Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Here It Is..

Hi People..

It sure has been informative.. the count is 15 people think I am a guy and 10 people think I was born a girl(and haven’t had a sex change operation yet).

The general stuff is here.. the rest of the answers are either in response to your comment on the previous post, or on your own blog..i’ve answered every single guess.. and I’m really grateful for your time and your patience.. Thank You!!!

Whatever comes under this is less important than the one line that I most identify with. It comes from Anne Frank: I am a bundle of contradictions!

And yes.. do tell me if this exercise made u rethink the way we take our stereotypes for granted.. though this exercise appears to be about me.. it was actually about you.. and about all our stereotypes.. you can think of me as the guniea pig used for this simple experiment.. ENJOI!!!!
And don’t forget to write in what you thought!!

Age – 29.5 years.. will be 30 soon .. L

Location: We have a house in Delhi, but work will keep me in Mumbai for a few months.

Passions: Poetry, Poetry, Poetry… new Indian poetry, preferably in an Indian language.. this country is pretty much my passion too…

Addictions: Blogging and Ryzing and Scrabble and Reading and .. CHOCOLATES!!

Nature: (Very) Sensitive. Well, I can’t stop laughing when I start. Am not too friendly,and don’t mind being called a geek… because am convinced of being one! J

Marital Status – Happily married for over 3 years now… (Touch Wood!!!)

Am interested in reading up the news.. habit picked up from granddad.. then dad.. (m a lot like my dad btw) .. and very interested in social issues around me.. blame my idealism!

And now for the gender… I was born a……











Baby Girl!!!

Friday, August 25, 2006

You're Tagged!

Everyone who comes to this blog is now tagged.. in addition to people who are in the right bar.

What do you think my age and gender is?

And, if you want to make it more interesting: What else do you know about me from the blog?

The tag is obviously not open to people who know me personally... unless they want to tell me they've discovered my alter ego.. :-)

This blog was started anonymously because I did not want to carry the baggage of my stereotypes. If those stereotypes do not colour your view, what do you see?

PS: Don't belive Wriju's comment.. thats my alter ego according to him!!
He was good enough to spoil the party with that awfully misplaced first comment.. though Nicaragua does sound like a good place to be!!

Re. whether your guesses are right or wrong.. obviously I'll tell u in my next post!!!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

On the Rat Race...

The one that some of us fight every day in office, gunning for that next raise, that next promotion etc... i wrote myself this prescription some years ago.. it seems to have cured at least one person :-)

We jump
from emptiness
to emptiness

All the time
believing
that we cross milestones
while it is
just
another boulder really
In a sea of boulders

No matter how many
you skip over,
you're not getting
anywhere.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Another Long Post

I did not intend to write on the cola controversy, primarily because the public memory is, unfortunately, so short.
But the US warning to India, that this cola ban will impact US investment in India, really got the blood boiling.
Read about the threat here:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1891049.cms
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4789615.stm

It took a lot of research to come out with this, and you are welcome to point out if I am wrong anywhere. My memory was not so short after the last controversy and I have religiously monitored reports of what Coke is doing with its neighborhood and the water in particular.

Therefore, Mr. President and the general population of the US:
Coca Cola and Pepsi have the following modus operandi:

1. The Govt. of India notifies certain areas, which cannot support agriculture or other traditional vocations for local people, as "Backward" areas. Companies investing in manufacturing and other job creating ventures in these zones are given tax sops and other benefits.
2. Companies like Coke create factories in these backward area zones(remember the tax sops and the easy access to REALLY cheap labour). Then, they draw whatever little water is available in the area, practically drying up the ground water and bringing the farmers to unmitigated doom.
3. Farmers are given no assisstance, but Coca Cola Company gets to use the water whether there is any for the locals or not.
Rain or no rain, there is water for Coke:www.indiatogether.org/2005/may/env-plachmada.htm

4. After using the water, the toxic waste is released by the company IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD, thereby poisoning the scarce ground water.

5. Afterwards, when the same ground water is used by the cola company, it is obviously polluted and then the company blames the groundwater for the pollution in the drinks and asks the
governments to clean up their groundwater act first.

Local communities do not like to dry up. They also do not like to be the local garbage can.

Read the following articles for more:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=7508

www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2004/Brochure.pdf

www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10641

www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_c/coca-cola_india/20051122_equity.htm

And now, re. the threat:
A. Your companies have not come to India for charity. Each one of those companies have done extensive soil testing of their own, and have gone where they liked best - some have gone to the Phillipenes, some to Indonesia/Malaysia, the majority to China, and some to India. Make no mistake. No one is doing India any favor. Not one of those companies.

B. Your FIIs have been swinging the Indian Stock Exchange for at least a year now.. a manipulation that is so evident even to novices. In the process, they have obviously been making a lot of money. The same, however, cannot be said of the individual small investor in India.

Be my guest, do take back all the "investment" that you have so "generously" given to India, and get the hell out of this country.

We would like to get rid of the toxic waste companies that treat India like the global supplier of cheap labour and the global toxic waste dump.

Guess what? India survived when you in your shining armour were not around.. and India can survive again.. without the McDonald's of the world.. and be more healthy... Thank you!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Come, Love,
Sit by the fire
that we lit
out of ourselves -
As the world dissolves
and we smile
at the shadows
it leaves behind..

People
Screaming
Like creatures
left out of Noah's Ark..
Not realising,
that there IS No Destination
except the one
on the shores of their hearts?

Where will they go
Who have not yet
Reached themselves?