Ganesh Visarjan Utsav

I love the festival of Ganpati. The energy, the enthusiasm, the sheer number of people together at one place, the music, the thrill it is unparalleled to any other festival that, I have celebrated.

This is one of the most common music for Ganesh Festival. I love the beats of it.

Another very common music for Ganesh Festival. I love the energy of it (notice the number of people in orchestra).

Finally the Ganpati idol is immersed in the water. Photos of the Ganpati Visarjan Utsav are available here.

Tarun Chandel
Give peace and harmony a chance!

ये होंसला कैसे झुके

रुत ये टल जायेगी,
हिम्मत रंग लाएगी,
सुबह फिर आयेगी ...

अपनी खुदा से है ये दुआ,
मंजिल लगा ले हमको गले,
जुर्रत सौ बार रहे,
ऊँचा इकरार रहे,
ज़िन्दा हर प्यार रहे ...
- डोर

तरुण चंदेल
एक और रात, एक और बात

Somethings are best witnessed and experienced, but let me try

It was one of the quietest place I have ever been to. The hills in the background were a thick forest with melodious birds. The musical sound of birds was to echoing in the green surrounding. Even the wind was musical, I never knew that trees were such good music creators. The sound of leaves dancing with joy was taking me to a greater high. There was so much to listen yet it was so quiet, yet there was silence. I could hear my heartbeats, I could hear myself breathing and it somehow was sounding all musical to me. This never happened before, never ever. I never knew the music that I play all the while, may be because I never really could hear all this while I was in plains. This place was quiet, it helped me to connect with myself.

The valley in front of the hills was one of the most beautiful valley I have seen. May be it was because that day, the sky was covered in misty clouds till the horizon. It was such a beautiful sight. Being at a quiet place with an amazing view in front, I sat down there and chose to gaze at the horizon and listen to the most natural music and, at the same time enjoy the silence. I am finding it hard to express in words and I think you can notice that. Somethings are best witnessed and experienced.

I must have have been sitting at the same place for hours, though it never felt like that. The moon was out to venture in the cloudy sky and it was an amazing sight. It was all so simple yet so beautiful. It felt like as if there was someone up there who had planned all this so that I could witness this beauty. The quietness of hills, the music of wind, the mistiness of surroundings, the beautiful moon lit sky, all looked so designed. May be it was just my mind that has always been designed to look at everything with suspicion. Or may be it was designed so that I can change my behavior and it worked, I guess (again suspecting ;) so it may not have worked).

It was the time when I realized that nature has so many gifts for us and we are busy chasing ... God knows what. It will be a good idea to stop someday to look around, spend sometime with yourself, cleanse your thoughts, cleanse your soul, cleanse your character and start afresh. May be we will be able to give a meaningful direction to our chase.

Tarun Chandel
Music of silence,
beauty of nature and
thoughts of a calm mind.

Better Teachers and I am back from vacation

Have you seen that ad of the Future Group where a teacher is talking about the Sone Ki Chidiya? I recently saw that ad and I think it is one of the very best ads that I have seen for a while, not only for the reason that it reminds us that our country was great and again on the path to be one. I also like for the way it has portrayed the teacher, it is really important for us to have great teachers who can make learning a fun process for everyone. The way she makes a normal looking statement a great exercise for the whole class. The way she involves everyone in the class, those who were not willing to join in early got into the action soon after she get the momentum going. The way she handles one tough student and makes her happily participate with the whole class is simply amazing. It's very important to have good teachers and especially teachers who can improvise on the spot and come up with such simple yet very effective way of making people learn.

I remember learning the same lesson from my teacher when I was kid and it was just one of the statement she read as part of our syllabus. It was always just about completing the syllabus. I never really felt that my teachers ever believed in what they were actually teaching us. Some who did made their subjects really interesting and i learnt a lot from them.

I found the youtube video of the sone ki chidiya ad

I was on a vacation for almost the whole month of November. I visited lots of interesting and beautiful places in India like Delhi, Himachal some part of the Himalayan Range, Patna and Kolkata. I will be postings pics, text and videos in coming days.

Tarun Chandel
Life, Learning and Technology