THE SO-CALLED INDUSTRIAL TRIP

In first trimester, our entire class went on a so-called industrial trip to a pharma company in Baddi (about 300 kms from Delhi). The bus started from the college premises early at 0530 hrs and reached Delhi by-pass at 0615 hrs where i and another classmate were scheduled to board the bus. So we reached on time, boarded on time and then started the LONG journey.

It was an A/C bus with a seating capacity of around 50 people but our strength was 54, so some were standing and many were seating but that was not a problem, we all adjusted well to the conditions. The route we were plying on refreshed my old memories of my trips to Ambala during my engineering study days.  For the onward journey we all played dumbshral arts (pardon me for spelling mistake, couldn`t figure out the correct spellings in Dictionary), and it was great fun to play it. I`m good at enacting the name of the movie but when it comes to guessing the name, i quite misjudge the acting and as a result guess the wrong name, but still i tried at it and guessed some correct names. We started that game when we were around Sonepat and continued uptill we reached Haveli, a motel in Karnal. Time for breakfast. My concentration was at clicking good phototgraphs for my orkut and facebook profile rather than the breakfast. Ours group was the late-latif when it came to boarding the bus, courtesy late breakfast service by the motel restaurants. So the journey began again, this time there was a surprise in waiting for us, i must mention it was not expected on our parts. A silly B-Grade movie staring Mithun titled "QATL-E-AAM" was being played. Taking note of the amount of vulgarity demonstrated in that movie in front of the entire students and teachers present, i think that movie shud be re-christened as  "SAR-E-AAM", immediate action was taken and that movie was shut down. We by-passed Ambala district and headed for the chandigarh-panchkula area, by passed those two citites too and reached Pinjore, the town famous for its Garden. From this point, the journey ahead must be around 60-70 kms and the condition of roads was so poor that it took almost 2 hrs for us to cross that section.

Some how we reached our destination, our first attack was on the snacks served in their canteen. Later visited the boiler section, water purification system, then the main area of production. Also went around the packaging area and before that we had to wear special clothes to prevent the entry of germ and bacteria. We were given a pair of trousers, a shirt, a pair of polythene bags to cover our shoes with and a plastic cap to wear before we entered the packaging area. One of my frnds was given only one polythene for his shoes and he mistook and wore that on his head. The so called visit must have taken around 1 hour and around 1600 hrs, we started for Delhi again. First stop was Pinjore Garden. All had some snacks and started again. This time also we played `the dare` game. We were to enact or sing or dance as a dare this game. Full of enjoyment. Imagine the dance steps when the driver of the bus applied breaks.......lol. So time for dinner and this time it was Mirchi restaurant about 5 kms from Ambala. We immeditely placed the order and to my surprise with 2-3 minutes our dinner was served. Now i know why the bus driver was adament for a dinner at this particular restaurant, well his strategy to have some extra earnings helped as we could finish our dinner early and go onto the bus to get our seats and prepare for a good nap. For the remaining trip, I slept and don`t know when we reached Delhi. A small nap was disturbed when the driver stopped over for tea and can u imagine, one of my close frnds was enjoying tea at time of the night. When we were entering Delhi, i had to make a decision, either call Dad at by-pass to pick me up or go to my friend`s house, which was on the way to college. I decided for the later part and camped at my frnd`s house. The bus dropped at a particular place, it was 0330 hrs. Must have taken around half an hour to reach his home. Upon reaching, we were figuring out wat to do now, as none of us feeling sleepy anymore. So we zeroed in on ‘Kismat Konnection’ movie. I was up till 0530 hrs, when i couldn`t take it anymore and decided to sleep for half an hour. Finally woke up at 0800 hrs, again started for my home and once i reached home again went to sleep and slept from 0930 hrs to 1400 hrs.

Morale of the Trip : For an industry visit of 1 hour, we traveled almost 24 hours (both onward and backward journey time) but fun, masti and enjoyment were unlimited. 

MAJOR CHANGES & THEIR IMPACTS ON ME

Ever since i gained conciousness, he has been undergoing a continous change in his personality and his inner-self. Here are some changes he experienced in personality from that day:

• EVOLUTION AS A READER : One of my close friends in graduation college had a habit of reading books and novels. I always made a habit to imbibe positive traits of other individual`s personality into my own. This led to the evolution of "THE READER Sitaksh Chhabra". Before that day, i would never be associated with reading but made it a point to take up reading as serious habit. Since then have read many titles such as If God was a Banker(by Ravi Subramanian), Five Points Someone, One Night At Call Centre, The 3 Mistakes of my Life(all three written by Chetan Bhagat), The Monk who sold his Ferrari(by Robin Sharma), Robinson Crusoe(by Daniel Defoe), The complete short stories of Sherlock Holmes(by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) to name a few. Also plan to read more titles like the winning way:learnings from sport for managers(by Harsha Bhogle and Anita Bhogle) and zero percentile(by Neeraj Chibba).
• THE LANGUAGE LAB : In engineering college, i had a special two hour class named as “THE LANGUAGE LAB” in which we had personality development activities such as debates, group discussions, self assessment activities, etc. Before this, i was a very shy person and would always hesitate in talking to other person. These classes somewhat helped me get out off the shell. The current personality traits in me can be attributed to these activities held in the engineering college. When on the first day, i entered into the classroom, i felt that if i had to dawn a new personality this was his catch and promised myself that i would contribute minimum 200% towards these activities. At the end of the classes, personality had turned 180 degree U-turn, earlier  used to shy away during a conversation but now hesitation had shooed away. I gained a new confidence in personality which would be reflected in my moves, talks, etc.

• WRITING DAILY MONETARY ACCOUNTS : Every night before going to bed, saw Dad writing daily expenses in a register. On enquiry about this, was told that this would show him his needs regarding money, amount of his spendings, where the money was being spent and for what purpose. This concept appealed and me also started writing daily expenses before sleeping at night. Its been about 2 years since  started this habit and has been constantly following it. This helps in a way to calculate his monthly spendings and where majority of spending have been done. The biggest responsibility for him came in 2008(starting from April) when for three months he handled the entire accounts of his family business. Till date since i joined my family business again, i`ve been keeping a tab in this regard.
• PERFECTION : Earlier i would always to do works only for the heck of it ie works were done because was asked to do them. But once heard about the concept of perfection,  decided to experiment with the idea of Perfectionism. The experiment started about a year ago and has been going on till today. The concept of perfection has changed me to a great extent. Earlier would compromise regarding the style of works, quality, etc but eventually this experiment implored me to work for the best. This concept deals with obtaining the best results until it matches with the imaginary picture in my own mind. Unless obtain the finest, would be repeating my efforts again and again. This concept changed me, this further led me to innovate the new ideas.
  After completing engineering from a college outside Delhi, when returned back to Delhi,  was asked to select a mobile number for himself. I must have gone through hundreds of thousands of new numbers in order to select a number but couldn`t find the perfect number ie a number that immediately appeals and was ready to go to any length to buy that connection and that too at any cost. Somehow, parents convinced  to get a temporary number and meanwhile kept looking for the perfect number. Must have changed about 6-10 numbers before zeroed in on the current number.
• BLOGGING : a cousin had her own blog wherein she would write her mind straight out. This inspired to create own blog. This created a new vent for my emotions and actions. The blog created a new path to tell the entire world about his thinking, how i  felt of the happenings around me and in the world. Through this medium, was able to express myself to others. His expression gained a new medium. Recently, during a chat with a college friend, got the idea to re-activate my blog and here i am. I`ve taken up micro-blogging quite seriously, very active on twitter(twitter@sitakshchhabra) through my blackberry and via web. Interact with people and friends. 
• MUSIC & SINGING : In childhood i never paid heed to music. One day parents encouraged to take up singing as a hobby, he accepted their encouragement quite lethargically. Interest in singing and music grew by a small percentage since then. The change came, when in 6th class was awarded the Best Singer during annual day celebrations. This inclined me more towards singing and music. In free time,i could be found next to a radio set in house. Even today when i`m traveling, can be found with earplugs in ears. Be it Bollywood, Rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, English classics, etc, if the song is interesting, could go to any length to hear that song. Once on an off day went for morning walk and took along mobilephone plus earplugs, during walk was listening to music on FM radio, was so mesmerized by the songs that started singing them loudly in public. Everyone around was looking at me with surprise. Later, realized what  music was doing to me at that moment. Music takes me to a new world and provides internal peace and calmness.
• THE SHIV KHERA WORKSHOP : This dates back to 6th May 2010. I was to attend a workshop of Mr. Shiv Khera titled,"Blue print for Success", i learnt alot from this workshop and till date i practice what was preached by him. Before i go off to sleep i simply answer 4 questions. These questions give a summary regarding my day`s entire activities, major learnings of the day, etc. I also get to know self-productivity. I also practice a few auto-suggestions which help self in achieving the mental goals and desires. The auto-suggestions need to be revised atleast twice in a day.
• MY `GUIDING STAR`: I am a great fan of actor Aamir Khan and follow his actions very seriously, study them properly and imbibe his philosophies in life. According to him, all these IIFA awards, stardust awards, etc can be bought out or there may be an act of favourism in them and the greatest award for an actor is 'the audience', for the movies are made. Similarly i have also formulated my philosophy and till date follow it without fail. My Philosophy: "I`LL NEVER WORK FOR MONEY, AWARD, REWARD, SUCCESS, HONOUR, APPRECIATION, TO SHOW TO OTHERS INSTEAD I`D PREFER TO SIMPLY WORK AND PRODUCE QUALITY OUTPUT."