In order to forget that that tall looming figure I had got used to
seeing lurking around the house,who turned out to be
reassuring when I had doubts abt my creations or the better
of my crazy ideas and more so put up with me,ragged me,
teased me and drove me up the wall at times has really finally
left me.He has finally run away from me and fled the country...
swearing never to step foot on this land again..
Ok.So thats an exaggeration.He has gone back to India cos
his visa expired and I will be joining him....well..hopefully
sometime soon...which is God knows when...which is ..sigh...
I dont know what...However,he will be waiting for me in India
like Romeo waited for Juliet...um...actually I dont think he will
be hanging around like Romeo did...Really..I mean Romeo
honestly was quite jobless if u think abt it except to sing
ballads and serenade and kind of swagger around below
Juliet's balconey beating his chest.Really...What woman
wants a man who wanders abt beating his chest????....
Really..am sure Juliet wud have rather had him do
something worthwhile even as he loved her...u know what
I mean?But then am digressing from the topic and maybe
making Shakey spin in his grave..So lets leave that and
come back to my life.(Yeah..I know..But this happens to be
my blog and if I want to write abt my life I very much shall
including the minutest details of how I ...err...scratch my
back..and if u dont want to read it...well..trust me,u dont
know what u will be missing.Poor u)...
Anyway coming back to sending DH off,well,I managed
not to make an idiot of myself;read I did not cry before
or after his going,smiled rather bravely and sounded
quite normal...Now all I have to do is put up with another
day of every single soul asking me "Anup left?" when
they very well know he did,that he wud not have missed an
international flight to stay with me,that even if he wud have
he cudnt cos his visa had expired.But since all those
souls mean it kindly and really are showing their
concern for my sudden single status,it wud be mean of me
to snap at them and say "Nah,he is sitting right behind u".
Dontcha think?
Its really not as bad as I thot it wud be.Well..as long as
I dont dwell on it..Its just the first 4 days..U know.All I have
to do is to keep it all in,not think and keep distracting my thots
which honestly is quite irritating..I mean its like u are talking
to urself abt something and then u interrupt urself...if that made
any sense.I havent been able to do any crafting cos ..well..cos
my heart is just not in it..and u really cant put ur focus into ur
fingers if ,u know,u are subconsciously waiting for someone to
walk in the door.I keep finding myself thinking he will walk in
any minute and that I havent got dinner heated up...So I read
a book...and I was fine except that when I put down the book,
I was back to figuring out some new dinner recipe with the
ingredients on hand ,quite forgetting that my guinea pig is
no longer here..and really,its no fun cooking new stuff if u
dont have anyone to eat it up ..other than ur self...Well,I'll admit
it,shall I? Am walking around like a desolate squirrel that lost
its winter store of nuts...
Today morning I happened to be standing on the road gabbing
away with a friend in Tamil when an old gentleman passed us,
stopped,turned round and asked me "What language
are u speaking?".I replied without thinking "Thamizh"...
He said "What?"..and I provided the anglicized version."Tamil".
A wrinkled brow prompted me to try "T-A-M-I-L.Its an Indian
language".And then he got it."Taumil?".and asked "But its not
the only language in India,is it?" And I replied negative.
"How many languages do u have in India?"came the next
question.Honestly,dude,I wudnt know the answer in normal
circumstances but to ask me,a desolate squirrel at that,is
next to trying to make ice cream in an oven at 425 degrees.
Hopeless.The man must have sensed something of my
feelings cos he asked "South Africa has 294 languages.
Do u have that many?".He really was a nice old man and
so I again replied negative.And then he continued "But you
Indians speak such beautiful British English,not like ours...
U have such a beautiful British accent."and finished with
an eloquent gesture. At this point all readers are asked
to picture a squirrel gaping at an old man and saying "I do?"
And the old man tells the squirrel "Yes,u do have a beautiful
british accent."Now the squirrel says"Well,I didnt realise
that I had a British accent" and considers telling the old
man that it maybe cos India was once under the British Rule
and that must be where the accent came from but then even
a desolate squirrel with lost nuts must have some remnant
of brain function left,cos I didnt say anything.Mostly cos I
really cudnt think up a plausible explanation as to why I had
a British accent even though the British left before my mom
was born...Really...Unless I came up with something quite
creative like the lil guy in Slumdog Millionaire did..
That Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife
Mumtaz who died in a car accident.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The last post of the year!!!
There is a poem that I first read when I was in college and fell in love with..I cud relate to some of the lines in it but not all though I knew it was true thru and thru.There was a time when reading some of my favourite poems cud soothe me and bring back a sense of calm.Today as I was trying to put into words what I learnt in the last one year, for some reason I remembered that poem and when I read it again,it was exactly what I had learnt in the past year.
I've learned -
that your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.
I've learned
that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is
be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.
I've learned -
that no matter how much I care,
some people just don't care back.
I've learned -
that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned -
that it's not what you have in your life
but who you have in your life that counts.
I've learned -
that you can get by on charm
for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned -
that you shouldn't compare
yourself to the best others can do
but to the best you can do.
I've learned -
that it's not what happens to people
that's important. It's what they do about it.
I've learned -
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned -
that no matter how thin you slice it,
there are always two sides.
I've learned -
that it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.
I've learned -
that it's a lot easier
to react than it is to think.
I've learned -
that you should always leave
loved ones withloving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned -
that you can keep going
long after you think you can't.
I've learned -
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.
I've learned -
that either you control your attitude
or it controls you.
I've learned -
that regardless of how hot and steamy
a relationship is at first,
the passion fades and there had better be
something else to take its place.
I've learned -
that heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.
I've learned -
that learning to forgive takes practice.
I've learned -
that there are people who love you dearly,
but just don't know how to show it.
I've learned -
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned -
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned -
that sometimes the people you expect
to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned -
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.
I've learned -
that true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I've learned -
that just because someone doesn't love you
the way you want them to doesn't mean
they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned -
that maturity has more to do with
what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them
and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.
I've learned
that heroes are the people who do
what has to be done
regardless of the consequences.
I've learned _
that you should never tell a child
their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
Few things are more humiliating, and
what a tragedy it would be
if they believed it.
I've learned -
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned -
that it isn't always enough
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn
to forgive yourself.
I've learned -
that no matter how bad
your heart is broken
the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned -
that our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned -
that just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.
I've learned -
that sometimes you have to put
the individual ahead of their actions.
I've learned -
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.
I've learned -
that you shouldn't be so
eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.
I've learned -
that two people can look
at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.
I've learned -
that there are many ways of falling
and staying in love.
I've learned -
that no matter the consequences,
those who are honest with themselves
get farther in life.
I've learned -
that even when you think
you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.
I've learned -
that the paradigm we live in
is not all that is offered to us.
I've learned -
that credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.
I've learned -
that the people you care most about in life
are taken from you too soon.
I've learned -
that although the word "love"
can have many different meanings,
it loses value when overly used.
I've learned -
that it's hard to determine
where to draw the line
between being nice and
not hurting people's feelings
and standing up for what you believe
That’s what I have learnt. All through this roller coaster of a year.I don’t know if I wud have changed anything I said or did thru the year.In fact even if I knew ,I don’t know how I wud have changed it
There is something magical abt the beginning of a new year.Overnight ur yesterday seems far away,a year behind.Overnight memories seem rosier and the bitter parts soften to just being rough bumps on a generally happy road.Just when I thought am too old for the fizz and pop of a New year’s beginning,past the age of earnestly thinking up resolutions which 9 on 10 are never followed thru, I get caught up and find myself writing this post.So here’s a postie toast to the fast vanishing 2008 and 2009 looming ahead.
A friend asked me to describe 2008 and he was more amused than me when I said the first thing that popped into my mind.Hurricane.Call it the influence of too many natural catastrophes in US.But the only other word I cud come up with was Earthquake.Coming back to my hurricane ,I guess I have been buffeted abt relentlessly through ups and downs thru this year.Just when I thot that I was in the clear,I wud be pulled back into storm,tossed from one side to another,battered and bruised and then thrown to one side.I normally am a pretty balanced cheerful soul who rarely got Monday blues or any other blues for that matter,but this year saw a record number of mood swings with one very confused frustrated soul who spent more time growling like a bear with a sore head than I can ever remember.Really.More often than not ,I went from being “I-am-capable” to “I-cant-handle-this”.It was suffocating at times and frustrating at others.From being a happy-go-lucky soul,I swung dangerously close to becoming a control freak.I kept watching for things to go wrong.From being a die hard optimist,I found myself trapped several times in the narrow outlook of a pessimist.My belief in people took a beating.More so my belief in me.Its been a tuf year.But I like to think of it as God’s way of tempering me.
I don’t mean to say that the year has been a bad one.There have been beautiful moments,funny ones and weird ones.After years of believing that I wudnt find a man who cud tolerate me enuf to live with me and that I wudnt tolerate anything less,I married Anup who has managed to survive almost a year with me (20 days to our first anniversary)and doesn’t look like is gonna give up any time soon.My little bro graduated,got the 4th rank in the University(I hate being a nag,Bunny,but really,I wudnt have minded if u had got that Gold medal.In fact I wud have settled for the silver one too.Well…atleast piggyhoolear didn’t get it though that really is no consolation,mind u) and is working in a God forsaken place far away from home.Really!!!Surat is really too far away from home.When someone delicately pointed out that am in US of A which is technically half way across the globe from home,I snapped at him “That’s not the point.He is too small (just over 6 feet) to stay so far from home.” I fell in love with half a dozen crafts and spent the better part of the year wishing for Santa to bring me 6 pairs of hands so that I cud spend time on my “crafty”.I fell in love with cooking .Really,mama,stop laughing.I shall confess that I totally love cooking and trying out new dishes,especially now that I have my personal guinea pig.(yeah.I mean the DH.Who else?)I became friends with a lovely girl across the globe and really Revs,Mujhe tujhme rab dikhta hai.(Don’t forget ki tune Mamta Kulkarni ki kasam khai hai.Chuckle!).I saw my first snow and experienced my first earthquake.For the first time in my life I gained some weight that has stuck with me.And for the first time in my life I have consciously tried to eat healthy.I have learned that 8 hrs at work is more than enuf and that the boss wont have a heart attack if I say no.That even if he does,it doesn’t matter cos working more than 8 hrs at the pace I do wud be enuf to give me a heart attack and kill me by the time I reach my boss’s age.I have managed to have painted toenails all thru the year.:-) And I also figured out a way to sit in a certain way so that I can see them when I paint them and don’t topple over.Owing to the dry dry dry climate ,I have spent more time this year looking after myself than I have all my life.
Its not been good all thru.I saw sides of people I wud rather not have, been blamed for things Idid not do,been judged by people who barely know me,been stretched beyond my limits ,made some really tuf choices and in general had a lot of mud slung on me.I have stumbled,fallen,crawled and staggered this entire year.I have been shocked,outraged,hurt and struggled with myself.I have learnt that I cannot brush off some people simply cos I want to.There were times when I lost my sense of humour for days together…I learnt a lot of things which in hindsight seem to have brought more definite sense of what or who I am.The good part of all that is that I have not broken. But the credit for that goes to people I love most in my life .
But now,am ready to move on.I wont be leaving all that happened in the last one year behind.I will be carrying some of it with me.Some of the things that I learnt…Some of the things that I realized….
This New year brings with it a lot more changes .We will be going back to India.I don’t pray that life be peaceful. I just pray that I keep a firm hold on my sense of humour. And as for my resolutions,I want to keep up with my crafting and make sure that I don’t spend more than 8 hrs at work…Like one lady said “I go to office so that I don’t have to spend all my time staring at the 4 walls of my house.I work cos I love dressing in nice clothes and meeting people and talking to them.I do what I can in those 8 hrs.If someone says something abt that being less,well,I cant help it”. I want to keep it all simple the way I did before…Not let anyone or anything clutter my life.I need to focus on what is important to me and do what feels right to me irrespective of what anyone thinks. I don’t need everyone to like me and if someone doesn’t that does not make me a bad person.I shud not let someone’s opinion of me matter so much that it clouds my perspective.I believe that at heart I am a decent human being.I don’t know if I am a good daughter,sister or wife.But I know that I have tried my best and that will suffice for me.And if nothing else,I know I have made my loved ones happy thru one small deed or the other.And that is enuf to keep me going.That and that alone is my talisman for the new year.
I've learned -
that your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.
I've learned
that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is
be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.
I've learned -
that no matter how much I care,
some people just don't care back.
I've learned -
that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned -
that it's not what you have in your life
but who you have in your life that counts.
I've learned -
that you can get by on charm
for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned -
that you shouldn't compare
yourself to the best others can do
but to the best you can do.
I've learned -
that it's not what happens to people
that's important. It's what they do about it.
I've learned -
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned -
that no matter how thin you slice it,
there are always two sides.
I've learned -
that it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.
I've learned -
that it's a lot easier
to react than it is to think.
I've learned -
that you should always leave
loved ones withloving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
I've learned -
that you can keep going
long after you think you can't.
I've learned -
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.
I've learned -
that either you control your attitude
or it controls you.
I've learned -
that regardless of how hot and steamy
a relationship is at first,
the passion fades and there had better be
something else to take its place.
I've learned -
that heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.
I've learned -
that learning to forgive takes practice.
I've learned -
that there are people who love you dearly,
but just don't know how to show it.
I've learned -
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned -
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned -
that sometimes the people you expect
to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned -
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.
I've learned -
that true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I've learned -
that just because someone doesn't love you
the way you want them to doesn't mean
they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned -
that maturity has more to do with
what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them
and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.
I've learned
that heroes are the people who do
what has to be done
regardless of the consequences.
I've learned _
that you should never tell a child
their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
Few things are more humiliating, and
what a tragedy it would be
if they believed it.
I've learned -
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned -
that it isn't always enough
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn
to forgive yourself.
I've learned -
that no matter how bad
your heart is broken
the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned -
that our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.
I've learned -
that just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.
I've learned -
that sometimes you have to put
the individual ahead of their actions.
I've learned -
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.
I've learned -
that you shouldn't be so
eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.
I've learned -
that two people can look
at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.
I've learned -
that there are many ways of falling
and staying in love.
I've learned -
that no matter the consequences,
those who are honest with themselves
get farther in life.
I've learned -
that even when you think
you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.
I've learned -
that the paradigm we live in
is not all that is offered to us.
I've learned -
that credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.
I've learned -
that the people you care most about in life
are taken from you too soon.
I've learned -
that although the word "love"
can have many different meanings,
it loses value when overly used.
I've learned -
that it's hard to determine
where to draw the line
between being nice and
not hurting people's feelings
and standing up for what you believe
That’s what I have learnt. All through this roller coaster of a year.I don’t know if I wud have changed anything I said or did thru the year.In fact even if I knew ,I don’t know how I wud have changed it
There is something magical abt the beginning of a new year.Overnight ur yesterday seems far away,a year behind.Overnight memories seem rosier and the bitter parts soften to just being rough bumps on a generally happy road.Just when I thought am too old for the fizz and pop of a New year’s beginning,past the age of earnestly thinking up resolutions which 9 on 10 are never followed thru, I get caught up and find myself writing this post.So here’s a postie toast to the fast vanishing 2008 and 2009 looming ahead.
A friend asked me to describe 2008 and he was more amused than me when I said the first thing that popped into my mind.Hurricane.Call it the influence of too many natural catastrophes in US.But the only other word I cud come up with was Earthquake.Coming back to my hurricane ,I guess I have been buffeted abt relentlessly through ups and downs thru this year.Just when I thot that I was in the clear,I wud be pulled back into storm,tossed from one side to another,battered and bruised and then thrown to one side.I normally am a pretty balanced cheerful soul who rarely got Monday blues or any other blues for that matter,but this year saw a record number of mood swings with one very confused frustrated soul who spent more time growling like a bear with a sore head than I can ever remember.Really.More often than not ,I went from being “I-am-capable” to “I-cant-handle-this”.It was suffocating at times and frustrating at others.From being a happy-go-lucky soul,I swung dangerously close to becoming a control freak.I kept watching for things to go wrong.From being a die hard optimist,I found myself trapped several times in the narrow outlook of a pessimist.My belief in people took a beating.More so my belief in me.Its been a tuf year.But I like to think of it as God’s way of tempering me.
I don’t mean to say that the year has been a bad one.There have been beautiful moments,funny ones and weird ones.After years of believing that I wudnt find a man who cud tolerate me enuf to live with me and that I wudnt tolerate anything less,I married Anup who has managed to survive almost a year with me (20 days to our first anniversary)and doesn’t look like is gonna give up any time soon.My little bro graduated,got the 4th rank in the University(I hate being a nag,Bunny,but really,I wudnt have minded if u had got that Gold medal.In fact I wud have settled for the silver one too.Well…atleast piggyhoolear didn’t get it though that really is no consolation,mind u) and is working in a God forsaken place far away from home.Really!!!Surat is really too far away from home.When someone delicately pointed out that am in US of A which is technically half way across the globe from home,I snapped at him “That’s not the point.He is too small (just over 6 feet) to stay so far from home.” I fell in love with half a dozen crafts and spent the better part of the year wishing for Santa to bring me 6 pairs of hands so that I cud spend time on my “crafty”.I fell in love with cooking .Really,mama,stop laughing.I shall confess that I totally love cooking and trying out new dishes,especially now that I have my personal guinea pig.(yeah.I mean the DH.Who else?)I became friends with a lovely girl across the globe and really Revs,Mujhe tujhme rab dikhta hai.(Don’t forget ki tune Mamta Kulkarni ki kasam khai hai.Chuckle!).I saw my first snow and experienced my first earthquake.For the first time in my life I gained some weight that has stuck with me.And for the first time in my life I have consciously tried to eat healthy.I have learned that 8 hrs at work is more than enuf and that the boss wont have a heart attack if I say no.That even if he does,it doesn’t matter cos working more than 8 hrs at the pace I do wud be enuf to give me a heart attack and kill me by the time I reach my boss’s age.I have managed to have painted toenails all thru the year.:-) And I also figured out a way to sit in a certain way so that I can see them when I paint them and don’t topple over.Owing to the dry dry dry climate ,I have spent more time this year looking after myself than I have all my life.
Its not been good all thru.I saw sides of people I wud rather not have, been blamed for things Idid not do,been judged by people who barely know me,been stretched beyond my limits ,made some really tuf choices and in general had a lot of mud slung on me.I have stumbled,fallen,crawled and staggered this entire year.I have been shocked,outraged,hurt and struggled with myself.I have learnt that I cannot brush off some people simply cos I want to.There were times when I lost my sense of humour for days together…I learnt a lot of things which in hindsight seem to have brought more definite sense of what or who I am.The good part of all that is that I have not broken. But the credit for that goes to people I love most in my life .
But now,am ready to move on.I wont be leaving all that happened in the last one year behind.I will be carrying some of it with me.Some of the things that I learnt…Some of the things that I realized….
This New year brings with it a lot more changes .We will be going back to India.I don’t pray that life be peaceful. I just pray that I keep a firm hold on my sense of humour. And as for my resolutions,I want to keep up with my crafting and make sure that I don’t spend more than 8 hrs at work…Like one lady said “I go to office so that I don’t have to spend all my time staring at the 4 walls of my house.I work cos I love dressing in nice clothes and meeting people and talking to them.I do what I can in those 8 hrs.If someone says something abt that being less,well,I cant help it”. I want to keep it all simple the way I did before…Not let anyone or anything clutter my life.I need to focus on what is important to me and do what feels right to me irrespective of what anyone thinks. I don’t need everyone to like me and if someone doesn’t that does not make me a bad person.I shud not let someone’s opinion of me matter so much that it clouds my perspective.I believe that at heart I am a decent human being.I don’t know if I am a good daughter,sister or wife.But I know that I have tried my best and that will suffice for me.And if nothing else,I know I have made my loved ones happy thru one small deed or the other.And that is enuf to keep me going.That and that alone is my talisman for the new year.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Am ashamed but I’ll admit...
2 mails from 2 different friends in the past 2 days.One an Indian and one an American.They both have something in common.I have not met either of them.I know them only thru the mails I exchange with them.Even more common,is that they both mentioned the Mumbai terrorist attacks.My Indian friend, reacted the way any Indian wud,with anger and fury.While my American friend ,who is an army veteran sent me a very unexpected mail.
//Hi, Anu,
I've been thinking of you a lot these past days.
I can't tell you how sorry I am, how guilty I feel, and what kind of depressing days I went through during the horrible, senseless event in Mumbai.
Just can't help shaking the guilt, the US and the allies have a LOT to do with the Muslim rage, and, unfortunately, many innocent Indians paid with their lives ...
Can't even tell you, how sorry I feel, how depressed I was for days, and I don't even know, what could be done for the grieving families. I don't even know, if humans can do anything about this, this is all in God's hands now.
I was just sitting in front of the TV, watching the events take place, just switching between CNN and the FOX news channel, and the reports coming through these two from Indian TV. //
I was shocked.I was really shocked by his mail.In all these days I am yet to see one article,one news channel or even one blog blame America for the carnage.It had not even occurred to me to even relate US to the terror attacks in India.And I was stunned by the sadness of this man I had never met.I don’t claim that Americans are better than most or that they don’t have their own “strategies”.The point is not if America is to blame or not.But how many Indians wud think to take the blame on ourselves?How many of us feel guilty for what happened in our country?We are all angry.Oh yeah…we are united on that atleast.We are quick to blame.We blame Pakistan.We blame muslims.We start riots and kill our own countrymen just for being Muslim by religion.We blame the politicians and blame the country’s intelligence.Oh yeah…and we blame God.We dont even let poor God out of this.We blame everybody.We are good at that.Its everybody’s fault but not ours.
We play the blame game by writing blogs,letters to the editor ,send messages to the news channels and trust me,all this bullshit serves no purpose but to calm ur own conscience.To not think and to not see the obvious.To convince ourselves that we have done our part.I must have read umpteen blogs and articles all belting the same tune.Its the government,the terrorist,the security,Pakistan everybody but us.Everybody but the common man.Do u expect me to believe that there was no one inside the country who helped those terrorists?Such a large scale operation was carried out without inside information?That the maniacs got a layout of those huge mammoth hotels without inside help?That no citizen had an inkling of this?Or rather no person who is an Indian by birth knew abt this?Of course,they did.To call that person a citizen wud be to degrade all those officers who died in that carnage,the army men who died in the kargil war and many other long forgotten heroes.Why blame Pakistan or the terrorists?Why send lists of terrorists to Pakistan government when within our own country live men and women who wud help the terrorists without a twinge of conscience?Do we have lists of those people?Everything in our country is on sale.Everything.Its just a matter of the highest price that can be offered.
You can tell me that its poverty that drives these people to commit such heinous acts of treason.Is it?Really?Whom are we fooling?And even if it is,is that even an excuse?Why shud we shut these terrorists in jails?So that some more of them can walk into our country ,kill some more people and demand that we set the captured terrorists free?Why,for that matter shud we shut anyone in jail who is convicted of committing murder,rape or any other act of physical violence in a jail? Why keep them alive?Why shud an entire nation of people pay up a part of their hard earned money as taxes just to feed these losers in the jail?For the sake of human rights? What happened to the rights of their victims?It doesn’t matter cos they are dead and we care more abt the living?And what abt the rights of any future victims?That doesn’t count either,does it?
The politicians are to be blamed.Who put them there?We don’t choose the best political party to become our government .We choose better one of all the evils.And then we blame them.Gah!!!In India ,anyone who is 18 years and above is eligible to vote.I am 26 years old and I don’t even have a voters ID.I have simply not bothered to vote. I was too busy getting an education and a career. Besides ,who is going to stand in the sun for hrs to cast a silly vote when its not going to make a difference? I will tell u why I have not voted. All the political parties that exist in India have come into power one time or the other and has anything changed?Oh yeah.So we built Nuclear weapons under one Government and set up Chandrayaan under another but we still have not managed to prevent terrorists from attacking our country. That’s one task which no government seems manages to accomplish.isnt it?But we still always manage to have a government that eats away at the hard earned money of the masses and which scrambles around with explanations for the angry upset people when something like the Mumbai attack happens.Thats one thing which all the governments have in common even though they are different in that Vajpayee is an old doddering gentleman and Sonia Gandhi is a snooty nosed diva. Wow!These days we don’t even blink when we read abt corruption charges against any politician or official.We have got used to it. In the book Maximum City (by Suketu Mehta) an election candidate ,when asked why she does not visit the posh localities of Mumbai for canvassing, replies cheerfully, “The rich don’t come down from their apartments to vote”.Only the people from the slums vote.And I suspect its not just the rich who don’t vote.I bet that it’s the educated people who don’t vote.Cos we read enuf news in the papers to believe that our one vote will not matter.So either u don’t vote or u choose the party which seems to be less corrupt of the bunch.Yeah.That is a logical solution ,isnt it?I don’t vote cos when we find out that the Government we have is a terrible one,I can say that I did not put them there.Yeah dudes,its not my fault at all but its ur fault if u voted for them.U are to be blamed for being dumb enuf to stand for hrs in the line to vote for that party.As for me,well,see,am smart enuf to realize that either way its not gonna matter and I may as well save myself the trouble.
And am no better than those people who helped those terrorists get in cos I did not do my part to keep my country safe.I did not take up the responsibility to do what I cud have done.I preferred not to care.My mom sent me a forward last week.
// Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone!
Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".
Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public....
Please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on...
"Please forward this mail to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India , can really use this power to save our nation". Use your voting right for a better INDIA . //
No.I did not know .But it’s not because notorious leaders hid this from me or because nobody forwarded it to me for the last 8 years. Its cos I did not care enuf to look up if there was any such option which I cud use to act responsibly for my country. It wud have taken me ten minutes of reading on the internet to find this.And I have not even thought to do so.I have spent countless hours on the internet but not a minute to look this up. Its because of people like me that the India I love has gone to the dogs.Its my fault. Though it may not seem so, I love my country with a passion and truly believe in the culture and tradition that is so much a part of India.In the past 18 months that I have lived in US,there has not been a day when I stepped out of home without sporting a bindi on my forehead, worn a bright colourful Salwar Kameez without relishing the fact that it marked me as an Indian and nodded my head in pride when someone asked me if I was an Indian.I have taken care so that I do not spoil the name of my country in anyway by my acts or behaviour. There has never been a time when I heard the term NRI being used as the derogatory abbreviation for a Non Reliable Indian by smug resident Indians and not cringed. But I was a non reliable Indian when I lived in India cos I never acted responsibly for my country when nothing more was required of me but vote. I did not choose to do it as I am sure many other reliable resident Indians have not. Am I the future of India??????
Talking abt the future of India takes me back a couple of years to a Diwali which I spent with my parents in Bangalore. We were at a shop and my brother was trying on clothes in the fitting room.I was sitting in the crowded shop on a stool and talking to one cute little boy who must have been no more than 4 yrs old.The kid was so cute that there were total strangers around us smiling at the sight of a tall female squatting on a low stool so that she cud be the same height as the 4 year old. He was well dressed in expensive clothes and spoke English fluently. After wishing me a happy diwali,the second thing the child asked me was “Are u a Muslim?” .I was shocked that a 4 year old wud ask me,a total stranger,such a question.His parents appeared to be nowhere in sight.I laughed and said I am an Indian.And asked him why he asked me that. I naively thought the child wud answer something abt Diwali being a hindu festival, when the little horror proclaimed loudly “Muslims are dirty.”. Its one of the few occasions in my life when I have been frozen with shock. All of a sudden I realized that nearly half of the people who had been smiling at the picture we made were muslims.My first instinct was fear as I half expected someone to come up with a sword and swipe the kid’s head off right in front of my eyes.With shock and sadness I glanced at the muslim man’s back whose smiling eye I had caught a couple of min back.I wondered if he had heard and I hoped fervently he hadn’t not out of fear but out of worry that one more muslim wud feel like an outsider in his own country.I shushed the little boy weakly , swallowed hard and said in a firm voice that we are all Indians and that he shud never think that way while he continued “My mom says they don’t bathe”..I struggled to explain that there was nothing dirty abt muslims without telling the kid that his mom was the dirty one for teaching her 4 year old such stuff.It maybe just an excuse to get her kid to bathe but honestly do u have to bring religion into that? That was the first time I got a sense of what caused all the communal riots in India.I wondered what they taught him in school. When I was his age,I was taught that all Indians are my brothers and sisters.His smiling mom came up 5 minutes later and wished me happy diwali and left the shop with the boy.I wondered if she asked him what my religion was.I wondered if the little boy asked his little classmates the same question before sharing his midday snack with them.So that is what the future of India looks like. Who is responsible for that little child’s viewpoint? The politicians? The media? The terrorists? Or his educated parents?
It all comes down to a matter of choice Its not abt whether we are a nuclear power or if we launched Chandrayaan, though I will not deny that I was bloated with pride on both occasions. Its not abt Pakistan or the politicians or the media or the rich or America’s strategy for that matter. My friend’s mail is enuf for me to believe that its not the entire country that is wrong. There are people who abhor violence no matter where it occurs. Here I have met Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese and Bangladeshis who are glad that am Indian cos it makes me their “Neighbour”.Chuckle.It’s not Pakistan’s responsibility to protect our country. Besides, with the state they are in, they can barely protect themselves and solve their internal problems, forget ours. Its abt the choices we make.Some souls like the terrorists and our countrymen who helped them are guilty of choosing crime.Some souls like the little boy’s mom chose to be prejudiced and to pass on the prejudice to her innocent little kid without even considering that if he makes a remark like that in public, it cud cost him his life, forget abt his future.
I have tried not to write this post cos it has been so very painful. I have been depressed abt this for so long.
Maybe its time we stopped the blame game. Maybe its time we started doing something ourselves. My friend said only God can do something abt this. But then God helps those who help themselves. And please,lets quit blaming God.He did not split us up into Hindus ,Muslims,Hindustan or Pakistan and neither did He tell us to get ourselves an excuse of a government.Am ashamed but I’ll admit that am also responsible for the state of my country.
//Hi, Anu,
I've been thinking of you a lot these past days.
I can't tell you how sorry I am, how guilty I feel, and what kind of depressing days I went through during the horrible, senseless event in Mumbai.
Just can't help shaking the guilt, the US and the allies have a LOT to do with the Muslim rage, and, unfortunately, many innocent Indians paid with their lives ...
Can't even tell you, how sorry I feel, how depressed I was for days, and I don't even know, what could be done for the grieving families. I don't even know, if humans can do anything about this, this is all in God's hands now.
I was just sitting in front of the TV, watching the events take place, just switching between CNN and the FOX news channel, and the reports coming through these two from Indian TV. //
I was shocked.I was really shocked by his mail.In all these days I am yet to see one article,one news channel or even one blog blame America for the carnage.It had not even occurred to me to even relate US to the terror attacks in India.And I was stunned by the sadness of this man I had never met.I don’t claim that Americans are better than most or that they don’t have their own “strategies”.The point is not if America is to blame or not.But how many Indians wud think to take the blame on ourselves?How many of us feel guilty for what happened in our country?We are all angry.Oh yeah…we are united on that atleast.We are quick to blame.We blame Pakistan.We blame muslims.We start riots and kill our own countrymen just for being Muslim by religion.We blame the politicians and blame the country’s intelligence.Oh yeah…and we blame God.We dont even let poor God out of this.We blame everybody.We are good at that.Its everybody’s fault but not ours.
We play the blame game by writing blogs,letters to the editor ,send messages to the news channels and trust me,all this bullshit serves no purpose but to calm ur own conscience.To not think and to not see the obvious.To convince ourselves that we have done our part.I must have read umpteen blogs and articles all belting the same tune.Its the government,the terrorist,the security,Pakistan everybody but us.Everybody but the common man.Do u expect me to believe that there was no one inside the country who helped those terrorists?Such a large scale operation was carried out without inside information?That the maniacs got a layout of those huge mammoth hotels without inside help?That no citizen had an inkling of this?Or rather no person who is an Indian by birth knew abt this?Of course,they did.To call that person a citizen wud be to degrade all those officers who died in that carnage,the army men who died in the kargil war and many other long forgotten heroes.Why blame Pakistan or the terrorists?Why send lists of terrorists to Pakistan government when within our own country live men and women who wud help the terrorists without a twinge of conscience?Do we have lists of those people?Everything in our country is on sale.Everything.Its just a matter of the highest price that can be offered.
You can tell me that its poverty that drives these people to commit such heinous acts of treason.Is it?Really?Whom are we fooling?And even if it is,is that even an excuse?Why shud we shut these terrorists in jails?So that some more of them can walk into our country ,kill some more people and demand that we set the captured terrorists free?Why,for that matter shud we shut anyone in jail who is convicted of committing murder,rape or any other act of physical violence in a jail? Why keep them alive?Why shud an entire nation of people pay up a part of their hard earned money as taxes just to feed these losers in the jail?For the sake of human rights? What happened to the rights of their victims?It doesn’t matter cos they are dead and we care more abt the living?And what abt the rights of any future victims?That doesn’t count either,does it?
The politicians are to be blamed.Who put them there?We don’t choose the best political party to become our government .We choose better one of all the evils.And then we blame them.Gah!!!In India ,anyone who is 18 years and above is eligible to vote.I am 26 years old and I don’t even have a voters ID.I have simply not bothered to vote. I was too busy getting an education and a career. Besides ,who is going to stand in the sun for hrs to cast a silly vote when its not going to make a difference? I will tell u why I have not voted. All the political parties that exist in India have come into power one time or the other and has anything changed?Oh yeah.So we built Nuclear weapons under one Government and set up Chandrayaan under another but we still have not managed to prevent terrorists from attacking our country. That’s one task which no government seems manages to accomplish.isnt it?But we still always manage to have a government that eats away at the hard earned money of the masses and which scrambles around with explanations for the angry upset people when something like the Mumbai attack happens.Thats one thing which all the governments have in common even though they are different in that Vajpayee is an old doddering gentleman and Sonia Gandhi is a snooty nosed diva. Wow!These days we don’t even blink when we read abt corruption charges against any politician or official.We have got used to it. In the book Maximum City (by Suketu Mehta) an election candidate ,when asked why she does not visit the posh localities of Mumbai for canvassing, replies cheerfully, “The rich don’t come down from their apartments to vote”.Only the people from the slums vote.And I suspect its not just the rich who don’t vote.I bet that it’s the educated people who don’t vote.Cos we read enuf news in the papers to believe that our one vote will not matter.So either u don’t vote or u choose the party which seems to be less corrupt of the bunch.Yeah.That is a logical solution ,isnt it?I don’t vote cos when we find out that the Government we have is a terrible one,I can say that I did not put them there.Yeah dudes,its not my fault at all but its ur fault if u voted for them.U are to be blamed for being dumb enuf to stand for hrs in the line to vote for that party.As for me,well,see,am smart enuf to realize that either way its not gonna matter and I may as well save myself the trouble.
And am no better than those people who helped those terrorists get in cos I did not do my part to keep my country safe.I did not take up the responsibility to do what I cud have done.I preferred not to care.My mom sent me a forward last week.
// Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone!
Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".
Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public....
Please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O) and pass this info on...
"Please forward this mail to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India , can really use this power to save our nation". Use your voting right for a better INDIA . //
No.I did not know .But it’s not because notorious leaders hid this from me or because nobody forwarded it to me for the last 8 years. Its cos I did not care enuf to look up if there was any such option which I cud use to act responsibly for my country. It wud have taken me ten minutes of reading on the internet to find this.And I have not even thought to do so.I have spent countless hours on the internet but not a minute to look this up. Its because of people like me that the India I love has gone to the dogs.Its my fault. Though it may not seem so, I love my country with a passion and truly believe in the culture and tradition that is so much a part of India.In the past 18 months that I have lived in US,there has not been a day when I stepped out of home without sporting a bindi on my forehead, worn a bright colourful Salwar Kameez without relishing the fact that it marked me as an Indian and nodded my head in pride when someone asked me if I was an Indian.I have taken care so that I do not spoil the name of my country in anyway by my acts or behaviour. There has never been a time when I heard the term NRI being used as the derogatory abbreviation for a Non Reliable Indian by smug resident Indians and not cringed. But I was a non reliable Indian when I lived in India cos I never acted responsibly for my country when nothing more was required of me but vote. I did not choose to do it as I am sure many other reliable resident Indians have not. Am I the future of India??????
Talking abt the future of India takes me back a couple of years to a Diwali which I spent with my parents in Bangalore. We were at a shop and my brother was trying on clothes in the fitting room.I was sitting in the crowded shop on a stool and talking to one cute little boy who must have been no more than 4 yrs old.The kid was so cute that there were total strangers around us smiling at the sight of a tall female squatting on a low stool so that she cud be the same height as the 4 year old. He was well dressed in expensive clothes and spoke English fluently. After wishing me a happy diwali,the second thing the child asked me was “Are u a Muslim?” .I was shocked that a 4 year old wud ask me,a total stranger,such a question.His parents appeared to be nowhere in sight.I laughed and said I am an Indian.And asked him why he asked me that. I naively thought the child wud answer something abt Diwali being a hindu festival, when the little horror proclaimed loudly “Muslims are dirty.”. Its one of the few occasions in my life when I have been frozen with shock. All of a sudden I realized that nearly half of the people who had been smiling at the picture we made were muslims.My first instinct was fear as I half expected someone to come up with a sword and swipe the kid’s head off right in front of my eyes.With shock and sadness I glanced at the muslim man’s back whose smiling eye I had caught a couple of min back.I wondered if he had heard and I hoped fervently he hadn’t not out of fear but out of worry that one more muslim wud feel like an outsider in his own country.I shushed the little boy weakly , swallowed hard and said in a firm voice that we are all Indians and that he shud never think that way while he continued “My mom says they don’t bathe”..I struggled to explain that there was nothing dirty abt muslims without telling the kid that his mom was the dirty one for teaching her 4 year old such stuff.It maybe just an excuse to get her kid to bathe but honestly do u have to bring religion into that? That was the first time I got a sense of what caused all the communal riots in India.I wondered what they taught him in school. When I was his age,I was taught that all Indians are my brothers and sisters.His smiling mom came up 5 minutes later and wished me happy diwali and left the shop with the boy.I wondered if she asked him what my religion was.I wondered if the little boy asked his little classmates the same question before sharing his midday snack with them.So that is what the future of India looks like. Who is responsible for that little child’s viewpoint? The politicians? The media? The terrorists? Or his educated parents?
It all comes down to a matter of choice Its not abt whether we are a nuclear power or if we launched Chandrayaan, though I will not deny that I was bloated with pride on both occasions. Its not abt Pakistan or the politicians or the media or the rich or America’s strategy for that matter. My friend’s mail is enuf for me to believe that its not the entire country that is wrong. There are people who abhor violence no matter where it occurs. Here I have met Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese and Bangladeshis who are glad that am Indian cos it makes me their “Neighbour”.Chuckle.It’s not Pakistan’s responsibility to protect our country. Besides, with the state they are in, they can barely protect themselves and solve their internal problems, forget ours. Its abt the choices we make.Some souls like the terrorists and our countrymen who helped them are guilty of choosing crime.Some souls like the little boy’s mom chose to be prejudiced and to pass on the prejudice to her innocent little kid without even considering that if he makes a remark like that in public, it cud cost him his life, forget abt his future.
I have tried not to write this post cos it has been so very painful. I have been depressed abt this for so long.
Maybe its time we stopped the blame game. Maybe its time we started doing something ourselves. My friend said only God can do something abt this. But then God helps those who help themselves. And please,lets quit blaming God.He did not split us up into Hindus ,Muslims,Hindustan or Pakistan and neither did He tell us to get ourselves an excuse of a government.Am ashamed but I’ll admit that am also responsible for the state of my country.
Friday, November 28, 2008
My new motto...............
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
I need to work on this.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
I need to work on this.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The great Escape - An update on the Shake-it shake-it.
Ok, so today morning we had to attend a video conference with our offshore team and the conference was scheduled to be held at an unearthly hour of 8:00 a.m. Having managed to sleep successfully thru 3 different morning alarms, all set to beep 5 min after one another, Anup and I were woken up at 7:20 a.m. by a call from poor ole Vedha who had been solemnly promised the presence of the aforesaid couple in office by 7:00 a.m.In my defense I must say that tossing and turning till past 2 in the night really does not work well with getting up at 6:00 in the morning. Sigh!! Anyway after the meeting, with just ten minutes before the cafeteria closed, I was more worried abt missing my regular cuppa rather than the impending imaginary quake.
And so when a couple of equally earth-can-quake-for-all-I-care teammates invited me to join their table,I promptly decided to do so. As we were jabbering away ,there was an announcement over the speaker system regarding the quake and that’s when we decided that we were really not keen on crawling under the cafeteria tables. So we decided to leave quickly and go back to our seats. We walked into the lobby of the building only to have two towering security guys frown at us and say “You shud not be walking around”.
Now as per the rules, if u don’t have a table to crawl under, you are supposed to stand against a wall. I for one infinitely preferred the option of crawling under my table to pretending to be stuck against the wall in the lobby with my coffee in one hand and my laptop bag in the other.No.Thats not for me. So before they cud tell me to do that, I told them “I am going to my desk, to crawl underneath. I am going”, and ran off with my teammates. We hurried into our work bay to find the area seemingly deserted with just one guy wandering abt in a fluorescent green jacket and carrying a walkie talkie.Cripes!!!The bay’s fire warden who is in charge of the drill. I almost turned around to make a run for it before he caught me while one of my teammates instinctively ducked down though there was no table anywhere within 6 feet of her and if it had been a real quake then she wud have been a sitting duck for any debris that fell. But I had a funny feeling that she was really trying to hide from the fire warden. Luckily she straightened up just in time as the warden turned round and saw us.
Owing to the unfortunate location of my darned table, I had to walk past the warden who looked at me sternly and said “You are not supposed to be walking”. Well, I smiled sweetly at him and replied “I am going to my table”. And to show him that I was in earnest, I quickly trotted down to my table, passing my colleague’s bum sticking out from under his table, his head nowhere to be seen (Did he think that his bum alone wud be safe outside or something?) and dropped to my knees, crawled under my table, popped my head out and cheerfully waved at the Fire warden to show that I am in. I wonder why the man didn’t look more pleased than he did.
Anyway I popped my head back under the table and as instructed ,tried to hold onto the table to prepare myself to move with it.Really!!They just had to make the table without any legs, didn’t they? It was the kind that was attached to the cubicle partition and had absolutely no part you cud hold on to. So I held on to the waste paper basket. Before I cud sing the Shake-it song to myself, the speakers announced that the earthquake was over .Huh!!That’s it??? I might as well have saved my poor knees the trouble.
Anyway, am glad to inform you folks that almost everyone in our bay conformed to the rules and got under the table. In fact I was as proud of them as Obama wud have been if they had done the Shake-it dance.Well, except of Anup and Vedha,who were outside on the patio enjoying their coffee and did not realize that an earthquake had struck and gone until our company manager happened to ask us if everyone got down under the table in our bay.Thats when the two men simultaneously turned to me and asked “When did it happen?”
Yeah!!That’s right. With 1.3 million people getting down on their knees and crawling under tables to hide from an imaginary earth quake, you wud think that these 2 wud at least have known it happened.
So much for the Great Southern California Quack-it.
And so when a couple of equally earth-can-quake-for-all-I-care teammates invited me to join their table,I promptly decided to do so. As we were jabbering away ,there was an announcement over the speaker system regarding the quake and that’s when we decided that we were really not keen on crawling under the cafeteria tables. So we decided to leave quickly and go back to our seats. We walked into the lobby of the building only to have two towering security guys frown at us and say “You shud not be walking around”.
Now as per the rules, if u don’t have a table to crawl under, you are supposed to stand against a wall. I for one infinitely preferred the option of crawling under my table to pretending to be stuck against the wall in the lobby with my coffee in one hand and my laptop bag in the other.No.Thats not for me. So before they cud tell me to do that, I told them “I am going to my desk, to crawl underneath. I am going”, and ran off with my teammates. We hurried into our work bay to find the area seemingly deserted with just one guy wandering abt in a fluorescent green jacket and carrying a walkie talkie.Cripes!!!The bay’s fire warden who is in charge of the drill. I almost turned around to make a run for it before he caught me while one of my teammates instinctively ducked down though there was no table anywhere within 6 feet of her and if it had been a real quake then she wud have been a sitting duck for any debris that fell. But I had a funny feeling that she was really trying to hide from the fire warden. Luckily she straightened up just in time as the warden turned round and saw us.
Owing to the unfortunate location of my darned table, I had to walk past the warden who looked at me sternly and said “You are not supposed to be walking”. Well, I smiled sweetly at him and replied “I am going to my table”. And to show him that I was in earnest, I quickly trotted down to my table, passing my colleague’s bum sticking out from under his table, his head nowhere to be seen (Did he think that his bum alone wud be safe outside or something?) and dropped to my knees, crawled under my table, popped my head out and cheerfully waved at the Fire warden to show that I am in. I wonder why the man didn’t look more pleased than he did.
Anyway I popped my head back under the table and as instructed ,tried to hold onto the table to prepare myself to move with it.Really!!They just had to make the table without any legs, didn’t they? It was the kind that was attached to the cubicle partition and had absolutely no part you cud hold on to. So I held on to the waste paper basket. Before I cud sing the Shake-it song to myself, the speakers announced that the earthquake was over .Huh!!That’s it??? I might as well have saved my poor knees the trouble.
Anyway, am glad to inform you folks that almost everyone in our bay conformed to the rules and got under the table. In fact I was as proud of them as Obama wud have been if they had done the Shake-it dance.Well, except of Anup and Vedha,who were outside on the patio enjoying their coffee and did not realize that an earthquake had struck and gone until our company manager happened to ask us if everyone got down under the table in our bay.Thats when the two men simultaneously turned to me and asked “When did it happen?”
Yeah!!That’s right. With 1.3 million people getting down on their knees and crawling under tables to hide from an imaginary earth quake, you wud think that these 2 wud at least have known it happened.
So much for the Great Southern California Quack-it.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Shake it-shake it!!!
Ok…so after a dismal post,my sense of humour seems to have returned and with it came an opportunity to write yet another loony tune. Today I came in after lunch to find a flyer on my desk and it proclaimed in big bold letters “Shake out.Don’t freak out” and had November 13th 2008 printed in smaller letters.A closer read showed the words “The Great Southern California Shakeout”.Now that brings to mind an image of people across the nation shaking their booties…In fact we cud do it to the tune of “I like to shake it –shake it” song from Madagascar.Yay!!! I just love that…In fact I think Obama shud promote this event as an effort to improve communal harmony.I can just see it..People of different countries,castes ,creed and colour all shaking it and singing “I like to shake it –shake it”,all across USA.and after that I wud be surprised if we have any more hate crimes….
Alas,when I googled “The Great Southern California Shakeout”,I was mightily disappointed to find this.
// At 10 a.m. on November 13, join millions of people throughout Southern California in the ShakeOut Drill, the largest earthquake preparedness activity in U.S. history! //
Wow!!! I was impressed.I mean, u got to hand it to these people.They are so organized.Now had this been India,people wud not have started moving until after the earthquake came and went and most of us wud have even slept right thru it.
I heard from a friend that the big one was to have hit California in September 2007 but apparently its late.(Mama,please dont panic and dont tell Poppa,cos then He wud Panic!!!If it makes u feel any better,I shall lug around a table and make Anup also lug one around)…Yeah…We make schedules for everything these days.Coding,testing,lunch,shopping,washing pots and yet nothing happens according to the schedule.So what made u think that the earthquake wud be on time?Duh!
I guess I will have to live with the disappointment that my idea of “The Great Southern California Shakeout” is not to be.On second thoughts,my version of “The Great Southern California Shakeout”, wud only serve to bring the earthquake faster than its supposed to come.Why invite trouble,man?
Anyway coming back to the drill,here is more that I found on the website.
// At 10 a.m. on November 13, 2008, millions of people in homes, schools, businesses, government offices, and public places all over southern California will Drop, Cover, and Hold On.
Yeah,so u lucky people on the other side of the globe can have fun imagining a bunch of us out here dropping to the floor like a dozen eggs and scooting under our respective work tables. (And if u are lucky ,u can even see a live broadcast of it and laugh ur heads off.)Can u imagine that?Millions of people crawling under tables for no reason at all?What next? Carry a table wherever u go?
Sigh!!!what am I complaining abt?Am gonna be doing it too and I guess I shall play the “I like to shake it –shake it” tune in my head while am under the table.
Alas,when I googled “The Great Southern California Shakeout”,I was mightily disappointed to find this.
// At 10 a.m. on November 13, join millions of people throughout Southern California in the ShakeOut Drill, the largest earthquake preparedness activity in U.S. history! //
Wow!!! I was impressed.I mean, u got to hand it to these people.They are so organized.Now had this been India,people wud not have started moving until after the earthquake came and went and most of us wud have even slept right thru it.
I heard from a friend that the big one was to have hit California in September 2007 but apparently its late.(Mama,please dont panic and dont tell Poppa,cos then He wud Panic!!!If it makes u feel any better,I shall lug around a table and make Anup also lug one around)…Yeah…We make schedules for everything these days.Coding,testing,lunch,shopping,washing pots and yet nothing happens according to the schedule.So what made u think that the earthquake wud be on time?Duh!
I guess I will have to live with the disappointment that my idea of “The Great Southern California Shakeout” is not to be.On second thoughts,my version of “The Great Southern California Shakeout”, wud only serve to bring the earthquake faster than its supposed to come.Why invite trouble,man?
Anyway coming back to the drill,here is more that I found on the website.
// At 10 a.m. on November 13, 2008, millions of people in homes, schools, businesses, government offices, and public places all over southern California will Drop, Cover, and Hold On.
Yeah,so u lucky people on the other side of the globe can have fun imagining a bunch of us out here dropping to the floor like a dozen eggs and scooting under our respective work tables. (And if u are lucky ,u can even see a live broadcast of it and laugh ur heads off.)Can u imagine that?Millions of people crawling under tables for no reason at all?What next? Carry a table wherever u go?
Sigh!!!what am I complaining abt?Am gonna be doing it too and I guess I shall play the “I like to shake it –shake it” tune in my head while am under the table.
My dear abandoned blog
My poor abandoned blog!!!You are not abandoned exactly. And its not that I don’t have anything to write about. Its just that I don’t have any happy or funny things to write abt.Or maybe its that I do have but am not able to dwell on them long enuf…So u may ask me why I don’t write whatever is on my mind instead of trying to figure out something cheerful…Because what I have on my mind is tuf to write. Its one of those tuf times in life when I wish I cud run back home and hide under the bed and not have to see the sadness and the badness in the world.Its one of those times when I long to back in my homeland and really believe with all my heart that I will be able to handle it better if am back there. But am I deceiving myself? Maybe.Misery and sadness is the same everywhere and does not depend on the climate, does it?Or on geography either….
Do you want to know what bothers me so? Where shall I begin? Shall I begin with the people who have been losing their jobs here left and right? So far no one I personally know has lost their job and so I managed not to think abt it cos it was so sad. Each time the thought popped into my mind that many a Christmas stocking this year will remain empty and many will be the houses that wont have the Christmas lights hung out…It brings back memories of last year’s Christmas which I loved so much in this country.We rode around just so that I cud look at the lights and oooh-aah to my heart’s content.Let me tell u that to a certain extent I managed to avoid thinking abt those poor folks..But when a dear friend today seemed depressed,I asked him why and in turn he replied that he was saddened seeing his friends who lost their jobs and also mentioned the fact that his job may also be in danger.It broke my heart.and I had nothing to comfort him with.
What can I tell you abt the poor homeless man whom I saw almost every day for the past 18 months on my way to office? Can I describe how he had been sitting there for 20 years,depenedent on the neighboring shops and homes for food ?Can I even begin to describe the horror I felt when one day I heard the news that the poor man who troubled no one had been burnt alive by some heinous character? My heart stops at the thought that someone can walk up to a harmless man and pour inflammable stuff on him and set him alight at 9:45 p.m. and culprit is still walking free.I cannot express my outrage when the sister of the victim came forward in tears asking for help in catching the culprit.What kind of sister lets her brother sit on the roadside for 20 years,neglects him only to come back when he is dead? You can tell me that she may have had her own problems but I find it hard to forgive. My only consolation is that he is definitely in a better place than that roadside.
Should I tell you about the police shooting that happened at the junction outside my apartment yesterday?
Or do u want to hear abt the injustice that happens even after you have worked your butt off which though in retrospect does not bother me any more?Do u want to hear how tired I am of staying cheerful?of ignoring the sad stuff? of feeling outraged and helpless? of wanting to cry for all those people who lost their jobs? of not crying cos it seems absurd to cry for people whom I don’t even know? of wanting to go home cos it seems only the safe place and yet knowing its really no safer than where I am? of worrying that I am making choices that I may regret later? How do I even begin to explain it all..?Where do I start from? How do I explain the heartbreak that is really not mine?
And through all this why does what my friend’s wife told him seem to be the only thing that makes sense? That “ I need to worry about the things I can control and accept those which I can't. God is great and he has something good for us.”
In this big fat whirling mess,call it the world,life,rat race,whatever,my faith in God is the only thing that remains firm.And that is one reason why I don’t relinquish this blog which right now seems as ironic and as ridiculous as a sad clown trying hard to make funny faces for the world to laugh.So all I can do is pray and do my best to keep the people I love happy..and as for the rest,well,God will take care of it all...am feeling better already!!
Do you want to know what bothers me so? Where shall I begin? Shall I begin with the people who have been losing their jobs here left and right? So far no one I personally know has lost their job and so I managed not to think abt it cos it was so sad. Each time the thought popped into my mind that many a Christmas stocking this year will remain empty and many will be the houses that wont have the Christmas lights hung out…It brings back memories of last year’s Christmas which I loved so much in this country.We rode around just so that I cud look at the lights and oooh-aah to my heart’s content.Let me tell u that to a certain extent I managed to avoid thinking abt those poor folks..But when a dear friend today seemed depressed,I asked him why and in turn he replied that he was saddened seeing his friends who lost their jobs and also mentioned the fact that his job may also be in danger.It broke my heart.and I had nothing to comfort him with.
What can I tell you abt the poor homeless man whom I saw almost every day for the past 18 months on my way to office? Can I describe how he had been sitting there for 20 years,depenedent on the neighboring shops and homes for food ?Can I even begin to describe the horror I felt when one day I heard the news that the poor man who troubled no one had been burnt alive by some heinous character? My heart stops at the thought that someone can walk up to a harmless man and pour inflammable stuff on him and set him alight at 9:45 p.m. and culprit is still walking free.I cannot express my outrage when the sister of the victim came forward in tears asking for help in catching the culprit.What kind of sister lets her brother sit on the roadside for 20 years,neglects him only to come back when he is dead? You can tell me that she may have had her own problems but I find it hard to forgive. My only consolation is that he is definitely in a better place than that roadside.
Should I tell you about the police shooting that happened at the junction outside my apartment yesterday?
Or do u want to hear abt the injustice that happens even after you have worked your butt off which though in retrospect does not bother me any more?Do u want to hear how tired I am of staying cheerful?of ignoring the sad stuff? of feeling outraged and helpless? of wanting to cry for all those people who lost their jobs? of not crying cos it seems absurd to cry for people whom I don’t even know? of wanting to go home cos it seems only the safe place and yet knowing its really no safer than where I am? of worrying that I am making choices that I may regret later? How do I even begin to explain it all..?Where do I start from? How do I explain the heartbreak that is really not mine?
And through all this why does what my friend’s wife told him seem to be the only thing that makes sense? That “ I need to worry about the things I can control and accept those which I can't. God is great and he has something good for us.”
In this big fat whirling mess,call it the world,life,rat race,whatever,my faith in God is the only thing that remains firm.And that is one reason why I don’t relinquish this blog which right now seems as ironic and as ridiculous as a sad clown trying hard to make funny faces for the world to laugh.So all I can do is pray and do my best to keep the people I love happy..and as for the rest,well,God will take care of it all...am feeling better already!!
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