Monday, January 26, 2009

From where the hell did Ram Sena come from?

Hey! Who are you and where did THIS set of barbarians come from? Who is the brainless, IQ-less but EQ high Muthalik? How come he is still having homemade breakfast and meals at home? Why is he not behind bars? And what is the logic behind getting into a pub and beating up women? Did they have a frustrated night the night before?

They seem to claim to cleanse the human race....(heheeeehheee)...they seem to protect society against immoral activities!!! Do they know what an humongous task they have taken on their shoulder? Just a pub in Mangalore will not get the founder of this barbarian sena a MLA or MP seat!! Who have to roll-up your sleeves and march left, right, centre of India and if possible, only if time and your health permit, a flight to the West/Europe/Far East/Middle East with your barbarian senapatis on bus rooftops, train rooftops, joining you as long as their health permit and protect the humanity from all kinds of immoral activities happening day and night across the world....you may never even get to sleep due to the time zone and this is of anxiety to the Indian community as people like you are so rare to find - people with no brains are very few on this Blue planet and we would definitely want you to take care because to protect humanity from immoral activities you need to live forever.... provided, people with sanity do not come for your head!

Women, do not be deterred by such lowly, uneducated, uncultured, ungentlemanly, inhuman, unIndian behaviour by the barbarian sena... refrain using the name of gods to satisfy your male chauvinism....each one of you who were part of the barbarian sena during the Mangalore pub attack is nothing but a - MCP (MALE CHAUVINIST PIG!)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Auto Kuttan

We were in search of an auto-wallah to take my little one and her grandmother to and fro the school. I would feel bad each time mother said she would wait for 10-15 mins for the auto and how sun-beaten the little one and mother got...added to it is the tsunami-level of energy the little one has esp when she steps outside home.

One afternoon, I had to go to the hospital to collect a few reports. It was around 04:00 PM and I had not even a thin hope to find the three-wheeled machine! After a long walk to the junction, I got into an auto and requested him to take me to the hospital. On reaching the place, I asked if he is OK to wait for just 5 mins as it was a matter of collecting the reports and he agreed, which was a big surprise! And while returning he took me through roads I had not seen before and when I asked him to get me soon home, he said, "Didi, just like you I am also in a big hurry to get you back because there are a few kids waiting to get back home after tuition and I need to get there before they leave the class!" I was impressed by his concern and eagerness regarding the student-travellers of his. And as I got down, asked him if he belongs to the auto stand at the junction and will he be available if needed for a quick run to the hospital etc to which he said, "Didi, I live just two blocks away and also take most of the people from this area for their needs. Pls take my number and I shall definitely come to help you". Can you imagine my relief on hearing such helping words from an auto-wallah, who we all have categorised as - RUDE. I asked his name and he replied - Kuttan. I saved his number in my mobile as Auto Kuttan.

Kuttan is around 25yrs old, married with two kids. He is only Class 7th educated but well-mannered, sincere to his work, committed to the word he gives but is a chatter-box. An excellent source to get local happenings. One morning, while returning from the little one's school, he pointed to a young boy on a motorbike and said, "Didi, he was a goonda sometime back. Fell in love with a rich man's daughter and eloped with her to get married. The girl was not aware of his past but now he is reformed and is running own workshop! So, in case you need any kind of 'muscle-help', just let me know. He has lots of gratitude towards me, as I had once saved his life from a group of rival goonds at the Apollo Colony. Since then, he has high regard. Also, Didi, these days boys of class 9th and 10th are walking around with swords and knives inside their shirts...Do you have any idea whats happening around you? But, Didi, I am not such a type,,,I have a family to take care off but I keep good relations with such powers....Also Didi, once people like you get into Technopark in the mornings, you are unaware of the reality life we lead outside your world!" I repeated in my head what Kuttan said about our lives...how true, Kutta...we don't really know how do people like you live for a living, as we are busy serving clients sitting miles and miles away....entangled with annual appraisals, goal setting, rewards, fouling and stumbling while playing office politics...so much engrossed in our Techi-world (as my dad calls it), we hardly realise what happens in our neighbourhood....Keep giving me the news bits about my neighbourhood.

And thanks, Kutta....as of now, I don't see any urgent need to seek any 'muscle-help'. And if anyone of you need any of it, let me know...it is after all appraisal season going on.... :-)))

By the way, Kuttan is also the local gourmet and he is specialised in making yam pickle, fish pickle, chicken etc...gives his wife holiday from kitchen on Sundays :-) .. there are these interesting tit-bits about Kuttan, which is interesting from a human perspective....sometime later I shall pen how scared my mother got when Kuttan took our car out, how she scared him with her back seat driving which made Kuttan ask me to put a curtain between the front and rear seat, if he is to drive my mother around......on the other hand, mother made me promise I will never ask Kuttan to take the car out, as she got scared the way he changed gear and raced on the road....which we can categorize as generation gap :-))

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

About Pragya and her friends

While travelling in my company transport, every evening from work to home I watch as four girls disembark at a stop. They are all non-Malayalees....from North India. All of them are well mannered, soft spoken girls, who have not yet lost the college excitement but are slowly being pulled into the corporate world. They dress well, neat clothes and well braided hair. They do look for each other before the bus moves and as they get down. It was just a couple of times I heard them talk to each other about the night's menu. As I see them get down from the bus, quite a few thoughts go through my mind....How long are they prepared to be away from home in Trivandrum? Though they are together as a family today, one-by-one they would get married and move away...few of them would keep in touch with each other while others move on...how do they live here? Where do they live?...and so many questions till I see something else and my train of thought move to that track...

One day I had one of them sit near me. We gave each other an acknowledging smile...and after settling down, she asked me about me carrying my laptop home every day...as we chatted, I asked her the questions I had in mind...and her response to them, helped me build the picture.

They are a group of 7 girls living together in a three-bedroom first floor of a house near to Technopark. They do not have a refrigerator to store milk, vegetables etc. The cook dinner every night...daal or any pulses and roti. If there are more people to eat, then a dry side dish is also prepared. (Interesting!). So what about breakfast...she smiled and said its optional..and whoever wants to have can have on their own..like her, who has cornflakes and a fruit everyday like her two other friends. Three others make parattas every morning and have it with milk. Speak of milk, I ask her how do they store it. What she does is to buy a milk packet in the evening, boil it and have half of it in the evening and the rest is kept in a vessel which is kept in a water filled basin till next morning. And consumed in the morning. So what about vegetables? And what she said was a bit complex for me to understand but here is what it was meant to be...and she took the example of a cabbage. If a cabbage is bought and cooked, they have a board with all names put on it and whoever has the cabbage writes down under her name that she consumed the cabbage. At the end of every week, they calculate who all consumed which all vegetables and share the cost with the girl who spend it. Confused? So was I...but think about it for a few more seconds and you will crack it too! :-)

And I asked her...so how long will you all be away from home in TVM? ... She thought for a few seconds and said..well...hmm...dont know...but all of us want experience at work and so wont leave the job so soon and go. So what about marriage? She smiled and said..well, in fact I am getting married and leaving for home tomorrow! I smiled at her confession and asked whether she would continue or leave. Got a refreshing answer from her.. my fiance - Ujjwal, his parents and mine want me to continue working and gain experience. He is in IBM, Pune and has around 3-4 years of experience but has advised me to get a few more months of experience before joining him at Pune. This was a different perspective, from a single-child of parents who is staying away from home for the first time in her life!! And I could see the women of today changing their prospective of working. They want to balance their work and personal life. They want to have a secured future! And supporting them are the in-laws, parents and their partners!! :-) Kudos!!!

And by now, our bus had reached Pragya's stop and she was preparing to get down...I wished her lots of luck and also told her that her decision is absolutely wanted these days!

Wish you a Happy Married Life, Pragya and Ujjwal.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Posters, Posters on our walls!

Have you every given a thought to all the wall posters seen on every wall in our cities. I am talking about India..and all those who have been to India. The walls built around homes, hospitals, around anything which needs a boundary defined and is in public sphere is plastered with posters.

Posters of recent films released and to be released, political messages, devotional messages, various political posters, discount sales, house for sale and rent, forthcoming festivals in temples, feasts in churches, vote request for reality show participants, visits by socio-religious leaders and what not!!!! Anything and everything is plastered on walls....it is at times intimidating to see aging actors in various expressions...it is also distracting to see the scantly-clad lead actress' smooching.

But must comment that the quality of the posters has improved from normal screen printing to high-quality digital printing..the design and creativity is of much better standard. The angry Aamir in Ghajini looks so macho with all effects on the poster compared to the simple poster of Amitabh in Zanjeer!

Even a small temple in your by lane comes with a full-blown poster of the main deity, with the header of the forthcoming festival or about the temple renovation, asking for the devotees to contribute etc. Not to mention when it comes to election times be it municipal or Lok Sabha elections made up faces with wrinkle free dhotis and shirts stand out as cut outs!!! At times, such cut outs/hoarding/poster change your mind and cast votes for the opposing candidate...

All said, have you spared how much paper is being used for the colourful plastering? From where are the sponsors of such expensive publicity getting so much of paper? Why is the government not taking steps to control the use of posters? Did we talk of conservation of forests the other day in one of the many 'National Seminar on Conservation of Forest and Natural Energy' ? Are we talking of minimal use of paper for a greener tomorrow? Where is the resolution to use less of paper? Where are the corporates and why are they not making it a CSR initiative to create awareness against use of so many posters and how much paper consumption is this publicity mechanism taking? And what happens to these posters when it gets outdated? They are either torn down by the next set of poster-stickers, goats relish on the poster-feast, gets washed down in the next rain or simply fade away!!! It is CRIMINAL...the use of precious forests to churn out paper and be used for posters on walls....(But who is listening or cares for this extravaganza at the regulatory level?)

Let me sign off and be prepared to watch the kaleidoscope of walls as I travel to office tomorrow..the same walls but tomorrow there could be another blanket of posters on the ones i saw today! Maybe the earth under India would weigh less had we practised poster-less walls. Does anybody know the history of sticking posters on walls? Did this exist as some other form during the Mughal times, during British Raj and during our grandparents times?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Manashanti Lodge...

"Manashanti lodge" ... this is a name board I have been seeing every day to work. As we leave the Srikaryam junction and proceed towards Chavadimukku, there is a Triveni Supermarket. Right next to the supermarket, there is a narrow road and on the side wall , the name "Manashanti Lodge" is painted.

The name intrigued me. I started to give meaning to the name...Manah=mind and Shanti-peace. So the word Manashanti means Peace of Mind and did the name suggest that the lodge offers you peace of mind?? In the middle of the busy junction?? The building of the lodge is not visible as it might be build to the back of the supermarket. Or does a lodge by this name even exist? It could a name of an old place? It could be the same building where the new outlet of Indian Coffee house was opened last month....guesses are many. And I don't know the truth. I have not stopped to step out and check if a place like this exists or not.

Whether it is existing or not, the name can draw a lot of guests if the place actually can give peace of mind to the tired and haggard minds driving back home...and what kind of peace of mind is the place offering? Is it a meeting place? Is it a meditation centre with lodging? Or is it just a creative name given to the owner's aspiration to offer peace of mind! The answer could be any of these or none of the above!

Yet, everyday I see this name, I interpret it differently! :-)

What is inauspicious on a Friday...

And yes, the two incidents am going to mention happened on a Friday....and hey!no..it was not 13 Friday! But just an ordinary date. My little one who was sitting on the kitchen slab, near the cooking range was pestering me to contribute her two bits in cooking...finally frustrated with my resistance, she stood up on the slab...oops! Christ! What if the little one falls over on to the grill!! I say this aloud and from behind comes my mothers worried voice - Ouch! Its a Friday! and she is a girl! I put down the little one on the floor and turn to mother with a surprised look...i said, "But she will be hurt..that's my worry and what is that got to do with a Friday!!!" Mother was busy hustling the little one out of the kitchen while letting me know that it is inauspicious for girls to get burn injuries on a FRIDAY!!! I was speechless for a while....I could not believe mother was concerned the little one would fall over the grill on a Friday and not that the little one is only 3 yrs old!! ... I did not think it was wise to debate more on this and turned back to my cooking....

Two hours after the above incident...we were getting dressed to step out...I was as usual, looking for my ear rings....hmmmm....did not find them and turned to my traditional-looking gold ear studs...I wore one of them and as I was screwing the second one, the screw fell down and rolled somewhere under the cot..or I thought so....Mother was getting the little one dressed up and was sitting on the cot. I went down on all fours and looked for the screw...to hear mother say...Hmm..its a Friday! I raised myself up and asked her..so what? To which Mother said, it is inauspicious to lose gold on a Friday!!!! I was at a loss of words to this statement. "Mother, it is the screw that I am looking for and we are getting late. It does not matter if its a Friday or a Wednesday but its just that I need it now, if you want to go shopping".

I decided to pen this on a Tuesday...whether it is inauspicious or not, I do not know...and neither do i want to know! :-)