Living Life with Passion & Gratitude

Passion makes everything possible. The inception of an idea to start my own e-magazine happened way back in 2010. As a full time working Editor of a publishing house then, I didn’t have the time and energy to actually work on my idea. But the way a pregnant woman cannot pretend after a few months of conception, as “it” starts to show; my desire to start an online magazine grew bigger and I couldn’t hide it anymore. Hence, I started the groundwork despite having very little time to spare. The groundwork was what I used to look forward to more than my every day job. I loved my job, but I could realise the difference between love and passion. My passion towards my e-magazine turned out to be stronger than the love for my job. Soon, the day of judgement had arrived. It was time for the expecting mother to take her maternity leave; in my case — it was time to quit my job to pursue my dream, my passion and my belief — my own online travel magazine.

Just the way the doctor is there to help the pregnant woman to go through the entire period of extreme mood swings, crankiness and intolerable nonsenses; I had my web designer for me. During my journey, my web designer cum developer cum counsellor had suffered a lot with me. The calmness he possessed was remarkable. Even members of my family say I am very difficult to handle. The patience the Web Counsellor cum the IT Guy portrayed while handling my eccentricities really needs a mention here. He never gave up on me or my dream even when I made his life extra difficult, particularly when it was time to launch the website online.

Now, my baby is born and I love this motherhood, the peace of having this baby - my own website with an e-magazine. Today I have a complete website www.worldluxurytourism.com with a monthly e-zine called the World Luxury Travel Magazine.

It would not have been possible without my Web Counsellor cum IT Guy – the one stop solution for all things technical. My sincere gratitude to Mr. Pramathesh N. Borkotoky for being the most patient Web Counsellor ever!

During these recent few months, I have been neglecting this blog, not intentionally, but due to the scarcity of time. But I am back to get in touch with myself through this blog. What can be a better way to restart blogging than by conveying my heartfelt gratitude to those who helped me in realising my dream? My sincere gratitude goes to my partner for life Prakash, my father Prahlad, writer Prabha and graphic designer Pranab.

Whoa! Saw the relation here? Everyone’s name starts with “Pra”!

The Boss is Always Right, Right?

It was Sunday. I was about to have lunch. My boss called. He told me to write and send two news reports - one on the flood situation of the Kaziranga National Park and another on... [Click here to read more]

Lovesong - Adele - Lyrics

Gauri Khan - The first lady of Bollywood

How different can the family of a superstar be? Well, I had no clue. Although, not much of a star gazer, post my shifting to Mumbai, I have seen and happened to travel in the same flight as many celebrities. 

One flight, the one I took on March 3 this year, was different in many ways. I was flying Business Class from New Delhi to Mumbai in a Jet Airways international service craft. While boarding, I saw the poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar walking aboard the flight. A celebrity boarding a Mumbai bound flight is not a big deal. It happens all the time. But it was different today. Read on... (You may add your comments here.)

My Writing on The Telegraph

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The Magic Stone

In life, it is amazing how everything has a cute story to tell. I have been sharing stories of my life here - however big or small they are. Today I am going to share another one. It’s about my Magic Stone.

If you are a regular visitor of my blog, you would know that I have started practicing the Magic one day at a time, just as suggested by the author Rhonda Byrne. You already know about Day 1. But I couldn’t quite complete the Day 2. It needed me to have a stone that’s smooth to hold and fits in my fist comfortably. The time I started to practice the book was not really a great time for me. I couldn’t continue the practice for many reasons, including a trip to China. However, the actual reason I couldn’t continue the practice on Day 2 was the absence of a pebble or a stone that fitted the description of the book. Then I went to China for the conference. Practicing the Magic was put in the back burner for now.

The conference went well. I took a post-event tour organized by the Wu Zhen Tourism Board and visited the water town that was so serene that I wanted to spend a few more days there. Anyway, during the walking tour, we were accompanied by the PR representative of the hotel. Jade was a perfect fit for a PR role as she had a very pleasant personality apart from being a people’s person. As we were walking by a landscaped garden path, I saw many white pebbles lying on the lawn. I picked two. Jade asked if I liked pebbles too. The conversation went like this:

I said: I love pebbles. Do you?

Jade: Oh, I love them. Let me pick some too.

We both started collecting some pebbles from the lawn. Then we showed our collection to each other. They were not that great really. Dirty and defective with pores.

Jade: Nah, these are not that good.

Me: Yes, let’s throw them. May be, we’ll get some more on the way.

Jade: (Throwing them back on the lawn) Yes.

We continued our walk along a stoned walkway. There was a stop where people were taken to a tour of one of the hotels in the area. I stayed back at the entrance, as I didn’t want to tour. Jade too stayed back, along with a few more members of the group. There were two huge flower pots at the entrance of the hotel and the soil of the pot was covered with beautiful black and grey pebbles collected from the river. Jade came to me and asked, “Do you still need a pebble?” I replied with an affirmative. She announced, “Okay, nobody sees me now, alright?” I smiled. She went to the pot and slyly picked one pebble and came towards me. She held my right hand and put it on my palm. Then she covered the pebble on my palm with her palm and said, “Here, take it. You have got your pebble.” I thanked her and smiled from ear to ear with thrill. She smiled too. It was such a happy and bonding moment for us.

Now, do you remember, I was not finding a pebble to continue the practice of the Magic book? I found my pebble. Since the pebble has such a sweet story to it, it is more precious for me now. I thank Jade for finding my Magic Stone.