The Rising : In Response To Ramanand's Post

(Prerequirement to get the context of this post is another post written by Ramanand here)

As we all know Ketan Mehta's The Rising is slated for a June release. I am waiting for it for three years now. The fact that it's Amir Khan's next is intriguing enough; but so much time has been spent on script and pre & post shooting activity that it further adds to the intrigue.

The most (if I may use the word again for the want of any other) intriguing part is that this is the story about Mangal Pandey, the soldier who killed his superior at Barackpore Chhavani, Meerut. This is so because there is hardly any other information available to us about Mangal Pandey's life, then how can a whole film be made on him ?

It can be argued that's the reason why so much research has been done on this. Ketan Mehta did it, and so did Amir. Mangal Pandey's great grand children have been consulted. But even they have also complained that facts are very different from the fiction in movie. Fellow blogger, Ramanand has very rightly raised his concern. I am mostly in agreement with him as far as script's authenticity is concerned. But I differ on Mangal Pandey, the individual.

He was not a ruler (Bahadur Shah Jafar or Rani Jhansi), or a general(Tatya Tope), or a minister(Nana Saheb); never a scholar or a reformer of that era. He was absolutely nobody, a common man, not a man of any authority. Our historians, generally, don't have much account of common men, therefore they haven't written significantly about them. Sometimes, because of their ideals they would choose not to write; while rest of the time they are plain ignorant.

This is the reason why people haven't heard of Khudi Ram Bose, or Ganesh Shankar Vidhyarthi; heck they don't know much about VallabhBhai Patel or Lal Bahdur Shastri either, though they may be very well versed in sexual escapades of Jawaharlal Nehru. So how can we be expected of to know about a mere mortal called Mangal Pandey.

But he was also an individual in the times of oppression, who was perhaps more involved in the act because he was a soldier, and must have been entrusted with such job many a times. Over and above that, like other Indian soldiers, he was oppressed by his British peers and superiors.

There might have been a fire of disgrunt and hatred burning in him. We do have read that he was leading a discontent against greased cartridges amongst the soldiers for quite a sometime. It is possible that he might have planned all this in a small way.

Of course, he might not have done what 'The Rising' would like us to believe, but freak killing under the influence of Bhang wouldn't have given rise to such an uprising as it actually was. After all, such killings of Gora Log was not entirely unheard of.

Nor those were the days of Aaj Tak and Fox News; still the news spread like wild fire and within two days struggle in the entire country was on; which gives credence to the fact that it was not spread afterwards, rather it was already there at most places. That could only happen when it was planned.

My point is : Let's doubt the factuality of the 'The Rising', but let's not do that to Mangal Pandey for the want of hard evidence just because Kanoon Saboot Mangta Hai .

Why Rahul Vaidya Is Out Of Indian Idol ?

We all know he was the best amongst all. He sang better than the remaining of them. He was singing good consistently. Even then he lost out to dark horses like Abhijeet Sawant and his ex-room mate Amit Sana. Why ? The answer may not be a simple one, but it's not impossible to guess either.

First of all, let's be assured that public is not going to vote on expertise because they are all but that. They may vote on 'perceived performance', vote their hometown boy, find the contestant cute or charming, they may not like contestant's attitude or any silly reason others may never know. So there is some or other emotion attached while voting.

However, one thing is sure that if the voting is done solely on the perceived performance, more often than not right candidate would actually win as there are no biases coming into play. But if it's anything else there would be a hotchpotch. This is called Halo Effect, i.e., judging someone not on the basis of one's ability but some other personality trait.

Rahul Saxena was ousted as a result of this hotchpotch. He was good enough to deserve a position in Top 3. People voted every one with their own criterion, but in the complacency left out him. He was lucky that Farah Khan was senti on him, and gave him a break in her new movie - Happy New Year.

Giant killer, Ravinder Ravi's miraculous run, to the shock of many, was continuing due to his emotional appeal. He was poor, a painter, and lived in a hutment. People wanted to change his life.

Special mention for Aditi Paul. She was a decent singer, but she tried to hoodwink people by making faces(which I found extremely irritating). But then she made a cardinal mistake. She tried to advise people that "Sangeet Saraswati Hai, Humey Uska Apmaan Nahin Kerna Chahiye" because she was disappointed by the fact Rahul Saxena was booted out. Since then, I knew her days are numbered.

Prajakta Shukre's soaring graph ran out of steam because it was evident she was not performing well. Her mother's scowling look each time she landed in bottom three didn't help the matter either. Eventually, she was booted out.

Rahul Vaidya's exit was due to multiple reasons as well. First he, like Prajakta, peaked too early, though unlike her, he kept the level of performance high. In contrast, Abhijeet and Amit kept on improving their performance with each episode. Second, he kept on pigging back on Sonu's voice and songs, despite Farah Khan's warning. He should have experimented with other singers' songs because he had the ability.

Third and most important point was his attitude. Initially, he had an air of supremacy. When judges warned him, he started wearing fake humility which stood out like a sore thumb. In the second round when he had to perform together with Amit Sana, and judges criticized them for the want of understanding, he blamed everything on Amit Sana.

Later when Farah Khan requested for his own voice, he became visibly angry. The last nail in his coffin was struck by his over confident dad. He announced in the previous episode that he was totally confident that his son is Indian Idol. And lo, he was gone. Now he his blaming his loss to betting syndicate. Anyways, he has signed a 20 lakh contract with Sony TV.

Both Sawant and Sana are not only good singers, but they are humility personified. Their smiles are doing as much trick for them as their singing ability. And we all know that. To succeed in life, one needs a lot more than mere ability. Luck, for one, and humility the other. Look at Amitabh Bachhan, and you don't need to go beyond .

Smiling Assassins

It's been a lot of time since I have talked about both the cutie pies. Well they have grown up, and I have already met them. Caught both of them on my camera, so here is a glimpse of them.

Harsh's eyes are so large that they are not fully closed when he is asleep.



See, how naughty Muskaan looks in her smile.

One Two Bucknor My Shoe

Stephen Anthony Bucknor will officiate his 100th Cricket Test in Kolkotta which is to be played between India and Pakistan. Of course, it will be an 'overwhelming' occasion for him; more so because it is happening at 'Eden Garden', and even more so it is an 'India-Pakistan' match..blah blah blah.

And what would Mr Bucknor have for the supper? The Lamb-cum-Indian players cooked on the roost!

Wait for this one. Post match, your BP would be a few milimetes of mercury higher, hairs a few scores lesser, and your molar teeth a few decimeters more grinded due to unnecessary clenching.

Previous related post on Steve Bucknor - Cricket Postcard.

The Games We Played - UnConventional

(contd. from The Games We Played - Conventional )

Unconventional games made the part of the early childhood. Neither as organized as conventional ones, nor as crazy as Tele-Games.

Chhupan-Chhupai or Eye-Spy was the most popular one, and a person who hasn't ever played this game is as rare as Thulium is on this planet. Near my old house, there was a huge timber godown, stuffed with hundreds of wooden logs. It was our favourite hideout, with lots of spaces to hide and seek. Taking shelter inside a container-drum or ducking below gunny sacks was never ruled out. When the 'Chor' would get 'caught', (s)he was given a loud whack at the back of the head with collective shout of 'Teep'.

Vish-Amrit was quite different. Here a single 'Chor' would run after the rest of us, trying to touch while mouthing 'Vish'. If someone gets touched, (s)he can't run as (s)he is now in Vish(poison) mode.Now 'Chor' would seek others, but he has to be cautious because others who are still free can bring the already touched person back to game by touching & shouting 'Amrit'.

Uunch-Neech was a bit more different. The 'Chor' here has to again touch the others, but he can't touch others who are standing at some raised platforms i.e. when they are at 'Uunch'. This 'Uunch' could be a slightly raised footpath or a parked motorbike, anything. Of course, once safe, people would come down from the raised position and run to tease the 'Chor'.

Seven Times involved a plastic or rubber ball. Seven small pebbles would be stacked one above another. There would be two teams. One team would have the ball, and would get three chances to hit the stone stack. The team which hit the stone would have to re-stack the pebbles, while the other team has to hit any rival team member with the ball before they succeed stacking stones. The team who wins gets the next chance to stack the stones.

Of course, there were other fun games like Kho-Kho, & Ghoda Chamair Khai which were very popular in schools games period. These unconventional games actually had more fun quotient while required less skills. This ensured every one's equal participation.

I am sure you all must have played many of these games, and of course others interesting ones as well. Do you want to share some of them?

LATER UPDATED: Based on the enthusiastic inputs from the junta, I am also adding a few more of them.
Kattam Kaat(Knots and Crosses), Statue, Chor Sipahi Badshah Wazir, Name Place Animal Things, Chain-Chain, Tota Ud, Akkar Bakkad, and scores of other games.

My Previous Related Post - The Games We Played - Conventional

The Games We Played - Conventional

Inspired by Red's lovely post on the importance of games for the all round growth of children, I tried to recall the games which we used to play, and as it always happens, it was a good trip down the memory lane.

There were lots of them. Evenings usually filled with Cricket. Initially it was lanes, then we graduated to parks. Roof tops were also frequent alternatives. Duly pooled one-rupee plastic ball would last three days, but later there was revolution of sorts as far as plastic balls are concerned, when we could also have harder two-rupee and five-rupee plastic balls.

Sundays and summers holidays had a different itinerary. We would get up as early as 5.30 AM to reach the grounds with leather or cork balls. One difference between the two would be obvious when you would be hit by them. With the cork ball, pain would be immediate, which would lessen at night. With the leather one, all the fun would begin at night.

In the evenings we played Football, with of course very convenient off side rule. The Hockey federations removed the off side rule much later than us. Since there were no yellow or red cards, there were no send offs either, which enabled every non- goalkeeper to use hands in a desperate situation(while saving a goal).

Most part of my life, my class friends were also my play friends as we all lived in the radius of 3-4 km. There were some very good parks around. We would play within ourselves, but more fun was when we would have a bet match with a different class. Class IX vs Class X or Class X A vs Class X B kind of stuff.

There was this period in our life when we were badly hit by Badminton bug. We were absolutely mad over it. We even created our own point tables and based on that we would decide daily rankings and seedings.

We also tried our hands on Hockey. We had only one Hockey stick, and that too reached up to my upper corners of arm. So we decided to play with cricket stumps, and ball would be of rubber, jean or sponge. Again there was no offside or infringement rule. The ground was the lawn in front of Hemant's house. We would create so much ruckus till we would be kicked out.

Most of the time, these games would continue as late as 9 PM, till some emissaries would be sent from our respective homes with the message to better report back soon or face the ignominy of, Heavens forbid, getting scolded in full public view.

We are also smitten by the sporting stuff on TV. World Of Sport on Sunday evenings was a regular, but we went mad at Asiad 84, Football World Cups in in 1986(Oh Maradonna!!), & Italia 1990( poor Maradonna!), and Reliance, World Series and Sharjah Cricket cups.

These were the conventional sports which we played. In next post I will talk about non-conventional stuff. Be ready to get bored again!

Two Gems

I had talked about a few non-devotional prayers in Hindi films a few months ago. Had also mentioned my top favourite is Ai Malik Tere Bandey Hum from Do Ankhey Barah Haanth.

The other two favourites include - Hum Ko Man Ki Shakti Dena from Guddi, and Itni Shakti Humey Dena Data from Ankush. I was thinking about putting up the lyrics, and here they are.



There are two version of this song in the movie. I have clubbed them together. One has been sung by Pushpa Paagdhare and Sushma Shreshtha(Poornima), while other in male voice has been sung by Kuldeep Singh, the music director of the film himself.



My Previous Post On Prayers - Prayer

Digital Fortress

Encouraged by the writing and research prowess of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, I laid my hands on Digital Fortress. It was difficult to believe that the two books have been written by same author. Absolute crap. I was so bored that I was tempted to leave it midway but somehow hung on. It's totally avoidable. Angels and Demons was much better.

Salim-Javed-Amitabh

During the last episode of Koffee With Karan, Farhan Akhtar was asked to choose between Javed Akhtar the lyricist or Javed Akhtar the script writer. He his brilliant at both, but there was never a dilemma for Farhan, and neither it was for me. The script, screenplay, dialogue writer wins hands down.

Together with his senior partner, Salim Khan, he has written some amazing screen plays. Of course, they were ably supported by power house performers like Amitabh Bachhan, Sanjeev Kumar, and Pran to name a few. That is why it said that 70s was a golden period of Indian cinema, and above mentioned luminaries had major hand to play in it.

They say Salim, who had incidentally had come to become a hero, had a great sense of plots, while Javed had inherent talent for screenplay and dialogues. That's why their scripts were complete packages, every scene is worth it's penny. They had struck an understanding almost immediately.

Who can forget their first work together, the laugh riot called Seeta Aur Geeta, particularly the scene when Sanjeev Kumar is introducing Hema Malini(Geeta) to his parents. It was very well conceived and had everybody in nuts.

Then came Amitabh Bachhan, and the trio of Salim-Javed-Amitabh torched the screen into flames, movies after movies. Sample this - Zanjeer, Majboor, Sholay, Deewar, Don, Trishul, Kala Paththar, Dostana, Shan, Shakti. Each of them are masterpieces in their own right. All are different from other, though, with basic level of consistency called anger.

Sholay as we know is now legendry, and much has been said about it; but apart from it, if I am asked to choose one from the rest of them for sheer characterization, I would pick up Kala Patthar. What an experiment, and it was very bold of Yash Chopra(what has happened to him now?) to pick up such a difficult script. It needed resources, hard conditions, and above all sensational performances.

A brooding Amitabh, speaking volumes with his eyes. A getting-under-your-wits character of Shatrughan Sinha. Amitabh and Shatrughan were not having best of the relationship at that time, and that Khunnas from the real life translated very nicely into the movie. There were some very well contemplated intense scenes in tea shop. It's unfortunate that movie didn't work out.

My other favourite is Trishul; RK Gupta versus Shanti Constructions. There is not much in story or plot. But revenge is flowing from Amitabh's eyes and voice. Dialogues are full of double-entendres, especially in the scene where Amitabh is hurt while trying to save Poonam Dhillon, and later shakes hands with Sanjeev Kumar. When latter says Ek Baar To Mujhey Laga Mera Khoon Hai, Amitabh aka Vijay retorts Apna Hi Samajhiye, and adds while leaving - Theek Se Dhoiyega, Kuchh Khoon Ke Daag Asaani Se Nahin Chhoot-te. There were many such absorbing scenes in the movie.

And then there is DON. The COMPLETE package movie like Sholay with terrific dialogues, & story and sterling performance by Amitabh both as UP Ka Bhaiyya and DON. In an early scene when Helen asks DON that why did he never fall in love, and he replies in his baritone - Tabhi To Zinda Hoon. And later when Iftikhar tells the other(Pan loving) Amitabh that Don Paan Nahin Chabata Tha; a visibly disappointed Amitabh sighs - Ei To Bahut Hi Galat Karta Tha Don. A smile immediately comes to one's face. Finally, who can forget the famous punch line - Don Ko Zinda Pakadna Mushkil Hi Nahin Namumkin Hai.

Of the rest, I loved Deewar, Mazboor, and Zanzeer. I will talk about them sometime later. There is hardly to choose between them, or find a flaw in them. Shan was also nice, but the old magic couldn't be repeated in Dostana and Shakti. They were a bit disappointing for me, though both of them had their moments.

Of course after Shakti, Salim-Javed, split. Javed later worked with Amitabh in Mai Azaad Hoon, which didn't work out either. However, this trio again came together, though inadvertently, for BaghBaan. The concluding speech of Amitabh(on his request) has been written by Javed Akhtar, and while Salman's(again on his request) reply is written by Salim Khan. This is not mentioned in credits, so not many know that.

Snowfall In Lucknow !

It has never happened, and there is no chance in a billion. It doesn't happen in plains. Evryone knows, though it happened in Dubai recently.

But this bright dude in my company asked me if a snowfall ocurred in Lucknow like it happened in J&K recently. Lucknow near J&K ? Not the one which I usually visit.

I no more feel shocked, as I used to do before. I seriously believe that Geography as a subject is higly neglected one in the schools of this part of the country. I guess, my French client had a better sense. He at least knew Lucknow is 'somewhere near TajMahal'.

Incidentally, there is a related debate going on Sarika's blog. I had written similar post Lucknow Is On Mars Pune Is On Venus long time back mentioning similar irritating incidents. Bhagwaan In Sabko Sadbudhdhi De.

Ankhey Nahin Bhari

It's been more than a couple of days since Valentine's Day, but it's never too late for a romantic poem. Such flow of emotions never need an occasion.

The poem Ankhey Nahin Bhari is penned by ShivMangal Singh 'Suman'. He has been endowed with such a talent that even Hazari Prasad Dwivedi was forced to say this.

And with the same talent, how beautifuly he has exposed his heart out! I guess, everyone would agree with him.



My Previous Post On Poems - Jhanda Uncha Rahey Humara

Whose Head Is This Anyway ?

Ever since I had put my leg in Pune, there has been a debate going on in Pune. It is about the helmets. To wear or not to wear.

Launching the crusade to make it a law were a group of students from Symbiosis College, while everyone else was against making the law. A litigation was filed, and the court ordered to make it a law. What followed next was the most bizarre reaction one could ever expect.

People came down on the roads. Reason sighted were like helmets exert pressure on spinal cord, some can't hear horns, others can't see sideways, many believe they would actually increase accidents. All sort of ridiculous answers one could imagine. And these answers were given by doctors, engineers, other professionals who are supposed to be rational and well educated. After all this the land of Tilak, Gokhle and Anandi Gopal.

They filed a counter in High Court and managed to get a stay.

I remember Rupam had an accident while coming to office. Luckily he was wearing a helmet, and it took the full impact. That resulted an ugly dent on it. Imagine the situation if it was his head instead of helmet.

Another incident happened with one of my close relatives. She was riding pillion with her cousin. Scooter met an accident and she got hurt in head. The very next day, when her uncle was taking her for dressing, she again met an accident. She got hurt on same spot in her head. She went into coma for three days. Even when she regained consciousness she would feel difficulty in understanding. Her memory turned very fragile. She suffered academically. Not only that, she started having migraine problems, which she still has till date.

So you can see what a head injury can do. It can kill immediately. Even if it doesn't kill, it can make life hell for rest of the life. Apart from physical problem, one also suffers emotionally. One may get crippled for life. That needs a lot of family support, which may not be always possible.

Now, my take on this. Don't enforce a law. Like suicide ceases to be a punishable offence, this should also be. After all when you can't stop people from smoking, where the individual is not only harming himself, one is also putting someone else's life in grave jeopardy; not wearing helmet is detrimental to his own cause.

All the silly logics given by them won't stand in any debate even for five minutes. If they are hell bent, their death wish should be granted. They would learn it hard way, and they might not even live to regret. After all it's their own head.

Kiddo Encounters

There has been rarely a journey where I haven't come across a kid in the vicinity of my berth ( Ok, I know it's yet another post on kids, but this one is after a long time). Though, it's difficult to generalize their behaviour as every kid exhibits (in some cases inflicts) a different case study, I do see a pattern.

For starters, everyone would agree almost all tiny toddlers(those who can't or barely walk) are a doll. They provide free-of-cost entertainment to the fellow travelers with their smiles and shrieks.

Talking about slightly grown up kids, the other pattern I have noted is that while girls are usually good, boys are consistently bad. That is partially due (gender)biased upbringing they undergo in certain parts of our country, and partially due to the genes. Girls are mostly fun; they are cute, well mannered and chirpy while boys are bossy, naughty and dumbos.

I have been kicked, trampled, thrown water at - all sort of humiliation possible, by the boys, while have peacefully interacted and played funny sort of games with girls. What shock me most is the parents turn a blind eye to the nuisance created by their wards, almost in tacit approval. This further emboldens the child.

Last year, a boy had almost created a terror in whole compartment. He kicked an elderly couple, repeatedly kicked me, tore magazines, and threw a glass of water at a lady. 'Aisa Nahin Kertey Beta' would all I hear from his equally exasperating parents.

This weekend, there was yet another pampered boy, this time by his grandmother, who was running the show. He would talk very rudely with everybody, though mercifully, he refrained from inflicting any phyisical terror. His mother very proudly talked about how he would go only to his newly wed Chachi for breakfast. But as we know, Bachhey Mann Ke Sachhey, he spilled the beans that his mother only sends him to Chachi for that purpose ! Poor lady was very embarrassed.

Girls, as I have already said, have been fun. There was this a Salman Khan-fan, beautiful, little girl, Areki Mishra, who would sing 'Honey Honey' across the whole stretch of bogey. The moment I showed her Salman's photo in my copy of Filmfare, she was gone with it. Only a lot of cajoling from her mother made her return that.

Then there was this very cute Maharashtrian girl, who would return the compliment when we made faces at her. When we would try to grab her, she would shout just 'Oye'. Another girl, who was probably Sindhi, was very well mannered. She would say 'sorry', 'please', 'thankyou', at every possible occasion. She was amazing talking to.

There was this girl, Ishita, who would shout 'Bhago Bhago Jadu', the moment she would see someone wearing socks, and 'Chhota Bachha' when she would see a smaller kid. Being a Shahrukh Khan fan, she would try her best to speak his name, at least phonetically, and the moment she would see Preity Zinta's photo, she would scream 'Koi Min Gaya'.

Tell you what guys, I could go on endlessly with these encounters, as I have traveled far too often and have met far too many lovely kids. But pardon me, if you could make out my unabashed bias for female ones.

Back In The Saddle

Hello everybody, finally I am back. It has been nice, satisfying vacations. I won't classify them as a long or short as that depends upon on the person to person. For me, there is one universal truth about the vacations - they are always short.

Finished the last leg of my visit yesterday. This is the only unpleasant part of the whole process. It starts from the very morning of the last day of vacations and remains well after you drag your suite cases in your current abodes.

You know the morning is not an usual one because you won't laze around in bed and would get up early in order to make best use of remaining little time. The gut will be in knots and a strange guilt feeling swamps you. Everybody will try to hide their gloomy faces in vain; smiles are too fake to sooth; Nervous laughters actually make us feel more bad about the whole situation.

Of course, there is a flurry of activities all around. Someone is preparing Namkeen Pooris and Namak Parey for the journey, and another one is busy tucking a bottle containing home made pickles in the hope they would last till next visit. One pair of hand would fetch the forgotten shaving kit, while another would be helping you stuffing all the useless, unstuffable stuff in your suitcase. In the whole pandemonium, it is bound that something important gets missed out, as I did miss out toothbrush this time.

All these activities does take time, and it's a precious little time considering it's your last day. I hate this but can't help it. And then, there is a bee line of well wishers crowding your place to see you off; I respect their sentiments and love, and feel lucky for it, but I hate it on the last day. My subtle hints to prepone these activities haven't registered and I don't want to hurt them by being more blatant.

Not to forget, those formidable but generous aunts still(and forcibly) giving money for 'sweets' and 'journey'. Their take on this is simple. Earning or not earning, you would stop getting money only when your kid replaces you. I firmly shut up, and accept the currency.

The moment you step in the train, you again realize it's not the same as when you were coming. Excitement is missing, as you know there is nobody waiting for you at your destination, and that a home cooked food is not waiting for you. You got to cook yourself, eat out, or starve.

Back in saddle, I am coming terms with life.

Wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Just Like That

Another cold day, and me again at HazratGanj. Met a few more friends, and waiting for another in this NetCafe. Nice one this, and in a gesture of typical Lucknawi hospitality, the cafe owner offered me some sweets. I am typing while munching them.

Know what, I am back in pursuit of some old comics that I talked about. Looked in many main stores and road side stalls. Not much luck yet. Only Raj comics, while no Indrajaal or Amar Chitra Katha. Search is on.

Sweets have finished, and friend has arrived. Along with him got to visit another one. Got to leave. See you all soon !

Logging From Home

Hi People...
As I had feared, I really got hooked up. Not that I am complaining. But what to do, can't help it at home. There is so much surprise activity going on over here from day one. I will begin from the beginning.

The 'superfast' express train I boarded was late by 2.5 hours. Nevermind that, beacause it often happens with me. This particular was a new train, so devoid of pantry car, and was known for it's punctuality. My presence changed all that. But I have been through even worse. Last time, the engine itself had broken down, therefore I can consider myself better placed.

More so because in the same compartment I was travelling, one of my school friend's sister(with her hubby, & extremely cute daughter) was also travelling from Mumbai. That was a surprise. So obviously, journey was a good time pass.

In Lucknow, I came to know about the marriage of THREE of my school friends. One I had just missed, another one was after 3 days, and the last one would be after I leave. Met a lot of long lost friends, and talked about good old days.

Also met with Nandan's and Hemant's parents. They all are missing their wards like anything, therefore they were overjoyed to see me. Chatted for a long time with them, and did my bit to convince them to get their sons married asap. Trouble for you guys at home.

Bought a book on Lucknow by Yogesh Praveen from good old Universal Stores and had a stroll in HazratGanj, THE happening place in Lucknow( they call the stroll as Ganjing). Also enjoying the cool climes and unexpected showers.

All this, and still one week is left. VOWWWW!

Before I finish, I would thank Ashtrix for declaring me as joint winner in awards. Will catch you soon for the prize!

See you all,
Manish