Final Transit

Today is a special day. It’s my 25^th birthday today according to Indian calendar – Sixth day of the month of Shravan.

I keep turning pages of the calendar as months passes by. Each day teaches something new, but most of the time its significance is lost as the digits in the almanac change silently. Akin to our monthly deadlines for progress measurements, I consider birthdays as important milestones in my life. I usually pause and ponder over events in the past year and make ambitious plans for the next year. No, this is not a mundane exercise, but some serious introspection and retrospection!

On careful evaluation, I think I achieved 60% of goals that I set for myself last year. This figure is nothing to be proud of, yet I’m quite happy, for now I think the targets were too ambitious, nevertheless they were still achievable. Never mind. It’s time to take stock of current situation and set some targets for next year accordingly.

By the way, this is my birthday week. As stated above, Monday is my birthday according to Hindu calendar and Saturday (5^th August) according to the Gregorian calendar.

Happy Birthday Priyank!

PS: If you want to send me birthday gifts, lots of money, sweets or anything nice, please don’t hesitate. !

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[tag]Avijit Chakraborty[/tag] is a 35 year old [tag]cyclist[/tag] from Kolkata, India who is [tag]cycling[/tag] across 62 countries around the world in 20 months, covering about 64,000 km. As of July 2006, he has completed 48,000 km across 48 countries. Currently he is in Peru, and after cycling across South America, he will continue his journey across the African continent - South Africa to Egypt. In the final leg, he plans to cover Australia and east Asia.

→ Read the complete story

I’ve tried to capture comments from some of the people who met him on his way. If you have met him, seen him or heard him speak, do share your experiences by commenting below.

Avijit has a website: BicycleAroundtTheWorld dot com. On this site you can find his travel route, or contact him directly.

Once again, wishing the best to Avijit

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This summer I had been to [tag]Jalori pass[/tag] (10,500 ft) in [tag]Himachal[/tag]. Our group was relaxing at the Jalori pass temple when suddenly about 25-30 people local villagers appeared. It was a [tag]marriage[/tag] party and the newly weds had come to seek the blessings of the local deity

Band members playing some nice music

Some fireworks while the couple exit the temple after darshan

People break into celebrations

Celebrations - dance, music, crackers and some rain!

It was good to see that the people were very liberal and girls were participating with boys. They invited us to participate in the celebrations. I tried to play the huge pipes (dunno what they are called), but in vain…

I was touched by the simplicity of the people here, and the whole region in general (Kullu, Banjar, Jibhi, Manali etc). I spoke to one of the guys. He appreciated that people from cities are visiting remote places now. But he also expressed concern that it shouldn’t be overdone. Ok all that’s a different post.

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In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”
“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “We have plenty of food at present.”

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

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8 friends coming together for this long awaited weekend trip which ended in lot of fun The land of our ancestors was at its peak natural beauty and the beach was inviting us to take a dive in.

Photos and story is here: [tag]Konkan[/tag] trip: [tag]Harnai[/tag] and [tag]Murud[/tag]

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