About myself...
1) I hate the fact that I trust so easily
2) I hate the fact that sometimes I dont read the writing on the wall
3) I hate the fact that sometimes even after reading the writing on the wall I just continue with status quo cos I am so scared of disrupting routine
4) I hate the fact that I still not have my favourite movie (other than ofcourse home videos of baby george)
5) I hate the fact that I am reluctant to explore my other interests with equal enthusiasm
6) I hate the fact that I still lust after choclate pastry
7) I hate the fact that I hate maths
8) I hate the fact that I loose patience with arrogant people... I just let them think they deserve their arrogance
9) I hate the fact that I appear frivolous to some people... with some long term disastrous consequences- for the other person that is...
10) I hate the fact that I sometimes bottle up my feelings.... I do need a mind reader as a partner otherwise its going to be tough figuring out what I am feeling...
11) I hate the fact that I missed my first nephew grow up...
12) I hate the fact that I dont fit into Kerala
13) I hate the fact that I am not totally proud of my malayalee roots
14) I hate the fact that I am just an armchair activist
15) I hate that my cousins can eat a truckload and still remain as thin as a wafer
okk... enough.....
Friday, January 26, 2007
White Shirt
I am always reluctant to buy a white shirt cos:
a) It is firstly white. So it is difficult to maintain. It is like a beautiful woman who is high maintenance.
b) I cannot give it to my maid to clean and have to have it dry cleaned.
c) when I wear it I have to make sure that I dont touch anything that will potentially stain... which inlcudes even watching carefully while getting into a taxi...
and despite such efforts somehow or the other that stubborn stain manages to find my crisp white shirt!!! and the lonegvity of a white shirt is only about 3 months for me... ofcourse it is more if I dont wear it at all ....
so imagine my surprise when a friend came wearing a crisp, clean, perfect white shirt and declared that it was 10 years old!!!! yes people 10 yearsssssss old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.... My eyes ofcourse popped and then I started asking incredulous questions-
Me: "you mean you are wearing it after 10 years?"
Friend: "no, I have been wearing it regularly"
Me: "Oh, you probably bleached it for it to appear so white"
Friend: "No never"
Me: "You probably wash it only with whites.. you see I have coloured clothes and hence...." (trying hard to justify my non white wardrobe)
Friend: "No. I just machine wash it"
Okkk by now I am ready to be swallowed by mother earth... I make one more last ditch effort..
Me (almost screaching): "You mean this white shirt has not got damaged at alll in these 10 years??"
Friend: "Actually there is one small damage..."....
Aha!!! I knew it!! I did a little twirl in my mind... Nobody can maintain a white shirt!!!!
Friend (totally unaware of the twril in my mind): "One button has got sightly chipped.."
Ok... Please swallow me earth...
Then I did the best that I could do ... I just accepted ... accepted the fact that I would not have a white shirt for more than 3 months (unless ofcourse I dont wear it at all)... accepted the fact that white is probably not meant for my colourful personality.... accepted the fact that Baby George is probably better at keeping his whites WHITE!!!!
a) It is firstly white. So it is difficult to maintain. It is like a beautiful woman who is high maintenance.
b) I cannot give it to my maid to clean and have to have it dry cleaned.
c) when I wear it I have to make sure that I dont touch anything that will potentially stain... which inlcudes even watching carefully while getting into a taxi...
and despite such efforts somehow or the other that stubborn stain manages to find my crisp white shirt!!! and the lonegvity of a white shirt is only about 3 months for me... ofcourse it is more if I dont wear it at all ....
so imagine my surprise when a friend came wearing a crisp, clean, perfect white shirt and declared that it was 10 years old!!!! yes people 10 yearsssssss old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.... My eyes ofcourse popped and then I started asking incredulous questions-
Me: "you mean you are wearing it after 10 years?"
Friend: "no, I have been wearing it regularly"
Me: "Oh, you probably bleached it for it to appear so white"
Friend: "No never"
Me: "You probably wash it only with whites.. you see I have coloured clothes and hence...." (trying hard to justify my non white wardrobe)
Friend: "No. I just machine wash it"
Okkk by now I am ready to be swallowed by mother earth... I make one more last ditch effort..
Me (almost screaching): "You mean this white shirt has not got damaged at alll in these 10 years??"
Friend: "Actually there is one small damage..."....
Aha!!! I knew it!! I did a little twirl in my mind... Nobody can maintain a white shirt!!!!
Friend (totally unaware of the twril in my mind): "One button has got sightly chipped.."
Ok... Please swallow me earth...
Then I did the best that I could do ... I just accepted ... accepted the fact that I would not have a white shirt for more than 3 months (unless ofcourse I dont wear it at all)... accepted the fact that white is probably not meant for my colourful personality.... accepted the fact that Baby George is probably better at keeping his whites WHITE!!!!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tom and Jerry...
Okk I have a new housemate.... a dirty, round little rat... and I am so repulsed by it that I dont even feel like naming it ... like I did with Bubli- the friendly pigeon outside my bathroom... now it is not like no other house has rats in them... the problem is when it comes to a Mumbai house it becomes crowded... for instance, in my house where I feel like I run into myself everynow and then, having a rat is a serious affront to my prvacy ....
so off I went this Sunday to buy all the rat eliminating paraphernalia.... so there was the fancy bubble trap and the rat poison.... all of which was positioned all over my house with the strong belief that it will work..... and as with most over confident actions, nothing worked!!!! the rat had dodged all the traps and gone straight for the crevices to hide...and mockingly started making noises almost saying "Ha ha. Catch me if you can". And at one juncture I drove the rat out of its hiding place and parallely ran for my life.... and both the rat and me went around in circles trying to dodge each other... at one point it was unclear as to who was chasing whom.......finally the rat broke the monotony of the chase by running behind the fridge and I ran away into the safety of the bedroom....
Now I am just irritated... Irritated cos the rat is infringing on my private space, cos I am scared of the rat and the rat is not scared of me, cos the rat just makes my lovely house appear dirty....
today I tried out a new system of catching the rat... hopefully when I reach back I will find the rat trapped...
so off I went this Sunday to buy all the rat eliminating paraphernalia.... so there was the fancy bubble trap and the rat poison.... all of which was positioned all over my house with the strong belief that it will work..... and as with most over confident actions, nothing worked!!!! the rat had dodged all the traps and gone straight for the crevices to hide...and mockingly started making noises almost saying "Ha ha. Catch me if you can". And at one juncture I drove the rat out of its hiding place and parallely ran for my life.... and both the rat and me went around in circles trying to dodge each other... at one point it was unclear as to who was chasing whom.......finally the rat broke the monotony of the chase by running behind the fridge and I ran away into the safety of the bedroom....
Now I am just irritated... Irritated cos the rat is infringing on my private space, cos I am scared of the rat and the rat is not scared of me, cos the rat just makes my lovely house appear dirty....
today I tried out a new system of catching the rat... hopefully when I reach back I will find the rat trapped...
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Bargaining...Christy Style
This saturday when I went to visit my sister, Christy opened the door and greeted me "Hello Madam. What can I do for you?" I was totally perplexed and then realised that he was role playing. He was a shopkeeper and I was a customer who had just walked into the shop. So I played along.
Me: Hello... What do you have?
Christy: I have gold, silver, diamonds.
Me: Wow! Show me your silver.
Christy (handing me an aluminium plate): Here, take this silver plate.
Me: How much?
Christy: 10,000 rupees!
Me (pretending to be aghast): Nooooooooooo... I will you 100 rupees for it.
Christy: Ok. Take it.
well.... obviously my family is really not good at bargaining...
Me: Hello... What do you have?
Christy: I have gold, silver, diamonds.
Me: Wow! Show me your silver.
Christy (handing me an aluminium plate): Here, take this silver plate.
Me: How much?
Christy: 10,000 rupees!
Me (pretending to be aghast): Nooooooooooo... I will you 100 rupees for it.
Christy: Ok. Take it.
well.... obviously my family is really not good at bargaining...
Friday, January 19, 2007
The woman who made me speechless....
Well since my last blog was on the film Guru, I thought I might as well continue with the same theme.... a day after watching Guru, Aishwarya and Abhishek announced their engagement.... it made it to the front pages of all newspapers... we had the royalty of bollywood marrying.... I was ofcourse excited about it....
and I thought back to how Ash was the one woman I was compared to since I was 23... no people I am not even close to Ash in the looks department ........ 23 is the age when arranged marriage proposals started pouring into my life...... so anytime I would express my opinion about the looks of a boy, my mom would turn around and ask "Do you think you look like Aishwarya Rai that you can be so choosy about looks?" and I would be rendered speechless by such a comparison... no I am not Aiswarya Rai and Aishwarya Rai is not me ...but where did I ever say that I am Aish Rai and hence I find the man not goodlooking? ........ well..... those are days of yore... my mother shut up finally when she saw Aishwarya Rai herself not doing too well in the love department ...until now that is......even if it is after marrying a tree....
and such constant comparisons always make me think- what would Ash Rai's mother tell Ash Rai herself if she was ever in a position like my mom? Who would she compare Ash to? She obviously cannot ask Aishwarya Rai herself "Do you think you look like Aishwarya Rai that you can be so choosy about looks?" "....perplexing question....
Anyways it is not a new thing that Ash Rai rendered people speechless with her beauty... in my case however it was for a totally totally different reason....
and I thought back to how Ash was the one woman I was compared to since I was 23... no people I am not even close to Ash in the looks department ........ 23 is the age when arranged marriage proposals started pouring into my life...... so anytime I would express my opinion about the looks of a boy, my mom would turn around and ask "Do you think you look like Aishwarya Rai that you can be so choosy about looks?" and I would be rendered speechless by such a comparison... no I am not Aiswarya Rai and Aishwarya Rai is not me ...but where did I ever say that I am Aish Rai and hence I find the man not goodlooking? ........ well..... those are days of yore... my mother shut up finally when she saw Aishwarya Rai herself not doing too well in the love department ...until now that is......even if it is after marrying a tree....
and such constant comparisons always make me think- what would Ash Rai's mother tell Ash Rai herself if she was ever in a position like my mom? Who would she compare Ash to? She obviously cannot ask Aishwarya Rai herself "Do you think you look like Aishwarya Rai that you can be so choosy about looks?" "....perplexing question....
Anyways it is not a new thing that Ash Rai rendered people speechless with her beauty... in my case however it was for a totally totally different reason....
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Review of GURU
Okkk.... it had to happen sometime.... since I love movies so much I had to start reviewing movies sometime or the other... so why not start with the latest movie in the market.... Guru.... and before you start reading this review please do not expect any deep insight and colourful language which are normally exhibited by the newspaper critics... This is just my perspective on the movie.... highlighting some of the things that I like, for the reasons I consider best... its all about ME, ME, ME!... okkk it is also about the movie...
Ok... So about GURU...
Named after the main character Gurukant Desai played brilliantly by Abhishek Bachan the film Guru interested me primarily because it was about the Ambani patriarch (despite strong claims to the contrary by the film makers and actors)....I wanted to know more about the man who built such a huge industrial empire in India with just 15000 in his pocket... who didnt have any business school degree and yet set up the monster industry that many of us are in some or the other associated with in our lives... how did he do it? was he scared? Did he think he would fail?? Did he feel lost and hopeless at times?
To a certain extent the film did satisfy my curiousity...
Unlike a typical hindi movie hero, the film shows the protagonist as one who is all wrong...he is ambitious, ruthless, user friendly, corrupt and wont stop at adopting any means to get to his end... yet he also has qualities that one loves in a person... for instance he is fearless- he doesnt fear retribution, doesnt fear humiliation, doesnt fear societal strictures nothing.... and he is totally confident about himself.... in a particular scene where his father tells him that business is not everybody's game and he wont succeed in it... the frame doesnot show any dejection or negativism in the young Gurubhai but shows a silent strength- one can almost read him saying "I am going to do it despite all this".... and I am sure many of us have at one point or the other told that to ourselves.. I have... and that is where the film reaches out to you... you see a common man like you on the screen and you want him to succeed....and like the hero in the film you want to see success and are not really concerned about the nitty gritty details about how the success comes .....
and helping him in his extraordinary climb are the ordinary people in his life ... his doubting father, helpful father in law, trusting brother in law, loyal munshi and friend etc who all play such a crucial role in his life yet do not dominate the screen beyond the need..... each of their characters are essayed with such smoothness that one doesnt particularly miss them when they are gone and neither does one want to see less of them in any scene... they are just perfect.....
The movie is also about the love between the husband and wife... the role of the wife is ofcourse played by Aishwarya Rai who is surprisingly restrained.... she plays a dutiful wife- a traditional woman whose world revolves around her Guru.... and while it had all ingredients of showing women as being the weaker sex, the movie does add some sort of romance to the concept of a dutiful wife... she is all about the calm in his life.... the one thing that stays constant.......
Certain scenes stand out particularly in my mind... the scene where Gurubhai asks the chairman of the enquiry commission to speak in hindi after the chairman waved them shut and continued with his spiel in english.... the wife explains on behalf of her husband "we are from the village. We can understand only hindi"...simple fact- powerful message..... and the scene where Gurubhai stands on the vacant plot of land with the blue print of his proposed factory and the rain comes down...you see a man on the cusp of victory.... and the scene where Guru cries for his friend who attempted suicide and says in the midst of his tears "You face is so ugly that I cry whenever I look at it"... a very reluctant human side to the otherwise ruthless Guru....
What the movie also attempts to do is in some way justify the ruthless means of this man.... the end justifies the means they say... and this is what probably will rankle with most watchers.... was he all that great if he did it all through underhand methods?? Should he not have had the decency to not do such things to get where he is? It is a debate that can go on and on.... the question in my mind really is -Would you rather have a Reliance in India or have none at all... I dont know whether the answer to that is easy.... did we pay a price for allowing Ambani to come up the way he did? We probably did in terms of raising the bar on corruption... but did the country benefit by getting employment for so many people? We probably did .... dont know what to choose...
Ofcourse the film is perfectly punctuated with good songs... my favourite one is the song introducing Aishwarya Rai.... and the one with Malaika is a catchy number as well.......
In the end the film achieves what it is supposed to .... it tells you a good story.... one that you want to hear over and over again..... afterall who can resist a rags to riches story??
Ok... So about GURU...
Named after the main character Gurukant Desai played brilliantly by Abhishek Bachan the film Guru interested me primarily because it was about the Ambani patriarch (despite strong claims to the contrary by the film makers and actors)....I wanted to know more about the man who built such a huge industrial empire in India with just 15000 in his pocket... who didnt have any business school degree and yet set up the monster industry that many of us are in some or the other associated with in our lives... how did he do it? was he scared? Did he think he would fail?? Did he feel lost and hopeless at times?
To a certain extent the film did satisfy my curiousity...
Unlike a typical hindi movie hero, the film shows the protagonist as one who is all wrong...he is ambitious, ruthless, user friendly, corrupt and wont stop at adopting any means to get to his end... yet he also has qualities that one loves in a person... for instance he is fearless- he doesnt fear retribution, doesnt fear humiliation, doesnt fear societal strictures nothing.... and he is totally confident about himself.... in a particular scene where his father tells him that business is not everybody's game and he wont succeed in it... the frame doesnot show any dejection or negativism in the young Gurubhai but shows a silent strength- one can almost read him saying "I am going to do it despite all this".... and I am sure many of us have at one point or the other told that to ourselves.. I have... and that is where the film reaches out to you... you see a common man like you on the screen and you want him to succeed....and like the hero in the film you want to see success and are not really concerned about the nitty gritty details about how the success comes .....
and helping him in his extraordinary climb are the ordinary people in his life ... his doubting father, helpful father in law, trusting brother in law, loyal munshi and friend etc who all play such a crucial role in his life yet do not dominate the screen beyond the need..... each of their characters are essayed with such smoothness that one doesnt particularly miss them when they are gone and neither does one want to see less of them in any scene... they are just perfect.....
The movie is also about the love between the husband and wife... the role of the wife is ofcourse played by Aishwarya Rai who is surprisingly restrained.... she plays a dutiful wife- a traditional woman whose world revolves around her Guru.... and while it had all ingredients of showing women as being the weaker sex, the movie does add some sort of romance to the concept of a dutiful wife... she is all about the calm in his life.... the one thing that stays constant.......
Certain scenes stand out particularly in my mind... the scene where Gurubhai asks the chairman of the enquiry commission to speak in hindi after the chairman waved them shut and continued with his spiel in english.... the wife explains on behalf of her husband "we are from the village. We can understand only hindi"...simple fact- powerful message..... and the scene where Gurubhai stands on the vacant plot of land with the blue print of his proposed factory and the rain comes down...you see a man on the cusp of victory.... and the scene where Guru cries for his friend who attempted suicide and says in the midst of his tears "You face is so ugly that I cry whenever I look at it"... a very reluctant human side to the otherwise ruthless Guru....
What the movie also attempts to do is in some way justify the ruthless means of this man.... the end justifies the means they say... and this is what probably will rankle with most watchers.... was he all that great if he did it all through underhand methods?? Should he not have had the decency to not do such things to get where he is? It is a debate that can go on and on.... the question in my mind really is -Would you rather have a Reliance in India or have none at all... I dont know whether the answer to that is easy.... did we pay a price for allowing Ambani to come up the way he did? We probably did in terms of raising the bar on corruption... but did the country benefit by getting employment for so many people? We probably did .... dont know what to choose...
Ofcourse the film is perfectly punctuated with good songs... my favourite one is the song introducing Aishwarya Rai.... and the one with Malaika is a catchy number as well.......
In the end the film achieves what it is supposed to .... it tells you a good story.... one that you want to hear over and over again..... afterall who can resist a rags to riches story??
More Updates about Baby George
As usual today morning I went to pay my respects to Baby George.... and as I entered the house I could hear Baby George yelping his heart out... and the maid was doing all she could to distract him... stroking him, holding him and shaking the toy that makes a noise ( I dont know what it is called).....and then Enter Baby George's Aunt.... I leapt up and called out "Baby George"... Baby George immediately stopped crying, looked up, fixed his gaze on me and then gave me the most amazing smile in the world..... and I swear he seemed to be telling me "hello...I am so glad you came Vava Aunty, but first I want to change out of my wet nappy".... and that is exactly what I did.... I changed his nappy and his small shirt and made him wear fresh clothes...and he was at peace again...
The thing about Baby George is he is happy when his tummy is full, when his stomach is not paining, when his nappy is dry and when he is given attention by his aunt (hehe).... and guess what? there are people at his beck and call doing exactly what he wants..... including me...
The thing about Baby George is he is happy when his tummy is full, when his stomach is not paining, when his nappy is dry and when he is given attention by his aunt (hehe).... and guess what? there are people at his beck and call doing exactly what he wants..... including me...
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Follow Me...
Looks like the BMC (Mumbai Municipal Corporation) is indeed following me and deciding to undertake repairs on all the roads that I frequent....
It started off with the flyover next to my office which was shut for about 3 months .....effectively increasing my commute time by another 20 minutes.... then it was the very road that I live on - Hill Road!!.... always a busy road or as my friend calls it the "Hell Road", the BMC decided to take action on the road once a huge crater appeared due to a underground pipe burst.... so one side of the road was cordoned off completely for all commuters and it has been shut for more than 2 months now.... so instead of hawkers blocking the road, now we have yellow and black asbestos sheets blocking us.... at least with the hawkers one could shove them to one side or zig zag your way through the maze....while at the same time looking at the amazing collection of designer wear called "Prado", "Guchi" "Armany"..... ofcourse the hawkers made a come back during Christmas and put stalls on the newly dug up roads...probably the only time they realised they wont be disturbed by the police or the BMC officials since once a road is dug up it will be months before any officials come to check on it..... and now it is the road leading to my sister's place..... called Currey Road...most often the only thing that is currying there is traffic jams but it is a shorter route from my sister's place to my office.... and now that the road has been dug up it forces me to go through the busier option of Elphinston Station road..... ofcourse this is in addition to the occassional shut downs at Mahim junction which are sometimes due to repairs, sometimes due to festivals and sometimes due to the number of people just deciding to leave home at the same time.....
So this what I have to say to BMC...STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!
It started off with the flyover next to my office which was shut for about 3 months .....effectively increasing my commute time by another 20 minutes.... then it was the very road that I live on - Hill Road!!.... always a busy road or as my friend calls it the "Hell Road", the BMC decided to take action on the road once a huge crater appeared due to a underground pipe burst.... so one side of the road was cordoned off completely for all commuters and it has been shut for more than 2 months now.... so instead of hawkers blocking the road, now we have yellow and black asbestos sheets blocking us.... at least with the hawkers one could shove them to one side or zig zag your way through the maze....while at the same time looking at the amazing collection of designer wear called "Prado", "Guchi" "Armany"..... ofcourse the hawkers made a come back during Christmas and put stalls on the newly dug up roads...probably the only time they realised they wont be disturbed by the police or the BMC officials since once a road is dug up it will be months before any officials come to check on it..... and now it is the road leading to my sister's place..... called Currey Road...most often the only thing that is currying there is traffic jams but it is a shorter route from my sister's place to my office.... and now that the road has been dug up it forces me to go through the busier option of Elphinston Station road..... ofcourse this is in addition to the occassional shut downs at Mahim junction which are sometimes due to repairs, sometimes due to festivals and sometimes due to the number of people just deciding to leave home at the same time.....
So this what I have to say to BMC...STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The story of an aunt flying the kite
Next time anybody abuses me asking me to go fly a kite I will have a very honest reply... I am really not that good at it..... so the story goes like this....
I was all enthused about buying christy a kite after reading the story of kiterunner...ofcourse in that book some amount of sadness is associated with kites...but I was instantly transported to my childhood....where all the kids would come out and each would run with the kite in their hands...and I dont know whether it was the country of Oman that made a difference or whether it was my mom but my kite would actually fly really high...I remember once it flew so high that after a point we could not see it.... so as you can understand I have only happy memories as far as kite flying is concerned...
now fast forward about 20 years and I am at my wits end trying to fly a kite...it was the first time for Christy as well so I was really determined not to disappoint him... so I ran with the kite...except that the kite would rise about 3 metres and go around in circles and come crashing down.... and it happened so many times that poor christy went off to play in the park crest fallen feeling pretty sure that his aunt was just no good at it.... it was then that I decided to do the next best thing... ask for help.... so I enlisted the help of 3 guards in the building .... who did some heavy duty measuring and tying the kite....after which the kite flew the way it was always meant to fly.... up, up and away... and Christy came running from the park seeing his kite flying so high.... and soon insisted on taking the strings himself.... The sheer joy on his face was a sight worth seeing..... ofcourse as quick as it went up it also came down...but what the heck! I looked good in front of christy....
Baby George was ofcourse sleeping through this..... he had only slept till 9 in the morning and hence was too sleepy .... he however did come down with his mom to watch the desperate attempts of his aunt to fly a kite.... and after all the kite flying I was tired myself.... and I went and slept right next to him.... and then Baby George woke me up...with his gurgling and soft cries.... that kid can actually make enough noise to wake up people..... and soon it was about his feed and burping....
A Saturday well spent.... Christy flew a kite for the first time....I cut my finger and in the process relived a part of my childhood through christy.... and hopefully in another 6 years I will be flying a kite for Baby George.... and once again the sheer joy on his face would make my day....
I was all enthused about buying christy a kite after reading the story of kiterunner...ofcourse in that book some amount of sadness is associated with kites...but I was instantly transported to my childhood....where all the kids would come out and each would run with the kite in their hands...and I dont know whether it was the country of Oman that made a difference or whether it was my mom but my kite would actually fly really high...I remember once it flew so high that after a point we could not see it.... so as you can understand I have only happy memories as far as kite flying is concerned...
now fast forward about 20 years and I am at my wits end trying to fly a kite...it was the first time for Christy as well so I was really determined not to disappoint him... so I ran with the kite...except that the kite would rise about 3 metres and go around in circles and come crashing down.... and it happened so many times that poor christy went off to play in the park crest fallen feeling pretty sure that his aunt was just no good at it.... it was then that I decided to do the next best thing... ask for help.... so I enlisted the help of 3 guards in the building .... who did some heavy duty measuring and tying the kite....after which the kite flew the way it was always meant to fly.... up, up and away... and Christy came running from the park seeing his kite flying so high.... and soon insisted on taking the strings himself.... The sheer joy on his face was a sight worth seeing..... ofcourse as quick as it went up it also came down...but what the heck! I looked good in front of christy....
Baby George was ofcourse sleeping through this..... he had only slept till 9 in the morning and hence was too sleepy .... he however did come down with his mom to watch the desperate attempts of his aunt to fly a kite.... and after all the kite flying I was tired myself.... and I went and slept right next to him.... and then Baby George woke me up...with his gurgling and soft cries.... that kid can actually make enough noise to wake up people..... and soon it was about his feed and burping....
A Saturday well spent.... Christy flew a kite for the first time....I cut my finger and in the process relived a part of my childhood through christy.... and hopefully in another 6 years I will be flying a kite for Baby George.... and once again the sheer joy on his face would make my day....
Friday, January 12, 2007
Baby George Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai? (Translation: Why does Baby George get angry?)
Updates about Baby George:
Baby George can now see things... so now he turn 180 degree following Christy or my sister.... and also smiles (a lot!!!) whenever he sees me...for instance he raised his hands nudging me to pick him up when I went near him.... ofcourse I teased by saying "ok, Bye" and would duck... and Baby George would let out a muted cry in disappointment...
Baby George also wants to do things... fast .... for instance he wants to sit up and see the world... so he nudges my sister to "seat him up" when she picks him up..and smiles broadly when she does... and he also wants to roll over to the other side ... and yelps when he is unable to do so.... ofcourse the good samaritan that I am, I help him a bit and push him over to the other side sometimes...
Baby George also gets angry.... especially when the fan is switched on.... he hates the fan being siwtched on and even stops drinking milk till my sister runs along and switches it off .... the kid is one obstinate kid.... and he also hates the bottle.... he refuses to drink milk from the bottle... my sister is hoping against hope that he will get over that soon..
Baby George is already attached to Christy... he sleeps when Christy strokes him to sleep... also loves listening to stories by Christy..... ofcourse Christy being Christy he also scares the poor Baby George.... so his admiration is intermixed with getting scared I think.....
Baby George does a lot of things that I cant describe... for instance I think he cycles and drives a car when lying down on his back.... his hands are always moving about in the "10 'o' clock and 2 'o' clock " position...and his legs are always cylcing....
Well he is one helluva of a busy kid!!!
Baby George can now see things... so now he turn 180 degree following Christy or my sister.... and also smiles (a lot!!!) whenever he sees me...for instance he raised his hands nudging me to pick him up when I went near him.... ofcourse I teased by saying "ok, Bye" and would duck... and Baby George would let out a muted cry in disappointment...
Baby George also wants to do things... fast .... for instance he wants to sit up and see the world... so he nudges my sister to "seat him up" when she picks him up..and smiles broadly when she does... and he also wants to roll over to the other side ... and yelps when he is unable to do so.... ofcourse the good samaritan that I am, I help him a bit and push him over to the other side sometimes...
Baby George also gets angry.... especially when the fan is switched on.... he hates the fan being siwtched on and even stops drinking milk till my sister runs along and switches it off .... the kid is one obstinate kid.... and he also hates the bottle.... he refuses to drink milk from the bottle... my sister is hoping against hope that he will get over that soon..
Baby George is already attached to Christy... he sleeps when Christy strokes him to sleep... also loves listening to stories by Christy..... ofcourse Christy being Christy he also scares the poor Baby George.... so his admiration is intermixed with getting scared I think.....
Baby George does a lot of things that I cant describe... for instance I think he cycles and drives a car when lying down on his back.... his hands are always moving about in the "10 'o' clock and 2 'o' clock " position...and his legs are always cylcing....
Well he is one helluva of a busy kid!!!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Pray why not?
The one thing that I get really irritated about (and sometimes even find amusing) is when people who live abroad come to India and look at it as if it is like SOOOOOO Backward.... and this includes even those Indians who have lived in India all their childhood, gone abroad and now visit India for short breaks.... "Is the water safe to drink?" "Can we eat the fruits we buy from the market?" and the most ridiculous one ever was "Can we take a bath in Indian water?"
I have often vacillated between being kind to these people to sometimes getting into arguments with some people on these issues.... India has its problems but how is it that Indians have been voted one of the happiest set of people in the world? And in any case these are problems handed down to us by the whites... so its ok that we take more than 50 years to mitigate the effects of 300 years of bad white rule.... I would argue and argue and argue....
But of late I have decided to review my arguments.. no I still dont believe it is ok for people to visit our country and talk bad about it.... but can I honestly look at my country and say that people have a good life here.... Can I honestly blame those people who live in India all their childhood and then go abroad lured by the prospects of a better life??
To be honest to some extent I think they have made a wise decision..... should I love my country more or should I love myself more?? What is wrong with wanting a better life?? True I will be a second class citizen in a foreign country but am I any better here?? Wont I get better rights abroad as a second class citizen than in my own country where I am a first class citizen? My friend Devika and I had a discussion recently where we both agreed that in many ways life in India is restrictive .... especially for a person who really wants to many things with his/her life and not necessarily conform and go through the motions of marriage, child bearing and finally retirement.... and the truth is that in many ways the life of an average Indian is tempered with worries- worries about money, about jobs, marriage, raising kids etc etc.... and you spent your life sorting out all these issues and then you are actually too old to enjoy life anyways....
and when I read about how 30 children went missing over two years with the police doing nothing about it and about how it took the entire country and the media to convict one murderer in the Jessica Lall case, and about how there is no way an average unconnected, non influential person can get justice in India ... I wonder What am I fighting for? Can I deny the fact that life in India is actually not a bed of roses?
I do believe things will get better in India but it will come slowly.... till then what arguments do I have against the obvious problems India has?
Friday, January 05, 2007
Okk the New Year can be better...
Okk... so my new year has not really got off to a rocking start.... and it has only been 5 days!!!... and worse I have forgotten the art of cracking a good joke.... so this is what happened...
I heard this really interesting incident where a friend went to meet the project manager and the manager of a company on work in Ahmedabad.... so the introductions went something like this:
Project Manager: Hi, I am Mr. Pani
Manager: Hi, I am Mr. Puri.
Got it? PaniPuri? ha hahah.... anyways I laughed my head out at this .... and promptly made devious plans to crack the joke to someone in office...and soon scouted around for a bakhra.... and found it in my colleague P... who very reluctantly agreed to listen to my joke....... so I rattled off the particular incident.... the only thing is- I introduced Mr. Puri first !! so my colleague just didnt get the joke.... I scrambled out of the situation clutching my head for failing to tell a joke properly...........
Arghhhhhh!!! Could it be any worse???...
Anyways made it up by telling the joke properly to Baby Tomato.... who found extremely engrossing (as he kept staring at my face) and finally smiled (after a lot of tickling and antics).... guess I have found my actual bakhra ....until he grows up and realises that his aunt is really a bad story teller.......
I heard this really interesting incident where a friend went to meet the project manager and the manager of a company on work in Ahmedabad.... so the introductions went something like this:
Project Manager: Hi, I am Mr. Pani
Manager: Hi, I am Mr. Puri.
Got it? PaniPuri? ha hahah.... anyways I laughed my head out at this .... and promptly made devious plans to crack the joke to someone in office...and soon scouted around for a bakhra.... and found it in my colleague P... who very reluctantly agreed to listen to my joke....... so I rattled off the particular incident.... the only thing is- I introduced Mr. Puri first !! so my colleague just didnt get the joke.... I scrambled out of the situation clutching my head for failing to tell a joke properly...........
Arghhhhhh!!! Could it be any worse???...
Anyways made it up by telling the joke properly to Baby Tomato.... who found extremely engrossing (as he kept staring at my face) and finally smiled (after a lot of tickling and antics).... guess I have found my actual bakhra ....until he grows up and realises that his aunt is really a bad story teller.......
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Second Chances
Ever since the begining of this year (ofcourse it has been only a day) I have been thinking about the concept of second chances.... second chance at anything- at life, at friendships, at relationships, at marriages, at jobs.... Should there always be a second chance?
There are many instances in ones life when you are either asking for a second chance or being asked for a second chance.... personally I have often faced situations where people have behaved in quite the wrong way with me and then come back asking for a second chance .... to rebuild friendships and start over again.... and I have been pretty strict about it all the time... no second chances with my trust.... once gone, it is stays there- GONE.... and I have moved on without a second thought....
I am baffled by the questoin of whether this is the right approach.... What if the second time round there is better understanding? There is more respect? in short there is a better relationship? Am I forgoing all just cos I believe in no second chances? After all it is not like one comes into this world with a manual on what not to do... and quite often we are all given a second chance sometime or in some form in life....our parents are always giving us second chances... and God does not say "I already gave you a relationship and you failed at it.. so no second chances for you"...
After all this rumination, would I give a second chance? I am not sure I am that forgiving yet... at the same time I am not sure whether I am that cruel yet.... I guess my decision will be based on the genuiness of the person... and perhaps on my feelings for that person...All I can hope is when people ask for a second chance they understand the value of that chance....
Gosh this is a serious blog on the second day of the year.... what happened to the "funny" in me???
There are many instances in ones life when you are either asking for a second chance or being asked for a second chance.... personally I have often faced situations where people have behaved in quite the wrong way with me and then come back asking for a second chance .... to rebuild friendships and start over again.... and I have been pretty strict about it all the time... no second chances with my trust.... once gone, it is stays there- GONE.... and I have moved on without a second thought....
I am baffled by the questoin of whether this is the right approach.... What if the second time round there is better understanding? There is more respect? in short there is a better relationship? Am I forgoing all just cos I believe in no second chances? After all it is not like one comes into this world with a manual on what not to do... and quite often we are all given a second chance sometime or in some form in life....our parents are always giving us second chances... and God does not say "I already gave you a relationship and you failed at it.. so no second chances for you"...
After all this rumination, would I give a second chance? I am not sure I am that forgiving yet... at the same time I am not sure whether I am that cruel yet.... I guess my decision will be based on the genuiness of the person... and perhaps on my feelings for that person...All I can hope is when people ask for a second chance they understand the value of that chance....
Gosh this is a serious blog on the second day of the year.... what happened to the "funny" in me???
Monday, January 01, 2007
Some more resolutions
- Be more environmentally concious
- Be sensible with money
- Be aware
- Reinvent things as much as possible
- Discover more yoga
- Take a holiday by the beach
- Be sensible with money
- Be aware
- Reinvent things as much as possible
- Discover more yoga
- Take a holiday by the beach
New Year
You know I am bored with the barrage of "Happy New Year" messages I got.... without any disrespect to them or their well meaning wishes, I feel we need to find a new way to wish people new year... something like "Have a Plentiful Year!" or "Let there be world peace this year"... okkk I am just not capturing the essence of it but you guys get the drift right??.... The bland "Happy New year" is soooo out....
I never make new year resolutions .... rather if I do make them I never stick to them... but this year my first resolution is to make new year resolutions and stick to them!!!! So a few of them are:
a) Just eat right and exercise well... increase my fitness and also in the process get a better looking figure
b) Read More
c) Love more
d) Get involved in some good causes.... in any small way...
e) Teach Christy to read books.....and rather than appearing as the aunt who whisks him away to fun places appear strict and stern....
f) Travel sensibly
g) Cultivate friendships...
h) Write More
i) Be more meticulous and spot the mistakes in the ampersands and commas
etc etc...
And after all this I hope this year is an interesting, bearable, stable one.....
I never make new year resolutions .... rather if I do make them I never stick to them... but this year my first resolution is to make new year resolutions and stick to them!!!! So a few of them are:
a) Just eat right and exercise well... increase my fitness and also in the process get a better looking figure
b) Read More
c) Love more
d) Get involved in some good causes.... in any small way...
e) Teach Christy to read books.....and rather than appearing as the aunt who whisks him away to fun places appear strict and stern....
f) Travel sensibly
g) Cultivate friendships...
h) Write More
i) Be more meticulous and spot the mistakes in the ampersands and commas
etc etc...
And after all this I hope this year is an interesting, bearable, stable one.....
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