e-Magazine from JustForUU

I am thinking of publishing an e-Magazine from JustForUU, which everyone can download and keep it with them or print them as per their wish. It will contain contents from the categories of JustForUU. You will get to read old posts directly on the magazine and you need not always browse JustForUU for the previous posts.

But this is completely based on your interest. Please vote for it so that I can take a decision if this is wise idea or not?

Can’t afford to have another crash

Everything was not fine for me this week end. After a disturbed sleep in Saturday night, I woke up when Mr. Sun came over my head. My friends Suthan and Pandian called me up in the morning to inform that they were planning to come to Hosur to meet me. Ammu had an alumni Meet at her school, TVS academy. Initially I was not in a mood to attend the function but later I decided to join her for the function. We met her friends and teachers there. Soon we decided to return home and started my car. I was feeling so happy that time and was completely in a good mood. From the service road we entered into the Highway where I stopped the car because of series of the humps on the road. I saw a lorry passing by and I slowed down and then I entered into the highway. Moment I straighten the car I heard a big bang and a car on air. I was shocked for minute. I parked my vehicle and came out, there was quite a few scratches in the right rear end and the projection has gone in, in my car.

I walked to the other driver. It was an Innova and both the front edges of the cars were damaged. I was completely upset because I was sure it is gonna cost me another 10-15 thousand to make the patch work. I argued with him very harsh and reminded him about his rash driving and the speed in which he comes in the highway though it was quiet crowded road. He was very experienced guy, he applied brake to a good extend and bumped his car against the dividers after hitting my car. Otherwise this accident might have turned fatal and should have claimed our lives. Both the front wheels of his car were wobbling terribly and the accident has damaged the cars suspension. Highway patrol team approached us and asked the other driver to park his car in the road side. Inspector was very sure and he told me that it was his problem and asked me to took him to the police station. It was a hell day where I spend much of my sunday in Police station. Finally things were sorted out and we both agreed to bear our losses.

While driving back I was thinking about what could have happened if he hit us directly on the back side, what would have happened if he hit us when we entered into road. I am sure that some miracle happened, there were no much problem in my corolla and nothing happened to both of us. I should have been little more careful, I realized that but I feel I realized it much later than expected. Thank God for saving us!!!

What Life have taught me Archive

Just becoz of those few moments, ur face is carved in my heart, crap its still bleeding, dont u cut ur nails??? - Dhaneshananda Swamy Thiruvadikal

Trip to Manali IV: Most amazing people I met in the trip

I would never have thought of posting this in my blog. But I feel somehow this worth it. I was so excited to travel to Netherlands though I was travelling alone all the way and that was my first (till now only) international trip. When compared to that I was literally scared about my trip to Manali, of course because this time I was not going alone. I have a girl with me and to a place where I have just heard about it in geography. Tickets are booked, hotels are reserved, I don’t have a chance than to go ahead with the plan. But it was amazing; I never faced a hurdle in my way other than the auto driver guy whom I mentioned in the previous post. I was lucky enough to meet few wonderful people and they made my trip ever cherishing memory.
I was in the airport and in the ticket it was mentioned that the user fee is collected already in the ticket, but while checking in, the executive (I don’t know a better word) told me to pay the user fee and she also mentioned that the user fee collected was for the Delhi airport. I went to pay the user fee and was standing a small queue waiting for my turn. Soon another assistant from my airlines company called me to her window to pay it. I moved up there and handed over the money to her. The guy who was in front of me in the queue got irritated and he started arguing with me that I should have let him go first. I returned him saying I can’t help him much if he is sleeping in the queue. I felt the guy little interesting.
Later in the Delhi airport, our driver Chottelal was waiting for us. He was carrying a board with my name printed in it. That guy was real professional. He helped us to carry our luggage to his car and explained the bit and pieces of Delhi’s famous places. He was very caring all the way and he took us the most interesting places in Delhi and most importantly to the most interesting food court of Delhi.

After I boarded my train to Chandigargh, I found it difficult for me to put my luggage on the top. Middle aged Sardarji help me in doing it. He was kind enough to tell us when we reached Chandigargh. Thank you sir, though I don’t know your name.

Next I found the most interesting guy I ever met, His name is Ravi. He was our cab driver for next five days. Initially he was very normal or rather I didn’t bother to interact with him much. We had short clash about the rentals to be paid for him but later it was solved. I saw a girl came to the car and handed over a mobile phone to him while I was settling the rent issues with the travel agent. Then I came to know that she is his girl friend and she belongs to the Sikh community. Later we became friends; he told us that he will take us to Shimla which is around 150 Kms from there. But Ammu was so tired that she didn’t want to go there. He was talking nonstop about his girl friend Preethi and everything he starts normally ends with Preethi’s helping hand. He is a dancer and he performed in lot of stages there in Chandigarh. He got me a gift for my birthday and also called me to wish me on the same day. Thank you Ravi, You made our trip great.



Next person was Raju, our skiing trainer. He is a very energetic and lively guy. He was very interested to train me in skiing. Though I fall down a lot during the training sessions I learned a bit of skiing. He was giving us ideas to play in the snow. Raju was so interested in making snow man and was helping us through out in realizing it. He is a good photographer too. He took lot of photographs of ours which worth a lot.




While returning from Chandigarh to Delhi, we met a Mom and her Son from Netherlands. When we boarded the train we found the entire luggage space was occupied by them and we didn’t have place to put our luggage. Finally I found some place where I can out my luggage and Lennart (Son’s Name) helped me in doing it. I was sitting opposite to them and somewhere in my mind I felt that they both where from Holland. Will Beerding(Mom) was a tour operator who is operating in India, China, Nepal , Bhutan and Tibet. While talking to them they told me about Holland and I was very interested as I have visited there. We had a lot of discussion about India, Holland and I also described them about Kerala where they never got a chance to be there. I promised them to send the pictures of Kerala, but unfortunately I couldn’t do it till now. Will is very interested in Indian Tradition, she like Ammu wearing the traditional dress (Though not really traditional for me, she was wearing a salvar) and she was appreciating that. She knows lot more than I know about India and she had visited most places in North India.

Lennart is really an interesting guy. He was working for the army and he has visited most places across the globe. He was explaining us the GreenLand(IceLand, if both are same ) expedition. He stays in Amsterdams and is working a dealer of several automobiles. Ammu was so happy to hear that he deals with MAN trucks also because her father visited Germany to have discussions with MAN for his Ashok Leyland operations. You both were amazing and you made me realize a lot about India which I always tried to ignore. I thought modernization is important but you told how traditional ways are appreciated.

And Last,Preethi Babbar. She is really sweet and caring. She gifted Ammu with a pair of Punjabi shoes. You were really nice Preethi.

That’s the end of my Manali trip stories. Now to the new adventures in my way of life and I assure you to keep you posted.

Trip to Manali III : In the Wonderful Land of Snow

It’s amazing to be there. Manali… named after Great Manu. To be frank I am not so sure about the history, because I was told two feng shui idols as king (Kullu) and queen (Manali) were the old rulers of that place. Please refer to any authentic history books or websites for original information.

2nd July by 9.00 we reached sterlings. Luckily our driver got a complimentary accommodation in the hotel. Sterlings has only two suit rooms and we were lucky enough to get one. We had a wonderful balcony and had an excellent view of snow filled mountains, the Himalayas. Chilled breeze passed by welcome us to that beautiful land. As expected the complete base of the mountains are occupied by resorts. By afternoon we decided to use the free sightseeing provided by the hotel. Our cab took us to through the busy roads of Manali.

We first went to Buddhist monastery . That was the first time I saw a monastery and a priest was performing some rituals there by beating a drum and reciting some kind of sloka (I don’t know what its equivalent in Buddhism). When we came out a lady was behind Amoolya to try the Kashimiri and Manali dresses she had with her. She was an excellent photographer as well. Ammu preferred to wear Kashimiri dress and the lady took some photographs of her and in the meanwhile I too was tempted to wear the dress.

Later we went to Hadimba Temple, it was so crowded and we were really not in a mood to stand in that queue to get the darshan. We took some photographs there and walked back to our cab. Then on, the merchants started inviting us to the shops to look on their shawls. They keep on repeating about a chinku stuff. They were talking non stop about the resale value of it. Price was too little for us to afford, Seven Thousand rupees. We got some shawls and came back to the hotel.
Next day Ravi (our driver from Chandigarh) took us to Rohtang Pass. It was an overwhelming experience. On the way we hired dress to be used in the ice for 400 Rs. I wanted to do some skiing there. One option is to try skiing ourselves or hire a trainer for a whole day. After quite a bit of bargaining we got a trainer and skiing equipments and continued our journey to the peak. We crossed mountains one after another and finally we started ascending a steep one. Ammu was kidding me that we are gonna reach the top of it. At that time I found it as a joke and then I realized that it was a fact. We reached the top of it. Trainer told us that we have to climb a mountain to reach real snow point.

I was sure that we cannot walk the whole way. We hired two horses for thousand rupees. It was scary initially as we climbed the steep slope and then it became interesting. We played in snow for some time and we tried skiing a bit. Trainer guy was very friendly. He was very interested to play in the snow and was forcing us to make a snow man. It was fun making the snow man and we fixed our sunglass. It was looking so cute. After all the fun, we climbed down the mountain in the horse. This was more light and we were enjoying each moment. It was almost evening when we reached back to the hotel.

Next day we went to Manali castle, Nicholas Roerich museum and Jana Falls. We went to the top of Jana falls and it was just marvelous. We had food there in the base of Jana falls which comprises of red rice, dhal and some chapathis and sabjis all without masala and traditional Manali style. In the evening we went Mall road to purchase. Meanwhile Ammu missed the purse which had all our money. We got petrified and called up Ravi. We couldn’t tell him what actually the reason was; we rushed to car and found the purse inside it. Ravi was slightly upset that we suspected him. It happened because of natural reasons, we don’t know him and Ammu was scared that any person would take an advantage of such a situation. Anyways, I was upset about it too, I decided to treat him in the hotel. Ammu got a gift for his fiancé and handed it over to him

We asked him to share our table for dinner and we literally had a feast with different varieties of chicken. Next day morning we came back to Chandigarh. Ravi took us to a lake there were we met his fiancé and she gifted Ammu with a beautiful pair of Punjabi Shoes and gave me a Photo of their Guru. From there we boarded our train back to Delhi. In Delhi our driver Chottelal picked us from the station and dropped us at IBIS at Gurgaon. Next day morning, yes 7th July (My birthday) we came back to Bangalore.

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