My "Cricboxes" @ Cricbay League !!!

Well, to add a little fuel to my burning desire of voraciously writing articles and blogs, I had taken up a simple, once or twice a month, article writing task in the Cricket league that I play on the weekends. The league is Cricbay and my team is called - THE IMMORTALS ... The blog was a different perspective and to write about cricket was just another feature that I wanted to explore... Especially after being a hardcore lover of all the articles that Cricinfo post on their website covering the international cricket arena.
(Psst: You can read about some of the stories about my team and the league by clicking here, here or here ...)

As you might see that I have tried to use some cricketing jargon, notions taken from Cricinfo articles and yes I have been a little successful, but no I still have not been the best... I need loads and loads of improvement I guess...

Anyways, the season that I just played in Cricbay is coming to an end, and I would be posting my last article for this season this weekend ... So thought of re-collecting all the articles in one place and post the links here ... This thought came out of just a little laziness by not being able to write a story about my recently concluded eventful Lake Tahoe Sking Trip on Valentine Day...

So until I get my act together, and post that story, following are all the articles that I have so far written under the umbrella of Cricbox for Cricbay League:

CRICBOX:: 28Feb/01Mar :: 09

CRICBOX:: 07/08 FEB :: 09

CRICBOX:: 13-14 DECEMBER : 08

CricBox :: 22-23:Nov:08

CricBox :: 18-19:Oct:08

I know some of them are long fetched essay type articles, but that is how I am, that once I sit to write, I just cannot get enough out of it ... I can just go on and on ...

The next season starts in March, and we have couple of new writers, and it would be exciting to see what new ideas come out from the think-tank of Cricbox writers.

Till then ciao, may god bless you, may The Immortals get their winning rhythm back, may I hit 20+ runs in each game, and may India win in NewZealand this time unlike last tour when I used to wake up so early in the morning in India, watch 2-3 overs, go to the rest-room, and come back to see India all out for a cheap total, and NZ winning the game lol ... (PSST: Please no comments as to how much time I spent in the rest-room, the above was just a exaggerated example) ;-)

(PS: I came back to edit this post with this link which mentions my name lol as a award winner - of-course not as a batsman, bowler or my team winning a finals, but just because I was contributing to these cricboxes :) - http://www.cricbay.com/article.asp?id=275)

Cheers

Samkit

Joker in the Pack - Book Review !!!

Book Review : Joker in the Pack - An Irreverent View about Life at the IIMs
Author: Ritesh Sharma, Neeraj Pahlajani

As a person who is fond of reading from time to time, and exploring the inner hidden writing talent in me (Believe me I myself did not know that I can take up writing as a hobby until lately ...), I found this book really inviting to be purchased and read ... The story took me so much into the eventful IIMs that I read it almost I can say in one stroke in just under 3 days ...

This post is just a short summary of the review of this book as per my perspective...

The name - Joker in the Pack - sums up a lot of information as to what this book could be about ... There has been a trend after "Five Point Someone", for authors to write about life at IIMs and IITs and other famous trendsetter institutions ... This book is nothing different where the entire story revolves around - Shekhar Verma - who hails from a typical Indian middle class family background, and who like others aspires but is fighting to find out the correct direction for his life ... While running in the so-called famous "rat races" as the IITians and IIMites have coined it, the story unfolds the all possible experiences that an averge student can go through while struggling to graduate - peer pressure, family pressure, relatives, love life, friends, break-ups, pin-ups, job hunts, interviews, graduating, dreams, realities of life etc ...

Everything has been described in fine details - life in the hostels, fresher batches, seniors, placements, job hunt programs, studies, outside world, inside world and mind you - the pen has flown just like a smooth talk from an average normal human being ... The usage of language and the way this book has been written, is very informal, very lucid, clear and loud !!!

Overall a book for the light mood, something that you can read at leisure, finish it quickly and yet learn something from it and most importantly travel down the memory lane of your own by imagining your own past and finding similarities in the pages and situations described in this book. Although the overall plot and the gist is quite redundant and at some moments of the book, one can surely guess what is coming next ... But yes it also has some surprises ...

Definitely a worthy one time read.

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Cheers
Samkit

Week 4 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 3.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, as it's said - All Good Things Has To Come To An End !!! :(
And well I was approaching the end of what I would say - a trip filled with fun, laughter, relations, emotions, anxiety, understanding - in all - a turmoil of different emotions with a pint of random thoughts - thoughts about what next? when next? ...

Anyways, leaving parents, leaving home, has always been a tough part for me (and I bet its the same for most of us), as that is one moment, when words just dont come out of the mouth, one cannot just express what he or she is going through, to be true, one also feels that its enough of the vacation mood, and lets get back to work, and after coming back, that person again yearns for his home and wants to go back ... Basically its always a see-saw battle, when here in the US, one is looking forward and dreaming about India and home, and while there, one is just sailing in the happiness of the surroundings and at the end, wanting to come back to the US, even though with a heavy heart ... Same has been with me year after year, and this time was no different ... Although Dipali was staying back, for 15 days (lucky girl), I wanted to do the same too but I think the economical meltdown, with some bad news about my company laying off people, just did not allow the practical side of me from inside to extend my vacation ... Nevertheless the idea of saving more holidays for another important event to come next year - My Wedding, that too made me finally pack my bags and leave my sweet home, the comfort of my Mom's hugs and Dad's caring hands on my head, and I came back ... But the last week was no different either just like the other 3 weeks and this post will be the final chapter of my entire trip ...

Week 4
1/15/2009 - 1/23/2009

Well after a tiring but fun filled first Uttarayan with Dipali, it was a time for celebrtations :) ... Being the first birthday for Dipali with us, and that too back at home, with mom and dad, it was a something special ... Of-course, I, having missed my last 4 birthdays with my parents, and I dont know how many more will I miss, this was fun to be at home and celebrate Dipali's bday on 16th of January... (I am just waiting for my permanent return back to India once I am done here in the USA, then I would be back to enjoying my bdays with my parents lol) ... My close friends - Jaishal, Bhoomi and Soham, Chirtali were kind enough to grace the celebration at midnight, and I got two cakes (of-course those who know me closely enough, one is meant for "eating" and the other cake is meant only for "hitting" lol) ... To tease this darling of mine, I also got some magic candles to take out the air out of her as she kept on blowing them endlesslely ... Sang a bday song, ate the cake decently enough, and then made all hell break loose on her ... I can bet a 100 bucks here, that looking at the pics one would definitely fall off their seats .. My gorgeous damsel was looking even more cute with cake smeared all over her face, her hair and the best part was - her eyes shaped up in a way just like two small marbles placed on her face lol ... Had some fun moments at midnight ...

The next day went to Vishala with mom dad, and to treat the food connosieur in me to the best of the delicacies that one can imagine ... In all the birthday celebration was a great treat after a long long time with just mom dad me and Dipali ... Psst: Dipali ate so much, that she was not able to stand up in one piece ... lol ... I am so lucky that she does not read my blog, I can write anything here lol lol ... She was in love with the ambience and the environment of Vishala ... And to add icing on the cake, I had also gifted her diamond earrings !!! So overall I had a expensive birthday celebration - but was worth it :) Sorry I cannot explain what I got in return gift from Dipali lol ... Ssshhhhhhhh ;-)

Well moving on, this being the last week, I wanted to spend as much time possible at home, and somehow I got this laziness into me, that I just didnt budge from my room, my home ... I did not even wanted to go out the door :( I knew I am gonna miss my home so badly this time ... And I still am while writing this post ... I happened to see the bustling Ahmedabad sky line from the 10th floor of my Grand-dad's appartment and also got a glimpse of the upcoming bus services on Nehrunagar road ... The view was quite amazing, and if one has pics from about 5- years back, one can make out a lot of differences to see that Ahmedabad has truly transfromed into a Mega City ... Took some great pictures here ... ;-)

Dipali's very good friend was also getting married in Ahmedabad (Jannie) ... Attended their wedding and for the first time ever, Dipali wore a saree ... Lol ... Sorry but I found it quite funny ... :P Nevertheless, it was a good 30-40 minutes spent by my mom trying to get the prefection in her saree ... That Mother-in-law-Daughter-in-Law scene was quite funny ... :P

All these days, I spent quite some time with Dad too, trying to understand more about our business and the dealings, the working, the methodology, practical aspects and what not ... Also tried to discuss certain future plans and for the first time felt the importance and the weight of responsibility on my shoulders for my dad's business ... That discussion, those talks and those wise words from Dad keeps me go on and makes me a better human being and gives me immense practical experience ... I would say hats off to someone who is running a factory, in India, as Dad rightly says that if you want to sentence a person to life imprisonment, dont go through the courts and jails, just give that person a factory unit to run ... lol .. Ironically true :) ...

With days coming to an end, my trip reaching its final few days, we also got a Snatra Puja done at our factory ... That few hours spent, with mom dad, Dipali, the workers, on the factory soil, in the presence of God, truly transformed my thinking, my intentions, my ambitions, my views, my moments of silence, and gave me the motivation and the aim for something that I want to achieve in my life ... With God's grace, I will work on that, and who knows, the God might just bless me yet again, just as he has been doing so at each and every step of my life ... Those moments were the most refreshing ones and were truly needed at the end of my trip ...

Having said that, the final day dawned, it was time to go back, to leave home yet again, to get out of the hugs and cuddles of mom and dad, to leave the fresh, hot, home cooked delicacies, to leave the comfort of getting your laundry done outside without even moving a muscle, to leave a world of free SMSes, to leave the bustling and hustling noise filled days of ahmedabad, the time to leave the moist soil, the time to bid goodbye to my birthplace, and the time to enter a world of cement, a world of green money, a world of slavery in terms of washing utensils, cooking food, doing laundry, the world of 9 to 6 and yet the axe on your neck, the world of :
Mournful - Mondays
Tolerable - Tuesdays
Waiting for Weekend - Wednesdays
Tolerable - Thursdays
Fun Speculated - Fridays
Sweet - Saturdays
Sleeping - Sundays
LOL ...

Well it aint that bad I know, I am just being a little exaggerate here, but still India is India, Ahmedabad is Ahmedabad, Home is a home, and the comfort of Parents and family is a boon and a blessing for people away from the motherland soil ...

With this, I bid goodbye to India, with tear in my Mom's eyes, with strong-yet-missing-me type emotions in my Dad's hug, with a strong-confident voice from me - and of-course the chubbly bubbly Dipali too being sad ;-) Mom's friend Pala Aunty and Niru uncle were also present to bid my good bye, and I knew for sure, that even though mom dad will miss me, they do have some great people in their surroundings and life has taught them a lot that now they know who is truly keeping them company in times of my absence ... A special thanks to those who know they have been there for my mom dad in my absence, and for me those people held a special value in my heart ... :)

Well that's it from my side to close this trip account ... Hopefully I have taken some of you down memory lane of your own, shared some of my personal feelings, emotions and moments all along this trip ... Hoping to hear back from some of my regular readers, and of-course as I always say, hoping to hear from my silent readers too ..

One thing for sure is, that this trip blog has surely made a couple of unknown silent readers come to front and made me interact with them ... Thanks for stopping by friends ;-) ...

My next stop is the recently made Lake Tahoe Ski Trip on Valentine's Day ... Kindly come back to take a look at some of the out-of-the world experiences as I share them with you in my next post ...

Till then, take care, keep reading, keep commenting, and May God Bless you All !!!

Cheers
Samkit

Week 3 - Reminiscing the Trip Back Home !!!

... Continued from Week 2.

[PICS: Disclaimer: Sorry, but I removed the links on this post for the pics, so as not to let someone random from the internet world, misuse the pics... It would have been fun to put it here, but hey those of you who are really really interested, why don't you just email me or ping me at samkit.s.shah@gmail.com, or simple enough, just put a comment here (even a blank comment will do), and I would send out the links... I would be more happier and it would be more safe to do that way ... I know, removing the links takes out the real essence of this post, but I think the flavor and the excitement is still there ... So just leave a blank comment or drop a line to my personal email and you would get the links in guaranteed 15 min time - Cheers :) ]

Well, well ... I never thought that the trip back home and the events that I experienced, would create so much responses from my readers when I would share it with them. Over the past few weeks, those of you who have dropped by my blog, and in fact requested for the links for the pics, I really am glad for that ... And a special thanks to those who have taken out a few minutes of their busy routine life and commented on my posts...

Week 3
1/8/2009 - 1/14/2009

To continue with the memories, Week 3 was just about going to a lot of places, relatives, friends, socializing, having lunches and dinners with them and spending some quality time - a time which one longs for having stayed in the USA. Such is the aura of the atmosphere back at home, that no one gets spared from the cliche social surroundings and like it or not, someone like me always yearns for that environment. That in fact truly describes how life in two entirely opposite countries are different for a common man - A Sunday evening in the US, is described as "depressing", "gloomy" and "stressful" - with people scurrying home in their beds to think about work or business on Monday - and just the thought of it gives you a low feeling...

On the other side, a Sunday evening in India, in Ahmedabad, is all about hustle and bustle of the frantic people flooding the awesome restaurants, movie halls, shopping malls as if it's a season of celebrations for no reason at all... Mind you, it is not that people are not working on Monday or people dont care about their businesses and Monday mornings, but it is just how we back in our country tend to ease out our stress and enjoy the real meaning of Sunday... In fact a lot of people work on Saturdays and so have only one day to enjoy as compared to the "weekend" notion of USA ... Its just we Indians know how to enjoy better !!! lol.

Well with the Gujarat Govt., spending money wisely and in a disciplined way, Ahmedabad now can boast about a lot of infrstructure developments and re-establishments. One such example being the famous old Kankaria Lake... I really wanted to take a look at it after it's restoration and took Dipali along too... What amazed to me was the fact that, people of Ahmedabad, be it any kind of recession the WORLD over is talking about, these people were ready to shell out 10 Rs. for an entry to the lake, and even further some 25 Rs. for a ride in the train. The train is the center piece of attraction and has been imported from some place(Sorry I dont know a lot of details here)... After you enter such a public place, the first generalized idea you get is - Oh man its gonna be dirty and all, people polluting the surroundings etc...

But mind you if you have not been to Kankaria, then be ready to get surprised - as people from whatsoever background they come are now aware of Public Etiquettes and not 100 % but atleast 60-70 % of the people gathered there for a quiet evening stroll, now make it a point not to spoil the image of Kankaria any more. For that I truly support the Govt., charging people to even enter the park. That is the only way one can maintain a truly beautiful public place ... I went in the night time, and so did not catch a clear glimpse of the water, but in the middle of the lake was a giant advertising screen - that showed how technology is catching up... It was a truly memorable evening and makes you fall more in love with Aapnu Amdavad !!! Pics surprisingly came out well considering it was a bit hazy and was in the night ...

Everytime I used to enter my house, the walk from the gate till my house, made me remember so many fond memories, moments that I had spent for about 21 years before coming to the USA... Each trip, each time, makes me feel so nostalgic about my home - "Champanivas" ... The compound walls, the Badam trees, the smashed window panes of my Uncle's bunglow in the front, the underbridge, the whole bunglow itself, in fact sometimes chokes me up with tears - just fondly remembering those childhood and college days spent there ... Summer time cricket, vacations, fast bicycle moments in the compound, learning my first two-wheeler, my car, flying kites, and what not ...

My cousin grand-mother (I hope that relevance means correct in English - its basically my Dadi-Kaki), had invited us for breakfast this week, and as usual her love was to the brink, when she caught my hand, and made me eat a typical winter delicacy which is good for health... My dad, my mom all are fond of her and now she too is fond of Dipali... If Dipali is not seen for some days, then she would immediately ask mom - "Where is Dipa" lol - yeah, she calls her Dipa !!! Such love, warmth and care, sometimes makes me feel as to what am I doing there back in the States, without all these emotions ... I truly believe that I am an emotional guy to some extent, but the stay in the US, did teach me a lot about being practical - but as one says - basic nature is never forgotten ... I took a lot of pics in and around my home this time with my new D-SLR to bring it back here ... The Great Champanivas ... I too have loads of stories to tell to my kids about this home, just like my Dad has told me all these years... Truly Nostalgic ...

Moving on, days passed by, with as usual the shopping trips, dinners at all the goody restaurants that Ahmedabad can boast of, and the day came when I started hearing familiar shouts of - "Kaipo che, Chal Lapet" (It's some of the words one shouts when you cut someone's kite during Uttarayan Festival) ...It was the 14th of January - The Uttarayan day, and this is one such festival which I really love, or rather time has made me enjoy amidst all that is happening in my life, the sole reason being that we the so called NRIs visit Ahmedabad during the months of Dec-Jan and this is the only festival we have on our platter. The rest of the festivals are in such months, where I can just think of enjoying ... But I have decided that maybe after my marriage next year (again which would be around Dec-Jan), I am gonna visit Ahmedabad in some odd month to enjoy some other festival - Navratri, Diwali, Summer Mangoes - anything but Dec-Jan's Uttarayan !!! lol...

My father rightly says "We, the NRIs are like the birds of Nalsarovar, who fly and come down during the winter in Dec-Jan, and as the season comes to an end, we fly back to wonderland" - How ironically true !!! Well, I wanted to take Dipali to the real show, the place where the night turns up aive, with shouts, music, cars honking their horns, people running around buying kites - Yeah - Its called "Katal ki Raat" (Meaning "The ULTIMATE NIGHT ever") ... To experience this one needs to visit some certain parts of the Walled City, and truly what an amazing festive mood it is on both sides of the road. Had to manage really hard to take some pics, but finally got some... Dipali was stunned looking at the crowd and how people were running around with their kites above their heads, and some getting their threads colored and sharpened for the important battle the next day - the battle of the kites and the threads !!!

Next day, we visited several places to be with friends and family, and of-course enjoy the kite festival ... Met my EC friends for a while, went to Dipali's family place in the afternoon and ultimately like all these years, went to Soham (Sotu's) place late evening - as he has a place inside the walled city - and believe me that is where the real Uttarayan is ... The pics speak for themselves ... Had great fun !!! But it was not over yet, my cousins had got together to fly what they call a "Tukkal" - its basically a cardboard type lantern, inside which you light up a candle and tie it to the thread of the kite and send it up - the one with the most number of such tukkals is the envy of others and people try to cut that with their own kites - so the trick is to send another guard kite for protection ... Amazing isnt it?

The week was filled with a lot of nostalgic, excited fun-filled moments, and I could give up anything to experience that again ... Its amazing how these moments are so fresh in my mind, that I can describe them to the tiniest details if asked for ... There are uncountable such outings to malls, restaurants etc which I am not unnecessarily describing here as that would just make me feel so much home sick lol :) ...

Well as always, enjoy this post till I come out with my last week at home - Week 4. As for the pics, you know what to do - just drop in a line at my email - samkit.s.shah@gmail.com OR just drop by a blank comment here on my post even if you dont feel like writing anything to this post.

To make it more interesting for me, I would like to hear about one of THE BEST memories that you would have you would like to put down here in my comments section - a memory from your childhood, a memory from any of your trip to any place, any thing worth remembering ... Do it and read it again - You would truly enjoy it till the end ...

Will be back with Week 4...
Till then - Sayounara ...

Cheers

Samkit