Life Begins at 40! - April 2016

Every time we round up our age at 20 or 30 or 40… our folks will comment on our landmark age! Oh! You have turned 20.. Finally moving out of your teens…. 30?? Oh the youth is passing!! Really?? I am in my mid 30s and it seems to be the best time of my life! But I was supposed to move out of my youth, and here I am feeling as young, energetic, and vibrant as ever…. The Optimist that I am, if I have to die at 80, then I am not even midway!! But I have learnt so much that for the rest of my life I have to only apply those learnings and I probably will sail through a very happy life!! Sounds so good to be true!! This year, my significant other half turns 40! And I am taking this as a reason to celebrate!! A lot of our friends thought I was silly to throw a bash for his 40th… he is not turning 50!! Why are you in a hurry! Well my father-in-law celebrated my 25th birthday with as much gusto telling me that it was indeed a landmark year… he told me then, that for you it is a landmark year you are beginning a new life with a new family (we got married six months before my 25th birthday) and you have begun what seems to be a great career for you! We have all the reasons to celebrate… As usual I agreed.. Anyway he did not live to see me turn 30, so I am glad we celebrated. I think celebrations need no reasons! Rather if the reason walks up to you, then might as well celebrate. The time is always right when the time is NOW…. To me 40 seems like a mid-point perfect time to celebrate the youth while it exists and early days to the wisdom that comes with the grey hair!! A perfect gathering to get your parents, family and friends together! At 40 when you look back, the first 20 years of growing up, schooling and higher education altogether seem like just the kindergarten years. Kindergarten – When life seems carefree, we have our parents to manage us right from getting us our clothes to our pocket money and ensuring that we do something with our lives!! Those 20 years we yearn for our freedom. We keep waiting for the day we will have our first salary deposited in our independent Salary Account! Our first tryst as we assume with the flavour of independence! But that’s really when the struggle starts… Most of us have a paradigm shift in our lives as we move steadily up the corporate ladder. We are out of our protected cocoon meeting new people, making new friends and there starts a whole new rollercoaster of a ride! From the mid 20s till the mid 30s we are busy making a life out of the platform that most fortunate of us got from our parents personally as well as professionally. 40 seems to be that age, when most have chosen their path in career as well as personal life, achieved certain milestones, made enough mistakes and risen above those, seen enough failures and enjoyed success!! This seems to be an interesting age at the median. Gunjar is exactly there and I feel he has reached that age of his life where I would like him to reap all that he sowed!! They say life begins at 40… the first 40 years of childhood are the toughest, as up till then we are only doing research!! Research!! And how!! I am not so used to calling him Gunjarav… most of his friends and colleagues either call him Gunjar or Gunjaa… and so do I. His parents fondly named him “Gunjarav” ! I have myself explained this to so many people I introduced him or his mention to, and I am sure he got a chance to celebrate his exclusive name innumerable times in his life. So for the records – Vihang (his dad) means a bird and Madhuri (his mom) means sweetness, therefore Gunjarav means “Sweet humming of a bird”. That makes his name very meaningful, but a tad unique! I would say more meaningful and well carved for him, as he indeed has been the apple of his parents’ eyes ever since his birth till date and that pleasure he still enjoys, sometimes over-ruled by our little bundles of Joy – our two sons. He spent his childhood at Opera House amongst a massive joint Nayak family, though those were his very early childhood days, he still has vivid memories of Opera House and the large family he lived with. Soon they moved to Santa Cruz where slowly and steadily life engrossed him amongst family, a huge friend circle, cricket, movies and studies! While his father has the maximum influence on him and his mother ensured he gets a grounded upbringing, another person who played a very affectionate and important role in his life is his Chanda maushi (aunt) whom he fondly calls ‘mimi’. She has looked after him as much as his own mother and she is equally fond of him perhaps the only person who makes it a point to address him with another name “Suyog”. That’s his second name fondly given by her, the Maushi’s prerogative as we all know! Coming from a well settled middle-class Pathare Prabhu family, he has enjoyed a very happy childhood quite alike most of us, of course I keep bragging to him that I come from a bigger and crazier joint family, therefore I had a crazier and much more fun-filled childhood than him, but I am sure that remains to be just a light argument. Gunjar is a very competitive person. He always likes to be better than the best. So that makes him compete with me all the time! Jokes apart, but his competitive streak helped him effortlessly cross the school / college days as well as his post-graduation. This competitive flash of his is very evident when he drives on the roads! He will not let any other car over-take him, nor will he keep gazing at another car’s tail light. All cars have to be behind his, and he will merrily gaze at them from his rear view mirror as he zooms on the roads. He is notorious for his flair with the traffic watchdogs much against my amusement. This is definitely one of his child-like characteristics that will never allow him to grow old. Talking about cars! Like all boys, Gunjar loves his cars, we all who know him, can trace back to his teens and re-live all memories till date with the help of the car arranging his life chronologically with the car he drove at that point in time. The first car that he ever made me sit in was a green colour Maruti 800 and our friends still remember the Green maruti 800 as 5120 (the only part of the number plate I recall). His car, the trending music of those days playing loudly in the car, usually the car is on its way to a movie hall and we friends inside the car, is how we used to and we still do spend a lot of our weekends. The friends have remained but surely multiplied over the years with spouses followed by our kids! His cousins say he used to love playing video games with them, and even today he fights with our sons to grab a chance at a video game! Cars, video games, movies, music, such are his favourite things to do, which make me wonder, has he really turned 40? Well his favourite things to do are actually his entertainment in his free time, what he mostly stays busy in is what he loves to do the most. That’s his job! He is irritatingly persistent, dreams big, very friendly, good at number crunching, can talk a lot and as I mentioned earlier extremely competitive. That makes him perfect for his role. He joined the Zee Entertainment Network back in 2001 as a Sales Executive. Started doing what he is best at that’s selling! Ever since then Zee has infected his entire system. He breaths, eats, drinks, & sleeps Zee, to the extent that I feared he will name our first born ZEE… Well he has come a long way professionally, he does not like to boast about his accomplishments but he has spent 16 long years in a tough organisation like ZEE and is today a Cluster Head across various channels and going steady strong! I am not mentioning this because I want to brag about him, but because a lot is left behind in this race to be the best. I think the time has come that he starts picking up all the things he has left behind to reach where he is. Of course I am aware that to stay where one has reached is in itself a tough rather persevering journey and he surely has bigger ambitions going forward. But life is constantly ticking, and time is not waiting. At 40 if we realize that we need to pick all that is left behind in the journey, be it friends, hobbies, travel the world (withme), taking care of our own health, picking up a sport, some art form, spending time with family then by the time we reach our half century, we may feel that our 50 years have been more fulfilling. And then 50 years old, are still young, and another 10 years to even turn a senior citizen. Suddenly life seems to be so well planned exactly how our insurance agent explains it to be while selling a policy! Off late, I have been writing less in Prabhu Tarun. While we have some new pens and minds giving us some wonderful articles, Gunjar always felt that I should contribute to the magazine in some form or the other. Prabhu Tarun is very close to his heart and therefore to me too. While it remains to be a tough journey to live up to all the requirements of the magazine, my article is more of a dedication. I dedicate this article to this wonderful bond that Gunjar shares with this magazine. This magazine probably is a part of his cosmic connection with his dad - some form in which he feels connected to him. It is difficult to cover the entire 40 years in a 2.5 page article, so many aspects of our lives I may not have touched upon, as that would open a Pandora’s Box of memories! Gunjar and I have been friends for around 20 years now of which we are married for 11 years! That makes us best friends first! We both being so closely associated with this magazine, I have written this article like I would about a close friend! He may want to kill me for giving so much space of Prabhu Tarun to talk about him, though it is not just about him, but it is about a life I feel is beginning at 40!

Our Super-woman – Vidula! - March 2016

Vidula Kanitkar Kothare – I am so delighted to get this opportunity to announce such a great achievement of a dear friend. To be featured in a book as a “SuperWoman” for her success as an entrepreneur indeed calls for accolades! The author Prachi Garg in her book “Super Women – Inspiring Stories of 20 Women Entrepreneurs” has covered women achievers, dedicating a chapter to each Diva. The coverage on Vidula was rather nostalgic to me. It talks of her journey from her decision to pursue her career in art, through the formation of Think Creative Pvt. Ltd. It takes us through their hardships and their tough, but memorable journey of transforming a small agency they founded with a single client and a single computer to a full-fledged Advertising and Marketing Solutions provider. In times when many creative agencies were shutting shop, Think Creative has not just prevailed, but with a vision to diversify in various fields of communication solutions, have excelled to become a dependable service provider for their innumerable clients. While I am sure this is a joint effort of the three founders along with their troop of 15 employees, still, Vidula stands out to be a sure, strong and rooted pillar of Think Creative. It was a pleasure to read about this woman whom I have closely observed over more than a decade that I have known her. The success story of Think Creative Pvt. Ltd. Is not new to me! We have been friends since even before the inception of Think Creative, when I knew Vidula as the would-be wife of our dear friend Nikhil /Shrinal Kothare! Those days of struggle when three partners got together to start a venture, their struggle to prove their mettle, the challenges of running a start-up agency with conservative investments, from acquiring new clients to retaining existing ones in a dynamic industry like Advertising where the “Jungle Rule” follows where survival is at stake! This agency has come a long way! But I am yet to remember a day when I have seen a frown on Vidula’s face, or even a sign of dismay or pressure about their struggle. She exuberates confidence and perfectly compliments Nikhil in running the show shoulder to shoulder with their partner Hitesh. Over these years, I have seen her as a wonderful life partner to a dear friend, a loving daughter-in-law/sister-in-law, a doting mother, a very creative professional but above all, a warm and pleasant person. With all her business responsibilities, she has effortlessly managed her duties towards her family. Her sister-in-law Sanjana, being a dear friend to me, has often mentioned how proud she feels of Vidula for managing her responsibilities as a daughter-in-law along with her demanding work profile. We all struggle to manage home and work together, but being able to fight this struggle with a smile on the face is what makes a woman stand apart the others! When work is passion that gratifies our soul, but along with work we also embrace our duties towards family is when we release positivity and that’s exactly what Vidu is all about! In her busy schedule she has always made time for all the creative requirements of Prabhu Tarun. Think Creative has been designing for the “Diwali Anka” cover page for many years! They designed the logo of Pratyush – One of the most popular events in the history of Prabhu Tarun. I take this opportunity to mention their contribution towards our magazine. I will not thank them, as that would be-little their emotions towards Prabhu Tarun which has been as dear to them as us! I wish all the success to this Woman of Substance, her business as well as her personal endeavours and may she reach higher pinnacles of success in the years to come. I conclude saying, that I am very proud to know you Vidula, and Pathare Prabhus will be very glad that you belong to us!

August 2014 Editorial - My Struggle with the Quarterly Alarm!

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we have got! Yes! Indeed… Time is money; time is everything… With the people we love the most, all we want is more time, time to talk, time to meet, time to eat together, or sometimes time to just sit and gaze at each other. When things go wrong we say “my time is running bad” when life is perfect, we say “the good times have started”. We believe that time is a healer and it heals all our wounds! We come back from a great family vacation, we actually rejoice on the quality of time we spend with the family. We walk out of a pathetic review meeting, we sulk on the terrible two hours of frustrating conversation we had with our colleagues! At all times it’s the moment we celebrate or mourn! A mix of such good and bad moments is what we call our LIFE! When we look back at our life in flashback, it is a combination of these good and bad times! Sadly what is meant to be everything is what we keep fighting with or against always! It is always a race against time! We race with time right from our childhood to reach school, or the examination hall, to our first interview, to our first date, reaching in time to work, a father- to-be struggles to make it in time to see his wife deliver their bundle of joy, a child tussles to reach his dying parent before the last gasp of breath, and the struggle continues in our “OH SO BUSY” lives! It is simply never ending. Whether we are a working professional or a homemaker or even a student, we never find the day enough. Every single day, we feel we needed an extra hour or minute to make that call to an old friend, or finish a meeting with a client, or reach a stationery store to pick up our child’s books, change the curtains, pay the bills, etc. 24 hours seem to be too less! Our expectations from ourselves are so high, that we are constantly battling it out with time to make every single minute count, every single second worth its while. From childhood our minds are conditioned to win this race against time and we gradually realise that we always seem to lose against time! While it is correct that time waits for no one, as, WE may delay, but TIME will not. How do we tackle the evils of procrastination if we do not respect the time we have on hand to finish what is meant to be done in time? But at the same time, there is never enough time to do all the ‘nothing’ we want to! After all, the time we enjoy wasting is not wasted time! The crux is to find a balance in doing nothing and doing all that needs to be done in an appropriate time! Sometimes coming home from work and simply watching my kids play amongst themselves is the best time of the day for me! I am actually doing nothing, while the time demands that I at least play with them if not cook a meal in the kitchen! I often wonder what more of a waste of time is, watching TV or just simply doing nothing? I strongly feel that it is ok to sit and do nothing, or talk nonsense, or chat up with an old friend or simply gaze outside the balcony but watching the IDIOT BOX is the real criminal waste of time for me, especially when my husband is watching it! But my husband who sells real time on television surely does disagree with me! Although I feel that we allow a lot of such criminal time killers to rule over our ‘awake’ time we have, that we could have put to better use! Even if that means sipping a cup of coffee with our favourite people and music around us or ‘whatsapping’ with some friends, or posting pictures on FB or clicking pictures in a social gathering, which to some of us means spending quality time with our loved ones, but to some it means sheer waste of time! What is important is that we all get our dose of doing nothing, but not at the cost of procrastination! Had I procrastinated lesser and spent lesser time doing nothing, I would probably have submitted my editorial well in time, and perhaps motivated myself to pick another subject than try and deal with this complicated phenomena called ‘time’ in a short article. Lack of time probably is just an illusion created by my own mind that is yet dealing with the want to do nothing, and doing everything in limited time that I have! Somehow I can visualize my late father-in-law chuckling mischievously over me for cribbing over something that he so efficiently managed! He perhaps was busier than me but managed this very same editorial month on month without ever sulking about any lack of time, which surely tells me that I am perhaps going miserably wrong in my management of time if I cannot manage an article even once in a quarter. Yes! I call this quarterly phenomena of writing an editorial for Prabhu Tarun my ‘Quarterly Alarm’ as the name suggests, I have to write it every fourth month! Someone so rightly said that ‘Time is what we want most, but what we use worst’. I close with a little introspection on the same thought and with a hope, that the next time I face this struggle that I call a ‘Quarterly alarm’ I will perhaps win it hands down against the ever ticking time!

December 2013 Editorial: I Was Alive When Sachin Played Cricket!!

Before I even begin, let me confess that I don’t qualify to write even a single statement about him. I am neither a cricket nor a Sachin fanatic. But the recent surge of emotions that I along with the rest of the world witnessed is compelling enough for me to write a few words about this Bharat Ratna awardee!! Recently the social media expressed conflicting views on whether Sachin was a true worthy recipient of the most prestigious award bestowed upon any Indian for his contribution and great work in serving this nation. “Kapil Dev’s World Cup winning team in 1983, taught us to dream, but Sachin enticed us to dream big and achieve big through dedication and commitment, he was the catalyst in making people sit up and notice India as a world force, at a time when the ‘India’ story was just beginning and hence he is the worthy recipient of the Bharat Ratna”. A lot of us will wholeheartedly agree to this statement quoted by Raj Mankar my cousin and a cricket enthusiast and an ardent Sachin fan. But there were some other almost contradicting views in media. They said – “Fine Sachin was a talented cricketer, he has many an unbeatable records to his name, but for all this he got name, fame and money…. Tons of money! What did he do for India to deserve this honour devaluing the prestige attached to this award?” (Quotes picked up from social media). “If it is for sports, then, why not Dhyanchand, the hockey wizard, Milkha Singh, athlete, PT Usha and so on?”. Well, this debate may go on, but a unanimous verdict is sure in favour of this honour bestowed upon the Little Master. Cricket to me is just a game that is played in our by lanes and gullies, a sport that bonds two eleven member teams that we see in countless parks, maidans, and stadia. International cricket to me is an extension of the teams to the countries. The popularity of this sport in India has converted its sports value to one of the highest entertainment quotient that any sport could boast of and that media can ever have monetized on. If Bollywood is a source of entertainment, in a cricket crazy country like India, cricket probably enthrals our people much more than Bollywood. In that comparison if the country has been OK with legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar being awarded the Bharat Ratna who has given Bollywood some of the most melodious songs and who has been the voice of the Indian Heroine for the longest span in the history of Indian Cinema, then Sachin Tendulkar surely is a legend in his field of sports and entertainment keeping his audience in awe and forever inspired by his sheer talent, humble values and the dignity in which he has conducted himself throughout his career. Simply translating Bharat Ratna in English would mean India’s Jewel, which he surely seems to be! I may have partially observed him very frivolously passing by the TV set when cricket crazy fans in my home sat watching him play. And the one common attribute that he always reflected was his modesty whether we won or lost because of him or in spite of him; he always came across as the most humble player on the grounds. I may not have any clue of his achievements in statistics, but the outpour of emotions during his 200th test match which announced his retirement sure symbolizes the love, respect and affection this country has for him. It clearly brings out the passion, determination and the love he has for the game that he has consistently and rightfully maintained in a long span of 24 years, probably the longest sports career span we may have witnessed. To have the nation and the world stand still and watch him swirl his bat, to sustain the performance for that long a career with feet firmly held on ground is an achievement in itself. “Speaks volumes of his middle class maharashtrian value system” says Raj Mankar. It was indeed an amazing experience for me to see all my cricket crazy family and friends turning into these super poets and writers overwhelmed with this cricket phenomenon! My nephew, Nishad Vijayakar who probably posts only when he has something to say on cricket in his status on his facebook profile has this to say for him – “Only Sachin Tendulkar can make you feel happy, proud, sad and disappointed at the same time. Unfortunately though after tomorrow, we will no longer be able to watch the God in his temple (any stadium) with his weapon (bat). I am one of the lucky few who actually got to watch the God's last innings live!! We will miss you Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. You have made the whole nation proud and happy. Couldn’t have asked more from you — feeling blessed.” Raj Mankar – “End of an era! Not only his cricket, but even his farewell speech was exemplary. It speaks volumes of the entire persona!”…. I remember a picture that The Times Of India published the very next day of his speech, where we could see Sachin referring to points he had jotted down for his speech. The points were nothing but people whom he wished to thank. And the fact that he did not have a well scripted speech shows that whatever he spoke was from his heart. Akshay Kothare another ‘sachinist’ and my brother in law – “Cricket will be now known as AS (After Sachin) and BS (Before Sachin)” Very emotionally he admitted that he along with the rest of the fellow fans in Wankhede had moist eyes when Sachin took his last leap! Another friend very emotionally declared that Sachin was the reason to bunk college, or work and fight it out for passes to get into a stadium and watch the God of cricket play, and that never in the future will he enter a stadium to scream crazy slogans for any other cricketer. Such craze, madness, love, respect, admiration for a legend who has left an indelible mark in the hearts of innumerable fans! He has carved a niche for himself in the history of World Sports. While the nation mourns at the loss of such talent from Team India, I am sure the whole world is waiting to know what the little master chooses to do in his life’s second innings! While he may not have influenced my life in any way, but those few days of Sachin’s farewell surely shook me to look up and notice this wonder. Very few people can command such worldwide attention even from people like me, who are least interested in the game. His effect on people around me and the country as a whole, surely calls for my salute to this legend and nudges me to proudly declare that “I was alive when Sachin played cricket!” “Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance I want to watch Sachin play cricket again!” – Song recomposed by Nishad Vijayakar!

August '13 Editorial for Prabhu Tarun: "In Search Of The 'Reset Button!"

'Faith' and 'blind faith' are two very strong words that come out of the same emotion, the same word but can have diverse effects on us because they are either a result of a combination of experiences or a higher degree of unconditional emotions or merely a trust in hearsay or myths! We interact with people in our lives and with various positive or negative experiences we start trusting these very people with wide levels of affection - we develop what we call 'faith' in people. Everyday we stand in front of the Almighty thank him for what he has given us and very often ask for some blessing in the form of health, wealth or well being and when we get it from Him it strengthens our 'faith' in Him sometimes converting it into blind faith! There are certain people in whom we implicitly trust because they have proven their unconditional love and affection towards us in action and words. We then reciprocate similarly to those feelings and thus blossoms a relationship which keeps building on mutual trust, faith and love. When there is such a background to any relationship 'faith' becomes an integral aspect of that relation and slowly at times graduates towards blind faith. But what happens to that trust we instil in age old beliefs, customs, and superstitions which arise out of just hearsay or mere age old practices? So is this termed as blind faith as well? or a better term could be 'myth faith' So we humans start having faith in myths which are age old superstitions and practices and which today hold no scientific relevance. Well this myth faith does arise out of teachings passed on from those people on whom we have had immense trust and faith. But have we ever asked the question why before we follow some of these age old superstitions? Very often customs and traditions are connected with auspicious occasions like weddings and festivals. These customs and traditions help us bond with our people, they strengthen our value system, they help keep our respective community together because they distinguish us from the rest of the people who follow their own sets of traditions. In totality these traditions encourage positivity and spread happiness during those times of the year when we are all looking forward to sharing some memorable moments with the people we love and care. So one may ask why question such wonderful practices! To which I completely agree! I am absolutely in favour of practicing such traditions which help and encourage us to bond and further enhance our relations. But there are a few superstitions which we Indians follow in the name of customs and traditions which are probably just myths! Myths that spread negativity and gloom. A myth that generates fear - a black cat crossing our path is inauspicious! Many of us know that it's a myth but a lot of us still hold ourselves back if a black cat does cross our path and especially if we probably are on our way for an interview. If biologically the poor cat has inherited that colour, and happens to take the same route as us, how can there be a scientific justification of this incident being a bad omen? Cutting nails or hair post sunset or sweeping the house after sunset is termed inauspicious. Well most often we never sweep at night but if there is a one off day when we have to then will that day be a dooms day just because we swept the floor? How can a hygienic practice of cutting nails be a bad omen irrespective of the time? Do the nails have any sensors that indicate the time of the day? A whining dog, a twitching eye, a cowing crow, sighting an owl, sighting an elephant, itching palms! So many good and bad omens which we still hear people follow! The probability of these instances occurring often is low, and the after effects of both following or not following these myths may be very inconspicuous. But some of the myths play a very harsh role in our lives and are actually a stigma for many! A widow is considered inauspicious, she needs to step down on her efforts to look attractive. A woman who cannot give birth is inauspicious! No amount of justification can ever prove this a fact! And women can only change this for themselves by believing that they have every right to live a full life. I used to think that in our well educated and forward thinking society such myths no longer exist, but we women are responsible for allowing them to still dwell in our lives. Even today it is the other women in the house who compel some less fortunate women to follow these sick age old myths arising out of sheer lack of knowledge. While it is a myth that these myths don't exist in our society, there is one such myth which we all will agree that it sure prevails in many households even today! The famous menstrual taboo! A biological process which graduates a little lady into a mother and presents the family the most beautiful gift of tiny feet that bring in all the happiness and cheer into our homes is still considered a taboo even in educated homes today. I would like to know which God in mythology has verified this myth and asked us ladies to not greet Him when we are in one of those days! How many pickles rot, how much of the food we cook gets polluted and for how many people we are termed a bad omen in our 'those' days has never been verified or even backed up with scientific conclusions. But this taboo is so well ingrained in us that we have been happily allowing people around us to treat us as untouchables and probably we will pass on the same baton to our daughters in the future! That's the unfortunate truth of this real myth! I found a logical answer to why such a practice of isolating women during their periods began in the first place. I may be wrong, but in comparison to there being no firm logic for following this taboo, I prefer believing the below logic, which makes a lot of sense to me! If amongst our readers we get more such reasonable answers I will be more than happy to know. What I have been told is that, in older times we didn't have a hygienic solution such as a sanitary napkin to allow a clean way of dealing with periods. So the only solution was to keep the ladies away from the routine cooking and holy rituals. Also during menstruation ladies undergo hormonal changes and bleeding can cause weakness and pain. Just as a reason for ladies to get their much deserved rest during this time, isolation was considered a solution. But just as 'the Chinese whispers' this solution slowly converted into a taboo! Lot of ladies as well as men ask me why I get so furious on this particular issue, if I am not affected by it directly? Well I may not be, but then I know a lot of ladies around me who do have to face this on a regular basis and that affects a lot of people and activities involving them! Some unfortunately themselves believe that they sure are impure in those days and the isolation will help them sustain their equation with God! While some ladies, agree with me, but are helpless about it and prefer keeping silent than revolting. Some men think its none of their business and its too much of a ladies' problem to get them involved in. They think too much is made out of nothing and abstaining yourself from some activities in those days shouldn't make any difference! I wonder what would these men do if they were asked to abstain from the same activities without any logical reasoning! And of course! There are some men who say, if my mother can do it so can my sister and wife and so will my daughter! Now I have a problem with this mindset, where you are regressive yourself, and you continue making your next generation equally regressive until they grow up to find no logic in it and decide to rebel, IF AT ALL THEY REBEL! I am thankful to two ladies, my mother and grandmother who never allowed this wonderful biological wonder to be treated as a taboo. They informed us of its power and educated us on why the not so aware society treats this wonder as a bad omen. Today this so called taboo is being extensively researched upon and is used to cure various ailments using the stem cells generated from it. Finally science is proving the 'old wives' wrong! The sooner we start changing our outlook towards these myths the lesser number of people we will hurt. If God's fear is not allowing some of us to change our outlook, then we at least need to figure out what is His will? He says be compassionate towards others. By ill-treating women in the name of God and rituals we are in the process anyway defeating God's will of being courteous and compassionate towards others. Moreover these superstitions are making our society regressive. Where science and technology are cutting their own benchmarks and moving ahead, we are still hanging on to our petty and shameful beliefs. India will need a revolution to change these superstitions. We women need to press the 'reset button' in our brains first to agree to not ill treat anyone in the name of rituals. Only then will we impart the same information to our generation next. Our gen next is aware of their reset button they use it way too often than us! We need to find our own and stomp it as soon as we can!

September Issue - Coverage of PP IDOL - Kaun Banega PP IDOL?

The afternoon of September 1, 2012 was abuzz with a lot of excitement, exhilaration and anticipation as some of the budding singers from our community put their singing talent to test at the auditions of PatharePrabhu Idol – A novel show conceptualized by Mrs. Puja Ajinkya of “Valaay Prathishthaan”, held at our Pathare Prabhu Khar Cultural Centre. PP Idol as the name suggests clearly indicates a talent hunt show, a format that is very popular on TV but what makes it special is that this show has been organized for the talent of our community exclusively! “Valay Prathishthaan’s” PP Idol will be the first talent show of our community in which the participants underwent an initial screening by way of auditions judged by very able names from the music fraternity- Mr. Mangesh Borgavkar and Miss Apurva Gajjala of Saregama Fame ! A very important mention has to be made of the systematic organization of the auditions. Every participant and every attendee had to register first, followed by a quick interview which was video recorded, courtesy Mr. Amar Ajinkya. The hall decorated with posters of PP Idol set the mood just right, and threw a positive energy in the crowd. Each participant patiently waited for their turn in the hall and enjoyed a wonderful cup of coffee and some great conversations with fellow participants and others who had come to extend a moral boost to the organisers as well as the participants. Once the participants’ name was announced they had to proceed to an enclosed room, where the judges waited for them. Here, they got their chance to exhibit their singing flair and win the coveted positions of the top 5 finalists. Out of around 13 talented entries 5 finalists were chosen. These 5 finalists will now compete against each other at the finale! It was a pleasure to see the friendly judges interact with the participants and also encourage them for having given a special place for music in their lives along with their respective careers. The judgement was clearly unbiased as the organisers also patiently waited to hear the names of the 5 finalists. Kudos to Mrs. Puja Ajinkya and her team for putting up a great start to what looks like will be a notable entry in the history of our community events! The auditions seem to be just the tip of the iceberg of entertainment! We surely look forward to this extravaganza and wish that the “Valaay Prathishthaan” team gathers loads of accolades of the whole community for this very honest and ambitious initiative. Now all we need to do is wait and watch these top 5 finalists collide with each other to win the first ever title of PP Idol, 2012. Well well well, do you know who these top 5 finalists are? They might be your uncle, aunt, sister, brother, or rather any other PP socialite you personally know! Be there at sharp 7.00pm on November 24, 2012 at Rangsharda Auditorium, Bandra West, as the “Valaay” team unravels these 5 finalists and presents you the PP Idol! We look forward to seeing you turn over in large numbers and for that kindly book you seats well in advance as the plans open on 19th September. The tickets plan will also be displayed on the group pages of Valaay Prathishthan and Prabhu Tarun on Facebook. Interested people can block their seats and inform Pooja Ajinkya referring to the plan. For further information on the show contact: Pooja Ajinkya on +919820231742.

July 2012 Editorial - Kids Say The Darndest Things!

Kids Say The Darndest Things! All of a sudden it feels like I have been plucked off from the intimidating conference rooms, and planted into a bright little kindergarten! Not sure if this is where I want to remain planted for the rest of my life, but I am surely having a ball with the cute little kiddies all around me! Well, my own amongst them are just two… … my two sons Shaurya and Vir! But they bring along so many kids into our home and thus in our lives, that currently my life is no less than a 24 hour playschool! It has been around six months that I am mostly in the company of kids, young and old. Courtesy my older son, who brings home all his friends to play, as if the newest addition to our family, my younger one is not enough, who is my loyal companion round the clock! With Vir coming in our lives, my life has sure taken a 360degrees turn. Now I don’t have to chase a Sales target, but I am chasing time, daily to complete my chores! No ruthless bosses around, but cute little angels (sometimes these angels also have small wicked thorns!) whose demands just don’t seem to get over even with the end of the day! Exhaustive excel sheets, and sales projections, have been replaced with innumerous diapers, baby food, toys, vaccination tracks, etc. My 9hrs of work time has suddenly been extended to 24 hours for which I am not even being paid a salary, forget the over time! But at the end of everything, like all moms say the clichéd line….. I see myself using the same line here… “What these twinkling, innocent, and smiling eyes convey to you each day is simply priceless!” Well, surely Vir has given me the opportunity once again to spend some quality time with my older son Shaurya too! But Shaurya need not use his twinkling mischievous eyes to convey his feelings, he can well express them through words, and at his age, kids say the funniest things with the most poker faces they can ever exhibit! His one liners just make this journey more joyous and fun. Here I share some of our conversations: Me: Shaurya do you want a baby sister or a baby brother? Shaurya: I only want a brother, no place for girls… If you get a girl, I will have to marry her when we grow up! Then sometimes they throw such questions which are very difficult to answer! Shaurya: Aai, when you were as old as me where was I? Me: You were a star! Shaurya: Then why couldn’t I see you as a baby when I was a star, the way I can see all stars from here? Then another touchy question….. Shaurya: Now are you my mother or Vir’s? Me: I am yours as well as Vir’s mother. Shaurya: Mom, if you have two babies, why can’t we have two mothers? (I wonder what his dad has to say about his son’s point of view) These are just a few of our weird conversations, but when I hear him speak with his cousins, they are even more hilarious! Shaurya: What happened to your great grandfather? Cousin: Aai said he has gone to heaven to meet GOD! Shaurya: Arre you don’t know what that means, it means he is dead! Cousin: I know that yaar, this is just what we should say, when someone dies! And here we are, Adults – who think we can fool these kids. But these kids are far smarter than we can imagine. Another funny conversation between Shaurya and his building friend: Friend: Who is this person sitting on your sofa? Shaurya: Hey! You don’t know? She is my mom! Friend: Arre I always thought NIKITA (my maid) was your mom, because she accompanies you every day in the evening when we play in the compound! What a transformation! From office politics, smart projections, and eternal chase of sales targets, here I am enjoying my kindergarten moments with my little ones. As much as I wish to get back to the grind, these moments will always be special. While we withstand the worst sarcasm from the board rooms, and gulp down the pressure of targets, our kids’ innocent one liners throw us completely off the track! Very often they casually speak the bitter truth which we as adults always know, but never want to confront. Their innocent questions and poker faced replies to our questions remind me of the once famous American comedy series hosted by Bill Cosby called “Kids Say The Darndest Things!” I always wondered what the word “Darndest” meant. Perhaps NOW I know the meaning of that word! As I leave, one last time, here I share some funny pearls of “laughter” I came across while surfing the internet. A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later..... 'Daad....' 'What?' 'I'm thirsty. Can you bring drink of water?' 'No, You had your chance. Lights out.' Five minutes later; 'Da-aaaad.....' 'WHAT?' 'I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??' I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!' Five minutes later......'Daaaa-aaaad.....' 'WHAT!' 'When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?'