This and that

Amazed at how people change with the passing phases in life.May be that is called learning from experiences and living with the flow.The sleeping kiddo,boring TV and non-stop rain have given me some quality time to think of what I actually learnt from this journey of life.
1. Patience: An attribute which I always lacked but I suddenly sense that I have it in tonnes( all thanks to my kiddo).Getting even never works.Just being patient solves many problems in life.
2. Forget what others think about you because as long as you try pleasing them and trying to be in their good books,you will lose your own self and have to life someone else's way.So just be yourself.This is something I learnt the hard way, after realising that I was not being myself trying to put up with something I don't believe in.
3.Being healthy is very important,for you and for others dependent on you.
4.Fear of the future : Just prepare for the worst and you actually realise that the future is not all that worst.It is the attitude that actually matters.
5.Smile and the world smile backs at you: Very true.A smile can actually win over people with whom we are not very friendly.A heartful smile can ease the situation and break the ice of bitterness.
6. Hang on: There were times when I left things midway but hanging on with the situation and seeing the situation with positive perspective really helped.So hang on and give things a chance, if you still are not comfortable then it is time to give up.
7.Now is the time: Postponing things for a particular date never helps.It is now or never.
8.Save for a rainy day: Start saving right from the day you start earning.Money compounds in no time and one day you are the richest.
9. Curiousness for everything going around enriches one's life.May be that is the reason why kids are always busy doing little things they like and they dont seem to know what boredom means.So enrich your life by reading books,taking up a physical activity or with anything for which you are passionate about.
10. Get rid of the past: Burying one's self in the past looks great in films but it sucks in reality.Just get out of it and move on because life is so much more beautiful than fretting over what has happened.

Hey 'YOU'

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY DEAR WOMEN

Dear Women,

You are a wonderful creature which god has gifted to the mankind(you know that).I have always wanted to talk to you.I am the voice in your head who would like to speak its mind, but prefers being shut up for the fear of being labelled as a feminist.Now,the time has come to have a dialogue with you, since I feel there is an urgent need for you to slow down,relax and listen to me at least for once in your lifetime.So,please listen to me,no no its not about your son's school or your daughter's exam or your husbands office party or your in-laws health.It's about YOU.Yes,only you.Hey wait,wait is it sounding way too strange that I am speaking about something which you have forgotten long ago when you got married and buried completely in the celebration of the arrival of your 'bundle of joy'(aka ghar ka waris).Boring it may sound,but listen to me.
Feminist one may call me,busy you might be,but you have to spare me a second.Now,come on you are such a big hearted creature that you have time for everyone around(excepting you, ofcourse) so sparing a few minutes to me,I am sure is not a big deal to you.
Ok,now tell me when was the last time you have cooked something for yourself.Don't say 'cooking has become a daily chore'.Think when have you cooked something exclusively for yourself.(now,don't give that nasty look).Guess when have you cooked a favorite dish of yours?What?Can't remember.Okey,tough one at that I guess!Now you must be thinking, why on earth would you become such a selfish human being and cook something which is of your favorite rather than adjust with anything which your betu or hubby likes?What say?
Huh! Indian NAARI!
Tags like Super woman/mom,Good bahu and ideal mother matter much more to you than the real 'YOU'.
I can't buy the benchmarking set for women just to become that ideal bahu,ideal mother or ideal beti for that matter.This ideal concept is nothing but pure bullshit.
Just to make a woman more and more glued towards the cause of becoming an ideal women,such nonsense is vibrated rhythmically into our mental conditioning.It is like you have forgotten the you,in yourself.It is as if your needs have been transferred to some other planet and the slightest imagination of these needs makes you labelled as selfish and irresponsible.NOT DONE YA.

The truth is ideal women does not exist on this earth.Super moms,who take care of husband,job,kids,in-laws,relatives,house,laundry,kitchen,garden and each and every aspect of life only exist in films and TV soaps.If you are trying to become one,supressing your passions and needs,then get ready for the retaliation setting within yourself,which might burst any moment.This ideal concept goes to the extent of women sacrificing their hunger,sleep,desires,passions and totally stressed out to the point of forgetting that there existed one person called YOU.
So now ennuff of kids,family,boss etc.etc., and take a break.Take a break,not for
anyone else,but for the me in you.Just give it a try.Do something for yourself.Just for your sake.Leave behind the ideal nonsense(suitable for soaps),forget the guilt factor(you should be already guilty for degenerating yourself),so just for once live life for your sake.Live life on your own terms.For your contentment,for your fulfillment.That is Bliss.That is called LIFE.At least for sometimes.Let the positive energy flow and spread everywhere around you.The positive energy has a boomerang effect and it takes everyone into its stride.Let the suppressed retaliation take wings and fly away.Discover the new you.Now you are the ideal women. No other take on that.

Waiting for your response,
your inner voice.

Bubbles

I totally understand how beneficial it is to select and work out some form of exercise at least 3 days a week.Hmm...with so much gyan all around about fitness I have come to the conclusion of at least 3 days, but I have been a failure in really sticking to the work out thing.Every time I start with a bang and the bubble bursts in a few days and then I am back to late night readings, bindass eating and all the wrong things against fitness. I always plan my day,my eating routine,watch my sleep timings,put off everything for the next day if case be,load my fridge with the right food,plan the menu etc ..etc.. all these just to make sure that I fall in line with the upcoming session of my exercise plan.So far everything seems to be working out.Then come the big day,I start off with my newly acquired enthusiasm, to the place of activity.I somehow manage to do a few workouts(arrey,pehla din hai ) ,the trainer with a very unpleasant face looks at me and explains how I need to shed off those extra calories,then she again says how the film-stars work out day in and out just to make that picture perfect bodies they have,she then very assuringly lends me hope saying that it is not a big deal for me if I follow everything she says to the T.Good.Good.Hopes raise in full gear.huh..Some competition for Kareena.My Savior then goes ahead to plan the diet menu for me.No fries,no sweets,no oil,cut down salt intake,cut down rice in the evenings,eat the dinner before 7pm and the list goes on and on.My head already starts swinging.OMG.Poor me.Is it because of the over exertion,or my messiah's menu plan.Oh well,well,this is just the first day.I make believe myself that I will get used to this, once I get habituated to the system.After all it takes at least 21 days for any habit to be imbibed into our lifestyle forever.So I console myself saying that 'intezar ka phal mitha hota hai'.Again Mitha,why do I feel like eating mitha so much??When was the last time I had Dairy Milk fruit and nuts? Well,whatever.End of first day of training session.I come back home, with an air of achievement.Tell my hubby thousand things on the cholesterol lining up the arteries and how it can be melted away, like ghee on tawa, just by joining me in this war for health.I realise he doesn't pay much attention to my words( so common with men,I suppose).Then through the day my body starts aching and I have this feel good hormone which says "Yay its working,atleast some cholesterol is melting" and with all the body pains I keep informing everyone that I am on a diet and an exercise regimen which I have just started.I also see some obese people, jealously praying for some god intervention in my regimen.But aah,god listens to me more than anyone else,so I religiously follow to my workout session on the second day too.As a matter of fact right from childhood we have been taught that no break should be allowed on the second day of an activity.So on successful completion of my second day workout,I am convinced that miracles will follow and I am just a couple of months away from that well deserving fab bod which girls often dream about.
Then after a few days of working out,I somehow miss the boat of regularity.May be it is because of the roller coaster ride from dawn until dusk or the stresses of parenting or all the multi-tasking which zaps my energy levels to zero. It seems that too many unexpected obstacles come in the way and my workout dream melts,just like ghee,you see.
So that's how the bubble bursts you know,but like a committed health freak, I join again in yet another Yoga center (may be the previous one was not too auspicious for me) and continue the saga of chasing good health(more than good shape,by all means).May be this time I will be a little more selfish and give my personal,physical and mental health a bit more of a priority.
Just wish me luck guys: ).

Super bored

Don't know why is life so boring.I am doing nothing except staring at the ceiling of my room for whatever reason even I don't seem to know.Huh,life is got pretty boring.I don't understand why I still keep making plans( a disease which bit me through my MBA days) and with such an erratic and uncontrollable life schedule(schedule can I say), no wonder none of that gets through and I again get back to my favorite pastime of gazing at my lovely blank and boring ceiling.It really sucks when I am in a hurry to do 101 things before getting back to full fledged corporate slavery and not being able to do any single thing again gets on to my nerves.People say taking up some new hobby will enrich life and the sheer lack of time and improper sleeping,eating and all kind of sadelu activities leave me with no energy nor any interest in getting any richer whatsoever.I still haven't been able to figure out why kids keep sulking and crying when they could not get across their point of view,haven't been able to understand the rhythm of my kiddo, testing my patience by not eating until I run and run after him for a couple of hours, which ultimately gives me a nice backache.Again could not figure out why Vizag is so sultry all the time and still haven't figured out what is the need for a 72 year old man to go on for an indefinite hunger strike to eradicate corruption in this country.So everyone is so busy in their personal philosophies that the country sought the help of a person nearing death bed to help her.SPEECHLESS.
(will continue this thought in an other post)

Go India Go

Robot Magic

I was of the opinion that stereotyping or undermining is a phenomenon which should be associated only to the masses or those people,whose sense or thinking process has gone down to the level of numbness or passiveness ( if it's fine using this word).But it's a complete let down for me when I hear or read people( the so called 'learned', as the case may be)attaching a stereotype phenomenon and judging a piece of creative genius as the Robot(Rajnikant starrer) as some aira gaira flick which is nothing more than an extension of drama and a bunch of bizarre special effects.
I have taken the words ( a stupid me,as you know) of a North Indian friend of mine,and always avoided watching this movie until recently when I came across it on the TV premiere.I have also read so much criticism against the film makers as well as Aishwarya Rai,whose part according to the high brained critics, was nothing more than an item girl for the songs.
This is not the first time and I have sure come across many other such incidents where this differentiation of North and South has taken its extreme forms (spare the creative field,plz).I don't understand (seriously ya)what makes the North section of this great democracy think that they are in anyway better (read brainy) or more incredible than the southern states of India.I had a friend who used to joke that south Indians can only find solace in tamarind water(Rasam,fyi) and curd on their plates.Every state has its own sense of taste.I am okay with the lighter side of these comments but what really bothers me is why can't a south Indian be given the same respect in North India as much as the Northie draws here down in the south.Going back to Robot, the special effects were a marvel and I have never ever found any other Hindi movie which can come anywhere near this one in terms of either special effects or the taking.( Sharukh,I am sure you will prove this wrong with Ra.one.Best wishes : )).As far a Ash is concerned, I don't find her being given a better preference in any of her other movies either.
I agree that the drama is quite unrealistic and stretched but that is the flavor of Rajni's movies.People in Tamilnadu love the fact that their hero can turn his cigar 100 times in the air or hit 100 gundas in one go, something which they love seeing Rajni do in his movies.



It's not that the people are stupid or the film makers are dumb, its only that a trend was set by the hero which is irreplaceable.When people get bored of it,which possibly never seems to happen,the film makers will surely go for movies where the hero tries to ward off flies with his nose(nothing offensive,Mr.Bhansali).
It's okay when someone slashed a terrible movie but to recognize someone's ability, one has to think with his own senses without compartmentalization.
Well,irrespective of the criticism,Robot has gained International acclaim and applause, a reward which is tucked in only by a few Indian film makers.So,next time keep your eyes open and recognize the real talent behind regional movies.What say ??
NAINA MILE ..DIL SEY NAINA MILE...

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; But often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

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Where is our education system heading?

I am really perplexed and glad at the majority number of people in India (youth to be precise) who are gaining MBA's,engineering and all other masters degrees and whose education degress outpar their peers in most other countries of the world.Firstly lets get into a bit of stats here and there.There are 175 MBA colleges in Delhi alone and there are scores and scores of them in the whole of India.Engineering colleges are growing in leaps and bounds that with the numbers crossing 1000 in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu alone.Oh,literacy programmes in our country are a huge success man.Good!
But does education only mean attaining degrees with zero level IQ?
Global experts are startled that a country of massive potential, has one of the largest populations of poor people in the world. Isn’t it baffling that despite almost everyone agreeing that things should change, they don’t?
So what's that which is really stopping our youth from winning the big battle.Guess!! Well I checked it all (to the best of my knowledge,though).Forget corruption,forget procrastination in the governmental systems,forget our wonderful errant politicians,forget about all these nonsensical external sources which are readily available anytime for blame game.But now isn't it time to look back at our basics and see if they are really right.Have we laid the real foundation for our kids.How about our class room spoon feeding system, which doesnt give us much scope to think beyond the text material which is thrusted upon us.How about the fact that we have a kind of education system which asks us to shutup and not question anything and rather use that 'valuable time' for rutting some more and reproducing in the exams. How about the fact that we are shutting down the creative pool of a kid right from his childhood.How about the fact that our education system is hammering out our individual voices and killing our natural sensitivity,turning us into servile coursematerial slaves.Our kids are not encouraged to raise their voices in class, particularly when they disagree with the teacher. And of course, no subject teaches us imagination, creativity or innovation.So it is time the education system becomes more real,more open and let the kids think and develop their individual thoughts on the subjects.So this is the major reason why the youth of this country is still behind the progressive growth cycle and is still chasing a highly paid job, waiting patiently in the rat race just like they did it, for ranks during their childhood days.Is this a curse to us, for being such a highly populated country??
No.Not if our mindset changes.On a personal note, I think it is the responsibility of both the teachers and the parents to get the basics right for their children right from childhood.So next time when your kid asks you to buy her a Dairy milk or 5 star explain her why it is not good for her teeth rather than just saying that she is not allowed to eat chocolates the whole day.Tell her how a home made paratha is always a better choice than Maggie or Yippie,anyday.Kids love being responded back,no matter how little they understand.Do answer all their whys and whats and let their creative juices flow.
So anyone up for it???

Nature's Fury!

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Once again nature has gotten against mankind.The kind of devastation Japan has had is something which reminds us of how small and petty we still are no matter how advanced or hi-fi we might call ourselves.This kind of mass destruction is totally unpredictable.Last heard on Tv that this could have been predicted by Astrologers(oh really!After its all over?)Forget Astrologers but how about the fact that we do know whats going on this planet and what are we up to, in the name of technology and nuclear development.I think its high time we really sat down and thought about how we can get close to nature and understand its predictions rather than letting the astrologers do the saying.Its time we stop this unnatural advancement to the maximum extent possible.This pretty much sums up to all the countries.This disaster is a warning and a clear signal to think of the alternatives which are more safe and less destructive.Lets save the Ozone layer.Lets lessen the warming effect.Lets be a little more considerate and let our kids also have a bit of this planet.Lets save our Earth.And for now lets pray for Japan.

Little baby hands

This one is for my kiddo : )
Little dimpled baby hands grasp my finger tight
While mama rocks him, humming, deep into the night.
Those hands of his will grow all too soon for me, I know,
So mama rocks him, humming deep into the night.

Little dimpled baby hands exploring all they see,
While mama gently guides him, he is trying to run free.
Those hands of his are busy, grabbing all they reach,
So mama guides him gently, for it is my job to teach.

Bigger little boy hands, with dirt under his nails,
Bringing mama presents of flowers, frogs and snails.
Those hands of his, though dirty, are growing up so fast,
So mama treasures the gifts, and hopes these moments last.

Slender young man hands slam the bedroom door,
convinced his mama doesn't understand him anymore.
Those hands of his are nearly grown and eager to be free,
So mama hugs him anyway, my little man so much like me.

Strong grown man hands turn to wave good bye,
My baby boy is all grown up and mama wants to cry.
Those hands of his have things to do. He'll find his way I know,
So mama wipes the tears away, and lets her baby go.

Little dimpled baby hands, grasp his finger tight,
While daddy rocks him, humming, deep into the night.
Those little hands he holds will grow all too soon for him he knows,
So daddy rocks him, humming, deep into the night.