Life of an Executive Engineer

Usually I post a blog about a month in the end of the month to cover all the incidences happened during the month. This time when i was about to write about Nov 14, I was so overloaded instantaneously that i could not realize how the time flew by. I was so busy with the office work that i could not even get the time to reconcile myself into words.

How it started? It was starting of the november month when weather started showing its colors. Undue pressure was being created by my XEN to get the leakages rectify (Bhucho Rising Main, for non technical staff..take it as if there were some leakage in some pipe) which have increased to great extent. Moreover, farmers rejected to take water into their fields seeing the prevailing weather conditions. So overall situation was critical and action needed to be taken urgently.

After some deliberations, discussions we hired an agency to get the leakages rectified. No contractor was willing to take the initiative as it was like belling the cat. So finally work got started. While we as a department were fully enthusiastic but the contractor seemed least interested. Somehow, we kept the work moving despite no support from XEN keeping in mind the embarrassment it was causing to the name of the department.

On 26th of November, when i was having dinner at my PG, I got a call from JE who just dropped me 5 minutes earlier, telling me about my transfer to Gurdaspur all of a sudden. Another news which followed immediately was that i had been given the charge of Executive Engineer(XEN) there. I was so numb that for a minute i could not believe him. After realization, i could not hold myself but to cry. To confirm, i asked some of my colleagues and friends in the head office, they gave their nod to the news. When i was confirmed, then only I conveyed the news to my parents. They were too much excited they burst into tears out of happiness.

Next morning, when i reached office, i was congratulated by whole staff and i received my orders finally. It stated that Sh Parul Goyal has been transferred to Pb Water supply & Sew Div No 2 Amritsar and given the independent charge of Executive Engineer. So it was amritsar not Gurdaspur where i had been posted but the xen thing was correct. As soon as I got the orders, i packed my bag, got the relieving from the current Xen and left for Amritsar by 1 Pm. After travelling for 4 hours, reached to the office, met SE and gave my joining there. On 28th, I assumed the charge of Executive Engineer, Pb w/s & Sew Div No 2, Amritsar. So, all of this happened so quickly that i did not get the time to write my mind those days. Then it was work, meetings, site visits, new assignments which kept me busy for a month. Every day, after working for late hours also, the work was still pending.

So to get back to normal mode, it took me about a month. So this was the reason behind the non posting last month blog. It was not the leakages which kept me busy rather the post of an XEN which engaged me throughout the month. The first two paragraphs of the blog are just to build up the motion of reading the rest of it. Anyways, 2014 year while ending has given a beautiful present to myself and my family. I need all of your best wishes and blessings so that i can do justice to the chair i have been given.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Festive Season

October 14, a month which will always be remembered as one of the most happening months of this year. Since the festive season is around, be it Dussehra, be it Karwa Chauth, be it Diwali or Bhaiya Duj etc. October has always hold a special space in a person's life. As it brings lots of happiness in the life. This time also, i enjoyed this festive season to its fullest.

Starting with Dussehra which happened on 3rd of october this year, It was a holiday in the office hence I enjoyed it in Budhlada with my family. We did traditional pooja and had lots of sweets. In the evening, i came back to bathinda and celebrated the festival with my friends.

Then, Karwa Chauth arrived which is considered to be a festival of women. But for men also, it is a festival of happiness and joy. I too enjoyed it with pankaj by shopping, roaming in the market. It officially declared the festival season open for the traders as they all tried their level best to decorate the shops, showrooms etc to give market completely a new refreshing look. I also had a temporary tatoo on my arm for the first time ever in my life. Though it lasted only for 4 days but i had a great time in flaunting the same.

Then the biggest festival, Diwali, came. It is a festival of lights, crackers, sweets and lots of Happiness. It also reminds us of holidays and gifts etc. October has also been a month of travelling for me as i visited Chandigarh Four times. Besides the work pressure, i managed to enjoy all the four holidays of Diwali at home only. This time as Green Diwali wave is around the country, so i myself also decided to reduce the crackers, instead i invested in some small hot air balloons.

Overall, it's been a wonderful month. I clicked some beautiful pictures which will always stay with me and will remind me of the fun I had this month. Hope that you all must have celebrated this festive season the same way.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Back in Shape..

By the title itself, it is pretty clear that this time the blog is dedicated to my physique. Yet i want to make it clear that besides body, it would also deliberate about the mental condition also. Without much ado, let us start from the point from where it all started.

If you have been the constant follower, you must be knowing about a decision i took about 4 months back on my birthday eve that is 23.5.14. If at all, you have missed, kindly revisit the blog published in may 2014 which clearly mentions about the moment i decided to cut on my food habits. After almost four months, i am proud to announce that i have shed all those extra kilos which did put me in obese category people. I am back in shape reducing 16 kg of weight starting from 80 kg to 64 kg and still counting.

Last four months, have been a journey full of roller coaster rides. I have seen many ups and lows in past few months which has been discussed elaborately in the previous blogs. To sum up, starting from the pledge of reducing weight to running 10kms a day , from visiting Amarnath shrine to paying obeisance at Salasar Dham, from having arguments in office with seniors to settling issues with contractors, from starting construction of new home to searching for a perfect match.

To consolidate, mentally and physically, i have changed a lot in these days. Running has increased my stamina and off course, Spirituality always makes a person more stronger internally hence i am content with the way i utilized the time in channelizing my energy in the right direction. Since i am back in shape now and only i know about the labour that i have put in to reach at waist line of 30. So i would not dare to allow myself to gain weight again in my entire life.

In the end, i would also like to thank all the people who in some or the other way helped me in achieving my goal. Be it lovely, with whom it all started, be it the doctor for his valuable suggestions, be it pankaj for accompanying me throughout my stadium days, be it my parents for allowing me to continue my dieting without much arguments, be it the people for their encouraging feedbacks from time to time.

Regards

Parul Goyal

A month full of Disturbances

August 2014, which had just passed, had been a month full of disturbances, lows for me in every manner. Be it Personal, be it professional. The details related to it, will be explained as we progress in the blog. Before delving into the problems, we must also pay some attention to the factors which kept me going despite the problems viz a viz Movies, Running and Pankaj, of course.

August 2014, will always be remembered as one of the worst months in my life and i wanted to put it in records hence this blog happened. To start with, the month started with another fight with lovely. (He has been the most talked about person in last few blogs). Which made me feel so disheartened that i could not resist myself but to cry once again because of him.

Then there was office issues which were affecting me in a big way. As government employees are most of the times busy in conspiring something or the other against somebody in the office, this time target was myself. They all poked me to the level that i openly declared protest against my seniors. Which was reported to the higher authorities.

Thirdly, family issues kept me busy as construction work is in progress at home. Some decisions were to be taken about which myself and Papa had some arguments. Finally, mom intervened and resolved the issues but all this created unnecessary tension at back home. In middle of all this, my younger brother was diagnosed with few stones in his kidney. Which was shocking news for me as i had never imagined myself into a situation where one of my family member could be treated for some major problem except cold, cough etc.

In short, my life was fully screwed and there was no way out to escape all problems. So i had no choice but to fight. I strengthened myself mentally and introspected thoroughly. Lovely got replaced by Pankaj. Everybody needs a person in life to share his/her feelings, lovely did not stand out beside me in difficult times pertaining to his own issues so i took a step forward towards Pankaj thinking he would help me in getting out of the chaos. Though Lovely had been a support system for last one year but in past few months he had ignored me to the level that i am helpless to leave him at his own terms.

Office problems still continues and movies give me the much needed boost to tackle them in the best way possible without losing my cool. I am looking forward to resolve them at the earliest because it's been very tough to enact as if everything is fine. GOD is testing my patience. Even i am not sure that how it will end.

Family issues were never there, they were just overrated by myself only. Moreover, my mother has always been a friend to me. I have shared everything with her and can openly talk to her regarding any problem. Finally, construction work is smoothly going on. Building his/her own home is a dream for everybody in life. I am living my dream these days.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Amarnath Revisited

It's been an year since i visited The Amarnath Shrine last year. Many things changed during the year but the excitement to visit the place remains the same. Another thing which was changed in the planning was to do the pilgrimage via Pehalgam route instead of Baltal. Devotees were also same with an addition of Bittu (Babbu's Cousin). We four planned to leave for the yatra on 8th night since we had our registrations done for 10th july. But on 8th, Lovely's relative expired and whole scenario changed, plan went in limbo.

As lovely was the lead and we could not even think of leaving him alone. After digesting the news, he called up, we met and worked out the things & planned to leave on 10th morning instead. Taxi driver also agreed to it. 10th July came and we all left for the pilgrimage (Bum Bum Bhole!!). As the journey to Amarnath shrine is too extensive to be framed in words hence i would describe the main events day wise as below:

Day 1: Driver was named DSP (Deputy Superindent of Police) though he did not even look like a constable (Just to add humor). He was too intelligent to drive that he did not even once cross the mark of 80 on his speedometer. We decided to stay at Patnitop hill station in night.

Day2: Next morning we continued our journey and reached Pehalgaam by 5'o clock in evening. We booked a hotel and went out for a walk on the hill station. Since we were tired, hence after clicking some pictures and having dinner at Langar, we went to sleep.

Day3: Next day in morning, we started our pilgrimage to the Shrine. Pehalgaam to Chandanwari, we hired a cab. From chandwari onwards, no vehicles are allowed, one needs to walk throughout the 30km trek to reach the holy cave unless one opts for Pithoo, Horse etc. After crossing chandanwari, we reached the first point called Pissu Top. The trekking was too steep to reach. Then after walking around 8 km, me and lovely reached Sheshnaag at around 12 noon. We waited for babbu and bittu there to continue journey together from there onwards. They reached the point at around 2 pm and the check post was to close on 2.30pm. It means after, 2.30pm nobody was allowed to travel further and needed to stay back at sheshnaag only for night. They both denied to travel further and cross the barrier which became a point of discussion. We, four, were divided into two groups of two each out of which one wanted to stay back, another wanted to travel ahead. Without lingering on, we decided to part our ways and one group including myself and lovely went on to reach the next stoppage.

We continued with the same speed and reached the next stop called Ganesh Top at 4 pm. After having some refreshments, we left the place to reach Panchtarni, the last stop of the day. We reached there around 6 pm after covering around 25km from Pehalgaam. The time to cross the checkpost at Panchtarni was 4.00pm. Had we not wasted our 2 hours at Sheshnaag, we could have crossed the Panchtarni barrier to reach the holy cave on the same day, which in itself is a achievement. Neverthless, we spent our night in tents and had sound sleep.

Day4: Early in morning, we started for the cave and reached there about 9am. After paying obeisance at the holy cave, spent some time at the cave itself. What a divine and pure feeling it was! All the pain and hard work seemed worth it. We both made our way back to Baltal base camp. We reached Baltal around 2 pm. As mobiles were not working, so we could not contact the other team. We had no choice but to wait for them at Baltal only. We decided to stay in a Budhlada Langar as the town has a old history regarding Lord Shiva Devotees plus it is my home town. There were three Langars from the town. We spent the night in Shiv Shakti Sewa Mandal tent. The organizer there, recognized me as he is one of our neighbors. Another neighbor rahul met us and he was in charge of another langar. Rahul Chapter: not to be disclosed :(

Day5: We were roaming in the market at Baltal only that Babbu called me up around 12 noon to tell that they are waiting in the parking near our taxi. We headed towards taxi stand and met the another team. They were annoyed and we tried to make them at peace. We left from Baltal base camp to reach Gulmarg. We reached Gulmarg at 10pm considering the 4 hour long traffic jam in sonamarg. We already had booked army guest house via lovely 's brother Ravi's friend Major Rao.

Day6: We went on to take a ride on Gondola which took us to the Peer of Panjal peaks. After having fun in clouds amidst snow, we left Gulmarg at 4 pm to reach Sri Nagar at around 6 pm. Did some shopping , sightseeing, booked a hotel and went to beds.

Day 7: In morning, we left for Katra as we planned to visit The Shiv Khori cave also. We reached Katra by 6pm. The road from Katra to Shiv Khori was in bad condition and took us 4 hours to cover 80km of stretch. We reached the base of The Shiv Khori cave around 10pm, booked a guest house and another day ended.

Day8: After trekking 2.5km, we reached the cave at 9am. We made our prayers and chose our way back to our taxi. We left the holy place by 11 am. Then via Jammu, pathankot, amritsar, we reached Bathinda back by 11pm. Thus the pilgrimage came to an end.

I have only briefed about the logistics of the journey. I have not gone into details of the landscapes, beauty of the Srinagar, Snow covered peaks of Gulmarg, small mountain cut made treks of Yatra, excitement and fun involved etc etc. It can only be experienced rather than description.

Bum Bum Bhole

Parul Goyal

Turning Point...

Everything was going great i.e. Work pressure was lesser, friends were there, family was doing great; in short life was awesome. Suddenly I had a fight with one of my biggest strength in last one year, Lovely (name not changed at all). We had shared some beautiful, memorable moments with each other which bonded us emotionally very strong. I could talk to him about anything starting from my family financial crisis to my official problems. He talked to me about starting from his kid shoes to his home renovation. To keep it simple, we were sharing everything what happened to us in a day.

One day I got to know a secret about his professional life which he did not share. I felt bad and upon confronting him, he again lied to me by skipping the question. That was the turning point..I got numb and decided not to talk to him anymore. I tried explaining him everything over wassapp. He apologized for what he did. But i was adamant not to accept. Later after four days, after going through mental and physical trauma, I forgave him for everything and tried to start a new friendship from scratch. One year old friendship had turned into a fresh one. Things got changed despite i tried my level best to normalize everything but i could not forget the deceit.

Now few days later, on 4th june 2014, i m here once again to write down my emotions these days. I am feeling bad for myself as i trusted him blindly and he beguiled me. I am hurt badly deep down my heart that i am afraid that would i be able to give him or any other person a chance to again hurt me. I cried a lot in past few days and i am mentally disturbed to an extent that i cannot concentrate on anything these days. One thing is for sure, he came too close to forget. Another thing which i have made clear to myself is that in future nobody will come that close. I should change myself than changing my friend. I have decided to maintain some distance to avoid any further disputes. Less the closeness lesser will be the expectations resulting lesser will be the pain.

The whole chapter taught me a lesson. I tried maintaining distance as decided in the above stanza as a punishment to myself. I cleared him everything about my decision, he retaliated in a manner to which i again fell for. I gave him another chance considering my state of mind. But as they say,

"Rahiman Dhaga prem ka mat todo chatakay..

tuttey to phir judey nai..judey gaanth pad jaye;"

Today, i have again decided to keep a straight face rather than be jolly to everyone. Lovely..will miss u badly..Had u not broken my trust, u would have been my fastest friend forever.

Regards

Parul Goyal

An Year ended & Another Started...

8.23 am , 26th May,2014 : This moment should be recorded as I have pledged not to have junk food anymore. People, generally, have such kind of promises, pledges, aims etc on an new year eve and as soon as the day ended, so their promises. So i am not interested in fooling myself. It's not about the occasion, it's about the moment when your heart says the same. For me, this is the moment.

But why? Why i decided to have such promise? Why I needed to cut on my food habits? All the questions will get answered by the end, hopefully. In the last year i had lived my life like never before. Almost every day party, movie a week sometimes twice a week, sleeping on weekends etc had become a part of my routine resulting which i gained 15kg of weights from 65 to 80kg. A boy who used to go for daily running, who was very conscious about his looks suddenly turned into a lethargic, fat guy. I had never imagined myself in 36" jeans. What i had been upto? I am still confused.

On 23rd May, 2014, I celebrated my 27th birthday. I distributed sweets in office, threw a party to my PG mates at room, went out for a dinner with my friends. I received many gifts along with best wishes. Everything was going great until i visited my hometown on the very next day as it was a saturday. My parents were happy as usual. While talking they commented about my obscenity (to put in a harsh way). I was chocked, could not utter a word and decided to control my weight. My colleagues, my college friends have been saying the same for couple of months, but i ignored them all. I used to console myself saying these days would never come back so enjoy it to the fullest. Keeping this backdrop in mind, i was galloping the food like a hungry child for many years. It became a disease which used to compel me to indulge into junk food eveyday.

Two days passed away in retrospection, analyzing the cause and cure for the disease. Finally the moment came, I decided to control my food habits and live a better & healthy life. In coming year, i will try to gain my original physique by working out. Though cutting on junk food does not mean that a person is not enjoying its life, yet to keep myself awake, I decided to write it down. Next time i shall meet you all as a lighter person.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Lok Sabha Elections 2014

India is the biggest democracy in the world. It is time when the people of India form the government by casting their respective vote. As a government official I was shortlisted to be a part of the election process of Lok Sabha Election 2014. I was appointed as a Presiding Officer for a particular booth. After three- four randomizations of the staff, i was given Janta Nagar polling booth in Bathinda Itself.

As per dates released by Election commission of India, 30th April 2014 was the casting day for Punjab state and 16th may the counting day for whole India. All the candidates were campaigning for their luck for last few months. In Bathinda parliamentary constituency, a big fight was slated to happen between sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the ruling Badal clan and Manpreet singh Badal also from Badal clan but the estranged one. Despite the Namo Wave in whole india, AAP was trying to establish itself as a national party after a smashing performance by its leader Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Elections. Despite these two parties, congress was struggling to remain in power and hoping to form UPA-III.

Though entire Punjab was waiting for the final show on 30th april, but we were given our respective appointment letters for election duty almost one month in advance. Four rehearsals were conducted before the big day so that we should become familiar with all logistics of the election process. I have given duties earlier also but this time it was different for EVM's were being used for casting votes. So i took training sessions seriously to avoid any kind of difficulty at a later stage. To conduct polling at a booth requires three other persons viz 1 APRO, 2 Polling staff. Whole of the staff was cordial and cooperative which ultimately helped our polling party to conduct polling successfully on the big day.

Without getting into the technicalities of the polling process, lets directly go for the results day and see if SAD would be able to showcase its majority in Punjab once again or Congress and AAP will change the equations this time.

As soon as Polling ended successfully in Punjab and then in India, exit polls were ready with their predictions of the results which were clearly showing the Modi wave scoring high. In between, i was assigned another duty of counting supervisor to count the votes for the Maur Constituency falling in the jurisdiction of Bathinda Parliamentary Constituency. I was to sit down on table along with a Counting assistant and a micro observer in front of the counting agents by different parties. One by one i declared the results of 12 booths by counting the votes in the respective EVMs separately in 12 different rounds which ultimately were added to the results of other tables. Hence results of all assembly constituencies falling in Bathinda Constituency were known by 4 PM of 16th May, 2014 and Biba ji as people call her, won by marginal victory of 19595 votes.

In India, BJP itself without any coalition swept away 282 seats out of 545 Lok Sabha Seats. India witnessed such results in its democracy for the first time that any democratic party is eligible for constituting the next government without any allies. "Ab ki Baar, Modi Sarkar" , " Har har Modi, Ghar ghar Modi" etc slogans were doing all around. A common man from Gujarat, a tea vendor is ready to take the Prime Minister's Oath for the largest democracy in coming few days. After Congress worst performance since independence, it would be interesting to see if BJP would be successful in keeping its head high and would free India from scams to form a Corruption free India.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Aalo lo, Gobhi lo...Baba Humko Goddi Lo...

Besides the title, whole blog is full with one liners and "Jaikaras". This month began with a bang as i got the salary including two increments and that too without tax deductions. A whopping amount of 48750/- got credited in my account on 2.4.14. As they say, " Dene wala jab bhi deta ...deta chappar phaadd ke."

As the month proceeded, i got an opportunity to pay my visit to the holy place Salasar. A big thanks to Aunty and Nagpal Mama Ji..Nagpal mama ji has been taking his students to salasar every year. This time Vikas and Jyoti bhabhi also joined in. Thus, a pilgrimage turned into a trip. We hired a bus as there were around 50 students and some other families were also there. The journey started with Jaikara..such as " Jaikara Veer Bajarange..Har Har Mahadev" , " Bolo Salasar Dham ki..Jai" etc. Students were excited too as it was a school trip for them.

As we progressed, I tried to entertain the audience by anchoring, singing few songs, introducing everyone. We started at around 9 am in the morning and reached salasar at about 6 pm in the evening. On the way, we visited Pallu wala mandir where we prepared our lunch and Ichchapuran Dham in Sardar Shehar. Throughout the journey, we all chanted following one liners:

1. Ek do teen char..Baba teri Jai Jaikar

2. Paach Cheh Saat Aath...Baba teri Thaath Baath

3. Baba teri Kya pehchan... laal langota lal nishan

4. Baba tera kahan sthaan...ucha teela rajsthan

5. Aalo lo, gobhi lo...Baba humko goddi lo

6. Laal Tamatar khayenge...Salasar Ko jayenge

I had visited the place may times earlier also with my family. But this time it was special as it was the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. Moreover, it was quite a time since i last visited the holy place. To add to my surprise, my younger brother was also there in salasar as he had come along with another bus which started from Budhlada. We both paid our homage together. Then i returned to my group as we had to prepare Langar for the students also.

Next day early morning also, I along with students paid our visit to the temple. After having breakfast we left the place with some beautiful memories in our heart and feeling more pure & spiritual. On the way, we visited Bharahmani Devi Mandir in Rantisar. It was on a peak which required climbing up around 400 steep steps to reach the temple. Then we prepared our lunch at Sardar Shehar At Ichchapuran Dham which we visited on previous day also.

As it was Hanuman Jayanti and my father is a big devotee hence he had also planned to visit the holy place on the same day. While we were on our way back to Bathinda he also was coming back after visiting the temple. He could go and come back on the same day as he was on his private car and moreover he did not have to stand in queue for Darshan being a privileged devotee. He met us in Hanumangarh where we were having our evening tea in a Gurudwara. We both continued our journey separately only.

This outing was special for me due to two reasons; firstly, I could visit the temple on such an auspicious day and secondly, I could visit the temple with my family members while it was not planned.

May Bala ji bless us all.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Back with a Bang

The moment i was waiting for, finally arrived and i was transferred back to Bathinda. I was in Delhi for some official work and i got a call from a colleague that my orders had been received in the office and i was instructed to join the office at Bathinda as soon as possible. Unfortunately, i could not join earlier than 18.2.2014 which was 8 days late from the orders date. But as they say, there is nothing like too late. I distributed sweets in the office and gave my joining to my boss. everyone was happily surprised as my logistics had been confusing for quite some time as described below:

• 16.12.11 to 31.12.11 Head office

• 1.1.12 to 23.8.13 PWSS Sub Div No 3 Bathinda

• 24.8.13 to 29.10.13 PWSS Sub Div Zira

• 30.10.13 to 25.11.13 PWSS Sub Div No 6 Bathinda

• 26.11.13 to 17.2.14 PWSS Sub Div Zira

• 18.2.14 onwards PWSS Sub Div No 6 Bathinda

But this time I am here to stay. No more transfers (this is what i believe!!!) hopefully. Along with transfers there comes another news of probation period clearance. Receiving the letter gave me more confidence to stay in the department despite the nuances. I have successfully cleared 2 years in the department and when i look back at the time, i still cannot believe the fact that i have actually stabilized in the atmosphere. I still remember the call letter from American university for doing MS there. But no more regrets. This department has actually helped me in growing up as a human being and as a civilian. I have come across some wonderful people and beautiful moments in last two years. I have become more stronger internally , more tactful in handling with public etc. My attitude towards life has not changed rather i have gelled up together the positives of private sector and govt sector. The most important factor which has helped me survived through the tough times is Box Office. Cinema is one thing which requires special mention due to its support it has landed to me. whenever i used to feel low or disturbed i chose to go for a movie to lighten my mood and release the work pressure. It acted as stress buster for me.

In these two years i have been able to create a niche for myself in the department. I have been involved in many projects starting from OHSR to STPs, from UIDSSMT projects to the Bathinda project. Though i am a civil engineer, yet i was afraid of working in field while joining MNC back in 2008. I was so comfortable in that designing job that i never imagined myself working in field and instructing labor to work. After 5 years, i have managed to get work done in field also.

It was celebration time so i invited all my bathinda freinds to join me in my happiness. It was the first letter that i got mentioning that my probation has been cleared; earlier i had left the companies before the period got completed. Now everyday calls for a party. I am enjoying this phase of my life and would cherish throughout my life. I have put on 10kgs of weight also; thanks to these parties only but its worth it coz Days will never come back, time spent with friends will never return. Goodbye For now.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Kai Po Che- Basant Panchami Celebrations

04/02/2014- A day to remember forever for its uniqueness and its colorness. I never celebrated this festival before. And i wonder why? It is such a beautiful and joyful festival spreading happiness all over. This time i got a chance to this festival first time in my life time. And what a day it was!! Full of colorful kites, threads and delicious food etc. These days i have made another friend named Pankaj. I met him through Vimal (one of the contractors). We both get along really well being singles. We hardly know each other for a month but it seems like we are kind of good friends. We hang around together, shares wass app messages etc. He told me about his craziness for the festival two days before and we planned to celebrate it together. Being a studious guy in my childhood, i never got a opportunity to showcase my skills in kite flying. Or rather i was never interested in kite flying as it used to depress me as i always failed to make a kite fly up in the sky. It required a special kind of skill which i lacked in.

Having set the background let's delve into realm of fun that i had. On 3rd night of feb 2014, we both went shopping for the kites, heart shaped parashutes, threads, tapes etc. He took me to the streets of kill area which are famous for its craziness for the festival. We bargained around 50 kites along with 6000 meters of strings to fly them. We had dinner then and went to respective homes. Next day it was a govt holiday. Since he is a contractor, it was working day for me but he took off. He called me up in the morning and made the program. He went to his old house in mehna chowk to celebrate the basant with his old friends. then he came to pick me up to his under construction house just a street far from my PG.

We were joined by vimal also being a common friend. We three went upstairs and started preparing ourselves for the celebrations. it was 12 o clock already and people were already celebrating on their roofs with DJ and music systems. Since the house was under construction, we had no music but we managed it with surrounding music. We started flying off with our first kite i held the "charkhri". Pankaj and vimal were so excited as they knew how to fly the kite and then further how to cut the competitor's one. I was enjoying in helping them out, cheering them up. Then they gave the command of a kite which was already flying high. I must say i managed to keep it high until and unless some other kite came my way to cut it off. I was happy that i made a cross connection with some other kite whatever the results were.

From that time onwards i started feeling joy from inside. I gave it a try to some other kites and learned how to fly the same. It was not so hard to actually learning the skill. It was already 3 o clock. In the mean while, vimal got a call from his home. We all decided to go to his home to continue our celebrations. While getting down from the temporary staircase pankaj slipped and got hurt. His ankle got twisted but his spirit not to give up kept us going. We went to vimal's house and straight away went onto the top of roof. There we ordered Pizza, sandwichs, pepsi etc to feed our stomachs. I got to meet his family which were very nice to me. Then we flied some more kites, also caught some.

It was 4 o clock and Vimal got a call from his site and needed his help immediately. We went to site to clear the issue. I asked them to leave me at my room as i was really tired by then and wanted to have some break. I told them to meet up after 2 hours or so. I came back and had a nap. Around 6 o clock, both came in to my apartment and we again started the mission kite. Sun was Setting slowly so we thought to wind up with the kites. We had some parashutes which were then lightened up and left in the sky. What a sight to watch!! As already described, people in bathinda has a special space for basant in their hearts. So there were hundreds of other parashutes in the sky. Whole sky got lightened up as they were looking like twinkling stars. Other guys from PG also joined us. We all sang, danced together and winded up.

As it was a tuesday hence we three went to Bala Ji Mandir for paying our prayers at Goniana like every tuesday. Since it was a festival day , so we were lucky to have a langar at the temple only. The day ended with a fun time ice cream in Dhobi Bajaar. I would always remember this day and will certainly celebrate basant panchami next time also and for the many years to come.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Zira- A Tasteles Journey

As the title suggests, i am going to throw light on my journey in Zira (though it is not ended yet). I got transferred to Zira 23.8.2013, it's been 5 months besides a 20 day stint back in bathinda. Opposite to the meaning to its name, my journey has been dull and tasteless so far. This period has been the worst period of my life. Every day i start my day praying to God to transfer me back to Bathinda.

Though i have got full support from my seniors and juniors at Zira but still my heart is in bathinda. I have tried my level best to get over bathinda but i failed miserably. I have been trying to keep my cool by staying at bathinda only and managing 100km of up down daily in these winters. I had decided to shift my base to Zira but then i just could not help myself. The only person who kept me going is lovely who supported me in every way he could.

Whenever i travel some temple or some religious place, only thing i pray for transfer. Still deep in my heart i feel that i would definitely get transferred back to bathinda. I want this journey to end as soon as possible because these days i am losing it and finding it difficult to compromise. My professional and personal life have suffered a lot already. personally , i spend most of my day time in travelling which is useless. Professionally, I cannot give my hundred percent in the work.

I have tried may ways to get transferred i.e. approaching politicians, department's head but in vain. I feel helpless as i cannot work where i want to. They are not letting me to perform. But probably that's the another aspect of a government job. I will have to live with the fact that i m in government job in which everything depends on their decisions not mine. Sooner or later, i will have to shift to Zira provided my prayers remains unheard.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Happy New Year!!!

This time new year celebrations were to remember forever as i got a chance to pay my prayers to Mata Chintpurni. What a spiritual start to an year!! Hopefully whole year will turn out to be lucky for me vide her blessings. I made a lame excuse to my boss asking for two day leave despite the hectic official schedule. He allowed me without much ado. I was surprised to receive his sanction with a big smile on his face. That was the first time in the period of last two years when i genuinely thanked him.

Last time i visited chintpurni in 2005 along with my college friends but i did not remember anything about it. Vimal (a contractor cum friend) visits the holy shrine every month. I was planning to go along with him for last few months. But Mata favored me on the very auspicious day: New Year. We reached there on 31st evening. After spending night at a hotel, we geared up ourselves to fit into a long queue. it took us 6 hours to finally meet the goddess personally that too for a very short while. But i felt pure and tension free after paying my prayers. The purpose of visit solved. I reached back home in Bathinda at around 7pm on 1st January 2014.

First Sunday of 2014, 5th of january : Time 10.58am ]

As MP elections are nearing, Sanagt Darshans of Badal family is on spree. Our department is the first one to receive all the nuances from them as we are considered as one of the useless and non performing department. So whole of the department is busy with the preparations to get a shield somehow. When chief of the department is residing in Bathinda to take care of the arrangements how can we, as much juniors, think of getting a day off. But i managed to bunk as it was a first sunday of 2014 and i did not want to waste on a family for whom i am least bothered. So here i am, writing my first blog of year 2014.

A Review at Past

Last year i.e. 2013 was like a gas balloon. Before i could hold it firmly, it flew away. I could not realize the importance of personal life as work pressure and professional life kept me busy like hell. Still following are the instances which i would like to store forever:

• I could not take care of my health which resulted in an increase in waist line from 30" to 34". I did not think that i would ever touch that mark. I am disappointed health wise.

• I started looking for a perfect match for myself but could not succeed. I was approached from about half a dozen families but things did not turn out. I am disappointed on a personal front.

• I did not even touch a book, neither i studied something which could enhance my knowledge or at least benefit in my future. I am disappointed on study front.

• Our family bought our own house and I could help my brother to open his own shop making my whole family happy. I was not disappointed on family front which is the only good thing to cherish about 2013.

• Most of my friends got married which lead me to enjoy a soup all alone in vikas marriage in November as all other were enjoying with their better halves. Now we usually don't talk the way we used to. I found another guy called lovely to spare me from loneliness but i am not sure of the duration of this friendship. I am happy for them as they settled down.

• I visited Amarnath last year, I visited Mata Chintpurni. I started visiting Bala Ji temple In Goniana every tuesday. I am content on spiritual front.

• I competed two years in government job, my probation period will soon be cleared. i got transferred to Zira twice within Two months. I took a pledge to remain calm and hard working last year. I am happy that exhibit congruity to the same.

Pledge on New Year Eve 2014

Overall 2013 had been year full of disappointments on personnel front but full of happiness on family front. I take a pledge to remain calm and hardworking. I would like to give more time to myself definitely in this year. Hopefully i will be able to stick to it.

In the end, i would like to wish all my readers a very happy New Year. May God Bless You all with all the happiness in the life you desire of and as they say:

" Rabb Sareya Da Bhalla Kari..par Shuru Mere to Kari ;) "

Regards

Parul Goyal