Sessions in Saurashtra

Hallo friends,

I have been travelling in Saurashtra for youth seminars since last two weekends. I interacted with 225+ youth in my last 4 sessions in Junagadh, Dhari (Amreli) & GIR. My Anjar-Kutch tour had postponed once again and had new destinations for session.

Second last weekend I had been in Junagadh & Dhari. I had been in Dhari after almost 5 years. It is near about 75 Kms away from Junagadh along to Bilkha & Visavadar. Mr. Pyarali Vadsariya accompanied me in our night on road bike journey. We started at 10 PM to Dhari for next morning session. Since it was night journey road was empty and it took 2+ hours to reach as we were driving in unknown area. We had been advised to stay in Hotel Krishna near Petrol Pump at Dhari, it was below expectation, not too bad as it was best option in Dhari. Next day after session I had to reach Junagadh again for next session! I had only 2 hours between completion at Dhari and Scheduled time at Junagadh. I seemed impossible to reach on time but Mr. Minaz and his driving abilities made it possible we started at 1.15 PM and reached 2.30 PM!! Within 1.15 Hours from Dhari to Junagadh, What a bike journey it was!!

It was great time to be in Dhari and Junagadh earlier and in Bhalchhel and Chitrawad last weekend, had wonderful time with sessions and discussion though it is always difficult to handle youth crowd that’s reason why I had to be more attentive and aggressive. I am also thankful to Mr. Barkat who dropped me at my home from Junagadh and obviously to introduce Darbari restaurant of Junagadh. It is small hotel though good. Its Dhaba type restaurant, I had food with Mr. Samir and Mr. Amir over there. Got so many Facebook friend request from participants, thank you for liking and respect. 

Come to know a new Hotel with AC Conference Hall – Hotel Sapphire opposite of Junagadh ST Bus station. Wonderful! It is great option for stay and for organizing seminars.

This weekend likely have more sessions in GIR itself and also Traveling Botad for my sessions scheduled on 23^rd of this month. Will get back with more sharing.

TC

Weekend LEHER

Hi!

So, according to the post title you must be understood that I am going to have sessions with youth at every weekend. Yes, you are right. I have planned few trips for LEHER and few trip plans are under discussion. From tomorrow I am travelling to Junagadh and Dhari (Amreli) for 3 sessions, later I am likely to travel Kutch as well for Anjar- trip which was postponed in July. Cities such as Rajkot, Gondal, Botad are also in list to be travelled for same reason in upcoming weekends.

Having a session tomorrow in Junagdh after long time of period, travelling Dhari tomorrow evening after 4 years. last travelled in 2008 for attending a meeting. I had many sessions in Junagadh & Dhari earlier but this time audience would be different, their need would be different. looking forward for all 3 sessions.

See you with updates soon.

Returning from Hyderabad

Hi!

I am writing this post while resting in Mumbai Central railway station waiting room. I have just arrived from Secunderabad after completing the ConnectIT workshop of NASSCOM Foundation. I am waiting for next train which is scheduled to depart at 08:20 for Rajkot.

I had been in Hyderabad-Secunderabad last 5 days and enjoyed the trip over there. Sessions and interaction with participants was good and utilized time to meet relatives over there after completing the workshop.

This time I was with new colleague Mr. Prashant Pandit the senior manager for NASSCOM Foundation, find him nice and had well time and company of him. We were staying at Hotel Kassani GR at Madhapur, Hi Tech city. Indeed, it was great and comfortable stay. Had taste of Kassani’s restaurant and able to suggest dishes as best such as Schezwan Fish and Darbari Chicken. Hotel Kassani is providing complementary hi speed internet connections in rooms. I must say to have experience of the hotel when you will be next time in Hyderabad. I hadn’t visited any public places during this visit as was not having enough time to go out and surf the city although explored city on net! 

Back To Back Journeys

On Going Journey: Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
Last: Jetpur (Gujarat)
Ago: Rajkot (Gujarat)

Hallo friends,

After conducting 3 sessions with youth at Rajkot & Jetpur last weekend, I have reached at Madhapur, Hyderabad to conduct 3 days CIT (ConnectIT) advanced computing training workshop for NGO professionals in Hyderabad. It's a NASSCOM Foundation event. First Time in Hyderabad for Sessions.

Today, I just arrived at Hyderabad by Rajkot-Secunderabad Express. It was almost 29 hours journey. It was comfortable journey though train got very slow after entering in Hyderabad. Train was not getting signals easily on account of other local trains and crossings. I got off at Begumpet station as I was supposed to reach at Madhapur which is almost 11 KMs away from Begumpet railway station. Just working on tomorrow's sessions, I will back with new sharing after completing the tour.

TC 

Jamnagar - A Historical City

Friends, Last weekend I visited Jamnagar and stayed there for two days. Trip was good; Sessions were well and had positive feedbacks from group. Somehow I felt, we still need to work on time! I believe we yet not understood the value of the time. Anyways, let me share my experience with you!

I had reached Jamnagar on last Friday night. Altaf Vasaya and Anwar Lakhani accompanied me. After reaching we booked a room in Hotel Kama after getting good reviews from a co-traveller. Though it was economy hotel, we can’t expect any other facilities than the hotel had! We tried to change hotel but didn’t find any decent near bus station area although there are guest house like Minal and Shivshakti, facilities were almost same. There are good restaurants in Jamnagar if you search little far from bus station area. Both the day we went to Restaurant Maruti, taste seemed good. It is a decent restaurant for family.

Jamnagar is easy to travel from Junagadh (3 hours) Rajkot (2 hours) on road if you are in Saurashtra. There are trains from Rajkot Jn as well. There are so many places to visit; unfortunately we couldn’t visit due to busy schedule.

Railway Station in past

Interesting Facts:

• Jamnagar is a coastal town of Gujarat – India. 
• It was founded by Jam Raval in 1540 A.D. as the capital of the princely state of Navanagar. 
• It was so named after the ruler who called themselves Jamshree. 
• There are so many buildings situated in the old part of the town such as the Darbar Gadh, Mandvi Tower and Jam Bungalow. 
• Darbar Gadh was a gathering place where the Maharaja of Nawanagar used to hold public audience. 
• Jamnagar is the home town of best cricketers such as His Royal Highness Jam Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji, Prince Amish and his nephew Prince Vinu Mankad, Salim Durrani, Indrajitsinhji, Ajay Jadeja and emerging cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. 
• Jamnagar is also famous for its 'Brass Products', 'Bandhani' and handicrafts. 
• According to Pauranik literature, Lord Krishna established his kingdom at Dwarka town in Jamnagar district, after migrating from Mathura. 
• Jamnagar is today known as 'Oil City' because the world's biggest oil refinery belonging to Reliance Industries and a smaller one belonging to Essar Oil are located in Jamnagar. 
• Jamnagar is well known for its four marble Jain temples: Vardhman Shah's Temple, Raisi Shah's Temple, Sheth's Temple, and Vasupujya Swami's Temple. All were built between 1574 and 1622.
• There are 30 Jain Temples in the town.

Jamnagar

Places of interest:

• Darbargadh Palace
• Lakhota Fort
• Willingdon Crescent
• Pratap Vilas Palace
• Kotha Bastion
• Dhanvantri Mandir (Ayurvedic University – only one in India)
• Solarium
• Bhujio Kotho
• Bohra Hajira

Visit when you will be in Jamnagar!

LOVE मैरिज या ARRANGED मैरिज

SUHANA SAFAR – Life is a journey! We all are in a journey of the life although we are on different ways and different tracks to reach the destination which is ultimately same for all human beings! We get life and visa from God to travel various aspects and events of life and we start to enjoy our trip with the people whom we meet during this journey. We meet so many people whether they are our blood relatives or just a Pedestrian who is passing by from us! There are so many people who touch our hearts and become very special companion of the life journey! Today, on the platform of Suhana Safar, I am sharing one major and blessed life event of life – Marriage!

You might hear the most spoken idiom “Marriages are made in heaven!” This is very common sentence which people use when they talk about any individual’s marriage. Though Marriages are made in heaven, we are supposed to discover the partner on earth! In some cases the individual finds the soul mate according to the dream and in some cases the family or match-maker helps to find out appropriate partner. Generally when individuals  find the partners themselves and decide to be married with each other called "Love Marriage" and when Family choose the partner for any individual called "Arrange Marriage!"

Love Marriage v/s Arranged Marriage

Very nice topic to be discussed here i.e. LOVE मैरिज या ARRANGED मैरिज? Which one is best and long lasting? The question is really tough to answer, let’s try to find the answer in this discussion.

Love Marriage: People say love is blind as love doesn’t see the age, caste, education, families and status of the opposite person so that when an individual see a person who is same as according to the dream, love feeling take place in the hearts. Love starts with attraction then liking, proposing, expressing, meetings and finally two individuals come with the decision to spend life together as husband and wife as they have understood themselves and know the expectations of each other. It is not the end of story; actually the story starts now as they require the permission to marry each other from their parents or guardians! Sometimes it becomes easy if both are from same caste and levels and if differs, the test begins! Test of love, test of patience and test of relation! If they pass these all circumstances, they would have best married life as now they know the value of love and relation. It is not guaranteed that the problems will not be raised in love marriage in fact love marriage requires so many arrangements! Love requires arrangements and adjustments in term of acceptance of; families, background, customary, economic situations, role and responsibilities, way of living and the most important the thinking and status of partner. The fact is, she partner has to arrange and adjust the most of arrangements after marriage. In short, Love requires positive arrangement for happy life ahead, but it takes time.

Arranged Marriage: Arrange means to set a marriage of two unknown persons who even they don’t know each other properly! Generally arranged marriage process is start with setting up the meetings of two families and especially for two individuals who are going to be bounded with relation of husband and wife! These meetings are platform to discuss their lives, needs and likes-dislikes etc. If both the person finds each other as perfect match and like outer appearance, get engaged and start to know more closely. Sometimes, the period between engagement and marriage is very long so that both the persons may have more time to know more and understand each other but in many cases this period is too short and in no time they got married after engagement! In this type of marriage they have to love this arrangement, it is true that the love neither comes with force nor you insist your partner to love you! It’s come with understanding and care. If any couple married on arranged basis, they require love! But, it takes time!

Let me conclude the topic with my personal view; “If you can arrange your love and adjust all situations after marriage, go with “Love Marriage” or if you are able to find love and love the arrangement of marriage, go with “Arrange Marriage.”  The thing is in arrange marriage you have to wait for love and in love marriage you have to wait for arrangement! True! Both formats require passion of love, care and commitment.

Sony Entertainment Television is going to telecast new series LOVE मैरिज या ARRANGED मैरिज from August 6th at 8:30 PM. We shall know more about this topic on Sony; Wait more for few days...

For More Discussion: www.facebook.com/LoveYaArrange

Sharing Talaja Trip

Writing this post after two days of my Talaja trip! I am just become able to write my views for last trip. As I have shared in my earlier post, I was supposed to take two sessions with youth. This was new destination for me and I travelled the city first time though the travelling routes were in my mind. There are major three ways to travel Talaja form GIR, all routes reach almost at same time.

1. Via Talala, Veraval, Kodinar, Una, Timbi, Rajula, Mahuva & Talaja (N.H. 8E)
2. Via Talala, Jamvala, Una, Timbi, Rajula, Mahuva & Talaja (N.H. 8E from Una)
3. Via Sasan, Mendarda, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar & Talaja

I preferred to travel via first option and started my journey on 27^th Morning. Got the Bus from Veraval at   11 in morning and reached Talaja by 5:30 in evening.The route was familiar up to Timbi as I have traveled thrice in my history but after Talaja the whole way was new for me. I observed new cities like Rajula, Mahuva and Talaja during the trip. You will witness the damaged roads after Una, Indeed this is the area of work after all it is National Highway no. 8E!

Gurjarnagri Bus

If you are travelling Talaja or Bhavnagar from Veraval, choose bus wisely for comfortable travelling. There are not any private tourist buses on road as the service is not presently available. You have only one option left and this is State Transport Bus! There are few categories in Gujarat State Road Transport Cooperation, Local, Express, Deluxe, Gurjarnagri, Luxury and Sleeper. This route don’t have luxury and sleeper class bus services so you had better to select Gurjarnagri for comfortable travelling as it’s have better seat to sit properly and rest your back. The bus takes almost 6 hours to reach the destination. Porbandar-Bhavnagar, Veraval-Bhavnagar & Mangrol Bhavnagar are the few buses which pass along to Talaja. There are few highway hotels in talaja if you are planning overnight journey. Good restaurants and dhaba are available on Bhavnagar Highway. Talaja is beautiful town surrounded by hills. There is a Temple on hill which makes the hill very attractive. You can see it while travelling on road.

I stayed 2 nights and a day in Talaja. Really it was pleasant stay, met my past mentees and new people as well. I also met ITREB colleague and friend Altaf Vasaya after long time. I must say, I liked the group, their attitude toward learning; they were very open to learn new things so that I enjoyed interacting with them. Alhamdulillah! Sessions went well according to the feedback what participants personally gave to me. Thank god for the success once again. I thank those people who were helped me throughout the stay. I especially thank Muiz Vasaya for care! May god bless you all.

Talaja, Bhavnagar

This weekend I am travelling to Talaja, Gujarat. The reason why I am travelling is to deliver the sessions. This time talking on two subjects; Islamic law & Being extraordinary creation! The target group is youth. Insha’Allah it will be fruitful time to be there.

Talaja is situated on national highway no. 8 in between Bhavnagar – 50 km and Mahuva – 40 km. It is a Taluka place falls in Bhavnagar. Also known as the birthplace of the poet Narsinh Mehta, Talaja is also house of important sites for Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. There are around 30 ancient Buddhist caves cut into rocks, with fine carving of Boddhisatva. Talaja is having a site placing 3 religion’s important monuments; Jain temple on a hill alongside the town, 13 Buddhist caves on same hill and Hindu temple of Khodiyar Mata is on the same hill as well!

Talaja is reachable place from anywhere as road, rail and air transportation are easily available. I am travelling first time this area. I will share more about Talaja after my trip. Stay Tuned.

Anjar Tour Called Off

Dear friends,

In my last post I have shared about my upcoming Anjar, Kutch tour this weekend. Unfortunately, this your and seminar called off due to few circumstances over there. Regret not to travel Kutch. I will update as soon as new date will be finalized.

The City of Temples - Anjar, Kutch

Freinds, this weekend likely to travel Kutch once again after almost a year. This time destination is different. Going to deliver sessions to youth of Anjar, Kutch. Last time when I visited Kutch, I just get off from bus at Anjar bus station to pick up another bus for Mundra. This time will stay in Anjar only. As always I am studying the city to be visited by me and sharing it's basic information with you all, it will be useful if you plan your travel to Anjar in future!

Anjar, Kutch - History & Geography:

Map

Anjar is a city of Kutch,  It was announced capital of kutch four times. First in Vikram samvat 721 by Chauhan Ajepal, then in 862, then in Vikram Samvat 1062 by Kathis and there after that in Vikram Samvat 1602 by the Maharao shri Khengarji Jadeja. It has history for more than 1400 years. It is the oldest city of Kutch. Anjar is named after by Kshatriya - Chauhan King Ajepal. The city was originally known as 'Ajay Vas' after him but over the years name changed to Anjar. Chauhan Ajepal brother of King of Ajmer, Rajasthan came and settled here to protect the country and defend against the invasion of Khalifa across the sea. He established the first coastal security center in Kutch.

Anjar is situated about 300 km from Ahmedabad its about 40 Kms to the south of main city of Kucth-Bhuj and almost 10 Kms from the north east shore of the Gulf-Kutch. It is known for the Shrine of Jesal and Toral. Jesal Jadeja was a great robber, lady saint Sati Toral had shown the path of spiritualism to him . Jesal and Toral took live samadhi in Anjar. Now days thousands of pilgrims perform pilgrimage in Anjar every year.

Anjar is city of Temples, Shree Swaminarayana Temple is attracton near Sawaser naka. Shree Swaminaryan came to Anjar in approx Samvat 1863 and stayed here for many years, he used to teach spiritual and the real lessons of life to many backward class people over there. Second one is Bhid Bhanjan Mahadev Temple near Sorathia naka and third one is Bhareswar Mahadev Temple which is 1200 years old temple at Devaliya naka. fourth one is Shree Naya Anjar Jain Temple. (Wikis)

Kucth is famous for its culture and history, I am willing to visit mentioned spots. Let's see how much is it possible with scheduled tasks and sessions. Will back with new stories.

Chanduvav, Veraval-Gujarat

Yesterday, I had been in Chanduvav, a place near Veraval – Gujarat. I visited Shree Narandas Jethalal Sonecha Management & Technical Institute. Today, I am writing this post for students especially from Saurashtra area. There is a blind belief that Saurashtra is backward place in Gujarat as there is not any high class college for higher education after completing high school or pursuing graduate degree! This thought had been derived after witnessing so many institutes who have big names but not worthful in education infrastructure and in academic aspects! Here I have an answer for those students who leave Saurashtra for master education in technical and management field. There are so many good institutes in city like Rajkot but today I am talking about the institute which is not in any big city though it has modern facilities and infrastructure which are required in this education era.

N. J. Sonecha is opened last year and offering MCA & MBA degrees affiliated with Gujarat Technical University, we know as GTU! I have visited the campus and after vising it, I must say, indeed it is good institute having fantastic lab like which I have seen in Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka and Tamilnadu when I travelled there for my IT sessions over there. This college is having Multimedia classrooms, well settled library, an open cafeteria and above all adopted projector enabled teaching method and campus’ latest lab networking which is hardly to find in this area. The institute is situated in natural environment on Veraval – Junagadh Highway. I met and discussed so many academic things with Mr. Gaurav and according to him campus is having best and regular faculties who are concern with student progress in practical manner and yes N.J. Sonecha students are also speaking the same. The thing only is institute is 8 km away from Veraval city and there is not State Transport bus stop at Chanduvav so students have to travel by shuttle rickshaws, but I have been informed that the process of seeking a stop is under conversation. So, it is proud to say that now we are having best educational platforms to convert our dreams into reality. I have interacted with Mr. Pradip Mehta before visiting the institute but unfortunately couldn't meet him this time. I thank him for his warm invitation to visit and thanks Mr. Gaurav for having a trip around campus with us. 

I just appreciate the institute and wish best of luck for its future! Keep it up.