Having a baby changes everything. It has changed me as a person and has made me in some ways more resilient more enduring and more tolerant at the same time it has made me more irritable and hyper.
Now everything revolves around Romana. When in the past I'd research current affairs to write on, now I research on baby food and diaper rash creams. This is what babies do to us women :)
And the last reason being no access to internet. This just taught me how dependent we are on internet and how obsolete news papers have become. So now here I'm trying to use the wifi service at home that totally sucks to blog again. Don't know how will blogger survive this harsh internet facility but please stand by me my blog!! I m going through a rough patch. Lol!!
Someone took a slay knife and killed my writing spirit. Trying 2 revive it. Learnt it the hard way how important freedom of speech and expression are. Wish I'd known this before.
I almost lost myself in nursery rhymes and my babys developmental milestones... So now trying to find myself again.
For TRUE LOVE: 1. Mumtaz was Shahjahans 4th wife out of 7 2. Shahjahan killed Mumtaz’s husband to marry her 3. Mumtaz died in her 14th delivery 4. After Mumtaz’s death Shahjahan married her sister
What comes time and again to my mind after reading these facts is whether we should call our prestigious “Taj Mahal” the true symbol of love. Shahjahan didn't even know the meaning of true love, all that I can deduce is that he was blinded in lust. I won’t disagree that architecturally it’s a marvel, but I would think a zillion times before calling it a “Symbol of True Love.” Taj Mahal gives us Foreign Currency but it would be foolish to compare anyone’s love with that of Shahjahan and Mumtaz.
Do we really have a right to feel offended when Indians have to face the racist brunt in US, Australia, UK etc? Aren’t we Indians racist ourselves? We appreciate everything that the white world does, we rarely appreciate our nation.
When Shilpa Shetty won in Big Brother (The UK Version), she made India proud. If anyone saw an episode in that series they’d exactly know how much of proud Shilpa did to our country. She mentioned India so sparingly in the entire series that it was clear she was herself not very proud of India. I don’t blame her because there are very few things in India that can make us proud. There was a huge hue and cry when racist comments were passed on her. Didn’t that work perfectly for her; she was clearly riding the racism wave for commercial gain. After all, She shot to tremendous fame internationally after winning in Big Brother.
Now let’s discuss the Indian counterpart, “Big Boss” when famous advocate Abbas Kazmi was in the show he was condemned by many. To the extent he was divested from his rights as a trustee from the Imamiya Masjid Trust on the grounds that his conduct was not appropriate and brought shame to the trust. WWF wrestler, The Great Khali has been the recent entrant in Big Boss. However, the Indian kushti board (or some organization like that) has been demeaning Great Khali claiming that he is bringing shame upon India. This is really a sign of how emotionally driven a nation we are. Both Kazmi and Khali have not uttered anything against our beloved nation or done any compromising acts, but still they are being condemned for merely being a part of Big Boss. I question all these people who are condemning them, whether their feelings would be the same if instead of Big boss, they were participants in Big Brother. Are we not racist too??? Don’t we appreciate the so called White world more than our brown world??? Frankly, aren’t there enough reasons why the white world is superior to ours???
When the same acts are done by a lady but on an international platform among “whites” that’s considered as making India proud. However, when an Indian in India does the same acts he is bringing shame onto our nation. I totally fail to understand this analogy.
Another similar example, Malika Sherawat kissing Imran Hashmi in Murder condemned, same Malika Sherawat sleazing with Jackie Chain in Myth alright, rather appreciated. Further, our queen of bollywood Aishwarya Rai Bachan kissing Martin Henderson in Bride and Prejudice applauded. Why do we Indians fluctuate so much when it comes to appreciating our own kind? Isn’t it clear more than any other country men being racist towards us, it is we ourselves who are racist. And this is precisely the reason why we are a billion years behind the white nations when it comes to all types of development.
"Jana Gana Mana" - Just a thought for the National Anthem!
How well do you know about it?
I have always wondered who is the " adhinayak" and "bharat bhagya vidhata",whose praise we are singing. I thought might be Motherland
India ! Our current National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the country.
Did you know the following about our national anthem, I didn't.
To begin with, India 's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honour of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919.
To honor their visit Pandit Motilal Nehru had the five stanzas included , which are in praise of the King and Queen. (And most of us think it is in the praise of our great motherland!!!)
In the original Bengali verses only those provinces that were under British rule, i.e . Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat , Maratha etc.were mentioned.
None of the princely states were recognized which are integral parts of India now Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore or Kerala.
Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was included, since they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time. The Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the bestower of good fortune".
Following is a translation of the five stanzas that glorify the King:
First stanza: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. (Tava shubha name jaage; tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)
Second stanza : Around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.
Third stanza: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond misery.
Fourth stanza : Drowned in the deep ignorance and suffering, poverty-stricken, unconscious country? Waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's (the Queen's) true protection.
Fifth stanza : In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat ( India ) will wake up. We bow down to your feet O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).
This whole poem does not indicate any love for the Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying? Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God? The poem does not indicate that.It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing as has been done the past fifty years.
Nehru chose the present national anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because he thought that it would be easier for the band to play!!! It was an absurd reason but Today for that matter bands have advanced and they can very well play any music. So they can as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better composition in praise of our Dear Motherland - India .
Wake up, it's high time! Shouldn't Vande Mataram be our National Anthem. Come Join together to put Vande Mataram as our National Anthem.
I saw this documentary on National Geographic and was pretty amused. Its worth watching if someone can find the video on Youtube.
Obviously people of India think its HOLY and flock her house. However, Doctors say its faked, but how difficult is to confirm that. Why not hospitalise the girl and keep her under cameras?
A travel magazine "International Living" states that India is among the best countries to live in in South Asia. Can you believe it... we are better than Russia and China. This is based on some calculation which compares our cost of living, leisure, economy, environment, etc.
Something unbelievable is the comparisons are made with a milestone - United States. And countries like Iraq and Afghanistan are the worse countries to live in.
"Haiti reminds Indians of Kutch. The rescue, relief and rehabilitation of earthquake victims have local requirements that vary from region to region but, the story of how Kutch was reborn after the devastating earthquake of January 26, 2001 can became a useful template for Haiti...."
1. There are two types of people: Human Beings and Saints. Humans are 2 legged animals who live on instinct and Saints are those humans who live on some principles that other humans fail to understand...
2. If facebook was really a book, how big a book would it be? Unimaginable!!!
3. In every girls life there will always be those 3 guys...the one she loves, the one she hates, and the one she can’t get enough of...and in the end...they're all the same guy.
4. How does one quantify happiness, by the tears that are hidden behind the smiles or by the smiles that are hidden behind the tears?
5. "Every woman has the exact love life she wants." - from the movie The Wedding Date. I think this line is perfect. But it also applies to men, so this is from me - "Every man has the exact love life he wants."
India is full of “HYPER” respecting people. Right from birth we are taught to respect elders, teachers, people of status, etc. Unfortunately we are not taught to respect people by their actions or by the work that they do. Thus, we are blind to the real attributes in human beings that deserve respect. We really don’t respect the individuality of our children; we don’t respect our house-help because according to us they are doing a pride-less job; thus we don’t respect people based on their credibility. We only respect those who are famous or rich, although they may have a bad nature, be unlawful, rude or cunning; whereas a bold middle class person’s good qualities may be overlooked or shunned. This in turn also means we don’t respect the people that don’t fall in these preconceived categories.
Imagine the side effects of this system, we are so culturally trained to respect elders and people with status that we can never criticize them, we can never have a non biased opinion of them as that would mean being disrespectful and is not appreciated in Indian society. Often a question is asked why Indian youth is so passive; it is only because of our respectful nature. Face it we are never taught that elders can also be wrong and can be told they are wrong. However, this system works perfectly well with our politicians. They would never want to change this system as the only reason that they are where they are is because the aam janta (common man) out of fear respects them and never assert their flaws.
In Mumbai it’s common among the rich and niche kids to say “we deserve ___________, we can afford to _________, how dare he_________” By deserve they mean we deserve to not stand in queues; we can afford to break the laws, and how dare he talk to me like that doesn’t he know whose son I am... Somehow the respect is self conquered and the society lets them. This is impossible in any other country except India, here a rich man’s kid is treated better than a middle class man’s kid; this is just because Indians are tuned to blindly respect.
Respect is drowning the “Credit Based System.” Think of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, he had started reservation for SC and ST people for their upliftment but he didn’t think of the other large 90% of the population that suffers and suicides because of this 10%. His reservation system has made it impossible for a 98% student to get a medical seat because a 62% SC/ST student from an affluent family in entitled to that seat blindly under the law. When will our nation realize every law becomes obsolete and every law needs to be changed and reformed, especially when it is not serving its purpose.
Are we proud of what we do? Do we really strive for perfection and excellence? This is another problem that reaps under our system driven by respect for the wrong people. Think about the roads that BMC constructs and how BMC blames our rains for washing them away. We think that the BMC officials are not doing their job right for a few extra bucks but this is not entirely correct and that why can't we ever get excellent work from BMC. The fact is this happens because the same BMC officials don’t take pride in the job that they do. They think they are doing such insignificant work that even shoddy job will make not much of a difference to anyone. These same people respect only the babus and not the common people like themselves. This shows a whole system of wrongly evaluating people and work
India can shine only if she stops respecting the wrong people and starts taking pride in herself.
I came across this Facebook Advertisement. It was about this Sanna's Ultra low-rise Jeans and I went through their website... I can't imagine how low it gets out there.
I love Low-Rise, but this much low.... Just overwhelmed actually.
Ayesha and Zaheer’s (son of noted lawyer and NCP national secretary, Majeed Memon and Saeeda) one-and-a-half-years romantic rendezvous that began in the premises of a law college (Emphasis Mine: We didn't really fall in "LOVE" in law college and our relation kick started months after my graduation.... ) culminated into a grand marriage on Saturday with blessings from both the families.
The attendance from the world of politics, the police force and Bollywood, added the glint of power and glamour in this otherwise family affair. Majeed, wife Saeeda, elder son Zulfi and his wife Suzzane along with the bride’s parents Nergish and Viraf Bilpodiwala played the perfect hosts overseeing the comfort of the guests.
Chhagan Bhujbal came in with son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. R R Patil was seen enjoying the company of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu. Others who were seen enjoying the party were former cop M N Singh, K L Prasad, Mrs Hasan Gafoor, Baba Siddiqui, Nawab Malik, Kripashankar Singh, Asif Bhamla, Mukesh Tyagi, Samir Kadam, Shatrughan Sinha, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sachin Ahir, Udit Narayan with wife Deepa, Tariq Anwar, Aneez Ahmed, Mahesh Bhatt, Anu Malik, Prakash George, Nasir Jamal, Upen Patel with his mystery lady, Feroze Nadiadwala, Naseem Siddiqui, Abraham Mathai amongst others.
Frankly, all these so called VIPS didn’t really make my wedding a grand affair; it was grand by the presence of all those people who are close to my heart. What the article missed was as follows: I want to thank Sid, Afzal, Ajaz, Tejas, Khushboo, Robin, ReemaPrachi, Pallavi, Sonali, Madhura, Rhea Arora, Sucheta, Zainab, Abhi, Gauri, Anish, Disha, Kranti, Veera, Sanaea, Parinaz, Preity, Smita, Adnan, Mashooda, Chaitaly, Jigisha, Irum, Amber... and their respective families.... These people really made me feel special. Some reached the venue before me and were there to escort me to the dais. Most of my friends attended the Nikah ceremony. I will always appreciate their gratitude. All my fond memories of that day include my extended family members who supported me in keeping up this decision and were present in their full “bawa” spirit in the wedding. I should not miss to thank Zaheer’s friends who really put in their full efforts and made my day turn into “A Great day.”
Amchi Mumbai cha very own, loved "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj" is now going to compete with the Statue of Liberty. His memorial is going to be standing taller than Madame Liberty in our precious Marine Lines water. This will cost a meager 350Cr. I wonder if Maharaj ever imagined wasting of such enormous State Funds.
Balasaheb aani MNS doghe khoopach khush asnar!!!
But in case my dear blogger friends are unhappy with this proposal please visit this link and sign the PIL to stop such wastage of funds.
Lately this word has started having lot of meaning in my life. I categorize myself among those people who get very influenced by social awareness issues and that line of movies. I always feel like doing something, changing the world, blah blah, but I must admit almost always all that zest dies out in weeks.
Recently I visited some families... typical after being newly married but something’s really upset me... 2 such houses had Tiger skins put up as articles of attraction. I just flipped seeing them. Don't these people feel guilty that this same gorgeous beast must have been poached for his skin? Don't they realise the implications of their expensive likes. Then there was this Doctor's house that I recently visited. The Doc had a Cockatoo bird in a tiny cage. There was a party in that Docs house and the parrots cage was in the sitting area. All the people in that party were loud and so was the terrified parrot. If the Doc guy really loves birds how can he be so cruel to them. The poor guy had no way to stretch his wings or even move around. I really felt like stuffing the Doc guy in that cage. It was the height of inhuman behaviour. I really wanted to call SPCA and ask them to rescue the parrot, but my hubby explained that the SPCA guys aren’t really trained in this kind of rescue job and that the bird would most likely die if taken out of the house. Although I am not very convinced and I am still considering making that call, I personally feel how is this life any better.
Anyways not straying from my main point "Conservation," as you can see from my last post, I just saw 2 movies on Tiger and Cheetah Conservation. I was really touched by 2 Brothers. So before the zest dies I thought the least I can do is blog about it and help create some more awareness....
Let me first dwell on Conservation of the Big Cats in India:
I went through many web sites on what our government is doing about wildlife conservation. What amused me was that most of these websites have only a donation page or some tourism information. They have no information on how one can help in person. They neither have any information on the past success in rehabilitating any animal, nor any experts on the list of people handling cases of wildlife conservation. As you all will agree in such matters its best to place the least expectations on our Government to be pro-active.
All predators play an important role in keeping a balance in the environment. The carnivores keep the population of the herbivores in check. Also imagine our future generations might never get to see these animals in wild. Imagine dinosaur movies being replaced by tigers and lions going extinct movies. I hate this thought. So please everyone who reads this blog do something to conserve our forests. Don't buy cat skin, lion teeth, elephant tusks, or forest wood. I would even go a step further and ask people to stop goin to circuses which have wild animals on display as you can't imagine what goes on in their training. Their pride is crushed over and over again to tame their wildness. The old animals are slaughtered for their skins. Imagine their lives in captivity and their lustous life being painted black. Hunting is still an adventure for some rich men in India, take our film personalities for instance; I always wished I could give that gun in the beasts hand just once and see the fear on the face of these adventure seekers.
Now let me ponder on the other thing that really needs attention, our environment:
I was in London for 20 days. A few weeks before reaching London I was down with really bad throat infection and cough. Once I was back I was again down with sore throat. One thing I realised was when we were flying over London, just before landing all I could see was greenery, clouds and really clear blue skies, but as soon as I was on Mumbai skies there was something BROWN below and everywhere. Skies were not filled with anything blue… they were filled with something brown. Can seriously anyone tell me what exactly that brown thing was? Everyday when I get up in Mumbai and I see outside the window I see fog... oops its smog. Being asthmatic I was apprehensive to go to London because I suspected that the cold there would make me ill, that obviously didn’t happen. Its not Mumbai’s weather changes that causes people to fall ill, it’s the pollution and unhygienic conditions. Its our attitude thats leading us closer to the doom day.
Another thing I learned in London was how seriously they took plastic waste. Super markets asked people to carry their own bags or they would have to pay for the carry bags there. A 5 litre Mineral Water Can was priced cheap because they didn’t want people to buy small half litre bottles and add to plastic pollution. I really liked their concepts. So I have started applying a few practical ones myself - I have stopped taking plastic bags from local vendors when I can do without one. Most often if I go shopping I carry some bags from home. Also I avoid using Air-Condition when not required. I have stopped using water heater whenever I can bath in the afternoons and I try to avoid wasting water. Small changes will lead to a big change and that’s what I am hoping for. So join me in my minuscule quest of CONSERVATION.
Have you ever witnessed a road accident but whisked pass it, not helping the injured accident victim. Eventually, feeling guilty thinking if the victim is still alive or dead.
Following information might help you change your insensitivity to being a more responsible citizen:
1. There is some S.C. Judgment on "Right to Emergency Care," (I could not find the judgment online). Purportedly, as per this judgment your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the injured victim on the door step of the hospital. So, impliedly there will be no forced police inquiries against you and it becomes the responsibility of the hospital to conduct the police inquiry. Also surprisingly, this Judgment has changed my age-old "filmy" view that before the police formalities are finished first-aid is provided to the patient in the hospital.
(From a forwarded email) "The Supreme Court in a judgement on Right to Emergency Care, case no Appeal (civil) 919 of 2007 of 23 Feb 2007, has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital or medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities.
In case you are a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, providing first aid, etc.
Please do inform your family and friends about these basic rights so that we all know what to expect and what to do in the hour of need."
2. Further, there is a Bill which if enacted as law will make it mandatory for Hospitals/Doctors to treat accident victims immediately.
My only concern in our civilized society is Mob Fury.... When one thinks of helping an accident victim, often the mob doesn't think rationally and is prejudiced against the one who owns the bigger vehicle. But if you think you can handle a mob instead of living in guilt then please reach out and help as much as you can in such a situation because you never know when you are on the other side of the road.
I'm not sure how the food tastes at this one. The First and only experience that I have with ABU ZAAD Edgware road was one of its kind and in one word awful (terrible, pathetic, sad, shocking etc etc).
I had been a regular to quite a few restaurants in Edgware road and other restaurants in London, the best ones and the not so good ones too. But the STRANGEST thing I came across was here.... Me and 2 friends of mine entered Abu Zaad on Edgware Road and were given a table. We ordered our snack (or meal) which was enough of a bite for 3 of us. The bill would have totalled to around 10 pounds. (I cant help it if what we ordered only cost us that much). As one of our orders was served we started our dinner but before anything else could be served and much before we could finish half of our first dish, we were rudely asked by one of the staff to order some more dish (to a minimum of 8 pounds per head) if we wished to sit there, that is.....
THIS IS BLOODY SHOCKING.....then he asked us to leave if we were not ordering further..... We did not even know how to react to this unreasonable, unexpected inappropriate and inhospitable behaviour of the staff....We just paid our bill and left..... THIS IS BY FAR ONE OF THE MOST PATHETIC EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD IN ANY FOOD OUTLET IN THE WORLD....may it be a small time cafe or a 5 star hotel restaurant... SAD!!!! These guys need to go to SCHOOL BADLY....
I came across this forward on Management lesson, really fun. Its a must read:
A lesson for Every Salaried Employee:
A shopkeeper watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop, He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back inside again. So he goes over to the dog and notices that it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads “Can I have 12 soaps and a shampoo bottle, please. The money is with the dog.” The shopkeeper looks inside the dogs mouth and to his surprise there is a 100 rupees note in his mouth. So he takes the money and puts the soap, shampoo and change in a bag, and then places it in the dogs mouth.
The shopkeeper is so impressed, and since it is the closing time, he decides to follow the dog. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to the zebra crossing, he waits till the signal turns green. He walks across the road till the bus stop. He waits on the stop and looks up the timetable for the bus. The shopkeeper is totally out of his mind as the dog gets into the bus and sits on a vacant seat. The shopkeeper follow the dog. The dog waits for the conductor to come to his seat. He gives the change to the conductor and shows him the neck belt to keep the ticket. The shopkeeper is almost fainting at this sight and so are the other people in the bus.
The dog then moves to the front exit of the door and waits for the bus stop to arrive, looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight he wags his tail to inform the driver to stop. Then not even waiting for the bus stop to arrive the dog jumps out and runs to the house nearby. It opens an big iron gate and rushes towards the door. As it approaches the door, he changes his mind and walks towards the garden. The dog walks up to the window and beats his head several times on the window. It then walks back to the door and waits. The shopkeeper maintaining his senses walks up to the door and watched a big guy open the door.
The guy starts beating, kicking and abusing the dog. The shopkeeper is surprised and runs to stop the guy. the shopkeeper questions the guy “What in the heaven are you doing? The dog is a genius he could be famous in life.”
The guy responds “You call this clever? This is the 3rd time in this week that the dog has forgotten the door keys.”
The moral of the story: You may continue to exceed onlookers expectations… But will always fall short of the bosses expectation…"
I came across this forward on Management lesson, really fun. Its a must read:
"A lesson for Every Salaried Employee
A shopkeeper watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop, He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back inside again. So he goes over to the dog and notices that it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads “Can I have 12 soaps and a shampoo bottle, please. The money is with the dog.” The shopkeeper looks inside the dogs mouth and to his surprise there is a 100 rupees note in his mouth. So he takes the money and puts the soap, shampoo and change in a bag, and then places it in the dogs mouth.
The shopkeeper is so impressed, and since it is the closing time, he decides to follow the dog. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to the zebra crossing, he waits till the signal turns green. He walks across the road till the bus stop. He waits on the stop and looks up the timetable for the bus. The shopkeeper is totally out of his mind as the dog gets into the bus and sits on a vacant seat.
The shopkeeper follow the dog. The dog waits for the conductor to come to his seat. He gives the change to the conductor and shows him the neck belt to keep the ticket. The shopkeeper is almost fainting at this sight and so are the other people in the bus. The dog then moves to the front exit of the door and waits for the bus stop to arrive, looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight he wags his tail to inform the driver to stop. Then not even waiting for the bus stop to arrive the dog jumps out and runs to the house nearby. It opens an big iron gate and rushes towards the door. As it approaches the door, he changes his mind and walks towards the garden. The dog walks up to the window and beats his head several times on the window. It then walks back to the door and waits. The shopkeeper maintaining his senses walks up to the door and watched a big guy open the door.
The guy starts beating, kicking and abusing the dog. The shopkeeper is surprised and runs to stop the guy. the shopkeeper questions the guy “What in the heaven are you doing? The dog is a genius he could be famous in life.” The guy responds “You call this clever? This is the 3rd time in this week that the dog has forgotten the door keys.”
The moral of the story: You may continue to exceed onlookers expectations… But will always fall short of the bosses expectation…"
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