Fiction is imaginary and not a true story. However, the setting, premise, execution of a fiction story are real in the sense that these are all existing; only the characters and story are made up. Fantasy goes beyond fiction and here not only the story and character, but also the setting, execution, premise etc are liberally imagined. Fantasy also liberally borrows from folklore and fable.

Recently, someone gifted a set of Roald Dahl’s books to my grandkids and out of sheer curiosity, having heard so much about his work for children, I picked up his popular book, “ Charlie and the chocolate factory.” A very interesting book, a lot in it is futuristic ( high speed elevators that overshoot the building into the outer space right up to planets) , but the content connects with the reader, especially children. After finishing it, I picked up the second book out of the collection, “The Enormous crocodile”. A very brief book with a simple story line and replete with interesting illustrations, this book is bound to be loved by children. Of course both the stories have a strong message. The first rewards Charlie for not being greedy and the second is standard theme of celebrating victory of good over evil.

A third fantasy book I happened to lay my hand accidentally. I got hold of Salman Rushdie’s “ Haroun and the sea of stories”, little realising that an author dealing in only serious themes could write such a wild fantasy! After finishing the book and reading its review did I realise that the book was actually written for children.

Interestingly, my reading of late has been all fantasy and children literature and hopefully apart from invoking childhood memories, this reading would clear some of the boredom and aimlessness that sometimes set into one not leading an active professional life.

In a large family, with quite a few good looking chaps, the question was never, “ Who’s the smartest?” For that matter, Ashok uncle stood miles ahead of others. The point of discussion always centred around whether he resembled Shashi Kapoor more or Sanjeev Kumar more, the two of the most popular stars of 70s! And he indeed loved to juggle with his looks by occasionally growing moustaches and occasionally shaving them off to keep the above discussion alive. 

But handsomeness was not his only quality. He was the pioneer of the family in investing in shares of good companies, much before the current rage of everyone joining the shares/Mutual Funds bandwagon and was an astute investor. However, he was satisfied with whatever he achieved professionally and led a peaceful, family oriented, relaxed life post quitting his job. 

There was another reason for him being slightly special for me in particular. He was exactly in the middle amongst 7 brothers and sisters. While those elder to him were too elder for me, my mother included, I clearly remember all his important life events – his marriage on 5/2/71, birth of his daughter on 9th November the same year, his transfer to Hyderabad, Rohtak etc. I remember almost all major events connected with his life. 

On the 21st instant, our Sanjeev Kumar decided to bid adieu to this world to undertake his journey to the heavenly abode. He was bereft of any major sickness but surrendered to a very severe assault on his health by a sudden ailment. 

Handsome yet reserved, savvy yet simple, but above all an endearing member of our family has departed, leaving all his nears and dears shell shocked. 

May your soul be in the most peaceful state Ashok Mama! 

A thought just occurred to me as to whether our WhatsApp group is merely meant for exchanging birthday/anniversary wishes or occasionally sharing a few photographs of stray meetings that some of us have? When I delved deeper, the writer in me got provoked and I am penning this for our group.

Thanks to the social media, we are reconnecting with lots of our past connections that we thought to have been lost forever. An enterprising chap amongst us, Kannan, took the grand, but painstaking initiative of finding the coordinates (phone numbers, E mail IDs, FB handle etc) and managed to bring at least a few of us together! And as goes a popular Urdu couplet, “ Main akela hi chala that janib-e-manzil magar, loag saath aate gaye aur karvan banta gaya”, this group has only grown in numbers since then! 

In 2028, a few amongst us will be celebrating 6 decades of togetherness – 1968 was the first time a few of us met, which is by no means a small achievement! Aren’t we lucky to have seen the world in our own ways, discharged our responsibilities (largely), played a long professional innings and some of us now graduating to becoming grandparents, and be  still in touch, rather touching each other’s lives in some way. At least, I am a major beneficiary of maintaining this touch with this group! Ashish is not only a friend and a doctor, but personal physician to my immediate as well as extended family. My mother ends up calling him more often than she calls me! In a way, he seems to be shouldering the responsibility of a dedicated son that I am supposed to! Sunil Babbar was never really out of touch as both of us had Rajasthan as our karmabhoomi for a very long period. His professional and personal struggle is awe inspiring and being a neighbour in Delhi, I know anything to do with my family, especially my aged mother, just requires a call to him. Of course, now with his travel business flourishing, he’s travel advisor to almost all of us. Ashwani has been one of my earliest friends as were neighbours in Sector 2 RK Puram. His occasional visits to Mumbai kept us in touch and his wide ranging interests have benefitted me a lot. Pradeep and I go back a long way having spent some quality time together. In spite of not meeting him very often, I know he’s there if and when I need him. Receiving Aditya and Sanjeev at my residence in Mumbai was such a delightful experience that it exorcised away even the hint of depression that I might have experienced upon my retirement! Sudhir Sharma flies into Mumbai but never stays overnight. The day he does so, we will spend that evening together. Atulya was in Pune and my hopes of catching him there vanished when he decided to relocate to Delhi. Inderpal may be in Canada, but times that we spent together and great favour done by his elder brother, an eminent homoeopath, when I had fallen seriously ill is unforgettable! Vipin, Rajeshwar, Raju, Deepak are all great achievers and give a sense of pride to all of us be their pal. Ajay Wahi got in touch incidentally and since that time we are waiting for the opportunity to be together! 

And outside this group, I am in touch with Sandeep Issar, since retired from SBI and he, in turn, introduced me to Hari Om, who is settled in Indonesia. The beauty of this KV bonding is that I got in touch with Samir Chaturvedi, who was in our KV for hardly 1 or 2 years and is now a big shot in Abu Dhabi ports. During my Dubai visit, he came to my hotel to take me and my wife to his palatial Dubai home in his Hummer. Neither he could place me nor could I him and yet we spent a memorable evening with him and his wife and enjoyed a Hummer ride for the first time and probably the last, unless one of us (I impossible) buys one! 

Pankaj and Anil Seth left us under saddest of the circumstances, probably exhorting us to enjoy the life, share each other’s happiness and get on with life without any regrets, pauses or excuses. I can go on and on. It’s possible that I might have omitted a few names and experiences, but a bit of faux pas by a sexagenarian should be acceptable.

Yesterday was Anant Chaturdashi, the tenth day of Ganesh festival ending with immersion of Ganpati idols. It is believed that with him Ganpati takes all our problems, giving us an opportunity to start afresh! I pray that all of us and our families are beneficiaries of this lore concerning Lord Ganpati. 

Today is Anant Chaturdashi, the last day of Ganpati festival. As my residence is on the way to the beach, the tenth day immersion processions present a scene that’s full of spirit, devotion and gaiety. While the spirit of those forming part of immersion procession is understandable, dancing untiringly to the rhythmic beats of the accompanying bands, it’s the spirit of traders, shopkeepers, residential cooperative societies, groups, individuals lining the procession route that’s to be seen to be believed! It’s truly a selfless service being offered to Ganpati bhakts – water, vada pav, halwa, boiled chana, samosa, khichadi, sherbets – with utmost enthusiasm. And the service is not exclusive for the immersion processions . Every passer-by, passing vehicles, BEST buses – their staff as well passengers, bikers, cyclists et al are the beneficiary of this free service. 

And year after year I see the members of  Aniruddha Disaster Management Academy forming orderly queues to manage processions, traffic and passers-by and extending great help to Mumbai police. Ditto home guards, scouts, volunteers from Bohra community, all helping maintain order is highly appreciable. 

A few days ago I wrote a post on master chef Vikas Khanna’s sharp retort to a western media journalist on hunger in India. India may still be struggling to feed all its 140 crore citizens, but the never say die spirit that’s especially demonstrated on occasions such as Ganpati festival in Mumbai is unparalleled and unique. 

Ganpati Bappa Morya! 

I haven’t driven a Ford but had an excellent experience of driving a Chevrolet. There are some inherent strengths of American cars. They are sturdy, spacious and powerful.

And Ford did quite well during its two decades long stint in India. I remember the craze for its Ecosports model that at its peak enjoyed long waiting period. Just before Ford decided to bid adieu to India, it’s relaunched Endeavour was seemingly generating substantial interest amongst big car lovers.

I have heard good words about their sprawling Chennai factory and even if it’s currently being restarted solely for exports, it’s a great news – for workforce, Chennai and of course, Indian automobile market that’s of late seeing exciting developments.

India is a slightly unique market where consumer is price sensitive and conscious of mileage. Given the Ford’s experience, I am sure they can come out with products especially customised for India, apart from its much loved Ecosports and Endeavour that will always find buyers in India. But that’s still undecided as currently they are targeting only export markets.

Welcome back Ford as their reentry should further spice up passenger vehicles segment in India.

I worked for 10 years in one and then for about 28 years in the second organisation thereby spending an entire career span of almost four decades in two organisation. The shift from the first to second organisation was also incidental and not on account of any issue with the first! 

Civil servants join civil services and retire after holding various positions upon attaining superannuation. Ditto defence personnel though defence services do have a concept of short service commission, including the newly introduced Agniveer. Even organisations like Tatas are known to recruit greenhorns who then go up the organisation’s hierarchy to finally retire! 

I as also the examples cited above are the cases of people working in their comfort zones and yet neither regretting nor necessarily stagnating in having served their respective organisations over long periods! But every time you listen to or read a management guru, a spiritual guru or any motivational speaker, they will exhort you to come out of comfort zone to attain success! 

I interpret this exhortation not as much against long engagement with single organisation but rather getting smug or complacent while working there at! All my 40 years or so, I remained excited, motivated, inquisitive, optimistic and ready to accept new challenges ( assignments, roles, transfers etc), never really becoming smug or complacent to be falling into so called, “comfort zone” that the gurus caution us to avoid.

The mantra, therefore, is not to necessarily look out for career growth but not treat your workplace as a comfort zone, but a karma bhoomi! Job hopping should be resorted for very cogent purposes based on sound logic and not for the sake of testing survival out of comfort zone as preached and exhorted! A workplace should be full of excitement and challenges and therefore, can never be a comfort zone. 

On Christmas Day last year 2023, I launched my first book, “ Ordinary is extraordinary “, a self help motivational book cast in a storyline. The book was read and liked by many of my friends and acquaintances as also people not known to me. The high point of the book was readers identifying closely with the main protagonist Sunil, an ordinary man next door, the likes of which we come across in our everyday life. Many readers gave me feedback that they could finish the  book in one reading and wished that it read a tad longer. A few also wished elaboration of the lives of other characters that found mention in the book, but that was just about it. And one general feedback was that my next book was being eagerly awaited! 

Of course, I took the above feedback with a caveat that friends were always generous and supportive and that I must be very careful about the ground reality. The ground reality of today is that people, in general,  are very busy and hard pressed for time to indulge in anything outside their core activity, which is pursuing their profession. Whatever leisure time they have, they are spoilt for choices – Internet, social media, OTT, sporting events, movies et al. Besides, everyone has a wish list of the movies they want to see, the authors they want to read and places they want to visit! I for one read the biography and filmography of Satyajit Ray and then watched all his movies one by one on YouTube and other channels! I did a similar exercise of reading James Bond’s books following them by watching the concerned movies based there on. Currently, I have got interested in Salman Rushdie’s work and hope to read some of his books. 

Under the circumstances, the only factor that comes to my rescue is my self motivation. My blogging journey of the past several years has been sustained due to my self motivation. Most of my blogs are hardly read by at best 4 to 5 readers and enjoy no commercial support in spite of I having created a significant body of work. And my next book, a romantic interlude with country’s partition as a backdrop, is a work of pure fiction that’s high on emotions but bereft of any preaching! This is not a curtain raiser for my new book, which will be launched properly when it’s ready, which is still some distance away, but this post is primarily aimed at all the existing and budding writers- bloggers, authors, social media users etc- exhorting them to persist with their passion by remaining self motivated, irrespective of number of likes or quality and quantity of feedback on their work! Our writing, if it touches even one heart, can be deemed to have achieved the purpose that’s primarily satisfying our own creativity. It was this self motivation only that kept me going for years in my professional life despite normal ups and downs. 

A friend shared a beautiful post on Instagram this morning. A BBC reporter asked master chef Vikas Khana that as he didn’t come from a rich family, his sense of hunger ( a desired attribute for a chef ) must have come from India. To this Vikas replied that he came from Amritsar where everyone got fed in langars. His sense of hunger, in fact, came from New York.

And why single out Amritsar, when a great deed is visible right in front of my eyes ! Four Bungalows Gurudwara, right opposite my home, serves day and night langar daily to hundreds of hungry , who queue up neatly at the desired hour and then bin their disposable plates in a trash can. And I am told that similar daily langars are also organised at Seven Bungalows and Sion Gurudwaras, where hundreds get fed daily thereby escaping starvation.

Many a times we criticise when a new religious institution – a temple, Gurudwara, mosque or church comes up, lamenting that we need more schools, colleges or hospitals! But let’s not forget that many religious establishments are doing yeomen services by distributing langars, running charitable dispensaries, hospitals, diagnostic centres as also schools and colleges. This is one great confluence of religion serving society against the general perception of religion dividing the society.

Kudos to Vikas Khanna for great response to a representative of Western media that loves showcasing abject poverty and other social evils in preference to great strides made by India in the fields of space, science and technology. And kudos to all religious establishments that are fighting the great battle against poverty, starvation, illiteracy and lack of healthcare.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, a few questions come to my mind. Most of us pray or remember God, at least our favourite God ( Isht) daily. We generally eat good food, sometimes indulging in sweets and other special dishes, especially on weekends and holidays. We clean our abodes daily. Then what makes festivals so special ? 

I think festivals connect us with our friends, relatives, neighbours, acquaintances etc, who are very much on our mind, but probably need a festival to be reached out to! And unlike other social occasions that connect us, festivals are more sombre, pious, understated and yet joyous!

Let me wish all my friends, relatives, neighbours, acquaintances and others a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi restating that all of you occupy a special place in my heart and life, thought at times expression of these feelings may be amiss! 

I did not exist till two angels decided to bring me into this world; 

They were my parents, my first teachers.

I was illiterate and knew nothing apart from speaking,

Till a set of people taught me to read and write;

They were my second teachers, school and college teachers.

I didn’t know basics of my profession, but a set of patient, matured and knowledgeable people

Took charge and guided me through my professional journey

They were my next teachers, my colleagues and bosses.

The life’s journey was tough, entailing rat race, competition and challenges,

But there were my stress busters, my wife and daughter, my next teachers.

And each day as we live and acquire tips to live better from gurus, friends and acquaintances:

Don’t they all qualify to be our teachers! 

Happy teachers day to all the above, unnamed in this verse, especially composed on the occasion of the teacher’s day, but their names and faces sharply etched in my heart!