Last week, I finished three books in a week - Veronica Decides to Die(Paulo Coelho), one Agatha Christie, and Karmbhoomi(Premchand) .
This week, it was 4 movies in 3 days - Jaaneman, Mixed Doubles(twice), Corporate (re-run, I've seen it earlier), and Dor(finally!) All 4 Hindi films.
And then there was Diwali!
One could obviously write reams on how wonderful the Diwali was.. but none of that would do any justice. Let's just say that this Diwali, we made some wonderful memories. Everything that was done was normal, like every Diwali.. but the memories feel very nice.. the painting of diyas, the making of sweets for prasad, the floral rangolis and the electrical lights outside the house.. everything! :-)
How was your Diwali?
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PS: For readers outside India, Diwali is arguably the biggest festival here in India.
This is the festival of lights. A lot of myths are associated with the festival, and they have all combined to give the festival several delightful rituals. You must see it sometime if you can!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
8 Random Things about me...
Neeramathalam tagged me...
So here goes - 8 random things about yours truly..
1. I can READ. My reading speed was 400-500 wpm before finishing Class X(that was bcs yours truly took the speed reading course in Class 8), and the reading habit has not quite left yet.
2. I love the color white and everything associated with it. This includes expensive white dresses, watches, platinum jewelry, sterling silver, diamonds, but does not include white cotton sheets that I am responsible for keeping white and starched.
3. Am hopelessly old fashioned and conservative. This means that I am conservative at my convenience and modern about your inconvenience!
4. I don't like to appear in a picture. EVER. (This is especially intended for readers who know me personally)
5. Value brevity. A LOT. love people who can fit a sentence into a word. Especially since I never can accomplish the feat!
6. I have the bestest brother in the world, who is also the best human being I have ever met. OK, and all my other relatives reading this.. forget it, none of my other relatives are in any danger of ever reading this.
7. have an impossibly low tolerance for pain. Especially physical pain. Which means you had better not be around when you let that snake loose on me. Or that cockroach. Or that safety pin prick.
8. This is a difficult tag bcs there is so little to say about self!! Seriously, ask me 10 random things about the world. The world is random!
At the end of this really confounding post, is the passing on of the tag(imagine a cheshire cat grin) to.. (imagine a bigger, more gleeful grin), 8 people .. To Zoe, Chiya, Deepa, Wriju, Aradhna, Twisted DNA, Trailady, Sophie.
And the first 8 visitors to this blog after putting up the post... you're tagged too!!!
ENJOY!!
So here goes - 8 random things about yours truly..
1. I can READ. My reading speed was 400-500 wpm before finishing Class X(that was bcs yours truly took the speed reading course in Class 8), and the reading habit has not quite left yet.
2. I love the color white and everything associated with it. This includes expensive white dresses, watches, platinum jewelry, sterling silver, diamonds, but does not include white cotton sheets that I am responsible for keeping white and starched.
3. Am hopelessly old fashioned and conservative. This means that I am conservative at my convenience and modern about your inconvenience!
4. I don't like to appear in a picture. EVER. (This is especially intended for readers who know me personally)
5. Value brevity. A LOT. love people who can fit a sentence into a word. Especially since I never can accomplish the feat!
6. I have the bestest brother in the world, who is also the best human being I have ever met. OK, and all my other relatives reading this.. forget it, none of my other relatives are in any danger of ever reading this.
7. have an impossibly low tolerance for pain. Especially physical pain. Which means you had better not be around when you let that snake loose on me. Or that cockroach. Or that safety pin prick.
8. This is a difficult tag bcs there is so little to say about self!! Seriously, ask me 10 random things about the world. The world is random!
At the end of this really confounding post, is the passing on of the tag(imagine a cheshire cat grin) to.. (imagine a bigger, more gleeful grin), 8 people .. To Zoe, Chiya, Deepa, Wriju, Aradhna, Twisted DNA, Trailady, Sophie.
And the first 8 visitors to this blog after putting up the post... you're tagged too!!!
ENJOY!!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
One More
If we are certain that the birth will be through a surgery, is it Ok to decide on a time and date of birth beforehand? That is like deciding the birth of a life, right? Do we have the right to decide when to marry, whom to marry and what to do with that marriage? Is it your right to decide what to study, where to work and when to stop working?
If you can decide all the small things in your life, and in other people’s lives, incl what time they should be born, and whether your next child should be born, then why can’t you decide on the biggest thing in your own life – when should it end?
Can the society that values my life so much, guarantee that I will not suffer from hunger or the pain of chemotherapy or the pain of a terminal illness? Can the society guarantee that I will not suffer from depression? Can the society guarantee that my life will be what I consider worth living? If it cannot do that, what right does the civil society have to prevent me from taking an important decision of life? And still call itself a free world? How can a world be free where people have no right to decide something as basic as this?
I am NOT saying that people should commit suicide. I am just saying that if a person decides to kill himself and acts on that decision, we have to remember that the person is going against the natural instinct. And that must be a VERY STRONG influence if it negates an inborn instinct. Eating is a natural instinct. Imagine what would make you want to not eat. Its that strong an influence.
A person already in enough pain to act against the natural instinct does not need criminal proceedings against himself. That will not restore his faith in life. He needs a society that enfolds him instantly in a lot of love, caring and acceptance. An eagerness to understand what happened, rather than a series of calls from the police station. What kind of society can penalise people who are already sad and expect them to still identify with it??
That is the most preposterous treatment of anything that I have ever seen!! Whoever made that law needs to explain how s/he expected to get a suicidal person to become non suicidal by subjecting him to the torture of the police station??
And for people who do want to end their lives, they have a right to. Your rights end where my nose begins. And this is my whole life, not just my nose!!!
If you can decide all the small things in your life, and in other people’s lives, incl what time they should be born, and whether your next child should be born, then why can’t you decide on the biggest thing in your own life – when should it end?
Can the society that values my life so much, guarantee that I will not suffer from hunger or the pain of chemotherapy or the pain of a terminal illness? Can the society guarantee that I will not suffer from depression? Can the society guarantee that my life will be what I consider worth living? If it cannot do that, what right does the civil society have to prevent me from taking an important decision of life? And still call itself a free world? How can a world be free where people have no right to decide something as basic as this?
I am NOT saying that people should commit suicide. I am just saying that if a person decides to kill himself and acts on that decision, we have to remember that the person is going against the natural instinct. And that must be a VERY STRONG influence if it negates an inborn instinct. Eating is a natural instinct. Imagine what would make you want to not eat. Its that strong an influence.
A person already in enough pain to act against the natural instinct does not need criminal proceedings against himself. That will not restore his faith in life. He needs a society that enfolds him instantly in a lot of love, caring and acceptance. An eagerness to understand what happened, rather than a series of calls from the police station. What kind of society can penalise people who are already sad and expect them to still identify with it??
That is the most preposterous treatment of anything that I have ever seen!! Whoever made that law needs to explain how s/he expected to get a suicidal person to become non suicidal by subjecting him to the torture of the police station??
And for people who do want to end their lives, they have a right to. Your rights end where my nose begins. And this is my whole life, not just my nose!!!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Random Acts of Kindness!
Random Acts of Kindness – RAK is English for “neki kar dariya mein daal”.
It means getting 2 cups of coffee from the vending machine and handing one to the first colleague at his/her desk who looks like they could use one, without their asking.
It also means throwing an impromtu invitation to watch the kids for a friend while the couple get an evening out.
It can also mean baking a cake that says “I love you” and cutting it, just like that, to celebrate love…
It also means giving your help a day off, or promising to double up for a colleague at work. A Colleague who has never been nice to you.. no wait, the last one, would not be a RAK. That would be Gandhi-giri.. :-)
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PS: For those outside India, we have a new film here (in India) that shows us how to apply the principles of Gandhi to our everyday life. The movie is a huge commercial success and is actually changing the face of public protests in this country. More and more TV channels report how people use the Gandhian means of protest to try and change the larger system that they are a part of.
Nearly 60 years after the Mahatma was killed by a bullet, a simple comedy movie is teaching us how those principles still ring true, because they do not come from Gandhi, they also come form someplace within us! :-)
It means getting 2 cups of coffee from the vending machine and handing one to the first colleague at his/her desk who looks like they could use one, without their asking.
It also means throwing an impromtu invitation to watch the kids for a friend while the couple get an evening out.
It can also mean baking a cake that says “I love you” and cutting it, just like that, to celebrate love…
It also means giving your help a day off, or promising to double up for a colleague at work. A Colleague who has never been nice to you.. no wait, the last one, would not be a RAK. That would be Gandhi-giri.. :-)
**********************
PS: For those outside India, we have a new film here (in India) that shows us how to apply the principles of Gandhi to our everyday life. The movie is a huge commercial success and is actually changing the face of public protests in this country. More and more TV channels report how people use the Gandhian means of protest to try and change the larger system that they are a part of.
Nearly 60 years after the Mahatma was killed by a bullet, a simple comedy movie is teaching us how those principles still ring true, because they do not come from Gandhi, they also come form someplace within us! :-)
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
To Happy Posts!
Just finished reading a book “It was on fire when I lay down on it” by Robert Fulghum. Honestly, feels like someone’s blog – a very well written blog.. personal narrative.
Each piece in the book is a little drop of positive energy – and feels like nectar. I like people who write small positive notes on their blog. It makes them happy, and makes the reader feel better!
This post, and the 7 posts that will come after this, are dedicated to being happy, to seeing the sea and ignoring the stench.
To Happy Posts!
Post 1:
I like it when anyone goes to the mountains in the season of blossoms. The hills are green just after the rains, and the flowers make it look as if the fairies came down in the night and painted a lovely picture for everyone to see at dawn…
Each piece in the book is a little drop of positive energy – and feels like nectar. I like people who write small positive notes on their blog. It makes them happy, and makes the reader feel better!
This post, and the 7 posts that will come after this, are dedicated to being happy, to seeing the sea and ignoring the stench.
To Happy Posts!
Post 1:
I like it when anyone goes to the mountains in the season of blossoms. The hills are green just after the rains, and the flowers make it look as if the fairies came down in the night and painted a lovely picture for everyone to see at dawn…
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Splinters
Splinters
Tears.
Smiles.
The Zoo
The Park
The Swings
The popcorn
And the dolls
we couldn't afford.
The dresses
The shoes
The Cards
The gifts
The movies
And the comparisons
we couldn't draw.
The gowns
The recipes
The children
The homework
The parties
And the picnic
we could never go to.
Splinters All
And Life,
A Collage of Splinters.
Tears.
Smiles.
The Zoo
The Park
The Swings
The popcorn
And the dolls
we couldn't afford.
The dresses
The shoes
The Cards
The gifts
The movies
And the comparisons
we couldn't draw.
The gowns
The recipes
The children
The homework
The parties
And the picnic
we could never go to.
Splinters All
And Life,
A Collage of Splinters.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
M Back!!
In Class 7, the kid moved to a new school. And hated Physics. And Chemistry. The Physics and Chemistry teacher would ask the kid a question in class. The kid would stand up and say “I don’t know.” The teacher would not punish or shout, or ask why. The teacher would ask her to sit down, and then say loudly, to no one in particular, but with total conviction in her voice: “She knows, she is just not able to say the answer right now.”
The teacher did that for 3 years. Then, it was Class X. The kid finally opened her books to read Physics and Chemistry. The kid studied, made notes, and kept at it till the subject was friends with her and vice versa.
On the day of the annual(board) exam, the kid had a fight with her brother, and the brother hid her Physics and Chemistry textbook so she would fail. The kid went to her exam with only as much as she had read upto the fight. She passed with 75% marks in the subject, way more than the 40 % that she had scored consistently for 3 years.
Thank you, Mrs. Manickam, for the silent faith that lasted 3 years. Happy Teachers' Day!!
PS: In India, September 5 is Teachers' Day.
The teacher did that for 3 years. Then, it was Class X. The kid finally opened her books to read Physics and Chemistry. The kid studied, made notes, and kept at it till the subject was friends with her and vice versa.
On the day of the annual(board) exam, the kid had a fight with her brother, and the brother hid her Physics and Chemistry textbook so she would fail. The kid went to her exam with only as much as she had read upto the fight. She passed with 75% marks in the subject, way more than the 40 % that she had scored consistently for 3 years.
Thank you, Mrs. Manickam, for the silent faith that lasted 3 years. Happy Teachers' Day!!
PS: In India, September 5 is Teachers' Day.
Friday, September 01, 2006
First, I’m sorry for the last 2 posts(they’re no longer visible). They were valid ideas, but empty.
I have an actionable in mind because of those posts(and the comments on them). However, at the moment, there is no courage to take it forward. Hence the thread of thought is aborted.
And we try another track.
Silence.
Will come back when there is something to say.
I have an actionable in mind because of those posts(and the comments on them). However, at the moment, there is no courage to take it forward. Hence the thread of thought is aborted.
And we try another track.
Silence.
Will come back when there is something to say.
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