My Father's Incomplete Dream

It is quite obvious that Airtel 4G is the first telecom operator to roll out 4G service, because Airtel, the name itself is enough to tell a person how good the network is. It didn't need much thoughts when I was asked to write about what I will do if I had Airtel 4G. Because I always crave for a fast internet connection to fulfil a dream of someone who compromised almost everything to bring me up, to give me a life- my father.

After the cardiac arrest two years back, the doctor suggested Baba not to travel neither by train nor by flight. Because the doc thought Baba’s heart won’t be able to take the stress of the journey. After getting retired last year, Baba kept telling us that he wants to see his elder brother for one last time, who lives with his son at Bangalore and already had a foot in the grave. Our uncle was always Baba’s partner in crime and we grew up hearing their stories. After Baba’s repeated requests all I was able to arrange was a picture of uncle and a talk with him over phone. But that was not going to stop the urge to see him, on the contrary the urge grew more after hearing his voice. Baba became more restless and started pressing us to do something.

One day a friend told me about video call, I was not a technology freak, and I found a ray of hope to make them see each other. But call it my bad luck, there was not a single telecom operator who could offer a smooth video calling experience. Either the face got hazy or the sound was flickering. I had tried almost all the networks available in Kolkata but all the time I ended up disappointing Baba. I have seen him cry alone and trust me it was the worst thing to see for a son.

After I heard of Airtel launching 4G. I thought the days of my father’s misery are finally going to get over. I trust Airtel blindly and I can easily say that if I had Airtel 4G under my hood I will make my Baba talk to my uncle over a smooth video call and will see them both smile with teary eyes. Money is never a matter for me when it comes to fulfilling my Baba’s dream but it took me quite a few time to gulp down the news, that Airtel 4G is actually available in the same rate as 3G. I just have to buy a 4G handset, which is easily available in the market and a 4G sim which Airtel is ready to deliver at my doorstep. Trust me I am bewildered with the news of Airtel 4G and the facilities they are offering with it. I don’t know who else are going for it, I am going for it tomorrow and all I can say on behalf of my father is, thank you Airtel.

Note: this article is a part of http://www.airtel.in/4g/.

Cricket is everything

Cricket is not our national sport, but cricket players are. We grew up watching players like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar knocking the ball out of the stadium for sixes which made us jump in joy.  After returning from school, I used to sit in front of our old BPL television with a packet of Uncle Chips just to watch India play. As we have grown up, we were a bunch of nerves, when it’s a last ball win for India. No one have ever stopped us when we cry when Indian cricket team gets knocked out of the world cups, because our parents also feel the same inside.

Even now, I can do anything for those nail-biting finishes, I mean literally anything. Now I don’t have the luxury to sit with a packet of chips and enjoy Dhoni’s helicopter shot lying on the couch, my boss will happily kick me out of his company. Everything got changed but my craziness for cricket has remained exactly the same. In the age of smartphones it is not that tough to get updated about the ongoing match.

There was a time when I had searched for an efficient application for my phone which will keep me updated about the match even in my office. I had downloaded and used quite a few also, but they had their own restrictions. None of them were compact and all of them were terribly slow without allowing me a quick about when boss was not around. Then like a lightning bolt came the brand new UC Browser.

I had seen the advertise of Yuvraj Singh telling about the new features in the browser and being a cricket fan it tempted me to go and try it. After using it for a days, I know that this is it. This is exactly what I was searching for. This browser has a feature named UC Cricket, just one touch on your mobile screen and you are in your world of cricket. I can proudly say that UC Cricket has no restrictions and it’s extremely fast. I can even go through the score when the boss is in rounds. Ball by ball updates, commentary, highlights, videos everything is there. The browser will refresh automatically after each ball and give you the update at almost in the same time. From run rate to scoreboard, UC Cricket contains every details which will help you not miss a tiny details. What I loved the most is the discussion section. I simply loved it. I can put my opinion there and can converse with all other fans of the game. Like when Dhoni is about get a ton I can actually share my thought of anticipating a six in a helicopter shot with other cricket lover. No cricket fan can afford to miss the all new UC Cricket.

Note: This article is a part of http://www.ucweb.com/

My all time inspiration - My Father!

Housing.com had been so generous to bloggers like me, that they had forced us to think of almost all the moments when we have experienced the inspiration or optimism through a closed one. Now they have forced me to look back a whole lot of years ago, when I was having my first board exam and the evening I had spent talking to my father. I can’t exactly remember the words quote-unquote, what he had said that day but I still remember the goose bumps I was having that evening. It is truly said that words don’t inspire but the company does.

I was a boy then and I don’t think I have to tell what goes inside a boy when he knows that from tomorrow he will have to give the best he had learnt through all these years. The exams which were about to start will guide his whole career and this particular exam, for which he had to visit a new school will decide his capability and how fierce he is. To be very frank, at that moment I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to study but whenever I sat to study, I felt as if all those things which I had learnt would go outside my head. I couldn’t move around because I was scared that if I move around much and divert my mind into all the other things that are going around me, I will forget my lessons and my exams would go bad.

There is one bad tendency I have that whenever I feel tensed I start sweating a lot and I fumble a lot. I do not feel hungry. That day was one such day in my life. I wanted to hide that from my parents but my father, being a father, understood what was going on inside my head. He sat with me and proposed a game of chess. I have always been good at chess and my father had always been my inspiration while playing chess. I always wanted to be as best as my father in the game and he knew that I can never say no to a game of chess.

After lunch, when we sat for a round of chess, I was still very tensed. My father took white and I took black. He started the game and I continued. The me, who used to take much time before a shot was hurrying things up and panicking at every step forward. My father looked at me, held my gaze and said ‘Son, be calm! Panicking would never solve anything and stuff would only go haywire. Go slow, take your time and free your mind of everything else, focus only on the game. Patience is the key. You know it all, you just need to feel that you know it and you’ll have it’ I didn’t know what magic those words did to me but then I took a deep breath and played the game with the 100% I could give.

Believe it or not, it was that day, the very first time in my life that I won the match and that too with a check-mate. Till date, I don’t believe if my father actually lost the match or was it intentional but all I remember is the after match winning hug that he gave me and told me ‘This was an exam, my child. Tomorrow, just think about today and give your best. Nothing is tough. Patience and calmness are the only things you would need’ I had goose bumps then. My boards went awesome and I went on to score 88% in it. I guess, it was the motivation that I needed. Near and dear ones surely know how to boost you up and show you the power of positivity. I’ll cherish that day forever!

Note: This is a part of https://housing.com/.

Start a new life - to leave the past behind

It’s Housing.com which makes me sit and write about a wonderful topic yet again. I have to say the brains behind the website are doing marvelous jobs to bring such positive and colorful topics to us. It is not a regular habit that I talk about the bold step I have taken a few years earlier. Or I would rather say I was forced to take the bold step. Now I can say that the step helped me to start a new life but back then, I was clue less.

I was twenty four then and had just got the correct job after fumbling with almost four or five companies. Getting a job which pays well to a regular accounts graduate was even tough then but not like now. Now is tougher. It is told that happy times comes together and bad times too. In my struggling period, before getting this job, when I was leaving jobs every day for the sake of satisfaction, now I realize, the unsatisfied mind of mine because of my personal issues was forcing me to leave the companies. Isn’t it the mantra to heal every broken-heart, to become busy? I was trying real hard to keep myself busy with work, but that was not working. Her smiling face was effecting my sleeps and my sleepless nights was effecting my next day’s job. Soon depression started to gulp me down and I started to believe that these images are going to haunt me my whole life and I will never find peace again.

Then came the company to my rescue. I can’t even count how many times I have thanked that HR guy who selected me. That was a few years later, when we became friends after my third promotion. Back then that interview was another interview and another job for me. But they had asked me to leave my city because they wanted me to take charge of their brand new branch in Darjeeling. I was hesitating a bit at first but my parents got on my back and pushed me to take the step.

That was how I started afresh, how I started a new life, a new beginning. I was never a hostel boy and had never spent a night without my parents. That step was indeed a bold step for me. After landing at Darjeeling I was given a room in the company quarter. If I had more space I would have loved to describe the view through the window rather than the condition of the room. The first few nights were terrible, worse than those I have spent in my city. I used to be the last one to leave the office and the first one to reach there. But soon the new atmosphere, the new faces there, the new job everything started to get inside me like I was always wanted to come here. Now I realize that was the place which was not letting me go of my past. A change is always needed, one has to take a bold step to make things better.

Note: This article is a part of https://housing.com/.

Look Up Stories - Being Optimistic

Finding positivity in almost everything is an art itself. It is easy to see the negative side but tough to see the positivity in the same. All thanks to the team IndiBlogger for bringing yet another wonderful topic for the Happy Hours contest, which makes me sit and think of all those incidents that forces me to think positive.

There are quite a few times and quite a few incidents that filled me with the thought, that if they, in this situation, can look positive why cannot we? I wish I could have the opportunity to write about all the incidents relevant to this.

To narrate the incident or the experience, we have to go few years back. It was early 2011. The year when I found out that life can be more beautiful after seeing her. The love of my life. We were new to each other but after the very first meeting in the Kolkata book fair, it was like we were eagerly waiting for each other. Our love had started to blossom even before the first sight. The first few months went by so fast that I felt someone has suddenly pushed me up in the ninth cloud and I was floating in heaven. The distance between our houses were thirty five kilometres and in the first two months we met almost each day. Either I was present in her area with my bike or she came to my place by bus.

But that was the starting or the honeymoon period as we call it to be. Soon those meetings started to turn into numerous unending phone calls and the phone calls into messages. It was not that the love between us was fading but the distance between our houses was playing the villain. Negativity was gulping me down whenever I saw that my friends spent at least two days in a week with their girlfriends, but I couldn’t. I almost started to think that this relation is not going to work out, not because I don't love her but because I can't restrict myself from meeting her and it was not possible except occasionally.

Then Arjun came to my rescue. A new student got admitted in our accounts batch, named Arjun and soon we found a lot of similarities between us and became good friends. After few days he revealed about his love life and I was shocked to hear that. His girlfriend was living in Guwahati from last two years. He couldn’t even talk with her on a regular basis, let alone meeting. And they are happy with each other.

This inspired me a lot. Here I was crying for not able to see her twice in a week and there a boy was not able to see his love for two long years. This taught me to be optimistic about the whole situation. Arjun taught me to see the positive side of the same where I was noticing the negative only. I have the opportunity to talk to her at least and I started thanking my stars for that.

Like this a lot more incidents are there which forces us to become optimistic. But this is one of the best I have experienced. Later in 2014, we exchanged rings and that girl is my fiancée now.

Note: This article is a part of https://housing.com/lookup.

Call or Chat? Obviously Chat!!

There are many products at home that we wish to replace or not use and simultaneously there are many others which we need to buy but are very costly. In such cases, Quikr.com is always my first preference when it comes to buying or selling products. Quikr.com is very helpful even when we want to find jobs. Whenever I search for a compatible job on the internet, the first link that comes on my screen in all search engines is of Quikrs’.

One thing that always remains a drawback of the whole process is the visibility of our phone number. Getting annoyed by fake callers has become a regular problem for me and there is no way I can dodge that problem even after trying so much. To solve this only drawback, came into view Quikr Nxt, which changed everything. And when the IndiBlogger team asked us to blog about the advantage of chatting over phone call, it became like a cake walk for me.

The first reason of why chatting is better than a phone call is, I can keep a track on the conversation. Like, I cannot record every important call to re-listen to the conversation whenever needed but I can always see the chat history in case of emergencies.

The second immediate reason that comes in my mind is, I can chat anytime but can't talk every time. I have faced this problem earlier. Suppose, you are travelling in a train and when an important call comes of a prospective client or buyer you are not able to hear anything because of the continuous honking of the train. But you can always chat while you are seated on a window seat of a honking train or in a car standing at a traffic signal.

Chatting is better than phone call because I can share photos and this is the third reason. Earlier, if someone used to ask for a photo of the product or its features on phone, I used say that I will mail him/her the same and that meant some extra effort and it was even time consuming. But while on a chat with the prospective client, I can send photos straight away without any delay and can even look at them later on.

These are a few reasons why chatting is way better than phone calls. I can give at least five more reasons for the same. I think Quikr Nxt is possibly the best thing that could’ve come in the mind of the developers till date. I am immensely impressed by this application and I can easily say other users will also find this helpful. This application is heartily recommended by me to all the other users who want to get benefitted from the uses of Quikr.com and Quikr Nxt.

Note: This article is a part of  http://www.quikr.com/.

Remove the barrier of the stone to success with Garnier

When on the road to success and you feel nothing can stop you from winning, a Pimple, can surely be a stoppage. Trust me on this, a pimple can be the full stop to every persons dream be it a man or a woman. Most people, when they hear of pimples, think of women but that is a very wrong conception. Even men can have pimples. I thank IndiBlogger and Garnier for the chance they have given to me or more men like me who can now tell everyone about our problems that we have to face in our everyday life because of pimples.

Everyday bus, train rides. Local transport, the scorching sun, tension, pollution, less time, and oily skin; all these are mere catalysts that ignite the eruption of a pimple on our faces. Being in a field where I have to move every day in and out of office, where mostly I have to stay out of home and finally get not much time to look after my oily skin, my skin becomes really attracted to pimples. And when I have them, it is really painful. Bursting them is not an option because that’s painful and the mark stays.

Keeping them isn’t an option because I am a person whose pimples stay for long. Medications, treatments have their side effects and so choosing them is not an option either. I was looking for a remedy that can take away my pimple problem forever. It was then that I was introduced to the Garnier PureActive Neem Face wash and that surely changed my life and solved all my problems. In the beginning, yes, I was a bit hesitant to use the product as my skin, apart from being oily is very sensitive too; but when on insistence I used the product, I was left really satisfied.

It not only took all my pimple problems away, but also brought a new glow on my face that I am very fond of. The constituents of the product are very pure and ayurvedic with proper neem granules in it which cleanses the skin from deep down and gives a very fresh feel. It doesn’t hurt the skin and it also has a very sweet smell which adds to the credibility of the product. Another very nice fact about the product is that it can be used by any person of any skin type without any side effects. Today, using Garnier PureActive Neem face wash has become my habit and I use it every day for a healthier and cleaner skin.

Note: This article is a part of bit.ly/GPABlogLinkIndiBloggerActivity and bit.ly/GarnierPureActiveNeemWebsite

Proposing my crush on Valentine's Day

The month of February is always special for every couple and I can very well feel the atmosphere unfolding its wings and already spreading the charm of love. I find those people the luckiest who gets the opportunity to propose their love on the grand occasion of Valentine’s Day because I haven’t got that opportunity yet. I am already engaged and had proposed my better half for marriage a year back on a very dull day. So my sincere thanks to the IndiBlogger team for finally giving me the opportunity to plan something on that auspicious day for my fiancé to make her realize how lucky I am to have her in my life.

The first thing that comes in my mind while planning an outing with her is spending time with her which she loves the most. Because of the numerous kilometres between our homes we could not spent quality time together. So the first thing I will plan is to dedicate the whole day to her. As we say we are the most boring couple in the world because of our extreme introvert -ness in each other’s presence, I would concentrate on the small detailing.

She loves chocolates, dark chocolate to be precise, Bourneville to be more precise, so one big Bourneville to start the day and for reminding her the wonderful one year she has spent with me. After picking her up and seeing her smile and clicking a selfie with the Bourneville, I will bring her to my city, my town because she has always wanted to come here, actually she is dying to come here. Except the boring and dull river Ganges, which she finds interesting and romantic, I have nothing to show in my small city, so I would plan a special boat ride on the river. Everything will be arranged on the boat from chocolate cake to the surprise gift, from red rose to romantic songs to build the atmosphere. After reaching the middle of the river the boatman will stop the boat after taking my cue.

I know I can’t plan the next one hour on the boat because if I prepare a speech I will fumble and will end up making that hour funny than romantic. I will try to remind her of all the funny moments we have spent together in the past one year, I will tell her I still remember how many times she hasp kissed me and will ask her to add one more, no actually two more if the boatman is not watching, I will thank her for being by my side and holding my hand and ask her for keep doing this for the rest of her life and will promise her, that I will keep repeating these words each year because I can’t create new words every year. And when she will start giggling with teary eyes I will kiss her. Deep. Long. One kiss that will wash all the painful hours she had to spend because of me in the last one year. I believe I love you is just a sentence but gestures have better effects. 

Note: This article is a part of  http://cupidgames.closeup.in/.

The Guilt Of A Lie

The guilt of lie is always heavy to carry. A lie can rescue us from a trouble temporarily but the truth can never be hidden. Lying is always an easy escape from any problem but will lead to a dead end where one must regret the decision. My father used to tell me, ‘One easy lie always followed by numerous more and one tough truth can clear lot of hurdles.’ After getting an opportunity to write about an experience, I can recollect only one incident which I regret from the core of my heart.

I was a teenager then and like all others of my age I was careless. That age is always one tough time for any kid, the first glimpse of college, the new attire instead of boring uniforms and of course new friends. My parents always used to tell me to take wise steps but in that immature age my friends decisions and plans are much more important than my parents’ and lying was a style. Like I have done that and I lied so smoothly to my parents that they can’t even guess anything.

My parents was never over protective or stopped me for anything. One day, I along with my friends decided to bunk college and go to a nearby cinema hall because of a Shahrukh Khan movie. I didn’t informed my parents about the plan. I know if I inform them about my plan they won’t stop me. But in that age lying was fun. I thought. Call it fate or my luck but my parents somehow came to know about my bunking college and going to a movie. I still remember the eyes of my mother. He was not angry but hurt. They questioned me if they ever asked me not to do anything or stopped me going out with friends or to movies. My only answer was a pregnant silence and shameful eyes.

That night my father taught me the value of a truth and the wrath of a lie. He told me how shocked they were to know that I lied to my own parents, how one lie can make a man liar for the rest of his life, how one single innocent lie can broke a whole lot of trust. If I could have informed them about my plan or could have told them the truth, that situation can never arrive. That day I learned from him that a naked truth can come with a temporary trouble or after hearing the truth our parents can get mad on us but it will serve a greater good and will reinstall their trust. If I were given a chance I would go back and change that one day where my one lie have hurt my parent.

Note: This is a part of Kinley 2014 TVC and Indi Blogger Happy hour.

To bring smile in every face

The smile on a child’s face is always as fresh as the warm breeze in a winter morning. No human being can turn their face against a smiling child but now a days this sight is nor more visible in our surroundings. One cannot smile with hungry stomach. And while cleaning a car a for the sake of food and watch children of his same age have the pleasure to go to school wearing shinning uniform and have the luxury to buy or eat anything they want, one definitely cannot smile.

When I came across this initiative by Blogadda I can’t stop myself to write because my one blog post can feed a child for a year. When I step out of the house whenever I turn I can see children working either to help their ailing mother and drunken father or because of the sake of food and shelter. The Mid-day Meal program is one wonderful program to feed the child and bring them to school. I feel only education can improve this situation and I often hear my Kaamwali Bai say to his six year old girl, whom she brings sometime to help her, ‘schools are not going to feed you’. But this program is changing the scenario. Any parent will sent their children to school just because they don’t have to work to earn food and education will be able to reach to all those children who are forced to leave school to earn.

I think education is the only medium which can change the current condition of child labor. When a mother gives birth to a child, she have dreams for him but soon because of their financial condition the child have to drop the school and work for food. But this program meets all the necessity – education and food. If we can educate every child they will not force their next generation to work for food at early age and the scene will change. Only then we can see every child smile and only their smile can bring the lost charm of India.

• Note: I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

An unexpressed feeling.

A really wonderful topic chosen by the Indi Blogger team for the happy hours they organise and there would be no better opportunity for me to write. I was always craving to write about this.

Arohan

Talking about my own experience, I was the youngest member of our family of five, with my parents, elder brother and sister-in-law, until there came a new member three months ago. Three months ago, my sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom we named later, Arohan. Our usually quite family became vibrant when the smallest member of our family saw the light of this world. My father who was racing with time and getting old before his age after his massive heart attack last year, found a new meaning of life as Arohan was born on the same date of my grandfather’s death. From last three months my mother’s voice was the loudest while playing with her grandson. There is such a lively atmosphere in my house which I haven’t noticed in years even after the marriage of my elder brother. Then I have realized what a child can do to a house.

In the second month Arohan had to go the doctor to take mandatory vaccines, which will help his immune system to grow. But the problem had arisen when we came to know that it has to be given in the form of injections not medicines and that is also in three rounds back to back in his two tiny legs. We were shivering at the thought of it, but it was for the greater good. He was crying the loudest after returning from the doctor’s clinic. The doc had suggested to rub ice on the legs where the injection had been given. My mother and brother were doing the difficult task. Even we couldn't take ice where there is pain and the kid can’t even say that. He was crying like anything and was the most uncontrollable feelings was that we couldn't do anything to stop that. Every one of us were upset that night. Arohan was lying without making any sound. He was not throwing his legs which we enjoyed the most while playing with him. The smile was vanished from the face of our family to see our child lying numb. The following day was tougher, Arohan’s body was burning with fever. The doc had already informed this was going to happen and gave medicines too. Our often silent house now had become silent that day. We did his favorite stunts which always brings a toothless smile on his face but every time he started crying because of the pain. My elder brother dodged his boss and bunked his office, my father was calling in regular intervals to know about the temperature. It was like we were feeling the same pain as Arohan and had gone silent like him.

The next day we heard his voice again. Arohan was in his regular self from the very beginning. I went to wish him good morning by kissing his forehead and found the temperature was gone and he responded by throwing his legs. We all heaved a sigh of relief in unison. My mother lifted him and threw him in the air which was his favorite stunt and he broke in endless giggles.

It was a small incident and may happen in every house but this made me realize how a child can change the mood of a family. When Arohan remains his regular self, we are the happiest and when the fateful day comes for his vaccines, we are more afraid than him. A healthy and vigorous child always has the biggest influence behind the happiness of a family.

https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/.