Is doing the right job makes all the difference? Or, doing the job rightly does?

These are the two paradigms one often comes across. And interestingly we mostly hear from wise that how one does the job is all that matters. I can only speak for myself here, rarely have I come across people who are content with the job they are doing, leave aside the point of approaching it in an upright manner. I too at times find myself caught in this dilemma - Am I doing the right job? I don’t remember myself enquiring – Am I doing the job rightly? Yet, the popular notion is to do the job rightly than vice-versa.

It was heartening to listen to a sexagenarian Rickshaw puller on this subject the other day. This gentleman called Shyam has been carrying me to the bus stop in the morning and on the way sometimes we speak about him. On my request he talked about his approach towards his job and I found out that this person has been trying to do his job rightly for the last 32 years. And I think he is doing his job superbly well.

One could find pulling a rickshaw a curse and it truly is in many ways. Rickshaw pullers are usually subject to wrath by pillions – always accused of overpricing. They lead a dilapidated life, further antagonized by those sitting in air-conditioned cars and driving alongside. The kind of abuse these guys go through can drive any so-called civilized nuts.

Shyam carries a small frame of four feet something and has a deep hair line with a cluster of white hair at the centre and around his head. He also sports a white beard, wears a lungi and shirt, and his skin is shining dark brown. His voice is sharp and loud – unfettered and reflects content and cool in his head.

That day in his response Shyam spoke of goodwill, trust and more importantly routine. He sleeps at 1 am in the night because he has two regular passengers, brothers who own a shop in the market, at midnight. He drops them off at their residence and gets Rs. 40 (Rs. 20 from each brother). And this Rs. 40 that he earns in one go takes care of his daily Rickshaw rent.

Shyam lives in a single occupancy room because he fears theft and unruly roommates. He wakes up at 5am because water goes off at 7am; he likes to take proper bath before he starts for work. He has breakfast and is stationed at a point he takes me from by 7am. His daily expenses are around Rs. 250/- including Rickshaw rent, room rent and food – he eats only at hotels (read dhabas). He sleeps for three hours from 2pm to 5pm in one of the streets. Surprisingly, residents of that street guard him from theft as he by that point has about Rs. 200/- or more in his upper pocket. 

He has been ferrying rickshaw in a given radius for last three decades and that has earned him Goodwill and Trust, these are the exact words he used, of local shop owners and residents. He is entrusted by them to transfer valuables and receive payment on their behalf. He gets premium when he executes such jobs. Similarly, he has set of regular passengers whom he ferries day in day out. 

Shyam turned what could be the biggest setback of his life into an opportunity and developed an enterprising nature. A hard to keep routine of 32 years and patience has resulted in continuous income and that ‘eluding respect’ for him. He saves a modest amount of Rs.10,000/- every month after taking care of his own expenses that count up to Rs. 7,500/- per month. 

May be Shyam knew just too well how to go about his job rightly!

Sometimes knowing what we want is not that what it takes; knowing what we should not have or do can be all that matters

“Procrastination of thought is a reason for major suffering. Think deep, give yourself time to introspect, make a note of every feeling that gives you discomfort, howsoever fleeting it might be, understand the cause and effect, shift focus from outside to inside and change your karma for an evolved existence...”

A recent post by Gautam Vazirani on his Facebook wall caught my attention. I read it and moved on, but it kept on coming back to me. I found it particularly true in my case. There have been moments of sheer anguish owing to my being caught in a cocoon; a cocoon that developed as a result of being in rut; a rut because I failed to deliver on my thoughts. 

Thoughts are essential to any change; maybe they are the right foundation to all the necessary actions. I know what I need to let go off, yet it continues to cling onto me. I may know where I belong and what I need, but inability to take a definitive action to amputate what is not required could just be the last straw on the camel’s back.

It is easiest to be drifted and driven by hailstorm but only those who are steel strong from within are able to steer clear through dust particles and maintain a hawk’s eye on where they have to be.

As has been said above, a look inside is must for an evolved existence. May we all are able to connect better with the world inside us than we can ever with the world outside us. 

A neighborhood at an angle from 45* to -45* on my laptop screen

There is a unique, virtual neighborhood that exists on the right hand side of my laptop screen. Like any other neighborhood, this neighborhood too comes alive at the crack of dawn. The only difference being the dawn at this part of the world usually happens at around 9:00am. Here, my neighbors live in houses made of four different colors.

Green - given prominence at the top as the people living in these houses are often at leisure, welcoming, and interactive

Red – a blend of genuine and imposters. I say so because Red here signifies ‘being busy’ /‘may not be available’; however, not often that occupants of red houses are truly busy and unavailable. They are at times as relaxed as the ones in Green are, but for some inexplicable reason they choose to live in red houses.

Yellow – residents of this house leave the premise unlocked. They are there but somewhere hard to locate. Even incessant knocking won’t wake them up from slumber. They can only be found in neighbours house i.e. green or red, only when they chose to step from their own yellow houses.

Grey – The inhabitants here are modest and simple. They are on vacation, out of the virtual world.

The occupants of Green, Red and Yellow houses are more privileged than the ones in Grey. They are allowed to communicate indirectly with onlookers. They are provided a window through which they can vent out frustration, preach, request, plead, promote, and emote.

Just to satisfy the quest of an inquisitive lot, I have always been the occupant of Green house.

No prizes for guessing! The neighborhood I am talking about here is called Gchat or Gmail chat. It starts at an angle of 45* on our screens and could go up to – 45* when browsed fully. I myself have been a daily visitor here for many years now. It has been so long that I can’t even place the first time I came here.

Unlike in my real neighborhood, I have a set of favorite neighbors here who I talk to every day. Some I speak to in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the night. There have been neighbors in the past I would talk to all through out the day. And such neighbors were all girls! :)

Since I am a Public Relations practitioner I have had neighbors who I would bother for work and always go to in the hope of a favor. Among them, those I failed to charm with my wit and suaveness ignored me and in some cases slapped the door on my face (here it means resorted to a Grey house).

This virtual neighborhood has many advantages over a real neighborhood. Here I could look through my neighbors a lot more frequently than I would ever do in my real neighborhood.  A flip side to this is that it has given a birth to an intruder in me. When doing nothing I would just scroll through my neighbors for no good reason.

Being here has also meant adrenalin rush and emotional damage. I have wooed girls, dated them, made love to them of course virtually, fought with them, and then again made up with them. There have been a few it got really messy with, and as an effect, much to my dismay, they relocated into Grey houses.

This neighborhood continues to be a favorite den among my pals for gossiping, bitching, flirting, and lending a shoulder to another pal to cry over his/her woes. However I may crib and dislike, it has only grown deeper into my life too. Now, I am always here through mobile!

For those interested to become my neighbor, my address is arpitgarg8@gmail.com ;)

A fitting tribute to 18 till I die!

So, I get introduced to him in a crowded street outside Ghantaghar where the camera team is busy locating an appropriate position to capture this 100 years old wall clock. He gives me a broad smile and hits his palm against mine to create a loud sound of a clap – an exaggerated version of a hand shake. He is a South India, born and brought up in Vadodara, speaks fluent Gujarati and uses swear words in Hindi in every second sentence with flair of a true Mumbaite. His command over abusive slang makes me picture him a Delhite.

He is moving around, sometimes 360*, only to find something amusing and crack a joke over it. And trust me he can make people around him chuckle with his desi, boyish jokes. He is dark like charcoal and dons a full grown moustache, with hair strands partially hiding his upper lip. Each strand is harmoniously trimmed and symmetrical.

His dressing is pretty relaxed and young; he prefers wearing collared Tees that too straightened, unfolded collar covering his high neck which he owes to his days in college as a footballer and a cricketer. His forearms are so curvy that they immediately catch the attention of a gym regular like me, and I fail to refrain myself from offering him a compliment out of sheer admiration. And he shrugs it off with a smile!

Before going any further, I must deal with a dilemma in my subconscious mind i.e. whether I should reveal his identity here or not because doing so might stop me from painting his true picture which will be an injustice to his colorful and vibrant persona. In fact, today I made him a victim of paparazzi with an intention of putting his candid pictures here. Ummm…okay, in his best interest and as a matter of morality, I keep his identity hidden for now. 

However, I should tell you that he is a Sr. Executive in Siemens, a bureaucratically run multi-national. And I must tell you that he states his designation with a lot of pride.

The reason he got me interested into writing my first ‘character presentation’, if I could use this term for this post, is his flamboyance and overflowing, contagious energy. In my six months with Siemens, he is the one person I found with a distinctive personality and a character that is poles apart from what he does and the nature of the company that he works for. He is by the way into administration and previously dabbled into outdoor advertising for a good part of his career.

Okay! Now, I give you a run down on the events. The day shoot ends by 12:45pm and we proceed for lunch at Hotel Surya Palace, not a five-star but a renowned hotel owned by a descendent of Maharaja Family. I follow him to steer through the main entrance into the lobby. He gets in and takes a look around relaxed as if he has got back home after a long. He goes to the reception and a hi-five to front desk operators. With a wavy hello to people at the other end he greets everyone and vice-versa. We move ahead and there comes a female hotel manager who he gives a tight hug and chit-chats in local language. The whispering appeared to be a lovey-dovey exchange. All very good till here!

We get into the restaurant for a buffet lunch. Here again, people come forward to greet him – hello sir, after a long time, etc. We are all seated and the camera crew with the producer from Germany is looking through the recorded footage. He and I are taking a walk through the displayed menu. I have decided in my mind what I will have. He screams to the chef at the far end – Where is the fried green chilies? (He says it in Gujarati with twitching sound created by rubbing middle finger against the thumb). And there comes a reply, will be ready and served to you Sir. All well!

We go back and take our seats. He waves at a restaurant manager and asks him – Fried Prawns kidhar hai? Apne ko mangta hai! Manager – OK SIR! I and this other colleague of mine stand up, take our plates, fill some dishes and return to the table. He is still seated; out of courtesy I offer him food from my plate. He says, ‘I don’t eat much.’ He stops a waiter passing by our table and asks him to bring some non-vegetarian starters for him.

We are seated on the last table, with back against the wall. He is seated facing the hall and while we are seated facing the wall. He is constantly looking around and passing comments on everyone entering or leaving the room. He has a running commentary on girls coming for the lunch. His comments are all very boyish and funny. In the middle of my laughter I ask him to go and approach some of them. He retorts, ‘I only admire girls. I do not try on them.” In other words, “door se dekhne ka aur bas nikal jaane ka. Chedne ka nahi, galat baat!”

He sees someone and walks away from the table to talk to him. After a while, his orders arrives and we look back to signal at him. The waiter stops us and says, ‘don’t worry sir. He has been informed’. Now, that is impressive!

He returns and starts eating. I ask for a Diet Coke from a waiter. A few minutes later, hotel manager comes to our table and politely tells him, “Sir, Diet Coke won’t be there”. He listens to the manager and asks her to sit besides him. The manager says she can’t as she is on duty. He jokes with her and we agree on Diet Pepsi instead.

We are in the middle of our lunch and he tells me that his wife is not keeping well for the past six months. I ask him what is wrong with her. He says Kidney problem. He goes onto tell me how disturbed he is because of her illness. While we are discussing his wife’s problem, his son calls him up to update that his wife has eaten her lunch. He is very happy that his wife has had her lunch, which he says has happened after almost a week. Very good news indeed!

Suddenly he digresses from this conversation to pass a comment on the girl entering the restaurant. We turn around to look at the girl. The topic of discussion has now moved on and we are now talking about whores, beauty in Delhi, Vadodara and Mumbai. He goes onto to state with the confidence that during his advertising days he had had the best of women. He swears on his clean record and claims that he has never misjudged a woman and could tell from a single look whether she is a whore or not. Wow! That took out a debate and discussion which is not worth talking about here.

We leave the hotel, royally treated! More importantly, he leaves the hotel with a lot more fanfare than he had entered with. Something I never experienced before.

From a local Five-Star Hotel to back on the streets! With a sudden fall in status, his gears also shift and we are ducking under shade to protect ourselves from scorching sun. He buys an electric racket that kills mosquitoes and flies. We proceed to the next location.

The Director now demands to go onto the roof of a commercial building to shoot the MS University. He shrugs off the request and says, ‘bhenchod iska permission nahi liya main.’ Tum log marwayega mujhko. It seemed he had forgotten for a moment that there is no ‘NO’ word in his dictionary. He realizes his mistake and smiles. In a minute, he is inside the building trying to set-up shoot from the roof top. In between, he is the one who gathered all the permissions for the city shoot at various locations. Supposedly, he carries out government and police relations on behalf of Siemens Vadodara.

Our caravan goes on and with it his never decreasing levels of energy. He claims that 80% people in Vadodara know him by face and name. He may just be a Sr. Executive, no pun intended, but a very popular local figure. People vouch for his networking skills. He is the Man Friday for Siemens.

His flamboyance and boyish mischief cannot be mistaken for misbehavior and loose character. He is perceived to be very discretionary and mannered. In a day spent with him, I could see colors of Rajnikanth, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar in him. He is a superb Public Relations role model and a charming personality.

He is 45, father of a 16 year old, and a devout husband. He lives life King size in his own zone. He is very unlike Siemens; hence, surprised me! He comes across caring and concerned, yet he does not let complexities reflect on his forehead.

He is a fitting tribute to 18 till I die! God bless him.

Having reached the end of my post, I realize it would be incomplete without his photograph at least. So, I take the risk and put it here.

 And here comes the change of heart!   

Of late there has been one TV commercial that has made me scratch my head a few times and think hard over its purpose and relevance. Now, having watched this commercial over and over again for past few weeks I have been able to firm my reasoning behind it.

I am talking about the unexpected come back of Bollywood’s first superstar Rajesh Khanna in Havells TV commercial on fans where fans is carrying both the connotations – of the admirers of a film star and of the revolving  blades that provide us air.

The first time I saw Mr. Khanna in the commercial I was literally taken aback and felt pity on his deteriorating health and skeletal frame.  It was hard to place him as we fondly remember his cheerful and elegant personality of yesteryears. The second thought that crossed my mind was how desperate he would have been to make his presence felt that he chose to appear in this commercial where the meaning of fans is being mocked at and confused with those of ceiling and table fans.

I did not care to go back to reconfirm my perception and went about telling everyone how awful that the  commercial is and that to what levels celebrities can stoop down to. As the days passed by, the commercial kept coming back to me and I could feel a sense of seeing it again from a marketers’ point of view. And guess what, switching gears caused a change of heart in me and I ended up appreciating the idea of putting the message across to increasingly distracted consumers of advertisements in a whacky yet an effective manner.

The fact that fans, aah! after this commercial I cannot afford to leave this term to readers’ imagination, here I mean blades that give us air, as a category must be losing its acquired space from consumers’ mind. Naturally, it is summers and fans have been replaced by air conditioners and nobody is going to pay any attention to them for coming few months. If this were the brief, then the task in hand for creative team would have been to keep this category alive in consumers’ mind. Had this been the scenario, then kudos to whoever came up with this idea and was able to convince Mr. Khanna to register his comeback in such a fashion.

Notwithstanding the dent/uplift in Mr. Khanna’s imagery among his fans that this commercial would have caused, but definitely a win-win for the brand. 

Sunday ho yaa Monday Roz Khao Unde is the catch line best administered by street food vendors along the fence of Maharaja Sayajirao University Road in Vadodara. If I were to believe locals the same is true for all of Gujarat, with best of bests being in Ahmedabad.


For a Delhite, who has not known any other form of egg other than boiled, half-fry, and omelet, a list of preparation of eggs running into more than 25 renditions is not only mouthwatering but also astonishing. All these various avatars of an egg are supported only by small size buns (half of the size we get in Delhi). In some cases, egg goes between the two buns while in others bun stands on the periphery of your plate whereas egg is swimming in the gravy of mashed tomato, onion and coriander.


A glance through the menu tells you how well read these vendors are as they have Egg renditions in Muglai (Egg Khima, Tikka, Pulav etc.), Italian (Egg Pizza, Sandwich, Burger), Baked, South India (Egg Dhosa), Mumbai Street (Egg Bhajia). I am sure I must have missed a few. 


The amazement does not end here! Three of us sat together to eat (Ameet, our chauffer, and myself). We ordered enough to leave behind in our plate not because we did not like some of what we ordered, just that we were too full to finish. The bill that came to our table was a paltry sum of Rs. 102/- for quite a few richly made, delectable preparations of eggs from. It was hard to believe such variety available for such a reasonable price.


Having been paying exorbitant amount for two eggs cooked in butter for the common and mundane taste of omelet all my life, Rs. 102/- for the kind of variety and fresh taste seemed far too less. I for a moment went back in my mind to where we had the breakfast and I realized that the menu list on the metal sheet hung on the wall read somewhat similar – very less prices for dishes which you would usually get for double the price in Delhi. And not even for a minute can you doubt the quality or hygiene of the food as it is all too good.


Let me spill the beans here for you, Rs. 2 in the bill of Rs. 102 is for the two pouches. The pouch here means polythene filled with RO water which you get for Rs. 1. Mind you, at these hawkers you will not get Bisleri, Aquafina, or any other brand of distilled water. I was a little cautious of drinking water from the pouch as it is looked down upon in Delhi and to an extent perceived to be unhygienic. Ameet looked at the bemused look on my face and suggested that I look around the place. I raised my head and saw everyone drinking the same water. Then I had no reason to hold myself back.


Ameet, who hails from Mumbai and had been in Gujarat for about two years during his MBA days and then for his first job, is all praise for the city and the state of Gujarat. He shared some facts which made me ponder over further. He referred to a survey which suggested 60% of the families in Vadodara have one or more members living abroad, mostly in US and UK. The foreign exchange money stashed in banks in the city is the largest in Gujarat and to a surprisingly high level when compared to other cities, including metros. 


A look around the city will tell you that it is by no means a small town. The City has all the major Indian and international brands and outlets of food, clothing and accessories. In fact, what caught my attention on my first visit last month were the Autos and the traffic circles. Let’s first talk about Autos - they all seem to be competing with each other for the best interior. You will find really good looking autos – many having picturesque landscapes, posters of popular film stars, colorful and comfortable upholstery. The luxury in auto is not only extended to passengers; even drivers have very well made support for their backs. 


You must be thinking that these auto drivers must be making merry on the road. Let me tell you something here, the diameter of the city is just 14 kms, a fact I attribute to mu colleague Ameet and further validated by our chauffer. One can cover the city end-to-end in 30mins or even lesser. The autos run by meter and will charge you Rs.11/- if the meter showed Rs. 11/-. Isn’t it all amazing?


Now, coming to the traffic circles, every circle you pass by has a unique architecture. Some circles have interesting statues; some having a scene depicted of an incident of historical significance; and some will be as innovative as boundaries, in other words queue managers, made in shape of power transmission towers.


I had only heard about how revered Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, is in the state. A past few visits to Vadodara has given me enough reasons to believe that the affection towards the CM is justifiable. Among all the small cities and towns I have travelled till date I rate Vadodara very high on various parameters. I only wish the city had a night life. It gets very hard to find food joints open after 11:30pm. 

Apart from his soul, a blank slate and letters to tap on is all that a paradise of writers consists of. I too have luxury of time and technology but I am no writer, only words fascinate me. I just have a scratchy surface on the right side of my brain: abundance of thoughts, illusions, dreams, plans, assumptions, and many more than I can think of offhand. And that is what drives me here to be among my thoughts, create a zone of my own called Ru-Ba-Ru which in widely understood language English means soul-to-soul or face-to-face.

I have been here before a few times, more for a peep than with any real purpose. I return only to make yet another attempt, to dabble in a lane that has always bemused me.  When I was here before, I would often find myself lost in the attempt to filter thoughts that were worth sharing, and to be precise, worth the applause. I did care for, never was I there, just to be there to enjoy writing, to be myself, untouched by the fact whether others take note of what I had to say.

Let me share a secret with you, I wrote only to impress the fair sex. To get them to like me for anything other than looks and money as I never had them in plenty. Words set together creating a rhythmic sound when you read them loud! Nothing more or nothing less!

As a person to know I am all over the place - scattered in bits in the bright sunshine, in the twilight and in the darkness too. And one of these always manages to get better of me and hide the better self of me from coming out in open. To be blunt, I am yet to figure myself out.

Having said that, being here means being observant and opinionated! Ah, just to state a fact, people who know me well have contrasting opinions on my being ‘opinionated’. Whereas my inner self knows that not always my opinions are of my own, at times they are borrowed and influenced too.

But, my being here will only be justified if my opinions are my own, not lent by someone. So, let me put first thing first - some rules to myself – be original, be brave as sometimes social ramifications can come in the way of your being yourself, be humorous – quintessential  spice for a delectable social dish. There is a lot more, but I will reserve them as saying everything too early might put me up for a failure.

Now, what to talk about? Politics – does anyone really care for what I think? Education – always eluded me and it still does. People – I am known to be anti-social as I despise indulging in discussing people. Workplace – I wish it had anything worthy of talking about. Passion – Ah, my favorite word in the dictionary.

Music – it is always on my lips and those who have sat next to me at work and college will tell you more. Sports – I only know Cricket, tried having it off my back, and you know what, I am still trying. But, Gym and Fitness, if can be called a sport. Places – Thanks to work I am getting to see some of India else I would have died knowing only Delhi and Kanpur, my maternal town. Life – I am popular for confusing people with my own Fundas of life. This will be like back of my hand.

A mix bag of subjects: some interesting and some not so interesting. What if I shuffled them hard and fast? And created a blend of all these, I am sure something interesting and worth pondering will pop out. For an instance, mmm…Tibet!

Yes, Tibetan ‘People’ alienated from their own country by ‘Political’ influence of China. ‘Life’ got tumultuous, but spiritual ‘Education’ of many generations taught them to be ‘Passionate’ and instilled fighting spirit in them to go after their birth rights. And they moved ‘Places’. India was ‘Sporty’ and came to their rescue to offer them food, clothes and shelter in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamshala.

Tibetan people are strongly built, not because they went to ‘Gym’ regularly, because they are mentally very tough. High level of ‘Fitness’ earned as a result of rigorous meditation and chanting gave them courage to cross over life threatening terrains of Himalayas to reach India and lead a fresh life. They are still fighting and one day justice will prevail. China will listen to the ‘Music’ of celebrations for hard fought freedom of Tibet.

See, it is not tough! I agree not that many care for Tibet and its issues, but for anyone interested I have expressed its concerns in nutshell.

I got to be persistent and passionate towards my fresh beginning. With the hope of being here regularly I sign off from my new den Ru-Ba-Ru.

Dreams can come real only if we transform them to REAL ACTION.