Trip to BANDIPUR!!!

I am back again… Previous week was a mix of good and the sad times. Sad, coz, one of my nieces (6 months old baby, my cousin's daughter) got admitted to a hospital and while I am writing this, she is still in hospital in Bangalore. Such a tiny body was tortured with so many needles. One for putting on the drip and rest to suck her blood for endless tests. I must not speak more about it else I will end up crying. But it is depressing to see a baby suffer so much... I can only pray for her early and fast recovery.

The better part of the week was when our cousin sisters visited us from Delhi. We had already booked our rooms at a resort at Bandipur National Park- MC Resorts. The point to be noted about the whole trip was that we were always moving on time. Decided to drive by our own car with our very own in-house budding singer- Nimit, singing as badly nicely as the original singers of those long forgotten Punjabi songs… Picked up another cousin of ours from Mysore and reached our destination in good time…



Carom Time



MC resorts turned out to be a comfortable place, not a luxuries resort but a quiet and a clean one. The staff was polite and the rooms were spacious and nice. The meals were not extravagant, as in, not a very long list of dishes but tasty and filling. After many years probably played carom and after many months played TT (none of us tried our hands on chess, since we were on a vacation and not supposed to use our brainsJ). The setting was nice…. Play by the pool side.

First sight of the Elephants

After lunch, we were left to ourselves and so we played cards and then it was time for the Jungle Safari… Safari can be done by their Jeeps or the side-open buses. For jeeps, I guess, you need to book early and/or pay more. So, we mounted on the bus and started on our safari. I was anyways not expecting to see the tiger/s but as soon as we entered into the jungle, there was a sense of excitement. Looking curiously behind the bushes as if I would be the first person to spot the tiger (and grab the 15-seconds of fame).But I have no idea how a species named DEERS can always be found in any forest easily posing for camera!!! So, as usual, they were our first encounters. Then we spot the Indian Elephants, behind the bamboos. The driver and the conductor instructed us to remain quite…. Shhhh…. But, hello, the bus itself was making noise…

Anyways, they were standing at quite a distance (I had to use the zoom feature of my digicam) but as soon as they started flapping their big ears, an annoying family started freaking out and the lady was literally close to breaking down and pleading the driver, "bhaiyya, chalo, wapis chalo, bahut dekh liya haathi".. I mean, c'mon, you have come all the way down here to watch only deer and peacocks???!!! Oh, btw, she was (they were) all so excited on spotting the peacocks and the birds and yes, her voice specially was very annoying…



DEERS





Bison




A Family of Elephants



This Elephant came very close to our bus



The othe r man stood up after some time and almost shouted at the driver since the poor fellow was just doing his job- show as many wild animals as possible for full value for money… "chalo wapis, hum kab tak haathi dekhte rahenge, humare saath bachche hai, chalo wapis (resort)!!!". Uncle, if you were accompanied with kids, you could have chosen to stay at the resort or even better, could have stayed at home only… Moreover, it would be great if you let the kids see those animals which they have seen only in their books. Anyways, we saw elephants, bison, lots of deer, PEACOCK, kingfisher and that's all I think. Got the chance to see an elephant very closely, playing with mud… Once back, we were welcomed with refreshing tea, coffee and biscuits and then again, the cards time… Dinner was also simple but nice…

 Then we tried to show off our guts and sat by the pool side and started discussion about ghosts, spirits, our beliefs about them or any incident… That's when we could hear an elephant. It must not have been very close to our resort but not very far also… Immediately, I started scanning the dark bushes by the boundary wires of our resort to make sure that in case Mr. Elephant is very close by, we get ample time to run for our lives J it was cold by the time and we shifted to the bonfire place to play Uno (we can't live without cards)



Jungle Trek

 

Swimming Pool



Next morning, ooops, early morning, we got ready for a trekking session into the jungle… with our past experience with trekking, we were confident that we don't need shoes, our floaters would be enough. We started the trek by 6:30 and walked through the jungles… I was damn excited (again thought that I would encounter some wild animal within very close proximity)… and again we saw only deer… the trek was nice… Could feel the non-polluted environment in the early morning pleasantly cold time. And then, our guide asked, "madam, are you tired?? Can we go up that hill for trekking or you want us to go back through the jungle only?". How can I get tired of trekking? Pat came the reply, "no no, we can go up the hill... Is it too steep?". When he assured that it's not a steep ascend, all of us got ready to climb it. And that's where little Nikki realized that she is probably growing old at a very fast pace. After climbing non-stop for 5 minutes, Nikki has to stop to take deep breath. She was not like that till 2008 atleast, when she climbed happily on an excursion trip to Garud Machi… Throughout our trek up and down the hill, I was, though, enjoying it, but was getting worried about the deteriorating shape of my health. Anyways, somehow, we came through it and our guide told us that the total distance covered by us was 10 KMs!!!!!!!!! 10 KMs in 2.5 hours… not bad… Our legs were aching but all of us did enjoy this…



My Time Pass with Camera



And then, we attacked the breakfast and took that refreshing bath and back to the pool side… Others played cards while I played with my camera. By 11:30, it was time for us to head back to Bangalore. MC Resort gave us a souvenir at the time of checkout- a framed photograph of a deer… Nice gesture…

We halted at Mysore, where we had our lunch at the place suggested by our local Mysore Guide- Sohit/Sho/Shobhit J As I said earlier also, we were back to our home in a very good time… by 5:45 p.m. Not bad at all….

It was a refreshing break from our routines and spent nice time with each other after a very long time…

Final verdict on Bandipur:

1.   Don't go there with a hope to spot a tiger or other carnivorous animals, which depends on the LUCK….

2.   MC Resort is a nice comfortable place to stay, would give recommend it for others

3.   Enjoy elephants and bison and deer

4.   Don't miss the trekking and DO CARRY YOUR SHOES for doing it… Don't show off your heroism that you can trek without proper shoes on…

5.   Go there with your friends or big family; else you may get bored…

6.   And we had a nice time there…

Another MILESTONE!!!

Okay, there I changed the status message of my gtalk saying: "Today I complete 3 years of my Professional Life...!!!!!!!" and here my friend congratulates me and asks if I have written the blog or not?

I seriously had no intention to write a blog on this particular milestone but since he has poked me, I thought why not oblige him (Parikshit, if you are reading this, I dedicate this blog to you)

Btw, earlier my status message was: "Today I complete 3 years at 3i Infotech. Don't know if this is a happy or a sad occasion". Then another friend of mine suggested, why use 3i Infotech's name and get confused about it, rather call it 3 years of Professional life. I really felt happy and relieved at that…

I still cannot digest the fact that my father worked at the same bank for almost close to 32 years!!! I am already feeling suffocated after 3 years. As one of my bro-in-law says, "to get a hanuman, you have to be a Lord Ram first". But sadly, there is no Ram in today's corporate world (if there are any, I wish their number to increase drastically) and so there is no Hanuman.

But I am pretty impressed with myself when I see my bank account. My parents used to fill my piggybank or there were festivals to earn money when I was a child. At times, to tease me, my father would often say, "tum kya jaano khoon paseene se kamaya huye paise ki keemat" (how would you know the importance of the hard-earned money?). But I know it now. I know its value. It hurts when someone takes away my money and does not return it in terms of the service or the favor promised in lieu of that money.

It's not that I have nothing to boast about in these 3 years. I have had my share of joy and happy moments, some learning (which, sadly, was limited to not more than initial 2 years only), new friends, meeting new people or shall I call them strangers, travelling to few of the places/rural places, imparting training, tasting local food, nothing-less-than-adventure-type of experiences etc etc. Thanks to one of my official trips, I happened to meet my long lost family friends and was able to spend quality time with them at Baroda. Have seen so much of politics that many a times I have decided to call it quits but stayed back.

I know I might be sounding as if I have completed 30 years of my professional life when actually the number stands at just 3 years but in these times, completing every single year is nothing less than an achievement. And on top of that, this is a MILESTONE and my readers already know how I am hell-bent on remembering the milestones… btw, 15^th May, 2006 was my first day at ICFAI college and hostel J Five years!!!

100 Truths!!!

Okay, since I don't have many followers and amongst them also only few are bloggers who are not taking care of their friend (ME) and so I have no source to get myself tagged with some interesting tags. Since past few days I have been reading lot of other blogs as well… Many are crap but still some are very interesting and I have decided to steal some of their tags and help myself come alive (right now, I am about to fall off my chair with drooping eyes), and this may continue for some of the next few posts.. Steal a tag, tag myself, complete the task and pass that on to someone else J

100 Truths!!!!

I have stolen this tag from a blogger named: Dhanya.

1. Last drink: Tea

2. Last phone call: to my hubby dear

3. Last text message: to my hubby dear again J

4. Last song you listened to: Baari Barsi (Band Baaja Baraat)

5. Last time you cried: thank God I am not crying much these days… and for good reasons, I don't even remember when I cried last… I guess February…

HAVE YOU EVER…

6. Dated someone twice: not even once L (btw, going out with your fiancée is not dating, is it? If it is dating, then YES)

7. Been cheated on: in love???!!! NO. Otherwise, in Life, YES

8. Kissed someone and regretted it: NO

9. Lost someone special: Yes

10. Been depressed: so many times…

11. Been drunk and threw up: NOOOOO

LIST FOUR FAVOURITE COLORS:

12. Black

13. Purple

14. Green, as in Moss green

15. Blue

FIRSTS:

15. Made new friends: Yes, I guess during kindergarten days but I don't remember them now

16. Fallen out of love: No

17. Laughed until you cried: Yes, few days back, subject being Nimit… he made me laugh

18. Met someone who changed you: Yes, many people actually, starting with my friends during MBA

19. Found out who your true friends were: Yes. Should I list down their names?? Fir kabhi…

20. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes. Thank God they were talking good things about me when I landed up there

HAVE YOU:

21. Kissed someone in your friends list: Yes, husband J (what were you thinking??!!!)

22. How many people in your friends list do you know in real life: Almost all

23. How many kids do you want to have: 2… but I will update this after discussion with Nimit J

24. Do you have any pets: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

25. Do you want to change your name: NO, but I want people to spell out/speak out my name correctly (I am not NIKITHA and I am not NITIKA… it's NIKITA)

26. What did you do for your last birthday: went to Yercaud a day before and on the birth day, went to Hogenakkal falls, with Nimit

27. What time did you wake up today: Thanks to our maid, both of us got up at 5:50 a.m. and then it was on-off thing. Finally out of the bed by 6:35 a.m.

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: sleeping

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: a new job... ASAP

30. Last time you saw your father: 22^nd April, 2011

31. What is one thing that you could change about your life: my bad luck, which played its role many a times (DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THE OCCASIONS WHERE MY GOOD LUCK FAVOURED ME)

32. Most visited web page: Gmail/Google

WHAT'S YOUR

33. Name: Nikita

34. Nicknames: Nikki (Nikka also)

35. Zodiac Sign: Cancer

36. Male/Female/Transgender: Female

37. Elementary: in Delhi

38. School: in Delhi/Faridabad/Jaisalmer/Jaipur

39. Colleges: BIT (Jaipur)/ICFAI (Gurgaon)

40. Hair Color: black/ dark brown

41. Long or short: Medium

42. Height: want to increase it but now no chance, 5' 3" or is it 5'2"??

43. Did you have crush on someone: Yes, but he turned out to be No#1 rotlu so that balloon got burst

44. Ever been in love: YES (after marriage)

45. Piercings: Ear

46. Tattoos: No

47. Righty or Lefty: Righty

48. First Surgery: None till now… Touchwood

49. First piercing: Ear

50. First best friend: They became my best friends all at the same time- Jaya, Puja, Shikha, Smiti J

51. First sport you loved: cricket (typical Indian)

52. First pet: Never had one and never want any

53. First vacation: Don't remember (parents claim either Goa or Kolkatta)

54. First concert: At college- Euphoria

55. First crush: we have talked about that in this section only…!!!!

RIGHT NOW

56. Eating: nothing

57. Drinking: water

58. I'm about to: post this on the blog

59. Listening to: Darling… Saat Khoon Maaf

60. Waiting for: office hours to get over soon

YOUR FUTURE

61. Want kids: YES

62. Want to get married: invalid question, already married

63. Careers in mind: In fantasy world- a rich Actor (Celebrity types). Real world- don't want to think about it, but a typical Business Analyst in IT industry

WHICH IS BETTER WITH OPPOSITE SEX

64. Lips or eyes: Eyes… that's the first thing that I notice about anyone

65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs (not taking Nimit into consideration in this section)

66. Shorter or taller: Taller

67. Older or younger: Older

68. Romantic or spontaneous: I guess, most of the questions are invalid now… I don't need to think about them now, I am happily marriedJ. But still, spontaneous…

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: stomach

70. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive (not over sensitive)

71. Hook-up or relationship: relationship

72. Trouble maker or hesitant: Trouble maker

HAVE YOU EVER

73. Kissed a stranger: NOOOOOOO… do people actually do that???!!!

74. Lost glasses/contacts: No, I am a responsible girl J

75. Broken someone's heart: Yes, I have been told so… though, I never knew about it at that time

76. Had your own heart broken: in love? NO; otherwise, Yes (in so-called friendships)

77. Been arrested: What are you saying?? NO

78. Turned someone down: No one asked me

79. Cried when someone died: Yes

80. Liked a girl that is a friend: Yes, in a straight way… she is my best friend J

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

81. Yourself: rarely

82. Miracles: Yes, started believing when they happened in my life

83. God: Yes

84. Love at first sight: No, I believe that's just a crush…

85. Heaven: Yes

86. Santa Claus: No, but want to believe when I see those little kids waiting expectantly for Santa Claus to handover their gifts on Christmas…

87. Kiss on the first date: No

88. Angels: No

89. Devils: Ha ha ha… Yes, there are so many around me….

ANSWER THURTHFULLY

90. Is there one person you want to be with right now: Yes, my papa… missing him very much today…

91. Had more than one BF/GF at one time: you kidding me?? I never had any BF L

92. Wanted to kill someone ever: Yes. I have my list of my targets ready with me…

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss: No one

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later: Yes, let's not get into the details, it (they) is (are) very embarrassing

95. Wanted to steal your friend's BF/GF: No… wanted some of their qualities in my husband though…

ASSOCIATE WITH SOMETHING YOU WEAR

96. White: my newly stitched crisp white cotton chudidaar

97. Black: my Adidas T-shirt. Nimit has the same t-shirt in Red color J

98. Red: my new kurti and my very old top (with Om sign) which I pulled out from somewhere when I went to Jaipur this time

99. Pink: one of my short kurti's, I loved its color but it faded much before its life L

100. Posting this as 100 Truths: Yes. That's why I stole it in the first place J

I don't know if someone is interested/ idle to do this but I WANT TO TAG Pranali, Akshay, Vipul (when you finally get time from shifting), Sandeep, Palani sir and my friend TARUN… Tarun, this can be your much awaited FIRST POST on your blog J

Let me know all of you once you are through with your tag in my comments section… CHEERS!!!

AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many a times my in-laws (and even my husband-in-lawJ) have told me to speak-out-loud… They often wonder how I have such a low voice. But that's how HE (look skywards) has made me. If I try to speak in higher volume, my voice resembles that of a crow. But I guess, in normal circumstances (bole toh, when I am not sitting in a restaurant playing some rock band type music or when I am lying/not confident of what I am blurting out), my voice is not that bad to capture.

 

So, why this justification kind of a post about my not-so-surili voice? It's because I often wonder how some people have such high-pitched irritating voice?? There are people who have high volumes but still pleasant to hear but I am talking about those people whose whisperings also itches my ear…

Just 5 minutes back, I went to the washroom in my office and I spotted that girl. Believe me, I actually have dropped my idea to use the washroom many a times when I saw her standing there, talking to someone. Though she talks in Kannada and so I don't understand a word that she speaks when she is supposedly whispering something to her friend, but it irritates me… I can, at times, even hear her blaring voice even when I have come out of the washroom, especially when she is roaring, I mean, laughing….

That reminds me of one of my English teachers during school time, Anjana Ma'am. I am sure that she is not reading this post. Our class teacher had made a rule to rotate our seats every day (we had 5 columns and I guess 6-7 rows). So daily rotate the rows and weekly rotate the columns. Anjana Ma'am had the habit of entering the classroom, put off her footwear in a corner and either teach us while walking across the classroom or mostly sit on the first bench (facing the class) of the middle column. The poor fellows of that ill-fated bench (2 per bench) always had hard time. I never believed that initially. But one fine day, it was my turn to sit there. My co-occupant quickly shifted to the 2^nd last bench of the room before Ms. Anjana comes. I told her that she may not be that bad (she had been taught by Ms. Anjana since many years and that was my first year with her being my English teacher). BUT… There she came and decided to sit on my desk and I actually could not make out of what she is speaking after 5 minutes, coz I had gone deaf!!! After the class, my friend came laughing and checked out my red ear coz, I had tightly covered my left ear when she was blaring right in front of me. She had a shrill voice… Difficult to imagine such voice coming out of such a small figure… and GOD!!! When she would shout at some student…

I remember my first individual presentation on a book review during my MBA days.  I stood there in front of the class of around 40-45 students and my faculty who was sitting on the last bench and cleared my throat. I greeted everyone and started the slide and to my horror, the slides were displayed upside down. I choked there itself. I didn't have the confidence to brush this blunder aside, crack a joke and continue with my presentation. I fumbled to see if I can get that thing right but I couldn't do or say anything. Some of my new friends signaled me to pause, take a deep breath and continue; some of them signaled me to excuse myself and come back to my seat. But that word itself was not coming out. Then my lecturar called me and made me sit next to her and continued with other presentations. It was such an embarassment. That's when one of my friends told me to rehearse in front of the mirror before any such presentations; keep a glass of water with me at that time and keep drinking at regular intervals to avoid dry throat; to gargle regularly with lukewarm water and sing  out aloud when alone. I took his first advice and today I am confident enough to address people. I have given lot of trainings in my job and unlimited presentations in college.

I often wonder why God has not given me (and many other people) a strong voice, I am not praying for a shrill one but a strong clear voice.

OBAMA KILLED OSAMA!!!!!!

The most wanted terrorist has been gunned down, as per US of A. OBAMA said OSAMA is dead (status message of one of my dear friend). Looks like a new tongues twister to me. You can easily interchange Obama with Osama by mistake. By the way, "Osama" word is already present in the dictionary of MS Word and "Obama" is not. Just an observation… You forgot, I am an Analyst. Don't you dare laugh at this…

Anyways, Osama is dead but never ending controversies have taken birth. Even my little brain is suggesting that something is wrong. The world is asking all sorts of questions. I will tell my concern later on…

1. Is Osama actually dead?

2. Was Pakistan not involved in the US operations?

3. Was Pakistan hiding Osama?

4. Why Osama was buried in sea so urgently (USA, though, says that it was after all the forensic tests were done. So it was not done in any urgency)

5. Was Osama dead many years ago only (natural death) but after getting fool-proof links only US is claiming that they killed him? [Presidential elections at stake]

6. Osama anyways was not an active member of his terrorist group; there are other dangerous members alive, who can strike in even bigger way anytime now. Was Osama murdered by his own group mates?

7. Etcetera etcetera….

 My concern is also on the similar lines:

Is it sure that USA has killed Osama or have they got inspired by the Bollywood movie Tere Bin Laden and killed innocent Pradhuman Singh, who played the Osama look alike in the movie???? There is no news of Pradhuman… This incident has taken place during appraisal time. Obama might have done so to claim the highest rating and promotion (extended Presidential tenure).

Whatever be the case, I now want to read the complete true stories about OBL. Wikipedia (my favorite encyclopedia) quotes this about his personal life:

"In 1974, at the age of 17, Osama married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia. According to CNN national security correspondent David Ensore, as of 2002 Osama had married four women and fathered roughly 25 or 26 children. Other sources report that he has fathered anywhere from 12 to 24 children."

I mean, look at the range of estimate of number of children fathered by OBL- 12 to 24. I don't understand, if OBL was such a deadly terrorist, his mind always occupied on planning some or the other attack, when did he take off time to marry 4 times??!!!

It took 10 years for US to kill this most wanted terrorist but I guess the controversies will remain open for a real long time from now… Real OBL or not; killed by US or his own group members or natural death; 12 children or 24… the fact is that OBL is dead… OBAMA KILLED OSAMA!!!!!!

Time Flies...

So yes, we have completed 1 year, 2 months and 2 days of our marriage today….

Okay fine. This post has nothing related to our married life milestones. It's just that I have completed so many pending jobs at office and feeling damn sleepy and was not getting any appropriate beginning to write a post.

Last two weekends just flew by. We went to Hyderabad for the long weekend. On the historical day of 2^nd April, 2011, India won the Cricket World Cup-2011 after waiting for 28 years and 6 world cups. It was as if India has just been announced the World's Super Power, taking away that throne from the United States of America (Amrika). Even more interesting was the semi finals with Pakistan, our childhood rivals. Every single office made sure that they put up television sets for the employees and implemented the dress code- BLEED BLUE. The offices which could afford, gave a half day. The others anyways wore deserted look in the second half, everyone has run away to watch how Indians would thrash away the other team. I guess it recorded the highest ever TRP. And WE WON…. It was nothing less than winning the coveted cup itself.

Every Indian holding his/her breathe on the Finals and there came the final six from our Mr. Cool captain. Emotions flowed- on field and off field. Crackers, national flag, shouts and cries. Barring few, I guess, all the Indians were on the road, taking the "victory lap". One car hits the other, the victim comes out smiling and demands explanation, the accused driver says, "Sorry bhaiyya, sorry, by mistake…" and the victim gets back into the car…. No fight, no brawl, no exchange of swear words… That's when you know that India has won the World Cup….The Indian team squad has won a permanent place in the history of the Cricketing world…

Next day was the picnic day for my dear husband. Ever since we got on the back seat of my brother's car; who was uncomfortable since they (brother and his wifey) didn't know the way to the destination; we (I & Nimit) had put on our fun caps. We were negligibly concerned if we were on the correct path or not. I just wished that my brother and sis-in-law don't throw both of us out of their car. The destination, by the way, was Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. This was Nimit's first visit to the place; all others had been there before.

I caught so many photographs of the super excited kid (I am talking about Nimit) just posing for the camera voluntarily I guess for the 1^st time in his life. Finally, all exhausted, we were satisfied that we had a great time there.

Last weekend, we had cooked so much that the left over fed us for the next three days of the weekJ. Two proper dinners on two consecutive days, the only days when we could sleep without any account and do absolutely nothing but this weekend, we were even busier than the normal weekdaysL. But we took off some time to finish off the long pending shopping. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are the proud owners of new Sony Vaio E Series laptop. Applause… Thank You, Thank You… Still have not got time to explore it completely but will do that shortly. Aaah!!! Time flies…

ROFL...

I was casually signing into my rediffmail account when a news on the home page hit my eyes:

"Mamata's paintings sold out for over Rs. 1 crore!"

Out of curiosity to make sure that this Mamata is not the same Mamata that I am thinking of, I clicked on the link to find out the details and guess what, it was the same Mamata that I have thought of- Mamata Banerjee. And I could not stop laughing uncontrollably ever since I saw her "precious paintings/masterpieces" and read her "humble" interview about her paintings. For those who can access this link, here it is:

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-wb-assembly-mamata-paintings-sold-out-for-over-rs-1-crore/20110407.htm

For those who cannot, let me past it here:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Although Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's collection of 95 paintings were sold out within three days for a staggering price of more than a crore rupees, she refuses to be acknowledged as a painter.

"I am not a painter. I am just a commoner, I don't know how to paint. Mine is a casual approach with creativity and nothing else," said Banerjee.

The three-day sale-cum-exhibition of her repertoire at private art gallery 'Gallerie 88' that began on Monday received a stupendous response even from artists with the organisers saying that her paintings were sold out for more than crore rupees.

Delighted with the positive feedback about her brush strokes and sketches on canvas, Banerjee has decided to try her hand on some more paintings and support her party funds to meet electioneering expenses.
"I am still painting because fresh orders are coming and all my previous works have already been sold," she said, adding that in between poll campaigns and 'padyatras' she manages time to express her creativity on the canvas.

Party sources said the Railways Minister will paint as many paintings as possible within this week, before she begins her campaign in north Bengal which goes to poll on April 18.

Inaugurated by eminent painter Jogen Chowdhury, the exhibition, titled '25 Hours In A Day,' was widely appreciated by painters Shuvaprasanna and Sameer Aich, dance exponent Amala Shankar and singer Dwijen Mukherjee among others.

The buyers include industrialist Harsh Neotia, Jay Mehta, co-owner of IPL franchisee Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

The Trinamool leader justified selling her works on canvas to raise fund for her party's poll expenses saying that it is better than soliciting money from people.

"Money is needed for elections. Instead of taking money from people this is a small attempt to raise fund to meet poll expenses. I prefer state funding for election. We have to wait for that. If it is done I will be the happiest one," Banerjee said.

A part of the proceeds will also go to the party's mouthpiece Jago Bangla.

Trinamool Congress vice-president Derek O'Brien said that the exhibition was the third in six years.

The first exhibition was held in 2005 generating an amount of Rs four lakh.

The second one in 2007 fetched Rs 14 lakh and the entire proceeds were given to the victims of Nandigram violence

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pay attention to the following line:

"Party sources said the Railways Minister will paint as many paintings as possible within this week, before she begins her campaign in north Bengal which goes to poll on April 18"

Are you sure that the party sources are talking about paintings? The poor lady must have set a target for herself- 100 paintings by this weekend. Mr. M.F. Hussain and other eminent painters must learn something from her. You can paint masterpieces at the rate of 100 per week!!!

PS: Mamata Banerjee's fans, please don't mind. It's just that I am not able to digest her speed and the drawings…oooops, masterpieces from her…