Aerial Odyssey: Guwahati to Delhi

 Capturing the Glittering Cities & Breathtaking View from Above

Starting my journey from Guwahati to Delhi, I was instantly captivated by the unfolding experiences. In the hot and humid weather of Guwahati, boarding the aircraft felt like a refreshing escape, as I was one of the first to enjoy the cool relief of the airplane's air conditioning. The AC vents were emitting visible ice vapours, hinting at the soothing journey ahead. After tucking away my bag in the overhead cabin luggage compartment, I settled into my seat, enjoying the rare luxury of empty seats beside me as passengers gradually boarded.

Boarding

Upon arriving at the airport, I received news of a 45-minute flight delay. With time to spare, I decided to label my check-in luggage as 'Fragile: Handle With Care' to protect its contents. Despite not having the necessary supplies, I was dertimined to mark my bag. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, a kind young lady from the Assam Police came to my rescue. She not only provided me with a white sticker and a sketch pen but also restored my faith in helpfulness and compassion. Her gesture left me overwhelmed with gratitude.

As the aircraft taxied towards the runway, I began documenting the sights around me. Another plane trailed behind, its red, blue and white lights flashing in the dusk. With a gentle drag and thrust, our aircraft ascended into the sky, the intricate movement of its wings plates captivating my attention.

Glittering City

While the video may be slightly out of focus, the vibrant lights at Guwahati Airport, also known as Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport, create a spectacular 'bokeh' effect, appealing to artistic photographers and videographers.

Climbing to a very high altitude, the aircraft executed a sharp 90-degree turn to the left, revealing the glittering lights of Guwahati below. This breathtaking sight filled me with awe, and I did my best to capture it on my mobile phone, mindful not to miss a single detail. The aircraft's movement as it orbited the glittered city below, resembling a drone camera capturing every detail, was a sight to behold. I imagined how much more spectacular the view would have been from a seat ahead of the wings, allowing me to capture the scene with even greater clarity.

Blueish Hue

Engaging with the fellow passengers around me, I found myself in a humourous situation. As I aimed my phone at the window to capture the stunning view, other passengers, perhaps intrigued by my actions, began to follow suit. It was as if my endeavour had sparked a sudden interest in capturing the beauty outside, creating a light-hearted moment of shared curiosity. However, as quickly as it appeared, the cityscape vanished as the aircraft made another sharp turn, this time to the right, and continued its journey into the stratosphere.

Later, we discussed the beauty of aerial views, local cuisine, and travel destinations. As we chatted, my fellow passengers shared captivating stories and visuals from their travels. One passenger, a middle-aged lady, delighted us with tales of her visit to Tawang and Kaziranga, showing stunning clips of these picturesque destinations. She also proudly displayed her finds from a state government cooperative store in Guwahati, including exquiste Assam silk, intricate cane and bamboo decor, 

and unique local delicacies like tiny green chili pickles which she had stored inside her check-in baggage. Her stories and souvenirs painted a vivid picture of the rich culture and beauty of Assam.

 

As we approached New Delhi, I captured another cityscape before landing at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. Although the video may not be professional-grade due to the scratches on the windowpanes and lowlight conditions, it captures the essence of the journey--a mix of excitement, 

Cityscape En Route

wonder, and the joy of exploration. The experience serves as a reminder of the beauty that surrounds us, even at 30,000 feet above the ground. 

If you've ever had a similar experience flying from Guwahati to Delhi or soared above the Indian landscape, you know the magic of seeing familiar places from a bird's eye view. Share your own airborne adventures or dreams of flight in the comments below -I'd love to hear them!

Finally, immerse into a mesmerising aerial journey with me as we orbit over the sparkling cityscape of Guwahati, resembling a scene from a dream. Witnesss the dance of city lights below, painting a surreal picture against the backdrop of the night sky. Discover the beauty of Guwahati from a whole new perspective in the video below.

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How Hospitals Treat Deceased?

Need of Ethics and Soft Skills! 

How are hospitals and nursing homes expected to treat patients who have died in course of undergoing treatment? By any standards, after the attending physician issues a death certificate, it is the basic decency of nurses to clean the patient and make them presentable before handing over the deceased to their kins.

Globally, the general practice is to lay the patient on their back with one pillow in place; straighten the patient’s limbs and place their arms by their sides; gently close the patient’s eyes if open by applying light pressure for thirty seconds. And finally, tidy the hair as soon as possible and arrange it into the preferred style.

Publisher-Writer Sujit Acharya

Soon after death occurs, one should be able to close the eyelids quite easily. However, after a while, once rigor mortis sets in, it can become difficult. 

All these are done to give the deceased dignity and show they are sleeping peacefully. It is an expression of respect and affection, part of the process of adjusting to loss and expressing grief.  

My uncle spent in a hospital at an Indian metro city nearly ten days dying. He was sleeping because his organs were shutting down, a natural process due to old age. He passed away on 30th November 2018. He was 91.

All hell broke loose in the lineage as soon someone shared half-a-dozen photographs of the deceased through WhatsApp. I was yet to receive though. My sibling who resides in a different city texted me that the images were extremely distasteful and was reluctant to show or share it with anybody!

After a week or so, those same set of images too landed up in my WhatsApp on a late

The Awful image of deceased

night. Honestly, I could not stare at the photographs for more than a second as it was just terrible and hurting me. Initially, I was fuming against the sender but then, a deeper thought came into my mind.

Observing the photographs, I felt that there had been serious deficiency on part of the hospital in handing over the deceased to kins without even caring to make it bare-minimum presentable! The eyes and mouth were wide open! And this only compounded lot of doubts and integrity of the hospital in question. 

If this was the state of affairs at a reputed hospital in a metro city, then one could imagine plight of millions of patients across the various Indian states who has to visit such type of health care centres on a regular basis.

The transformed image with closed eyelids and mouth

All these had choked me with emotions. I was convinced that our fun-loving uncle alias, Publisher & Writer Sujit Acharya, who was extremely health conscious, who took pride in his dressing and looks, would have never liked to be seen in such disgraceful images.

After months I was able to muster courage to view those photographs. Staring at them I was wondering deeply if anything positive could be done. With several hours of trial and error in my Mac, I was finally able to transform an appropriate image that should be acceptable in contrast to the ones shared! 

Yes, he is now peacefully sleeping - I am sure our uncle, affectionately addressed by many as Kuka, appears that his soul is satisfied!

Sujit Acharya

To conclude, hospitals, nursing homes and other health care organisations must

Publisher & Writer Sujit Acharya

ensure adequate dignity to the deceased. They should be trained in soft skills to deal with the deceased's grieve-stricken kins and loved ones. While there is a crying need of an effective competent government agencies to monitor hospitals and nursing homes from time to time, health organisations should also initiate punitive actions on its own against the erring personnel. 

Further, citizens who are armed with the power of internet can post their experiences in various social media. They should avoid circulating fake messages and instead genuinely report any such deficiencies as well as show whole heartedly praise for any good deeds shown. These steps may put the hospitals and nursing homes on their toes to thwart recurrence of such unpleasant episodes. 

TRIBUTE TO EX-EMPLOYEE OF EXL SERVICE

Obituary

Do we ever know when we will leave this world? Life and death are so unpredictable!

After months of heat wave, the cool early morning downpour today drove me to rush out to the terrace to take a short video grab of prelude to the Delhi monsoons. After a quick editing had uploaded the video clip in my YouTube channel and then shared directly with one of my WhatsApp group - EXL Buddies that constitutes ex-colleagues of our former organisation.

My WhatsApp had been muted since the past few days while I had deliberately shutdown the mobile data service in order to avoid distraction due to an urgent piece of work. After having posted the video clip I started glancing through the huge number of pending mails.

Scrolling down caused some confusion as almost all messages had similar words like R.I.P., condolences, shock, etc. until I followed the thread where it originated and then a pal of gloom came over me ever since.

The message from our esteemed member, Gaurav Banerjee's ID read the following with date and time stamp:

"                   25-06-2014
Finally free from all the pain and suffering.. He lost his battle against Cancer and left us in pain..
We love you n wish u cud come back just once..
Gaurav' Family..
                                            2:05 pm"

It was most difficult to accept the truth that Gaurav Banerjee passed away at such a young age. Barely two years ago, Gaurav tied the knot with his co-worker who hails from Assam. Although we have never met for years, but the WhatsApp forum was good enough to keep in touch frequently.

A senior human resource and admin personnel who was employed with a multinational organisation in Gurgaon, Gaurav had always some of the finest humour up his sleeves that kept people rolling out of laughter. Most members and colleagues recall him as a jolly young guy and a team player.

His last humour message to the EXL Buddies WhatsApp group was on 21 June 2014 but, it is an irony indeed that he never confided his fatal ailments to anybody within the group, thereby, giving a false impression with his communique and profile picture that all was fine with him.

He hailed from Lucknow and had his education from Institute of Management Studies, Dehradun and HNB Garhwal University. Besides, he had a great penchant for cameras and photography.

In general, Gaurav was fun-loving, compassionate and always ready to help people in distress that we will always remember him. Every time I scroll into my WhatsApp group an image of him flashes up my mind and his messages reverberates in my ears. Gaurav Banerjee, may your soul rest in eternal bliss!

Below are the videos:

Message from Vikram Talwar, former Chairman of EXL Service

Message from Rahul Deo, former Manager Operations at EXL Service and currently Service Manager at Aon Hewitt

My Article in The Assam Tribune

Upgrading Music System

One of my articles has been featured in The Assam Tribune, a heritage newspaper of Northeast India published from Guwahati.

Came to know about this just a while ago as readers started E-mailing their feedback.

Following are the links to the E-paper and article which can be copy pasted in the address bar to view the same:

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/epaper.asp?id=Horizon/Page3

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/showpage.asp?id=Horizon,3,87,198,963,846

This article had been originally written for my blog with additional information and photographs.

Beauty of Spring Season

The Marvelous Tree

The tree in  January               The same tree in April

       

Hey, spring is back! It is a time of the year where flowers of various colours dance in the vernal wind and the green world returns after a long cold weather as mother earth is at its best. The cuckoo sings its melody, the busy-bee hums around while the gorgeous butterflies makes its appearance too.

The spring season in India usually commences around March every year when the sun starts warming up the cold weather. Days become longer with every passing day while nights become shorter.

Here, at Delhi from my dining room window, I have been noticing a tall tree over the past few months.  Although I do not know its name, but had grabbed few still images at various stages of this marvelous tree. 

The photographs can be viewed below.

The naked tree with only branches: January 2013

The same tree with signs of leaves blooming: Last week of February 2013

First week of March 2013

Last week of March 2013

First week of April 2013

14 April 2013

14 April 2013

15 April 2013, the same tree becomes so colourful

16 April 2013

19 April 2013

20 April 2013

21 April 2013

21 April 2013

The same tree almost in full bloom: 21 April 2013

INDIAN OCEAN CAUSES MASS HYSTERIA

Delhiites rock at Indo-German Urban Mela

The grounds of Indraprastha “Millennium” Park were abuzz with Delhiites swarming the venue as the Indo-German Urban Mela witnessed one of the most vibrant performances of the renowned band – Indian Ocean on 29^th October.

Inspite of being a Monday, thousands of office goers, students including people from all walks of life thronged to the venue.

The captive audience against the backdrop of 16 shimmering pavilions and the illuminated Humayun’s tomb was a sight that people in Delhi will recall for a long time to come. 

The seminal band cast a spell with a memorable performance in the history of contemporary Indian music. Indian Ocean began with its all-time favourite number - "Melancholic Ecstasy".

The crowd at the Urban Mela grooved to the power packed performance by the original pioneers of fusion rock in India with the sound that integrates Shlokas, Sufism, environmentalism, mythology and revolution.

Performing live at the centre stage of the Urban Mela, lead guitarist of the band, Sushmit Sen said “ We  enjoyed playing for the enthusiastic crowd on the grounds of the Indo-German Urban Mela. The Mela was another chance for us to perform for our music lovers.”

The band mesmerised the audience with their unadulterated and innovative musical performance. Some of the band’s most popular numbers like "Ruk Jaa Re Bande", "Kandisa" and many more were presented at the centre stage of the Indo-German Urban Mela, with the illuminated Humayun’s tomb as the backdrop.

One of the most exciting moments of the performance was when the band played some new numbers which have not yet been recorded, especially for the audience at the Mela. These included songs like “Maya” and “Do Rahein”.

Below is a short jerky video clip of the gig:

INDEPENDENCE DAY NOODLES!

Quick and tasty bite

If necessity is the mother of invention, so is sometimes appetite the driving force to compel one to innovate a quick and tasty bite!

15^th August was a national holiday on account of India’s 65^th year of independence for which all restaurants and food vendors remained closed in the neighbourhood. This had put many of us in a tight spot!

With most vehicles off the roads the surroundings seemed to be so calm that one could even hear people whispering. In general, the atmosphere here at Delhi wore a festive look coupled with a remote feeling of an approaching autumn.

Roof tops and terrace buildings was the epicentre of activities where people irrespective of age group took part in this great festival of kites. It was amazing to see the blue skies dotted with designer kites of all hues accompanied by symbolic messages to mark the day.

I had been witnessing this all through for a while until sheer hunger drove me straight into the kitchen. After scrutinising thoroughly the cupboard and then decided to prepare the good-old 2-minute noodles but, with a difference.

If you would ever like to try it, here goes the recipe of my great brunch which was based on the availability of ingredients at home and spontaneity of mind.

Chop one small onion, tomato, broccoli, capsicum, baby corn and two green chilly into small pieces. Put two cups of water in the frying pan to boil and add some pealed fresh corns and noodles including the spice that comes along in a sachet.

Next, add all the chopped tomatoes, broccoli, baby corn, onion and chilly. Put a dash of garlic-ginger paste into the pan and allow it to boil for 20 seconds if it is cooked in an induction cooker.

Add a table spoon each of chilly soy sauce, butter and few drops of pepper and green pepper sauce. Stir it thoroughly and sprinkle thin sliced omelet.

Serve hot and for a change try having by using chopsticks. If you fancy oriental cuisines it’s a bet that your taste buds would simply love it!   

If anybody has an idea to make this dish even better please do suggest by using the comment space below.

Cheers!

Avian Media: The Corporate Anthem!

· We dare to dream…

The growing popularity of corporate anthems has become an integral part of several organizations across the globe. It has the unique power to create a company’s image by imbibing  messages of its core values and vision through the lyrics thereby, fostering a deeper bond among its employees.

Given a situation of any special celebrations or an emotional achievement, such anthems are sung in chorus by its employees  to  show utmost respect for the organization.

From pop, rock, rap to hip-hop, various companies adopt different genres of music to make a statement. 

If PriceWaterhouseCooper’s anthem is of hip-hop track, Ernst & Young’s gospel tune, so is computer security giant Symantec’s motivational rap music, while a wonderful pop tune of KPMG’s power ballad strategy. (it’s a must listen track -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXUhQnOYR54).

Not to be left behind, business communication leader, Avian Media too joined the bandwagon of creating its own anthem which was hurriedly penned just before the Award’s Night at Corbett last October and sung by its members.

With lyrics such as “We trudge that extra mile/To bring that extra mile”, Avian’s We dare to Dream has the polished turn-of –phrase which can be improved by padding a specific genre music and having it recorded at a professional studio.

Check out the video clip below:

Cheers!

                                         

                                     

AVIAN OFFICE PIZZA PICNIC!

New Delhi: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! And with this proverb in mind, Friday, the 13^th January 2012 shall remain a spectacular day to remember when our Delhi office decided to take a short timeout in the afternoon.

With clear skies above and the winter sun at its best coupled with occasional chilling breeze from the north, it was a perfect day for an office picnic at the magnificent sprawling grounds of Lodhi Garden.  

Dressed in smart casuals, Avianites headed to this venue situated near the famous Safdarjung Tomb. Earlier known as Lady Willington Park, the Lodhi Garden boasts of splendidly landscaped lawns, small water bodies, fountains, jogging track, among others. It is also a bird watchers paradise where one can see exotic birds like babblers, hornbills, kingfishers, mynahs, etc.

Crazy cricket, volley ball, football, flying saucer and blind-fold-eye games kept all to pump extra bit of adrenaline. In the heat of the moment, it was amazing to watch all rank and files burry their egos and focus on the games – thus, projecting the real child in each person within!

While many lazily basked under the sun sipping cokes and breezers, others strolled or sat around enjoying the nature and some ventured to explore the Bara and Sheesh Gumbads – tombs of rulers of the Sayyid Dynasty which are adorned with facades and turrets.

Yes, it was also a great forum for all to loosen up and enjoy themselves – particularly the new team members to rub shoulders with senior management and network with other co-workers which turned out a true morale booster of the organization. In general it was a good bonding experience for everyone.

Finally, a quick delivery of variety of mouth-watering pizzas kept the energy level high of all.

Check out the video clip and stills below.

Cheers!

Sandeep Acharya

 

                                    The jerky-video clip...

                                            The laugh out...