Nice Matters Award

~nm just gave me a Nice Matters Award… the last time I got this award, it was for nice stuff on the blog, but this time, I m the one who’s nice, which is sooo much better! (BIG GRIN)

Time to pass on the award to more people:

The Thought Safari– A new blog that is totally mind blowing awesome!! Sure is a thought safari..
Z – For as long as I can remember(which is, since I started blogging), I have loved her blog and looked up to her. Respected her and loved her at the same time. Her intelligence amazes, and her eloquence delights. Reading Razor Blade of Life is a treat that one gives to oneself!
Twisted DNA – No prizes for guessing that this is my ROTFL and then RSM(Roll some more) space on the web.
Mathew – When I started reading this blog, it was funny and serious both. Now I just hold my tummy while reading the blog. At the end of it, one rolls the eyes and goes “Where do u get your ideas?” Living in Germany for some months(years?) is beneficial to your sense of humour. Apply for German visa en masse.
Aaina – As always, good, sturdy, logical writing. One does miss the creative writing(esp. the Munna bhai series) that used to happen on this blog. But its one of my all time favorites! I have been inspired more than once to write in hindi because of this blog.
So what happens next? Simple, these nice people create a link on their blogs and pass on the award to some other people.. and we create chains of nice people..

Wanted: A few Tree Planters

Oil Price hike, does not, by itself surprise anyone. What is all wrong, is the timing. The backdrop of all round soaring inflation and high food prices is hardly the perfect setting. But that is not my immediate worry. The next thing that might hit us soon, unrelenting and unmanageable, is a case of severe food shortage. We are staring into the face of a modern day drought.

It takes a few years for wrong macroeconomics to make its presence felt. A few decades at the most. Likewise, a wrong like this cannot be corrected through short term first aid measures. It takes a few years of great economic planning and execution to correct a situation as mammoth as this. In short, we need tree planters and not manicure shrub gardeners.

Therein, ladies and gentlemen, lies the problem. Our 5 year term democracy has many benefits. But there is one shortcoming. It does not encourage people to be tree planters. Everyone wants to make their 5 years look good. That creates manicure shrubbery that looks good on paper and in photographs. Even good minds that are a part of the current government have not been able to give serious thought where it is due(which is what heightens the frustration. One does not expect good macro economics from Advani. But a Montek Singh Ahluwalia or a Manmohan Singh not doing what they do best, is unforgivable)

Unfortunately, one only has the problem. No solutions.

Borrowing from Gulzar

Nargis
Earthquake in China
Serial Blasts in Jaipur (India)

रोज़ सुबह अखबार मेरे घर , खून से लथपथ आता है ॥
( I get a blood soaked newspaper every morning)

And on the sudden rains in Delhi, my favorite rain song, and my favorite lines

फिर से आइयो, बदरा बिदेसी, तेरे पंखों में मोती जडूंगी
तुझे मेरे काली कमली वाले की सौं

तेरे जाने की रुत, मैं जानती हू
मुड के आने की रीत है के नही,
काली बरखा से पूछूंगी जा के,
तेरे मन में भी प्रीत है के नहीं..

कच्ची पुलिया से, हो के गुज़रियो,
कच्ची पुलिया के, नारे मिलूंगी...

Kitty Party

We take that loneliness
From the yoke on our napes
And dilute it
With laughter
Tinged with
A slow poison

We giggle
While downing
The heady cocktail.

What got my goat?

The Times of India today(12th May) has a front page column news on an accident involving 6 Indian tourists in the US, and the news of 8 jawans dying in Kashmir is a 53 word report on P 14. Why do you expect anyone to die defending your borders if you cannot even give them basic recognition? And enough money to buy them food clothing and shelter? Enough respect to their family when they are dead? Enough arms to fight with? Enough equipment to keep them safe?

Jab We Met

It all started with an innocuous line in an email " Lets meet over coffee sometime." At 1130 hours. By 1700 hours, the coffee was happening over ice cream, and there was pure crackle in the air.

~nm has written about it really nicely here, but I love the sound of my voice and had to put it up too.

We met over coffee.. my first time of meeing a blogger.. Some things are just meant to be. That is why we try to meet some people and don’t end up meeting them over months, and we meet some people within a few hours of the first email exchanged with them.

The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose

http://www.pangeaday.org/
10th May, 23.30 IST (21.30 is the pre-show time at NCPA)

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.
Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.
The Pangea Day Event
Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.
The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person's eyes. Details on the Pangea Day films can be viewed here.
The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.Here's the info:Mumbai, IndiaNational Center for Performing ArtsNCPA Marg, Nariman PointMumbai 400 021, IndiaDoors and Pre-Show 9:30 PMPangea Day Globalcast 11:30 PMGeneral Admission tickets available at: http://pangeadaytickets.com/pa1.php?id=India

We Indians do not know our age.

Serious!

Till about 2 generations ago, few, if any, knew their age or the year of their birth. Large parts of the country still remember their birth as "It was some 3-4 days after the Poornima, in the season of spring." or "i was born the year we had the drought. My mother says there was no water for us." or simply, "Some year, at night. It was summers, my mother tells me."

I've been thinking of this - the lack of need to remember a birthday, a date and the year. What an awesome luxury!! You are old if you do not have your teeth any more. You are an adult if you start to do *ahem* adult things, and you are a child if you do not do hard labor in the fields. Simply put, when we remove that number, we remember our life by its REAL milestones - that I am a grandmother now, that my teeth have come, that i have started to lose hair, that it is now difficult to put hard labor in the fields.. the things that really matter.

When you do that, you can not hide behind a number to explain why you have cholesterol, why you cannot have any more children etc. Some months ago, there was this news item of a man who fathered a child at the reported age of 90. The mother of the child was then 45. How did she give birth to another child, in the middle of a village, at the age of 45? Simple, she had no idea that women are not supposed to give birth at 45. What's more, she did not know she was 45 and should be looking at menopause, not childbirth.

Having a number and a day next to our existence on earth is of great value. It helps us measure (and get a birth certificate). But doing away with that number has its advantages too.