Done Thing

Things I want to Do

2010-09-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

After realizing that I dont need this blog to do one new thing every week, I am changing it now. I am going to make a list of things I want to do:

This list will be a Work In Progress and I will keep adding to it.

I am going to dream big now.

In no particular order:

#1 Go to Prague.

#2 Don't speak a single word for 24 Hours. Then extend it to 240 Hours.

#3 Write a song that a band performs

#4 Save a Life. Physically.

#5 Go Inside a Mosque to Pray

#6 Revisit all the ten schools I have studied in.

#7 Revisit all the houses I have lived in

#8 Live with 3 Dogs in the House

#9 Dive out of an aeroplane

#10 Bike to Leh Again, this time alone.

#11. Read the Bhagwad Geeta

#12. Meditate Daily.

#13. Build a school.

# 14. Win Tata Crucibles. Its about time.

#15. Visit 50 countries.

# 16. Wear a blindfold for a day

#17 Teach children

#18 Walk a hundred kilometers

#19 Write a Play

#20 Write a movie. My Way.

#21. Write a book. My Way.

#22. Learn one marshal art

#23 Buy a car for my dad

#24. Write ten thousand words in a day

#25. Climb a tree. Never did it. Want to do it.

#26. Scuba Dive.

#27. Become a Travel Writer.

#28. Switch off my cell for a week.

#29. Call one friend every day for 30 days.

#30. Pat a Lion

#31. Meet Sachin Tendulkar

# 32. Go to Africa.

# 33. Visit the final resting place of Stefan, my old dog and brother.

#34. Fly in a fighter plane.

# 35 Learn Yaad Kiya Dil Ne kahaan ho tum on the mouth organ

# 36. Ride all over India on my bike

# 37. Visit Amsterdam

# 38. Visit Disney Land

# 39. Attend the Oscars

# 40. Meet Christopher Nolan

#41. Visit Golden Temple.

# 42. Watch Real Madrid Play

# 43. Watch a F1 Race

#44. Watch a World Cup Final

#45. Climb a 8 thousander

# 46. Go on a Himalayan Trek

# 47. Drive a Rickshaw / Truck

# 48 Write a Urdu poem

# 49 Fly in a Helicopter

# 50 Visit the Vatican

Do One New Thing - Three Panels

2010-03-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

I always wanted to make a cartoon strip. And then I chanced upon a random website, which helps people with Severe Drawing Disabilities to create cartoons in a matter of minutes.

Writing for a script was fun. The most important thing in any form of writing is the structure. The Start, The Problem, The Resolution and the end.

When I tried my hand at a comic strip, I realized that it is slightly tricky. To tell a story, in three panes is not as easy as it looks. I guess writing a SMS novel is somewhat like this.

But anyways, here goes. This is the new thing I did this week. I made three comic strips. To view the complete strip, simply click on the file.

As these strips took shape, I knew that at the back of my mind I want to end up being a complete content creator. Which includes a full fledged novel, a poetry book, a cartoon series, and perhaps a song writer.

Lets see how the remaining weeks of my life shape out.

Do One New Thing - Life is a Game!

2010-02-14T02:18:00.000-08:00

Till this week, I had not played Badminton for close to 2 years. This absence was more due to a lack of opportunity than anything else. My college does not have a Badminton court, and to tell you the truth there have been many moments in my hostel room and many more in the classroom where I have longed for the sound of a shuttle cock cracking against a badi racket.

There is a new badminton court at the huge DRDO estate next to my house. For the past few months every time I rode by that court I had wishfully looked at it.

Last week, having absolutely nothing to do I hesitantly took out my Carbonex, gunned the engine to life and went to the court.

As a fifteen year old, I was decent at Badminton. I always found myself playing with people older than me and I did ok.

Now, as I entered the DRDO court, I saw a bunch of fifteen year olds playing. And man could they play!

Isn't life funny? I asked one of those kids his name, and he said Ritesh.

What's your name? he asked

"Gaurav. But I was a Ritesh once." I smiled. Life is indeed a conveyor belt.

What The ...THING ! First Week

2009-10-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

By Gaurav Parab

The idea was to ease into my doing something new every week plan. So, I started with what I thought is a simple thing. An idea, which kept coming back to me

Language. My language, to be precise.

A recent incident of a friend accidentally swearing in front of the wrong person came to my mind. He did not intend to, but the wrong word just came out. It may have been a passing incident, but I was interested. So, I stepped back and observed my friends and myself for a couple of hours.

MBAs swear a lot. A lot.

I was taken back. Swearing is not bad. I am not passing judgment here. But the extent of it is surprising. Surprising as to how our language has come to contain words that we normally avoid in front of someone with a bank balance – like your father or that recruiter.

In my defense, I realized that I had done fairly well in communicating with different audiences. I have been generally correct with my words. In fact, this is remarkable to a certain extent since I studied for some years in Rashtriya Military School, Belgaum (Motto: If it is not a swear word, we will not say it) and later joined a leading Business School (Motto: If it is not jargon, we will not say it)

But as I kept silent and observed my friends, I realized that every time I decided to contribute to the conversation, swear words would magically enter sentences - like employee count in a Satyam balance sheet. I was shocked, and I was amused. I could not figure how this change happened. Or when it did! The first time I ever heard someone swear was probably when as a child I saw Dharmendar scream Kutte Kamine as he jumped on to his horse from a two storied building.

I was surprised. The animal in question was a horse.

The Thing I Did This Week

So, my new thing for the week started was decided. I was not going to swear for a week. An entire week.

On the first day, I was surprised to the point of being astonished that what seemed like a simple exercise takes a lot of self control. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. Especially, during exam time. There are millions of people, concepts and Powerpoint presentations taunting you to rip out a bunch of good old select words. Select words which capture and describe your struggle against academics better than a million pictures.

The magnitude of how language changes from a hostel room to a classroom sunk in and I discovered that friends, even those normally associated with a squeaky clean Scotch Brite image swear a lot. It is just that we don’t realize something so obvious.

Every time someone swore in front of me – I said “gali nahin”. By the second day, I realized that I said “Gali nahin” every second sentence. I had to. For every second sentence has a gali. Don’t believe me? Try observing yourself. Seriously do.

Challenges

I admit that there were close calls. Like when I went out to the city, and a motorcycle rider with a cell phone (Walk and Talk is passé, Ride and Talk Sirji) cut me off. Out of instinct, I almost ripped out a BAICHUNG BHUTIA, but controlled myself. And felt proud in the process. And Stupid too.

Around the third day, India lost a few quick wickets during a cricket match. In India if the Indian team loses quick wickets – even Indian Gods swear. [And cause earthquakes in poor clueless Indonesia) But I controlled myself. Good Boy Parab.

By the end of the week, my roommate made a good observation. He said, you are cursing in your mind every time to check yourself ! Which is more dangerous, and vile. In fact, he even wrote a doha about my thing for the week.

I agree, it is. But it sure beats saying DONALD DUCK accidentally in front of someone who might give you a job.

Lessons Learnt

The week is over. I am delighted with the knowledge that it was a week well spent. I leant self discipline, I invented alternatives to improve my language {You don’t say DUCK, you say random things like Photo Frame Falling Off)} and I introduced my friends to the possibility of a new way.

But one has to ask before signing off, is this a permanent change?

Honestly, I doubt. I have too many Excel Sheets to deal with for the rest of my life to be able to give up on my inner Swearspear. But I think, I am more aware than last week that language can be improved, even if you may leave angry friends in your wake everytime you say “Gali Nahin”

See you next week. I have a great experience and new thing to share with you.

Welcome To Done Thing

2009-10-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

By Gaurav Parab

Hi. This is awkward. For two reasons.

1) New beginnings are always strange

2) And I have sworn that every post in this blog will go directly in, without edits or drafts. So I am thinking as I write. Rather I am writing as I think. You get it, don't you? This is rambling on. At its best. Wondering what the next sentence will be. It could well be the next sentence.

Lets make sense now.

I am Gaurav Parab, and I have been blogging at Gaurav Parab Says for some time. That blog is an interesting place for humor, poetry and words is what I hear. How interesting it is, I leave it to your judgment. However, one interesting thing I did two years ago was start this experiment of Doing One New Simple Thing Every Week. It was based on similar attempts by different people in the world.

I followed the routine for 5 weeks, and God - they were an exciting five weeks! I received tens of mails from people suggesting simple new things I could do, and more importantly I made some very interesting friends. I dont know why i stopped, but I think it has something to do with a Goa trip which broke my routine.

And time rambled on. And i forgot about the whole idea. But I did not forget the experience. It was memorable. Beautiful in its simplicity, yet powerful in its ability to help me make the most of the limited time we all have on this beautiful planet.

And so I am starting again. And I will be writing about it on my new blog, this blog http://donething.blogspot.com/

The writing will be straight from the heart, and the things I do will be simple and designed to make me a better person. Lets hope how it goes. I am excited, and I hope you keep visiting and follow my journey every week on Saturday / Sunday. See you next week. I will let you in on an interesting thing I have been planning for some time. Thank you.

Do visit, my previous experiments at doing One New Thing Every Week:

http://gaurav-parab.blogspot.com/2007/11/do-new-thing-first-week.html

http://gaurav-parab.blogspot.com/2007/11/do-one-new-thing-second-week.html

http://gaurav-parab.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-one-new-thing-thrid-week.html

http://gaurav-parab.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-one-new-thing-fourth-week.html