oppurtunity in Home interiors!!

During the last 6 month I have been involved in setting up my new apartment. I had to go through selection process of each item required to make mere four walls a living place. It started with floor and wall tiles. Subsequently all the items of sanitary fixtures were purchased. After this it was turn of wooden wardrobes and kitchen cabinets. As I did all this myself, so purchasing all the items required for this purpose was quite an experience. Then it was turn of lighting fixtures. I had never imagined that this much light equipment is required for an apartment size of mine. The list of purchasing is still continuing. We have finalized kitchen hob and hood. Curtains and wall hangings are next on the list.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details. My basic aim of writing this piece was to explore this option of a service agency which can do all these things. I know there are quite a few agencies that do similar job. My only contention with them is on price. They either charge too high to make it unaffordable or compromise on material quality. I have still to come across a well established agency, which does this job end to end.

In a city like Bangalore, opportunity for providing the complete interiors of an apartment or independent house is immense. The supply line for this is virtually non existent. I have seen interior decorators only bothered to provide carpentry service through a supplier. They are not bothered to provide the complete service.

I sometimes feel I can take a plunge in this very exiting and demanding line. I feel people with better know-how should think seriously about it. There is lot of potential to be tapped in this domain.

Transitions all around; My B'day it is.....

Ladies and Gentlemen: Today is my B’day!!!!!. In this world of self promotion, this announcement may not sound as something extreme.

It was truly a memorable day to say the least. From early morning I was flooded with SMS and calls from friends and relatives. My wife had some surprises stored for me. I am not sure how every time she achieves this feat. She will always present me some very lovely gifts. The element of secrecy that she maintains while collecting all these gifts is truly marvelous. What else I can say. I love you Meenu!!!!

I reached office somewhat early than usual. I thought people should not be searching for me to wish my B’day. I was warmly wished by all my colleagues and friends. I had carried some chocolates to be shared by all.

Surprise awaited me in the form of a small party thrown by team mates. They arranged cake and some snacks. Something like this happened to me for first time. It was really a Good fun!! Thank you all people for making my day memorable.

Meenu and Mummy have been busy cooking nice delicacies for this day. I don’t have any words to express my love and gratitude for them. Little kuhoo has wished me my B’Day at least 20 times. Everybody asks her to wish Daddy Happy B’Day. Now she is tired of wishing so many times. My little angel! , you are my Darling…. By the way today she went to her kids school dressed as Rani Laxmibai. You just need to see her in that dress to believe how lovely she looked.

Things are in transition phase in my life. I am transitioning from one year to next of my Life. This week we will be moving to our new apartment. On job front news of my transition is supposed to come by this weekend. So there is transition happening on almost all aspect of my life. So all you ….. Please wish me happy Transition!!!!!!

Bus ride during school days....

Today I saw one of the buses which take kids to school.

I somehow got transported to our childhood days when we ourselves use to take one of the school buses for our daily conveyance to school.I still remember vividly all the fun that we use to have during these bus rides.

Initially all the buses use to go to all the stops. The bus would start from Duplex stop, L-type, I-type, Building Colony, Sr. Bus stop and finally to Hospital for E-type Quarters. The Bus for administrative colony was separate. Later the buses were allotted for particular bus stops. As the size of Hindalco colony grew, the no. of bus stops also increased. New I type was one of such bus stops.

The drivers of these buses use to be quite a character.These Bus drivers were really masters in there profession. I don't remember any major accident of any of the school buses during our time. I still remember Chotelal, Topilal and Smith. Smith use to drive the latest purchased bus. He ensured that we kids got maximum fun during these bus rides. We were always fascinated by his peculiar skin color, height and mimicry.He was also most adventurous among the lot. He use to fascinate us with all his antiques like driving without holding the steering of the bus. We use to so enjoy the race among the buses. Everyone wanted his or her bus to win. When I think of those bus races know it leaves me amazed. How at all those bus races were possible is such a small place and in so narrow roads. In reality, these bus races were part of our childhood upbringing. Sadly these fun elements stopped as Renukoot became bigger and more congested.
Whenever we got new buses it was like a celebration. Suddenly we would feel more fortunate and blessed than those who were still riding in the old buses. We use to keep on talking about our new bus and it's unique features.

Traveling in these school buses was very important for many of us. Kids use to fight for window seats or any other possible excuse. Some like me use to enjoy the interesting session of Guppbazi. Khoob jam ke Gupp marte the!. Some of us really specialized in this art of Gupps. Any matter pending from School use to be settled in our return buses from School.

I can now just remember those golden school days. I hope and prey that kids still are having as great time as we use to have in our time…..

Being constructive!!!!

Doing something constructive requires lots of effort and preparation. This lesson I have learnt first hand by doing the interiors of my new apartment.
I always felt that buying a new apartment will spare you all the pain of building an independent house. I imagined that I will get everything ready made and I will just move in. That’s how I felt when I booked my flat with this very reputed builder of the City.

Slowly I learnt that your involvement is must at each and every step to ensure customization and comfort. It started with choosing the right set of tiles on the floor. We did lots of surveys of tiles shops in Bangalore. We made sure that we buy all the stuff that we wanted. The quality has to be right. No compromises on this. Taste of family members was also an important criteria. I am now an expert in the field of floor tiles and bathroom fittings. I know now which plywood to use and what veneer or laminate is. Lots of people come to me for advice on this subject.

This was just the lid of the bin. After this came the job of all important interiors of my flat. It included wardrobes, Kitchen wood work and allied interiors. For last 2 months I have spend lots of time on this work. I have met at least a dozen designers. I have met half a dozen contractors. I have had several rounds of discussions with these people. This work is still going on. It will take at least another two months to finish this.

I hope that everything looks presentable in the final outcome. Even if it does not, I will have some satisfaction of putting my best effort for it. I am eagerly waiting for "Grih pravesh"!!!

P.S. For give me for boring you with unnecessary details. I couldn’t avoid it as I was really very much involved in all this!!!!!

Dilli Darshan!!

Day 1:

We landed in Delhi at 7.00 in the evening. We were completely taken aback by the cold chill which greeted us at the air –port. We had to wait for our baggage for over 30 minutes, courtesy Air deccan. A low cost airline at the cost of service is not a good idea. We were lucky that Meenu’s brother and jijaji were there to receive us. It avoided unnecessary hassle for Taxis.

First day we decided to venture out with Didi’s kids. The kids were very enthusiastic to join us for some sight seeing. We boarded Delhi Metro to reach Central secretariat. I was very much impressed by the Metro train service. It was some kind of unbelievable experience traveling in this train. The ride was so fast and yet so comfortable. Kudos to Mr. Sreedharan and his team for this wonderful job. During my stay in Delhi I didn’t miss any opportunity to use this train.

From central secreterait we reached Jajpath. Every time I see this majestic setting I just marvel at the view of Rastrapati bhawan flanked by North and south blocks. The whole view of Rajpath with India gate at one end and Vijay chowk at the other is breathless.
We were prepared to view the Mughal Gardens. We were informed that its entrance is from the backside of the parliament. As we were already late we dropped the idea for some other day. More about Mughal gardens later in Delhi Darshan series.

I must confess that I am some kind of walkohlic( what ever it means!). I love traveling on foot. Others who accompany me have to pay the price for this habit of mine. We almost covered full Rajpath from India gate to Rastrapati bhawan twice on foot. It was too much of ask for kids. They started complaining of stress in there feet. There were pacified by liberal dose of coke, lays, kurkure and some other unbranded snacks.

Lastly we went to Janpath for some shopping experience. My wife really enjoyed this phase of day’s travels. She couldn’t believe her eyes at the sheer variety of nik naks available on this street. It was almost dark when we decided to give relief to our burning stomachs. We feasted on kachouries and samosas to our content. All in all a good day for Delhi darshan.

Grandma’s stories…

Everyday before sleeping my daughter asks her grandma to tell her some story. My Mother tells her some story which is invariably a mixture of already stories. In these stories there are some stories which are quite high in demand from my daughter. One of these is where a cunning cat eats everything in the world. She keeps on eating everything and everybody till she meets a Donkey who punishes the Cat. This story is told with all the songs to narrate the sequences. These songs are very humorous and they have a rustic touch to them. I should say this kind of storytelling is nothing short of blessings to small kids.

My daughter has now started making stories out of the stories she has already heard. She makes stories out of everything she experiences. Now days she narrates more of her stories than listening to Grandma. I am the one who has to hear now stories from both of them- my fifty five years old mother and three year old daughter.

Symbolism….

Yesterday whole night the World was busy welcoming the New Year. It’s no doubt the day which is celebrated by the maximum people world over. Invariably everybody celebrates this day with a high degree of enthusiasm. This celebration can be safely termed as a World festival.

The normal middle class citizen is the one who aspires to be at his adventurous best during such occasions. He wants to celebrate this day like no one else. He looks for all kinds of options possible. He goes through advertisements in paper for New Year bash in 5 star hotels and alike. He then tries to analyze which of these will give him the maximum joy. Almost 90% of the times He may not choose the star hotel option. Then he surveys other options. Pubs, Discos, Resorts, Farm-houses: all of these are weighed against there ability to provide the maximum joy quotient.

Suppose he is able to select his option for New Year eve celebrations. Now the next big dilemma stares at him. Who will accompany him to his selected venue? For Bachelors this question becomes very tricky as some of these venues don’t allow stag entry. Even if they allow no sensible guy wants to be all alone when he wants to celebrate something. This is the reason maximum bachelors end up celebrating this day at there rented homes with there friends. Typically money is pooled for the D-day. Depending on the earning level the quality and quantity of alcoholic drinks differ. Provision is also made to have some snacks with these drinks. Dinner is invariably sourced from a near by restaurant. For fun thing the ever howling Music Deck with extra size speakers always come handy for these occasions.

For married ones the bottlenecks are different. This has all to do with the wishes and fancies of “better half” in the relationship. Slowly and steadily we are seeing a decline in the community activities for any celebration. This is the sad point in all this Hungama. People are becoming more self-oriented for any celebration. The real charm of togetherness with one’s own community seems to be declining. May be these are signs of changing times. Any way who cares…

May God bless you all readers with abundant joy and fun in the coming year. Have loads of fun and spread happiness all around you. Happy New Year 2007