Cold November

Freedom means so much to us Free to make choices in our life, love and profession Free to be passionate about anything under the sun And never give a thought to how we won this freedom How many people died and gave their blood to the struggle When India was born, we were not even around Yet we never fail to criticize how things could have been better Well, it’s your chance today; Make a pledge on this Independence Day That you will make things better, rather than waiting for someone to do it To make India free from poverty, illiteracy, pollution and corruption Wish you all a very Happy Independence day

Written a few lines on the Indian independence day coming up on 15th August in Hindi and English... कैसा गहरा नाता है, इस मिटटी की गंध से उस नीम की निम्बोली की कड़वी सुगंध से उस पंद्रह अगस्त की उड़ती पतंग से इस देश की बोली और महकी उमंग से कुछ हमारे जोश ने और कुछ तुम्हारे जूनून ने भारत को ला कर रखा है आज इस कगार पे मुबारक हो आप सब को भारत की वर्षगाँठ ये Wish you all a very Happy Independence day.

What's happening with people and morality nowadays? Seems to me, they spell it like c-o-n-v-e-n-i-e-n-c-e. The buzzword for bedding anyone now is ‘fondness’. You just need to be fond of the other person to make out. Toe-dipping into relationships is so “in”. In fact, relationship is a big word for these alliances that get made and broken with alarming convenience - that word again! A sample scenario in a typical MNC runs like this: Mrs Mehta is involved with Mr. Pande who in turn is also eyeing the new joinee Mrs Bhatnagar, while Ms Mathur can be treated a likely prospect. However, the non-married (and some married ones also) people create just too much hassles hankering for love, commitment, marriage and God knows where they will stop. It’s much better to stick with the tried and tested Mrs. Mehta who doesn’t demand much, just as much as she gets. Everything happens for a reason: let’s get closer; we were destined to meet… so on and so forth. Some of the cheesy pick-up...

Read Advaita Kala’s ‘Almost Single’ chic lit over the weekend. It is well written and can be called a page turner in the loosest sense of the word. Despite that you come away with an unfulfilled feeling from the book, an incomplete experience, so to say. First of all, the author needs to understand that pseudonym writing on any industry is a no-no. You get caught in many ways. The way author has described the workings of a guest relation officer in a hotel industry leaves much to be desired. She has rolled in jobs of receptionist, concierge, banquets, lobby manager and cash desk into an all-in-one guest relations executive (GRE) profile depending on her convenience. A GRE does not handle lobby activities in a five star hotel, a lobby manager does. Neither does she handle wedding preparations, however important the guest is. No self respecting banquet manager would let a GRE step on his toes! Neither does she exchange money, even if it is for a prominent Pakistani cri...