Large hearted roads

Like everyday I was in my taxi today on my way to work ....and just near my office I got stuck at a traffic signal... in front of me was a large water truck - you know one of those trucks where you have pipes at the end that you can draw water out of... ofcourse I didnt bother much about the truck or about the happenings around me and was just only bothered about how soon I can reach the office....

and then out of nowwhere a group of kids scrambled around the water truck.....i didnt understand at first what the fascination was... .. and then I realised that they had started opening the pipes and taking out the water in their pots and pans... and one of them ingeniously started speaking to the truck driver keeping him engaged.. one by one the kids filled up their pots and pans and by the time the light turned green all of them had a pot full of water.... and in the meantime all of the onlookers did nothing but watch the spectacle... some taxi drivers even moved their taxies back to give room for more kids... and nobody (inlcuding me) seemed to find it necessary to tell the truck drivers that your water is being stolen... something so right in something so obviously wrong... Was it my urban guilt? at seeing so many kids growing up with no water??

Thats the thing about Indian roads... there is always some sort of life on the roads.... its only now that we have the tinted glasses on big cars where the drivers in their coat and suit behave as if they are doing a favour by even looking at the road..... and no matter what there is always room for one more on the Indian road... room for one more car, one more bullock cart, one more vegetable van, one more dog, one more cow, one more cat, one more rat.. one more of anything.... we just have enough space for everybody and we all just squeeze by....

And we even have elephants walking on the road... now in India I would not bat an eye lid if I saw an elephant right outside my car window... for me, he (or she) is like another traveller on their way to work...... but I realised how much we take seeing our elephants on the road for granted when I went to South Africa... I remember getting so excited seeing an elephant in the Kruger National Park .... I immediately whipped out my camera and started clicking away in all angles.... the elephant crossing the road, the elephant having his lunch, the elephant looking at us menancingly..... and when I see the same elephant crossing the road in Mumbai my camera stays right inside my bag.. no excitment, no flashes, nothing....in any other country, an elephant on the road would have created chaos and lead to the elephant being almost blinded by the incessant clicking of cameras ....


Thats life I guess!!! Well at least the journey is interesting on Indian roads....

Cric-in-my-neck

I am not a big fan of cricket... and before anyone out there goes on to say that "ohh women.. they never like cricket" let me tell you that the first fanatics of cricket I met in my life were my cousins- all girls!!

But despite not being a fan of cricket I felt crestfallen when India got out... I felt as if my days suddenly got bleaker, there was not much left to look forward to in this world cup and for about a day and a half I felt like a lost puppy... "ohh what will we do now? Can Bermuda actually beat Bangladesh?" were some of the incredulous questions I asked...

Anyways now I am back to the preworld cup phase- and that means I am back to wondering why so many people spend so much time on a silly game where everyone is hitting or chasing one tiny little ball!!! I mean seriously lets talk about some serious things here...

Kids say the darnest thing!

Christy is easily the naughiest boy I have ever seen... my mom says that he takes after his mother who was supposedly a terror in her childhood... so in a way she is getting a taste of her own medicine... one which obviously she is not taking a taste to...

so recently she flew off her handle when Christy messed up Baby George's soup.... and went on and on about how naughty he is and how he should behave himself... blah blah blah..... Christy in the meantime kept quite throughout the tirade ....and finally when my sister took a break from all the shouting Chirsty immediately quipped "Mummy, you have become thinner"....

Needless to say the shouting didnt resume after that.......... kids!!!

More of Maldives..

A Mal-in- the Dives!

Finally I got to see the "sunny side of life"... yes over the weekend I went to Maldives for a holiday... it was all impromptu.... my friend of 1 4 years called and said she was planning a trip to Maldives and would I want to join in ??? YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... and off I went

Maldives is all about the sea... obviously..... and all about things on th ebeach.... so if you dont know what to do on a beach or in the sea it is quite a pointless journey, right??............. nope!!! I was a total greehorn when it came to the ocean... I dont venture out too much and I just stay in the shore... but I totally enjoyed myself.... I found myself learning how to swim...its easier than I thought... and I also snorkelled!!! after much coaxing by my friend.... and in the evening we would just sit outside listening to the waves..... and ofcourse I slept as well.....

and few things I noticed about Maldives....

a) the sea is blue..i mean beautiful blue... you can see the pictures..... living in mumbai you tend to think a blue sea is a myth...

b) there are more mals in Maldives than I can digest.... there was a mal on every corner... and they tried to make friends with us... I totally agree with their sentiments.. they only see white skin...and finally to see some people of your country ... well its a relief in many ways...

c) I actually saw fish !! beautiful colours... some were striped, some were bright, some where multicoloured....awesome... I also chased some of them....

I loved this short holiday..... ofcourse I am black as a crow....and I am sure my mom will disown me when I meet her... but what the heck!!

A Mal in the Dives is better than one in Mumbai!!!

Ever since I changed my job from IDFC all my travelling plans have been made with a sense of apprehension... in fact the feeling of apprehension is so huge that I feel like cancelling all my leave plans just the day before... I sweat, tense up, feel like I dont deserve to take this holiday, feel all weepy and nervous just before my trip.....

And that is exactly how I am feeling right now... although it helps immensely that I am working with a great team who is able to support me and an equally supportive boss (who made the mistake of suggesting that I take a holiday cos I had been spending way too much time in the office... hahaha)....

So here I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping to take my flight to my holiday destination in another 8 hours... Please cross your fingers also... lest I sweat and fall off just before I board the flights ....

where am I going?? I think it is best when I put up the pictures.... trust me it will be worth it....

One of the major changes that I see in my friends after their marriage is their inability to come on holidays sans their better halves...so most often I make the mistake of approaching my friends as if they are still my old buddies ... ready to run along with me wherever we chose to go... but after a few trial and errors I have learned my lesson... Now, I just dont approach my married friends for any holidays I take ....

I just go and if they decide to come along that is fine...

A little bit of that and this

The thing that I like about Yoga is that they teach you about your own body... for instance did you know that all the ills of the body can be cured by breathing in a particular way.... or the fact that if you curve up your body you are actually helping the skin... now usually when I am told all this by my yoga teacher I lap it all up while simultaneously feeling proud about my ancestors who knew so much about how to keep ourselves happy.... but today my yoga teacher told us "all the emotions are concentrated in the stomach area"... huh???? my mind immediately wandered to the possible interpretations about this statement... so does a person with a large belly then have wide range of emotions? Can one tickle one's tummy and invoke a certain emotion? hmmm.....

I had stopped yoga for a month ... .mainly cos it was really becoming stressful to come back at 12 in the night, wake up at 7, do yoga, run off to see Baby George and then reach office... I was just too tired... the other reason was ofcourse the fact that people started missing me when I didnt go to one class... so you know I cringed at such familiarity and wished to blank out for a while.... strange?? even I think so... like my friend observed.... "how is it that you hate people getting too familiar but at the same time you have such good friends?".... well dont know how that happens.... a case of split personality??? maybe, maybe not...

In other news I got a cold... from Baby George.... his little nose was blocked cos of the cold and he was wheezing through out... and he sneezed next to my face a couple of times .... and that is how I got a cold... I am sending my sister all the medical bills...

Baby george has also tumbled over..... after heartbreaking failed attempts in the past baby george finally tumbled to the other side... so now instead of twisting his head he twists his body and faces the person..... he also started talking... the only problem is that we cant understand what he is saying.... and I think when he hears a song he tries to sing along... Baby George is growing up....

A Wo-man's Day

Once somebody told me that even God makes mistakes.... that sometimes even God does not have the answers to all the man created issues.... and no more is this true that in the case of a woman..... There are so many loopholes in her creation, which if rectified, could have made a woman's life a little better...

The first such loophole is her physical weakness.... while technology and civilised society may have mitigated the superiority of the brawn but it is still one of the paramount reasons why a woman is so demeaned in society.... She cannot defend herself and she is forced to depend on men for her defence.... is it skewed? Oh Yes..

The second such loophole is ironically entrenched with her ability to reproduce... I think our forefathers were absolutely right in recognising the vast power that a woman held over society due to her ability to reproduce... however it is that same recognition that has devalued her in many ways... firstly she is made to believe that that is her only contribution in society- that she is not good for anything else.... secondly she is viewed as a commodity to produce kids with- hence the physical attributes becomes much more magnified for her- cos she has to produce the most perfect baby, doesnt she? so if she is older than 30 she is devalued in society due to the reduced chances of conceiving, or if she is of a darker skin tone she is considered to be incapable of producing beautiful children, there is just no value given to her person....

The third loophole is one linked to the above- a woman herself does not believe her value comes from being herself... she has to be linked to a man and her child failing which she is considered to be 'loose', a cannonball that every man can take a shot at and use.... its all not fair but a woman is obviously lulled into believing that if she doesnt marry by a certain age then she is not successful... and trust me even highly educated women make compromises so that they can get the married tag..... and then go on to poke fun at their single friends who has probably not been as stupid as them to have gotten married in haste to the wrongest man on earth.... the common refrain in my hometown is 'well at least she has got somebody'.... and trust me I know all about this...

I dont think things will change unless women themselves realise their value... and give value to other women.... so heres to all the women out there- mothers, sisters, friends- please believe in your intrinsic value as women and dont devalue other women you know for any reason- including for not being with a man....

Sorry people I just feel very strongly about this....

Sunday musings...

After about 3 weeks I went grocery shopping today... all in the hope of buying ingredients for chicken chettinad!!.... yes I dont cook anything simple..... so if you ask me to cook dal I would be totally lost.... so off I went to Pali Hill near my house to look for the perfect veggies.... and I had no idea that I was so sorely missed by the Sabziwalla at Pali hill...

The Sabziwalla greeted me "Arre madam, Kitne din bath app aye" (Madam you have come after a long time)... instinctively, I looked behind me to look at the woman he was referring to.... No one... I smiled coyly explaining how my work has been keeping me away from real life... "Arre Madam, Aap Pathle bhi Ho kaye hai. Kitna Kaam Karte hai" (Madam you have become thin also. Too much work)... In gratitude, I bought veggies I could not even name and which would probably end up in my dustbin a few weeks from now...

Ofcourse my mom was totally unimpressed with my shopping trip since according to her no decent meal could be prepared out of the veggies I had bought....

but Mom, didnt you hear?? They said I have become thin....

Changin one's mind

Recently I had a moral dilemma... I am now in a place where I work with a lot of interns .... and at the end of the day we are always expected to recommend the good ones and get them recruited... so I have been working with these interns who according to me were a sure shot into the firm... so other than the casual questions of 'where do you see yourself 5 years from now' I did not ponder too much about convincing them to join the firm... However, late on Monday night they told me that they had been approached by a rival firm and they had accepted the offer!! I was a bit shocked and in a way a bit disappointed since I didnt understand why they didnt discuss with me first.... so there I was trying to convince them to reconsider their decision... and the one question that totally stumped me was "Is it ethical for us to change our mind once we have accepted?"...

now that is something that I had no answer to... the only answer I could mutter was "Yes it is not ethical to say something and do something else. But you need to think about whether you are making a good career choice"... ofcourse in this case it was a happy ending since they finally agreed to join us after taking into account their career prospects...and also the fact that they were barely given 24 hours by other rival firm to convey their decision...


But I still have not reconciled the answer to the question that they asked me... Is it ethical to change one's mind after you have indicated that you are going in a certain direction? Wouldnt the person you indicated this to have already made some plans based on what you have indicated? Isnt it totally unfair to do that? Is it justified under any circumstances?

In matters of the heart I have often despised persons who have mislead people.... People who promised fidelity and then did just the opposite, people who promised marriage and finally at the last moment changed their minds, people who waited for a better opportunity to come along and then changed their mind cos they suddenly had a better option.... all of this accordingly to me smacks of total lack of character.... and to this day I treat these people who misbehaved either with me or with others with total disdain... I just dont think they are worthy of any attention from me....

On the other than, I have had friends who have changed their minds about various issues such as babies, adoption, husbands, marriages as they slowly evolved through experiences... their decisions were based on their convictions at that point in time ... and while in the beginning I would wonder why they potrayed a different picture, I realised soon enough that I am not the one to live with their decisions and so I have no right to judge..... but even in such cases I do dislike it when people dont acknowledge the fact that they have indeed changed their mind... most make it look like this is the way they have always wanted to live their life... which I dont like but at the same time I recognise that as being a very sensitive issue .... it is afterall difficult to acknowledge one's failure or mistakes in public...

I guess there is no proper answer to this question... it all depends on which end of the stick you are in... so if it is you who has been mislead and lied to you are never likely to find the whole thing tolerable... at the same time if you are the one doling out such treatment to others then either you really have no character, or your hands are really tied up or you really dont mind going to hell after your life in the world....