And there she goes...

Nearly three years ago we said goodbye to the family maruti 800. The good old car that taught me how to drive. It belonged to my grandfather and I was sad to see it go. But its time had come, I guess...

Today, we said good bye to our Accent. Also a family old hand and another brilliant car. A car I drove all the way to Nanital within two months of us getting it, a car that I took out on weekends when Dad was not around, a car that made you feel the pep in good old huge petrol engines. Like the maruti, I drove it more than anyone else in the family. 

We had it for a short while and almost appropriately there is hardly a picture with it. I headed for a quick workout today and I knew it was going to be gone soon. I wanted a picture with it but no one was around to click one. I whipped out the phone and took a quick one which is attached here. It's blurry, but beautiful.

I read zenhabits.net a lot. Leo says store few memories and if any, let them be digital. I agree, hanging on is not good. But this post and picture is good for this beautiful dimpled beauty. May she run many more with the new guy. He's a lucky man...

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

the 36 day summer trip: Mumbai, Pune and Goa

It helps to be sat on the aisle of a fantastic Indigo flight, next to the prettiest girl in the airport on the last day of your holiday to prompt a close-of-holiday blog. I should have known this was coming - Kaberi's call woke me up this morning. Its a great good luck charm - I rarely have a bad day the day she calls in the morning!

Public professions of love for women sitting a few continent's away apart its been an exciting and fortuitous summer. I had a wonderful summer with 3.2.1. doing great work, learning a lot and knowing myself better. Access to great food, superb hospitality, squash courts, table tennis, beaches and running helped immensely. God looked out for his little boy! I stole two quick weekends in the middle with family and continued my affair with Mumbai. I've spent just the right amount of time in the city and this time I discovered great places to eat and met old friends.

The last ten days saw me return to Pune and Goa. 

It was super to be in Pune. I am beginning to warm my relationship with the city. I met smiling auto-wallah's, professional shopkeepers eager to help, Pune bus services, crusty waiters that warmed to my smile and old friends who brought back great memories. Stepping into FLAME to meet 150+ bright eyed Teach for India Fellows reminded me I love what I do and that I work with some of the best people I know. The 2012 opening ceremony had me both laughing and tearing up and added fire to my dream to be a great teacher. I know its going to be a standout year.

3 days in Goa preceded this flight. Time with Amit, Chandini and Nipun. Drives across town and a significant bump in the beer count. While a JD and coke with Nandeeta is one of the best drinks I know, a Jim Beam and coke with the gang comes pretty close to alcohol that I cannot say no to. Brunch at the Marriot meant coming a circle from our 2009 Goa party. Amit stuck to his love for large feni's and us to the love for superb food and lots of dessert. 

The early morning runs with Anna and Nicky in Pune and the workouts with Amit (he sat in the steam room) in Goa were great to reflect on whats been a fabulous summer. In many ways its made me think about what ticks the boxes for me and its made me look inward. I love charting the path that I am. Conditioning has taught me to look over the shoulder to see if I am following a path. However, I am beginning to realize my journey is new and not so well marked. It shakes me sometimes because I find it hardest to explain this to people I love the most. And the people I love and those who Iove me back matter the most to me. Constant personal evolution and great relationships go hand in hand. I can only connect the dots looking back - a few understand this and I wish sometimes I could explain myself better. But as I become surer of myself, realize the futility of anger (an emotion I fall back on) and have better conversations with similar people I see hope for myself to be a better man!

Its a good pit stop to mark out on my travel blog. Going back to Teach for India institute also meant reliving these powerful lines:

"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'

Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'

Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

I hope you dance

I hope you dance"

Here is to dancing... 

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Mumbai Again!

Mumbai reminds me of my trip to Bangalore with Gaboli about a year and a half ago. Lots of great work, good food, gut busting worouts, old friends to meet and some fabulous memories to re-kindle. My sister, Tarini, came to Mumbai over the weekend as I headed back from Aksa (where I was with 3.2.1.). And that helped kick off some special times. 

I rode into Bandra with Arnab and Lara and hit up Global Fusion for an animal protein filled buffet. The sushi and the pepper chicken had me kicked. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now brews a mean de-caff and as I waited for my cousins.

Saturday morning I transferred to Colaba and waited for Tarini to land. As soon as she did we ran to Britannia at Ballard Estate to get soli boti and berry pulav with Arnab. We were a tad early and had to cool our heels with coffee at the Kalagodha Café – what a great little place.

The afternoon Tarini went on a stroll down Colaba Causeway, pretty much buying the city for me. I ended up getting a pair of shoes, a fancy set of shorts and a few shirts that bumped up my net worth a few notches. We dined at night with one of our favourite Masi’s at the Taj – quite a treat setup by Bhupinder Uncle.

The white wine put us to good sleep and refreshed I hit work for a while on Sunday, not before we’d chugged through a scrumptious breakfast at Woodside Inn. We met some friends in the afternoon, walked down the length of Marine Drive post that and dined at Leopold. I failed to the charm the host enough to get a good table but the beer wore the soreness off. Over the walk and dinner Tarini and I had a pretty nice chat about my life choices and career – I might have shocked her by saying I had no major life plan. The night was still young so we headed to AER at the Four Season’s – another one of Arnab’s superb recommendations. The view and the whisky sour made Sunday quite cheery. We wound back in a taxi to the room via Moshe’s and its sinful cake. Going back to bed quite full and happy.

Its taken me a day of work and a humungous workout to get to a point to be able to go over the weekend and I cannot believe its just been two days in Mumbai.

Apart from the fact that 3.2.1 has been intense, I’ve had a lot of memories walk into me at Mumbai too. Great ones but a lot of them! The walks on Marine Drive, admiring the David Sasson library building, the corners of Colaba, the feel of Carter Road last weekend and walking in and around Mumbai. Today I took a train back from Dadar where I was working and walked from Churchgate to Regal Cinema. I ran into Oxford Book store – and I remember going there a few years ago to pick up a book on Greenspan. The 2008 crash would happen after that and change so much of Green's legacy…. The fact that the mind remembers so much makes me feel old. Or maybe its that I did not know I remember so much but that I manage to. In body I might be younger than I was then.

And there is the fact that I love Mumbai. Its professional taxi services, polite drivers and roadside vendors (almost everyone responds with a welcome), polite 5 star security and lack of aggression in your face. It helps that I've stayed with my cousin or with Dad’s help at some of the better parts of town – but getting out has been a pleasure. I wonder if I could every live here though and not get rubbed off by the pace of Mumbai’s life. Maybe by then I would have perfected the art of finding a pace within myself.

Still, I love the fact that some cities hold out so many great memories and I feel like ‘its on’ everytime I land there. Mumbai and Bangalore; thank you for always being so nice. Here’s to more times with old friends over the next three days and some good work winding up this internship!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

a dance, a new year and thoughts

I began my new year with a trek to Bhutan. I needed some time off in the mountains thinking, seeking and learning to be able to put my thoughts on the classroom in perspective. And I got that in loads. One on one interaction with the children and all the local people there. Being in the villages and the cities there also made me think about how much happier and peaceful my community back home around the school can be.

However, being back in Delhi brings with it its own pressures. And I sometimes feel my ideas for change are Utopian, need a longer term for gestation and time on my fellowship is ticking and running out faster than I can deal with.

I have been back in school a week - its been cold and intense. Today we (teaching staff) got called to an inauguration of the new school building which was a proverbial show put on for the local powers that be. I have no stand / issue that I want to comment on / bring up. Its just that the juxtaposition with the system, my co-fellow's exhortation to think practically and the reminders of the distance my community needs to traverse makes me wonder what I can do in my second year which approaches fast. 

But there is a silver lining to my thoughts. At the school inauguration twenty girls from class five at a MCD school twenty minutes away came to do a dance show. Decked out in saris and makeup these girls are gorgeous. I walked over to them, spoke to them a little and then walked them into my class. We spoke about the Explorers and they liked me enough to offer putting up a small aerobics performance. Their coordination (I have two left feet), enthusiasm, love - blew me away. And reminded me that deep down, all of us, love being excellent at something. That being true for me, other adults and my kids more than all. At the end of my year I should leave them excellent at something. And that something is probably education / high academic achievement.

Going back to the community - we have a BTCP (be the change project) in the community in year two. I am thinking of opening votes upto five ideas for the children to decide on, ask my principal for a veto / vote and then get to it with the community. Greening the school / a playground / computers are the top 3 ideas I have now. Do you have an opinion or an idea?

The project will take thinking, money and a lot of doing. But the dream is to create this tiny primary school into a happy, welcoming place where wants to go. Where parents feel their kids learn something great, something they help build and are proud of. It might mean many many days spent in the community and lots of disappointment but as always I will turn to you for hope and encouragement :)

And did I tell you? The day I sleep well, I get up early and start my car to make the 25 min drive to school. Usually I'll play loud dance / rock music that thunders in the car. For me its like I am going to war each day to make sure I impart something to my students. Something that is useful and helpful. People ask me why I did not follow my Dad's footsteps in the Army. I think I did. This Army I am a part of will change India. 

Baby, we're in the Army, now. 

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

The wannabe hermit’s tryst with the Hermit Kingdom

I spent a marvelous week in Bhutan ushering in my New Year. It's a gorgeous country and I am in love with it for multiple reasons.

For my trip I'll let some pictures do the talking - click here

Yes some parts will get missed out like my fantastic dinner with Phub Gen and Ugyen from Yangphel, making dinner friends with an American opera team performing a classical music opera in Bhutan, lunch with Tandin and his family on the outskirts of Thimpu, the first night on the trek visiting a Bhutanese house and chatting with a llama, visiting a monastery under construction, my talks with Tandin about Buddhism, the visits to monasteries but the pictures are a chance to chronologically go through my holiday .

As I leave Bhutan I realize I’m more at home in the mountains. I focus better and work more efficiently. I have known this for a while so now I wonder what I can take back to the city.

- (I struggled for four months but) Email on the go is a waste of my time. I've said good bye to blackberry services on my smartphone

- Sleep and walk (not sleepwalk – which I last heard of in the Enid Blyton series Malory Towers) more

- Do less email and talk to people more

- Eat bigger meals and play a lot

- Spend more time around my kids back at school learning with them AND stop planning life outside class so hard

Bhutan rang home some experiences and brought to life some stuff I've been thinking about too. Just before I went to Bhutan Geet Sethi spoke to us at Teach for India's Ahmedabad retreat. He said “you cannot have the focus of a monk if you live like a king”. And Zen Habits, the blog I read a lot has been encouraging a year without goals for a while now. Living in the present and giving everything a huge shot. Those might be my guiding principles for the year - live simply and work with out goals.

Here is to 2012!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Finding food in Thimpu

I swear the only reason I'm sat in a fast food joint in Chang Lam Square, Thimpu is because Baan Thai which was recommended is shut. So is Khamsa Oriental which I walked a few klicks to and I refuse to pay for an over priced meal at the Taj. In any case everyone says the Taj has horrid food.

Its a cold night, it just rained and I'm glad I decided to walk out. Its the first of my two nights in Thimpu and I got to cover a lot of the town on foot. I love being layered well and walking in the cold.

Thimpu is a gorgeous city. Developing fast but not bursting at the seams. Quaint but modernizing well. I was catching up with the world on CNN when an advert for Bhutan flashed. Much of what it said about an erstwhile shut but fast opening up country is so true.

I'm sure I've barely scratched the surface with my two days in Paro, a three day trek and a day yet in Thimpu but here's what I love.

A king who moved with the times and abdicated his thrown to usher in democracy. And its a pretty well planned democracy - there are posters everywhere in Jhongka (the national language) and English encouraging voting and providing info about the elections.

The kids in the cities and the villages are well educated. This is across primary and high school. They speak English well, sing in Jhongka and English, dance, connect things and are refreshingly curious. Maybe the last bit is just my outside the class, one-on-one interaction.

The women (are gorgeous) and everywhere. They own businesses, run shops, work in the fields, build houses and almost always study up to class 12 and often beyond. They have rights to property by tradition and the divorce rate is high but the women are the ones who make the call to leave their husbands. Remarriage is not uncommon in both cities and villages. And this bit just might be the Indian in me speaking but I think its a very powerful statement if you're a developing nation but socially liberal with a high regard for women's rights. (Homosexuality seems repressed yes).

Till now by royal decree they've chosen to preserve their culture smartly. You can build any style of house but doors, windows and roofs should be in Bhutanese tradition. One must wear the national dress when going to the offices or the monastery.

And they're a blissfully happy nation. A lot of what I'd say - people talk to you willingly, offer you a drink, are friendly to foreigners is actually true for India too. But they're incredibly happy with status quo and that's not true for India. Its not Bhutan is not on the move. They are but they're not fussed.

I still have a day to go so I'm going to dig deeper but I've loved being here. Here's to an upcoming walk in the cold back to the room. I've had a huge dinner and I'm going to love the walk hopefully.

PS - I got a rather strong JD with coke cause I thought of Nandeeta and felt good enough to break my non alcohol drive for a hol night. And spoke to an American team who are doing a classical music opera in Bhutan. The Americans were there at lunch too. We bumped into each other again - good to speak this time! Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Good karma to Bhutan

I have been very keen to visit Bhutan. A trip in the Oct 2011 Diwali break fell through. Jan 2012 in the school winter vacations seemed the next best idea. It was always going to be a challenge doing a winter trek though. And it is.

Early on in the planning the long treks (7 days+) got cancelled due to snow and cold forecasts. Finally, we selected the Paro to Thimpu, 4n & 5d , Druk Path trek going up to appx 3300 mts. Decent snowfall over the last two days has meant that the Druk trek has been cancelled. I got to know as I was about to leave for the airport this morning.

I'm still going though. There's an alternate route in Central Bhutan that I might do. I will hang onto my flight coming out 11th Jan. I'm excited to go visit, there's not much chance I'll get to go again, there's a lot of good I hear about the country and I'm happy to be in the mountains and the snow. I'm carrying good trekking and winter gear. Things should be fun.

Wish me luck and look forward to pictures!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie