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Two Vadapavs

Frustration can take weird and varied forms. The most surprising angle is that you don’t even know it was frustration that made you do things unless you get out of that phase. One such thing happened to me… Somewhere between November 2019 and March 2020, I had started eating unhealthy heavy breakfast. It became an everyday affair. After my first class got over at around 8:30 AM, I used to go to this place to eat vadapav and not just one but two – two vadas and four pavs. To make matters worse, on some days I would eat two vadapavs followed by one plate of poha, and tea and cream-roll. It was just going out of control. After such a heavy breakfast, I would come home and eat lunch properly. The reason was that I couldn’t tell my breakfast stories at home because I knew I was making a huge mistake. I knew this all along but just couldn’t get a grip on the situation. My professional and personal life was mind-blowing but two elements in my personal life were not going as expected: First,...
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The happy god

  Akshat went riding on his bicycle every morning. It was his habit. He found freedom in the pedals. While riding on the road, he came across a roadside restaurant. Every day when he passed the restaurant, he saw the owner pouring a hot steaming cup of tea and giving it to a beggar. He saw this every day. He was accustomed to seeing this happen once in a blue moon but every day, that surprised him. Out of curiosity, he once waited at the restaurant to talk to the owner about this. What the owner told him greatly changed his view: You see, there is a temple exactly opposite my restaurant. It is apparent that any person in the world wants a great start to a day and wishes the maximum profit in a day. To do the same, people have their own beliefs and way of starting their day’s trade. I had my way too. The very first cup of tea that I made was offered to god. I took the cup of tea to the edge of the road and pour it on the road, as if I was giving it to god to take his blessings and...

First century ride - 19 Feb '21

26 January 2021… it must have been my second group ride. I met Nitin Pathak sir again that day. I had met him on the 1 st January ride but for a brief period of time. While we were departing for our respective homes, he asked me to join him for a ride. “At what time do you go for the ride?” “6:30.” “Join me tomorrow. Instead of 6:30, get up a bit earlier, and let us begin at 6.” I agreed and the next morning, we went on a ride. We were four and while returning, we stopped at this roadside dhaba for a delicious breakfast of poha and tea. While we were generally discussing long rides, I said that the presence of professionals in the group would inspire the group to do more. That instant Pathak sir responded, “We can very well do all these things by ourselves. It is not at all difficult. Let us ride a 100 KM distance. What say?” The idea was thrilling. For me, it would mean my first ever 100 km ride. I suggested Pathak sir that we should go in February considering that all of u...

Coffee before exam?

Can you imagine yourself relaxing in a café sipping your favourite cappuccino a day before a national level, life-deciding exam? Almost all will answer in a big NOOOOOOOOOO. This requires an ultimate level of determination and not letting the goal out of sight. All of this isn’t hard because all of it requires two things: consistency and self-discipline. After all, the gap between the life you should be living and the life you are living is because of self-discipline. This is not just applicable to academics but to any field. If you want to excel, you have to give in every part of your flesh and blood, all of your mental and physical attention, and of course, sacrifice many things in order to get to it… I am lucky to have witnessed students who did all the above things to succeed. Their parents and I had to tell them to stop studying because they had done sufficiently enough. When a student has put in so much of himself to achieve a goal, only then he can chill in the café just a d...

My first flight experience

  Ever been excited about a wedding? Hell, yes! Ever been excited for the return journey… umm… what? Well, the year was 2018. The month was February. My best friend was getting married. I was invited. It was a destination wedding in Goa. Usually Goa is famous because “Goa ke plans kabhi successful hue hai kya?” and this has stood true to the test of time. Well, this plan of mine was happening. Being a teacher, I find it difficult to move freely throughout the year but February brings some relief. Students were preparing for their exams, I was done teaching the syllabus and was easily managing practice paper schedule. Still, I didn’t have time to stay in Goa after the wedding. And that is how I ended up booking my first ever flight ticket. Wow! I couldn’t believe it. I was finally going to travel by plane. The happiness was elevated because I had booked the ticket with my own income. I had earned the happiness myself. I went to Goa. Attended the wedding and mind you, it was to...

Almost missed an opportunity

Today’s blog post is a real incident of my life. I started teaching in 2016. In 2017, I almost let go of the opportunity that brought me to where I am. This is about realising that there are hints which you must take seriously in order to not miss an opportunity. In my case, luck favoured me. Here’s what had happened: A year after starting classes, I got good feedback from the limited students I had. Students, as well as their parents, were happy with the classes. Unfortunately, there was no growth. Despite the feedback, I had a limited number of students. As a young man of 25, I couldn’t afford this growth rate. I was not expecting a flooded classroom but considering the feedback, at least double the strength of the existing students. After contemplating about the same, I decided to stop teaching the students of CBSE board. I had to say ‘no’ to them and it was one of the toughest decisions I had to take back then. I was highly anxious about telling this to the existing students....

Gulmohar teaches

Nature is a great teacher. If we look around ourselves and do not learn from nature, we must be blind to ignore the lessons of the omnipresent. While every single petal, every single leaf is a lesson in itself, one lesson that appeals to me the most is the lesson of the gulmohar tree. Here is a story: He was scolded by his parents for disrupting his sleep cycle. He felt dejected. He felt angry. He didn’t want to wait for a single second in the house. He didn’t want to let his parents know that he would be away for some time. Grabbing the key of his scooter, he softly closed the door and left. To make sure his parents don’t notice anything, he pulled his scooter to the end of the lane, and when out of earshot, he switched on the ignition. After god knows how much time of riding, he spotted a field. It was nearly 6pm and the sun’s rays looked like melted gold on the green grass. He parked his scooter and sat down under a gulmohar tree. He looked up at the six feet tall tree. His eyes gli...