Getting ready to marry!

"It is ok ma. Sari ok. I will buy that! Ya sure, it looks good! Believe me, it really is. Sari now keep the phone down, I will call you back". My friend replied this for the seventh time after his wife had called him to know about the purchase he had done for her. I stood there wondering what the problem was all about. May be, next time when Obama visits India he had promised to visit her house, I thought.

Nalla velai tower poiruchu( Thank heavens tower went off), he turned back to me. I could see his radiant face. 'M' was the guy who got married first in our class. I never thought cell phone towers can bring a man so much peace. After all he has the most experience in class. Aduthu(next) I will buy some thing for my sister, he said. So the entire process started again. What have you bought for your sister? The call came again! Is it the same as mine? Same colour? Orey(same) design ah? Try some thing new na? So after we selected a kurta, the call came again. Now! Which of the two you have bought is better? My friend of course is experienced! Unaku vaanginathu thaan ma( the one I bought for you only), he replied. Then ok! Is this kurta only or chuddidhar? I almost had a heart attack! I thought both are the same. So, unashamedly we asked the shop keeper and he said, pants you will ve to buy separately. Tk Tk! aap kya chaaiye, he asked? Pants or legumes? Legume ah, I thought they were plants.  Then one other guy clarified it as leggin! Leggin? Then where do they put the pants? In hands? I was confused! After seeing them both and after another phone call we are finished with one shop.

Now to buy something for my daughter, he said! By now I was almost fainting. Really thankful that his daughter is only 2 years old and yet to learn to operate a mobile. We went to a small ornaments shop. So we started off with ear rings, the smaller ones and slowly the larger ones for the mother, then to bangles of different colours, then to bracelets, anklets, some clips for hair; some for pony tails, some for long hairs, some for short hairs, some for the back side of the hair and some for the scalp portion, some nail art, hair bands and some for the eye brow and some for the fore head and every thing in the same colour! My eyes were almost coming out, when I heard my friend say, " nalla velai phone varalai"( thank heavens the call did not come).

What next, I asked my friend! Should buy some thing for Appa he said and added, it is ok, last year I bought him a watch and it is still running.

So we decided on watching Lincoln, even as he was thanking that the shopping got over very fast. We had spent only 3 hours in those two shops he said. May be, last time he took his wife also, I thought!

As soon as the movie started I dozed off after a tired days work( I mean the shopping). Suddenly, my friend woke me up and said, you can be the president of America, but you have to answer your wife! In the intense moments of his life, when he was fighting to pass the greatest legislation of all times to abolish slavery, Lincoln constantly answered his wife's wifesh questions with similar aplomb. May be that is what made him the man he was!

Do you think I'm getting ready to tie the knot?

Prevention better than cure!

We should kill himm. There is no point in giving him life imprisonment shouted my cousin! I could see the anger in her eye; that was the only moment in the entire conversation that she lost her cool. How can they do something so dastardly to a young girl; a girl only 23 years of age. Yes, we were talking about the brutal rape and murder that shook the nation.

So, the great Indian middle class (including me and my cousin) has decided to save the country from such beasts and the first step is to wipe that away! Logical! I mean, let us just finish him off and there is at least one man lesser to worry about. 

But never did we talk about where that guy, I mean that beast, came from. Where he had his schooling? Why he became so violent? Was not he born a small innocent child like my sisters son I so much adore? Never did we talk about how the parents of that beast( should I call him a man?) feel. Never did we talk about, how and why, in the first place did he do such an horrendous thing.

I'm still confused whether I should call him a man. But surely he once was! He was surely once that little kid for whom love meant mom. Surely, he had a sister whom he adored. May be, once he went to school and was taught to be good.

Then, where did he go wrong? Some thing along the journey of life has changed him to become the animal that he now has become. A journey, which had so many interventions, lot of heartbreaks, sadness and misery; A journey which society sure did play a role in. Is that where it went wrong? Was there some thing the society could have done to show him the way?

May be the society got it all wrong! And may be the society includes you and me; and may be, yes, may be, we could have prevented it at the start instead of killing him at the end!

And as always prevention is better than cure!

Dear sachin, time to relive you

I knew this day is coming. But this has hit me hard. It has suddenly made me realize im growing old too. Well, we grew up watching him bat, did nt we? And so it is time to relive him; relive those moments, moments which had been so much part of our lives.

Do you remember the days when we started to watch cricket? almost 20 long years ago. India won and lost with Sachin those days. The 1996 world cup showed the reality of the previous generation. The stumping of Mark Waugh when he was lighting up the mumbai sky, and the hundred in Delhi against Sri Lanka going in vain are fresh in our minds.And who can forget that fateful day when a sachin misjudged run led us to the catastrophe in the world cup semi final. We cried too!

Then, holding the cricket bat in one hand, we practiced those straight drives, of course in our dreams. How can we forget that innings in Chennai against Pakistan when he clutched his back and almost led India to an improbable victory. We felt bad for him too! May be he deserved to be born in Australia.

And then Sharjah happened. Tendulkar was dismantling Warne, Fleming, Kasprovicz as if he is playing some kids in a mumbai street corner.The desert storm, the birthday hundred and a ballistic Tony Grieg shouting Whaddaplayya. It imprints itself in our hearts.

We practiced our nod to the bowler, and that small leg shake when we faced our school bowlers.We pumped our fist when Henry Olango was thrashed to all corners of the ground.

2003 world cup! how can we forget what happened then. Those ten days were scintillating. The majestic six of the Andrew Caddick, those sparkling cover drive of Wasim Akram of the first ball of the chase and that huge six of Shoaib Akthar. Well, you tube has showed them a lakh times, has n't it?

Life suddenly became busy with college and new friends. Sachin was still at his craft. Those booming straight drives of brett lee helped us live in the present. Then Dhoni and T20 happened. Indian cricket was never the same again. Still, Sachin was all we waited for. His wicket was the one which gave us heartbreaks.

New jobs happened and life was never the same again; Except ofcourse Sachin. That 175 against Australia in Hyderabad was out of the world, and we knew right away that this man was sent from god just to do this. Who can forget the first double hundred in one dayers against an attack led by a steaming Steyn.

And finally the world cup happened. A hundred in Bangalore, a hundred in Nagpur, that heart wrenching fifty where we suffered palpitations in Mohali and then the eruption in Mumbai. Virat Kohli reflecting what we thought. You remember having tears on your cheeks.

Are you the kid from the 80s or the 90s? or Are you the straddler having one feet in both decades? You are the lucky ones. Cherish the memories and relive them. Life will never be the same again.

I'm back!

May be I became a bear, and went in to hibernation! May be I was too busy going around. Hey, ya! I went to shimla and manali for a trip, came back home and went to the much loved north east. As usual enjoyed every bit of going around Meghalaya and Assam. Did I tell you how cherrapunje looked? It was divine! Then came back home only to embark on another sojourn to Dehradun and mussoorie enroute Delhi. The day I landed in Sivakasi my friends were ready for the local sight seeing trip. I mean Tamil Nadu sight seeing. Well, tamil nadu is no Meghalaya but a 1000 km road trip for 4 days with good friends is always fun. Now isn't all my travel enough reason for not writting?

Now I am back to my books. Almost! Today I sat with the book for some time. Life moves on you see! The Christmas season is back and so is the singing. Last week we sang hallelujah chorus in our choir and how majestic a song was that!

By now you would have found out I have nothing to write here and also no better job than to write. Just came back to my blogosphere to see how it is and how it feels to write. It is one great feeling to know that there are people who read even me. May be they are just friends and families who want to read my mind, or may be they, very much like me, have no better job to do. But you know what, I'm being read! And that is enough reason for me to come back here. Even otherwise, I love writting; writting even non sense.

So, ya! I'm well and truly back!

What if Oprah Winfrey think so?

Oprah Winfrey sucks; I mean, how can she say that most Indians eat with hands still. She is rude, she is snobbish, arrogant, pretentious......and the rest of the words are censored (As i ve not found out their meanings yet). Alright, i will give the background of what happened, for those of you, who don't have as much time to waste as i do;

Oprah winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist (Wiki's definition of her). During her visit to India she commented, rather obnoxiously(why should this word come here?) that Indians still use hands to eat. This has become the latest fodder for the starving media, that even Anna Hazare and his antics have taken a back seat.

Two days ago, i read an article from a friend about how Americans still ask insane questions like, "Do you travel in a bullock cart?", "Do you study under moon light?", "Do you still live with the same husband?"; You get the drift right? Questions, thinking that we live in the times of snake charmers. My friend looked hurt, and there are many who has commented on that article, who are deeply hurt too!

My question is, what if? what if Oprah winfrey thinks we eat with hands? Let her even think we eat using our legs. What if, Americans think we don't understand English? what if American's think we are still in the palaeolithic age? Is it going to change the way we live? Or  will it at least change the way they think? even if, so what?

I mean, why should we be hurt if some American, sitting some where, thinks some non sense, about our country? If you think some things need to be changed in our country, jolly good change them; Else just shut up! Whining about what others think, worse still, using filthy language to describe them, does not reflect us in good light! 


And by the way who is Oprah Winfrey after all?

 

The Anna Rhetoric!

The tricolour will be out again; The name 'Gandhi' will be heard again (When i was in school that happened once a year on october 2nd); Passionate Indians will have their bloods boil; I'm Anna, I'm India voice (Or is it a noice?) will be heard again; Saintly Indian's biggest enemy 'The politicians' will be targeted and that horrible word 'corruption' will become Arnab Goswami's favourite word again.
 
No, No, No, please! don't eat anything. An old man in his 70s is fasting, why can't you fast? fast for the country? If not you, then who? If not now, when? This is the second revolution, and we will surely save the country from the money sucking politicians. Lokpal! Lokpal will do wonders. Lokpal, will make the country clean. Lokpal, will make sure that the next generation will search the oxford dictionary to get corruption's meaning. Ah, the rhetoric!

Sorry for not making any sense. The movement has not made any sense to me, then, how can you expect me to make any sense?

This entire thing looks so very vague to me. I mean, how can one lakh Indians who have copied in exams, broken queue's to get first, given bribe's to escape traffic police, paid money to buy college seats, Cheat in every other way in our daily works for every single penny, want their leaders to be saints? 

Good for a movement to have brought the disease of corruption on to the centre stage. But for the disease to be eradicated, lokpal is not the solution. The solution is you and me. For you and me to stop giving bribe's, to stop cheating in taxes, to stop showing wrong bills to get claims, to stop lying to bosses;

Till that happens, singing Vande maataram and swinging Indian flags wildly can give goose bumps; but cannot stop politicians (Our leaders) from becoming corrupt

The world of children!

"Then I forgot the colour because I don't know what colour the green colour is! It has to be green, then it is not green; it is possibly red, yet it is not red; it is possibly yelllaau, it is yellaau" said my sister's son explaining the star wars. His eyes were filled with wonder! " what is there to laugh about" he admonished his mother. For him, being taped explaining star wars is a seriously serious issue. Welcome to the serious world of kids.

Then there was this 5 year old kid of one other cousin who was seriously confused on how to find his girl, just like the way his dad has found his mom, in a world so full of girls? Ha, there was this girl all of five years who asked her mom, why she is not wearing her Thaali? And yes of course, the next question followed, "what if some uncle marry you"? Jeez! Kids and their world of questions!

Did I tell you about my cousins children who comes once a year from Dubai? And did I say they jump up and down for five full minutes just at the sight of me. They just jump without their own knowledge. I mean, they are just happy, plain and simple! They run around the house and I run behind them, and it will be another half an hour before the excitement settles down. Wow! The exciting world of kids!

I was once telling a story to my favourite kid. "Little johnny got up, aaaannnndddd walked to the dooooorrrrrrr and opennnnnnedddddd the dooooorrrrrr"; His mouth wide open and his eyes filled with wonder, little O, listened with rapt attention. The wonder filled world of children!

Why was I in such a hurry to grow up? If only I had known then, the world of kids!