A curious case of christening: Gignesh Ganguly

Every child is born without a name. In fact, the hospitals address the baby with gender and registration number till some loving family member starts addressing him/her with a name. And then, it’s not just one name; the relatives at least want a pet name and a formal name and everything else becomes insignificant.

Many a times, each member wants to give a special name to the poor child, who is completely unaware of the fact that his/her identity will be affected with those exasperating sounds that people identify as a name. Many a times, a child grows up to be a completely confused and absolutely lost individual as everyone starts calling him/her with a different name. Imagine, if you are called, Gutku, Chunku, Pichku, Gablu and so on. These names stick to you for the rest of your life and at times bring embarrassment at very unpredictable occasions. Imagine, your girlfriend walking in and your mum shouting on top of her voice, ‘Gablu, who is at the door?’ May be, once upon a time you were a fat kid and this name sounded cute. But now, as a man, it definitely isn’t an ego booster. Or your brother disclosing your top secret name to your colleagues, like ‘Pichku’ and going forward everyone starts calling you Pichku in office.

Shakespeare said, ‘Whats in a name?’ May be that was true in his time. But these days a name is an important aspect of your persona. It is a part of your personal branding. People form perceptions about you even before meeting you by just hearing your name. Kiran Kapadia could be a male or a female. But usually people think that it’s a woman. People who use middle names, for e.g. Jayant ‘Kumar’ Puri are considered from the older generation. The best example was in the movie, ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’ where the passport agent laughs when he looks at the application and realizes that the cool dude, our hero is called, ‘Chironjilal Khosla’. Why did he laugh? Because a dated name like ‘Chironjilal Khosla’ for generation X,Y, Z was sounding weird to him and was not acceptable to him.

Your name is your identity. Previously, your name used to give an instant data about your caste, family and social background. With inter-caste marriages becoming a norm, even names (after marriage) and naming ceremonies have become a complex affair. You can easily find odd sounding names like Parvati Qureshi, Kabir Sareen, Padmini Abraham, Munaf Gubbarewala, Brian Pandey and so on. So, all in all, we can easily conclude that a name holds a lot of history behind it.

This prelude is about the curious case of christening for Gignesh Ganguly. Spelt with a G but pronounced with a J. Gignesh or Jignesh is a common Gujarati name. All the Gujaratis who meet Gignesh for the first time (and don’t pay attention to his last name) invariably start with a fluent Gujarati. Baffled Gignesh gives them a no-no and then tells them a story of how he was christened Gignesh by his aunt. His only aunt moved to Mumbai when he wasn’t born. Her family used to stay in a colony full of Gujaratis and she fell in love with the name Gignesh. (Could have been the neighbor but let’s not speculate). Therefore, when our friend was born, she insisted that the child be named Gignesh. A slight twist to the name was given by his father Gautam Ganguly. Gignesh has an elder sister who is named Gargi and Gignesh’s father (who himself has a name that starts with the letter G) wanted to have both his children’s name start with the letter G. He must be obsessed with the letter it seems. So, Jignesh became Gignesh. Hence, Gignesh Ganguly came into existence.

Time to time we come across such names that sound curious to the core. Which one has been your curious naming case so far?

I came across two more names which are beyond normal:

Anal - in sanskrit it means fire, in English it is a part of anatomy. Parents should think twice before naming their son Anal.

Viral - pronounced as Veeral, a popular Gujarati name, which means brave. But if spelt with an I, it becomes sickening to the ears.

Parimita Chakravorty

The Bai-wars


Indian urban working couples are oh so dependent on the bai brigade. Yes, they are the crucial part of our lives, the pillars that support in running our homes successfully. And would you ever dare upset them? I think not, or else the whole system will come down crashing. And what happens, if you hire two or three different Bais to take care of different responsibilities? A silent war, where in either one of your hired ones goes down or it’s you who suffers in the bargain. They take it to their heart to out-do each other. One way it is good, if it improves the quality of work or their punctuality. But what if it results in unhealthy and negative competition? ‘Madam, usko chai ka cup diya, mujhe saucer hi de do.’ Yes, you get to hear these rants almost every day. They eye on every disposable item you have in your household and then throw in a bid, ‘Madam, woh pink wala kurta mujhe hi dena, I will make your exercise cycle shine with metal cleaner.’ Woah! And the other one will caution, ‘Last time she spoilt your non-stick cookware, what if she scrubs off the top coat of your exercise cycle the same way.’ And then this war reaches its epitome when they start bidding on your new items. ‘Madam, yeh TV purana ho jayega toh mujhe hi dena, doosri ko nahin’. Well, excuse me, but I can get a good exchange offer. My only advice on keeping multiple bais; call them at different times so that they never meet each other and discuss what was their gain, salary, roles, etc. Life was never meant to be easy dealing with bai brigade anyway; the difficulties we face almost every day are absenteeism, sluggishness, unpunctuality and destructive nature (dinner set usually doesn’t stay as a set for long, they invariably break something or the other) to name a few. And on top of it, if you have to deal with bai wars, then even god cannot help you.

Parimita Chakravorty

In creative pursuit - Alternate career options:

Just because your score in Math and Science do not match up with the wizkid in the class, does not mean that you will never have a fulfilling career. The key is to judge your strengths and interests and then work towards it. Math and Science are good subjects and they are mandatory till class 10th. But don’t despair if these subjects don’t interest you. Try and see where your interest lies and then work towards it. There is a life beyond these subjects.

Music:
With the rise of Indian Idol and many such competitive shows, one thing that has caught the society’s attention is that play back singing and music direction is a career option which can get good perks and recognition like other sectors. There is no dearth of good singers and music directors. If an aspiring talent has the spunk to make it to the top, then only he/she can create a niche from the rest. A person considering a career in music should have a genuine love for music, a sense of time and rhythm, besides versatility, creativity and also stage confidence. With the advent of satellite television, the growing popularity of the music channels and corporate sponsorship of musical events, music has become a big business. Although fame and money in this field depends a lot on luck and getting a good break, but once you are established there is ample of scope. Not only in TV and cinema, music is required in documentaries, advertisements, stage shows, and various related programmes.

Career options: Song writer, Music publisher, Music journalist, Disc Jockeys/ Video Jockeys, Music Therapist, Artist manager/PR, Teacher, Composer, Performer (vocal or instrumental), Playback singing, Sound technician, music director, etc.


Voice:

We all recognize the beauty of a distinct and powerful voice. Be it Amitabh Bacchan or Lata Mangeshkar or Amin Sayani, their voice is their identity. The oomph in Rekha’s voice or the quiver in Sri Devi’s voice has become a trademark in itself. So, how can you make a career by using your voice? If you think that you have a distinct and an appealing voice, and you can talk sense, try for Radio presenter’s or TV presenter’s role. You can also give voiceover for cartoon movies/ serials, corporate projects, jingles, advertisements, etc. It is a decent career option, which provides you with multiple opportunities.

Career options: Dubbing artist, Jingles, Voiceover artist, narrator for corporate movies/presentations, TV/Radio presenter


Art:
Do you love to draw and sketch? Do colours make you happy? Then you can take up many interesting and creative career options. A career in art is not limited to being a fine art painter. Behind every piece of art in a newspaper, magazine, book, poster, and leaflet there’s a graphic or commercial artist -- usually a team. There are graphic artists putting the magazines together, illustrators drawing the cartoons and graphics. Website designers, computer-graphic artists and animators. Film, TV, and stage-set building, designing for computer games. Art galleries and museums. Teaching art and art therapy. If you have an eye for detail and creativity, you can also opt for photography, landscape design, interior design, shop-window design, framing, textile and clothing design, furniture and lighting design, architecture, etc. These all require creative skills. It might not make you the same money as a stockbroker or an investment banker but you can certainly have a fulfilling career.

Career option: Art teacher, Interior designer, Jewellry designer, Architect, Fashion photographer, Fashion journalist, Make-up artist, Hair stylist, Wildlife photographer, Fashion designer, Textile designer, Graphic designer, Desktop publishing, Furniture designer, Shoe designer, Website designer, Computer graphic artist, Art gallery manager, Animator etc. There are innumerable options to choose from.


Language:

(Hindi, English or any foreign language including Mandarin)
If language interests you and you love to read story books and comics then the world of opportunities will open to you. If you love to express yourself through writing and poetry then this might be your forte. If you love learning new languages then this can get you a very high paying job.

Foreign languages are always a boon in the long run. You can communicate freely and effectively with people from other parts of the world. The most common known foreign languages are French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. You can work as a translator for diplomats visiting these places and travel around the world with them. You can work as a translator to translate written documents, which needs excellent writing skills in these languages. You can work in the foreign embassies or simply translate documents written in Hindi to English and vice versa.

Other than these, you can become a Documentation expert in many KPO’s who need to document their process and meetings, feature writer with magazines and newspapers, technical writer with IT companies, content developer and writer with IT and educational companies. You can also become an instructional writer with educational companies. You can opt for full time writing career as a fiction or non-fiction writer, writing books and developing manuscript. You can maintain a blog and earn revenues with the advertisers. You can become a journalist if you have interest in news and current affairs. You can choose to become an editor or a content manager who looks after a website and its contents. These are just a few options listed so that you can broaden your view concerning this option.

Career options: Feature writer, Content writer, Technical writer, Instructional writer, Translator, Editor, Copy writer, Documentation expert, Blog writer, Content management, Writing for TV and films, Film reviews, Journalist, Advertising, Media, PR executive managing communications, Corporate communications, language teacher, etc.


Dance and physical education:

So you are one of those people who love the idea of sweating it out either in dance or sports? Even you have ample of choices. If you love sports and any form of physical activity like dancing, then you can have a steady career in the field of health and nutrition, physical fitness and even entertainment.

After completing your Masters in Physical Education you can become a teacher or a professor in a teaching institution. You can become a physical trainer or an aerobics trainer. These career options are well paying and very much in demand for an established instructor. The attributes are agility, discipline, physical stamina, strength and fitness.

You can learn dance and open your own school, or can become a dance director or choreographer. You can either become a professional in western or in Indian form of dancing. Main attributes are talent, versatility, sense of rhythm, dedication, grace, an expressive face and body language, an ability to interpret roles, attractive appearance, stage presence, creativity, physical stamina, etc.

Career options: You can become a Physical Instructor, Teacher, Dance teacher, Choreographer, Personal trainer, Aerobics trainer, Yoga teacher, Gym co-coordinator, Nutrition expert, etc.

Whatever be your career aspirations, research well, envision your future and work hard towards it. Money and prestige follow every hard work done.

Parimita Chakravorty

Plight of the young (Five members in your family to avoid)

Who all remember Asian paints advert, ‘Nahin Bhaiya, aisa nahin hai’. The elder brother feels offended when the younger brother gives him tips on choosing the right paint for his house through the handy paint-guide. Advertisements mirror our society and our culture. In India, elders are given due respect. Especially in joint families, the elders take decision and the young follow. But how healthy is this structure for an individual? Taking advice from someone who is more experienced than you is prudent. But is this norm beneficial in the long run? Many elders forget that an individual needs space to grow and they fail to provide a favorable environment for a younger member to flourish into a full-fledged adult. Be it siblings, child-parent, in-laws, husband-wife or co-sister relationships, elders take it to their heart if the young member expresses a desire for independent existence. Authority figure feel intimidated with a young member’s growing identity.


The people who are detested in a young member’s world are listed below:

1. Encyclopedia: He has taken oath to correct all your written and verbal communication. Be it spellings, pronunciation, punctuation or sentences, the elder one will guide you to choose the right English/Hindi/ any other language he is proficient in. He ensures that he rebukes you publicly, corrects your grammatical mistakes in front of your girlfriend, and reframes your sentences to make them sound intelligent. He will quiz you on history, geography and current affairs, to make you feel that you are born demented.

2. Stylist and Health guru: He admonishes your taste of clothes, shoes, accessories among your guy friends, tells you how strange you look in those pair of jeans, publicly announces that your hair-cut looks like a hay stack and your frame looks like a scare crow. His sole aim in life is to make you look better as if you are an ugly sore on the face of the family. He will cry aloud if you haven’t hit the gym already and nitpick on your eating habits.

3. Finance and career planner: He keeps tab on your spending. Forces you to share your income and expense details and then decides where you should invest and what should be your retirement plan. He is the one who has taken you under his wing so that you can learn to survive the corporate life. He will instruct you where to apply, which courses to enroll and what to do with your degree.

4. Order please: He is someone who loves delegating work and giving orders. His conversation is usually single sentences giving out instructions – like switch off the fan, bring a glass of water, put off the TV, etc. He considers himself a boon to the family and feels that you are born to run his errands. His conversation will never include words like sorry, please and thank you. He thinks you are answerable to him for everything that goes wrong. If his instructions are not followed, or decisions are not valued, he finds it his ego basher and can react in an extreme way.

5. Agree to disagree: If you say heads - I win, he will disagree. If you say, tails - you win, he will still disagree. His only agenda in life is to disagree to whatever you say irrespective of the consequences. His agenda is to criticize whatever you do, make the world privy to the fact that your approach towards life is immature and selfish. He will try to gain sympathy from others making you look like the villain of the story.

Parimita Chakravorty

Five friends to avoid

Relationships are like investments, which reap benefits in the long run. Some take ‘benefits’ in the literal sense and start consuming you psychologically and physically till you suffocate under the pressure of either choosing to maintain it or put a full stop to it. There comes a time, when you reflect back and see who all were left behind in the journey of life; who decided to stop existing in your calendar, phone-book, and in your heart. And then you think, ‘Ah, what a relief!’ Yes, we all have had relations which went sour or developed a crack which graduated into broken pieces. Be it love, family, friends or work, every one of us have faced this relationship dilemma. Friendship is one complex relationship. It fosters between strangers and at times within family. It is a deep bonding between two individuals and if it goes wrong, it definitely is painful. We are born in a family but we choose friends and if we choose the wrong set of people, it is devastating. So, let me list five friends to avoid while investing emotionally.

1. Mother figure: She will be over-protective, demanding, commanding, and reduce you to a helpless and sorry figure, incapable of taking any decision in life. Such friends try to control your life, choice of food, dress and even boyfriend. She will call you every hour and try to keep a track on who you meet, what you say and what you shouldn’t say. She will give you unsolicited advice and ensure that you take that advice and act upon it. If you want to develop a complete personality of your own, just draw a line when you confront such a demon in disguise. Friends care, not control.

2. Know-it-all sister: Alright! How often have you had a friend tell you, ‘I did tell you!’ From rocket science to beauty remedies, from culinary expertise to bedroom and boardroom tactics. You name it and she is always ready with an answer. She is like a Google in friendship world. She doesn’t resist interfering in your life time and again with remedies that she deems right. She doesn’t care if you like it or not, but she will always try to prove that she is the multifaceted pal who you cannot do without. Tell her, sister know-it-all, ‘please give me chance and I will figure out things on my own’. Friends support in decision one takes, not decide.

3. Centre-of- attraction: This friend suffers from ADS. I did miss the ‘I’. She suffers from severe Attention Deficiency Syndrome. She wants to be in the limelight all the time. Be it a get-together, a school reunion, your birthday party, your boss’s party, she would want all the attention. She would scream, expose, throw a fit, act drunk, flirt with your boyfriend, tell false stories and do all kinds of over-dramatized actions to grab maximum eyeballs. The real problem starts when she thinks that it’s her birthright to be the star of every occasion, even if that means putting you down in front of others or misbehaving with your loved ones. Snub her right away. She hasn’t learnt to share the space and needs to know it.

4. Jealous B***tch! Competitive streak is good till the time it is healthy. But the minute it becomes a compulsive disorder, it becomes ugly. No one is born with perfect looks, family, friends, career, etc. Everyone has some or the other short coming. But that doesn’t mean that it should lead one to feel jealous of a friend. A jealous friend becomes a back stabber, spills your secrets; destroys your growth prospects, tries to steal your boyfriend, job and everything that belongs to you. For her the only pleasure of life is when she acquires what you own and prove to the world that she is better than you. Stay clear from her. It is best to let go off such a friend because trust once broken will be difficult to mend. Once you know, she is not your well-wisher, it is best to keep a distance.

5. Crib pot: She will meet you and crib about, her boss, family, work, relatives, neighbor, grocery owner, plumber, traffic, weather and everything under the sun. If you don’t meet her, she will call you and engage you in marathon conversations complaining about everything in her life. Her conversation will be full of criticism and seeking advice. You eventually become an agony aunt she never had. She will spread negativity and gloom whenever she will talk to you. She will ensure that you become depressed and dis-interested from life in general. Avoid her if she doesn’t change or change the topic to a happy note.

Parimita Chakravorty

White Switzerland 

Geneva – Interlaken (Jungfraujoch) – Lucerne (Mt Titlis) – Zurich-Bern

Recent demise of Mr Yash Chopra got a lot of media attention to Switzerland – his favorite destination to portray romance and seduction, Indian cinema style. He would have his leading ladies dance in chiffon sarees in snow laden Swiss mountains (brrrrrrr) and heroes do a somersault in the lush green hillocks. He captured through his lens, Switzerland’s natural beauty in abundance and enthralled the movie masses with heart-warming stories set in exotic locales. (Most of the times, it was Switzerland). So once upon a time when we used to stay in London, I and my husband decided to experience the beauty of Switzerland on our own.

Yash Chopra in Switzerland

We are not the kinds who are happy in arranged tour packages, where people move like herds of sheep thronging a tourist site without savoring the history, beauty or essence of the place. We like to explore the local market, try new cuisines rather than sticking to the set Indian menu, we enjoy getting off at an unknown train station to experience unlisted interesting places, know a new culture, rather than board a tourist bus where the time is restricted to just half an hour per stop.

Raj asked me, “Have you ever experienced knee deep snow?” “No!” I replied. “Let’s go to Switzerland.” He said. “What? In the peak of winters? Our blood will be crystalized by the time we come back.” I shouted. With a gleam in his eyes, he said, “Let’s plan, make bookings and pack our bags for 23rd”. So, in the hope of having some good time in the harsh weathers of Mount Titlis and Jungfraujoch, we decided to visit Switzerland.

Switzerland has always triggered my imagination, a place like Narnia, a wonderland, where mountains of chocolates and rivers of milk are very much possible. I know, that sounds like a 6 year old chirping away her last night’s dream. But I was excited. After online research, a travel plan was chalked out which covered both Titlis and Jungfraujoch and the major cities in Switzerland. Online hotel bookings were made and we were ready for the tour of a lifetime.

Plan: London -Geneva – Interlaken (Jungfraujoch) – Lucerne (Mt Titlis) – Zurich-Bern- Geneva-London

Time: 23rd to 30th December, 2008 (London is closed for Christmas holidays, followed by Boxing day and New Year, so this was the perfect time for vacation.)

23rd December, Tuesday: Geneva

Geneva decked up for Christmas

Early morning we took a flight from the London City Airport to Geneva. The taste of authentic Swiss chocolate on board the flight got me excited as to what was in store for us in the coming days. Reached Geneva around 9 am local time. It took us approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes on the flight. We had the entire day and evening with us. We got 8 day Swiss pass made which gives access to rail, road and waterway throughout Switzerland. We reached our hotel around mid-morning which was in the heart of the city. After a quick shower and some snacks we headed out to explore the city with a map. There was no sign of snow. Geneva is the 2nd most populated city after Zurich and we could feel the commotion. We went around to see a fraction of the crescent shaped Lake Geneva or Lake Léman (Geneva is the French speaking city in Switzerland. The other languages spoken are German, Italian and Romansh. As Switzerland is land locked so the culture and language of the different cities has been affected by the neighboring countries.) The Jet d’eau spouting 140 meters fountain was closed.

The air was crisp and very freezing; the giant Flower Clock in the English Garden was barren due to the extreme weather. We proceeded towards Saint Peter’s Cathedral which is an architectural marvel and walked around the old town on the cobbled streets exploring local café’s. In the evening we went out for a walk in and around our hotel and saw the city decked up in Christmas lights and festivities. Local church, shops (though closed), pubs and cafes, were all reflecting the festival festooning.

24th December, Wednesday: Interlaken Day 1

The central train station, Gare Cornavin is a beehive of activity in Geneva. We took a train to Interlaken next morning after check out. We saw little lumps of melted snow when we started from Geneva. Mid-way, we saw snow in its full glory. Trees, mountains, houses, all covered in snow, frozen lakes and little water bodies were dream like. It took around 2 hours to reach Interlaken, a quaint little city located between two Alpine rivers, Brienzsee and Thun. We got down at Interlaken east station and walked down to our hotel. Hotel Bellevue is a vintage property located next to the river Aare. A breathtakingly beautiful place with sumptuous breakfast (it was included in our stay). The room was comforting and our balcony opened next to the river and in the vicinity was a hillock.

View from our Balcony in Hotel Bellevue

After some rest we headed out to explore the city. We wanted to visit the St. Beatus Caves – one kilometre of lit limestone caves with stalagmites, but dropped the idea as it was a very cold day. Later we took a train towards Grindelwald the door to the highest mountain peak in Europe. It took us 40 minutes to reach Grindelwald, a snow capped village on the foothill of big mountains. There were ski resorts, hotels, a few pubs, some odd shops selling souvenirs and horse pulled carriages taking people around. The village had an old-world charm that is unforgettable. The train journey itself was mesmerizing with tiny villages appearing after intervals, snowmen built by locals, river flowing beside the train line, mossed-up wooden bridges and trees full of snowflakes - as I imagined, just out of Narnia. We went to the information centre and visited the local history museum. We had heard about Belvédère, one of the priciest hotels in that region located next to the station that has an outdoor salt water Jacuzzi. But we decided to give it a pass in that extreme weather. We walked from Grindelwald to Grund station which is a kilometer apart. On our way, we met smiling strangers; saw neatly cut and cleared snow, houses laden with snowflakes and their backyards full of knee deep snow. Alright! We indulged in a bit of snow ball throwing and tried to have a soft landing on the snow. And then, we realized that the walking shoes that we were wearing weren’t right for snow laden tracks, especially when the snow had grease or petrol over it. I will not like to spill the beans on who had a great fall. We got back to Interlaken late evening.

25th December, Thursday: Interlaken Day 2 (Jungfarujoch)

Next day, we got up early and again took a train to Grindelwald. From Grindelwald, we took a train to Kleine Scheidegg. Kleine Scheidegg is the base camp from where visitors board Jungfraubahn, a cog wheel train service for the continuation of the journey to the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch. It is also a popular hub for skiing and sledging. When we reached Kleine Scheidegg station, we realized that we were about to experience the first snow storm of our lives. The sky was clouded. Sun played peek-a-boo for a while and then everything went from dark to devilish. Snowflakes with stormy wind felt like shrapnel. We huddled together in one corner of the station to escape the strong wind.

Kleine Scheidegg station

Eventually it subsided and we saw a silver lining in the cloud. No, I am not using a metaphor here. Within a few minutes, the weather became pleasant as if the storm never happened. And then we saw far away our little train emerging out of absolute white. A single engine cleared up the tracks for the train and very systematically it approached the station. We boarded the train and off we went to witness the highest peak in Europe. As the train graduated to a certain height we could see a fine distinction between the ether and earth, divided by grey clouds in the horizon.


The sun gleamed brightly; it blinded me for a while. We reached Jungfraujoch station and proceeded towards the attractions. We saw the Ice Palace, Sphinx observatory and Global Atmosphere Watch's atmospheric research station. Again, we experienced blizzard on the Sphinx deck. At -18 degrees, I felt my teeth chattering, my voice muffled, and my body shivering; even the facial muscles couldn’t react to my expressions. I soothed my brittle nerves with some hot soup and potato fries. We decided to get back to -8 degrees in Kleine Scheidegg where another adventure waited for us. Inspired by our fellow travelers, (most of them were skiers), we decided to try sledging. Intermediate sledging involves use of plastic sledges which has a rope tied to your arm (so that you don’t part ways before getting back the huge deposit).

Plastic sledges for beginners

Also, few rules need to be followed – like controlling the speed with your feet, using beginners track and never getting in the way of professional skiers. Of course, one of us disregarded all the rules and almost jumped off to nothingness. After all the action, we decided to get back to our hotel via Lauterbrunnen. It was getting dark. We came across a village where people were using sleigh as local transport. Just imagine going to your friend’s house on a sleigh and yelling where to park it.



26th December, Friday: Lucerne or Luzerne day 1

Next morning, we checked-out after breakfast and started walking towards the Interlaken west station. It was a beautiful walk as we saw river Aare in its full glory. Bright sun, melting snow, crystal clear water flowing below wooden bridges and fish huddled in one corner then moving away in harmony. We took a train from Interlaken to Lucerne. It took us roughly an hour. Train travel is a scenic marvel and absolutely comfortable. We checked-in to our city center hotel mid-morning. After lunch, we decided to go out and explore the city. The city has a vintage appeal with its half-timber structures across promenade and wooden bridges.

Lucerne with medival architechture and half-timber bridges

It still has wooden wheel-like structure to control flow of water on a dam built on river Reuss within the city. The walk across the promenade took us to dated shops, cafes, and eventually to remains of old town walls. I saw a domestic Yak for the first time. We also visited the twin needle towers of the Church of St. Leodegar and the Lion monument. We explored the lake-side shops specializing in swiss watches and wooden music boxes. We got music boxes as souvenirs (not the wooden ones, they were expensive). Very unique and absolutely melodious! The sales person showed us the various types of music boxes available and how they differed from each other in producing symphonies of great musicians. Finally, we concluded the trip at a local cafe where we polished off big servings of hot chocolate and fish n chips as we were extremely hungry and tired with all the walking around. It was comforting in the biting cold.

27th December, Saturday: Lucerne or Luzerne day 2 (Mt Titlis)

We started early morning for Engelberg, which is 40 minutes away by train from Lucerne. Engelberg has the Rotair Cableway or rotating cable car which takes you to Mt Titlis. Three different cable cars took us to the peak. The final one was Rotair. We boarded the rotating gondola which was packed with tourists from around the world. Once again, we were standing out in the crowd as we were not wearing any ski gear and equipment. The cable car gave us a 360 degree view of the glacier as it rotated once during the journey. Eventually we reached the peak.

Cable cars taking us to the peak of Mt Titlis

There were a few souvenir shops and restaurants. And then we saw lots of snow once again in the bright sun. We both decided to make a small snowman of our own. The Titlis Walk and Glacier Cave were not opened yet. So we decided to take a ride on the Ice Flyer Chairlift to the return point i.e. the Glacier Park. Because of the weather condition, we found the chairlift empty, with no mad rush or serpentine queue. Just found a few skiers with ruddy faces trying to smile at us. It’s an open air chairlift that takes you across the glacier where you can witness the glacier crevasses at more than 3'000 meters. It was spectacular and very adventurous. I felt my jaw froze and I couldn’t utter a word. Fingers were numb even with Sherpa gloves and were unable to move to use camera functions. Raj looked crimson and then turned purple because of the extreme cold. We got down at The Titlis Glacier Park and found that it was closed. There was complete silence with an occasional swish-swoosh of the approaching skiers. It was getting dark so we decided to get back to the peak and again descend towards Engelberg. We took a train back to Lucerne.

28th December, Sunday: Zurich

frozen fountain in Zurich

Zurich the biggest city of Switzerland is an hour away from Lucerne by train. The journey was scenic and beautiful with lakes, tunnels and wooden houses at a distance. We reached the Zurich station which has underground shopping area and eating joints. After getting a city map we took a bus to our hotel. Zurich is like a regular city, very busy, good for conventions and business activities. We saw the FIFA headquarters and a museum. We did see buildings of historical importance which were an architectural delight like church Fraumünster, Grossmünster, Rathaus and riverside promenade. We went around the market which was half closed as it was a Sunday. Saw frozen fountains where the dripping water had formed into icicles. Bless my ignorance, but this is where I realized that Bata is a multinational company. And Raj almost named our daughter Bonita as it rhymed with my name. (She didn’t exist then). We decided to retire early and rest at our hotel as we were exhausted and very cold.


29th December, Monday: Bern

Tower clock in Bern

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to go to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Took a double-decker train to Bern which is one and a half hours away from Zurich. We took a tram service to reach our hotel, Seminar. We went out immediately to see the attractions. It is a small city as we could walk down to most of the attractions or take a tram service to our destination. Very beautiful city with medieval structures, buildings, huge wall clocks, cobbled pavements and conical roofed houses. It seemed as if nothing had changed over the past 500 years. It has one of the longest shopping promenade with cafes and dining options of all kinds. We saw the parliament building located right in the heart of the city and then visited Muenster Cathedral, Tower Clock- an ornate astronomical calendar clock made in 1530 and the old town full of fountains. The day went by in a jiffy as we were mesmerized by the beauty of this old city. We got back to our hotel, late evening. I really miss the shampoo at hotel Seminar. One wash made my hair silky smooth with natural shine, as if I got a hair rebonding done the previous day. I wish I could get a similar product here.

30th December, Tuesday: Geneva – London

After a lazy morning, we took a train to Geneva. Geneva was engulfed in biting cold waves as it was raining when we reached. We took a flight from Geneva airport and reached London the same evening. While landing, we got a bird’s eye view of the London Millennium Dome which looked pretty interesting with evening lights. Our journey concluded but I still feel excited remembering those moments spent in Switzerland – as some say – the heaven on earth.


Parimita Chakravorty

Roadtrip: Mumbai-Gurgaon-Mumbai via Rajasthan

Driver and Photographer: Rajosik Banerjee
Story teller and Navigator: Parimita Chakravorty

Human mind is capable of extreme feats; it derives a sense of pleasure and achievement in adventures like sky diving, bounty hunting or may be a road trip. The very first reaction of all our family, friends and well-wishers who heard that we were doing a Mumbai-Delhi road trip via Rajasthan was, “R u guys crazy?” “YES!” we knew we are crazy enough to test our mettle on the roads of India. Not many are like us, but a few have already proven that the road trips are enriching experiences that leave a lifelong mark on your psyche.

This trip has been a test of our companionship. As a couple we feel more attuned and in sync with each other. Sometimes the roads were rough, sometimes scary and other times beautiful. I just got to know my partner better. On rough roads, he was patient and vigilant. Night driving really gets your goat. In such situations, he never left his presence of mind, watchful eyes and focus from the road. The only aim was to reach the destination, safe and sound. I being the navigator took a few bad decisions and the rest good. But we both suffered or enjoyed, together! And this togetherness was the essence of this trip.

Before I start with the details, a few observations:

Truck drivers aren’t all bad (especially before you reach Haryana). They try to help you out on a highway and are camera friendly. They are the lifeline of our country, transporting all the necessary and perishable goods on time. Out of thousands of truck drivers whom we met on our way, only two were ‘KKs’ who tried to run over our car.

People look at women drivers like aliens except in Jodhpur where ladies in lehngas, suits and even sarees were seen riding a bike or driving a car. Jodhpur looks progressive. It’s a different issue that they still had to cover their heads.

When extremely hungry, even onion rings with lemon juice and some salt feels like a delicacy. Dhaba food is tastier than posh restaurants.

GPS navigation cannot be trusted all the time, though Google-map was our humsafar during the entire trip. It might be wrong suggesting routes in the middle of nowhere.

Sign language is the universal language. We might not understand the local languages but still asked for directions from the local people. Many didn’t know Hindi but were happy to help us in their own language.

Don’t drink and drive. That applies to water as well. Otherwise all your time will go in finding a suitable place to relieve yourself. This is an issue of the woman kind. Men have urinals wherever they please. Clean toilets are rare.

State Highways are deceiving. They might become so narrow at a few places that you start doubting if you would end up in someone’s courtyard.

Shortcuts aren’t smooth. Be it roads or life.

It was awkward to ask for ‘Shrinagar’ in Rajasthan. Yes, we did travel over ‘Shrinagar’ while going to Chittorgarh.

Hiring a guide is not a bad idea, only if you are interested in History.

Details:

Initial route plan was Mumbai-Udaipur-Jodhpur-Pushkar-Gurgaon-Chittorgarh-Mumbai. Expected distance: 3000 kms. Time: 9 days.

30th October, Saturday: Raj has a busy day with client meetings and presentations. I did all the packing for the trip so that we could leave early morning the next day. Raj calls up at 5 pm and says he will be home soon and then we can leave for the trip. In a jiffy, everything is put into order and we leave around 6:30 pm on Saturday itself. Mumbai traffic held us back for over two hours before we could hit the highway. Left Mumbai by 9 pm and drove till 2 am. Covered 320 kms that day. Raj was all drained out because of the long day and needed rest. We took a halt at Swagat Guest house, a motel near the toll gate just after crossing Surat on the way towards Bharuch. It is a decent place to stay for Rs 650 for an AC room.

31st October, Sunday: We woke up early morning, had breakfast and left for Udaipur at 9am. I started driving from the Surat toll gate towards Udaipur on NH8. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a huge traffic near Bharuch. A narrow bridge merges three lane traffic into one, creating a bottle neck. Raj clicked a few pictures of the truck drivers and then one of them suggested that we should take the muddy side road if we wanted to get out of the jam before sunset. 1.5 hours wasted in the jam, we decide to do some mud cruising. Raj took over. He couldn’t trust me with such stuff with his car. After crossing Bharuch, we decided to take the shortest route to Udaipur. It is SH 59 via Modasa-kapadganj-Shyamalji. Nh8 seemed longer via Ahmedabad and as we had already lost time in the jam, so decided to take a short cut.

I saw a route going to Modasa, surprisingly nobody looked that way. All the cars zoomed past that road. Raj and me decided to take the road less travelled. And the experience was a complete tear breaker. We met a corrupt policewala who tried to bully us into shelling out money for no good reason. Finally we moved on. And the road got bumpier with each passing minute. We moved at a snail’s pace. The car’s base was getting scratched and thumped at every move. We were just cursing our fate for taking this short cut. Couldn’t go back, as the road that we left wasn’t smooth either. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere, trying to drive through a ‘shattered potholed once upon a time road’. We used to get elated if we found a patch of smooth surface in between those craters. Raj was worried that in this situation if the car broke down then all our trip plans would be stalled. Slowly, steadily and grumblingly...Raj pulled ahead to a smoother route. We again lost about an hour in this. On our way, we passed by Shyamalji, and saw boards indicating “Tropic of Cancer passes by here”. We couldn’t take a picture as we didn’t have the time to stop.

Before entering Udaipur we saw a huge jam as a truck had overturned in the middle of the road. All the traffic was diverted on the opposite (coming) route. It was a complete chaos. We got stuck in a jam for a very long time. All of a sudden the closed (going) route opened and the other side traffic cleared up faster than the road we were stuck in. We couldn’t move ahead or take any other alternative turn as it was a slope and hilly two way road. All of a sudden Raj skilfully took an about turn and drove back to a point where we could enter the correct road. We zoom passed all the others who were still stuck there, waiting for the mess to clear up. We entered Udaipur at 8 pm. We covered approximately 500 kms that day.

We stayed at Hotel Inderprakash. It is a quaint little place beside Lake Fateh sagar. Beautiful and vintage decor made us feel like a royalty. We forgot about all the problems faced during the travel and started enjoying the comforts. Had a sumptuous dinner and a quite walk beside the lake. The city was lit up on the occasion of Diwali. It felt serene.

1st November, Monday: We looked around the city, stopping over at all the major city points. Visited Vintage car collection of the king. We loved the cars and various vintage models, especially Buick. The Vintage car tour guide was very knowledgeable person. He told us the history behind Rolls Royce logo. Rolls and Royce were two partners. The logo had RR in red till both of them were alive. In 1910, one of the partners’s died, so the logo got one red and one black R. When the other partner expired in 1933, since then the colour of both the Rs has become black and it continues still.

We hired a guide who was more interested to take us to semi-precious stone and antique shops. So beware! We took a boat ride at Lake Pichola and admired the beauty of Lake Palace and Udaivilas. Udaivilas hotel is grand and reminds of some fairytale. The city palace is moderately big as most of it has been converted into hotel.

The roads in Udaipur are narrow and it’s a task driving in those lanes with huge traffic. Nobody follows traffic rules so you are at the mercy of God. We left Udaipur at 5pm for Jodhpur which is around 325 kms away and expected to reach there within 4 hrs. We managed to reach NH79 out of Udaipur but kept on going up and down the highway for the next one hour as we couldn’t find our way to NH8 towards Nathdwara-Jodhpur. Once we hit NH8 after a lot of missed exits and turns, we speeded towards our destination.

I called up the Bishnoi Village owner who gave us the route plan to reach Jodhpur. He mentioned to take a left turn from Gomti Chauraha while coming from NH8. We also decided to refer to Google map. We reached Gomti chauraha but as it was not marked and the left turn seemed as if it ended up in someone’s courtyard, we decided to stick to Google. Google indicated to take a left at ‘Dewair’ 20 kms from that chauraha. At night, we just prayed that the road ahead was alright. We kept moving in the same direction and all of a sudden GPS dot showed we crossed Dewair but for some good reason there was no left turn and no marking with the name mentioned in Google. We felt dejected. No human kind around, only trucks passing us by after a few intervals and that too at a high speed. Whom do we ask? Raj already started feeling the heat but didn't let it show. We took a ‘U’ turn and caught hold of a police van who guided us to Gomti Chauraha. In pitch dark, we could only see a distance few feet away from our car. We saw a truck taking the unassuming left turn that we missed. We followed. Now we headed towards Sadri-Sanderav-Pali-Rohat bypass-Jodhpur. It was already 10pm but felt like midnight. Sadri has again an unmarked and unassuming right turn. Luckily we found a night guard who told us to take the route and cautioned to go safely. It was a ghaat area and we were driving at night, pitch dark, unknown roads and the guard mentioned that we might find leopards in that area. I felt goose bumps. Raj had read somewhere that this area had ‘Daakus’ at one point of time. It was us and our Linea, trying to make our way out safely. I was tensed throughout the journey.

We stopped at a local dhaba for dinner. The spiciest daal tadka and aaluu matar were served to us. Daal looked orange because of the amount of red chilli powder put into it. And in aaluu matar, it was difficult to differentiate between matar and green chilly bits. The repercussions were felt next morning. Finally we reached Sanderav –Pali-Rohat bypass and our destination, Bishnoi village after midnight. Bishnoi village is a cluster of few tents and huts located in the outskirts of Jodhpur. We took a right turn from the kakani village while coming from the bypass. We saw a big flock of black bucks, but the minute we stopped our car to take a picture, they all ran away. It was spooky to see so many of them together. Moreover we realised that if we used camera flash then they might have got scared. So we didn’t take any pictures. We were completely tired. Just snoozed away the minute we hit the bed. A special thanks to the Bishnoi village owner, who was awake and guided us for our route, till we reached there safely after midnight.

November 2nd, Tuesday: We looked around the city. No guides this time. Mehrangarh fort is huge and very beautiful. Umaid Bhawan Palace is mindblowing, though we could only see 10% of the total palace. Rest has been converted into a hotel. Jaswant Thada was built in remembrance of the king after his death, by his queen. Really beautiful! Day well spent, we returned to Bishnoi Village in the evening. Enjoyed folk song; tried our hands on the musical instrument called ‘Rondta’. It is made up of bamboo, coconut shell, metal strings and horse hair. The musician took ‘Afeem’ to keep himself energetic. We checked out a few khanjars and talwars of the owner. Ate local dishes as dinner, Sangri ki sabji, Daal bati Choorma, Bajra ka rotla etc. We went off to sleep. A relaxed day compared to others.

November 3rd, Wednesday: Next morning we started early to see Guda village where Bishnois stay. The name Bishnoi comes from ‘Bees + nau’ ie. 29 rules that they follow. According to Subhash, our friend at Bishnoi village, in earlier times people didn’t know to count more than 20. They used to count in frequency tables. After counting the rules till 20, they started to count again. That is how this name came into existence. After that we headed straight towards the highway which took us to Gurgaon. We had plans to take a detour from Ajmer towards Pushkar but as we were pressed for time, we kept going straight towards Delhi on NH8. Found traffic near Kothputli and Manesar. Raj was very unhappy with Delhi-Jaipur highway. But was in love with the Haryana roadways buses. He admired their art of crossing opposite roads over the divider. Their speed matched our speeding car. Roadways buses are superfast. We reached Gurgaon at 8:30 pm. Was so happy to reach home and meet my family. Raj was looking tired to the core. The traffic sucked up his energy levels. Covered approximately 580 kms that day.

November 4th, Thursday: Visited ‘Kingdom of Dreams’in Gurgaon. Beautiful place! A must visit, at least once. The Culture gully is value for money.

November 5th, Friday: Enjoyed Diwali with family. Shopping at Ambience mall, crackers and lights filled up the whole day.

November 6th, Saturday: We left Gurgaon at 7 am for Chittorgarh. Fearing that we might face the same amount of traffic on Delhi-Jaipur highway, we decided to start early. We crossed Jaipur by 11:30 am which was a big achievement. From there we headed straight towards Chittorgarh via Kishangarh and Bhilwara. We took NH79 but got lost after Kishangarh. We tried to find our way by targeting to find the nearest small town, which happened to be Shrinagar. Finally reached Chittorgarh by 3:30 pm and saw the huge fort. We were chased by the so called ‘Fort guides’ on their bikes. A few were ready to risk their lives just to grab our attention and get business. One got scolded by me as I felt that he might have met with an accident with our car. Finally we hired a licensed guide Mr Sharma to show us the fort and tell us the history related to the fort.

By the time we left Chittorgarh fort, it was already dark. We headed towards ‘Bassi’ on NH76, where we had booked our night halt. We had booked a royal suite in the Welcome heritage Bassi Fort palace. It looked more of a big haveli than a palace; a vintage house which was peaceful and reflected a great decor. Most of the furniture used was ‘vintage’ and the royal suite made us feel like a royal couple. The owners were very friendly and hospitable. They discussed the history and beauty of their area and family. We enjoyed a beautiful candle light dinner in the portico and later relaxed completely at the suite. We covered 550 kms that day.

7th November, 2010: Woke up in the morning to see what was around the fort. But could gather that outside the fort there was nothing much of interest. We were in the middle of a village and the fort attracts guest for the experience that it offers than anything else. We left for Mumbai at 10:30 am. Mumbai was around 950 kms away and we had plans to take a break midway and continue our journey the next day. We took NH76 till Udaipur and from there took NH 8. We decided not to venture out anymore as we already had our share of adventure while going to Gurgaon. When Raj crossed Ahmedabad he decided to stretch the journey and reach Mumbai the same day, even if that meant driving over 14 hours and reaching after midnight. We took one lunch and one tea break but managed to reach home by 1 am. The journey was over but the memories will be alive forever.

Parimita Chakravorty