The ideology of 'do as your parents say' has made the Indian youth respectful, smarter and commit fewer mistakes than most of their counterparts in other countries, but this has taken away freedom of thinking on their own. Maybe this lead Indians to become submissive.

In an ideal world the caste system would have worked if it was just based on the kind of work people do and everybody respects all sections of people. It still would work if discrimination was part of life. But nothing inhuman can survive for long. The line of division hasnt blurred but many have crossed over.

Women are always considered as the weaker sex. A man in a woman's life always has an upper hand. The woman should always adjust, bear with any trauma she is facing only because as a wife its her duty. The society may never except a women who walked out of a failed marriage but the ideology has started to fail.

India would have double the current population if most of the people wouldnt follow 'mate after marriage' ideology. But at the same time the ideology of every person must marry and bear a child with his/her partner has led India to be the second most populated country in the world.

I Got Tagged! : 8 Random Things

Kannu tagged me, I wish I read his blog earlier. Other than the world famous fact that you will never find me having a good hair day, here are some random stuff about me.

• Though I'm a self confessed chocoholic and everybody knows it, I'm secretively more addicted to coffee. If I dont have atleast a dose of strong filter coffee a day, I'll go insane. People say I make amazing hot cuppa. I also love food. Soon after my stomach forgives me for eating a roadside chaat, I'm back devouring something spicy and unhygienic.

• I'm a very lazy person. I totally dislike my profession but I dont do anything to switch careers. I just crib all the time. I love the flute but didnt continue my classes. I love to learn how to play the guitar, I have an expensive guitar which was left behind by my friend, there is a music class 10 feet away from home but I havent done anything about it.

• When I was in college I once tried bleaching my face for a friend's wedding. I put some bleach cream on few strands of my hair. I thought that would give me the hot chick streaked hair look. I only got weird looks from others and sound verbal thrashing from my mother, she threatened to disown me.

• I cant lie without getting caught. I make very funny faces when I'm lying.

• I cant be too straight or blunt when I talk to people. This causes great deal of agony when there are money matters.

• Hold your breath for this. I dont like shopping. It tires me. I dont like the idea of hopping stores and trying on things. My feet are too long. 99% of the footwear stores I visit will have a size less than mine as the largest size available. I have the worst footwear collection compared to all the people I know, including my maid.

• I have saved a life by talking my friend out of suicide. She was very upset over her breakup. She wouldnt have gone ahead anyway but I like to think that I once did a good deed.

• I'm sometimes paranoid that people are around me just to judge me. If some one just looks at me I imagine that person with a writing pad making notes about me. Surprizingly this has never made me change my ways.

This was fun! I tag Ranjani, Pooja & Rachana. I bet they will be more interesting.

What is India Shining?

An entire Dalit family is brutally abused and murdered by upper caste people from the same village. We say, "Bloody British, they made racists comments against Shilpa Shetty, that poor girl!"


Jobs from the US are outsourced to India, providing opportunities to the youth of Indian middle class society. We say, "These undeserving SC,ST,OBC people, they get reservations in educational institutions".

Kids from a minority community, playing inside a Hindu temple premises were physically abused & hot dal was thrown at their mothers by the Hindus. We say, " Wow! We Indians are so proud that NRIs have built beautiful Hindu temples in the US".

Oops!

Scene 1: A snap of a woman (older with gray hair) feeding some kind of a sweet to a girl. The girl is showing the snap & I say, "Awww... your granny is so full of love!". She says, "Thats my mother", with a blank expression on her face.

Scene 2: My colleague is showing me snaps of his kid. One snap has a woman holding the kid. I ask, "Your mother? " . He says "Actually thats my wife, we visited this temple...".

Scene 3: Me, "How can somebody agree to marry some person who she has met only once & hardly knows anything about him? I mean, come on! Doesn't she even worry that he can be a pervert or crazy or annoyingly possesive?" The girl I'm talking to had gotten engaged to this guy she met a day before her engagement through a marriage broker.

Scene 4: Me, "The last time he got drunk my uncle kept him out of the house whole night!", to my cousin's fiance who believed that he is a teetotaller.

I'm so totally nuts I say!

You Should Be Dancing...Yeah!

I was listening to this very interesting conversation between two people I know. I was sitting in the same room but had nothing to contribute. Person A was very excited about the recent trip to a city, how that person had partied every night & what "cool" places were visited. Person B was talking about his visit to a very exotic city, cruising around in luxury cars & partied at all the happening places. Both of them were competing to show the other two (in the room there was another hapless chap from the US who too might have thought its silly) what kind of party animals they are. After some hundreds of silly points thrown around both party animals decided that nobody knows how to live unless they party at the right places. They also concluded that nobody knows the true Bengalooru unless they have visited all the best Lounge bars & Dance Floors in the city. I am honoured to be in the worthless lot. The battle continued with none accepting that he/she was any less, I lost interest & wandered along my thoughts. I really wish some people grow up & see that a lifestyle is to entertain ourselves but life is not just that.

Why is it so?

Why do small cars have dark tinted windows, while big luxury cars have either no tints or very light tints? Are small car drivers ashamed of what they own & luxury car owners are very proud?

Movies That Killed My Apetite

I had made up my mind not to watch these two movies after seeing their trailers. They are all about flesh and blood bath, kind of movies that men simply love! But I couldn't avoid watching them. First, was Apocalypto. Full credits to Mr. Gibson for the amazing film making. I loved the fact that he made a movie in a jungle, with non main-stream actors, no romantic scenes or pounds of muscle, but still an amazing movie. I was dissapointed that there was no attempt made to show that the Mayans are considered such a great civlization because of their advanced written language, architecture, paintings and sophisticated maths and astronomics. But I guess Gibson didnt want to do the obvious and stick to his style. Every now and then flesh and blood would paint the screen. I closed my eyes for few of the gory scenes. For the whole duration I didnt crave for caramel flavoured popcorn like I always do. Except for few minor errors, like a full moon night immediately following a day that had solar eclipse and the pain of reading subtitles, the movie is superb. A movie I hate & love at the same time.

Then the very next week, I'm in the theater to watch 300. Again all the blood spilling, arm cutting & shouting made my stomach churn. This movie failed to impress me much, maybe coz it followed Apocalypto. Even though the gory scenes are not many, they were more disgusting. The boring first half & poorly edited ( maybe I should blame the distributors for the bad job) was a let down. All I enjoyed was watching the 6X300 washboard abs/triceps (whatever!) . At first I thought the actors have worn some artificial layer, but they have actually worked them out! That night I skipped my dinner.

I'm not doing a hattrick by watching Primeval. Please! I really need to watch some totally illogical romantic movie or an animated movie to wash it all off.

The Other Side of Auto Suri

"Jeevanahalli, Cox Town? Barolla!!" (I wont come to Jeevanahalli, Cox Town).
Thats the only line I remember from the auto suri song. Its all about about how lame but proud the auto rickshaw drivers are in Bangalore.
When you think about auto rickshaws a.k.a autos a.k.a rick, what do you first think of?
Thick smoke emitting from the exhaust?
Refusal to hire?
Weird phrases on the back of the vehicle?
Rash driving?
Excess fare?

After Friday's incident, I will remember this story everytime I travel in a rick. Just a reminder not to blow the driver's head off.
On Friday evening, I had to travel to my sister's place from my office. The distance is long, its "Friday", its evening and that area may not fetch much customers on the return journey. So, I get "refused" by around 20 auto drivers (No, I'm not making up that number). These drivers are very choosy. They wont just let anybody to hire their auto. Lot of factors influence his decision. The distance can be long but traffic should be less, the area where he will drop the customer must have enough customers waiting to hire him, he should not be stopped by too many signals or maybe he doesn't feel like it.
Then like God, one driver instantly agreed. He looked more than 60 so I thought maybe oldies are not so arrogant. In first 5 minutes of the journey, he had skipped a signal, drove in the wrong way & confessed he didnt know the way. I obliged to direct him, didnt want to lose my saviour to a fat traffic cop. Out of cuiosity I asked him,
"After driving for so many years, you dont know the way ?".
"I'm new, Madam".
"Oh ok".
"I used to work in a government office before & I retired. I thought after retirement I will enjoy my time at home. But..".
"What happened?".
"My only son is good for nothing, nobody else in the family is fit to work. This is the only way I can earn some money".
"Isn't it tough to start at this age?".
"It is! My back hurts all the time. My vision is poor and this traffic frustates me, I'm not used to driving at all".
"Thats terrible".
"What is more horrifying is that once I got mugged when I was returning home & I lost all the day's earnings. The auto owner didnt hear my plea & I had to repay him".
Silence.
"Please check your belongings Madam".
I give him little more than the fare, hoping he would keep the change but he prompty returned the change and smiled. He smiled! And then he drove away looking lost.

Another auto drives by which says on the back, " Trust a snake, but not a girl". Grrrr.

They Speak

Tantadaaa!!! I'm back! And finally here is a compilation of the best quotes from Managers that I have heard so far.

1. "Team, I'm sending you your feedbacks. Please send a reverse feedback on me". Meaning, Please send your feedback on me.

2."I didnt get the Architecture, can you please draw the cabbage diagram?" Meaning, Please draw the layered diagram to explain.

3."Thank you for your outstanding contributions". I have no better thing to say everytime I have a 1 on 1 discussion with you.

4."We have given you a hike on par with the Industry standards". Meaning, The industry can be anything, like cleaning cotton in old beddings.

5."When you are aware that certain problems need to be addressed, you need to take actions on them" Meaning, you made a mistake to complaint against the manager, now you take care of the problem, hahaa!

6."We have a challenge! We just missed the shuttle". Meaning, I read in some MBA book that I need to replace the word "problem" with "challenge" in order to inspire the team.

7."I will vacation tomorrow". And you will work!

8." Please schedule your test meaningfully". I'm lost for words here.

9." I know you weren't feeling well, but you cant apply for a sick leave between two holidays, it has to be Annual leave only. If you wanted to apply for sick leave you should have sent a mail the day before".

To: Manager
Subject: I will not be coming to office tomorrow. I may fall sick.

10."Thank you for your active participating and contributing".

What's The Big Deal?

Its just another day in another year, what is so special about it? Its the same old world, its the same old boring job, its the same people. After spending more than a grand to celebrate the last day of the year I wake up in the same bed, same maid ringing the door bell and everything around looked the same! Shame! I just couldnt find meaning to all the wishes that were pouring in. Many remembered me only after a whole year to drop in just an SMS. Every new year we are just growing old and there is no big deal! But wait there is something that is different. New year means another chance to start something new or change something that you always wanted to do. I took it this way and started off with my morning walks. What a bliss. And then started with whee bit of social work, of which I only used to deliver great talks but never did anything. So for me, new year is all about starting something new. And all that "partying on new year's eve is a must" no longer has any meaning.