Unique Pics

 Some pics become unique or are designed to be so. An exceptional view, or technique or congregation of people, are some reasons.

From MANDU- above, and  IIM Bangalore campus in the 80s, when I was a student there (below).

A staged pic in the monsoon, and from a tree in my front yard, both at IIM Indore.

(Above and below)

Strangers- at a wall at Jam GATE, near Indore-above, and Marine Drive, a random shot while walking around, in MUMBAI, below.

Unique Sights

 There are many around the world. Some that I have been to, and I think are unique-

Lonar crater.. formed due to a crashing meteor, thousands of years ago. In Buldana district, near Amravati. 

Mount Rushmore- four faces carved into a mountain.. Presidents of the U.S.

Ha Long Bay.. unique for limestone peaks jutting out of the bay. Vietnam.

Buddhist temples- many, in Thailand. architecture is unique.

Ladakh- a cold desert, unique in India.

Konark and Khajuraho- unique for their erotic sculptures on a temple wall.

Bali temples- again, unique shapes, open architecture.

Belur-Halebid in Karnataka.. carvings are 3D, and unique. A pic-

Pulicat and Chilika lakes- salt water lakes near the Ocean. 

Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Interesting Names

 Since I have seen about half a million students by now, there were quite a few interesting names that came my way. Some happened in the U.S., but many in India.

Grafila Jain was a student at IMT Nagpur. So was Meenu Mynam. And Vidushi Gandhi. Among the more common ones (Ankit, Ankita), these stood out. Tosha Dubey too, who I met a few times later on. 

Yamini Shah was another unusual name. And Ratnashree. Of course, Laura, the Austrian girl too. Again at IMT.

Writabrita Ray takes the cake, among IIM Indore students, for uniqueness. Then there was Om Sai Keerthi Soppa, another long and unique one. Harapriya was also one of a kind, though it might be more common in Odisha. Sanket was also a new one, rare.

Nishka Kumar (now Rathi) at KIAMS, along with Jogeswari, were some of the unique ones. Both remain friends, many years after they graduated.

Among those I met elsewhere, Dhanali Sandesara from NIFT stands out.

Among foreign names, Godwin Udo from Nigeria, Yapin Qiao from China, Natalija from Lithuania, Masoud Abessi from Iran were some that were different. Alberto from Portugal also. And Samudrika from Sri Lanka.

Places Like No Other

 There are many places with a unique flavour to them (not just the food!), across the world. Here are a few in my list. All these I have visited at least once.

Japan as a country is unique in many ways. They are extremely polite, and cellphones are not used in most public places. Efficiency is prized, and trains and buses run on time.

Greece. The islands are a unique mix of Mediterranean blue and homes in white. 

Sri Lanka. Emerald isle indeed. Very beautiful, friendly people.

Vietnam. Hard working people, and one of the fastest growing economies, with good reason. After all, they beat the U.S. in a war earlier.

Ladakh is a cold mountain/desert with great views, and I haven't seen anything like it anywhere. My daughter visited again to do a course at Sonam Wangchuk's place, and got to see some Ice Stupas too, used to store water.

Coonoor, Darjeeling.. Tea gardens are the unique thing in both.

Yellowstone National Park..Very large, diverse, with Host springs, geysers, Buffalo (American variety) and lots more

Bryce Canyon- amazing sight, unforgettable. Grand Canyon too.

Las Vegas. Mayanagari in a desert. Unique, heady feeling that makes you bet big at the casinos..one almost empathises with the Pandavas.

 

Uniquely Indian Things

Band baaja baaraat..nothing like it anywhere in the world..Ghodi pe hoke sawaar and all that!

Chain-snatching. Nowhere in the world do we have so many chain-snatchers..NY and Chicago have their Mugger-gangs , but not chain-snatchers.

Pan- the unique concoction of a betel leaf is used after food (Pet pooja) and the leaf alone is also used in many of our poojas/functions like haldi kumkum.

Chai..nobody drinks the kind of chai that we do-if we discount the wannabe Lattes, I mean.

The saree- maybe Sri Lanka also has a version of it in 5 yards, but the nine yard variant is certainly found only here.

Noise..everywhere, on the street, in the bazaars, and the aforesaid Baraats, we are a high-decibel society.

Song-and-dance in films.

The nod-it's different!

Names in My Friend-list

Some names are unique, and some ubiquitous. I thought I would list out some names that occur frequently and not-so-frequently in my friend-list (online and off).

Frequent, but of course, each one is unique. Apoorv, Ankit, Ankita, Abhishek, Neha, Chandni, Isha, Sriram, Anuradha, Pooja, Priyanka, Aditi, Aditya, Vishal, Praveen, Deepti, Divya, Anjali, Animesh, Naveen, Saumya, Garima, Siddhartha, Gunjan, Vikas, Vijay, Sheetal, Aishwarya, Akanksha, Archana, Bhawana, Sudipto, Bibhuti, Srinivas, Smita, Meghna, Sneha, Supriya, Shalini, Swati, Sapna, Shraddha, Rajesh, Alok, Suresh, Ramesh, Priyanka, Anant, Gautam, Milind, Deepak, Shruti, Madhuri, Ekta, Urvasi, Shweta, Pavan, Rohit, Saurabh, Kriti. Kritika, Monika,   ..

Infrequent or unique. Tosha, Tanaya, Paridhi, Harika, Yoshitha, Sabala, Sarvani, Satchi, Rewa, Angaee, Anupriya, Aman, Aashneet, Mrunal, Manasa, Laura, Lubna, Arafat, Tamros, Bhuvneet, Sarita, Anwesha, Khushboo, Manjari, Roshni, Murtaza, Indrajit, Indranil, Banikanta, Radha, Mishleen, Jasmine, Ruminder, Jasleen, Harnam, Harshdeep, Barleen, Vrinda, Shatakshi, Shreyashi, Jayasimha, Shahida, Harshad, Dheeru, Dheeraj, Vishesh, Hiral, Ishita, Parul, Aishani, Dhaarna, Lionel, Navroze, Jogeswari, Indira, Shikhar, Ratnashree, Shrunga, Ojasvi, Eisha, Sirisha, Nikita, Reitu, Pradyumna, Dhanapal, Nagendra, Avadhanulu, Keyur, Kamonasish, Miten, Geegesh, Zargar, Jyotirmoy, Shrishail, Shuchi, Sounak, Noori, Nancy, Shafique, Amlan, Damini, Swathika, Kalaivani, Sadhana, Natalija, Fanni, Yapin, Twinkle, Ron, Leslie, Lingaraju, Anumeha, Padmapriya, Prabhuvardhan, Bernadette, Alpana, Kanika, Shatabdee, Savitha, Shonika, Shyamli, Nits, Vidya, Swapna, Frane, Ansh, Anshita, Sirsa, Virajay, Oshin, Nagarjuna, Huma, Smriti, Novi, Pragya, Nisarg, Devank, Pulkit, Sucharita, Susmi, Sita, Vatsal, Radhika, Darwish, Uddipta, Aalap, Anubhuti, Anindita, Anuj, ..

Among other things, during this exercise, I discovered that I make friends with the Kaurs quite easily..can that be called a Kaur competence?

I think I have mentioned in an earlier blog the surnames that I seem to be surrounded by- the Sharmas, Sinhas, Singhs, Mishras and Srivastavas. Not to mention the Guptas, Jains and Agarwals.. so I won't get into that again.

Sharda- Singer Unknown

There was this song Titli udi ud jo chali, phool ne kaha , aaja mere paas, titli kahe main chali aakash sometime in the 60s, when I was growing up (I still am, but..). It had a voice that was unlike any other voice on radio (TV had not arrived yet). This song was good, and then I heard a few more songs sung by her. Learnt her name was Sharda, and that she sang mostly in songs composed by Shankar- Jaikishan.

A few more good ones were from films such as Around the World (title song- around the world in 8 dollars), Gumnaam (Jaane chaman, shola badan) and so on.

Wonder what happened to cut her career short. Here is a link to the first song mentioned here- Titli Udi-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W81R3Vz2o8M