Dedicated to Twisted DNA's post

This post is dedicated to TDNA’s latest post.

Course: Husbands/ BFs/Something in between 101.
Course Duration: All your life, or till divorce do us apart.. or …

Chapter 1:

When you say: “ How was your day?”
You mean: “Talk to me. Give me more eyeball time than you give to that 30 second TV ad”
What you expect: Him to turn to you, talk about his day and ask about yours.
What you get: “uhhh…. Ok. Pass the beer please” with eyes glued to the TV ad yet.
What you should expect: You should not ask the question. You should not ask for more eyeball time than the TV commercial. He doesn’t give a damn about your day, or his.

When you say: “Hey, you want to watch a movie tonight? Something light?”
You mean: “I am sick of sitting in the same place year after year. Can I see what someplace outside looks like? I will even see a senseless flick if it means getting out of this hole.
What you expect: “Sure. Whatever you want baby.”
What you get: Depending on how miserly he really is, either “Yes, great. How about Star Wars 3?” or “Awww cmon! I want to snuggle into you. Lets order a flick and watch it at home.”
What you should expect: Nothing. You should simply tell him “I am going out for a movie. See you around.”


When you say : “What should I wear for tonight’s party? The blue dress I wore last Sunday or the red dress the Sunday before?”
You mean: “I have worn them both before. I need a new dress."
What you expect: “How can you repeat a dress within a fortnight? Pick up some accessories and we’ll get u a dress on the way.”
What you get: “Whatever baby. They all look nice on you.” Or “Can’t u even pick your own clothes?”
What you should expect: Wear a dress of your choice. Make sure it has a neck low enough to turn other necks at the do. Enjoy the attention. Your man may not remember your dresses. Other people will.

Disclaimer: I do not endorse gender based stereotypes(or any other stereotypes).

Words
are holy silences
Raped.

Silences
are words
Shot dead.

A tag, and a quiz

Mathew, one of my favorite writers on the blog world, has passed on a tag. Here it comes:

The Tag
Two questions from the past, present and future. Answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere.

Yesterday
Your oldest memories...
Playing with my brother on our terrace. We were both less than 5 years of age.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was working .. probably one of the best work places of my life. I was friends with Shraddha and Sandhya... easily the most amazing people I have ever known.. at work, or otherwise. November 1998.. oh, and working my heart out for CAT!

Today
In office
What does one do in office? ;-)

Tomorrow
What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?
Fighting with and worrying over a 15 year old son..reading books, and doing a lot more work for Esha. Still employed (hopefully).

If you build a time capsule what would it contain?
Nothing. What we need for tomorrow we carry in our hearts.

I tag: If you have not already done this, you are tagged. :-) (As usual, i m one of the last to get tagged)

The Quiz
If you think you know a little about Indian folk arts and crafts, here is a quiz created on braingle - my current favorite place for puzzles and trivia.
Indian Folk Crafts
Tell me what you think!

Assam Blasts and more..

Is mass export of population a real problem in Bangladesh ? Yes. We are already surrounded by Bangladeshi migrant labor. There are just so many of them, that there are no local workers left where I live. In effect, we have a situation where all other ethnic classes have been driven out of work by the Bangladeshi migrants. If you have a policy of no migrant workers (as I did), do be prepared to do your own work.

The Guwahati blasts were the work of Bangladesh? For the last few decades, our politicians have been quietly importing Bangladeshis, making their documentation regular, and ensuring that they get the votes in lieu of this “meharbani”. Ditto for ULFA. They have received help in money and material long enough to now be indebted, not in a positive way. It is ok for a Bangladeshi to come and take your job, but not ok for a UPite or a Bihari? What was the ULFA thinking while allowing the mass infiltration? I have never kept much store in the ideological strength of the ULFA. But this is dumb, even for them.

It is the same for India. Wherever you go, you find Indians. Nothing wrong with that in principle. The problem is that we have made population a staple export! And we are doing nothing within the country to contain the population growth.

In a united, open world, people will go from one region to the other to some degree. The problem only arises if the sole, or main contribution of a state becomes its population, and the state is unable to create employment opportunities to match the growth in population, and is unable to do anything in the area of population control.

That is what is wrong with India and Bangladesh. Too many people, too few resources, and things like ethnicity, language, religion become determinants of who should receive the bounty.

Happy Diwali/ शुभ दीपावली

Diwali prayer:
Let us, this year, light up a life,
Let us, this year, cleanse the within
Let us, this year, distribute the sweetmeats of kind words and RAKs(Random Acts of Kindness)..
Happy Diwali.. now, and forver...

इस साल की प्रार्थना :
इस साल, एक जीवन मे ज्योति ला पाएं,
इस साल, अंतर्मन को साफ़ करें॥
इस साल, मीठे बांटें शब्द, और कुछ अच्छे कर्म
दीपावली की शुभकामना, और सारे साल की प्रार्थना
शुभ दीपावली !!

And this here, is something that someone else wrote, and it says what I want to say:
एक अन्तर मन है, जिस का बढ़ना ज़रूरी है,
एक अन्तर दूरी है, जिस का घटना ज़रूरी है।

Hand grenade

You always knew, did you not
That you were dealing
Not with a woman
But with a hand grenade
When you pull out the plug,
You must also, throw it away..
You pried the plug loose,
But did not
Follow
The rule of the hand grenade
I exploded
Right there, in your hands..
And you ...too…
You always knew, did you not,
That we could both get annihilated?

A tag

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.
RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.
I was tagged by Itchie.

1. If your lover betrayed you what would your reaction be?
Before marriage:
Get a strong urge to physically slap him, take all my stuff, throw his at him physically, and tell him to go to hell. In the next hour, his id would be blocked on all my messangers, his numbers deleted from all my phones and contact lists. And I'd be very likely to never get in tuch with him again, no matter how much it hurts.

After Marriage:
I'd first get personal counseling to get over the initial reaction, then finalise the terms of the divorce. Will also introspect what led to this and how things can be better in the next marriage.

After a child:
First get a personal counseling session to get over the inital reaction, then ask if he wants to pay maintenance or go for marital counseling to save the marriage contract.

2. If you have a dream come true, what would it be?
Far too many dreams.. just one? A decent teaching position in a prestigious mountains based school, where my child grows up among the moutains and we do not have to worry abt the money.

3. If you could, whose butt would you like to kick?
Just one again?? Not possible to name just one.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Buy a HUGE house in the mountains, invest the rest, and take a small luxury tour. The investment should be such that i get a decent monthly income every month for the rest of my life.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
bad idea.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Both, preferably with the same person.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
Why wait? Can waiting induce love in the other person? He's either there or not there.

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Nothing. its about my liking them, not about them liking me back.

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
I already do - employment for the visually disabled.

10. Do you lie?
Not unless its really necessary. And I am a bad liar.

11. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
Nowhere. Still around, still blogging, and hopefully with a 11 year old son.

12. What’s your fear?
Ghosts.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Nice. Good writer. Intelligent as hell.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Not poor. Single, rich and feeling gud abt life, with or without a man as arm candy.

15. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
The question should be - who will pick me?

16. Would you give all in a relationship?
No. Unless he is really nice.

17. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
No. Forgive will happen, forget will not.

18. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Either a good relationship or none.

19. Your all time favourite song. Only ONE.
Only one? That's not fair. Thankfully i have one. Bichhade sabhi baari baari.. Guru Dutt.

20. I tag:
Almost everyone i know has been tagged to do this already and they have all given brilliant answers. If you still havent been tagged, pls take this up. Its gud fun for introspection.

Ironical, no? - On Gandhi Jayanti National Holiday

MK Gandhi was a man who made multi tasking a habit, who taught us "Work is Worship"(among other things, of course)
A man who read while he ate, and held strategy meetings with evening walks.. and HIS birthday is supposed to be a Forced Holiday?? What a way to show how well we remember his principles!

3 posts in one - a few days late

These posts should have come some time ago. But my head was elsewhere then...(as you know).

Disclaimer: All the poetry in this post is NOT written by me. It is only loved by me.
Post 1 - My answer to terrorism
अपने अपने घरों से निकलें , और फिर ये इकरार करें
हाथ पकड़ कर एक दूसरे का, आग का दरिया पार करें...

We fight
The fear in our hearts
And then
The ones who try to create it.

हंगामा कितना ही कर जाता है,
आख़िरकार सिकंदर भी मर जाता है॥

Post 2 - The NewsPaper Bag Project
One of my all time favorite bloggers - Z, has this link on her blog - to a newspaper bag project being run by Ro, her son. I am linking here, not just for her, but also because i really, really love newspaper bags. They are good recycling, and lots of fun to make, esp. with kids at home.. do try it.. HERE.

Post 3 - The Blogging Friends Forever Award
~nm gave me this award.. I am soooo overwhelmed!! Thank you ever so much. That this post should come on my last day in this location is another cute coincidence..





I now need to pass this on to 3 more people, but after a very frustrating half hour, am nowhere close to only 3 names . So here it goes, to the village that i have come to know here.. to all the friends who make Sex and the City kind of friendship feel real.. to everyone who has been here... be here forever. For Ever. That's such a nice word. Holds much hope...