For those who have watched the episodes already, ‘The Dewarists’ doesn’t need an introduction. For others, ‘The Dewarists’ is a musical television series on Star World India. The series is part music documentary and part travelogue.

The show casts musicians from various parts of the world, collaborating to create original music while traveling across India. The first season featured ten episodes. It featured musicians Imogen Heap, Vishal-Shekhar, Zeb and Haniya, Shantanu Moitra, Swanand Kirkire, Indian Ocean, Mohit Chauhan, Parikrama, Agnee, Shilpa Rao, Shri, Monica Dogra, Rajasthan Roots, Papon, Rabbi Shergill, Shubha Mudgal, Swarathma, Midival Punditz, Karsh Kale, Baiju Dharmajan, Njeralathu Harigovindan, Raghu Dixit and Rewben Mashangva.

The show is hosted by actor-singer Monica Dogra, also seen in Dhobi Ghaat.

If you enjoy watching documentaries relating to music or travel, the episodes should be enjoyable. You can catch all the episodes at http://www.youtube.com/user/DewarsIndia.
Personally, I enjoyed the individual music tracks the best. My favorites? ‘I believe’, ‘Kya khayaal hai’ and ‘Maaya’.

If you’re like me and like to strap your music onto your iPod and hear it on the go, then you can download the individual music tracks (mp3 files) from the links below. This music is free and available on the home site as well, just that it’s a little bit of a pain to get all the tracks. Hope this helps. All the episodes are also available for free viewing by the makers themselves.

You know what to do, Right-Click and Save link as …

I Believe - Agnee, Parikrama and Shilpa Rao

Kya khayaal hai - Zeb & Haniya, Shantanu Moitra, and Swanand Kirkire

Khule Da Rabb - Angaraag ‘Papon’ Mahanta and Rabbi Shergill

Minds Without Fear - Imogen Heap and Vishal-Shekhar

Maaya - Indian Ocean and Mohit Chauhan

Masti ki Basti - The Raghu Dixit Project and Rewben Mashangva

Sacred science - Karsh Kale, Baiju Dharmajan and Njeralathu Harigovindan

No I.D required - Midival Punditz, Humble The Poet and Monica Dogra

Changing World - Shri, Rajasthan Roots and Monica Dogra

Duur Kinara - Shubha Mudgal and Swarathma

http://thedewarists.com/

A vegetarian Thai massage

Yes I got myself the popular Thai massage, but adding disappointment to your imagination and mine, this massage was as vegetarian as India’s Saravana bhavans. It was no more sensual than the movie Jodha Akbar, which had a section of the audience wait with enthu for something to happen. The only kinky moment would be when the masseuse grabbed my butt-cheek and took me by surprise, which made her giggle. While this pursued, my mother sat on the other side of the curtain, getting a foot massage while she and her masseuse rambled away on a variety of topics such as how the masseuse’s daughter had hooked up with an Indian guy and was very happy with him. True to its reputation though, the massage was relaxing and a great way to unwind. It is indeed possible to find family friendly massage parlors.

Cultural shows are boring, Cabaret shows are fun!

4:00 pm, Nong Nooch village, Pattaya

It was quite an exercise slapping myself awake as similar looking Thai women moved back and forth to clichéd oriental music. My mom had dozed off, while dad had a befuddled expression as he tried to decipher the story. This was followed by a very poorly acted out muay Thai wrestling match with 2 malnourished boys humoring each other with arbit kicks and punches. The cultural dancers kept coming back in new sarees and one could make no sense of what they were trying to tell. What was amusing to see, was this kid seated in front of us. Throughout the show he had his fingers plugged into his ears as he cut himself out of the torture.

Scandalized kid at boring Thai cultural show

This pissed-off elephant couldn’t take the boredom in his work life anymore and added excitement to his life by attacking a section of the audience.

Pissed-off Elephant

7:00 pm, Alcazar show, Pattaya

Within a few hours, the mood had totally changed. Welcome to the Alcazar show, Pattaya’s premier all-transvestite cabaret show. Amazing lighting, costumes and music blended together as transvestites boggled your mind and entertained you at the same time. I have ever since been studying the following photos in great zoom detail as to how can someone that hot be a dude. I’m pretty sure this guy puts to shame all the girls from my college and yours.

Alcazar Show - hot dude 1

Alcazar Show - hot dude 2

The thrill of adventure

I love that moment just before a thrilling experience begins. The moment when you approach a river rapid or when you’re asked to walk over the cliff while rappelling. The coral island tour in Pattaya offers a couple more. Though parasailing is simple, it’s pretty exciting as the rude Thai adventure pimp straps you up with harness and shouts in your face to start running of the rig and into the sea. Just before you’ve run off, the boat speeds ahead and you’ve taken flight. When you’re done flying around like a bird and enjoying the view of Pattaya’s hotel skyline, he drops you right into the crystal blue sea and you wait while another boat fishes you in. Even better is the moment at deep sea diving, when they ask you let go of the railing and fall into the sea as soon as he has placed the oxygen enabled helmet onto your head and then you go underwater to walk the sea bed as you’re surrounded by fishes and coral.

Underwater sea walk

Go for it! This was perhaps my best moment in Thailand. Really high on the to-do lists now are the skydive and the bungee jump.

There’s a lot more to tell about this trip. Perhaps later. Till then, Ciao!

Sounds familiar doesn’t it? I’m sure we’ve all had our share of learning by memory, vomiting onto exam sheets and forgetting it for good. Even more, we’ve had logic denying experiences at school and college where some things just didn’t make sense.

Back when I was in school, a very senior history teacher explained to me the logic of awarding students one less than full marks even for a perfect answer, just to motivate us to do better. He insisted it made sense. A year after this, he became the principal.

The same year, another very senior geography teacher insisted on giving me a zero for not shading a graph, that represented a single parameter and did not require shading. A few years later, she became the principal of my school as well.

I’m starting to believe there’s a pattern here.

Getting slapped for drinking water without permission, ridiculed for insisting that Bill and William Gates is the same person and losing numerous marks for replacing “key words” with their synonyms in definitions form my share of  sour school memories.

But learning is important isn’t it? And collecting good memories about how and what you learn is equally significant. Knowledge truly is the food of the soul.

On this note, I want to share this amazing video and Sir Ken Robinson’s outlook about the need to change education paradigms. It inspires me every single time I watch it.

 5. Lagaan 

Well, who wouldn’t have watched this one! Arguably among the best movies of the last decade, it catapulted Aamir Khan to super stardom and gave us hopes for the Oscars. It made us believe that a 4 hour film can indeed be entertaining. This is the climax, as Bhuvan, with the Ashish Nehra equivalent tailender, goes on to win the match for Champaner. The fact that my mother, who hasn’t watched a bit of cricket in her life, thoroughly enjoyed this last scene wins this one for me. I pray Ashutosh Gowarikar quits smoking up whatever he did while making “What’s your Raashee” (#chinese torture), and gives us yet another classic like this one.

4. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

Before you call me gay, remind yourself that we were 11 years younger when we watched this, and if you’re a girl, there’s a good chance you bought a couple of those queer friendship bands after this.

Yes Bob! The base is Kajol, the topping is SRK, young and running, and loaded with extra cheese burst (which Karan Johar is generous with). This is one pizza that tasted delicious in 1998. And this scene was the standout for me. It surely gave me goosebumps the first time I saw it, and even though its a little lame now to see SRK yo around Set Max and Zee Cinema thrice a week in this movie, this scene remains a classic. I hope SRK quits smoking up whatever he did while making Ra.One (#bullcrap), and gives us more running scenes in a normal suit, not a superhero one.

3. Swades

This is my favorite bollywood movie of all time. And that’s why this had to make it to the top 5. A beautiful movie with perhaps SRK’s best performance. This scene, as he successfully generates electricity and lights the bulb, sums up the whole film for me. Some really major things happened the day I went to watch this movie. Among others, I answered an exam and asked someone out, but after I watched this movie that evening, all I could think about that night was this movie, and this scene. The tone attached is from the background score. It plays when SRK comes to the village for the first time. Yet another thing I love about this movie.

Swades Background track – Entering

(watch from 4:24)

2. A Wednesday

If you haven’t watched this movie, then please do yourself a favor and go watch it. That means do not watch this scene and spoil the show. A Wednesday is perhaps among the finest films made in recent times. Stunning performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher reminded us why they’re said to be the best actors in the industry. Very few movies reach their high and end as beautifully as this movie does. This scene revokes anger, satisfaction and surprise in a manner no other scene can. I would love to see more from Neeraj Pandey, the debutant director of this film.

1. Udaan

Why would they honor Dabangg as the best film of 2010 when you had Udaan? Considering Salman’s fans would pay to watch a 3 hour video of him take a nap, the least he could do is make better movies. Coming back to the point, Udaan, the underdog, was a beautiful movie and this scene ranks on the top of my list. Signifying freedom, this is towards the end of the movie where Rohan finally rebels against his tyrant father and outruns him in their everyday race for the first time.

I watched this scene for inspiration when I was low. We watched this scene to trip on when we were buzzed. I watched this scene to remind myself that bollywood can still make awesome movies.

Notable mentions: Here are other movies whose scenes didn’t make it to my top 5 but couldn’t be ignored.

Chak de india – SRK wins his respect back, as Vidya blocks the final penalty.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham – SRK realizes Hrithik is actually his once-upon-a-time fat younger brother and has a senti chat.

Rang de basanti

3 Idiots

Old is Gold award – Multiple scenes from Andaaz Apna Apna (best hindi comedy ever)

Cheers to good movies. and good scenes which make them. Post your favorite scenes and add to those I might have missed!

“In the 90’s, we invested in optical fibers. We created jobs. You offered to do them for less. And you robbed mine. Just coz they couldn’t afford to pay me? Outsourcing! We were damned to make it happen.”

The executive replied, “In the 50’s, we invested in the IITs. We produced engineers. You offered to pay them more. And you robbed us. Just because we couldn’t afford to pay them? That’s how Outsourcing happened sir. And We were damned to make it happen!”

The “brain-drain” and “outsourcing” phenomena are two very similar events that have intertwined the Indian and American economies in more ways than we know. Outsourcing took birth in IIT Kharagpur, not Bangalore.

Off from work, she was busy all morning contacting doctors. Raju wanted to put her at ease.

She turned to Raju and there it was! A lump in the back of his shorts. Overjoyed, she swooped him up and ran to the loo.

“Its okay mummy, I’ll go myself!”

She propped him up on the pot, pulled his shorts down. An apple missing from the breakfast table fell off.

Raju smiled innocently. She couldn’t help smiling too.

A mother’s heart is a patchwork of love. A child’s heart is a medley of his mother’s feelings.

Score: 760

Reading posts by those who had cracked the GMAT benefited me quite a lot and its time to give back to the community.  A few people asked for tips and tricks, so here goes.

It all began when I picked up Barron’s GMAT book at a Landmark book store. I didn’t really know much about the exam. To be frank, the book didn’t help much besides helping me familiarize myself with the logistics of the GMAT. The 1st chapter of any GMAT study book clearly explains the format of the exam and the types of questions asked. So if you have no idea about the exam, then I would suggest going through the 1st chapter of any GMAT preparation book or any article which explains the same. These would help you understand the format of the exam and nature of questions asked.

A must for anyone who wants to take the GMAT is to order the

1. The Official Guide For GMAT Review by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)

GMAT is conducted by the GMA Council and this book is the only resource which provides 800+ past GMAT questions. Don’t expect to use this book to study theory, as that is not what the book intends to offer. It briefly explains concepts and then starts off with exercises for each of the sections. The questions are well ordered and detailed solutions with explanations are provided. These are extremely helpful.

If you find your concepts to be weak in any particular section, it is advisable to use one of the other publications such as Princeton review, Manhattan review etc. Barron’s has a decent theory section for Sentence correction. I would not be able to comment on the other publications as I did not use them. I made mistakes in the exercises, but I made a note of all the questions that were incorrect and went through all the explanations. On completing all the exercises in the Official guide, I again solved only those questions that I had answered wrongly and then reread the explanations again.

Note: There is a good chance you will make the same mistakes repeatedly. And in the same type of questions.

Following this, I felt I needed more practice, particularly in the verbal section and hence ordered the following two books.

2. The Official Guide For GMAT Verbal Review

3. The Official Guide For GMAT Quantitative Review

both by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)

These books again provide really good questions for practice. I repeated the same method mentioned above.

Besides this, I went through a few docs and links shared by a senior from ISB Hyderabad. They turned out quite handy.

Material: As far as material goes, I strongly believe that these 3 books should be more than enough to crack the GMAT. They cover every kind of question that you might come across. I wouldn’t recommend using the other publications unless you find yourself answering certain type of problems incorrectly consistently even after solving a large number of questions of that type.

Essays: The official guide provides a chapter for essay writing with examples about both kinds of essays -Analysis of an issue and of an argument. Besides this, one can use one of the many books which help cover this area

(Example: Analytical Writing & Essays For Admission To Foreign Universities (Paperback) by M. J. Ashok)

I didn’t spend too much time on this besides the practice tests. One evening, my roomies & I brainstormed about some of topics which appeared in previous GMAT exams. This helped gain perspective and ideas about various topics.

Practice tests:  Once you register yourself on mba.com and create a profile, you can download the GMAT prep software which gives you access to material and 2 full-fledged GMAT test simulations. These tests are extremely valuable. They provide the same user interface and fairly the same standard of questions.

Note: It is popular opinion that one should answer one of the prep tests before starting preparation and one after you’re ready to answer the GMAT. I would advise against this as these are the best testing resources available to you and I felt it was better to use them both post preparation. Instead you could use one of the diagnostic tests offered in the material mentioned.

GMAT prep 1 : 760 (exactly the same scores in both sections as my real GMAT)

GMAT prep 2 : 730 (took time for granted, had to rush at the end. learnt that it is quite important to pace yourself)

The only other test I gave was a GMAT simulation from the Barron’s CD which came with the book. The test wasn’t a satisfying experience, particularly the RC’s were messed up and there was no score at the end of it. Just percentiles. The practice tests were also largely helpful for essay writing practice.

Booking the date: I did not book the date before starting preparation as some people do. I booked it around 15 days after I had started studying as by then I could gauge when I would be ready to answer. Predict and choose a day/date you’re most likely to be comfortable with. Pressure builds once the date is booked. But this is good. Don’t wait to be fully prepared and then try to book. It might be too late to get a good date.

The exam experience: Watch this official video to get an idea of how the exam is conducted.

This would answer most of your questions about the exam experience.

Tips:

1. I know people say 4-6 weeks is enough for preparation. I’d say give it 2 months. It gives scope for damage control. Don’t rush into it. Decide for yourself how much time you need.

2. The “official books” are brilliant. They’re all you really need.

3. Its all about understanding how the exam works. Spend more time with the first few questions of each section and lesser with the later questions. But pace yourself well through those 75 minutes (of each section).

4. The centers which conduct the exam are extremely professional and well-managed. It was perhaps my best testing experience. They try their best to make things comfortable. So make the most of it and relax when you answer it.

5. Carry some snack to the exam. It’s a long exhaustive exam with 2 optional breaks. I had mine from 1:30 pm and hence did not get a chance to have lunch. A bar of chocolate or a banana would be a good option.

6. If you’re answering it from India (or other Asian countries), you need the passport! I had a big unnecessary adventure since my passport was back home in Goa and I realized this less than 2 days before the exam. My parents were my heroes and got it through to me in time, else I wouldn’t have been able to answer it.

7. I’d be happy to share the docs and links I went through. Leave a comment with your email id and I’ll send it across asap.

8. Do let me know if you would like to know more about anything in particular. I’d be glad to help.

All the best! Hope you crack it

A money-minting construction baron envisioned it to be a 5-star hotel, but not everybody met him eye-to-eye. No, people didn’t want yet another natural heritage site transformed into a resort. So long story short, the fort was closed down and there was no way to get in. Which is what troubled Dwayne the most. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore”, he said. They say sailors can rarely find peace on land. And Dwayne, who is accustomed to fighting Somalian pirates and radiation in Japan, surely couldn’t be stifled.

The Reis Magos Slope

So there we were, standing in front of this giant slope that provided the backdoor entry into the fort. It was really steep. And slippery. We decided to trek up. Kaustubh, the only one not wearing shorts, was strictly against the idea. But we had our minds made up and Kau had to give in. Slowly and steadily we trekked up the slope. Halfway through, we looked back to check out the view. Back on the road, we saw an old man on a bicycle, stunned out of his wits, mouth wide open gaping at us. All of a sudden, he gathered himself and sped off on his bicycle. We trekked upward. Panting for breath, we finally made it. Jumped over the wall at the top and got in.

It was a beautiful fort. At the peak of the Portuguese era, in its entire splendor, the fort must have been truly majestic. Now it lay in ruins, with a lot of renovation construction material dumped inside. We relaxed, by the cannons pointing at the sea and watched the sun set. It was divine. The scenery seemed a beautiful painting.

The view from Reis Magos Fort

As it got late, we decided to trek back. What we did not predict was that it would be far more difficult to climb down. It appeared even more steep and slippery. The doors of the fort were locked with thick chains. If we tried to break those, we would get into big trouble. We brainstormed, took a vote and decided that to slide down the slope was the best option. We planned to use the trees in the path as speed breakers. What we did not know was the bark of these trees had sharp thorns! Bruised and battered, we finally made it to the bottom of the slope, but not without Kaustubh twisting his ankle, just 2 days before an important interview. Eventually we made it back home fine. And Kaustubh’s leg got better.

It was quite an awesome experience! There is nothing like adventure. It’s not for the lazy or the cowardly. You don’t have to travel the world for it, it might be right around the corner. We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves. Climbing a hill that intimidates you might not yield anything then, but it surely gives you the strength to scale peaks and obstacles in the unpredictable adventure that life is.

As I was waiting for the bus, a thin pony-tailed man, perhaps in his mid-thirties stood beside me seemingly upset and counting one-thousand rupee notes and putting them back into his wallet. He asked me if this is where the bus would come and conversation began. He was upset as he had missed his flight and had to take a bus for the first time. He had spent a couple of hours at the Casino Royale in Panjim and now waited to board the last seat of the bus he had been offered at the last minute. He was the first entrepreneur. He owned a chain of health clubs and gyms in Hyderabad. But two years ago, on their holiday in Goa, he and his wife fell in love with a quiet secluded, and hence gorgeous, beach in South Goa. They found themselves coming back to it time and again.

“If you can’t get something out of your mind, maybe it’s meant to be there!” he says. They bought property there and now own a beach resort on the same beach! He told me how he was going back to Hyderabad to sign a deal with a leading software company to conduct some of their team-building excursions there. He even offered me a deal for the same. He would provide stay and food, coupled with activity add-ons of your choice at the resort all starting with a pickup from the station or airport. He had some wonderful ideas and it was pleasantly surprising to see a guy from Hyderabad move to Goa for work. I always thought it worked the other way round.

After we boarded the bus, my friend moved to the back of the bus while I took my seat in the 3rd row. My adjacent passenger and I got busy with our respective gadgets and the bus moved on. Later on, as I offered him snacks, we got into talking. Quite unexpectedly, he was an entrepreneur as well! He had quit his IT job a few years ago to start his own firm which specialized in Web design and social media marketing. They worked towards providing businesses an online presence and complete community management. They would handle your website, facebook and twitter accounts and more. From a 3-member team, they had grown into a company with 40 full time employees. But this wasn’t his primary passion. His true passion lay in the elegant dance form, Salsa. He had trained professionally and now co-owned a Salsa dance class in Hyderabad. He travelled to cities for salsa socials and performed at elite places. If all this was not enough, along with his elder brother he was looking to start a coffee shop close to the IT hub in the city. When asked if he intended to compete with the CCDs and Baristas, he told me how he had something completely different and intellectual in mind. He told me of La Makaan in Hyderabad, a place where creative people met others like themselves, exchanged ideas or just hung out, all over multiple cups of 10 Rupee chais and samosas. I advised he throw in a couple of books and comfy seating and he’d have something really interesting happening. We spoke of Crowdsourcing, of collaborations and how ideas could flow interactively between themselves to give spin-offs which are creations among themselves. We exchanged contacts and I promised to catch him and one of his Salsa socials at one of the Taj’s best lounges in Hyderabad.

When the bus stopped for dinner, my friend insisted I have dinner he was carrying from Goa. He had an entire parcel of delicious pot rice and insisted we share. I suggested I’ll get something from the hotel and we could share but the quantity of food was such that we had our hands, and soon our stomachs, full. Totally unintended, but I ended up having free dinner again. After dinner, I introduced him to the first entrepreneur and we all got talking. Coincidentally, the dance instructor intended to conduct classes in the former’s gym hall on weekends. As they shared more, it turned out they knew a lot of people in common from the dance and gym industry. It was a pleasant journey.

It is always a wonderful experience to meet entrepreneurs and share ideas. Good ideas are common – what’s uncommon are people who’ll work hard enough to bring them about. It is always enriching to meet people who are constantly on the lookout for what’s hot and what’s not and are courageous enough to experiment with their ideas if it’s something they truly believe in. The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away. It’s the flow of hundreds of such ideas which leads each of us to that single amazing concept we can cling on to and make a life (and not a living) out of.

“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” –The Whole Earth catalog 1974 edition.

I was booked for the very 1st seat, hence the conversation continued. We exchanged native village location info, with the driver getting excited that his in-laws place was quite close to my ancestral home. The cleaner quietly offered me ‘wet wipes’. He said there weren’t enough for everybody. We spoke about the World cup semi final between Indian and Pakistan and about the final which was to be played the next day. They kept repeating in unison that the toss was the key and the cleaner was beaming as he predicted Sehwag would be the man of the match. I guess his hopes for that one died out pretty quickly but all was well as Indian won!

Our conversation was disrupted as a young man climbed on and was told by the agent that he didn’t have a fixed seat, as two tickets had been booked for the same. The man was enraged and kept repeating he was from the Navy (though he didn’t look respectable at all!) and that he would sue all of them till bankruptcy. It was fair enough to belt the agent but as the bus took off, he kept abusing the driver and the cleaner. The driver tried to tell him it wasn’t their fault as they didn’t handle ticketing and that he should speak to the agent but he kept telling them to shut up and drive and he would let them know ‘what cheez he was’ the next morning. The frustrated driver synced up with another bus driver to take this guy onto his bus when they meet for dinner, and surprisingly this worked out. I empathized with my driver friends and said it was a logical point that it wasn’t really their fault.

Just when all seemed to be well, public on board started yelling for a movie to be played and the cleaner frantically started searching for the remote. It wasn’t to be found, and the cleaner was distraught. The driver asked me to check out the player and if it could be started. As it turned out, it could, and they even let me choose the movie from the cds they had. Now how does one choose from ‘Action Replay’, ‘Golmaal 2′ and ‘All the best’? Its all torture isn’t it? I chose Action Replay going by the logic that I hadn’t watched it and Golmaal 2 had worse reviews. It was extremely bad. There are no two ways about it. It was painful.

And finally we stopped for dinner. I was already thinking what I would order considering I was traveling alone, but before I could get off, the driver stopped me and asked me to wait. Puzzled, I asked him why. “I eat less”, he said. Further puzzled, I decided to wait and asked the cleaner this time.

“You come eat with us tonight!”

“Oh! okay … I guess. So does the bus owner reimburse your dinner bills?”

“No! The hotel treats us to dinner. We get them so many customers right!”

The driver finally locked the bus and led us to the back of the nice restaurant into a hall with dinner booths. As soon as we sat down, a waiter boy came with large bowls of food and within moments, there was a buffet spread on our table. There was biryani, plain rice, curd, veggie appetizers, chicken appetizers, salad, rotis, palak paneer and Butter chicken. The driver glanced casually at the food and scolded the waiter, “Where’s the cold drink? Get us the cold drinks!”

I tried to resist but he insisted I have a Sprite. I was initially skeptical about the quality of the food served inside, but it was all very good! The Butter chicken was very tasty. And as we ate, we chatted. Of how Hyderabad traffic was chaotic, how drivers now had comfy beds inside the volvo, how the water they gave on the bus isn’t ‘very good’, how the mercedes buses were different from volvos and more. The food was good, the company better. We boarded the bus and we didn’t speak much till the next morning. We exchanged numbers as I inquired about transportation of luggage through their bus.  We chatted randomly till we reached and then I left for home.

It was an impromptu decision to take the bus for a trip which offered change of place and surroundings. To meet other people and make random conversation which did not revolve around my cycle of study & work. It was a trip to gain some fresh perspective and clear my thoughts. But quite unexpectedly, over that plate of butter chicken on NH 9, all this had already begun.