Goodbye folks!

I have been wanting to shut down this blog for a while now... mainly cos i was not able to say what I wanted to say on this blog freely.... my pleasures, my pain, triumphs, tribulations...

and that is stifling my ability to write what I feel like...So I think it is time to say goodbye .... and move on.... to better and bigger things hopefully.... I will miss this blog cos of the familiarity, cos of the excitement of not knowing who the reader is, cos of many of you who gave me such valuable feedback about my writing, my blogging, my experiences, my photographs etc.... I will miss all that....

But like sharks die if they remain stagnant I must also move on.... we had some pretty good times here.... now it is time for me start afresh on a new blog and be anonymous for a while.... am not sure whether I will just shut down this blog completely..... I may come back with some innocous posts... but its mostly done here....

anyone who is curious about my next blogging destination can email me at alice.george@gmail.com...

This picture reminds me of Baby George and me... Baby George usually finds me sleeping and comes over and rubs my cheek.... and while I may sometimes mistake him for Christy and slap him for disturbing me, he is what Douglas Adams would say "mostly harmless"....

Age Old Battle

When growing up I vaguely remember my father telling me about the conflicts in the middle east.... he would talk in biblical terms about how the jews were the "chosen" people of God and how their land was being targetted by others... and then there were the books about the holocaust which made me even more convinced about the need for a separate state...understandably my sympathies were always tilted towards Israel.... growing up I got exposed to the "other" side.... I learned about how the palestinians were suddenly uprooted from their homeland and how they were fighting for their survival.... it still didnt make any dent in my sympathy for Israel... after all my father was always right about such things....

That was till I went to Jordan where 75% of the population is palestinian refugees...and our tour guide itself was a palestinian refugee... and he explained to me how he had a temporary citizenship in Jordan ... at any time the Jordanian Government could throw him out.. and that time he would have no country to go to..... he was literally in no man's land all his life... no country, no citizenship, no homeland, no security...... can anyone imagine living like that for your entire life?? palestinians have lived like this for 50 years and are still continuing in the same vein...

this brought out the entire irony of it all... if you were to believe in one God for everyone irrespective of the form....God's chosen people were literally chasing out people (who were albeit not chosen) who were also created by God....where is the justice in all this... it just does not seem right to require a whole country of people to suddenly survive on doles handed over by sympathetic governments... everyone should have a country and not temporary citizenship....its unfair to have killed so many jews during the holocaust but it is more unfair to exploit to illtreat more people....

I have no idea about how it feels to have no country to call your own... In fact it is so basic for me that I take it for granted....

Sorry Dad, I am sitting this one out...

Baby George is in Kerala.....his first trip after he started standing on his own two tiny feet..... so my mom gave him the phone to talk to me.... all he blabbered was "Ta" and "ello".... and then keeping with his character he promptly started licking the phone....

His brother Christy on the other hand is refusing to come to my house saying it is "boring".... he has his other cousins to play at his paternal house so the maternal house seems really boring.... hmm... city life does spoil you....

"We think it is a good thing that countries are developing, that more and more people have higher and higher standards of living," Deputy White House Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said in reply to a question in Washington on Monday.

Mr. Stanzel, Thankyou so much. All this while I was cying myself to sleep feeling guilty about my country developing. Now you have given me relief from my daily bout of guilt. Thankyou. Thankyou so much.

Lets Save Bush

Okkk this is the "Save Bush" campaign... apparently he is forced to have lesser food cos We, Indians, are eating better...

Damn you Indians, dont you know that you should always be eating less food so that Bush can get elected back, and dont you know that your life is not as important as that of a citizen of US??? I mean how dare you lowly Indian consider eating better food when the American has not had his fill.... and worst of all how dare you educate your millions and make them enter professions such as software engineering instead of making them farmers so that the Americans could continue to have a nice life... what? you want a better life? Why? Its your place in society to work so that Americans can be happy... Please dont have any aspirations beyond that... after all they will protect you in the event you are an oil rich country and attacked by a neighbouring dictator... so all you have to do India is to find oil and we will protected by America for generations to come...

Sorry a slightly caustic post - but who wouldnt get pissed off with America if they talk like this?

Few People I would like to meet

I would/would have liked to meet the following people before I die (or they die):

a. Nelson Mandela - reason being obvious. When I went to South Africa I felt like seeking an appointment with him but with the likes of Chelsea Clinton vying for his attention I figured I would fall very very below in his priority

b. Sonia Gandhi - It would be interesting meet her personally and figure out how she is in real life. Does she really feel "Indian" or is this all a show?

c. Richard Branson - I would really love to meet him to understand how to be rich being so crazy... what I like about him is that he has no problems being himself in public also..

d. Bill Clinton - his charisma really draws you to him. I want to meet him and I am sure even the 5 lines that he speaks with me will make me learn so much in life

e. My Grandmother: From all perspective she was a very courageous, bold and independent woman. She died when I was one year old. A woman who dared to go for her medicine in the 1930s and was capable enough to take care of her family, husband and her career at the same time. If she were alive, am sure I would have been great friends with her.

f. Dalai Lama - just want to see if he really can induce peace in you... to understand whether he really practises what he preaches...

g. Margaret Thatcher - obviously cos in my eyes she is the only woman politician who came up on her own merit... and successfully led her county for close to 15 years... commendable in any event

h. Golda Meir - yet again for the simple fact that she reached pinnacle of political power in a male dominated society... and to lead a country in a war situation is even more commendable.

i. Hitler - to ask him - what were you thinking?

j. Jinnah - to find out how he lives with the guilt of partioning the country... also ask him whether it is ironic that his descendants are still in India.... whether he would done things differently if he saw what came of Pakistan today....

k. Audery Hepburn - to learn how to be graceful from her

l. Nehru - most likely I would ask him whether he would have taken me in his cabinet... in my view he is the best thing that happened to India after independence.. ofcourse he didnt get everything right.. but he set the foundation for our economic development by concentrating on the sound foundations such as education, food security and government support for growth of industries and most importantly secularism

m. Santana - I would just want to see him play his guitar and perhaps take a few classes from him as well.

n. Karan Johar - ofcourse to have coffee with him! And perhaps I will also get to meet SRK. They are easily the best entertainers in this country. I think Karan Johar always has an interesting thing to say about anything.

When I was in my 10th standard somebody in a bid to insult me called me a "feminist"!... I remember recoiling with shock at that insult... wondering when did feminism become such a bad word...



I guess feminism has earned its own disrespect the same way NGOs have now been discredited... a lot of it is wellfounded .... but still does not digress from the fact that both movements are intended at bettering the lot of some weaker section of society or remedying a social evil.....



I am not certain I am a hardcore feminist... I know I am an advocate for womens rights and will be the first one to argue (after all who cant?) against any MCP.... but sometimes I look at others and realise that I am sooo far behind in my "evolution".... they are way ahead in their concepts while I am still taking baby steps....

Anyways my basic concept is you should treat people well... and people include women as well... a job is not lesser because you earn lesser... so a woman who looks after the home should also be given equal position in society.... development of society is actually hinged on the few years that the mother gives to the child..... and you cant value that in terms of money....

my feminist leanings have never been popular... and nowadays I have considerably lessened my arguments against such discrimination at home.... I feel it gets you nowhere... nobody is going to change overnite and you might as well not get crucified doing it.... just live your life.... and do what you have to do... afterall nobody will judge you once you are successful at whatever you are doing!