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?'

To Fresh Beginnings - March 2012 Editorial

How often do we dread to stride on a path unknown? To uproot ourselves from the routine and risk a new path is a difficult decision - a decision arising sometimes out of choice but very often a result of circumstance. A little change in the routine brings in a breath of fresh air. It could be the arrival of a newborn, reallocating ourselves to a new home, etc. The freshness of the change often alters our life for the better. But sometimes such a change can ditch us! The risk of nudging ourselves out of the comfort zone and exploring another avenue can be rather unpleasant. The fear of facing failure and starting all over again is usually the hindrance for most of us to take risks in life. We underestimate ourselves and thus fear exploring - Be it a new job, a new residence, a new vocational stream, reviving an old passion. The ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ create such a huge mind block that we refuse moving out of our cocoon. It may sound rather strange to an outsider, but we Indians distinguish this risk taking ability of our people by the community we belong to. Historically it is believed that the ‘marwadi’ and ‘gujarati’ community reign in their acumen for business, therefore are known to be risk takers or so called gamblers in the game of business. The ‘sindhis’ are known for their “kanjoos” calculative minds and do rather well in their small time businesses. These are the people who boast of very glorious “rags to riches” success stories. They have made it big because they had the guts to challenge themselves, they had the perseverance, and the confidence to move out of their routine and explore fresh areas. Unfortunately, even today a ‘marathi’ is believed to be rather naïve and timid in his approach towards his goals in life. An impression of a typical ‘marathi manoos’ is that of a middle level manager going for a 9-5 job, having a modest home, very satisfied in his life and very proud to be a ‘marathi manoos’ too, worrying about his children’s education, he thinks he has invested well enough in LIC policies to take care of his family’s future. Well, I beg to differ. In my opinion a ‘marathi manoos’ has evolved beyond the shackles of mediocrity. As I know many of us who have led rather successful lives, moved out and explored. There are many of us who are willing to tread on an unexplored journey, try unique career options, break the routine of a 9-5 job and embrace other business opportunities. Prabhu Tarun has featured such risk takers of our community who have chosen an off beat career in last year’s Yuva Manch Section. It was indeed a pleasure to read success stories and educate ourselves on their road to a different career; these were people who chose to walk on an uncertain but promising path and have been successful in their own journey. Yet, it would be a pleasure to come across more entrepreneurs in not just our community but other marathi communities too. The more we propagate successful entrepreneurs around us, the more the outside world will start believing that we are as good as them or even better. Of course it is important to break this belief that a community makes entrepreneurs. It takes the perseverance of an individual and the back up of his family and social circle to walk a different path. It is true that many other communities stand united to help their fellow members in any small and big challenges. Help may not necessarily be monitory, but it could be help in networking, help in tutoring, offering a business advice, or even offering an internship to gain some experience in the specialization that a youngster wants to explore! If nothing else, then simple good wishes and encouraging words also work wonders! Nevertheless, seeking help through the right people for breakthroughs is as important as offering help! We have many of our community members who hold high positions in various fields and can offer such help to youngsters in our community. But our youngsters may not even be aware of them. The younger generations have got attuned to a misconception that the community is only for their grandparents and parents to mingle. They yet have to find out such advantages which they can seek by merely interacting or actively involving themselves. They continue to fear and dread to walk on an unknown path, least realizing that the community they belong to could have someone like them, who thought similarly some years ago and managed to make a great career and a successful life with the same unique off beat profession that they today fear. This can happen only if the community as a whole upgrades its array of involvement amongst its people to other aspects of life! It is time that we rise above the usual and sometimes regressive areas of discussion to more progressive subjects. Yes we all know that usage of the “English” language is extremely high in our newsletter, which is often criticized by many of our fellow PP members. With due respect to all these members, I would like to reiterate that if another language connects better with the future of the pp community, then it is time you all bypass this bit and embrace the new youth who is coming forward to participate actively by contributing to the content of this newsletter. Where else would you be able to read the journey of a highly designated market researcher, a talented event manager, a photographer, a grooming specialist, if it was not for the flexibility of our newsletter to allow these talented people to express their views in our ‘Yuva Manch’ section throughout the last year? The point is not “WHICH” language they are writing in, but “WHO” is writing! Please notice the variety and usefulness of the content available today in a community magazine which can help career decisions for our own people. These people would continue shying away from the community had we not allowed them the flexibility of language. If these articles have encouraged even one youngster to defy traditional career streams and explore something new, then I believe that the community newsletter is doing its job and catering to its rightful audience, which is the future of the community. Performing Arts has been a critical binding force in our community. We took a risk by setting a large stage to showcase this art and it paid off! It all began with ‘Pratyush’, which brought together tons of youngsters who got a platform to showcase their talent. Today ‘Pratyush’ has become a benchmark and has set a trend within the community and we are pleased to see many other similar programs being organised with the same enthusiasm which are further bringing the community closer. These programs further instil our faith and confirm that we are in the right direction. We now want to look forward and set another trend with a new showcase of our own community. It may be a risk, but we will walk the unknown path to explore and test our capacity. This time we will bring forward a totally different facet of the people of our community. We hope that this fresh beginning will also mark a new trend and encourage a new set of talented people giving them their due recognition. Well, right now it all seems to be a jigsaw puzzle that we all are trying to solve, but sooner and surely we will spill the beans of our next project – ‘Pratyush’ will don a new look and enthral the art lovers with masterpieces awaiting everyone’s appreciation! I may sound ambiguous to you all, but spare me, as that’s exactly what I am. It may be early to talk more on this, we have our set of challenges and sooner we resolve them, we shall announce our next project! Higher the risk, greater is our determination to make it work, greater the determination, higher the efforts and thus higher the chances of success. Sometimes we only realize during such times what we are capable of as these times test our abilities. The will to fulfil against all odds is at its peak when we have lots at stake. To emerge as a winner in all we do, breaking the shackles of mediocrity is extremely important. A calculated risk will always allow us to explore the unknown and sometimes even explore our own worthiness! If we don’t allow ourselves that chance we may lose the opportunity to know more about our own self. In our careers as well as our personal lives, we owe ourselves that chance, that risk to keep bringing out the best in us. Today I am at that time of my life, where I think I am starting all over again! While I explore the unknown, and test a new direction in life, I hope I emerge as a winner at the end of the journey. Till then, here I raise a toast to A FRESH BEGINNING!