After so much of hulla gulla-hanky panky the Commonwealth games start in two days, though the nation might be interested in watching cricket. Actually all this talk about hygiene or safety conditions could have been averted only if the officials had taught themselves to think like me and saved those much needed 600 to 900 crores of rupees. My plan is so simple, technologically feasible too. “Commonwealth games – over the net”- so simple right? Every sports person stays in his or her own country and our officials go there. At least our people would never have the guts of calling the hoots on the other country’s hygiene or cleanliness or security.
Yeah, just imagine every athlete running alone on the track and comparing the timings with other athletes running all alone in their own respective countries. Well some of them might be running at night or some at noon but what the heck! sportsmanship spirit people! And with some advanced technology we’d see all the eight runners at the same time on our TV screens. Even China which would be hosting the Asian games in November (preparations have been on for the past seven years to host something spectacular in the realm of the recent Olympics, they say) might think that India is hosting the Commonwealth with some web cams and computers while we are spending so much money!!!
Damn, we could have made history. The only security to be provided would be from hackers or viruses. None of the countries or players would pull out of the games and the poor officials could have saved face and our tax money.
No footbridges falling down,
Falling down,
Falling down,
None of the ceilings falling down, my dear Kalmadi.
See, told ya! Cho chimple.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Shop(hop)ping
People who fail to plan, plan to fail is the saying but I have seen plans for shopping always fail in our family. I think after talking /chatting /discussing /arguing (hope u get the point), shopping is the second most spontaneous thing we do. So off we went to buy some essentials for my brother, for him to take home.
Me and my mother didn't want to go to the one stop mall so we both went to do our own small errands. I had left my debit card at home (not on purpose!) and we only had so much money with ourselves. And totally forgetting to ask my father for more, we started off . For each and everything we bought that day we had to think whether we had money for it and bought stuff that we really needed. Of course more money was just a phone call or a few steps away. Meanwhile, further window shopping resulted in my liking a saree hanging in a shop and we paid for it with hundred's and even our ten's and five's. The shopkeeper gave us a look that could have meant ,"Haven't u both heard about debit/credit cards?" We were both laughing at what we did as it had been a long time that we had shopped thus.
This really reminded me of those good old days when every dress or every item was bought after giving a careful thought to its utility and worth and therefore they were always priced possessions and used till they could be used. Our shopping spree always ended with a pride of accomplishment or sometimes with disappointment soothed away with my favourite chocobar at the end of the day and a promise, 'that next time you get what you ask for'. Not that we didn't have money, but we were always reminded that we should value it coz it was hard earned, and the usual cliche' of money not growing on trees was sometimes used too.
After the advent of plastic money, shopping has never been the same. All of us, I think all those of us who have these cards nowadays buy whatever we like, anything and everything that catches our fancy and after sometime, don't even try to find a use for it. There is nothing that is dear to us, there is nothing that we buy after evaluation or after selecting the best of the lot. We take a cart and pull off whatever we see, dump all of it at the back of our car/bike, bring it home and use only half of it.
So shopping is not that much fun anymore (to me at least!). I do understand the convenience of debit/credit cards but still I would sure like to revisit those good old days at least on some occasions like the one above.
Me and my mother didn't want to go to the one stop mall so we both went to do our own small errands. I had left my debit card at home (not on purpose!) and we only had so much money with ourselves. And totally forgetting to ask my father for more, we started off . For each and everything we bought that day we had to think whether we had money for it and bought stuff that we really needed. Of course more money was just a phone call or a few steps away. Meanwhile, further window shopping resulted in my liking a saree hanging in a shop and we paid for it with hundred's and even our ten's and five's. The shopkeeper gave us a look that could have meant ,"Haven't u both heard about debit/credit cards?" We were both laughing at what we did as it had been a long time that we had shopped thus.
This really reminded me of those good old days when every dress or every item was bought after giving a careful thought to its utility and worth and therefore they were always priced possessions and used till they could be used. Our shopping spree always ended with a pride of accomplishment or sometimes with disappointment soothed away with my favourite chocobar at the end of the day and a promise, 'that next time you get what you ask for'. Not that we didn't have money, but we were always reminded that we should value it coz it was hard earned, and the usual cliche' of money not growing on trees was sometimes used too.
After the advent of plastic money, shopping has never been the same. All of us, I think all those of us who have these cards nowadays buy whatever we like, anything and everything that catches our fancy and after sometime, don't even try to find a use for it. There is nothing that is dear to us, there is nothing that we buy after evaluation or after selecting the best of the lot. We take a cart and pull off whatever we see, dump all of it at the back of our car/bike, bring it home and use only half of it.
So shopping is not that much fun anymore (to me at least!). I do understand the convenience of debit/credit cards but still I would sure like to revisit those good old days at least on some occasions like the one above.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Smile a mile
The bell rang twice. Cursing the person who invented it (Joseph Henry – I think), I went and looked outside. Two women, one of them quite tall (coz, I could see her head above our gate) asked for two minutes of my time. Usually I have tons to give away but yesterday I wanted to finish off the assignment so was studying pretty hard (sometimes i do that too). Seeing them I could guess that they were there either for donations or to sell something.
A habit of seeing them, as a disturbance and nuisance combined, changed a little only when I started working. Boarding two buses et al, I still think I had it easy after seeing the marketing guys and gals walking in the hot sun trying to sell their products to disinterested customers who shooed them away. (Can’t even blame them, what with thugs and thieves roaming around nowadays!).
So as all this gyan was moving about my head like a big crown! :-), I missed out on what the ladies standing outside were telling me when suddenly I heard a question. “What should we do so that all the wrongs happening in this world stops? Who is it that we should turn to for peace”? Apart from what Peter Drucker said in Business Communication, nothing else had the strength to penetrate my head at that particular moment. So when she saw all question marks and exclamations on my face she herself gave the answer, “Lord!” she said, “who in the bible is known as “Jehovah”. We strongly believe in this and wanted to share this with you. Thank you for your time”.
That was all? She called me outside to tell me this? I really didn’t know what to feel or think. Was it anger? Or relief that this was all. Then amidst this confusion of emotions, I saw it. A Smile, which radiated her face. As if it came from the bottom of her heart. She was really happy because she was doing something that she totally believed in and that showed. She then went and rang the doorbell of our neighbour to say it all over again with the smile never leaving her face.
All anger or relief or whatever gave way to wonder and the thought that ‘No matter what other‘s think about you, do what u want to do and that’s all there’s to it’ and yeah ‘Smile’ coz that will take you a mile. So smiling I got back to do what I wanted to do. Went straight to the kitchen to have a kachori (long time no eat, that’s why!!!) With half of it stuffed into my mouth I turned and found my mother staring at me. I did the only thing which came to my mind, I smiled. Took a while for my mother to reciprocate, but she did.
A habit of seeing them, as a disturbance and nuisance combined, changed a little only when I started working. Boarding two buses et al, I still think I had it easy after seeing the marketing guys and gals walking in the hot sun trying to sell their products to disinterested customers who shooed them away. (Can’t even blame them, what with thugs and thieves roaming around nowadays!).
So as all this gyan was moving about my head like a big crown! :-), I missed out on what the ladies standing outside were telling me when suddenly I heard a question. “What should we do so that all the wrongs happening in this world stops? Who is it that we should turn to for peace”? Apart from what Peter Drucker said in Business Communication, nothing else had the strength to penetrate my head at that particular moment. So when she saw all question marks and exclamations on my face she herself gave the answer, “Lord!” she said, “who in the bible is known as “Jehovah”. We strongly believe in this and wanted to share this with you. Thank you for your time”.
That was all? She called me outside to tell me this? I really didn’t know what to feel or think. Was it anger? Or relief that this was all. Then amidst this confusion of emotions, I saw it. A Smile, which radiated her face. As if it came from the bottom of her heart. She was really happy because she was doing something that she totally believed in and that showed. She then went and rang the doorbell of our neighbour to say it all over again with the smile never leaving her face.
All anger or relief or whatever gave way to wonder and the thought that ‘No matter what other‘s think about you, do what u want to do and that’s all there’s to it’ and yeah ‘Smile’ coz that will take you a mile. So smiling I got back to do what I wanted to do. Went straight to the kitchen to have a kachori (long time no eat, that’s why!!!) With half of it stuffed into my mouth I turned and found my mother staring at me. I did the only thing which came to my mind, I smiled. Took a while for my mother to reciprocate, but she did.
Monday, July 19, 2010
After all…
Rafael Nadal came back after a losing spree, to win the French open and the Wimbledon 2010, I was happy. Could be because, he proved that hard work surely pays off and similarly was happy for Saina Nehwal when she got her World ranking no: 2. Spain won the FIFA world cup, I was happy again.
Michael Jackson died, I was very very sad. Could be because, for a lot of people like me he epitomized English music, or rephrasing it, his was the only western music that I knew about, when I was a teen. I still find myself wishing that if he did have to go, at least he could have had his concert and then maybe… The Bhopal gas tragedy never fails to evoke sadness. My blood boils with anger just seeing terrorists make a mockery of us.
Laughing with the characters in movies or even serials when they are happy and crying with them when they are sad is not new. Not only movies or sports, just about any good thing I see happening to others I feel good and feel sad when I see something bad happening to them.
These people are not me or my family. They don’t belong to my circle of friends. I don’t know these people. Just seen them on TV right? And I am 10001% sure that they don’t even know I exist. Then why??? I was discussing this with my mother and she said simply,” After all we are human beings, so we care for other humans too”. Now that would have been enough to satisfy me had I not extended the discussion.
I asked her, “Then why is it that we feel upset when our neighbour buys the latest TV or car? Why is it that we are angry when the fuse goes off only in our house and satisfied when there is a power cut in the whole area? Why did my favourite cake taste bitter when my colleague gave it as a treat for the promotion and raise that I wanted? I know these people, they know me. We practically see them everyday. So, if your logic is right, as humans, should we not be happy for them when they are and be sad for them when they are?"
Again my mother had a very simple answer. One- “After all we are humans and logic for everything is something that we don't need. Two-I don’t have vetti time (time to waste) like you, so let me work”, and she got busy making my favourite parathas...
Though all of it doesn’t make sense to me still, the only inference I gathered from this discussion is that anything and everything happening in this world either has a very simple explanation or we don't need to explain anything after all. So, from murders, bombings to pollution, corruption you name it and justify it with these words, “After all we are humans." Thereby it becomes our right as humans to be the way we are now, ain't it? And for the vetti time that I was chided for, I have the right, don’t I? After all I am human too (No doubting that, please!!!)
Michael Jackson died, I was very very sad. Could be because, for a lot of people like me he epitomized English music, or rephrasing it, his was the only western music that I knew about, when I was a teen. I still find myself wishing that if he did have to go, at least he could have had his concert and then maybe… The Bhopal gas tragedy never fails to evoke sadness. My blood boils with anger just seeing terrorists make a mockery of us.
Laughing with the characters in movies or even serials when they are happy and crying with them when they are sad is not new. Not only movies or sports, just about any good thing I see happening to others I feel good and feel sad when I see something bad happening to them.
These people are not me or my family. They don’t belong to my circle of friends. I don’t know these people. Just seen them on TV right? And I am 10001% sure that they don’t even know I exist. Then why??? I was discussing this with my mother and she said simply,” After all we are human beings, so we care for other humans too”. Now that would have been enough to satisfy me had I not extended the discussion.
I asked her, “Then why is it that we feel upset when our neighbour buys the latest TV or car? Why is it that we are angry when the fuse goes off only in our house and satisfied when there is a power cut in the whole area? Why did my favourite cake taste bitter when my colleague gave it as a treat for the promotion and raise that I wanted? I know these people, they know me. We practically see them everyday. So, if your logic is right, as humans, should we not be happy for them when they are and be sad for them when they are?"
Again my mother had a very simple answer. One- “After all we are humans and logic for everything is something that we don't need. Two-I don’t have vetti time (time to waste) like you, so let me work”, and she got busy making my favourite parathas...
Though all of it doesn’t make sense to me still, the only inference I gathered from this discussion is that anything and everything happening in this world either has a very simple explanation or we don't need to explain anything after all. So, from murders, bombings to pollution, corruption you name it and justify it with these words, “After all we are humans." Thereby it becomes our right as humans to be the way we are now, ain't it? And for the vetti time that I was chided for, I have the right, don’t I? After all I am human too (No doubting that, please!!!)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Truly Madly Deeply
“Love you”, “love you”, “love you” is what I repeatedly told the guy.
I didn’t have to muster the strength or courage or think about it. It came from the deepest part of my being, very sincere and complete with 'just love'. I didn’t know what his answer would be, nor did I care.
When I watched people declaring their love every time on screen I always found it very phony and whenever people I knew or saw followed the same culture I always wondered whether they actually loved each other. According to them love might be just a great feeling but for me love is totally abandoning yourself, being yourself and not having to care as to what the other person might think of you. Love is also the biggest effort we can take on our part for the other person. (yeah jumping hostel walls could be counted!)
And, yes! I did things for him not knowing or caring whether he felt the same way about me. I have been myself and I have listened to him, spoken to him with all my heart. He taught me the purest form of love. No give and take policy. Even though I didn’t know whether he would answer , he did give me one though- eventually. That one word was enough for me to take him in my arms and swear my love again, loudly this time. And he was busy holding my dupattah with one hand and picking his nose with the other and uttering his only limited vocabulary of words with full force,”grrrhhhhh”, and “drrrrhhhhhh”. These two words I will cherish all my life, always. My two month old darling nephew - He taught me a lot these three weeks he was at home.
Every time I saw a kid the first thought that came to my mind was that they were cute. I have found kids in diaper ads cute but I have never “felt” anything before. But this time while changing nappies and diapers (which I have never done for any other kid in my life) I felt good and happy. I could get up at any time of the night and check on him and talk to him (yeah the “grrrhhhhh’s” and “drrhhhh’s”) if he was awake. (He talks to me the most). No problems that he wet my bed. No regrets for losing my sleep, just plain happiness. Every time he cried I found tears in my eyes and anguish- yes i felt very upset. (too emotional eh?) Felt the same when he left today to Vellore. The house feels empty. Almost got up to check on him now when I heard the sound of a baby crying somewhere else.
I have never experienced anything like this and for that I will always be grateful to him. I know that I can never equal or even come close to what his mother does for him but still he will always have a special place in my heart and will be the first guy to whom I declared my love. “Grrrrhhhh”!!!
I didn’t have to muster the strength or courage or think about it. It came from the deepest part of my being, very sincere and complete with 'just love'. I didn’t know what his answer would be, nor did I care.
When I watched people declaring their love every time on screen I always found it very phony and whenever people I knew or saw followed the same culture I always wondered whether they actually loved each other. According to them love might be just a great feeling but for me love is totally abandoning yourself, being yourself and not having to care as to what the other person might think of you. Love is also the biggest effort we can take on our part for the other person. (yeah jumping hostel walls could be counted!)
And, yes! I did things for him not knowing or caring whether he felt the same way about me. I have been myself and I have listened to him, spoken to him with all my heart. He taught me the purest form of love. No give and take policy. Even though I didn’t know whether he would answer , he did give me one though- eventually. That one word was enough for me to take him in my arms and swear my love again, loudly this time. And he was busy holding my dupattah with one hand and picking his nose with the other and uttering his only limited vocabulary of words with full force,”grrrhhhhh”, and “drrrrhhhhhh”. These two words I will cherish all my life, always. My two month old darling nephew - He taught me a lot these three weeks he was at home.
Every time I saw a kid the first thought that came to my mind was that they were cute. I have found kids in diaper ads cute but I have never “felt” anything before. But this time while changing nappies and diapers (which I have never done for any other kid in my life) I felt good and happy. I could get up at any time of the night and check on him and talk to him (yeah the “grrrhhhhh’s” and “drrhhhh’s”) if he was awake. (He talks to me the most). No problems that he wet my bed. No regrets for losing my sleep, just plain happiness. Every time he cried I found tears in my eyes and anguish- yes i felt very upset. (too emotional eh?) Felt the same when he left today to Vellore. The house feels empty. Almost got up to check on him now when I heard the sound of a baby crying somewhere else.
I have never experienced anything like this and for that I will always be grateful to him. I know that I can never equal or even come close to what his mother does for him but still he will always have a special place in my heart and will be the first guy to whom I declared my love. “Grrrrhhhh”!!!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
I am an aunt!
“Hey marumagan porandirukan di unakku” announced my mother who picked up the call before I could get to it. After almost 14 hours of wait, these were the sweetest words I could hear. “A healthy baby boy, looks like his aunt” was what my brother - the proud daddy, told us. At this point it made me really angry that the time machine is yet to be invented. Even the “choomandrakali” would have helped. One mantram and “whoosh……” I’d be there in CMC Vellore right near my nephew. Well, had to wait till next day in spite of all this wishful thinking.
The next afternoon saw all three of us near my brother, sis-in-law and my nephew. “My” nephew, mine – feels nice, very nice. He was sleeping like a doll. Fully covered up except his face, we had to wait and wait to see him wake up. It was evening and it was time to leave but we were still waiting. And then as if he felt sorry for us he opened his eyes and saw us all for the first time in his life. “Child is the father of the man” so we all turned into kids –cooing and making faces just as he did. It was very late when we left, as nobody wanted to place him back in his crib.
After returning, we got an update every hour on what the mother and child were doing. “Ma he is crying now and we don’t know why”, “Yeah she is sleeping”, “Ma he didn’t sleep a wink at all last night and neither did we!”, “Ma, did I also bother u like this?” these were some of the questions my brother asked my mother. The latest news from him was, “Ma he was given an injection, he cried a little but my eyes welled up with tears”, and so were my mother’s as she put the phone down and said, “Now he knows”. All this talk made me realize a few things.
As a child is born he/she brings happiness to the family. It is a rebirth for the mother, they say but I see a new awakening of love and respect in the eyes of both the new mother and father for their own parents. From the teen age words like “it’s your duty to raise us”, “you didn’t sleep to take care of us, so? Every one does that. What’s new?” to the understanding that yes, it must have been difficult to raise me well and make my life worthy- indeed a great journey of thoughts. So "this" is what we call the cycle of life!!! Interesting!!! The joy of becoming grandparents is not only that there is an addition to the family tree, but also that the things that they could never make their children understand as they were growing up–the love, affection, feelings, fear for their safety, etc… now their kids would understand on their own. And that makes life worth the while. Isn’t it?
I remember reading about a grandma who bought water guns for her grandchildren. Her son asked her, “Why ma, why did u buy them these guns? Don’t you remember how we drove you crazy with these?” for which she just grinned and said,”Yes I remember”.
The next afternoon saw all three of us near my brother, sis-in-law and my nephew. “My” nephew, mine – feels nice, very nice. He was sleeping like a doll. Fully covered up except his face, we had to wait and wait to see him wake up. It was evening and it was time to leave but we were still waiting. And then as if he felt sorry for us he opened his eyes and saw us all for the first time in his life. “Child is the father of the man” so we all turned into kids –cooing and making faces just as he did. It was very late when we left, as nobody wanted to place him back in his crib.
After returning, we got an update every hour on what the mother and child were doing. “Ma he is crying now and we don’t know why”, “Yeah she is sleeping”, “Ma he didn’t sleep a wink at all last night and neither did we!”, “Ma, did I also bother u like this?” these were some of the questions my brother asked my mother. The latest news from him was, “Ma he was given an injection, he cried a little but my eyes welled up with tears”, and so were my mother’s as she put the phone down and said, “Now he knows”. All this talk made me realize a few things.
As a child is born he/she brings happiness to the family. It is a rebirth for the mother, they say but I see a new awakening of love and respect in the eyes of both the new mother and father for their own parents. From the teen age words like “it’s your duty to raise us”, “you didn’t sleep to take care of us, so? Every one does that. What’s new?” to the understanding that yes, it must have been difficult to raise me well and make my life worthy- indeed a great journey of thoughts. So "this" is what we call the cycle of life!!! Interesting!!! The joy of becoming grandparents is not only that there is an addition to the family tree, but also that the things that they could never make their children understand as they were growing up–the love, affection, feelings, fear for their safety, etc… now their kids would understand on their own. And that makes life worth the while. Isn’t it?
I remember reading about a grandma who bought water guns for her grandchildren. Her son asked her, “Why ma, why did u buy them these guns? Don’t you remember how we drove you crazy with these?” for which she just grinned and said,”Yes I remember”.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Emotional Baggage
It’s been a week since I posted anything. After my secret desire of CSK winning the IPL 2010 coming true yesterday, I wanted to blog about it, but thought it best to leave it to my expert friends Vasant and Rajesh. So now having a lot of different options, I thought of taking a leaf out of my old book. This was something I wrote a few months back (Don’t ask y!). I don’t know how I wrote it. The words just came, and surprisingly I finished it within an hour or so (with a few small changes the next day). I have tried writing something to this effect for a many number of times since then, but couldn’t. And now I have stopped trying after realizing that this was just a rush of words contributing to my feelings. This was more emotion than anything else (like talent?).
When I think about it now, I am able to imagine the same old sari hanging outside Tulsi silks for almost 2 years, a rusty Fiat car standing outside the garage shop, all those cars left in parking lots, even people who are still waiting for prmotions and appraisals, to name a few, crying out for help with these words. So without further ado, after tossing coins and tossing the idea in my head a number of times (believe me you!) whether to share it or not, here it is.
I AM THAT THING ON THE SHELF
I will wait.
I will wait, till someone comes, and hope that someone will like me.
Want me, have a need for me in his life.
Someone I see who will appreciate my beauty and sense of style.
Though I haven’t much I have enough for the right “one”.
People come, see me, like me but want something else.
I am too good for some and some are no good for me.
I am too costly and worthy to the deserving and worthless to the undeserving.
Oh god! Give me a sign - but you give me those.
Show me a path – but you show me many.
Then, what more could I possibly want?
What more could I possibly expect?
Do I want you to guide his hands to me?
Do I expect you to shift those wandering eyes to me?
Do I need you to put that love for me in his heart?
Though I want to say yes, I can’t. Though I want to say “aye” I stop myself.
I have my pride.
Though you made me right you made me wait.
The journey of my life has been slow, tedious and tiring.
What is my achievement?
How many know me?
I have been here from the day of my creation, a layer of dust on me.
People write their name on it, like it, wipe it, and leave me to gather new.
I have been new but now I am old.
I have been in the same place for years.
My master sees me, takes pity on me and lets me be in the same old place.
He has faith in me. Or is it in you? Or is it in the “one”?
I know not.
He carefully takes care of me lest I be hurt.
But one day I will make him proud and be on my way.
Until then I stay here.
Yes, I am that thing on the shelf and I will wait…
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