SE with PM

What the SE (Software Engineer) might be doing with PM (Police Man)

• Guess the company has fired him. With nowhere to go and no money to invest he is doing consulting job on the footpath.
• It's xxx company that has run out of space after hiring too many people. This guy is from that company sitting outside the campus and working.
• This is another HCL guy who was supposed to go abroad on a “Life Sciences” project … He is telling the policeman how they built the traffic management system! (remember the ad?)
• Maybe an IT Engineer who cannot afford high rents in the city
• The techie is sending a reply to client…..(very urgent u know! so he sat down as soon as he got a call)
• Hes telling the policeman, “look at these dots here?? , those are the policemen supposed to be managing the traffic, u see this rogue dot here? That’s you” !
• He is showing the scanned copy of driving license to the cop. His vehicle is parked behind due to traffic (Atlas Cycle).
• He is booking the tickets for "Sivaji" the boss as soon as the website opened. He has booked for 2 tickets
• Techie is playing solitaire and is thinking about his next move. Policeman is trying to help him for this.
• OR...

Scene 1
The man standing is the offender..
“No lamp in the cycle”. Traffic police caught him and kept him behind the pole (bar). Cycle was seized.

Scene 2
Stop a techie (commuter) and enquire about laptop, wifi, Airtel/Reliance/Tata data card. Logon-to Karnataka traffic authority website and lodge a compliant, which will be sent to the offender.

Scene 3
The website sends an acknowledgement as SMS to the cop.
Meanwhile offender calls his wife and narrated the story and she is on the way.

Scene 4....

Courtesy: Lots of people ;-)

in-law... in-home

Finally I am getting to live with my in-laws. Since P is in Europe on official trip, my in-laws decided to move in sooner than planned earlier just to avoid me staying alone.
I feel guilty, because for me they had to virtually “abandon” their home town to come and stay with me. I told them that I am used to living alone… but now that I am their bahu, it’s their responsibility to look after me it seems. Choo chweeet (you guys don’t even dare to put nazar!)
I thought my blog will have some spicy stuff from now on, some saas-bahu dramas… but alas! No such thing readers, my saas is as docile as you get them. She gets up earlier than me and makes me breakfast and packs lunch… dinner is ready by the time I get home (no nazars pleeease!!!)
I have thrown the weighing machine out of the window. I am scared to even step on it. With all this eating and not doing any work at home, you can imagine the consequences.
The only issue at hand is to keep my mil from getting bored. With no friends or relatives nearby, being new to the city so not confident enough to roam around on her own… she is virtually under house arrest. My fil somehow manages with short walks around and things like that.
To somehow balance the situation, I have now ended up discussing all the serials with her :-). She watches as many as possible during the day and tells me the story when I get back home… well as long as it keeps her happy I am game for story telling!

Foot note on a lighter Note : A poem (not original of course!)

He didn't like the curry
And he didn't like my cake.
He said my biscuits were too hard...
Not like his mother used to make.
I didn't prepare the coffee right
He didn't like the stew,
I didn't mend his socks
The way his mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue.
Isn't there anything I could do
To match his mothers shoe
Then I smiled as I saw light
One thing I could definitely do
I turned around and slapped him tight...
Like his mother used to do!!!!!

Advice needed

I have a maid in my house. She has 2 children, boys. One is in 9Th class and the other in 8Th class.

It's new academic year for them, and they study in good schools (which is nice). The cost of purchasing books for each of them for the year is around 1200rs. They have to buy this in the school itself.

My maid is a very nice woman. Always has a smile on her face and does whatever work I ask her to do without grunting or anything. She somehow found the money to get books for her elder son and he started going to school from today. But she is yet to get books for her second son, so obviously he is missing a week or two of his school because of this.

The problem: I want to help. She has not asked me for any money. Not even as a loan. But I feel like buying the books for the second son. But, she is just 2 months old in my house and I must confess I don't know her very well and all. And I don't want her to take undue advantage of my help. I am not expecting money in return, but I don't want her to expect I will help always.

So what do I do?

Exam results are here… Suicides are here too…!!!!

Come April-May, most of the boards declare the results of the exams conducted for the year. The newspapers are filled with photos of toppers, best performing schools, inspiring stories etc. BUT you cannot miss other news items also along with these, especially those of suicide reports. Last one week I have seen on an average 2 suicide incidents reported every day! I wonder how many more happened un-noticed.

Some common reasons for these cases:

• Extreme Case: He/She failed the board exam. (So what! I know it’s not a fantastic news but there is always a next time. It’s not the end of the road anyway.)
• Sad Case: He/She didn’t score “as expected”, meaning got less marks. (Now, pray tell me what in life happens as we expect? We expect lots of things, but things don’t always happen our way... learn to face defeats my dear boys and girls…)
• Sadder Case: He/She didn’t meet the expectations of “others”. (This is the real killer. Why can’t all these “others” just shut up and mind their own business instead of comparing one child’s results with all his/her elder cousins/nephews/neighbors whatnots!)
• Surprising Case: He did well. Secured 91%… in fact is the school topper but still committed suicide! (Surprised? Read this).
  

What do we make out from this? Whatever the reasons might be, but a common underlining factor is insecurity. These children need help. Who else but from their own kith and kin!

This is an appeal to all the parents out there who have their children writing board exams in the near future. Please, please and pretty please give strength to your children. I agree it is required to make them study and work hard and all that.. but set your own and their expectations low. Make them realize that exam is not the end of the world. If not this, then something else… You can either make them or break them. Choose what you want finally, your son/daughter or a fantastic score card?

May the souls of all these children rest in peace!

Footnote: I am simply bowled over by the %ages achieved by the students who have fared well…. 99% aggregate in a board exam? Simply beyond my imagination! One of my cousins got 88% and had to run from pillar to post to get a seat in some good PUC college L Is 88% a bad percentage..? I thought it was distinction…. It seems the cut off in these colleges are 94%... can you believe that?

Did you know?

• The muscles in your heart have the strength to shoot your blood 10 meters in the air?
• Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (as if they can even if they try to!)
• The body’s strongest muscle is our tongue (specially for a woman I think ;-))
• Statistically, people are more afraid of spiders than they are of dying (for me it's cockroaches any day!)
• All polar bears are left handed
• Crocodiles cannot stick out their tongue (how will they then mock at each other- I wonder!)
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• A cockroach can live 9 days without it’s head. It only dies because it cannot eat. (Bah! Why is it born in the first place!)
• A duck’s quack has no echo, and nobody knows why (wow! that's definitely interesting.)
• Each King on playing cards represent a King in real history:
  Spades: King David.
  Clubs: Alexander The Great.
  Hearts: Charlemagne.
  Diamonds: Julius Cesar.
• It is impossible to sneeze with your eye’s open. (Reminds me of one of the calvin strips, where he tries to bust his head off by sneezing with his nose closed.. he..he..)
• Multiplying 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 (Note: The result is first 1 to 9 and then reverse 9 to 1. In case you haven't noticed dumbo!)
• Starfish have no brains (who needs them anyways)
• A statue in a park with a soldier on a horse with it’s 2 feet in the air means the soldier died in combat. If the horse has only 1 foot in the air, the soldier died of injuries from combat. If the horse has all 4 feet on the ground, the soldier died of natural causes.
• Mosquitoes have teeth.
• Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark. (Ah! Tell me about it....)
• The word "cemetery" comes from the Greek "koimetirion" which means dormitory (he..he..)
• When the English settlers landed in Australia, they noticed a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They responded with ’’Kan Ghu Ru’’ the English then adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was‘’we don’t understand you’’, ‘’ Kan Ghu Ru’’. (Ah! The English were always dumb :-P)

Beardy Misery

I am fed up trying to get P shave his beard regularly! What's with you guys? What's so difficult in shaving a simple beard? I have tried every known technique to get him shave his stupid beard regularly, but till now not one has been successful! He shaves only when he wants to!!!

Below are some of our conversations. My "requests" followed by his responses (denials) in italics.

• P, why don't you take a shave today: "No ma, it's not grown enough, I will surely do it tomorrow"
• (Next day) It's already 6:45 we have to leave in another 20 minutes and you have to take a shave P, why don't you get up?: "Oh come on! from when did a shave become more important than my blissful sleep? I need rest, I had a tiring day yesterday."
• (2 days later) P, I think today you HAVE TO take a shave, see I didn't bother you yesterday also... please sweetheart (notice the "maska" words...) do it na : "Dear, tomorrow it's Saturday.. weekend. Who will see me over the weekend except you? So why do you worry.. will do it once and for all on Sunday so that I can go fresh on Monday. Please..."
• (Come Monday again) Will you do it today at least? (no maska now... a little irritated actually) : "Oh! Didn't I tell you? My colleagues told me I look good with a beard, so I have decided I will keep it after all!" (My reaction: what!!! who are those morons who thinks a beard looks anything other than dirty...grrrrr)
• (That evening) You know what P, nothing turns me ON more than a clean shave face.... (This is the max I can do.. hoping for some positive results) : "Why didn't you tell me this before... will surely do it tomorrow **sweet smile**!!" (Ah! you may think I am a very happy woman after that.... fat chance! notice the word "tomorrow"... and tomorrow never comes...!!!)

Yesterday, one of my old friends called after a long time and he suggested we have lunch/dinner sometime together. He is also recently married. I mention this to P, and guess what he says "Ah! That guy, his wife is very beautiful, let me know in advance when we are going out together.. I will take a shave that day." *ahem* well! At least now I know what is the incentive for the much needed shave!!!!!

Celebrating Life and Death

Before last week a family of 7 died in a road accident. They were distant relatives of P. We went to express our condolences to them at night. The scene was horrifying to say the least.

I had not seen a dead body in my life until the day of my Pati’s sad demise. The scene is still etched in my memory. The way they bought the “body” into the house, and when I touched my Pati, she was all hard and life less… For the first time in my life I got scared of touching her! That was 10 years ago.

Yesterday’s memory will also remain forever. People who die in accidents die horribly. Bodies crushed… parts not recognizable…. I had only heard of these things before. Saw it yesterday. Having a soft heart doesn’t help the situation either! The surviving members of the family were inconsolable! Loosing just one member at a time itself is horrible… just imagine loosing 7 at a time. I don’t know them... so I was just a mute spectator, but though I was not emotionally attached to them at all... I could not control my tears. I don’t even know the names of who have died, but I cried with their family. I just could not help it.

Came home quite late and as expected had to take head bath and wash all the clothes which we were wearing. Finally settled down to sleep… since we had just taken bath at that time... sleep was still far away. So P and I started discussing about life in general.

Isn’t it quite surprising that we never realize that we can get a “call” anytime? But still we fight to be here. We fight for petty things.

• Daughter In-Law fights with Mother In-Law to have more control of her husband (what will she do with it? When he or for that matter she is “gone”?)
• Siblings fight for money from their parents. Will they take it when they go?
• We work day in and out to save money and build a new house and make it as comfortable as possible with all the amenities. Just to be gone without anything one day?
• People murder other people if they face failures in love or business. Will they take their partners be it business or personal along with them when they go?
• When people die “suddenly” they would not have even said a proper “bye” to their near and dear ones. But when they are alive they don’t have time to say “Hi” to the same near and dear ones. How ironical!

Having thought about all this we realized we are not celebrating the God given “life” to the full extent. We should thank God for every single day he gives us and live it the fullest.

LIVE LIFE LOVE LIFE… who knows when we have to let go?

I am bored

Yes. I am! I want something interesting to happen in my life. I know I know I am being greedy out here... but lets just accept it I am greedy!

I am badly missing my sister. She is in Australia right now and I have no female company in the house.

P has been extremely busy these days with his work and invariably comes home late.

We go to Mysore in the weekends to my in-laws place. But then, my in-laws don't let me do any work and so I sit around the house all day long with absolutely nothing to do! While P blissfully goes off to meet his friends.

Work is good, but unfortunately my whole team is in an another office and I sit all alone in a cabin and just do my work! I hate this! I need teams to work with.. it is more fun!

How I wish mini-shark was here! We could go for some window shopping or we could watch some movies at home.. or simply gossip about all our family members ;-) Aaaaaaaa why did she have to go! grrrrrr

Moral Policing: Just ban/ don't implement anything against "Indian" values.

Yes, it’s long time since I wrote post. Being a married working woman is not an easy job you see :-) There are lots of perks to it too. Just the thought that someone is waiting only for me at home makes me smile and go home. Anyway that’s not the subject of the post.

It started with Madhya Pradesh, followed by Karnataka, and now even Maharashtra seems to think on the same lines. AND THE STUPIDITY CONTINUES…

• Basic question: Why are we being so hypocritical? What is there to “hide” in this? These kids will anyway come to know about it through TV and Internet. Why ban the “legal” means of communication?
• Denial: For heavens sake, grow up :-) What makes these people think that the kids won’t indulge in it if it is not taught in school? Infact curiosity will lead to more dangerous situations!
• Biological Vs Moral: Somebody wise said, “Half Knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge at all.” Why don’t we teach our kids the “complete” process? Let us for the time being, forget about the morality aspect of it. It’s always debatable. And there are parents who will/should take care about teaching proper moral values to the kids. Let the school just teach the biological aspect of it.
• Safety: Most of the children, who indulge in such activities for whatever reasons, fun, money or any other thing, have no clue about safe sex practices. So AIDS and other STDs are spreading like wild fire! Isn’t it more prudent to tell our children about the safe-practices so that they don’t expose them-selves to danger?
• Prevent Abuse: We have heard of many cases, where the children don’t even realize that they are being sexually exploited. This is because they have very little knowledge about these things. How will a small child know what parts of the body can be touched and what are really private and not be encroached upon?
• Alternatives: They say yoga should be taught in place of sex education. It upholds Indian values more it seems! Why should yoga be an “alternative”? Why can’t yoga be a part of the curriculum along with sex education? Lets accept some basic facts here, teenage children are by nature distracted … you make them meditate, they will meditate about something else altogether! We are asking teenage children to control their minds and urges when we haven’t been successful in making grown up men and women to do the same?

Besides, I think even if the political parties play their stupid politics, the parents should take the onus and give some basic awareness to their children, with child molesters lurking around just about everywhere; we owe this to our children and school goers.

Let sex education begin at home. Let’s keep our children safe.

Today a Bandit, tomorrow a MP

As far as my limited knowledge of constitution and it's rules and regulations goes, I don't think anybody with "proven criminal" background can contest elections, be it state or centre.

Then what are we seeing here?

First it was the famous Poolan Devi, now this one called Seema Parihar! Isn't this unconstitutional?

I don't deny the famous but often mis-used "innocent until proven guilty" phrase. But these are people who made movies out of their life stories where they openly proclaim that they have been dacoits/looters/bandits and here they are becoming MPs to rule us, to become the face of the nation, to become one of the makers of Modern-India :(

I am not being heartless. These people have gone through a lot in their lives. They have been misused, exploited which may have influenced them to take the law in their hands. I am not denying that part. As part of a responsible society, it's our duty to rehabilitate them and give them a good life. But a Lok Sabha seat? Isn't that too much to ask for?

Let us give them site/house, monthly pension and maybe a job also, if they are qualified enough to do it. But give them the reigns of power to rule our country?

So, today I become a bandit.. commit n number of crimes. Looting, killing .. you name it. Tomorrow I come up with a sad story of my life.. and make a movie out of it (with the looted money of course!) and day after tomorrow I get a Lok Sabha seat?

To answer the above question myself.. YES!

When I fell on the road

It was already 8:30am. I was 1 and half hours late. I generally leave home at 7 in the morning to office. Today I had overslept and here I was, running on the road to catch the last bus. If I miss this one, I will either have to take an auto upto BTM to catch our office bus, or take a city bus all the way till e-city. I hate both the options. The BTS buses specially going towards Hosur are filled with JP* men. Auto guys act too smart and demand extra because they know I am in a hurry, and want to make most out of this situation. I never give even 1 rupee extra to the auto guys, knowing very well that most of them would have already rigged the meter and so always end up fighting with them. I don't mind fighting as long as I have the time to do it ;-).

Anyway, all that apart and coming back to my running... I was some 50 mts behind the bus. This stop is the starting point for the bus, so it was parked on the side of the road. Suddenly I heard the driver start the engine so I ran.. and then... lo and behold! I fell on the footpath (maybe I tripped on a stone.. but it's quite obvious that I didn't notice it!).

Here I am lying on the footpath, my left knee badly hurt... and a passerby instead of helping me up says "yen madam noodkondu nadibaarda" (translation: what madam... can't you see and walk?").

The left knee was not very hurting... but his words hurt me. Have we become so materialised and impassionate that we can't even empathise with other people?

Anyway, I was late.. so I just got up and ran again to get into the bus. Not a very nice way to start the day.

* JP = Jhollu Party. This can be very well understood by Kannada speaking folks. For the benefit of others, a loose translation will be "A person who stares at you with saliva dripping from his mouth!"

P.S: I was NOT wearing heels.

Lizzy...Doggy...Raamy

The big fat Indian wedding:

With the famous Liz and Arun’s marriage, India itseems now has become a favorite destination for weddings. Welcome all you colorless (read white) people. Welcome to the world of something more than elephants and snake charmers. Welcome to the land of Palaces.

Though I want to appreciate the tourism industry’s effort in promoting India as a wedding destination, I can’t help but laugh at them! Ok first step is achieved. We have had enough publicity with this one marriage and hello! He was a billionaire (or whatever super duper rich is called) and he could afford such a grand affair. But can everybody afford this kind of grandeur? What if a normal white (with little more money than us of course) wants to marry in India? The situation will be something like this:

• Welcome at the airport: Stinking bathrooms. Customs officials trying ooze every possible dime out of you in the process of “checking”. Every other person starting from the airport luggage help to the domestic help in the bathroom expecting some “tip” from you.
• Taxi: If you are not forewarned about these rouges and you end up taking a non-pre paid taxi. God bless you!
• Hotel: Odd stares from anybody and everybody. Hotel staff, other visitors or simply just someone passing by. After all you are “white thing” ;-). Even the supposedly 5 star hotels have horrible tubs. You see maintenance of these hotels depends on people like you. You should visit more often and give generous tips and we will do everything we can to tidy up the place (not to mention people!).
• Local travel: It does not matter if you have a travel agent or not. Everybody will churn out as much money from you as possible. Let God be with you when you specially travel in the famous Autos. Take care of your backs… you might not see them again!
• Tourist places: Less said the better. Just carry lots of money that’s all!
• Portraying our culture and tradition: Confusion is the word. Let’s accept it. We ourselves hardly know anything about our tradition, why teach somebody else who can hardly relate to it. From my own personal experience I can say, 10 people say 10 different things about something that has to be done traditionally!

I am NOT trying to be un-patriotic here. Neither am I trying to defame our beautiful country, but there is something called as “accepting-the-facts”. Why simply paint an overdone beautiful picture of “Incredible-India” when all we are cable of giving is cheating and run for their money? Nothing much can be done about the attitude of the locals but atleast the tourism dept can put some processes in place which will reduce this day-light cheating to some extent. That’s all I am asking. Enough of making incredible-videos please do some ground work also. For heaven’s sake clean up Agra the land of THE TAJ-MAHAL!

The now famous Dog-Menace in Bangalore:

Some dogs are no longer man’s best friends. They are now man-eaters or more specifically children eaters! It’s disheartening to see daily reports of young children being torn to pieces alive by these ferocious dogs. So, the municipal corporation has finally woken up and has started taking “measures” to curb this menace. Solution: KILL THEM ALL!I agree the dog houses are full and have no space to accommodate more dogs. But kill them all? Why, just because we are the “superior” species? Is killing solution at all? Common sense tells no! Today you kill 100 and tomorrow 200 of them will be born again. Instead put some long term solutions in place.

• Undeniably the first step: Clean up the city! Have regular garbage collection in place and proper garbage dumping mechanisms in place
• Close all those illegal meat shops. And “educate” the legal ones about proper waste disposal.
• Have “regular” sterilization camps for the dogs in the city.
• Catch the stray ones “regularly” and send them to dog shelters and put them up for adoption after proper treatments.

But does anybody want to even look in this direction? Kill a few 1000 of them now and silence the residents for the time being and their job is done. Maybe after a year or so when such killings happen again, they will do the same thing again! After all, this entire world is only ours right? We have every right to kill every other living species if we can’t find a way to live with them! (The last sentence is true even with humans, just murder or rape them if you can’t live with them. Simple!)

Silence Please:

What is all this undue-attention and some 100s of reviews for this movie called “Nishabd”? I am tired of reading endless debates on whether such a relationship is ethical or un-ethical? Why should AB (of all people) do such kind of roles when the whole nation will blindly follow him (even if he falls into a well) ;-)? For heaven’s sake leave the old man alone. He is bored of doing some stereo type roles (that’s bound to happen if you are doing the same thing for 50 odd years!). So he is happy being sexy-Sam (KANK) or Vijay (Nishabd). Atleast now there is no Rekha type’s character with whom he can be linked to and his (perfect) wife will walk out on him ;-) (He is too old for any woman that’s another matter).
First, let’s accept it. What Ramu has shown in Nishabd is nothing new. Nothing new at all. All these still happen in the name of “arranged” marriages in villages where a 40 year old man marries a 12 year old girl. I am not joking; our househelp in Mysore got her daughter married like this only, though we tried our best to stop it! And that girl is the 3rd wife to that obsessed old man! So are we talking something called “bold” in this movie? Sorry Ramu, we have done this all before you and are bored of it too!

P.S: Will be back with some more “exciting” stories of my married-life. Yes! Finally I am seeing some changes. Lots of it infact! Will be back tomorrow (hopefully). Till then ciao!

P.P.S: I am in love with this song “Anisuthide Yaake Indu” from the movie “Mungaaru Male”. I listen to this song every single day atleast 25 times!

Marriage and there after...

Marriage

I can hardly feel any difference. This maybe because I know P and his family for quite a long time now. Che! This is the side effect of a love marriage! There is nothing "new".... OK somethings are very new but I will not write about them *ahem*!

Initially my in-laws were supposed to stay with us. But now, my sil has delivered a baby boy and hence they are taking her to Mysore for few months. So I get to stay with P alone for few months and torture him as much as I want to!

Our new house is simply too big for me now! I have to come running from the kitchen every time I hear SRKs voice on the TV to the drawing room... Yes, this will help me loose some weight .. which is the ONLY good thing about it.

For the first time employed a maid for house hold work. She seems to be a little too free around the house. No shying business at all.... should learn to control her a little bit atleast. Any pointers?

Yappa! Reading the above lines, I look like a complete housewife material... oh my God! Somebody find the missing "miss" Shark.... now I can see only "Mrs" P........

Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.

What did you expect? I will write the movie review in between my marital story? No Chance :)

• For the first time got to actually "stay" with P and realised, there is lot more to him than what I have understood in the past 7 years! ufff who can understand men!
• He simply hates Ghee..... and we were in those parts of India where Ghee is the staple diet ;-) So I could see poor P make a poorer face every time we had to have something to eat!
• He is simply overly generous! what with 50 or 100 Rs tips every time we get a room service. Was he trying to show off in front of me of all the people?
• Every time we had to travel to a different place in the car, we invariably had a fight. Why you may ask? I love to sleep while travelling and he obviously hates that. But tell me my dear friends, how long can you keep conversing with a person? I would finish telling my part of the stories for the day and promptly go to sleep.... he would neither tell stories nor let me sleep... isn't this unfair?
• Ah! This is the best part. We were in Shimla, skiing and guess who fell 3 times? That was P!! and I didn't fall even once though this was my first try at it :-D
• I was the better champion in horse riding also... I am not patting my own back, but P was sitting on it as if he was sitting on a bed of thorns.... and after a long ride of 1 and half hours he could barely walk properly!
• But then even though I scored so many points in the other categories, he is simply the best in photography. He took some amazing pictures of me and mother nature and I was at my horrible best while taking pictures of him...
• Come Manali, we were promised the "best" by the travel agent (obviously) but we ended up in a resort which didn't even have a room heater and the temperature was -5 degrees!!!
  
• Agra was a dream. Taj Mahal is simply unbelievable! Even though we were standing right in front of it, we could not believe our own eyes. The beauty of it is simply mind blowing! But unfortunately Agra as a city is at it's dirtiest best! If that this is the way we treat the city which houses one of the 7 wonders of the world, then God only should save us... really!
• World record - We did shopping in Delhi for almost 15 people of both our families in a matter of 3 hours. Wah Shark Wah!

Well, Shark aka Mrs P is now back!!!

Finally the details about the "Wonderful thing"...

I know! I have been going on and on about "something-wonderful" in few of my previous posts :) Finally it's time to announce it, though I am sure most of you have guessed it already!

After a 7 year long wait, I am finally getting married to P! The D-Day is 9th February 2007. I am not sure how happy he is, but I am at least on top of the moon :) or do the kids these days say something like ninth cloud? whatever!

Thinking about it, my life is going to change completely!

• I can no longer come and go to office as and when I like it. What with family responsibilities and all that stuff!
• I can no longer have Maggi for dinner! P hates it! So I will have to cook something at least for him... :(
• Once my in-laws join us then it's total bliss :) My mom-in-law loves to cook and I love her cooking, so... you can imagine the rest ;-)
• I (think) I will have to take "permission" and all... if I have to go somewhere, like out-of-station kinds... oh my!
• I have heard from my married (read experienced) cousins that husbands are extremely sensitive. E.g: In my mom's house, if my mood is off for no particular reason, all I have to do is tell my mom not to disturb me for few hours and I can brood/ sulk/ read a book or do whatever in my room and nobody bothers. BUT it seems husbands are not like that, they will think any mood-off is caused by them! (which is very sweet...) and will try to rectify the situation, when it is not required to do so :). Well.... I will have to learn to live with it!
• The worst of all... I will now have to share my bathroom with a man! This is one place where I spend a lot of time and love decorating it the "female" way.... now I can't overdo it! For now I will adjust, but once we have our own house, I will make sure I have my own separate bathroom :)

The list can go on and on, but I think it's better to continue it after some real experiences :)

P.S: If you are in Bangalore, and would like to attend the great shark's wedding... mail me, and I will send you the invite with pleasure ;-)

I live in a different world ....

My daily routine: Home-->Office-->Home. I live in an apartment luxuriously. I get to have 3 meals a day. Actually any number I want… but then I restrict myself to 3. I can “choose” what I want to eat each time. I crib a lot about the taste of it and the contents of it… ah! I can never be satisfied!

I buy clothes as and when I want to, I do not wait for a festival or any “occasion”. My mother had warned me when I was living with my parents that she would kick me out of the house if one more set of clothes come in the house. But now that I live separately I don’t have anybody threatening me. P sometimes tries... but then he fails. He ends up buying more for me!

On weekdays, I travel luxuriously in my company bus. It’s a challenge to find new novels every week to read in the bus! So I end up reading anything and everything that comes to the market. On weekends, I travel to Mysore again luxuriously in P’s car. Or “struggle” and go in the Volvo busses, if P decides not to come. Ah! The AC is sometimes so high in these Volvo busses! And why can’t they put some nice movies? It’s always some old flop movies. When I am paying 160 bucks for the ticket, the least I deserve is a nice new movie na?

Ha! Looking at the above picture, I seem to be like a pampered girl. But then I share my own set of difficulties.

• I have to wake up early in the morning! Atleast by 6:30, so that I can get ready, eat breakfast, pack lunch and leave to office by 8 max
• I have unhealthy deadlines to meet in my project. Though not always... but there is always something or the other which needs to be done “yesterday”.
• I have to endure my father’s advice every weekend, about how to save more money and not spend it like how I do it. He has been trying for 5 years now… but he has not achieved much in changing me! So every weekend I have to think of a “valid” excuse to tell him as to why am I spending so much….
• And my mother is no way less… she is bent on making me a social animal. What with the 100s of visits that I am supposed to do. That “they” will feel bad if I don’t visit them. “They” will think that I have become headstrong after so many foreign trips!

Ah… see I don’t lead a luxurious life either. But I live in a “different” world than these people.

The video has really left me thinking. Have we progressed at all? It’s no wonder that these people are Brahmin haters. If I was treated the way they are being treated... I would have reacted in the same way as they do!

I live in a closed world. I do not see such discrimination around me. We have a house maid, and yes she is not allowed inside the kitchen. That is only because she would not have had bath before cleaning all our houses. But we give her food in the same dishes that we have food. So I thought times have changed and people are accepting other people more easily. But NO!

• Dalit children in schools are not allowed to sit together with other children. So all the fight that Gandhi and Ambedkar did was just a waste of time?
• They are not allowed to have food in the same plates as the upper castes. But then wait! They can wash the plates of upper castes and that does not make the upper castes any impure.
• Inter community marriages are a big NO NO. You can even get killed if you do any such foolish thing.
• The dalits are not only exploited by the upper castes, but they are also exploited by their “own” other classes. One is considered more superior than other! A toilet cleaner is definitely inferior as compared to a cobbler.

I think the situation is “better” in the big cities. But how many big cities do we have in India? The rural India still remains the same old caste divided communities, trying to find one reason or the other to fight against each other! People suffer day in and day out to get 2 square meals a day… and here I am fussing about more salt in today’s daal or half cooked rice!

I know it’s unfair to compare us. Some of us are more fortunate to have had parents who have given us good education and comforts. While some of us are not so fortunate. Just because there are millions out in the world without food... does not mean I should starve myself too. After all, each morsel of food that I eat is also hard earned.

But I can’t help myself feeling guilty when I sit in an AC room and generally blog about issues when I am not doing anything to help them. While on the other side of the world people don’t even know that there is something called this world.. where I live in. A different world. A comfortable world. A world filled with pleasure and happiness!
Thank you God, for giving me this wonderful life.

Update: The “wonderful thing” which I mentioned in my previous post has to wait due to some unavoidable circumstances :( Nevertheless the details will be up here as soon as things get confirmed!

TV, Me and SRK

You knew I would write about this. Didn’t you?
Ah! I have become so predictable… time for a change I guess. Anyway for the time being I will continue to be boringly predictable.

Is banning TV channels/programs the solution to uphold morality?

With the recent ban on AXN, I am sure lots of adults are cursing the government. After all they say, we are adults and we know what to see and what not to see. Who is the government to decide that?

• First of all, why ban it now? The show has been aired for 3 years now. So whatever damage was feared has already happened.
• This show was aired after 11pm, which I feel is a reasonable bargain. Most of such shows are aired after 11 so that only adults can watch and not children.
• If on top of that your children are watching it, this is not the channels fault. It is gross negligence on the part of parents.
• Moral policing can be acceptable from a govt body/person as long as that govt body/person is sticking to morals in the first place. When we see day light looting in front of our eyes by the same person, and he comes up with such a rule for a TV channel citing morality all we can do is boo him out!
• OK, for a moment lets agree that they are doing it for our own good. Then why have they left out fTV? What about all the cabaret numbers in the movies which are shown day in and day out? What about all the females clad in skimpy clothes in the name of designer stuff being VJs and DJs? Why not ban them all? Why only AXN?

I can’t help but think, they are expecting huge money from AXN and that’s why all this natak. I am sure these people are least bothered about morality and stuff like that!

Me

At this point in time, something wonderful is happening in my life. I am very excited. Details will be out soon.

SRK to host KBC

Why can’t people stop comparing? Why everything Shah Rukh Khan does have to be compared with Amitabh Bachchan? Amitabh is a legend. Obviously nobody can match him, not even his own son. Then where is SRK? But why deny a fair chance and an objective feedback to an actor just because he is doing some things which Amitabh did?
I am sick and tired of these endless comparisons!
But then as the saying goes “A mango tree with the maximum fruits attracts maximum stones”. So SRK will have to bear with all these stones

Am I really a vegetarian?

The usual topic of debate right? I was always defensive about me being a vegetarian. I would give 101 reasons as to why eating plant is vegetarianism and eating animals is non-vegetarianism. But this time, I did a serious retrospection within myself... and here are my findings.

• CURD: The one thing which I cannot live without. No meal is complete without curd-rice. But isn't curd full of yeast? A micro-organism?
• Mushroom: Though I have no idea how to cook it and all.. and have hardly cooked at home. I like to eat it when I go out for dinner. But mushroom is classified as fungi. Another micro-organism.
• Egg: Though I agree it's not considered "purely-vegetarian" if you eat egg. After all it's chicken in the making. But my father being very orthodox didn't object us to eating it. On top of that, forget about eating directly. Even if I can avoid it, how about all those nice yummy cakes and pastries? Don't they have chicken-in-the-making?
• Bread: Again, it's formed by yeast. So should I stop eating all bakery products?
• Milk: Who can live without it? Actually the milk we drink is not meant for us, it is meant for the calf. But we still take it. So aren't we indirectly hurting the animal? So should I just stop having all dairy products?
• Plants: The good old dialog, "plants have life" too. So is it OK if I kill one form of life but not other?
• Medicines: They are direct killers. The so called anti-biotic. The things which kill bacteria and virus. So is that OK? Or is it also a sin and I should stop taking medicines?

My point is not veg vs non-veg. My point is people associating religion with it. Pronouncing that eating meat is equivalent to sin.

I very well understand from Hindu mythology point of view. All our gods and goddesses have one or the other animal as their vehicles. We worship these gods and goddesses along with their "vaahanaas" and hence it is difficult for us to kill and eat them. It's as though we are killing a part of our God.

But, I am against the definition of vegetarianism = sanctity. I think veg or non-veg is just a classification. One group is plant-eating and the other group is animal-eating. No one is higher or lower than the other.

P.S: I am a strict vegetarian. But recently I found that some kinds of cheese (specially used in Pizzas in USA) have cow's gelatin. As that is supposed to make it more cheese-like. After knowing this, I am forced to think... what about the countless Pizzas I had already savoured? Indirectly I have had a piece of our sacred animal. Will I even get a place in hell? Or will I be banished from hell too????????

It is that time of the year...

When all around you, you see:

• Happy faces. Smiles all over.


• Greeting everybody you come across with "Happy New Year".
• Making New Year celebration plans including the "eve".


• All the hotels are booked in the city and you are struggling hard to accomudate guests.


• Every other person you see is planning for something or the other.. outing with family, chilling out with friends, booze parties at home... you name it.


• Decorations everywhere. Home, Office, Shopping complexes, even streets.


• Endless discounts and new-year-offers.


• New Year resolutions made one after the other. How many are kept is another story altogether.

All in all, it's party time folks! Celebrate!

May this year make all your dreams come true. Here's wishing you all a Wonderful, Happy and Prosperous New Year 2007!.

They are Highly Insensitive Vermins - But... Am I Denounced Sinful?

I am a young boy studying in school. I am 4 years old. Everyday when I go to school, I get weird stares from everybody. Nobody sits with me. Not even Ramu, who is the best boy in school and is friends with even the watchman. He is always smiling and talking in class, but he is upset with me. I don’t know why. He does not talk to me anymore.
Everything was nice and beautiful when I joined school, I had friends. I played with them all the time. We drew pictures together. We had lunch together. But something changed when my teacher got to know about my mom, dad and me. We are a nice family like any other. My mom and dad are nice, they buy me whatever I ask for. But strangely they can’t buy me friends. Neither do they have friends. We never visit anyone, nor does anybody visit us. Not that we are bored with ourselves, we have the TV and video games, but we sure could use some company from time to time.
My mom says I have to get used to living alone. She says we have been cursed with something. I ask God everyday if I have done something wrong, but I don’t get any answer.
My mom silently cries sometime in the Pooja room or in the bed room. My dad is sometimes engrossed in deep thought. I don’t know what they are so sad about, but I think they also miss friends like me.
Now my mom says I can’t go to school any more. I like going to school, it is so much fun. I cried, and she cried with me, but insists I can’t go there anymore.
WHY? Why me?

I am sure these were the thoughts in the young boy’s mind when he was sent home from school. After all he was HIV infected. The dreaded infection!
This infection incidentally is more dreaded because of its “cause” rather than it’s “effect”.
I had a friend, who was doing her masters in social work, and she happened to do some research on AIDS patients and yes, it is traumatic. Especially when the patient is in the last stages, it is impossible to even look at them. They will have acute infections in their private parts and a simple thing as going to the loo is a traumatic exercise.
But then, isn’t any disease traumatic? What about Cancer? What about TB? In all these cases the patients die a slow and painful death. But why this terrible discrimination only against AIDS? Is it only because it is transmitted sexually? The answer is YES.

First and foremost, let us clear some myths about this disease:

1. HIV infection does not necessarily mean AIDS. HIV +ve simply mean you have the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Just like any other infection, if this is also treated in the very initial stages of infection, chances of NOT getting AIDS are high. But then we must also note here that most of the patients who are HIV +ve contact AIDS at some point or the other simply because the initial infection went un-noticed.
2. HIV infection (or even for that matter AIDS) is NOT transmitted just like that thru air. It does not affect if you sit in the same class and study together. (Only lice and common cold get transmitted that way!)
3. It’s NOT a person’s fault if he is infected. People catch so many infections and he/she has caught this one. It is as simple as that. And for heaven’s sake it is definitely not the fault of a 4 year old kid!!

What can we do to stop this discrimination?

1. EDUCATE: Start from schools. Educate the children as well as the parents about the infection. Its causes, its effects and the myths/stigma surrounding it.
2. Promote usage of condoms. Make it available in colleges and universities and educate people about it.
3. Advertise. With the power the media has today, it can do wonders. Tell more and more people about it. Knowledge is virtue. But half knowledge is dangerous. People now think of only the sexual part of AIDS. Hence the treatment is also the same. It's time to remove that mental block.

Incidentally, a little away from the topic, I feel us Indians are major hypocrites. When it comes to population we are the second largest in the world. When it comes to AIDS, we are the epicenter of the epidemic. We gave the world Kamasutra. I think we are the only culture who glorifies sex (what with the “first night” preparations and all). BUT when it comes to talking about sex… SHHHHhhhhhhhh. That is something which is not to be talked about!!! Why this treatment? By not talking about it and making it a stigma we are indirectly giving more importance to it. But at the same time, since the education level is so low and the awareness about safe sex practices is almost nil … it is not a surprise that we are in such a situation today.

Having said all this, I don’t think even education will solve everything. I don’t know how my parents would react if they came to know that I was close friends with a girl who is HIV infected. Though at present I am not sure how they would react, but I can tell for sure that they will definitely not be very happy about it.

So what is the solution? Let us, from our generation at least make an effort to accept these people as a part of our society. It would be too idealistic to say we will eradicate AIDS. This is kind of too far fetched, as there is no cure/vaccine for it as yet!Till some brilliant people find something about it, let us join hands together and educate our fellow country men and women about the disease and let us make this world a better place to live for the already suffering.

P.S: Reasons for this post:

1. This Link

and

2. Pavan's request.

I am back... yahoooo!!!!

I am back in India. My home.

I had realised this before also.. when I lived in Germany for sometime, that no matter what all problems we have, no matter how dirty our country looks as compared to the developed countries, no matter all you get as "welcome" at the airport are dirty stares from men around, no matter the first thing you do after getting out of the airport is fight with the auto/taxi guy for the fare, this is MY country. All said and done, I belong here. I feel more at home.

However advanced the other countries maybe, however comfortable your life maybe there, you are always an outsider, a potential immigrant, you are always a foreigner.

Yes. I am extremely delighted about coming back home, but at the same time I was extremely dissapointed at the Delhi airport. If that is the welcome our country's capital gives to the visitors then God help us! It was far from being even "satisfactory"! Atleast I expected much more from our capital's international airport! The loo was in a bad state! with toilet paper all around.. with water running from the taps.. with a strong smell! Yukkkk! All this is when the cleaning lady is just sitting there looking at each coming passenger and expecting them to give her some money.. for what? I didn't understand though! She gives a sheepish smile when you are coming out.. and acts as though she is helping you with the luggage.. the help which I don't need because I have a trolley with me.. just so that I will give her some money! If she had atleast kept the loo spic and span I would have whole heartedly given some money!

The customs officials... shabby clothes, wrinkled and dirty, undone hair ... I know that 2 in the morning is not a good time, but come on! they are at work and they are supposed to be presentable. And what will somebody loose if they smile at each person they are checking?

I think we as Indians lack some basic courtesies! A smile at a passerby, a response when asked for, a thank you once in a while...
Interestingly we are the best hosts when somebody visits our home.. we take care of them so well.. we go out of our way to accomudate them and show them around.

I think, it's time to realise that India as a country is our home too.. an extended home!

Bangalore gave me a much better welcome! The loo was cleaner and the airport also has a kind of sophisticated look. Thank god for that! I also noticed that the situation in Hosur road has imporved drastically! With that useless drainage cannals closed, and the road widenened.. the commute is not as dreadful as I imagined it to be!

Even with all this "yet-to-be-done".. I loved

1. The aroma of bakery (this I surely missed in USA)
2. The sound of suprabhatham early in the morning from a near by temple.
3. The shoutings of the vegetable vendor on the road
4. The early morning coffee aroma... ahhhh bliss.
5. and most of all it's so cheap to have a cellphone here! I don't have to wait till 9 in the night to call people ;-)

P.S: It looks like nobody missed me while I was away.. no messsages asking where I was and all that... If you guys hadn't noticed I was away for almost 15 days :(
I think you can atleast send some nice and warm welcome messages!