Reason to Smile :)

Reason to Smile: One more article on Linkedin that perhaps has been inspiring to many. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lifetime-job-after-retirement-neha-mehta?published=t I met a lady aged 72, lean body, average height, small face with a few teeth outside ready to walk the talk attitude, as strong as a rock. She entered an office me and my friend were a part of. As I stare to notice her more keenly, she unapologetic-ally pulls the chair, sits there confidently as if it was no ones business, looks at us and there is a pause. An awkward silence prevailed. Years later, one of us spoke "Hello Madam. Are you here to meet Niraj?" She gathered all her courage, leaned forward and a soft voice uttered with an extremely bright smile "Yes" We had organized a meeting with her on the partnerships on a business model proposed to her. She had come to discuss terms and commercial aspects. A perfect Gujarati that she was, questioned us on everything that can go wrong and t...

Reason to Smile: It is for the first time with this festival that all the 9 days were under my kitty to take a plunge on. Usually it is not common for people to check out the Kala Ghoda Art Festival that comes every February of the year hosted by the Hindustan Times Media (9 day event- first weekend to the second weekend of Feb) with such huge and long art / event schedules to be attended all days. It is this excitement of being able to attend any show at the right time without having worried about deep pockets and office timings to be met, that I chose to visit Irish House for all the stand up comedy acts by the event. Artists like Anirban Das Gupta on how lazy can people be in Kolkotta, Siddharth Dudeja on how capitalism is the cancer to our society, Abhishek Upamanyu on how he assumed he would be killed by his dad, Sourabh Pant on how he stands by his son for all odds, Kunal Kamra on why he would like to sleep all day, Neville Barucha on who would want to marry him, Jiya Sethi on...

Reason to Smile: One more story I wrote of an episode that changed one life completely !! From my desk: Manas and Roli (name changed) were whatsapp friends. I happen to be common friend between them. I know both of them personally very well and have known their personalities a tad bit better than their school friends or so called close / best friends. I have been with them for around more than a decade now. Thanks to the virtual world of FB and whats app, they both got connected through me. So, this story is about two distinct individuals who had never met before. However, one incident happened and their lives changed for good. They apparently landed up being best of friends after that day ! Roli is in her mid thirties but timid, born and brought up in a typical middle class family, aspires to be a writer and wants to make it big in the industry. Manas, on the other hand, is a simple, decent yet a broadminded man who had no qualms about admitting that he had a bad marriage ea...