Vanessa volunteers at slums and teaches English to street kids

Ainara loves diving into the human race and discovering different ways to live,think,act and communicate.Raju is a local guide and 'friend of all' @ Sudder street

Simon is a traveller, dreamer and a philosopher. He is
traveling around the world for last 7 years. Street kids call
him 'baba'. When asked if he learnt Hindi/Bangla
in his last 3 weeks of stay at kolkata, he said "Bhole baba
sabko paar laga dega"

I met them all yesterday night at sudder street which is backpackers heaven and home for many who are traveling in search of fulfillment, self awareness, creative freedom and spiritual growth.

June14, IndiaTV. :Din :Dahaade, bhari :Dopahar mein, sekh syed imran ali ne loot li statue of liberty

Dude... its not a fake news! (ofcourse i'm kidding) I'm just a newbee learning the art of faking. Art, which has already been mastered by our mainstream media.

checkout some interestingly stupid farts @ http://stupidindiatv.blogspot.com/

and once you get tired of stupid news, think about :

How do we determine "truth" and "fact" when we can manufacture either?

Would you like to do it yourself or you wont mind paying 5/- to cobbler for this service?

The whole idea is to :

1. Promote different ways to lace shoes. Bring it in vogue (create demand for this service)
2. Distribute pictures of various lacing styles to the cobblers and shoe polish boys and train them so that they could meet the demand (ensure supply)


Let me know if this idea excites you. We can discuss in detail about various possibilities in the comment thread.

I'm in the final phase of 48 Hours in Denmark - a contest set up to study how tourists use digital media. The prize? An all expenses paid trip to Denmark.

Here is my entry :



and here are 6 reasons why I think I'm the best guy for this job

I'm an avid traveller.

In last 3 years I've been to Thailand, India, Austria,Italy, Germany,Denmark,Norway,Sweden Netherlands,France, Spain,Belgium,Vatican city & Christiania. If given a chance in 48 hours in Denmark, i'll bring alongwith myself my rich experience and expertise in the field of tourism.

I'm omnipresent.

Google me to find out that yourself.I am present, alive and kicking at almost everywhere in Cyberia.(read facebook,orkut,twitter,delicious,blogger,youtube,linkedin,wayn,
travbuddy,myspace and multiply)
I've 2000+ followers on twitter and i love to socialise offline equally.


I use various communication art ( read filmmaking,. photography, poetry, comics) to promote tourism.

Through various communication art i stay connected with people of diverse interests and
influence them to travel and explore.
I make short videos, comicstrips and i share my priceless moments of my trips on my picasaweb page and my flickr page. I blog in English as well as Hindi(www.ek-ghumakkad.blogspot.com) in an attempt to broaden my reader base and gain recognition
Sometimes i plunge into poetic thoughts.

I'm a linguist and i know English, Italian, Hindi, Bhojpuri and little bit of Bengali & Spanish

...and so I'll be able to connect well with people of different linguistic backgrounds.

I'm a Web 2.0 junkie and always on a lookout for what's new on Web!

Be it online photo/video editing or searching for trav buddy in a city. I know which web tool
to use to get things done!

I dont think i'm more gifted and talented than other 14 contestants but I'm hungrier and I want More!

Enthusiasm is what drives me!

1. Diving Into the Beauty of the Sikh Religion in Amritsar, India
2. Supping on Street Food at Chandni Chowk Market in Delhi, India
3. Watching the Sunrise From a Rowboat in Benares, India
4. Going Upscale on a Himalayan Mountainside in Bhutan
5. Riding the Swells in a Kayak on the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, Hawaii
6. Cheering On the Big Wave Surfers in Oahu, Hawaii
7. Exploring Dizzying Heights From a Bird's Eye View in New Zealand
8. Experiencing the Thrill of a Lifetime in Byron Bay, Australia
9. Seeing Red in the Australian Outback
10. Chilling at the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
11. Falling 13,000 Feet From the Sky (and Landing) in Perris, California
12. Gazing at the Northern Lights in the Heart of Lapland, Sweden


to be continued

We all have got a fire inside. Some gets fueled by wanderlust, some by money and some gets fooled by randomness. In this illusion called life, what is MORE?

MORE cannot be confined, cannot be measured and cannot be defined.
We desire for MORE in order to attain BLISS, the utter joy or contentment.

And only when we feel, we have attained the BLISS, we realise, real bliss is innocence!



PS: Thanks to Shreesh for recommending me MORE , the movie which made me think deeply about contentment in life.

Facebook to Twitter :
Aaj mere paas 180 million users hai, 300 million USD ka revenue hai, 700 employees hai; tumhaare paas kya hai?

Twitter : Mere paas businesses in the social graph hai!

I looked down from my window and saw a cobbler on its way.I called him for his service.
While he was on his way upstairs, I asked my flatmate if he would like to get his shoes polished.
"I do it myself", he replied.
"If we will do it ourself, how will cobbler earn his livelihood?", I questioned.
He smiled and said sahi thinking hai dost.

Nothing else. With that, our conversation came to an end.I dont know what exactly he meant by "sahi thinking hai".May be he liked the idea but he is too lazy to act. May be he just dont care.
May be, something else.

Imagine how difficult it would be for a cobbler to meet his daily requirements and raise his family.
A quality boot polish will cost you only Rs. 10/-
Think about it.Make a decision.

Bottom line : Being optimistic always helps us out.

The law of attraction was never a secret to mankind. What Rhonda Byrne did is packaging of the whole concept.

PS: I had written something similar in 2004 when Rhonda was conceptualising her idea for this movie. ;)

Just came back from a short but refreshing trip to Bangkok.
We decided not to plan much for our trip for we wanted some surprise element to be there.
[Well, to be true, we (soumya,simpu and me) were preoccupied with our passions(computer games, music and surfing) till last moment and hence had no time for planning]

When we arrived at suvarnabhumi airport, only thing we knew was that we have to reach HQ Hostel which is in silom road. We took a bus from airport which left us at soi 6. The place where we had decided to lodge is at 5 minutes walking distance from soi 6 bus stop.

silom is one of the most cosmopolitan streets of BKK and famous for its nightlife.Also famous for the patpong night market/shows.

On the very first day of our trip, we decided to explore the night market and ofcourse the shows!

At around 11 pm, when we entered the patpong street, a dalaal asked us if we would like to watch lady shows. When i asked what he meant by lady shows; he explained : banana show, ping pong show, f****** show and blahs. I knew what probably gonna happen in banana show but had no idea about the ping pong show. Duhh..what they gonna do with a ping pong ball??

Somehow he managed to evoke curiosity in us but we didnt wanted to take any risk. We wanted to have a feel of the market and take the entry ticket only after being preity sure that its safe to enter.

After spending another 5-10 minutes on the crowdy street; we were appraoched by another dalaal who offered us to enter free of cost and pay only if we like it. The only condition was that we will have to take a drink worth 100 baht. We decided to go for it!

It was dark inside. A waiter showed us our table with the torch light. We ordered for whisky and took a look around. The show began and the curiosity was shadowed by the setback. It was not at all appealing. We finished our drink in 5 minutes and decided to leave; but here comes the twist in the tale.

A waitress came to our table with a bill of 3900 baht!! It was not even a bill. Simply on a piece of paper she had written :

Watching show : 1000 Baht X 3 = 3000
Drinks : 300 Baht X 3 = 900

Total : 3900 Baht!

Thank you!

That was funny. I argued with her and she shouted at me. I said 300 and she replied 3900 baht. Although we could not communicate effectively because of communication gap, we negotiated for 10 long minutes. Soumya reminded me not to take any panga from localites..but well it would have been a foolish idea to shed 3900 baht for nothing at all!

The waitress asked us to move to the reception and talk with receptionist for the actual rate of drinks and the show. At reception,we were asked how much we can give. Ahh.. we were waiting for this question!
We gave 100 baht each and ran away.
The show disappointed us but the ping pong experience was worth 100 baht!

Here it goes....

1. French Polynesia
2. Inspire
3. Lead a mysterious life
4. Direct a Movie
5. Be on TV
6. Spend a week without making any 'to do' list.
7. Sky Dive
8. Get married and have kids.
9. Amazon Rainforest Safari tour with Mummy,Papa,Bhaiya and Didi
10. Upload a list of my unfinished works and things that i wanted to, but could never start.


Thanks to movie Dasvidaniyan for reminding me to make a list of 10 things to do before i am old/bored/dead. It was in my 'To Do' list since a long time.

Every 5 minutes I am getting an Ad on my reliance handset and it is deadly irritating. I don't remember what i subscribed to and dont know how to stop receiving unwanted short messages.
Is there anyway to tag a SMS as spam? If not, here lies an opportunity for telecom service providers!

Things to Remember :

1. Each one of us have the capability to make a difference. Be the change you want to see in the world.
2. You, me or someone living next door; anyone can be the next victim of terrorism.
Don't wait for it to happen. Be proactive.
3. " Koi m*d*r*h*d ek button daba ke yeh decide nahin karega ki mujhe kab marna hai"

Wow! what a wonderfully carved movie!There are 3 things which separates 'Rock On!!' from other bollywood flix :
1. Perfect Editing by Deepa Bhatia
2. Onscreen performance of Farhan Akhtar & Arjun Rampal
3. Storyline!

Movie reminded me of times when I tried to 'Rock on'....:)
Once we had a band called VAAMPANTHI (V All Are Meniscure Precursors of Ataraxis And a Team of Hurbly-burly IITians) with me as a lyricist and Bhoju and Aashish as lead singers. We never needed any drummer or guitarist;sound editing softwares were enough for setting background scores..:D. We jammed together to come up with masterpiece like iit ki dhadkan, sf ke din and song of us.... :).
VAAMPANTHI became more than a band when vIx,Dheeru, KT, He-Man, Calee joined us. We had a group tshirt.. black tee with vaampanthi logo in saffron.Events like VOW(vaampanthi of the week) united us like never before but then we could not devote time and VAAMPANTHI died its natural death.
Calee is now working in Barclays;Aashish,Bhoju and KT in JLLM;He-Man in TVS,vIx in L&T, myself in Danieli and Dheeru is a wannabe IAS.
Don't know if we ever meet again, will we be comfortable in humming few lines of song of us ?

PS : If you need any of the 6 songs of our first and only album, drop me a mail : saurav.arya@gmail.com

Christiania is altogether a different place!
A small world having its own definition of progress, prosperity & happiness. A balanced economy of around 850 residents, most of them perform arts of one kind or the other for their living.
When I went there, I found colors all around. Memories of those graffitis on wooden wall, wooden houses for skateboarding and christianians selling colorful souvenirs, are there to remain with me forever.

Christianians have succeeded in not letting their habitat be affected by external forces. You will experience the difference between Copenhagen (infact the rest of world) & christiania as soon as you enter this freetown of 34 acres.


Recently (Sadly), there has been increasing protest and conflicts in an around christiania.
Don't know what's the fate of this 'no man's land' but i hope it remains as it is and i get a chance to take my kids to this freetown.
I wish christianians all the best, in the struggle to retain their culture & prosper in their own choosen way!
Amen.

Seems quite promising. Yash Raj Banner, top chicks of bollywood(Bipasha,Lamba & Deepika) and the cutie Ranbir Kapoor, it has it all!
I just checked its music and now can bet that it will be one of the 3 biggest hit of 2008!

Bachna Ae Haseeno would have been the ideal launch pad for Ranbir, wondering what made him go for Saawaariya.I guess it was consistency of Sanjay L Bhansali to comeup with larger than life movies/epics that attracted Ranbir. But well , dismal performance of Saawaariya taught us all a lesson :
"No matter how consistent you have been in the past, if you are obsessed with something,it is always dangerous."
Coming back to Bachna Ae Haseeno, there are 7 songs out of which 4 are mind blowing (Khuda Jaane, Title Song, Khuda Jaane(revisited) & Aahista Aahista) and rest three are ok types.
Shooting of 'Khuda Jaane' song has been done in Greece, Venice and countryside of Italy.(Thank god Yashraj prod. took a break from shooting in UK,US nd Switzerland). Some beauties would be new to bollywood audience, especially canals of venice and romancing on gondola.

Checkout more at Official Website


PS : From sources I got to know that even Katrina Kaif is in the movie. (No points for guessing that Ranbir will fall for her at the end)

Update(05/03) : Krrish replaces Ranbir