lines in my earlier post on Karunashraya mean “In India, the entire medical system is groaning under the weight of sheer numbers… …”.

Today morning as I get some space to sit outside the OPD, I see patients queuing up for access to the doctor from as early as 6 am… Patients need to register their names in the queue and then keep on waiting and waiting and waiting for the doctor… I walked over to the person registering names to check the queue… 76 (seventy Six) was the number!!! And patients continued to pour in… I got to know that 100 (hundred)+ was a normal figure on any given day… The clock said 10:50 already and the doctor was still to arrive… The doctor came in at 11:30 ish is done with all the patients in 60 (sixty) minutes flat irrespective of the number of patients… Incredible!!!

Read the rest of this entry »

No I am not talking about the traffic… It’s still there… and even more, and growing… Even after the Airport has shifted from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airport to become the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at devanahalli…

Here am talking about the anxious eyes that used to jump over the Airport wall to take a glimpse of the planes on the runway… I have seen people getting up from their seats when the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus ran parallel to the Airport wall… Have seen people every morning on this small bridge that gave a clear view of the runway and planes… Seen people sitting on trees adjoining the Airport wall waiting for the planes to take off and land… Even after the authorities covered the entire tree-trunks with sharp wires to prevent people climbing up the trees, people still found ways to reach the top… It became a routine for me to watch people doing this… Everyday… As I traveled to office from Marathahalli, I wondered why people were so curious to see these planes??? What’s so interesting in them??? Read the rest of this entry »

“Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold for India!!!”

I have been seeing, from the last week so many points written and said, exchanged, emphasized, highlighted, criticized, editorials, TV journalists, experts, sports personalities, etc. etc. I too want to chip in with my one cent… With all these things which most of us have read, heard, seen, talked, and even quarreled; its been more of what the government should do, what the sports committee should do, what this entity should do, what that entity should do, what a sports aspirant should do, etc… etc… I didn’t find a single article that said what should I do… Trying to find the answer to this…

So what should I do??? Read the rest of this entry »

Team B and swapsshah... We won the 2nd prize... (Community Teamworks 2008)

Karunashraya -a hospice center for terminal cancer Patients… located in Bangalore is a Public Charitable Trust of the Indian Cancer Society and Rotary Club of Bangalore Indiranagar…

I got the opportunity to visit this place and spend two days of my life. My first expectation was to see a general government Hospital kinda environment, but in actual it was a very well maintained, clean and caring place… It is a very touchy place that believes in “There maybe a limit for cure but there is no limit for care…” We went there to give a change to the the staff who takes care for the patients… The staff on daily basis see a lot of deaths and suffering… ( the highest number of deaths at this place in a day is 11!!!) Read the rest of this entry »