Anuj Desai

One of life's pleasures is the Honeymoon. Its every young couple's dream. The excitement, the love, the privacy and the license to do as one pleases....all these come second to spending time and making memories with the one you love and with whom you want to spend the rest of your life. Honeymoon as an emotion is as pure and untainted as the early morning dew. It is when time stops still and the world is on Bose noise cancelling headphones.   Honeymoon in the hills elevates the experience to a different level, especially when you go to Binsar in Uttarakhand. Binsar is a place from another planet. Time moves at its own pace, the local folk are laidback and nobody is ever in any hurry. Binsar is known for tranquillity and friendly people.  When you wake up on a nice clear morning and open the bedroom window curtain still rubbing your eyes, the sight that greets you is that of the splendid Himalayan peaks such as Chaukhamba, Trishul, Nanda Devi, Shivling and Panchachuli. Whe...

Helping in the drug bust case, Raja's life had changed....the one lakh reward money had solved a lot of problems for the family and they had known what it is to be happy. Upon GhoCha's recommendation, the Police had enrolled Raja as a licensed detective and had even trained him in the basics. It was Raja's first step towards becoming an honourable member of the society. Slowly, ever so slowly he started to develop self esteem. This prompted Raja to work even harder. He was never one to take things casually, and had become even more resolute. GhoCha started taking him along to work on their cases and Raja got to work on some fact gathering and grunt work routine. He began understanding how the Force works. True to his habit, Raja would note his daily learnings in his diary. Thanks to his basic nature and his diligence, Raja proved himself ahead of the curve. He was learning fast. One night Raja's mobile phone rang. This time it sounded grim and urgent, almost like a sire...

No one really knows how old Windsor Castle of Junapada in Mumbai really is. A dark old relic made of stone in the Victorian style. A huge narrow archway  that is its entrance leads to the stairway after you have walked down the dimly lit passage. The stairway was once solid large stone, but now broken and infirm, fun for a child but God forbid if someone is old and arthritic. At every bend of the stairway, there is a small window at the top right corner with horizontal iron bars that just about lets in the light and the breeze. You would wonder how the light and the breeze manage to seep in through those windows heavy with layers of dust, cobwebs, random dry twigs that may once have been home to an avian family. And no, you wouldn't want to venture close to the window because the wall is equally filthy showcasing an unwelcome graffiti of stains from pan spit. What Windsor Castle lacks in aesthetics, it fails to make up for even in spirit.  The houses are essentially a set of s...

Gurudev famously advised: Jodi Tor Daak Shune Keu Na Aase Tabe Ekla Cholo Re These words ring truest in the ears of an entrepreneur, as one truly walks alone. Starting up isn't just about setting up a business, drawing up business plans, researching, building a team, infusing capital and getting a product out. The battle begins a lot earlier. Every entrepreneur has to deal with "advisors" and naysayers who are just waiting for him to fail so that they can say "we told you so" because they know that they will be right in about 90% cases. Safe bet. For them, of course.  Entrepreneurship is about having a strong conviction and an almost manic self belief. At every stage the conviction will be severely tested, every other week you will want to cut losses and fold. You desperately will want to talk to someone, seek advice, but most times you will end up getting the finger. You have no choice but to condition yourself to wake up every morning, go to work and face near...

 Most of us grew up as children notorious for landing our hands straight on food on table after a long session of playing outdoors. The missing key word here is "without washing hands properly". Quite a few of you would have grown up while a few of us are merely overgrown kids. The only difference being that back then we irked mom and now we irk both mom and wife. We may laugh about it, but we all know that it is no laughing matter. Personal hygiene is critical to well being, there is nothing macho or cool about not maintaining. Do you like surprises? Ya, love them. Well, poor personal hygiene leads to poor health is hardly surprising. Trust me you will hate it.     Doctors too stress on the importance of maintaining personal hygiene, for children and adults alike. There is no expiry date to it. How to maintain personal hygiene: Washing hands and feet regularly, especially when one steps in from outdoors. Washing hair regularly and taking a bath at least twice everyd...

Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at blogging. A lot of my well-wishers encouraged me to express myself, so here I am paying heed to their suggestion, albeit after my own fair share of procrastination.  Shree Ganeshaya Namaha  I thought introducing myself is the best way to begin, of course I know you guys out there are dying to get to know me. So this piece is solely about indulgence. The word "Stumble" has a lot to do with my life. I stumbled onto this planet into the bustling Desai family on July 5th, 1972 in all my natural glory and naturally clueless, the latter kind of summing up the rest of my life's pursuits. Like all good parents do, at first opportunity, they deposited me in school not far from home. This place is where my first brush with crazies happened whom I now call friends. Life at school was nice given my innate ability to blend in with crazies and excel at being one. Something they say about formative years and building personality. I did pretty ok ...