Gurgaon Shops review - Big Bazaar, Spencer's, Bags n More

Monthly grocery shopping is a 4 hour pilgrimage that one dreads. However, it has to be gone through. Usually, i take my son and go to Spencer's. Its a pleasant experience and the store is well designed.
Yesterday, however, one made the mistake of going o Big bazaar in Sahara Mall. The experience was bad, the prices were higher, and in general, the decision was way less than optimal.

During Feb, we bought a bag from Bags n More - Ambience Mall. The handle broke in 2 weeks flat! My Lajpat Nagar bags last much longer than that - at least a few months at a time!

There, review of shops completed.

जुस्तजू जिस की थी - उमराव जान अदा

जुस्तजू जिस की थी उस को तो न पाया हम ने
इस बहाने से मगर देख ली दुनिया हमने

तुझ को रुसवा न किया, खुद भी पशेमा न हुए,
इश्क की रस्म को इस तरह निभाया हमने

कब मिली थी, कहाँ बिछड़ी थी, हमें याद नहीं
ज़िन्दगी तुझ को तो बस ख्वाब में देखा हमने

अदा और सुनाये भी तो क्या हाल अपना
उम्र का लम्बा सफ़र तै किया तनहा हमने

Translation not possible.

Faces of steel
cannot shed a tear
and that
is the misfortune
of faces of steel.

A tear
on a face of porcelain
does not betray
the sadness within
It only
enhances the beauty
of the porcelain
And that
is the misfortune
of the porcelain face.

Faces of tender clay
disintegrate
under the weight of
salty tears
And that
is the misfortune
of tender, unbaked clay.

खालीपन

ये खालीपन
धुंध सा है...
चारों ओर से ढक लेता है
कुछ भी नज़र नहीं आता
किसी का साथ नहीं
हंसी की धुप
से छंट जाता है
ज़रा देर
गर्म, मुलायम बातों से
गायब हो जाता है

अकेलेपन की ठंडी, रूखी सर्दी में
जैसे धुंध
वैसे
ये खालीपन॥
धुंध सा लगता है
ये खालीपन

A perspective on roles of Indian Women

This post is as an entry for the Indus ladies contest of the same name.

Roles? Did you really just say Roles?

This blogger has only one perspective on that: One day, when i was a child, my Grandfather asked me, "So, how many colors are there in all?" Super confident, i looked inside my crayon box and replied, "There are 12 colors in the world."
But there aren't 12 colors in the world. There are infinite. Just like the number of "roles" played by women - Indian or otherwise.

Enough said.

Through all those roles, only this i do know: A thousand men make an army. It takes a woman to make a home.

I tag 3 of my favorite people:
1. Mampi
2. nm
3. Chiya

For Esha

Today, do your good deed for the month.. we really need your help…

1. Find a blind school near you.
2. Make a visit – ask the children what they want to hear in audio books. Choose only 5-6 enthu bachchas. (interested children)
3. Order online, a set of mp3 players and micro SD cards. (Or ask us, and we will tell you where to get them cheapest)
4. Use your computer to download files from our central library into the SD cards.
5. Distribute their audio book libraries to the children in the blind school.
6. Go back in a month to see if they have heard everything they had asked for. If they have, ask them what else they want, and if they havent, give the mp3 player and the SD card to another child who might use it.
7. Share the experience and the feedback with us so that we can improve the program for others..

Alone, it will take esha a year or more to reach all the blind schools… with your help, we can reach different parts of the country very quickly. Alone, Esha will need 45 lakhs to cover the country. Together, it is only 2-3 thousand per person. We can afford that much. Go on, do it please..

At the very least, please share this post on your blog, facebook, twitter and among your friends.. you never know who may be looking for their good deed of the month..

When we bring light to others, it has a way of reflecting from our eyes…

PS: esha can be contacted at eshabraille@gmail.com.

Premchand is important

Kalidasa is called the Bard of India. What Shakespeare did to English and Kalidasa did to Sanskrit, Premchand did to Hindi - the use of the language itself. To use the very language to say something effectively, to bring out the beauty of the language, and to cover difficult subjects with ease, beauty and humour. That is Premchand. The more one reads him, the more one loves him.

For the generation that thinks that only new authors, new books and new songs are relevant to us; That old songs, old books and old authors are for the "old" people - i invite you, personally, to sample Premchand.

You will not find the writing dated. The reason the Bard is not dated is that human emotions remain the same. We find new words for them, that's all. Our metaphors might change but our emotions are absolutes.

It is important for all children to read Premchand - there is no better knower of the child's heart in popular Hindi fiction.

The next question is, where does one get Premchand?
Print: Diamond Publications has a very affordable set of Premchand books. Mansarovar(his 8 volume compilation of short stories) is priced at INR 75 per volume.

Audio: Please see the Esha site. We have compiled about 66 Premchand stories in Audio. You can also google for Premchand stories audio and get them at other sites. The advantage of audio is that even if you can't read Hindi, you can hear the story and enjoy it.

Video: DD has a series called "Tehreer" based on Premchand's stories. Please buy it. Its an investment worth making. especially for children, this is probably the best way to introduce them to Premchand.

What are your favorite Premchand stories/ novels? I loved Bade Bhai Sahab - its hilarious.

Top of mind news this week

Every week, day, minute even, we can have as many news assail our senses as we want.

Most of them do not stay in mind for longer than 5 minutes. And some of them stick. For each of us, the news that stick are different. This week, i was thinking about all the things that keep going on in the mind... for me, it was: (the part after the hyphen is my brief perspective on the subject)

• The Chinese Invasion - Why isnt there a BIG hue and cry all over the country about this?

• Delhi's Road Rage case - One sec, Wilson hit Agarwal, Wilson took hold of the steering wheel, and Wilson got under that car because of what he was doing. And Agarwal should be punished? For once, the aggressor paid the price of aggression. I was so mad that the newspaper did a story on the Wilson family. If anyone is a victim, it is Agarwal. When someone brushes your car, even bangs it, lets say, the right thing to do is to lodge a police complaint, then call your insurance. you do NOT go and hit the other person, then, when he is trying to get away from you instead of responding to your aggression, you go and block his steering wheel. And just because you die in the accident that is caused by your obduracy in sticking to the steering wheel even when the car starts moving, suddenly, you are the victim? This does not make sense at all. We have to start by admitting that though he is dead, he was the aggressor in this case. But you know what will happen? Tomorrow morning, all the news stories will say that Wilson was not aggressive, that Agarwal deliberately banged (as against brushed in today's reports) Wilson's car, that Agarwal came out to hit Wilson, that Wilson was trying to get away when Agarwal mowed him down. Bet on it. And suddenly, the case will turn on its head.

• The lady who stabbed a Bihar MLA to death : He harassed her for 3 years. She complained. Obviously, it led nowhere. So she did what the State ought to have done in the first place. You go Woman! This is an important case because Authority needs to realize that it's a dog where the bark must necessarily be worse than the bite. It should not need to bite. Because, quite simply, it does not have the werewithal to bite. In pure preponderance, the minority must always rule the majority, and brute force, as Bengal and Orissa have shown us, cannot get us anywhere. When you force people to take justice for themselves, they are one step away from your collar. In this case, she reached the collar all right. The others must take this warning. Is it a surprise that in the days that followed, MLAs accused of rape have been quickly arrested?
  

So, what were your top of mind news this week?

India's sovereignty may not last long

Some time ago, i wrote that if we do not do farm sector reform urgently, food prices will spiral out of control. At that time, the thought was hilarious. Today, starvation will soon be a reality for quite a few poor people. Food has, quite simply, gone out of reach.

Which is why, one is forced to write this post today. India has been actively ignoring 2 vital sectors - Agriculture and Defence. These sectors are not just any 2 sectors for a country. They are the deal breakers for the very existence of a country. Armies have laid seige to ensure that the other side runs out of food, and is therefore forced to surrender, and the importance of a strong defence mechanism to preserve the sovereignty of the country cannot be overrated . Even more than a strong foreign minister, we need a strong defence minister.

Here is what is not right:
1. Salaries and Emoluments - Parliamentarians and bureucrats get raises for doing no work at all. Defence raises (and lack thereof) deserve a separate article.

2. Working conditions: Sometime, whenever you have the time, please go to a field location and see the working conditions there - of the jawans and the officers. Enough said.

3. Equipment: Our equipment is dated and not as well maintained as it needs to be. Don't trust me. File an RTI to check:
A. What was the equipment delivered and ordered in 2010?
B. What is the budget outlay for defence upgrades ?
C. What is our procurement process and criteria?

4. RnD: How much indigenous stuff have we developed? If we can develop our space program internally, why cant we do defence equipment in India?

But to me, the biggest and the strongest threat to India's defence mechanism, after the official apathy, is this:

5. Corruption in the ranks. No matter what we do, no matter how much we build, unless every single instance of corruption gets exemplary punishment, and unless integrity is paramount again, we cannot hope to have a defence force that is impenetrable. Or even, capable. Sirajuddin's defeat is only one of the many, many instances when a country was let down by pure greed and corrpution. Of course, the low salaries and poor lifestyle does not make things easier.

China has been encroaching on indian territory in Arunachal and Ladakh. Bangladesh sends more illegal immigrants to India than we can count. And there is no large scale hue and cry in this country? If we want sovereignty, we must keep watching out. Or pay the price.